My eyes shot open as I heard my alarm. My face scrunched up, and I buried myself into my pillow. I exhaled into it, then reached for my phone. I turned off the alarm, giggling when I saw my cats scurry under my bed. I would usually yearn to stay in bed, but having a new school motivated me out of bed. I showered with cold water, which woke me up.

'Hmm, I should wear something that'll be easy to change out of.'

I headed over to my dresser, pulling out undergarments, a light pink shirt that says 'Death Metal', but is covered in rainbows, light blue overalls, and white anklets. For shoes, I decided to wear my brown Mary Janes. I tied my hair into two high pigtails to complete the childish look. After applying make-up, I was ready to go. I grabbed my backpack from the foot of my bed, heading down for breakfast. The smell of pancakes was in the air, making my stomach growl. I saw the back of my mom, standing in front of the stove. She was already dressed up for work, too.

"Your pancakes are on the counter, sweetie. Syrup and butter are in the fridge." She added pancake mix onto a pan, and sizzled. I walked over to the fridge to grab said ingredients. I slathered the pancake in butter, then soaked it in maple syrup. I grabbed a glass cup of milk, and made chocolate milk with some Nesquick powder. After putting everything back, I sat down at the counter to eat.

"Do you have all your supplies honey?"

"Yup!" I retorted, with my mouth full of food.

You suuure?"

"Umm.." I quickly stuffed my mouth to chew while I checked my bag. I had my binder, lined paper, at least seven notebooks, my sketch book, headphones, a pencil case with color pencils and mechanical pencils. I checked my other pockets to make sure I had erasers, extra pencils, led, sharpeners, etc. I had everything I needed. I thought I should grab a jacket in case any teachers turn up their A/C after breakfast.

"All set." I took a swig of milk, and continued eating.

"I'll be having interviews throughout the day, while your dad goes over to Blue Skies. I'll drop you off today, and also pick you up. Just send me a message, all right?" She turned off the stove, storing away leftover pancakes into plastic containers.

I put my dirty dishes into the sink, glancing at the time on the stove afterwards; 8:30am.

I jogged outside to see my mom barely starting the car. I climbed inside, and she handed me a white bunny-eared jacket. I stuffed it into my backpack, and shut the door. After buckling up my seat belt, I looked for comfort in a classic rock radio. I heard Clint Eastwood playing, so I left the channel there. Mom had already pulled out of the driveway, driving down the road to school. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach, suddenly having second thoughts about my outfit. I was almost afraid to leave, but I knew I had to face all of the school alone. I texted Petey, thinking of meeting up with him. The butterflies fluttered more and more, to the point I felt nauseous.

Kat: Hey Pete, are you at school yet?

I waited for a reply, anxious. Not a moment later did he respond, to which I was very thankful for.

Pete: Yeah, just arrived. About to head into the gates.

My grew eyes large, quickly typing to stop him from going on.

Kat: WAIT!

Pete: What?

Kat: Don't go inside yet, wait for meee!

Pete: All right, but hurry. I don't want any students to see me while they're dropped off.

The school came into view as we got off the bridge.

Kat: Be there in a few seconds.

Soon I saw Pete leaning against a pillar. He looked relieved. I got out of the car, telling my mom I love her as she wished me good luck. I slid on my backpack.

"Hey Pete, how's it going?"

"Glad you literally meant a fee seconds. I'm hoping no bullies have seen me yet."

I gave him a confused look.

"Bullies? What do you mean? I never had bullies at my old school."

He looked at me, surprised.

"Kat, d-don't you know? This is the worst school in the entire country."

I nervously chuckled, thinking he was joking with me. He didn't say "Ha!", or "Got you!", though. I stared at him, still confused. He sighed.

"Wow, you really didn't know, did you?"

"Know what?" I was growing impatient.

Students walking into the school looked over at us, but I didn't really care.

"Pete, what do you mean?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but none came as a random boy with a dark teal vest came up to him. The boy wrapped his arm around Pete's shoulders welcoming him, then looked at me.

"Hello Pete, and girl Pete payed handsomely to act as his friend."

I crossed my arms, immediately feeling angered about his reply.

"Gary, don't be a jerk. This is my friend, Kat. Kat, this is Gary, a childhood friend of mine."

"Pete, where did you find someone willing to act as your friend? They must be really desperate for money if they're around you." He taunted.

"Hey! He didn't pay me, so quit being a jerk! Our parents met each other, then introduced us! I am genuinely his friend, thank you very much!" Gary smirked.

"Oh, so you must be pleasing mommy and daddy, little girl? Anything to gain your parents' validation, since you dress so weird."

I felt the anger within me increase. It took everything not to just curse him out, or to hurt him.

"Mommy and Daddy love me unconditionally, you asshat. If you're poking so much at me, then it must mean that you're insecure about your own parents' love!" I yelled.

"Woah, calm down, I was just having some fun! Look, I'm sorry, okay? So stop pouting." Gary had removed his arm from Pete, raising both his arms up in defeat. I exhaled, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to calm myself down.

"Fine. Only because this is my first day of school, and I don't want to be late."

"Ooh, it's the first day for all of us! Let us go into the school, my chumps!" He turned on his heels, walking into school merrily. Once he was out of ear shot, I turned to Pete.

"What's his problem?"

"I'll tell you about it later, C'mon, we should go too, before we're late." I nodded I'm agreement, both of us catching up to Gary, who had stopped to wait.

"Gotta be faster than that, you slugs."

"Gary, one of these days I'm going to punch you in the face so God damn hard you'll be sorry for your smartass remarks."

"I'd love to see you try, girlie."

"Whatever." As I looked away from Gary, my eyes landed on the girl's dorm. I tried to take I'm as much details as possible, then looked the opposite way to see a boys' dorm. They were both two stories, and judging from the amount of windows, there must be a whole lot of students here.

Standing at the bottom of the steps of the school, I hesitated to go up. Since the moment the three of us had stepped on school grounds, there has been nothing but whispers, giggles, and taunts. I was usually used to such reactions, but now they were getting to me. I saw Gary and Pete go up. I noticed they both sported Jansport backpacks. I caught up to them before I was left behind. At the double doors in front of the school, I took a deep breath as Gary opened them both, Pete and I being right behind him.

Everyone glanced over at us, but some eyes didn't leave us. Kids began to whisper to their friends again. I looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, until I came to my senses.

"Uhh, where's the office?"

"Should be at the top of the stairs." Gary answered.

We all went to the office, Gary speaking up for us.

"Hello miss. We are all new students."

"Oh! There you all are. Dr. Crabblesnitch has been expecting you. His office is over here, just go through that door." She pointed at a door behind her.

"Thank you m'am."

'What in the everloving Hell kind of name is Crabblesnitch? It even has the word snitch in it!'

Inside Crabblesnitch's office, there were two chairs in front of his desk. Gary offered a chair to me, which made me roll his eyes at him. He wouldn't stop pointing at it though, so I sat down. Pete sat on the other chair, leaving Gary to lean against his chair. Crabblesnitch entered the office, and was wearing the ugliest suit I had ever seen. He greeted us as he took his seat. He took out some files from his desk, then named us off.

"Peter Kowalski, straight As, how impressive! Never done a naughty deed."

"Gary Smith, hmm, quite the unique case. Regardless, I hope you keep your nose clean."

"And Katherine Presley, a fine young lady with nothing but feedback of being an outstanding student, unafraid of standing out."

•••

After Crabblesnitch droned on about our records, he commanded us to receive our schedules, locker numbers, and uniforms from Miss Danvers.

"Jeez, it felt like that took an eternity. I didn't think he'd ever shut up about keeping our noses clean." I complained.

"He should leave us alone from now on, since we're not trouble makers."

"I hope so."

"You guys go get changed, I'll just wait for you downstairs."

"Wait, where are the bathrooms?"

"They should be on opposite side of the school. Girls' on the second floor are on the left side of the building, boys' are on the right."

I scurried off to the girls', luckily for me it was empty. I went inside the stall farthest from the entry. I folded my clothes neatly into my backpack. Once I was wearing my uniform, I got out of the stall and looked at myself in the mirror.

"This green is literally like a Master Chief green.'

I adjusted my red tie, and made sure my blouse was tucked in. I twirled around, seeing my skirt slightly flare out. I then met up with Gary, who was picking on a little kid. The kid ran away from him, crying out, "Momaaa!". I felt pity for him, and chastised Gary.

"Why are you such a Bully?"

"At this school, you're either the bully, or the bullied. So you choose." I shrugged.

"Neither."

"So bullied it is, then!"

"God damn it Gary-"

"Hey guys!" I heard Pete say behind me. I turned around.

"Hey Pete."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing much. Anyways, what's your schedule?"

Pete took his schedule out of pocket.

"Well, today I have English honors, and gym."

"Me too! What about you, Gary?"

"I have math, then gym."

"So we'll watch each other suffer through exercise. Nice." I commented. Gary glanced at his watch.

"We should go to class, it's about to start soon."

"What time is it?"

"9:23am, class starts in seven minutes."

"Fine, catch you later Gary!"

"Bye Gary!"

"Smell you later, girlies!" Pete frowned.

"Is being insulting and a smartass a part of his personality?"

"You get used to it." I thought about it for a moment, then stepped in front of Pete. The school was deserted now, save for the prefects patrolling the hallways. Pete was puzzled.

"What was it you were supposed to tell me about Gary again?"

"Look, I promise I'll tell you, but I don't want to be late." I help up my pinky.

"Pinky promise."

"Why?"

"Because you said you promised. So pinky promise me." He grinned.

"Okay, Kat. I pinky promise."

After my shenanigans, we finally headed to English class with a minute to spare.

•••

"Ugh, I'm staaarving. The kid next to me in class even said that my stomach growls sound like a lion's roar. I was so embarrassed."

"Well, hopefully the food is good."

"It better be. I'm not gonna waste my time with crappy food."

The lunch line was barely moving, but once we were at the front, I was grossed out by a repulsive smell.

"Oh God, what is that smell?! Did someone just fart?"

"Kat, I think it's from the food itself."

"What?! No way!" I inched closer to the food, and Petey was right. I flinched at the smell of food.

"I feel like my nose has been violated." I pinched my nose. Pete shook his head.

"Get used to it, princess." I heard Gary's voice say. I peered behind me.

"Gary, when did you get here?"

"Just now."

"Creep."

"Weirdo."

I looked at the menu, and today's special was 'Curiously Crusty Clam Croquet', which sounded disgusting. I took whatever seemed the most edible. I grabbed an apple, and began to eat it. I peeked into the kitchen, and saw a bag of dog food. I didn't understand why that was there, but then I thought about it...

Whatever of the apple I had been eating, left my mouth and landed on my food. Pete saw the chewed up apple on my food.

"Why did you put mashed potatoes on your pasta?"

"Pete, look in the kitchen." I pointed at the doorway.

"Do you see the dog food?"

"She doesn't.."

"I heard someone say they found a toenail in today's special." Gary added.

"Ew, that's disgusting!"

"You know, we can sneak out, go into Old Bullworth Vale to grab something to eat from Burgers." Gary mentioned.

"Yeah, screw this! No way am I going to be eating dog food!" I dumped my food into a trashcan.

"Guys, w-we can't sneak out."

"Why not?" I asked Pete.

"Because it's our first day! And besides, I don't think students are allowed to leave during school hours."

"Pete, I know it's the first day, but there's no way I'm going to eat garbage. I'm concerned about getting caught too, but if no one sees us, then did it really happen?" I winked at him.

"C'mon Pete, don't be such a wuss!" Pete looked very conflicted, but gave in to our coaxing.

"Okay! As long as we're not late to class." He pouted.

"Relax, it's like 11:40am. Class doesn't resume until 1:30pm. We got time to kill." Gary assured.

"Yay Pete!" I exclaimed. Pete and Gary threw away their plates of food.

"So, how're we gonna do this?"

"I was here for orientation, I think I might know a few spots that we can climb over." Gary began to jog away. Pete was still a little hesitant, so I dragged him by the wrist.

Outside, I looked around to see a few students hanging around.

"Lead the way, Gary."

"Just don't fall behind."

"Just don't fall behind." I mocked. Gary was annoyed, but we did start to follow him. He went around the school, and we found ourselves in a parking lot.

"This is where bullies hang out. Don't look at them for too long, or they'll hurt you." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"How are we gonna get out through here?" I questioned him.

"Let's see if we can climb over the fence behind the bus."

Inside the bus, I heard a lot of commotion outside. I heard someone yell, then marbles were thrown, and I heard people being chased. This really was a bad school.

"This part of the fence doesn't have barbed wires, and with each others' help, we should all be able to climb over. Kat, you're first." Gary got down on one knee, and cupped his hands together.

"When I say go, you're going to run, and jump off of my hand. Ready?"

I walked backwards, to gather up speed. I stood in a runner's position.

"Ready."

"Go!"

I sprinted up to Gary, and jumped onto his knee. With his help, I landed on the other side of the fence. Surprisingly, there was a huge boulder there, so the fence was only a few inches off of the boulder. I saw Pete do the same thing as me, and I helped him up. It was now Gary's turn. He copied us, but was able to jump and climb over on his own.

As he stood up, he patted down his uniform to remove any dirt.

"That was easy."

"You're surprisingly strong."

"Survival of the fittest." He smiled a toothy grin. I couldn't help but giggle. We made our way across the flat boulder, and jumped into a dirt path.

"Now, where to, captain?" I teased.

"Now, me scurvy sailors, we walk into town in search of fast food." He continued on with the joke; I love it.

At Burgers, we all ordered different meals: Gary got The Better Burger, Pete bought a hot dog, and I went for a cheeseburger. We all bought large cokes, and large crispy fries. Once we received our food, we gathered all of our fries, and dumped them onto the tray, which we put in the center. We talked throughout our entire time there. Yeah, Gary can be ass sometimes, but despite that, we were all able to have a good time just chatting away, laughing about stupid things, reminiscing of memories that we loved so much we just had to share.

It just felt so right, and so fun. I didn't want the moment to end, it felt like I was living in a typical teen high school movie, or an anime of a group of friends all having a good time. It was the beginning of a great friendship.

•••

"I regret eating all those fries and drinking all that Beam Cola." I choked out as I ran around the football field.

"Same!" I heard a girl's voice say. I stopped to catch my breath, and saw a red-headed girl smile at me. But it quickly faded as she looked behind me. I wanted to see what made her upset, but just when I thought about it, she spoke.

"Hey, you should start running again, or at least stop bending over if you don't want any trouble from the teacher." She warned.

"He can't get me in trouble just for taking a breather-"

"Presley! Get your ass over here, now!" The creepy teacher screamed.

The red head gave me a sympathetic look, then continued jogging. I rolled my eyes. I jogged to the teacher, Burton, and awaited more screaming.

"Why don't you join the cheerleading squad?" He asked. I was dumbfounded that he wasn't angry at me for stopping, and evem more so that he asked me such a question.

"W-what? Me? I'd rather not, sir."

"Okay, but if you ever fail an assignment, it's pleated skirts and pom poms for you."

There was no way I was going to hang with stuck up snobby wannabe models. I went back to being far behind Pete and Gary.

•••

After changing back into my uniform, the school day was finally over. I stood in front of the girls' locker room mirror, fixing my make-up. Then, I saw a familiar redhead standing behind me. I turned to look at her, and she waved. I stopped what I was doing.

"Did he do anything?" She wondered.

"What? What do you mean? All he said is that I should join the cheerleading squad. I turned it down, so he told me whenever I fail an assignment I'll have to join."

"Oh, you really should join! We don't have many girls on the team, and it's always nice to see a fresh face!" She mentioned. I leaned against the sink.

"I'd rather not, as you could tell by my performance out there earlier, I'm not very athletic."

"During practice, learning new cheers isn't all we do."

"Tell you what, I'll think about it."

"Sure, just find me when you've made up your mind. I'm Christy Martin, by the way." With that, she finally left the bathroom. I sighed, putting away my things into my backpack. I pulled out my phone to check out the time. It was a little after 3:30pm. I wondered if Gary and Pete were up to anything.