Rose and Dave reached the cafeteria, where they were greeted by their two friends, John Egbert and Jade Harley. Jade hugged both of them, which caused Dave to blush a little bit. John hugged Rose and then fist bumped Dave. There was no logic behind as to why they couldn't 'brohug.'

"Hey! How have you guys been? I've missed you so much!" Jade said, smiling brightly.

"Uh, you mean we missed them. Jeez, Jade, why do you always forget about your own brother?" John mocked her, acting like he was sad.

"Oh shut up, John." She replied, sticking her tongue out.

Rose chuckled. "We've been good. Dirk scared Dave to the point of hugging his blanket this morning." She said, glancing at Dave. Dave's face went red as John and Jade started laughing at him. Jade started talking about how cute that would have been to see, and Dave blushed again.

The four teens talked about how their summers had been. John and Jade mainly talked about their trip to their grandfathers island and how beautiful the scenery was, while Dave talked about his music and Rose about her knitting and stories. The other three were extremely intrigued by the ideas that came out of the Lalondes' mind. They listened while she spoke of all the books she wanted to write someday.

The bell to go to class finally rang after what seemed like hours. The four separated and went to their homeroom classes to pick up their class schedules. Rose knew most of the teachers in the school, so she knew where her homeroom class was at. She waved to a few people who she knew in the hallway on the way to the English hall.

Ah, here it is. Good thing his classroom hasn't changed. She thought as she walked into Mr. Spades' classroom. Rose was surprised to see some faces that she's never seen before. Taking her seat, she looked around the room. There were four unfamiliar faces; three girls and one boy. The boy had messy, unkempt black hair and wore gray-scale clown makeup. He basically looked like a stereotypical pothead, but mixed with a clown. His eyes were a light blue, and his skin (aside from the makeup) was a dark brown color.

One of the girls looked way too young to be a junior. She had short, reddish-brown hair and freckles. Her skin was slightly pale, and her eyes were an olive green. She wore a trench coat that was almost the exact same color. This girl seemed to have a cat-like theme, since she had a light blue shirt with a cat on it, and her pants had patches that looked like cat toys.

Another girl had a burgundy-rust color theme to her. She was of African descent, obviously, since her hair was as curly as it was and her skin was light brown. She wore an Indiana Jones shirt, which was the only thing that wasn't a burgundy color.

The last girl had tan skin and dark brown hair. She wore a black t-shirt over a jade green turtleneck, along with a skirt. Unlike the other two girls, she seemed to be very into makeup. This girl had eyeliner, lipstick, and eyeshadow on. Rose thought that her haircut was cute, since it was a slightly grown-out pixie cut.

Rose wondered who these teens were, but she figured she'd find out soon enough. Her seat was right in front of the girl with the cat theme. Putting her backpack down, she sighed and took out her journal. She wrote about her day so far and how odd it was. Definitely not the normal first school day, but then again, when were first school days ever normal? She glanced over to the girl with the cute haircut and saw that she looked like she was sketching something. Curiosity overcame her, so she figured she'd approach her later.

The teacher, Mr. Spades, eventually came in with his usual angry look. He called role and handed out class schedules to the students. In looking at her schedule, Rose was satisfied. Her classes were exactly what she signed up for. There were obviously the core classes like English, Math, Science, etc., but her electives were Apparel III, Theater Advanced, Creative writing II, and Psychology. She was overjoyed about getting into Psychology.

After Mr. Spades had gone over a few basic things, the bell rang to go to first period. As Rose got her stuff together, she noticed that the girl with the short haircut was asking Mr. Spades for help as to where her next class was at. She thought she heard her say History, so she stopped to ask.

"Hi, did you say that you have history next?" Rose asked her.

"Oh. Yes, that is correct. I have Mr. Deuce as my history teacher. Would you happen to know where his class is at?" she asked in return.

"Indeed I do. In fact, I have his class as well. I'll show you the way."
"Thank you so much! I apologize, but what is your name again?"

"Rose. Rose Lalonde. And how about you?"

"Kanaya Maryam. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, as well."

The two girls made their way to the History hall of the school, making small talk on the way there. They got to Mr. Deuce's room and sat down in their seats, which were right next to each others.

"So, you're obviously not from this school. Where did you come from?" Rose asked.

"Er... Well. I, and other new students, are from Alternia high. A huge accident happened there that I'd... Rather not talk about at this time." Kanaya replied.

"...I see. I apologize," the Lalonde replied. "You don't have too." she smiled.

Kanaya smiled back. "Thank you."

All of the sudden, a boy walked into the classroom, ranting about how shitty the students are here. Kanaya let out a heavy sigh, muttering "oh my god..." as she looked at him. "Hi, Karkat." she said as he sat down next to her.

"Hi Kanaya. Have I told you how shitty these people are? There are even more asswipes here than there are at Alternia high. Ugh, I can't stand it!" He said, sneering. Rose looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "...What are you looking at, fuckhead?" he growled.

"Karkat, don't be like that. This is Rose. She was so kind as to help me here, so I would appreciate it if you didn't act this way towards her." Kanaya said, giving Karkat a "don't even think about it" look. The boy grumbled something and then looked away, saying "Fine." Rose chuckled a little bit.

"I apologize for my friend, Karkat's, actions. He tends to be like that most of the time. He'll warm up to you." Kanaya said with a smile.

"And I'm sure I'll warm up to him." Rose said, smiling back.

Mr. Deuce walked into the classroom before the bell rang and started to begin class. He didn't actually start a History lesson, he just went over classroom procedures and simple, first day of school things. That relieved most of the people in the class. After all, who wants to do work the first day of school?

Rose occasionally glanced at Kanaya, who had started sketching out of boredom. Since she was sitting next to her, she could see what she was drawing. It was a concept image of an elegant, Victorian style dress. "That's a gorgeous outfit," Rose whispered, awestruck at not only the design, but the drawing as well.

Kanaya looked at Rose for a minute. "Thank you," she whispered back, smiling.

Mr. Deuce had gone off on a rant about politics, somehow, when the bell rang to go to second period. Rose stood up and got her bag ready to leave.

"Hey, who is your next teacher?" Rose asked Kanaya.

"Uhm... I believe it's Mrs. PM? Is her name just abbreviated like that?" The brunette responded.

"Yeah, it is. It's some long name that's too long for the sheet. Her class is in the hallway next to this one, on the left." the Lalonde said, pointing to which hallway she was talking about.

"Okay, thank you so much for helping me out. I suppose I'll see you later?"
"Hopefully, yes. Goodbye for now."

The two girls went their separate ways for now. Rose was struck by how polite and sophisticated this Kanaya girl was. Normally, girls who had Kanaya's looks were complete bitches. But Kanaya was different, and Rose was positive that she didn't mind the Maryam girl at all.