The middle of August that year, Chris and Hatchet sat on the schoolbus talking about their summers and the start of high school. Chris mentioned what happened during his summer and just hung his head in shame. Hatchet simply patted his back.

"C'mon, man, nothin's worse than Fametown. Me and you both know that." He said with a chuckle. Chris shrugged in agreement.

" Right? I figured that if I wrote the music, they'd atleast not look at us as some rejects or something. We raised money for the junior high school and, heh, even got tons of crap thrown at us. Yet still couldn't even make it to the Billboard charts. Some luck." Chris rested his head on his hand.

Hatchet rolled his eyes, trying to forget his friend's painful band memories. "Look, point is, you made it through the whole thing with Fametown, you can make it through this one too, no doubt. Plus, you got to write for Darren and Dangerous, man! Not even the queen could say she did that! Even if he is your dad!"

Chris smiled. "Yeah, I did love torturing those dudes. Their faces were priceless!" Both him and Hatchet laughed to themselves. The bus came up to the bus loop, and the students got off. Chris sighed.

"I don't think he'll get over THIS incident that easy though since it was more of an impact on him."

Hatchet just groaned. "Man, quit complaining. Let's see what's in store for us." They both got up and walked off the bus.

It was around 6:45 a.m., 15 minutes til school would start. Chris and Hatchet checked out each others' schedules to see if they had any classes together.

"Awesome dude! We got 2 classes AND lunch! Bonus!" Chris hi-fived his buddy, then saw he had a home ec. cooking class. "Ew, home ec. should get the ladies, huh Cheffete?" He giggled and Hatchet just nudged his friend.

"Man, whatever. It's something to fall back on if the military don't help."

The bell rang and they slapped hands, heading to their first classes.

Chris headed to his, which was Algebra. Man, I suck at math, Chris thought. If only Pen was here to help me and just be with me here-

He exited his mind when he saw all the kids giggling as he walked into the room. He just went to his seat and leaned his head on his hand, sighing.

Some of the kids whispered things like, "That's Darren Mclean's kid!" "He's not ruthless like his dad, he's a wussy wimp!" "I bet he and his deadbeat dad end up on the street!" Some of the girls whispered that he was hot as well, but the other gossip-hungry kids made sure their comments would overlap that.

I hate celeb news, he thought. Why is my dad too cheap to pay for private school? Even homeschooling? Atleast I wouldn't have these people staring at me.

The teacher introduced himself and started assigning and handing out books. When he got up to Chris, he stopped and looked at his list.

"Name?" He asked, his eyes still on the list.

"Chri-"

"Ahh, Chris Mclean." The teacher said, looking down at him, smiling. "Welcome to Bridgestone High. Your name'll be easy to remember." He placed the book on Chris's desk, walking on.

"Who could forget Chrissy Mcqueen?" A guy said, a few seats behind him, slapping hands with his buds, laughing it up. The guy looked pretty built, even more than Chris. Though Chris was only a bit muscular at this point. This showed through his red plaid shirt and somewhat tight jeans.

Chris pushed the book aside and looked at his schedule. Only two more classes til I get my first class with Hatch, Chris thought aloud. Three more til I can go to lunch and just stare into the mirror the whole period. Atleast I can't make fun of myself-

Chris stopped and saw a girl next to him, looking at him weird. "I wasn't saying that outloud, right?"

She pushed her dark hair back, scoffing. "You said enough to make yourself look really stupid. Great job." She smiled in a fake way. This caused the guys in the back to laugh. They stopped when the teacher went in front of the class to lecture. Chris could barely focus, thinking only about what these gossip hogs think of him.

Later that day, Hatchet and Chris walked together to lunch. Only Hatchet seemed to be satisfied with his first day so far.

"I musta had about ten people asking if I was on the wrestling team. Imma keep it that way too, can't let them know that I'm...freshmeal." Hatchet whispered to his friend.

They were in the lunch line now. Chris just grinned. "I dunno, bro. The kids here seem to know more about people than you would think."

"What's up? Did someone try to get a picture of ya?"

"Not exactly." They were gathering food for lunch. "But I think they recognize my rep."

They got all the food they needed, went through the line and walked to an empty table.

"I always think it like this," Hatchet started, using his drumstick as a microphone. "If people keep their business to theirselves, no one will pay attention..to you." He bit off a piece of the leg.

Chris only twirled his spaghetti, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, like that'll help me here. Every TV station you turn to, something is always mentioned about me. How sappy I am, how wussy I am, anything you can think of. The rumors are the WORST! Celeb Seekerz said I secretly slaughter canines for their meat and that I keep the skulls on my wall. Oh yeah, they still can't stop talking about my beautiful wall. You know, with all my beautiful headshots covering it and whatnot? " (Celeb Seekerz is the Celebrity Manhunt of the 90s. It fades out later on like most gossip shows always do.)

Hatchet spit out his milk. "CS said all that? Damn man, that means EVERYONE'S heard it!"

Chris just crossed his arms angrily. "You're not helping!"

Hatchet shrugged. "My first period teacher said take everything you hear with a grain of pepper."

Chris just looks at his friend oddly. "Hatch, I didn't even expect that to come out of YOUR mouth." He puts his head down on the table with stress. "Dude, I-I dunno if I can handle all this. I might melt to tomato juice before the rumors get worse."

Hatchet grabs his friend's shoulders and shakes him. "Chris man, you gotta lighten up! It's the first freakin' day! You're makin' a big deal outta nothin'!"

Chris sits his head up and looks at Hatchet depressingly, "But there's like...180 days left of school. I'll never-"

"No there's not, you times that by four years here, man. You better learn to cope and take this crap full force! Be a MAN! Show these suckas you ain't takin' nothin'...from ANYBODY!"

The cafeteria went quiet for a second, then resumed normal volume.

Hatchet let go of Chris's shoulders, while Chris had wide eyes. "Wow, Hatchy. Wow. I, I dunno what to say. You...are really inspirational."

The bell rang. Hatchet picked up his tray. "Just use the advice, ya big drama queen. I'll see you in 6th period." With that, they slapped hands and they each left.

However, a certain duo was watching them leave, them both looking evilly at the famous father's son. Revenge will be yours, and your name will instead, be McDirt! One of them thought.