Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Katie sighed, rolling her pencil across her desk. She had been sitting in their first period with the rest of her class for only a few minutes, and she was already bored. And forward … And back … And forward … And—

Her routine was interrupted when someone calmly walked in, nearly ten minutes late, and the teacher's drone came to a halt. As the rest of the students shook off their stupor and poked their friends to wake up, their teacher said, "Yes?"

The girl flipped a stray bang out of her face, facing away from the rest of the class. "Is this History with Mrs. Daniels?"

"Yes."

"I'll just take a seat, then." She turned as if to move, but the teacher stopped her. "Now, hold it," Mrs. Daniels said. "Is there a reason as to why you're late?"

"Yes."

It took the teacher almost a full minute before she realized that the girl wasn't going to say anymore. "And what is that reason, Ms—"

"Kirst," the girl supplied, and Katie shot up in her seat, no longer half-asleep, slightly startling Summer, who was seated next to her. Summer glanced at Katie and saw that her eyes were wide, and she was staring at the new girl's back as if she had just been handed the shock of her life.

"Katie?" Summer whispered to her. "Are you OK?"

Katie gave a jerk, as if she were suddenly yanked back from somewhere else. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Meanwhile, the girl in front had continued talking to the teacher. "And the reason is that I had to stop at the office because I needed a map."

Mrs. Daniels looked skeptical. "And that took you nearly ten minutes?"

"No, it only took two, but it's rather hard to find the office to get a map when you need a map to find it in the first place."

Some of the class giggled, and Mrs. Daniels gave them a stern look and held out a hand to the student before her. "Your pass, please? I'm sure the office provided you with one."

The girl flipped a piece of paper in the teacher's direction, then turned to fully face the class, scanning for a seat. Katie waited apprehensively as the girl's eyes passed through the row in back of her, scanned over Katie—and did a double take. A slow smile spread across her lips, and Katie grinned back. Summer sat looking between the two, figuring out that they somehow knew each other and wanting to know how. Katie glanced at the empty in front of Summer then looked back at the new girl, who nodded.

"Ms. Kirst," Mrs. Daniels snapped, and the girl jumped, spinning to face her. "Is there a problem?"

She smiled sweetly. "Oh, no, ma'am. Just looking for a seat."

"Well, we have three that are empty. I'm sure that you can find one of them."

"Of course." She walked between the rows of students and took the seat in front of Summer.

"I've got my eye on you"—Mrs. Daniels glanced at the class roster—"Ambriel Kirst."

"I'll keep that in mind. And most people call me Amber."

Mrs. Daniels gave her one last warning look and then turned back to the board to write down the class objectives.

Making sure that Mrs. Daniels couldn't see her, Katie quickly took out a piece of binder paper, scribbled a few words, and neatly folded it, writing "From Katie" across it. She tossed the into Summer's lap, and when the other girl looked up, Katie indicated to give it to Amber. Summer gave her a strange look but leaned forward and tapped the girl's shoulder, dropping the note into her lap.

Amber glanced over her shoulder and picked up the note. It only took her a second to read it and write something back. A quick glance at Mrs. Daniels, and Amber threw the note over her shoulder so that Summer could give it back to Katie, who eagerly unfolded it again.

Hi Amber! I can't believe you're here!

Hey, Kates. I know! Missed you, where've ya been?

Katie smiled and began to write back when Mrs. Daniels snapped, "Katherine! What are you doing?"

She looked up and stammered, "I—well—Um…"

Amber turned around in her seat and laughed. "You don't need to take notes, you know. It's just a stupid syllabus."

Mrs. Daniel's attention quickly shifted to Amber. "Ms. Kirst, I've had just about enough of you! One more remark and you're going to the principal's office."

When their teacher looked away, Katie caught Amber's eye and mouthed, "Thank you." Amber winked and turned to face front.

The two girls didn't dare pass any more notes for the rest of the period. When the bell rang, however, the two girls immediately stood with the rest of the class, and rushed outside.

"Oh my God!" Katie exclaimed, hugging Amber tightly.

"Oh my God!" Amber's answering hug was a tight has the one she had been given.

The two pulled back from each other, each still holding the other's shoulder, and after a brief pause they both shrieked, "Oh my God!" before hugging each other again.

"Well," Summer said primly from where she was watching them in the doorway. "Now that that's been settled, I'd like to point out that we need to get to our next class."

Amber shot her a glance before whipping out a paper. "Do you know where this class is?" she asked Katie, pointing at the schedule.

"I thought you had a map."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Pshaw. I threw it away when they gave it to me. I only went to the office and asked for one in the first place because I was late. Now—classroom?"

"Um, yeah. You go down the hall, turn left, and it's the fourth door on the left."

The other girl gave her another quick hug. "Thanks." She began to walk backwards away from Katie. "See you at lunch?"

Katie grinned. "See you at lunch, if not sooner."

With that, Amber turned and sauntered down the hall, throwing quick smiles to some of the people passing her. Katie turned the opposite direction to go to her class, and stopped when she saw Summer's calculating look. "What?"

"Do you know her?" Summer asked as they pushed their way through the crowded halls.

Katie nodded happily. "She's a friend from my old school. I haven't seen her in ages, and I'm just so happy to see her again!"

"Oh." The other girl didn't manage to catch Summer's sad look, as the smaller girl had turned into a classroom different from the one Katie was headed for. "See you at lunch?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, probably. Bye."

Summer stopped and looked after her friend. Suddenly, she was pushed gently from behind, and she turned to see Zack. "Katie's still your best friend, you know," he told her quietly.

"Don't you have anything better to do than listen to other people's conversations," she snapped. As she sat in her seat, she added, "And it's not like I was worried or anything."

He opened his mouth to answer, but the bell cut him off. Just then, the teacher walked in and informed him that he would be marked tardy because he was not seated. The things I do for my friends, Zack thought with a groan.

---

"Was that her?!"

"No."

"There she is! Oh, never mind…Hi Sarah…"

"Katie!" Alicia grabbed her friend's arm. "You're going crazy! Calm down."

Alicia, Katie, Zack, Summer, and Freddy were walking down the steps in front of the school at first lunch, and Katie was looking this way and that for her friend.

"I'm sorry, Alicia, but she's new. What if she got lost? What if someone hurt her? What if…what if…What if?!" When the four people walking with her stopped and stared at her, she demanded, "What?"

"You do realize that what you just said is extremely psychotic, right?"

Freddy, Zack, and Katie all made faces at Summer. "Big words," Freddy told her. "You're using big words."

Summer rolled her eyes—and froze when she saw something across the yard. "Um…I think I just found Amber."

Katie immediately spun around, scanning the area. "Where? I don't see her?"

"You probably didn't look at Nick, then."

Katie shot a startled look at Summer, who nodded in the direction of the big tree next to the road. Nick was laughing with his friends near it, and creeping up behind them was Amber.

Katie groaned. Nicholas James was a junior who thought that he was the greatest thing on Earth, and his friends were the same way. They were pretty popular with the upperclassmen, but not much of the freshmen or sophomores liked them very much; the boys thought they were too cool to hang out with lower-classmen, and informed all of them as such. Unfortunately, new girls had a way of falling for one of them. It's not like they were all bad looking.

"Quick, let's go warn her," Katie said, grabbing Summer's arm and dragging the girl towards the large tree. Just as they were within earshot of the group, however, Amber jumped on Nick's back. The older boy quickly caught her legs as she locked her arms around his neck so that she was in piggyback position. "Why, hello Nick!" she said in a surprised voice, and the two girls stopped short. "Imagine seeing you here!"

Nick pretended to stagger under her weight, turning his head slightly to the side so that he could see the younger girl out of the corner of his eye. "That should come with a large, loud warning signal," he said dryly, and his friends grinned, nudging each other and sending Amber sly looks.

"But that wouldn't be any fun," she protested, then laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

That was going too far for Katie. "Amber!" she called, marching up to the group of teenagers.

Amber turned her head and smiled at the approaching girl. "Hi, Katie!" She looked back down and whacked Nick on the shoulder. "Let me down."

"Hey, you're the one who jumped on me!" Nonetheless, Nick dropped his arms as Amber dropped back to the ground.

Amber tilted her head and placed her hands on her hips as she waited for Katie to reach her. "What's up?"

"I've been looking for you all over the place," Katie informed her almost accusingly. "Where've you been?"

"Looking for Nick. I told him to meet me near the parking lot"—she shot a glare at the boy, who shrugged innocently—"but I guess he misunderstood."

"Didn't anyone warn you?"

"Warn me about what? Does Nick always 'misunderstand' things like that?"

Katie felt someone move behind her, and she realized that her four friends had caught up with her. "No, not that," she answered, sending Nick a glare also. "I meant didn't anyone warn you not to mess with him?"

Amber look confused, but slowly she seemed to understand. Spinning around, she looked at the boy suspiciously. "What did you do?" she demanded slowly.

He gave her another shrug. "Nothing."

"Nick," she said in a warning tone.

"Oh, come on. I am innocent."

"Yeah right," Freddy scoffed. "Him and his friends live to terrorize lower-classmen."

"He and his friends," Summer corrected him absently, wholly absorbed in what was happening. She didn't even notice when he made a face at her.

Amber turned back around, regarding them with a confused look. "And you guys took him—them—seriously?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look at them! They're harmless."

The five looked at the group of six boys doubtfully. Even in uniform they looked like a street gang. Katie shook her head. "Amber, you don't know them."

Amber laughed. "Of course I do. I'm Nick's house all the time, and vice versa, and the boys are usually all there, too."

"You said what?"

Nick leaned around Amber. "Do you have a problem with cousins visiting each other?"

Katie stared at him, silenced for a few moments. "C-cousins?" she finally managed to stutter out.

Amber looked confused. "I thought you knew that."

"She can't have known I was your cousin unless one of us told her, Amber."

"Oh. Right. I'd forgotten. Anyway," she continued, turning back towards Katie, "I'm telling you, Nick, Charlie, Isaiah, Kyle, Derrick, and Micah are harmless."

"Hey!" Charlie protested. "We are not."

Micah hunched over, holding out his hands like claws. "Fear me," he rasped, as the other guys laughed. "Feeaaar mee!"

Amber pointed at him. "You see? They're not scary or anything, just stupid."

Micah stopped in the middle of his act of scaring a freshman boy who had accidentally been walking past at the moment. "Who're you calling stupid, stupid?"

"She's calling you stupid, stupid," Nick told him dryly. "Stop insulting me and my friends, Ambriel."

She ignored him. "Katie, I'm sorry you took so much time trying to find me. I was going to meet up with Nick real quick before finding you, but I had to take more time finding him than I thought I would."

"It's not my fault you heard 'meet me near the parking lot' when I clearly said 'I'll be in front of the school with my friends.'"

"Shut up, Nick." Amber gave Katie her best angelic face. "Do you forgive me?"

Not having seen that look in five years, Katie laughed. "Yeah, yeah, just stop doing that!"

"You know," Summer said from behind Katie, "we helped to look for you, too."

Amber smiled at her. "I know, and I'm very sorry." Suddenly she turned to Katie with a shriek, and they began to hug again. "I just still can't believe you go to this school!"

"I can't believe you transferred to this one!"

"You still have your bangs!"

"You streaked your hair!"

"Only a little, though. Blue still your favorite color?"

"Yep. Apparently red is still yours."

"Of course." Amber touched a hand to her auburn-streaked hair.

They paused for breath, smiled at each other, and then again simultaneously said, "Oh my God!" before starting all over again.

Freddy cautiously approached the junior boys. "Do girls always do that?" he asked Nick.

"Only when they're together." Nick turned calculating eyes on the younger boy. Finally he held out a hand. "Truce?"

Freddy paused before taking the offered hand. "Truce."

Zack shook his head. "I'm not sure if there was a disagreement between us."

Nick shrugged. "There wasn't much of one. This is just to make it official." He winced at a particularly loud shriek from his cousin. "Thanks, Amber," he called to her. "I think I've gone deaf."

She barely gave him a glance. "Can you hear me, Nick?"

"Yes."

"Then shut up."