Chapter 3

Once the bell for lunch rang, Freddy quickly raced to his locker to put his things away. The whole time he made his way to the cafeteria he was hoping that Sam would be there and that she'd sit with them. He stood in the line and met up with Tomika. They both got their lunches and walked over to their usual table. By the time they got there they saw that the table was full, except for their two empty seats. Freddy noticed a new seat was added to the table, the seat that Sam was sitting in. He smiled to himself with relief as he sat down in his seat across from Sam.

"Hey guys." Summer greeted Tomika and Freddy. "'Bout time you guys showed up." She said. "Well, I already introduced our new friend Sam to everyone." Summer said, smiling at Sam. "You know Tomika and Zack from homeroom." Summer announced. "But this is Freddy." She said.

Freddy quickly turned to look at Sam. "Yeah, we know each other." He realized that his smile was different from all those Jones' famous smirks he gave to everyone and quickly turned away as he blushed.

"Uh-huh." Summer said, smirking towards Freddy. She caught that smile that Freddy gave to Sam just before he turned away, and she knew that something was up between Freddy and Sam.

To break the silence Sam started to say something. "We ran into each other this morning." Sam told them, knowing that Freddy was blushing. "And we're in AP U.S. History together." She told them.

"So." Katie began to say. "You're from Hawaii?" she asked, very interested.

"Yep, born and raised in Hawaii." She told them as they all gazed at her in awe. "But my parents moved my brother and me to California when I was 12." She said, shifting through her food with her fork.

"So are you Hawaiian?" Zack said with a terrible pronunciation.

"Uh-huh, 50." She told them. Sam smiled so brightly because of how Zack had said 'Hawaiian'.

"Whoa! You're half Hawaiian?" Lawrence said to her, shocked that he now actually knows someone who was Hawaiian.

Zack was totally impressed by this. "Damn, that's awesome." Zack commented. They all asked her so many questions about living in Hawaii and being Hawaiian. She didn't mind it since she was very proud of where she came from and who she was. The questions continued to be asked throughout the rest of the lunch period. When they were all done, they gathered in the courtyard that had a few benches to sit on. The boys all sat on the bench, while the girls sat on the grassy area right next to the benches. The bell to end lunch shortly rang after that. They moved on to their next classes for the day. Sam found that she was in a few classes with Summer, Lawrence, Katie and the rest of the gang. After school she had to go to her counselors office. Her last class, which was Honors English was close to the office, so in no time she met once again with her counselor, Ms. Baxter.

"Hi Samantha." Ms. Baxter greeted Sam as she took a seat in her office. Ms. Baxter sat back down in her seat behind the desk. "So," she began to say as she put her hands on the table. "How was your first day?"

"It was pretty good. All my classes seem okay, it's not too tough." She told her.

Ms. Baxter dug Sam's folder from underneath other papers that were stacked on her desk. "Well, with your grades from your previous schools, I'm sure that you're able to handle those advanced honors and AP classes." Ms. Baxter said, patting Sam's folder that had all her transcripts from her old schools. "Did you make any new friends today?" she asked in a very concerned voice. As a counselor she's witnessed many new students struggle to find friends once the year has already begun.

"Yeah actually." Sam told her. "I met a few people. Actually they all seemed to be friends with each other, like they've known each other for years." She explained.

"Oh, Summer Hathaway, Freddy Jones, Zackary Mooneyham, that group?" Ms. Baxter suggested.

Sam looked at her curiously. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"They've been together since elementary school."

"Wow! Figures, they seem to know each other like they're all brothers and sisters." Sam said as Ms. Baxter smiled.

Ms. Baxter was well aware of the band that Summer and the rest had. "They're a good group of kids. Very talented." She smiled, knowing their history in the music business. "Well," she said, straightening out some papers on her desk. "If there aren't any problems or concerns, you're excused." She told Sam. "Just know my door is always open for you. If you ever have a question, you're not sure of something, or just in the need to talk, come and see me okay Samantha?" she said.

"No problem." Sam replied happily. She got up from her seat and headed towards the door. She opened the door halfway and turned back around. "And you can call me Sam. Ms. Baxter." She smiled. "Thanks again. Bye." She told her, turning back around to walk out of the office.

"Goodbye Sam." Ms. Baxter said. She smiled for a moment, thinking to herself what a nice student Sam seemed to be and went back to organizing her things. After Sam's meeting with her counselor she went to her locker to get her textbooks to take home as well as dropping some of her things off. She walked home that afternoon, thinking to herself what a good day it was. She couldn't wait to go home to tell her family about it. On her way home she noticed two familiar faces sitting on one of the doorsteps of a house a couple down from hers. It was Zack and Freddy who also realized that it was Sam. The two boys waved to Sam, and Sam waved back to the both and smiled. She headed towards her front door as she could tell that Freddy was still watching her walk to her house.

"Hey mom, hey squirt." Sam said, taking her jacket off and putting her backpack and books down in the living room.

Her brother looked up and saw Sam walk in. "Hi Sam." Jesse, her younger brother was playing his gameboy advance on the couch. Sam made her way into the kitchen where her mom was preparing dinner.

"Hi honey. So, how was your first day?" she asked, putting everything down to hear about Sam's day.

"It was pretty good." She told her mom. "Classes are good, teachers seem nice, and I made a couple of friends." She told her mom who was smiling with glee.

Her mom put down the dishes she was putting away. "That's wonderful Sam! I'm glad you're going into this year with a good start." She told her, hugging Sam. Sam didn't want to tell her mom everything that went on, because she also wanted her dad to know too. So she waited until her dad got home from work to them both at dinner.

"So, how was school Sam?" her dad asked as he passed around a dish filled with corn. "You have a good day?"

"Yeah, it was good. I thought it would've been a lot worse." She said, taking a sip of her water.

"My day was good too." Jesse told them as he finished chewing his food in his mouth. "My classes are pretty good, my lockers far away from most of 'em, but I can walk. I didn't know high school would be this cool!" he exclaimed.

Confused about why he'd say school was cool she stared at him strangely. "Cool? Don't you think it's hard? A whole lot more work?" Sam asked him.

"Of course! But besides that it rocks!" he said. Sam and Jesse shared with each other and with their parents all the things that happened on their first day of school. Oddly enough, they both were excited to go back to school. Jesse liked his new friends that he made and his classes weren't as hard. Sam liked her classes and knew she'd do just fine with all the work load, even if she had advanced classes. She also wanted to hang out more with her new friends that she met. As she fell asleep all she could think about was going to school to see a certain someone.

Sam's POV

"Today was great! I didn't think it'd be this good! I'm happy school will be easy this year. I wonder if I can hang out with Freddy and his friends more. I hope so, Freddy's really nice. He's funny, and sweet too..."

Meanwhile: Freddy's POV

"Who knew that this new girl would be all that everyone said she was. Well, I'm not sure if she is everything everyone said she was, but she sure does seem that way. Man, it'd be great to get to know her better. I'd really like that, she's just so damn cool. She's more than cool…"