I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter! I hope to continue grabbing your interest.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters. All the characters are from Homestuck, written by Andrew Hussie. I wish I owned them though...

Chapter 2

"How was your first day? Are all your teachers okay? How were the kids there? Were they mean to you at all?" Porrim bombarded Kanaya with questions as she closed the front door.

"Woah slow down! I came back from school, not a 2-year military deployment." Kanaya laughed. "School was fine. All the people there seem nice. I even made a potential friend."

"Oh? Who is it?" Porrim asked, knowing she wouldn't know who it was, but she had to make sure this child wasn't fictional.

Kanaya narrowed her eyes slightly, knowing what her older sister was thinking. "Her name is Rose Lalonde. She's a junior there. We have a few classes together. She lives a couple houses down from us, actually. She seems really nice and bubbly and really pretty."

Her sister grinned and hugged her tightly. "That's great Kan! I'm glad you were able to fit in so easily there! You know what? Just for that, I will order whatever takeout you want for dinner."

Kanaya did a double take. They hardly ever got takeout because it costs money they didn't always have. "Wait, really? Okay, um… Pei-Wei?" That was her and her sister's favorite Asian takeout place.

Porrim's eyes shone. "Whatever you want. I will go order it now." She walked over to the computer and started typing. Kanaya grabbed her school stuff and walked up to her room. She sat down on her bed and her phone buzzed. She didn't recognize the number, but checked the text anyway.

?: Hey Kanaya! I know this is probably really forward seeing as we just met and all, but do you want to hang out this weekend? I figured this could be our chance to get to know each other better.

?: This is Rose by the way. :)

Kanaya laughed and quickly responded.

Kanaya: Yeah That Sounds Good. I Will Ask At Dinner If We Can.

Rose: Awesome! Well, see you tomorrow! Do you want to walk to school tomorrow? I leave around 8:10 every morning.

Kanaya: Sure. See You Then. Kanaya put on some music and picked up a book to read until dinner.

Rose opened the door to her house, walked in, and closed it quietly, assuming her mom would be sleeping off another one of her hangovers. She started walking up the stairs when she heard heels clicking on the tile. "How was your day?"

Rose turned around, surprised to see her mom, Roxy, fully functional, duster in one hand, martini in the other. You would never catch her mom without some sort of drink on her. "It was fine. My friends are the same as always. Made a new friend. Classes as boring as ever. Same old, same old." Rose continued to walk up the stairs.

"What was that one part?" Roxy asked, a slight pep in her voice.

"Classes as boring as ever?" Rose said, knowing what her mom meant by the question.

"No. Something about a new friend? That's great! Who is she? Do I know her parents? Has she always lived here?" Her mom pestered her with all these questions. It annoyed Rose so much. Just because she 'hasn't made many friends in the past few years', her mom felt the need to jump on every friend opportunity that came along.

Rose sighed. "Her name is Kanaya. She's a sophomore that just moved here. She lives a few houses down from us. It's really not that big a deal."

"You should invite her over sometime. This weekend maybe?"

"Fine. I will ask." Rose replied, knowing that was the only way to get her mother off of her back. She walked up to her room and texted with Kanaya for a few minutes, then pulled out her knitting needles and continued on her latest project. She had been into knitting for a few years now. She found it relaxing, a way to take her mind off of everything else, no matter what else was going on in her life. Right now she was knitting a scarf, which she would probably finish in a day or two. After a bit of that, she put the needles down and picked up a book. She liked reading. It took her to places she wanted to go but knew she never would. Rose lay down and read, her eyes drooping until she fell asleep. Even though it was only about half past 8, the first day of school was a tiring experience.

Rose woke up the next morning to her mom's cat Mutini pawing at her. She groaned and looked at the clock. 6:26 am. Well, she thought, I would have had to get up soon anyway. I guess now is as good as ever. She rubbed her eyes, struggled through her sheets, and got out of bed. She grabbed her phone and padded to the bathroom, splashed her face with water, and walked downstairs. All the lights were off, which means her mom was still asleep. She turned on the kitchen light on and poured herself some cereal and milk. Just as she finished, she felt her phone buzz. She unlocked it, squinting until she could turn down the brightness, and checked her messages.

?: hey sis how was day one of school?

Did she really want to deal with him right now? He was cool, but this early in the morning he could get annoying quickly. She grimaced and responded.

Rose: Hey Dave. School was fine yesterday. Wbu?

Dave: it was fine john and i have one class together so far and we may have at least one more today

Rose: That's cool. I met someone new yesterday. Her name is Kanaya. She's pretty cool. She's in your grade.

Dave: huh havent heard of her

Rose: She's new to the state.

Dave: thats probably why. well cool good for you making friend. im happy for you

Rose: Well, nothing is for sure yet. We only met yesterday.

Dave: whatever see you at school.

Rose put her dishes in the sink and went to go get dressed. After much frustration with her black lipstick, she finally finished getting ready at 8 am. She pulled out her phone and opened her messages again.

Rose: We still good to walk today?

Kanaya: Yep. See You In 10 Minutes.

Rose played on her phone for a few minutes, then left her house, making sure not to wake her snoring mother.

"So, are you going to go to see your other set of teachers today?" Porrim asked while giving her little sister eggs on toast.

"Yeah. I hope the students in this bunch of classes are cool." Kanaya responded. Alternia High School had an A-B schedule, which means everyone only saw their teachers every other day. Kanaya just thought it was their excuse to give more homework. As she started shoveling in her eggs, her phone buzzed. She looked at it, smiled, and typed a quick response.

Porrim raised her eyebrow. "You never smile when reading your phone. Who was it?"

"It was just Rose asking if we were going to walk to school together today." Honestly Porrim Kanaya thought to herself, don't make this into something bigger than what it really is.

After a few more minutes, the doorbell rang. Kanaya and Porrim looked at each other, then before Kanaya could think, Porrim was running to the door. They always did this when the doorbell went off. She opened the door and smiled. "Hello, you must be Rose. I'm Porrim, Kanaya's older sister." She stuck her hand out.

Rose blushed a bit. She was really good looking. She could see why Kanaya was so pretty. She took her hand. "Hello. It's nice to meet you."

Kanaya pushed past her sister and grinned. "Hi Rose! I'm ready. Let's go. Bye Porrim."

"You two have fun at school. See you later."

"Yeah okay. Oh hey! Is it okay if I hang out at Rose's house this weekend?" Kanaya asked, not wanting to say she completely forgot.

Porrim pondered for a minute. "As long as there will be some sort of guardian supervision, then I'm okay with that."

"Oh yeah. My mom rarely leaves the house, so she will definitely be there." Rose responded.

"Alright. Well, you two get off to school. You don't want to be late." Porrim closed the door, and the two girls started walking towards the high school.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Rose asked, "So, what is your first class?"

"Um, orchestra I think." Kanaya responded hesitantly. She didn't like people knowing she was a band nerd. It made some people think of her as even more of a weirdo than she already was.

"Really? Me too! What do you play? I play the violin." Rose said excitedly.

"Oh? I do as well. That's cool." Kanaya was trying to keep her cool on the outside, but inside she was jumping up and down with joy. It was nice having someone in at least one class with her every day. Now she had someone she could rely on.

They arrived at school and headed to the band hall. No one had their instruments with them, because they had emailed out saying for the first week they wouldn't be reading any music. Rose and Kanaya walked in, and Rose was promptly tackle-hugged by a blonde boy wearing dark sunglasses, even though they were indoors. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Rose! Hey I'm glad you're here! I wasn't sure if you were going to be in orchestra again after-" The boy stopped mid-sentence and looked at Kanaya. "Oh hey. You must be Rose's new friend Kanaya. Sup, I'm Dave Strider." He held his hand out, and Kanaya took it.

"Oh. Hi Dave. Did Rose tell you about me?"

"Uh-huh. Went on and on about you this morning." Dave chuckled.

Rose blushed and smacked Dave's arm. "I did not!"

"Ow! That hurt." Dave exclaimed as he rubbed his arm. "Anyway, what instrument do you play? I play drums. Well, actually, I'm a percussionist, but outside of school I play a drum kit and mix songs on turntables."

"Wow. That's really cool. I play the violin." Kanaya said, her eyes twinkling. She could talk about the violin for hours. "So, this is probably a weird question to ask, but are you two… you know… a 'thing'?"

Rose and Dave looked at her, then at each other, and started laughing. Kanaya blushed, knowing the answer was probably an obvious yes.

"No, we aren't dating. Dave is my step-brother." Rose explained. Kanaya let out a sigh of, was it relief?

"Well, we were step-siblings, but my dad…" Dave hesitated, looking for the right word, "left her mom a while ago. We still consider each other step-siblings though. We have been really close for a lot of our lives." It looked like Dave would have continued to talk, but the bell rang, so all the students rushed to sit with their new section as the teacher walked in, greeting the kids.

Rose, Kanaya and Dave walked out of Orchestra after the bell rang, music in hand. "Well, I'm off to Chemistry. See ya Rose. Nice meeting you Kanaya." Dave said, walking down to the science wing.

Rose waved to Dave, then looked at Kanaya. "I have Creative Writing next. Bye Kanaya." She leaned in and hugged the sophomore.

"Bye Rose." Kanaya said, then walked off to the art classroom for her next class. Since art was one of her more favored subjects, she sat near at the front table and waited for class to begin. Just as the late bell rang, two girls walked in. Just by looking at them, Kanaya could tell they were popular. The way their hair was done, the clothes they wore, the expressions on their faces. These were girls who she should not mess with. They started walking towards Kanaya's table. Oh great. Just what I need.

The girl with fuchsia glasses spoke first. "Um, excuse me, but who said you could sit here?"

Kanaya, not wanting to deal with this, simply replied, "Well, apparently the teacher, according to her note on the board that reads 'Sit anywhere'. Oh, I'm sorry. Just because you have glasses doesn't actually mean you can read." She figured if she was going to sass someone, might as well be to someone who looks like they teach courses in sass.

The other girl with blue lipstick sneered at Kanaya. "I don't think you know who you are talking to. This is Feferi Peixes. As in, the girl whose grandmother founded this school. She isn't mean enough to say anything back, but I sure am. The name's Vriska Serket. Better memorize that name, because the next time you will need it is when you tell the nurses at the hospital who wrecked your body so badly."

Kanaya kept a calm expression, but was internally screaming like a 3-year-old girl who just saw a scary clown. "Well, Vriska, I'm glad you are all buddy-buddy with the girl who is heir to the school, but a seat is a seat. Can you please go find somewhere else to sit? Preferably somewhere not near me? I would appreciate it."

Vriska looked about ready to throttle Kanaya, but luckily the teacher walked in. Vriska narrowed her eyes at Kanaya, then walked off with Feferi to go find a seat.

Whew. That was something. Better watch out for them in the future. Kanaya sighed and took out her personal sketchbook.

Rose sat down in her creative writing class and immediately pulled out her notebook and pencil. She loved writing. It was her way of expressing herself when she needed to desperately. It really helped her out a few years ago when she thought her world was over.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and the teacher walked in. "Hello class. Welcome to creative writing. Now, I could be like all the other teachers and make you write about your summer or something like that, but this is creative writing, and we do things differently. So, instead of writing about ourselves, we are going to write about someone we know. I want everyone to pick a person, could be your friend, a family member, a person you don't particularly like, whoever, and write about them as if you were them. That will be your first major grade. It will be due next Wednesday. I'm giving you so long because I want you to put some real thought into this. Try and put yourself in their shoes. Now, onto today's lesson…"

Rose had practically stopped listening at that point, because she was too worried about who she would write about. She started to list people she knew. Mom. Well, I could, but it would mostly be a paper about drinking and cleaning. Dave. That could be a fun one to do, but if we have to get really personal with the details, I don't know if I would be comfortable with that. Kanaya. I just really don't know her that well. I suppose we are getting together this weekend. Maybe that will give me enough to write a half-decent paper. If not, I will just write about Dave.

Rose's thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell. She quickly gathered her stuff and headed for the lunchroom.

Thanks again for reading this. I really appreciate it. Please leave a review if you liked it. :)

~Jane