brothers.

11.2~ Sophomore

"I think so."

"Great. Welcome to Summit High, and good luck." She patted my shoulder and left.

Well, that was... something.

I hesitantly went inside and took the seat on the right. I put my backpack against my seat and laced my fingers together, looking around at the classroom. No one had noticed me yet.

"Uh, excuse me."

I looked up to see a boy standing next to the empty seat I left. He had wavy brown hair and matching brown eyes under thick eyebrows.

Huh. He's cute.

I blinked, realizing I hadn't answered him. "Oh, hi," I said, my cheeks heating slightly.

He looked at his schedule. "This is, um, Biology, right?"

"Mm-hmm." I nodded, looking down.

"Great." He put his black backpack down. "Mind if I sit here?"

"S-sure."

"Thanks." He sat down and stuck his hand out. "I'm Anthony Lowe- my friends call me Tony".

He didn't look at me that way... just like Mildred.

"Diana Watson." I shook his hand.

"I'm actually new here. I just moved here from New York," he said.

"I'm new here, too."

"Nice. I'm not alone," he said, taking off his sport jacket and draping it over his seat.

The final bell rang and the teacher came in. She put her books on her desk and took some chalk, writing her name on the board.

'Mrs. Sylvia Howard'.

While she organized her things, a voice started speaking through the intercom.

"Good morning, everyone! Welcome to your first day at R. T. Summit High School. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Principal Imelda Blake. It's a pleasure to have you all with us. I'd like to make a few announcements before you start your first class. Our new Vice Principal this year is Janet Lissing. And I'd like to welcome two new teachers to our staff. Welcome, Tanya Sills, our 12th Grade Government and Social Studies professor; and York Steinfeld, our Music Theory professor.

"And a gentle reminder to all students that today's schedule will be your regular Monday schedule. Starting next week, you'll have a different schedule for Tuesday."

"That's weird," Tony commented.

"Welcome back again, and have a great first day!" The microphone squeaked a little before going silent.

"Good morning, everyone," the teacher said. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mrs. Howard, your Biology teacher. Now, who's new this year?"

I raised mine along with Tony and another girl.

"Three new students. Welcome! Now, to get to know all of you, I've prepared a few icebreakers."

A few groans erupted.

"Aw, come on! It's better than doing homework right off the bat, right?" She picked up a pile of papers. "Now, everyone move your desks to the side so we can have a nice, open space."

Everyone stood and moved their bags and desks against the wall. The room was noisy with squeaks and metallic scrapes on the floor, coupled with murmurs from everyone.

"Okay, here, I've got some bingo charts with different attributes on them." Mrs. Howard held up one of the papers to show us. "All of you will go around the room and find other students that have these attributes. When you do, they have to write their initials in the square. Only one student each. First five students to complete their chart get a prize!"