~Anissa's POV~

I woke up sometime near 6:30 A.M. with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Today was Monday, and I'd be starting school at my new high school. My mom told me that school didn't start until 7:45, which meant I still had over a hour left. Seeing that there was no way that'd I get even a second more of rest, I got out of bed, and sleepily walked to my closet.

Back home, I'd usually wear a short sleeved shirt, shorts or some leggings, and -vuala-, outfit complete. But with a quick glance out the window at the wet covered ground, and the cool breeze that blew in from my slightly opened window, I knew I'd need something warmer. Nashville was definitely no Phoenix in the late fall time, but because of my trips up North to visit family members in Arizona, I thankfully had warmer clothes to wear.

In the end, I settled on a long sleeved, maroon colored shirt, black jeans, and my black and white vans. Regarding my appearance in the mirror on my closet door, I thought about how I'd do my hair. Too lazy to curl or straighten it, and not having the patience to do any type of braid, I ran a comb through it, and let it fall loose down my back and shoulders.

My jacket laid strewn across my unmade bed as I stared out the window. Maya would had pouted at the sight of a stormy morning. Saying that it was nothing but cold wet raindrops would have that continuously bombarded her as she was walking through the rain. Jacob and Clover would have run through it though, screaming in delight as they did. I must have stood there watching drop after drop fall for a long time, because the sky outside had lightened slightly, the sun peeking out through the grey clouds without me even realizing.

Just then a knock came at my bedroom door. "Anissa, honey, are you up?" My mother's voice came from the other side. I jumped at the sound of her voice, yanked out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I answered, "Come in." My mom walked in fully dressed, and carrying a steaming mug in her hand.

She pressed it gently into my hands, and the smell of warm cocoa drifted up from it. "Here, it's nearly 7:15. You should eat breakfast," she advised me. I nodded in agreement, and followed her downstairs into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, my mom placed a plate of waffles in front of me.

"Eat up," she told me, "You have a long day ahead of you!"

I groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me." She laughed, and my dad strode in at that moment. "Morning kiddo," he said, kissing my forehead. "Hey, Dad," I replied, picking up my fork.

I spent most of breakfast eating, and occasionally looking at my phone to read the tons of texts I had gotten from Clover and Maya. My dad and mom and accompanied me, but they were busy talking about grown up stuff for me to bother listening. When I finished eating, I washed my dish, smiling at Maya's last text to me before she'd gone to bed.

"We should get going" my mother said, seeing the time, "We only have 15 minutes left." I hurried upstairs to grab my coat, and backpack. Since the principal hadn't sent me my schedule in the mail, I didn't have any books or a computer. Apparently, all that was going to be given to me today. My mom and I each hugged my dad goodbye, before leaving the kitchen.

Once in the car, I looked curiously at my mother. "So, what's the name of my new school," I asked.

"Holy Oaks. Supposedly it's one of the best schools in state." I grinned, imagining an entire building filled with super smart, well educated students. Yup, nothing like being the new girl in high school. I found myself not dreading my first day at Holy Oaks, but fearing the looks and whispers of other students. I shook my head, clearing my mind from those types of thoughts.

When we pulled up to the school, it was 7:42. I peered up at the two story brick building in aw. Taking in the sight of it all. The path leading up to the front steps was lined with two huge concrete flower pots on either side, filled with purple, white and soft pink flowers. "This is my new school?" I asked in amazement. My mom chuckled softly behind me, and I placed a hand on the car door handle. "Good luck, Sweetie," she said, hugging me quickly.

I hugged her back, and stepped out of the car. Jogging up to the front doors and inside, I went up to the security desk.

"Hi, I'm a new student here. Can you tell me were the main office is?" I asked the lady behind the desk. She smiled kindly at me.

Getting up from her chair, she gestured for me to follow. "Right this way, Dear."

We walked by students strolling and mingling the halls before class, most of them glancing curiously in our direction. A group of boys, Juniors by the looks of it, fell silent as I passed.

"Who's that?" one of them whispered to his friends.

His friend looked over at me, to get a better look. "New girl, Sophomore, probably. Come on, Mark's waiting for us in the caff." They walked off, and I turned back around.

The school was huge, glass cases filled with trophies and awards on the walls. This was only the main hallway, I had to remind myself, just imagine how many wings there are.

Completely distracted by the boys, and my own thoughts, I hadn't noticed the desk lady had stopped walking, and I nearly stumbled into her. "Oh, I'm really sorry," I apologized.

She laughed. "No problem, hun. Right in here you are." She ushered me to the first door on the right, and sure enough, I was standing in a large carpeted room. "Mr. Chavez is right in there," she informed me, pointing to a closed door nearby. Without another word she left, and I gingerly knocked on Mr. Chavez's office door.

"Come in," a man's voice answered. Opening the door, I hesitantly entered.

"Hello, sir, I'm Anissa Rier, I just uh, transferred. I was wondering if I could pick up my schedule," I stuttered nervously. he reached over the desk to shake my hand. "Hello Miss Rier, nice to meet you. Take a seat." I did what he said, taking the seat across from him.

"Let's take a look at your papers shall we?" He plucked up a folder from the pile on his desk and flipped through it. "Says here you're a fairly good student, seem to get A+'s and B's, in all of your classes, and woo, your last exam scores were excellent." I blushed, growing more and more awkward as he continued to compliment me on my good school record.

"Alright, so I'm thinking we'll put you in advance English and math, continue your studies in Spanish, gym, lunch, all that, regular history, and biology. Sound good to you?" I nodded, and he scribbled something on a slip of paper.

"Hand this to the person at the front desk before you leave," he said, handing me the paper.

I grabbed hold of it, smiling. "Thank you so much." Reaching the desk, I gave the paper to a blond haired woman, who took it kindly.

"We'll have your schedule ready for you by noon today. For today, you'll just have to follow this temporary one." She handed me a printed out schedule, and I read it over. With a small wave, I left the main office, heading for history in B-wing. How in the world was I going to find that? "Maybe I should get a map," I muttered under my breath, as I passed a group of people.

~Chad's POV~

"Chad! Hurry up! We need to be in the main gym in 30 seconds!" Caleb screamed at me from the outside of the gym locker room.

"You know Caleb, screaming at me doesn't help me move faster!" I screamed back, struggling to tie my tennis shoes.

"I wish it does," I heard Caleb mumble, as I tightened the bow on my second shoe. I walked out of the grey locker room to the beige walls of the hallway, where I found an annoyed Caleb leaning against the wall nearest to the entrance of the locker room.

"About time, Chad! I should seriously make up a nickname for you for how slow you are!" Caleb complained as we walked together towards the main gym.

"No you don't, Caleb. I am perfectly fine with my own name," I replied, laughing a little as I pushed open the double doors to see a group of girls and boys dressed in black shorts and burgundy shirts. I scanned the crowd and my eyes landed on Carina Ackerman. Boy was she beautiful. She had wavy, light brown hair that reached the middle of her back when it wasn't pulled into a ponytail. She had the most beautiful grey eyes that I have ever seen. She was also a bit shorter than Caleb, and energetic around everyone she's with. Carina also always had a friendly glint in her eyes that made me attracted to her the first time I laid my eyes on her. Caleb saw me staring and slapped my arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked him, rubbing my arm.

"Staring isn't nice, it's really weird and creepy," He explained, looking at me. I was about to say something when our teacher blew her whistle to get the class started.

"Okay class! Today, we will be playing dodgeball!" She shouted, holding up a rubber ball. The class groaned and I saw Caleb cringe. I knew he was remembering the last time we played dodgeball. He almost got his nose broken. But besides the groaning of the students, our teacher divided us into two teams and off we went, lining up on the wall, awaiting the whistle to start the game. I looked around to check the strength of my team and my heart skipped a beat as I saw one particular face. Carina turned her head towards me and waved. I smiled and waved back at her. My heart was beating faster as our teacher blew her whistle and the other students charged forward, racing to get a hold of a ball. I stayed back because I never got the ball anyways.

I saw that Carina was up in the front, with her light brown ponytail swaying with every throw. She dodged a couple balls as she backed up to refill on ammo, but what she didn't see was a ball coming straight for her as she stood up with her balls. I had to act fast, so I dove to protect her and the ball smacked me straight on the nose. I fell to the ground, holding my hands up to my face.

Carina turned around and saw me laying on the floor behind her. She dropped down beside me, concern all over her face. "Chad, are you okay?"

I clutched my now bleeding nose in pain. "Yeah, just a little scratch," I lied, trying to sit up, "Nothing big." She giggled softly, her grey eyes on my face.

"You're bleeding!" she exclaimed, standing up. "I'm going to go get coach, you stay here," she told me, running off to the front of the class. Minutes later the teacher jogged up, and knelt in front of me.

"What happened here, Graham?" she asked sternly. I spotted Caleb sprinting towards me from the opposite team.

I removed my blood covered fingers from my face, and refused to meet Carina's eyes. "Got a ball to the face, Coach," I mumbled. Caleb had reached us, and offered me a hand up. I took it gratefully, getting to my feet.

"There's ten minutes left of class," Mrs. Rellis said, "I want you to go straight to the nurse's office." I didn't argue with her, and pushed the gym doors opened and staggered into the hall.

~Anissa's POV~

I looked at my schedule and then back up to hallways that surrounded me in confusion. I had managed to find my first three classes on my own. Except now I was struggling locating the main office to ask a question.

Seriously, how does anybody find anything here?

Just then, I saw a tall blonde boy walking nearby, holding his nose. Giving up on trying to find the office on my own, I took a tentative step toward him. "Here goes nothing," I said to myself, taking a deep breath.

"Uh, hi. I just transferred here and today is my first day, and I'm sort of lost. Can you tell me where the office is," I asked.

"You passed it already," he answered a minute later, "I'm going there too. You can join me if you want." I sighed in relief, glad to finally have gotten some help. We walked together through the double doors of the office. The lady at the front noticed us and her eyes went wide.

"Chad, what did you do this time?"

I eyed the blond boy beside me with interest. The name Chad fit him perfectly. I liked it!

I looked over at Chad from the corner of my eye, to get a closer look at him. At first glance, I had thought his eyes were just a plain color of brown, but now that I was more up close, I could see that they were a mixture of different shades of brown. His eyes were everything from peanut brown to earthly brown. He was cute in a goofy, endearing kind of way, with his carefree smile, and kind eyes. He seemed like the sort of boy who enjoyed hanging out with his friends, and poking fun at everyone for a few laughs.

Chad shrugged his shoulders at the woman. "Dodgeball," he said casually. He had snatched a handful of tissues from the box on the counter, and was now pressing them to his nose.

"You know where the nurse's office is," she sighed, shuffling a stack of papers neatly in her hands.

I muffled my laughter with my hand as Chad walked passed in the direction of what I presumed to be the nurse's office. The lady turned her head towards me, noticing me standing there for the first time.

"And who might you be? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Oh, umm. My name's Anissa Reir and I just transferred here from Phoenix, Arizona," I said, clasping my hands in front of me. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything more, I pulled out the schedule I was following for the day. "I was given this by Mr. Chavez when I was here earlier. It says I have lunch at 11:15, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do for lunch."

The woman moved from behind the desk and over to my side to peer down at the paper I was holding. "Hmm, usually students could use their ID's, but seeing you're new... and I don't figure you brought money with you... I'll just write you a lunch pass," she told me, taking out a pad of paper and a pen. She scrawled something in a fancy curly writing, and gave it to me just as the bell rung. I remained standing there for a moment, trying to remember where I had seen the cafeteria on an earlier walk of the school.

"Would you like me to show you around the lunchroom?" Just as I opened my mouth to protest, to tell her that I'd figure it out myself, Chad had reappeared, the bleeding stopped, and an ice pack grasped in his left hand.

"I could help her," he offered, coming to stand by us, "I have lunch next too, and I don't really mind showing her around."

"Thank you Chad. Have a nice day," the office lady responded, waving goodbye before she resumed her work. Having nothing more to do in the main office, Chad and I both left.

Back out in the hall, Chad turned to face me. "Just saying, it didn't hurt."

I looked at him confused. "What didn't hurt?"

"The ball. When I got hit in the face." I couldn't help but laugh a little at the complete randomness of his words.

"Yeah, alright," I retorted, still smiling, "But the icepack you're pressing to your nose says otherwise." All around us boys and girls were pouring out of classes, shoving each other around. We made our way through the crowd, and to where the lunchroom was.

"Ooh, Arizona has sass," Chad said in a joking tone. I smiled at him. Chad was just so easy to talk to, it was almost as if I was talking with Jacob. Without meaning to, I scanned the large group of people ahead of me for signs of Clover and Maya.

"Need help looking for someone?" Chad asked.

I frowned. "Nope, I just forgot I wasn't back home for a minute. You're actually the first person I've met here," I explained, moving to the left to avoid running into a boy in a football jersey. It wasn't up until then when I realized Chad was still wearing what must have been his gym uniform. I didn't know if I should've pointed this out to him, so I kept my mouth shut.

Spotting someone he recognized by the stairs, Chad began walking in their direction. "Hey, you don't mind if we make a quick pitstop before eating, do you?" he asked, turning to me. Seeing no reason why not, I followed him as we cut a path through the crowd of students going to whatever their next class was.

Once we had broken through the last trickle of students, a group of freshman girls, I saw three boys leaning against the railing. "Chadman!" the boy in the middle called out, "Caleb was just telling us--" He trialed off as his eyes landed on me. "Who's this?" he asked, with nothing but kindness in his voice.

"This is Anissa. Anissa, Spencer. Spencer, Anissa," Chad said, pointing at each of us in turn. The boy who had spoken moved forward and shook my hand in a mock dignified manner.

"Hello, I am Spencer Kane, and it is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you, Mr. Graham, for introducing us." The other two boys chuckled, and I smirked. Spencer had dark blue, almost grey eyes, and dark brown hair that was shaved on the sides of his head with the top combed slightly to the left. He was wearing a light grey sweatshirt with dark blue jeans and black converse.

Sticking his tongue out like a child, Chad pointed at the boy on Spencer's left. "That's Caleb, just pretend like he doesn't exist." Caleb, a short boy, with curly brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, raised an eyebrow at Chad. He was wearing a light grey beanie to tame his curls, a black long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, light grey pants, and black vans.

I stared curiously up at Chad. "You're just mad that he told everyone you got hit in the face by a dodgeball, aren't you." Caleb walked over to where I stood, and high-fived me.

"I can tell we're going to get along," he said. Now slightly pink, and ignoring Caleb and I, Chad pointed to the last boy.

"That's Alan, he's my right hand man."

"And you're my go to," Alan, a tall, dark haired boy with hazel eyes answered. He was wearing black, thick-framed glasses, a red, plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a solid black tie to finish off the outfit.

"Ah, yes, reciting the ever so famous poet, Drake," Spencer teased. This time, Chad laughed along with everyone.

"So these are your friends?" I asked him, grinning at Alan Spencer and Caleb.

Caleb stretched. "Nahhh, there's one more goofball in the awesome five." Spencer looked around, as if he just realized something was missing.

"Where's Joey?"

"Already in the lunchroom," Alan informed the boys. Caleb nudged me playfully. Just then, I saw a dirty blond haired girl jogging in our direction. She was wearing a long, knitted, light grey sweater with black leggings and brown ankle boots. Her long hair was pulled into a French braid.

"Spencer, there you are!" she exclaimed, out of breath. "Joey sent me to come find you guys." She pushed her way to Spencer and gave him a hug as he kissed the top of her head.

I was going to go out on a limb and guess they were a couple.

The girl then turned her head towards me and her eyes brightened.

"Hey there! I'm Essence!" She exclaimed excitedly. I smiled at how much she reminded me of Maya.

"Anissa," I responded, looking into her light brilliant blue eyes. But with a closer inspection, I noticed that they were more than just blue. They were mostly light blue with a sliver hint of hazel in the center. Her eyes also had golden specks which gave them that extra glimmer. Bottom line, they were gorgeous.

"Hey, Chad, did you know you're still wearing your gym uniform?" Alan chimed in, pointing to his best friend's chest. Chad regarded his dark purple shirt, and sighed. "I forgot," he mumbled, turning to go change.

"Wait, what about showing me around?" I called out after him. It was no use. He couldn't hear me anyways.. Already swallowed up by the other 40 or so students who were roaming the halls.

I felt someone place a hand on my arm, and I swirled to see Essence there.. "You can sit with me and my friends," she said, "I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Nodding my head in agreement, we faced Chad's friends.

"See you around, Anissa," Caleb said, bending down to pick up his backpack. I smiled at him. "Yeah, maybe."

"Hurry up, and stop keeping Joe waiting for all of you," Essence commanded, hugging Spencer a final time. We turned our backs on Alan, Caleb, and Spencer, and strolled into the lunchroom.

"Hold on," Essence told me, "I need to go tell someone something. Stay here." She broke away from my side, and made her way to a table where a boy sat. He was too far away to make out any details, but I could make out brown hair, or was it black? She was telling him something, moving her hands as she spoke, then waved goodbye. She rejoined me a minute later, guiding me to a table near the center of the room. Two other girls sat there, talking animatedly as we approached.

Essence gestured for me to sit down beside her, and I did. "Anissa, these are my best friends Mystic and Ally." Pointing to each girl in turn. Mystic, the one with long, curly hair which was pulled into a fishtail braid, looked away from Ally and smiled and waved at me. She was wearing a tight-fitting, long-sleeved black shirt, dark blue jeans with holes in the knees and up her leg, and black ankle high boots which had spikes on them. Ally then turned and waved at me happily and I smiled back. Ally was wearing a black hoodie with galaxy leggings and white converse.

"Nice to meet you, Anissa!" They both said to me, smiling. We had a conversation about boys and cute baby animals. The bell rang for the next class and we said our goodbyes to go our separate ways. I watched as the girls left to go to the last of their classes as I followed the slow trickle of high school students pouring out of the cafeteria and into the already crowded hallway. As I finally reached the hallway, I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe this transition won't be the end of me.