Everything's Fine.

Chapter 1

Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.

As the bell for Mittlemen Independent High School echoed throughout the campus, Samuel Parks looked up and put his phone away. There was still a small rush of people filing through the door.

Sam had attended Mittlemen for the past three years. It stood a little bit outside Paynesti city, less than a twenty-minute walk from the Starbucks at the edge of town. Surrounded by wooded hills and bordered by a river on the west side of campus, the school was safe from the bustling sounds of the city.

Mittlemen was a very prestigious private school, named after some famous guy Sam was too lazy to look up. Since students who attended this school were basically guaranteed the college of their choice, many students applied, not only from Paynesti, but also from around the world. Students flew in from countries like France, Russia, and China, staying in the special on-campus dormitories that Mittlemen had. This system allowed students to not only attend from nearby, but also from around the world.

Sam knew the school had about five thousand students, and about a third of that was made up of international students. With so many different cultures around him, Sam rarely left his social comfort zone, and had relied on his best friend, Mathew Mcgrath, to help him meet new people.

Now in the second semester of junior year, Sam sat at a table in AP calculus AB, next to two other students. True to himself, he had made no attempt to talk to other people since freshman year, and that included the two people sitting next to him. Sam didn't even remember their names. He was perfectly happy spending his lunches and weekends in the group of six friends Mathew had helped put together since the start of high school.

Or so he thought.

Sam recalled a conversation with his family earlier, at the start of winter break. "Are you hanging out with your friends over the break?" his mom had asked. "No. Evan's headed back to China, and Ray's parents are going to pick him up before Christmas to tour a couple of colleges."

"What about your other friends?"

"What other friends?" Sam's younger sister had interjected playfully. "Sam can't make friends or remember names to save his life!"

His sister had a point. Suddenly curious about how many faces he could put a name to, Sam started looking around the room, occasionally turning toward the door when someone new walked in.

Barely anybody. All he could see were unimportant people, blinking sleep out of their eyes, some sipping Starbucks, others suffering from restless leg syndrome, their knees bouncing up and down under their desks. It was obvious that nobody wanted to be in first-period calculus at 8:00 am, and Sam was no different. He had slept till late afternoon most days over winter break, and now he was supposed to wake up before 7:00 am.

School scheduling is a joke, Sam thought as he rubbed his eyes.

There was some idle chatter flowing through the classroom, people talking about their New Year's party, or the standardized tests coming up. Sam tried to eavesdrop on a group talking about the freezing weather when Ms. Newman walked to the front of the classroom.

"New year, new seats everyone! Grab your bags and stand at the front of the classroom. I'll call your name when I get to your new seat!" she said in an overly cheerful voice, trying to raise the mood of the classroom.

Sam grabbed his stuff and stood up. He waved hello to Amanda Sterling, Mathew's girlfriend, as he moved to the front corner of the room. Sam tuned out Ms. Newman's voice and started daydreaming about the end of school today, where he would head to swim practice, meet back up with Evan, challenge him to a 100 breaststroke race after practice, then head home and take a nap.