“Amy Benson WAKE UP! It’s your first day of school! Aren’t you excited?!”
“Sure.” Amy replied drowsily.
“Okay well be ready in forty-five minutes so that you won’t be late. I’ll be in the car.” Mrs.Benson said, walking out the door.

Sighing, Amy got out of her snug bed and got dressed in her favorite pair of blue jeans, and a turquoise tee shirt. She brushed her wavy, brown hair, washed her face, and put in her contacts over her green eyes. At the bottom of the stairs Amy's dog Pepper was waiting for her to take her on a morning walk. Amy put on her brown pair of boots,  and escorted Pepper out the door.  

Trudging through all the mud from last night's storm Amy wondered why
some people did no like to walk their dogs. She thought that when
someone was outside with the fresh air going in and out of their lungs
that it was a time for them to think about life in general. Amy loved
to daydream. She loved to look out of the window and reflect on
how her life was going, think of what she would want to do in the
future, and consider what would happen if she wasn't always so
shy when she was with her crush, Alex.

Amy's mom was waiting in the car just like she said she would be. Amy hopped into the front seat, and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Good morning Amy you ready for your first day of tenth grade?”
“Yeah, just a little tired.” She replied, yawning.
“Well you will get to see all of your friends again. That should be fun, getting to catch up after the long break.” Mrs.Benson responded. She started the car and headed off to West Oak High. 

Amy never really liked school, but it never bothered her that much either. She used to be in the popular group, with a countless amount of friends. Then she got in a fight with Carly, the “leader” of the group, about "Stealing her boyfriend." Amy did not even like Todd. She always thought he was a jerk. After the accusation, Carly officially pronounced that Amy was a loser. At first, Amy felt miserable. Then after a few weeks she realized that just because she was proclaimed a looser did not mean that she actually was.  She got over her depression, and made some friends and she didn't care about what anyone thought of her. 

“Have fun!” Mrs. Benson said as she pulled up to the school. Taking in a deep breath, Amy emerged from the car. One step at a time, you don’t want to fall and embarrass yourself on the first day of school like you did last year. Amy still trips anyway, falling into a puddle with mud flying everywhere.
“Wonderful” She whispered. 
“Amy!” Kristen called, “ are you alright?” she bended down to help pick Amy up, “You know, tomorrow you should be more careful.” she said jokingly.
“I’ll try.”
“Okay well lets go to the bathroom and try to get this disgusting mud off your shirt.”


The two friends dodged through the throngs of students that were suddenly arriving, trying to get to the bathroom before everyone else. Amy tried to get off the water and mud on her shirt but some still stayed on. It looked like her dog pooped on her shirt. They left the bathroom. Amy made a left and headed to room 220 while Kristen went in the opposite direction to room 216. 
“See you at lunch!” Kristen called.
 

“Hey Benson nice top!” Josh cackled through all the commotion as Amy entered the room. She didn’t reply, she knew better. He was her best guy friend until the “incident”. I guess he wasn't really my friend after all. Amy sat down in a desk that was next to a window while trying to avoid any paper airplanes that might hit her in the head. 

“Hey Amy haven't seen you in almost three weeks. Hows Pepper?” Brandon asked from behind her. She jumped.

“Oh hi Brandon, you startled me. Pepper is doing fine although she is looking thinner since you went to sleep away camp. Hey, when was the last time you got your hair cut? It looks a lot longer.” The last time She saw him, he had just got his curly blonde hair cut, now it came down to his dark brown eyes.
“A while.” he admitted.

The teacher briskly walked into the room, everyone started to become quiet,“Welcome students to the wonderful year ahead of you in West Oak High. I am Ms. Granelda, your english teacher for the year. This year we are going to be focusing on poetry- the beauty of this language.” Ms. Granelda exclaims dramatically. Amy rolled her eyes, now she saw why everyone called her a crazy teacher. She is overly dramatic, not her type. Ms. Granelda began handing out an overview on poetry: 

“Poetry is literary work in which particular intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm...” She starts.

“Zzzzzzzzz... this is boring can we do something else?” Zach the wanna-be cool red head called out. 

“Excuse me mister, but we are learning poetry this year and if you have a problem with that go to the principle’s office now!” Ms. Granelda screamed.

I’ll try to stay on her good side. thought Amy. Zack jumped out of his seat just as the bell rang. Amy grabbed her stuff and left the room.

Brandon rushed to catch up with her, “So Amy, where is your next class? Mine is in room 215, Mr. Hunt.”

“Same here. I wonder if Kristen is also in our class. Just imagine, math class last year all over again.”

“That would be pretty cool.” Brandon said with a crooked smile slowly appearing on his face as he imagined Mr. Lawley trying to control the class to no avail. It was a shame that he did not work at West Oak any more.

They stepped into Mr. Hunts class. Kristen was there talking to a girl named Jennifer, another one of Amy's friends.
“Everyone, please take your seat quickly. I am Mr. Hunt to everyone, even you Sam.”
“But Dad!” Sam whined from the back of the classroom.

“No buts. I am Mr. Hunt, your science teacher. This year, we will be learning life science, other wise known as biology.” His voice boomed through the room. “Now class, the first thing that we are learning about are cells. Cells are the smallest structural and functional unit of an organism.”

Mr. Hunt kept talking on and on about cells. Amy thought that so far Mr. Hunt was a dull teacher. She tried to pay attention but her mind just could not stay focused. Oh well I’ll just have to make up the work some other day. 
The bell finally rang. Amy grabbed her bag and walked over to Kristen.
“Hi how was your first class?” Amy asked as they started walking down the hall to lunch.

“It was definitely more entertaining than science.” She replied while tucking a lock of her curly black hair behind her ear. They walked into the lunch room that was swarming with hungry kids. “Are you buying today? I’m not.” Kristen asked. Amy nodded her head yes. “Okay well I’ll save you a seat.” Amy entered the seemingly endless line of people buying their lunch. She took a few more steps to see that the menu for the day was macaroni and cheese and broccoli on the side. 

“Hi Amy how is school? I love the top. Where did you get it, the dumpster?” Carly announced mockingly, looking at Amy's stained shirt. “I’ve got to say, you had a much better taste of style when you hung out with me. Such a pity.” She continued fake- sniffling at the end. Then she flipped her artificially blonde hair and walked away. 

What a jerk. I can not believe I used to be friends with her. Now all she does is try to make my life miserable. To bad it doesn't work. Amy grabbed a tray, got her lunch then started looking for the table where Kristen was sitting. 

Amy finally found her. She was sitting at a table with Brandon, Jennifer, Sam and a few other people who Amy didn't know. She put on a smile and make a beeline toward the table. 
“Hi everyone.” Amy said while putting down her lunch.
“ Oh, Amy I think I am going to host a back to school party.” Brandon said.
“Sounds cool. Who is invited?” Amy asked hesitantly. 

“Only the people that we know.” Butted in Jennifer, “ Speaking of people who you don’t, this is Caitlin,” She says pointing to a lanky, blond girl with hazel eyes. “This is Alex,” She continued pointing to a boy with black hair and brown eyes, “and this is Jake.” Jennifer adds directing her finger to a boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Alex! What is he doing here!   

“So Brandon, can I help plan the party?” Amy asked after getting over the shock of seeing Alex at their table. 

“For some stuff. You can help with the invitation list and decorations, but I am doing the food completely by myself.” Brandon answered smiling.

For the rest of lunch, all seven of them just sat there and talked about school, Brandon’s party and a bunch of other random things. Eventually the lunch room started to get less crowded as it got closer to the end of lunch. Amy looked at her schedule and saw that she had history in room room 233. She left the lunch room, and said bye to Brandon and Kristen because they had a different class then she. Amy began the long trek to the other side of the building while trying to steer clear the mass of people chatting in the hallway. After a bit the bell rang and everyone that was standing in the hall grabbed their bag, and headed to class going in their own direction. 


After the first day of school Amy went to get Pepper to take her on  a walk. While she was outside, she was thinking about that day's adventures: falling in the mud, saying hi to Carly, and seeing Alex at her lunch table. The thing that she found strange was the fact that Alex was hanging out with her and her friends. It was not that she didn't enjoy it, she had had a crush on him for about a year. It was that he was not hanging out with his friends Evan, and Connor. Did he have a fight with his friends? No, he was the "Head" of his group. Maybe he went to camp with Brandon or Josh? Amy loved the idea of hanging out with him, so why was she acting like this? There was something strange about Alex being with her friends and not his. What was wrong? She would have to find out. 

The next day of school Amy was talking with Brandon before Ms. Granelda came into the room.
"So I think that Jason and Ashley should come, and Cassidy. Who else?" Amy asked. "We should also invite... Derek and Liam oh and Courtney."







"Okay oh and Kristen said that she wanted to hang out at the library after school. You in?" Amy inquired.





















Why would I not take any opportunity to spend time with Kristen. She is so pretty and nice and sweet. 
"What did you say?" Amy said
"What I didn't say any thing. Why?" Brandon replied.
"Oh, never mind."

Then Ms. Granelda walked in. All through English class Amy was thinking about what just happened. Did I just hear Brandon's thoughts? Brandon likes Kristen? What?! I'm gonna try to read some more thoughts, to see if it works. 
After class, Amy went up to Brandon, "Hey so are you in for tonight?"
Of course!  "Um, yeah, sure."
"Great!" They continued to walk to science class and on the way they saw Kristen.

"So Kristen, Brandon is coming to the library after school with us." Amy informed Kristen.

"Okay that is wonderful. I want to find a good book to do a report on in English class. Plus, we could talk about your party." Kristen said to Brandon. The three friends strolled to science class chatting about random things. Now that Amy realized it, when Brandon was talking he was directing it more to Kristen than she. Amy was wondering if Kristen liked Brandon that way. She would have to talk to Kristen about it and use her newly discovered powers to help her.
 

When Amy was walking to lunch with Kristen, she decided to bring up the subject, " So Kristen, what do you think about Brandon?"
You mean if I have a crush on him? "He is a nice guy. Why do you ask?"
" No, I mean do you like him as a friend or more?" 
"Strictly a friend why? Do you like him like that?"
"Me! No. I was simply wondering."
Right. You were just wondering if I had a crush on Brandon!
"I was." replied Amy without thinking.
"Are you talking to yourself or something?"
"What? No... yeah...maybe?" Amy said. 

By then they were in the lunch room. As usual, Kristen went to get a table and Amy went to get in line for her lunch. When Amy returned the same crowd was there as the day before, Kristen, Brandon, Jennifer, Jake, Caitlin, and Alex. The only seat left was next to Alex, so Amy went around to that side of the table and said hi to Alex. 

When he said hi back his deep brown eyes looked straight into her sparkling green eyes. She felt him almost looking into her, learning all about her and reading all of her secrets like an open book. She averted her eyes. She had no idea if it was only for a second or a minute that Alex was looking into her but she instantly paled.
"Amy are you alright? You should sit down. What happened?" , asked Brandon bewildered. 
"Y-yeah I'm fine," Amy took a quick glance at Alex, he was looking straight at her, "nothing happened."