Jaren's POV

A new school year, a new school.

New friends, new enemies.

New teachers, new expectations.

Fresh start.

This is either going to be hell like it was back in Canada, or this is going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.

My foster parents decided to move out of the country after they legally adopted me, and so now here we are.

Fuckin' Illinois.

Hopefully my life will turn around here, maybe I'll make some new friends and actually go to classes.

Maybe I won't get expelled.

Maybe I'll actually try this time.

After all, this is my second chance.

"Jaren! Sweetie, it's time to go." My adoptive mother, Eri, calls from down stairs.

"I'm almost ready!" I call back, pulling the white hoodie on over my grey shirt.

I glance in the mirror, running a hand through my messy brown hair before smiling contently.

Not half-bad.

I slip on my usual converses and head out the bedroom door, swinging my pack on as I go.

I can feel the nerves kicking in.

What if I get bullied again?

What if someone knows who I am?

Do people watch the Canadian news over here?

I took a deep breath and braved myself for the lecture I'm about to get from my parents.

"Now Jaren,"

Here we go.

"This year is important. If you feel like you can't survive for a whole day, call me and I'll come pick you up. If you get bored, remember what we talked about and most importantly... No vaping during class." My mother says firmly, watching me with her motherly gaze.

"But Eri!" I whine, mostly unimpressed by the news of my vape. "During lunch I can, and before and after school too, right?" I ask, silently pleading with her.

"Yes, just not in the middle of class. If you get suspended-."

"I know, I know. You'll ground me and stuff. I got it." I grumble, looking down at the plate she just set down.

I dig into the scrambled eggs, watching as my father comes and joins us at the table.

"I won't be home until late, apparently I have to stay for some sort of meeting." Joshua says, looking between the two of us. "I'll talk to you about your first day later on, ok?" He asks, looking at me.

"Sure thing." I reply, smiling at them.

I have deep appreciation for these people. I've lived with them for a little over six years now, they only just recently officially adopted me.

They saved me over and over again and they put up with my PTSD and my mental breakdowns.

They helped relieve my anxiety, and these people are what I consider true family.

We may not be related by blood, but they have broken their backs to help me, even when they didn't need too.

I'm lucky to have parents as great as them, and as supportive of them.

"Hey, Jaren?" My father starts, looking over at me.

"What's up?" I ask, shoving a forkful of egg into my mouth. Eri is an amazing cook.

"I got you something, I hope you don't mind." He says, smiling as he pulls it out of his pocket.

I smile brightly at the present, letting him drop it in my hand before I carefully examine it.

It's a silver chain with a small silver maple leaf on it, and it's beautiful.

I clip it around my neck and smile up at them.

"You know how rad you guys are?" I ask, chuckling when they grimace at the word 'rad'.

"You know, we might have to disown you for saying that word." Eri jokes, causing me to scoff.

"You guys are older than me, I thought that was your slang back in the day." I say, pouting at them.

"Jaren, we're 32, not 50." Joshua says, rolling his eyes.

I laugh at this and shake my head, glancing over at the clock on the wall.

"Shit, it's time to go." I say, looking over at Eri.

"Language." She says, sighing slightly at my goofy grin.

"Sorry mom." I jeer, standing up and pulling the straps of my bag forward a bit.

I'm nervous.

"Alright, come on kiddo." Eri says, walking past me to the door. She slips on some sneakers and holds the door open for me as I walk out.

America is actually pretty decent.

So far, the people have been very welcoming and kind. Our neighbours even brought us lasagna on the first night we arrived!

We've been here for a week or two, and I've been dreading but also welcoming the idea of going to a school.

Jessfield High.

If the adults are anything to go on, then I believe that this might actually be a good town.

Hopefully the kids are as nice as the people we've met so far.

"Buckle up." Eri warns, turning the ignition key and putting the car in reverse.

I thread my fingers through my hair as I nervously glance at myself in the mirror.

Do I look too messy?

Is this how kids dress over here?

Oh god. Insecurities begone.

"Talk to me." Eri whispers, sensing my nervousness, so it seems.

"Is this how kids dress here? Do I look too much like a loner?" I ask, playing with the end of my sleeves.

"No, no way. You look too cute to be a loner." Eri teases, winking at me. I groan and pull out my vape, bringing it to my lips and holding down on the button.

I take it away from my lips and slowly release the steam, watching as it slowly disappears in the car.

"Strawberry? I thought you just got some Cherry pods." Eri says, looking over at me.

"Yeah, but I had one Strawberry left over. Focus on the road old lady." I reply, causing her to scoff.

"You're so mean to me Jaren." She complains, ducking her head slightly to read a sign. "Almost there, you excited?" She asks, grinning as she keeps her eyes on the road.

"Ecstatic." I reply, shoving the vape into my pocket and letting out a shaky sigh.

Eri pulls up into the parking lot and I notice quite a few other cars here.

"Looks like a lot of kids drive." Eri muses, putting the car in park. We both sit there in silence for a minute, seemingly remembering the same things.

"It'll be fine, Eri." I finally whisper, looking over at her.

She looks perplexed and hell, I think she's more nervous than I am.

"Come on, it's already ten. We're gonna be late." Eri sighs out, opening her car door.

I take a nervous breath and get out, slamming the car door behind me.

Eri and I walk side by side into the building and head straight into the office.

"Hi! You must be Mrs. Spires! And you must be Jaren, lovely to meet you." The receptionist lady greets, smiling warmly.

I feel myself relax at her greeting. So kind and heartily spoken.

Please let everyone be like this.

"Here is your schedule, and your locker code... Am I forgetting anything..?" She says, the last bit coming out as a small whisper to herself.

"Mrs. Spires! Lovely to see you again." A rather deep voice booms from beside us. I peak around Eri and see a man in a casual suit standing by an open door.

He must be the principal.

"Mr. Patterson! How are you?" My mother asks, shaking his hand and smiling warmly at him.

"Rather well, and how about you?" He asks, grinning softly.

"I'm quite nervous." She replies, chuckling half heartedly.

"There is no need to be nervous, Jaren will fit right in! In fact, I have my son here to show you around." Mr. Patterson says, gesturing to a student that just stepped out of his office.

"Hi, my names Luke. Nice to meet you, Jaren." He says, holding his hand out.

"Likewise." I reply, smiling softly at him.

He's hot. Is this school full of cute boys? If it is, I definitely won't survive.

"Luke is in your home room and a few other classes with you today, so he'll be your guide. If he does anything bad, tell me and I'll ground him." His father explains, laughing lightly at the bemused look he got from his son at the last part.

"Off you go, boys." The receptionist called out, causing Luke to laugh slightly.

"See you Lilly, see ya dad." Luke says, waving his hand slightly as he throws his arm around my shoulders.

We walk out of the office and immediately Luke starts talking, telling me that I'm free to come sit with him and his friends at lunch if I'm interested.

"Let's get you to your locker so you can try out your code, and then we'll head to home room." Luke says, walking beside me down the hall.

I make sure to memorise every turn until we get to my locker.

Locker 234.

Easy enough to remember.

"Alright so, basically you turn it left to whatever number it is and then go right to the next number and then left again to the last number." Luke explains. I figured as much.

12-34-6 is my code, and after doing it a few times I got the hang of it.

"Alright, lets get your books and things sorted in here and then we'll head off." Luke says, helping me organise my things in my locker so that they are easy to find.

"Thanks dude, life saver." I joke as he catches my pencil case from falling on the floor.

"That's just what I do, baby." He says, making both of us laugh.

I close my locker and sling my bag over one shoulder, following after Luke as he leads us to classroom 4B.

My new home room.

"Now listen, our home room teacher is pretty outgoing, so he might as you to share your entire back story to the class. He's just very... Happy." Luke says, rubbing the back of his neck before opening the door.

"Hello, hello, hello!" The teacher beams as we both walk in.

All eyes are on me.

Hello anxiety.

"You must be the new student, come, come." He says, waving me over to him. I hesitantly walk over to him and awkwardly shuffle under the intense gazes I'm getting. "Tell is your name and a little bit about yourself." The teacher says, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Uh. My names Jaren Spires, I'm 16 and I'm from Canada. My family just moved here." I say, glancing over at Luke as he sits down next to, what I presume to be, his friends.

"Welcome to Jessfield High, Jaren!" The teacher says, grinning at me. "You can take a seat next to Cameron, over there." He says, pointing to a tall blonde up the back.

The guy waves and smiles slightly as I walk over to my new desk.

"Nice to meet you, mate." He says, and I immediately pick up on his accent.

"Are you Australian?" I whisper, watching as his face scrunches up.

"Ew, no. I'm a New Zealander." He replies, getting smacked on the arm by the guy sitting next to him.

"I'm Mason, I'm Australian." The guy next to him beams at me, sending a soft glare at his friend.

I chuckle slightly and nod in greeting before listening to the home room teacher talk about the upcoming decathlon.

"I heard Jay is going to be on the running team again." Mason says to Cameron. I don't know if I should be listening in on their conversation, but I'm mildly bored already.

But luckily, the bell rings, signalling first period.

"Hey, what's your schedule like?" Cameron asks, turning to face me.

"I have Social Studies next, then math." I reply, glancing down at the sheet of paper.

"Oh nice, I love Social Studies." Mason says, standing up with Cameron.

They're both pretty tall, but Cameron's gotta be six foot something.

Like damn.

I'm over here at 5'7, looking like a snack.

This dudes over here at like 6'3, looking like a full blown meal.

Yikes.

"Jaren!" Luke calls, waving me over as he stands by the door.

"Ah, Luke's your guide?" Cameron asks, smiling softly.

"Yeah, why?" I ask, looking over at him.

"Oh nothing. Luke's a pretty chill guy, but some of his friends are assholes." Mason replies for Cameron, shrugging his shoulders.

"We gotta get to Art, see you later Jaren." Cameron says, waving as he passes by Luke.

"You ready for Social Studies?" Luke asks as we head out.

"I hate Social Studies." I groan out, causing him to laugh.

"Don't worry, Ms. Carter is actually a really laid back teacher. She's pretty cool." Luke says, smiling slightly. "You wanna meet some of my friends? My best friend and his boyfriend are in this class." Luke says.

I had to do a double take.

Boyfriend?

As in, gay?

Is it accepted here? Are people not homophobic?

"Oh shit, you ain't against that stuff, are you?" Luke asks, looking mildly worried.

"Uh..." I don't really know what to say. It's just...

I was bullied so harshly for being gay at my old school, people would threaten me, beat me and tease me relentlessly.

I don't know if... I don't know if it's a good idea to let anyone know that I'm gay. It could be a good cover to be slightly homophobic, but at the same time I don't want to make anyone feel bad.

"I'm just not used to it." I finally reply, shoving my hands in my pockets and looking away from him.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to sit with us." He states, he sounds a bit aggressive.

He's protecting a friend, I get it.

"Um... Ok." I whisper, not able to meet his eyes. "Im sorry, it's just..." I trail off, remembering what it was like for me.

"Don't worry about it." He finally says, sighing softly as we stop in front of the classroom door. "You didn't say anything bad and you were at least honest about it. I respect that." He says, making my stomach pool worth guilt.

I just lied to the first person I met. And he's ok with being gay!

God, did I make a stupid mistake?

"In we go." He says, chuckling softly. I follow him in and I immediately see two boys wave him over. "You gonna sit with us, or not?" He whispers to me.

I bite my lip and hesitantly follow him, deciding that maybe I'd rather sit with him than by myself.

"Hey Luke, this the new kid?" One of them asks, bumping fists with Luke.

"Yeah, this is him." Luke replies with a grin, plopping down in his chair.

"Hey, wassup, I'm Jonathan and this is Evan!" The blue eyed male says, holding out his hand.

"Jaren." I greet, smiling slightly at him.

Luke leans into Evans ear to whisper something, and Evan nods slightly.

"So, a fellow Canadian, eh?" Evan asks as I sit down.

"Where you from?" I ask, smiling softly at him.

"Toronto, you?" Evan asks, a wide grin on his face.

"Ontario." I reply, now grinning back at the Can-Asian.

"Glad to finally have another Canadian at this school!" He cheers, patting me on the shoulder.

My eyes drift between the two new people.

I never would have thought these two would be dating.

Like, who's more dominant? They both look pretty tough to me.

"Alright class," The teacher calls, getting everyone's attention. "We're continuing on with American political views on rights." The teacher continues, glancing around at everyone.

The teacher starts to talk about some of the different political views in the government at the moment, ranging from things like the wall to other things like our trade countries.

I listen to her blabber on about the different freedoms and rights we have as American residents, also talking about how Americans pride themselves on freedom.

Luke, Jonathan and Evan talk quietly beside me, I hear them mention things like 'party' and 'hang out' so I realise they must be talking about some sort of gathering with their friends.

I wonder if any of these guys vape.

I mean, it's pretty stereotypical of American high schoolers to vape, but at the same time, it's also stereotypical for homophobic high schoolers.

No one seem to be mean or anything here, and I'm starting to wonder if this place is actually a real school and not some imaginary place I'm thinking of.

Everyone's so kind, it's almost sickly.

I start to glance around the room, reading posters and papers hung up neatly on the walls while also taking in the appearances of some of the other students.

I realise that their seem to be different groups spread out in the class.

There's a group of girls up the front, talking quietly and messing around on their phones.

Most of them have fake nails and make up on, a few having dyed hair as well.

Stereotypical popular girls, I assume.

Then you have the guys near me.

Some are wearing football clothes, like Jonathan and Luke, So this must be where the jocks sit.

Then you have the nerds up the front, scribbling down notes and sometimes talking to one another.

Everyone seems to have someone to talk to, or something to do.

Everyone seems so happy and calm.

This is nothing like Windsor High.

||.:.||

Whoop whoop!

My first ever Krii7y book has begun!

Who's excited? I am!

See y'all in the next chapter~