Somber Ridge High School was a three-story building, and its colour scheme was nothing like the name suggested: stone walls of white along with matching stout pillars that stood on either side of the front entrance; the name of the school mounted above in cloud-like grey coloured metal letters that refracted the sunlight. It was 8:45 a.m. by the time group arrived.

Except for Grayson and Iker, each of the adults owned a different coloured minivan in which they used in a sound, organized, daily rotation when taking their kids to school, as well as picking them up afterwards.

School always began promptly at nine at Somber Ridge, as did the usual work day at Prior's Hardware Priorities, but Grayson was more than willing to be half-an-hour late if it meant he got to see his only son off on his first day at a new school. And because he was always giving him a ride to the same workplace, he was even more willing to let Iker off for being half-an-hour late to see his own only son off on his first day back at school too.

Though, Ridley had been persistent in convincing him that it was much more advantageous for everyone, including the environment, to divide the group evenly between just two vans and two people who didn't start work at nine a.m.

In a bright yellow minivan, Aoife was in the driver's seat, while Tate took the passenger seat and Carsyn, Alex and Lev squished together in the van's second row of seats, much to Lev's disappointment.

In a green minivan, Emilio was in the driver's seat, while Evan occupied the passenger's seat, and Ziro and Nyne sat in the second row of seats, leaving Jeremi to fill one spot in the spacious third row of seats, much to his delight.

Somber Ridge had a very, very wide driveway, but it was also very, very crowded. Countless vehicles came in and out each passing second, barely providing any available parking spaces, and hundreds of free-spirited teens sauntered across the lot without a care in the world. Adults were there one minute, kissing and hugging their children goodbye, and the next they were speeding off out of the driveway, out of the school's view within seconds.

Aoife pulled her sunshine-shaded vehicle over by the walkway near the front entrance, and Emilio parked a reasonable distance right behind her. The group filed out of each of the vans, where they were immediately bombarded by a myriad of rowdy and defiant teen bodies swarming all directions.

Alex couldn't at all see past them to where the entrance of the school was, but it seemed like the rest of the group did as they started plowing through the student body before heading right.

There was a moment of panic as Alex went still, an irrational stroke of fear beginning to fester for the first time. He was going to be labeled the new kid in school; he knew nothing, and everyone else knew everything.

In hopes of some comfort and words of guidance, possibly even an escape route, he glanced back at the twin vans. Unfortunately enough, the side doors were already shut and locked, and Aoife and Emilio had already waved goodbye to everyone through their open front-seat windows before sailing out of the cracked driveway, and back onto the main street. He kept gawking back at them, until they too were out of view from the school.

From all the movies he'd watched, Alex knew better than to resort to panicking, but it had seemed that his last bit of hope had just departed along with Aoife and Emilio. What else could he do?

"Uh oh. Don't tell me Mr. Cool-as-a-Cucumber is panicking?" Lev quipped. He slunk his hand over to Alex's, intertwining the two.

Alex was more spooked than appreciative of the sudden gesture, but he quickly relaxed into it. In all his pre-panicking, he had almost forgotten about his other sources of hope — his newly found group of friends, and his frigid Nova.

"...I'm good," Alex said, a little unconvincingly. "Promise. And I actually prefer pickles, but cucumber sounds better, so let's just stick with that."

Lev's grip was gentle but impregnable as he pulled Alex along to the right, through the throng of avid teens. Moments later they'd caught up with the rest of the group, who'd been waiting idly inside nearby the entrance.

"Finally, the love-lizards are here," Nyne applauded.

"What was with the hold up?" Ziro asked. His eyes, spiked with suspicion, narrowed on the pair.

"First day jitters, Lexy?" Carsyn asked with a grin. Alex felt the heat bloating his cheeks as he recalled mere minutes ago he had almost succumbed to a full-on panic mode.

As if Lev had somehow known exactly what he was feeling, he responded to Carsyn's question for him. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

A wave of snide laughter surged from the group, Carsyn loudest of all. "Always finding a loophole to liven the mood, Novas. Good looking out. Anyway, have a look-see, Lexy. Somber Ridge in all its shitty glory. For your own mental security, try to have low expectations."

Alex surveyed the chattering hallways. It was even more crowded inside of the school, then it was outside, and Alex could finally see the significance of the name Somber: the walls were bathed in charcoal gray, and demonstrated scarce signs of any sort of engaging posters for clubs or school events. The lockers were plain black rectangular streaks, while the floor was a dreary plain white. Everything, and everyone, looked absolutely barren.

Alex was suddenly reminded of the first zombie movie he had ever watched when he was just seven: every teacher, student and faculty member had been transformed into mindless zombies, and the new kid had to team up with the school's biggest bully to make it out alive.

"I think I'm gonna like it here," Alex beamed.

"We'll hold our breath," Tate grinned.

Then, somewhere down the long and drab hallway, a torrent of applause and whistles spouted. The noise grew louder as the source of it became visible. A massive crowd of jubilant students emerged, quickly filling the hall near the main entrance. The numbers multiplied, as other students already loitering in the hall joined in, enlarging the throng.

At the center of the crowd, was none other than Somber Ridge's Student Body President for the school year, triumphantly basking in everyone's praise. Ziro was the first to catch a glimpse of the face. He didn't say anything, but his jaw went rigid with rage, and his fists clenched with fury. At once the group noticed his change, even Alex hadn't missed it, but still Ziro remained irritably quiet. They followed his angered gaze to the crowd, and except for Alex, they soon fell rigid themselves upon making out the face.

"Geez, here comes trouble..." Evan said timidly.

"Fuck," Lev whispered.

Alex looked from the victorious face at the center of the crowd, to the vigilant ones of his friends. He was about to ask them who it was, when someone in the crowd screamed their name and asked for a group photo.

"Oh...so that's Nick."

The group's unified sharp gaze at once fell from the crowd, and was pulled towards Alex. Carsyn more piteously looked between him and Lev, but Lev's gaze was now aimed at the ground. His hand was still securely connected with Alex's, and they were both secretly grateful for that.

Ziro finally tore his gaze away from the crowd, eventually managing to face the group. His fists remained clenched, which they knew meant that he wasn't planning on cooling down just yet. Even Carsyn nor Lev wasn't a force strong enough to calm him.

"Maybe," Jeremi started, treading carefully, "we should take the scenic route to class?"

They all looked to Ziro for an answer, Lev as well, but still, Ziro stayed silent. The last time he'd been this angry, the group all knew, was when his friendship with Lev had imploded last spring.

"You know what? That's actually a pretty solid idea, Remi," Carsyn answered instead. "Let's-"

"Well well, look what the cat dragged in." The face from the crowd had materialized behind Ziro, his mocking smile, full rows of pearl white teeth on display.

Nickolas Pierce, or 'Nick' as many knew him, owned a cinnamon -colored undercut and tinged blue eyes. He wore a navy blue letterman jacket over a crimson t-shirt, and grey jeans — a usual style for him.

Alex had caught sight of Ziro's expression flashing murderous before he turned to face Nick, so he wondered how the 'Nick' guy could willingly keep a smile on. Lev's grip had tightened making Alex glance his way. Although Lev looked visibly plagued by Nick's sudden presence, he also seemed considerably less angry than Ziro did, and Alex wondered what exactly was holding him back.

Nick peered past Ziro, and the sight of Lev caused the corners of lips to curl upwards even wider. "What! Did the band seriously get back together? Why didn't anyone tell me? I would've sent a congrats card." When no one said anything, and Ziro continued to glare him down, he laughed at the silence. "And who's the new blood of the gang?" he asked, pointing right at Alex.

Nick attempted a step closer in Alex's direction, but right as he did, both Ziro and Carsyn moved to block his way. Lev took action too, tugging Alex back and obscuring the path to him by standing before him. Their hands had finally separated because of this, and Alex would've latched back on if it wasn't for the apprehension beginning to chew at him.

"Wo-hoah," Nick said in awe, a hand mockingly raised in surrender. "What's with the hostility? I just wanna know the newbie's name."

Alex grimaced. He didn't want to be called 'new blood' or 'newbie'. "It's Alex," he announced. Eyes flung to him once again. Lev and Ziro had more edge in their gaze, as if to say 'don't speak to that jackass'. Alex knew it might come back to viciously bite him, but he ignored them anyway and charged on. "Alex Prior. My name."

"Oh, you're not just a newbie, you're the newbie. How about that? I found you so soon," Nick laughed.

Now Carsyn looked angry. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Nick laughed again. "Guess who's been assigned to show the new kid around? I didn't wanna get stuck playing tour guide, but Principal Heims insisted that the Student Body Prez would be the best person for the job."

"No fucking way," Lev seethed.

"Why so defensive, Leven? Thought you were more the offensive type. Oh...hm?" Nick looked between Lev and Alex, and a curious gleam forming in his eyes. "Don't tell me...you two? You two. Leven, did you finally come out of the closet?"

That did it. Lev stormed through Carsyn and Ziro, straight up to Nick, a fist clenched and ready to be raised, but Ziro had turned part-way and caught Lev's wrist before it was lifted past his waistline.

"You're not touching him," Lev growled, his eyes daggers running through Nick.

Nick just went on laughing, a hand plastered against his forehead as if he had gained a headache from uttering the sound so much. "Hey, tell that to the Principal H. I'm sure she'd do anything for her favourite ragtag group of miscreants."

Before Lev could respond, Ziro beat him to it. "He'll go with you," he said, some of his anger having dissipated.

"What?" Lev questioned. Though she didn't say anything, Carsyn looked just as outraged as she glowered at Ziro.

Ziro ignored them, keeping his focus on Nick. "Are you going to do it now?" he asked him.

"Nope," Nick said. "Beginning of lunch. Since me and Alex actually have the same math class second period, we can get on with the tour right when the bell rings. Isn't that great?" More angry and uncertain glares from the group, but Nick ignored them in favour of his phone which negan to ring in his pocket. He chuckled before reaching in to get it. "Well I gotta hit the hallway. Presidential duties are calling — literally. Have a great first day back guys. See you at lunch, Alex!"

As he sauntered away, he let his phone keep ringing while he motioned to what was left of the crowd, cheerily urging them to head to class. When Nick had gone far enough away, Alex moved and captured Lev from behind in a hug. Ziro released Lev to let him be taken in by Alex's grasp.

It was Alex's first day, and already problems were on the itinerary. It hadn't necessarily been ruined, but Alex had a feeling that all the brewing trouble was just getting started.