"Hi! You must be the new girl." Sora turned around to face two girls with nothing more in common than night and day. One of them had shortcut chocolate brown hair that matched her eyes, and was dressed in a casual jean shorts and a yellow T-shirt. The other one's hair was dyed pink, and she was dressed in the same colour from top to toe.

"I'm Sora," she said, trying to smile. According to the looks on the girls' faces, she had succeeded.

"I'm Mariah," the pink one said, "and this is Hilary. We were asked to show you around, since you're new here and everything."

"Sure, thanks," Sora replied, right before she was dragged away by the two girls. They pulled her along every room and hallway in the entire school, and, instead of doing their jobs of telling her about school work, the teachers and the subjects, gave her a quick guide on the other students. Like who it was okay to befriend, who it was a shame to be seen with, and who was so far out of her league, she couldn't even reach them in her dreams.

"That blonde over there is Max Tate, the coolest of the cool," Hilary explained, pointing one single finger towards the grinning blonde.

"And the dumbest of the dumb," Mariah added, rolling her eyes.

Mariah and Hilary continued their tour on school ground, pointing towards students, telling about their entire lives. Sora couldn't help but wondering how these two angel girls could possibly know so much about everyone.

"Hey, Sora!" The three teenage girls turned around as they heard the voice coming from behind them. Max Tate parted from the group he was talking to, now walking towards Sora and the two weirdoes.

"You want me to give you a ride home today?" he asked as he was standing right in front of her, the usual grin on his childish face.

"Sure," Sora nodded. "Thanks."

Max went back to his friends, and the three girls kept walking, Mariah and Hilary staring at Sora like she had just grown an extra head.

"How the hell does Max Tate know your name?" the brunette finally managed to ask, still staring like a maniac. Sora shrugged her shoulders.

"I know him. His family adopted me a while ago."

---

He studied the raven haired girl as she walked the halls of the school. So this was the one? He threw a glance at his watch without noticing the time, then staring back at the girl. She had stopped walking now, and she was talking to someone. Another glance at his wristwatch told him that he was supposed to be in class in two minutes. He turned his back on the girl, and started walking.

---

"Ah, it's good that you could come, Sora," Miss Morgan said, smiling a perfect, white smile. "In case Hilary and Mariah forgot to tell you, I am Miss Morgan, your English and history teacher."

"They did tell me, actually," Sora replied, smiling sweetly.

"Listen up, everyone," Miss Morgan said to the uncaring students in the classroom. "This is Sora Tate, our new student. I hope you all welcome her, blah, blah, blah, you know the rest. Now, let's get started."

Sora smiled to herself as she found her seat in the back of the classroom. This teacher seemed fairly cool, at least compared to Mr. Knox, her math teacher, who was, truth to be told, more boring than a piece of paper.

Not even five minutes had passed when Sora felt a hand on her shoulder. As she turned around, the ginger sitting behind her gave her a folded note. She took it, turning back towards the blackboard and Miss Morgan's class.

How do you know Max Tate? the note said. Sora smiled as she scribbled down an answer on the other side of the little piece of paper.

He's my adoptive brother. In the corner of her eye, she could see the boy nodding to himself.

---

The girl was in his class. How could it be? She was younger than him. At least one year, maybe two. So what was she doing in his class?

---

Lunch came, at last. Sora had seated herself at an empty table in the cafeteria, slowly chewing on the salad she had bought.

"Sora-chan!"

Before she knew it, Mariah and Hilary were there.

"Hi," Mariah said. Sora just nodded, realizing that Hilary's attention was completely drawn to a boy coming their way.

"Hi, I'm Tyson," the boy smiled as he sat down next to Hilary, who instantly blushed deep red and started giggling.

"Tyson is Hilary's boyfriend," Mariah explained, and Sora nodded, pretending to be interested. The three other teenagers held a rather idiotic conversation, while Sora stared blindly into the air, eating her salad.

Another boy came, seating himself next to Mariah. It was explained that his name was Bryan, and they were dating. Like that wasn't totally obvious.

"That redhead over there is Tala Valkov," Tyson said, running a hand through his dyed navy blue hair. "He's the lone wolf of the school."

Sora kept nodding as further comments, descriptions and jokes about the other students were said. Like she cared who was the most popular of Max and Michael. Like she cared who was gay. Like she cared who smoked, or who was too poor to have their own car.

"In this place, being gay makes you a god," Hilary laughed. Sora nodded again.

Someone, please save me from these idiots, she thought. Just then a slightly familiar voice was heard.

"Sora!" It was the ginger from Miss Morgan's class that had called her name. Sora watched as he walked past the other teenagers, heading for her table.

"Hi," Sora smiled as the boy stood in front of her. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Brooklyn," the ginger replied, smiling seductively. "Look, babe, I've got to run, but I was wondering if you needed a ride home today."

"Oh, Max is driving me. But thanks for asking."

"At least I'll know you got home safe." He twinkled. "Some other time then."

Sora stared after him for a long time. Brooklyn. A smirk played on her lips as she thought of the name. She liked it.

"Hello, Earth to Sora," Mariah said into her ear.

"Uh, what?" Sora mumbled, shaking her head, as if that would clear Brooklyn out of her mind for a while.

"How the heck do you know him?" Hilary asked. "You're fifteen, aren't you?" A quick nod from Sora. "Well, Brooklyn's eighteen! How the hell did you two…?"

"He's in my English class," Sora replied, staring blindly into the air again.

"What, did he have to take the class over again?" Bryan chuckled.

"No. I was moved up a few years." Then she stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, without a word to the people who called themselves her friends.