The time was 7:35. Malorie and I had already compared schedules, we only had 4 classes together this year, but in almost all my other classes I still had at least 1 or 2 friends so I was still looking good. Also, another obligation I made in that promise, was to make at least 5 new friends the first week, and if I didn't... Mom would take away my library card for a month. That may not be so awful to some of you, I know, but I love to read. Reading for me is like an escape into a whole new world, with more meaning, and different problems other than my own. I just wish people weren't so... complicated. Each one like a jigsaw puzzle with too many missing pieces to figure out at first glance.

"Hey B., we gotta go. I hear if you come a little early, some seniors are handing out lollies at the front." Malorie almost pushed me out the door, there was no getting between Malorie and her sweets. I swirled around her to shut off the radio first, then quickly caught up because... I kinda want that candy too. Turning the corner of our old mossy-brick walled school, I saw that Malorie had already ran farther than I cared to catch up to... I had burned enough calories over the summer to care to do more cardio. I checked the time on my phone, which had a little picture of Malorie's black and white tuxedo cat on it as the lock screen.
      You may think I'm weird, but I treated Mouse like she was my own daughter, my parents would never let me get a cat, so this was the next best thing.
     The time was 7:38, I had to run, dang it. Looking ahead to make sure no one was coming, I ran as quickly and quietly as possible. I caught up to Malorie just as she was turning the corner to the main courtyard. All of our other friends had gotten there earlier so we're the only ones left to get to the meetup. We walked over to the entrance and it was true, some seniors were handing out lollipops as you walked in to the arched doorways of Rosemont High. We pranced inside and one of the senior girls said something that steals my attention-
"Looking good girl! Wonder who the lucky guy is!" I looked down at her name pin, Tiffany, Tiffany the senior just said I look good, Tiffany must be a good liar. Not believing her I looked back and there was no one else she could've been talking to. Am I actually hot to other people? Whatever, probably just said it to be nice. Malorie is still a few steps ahead so I had speed up a bit to catch her, then all of a sudden she just stopped. She turned to look at me and then grabbed my elbow and speed walked me to the nearest ladies room, I think it's a little weird cause of all the people looking at me I don't see anyone who looks suspicious. Wait... everyone looking at me? Crap.
"Malorie what has my mom done, people are looking at me like I'm a bear riding a motorcycle or something." I panicked.
"Brook, the thing is, usually only in fantasies do people go from loser to hottie over summer, so for you to go from not to hot is a pretty big deal to some people. You don't need to worry though. Popular people will start trying to make buddy-buddy with you but you just have to say no. They'll go away eventually." Malorie explained.
"Okay, I'm gonna need a lot of help though, I really want to keep my library card." I felt my face start to heat up as I walked out of the bathroom. Malorie stayed a pace or two behind me and glared at anyone that gives me a funny look. Soon we made it to the meetup spot where Malorie, I, and all of our other friends were patiently waiting to give each other our 'good-luck's and 'go get-em's. I entered the janitor's closet that we had converted into our hideout without the school knowing... well, just into a slightly less crammed janitor's closet. Yeah, we just pushed all the chemicals and stuff against a wall and use a very complex technique that we call 'be quiet or we'll get caught, just step over the bucket'. That name became a thing on behalf of Madeline, who is the fun-loving, daredevil of the group. She had honey-blonde hair and sky blue eyes, and a sparky attitude that was hard to go against. There's also Jack who was the pale ginger genius who always has a weird but effective answer to all of life's problems, which oddly enough usually include a wide-variety of Fortnite dances. Then there's Ivy, who is such a huge comic geek, but the only thing she loves more than her comics were her friends and family. Her mom let her dye her hair pink over the summer, but she was too busy sticking her nose in a comic that she didn't notice the dye bottle said permanent. And last but not least Val, short for Valkyrie, who has tan skin and chestnut brown hair. She and Ivy were both given superhero/ supervillain names, their parents were both huge comic nerds, but they all bonded over their mild to moderate obsessions with the classics. Ana is our Mexico transfer, she had short black hair and milk chocolate skin. We've all been friends with each other since 7th grade, and would pretty much jump off a bridge for each other.
"There y'all are, I was about to lock the door and- woah! What's with the getup Brook? You look like you just walked out of a Sephora sample sale... isn't that your mom's thing?" Madeline inquired, confused about how much I had changed in one summer, and slightly offensive towards my mom...
"Yeah, for once you actually look kinda hot." Jack joked, I know he didn't mean anything serious by that comment, he's like the brother I never had, and I'm his sister he never knew he wanted. Valkyrie gave him a playful punch on the arm, still getting a little wince from Jack.
"Haha very funny. I made a promise to my mom at the beginning of summer that she's held me to for this long, so I thought I'd humor her and go through with it." I explained, curious about what they were all thinking about right now. The bell rings and we all quickly but quietly filed out one by one and partrd ways.
Remember the 'Friends in almost all my classes' part from earlier... that 'almost' was referring to 1st and last period. Why first period though?! Oh well, c'est la vie (French). I walked into the classroom behind everyone else to see a couple of chemistry sets on the tables adjacent to the desks and nameplates set up at every desk, marking out the seating chart. I also looked a couple feet to the left to saw some boys graffitiing on some innocent student's name card. I walked silently among the desks looking for my name, I didn't see it. Still, no one had noticed me or my getup until I slipped over to where the crowd was and see that the name card they're marking up with inappropriate pictures and offensive slurs are scrawled all over the card... was mine. I tap the guy who was drawing on my plate on the shoulder, who happened to be Samuel Keegan or Sam K., the biggest bully and pervert in middle school last year. He looked up for a moment but still didn't stop marking on my notecard, but instead just talked louder over his shoulder, clearly not looking long enough at me to see my appearance shift.
"Sup Pig, want me to stop doodling? Thought people like you would encourage such artistic ability." A few people turned around and I heard a few gasps emit from the crowd. Sam's "friend-girl" Cammy whisper-yelled at him to turn around and look who he was talking to. Not realizing that the fat pig that once would've sat at that seat is now replaced with a gorgeous goddess of a lady.
"Normally I would, however not so much when it's put in such poor quality, as well as on my desk card." He slowly turned around and looked me up and down giving me a perverted grin.
"Oh, Mamacita, why don't you come and show me some magnificent drawing skills in the bathroom?" He said with a devilish grin.
   "No thanks, I'd rather stay here and not get carpal tunnel, plus... ew." I motioned around his general area for the last part, then proceeded yank his pen out of his frail fingers, break his pen, and blow the ink all over his face. I got a couple "Ohh's!" and a few "Oh no she didn't!'s" as Sam ran to the bathroom to wash off the black pen ink. Even I'm laughing until I saw him among the mass.
Reagan Wilson. He was so out of my league! We used to be best friends until he became popular and I stayed among the 'losers'. Even while we were friends I thought he was cute. He had those sapphire eyes that you only see in the movies, golden-brown hair that shimmers like real gold in the light, a warm smile that made anyone's day better with just one glance. He even has a code name among Malorie and I Red Velvet. I've written too many fanfictions about different scenarios in which we could be a couple, probably too many to still be considered mentally healthy, but whatever. Just behind him, the teacher walked in, and I realized I had completely forgotten about my devious desk decor, and quickly scratched out the words and turned the picture into a rough sketch of a rose. Since the teacher was still setting up I decided to add some shading here... little detail there...
"That's a nice doodle you got there." I turned around to see none other than Reagan Wilson. I felt my cheeks burn red, hopefully, I had put on enough foundation that morning for it not to peek through.
"Thanks, I didn't want the teacher to see what Sam K. had originally drawn, so it feels good that someone can't tell, and likes it," I spoke more confidently than I felt. Unbeknownst to Reagan, my knees were quivering and my right pinky was shaking ever so slightly.
"Well, it was nice talking to you again Brooklyn." Reagan knows my name, he remembered! Maybe all those fanfics weren't for nothing.
"Okay class, I'm Mr. Slovan, your new science teacher. I have a quick worksheet for you to do with a partner, so pair up with the person next to you and come grab a sheet of paper off my desk." Mr. Slovan I saw, was not one for sappy introductions.
"Hey, everyone else seems to have a partner, so wanna be partners?" Guess who... Reagan Wilson. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG Reagan Wilson wanted to be my science partner, so what if it's because there's no one else to choose from, but my science partner! Be cool about this.
"Cool, I'll go get the papers." I swiftly walked up to the front,  grabbed two papers off the grey-haired teacher's desk, and walked back to my own desk, so out of it I nearly tripped on my own backpack. I handed him one paper and looked over the questions on the paper.
    "Who is someone you have chemistry with?" I asked Reagan, reading aloud from the paper, not realizing how awkward it sounded.
"What?" Reagan looked as baffled as I was. I proceeded to read over the questions in my head this time. All of the questions were romance related questions that contain a corny science joke. I looked behind me to see Mr. Slovan peeking over his computer with a weird smile. Wait, I'd seen that smile, he was trying to sniff out the ships! Oh crap, I'm already too shy to talk to Reagan on my own account without a prompt, but having a teacher involved made make things 100 times worse!
"Brooklyn, you good?" Reagan asked. "You look like you've just seen a ghost." Quite possibly Reagan... The Ghost of Shipper's Past. I looked around and most of the girls had paired up with their friends and vice versa for the boys, except for one group, ours. I then quickly look at Mr.Slovan and he looks at me with that same shipping grin and proceeds to say... that little turd,
"Oh and class, the person you choose will be your partner for the whole year..." I stare at him with wide eyes, knowing that we were both thinking the same thing. Wouldn't they make a cute couple? I mean, here's to hoping man, but why did my science teacher of all people have to be a fanboy? Or rather, a fanman.