It was the first day of October and Austin Moon's first day at Marino High, a small school in Miami. He was stuck in the office, waiting on the principle to arrive. He bounced his knee anxiously until finally he met the green eyes of a woman.

She extended her lengthy arm firmly, "Hi, Ms. Dixon, you must be Austin Moon. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said. Austin shook her hand as he rose from his seat. She took him in a room in the back. "Please, sit down. I just want to talk for a moment."

He really didn't. He just wanted to grab his schedule and go. He didn't even care for a map at this point. It's not like he could get lost. Marino High only had one floor. He took his seat anyways and listened to her fingers type loudly on her computer key board before she faced him, folding her palms together on her desk.

"You've come from Orlando? Is that your hometown?" she asked.

Austin didn't know why this was exactly relevant, or why she cared. He focused on her polished nametag that sat on the right corner of her desk. He nodded his head. "Yeah, I was born and raised there by both my parents."

"What made you move here?" asked Ms. Dixon.

"My parents own a mattress store and it got relocated to Miami." he said, "They enrolled me in the first school they found."

Ms. Dixon nodded. "I reviewed your records from your last school." she said and watched him noticeably cringe. "You missed a lot of classes and have a tremendous amount of late's. You also hold an outstanding record for having more than enough suspensions without being expelled."

Austin nodded his head, "Uh, Yeah. But I'm not doing that anymore."

"I'm glad to hear that." she smiled wryly. I bet you are, Austin thought to himself. "I'm glad you chose Marino. We're a pleasant school and our goal is for our students to achieve their greatest dreams. We have great courses here, the top teachers, and amazing tutors. We also have a few mentors, I'll be giving you one to take the stress off of finding your classes alone."

Austin nodded his head. Ms. Dixon slid a map and schedule over to him. Austin collected it in his hands right away. He scanned over his schedule and tried not to grunt. Of course he had all the boring classes. Well, except for P.E., at least he had that. He was the top basketball player back at his old school, a"Ilong with holding himself a place on the sprint team.

There was a light knock on the door. Ms. Dixon smiled, "That would be your mentor." she said. Ms. Dixon called for the mentor to step in. "Austin, I'd like you to meet your mentor, Trish De La Rosa."

Trish had a round face that looked cute when she smiled. She didn't seem so bad and Austin had a feeling that if he didn't make any friends here, maybe she was one of those really nice people who would take you in like a lost puppy. Austin nodded his head at her as she waved.

"He's yours for the day, Miss De La Rosa." Ms. Dixon said, dismissing the two from her office. Austin was relieved as he collected his stuff and followed that Trish girl out of the office.

"So, your name's Austin?" Trish said as she walked down the hall with him. Austin nodded his head. "Well, that name's not so bad."

"What, you don't like it?" he asked her.

"Not that I don't like it, I just...Austin sounds like one of those...little boy names. It's nothing dark and mysterious. New kids are supposed to be dark and mysterious, not predictable." Trish voiced. "Don't give me that look it's true, not hurry up so I can show you when the Science wing is."

Austin laughed slightly, "You're not what I expected."

"Yeah, Yeah," she muttered, "But first impressions are everything."

"That's true." Austin nodded. "So, I guess you're not the nice, quiet type then?"

"That was your first impression of me?" Trish looked up at him. Austin nodded his head. She huffed, "Me? Nice and quiet? Imagine if Dez heard that."

"Who's that?" Austin questioned.

"A weird kid that I discipline myself into hanging out with." Trish said. Austin laughed again slightly. "You know, I think I kinda like you, new kid. You can hang out with us at lunch. I mean, it's the least you can do. Dez and I don't really have any other friends so if you could just..."

"Sit with you so you look like you have more friends?" he guessed.

Trish grinned, "That's it."

He shrugged, "Alright."

x

"Dez," Trish said, bringing Austin up to the lunch table. "Meet Austin Moon, our new friend."

Dez looked up, "Oh...You're that kid from my English class."

Austin nodded, "You're Dez?"

"The only Dez in the entire school." Dez replied. Austin laughed slightly. "You don't have to sit with us, you know? You can sit with somebody else if you want."

Trish glowered at Dez and gripped Austin's shoulder, pushing him to take a seat. "No, he can't." Trish said. "Are you trying to push away possible friends?"

"Well, Isn't it unfair that you're forcing him to sit with losers like us?" Dez questioned.

"No, it's completely his choice. He could walk away right now, but he won't. If he does, I'll kill him." Trish said, eyeing Austin. Austin looked up at her oddly.

Well, Austin thought, That's one way to talk to your new friend.

"Trish, Stop before you scare the guy!" Dez said. Trish rolled her eyes and lowered herself into a seat. She tossed a five dollar bill to Dez.

"Get me a water and cookie. Stat." she demanded. Dez grumbled something under his breath before getting up and walking away.

"That was interesting." Austin said, "Are you guys always like that?"

"Oh, that was just me being nice to him." Trish said. Austin cocked a brow upwards. Trish grinned. "So, tell me about yourself, Austin."

"Are you coming on to me?" Austin asked, playfully.

"Sorry, blondes aren't my type." Trish said, "I know I'm quite the catch, but you'll have to look for someone else."

Austin laughed slightly. He shook his head, "I'm from Orlando. My parents mattress store got relocated to Miami. Kind of a good thing, I was probably going to get kicked out of my old school anyway."

"Oh?" Trish looked at him.

"Yeah, I was...mixed up with bad people." he said as she nodded.

"I'm a bad person." Trish told him. Austin laughed. Trish might be a little bit on the aggressive side, but he definitely knew it was a joke. Austin knew what a bad feeling was when he felt it, and Trish never gave him those feelings. "I do feel bad for you. You know, having to move to Miami and leave everything behind and then getting forced to be friends with a hard-headed Latina and a weird-faced tutor. It's shameful and I regret none of it."

"Dez is a tutor?" Austin asked, "But he seems so..."

"Dumb? Yeah, I know. But he really is a good tutor. He sure knows his math skills." Trish said. Austin nodded his head. "But don't ask him to do anything in P.E. Dez isn't...smooth." Austin laughed slightly.

x

Austin had been attending Marino High for four days and he already knew every path, every shortcut, every road that lead to his new house. Trish and Dez only ever had to help him once. It was beyond him how he could memorize paths but not math equations.

Austin walked up to the bus stop bench. He checked the time on his phone. He glanced down at the girl sitting on the bench, reading a book. "Um, Excuse me, Is there a bus coming any time soon?" he asked.

She slowly looked up at him. She had an angel face - small, pink lips, pale face, big doe eyes, and brunette hair that fell in waves along her shoulders. She looked slightly shocked that he'd spoken to her, let alone, even noticed her. He raised an eye brow at her, confused by her silence.

She glanced around, looking for another body that he could be talking to but found that she was the only one there. She looked back at him. "Um, Yeah."

"How long until then?" he asked, but just as he asked he heard the sound of tires crunching against the leaves on the road. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the bus. He looked back at the girl. "Thanks." he said. She stiffly nodded, her mouth slightly gapped open. It even remained that way as Austin walked on the bus and disappeared with it.

She slowly looked away, staring numbly at the road. She looked back over where the bus once was and blinked a couple times. She focused on her book again, trying to forgot the blonde boy who had, not only noticed her, but spoken to her, too.

x

A halloween treat :)