People were staring at her, she knew. It wasn't everyday a new girl came to school. These people seemed set in their ways, the cliques already formed, friends since the first grade. She hated moving schools, but that's how her father's work was—move to one place, stay a while, move again. Maybe one day she would be able to stay in one place for longer than a few months. Maybe this last move—to Degrassi high—would be the last time she would have to transfer.

She pushed her bright red hair out of her face and looked down at her locker assignment. Locker 864. This was it. 18-9-34, she turned the code carefully, opening the empty locker. She sighed, putting in the newly purchased 15 year-old books on the rusty shelves, trying to figure out how to navigate her way around this building.

The locker next to her swung open. "Hey," a male voice said. "Welcome to Degrassi. Hope you'll like it here."

She looked over at him, slinging the black messenger back with the red half-maple leaf— the logo of a popular anime in Japan—over her shoulder. The boy was tall with dark brown hair and smiling brown eyes behind red-rimmed glasses. "Thanks." She said, a slight English accent showing as she flashed a pearly white smile.

"I'm Toby. Toby Isaacs." He held his hand out for her to shake.

She shook it, almost unsure of whether she should. "Leah. Leah McNichol."

Toby grinned. "Hopefully no one's convinced you to join a club yet. Trivia bowl could use another person."

Leah let out a suppressed laugh. "Convinced me to join a club? You think anybody's actually approached me to say hi? Well, except for you, of course."

"Really?" Toby looked surprised. "That's not cool. Well, we've still got a bit before classes. Come to Trivia Bowl with me."

"Don't you have to be smart for Triv. Bowl?"

"It would help."

"I'm not that smart." She smirked. "Actually, I can't spare a few minutes to go to Triv. Bowl anyways. I have to find my way around this school. I'm so used to private schools, boy, is this gonna be a trip." She held her schedule in front of her, trying to decipher the new text. Every schedule was different—she was never at a school long enough to get two schedules.

Toby gently took the schedule from her. "C'mon, Mr. Simpson's class is this way." He smiled at her.

Leah blushed a light scarlet, making her small brown freckles stand out, which showed the light brown streaks in her bright green eyes. "It seems you're a life saver, Mr. Isaacs." She said.

"It's Toby, and I just like to help." He took her arm slightly and led her in the right direction. When a tall door was looming over them, peering into a computer lab, he stopped. "Here you are. My class is right down the hall; I'll meet you here and help you get to your next class?"

"That sounds uberly great. Thank you, again, Toby. You don't know what this means to me."

"Hey, it's my pleasure." He smiled his little smile and walked off. Leah watched him go, her hand going into the NERV messenger bag and pulling out a journal as she walked in. She took an empty desk at the back of the room and began to write.

Dear diary—

Maybe Degrassi won't be so bad.

-----------Chapter 2 coming soon! This was one of those spur-of-the-moment ideas that I decided to act on. Please tell me if I got something wrong! I really don't know what class Simpson teaches, I just know about him from the few re-runs I've watched. Please review, as constructive crit. is always welcome! Also, a quick disclaimer: Nothing in this story involving the characters or school belong to me, and NERV is belonging to Geonon.--Jaz