It was a warm September morning. The sky was dotted with white clouds, drifting across its sea, and gulls chattering to one another as they sailed across the sky. The heat of the sun was occassional cooled by the beautiful clouds as small beams of light penetrated the opaque surfaces of them. A light breeze settled the heat with a pleasant temperature for simply standing at the bus stop. Neilius, Joey and Shaniah were waiting for the bus so they could be at school on time and so they could catch up with one of their friends. As they were holding a conversation about the new principal this year, Joey caught sight of a person approaching them in the corner of his eye. It was a boy. He was a little over Shaniah's height, but he was very skinny - not anorexic but slender. His hair was really curly and blonde, his skin was fair and he had a small mole on the corner of his chin. His eyes were a light shade of blue that gave him calm features and his lips were thin as they curved into a smile. Neilius and Shaniah noticed Joey was smiling and waving at someone. They ceased their talk for but a moment then turned to see a familiar face. However, as angelic as this small boy seemed to be, he had a distinct feature that...sort of...distracted the three: his eyebrows.

"Hey, Alexi..." Neilius greeted, staring at Alexi's eyebrows. "How you been lately?"

"Great! I found a summer job at Six Flags, so now I'm workin' there and I get a discount on all the rides and merchandise," Alexi proudly nods, shifting his eyebrows.

"Dude, that's awesome! We should go together some time!" Shaniah encourages, bouncing up and down.

"I know right!" Alexi agrees, bouncing as well. "Oh! By the way, Neil? Did you bring the guide with you?"

"Yep," Neilius answers, digging in his bag for the composition notebook. "A-ha! Found it."

Neilius takes the survival guide out of his bookbag and shows it to his friends, but they look at the shape it's in and furrow their eyebrows. The notebook's cover was beaten and falling off and it's pages were yellowing with food stains covering the bottom. Some of the notes were still intact, but they were almost unreadable. The pen writing was smudging and beginning to fade. Joey tried to hold his laughing in, but he couldn't help but humor the condition the poor guide was in.

"Uh...dude, you really need to throw that thing away," Alexi says, chuckling.

Neilius gasps and leans backwards in shock. He points his finger at Alexi then responds, "Take that back!"

"Neil, baby, I think Alexi has a point and Joe is emphasizing it," Shaniah says, looking at the guide.

"I can't just throw my dad's most sacred book away! It's criminal! And it's helped us through almost every situation at school imaginable," Neilius says. "Without this precious writing material, we'd be lost in a sea of nothingness society has so cleverly named school."

"Okay, you can put 'the guide' in the family heirloom treasury, but at least get Uncle Ned to write a cleaned-up version of the damned thing. I mean, Neil," Joey says, looking at him, "it's falling apart."

"Or you can make a new one. Your tips on stuff is a little more up-to-date," Alexi suggests, arching his eyebrows.

"Dude, what did you do to your eyebrows? They look like bar codes you see on cereal boxes," Neilius remarks.

Alexi gasps then feels his thick eyebrows in a panic. The bus drives up to them and stops. The four friends board the vehicle and sit in the third row of empty seats as the bus pulls off. Two girls from the back seats move to the left row of seats behind Neilius and Joey, preparing to ask them a load of questions. The girl closest to the window taps Neilius' shoulder then waits for him to turn around. He does. Joey turns around as well to listen. The girl nearest the window was pretty: blonde hair that reached past the shoulders, fair skin, blue eyes, pink-glossed lips. She adorned quite a few pink accessories, and if nothing else pink must have been her favorite color. Her friend was pretty also: brown curly hair in a bob, fair skin, brown eyes, peach-glossed lips. She had a lot of green and dragonfly accessories, so there's no need to explain her favorite color and insect.

"Hey, what's your name?" the girl nearest to the window asks.

"Bigby," Neilius answers.

"That's a weird name. Is it your last name?" the girl with green dragonfly accessories asks, turning to Joey.

"Yeah."

"What's your name?" the girl with green dragonfly accessories asks.

"Cook."

"Well, my name's Bridgett," the blonde says, holding out her hand for a shake, which she earns from Neilius.

"And I'm Stacie," the brunette says. "Now, tell us your first names."

"You can just call us, Neil and Joe," Neilius says.

"Ah... So is this your first year here, Neil and Joe?" Stacie asks, glancing at her friend.

"No, this is actually our third 'til graduation," Neilius emphasizes, bumping fists with Joey. "Then we're off to college or where ever."

"Ah...then you must already have girlfriends and people high up, huh?" Bridgett asks, pouting.

Neilius and Joe look at each other, wondering if they should answer the question honestly or lie. They shrug their shoulders, smirk then look at the girls.

"No, we're free young men on the road to better living," Joe says, motioning his hand. "Women will have to wait until we can make that money."

The bus stops in front of the school parking lot then opens its doors. Alexi and Shaniah leave their seats first then Joey and Neilius leave theirs. They show their gratitude to the bus driver and walk together through the parking lot.

The first day of school; it can either be the best day of your academic career or your worst, but my dad and I have some things that can help you start off right. Always try to eat breakfast in the morning. A small snack like a fruit bar, or a meal like toast, bacon and eggs will prevent your morning from being awful from mood swings or processing information for anything. Breakfast also helps you stay awake for some of those boring teachers or lectures. If you're anything like my friend, Alexi, who doesn't eat unless he's really hungry, just eat something small and drink a little bit of juice. You don't need a meal to start your day, but a head start is always good and maintains your health. If you miss breakfast at home, try something from your school's cafeteria. Some kids have had bad experiences with the food itself, but no one said anything about the fruit. Just eat a few slices.

When preparing for the first day of school, you'd be amazed by how different some of your peers can be. First, there's the materials needed to start your day. Do what my dad says, and don't overstuff your bag. Just keep two pencils, a black pen, a blue pen, a red pen and a highlighter in a pencil case, daily planner or the smaller pouch in your bag so you can get them out at a manageable pace. Chances are your teachers are going to ask for your signature and/or start the lesson early, so make it easier for yourself and have stuff ready. If your teacher gives out an assignment or you think at least one or two might, you might wanna keep a notebook, folder with prongs and paper handy. Avoid bringing huge binders on the first day. Your teachers might hate you, but they're not that insensitive and highly expectant of you. Bring a one-inch binder, or if you want to put less stress on you bring a zipper binder. This way you can store syllabi, start your lessons, and take notes for each class if necessary. Just remember to pack light.

"Hey, Neil, since we have different homerooms wanna meet up later to see our schedules?" Shaniah asks.

Alexi sits at the stone table and bench under the palm tree then scooches at the end so Shaniah can join him. Neil and Joe sit opposite of them.

"Yeah. If we have the same lunch period, we can meet up there or we can go by your house. It is Niah day," Neil answers, lying on his folded arms.

"I didn't know there was a holiday named after you," Alexi says, furrowing his eyebrows at Shaniah.

"No, Lex!" Shaniah says, giggling and hitting Alexi in his arm. "Every Wednesday, we meet up at my house to talk about stuff; Tuesday is Joe's day and Thursday is Neil's day."

"What about Monday and Friday?" Alexi asks, rubbing his arm.

"We go out," they respond.

"Well, I want a special day," Alexi says, pouting.

"Sure," they answer, shrugging their shoulders.

"Can I have Saturday?" Alexi pipes up, smiling and bouncing.

"Yeah, every...second and third Saturday of the month will be Lex day," Shaniah answers. "Is that okay with you guys?"

"Don't bother me none," Joe says, shrugging and spotting a group of boys walking from the parking lot. "That might, though."

Alexi, Neilius and Shaniah turn to see three boys laughing at a freshmen with an overstuffed bookbag on his back and a strange haircut. Alexi quickly turns around, hoping to go unnoticed but the boys recognize his curly blonde hair and walk towards him and the others. Joey stands up, walks away from the table then signals his friends to run behind him. They heed the signal and run inside a familiar visual arts class, occupied by a teacher drinking a cup of steaming coffee. Neilius and Shaniah greet the confused teacher and calmly sit at the elongated table on one side of the room.

"Hey, Mrs. Goldbloom."

"Why, if it isn't my precious former students!" Mrs. Goldbloom shouts, placing her cup of coffee down. "Coming to visit your old last year's teacher, hm?"

"Yep," Neilius and Shaniah lie, smiling.

"Oh, it feels vionderful to hear yous zey dat!" Mrs. Goldbloom says, gleefully. "T'ere 's an ahrt competition in March for students taking ze ACT und ze SAT that can get yous scholarship money. T'ere 's alzo a greeting card competition before Chrissmas break. Weenahz gets scholarship money and a chanz to have your card mass produced which will earn you anudder check from ze store where your card wuz bought from the most. What do yous zey to dat?"

"Oh, we are in!" Shaniah cheers, nodding at Neilius who also agrees. "Anything counts for university expenses."

"Who you tellin'? I heard that," Joe remarks.

"Vioderful! I shall get yous un flyer," Mrs. Goldbloom says, scurrying to her closet.

"Good thing we got away from the bullies, but how are we gonna get to homeroom from here? We have to walk across the courtyard to the stairs unless we're taking the stairs in the backway," Alexi says.

"Actually, that's a good idea. My homeroom is at the end of the hallway near the stairs," Neilius says.

"Ours too," Shaniah, Joey and Alexi say.

"Sweet!" Neilius comments.

Mrs. Goldbloom returns to the four, dancing and tossing the flyers in the air for them to catch. The bell rings, signaling homeroom to start.

"See ya, Mrs. Goldbloom!" Neilius says.

"Guftvye, my precious ahrt students!"

Homeroom, otherwise known as advisory, is normally where you get your schedules, locker number and important information if your counselor or school advisor hasn't already given it to you by email or mail before school starts. My biggest tip for you is keep track of all the main things that go on in your advisory. Number one, don't lose your locker number or your lock. There's a high probability of someone taking your lock or your teacher forgetting the number assigned to you. When either of those happens, buy another lock or ask your teacher for another locker number. Number two, don't lose your schedule. If you have to, write it down in your notebook in case you do lose it; also, write your locker number down once it's given to you. This will prevent trouble later on.

When classes start on the first day and the teacher gives you a syllabus, make sure you keep track of it in a folder with pockets and/or prongs or binder. Sometimes teachers won't have time to make another copy, and if you lose it you lose a lot of information relating to the class like supplies and the calendar for when projects and assignments are due. The grading rubric is also on the syllabus. If it helps, just copy down the important things on your own calendar and create a simplified grading rubric sheet for yourself as a reminder of what the teacher wants and what counts for a high grade or an average grade. If you list the grading sheet from the average score to the highest, your work will reflect that and keep you motivated to only do your best even if you don't feel it was your greatest. Something else to keep in mind: have everything placed in an orderly the night before to avoid searching for any misplaced items in the morning. You won't have time to look if you're running late.

To be continued...

A/N: So what do you think about Neilius Bigby's tips? Do they sound like something Ned would say or are they completely useless and should never make another appearance? Think you can guess who Alexi is the son of?

There's no need to answer the questions, but if you want to you can either send me a message or review. However, if you like this chapter and the previous one, tell me if I should finish the first chapter or ask questions and the like. I'll be happy to explain anything that seems off and clarify the chapters or answer everything in the next chapter. If you have any suggestions, I'll take them too. Farewell, and much rest to you gents.