AN: A special thanks to Emily for her help w/ names for several of my characters and to my readers...please, please, please review if u want more!!

Chapter 3-Schedules and Surprises

Holy Eucharist

8th Grade Homeroom (Q-T)

Wednesday, Sept. 5th

8:16a.m.

"Arielle Ramsey?"

"Here."

"Kailey Richards?"

I rolled my eyes. Two years in this school and Mr. Armstrong still acted like he didn't know my name. I mean, I thought having him "shush" Lexi and I practically every other day in homeroom last year during the morning announcements would have made him at least acknowledge who I was enough to skip over me, but apparently I was wrong. I guess it's just a teacher thing, I thought to myself as I groaned inwardly.

"Here." I replied dutifully.

There were 5 homerooms for each grade in our school, which was on the smaller side of medium-sized. Lexi and I shared a homeroom and so did Brianna and Danielle, who were in homeroom A-D. Just then, Lexi turned to me from the desk on my left.

"So. Did I tell you about Kyle Lucarelli's party yet?" I shook my head and grinned expectantly.

After she had filled me in on the biggest party of the summer, the fine points being who made out with whom and how little clothing Marissa Jones was wearing on the dance floor in Kyle's mansion, she suddenly cocked her brunette head to the side and broke into a whisper.

"Do you know who that is?" Lexi murmured, tilting her chin up about a quarter of an inch to indicate the girl sitting directly in front of me.

"No idea…" I whispered back, "She must be new." The girl had practically jet black hair and a creamy complexion with cheap-looking brown boots on.

"I think her name's Arielle," Lexi continued our hushed conversation. At the mention of her name, the girl glanced back at us, her dark brown eyes questioning.

"What? Is there something wrong with your eyes?" Lexi spat out viciously.

"No…" responded the girl, taken aback. "I just thought you said my name and-"

"Why would we be talking about you?" Lexi sneered. "OB-vee-ously we have better things to talk about than a girl who still wears knee-high boots with a mini." We slapped high-fives as Arielle looked down self-consciously.

"I thought they we vintage…" she said, looking rather hurt.

"Hmm…well if you called them retro-chic and take off those tacky tassels, I bet you could get a good deal for them on E-bay," Lexi answered in a mock-consoling voice.

The bell rang and everyone started shuffling out the door. "Come on, Kailey," Lexi called, leading me out the door with the rest of the crowd. I knew she had been pretty harsh on the girl, but I refrained from looking back and "showing signs of weakness" as Lexi called it.

"Shame," Lexi sighed as soon as we were out of earshot. "She could actually be kind of pretty if you take off the boots and put some make-up on her…" I nodded, trying to stay as uninvolved as I could.

Lexi and I were different in that way. I only attacked people when necessary, but she tended to lash out on anyone who threatened her status. Otherwise she was a generally nice person, but I guess I only thought that because I have never been the one being lashed out against myself.

I wonder where Dani and Bri are…" I said vaguely, trying to change the subject. As if on cue, Brianna Clark's red bob could be seen in the crowd with Danielle Bradley following closely behind her. They shrieked the moment they saw me and rushed over to sandwich me in a hug.

"Hey, don't leave me out!" Lexi cried teasingly, joining our group hug.

"So how's our famous surfer-girl?" Danielle asked, her light-brown eyes sparkling with mischievousness.

"Dani!" I groaned audibly this time, which was pretty loud, considering we were in a packed hallway.

Maybe I should explain. With pale blue eyes and wavy honey-blond hair, it was an inside joke of the Glamour Goddesses that I looked like a stereotypical surfer-girl. Being the sportsy one of our group (hence Camp Sierra), I was good (if not amazing) at every sport I've tried so far. Except surfing. I had tried it once back when I was eleven when my parents had offered to pay for a week of lessons. Every time I had tried to stand up, I had lost my balance and fallen pathetically in the water over and over.

After the third day I told my parents that I gave up and refused to be persuaded to continue the lessons until it was time for me to go on the bus to Sierra and there weren't any other options than to just let me go.

Bri giggled her famous snort-laugh. "She's just kidding, Kailey…we missed you!"

I grinned at my best friends. "Missed you guys too!" It had taken me until a sappy moment like that to realize how much I really had missed them and the rest of Holy Eucharist.

"Schedule check!" Lexi called out. We instantly pulled out our schedules to compare and memorize them before first period. It was fine to compare class schedules with your friends before class, but it was one of the best known guidelines in Lexi Shay's Handbook for Success (LSHFS) under the "Nerdy Don'ts" section that your schedule should be memorized on the first day since it makes you look clueless or geeky to take it out after every class to see where you were going. (Although sneak-peeks before the bell rings while it's still partially concealed by your bag is allowed during the first week.)

After we figured out that the only class all four of us had together was math with Mrs. Williams, we quickly hid the evidence in our bags and made plans to meet at lunch before heading in separate directions to first period. Bri and I began walking to Spanish class together, catching up on what Lexi hadn't filled me in on about the summer and telling her about some of the things that happened at Camp Sierra.

Brianna and I were close in a way that Lexi and I weren't. She never minded hearing about everything that went on at Sierra and although she could sometimes be over-excitable at times, she was a really dependable friend. I was just getting to the part about Drew Layton and how adorable he looked after swimming in Crystal Lake as we turned the corner to the language hallway.

"So does he live around here?" Brianna asked playfully. I shook my head and sighed.

"No, he lives in Pennsylvania, I asked…" Suddenly I stopped dead at the sight of familiar short cropped tan-ish hair and a tan body leaning against a locker. I took a step closer just to be sure and my eyes widened.

"Drew?"

AN: Okay, I know several of you are disappointed that I'm not going to be using any of the characters from The Clique Series, but some of the characters in my story mirror them in different ways such as Arielle looks like Alicia, and Kailey's personality is a mixture of Claire and Kristen. Trust me, if u keep reading I promise you'll like this too even if it's about my original clique instead. R &R!!

3Elena3