Sara walked me into the principal's office and chatted with the principal. After a quiet conversation, Sara left with a goodbye, and the principal turned to me with kind eyes.

    “Welcome.” she said. “Here’s a map, and your schedule. If you need anything, just ask a classmate or a teacher. They’ll be happy to help.” She handed me a few papers that were stapled together.

    “Thank you.” I turned and walked out of the office, and into the hallway. From what I could see on my schedule, my first hour was Civics. The map told me that was one of the farther classes from where I stood.

    Trying to use the map, I walked right towards where the class would be. I was so invested in the map, I didn’t notice a wall right in front of me. I slammed into it face first.

    “Ouch.” I hissed and rubbed my forehead. A few kids behind me snickered. Two teenagers with janitorial clothing rushed towards me.

    “Hey, do you need to go to the nurse?” The one with short brown hair and small brown eyes asked.

    “No, I think I’m good.”

    “Are you new here? Most people know where that wall is. Heck, we’re new here and we know where that wall is.”

    “Yeah, I am. I can't seem to find my first hour.”

    “Are you using the map they gave you?” I nodded. “One kid told us that map was misprinted. Can’t find nothing with it. Come on, we’ll show you to your first class. What is it?”

    I checked my schedule again. “Civics with Mrs. Konger.”

    The guy snorted. “From what I hear, you need luck with her.”

The teen and the other janitor led me to a class. The bell had rung a few minutes ago, so unfortunately, I’d be the center of attention.

“Thank you.” I said.

The teen nodded. “If you need anything, find one of us. I’m Yash, and this is Vaso.” The kid with the shaggy dirty blonde hair sent me an awkward wave.

“I’m Abbey. See you later.”

The janitors chorused bye. I took a deep breath. After entering the class, I felt a bunch of pairs of eyes stare at me. I fixed my eyes on the teacher and walked to her.

Mrs. Konger sneered at me. “New kid?”

I nodded weakly.

The teacher gave a half-hearted wave. “Introduce yourself to the class.”

I felt like I was going to be sick. I always hated standing in front of any group of people.

“M-my name is Abbey G-Glass.” I gulped, my face turning beet red. A few kids laughed at my embarrassment.

Mrs. Konger clapped loudly, silencing everyone. “Go find a seat, Abbey.”

I walked down an aisle, aiming for a very back seat. Before I could think, I was falling towards the floor. A split second after I hit the floor, my heavy backpack hit me, sending an “Oof” out of my mouth. I turned to see a guy with pink-tipped black hair smirking at me, his foot out, poised to trip.

The whole class burst out laughing. Mrs. Konger yelled at them to shut up. “Okay, who did it?” she asked after the class quieted.

I sat up, feeling something coming out of my nose. I reached up and felt blood. Pinching my nose tightly, I looked down. If you looked up, then the blood could clot in your throat, which could be dangerous. Just a random piece of knowledge I possess.

Mrs. Konger noticed my nose was bleeding, and the splatter of my blood on the floor. She freaked out, calling a janitor over the school’s intercom. Both Yash and Vaso came in. Vaso started cleaning up the mess, and Yash walked me down to the nurse’s office.

As we walked, I thought about how that kid who tripped me was in so much trouble. I smiled to myself, figuring there would be consequences.

Yash pointed out the nurse, and went off to do another cleaning job. The nurse was a nice-looking woman with cheery eyes and a bright smile. She told me what to do for my nose bleed, checked my head for a concussion, and sent me on my way to second hour.

The rest of the day passed with uncomfortable classes, embarrassing introductions, and the more popular kids snickering at me when I messed up. I was glad to be picked up by Pops.

At his house- mine too, I guess now, I just did my homework, looked around the house, and read.

That night, I was laying in bed reading, when Sara came in and sat on the end of my bed. I put a bookmark in my book and looked at her.

“Tomorrow,” she murmured, “Steve, you, and I are going to go do something.”

I yawned. “What about school?”

Sara gave me a motherly smile. “I figured we all need to bond a bit.”

I grinned and sat up in bed, accidently sending my book to the floor, and flung my arms around her. Sara was caught unprepared and tumbled off the bed, out of my reach.

“Oops, sorry.”

Sara stood up and laughed. “It’s okay. See you tomorrow.”  She hugged me tightly, then left.

I grabbed my book off the floor and settled to read again, my heart beating wildly at the thought of hanging out with my new parents all day tomorrow.