Well at least it's not a block schedule, I thought as I looked down at the paper Ms. Cope gave me. My clothes were mostly dry when she gave them back to me at the end of first period. My jeans were damp at the bottom, but it felt good in this congested, teenager-smelling hallway. I was staying as close to the lockers as I could without running into any open ones. At the school in Mexico, I had the brightest idea to try and memorize the map while walking. Ended up being the laughing stock of school. I glanced up at a clock and knew I had enough time to stop and read over my classes: Trigonometry, English, Spanish, Gym (hopefully I don't excel too much), Lunch, History, then Biology. I shivered at the thought of Biology. Ever since my time in Mexico, Evey has driven me away from getting into Biology. But since it's a required class to take in order to get into college, I had to take it. I never knew why she was worried about it. She can be a bit queasy around organs and medical things, so I guess she didn't want me to bring home a frog that I had to dissect by myself.

The bell suddenly rang and I fumbled with my papers to connect my English classroom to the map. It was in a different building, and I couldn't help but sprint like the wind there. Thank god most kids were already in class. I slipped inside the room just in time for the door to close behind me and lock. Oh great, one of those teachers. But the smile on his face brought me to my senses.

"Oh you must be Miss Ennis," he gladly shook my hand and took my slip of paper. He gestured to an open table that should have another student there. Maybe it's not a full class? I pulled out the same notebook from earlier and started a new page. Yeah, I'm weird like that. I try to save paper and notebook usage, so I merge classes into them. In order to not mix them up, I try to keep the more literature classes (English, History, Spanish) mixed with symbols and equation classes (Math, Science). Spanish usually had a notebook all on its own, but this year I was going to merge that with Biology because I knew a good amount of Spanish already. History was the big one. I wondered what I would be studying in Government this year… probably government crap. Bleh, politics.

The class went by in a rush, mostly because I wasn't really paying attention, and so did Spanish. It was funny though, because my Spanish teacher, Ms. Armijo, went ecstatic when she heard that I came from Mexico. Okay, I have to admit I knew some Spanish, but if you say that to a fluent speaker, they will start rambling on and on to you in Spanish like you know every single thing they're saying. I'm not that good, so when she ended her little speech, I responded in a weak little voice, "Oh, uh… si?"

Once it came to Gym though, I was terrified to move a muscle. I hid in a bathroom stall for the beginning of it until the coach sent another girl to go find me. I slowly walked out and followed her brown, bobbing ponytail into the gym. The gym wasn't too big, but it wasn't insanely small either. The boys were playing basketball on the other side of the court. A group of them ran past us group of girls saying teasing words like typical teenage boys do. Some girls seemed offended while others giggled and whispered in high pitches. I just tugged on my little pony tail that was insanely curly at the end. I didn't even think to bring a brush.

"Okay girls! Today we're going to play some racquetball! It's basically tennis but with a volleyball net in between the two teams. Racquets are on the side right over here," he gestured his hand to the pile of racquets at the base of the wall. "But first you girls need to take a lap around the gym!" Crap. All the girls started pushing a bit, some seemed offended, but they all slowly merged into a single line. I watched as they smoothed out, and Coach Clapp walked over to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Alaina, you need to run with the girls… did you not do that back in Mexico?" he asked with concern.

"Uh…" I started, trying to make up a good excuse. I hated Gym class, mostly because I was afraid of deeming myself a freak for being too athletic. I didn't really look athletic. I had thin arms and legs but with a slight curve in my body. Hell I'm not saying I hate my body, but I just didn't look athletic. No muscle. "I uh… I pulled a muscle in my calf back in Mexico. It was pretty bad, couldn't really walk much. I'm uh… kind of afraid of injuring myself even more," I replied to him. Hopefully that was convincing enough.

Coach Clapp seemed to understand my lie completely. "Okay, you can sit out of class for today, but you should watch so you know how to play for next time. I'm glad you are taking care of yourself. Some kids push it to the breaking point." He gathered the girls together and I started walking over to a bench nearby the racquets. I added a soft limp in my step so the girls grabbing the racquets knew why I was sitting out. Just as I was about to sit down, a familiar girl walked up to Coach Clapp with a note. Blinking, I eyed the two talking and saw the teacher nod towards me. The girl turned and I stiffened a bit. She was my guide. Crap, what was her name again? I tried to rack my brain for something while she sat down a foot away from me on the bench. She wasn't wearing gym clothes, just some jeans and a lace cardigan over a pale blue shirt. Her long bronze hair fell on her shoulders. I swore to god the first time I saw her she was a model. She was so pretty. I don't think she recognized me at first, but once she sat down, her eyes grazed over towards me.

"Oh- hey! It's you! Alaina! Hey, how are you?" she smiled brightly at me, giving me a half hug from the side on the bench. She scooted a little closer to me so we could talk while everybody else attempted to play racquetball.

I shrugged in response, "Pretty good."

"How are you liking your first day at school so far?" she threw her hair back behind her so I could see her face better. Her cheekbones were perfect, and she had the perfect nose, mouth, everything. God, I wish I was like her.

Again I shrugged, causing her to smile, "You shrug a lot."

"I guess it's a thing I do," I replied softly. Her eyes looked at me, waiting for me to answer her question. She had much similar eyes like Evey's, but they seemed softer and lighter. "Oh uh… well… I forgot an umbrella this morning… I didn't know it was going to rain so I was sopping wet for my first period class. Ms. Cope got me some clothes to wear so my wet clothes would dry."

"Oh Ms. Cope is so nice!" she replied as she nearly dodged the bird-thing a girl hit over towards us. She tossed it to the closest girl and nodded for me to continue.

"Yeah well… I kinda walked into first period looking like a hobo…" I looked at my feet while she giggled a bit. "But my clothes were dry as soon as that period ended, so I'm good for the rest of the day."

"Well that's good," she said while crossing her legs. "Oh! What classes did you have so far?"

"Trig first, then English, then Spanish, then, obviously, Gym," I replied and her face lit up a bit.

"No way! We basically have all classes together! Well, except for English, I have that after lunch. Then I have Biology."

"I have Biology last period," I spoke with a bit more spunk in my voice. Hearing all of this was making me happier by the minute. With all these classes together, I knew we were going to be good, close friends. She then went off on the information I missed in the classes we shared, and she asked if I ever heard of All Quiet on the Western Front.

"That's one of my favorite books, why?" I received a questioning look from her.

"You've already read it? It's so boring. We're reading it in English," she stated with a huff. I must've not been paying attention during class. Good thing I know that book really well. We must have the same teacher if that's the case. "You should help me, I heard we're writing a paper on it soon." She groaned a bit, and I couldn't help but join her. I may like war books and all, but writing papers were not my strong suit.

An odd silence followed that, and I looked down at my shoes which were still drying from the rain. "Oh," I started and she whipped her head towards me. She must've been looking at the boys play. "How come you aren't participating?" I should've asked her in the beginning, but we were already talking and it slipped my mind.

"My dad got a flat tire when he drove me to school this morning. Plus, it was raining, so we had trouble putting it on. I also forgot my gym clothes," she said. Seemed reasonable, but she was a little tense. Was she ditching earlier or something? I hoped not. She was already becoming a close friend of mine. I'm not a big fan of those kids that did whatever they wanted and somehow got away with it; I must get that from Evey.

At that cue, the bell rang for lunch, and the boys from the other end of the gym ran past us towards the locker rooms. One of them caught my eye. That one kid from Ms. Cope's office. Nathaniel, was it? He slowed a bit in his sprint and winked at me. A shiver ran through me as her and I both stood up to walk back to the locker room. The rest of the girls tossed their racquets in a heap while Coach Clapp yelled at them to be gentle. I successfully stayed close to my guide as we walked with the crowd. Crap, I still can't remember her name. Again, my brain scrambled for at least a nibble for something but nothing surfaced.

I let out a deep sigh as I grabbed my clothes out of my locker. She was behind me and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just…" I closed my locker and held my clothes in my arms. "I'm sorry, I totally forgot your name from yesterday… what is it again?"

She softly smiled at me like she understood what I was going through, "It's Renesmee, but you can call me Ness." No wonder why I couldn't remember her name, it was odd enough just like mine and Evey's. I couldn't suppress my smile as I walked to the bathroom stalls to change. We were so similar because of our pale skin and odd names. Hopefully during lunch we will find even more similarities.

I mentally high fived myself. Making a friend on the first day? Accomplished.