"Fifty-seven seconds," Julia announced, her eyes still glued to her stopwatch app.

Amber, whose hands were busy with fixing her already immaculate curls, whistled at this piece of information.

"I'm pretty sure that's a new record."

I stopped entering my locker combination and angled my head up. Thanks to her six-foot-two height, Julia towered over us even with her neck bent down. Her straight, blond hair partially obscured her face, framing her pointy chin and perfectly straight nose like a piece of artwork, but I still caught her raising her eyebrows at Amber's observation.

"Is it?" she put her phone back into the pants pocket and corrected her posture before verbalizing her question. "Wasn't it forty-five seconds when that airheaded freshman fainted?"

"That doesn't count," Grace, our ever-reliable mediator, scoffed. She held her manicured finger up, and her ombre nail polish glimmered in shades of pink. "One, he caught her because she was about to split her head open on that concrete wall. Two, it only counts when a girl touches him first."

"Touches him?" I laughed, tapping my fingers against the cold metal and casually inserting myself in the conversation. "Look at her. She's climbing him like she's ivy and he's an abandoned building."

"Well, in Aiden's defense, he doesn't really look comfortable."

All four of us glanced at the pair. They were surrounded by half a dozen girls, a handful of those focused on the only guy present. The girl who helped him set the record stood closest to him, and I watched as she 'accidentally' brushed against him for the second time, her hand lingering on his bicep for a second too long.

"I guess she's watched way too many Hallmark movies lately."

I heard Grace tutting to herself, but she said nothing.

"Naomi seriously upped her game this year," Amber asserted, her lipglossed mouth open in the perfect shape of an o. To anyone who didn't know her as well as we did, she would have seemed almost impressed. To Grace, Julia, and me, their ugly history painted her every word with disdain.

We exchanged an alarmed look behind Amber's back.

"Am I crazy," Grace ventured, changing the subject on purpose, "or is there someone else here who just doesn't see the appeal?"

Before I could demonstrate my perfect poker face to the world, Julia laughed and raised her hand at Grace, asking for a high five.

"Definitely not the only one."

Grace grinned in return, slapping Julia's palm with her own. At four foot eleven, she still had to raise herself on tiptoe to reach her hand, an admirable and slightly wobbly achievement in her elegant platform wedges.

The four of us had been a group since the second semester of our freshman year. Julia Castillo, the paragon of casual, zero-Fs-given attitude, decided to be my friend over mutual resentment of Holiday Mint M&M's. Grace Young, the most advanced polyglot in the five-mile radius and a terminally lost cause when it came to math, altruistically taught me when to correctly use the verbs 'ser' and 'estar'. And Amber Price, the headstrong, impetuous, wonderful Amber, who had been there for me ever since she made a kindergarten boy cry for stealing my crayons, that Amber now glanced at the most popular guy in our school and nodded.

"I'd do him," she voiced her opinion and shrugged when the other two made a disgusted face. She finally stopped messing with her hair and grinned. "Come on, I didn't say I'd date him. Those are two different things."

"But he's so basic."

"Aiden West is definitely not basic. Haven't you heard the rumors of him getting a wolf tattoo on his chest over the summer? Apparently, he's grown so much hair on it that the tattoo guy didn't even need to ink the fur."

Grace and Julia both scoffed, but I was the one who piped up.

"That's not true. I saw him play without a shirt last week."

All three silently turned toward me, their smiles speaking volumes. The sudden interest made me blush, so I turned around, focused on the task of taking the Calculus book out of my locker, and tried my best to sound nonchalant.

"What? I took Maddie to the park. He just happened to be there playing football with his friends."

Amber wiggled her eyebrows. The sound of her locker door slamming made me wince, but she mistook it for admission.

"And you just happened to spend enough time ogling his chest to determine whether he had a tattoo or not?"

"Come on. A giant wolf tattoo would be hard to miss."

"Sure," Grace coughed, "if you say so."

"And the other thing? How hairy is his chest, then?"

"I wasn't standing that close."

Before we could further discuss whether or not Aiden West had a fully carpeted upper trunk, Julia hushed us.

"Shh. They're coming this way."

I looked up, still feeling the heat in my cheeks. Julia was right – the entire group was moving in our direction, walking in almost comical unison. The only one who stood out was Aiden, his steps a confident stride, the smile on his face almost lazy. The guy looked like he just stepped down from a Hollywood movie set and he obviously knew it. Our eyes met, prompting me to remember yesterday's events, and for a second I thought he was heading toward me. My traitorous heart sped up, pumping the blood like my statue-still body was running a marathon. Was he going to say hi to me? Did he expect me to pay him back those ten dollars immediately?

But then his mouth pulled upward in a wide grin, and he grazed against me only to playfully punch his best friend in the shoulder.

"Finally, Manny, I thought you transferred for real this time!" Aiden exclaimed, and the circle of teenage girls swallowed Manuel like a hungry Pacman. A girl I'd never seen before stood awkwardly by, watching the whole charade with widened eyes.

"Nope. Looks like you'll have to put up with me for another year." As Manuel beamed, I noticed him take the stranded girl's hand into his own. With her chocolate brown hair and tanned skin, she wouldn't have usually stood out in our school – but when the dark-haired guy interlocked their fingers and puffed up like a peacock, her face broke into a radiant grin, so I decided I liked her.

"This is Melanie, my girlfriend."

"Just call me Mel," the girl suggested in a British accent, now smiling politely at Aiden. His eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, you're new?"

"Yes. My mom and I moved here this summer." She squirmed a bit before continuing. "But she's from here originally."

"You work fast, Manny," Aiden fist-bumped his shoulder, and his chorus immediately laughed. Manuel gave him a sheepish shrug. "So, what are you into, Mel? Besides my awesome friend."

One thing had to be handed to Aiden – he always knew how to make people feel welcome. As he watched the newcomer with his full attention, her shoulders visibly relaxed, the clutch on her textbooks weakened. She was pretty – in a non-obtrusive, non-confrontational way – but by the way she fidgeted when under the spotlight, I could tell she wasn't really aware of it.

"Well," Mel hesitated, biting her lower lip, "you know, regular stuff. I used to do all sorts of sports back at my old school. Mostly gymnastics."

At this new information, Aiden turned to Naomi and playfully nudged her.

"See, I told you not to worry, didn't I?"

Mel eyed him with interest until Aiden explained.

"A lot of cheerleaders graduated last year. Naomi here was fretting over filling the empty positions."

As I observed Naomi, I was certain that the same thoughts that ran through my head just seconds ago were now racing through her own. She regarded Mel coolly, like a hawk eyeing a frail parakeet, but she still managed to pull up a decent smile.

"Don't worry," she told her, her voice as sweet as a melting sugar cube. "I'm sure we'll find a spot for you here."

"Sorry, girls, but I have to go," Grace announced right then, nervously checking the time. I was so fixated on the other group's conversation that I wasn't even sure if anyone in mine had spoken in the last two minutes. "If I'm late to homeroom, Mr. Lynch will skin me alive. You know how he gets."

"We should go too," Julia said wryly, then turned her head around. "Wait, where's Amber?"

All three pairs of eyes homed in on our fourth friend, now standing inches in front of Aiden. As she smiled at him widely, I heard Grace whisper, "Oh, no."

"Hey, Naomi," Amber mockingly placed her hand on her hip, tilting her head at the girl standing behind him. I could swear I saw Naomi's pupils widen at sight. "Did I hear you correctly? You're looking for new cheerleaders?"

"We just filled the last spot," Naomi retorted, pointing her chin at Manuel's girlfriend. Then she gave Amber her phoniest smile. "Sorry."

"You filled all the positions on the first day of school, before the classes even started? Sheesh, you work fast." Amber shook her head. "Then again, you always did like to snatch them before someone let them in on the gossip."

"What gossip?" Mel asked innocently. Big mistake.

But before Amber could answer, a familiar loud bell signaled the beginning of homeroom, making every person in the hallway freeze in their spot.

"I'm sure she'll tell you later," my best friend retorted with her back turned toward her, already walking away. Everyone followed her suit and dispersed immediately, heading for their respective classrooms, unwilling to risk the teachers' wrath. My eyes lingered on Aiden's retracting figure, but I forced myself to look away. I made a mental note to deal with him later.

"Well, this is it," I said to the only person still standing next to me. The two of us had Ms. Hale, who was always late herself. "Our first day of junior year."

Julia laughed, pushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wanna bet it's the same as any other?"

⁂

It wasn't.

As soon as Ms. Hale entered the classroom, she sighed like her age had finally caught up to her and dropped her handbag onto the teacher's desk. The small chains attached to it made a clattering thud, and all the eyes in the room promptly shot toward her plump frame.

"Good morning, everyone."

Her voice was raspy and breathy, an unfortunate consequence of many years of smoking and recent hurried stair climbing. Still, there was a different undertone to it today, a tired, I-have-some-bad-news one, and the sudden anticipation made my blood run cold.

"I hope you all had a nice summer," she said, wiping a drop of sweat off her temple. Summer in Arizona was still in full swing, being early August and all, but none of us got too caught up in the sentimentalities. Besides, it was easy to forget how unpleasant the heat felt on the sun-seared asphalt when the AC was on full blast.

Not for long. I was quickly reminded of how scorching hot it could be when Ms. Hale put both of her hands on the desk, clammy palms down, and looked at us like she wanted us to squirm in our seats.

"Principal Jeffrey has an important announcement to make this year. I'm sure it will be any minute now—"

Her warning got interrupted by a high-pitch sound coming from the corner speakers. Three seconds later, the irritating noise was replaced by only a slightly less annoying adenoidal voice, which we all immediately recognized.

"Good morning, students," Principal Jeffrey sounded, and several groans echoed through the classroom. Ms. Hale shushed us, but it was useless – most of my classmates were already typing on their phones or scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, unwilling to go through the same old fifteen-minute speech that Jeffrey delivered every year. They kept their hands under the desk, but their bent-down heads gave them away, and I was already feeling around the lining of my pocket myself.

It was easy to recognize the moment when Ms. Hale simply gave up. She shook her head, sat down at the desk, and silently started taking attendance.

I slid out my own phone out and saw I had a text from Julia. Since she was sitting two desks across from me, I immediately glanced in her direction, wondering what that was all about. When our eyes met, she mouthed "Check your phone" at me, slightly irritated I hadn't already done it, so I went ahead and unlocked the Messages app.

Julia: u up for canary at 6?

Liz: Always

Liz: Lit dying for an espresso spritzer now

Julia: mood

Julia: think he'll shut up soon? 😐

Liz: Lol I wish

Liz: Have you asked G and A?

Julia: later

Julia: but i'm sure they'll say yes

The three dots appeared, then disappeared again. The message appeared after a short delay.

 Julia: real talk tho, i think i'm gay

Liz: Wait, what???

Liz: Did you just come out to me over a text?

I raised my head from the phone, my mouth slightly agape. She grinned at me and started typing again.

Julia: i realized it in the hall just now, when we were talking bout the hot boi

Julia: i looked at him and naomi and thought, hell, i'd rather make out w/ her than him, and she's a heinous shrew

Julia: how gay, right

Julia: turns out i am

Liz: Wow, Julia!

Liz: I'm 100% honored you told me first

Liz: That's big!!!

"You might want to tune in now," Ms. Hale suddenly spoke, not even looking up from her screen. "This is something that will affect at least half of you."

When I put my phone back into my pocket, I was still reeling from Julia's admission. Her coming out was completely in tune with her no-drama attitude; when she went AWOL last year for weeks and then suddenly popped up, she simply informed us that her appendix had ruptured and that she had been in a hospital all that time. But losing an organ and not wanting visitors was one thing – questioning your sexuality and informing your friend of the conclusion matter-of-factly was a whole other.

"...and that would be all for the school calendar," the speaker voice said. "Now, starting from today, certain changes to the school's dress code will be implemented. As I hope you're all well aware, school is foremost a learning environment, and any attire that detracts from it has never been acceptable. Unfortunately, I have seen numerous cases of lenient interpretation of the current guidelines, so I had no choice but to further elaborate."

The tone of his voice became almost cheerful as he finished his announcement.

"Your homeroom teachers will now distribute the new, improved guidelines. I hope you will find them as helpful and unambiguous as they are intended to be, but if there are any questions, feel free to reach out to Ms. Adams. And on a final note, I wish you all a fruitful and successful school year."

As we all tried to interpret what we just heard, Ms. Hale got up and took a stack of papers out of her bag. Starting from the desk nearest to her, she gave each student a stapled copy.

"There's like a dozen pages of this thing," Naomi complained. "Do we have to read it all?"

"I suggest you do," Ms. Hale said sternly. She wasn't messing around today.

When she placed one of the copies on my desk, I immediately took notice of the bold, sans-serif font filling the pages. The content written in it mirrored its form to a tee. I started skimming through the long list, but I didn't even get to the second page before the new guidelines earned some resounding repudiation.

"All lower body garments must reach the knees and below?"

"No solid color outfits?! Is this for real?"

"Why is there a whole section for jerseys?"

"Straps that are three inches wide? Do I have to carry a freaking tape measure with me now?"

"You can't expect us to—"

"SILENCE."

Ms. Hale stood in front of the class, pinching her nose like she had a headache. When she opened her eyes, she glared at each one of us individually before speaking up again.

"Principal Jeffrey has been very clear. You all have the guidelines now. Like them or not, they are rules, not recommendations. All deliberate dress code violations will be punished accordingly, no exceptions."

She turned her head to the left, narrowing her eyes at the new girl, Mel, who cowered at her stare.

"I suggest you change or tie something around that skirt before your next class. That is not acceptable."

Mel immediately started pulling at her ruffled skirt, trying to stretch it another inch just to reach her knees. Her hands were almost shaking.

Not wanting to be called out in front of the entire class, I surreptitiously checked out my own outfit. I thanked the lucky stars for deciding to wear my dark jeans tonight, despite the outside temperature having reached a hundred degrees by seven o'clock. My sleeveless top might have been on the risky side though, as I wasn't entirely sure the straps were three inches wide, but I was pretty convinced I had an emergency hoodie back in my locker.

I was safe, but only by a narrow margin and sheer dumb luck.

As Ms. Hale scanned the classroom again, every single student was evaluating their outfit, sighing in relief or anxiously rounding their shoulders in an attempt to hide. A tiny smile flashed on her face, gone so fast that I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it.

"Now," she said, turning her back to us, "should we finally start the class?"

Five seconds later, the interactive whiteboard flickered to life, and I realized I had forgotten my textbook.