My alarm rang out around my room and I could tell I had my first day of school since the summer started. I mentally groaned and sat up. Moving over to the window, I opened the curtains to get a glimpse of the weather. Autumn weather hadn't quite came in yet, we still had a nice hot, sunny day. I stretched and rubbed my eyes, before heading down into the kitchen. With my alarm going off, I knew I was up five minutes late, so my Mom had already gone. I couldn't stand the silence, so I sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. I kept the news on, even though it was boring. I just wanted something to break the silence.

I got ready and headed to the bus station. The walk over made me think about how our group would cope. I had to keep my composure and try not to make things awkward. I saw the others come into view. They was talking happily amongst themselves.

"Hey guys" I said, waving a hand.

"Oh, hey Ash!" Drew said with a smile only he could pull off in the morning.

"Ready for our third year of high school?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"You bet, ready as I'll ever be" I kind of lied. I wasn't ready for anything this year.

Serene stayed silent, making it awkward between us, because I didn't know what to say either. We all sat in silence for a few moments, before the bus arrived. We all hopped on and got to school on time.

"About time you guys showed up" Gary said, looking lazily around at us. He was the worst on the first day of school.

Everyone began talking amongst themselves, so I walked over to Cilan.

"Morning" I stopped and turned, leaning on the wall like Cilan.

"How are things?" He asked me and I looked back at him puzzled. Did he mean in general?

"I guess things are ok, for now" I let out a sigh and put my hands in my pockets.

"Well, remember that it's for the best" Guess that answered my original question. Of course he was talking about Serena.

"Lets drop it. Are you ready for this year? Apparently we get twice as much work and homework" I wasn't prepared for all the work but it was something I had to get through.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Just got to try and do all the work on time. Guess free time goes out of the window"

"Just got to live with it, don't we" I replied as the bell rang. We headed to our first lesson, math.

This year was about learning new, more advanced work and math was the worst. I hardly understood the whole lesson and I was thrilled to get tons of homework on the first lesson.

"What even was that?" I began complaining "We are in math and not some alien language class, right?"

Cilan and Iris laughed "You'll understand it eventually, we all have different learning speeds" Cilan pointed this out. I guess he was right, I just had to get used to it all first.

"What do we have next?" I asked, trying to rummage in my bag for my timetable.

"Cooking class from the looks of things" Serena said "lets go!" She began rushing off. I knew she liked to bake, but it's still the morning and the first day of school.

I groaned and done a fast walk. I didn't see a reason to run.

We arrived in the large, new room that had many counters and ovens. I guess we had enough room to cook for ourselves.

I spent the whole hour lazily ambling around while the teacher yelled around the class. She was so bossy and it got on my nerves, so I was glad when the lesson was over.

The rest of the day made me feel better, because I actually understood most of it. We headed home not long after. I relayed my thoughts back to the start of the day. Serena, all day, never directly spoke to me once, but I was the same. I guess this whole being friends thing was harder than we thought. I couldn't wait for it to end.

I sat down in my room, surrounded by silence. My Mom wasn't home for another hour, so I decided to take a nap and wait for her to get home.

When I opened my eyes, I heard the door open. I walked downstairs "Hello, Mom" I said with a smile.  I rubbed my eyes and opened them.

"How was school, Ash?" She asked as she put her bag on the rack and stepped into the kitchen.

"It was ok, quite tough for a first day" I grabbed a can of cola and popped it open, before taking a small sip.

"Don't let the work pile up, Ash" My Mom looked at me sternly "Dinner will be ready in an hour, so make sure you do some homework"

"Don't worry Mom, I'll get my work done" I looked over to the things my Mom was taking out of cupboards "What's for dinner?" I asked curiously.

"A new pasta dish. A friend gave me the recipe"

I wasn't to sure on pasta."Sounds good, I'll be down when it's ready" I headed upstairs and got out my math book, before looking at the alien language. I searched it up online and got most of the answers that way. I was confused on how the people got these answers but I wrote them down. As long as the homework is done it shouldn't matter. Plus, I get free time to do more productive things, like eat and sleep.

I fell on my bed and waited for dinner. My thoughts went back to Serena. I hope she is feeling ok and I wonder if she will actually see new people. I also wonder if I will get jealous. No! What am I thinking. If I can stay composed and happy, I should handle the next few months easily. I just don't know what to expect.