The dean told Alex that he had five minutes to get to second period, and that it was in room 316. He also said, "Make friends, not enemies." Alex had mused over that a bit because, of course, it was only school right? What kind of enemies could you make?

Anyway, he thought to himself, I've gotta concentrate on finding the science area. Soon, he found himself at a stairway. On the wall was painted, quite intricately, what seemed to be a map of the whole island. In the bottom left were the building interiors, and he could see 'Main building, North Stairway, Ground Floor' written with an arrow pointing to its location.

"Hmm… I guess that's where I am." he said. After looking at the map for a while longer, he found the Science floor, which was three floors up and 316 was – he counted – twelve doors down.

"Ok. That seems easy enough." And with one last look at the map, he set off up the stairs.

As he climbed he glanced at his watch and then did a double-take.

He had one minute!

Alex cleared the stairs three at a time in his haste to make a good first impression. When he reached the Science floor a bell rang three times, indicating the end of the previous lesson. Suddenly all the doors along the hall burst open, and within seconds the hall was flooded with students, chatting and laughing at one another.

Alex was caught up in the flow, but luckily it seemed to be going the right way. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the crowd vanished, and doors slammed shut. The corridor was empty.

Alex picked himself up and straightened his clothes. The door in front of him was 316. He nervously raised his hand to knock but the door was whisked open by a teacher who was saying, "…and it appears we have a new student today. Come in, come in!"

Alex hesitantly walked through the door, aware of the many eyes on him, and stood awkwardly at the front of the class, next to the teacher. There was a few seconds silence then the teacher said, "Everyone, this is Alex. I hope you'll all make him feel welcome here at the Academy…"

After Alex had been seated between an intelligent-looking Asian and a blonde girl, the teacher introduced himself as Mr Clayton. He supplied Alex with a bright orange book and a revision guide, and then carried on with his lesson.

Clayton talked for about twenty minutes about how energy was transferred until giving all students beakers and bunsen burners while telling them to measure the temperature change over ten minutes.

Then something very strange happened. Clayton called one of the students over, Ray, and told him to 'sort' the lighter out. Ray took it and turned away for a moment. There was a flash and then he was giving Clayton the lighted lighter.

Alex shook his head and tried to dismiss it. His lab partners, a pretty student called Natalie and Kazuki, the Asian guy, were looking at him weirdly.

"Didn't you know what y-…" Natalie was cut off by Kazuki's slight shake of the head.

"What? Didn't I know what?"

Kazuki looked at him and sighed. "We need to talk."

Authors notes: Interesting... stay tuned!