THE RANGE ROVER

Monday, September 1st

7:49 A.M.

"Sooo...who's excited?" Kendra Block said from the front seat as the car turned the corner.

"Me." Massie said flatly. She hadn't wanted to say anything, but her annoyingly polite mother would have scolded her for not answering.

"Me too!" Kristen said, actually meaning it. She played with the zipper on her pink Jansport backpack.

Massie looked at her friends' faces. Claire looked white as a ghost as she nibbled on her manicured thumbnail and stared out the window at the cloudy sky. Alicia adjusted the black side pony that jutted out from the lower part of her head as she stared out the window as well, and Dylan was chugging a bottle of water, completely oblivious to what she was about to face.

Massie put on a smile so no one would think she was nervous and added a cheerful, "It's gonna be sooo much fun being in high school. Right, Claire?"

Claire snapped out of her trance and her mouth molded into a forced smile. "Yeah." She said meekly, before staring back out the window.

Massie sighed and exchanged why-are-they-so-nervous glances with Kristen, who just shrugged. Massie gave Kristen a look that said do-something-hurry-up and Kristen frantically thought of some way to start a conversation.

Massie closed the partition between the front seat and the back seat and said, "So,"

"So...um...Dylan! Let's see if your Mom is on." Kristen grabbed the remote and pointed it at the television that hung from the ceiling. She flicked through the channels until Merri-Lee's merry face popped onto the screen.

"Hello, everybody!" Merri-Lee said as the clapping died down. "Now I would like to make a special shout-out to my daughter, Dylan! Good luck in high school, sweetie! You are so amazing and I know you'll have a great time!" She was about to say something else, but her daughter cut her off.

"Turn it off!" Dylan giggled as she covered her face. Kristen giggled, too, and Massie joined in. Alicia smirked, and Claire eventually smiled when the girls were practically ROTFL.

They were in the middle of laughing when Isaac tapped on the partition. Massie lowered it and said, "Yes?" between gasps for air as she wiped the streaming mascara off of her cheeks.

"We're here!" Kendra squealed.

The laughing died down and all the girls tumbled out of the Range Rover in great moods. "Byeeee!" The Pretty Committee cooed, waving to Isaac and Kendra as they pulled away from the curb.

"Oh..." Dylan started.

"My..." Claire said.

"Gosh." Kristen finished. The five stared at Briarwood-Octavian High and just gaped until a group of older girls walked by, pointing and laughing, muttering, "What losers!"

Massie snapped out of it first and said, "Off we go!" In her best happy voice. She was in the middle, and linked her right arm with Claire's left and her left arm with Alicia's right. Alicia linked with Dylan, and Claire linked with Kristen.

And with that, they all took off, their steps in sync, to what they didn't know was going to be a very, very...long...high school experience.