Oh my gosh! 602 HITS FOR THIS STORY!!!!!! None of my other stories have gotten that high!!! The closest is my story, 'So Miley' with 554 hits, which is good, but this story has 600!! AND IT ONLY HAS FIVE CHAPTERS!!! Well, then again, 'So Miley' has two chapters with 554 hits…and I think I just gave it more by mentioning it…but anyway, back on topic. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!!!!!!!!! Please note that I never planned on not finishing this, I just wanted more reviews, and that's what I got. (More reviews, in case you didn't figure out what I got) And here is the long awaited Gus chapter!!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READ AND AN EXTRA THANKS TO REVIEWERS!!!!!

Oh, and please note I have no idea why I gave Mikey religion. Just something I threw in there. On with the story!

Gus's POV
I haven't seen any of my friends all summer, not even once. I have no idea what they've been doing, but my guess is Vince is thinking of what school sports he should try out for, Mikey's getting excited over his electives (again), TJ didn't do his summer reading, Gretchen is getting all excited over bio, and Spinelli is probably up to no good…as usual.

But at least I'll figure it out today, since it's the first day of school. And I heard I have four classes with Ashley A. I don't know why, but I'm suddenly very interested in Ashley. Very interested.

But Ashley would never like a guy like me…would she? I mean, honestly, she's in Leadership, she's on the dance team, she's popular. And me? Oh, I'm just the little short nerdy kid with glasses that nobody notices. Once at James Madison Junior High for Adolescent Students (and what kind of name is that?), someone opened their locker and it hit me full on in the face. I broke my nose from that experience, which is why I never want a locker next to the captain of the wrestling team again.

And this year, it gets worse. I won't just have a locker next to the eighth grade captain of the wrestling team. Oh, no, if I get stuck next to the captain of the wrestling team, it will be a junior. Or worse. A senior.

Okay, stop looking on the dark side, look at what might happen that's good…the positives…well, I might be…no, that happened last year and it wasn't so good…oh, wait! There's the…no, I'd break that…

OH HELL!

Okay, I'm at the high school, and I'm looking for my locker. Number 532…next to the chemistry lab…oh, great. I'll be stuck by seniors leaving chemistry! I'm so engrossed in my schedule, I run right into Ashley A. and Becca, the former Upside Down Girl.

"Oops, sorry," Becca says to me. "I didn't see you there." She walked off with Ashley.

"WHY WOULD YA?!" I called after them. I turn around and I see Vince and Spinelli walking this way, talking about something. Spinelli was still wearing her boots, but now she wore skinny jeans with a black jacket and a Guns N Roses T-shirt. Vince wasn't wearing his basketball jersey, but rather a Metallica T-shirt with some shorts on and tennis shoes.

"Hey! Vince! Spinelli!" I called. They run up to me and we start talking.

"So how was your summer, Spinelli?"

"Its pronounced Ash-lay," she said in this phony French accent. We all start dieing of laughter. I turned around and saw TJ, Gretchen, and Mikey walking towards us, too. "Hey, guys!" I called waving. They immediately picked up the pace and walk towards us. TJ, well, he was wearing the same thing he had been since fourth grade, Gretchen was wearing wedges (who knew Gretchen had wedges? Come on!), a T-shirt promoting Greenpeace, and cut-off jeans. And Mikey? Well, he was the same, too, except with sneakers on instead of his old shoes he wore in elementary school.

Suddenly Gretchen slowed down and let two girls walk with her. Who the hell are they? I thought. She (and the two girls) ran to catch up. "Hey guys!" she said when she got to us. "I'd like you to meet Kimmy and Michelle Olson, my cousins from Sacramento."

"Oh, sure, they're your cousins!" Vince teased, smiling a bit.

"I'm not les, Vince," Gretchen informed him.

"It was a joke, Z, a joke."

As Vince and Gretchen got into their little argument, we started talking to Kimmy and Michelle, and they're sweet girls, let me just say that. Well, Michelle is. Kimmy's a little obnoxious actually. After a while, we all got tired of talking and started listening to Vince argue with Gretchen (or was it Gretchen argue with Vince?) and then something shocking happened:

They hugged when they were done.

And not just that friendly crap, either—no sir, it was a real hug.

I'm not sure who was more shocked, me, Mikey, Kimmy, or Michelle, because TJ and Spinelli were watching as if they knew it would happen. And get this: after they pulled away, TJ and Spinelli started clapping, no, applauding Vince and Gretchen.

Um. WHAT THE HELL?!

"What's going on…?" I asked, a little bit scared.

"Oh, nothing…" Gretchen said all innocently. But her eyes told me otherwise. I really doubt that that hug was for no reason whatsoever. There had to be something behind it, but what?

At that moment, the bell rang. "Ah, hell," TJ said, smiling a little. "Well, better get to class!"

Gretchen and Vince walked off together, but that's because they had first period keyboarding together. Mikey walked off to drama—I think—while Spinelli and Kimmy walked off together, leaving me standing alone with Michelle. "What class do you have first?" she asked in a sweet voice.

"English, Mr. Matthews," I told her, and she smiled.

"Oh, me too," she said. "Want to walk with me?"

"Sure," I said with a smile.

"I'm Mr. Matthews, though I think you all know that. My main rules are no gum chewing, no talking when I'm talking or another student is talking, and no texting," he immediately said to Becca, whose phone had gone off just minutes after passing period ended. "If I even see a cell phone, you get it taken away. Except after tests, but the ringer absolutely must be off. Understand?"

Everyone nodded. We were all standing at the back of the room, waiting to be seated. I couldn't help but notice Ashley A. was standing next to me. Oh, Lord…

"Okay, when I call your name, I'll show you to your seat. Understand?"

Everyone nodded—again. I really hoped Mr. Matthews only said 'understand' for the first week or so; otherwise we were in deep water here in room 63. "Okay, um…Adam Abel?"

"Here," Adam said walking forward. That was when I first noticed the desks were in groups of four. Adam was put in a seat in the back right corner.

"Ashley Albuster?"

Ashley A. walked forward and Mr. Matthews plopped her down in a seat in the group in the exact middle of the class. I wasn't really paying attention until I heard, "Gustav Griswald…do you go by Gustav?"

"Gus, actually. And here."

I thought I was losing it when he took me to a seat in Ashley A's group directly across from her. My heart was beating so much faster…

"Morning, Griswald," she said, sounding a little too happy.

And being the 'smooth' guy I am, I just said, "Hi." This class was looking better already. It was even better when Michelle was placed next to me. So now in my group were Ashley A., Michelle, Menlo, and me. And this was the honors class, so no one can say blondes aren't smart, can they?

Well, they can, but I prefer they didn't.

I know I've only been in high school for a little while now, but I already love it!

Hoped you liked it! I'm going to be really busy with sports for a while so I might not get a chance to update for a while, because I'm trying out for a city dance team, and I have swimming coming up—well, maybe not, because something's going on with swimming so I might not swim this year.

THIS STORY IS NOT DONE JUST BECAUSE I RAN OUT OF CHARACTERS TO HAVE A CHAPTER FOR. I am going to start with Spinelli again and go from there. And I didn't go into detail on Gus's summer because I was getting tired of summer, summer, summer. So I hoped you liked it!

This is off topic, but here is, in order, my story's popularity:

1) Passing Period (5 chapters, well, now 6 chapters, 602 hits)
2) So Miley (2 chapters, 554 hits)
3) Victoria's Dirty Little Secret (4 chapters, 283 hits)
4) iMight Have Been Raped (1 chapter, 152 hits)
5) Island II (5 chapters, 126 hits)
6) Flower Blossom (1 chapter, 103 hits)
7) 21 Degrees (2 chapters, 63 hits)
8) Lyssa, Do You Want To Know A Secret? (1 chapter, 23 hits)

--Maddie Marie