Kayla slipped her helmet off her head and flipped her hair back, smoothing it out with her hand. She looked up at the enormous high school and blew out a breath, blowing a stand of hair out of her face. It was the first day back at school, and to say she was dreading it was the understatement of the century.

With her shoulder bag draped over her shoulder and her helmet in one hand she made her way into the school. She went to the locker she was told she had and put her things away.

She met up with Alana and Katie in the cafeteria to go over schedules and see what classes they had together. Kayla's schedule was History, Gym, Chemistry, lunch, Algebra II, Music class, and Journalism. She had History and Algebra II with Katie, Gym and Music with Alana, they all had lunch together, and she had Chemistry and Journalism alone. Just as they were finishing looking over their schedules the bell rang telling them to go to their first hour. So Katie and Kayla headed to History while Alana headed to Band.

About an hour later Alana and Kayla walked into the gymnasium for second hour Gym and went to sit down in the bleachers. They sat on the farthest side from the door about halfway up. They usually spent the first couple days going over the Gym syllabus. Kayla surveyed the people sitting around her while they waited for class to start. To make sure everyone was able to have a gym class every year there were three different gym teachers who all taught a separate class at the same time.

As Kayla looked around she saw a group of boys goofing off and pushing each other. As she looked closer she saw one of the boys was very tan, with black hair, and brown eyes wearing a hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. As she looked at him her eyes widened in shock and she had to look away. She looked the other way to Alana.

"Hey, Alana." she murmured, even though no one would hear her in the loud gym.

"Yeah?" Alana answered, looking over at her.

"Do you know who those boys are over there.?" Kayla asked, nodding her head toward them so she wouldn't attract too much attention.

"Which ones?" Alana asked.

"The ones that are pushing each other on the far side of the bleachers."

Alana looked around Kayla to get a better look. "I don't know their names, but I saw them around the hallways last year, so they must be sophomores this year. Why?"

Kayla shrugged. "Just wondering. One of them looks familiar." She looked back over at him. It was hard to say, but she was pretty sure it was the same boy from a couple weeks ago from the electronics store. If it was she'd have to be careful on the slight chance he'd recognize her, which was highly unlikely but you never know.

After that the bell rang and the three gym teachers came to the front to begin taking attendance. The three classes were Yoga, which was the class Kayla and Alana were taking, Weight Lifting, and Freshmen Sophomore gym. Mr. Smith went through the Freshmen Sophomore class first. Kayla kept her eyes indistinctly fixed on the boy to see what his name was. When Mr. Smith called out Marcus Brown he called 'here'.

'Marcus Brown,' Kayla thought to herself. After that Mr. Miller went through attendance for his Weight Lifting class. Kayla wasn't too thrilled to see that a few members of Alex's gang and their friends were in that class, especially since sometimes the Gym classes combined for certain activities. Finally, Mrs. Anderson went through her Yoga class.

"Kayla Hamatto."

"Here." Kayla called. She heard a few snickers and looked down a few seats in front of her. Carter, Austin, Andrew, and Matt all looked back up at her with little smirks before leaning into a group and whispering among themselves. She couldn't hear everything they said, but picked up enough bits and pieces to know they were making fun of her last name. They were always so desperate for something about her to laugh at they found the tiniest flaws to point out. Kayla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Just ignore them." Alana whispered. "Remember what Leo told you before he left."

Kayla immediately tensed up and glared at her friend. Alana glared right back.

"Don't give me that look, Kayla. You know as well as I do that Leo gave you some pretty good advice before he left. None of the things they say are true. He told you that, and he was right."

"The key word there is 'was', Alana. Was. As in; in the past. No longer. He WAS right. He WAS here. He WAS my BROTHER. Not. Any. More." Kayla whispered harshly back. Alana flinched slightly at her last comment, her glare weakening a little. Kayla felt bad for being so harsh, but that was truly how she was beginning to feel about Leo. Like he wasn't her brother anymore. It hurt to say so out loud, but maybe it was the good kind of hurt. Like a healing hurt? Kayla wasn't sure about anything anymore.

They were done about five minutes before class ended so they were allowed to wait by the door and talk to their friends before the bell rang. Alana and Kayla were leaning against the wall by the door side by side. They weren't talking to each other because they were still a little upset from their heated argument.

Kayla looked up from the corner of her eyes. She saw the sophomores from earlier talking among themselves. Marcus was standing closest to her with his back to her as he talked to his friends. She looked down when he looked at her over his shoulder. After a few seconds she sensed more than saw him leave his friends and head toward her.

"Hi." he greeted her, one of his hands was in his sweatshirt pocket while he held a couple text books under his other arm. He seemed slightly nervous.

"Um, hi." Kayla answered with a slight nod of her head and a smile. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of this.

"Uh, I'm Marcus."

"Kayla." she smiled back.

"Are you a…senior?" he asked curiously.

Kayla smiled again and shook her head. "Nope. Junior."

"But you've been going to this school for a few years, right?"

"Yeah. Every year of my high school life."

"Alright, I kinda figured. Cause you look a little familiar and I swear I know you from somewhere." Marcus laughed a bit and Kayla laughed with him, trying to hide her relief. As long as he thought school was the only way she looked familiar she'd be fine. Cause getting a closer look she knew for a fact that he was the same guy from the electronic store. She could tell easily from his deep brown eyes.

"Well, I'd better get back to my friends. I'll see you later." he waved his hand before turning to go back to his friends. Kayla waved back with a small smile. Thanks to her training she was a pretty good judge of character, and he was actually the first guy to be genuinely nice to her like that without faking it or acting.

She looked over when an elbow nudged her arm. Alana was smiling teasingly at her, their argument forgotten.

"That your future boyfriend?" she teased. Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. He was just being nice, which is more than most of the guys in this school know how to do. Besides, he's a sophomore. And do you know what Raph would do if I got a boyfriend?" Kayla asked in mock fear.

Alana laughed before asking, "To you, or him?"

"Both." Kayla answered seriously. The two friends stared at each other before they broke down laughing.