Cori walked into James P. Roland High School and was immediately claustrophobic. There were kids everywhere. It was like a swarm of killer bees… no matter where she went, they followed. And they weren't very helpful killer bees either.

"Excuse me," she prodded a girl on the shoulder, "can you tell me where the office is?"

The girl rolled her eyes and jabbed her thumb down a hallway.

"Thanks," Cori said, even though it was no help to her. She wandered down the hallway a ways before stopping to ask somebody else, getting basically the same response. She sighed in frustration.

"Excuse me?" a male voice behind her said, "Are you trying to find the office."

"Yes!" Cori exclaimed, whirling around and finding herself face to face with one of the best looking guys she'd ever seen.

"I can help you, if you'd like," he offered.

"Thank you so much," she gushed, "I'm so lost."

"Fist day?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's good to have you here. I'm Jason Marcus, by the way."

"Corrine Dav – " she stopped herself, "Corrine Messer," she corrected herself, "Call me Cori."

"Cool." Jason didn't even seem fazed by this new girl's last name slip up, something that Cori noticed and was very grateful for. He led her farther down the hallway and stopped in front of a room. "You'd think they'd put the office at the front of the school or something…" he shrugged.

"Yeah, you'd think. Well, thank you very much," Cori said. "You're the only person to even look at me so far, let alone speak to me."

"Well, looking at you is pretty easy for a guy to handle," she smiled and began to walk down the hallway. "See ya around," he called over his shoulder.

Cori's cheeks were still tinged pink from Jason's subtle compliment when she entered the office. "Hi, I need to pick up my schedule." She told the bored looking secretary.

"Uh-huh," the secretary, who's nameplate read Matilda Jones, half-heartedly rolled her wheelie chair to the computer. "Name?"

"Corinne Messer," Cori said, proud of herself to have given the right name this time. She reflected on how Danny and Lindsay hadn't pushed her to take on their last name. In fact, they had been all for her keeping her parent's last name. 'No,' she had said, 'I want to start over.' The look of pride on their faces as she made her decision had sealed the deal for her. She was a Messer now.

"Just gimme a second for it to print," Ms. Jones said in the same monotone.

"Ok, thanks," Cori was determined to make a good impression on her first day, even if it was just a grumpy secretary.

A few minutes later Ms. Jones handed Cori a schedule and a map of the gargantuan school. "Good luck," she said, in what seemed like a semi-genuine tone.

"Thanks," Cori said again, slightly sarcastic this time. She exited the office and once again was thrown into the throng of high school students. "Welcome to public school," she muttered to herself, and set off to find her first period class.

15 minutes later, and well after the bell had rung, she found it. Crap,she thought miserably. She eased open the door as quietly as she could. It squeaked loudly and every head in the room snapped around to see who the late comer was. "Who are you?" the teacher asked rudely.

The students' heads turned back around, but one particularly handsome one turned back around when she said, "Cori Messer…I'm new."

Jason caught her gaze and flashed her a mind-numbing smile.

"Let me see your schedule," the teacher barked.

Cori hurried to the front of the class and handed it to her. The teacher scanned it quickly and seeing that this late, class interrupting girl really was one of her pupils, handed it back. "I'm Mrs. Lockhart," she introduced herself briskly, "You may take a seat next to Mr. Marcus," she pointed, oblivious to the fact that Cori already knew who Mr. Marcus was.

Cori scurried to take a seat. "And Miss Messer?" Mrs. Lockhart added.

Cori turned around. "Yes?"

"See to it that you aren't late tomorrow. I do not tolerate tardy students."

"Ok. I'm sorry."

Mrs. Lockhart rolled her eyes. "As I was saying before Miss Messer interrupted …"

Cori slid into the seat next to Jason.

"They're not all that bad," he whispered, "the teachers, I mean," he clarified. "Lockhart's the toughest in the school."

"Is that supposed to be relieving?" Cori asked quietly.

Jason chuckled, "I don't know. Let me see your schedule."

Cori handed it to him while pretending to be listening to Mrs. Lockhart's lecture on the Rise and Downfall of the Roman Empire. A minute later Jason handed it back. "We have second and fourth period together…and the same lunch period."

"Cool." Cori said, unsure what his point in telling her this.

"I'll save you a seat," he whispered, and turned his attention back to Mrs. Lockhart.

Cori smiled to herself, and did the same.

Somehow, Cori managed to make it through the first half of the day without any more issues. Jason had been right about her teachers, for the most part they seemed pretty ok. She was feeling pretty good about herself, pretty confident, until she walked into the cafeteria. She had thought the hallways that morning had been terrifying. That was nothing compared to the sight before her right now. Taking a deep breath, she strode as confidently as she could into the room and bought her lunch.

That task tackled, another worry bombarded her. Where to sit? Jason had said that he'd save her a seat, but did he really mean it? Was he just being nice to the new girl? How she hated the whole new girl thing.

"Cori!" a voice interrupted her musing, "Over here!"

She looked up and saw Jason waving his hands in the air to get her attention. She smiled and wandered over to where he was sitting. She slid into the seat next to him. "You sure it's ok for me to sit here?" she asked timidly.

"Definitely," he assured her smiling.

"I second that!" a cute guy sitting across from her agreed.

"Ryan!" Jason scolded.

Cori just laughed. "It's ok."

"Sorry about him," Jason said, "he was dropped on the head a few too many times as a baby."

"Trust me, this is better company than at my old school!" she said, meaning every word.

"Why'd you switch schools?" Ryan asked, simply curious.

"Oh…um…" Cori wasn't sure how to answer that question without going into a long, drawn out, not to mention painful explanation of her parents murder and all the details that go with it.

"Ryan!" Jason scolded again, sensing Cori's discomfort. "That's none of your business."

Ryan looked sheepish. "Sorry."

"It's no big deal," Cori lied, "It's just a really long story."

Two guys and another girl sat down at the table. "Who's your friend?" one of them asked Jason.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I completely forgot to introduce everyone. "Everybody, this is Cori. Today's her first day. Cori this is everybody. You already know Ryan." He pointed to the guy who asked about her, "That's David." The guy next to David was Sam and the girl next to him was Marissa. "Blake's not here today, but you can meet him tomorrow, I guess."

"Guess so," Cori said like it wasn't a big deal. Inside she rejoiced though. It seemed as though Jason was inviting her to sit with them again. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Cori didn't expect Danny and Lindsay to be home when she got home from school, so the banner, cake and card congratulating her on making it through her first day of public high school in the kitchen really caught her off guard. "You guys!" she squealed, "You didn't have to do this!" she hugged each of them.

"Well, we wanted to," Danny smiled, "It's not everyday that your oldest daughter goes to public high school for the first time."

"Thanks guys, it means a lot to me."

A/N Yes, I'm ending it there. Blah. I hate ending chapters. They're always lame endings…eh... whatever. Comment?

xoxo

Lia