A week went by and things were looking up. Austin and I had started talking more, we both seemed mostly recovered from everything, and Austin seemed ready to try and move on with his life. When I woke up the day we were to start school, Austin was standing by my bed. It startled me and I screamed.

"Good morning, Em, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm ready for school." I switched on the light and saw him gesturing to his outfit.

I had to admit that he looked mostly normal. He was wearing brand new white sneakers, skinny blue jeans, and a plain grey t-shirt. I looked back down towards his shoes.

"Those aren't normal." I said.

"What, but you wear sneakers too?" He motioned towards the sneakers thrown near the base of my bed.

"I mean the fact that they are clean. Go walk around outside for a while I get ready." I pointed outside. The sun hadn't come up yet.

"Okay fine."

I walked towards the shower. When I looked behind me he was still standing there. "Go." I shooed him away, "Oh, and make sure to kick up some dirt, okay?" I winked at him and he shut the door. The sun was just starting to come up; I could have slept in a little more.

The shower felt great and when I felt all clean and ready, I headed to the kitchen. Austin was by the counter attempting to make something again.

"Oh, please tell me you're not trying to burn down this house again are you?"

He held the two bowls towards me, "Cereal. Is that not what normal kids have for breakfast?"

"Did you stay up late last night doing research on what normal kids do for school?" I was being sarcastic.

"What? No. Maybe. Yes, last week. And I got up early this morning to get some new school clothes." He was not kidding.

"Wow, you sure went all out didn't you?"

"I like to think so, breakfast?"

"Why not." We ate the cereal in near silence. I was trying not to fall asleep into my cereal bowl. Austin looked like he would explode out of excitement if he spoke. I tried not to poke the volcano.

"You ready now, Em?" he finished eating in like 5 seconds. That's why I was able to be quite that long.

"School doesn't start for another hour." I held my spoon in the direction of the clock. It was only 6:55, school starts at 8:00.

"I know, but you can show me where the classes are and introduce me to the teachers."

"Austin, I haven't even met my teachers yet."

"Well now would be a good time to meet them. Can we just go?" He grabbed my hand and kissed it, "Please."

"Fine, but I hope you know that no normal kid has ever been excited to go to high school." I put my dirty dishes in the sink and went back to the bedroom to grab my backpack.

"Am I going to need one of those?" He pointed at my backpack with wide eyes.

"Seriously, you looked up 'school' and didn't hear about backpacks?" He just shrugged, "Fine, take mine. I have a couple extra binders and folders for you to use." I took my stuff out and put it into another one of my bags. It was way less comfortable, but he needed to blend in if he was going to have even a semi-normal day. If he didn't have a normal day he would bug me about not liking it.

"Thanks, Em." He shoved the binder and folders into the backpack. "Ready to go?" He was practically shoving me out the door.

"As ready as I'll ever be." We went outside and Austin locked up. We headed for the car.

Austin blasted his music and was singing along the whole ride there. I actually felt embarrassed, but when he brought out his invisible microphone I couldn't help but smile. When we arrived the only people there were teachers.

"Why do we have to be here so early? I don't want to be 'that kid'."

"What kid?"

"The kid that always shows up early and sits in the front of the classroom."

"That kid sounds cool." He was going to be in for a real shock.

"That kid annoys the shit out of me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the kid that sits in the back and tries to learn while still is quiet. The kid in the front never gives me time to think." I liked to take my time in classes, the kids that always answered the first chance they never give me any time to think.

"Someone's grumpy this morning. By the way, that kid still sounds cool, but you are cooler so I'll try not to be annoying." He gave me a guilty smile. I don't think I've ever known anyone who smiled so much.

"Let's just go."

We went back to the office and checked in with our counselor. She tried to show us around, but the other kids that started to show up started to flock around Austin. It was getting annoying. I excused us and grabbed Austin to take him to the bathroom.

"What's that for?" he asked as I locked the door, "Hey, isn't this the girl's bathroom? I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I mean, I'm not an expert, but I know I'm not a girl so..."

"We need to change you."

"Thanks, but I don't think I need to change. I mean I like you for you and I hoped that you liked me for me so no."

"I didn't mean like that. I mean we need to hide your face so that people aren't swarming you. It's crazy and definitely not normal." I ruffled his hair. It just went right back to his usual hair style. This was going to be hard.

"Can I help in anyway?"

"You can be less perfect."

"I can try." He winked.

"Hey, I got an idea." I ruffled through my bag and pulled out two things, "Put these on."

He did what I said and then looked in the mirror. "Why am I wearing a sweatshirt and glasses? And why aren't these glasses messing with my eyesight?" He kept taking them off and putting them back on in front of the mirror. I had to grab them and put them on his face myself in order to get him to stop.

"The sweatshirt is to cover up the shirt that those few people have seen you in and to cover your face with the hoodie. The glasses are non prescription. When I thought I had bad eyesight my mom... I got these so that I could think that they were helping. When my vision went back to normal I didn't need them anymore. I had sort of tricked myself into healing and I guess I forgot to take them out of the bag, so these are going to help you hide your face too."

"What about my shoes?" He was still admiring his new look when he asked this.

"They are dirty. Everyone's shoes are dirty. You'll be fine." I looked down at his shoes, they were spotless. He gave me a nervous laugh. "I don't think that anyone will care, but why didn't you listen to me weirdo." I lightly slapped him over the head.

"So I got them dirty, but then I caved and I rinsed them off and they dried quickly because it's so hot and I'm going to roast in this sweatshirt."

"It's okay, calm down, and you can roll up the sleeves on your sweatshirt. Like I said, they are just shoes and no one is likely to notice. So today just keep your head down and stick with me and you should be fine. If you need to grab my hand, you can do so. The halls can get a little crowded." He grabbed my hand. "I meant when we are walking to and from classes."

"I know, but the bell's about to ring." He pointed at a clock and sure enough it was 7:55. Time for the first bell.

"You ready?" He nodded. "Let's go." I opened the door and we were out into the hallway. There were more kids than I remembered. We had somehow managed to get to the other side of the school pretty quickly. I didn't remember that the students had made 'roads' which were basically streets going through the halls. People making their way from the back of the campus to the front were on the left side and the people going from the front to the back were on the right. We made it to math in time to get seats in the back corner. It was my safe spot.

When the bell rang again to signal the start of class Austin stood up. "Why aren't you moving, Em?" He whispered.

"Where would I go? Class has just started. Sit down."

"Oh," He sat down. "I thought that every bell meant that you would move again." I guess I should have talked to him about this stuff before school officially started.

"That's not how that works. Just do what I do."

"Okay."

The teacher took roll. "Emily Cosden?" She called after a few names.

"Here." I said back.

Austin did exactly what I told him to do, "Here." He said. I hit my face with my hand. "What?" He whispered again, that stupid grin on his face. Some of the kids around us started to giggle.

"Who are you?" The teacher asked him. He looked at me; he didn't know what to say. I guess I forgot to stop by her class this morning to tell her my situation. Oops.

"This is my friend, Aust... Anthony. I talked to my counselor and she said that he could join me for a while." He looked at me funny and I just shrugged. I decided that if people knew his name they might make the connection to who he was.

She paused and gave him a weird look then she moved on. "I'm sorry 'bout that." He whispered to me again.

"It's not your fault. I didn't tell you. I'll go over everything with you at brunch. For now just move when I move and don't speak unless I give you a look, okay?" I demonstrated 'the look'.

"Okay."

The rest of the first period went pretty well considering. We kept our heads down and did the best we could to understand what the teacher was trying to teach. He got a couple looks from some of the girls sitting close to us, but I don't think anyone recognized who he was. The only thing that went crazy was when I got called to the front to do a problem on the board and, of course, Austin tried to follow.

"Can you call off your watch dog please, Emily." She demanded.

"Sorry about that, he's protective." I waved for him to sit down.

"I can see that." She commented.

"Austin." I whispered.

"Okay, sorry." He sat back down. A couple kids snickered. So much for keeping a low profile.

"Thank you, Emily. You may proceed." I rocked that math problem, but after class some kids were pointing and laughing at Austin. He didn't seem to care too much. He just shook it off. I, however, was getting ready to break some teeth if they didn't stop making fun of my boyfriend soon.

"So the next thing is brunch, right?"

"Yes, and then second period."

"Then lunch, then third period?" He was getting the schedule down. I had to admit I was pretty proud of him.

"Yea."

"I think I'm acing this school thing, huh. And I'm sorry about the math thing." He lowered his head ever so slightly, like a dog bowing his head in submission.

"It's no problem, but let's just get you comfortable with the bell schedule, okay?" Austin nodded, "One bell tells you to go to class, then comes the bell to tell you that class has started, the last bell of the period tells you that it's over and it's time for break."

"Okay, that makes sense."

"And for class you shouldn't talk unless a teacher asks you a question. When I get called on, only I answer and if I get called up, only I go up. If you get called to go up you can go or you can pass. I can explain to the teacher privately if he or she asks."

"If she or he calls on me and I make a fool of myself then I do. I don't care. I'm being normal today. I don't get to feel normal. I know you are trying to protect me, but I've been protected ever basically forever since I went to private schools and after that, things have gotten real, and I have no idea how to handle it. I'm going to be normal damn it." He was mumbling again.

"I'm not trying to protect you, Austin." I put my arms around his neck, "I'm trying to be a good girlfriend."

He kissed me, "You don't have to try to be a good girlfriend, you already are."

"One more thing about school is no kissing." I put one finger on his lips as if to tease him.

"Seriously?"

"No one follows that rule anyway." I smiled and I kissed him again. The bell rang.

"Ready for round two?" He was looking into my eyes. I couldn't look away from those beautiful green eyes.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Let's go." He looked so hot in his glasses, but we had to go.

The rest of the day went perfect. The only bump was when Austin got called on in English, but the great thing was that he blew the whole class away. He knew exactly what he was talking about. There were no more bad comments or gestures towards him through the end of the day. We surprised Sophie at lunch and she freaked. She practically jumped in front of Austin and blocked his face from everyone. I explained his situation, but she was still acting as his bodyguard. We blended in all third period and when we got home we collapsed on the couch.

"That was a hard day." He said when we got back home.

"That was an easy day of high school so get ready for more."

"Isn't senior year is supposed to be one of the easiest years?" He rolled onto his side and looked at me.

"I missed over a month so we are behind everyone else. Also, if you think this is hard I'm glad that you weren't here during junior year."

"Why?"

"I can describe it in three words: Stress, stress, stress."

"Wow. That sounds like a fun year." He was learning how to use sarcasm more. I was so proud.

"So much fun. You better get some sleep because we have to do it all again tomorrow with two different classes."

"Only two?" He perked up a bit.

"Perks of being a senior, I have an off period. You better take a nap if you want to stay awake tomorrow."

"Ugh." He stood up and plopped next to me. "I understand now."

"You don't understand anything. You don't have to deal with homework." I kissed him, "Have a good nap, I'll see you sometime tonight."

"Okee." And with that he was sleeping like a baby.

I went to the dinner table and pulled out my homework. I had some work to do. I also had some insane planning to do. Austin's birthday was coming up on Thursday.