Hey guys :)

So, I got two reviews for my first two chapters. Bummer. But a big thank you for everybody who stumbled upon this story and read it without reviewing and especially those who actually reviewed.

To answer 2 questions: Every member of the Hollywood Arts gang will sooner or later show up, no need to worry about a character being left out.

And the pairings … I wanted to make it a little more interesting to keep some drama … but to calm the readers: Bade and Cabbie will be endgame. Not 100 % sure yet if I'll pair Tori with André. We'll see about that.

Enjoy!

"Robert Francis Shapiro, you're going to be late for school!" Robbie shot up from his bed and regretted it a second later. His head was heavy and he felt a little dizzy. 'Should have left out the second beer last night' he thought. Robbie sighed and hastily put on some clothes and ran downstairs where his mom was waiting in the hallway, looking not amused. "I know I allowed you to go out but if you'll end up being late every time there won't be any nights out on weekdays. I might set you an earlier curfew!" Robbie rolled his eyes but gratefully took the thermos jug with coffee and the bagel from his mother's hands and ran out of the house.

He was lucky. The first bell hadn't rung yet and he had enough time to get to his locker and to his class. He ran into the huge building and rounded the corner and crashed into someone.

Unfortunately he managed to spill his coffee all over the person's blue shirt. He gulped when he looked up. Wasn't that the guy named Ryder Daniels? He didn't seem too pleased with the coffee stain on his shirt and looked angrily at Robbie. "What the fuck dude? That's from Armani!" Robbie would have laughed at his comment if the guy wouldn't have been taller than himself by a head.

"I- I'm really sorry. I was going to be late to class and I didn't see you …" "Did I ask for your life story, nerd?" He grabbed Robbie by the collar who shrieked at the sudden firm grip on his shirt. 'Very manly of you. Now you'll get a nice black eye for your masculinity he thought.

By that time students were standing around them, the classes which were about to start soon forgotten. It was way more entertaining to watch Ryder Daniels torture the new kid. "I don't know who you are and I don't fucking care. But you better not mess with me!" "I wasn't trying to mess with you. I just happened to run into you" Robbie tried to defend himself but it seemed useless. Ryder obviously liked to show his strength and power and he had the tremendous luck to be his latest victim.

Great, just great. "Jesus, leave him alone Ryder" Both boys turned their heads in surprise and saw Jade standing next to them. Robbie's mouth fell open. Was she just defending him? "That's none of your business babe, let me show this little prick who's in charge of Hollywood Arts" Jade furrowed.

"None of my business?" Her voice was dangerously low. "You better leave the boy alone or you'll get to know who's really 'in charge'!" With that she turned around and walked away. Robbie feared that Ryder wouldn't obey but to his surprise he let go of his shirt, glared at him and then followed Jade down the hall. He couldn't believe what just happened.

The students around him started whispering about it and Sinjin came running to his side. "Robbie are you okay? I guess you just got face to face with death" Robbie just nodded. Why did Jade decide to help him? "You're lucky that Jade has so much control over Ryder otherwise you'd be mincemeat by now" "Yeah … I guess. I've got to go to class now" The other students also had realized that the lectures were about to start. Robbie walked to the second floor in a fast pace. He didn't want to run into Ryder again. His first class was biology which he knew he would attend with Moose since they had compared their schedules the day before. But when he entered the room he couldn't spot the boy anywhere. Robbie sighed as he took a seat. Moose was built like a football player. Maybe he should ask him to be his bodyguard for the next year or so. He had a feeling that Ryder Daniels wouldn't let him off that easily.

At lunch time he was glad to see his three new friends at their usual table. "Hey guys. Moose I thought we had bio together?" Moose yawned. "Yeah but we kind of decided to skip the first three periods. After we brought you home last night we took a few drinks at Danny's and got a little wasted. Sorry but you were not ready for that amount of alcohol yet" The boys laughed and continued eating. "Great so you three slept like babies while I nearly got killed"

The boys looked at him surprised. "What do you mean?" Danny asked curiously. "I ran into Ryder Daniels this morning and happened to spill my coffee on his shirt. Apparently, the shirt was from Armani and to say he wasn't pleased would be an understatement" Danny and Moose frowned while Beck shook his head and said "Dude's a fucking snob. Did he hit you or anything?" "Surprisingly not. Before he got the chance Jade showed up and told him to back off which he actually did"

Danny started laughing. "Wait, wait, wait. So you're telling me that the oh-so-great Ryder Daniels wanted to punch the crap out of you but his pretty little girlfriend forbid him to do so?" "Yep." The boys laughed loudly, making some people turn their heads to see what had amused them so much.

"Well isn't that lovely. And why did Jade West decide to help you?" Danny asked again, still amused by that situation. "I have no idea. Maybe she didn't want to be late to class?" Robbie didn't really have an answer for that question but Moose suggested. "Or maybe she's sick of Ryder being an ignorant asshole who treats people like shit. She might be sassy at times but she's not a bully. Actually I've never really seen her be really mean to anyone. She's just annoyed with the attention she's getting constantly"

Robbie thought about that. Maybe Moose was right. After all, Jade didn't seem too pleased with Ryder's behaviour. "Yo, Oliver. Where's your head at?" Danny clicked his fingers in front of Beck's face who had been staring not very subtly at Jade. "Reconsidering your decision to ask her out?" Danny grinned at the boy who was his best friend since middle school. He knew that Beck had a crush on Jade but would never admit it. "Shut up, Danny!" Beck growled and continued eating.

Robbie just watched them interact. Beck's obvious fascination with Jade West was none of his business. "Sooo … how can I avoid getting punched senseless by Ryder?" Robbie asked the guys to change the subject. He could tell that they weren't afraid of the cocky student. "Easy" Danny offered. "Stay with us as much as you can and he will leave you alone. Ryder's a douche but he won't try to do anything to you when you're with us. Do you have any classes together?" Robbie's face fell. "I've no idea. It's still just Wednesday" His voice raised a few octaves but he couldn't help himself. The thought of being with that crazy guy in the same classroom made him cringe. "Relax, Robbie. A friend of mine plays basketball with Ryder. I'll ask him to get me his schedule until the end of the day. He owes me anyway" Moose offered and managed to calm Robbie down. The boy sighed. He was glad that the guys were supporting him instead of making fun of his situation.

Robbie managed to avoid Ryder for the rest of the day. But their friendly interaction had blossomed into the school's gossip of the day. Well, it would surely soon be replaced with a different scandalous anecdote but it was annoying nonetheless.

Robbie sighed. At least people noticed him now. After the last bell rang he nearly ran to his car and wanted to drive home as soon as possible. When he put the key into the ignition he heard a knock on the window which made him jump in fear. 'Dang Robbie, calm down already. It's not like you're being stalked by a serial killer.'

He turned to the left and saw Moose standing outside with a wide smirk. Robbie rolled down the window. "Hey man. I've got good news and bad news. Which one do you wanna hear first?" Robbie sighed. "Just all at once please" Moose grinned. "Okay. So it turns out that you have three classes with Ryder. You've got chemistry tomorrow but Danny's in your class too so it's no problem. You've also got Spanish together but so do Beck and I. The problem is Friday. Ryder has study hall at the same time as you do. But you could switch with me if you want to. They're not really strict at the registration office when it comes to this class. So what do you say?"

Robbie was shocked and relieved at the same time. "And you would really do that for me?" Moose laughed. "Sure, why not? I'm not afraid of Daniels and hey, what difference does it make for me?" Robbie let out a deep sigh. "Thank you Moose. I really owe you for that" "No problem, dude. See you tomorrow" Robbie shook his head and started the car. On his way home he thought about the day and what Moose did for him. Sure, he still had two classes with his future bully but with friends like Moose, Danny and Beck he would manage to still enjoy school.

At eight o'clock, Robbie had finished his homework and was watching 'Doctor Who', his favourite TV-show. The school day had been really exhausting and when he heard his father's car pull up he knew it would get even more exhausting. His mom had gone out with some friends. His mother had no problems making friends regardless of where they moved. How his parents got to be so popular and cool and how he managed to be such a loser was beyond him.

"Hello son. Where's your mother?" "Hey dad. Mom's out with friends." "Of course she is. Did she at least cook something for me?" Robbie rolled his eyes at his dad's tone. "Sure. Dinner's in the oven" His dad nodded and went to the kitchen.

A few minutes later Robbie heard him sit down in the dining room. Robbie relaxed for a little bit and continued watching the show. Twenty minutes later his father sat down next to him and started his inquisition. "Have you finished your homework?" "Yes, dad" "Have you done your chores?" "Yes, dad" "What on earth are you watching there? Switch the channel I want to watch something interesting" Robbie sighed and handed over the remote. His dad zapped through a few channels until he found "Navy CIS". 'Of course' Robbie thought.

"So how was your day?" Robbie got nervous again. There was no chance in hell he would tell his father about the nearly-fight he had with Ryder that day. "It was okay" His father eyed him suspiciously. "Just okay? Well, have you met an interesting girl already? Or should I accept the fact that I'll never become a grandfather?" Robbie rolled his eyes. Okay, he never had a date before. But did that automatically make him gay? Robbie had no problems with homosexuals but he knew very well that he was into girls. He thought about it. Technically, he had just spoken to Tori Vega and Jade West yet. Well, if you considered getting her notebook and being defended by her as speaking to Jade West. "Yeah, I've met two very interesting girls already. Unfortunately they're both way out of my league" "And why is that so?" Robbie rolled his eyes. As if he didn't know that. "Well, first of all they're both extremely gorgeous. And secondly they're both popular. Like queen bee popular" His father shook his head. "Maybe the queen bees are a little too much for you. Try some less prestigious girls. You're not exactly a jackpot Robert" "Yeah whatever dad" His father's words didn't really leave an impact on him. It's not like he heard something like that for the first time. And compared to other things his father had said to him they were nearly harmless. "Excuse me?" "Whatever, Sir. I'm going to my room now" He walked slowly to his room. He knew that his dad considered him a big failure which often resulted in him fighting with Robbie's mom who loved her son unconditionally.

Robbie sat on his bed with his laptop in front of him. He just finished making his profile on 'Spotted HAES', the school's very own social media website. It was very similar to Facebook but exclusively for Hollywood Arts students. It took him nearly an hour to find a profile picture where he looked at least half-decent. He decided to just accept his lame profile and searched for the ones of his friends and added them.

Danny's profile was full with pictures of him with some girls or food. Moose's was packed with information about sports (he was a little surprised to find out that Moose was on the football team since he didn't hang out with the jocks) and Beck's was mostly about movies and photos of him at parties and bars. Sinjin's was mainly promo for his website and his "Master's and Dungeons"-games club as well as full of pictures of cats and rocks. He literally had photos of different minerals and their features on his page.

That was it. He didn't know any other people enough to send them friends requests. One of his friend suggestions was Ryder Daniels. Yeah, like he would ever dare to send that guy a request. He would probably find out where he lived and make him eat his own laptop. Nope.

Another proposition was Tori Vega. Robbie went to her profile. Lots of pictures of her and her friends, her at the beach, her with some brunette who looked very similar to her (probably her famous sister) and a lot of selfies. He thought about it … Tori had been nice to him and they needed to work on a project together after all. It's not like he had her phone number to contact her about it. Before he had the chance to reconsider he sent her a request.

After that he decided to take a look at Ryder's page. There were photos of basketball games, parties and many pictures of him and Jade. He looked at every picture of him and the mysterious girl. One could tell that Ryder seemed happy with her. But Robbie wasn't sure if Jade's smiles were as genuine. But who knew, maybe that douchebag really made her happy? He decided to stalk Jade's profile next. It's not like he had anything else to do. Her profile matched her personality perfectly. It was dark, edgy, interesting and fascinating. Her profile picture was so great and professionally made that he felt like an idiot about his own. Jade had photos of her and some friends of her, photos of herself on a stage (he wondered if she was part of the drama club or something) and she seemed to be very into movies and the theatre. Well, seems like she and Beck had something in common after all. It took him quite a while to find pictures of her and Ryder which he found odd since Ryder's profile was full of pictures of them. Robbie chuckled. The relationships in this school were very interesting. He looked at her friends list: 723 people. He remembered that Tori and Ryder also had a similar amount of virtual friends. One thing was clear: he would never have nearly as many friends online.

He was glad when he saw that Beck and Danny had already accepted his requests. A few minutes later he had another notification and thought that Moose had accepted his as well. But to his surprise he read "Tori Vega has accepted your friend request". He couldn't believe she had actually accepted it. Or maybe she just said yes to every request just to get more friends? Who could know these days. But then his chat popped up with a message from the girl he had just been judging.

"Hey Robbie! How far did you get with our project?"

Shit. He had totally forgotten about that. But he didn't think that Tori would approve.

"Hi! Nearly finished, just have 2 a little fine-tuning"

Tori answered immediately. "Great. I gotta go. Beauty sleep and all. See ya."

Robbie scoffed. As if that girl needed any beauty sleep. "Okay. Good night Tori."

Robbie decided to log out and start with the history project. But not before accepting three friend requests. Two guys from his media design class and a girl from Geometry. Hey, that wasn't bad for his first day on the social media site.

On the next morning Robbie's first class was chemistry. He was so nervous on the way to school that he nearly had a car accident. He definitely needed to calm his nerves. Maybe he should try some of these yoga techniques his mom always used when she was annoyed with his father.

Once he reached the classroom he saw Danny waiting next to the door and talking to a pretty blonde girl. Robbie smirked. Danny seemed like quite the womanizer. Maybe he should ask him about some of his techniques. Oh, who was he kidding? He might be able to use Danny's tricks but he wouldn't have Danny's looks.

Danny saw him approaching and whispered something to the girl who started giggling at his words and left. "Heey Robster! Ready for some chemistry? Maybe we should look for a girl who has chemistry with you" Danny laughed at his own joke and they went inside and sat down next to each other at a desk. "Yeah, if you find a girl who has not just won 'America's next Top Model'. The girls at this school are just so perfect. And I've been rejected before by girls who weren't half as good-looking." Danny laughed. "Dude, we have to work on your confidence. And on your style and hair but that's not as important. You have a nice humour which is great, girls love funny guys. But come on, you have to stop being such a whiny little bitch and man up! I'll give you some tips at the party"

Robbie frowned. At least Danny didn't see him as hopeless case. "What party?" "The 'End of summer bash' on Saturday. It's tradition at Hollywood Arts like many others during the year, but you'll find out about that soon enough. All the important people throw these huge parties every year. And this year the end of summer bash is held by the lovely Cat Valentine. Which basically means Jade West will be organizing the party so its gonna be legendary. You sure have heard about the rivalry between Jade and Tori Vega? They always want to outdo each other by the parties which they or their cliques organize"

Robbie wasn't surprised by that fact. It seemed that these two girls really spend a lot of time in trumping each other. "And how are we going to get in? Don't you need an invitation for these parties?" Robbie knew that because at every high school he had been the people were invited. And he hadn't been invited to any party. Okay, there was one two years ago but the party guests were mostly guys and members of the 'Technoholics' group.

"That's the great thing about it my friend: this special party has an open invite for all seniors and juniors and even some selected sophomores. If you make some good contacts you might be invited to other parties as well."

"Wow. That sounds great." "It sure is. The guys and I always have a pre-drinking party at my house before that. I expect to see you there as well" The teacher had by now entered the class and had also started talking about the curriculum.

Robbie saw Ryder sitting at a desk next to the window. As if he had felt his eyes on him he turned around and glared angrily at Robbie. Danny saw Robbie's look and turned around to face Ryder as well. Ryder looked between the boys and then turned around to talk to the guy next to him. "Don't worry, Robster. Just stop behaving like you're going to piss yourself every time you're near that dude. Grow some balls or something" Danny winked at him and focused his attention on his phone.

Robbie sighed. He knew that Danny was right. He couldn't always feel superior to those bullies.