The next few days flew by quickly as I got to know my new friends. They accepted me as one of their group and we spent most of the time discussing books, movies, and tv shows, including marathoning all of the Joss Whedon shows we could get our hands on in the girl's dorm common room. Damon and Luce were allowed there during certain hours, so we had to restrict our marathons to then.

I made sure to communicate with my family every day. They would worry if I didn't. I told them all about my new friends and hoped that was enough information for them so they wouldn't worry. I hadn't seen any of them in days, and it felt extremely strange. I was used to being under my brothers' paws all the time and hanging out in the woods. It was strange to spend all my time with these fellow nerds, and not with my family. I was still trying to get used to it. My new friends didn't seem to understand. They were actually glad to be away from their families, since they were so different from the rest of their families, they were all glad to be here instead of home.

Before I knew it, it was Sunday night and classes were starting on Monday morning. The rest of the school had moved back into the dorms all day, and we were enlisted to help them. Professor Rhodes had actually suggested that we help them and make friends with the upperclassmen. She suggested it would really help us in the coming year. I watched as the cars drove up and helped as many of the older girls lug their things back up to their dorm rooms as I could. Luckily, I was stronger than the other girls, with more stamina, so I got to meet a lot of the girls this way. They would officially pick girls to mentor during this week, when the clubs were having their trial week. It didn't hurt to make a good impression with them now. I picked out a couple who seemed like good candidates. None of them seemed freaked out by how much I could carry, which was a good sign.

I went to bed that night feeling hopeful.

My alarm went off at 7 and I groaned awake. I had gotten used to the night schedule. Switching back to getting up during the day was hard. I rushed through the shower and pulled a brush through my hair. I voted for the simple ponytail today, I decided as I put on my uniform, being more careful than usual. It was the first day. I wanted to make a good impression. I made sure I had everything for my classes and headed down to breakfast. I was grateful there would be coffee. There was no way I would survive the day without it. Mary and Sarah joined me shortly after I arrived and claimed our usual table.

"What is your class schedule like?" Mary asked as she sat down with her breakfast. I pulled my schedule from my pocket to show her. My cell phone whistled from my pocket and I dug it out too.

-Have a good first day!- was the message from my mom. I smiled and set my phone to silent before putting it back in my pocket. -I'll see you Friday- The tension I hadn't even realized I had evaporated. Mom was still rooting for me. I wasn't truly alone here. I'd see them again in a few days.

Mary and Sarah had pulled out their schedules and laid them on the table with mine. I looked over their classes and saw that we had a few classes together and the same lunch period. Mary was even in my Japanese and karate classes. I hadn't noticed her a belt-test the other day. "You're taking karate?" I asked her. She nodded shyly.

"I always wanted to learn, but never could," she explained. "I didn't bother testing for a belt since I never studied," she continued. That made sense.

The warning bell rang and we headed off to class. We were all in the honors track so I would actually be seeing them a lot throughout the day. I found my way to my first class. Apparently, all of the Apprentices had classes in the same hallway. The Professors were in the hall to point us the right way. I found my English class with Mary at my heels. I smiled at her and we found seats next to each other to claim. I fingered my hourglass charm nervously while we waited for class to start. "It'll be ok," Mary reassured me. I smiled over at her and hoped that she was right. The bell rang again and the rest of the students clambered for their seats. Professor Rhodes strode to the front of the room.

"Good morning, Apprentices," she greeted us. She seemed to be unaffected by the early hour.

"Good morning, Professor," the class intoned automatically.

"Welcome to Honors English, everyone. I know you will all do well here or you would not have been selected for the Honors program. It is a lot of hard work. Each of your professors will be available in the evenings during study time to answer any questions that you may have. Most of your classes will be in this hallway, so you shouldn't get lost. If you do, please ask any of the Professors, they will be willing to help," she grabbed a stack of papers from her desk and started passing them out. "These are the syllabi for the year," she started going over the syllabi and explaining everything we needed for her class. She then passed out the first book we would be reading this year: Tom Sawyer. She also passed out planers to everyone and gave us our first homework assignments. Which were of course due tomorrow.

The rest of the morning was much of the same, receiving syllabi, explanations of the class, and homework assignments. It seemed like a huge amount of work to be assigned on the first day of school. I hoped this afternoon would be easier. My bag was already feeling too heavy with all of the binders and notebooks and textbooks in it. Our history teacher stopped us before lunch. "Each of you has been assigned a locker at the end of the hall which you are allowed to keep your things in through the school day. Your locker will have your name on it. I will remind you not to access any locker which is not yours. There are severe consequences for breaking that rule," he let us leave a few minutes early so we could find our lockers. I was glad to take everything out of my bag and leave it behind for lunch. I stacked everything neatly, keeping only my planner and copy of Tom Sawyer to read at lunch. I sent my mom a quick text that things were going well so far and headed off to lunch with my new friends.