The alarm went off, the sound blaring in his ear. Desmond groaned, and reached over, shutting it off, then rolled over and shut his eyes, "Desmond you gotta get up!" he heard his dad yell from down the hall, and groaned again.

"Dad it's too early!" Desmond yelled, but it was muffled by the pillow. He heard footsteps, and his dad stood in the doorway.

"Well that's what you get for staying up too late last night. You get to be tired on the first day of school," Desmond groaned even louder, rolling over.

"Why did you have to remind me?"

"Come on get up!" His dad flicked the lights on, causing Desmond to cover his head with the blankets, "Oh come on it's not that bad! Get up please Desmond. You're gonna end being late and you'll make me late," His dad, William Miles, was the one of the main partners of a criminal law office. Desmond sat up, and yawned.

This was going to be a long day.

"Ezio! Time to get up!"

Ezio opened one eye, and groaned, "It can't be Monday already," he mumbled, and looked over at his calender. Yup, it was. Sighing, he sat up and stretched. He heard footsteps running down the hall, and his door flung open. His younger brother, Petruccio, ran over and jumped on his bed.

"First day of school! First day of school!" he yelled, jumping up and down. Petruccio was going to Grade 1 and he was very excited about it. Ezio chuckled.

"You won't be so excited when you get my age, I promise you that," Ezio said, and swung his feet over the side of his bed. He saw his sister walk back his room, and go into the bathroom. Ezio got up and walked over to the door, "Claudia you better not take an hour in there!" he yelled.

"Leave me alone Ezio!" she yelled back. Ezio groaned, and walked down the stairs.

His mother was standing by the stove, making pancakes, eggs and bacon. His father was sitting at the table, drinking his morning coffee and reading the paper. He looked up, and smiled, "Ah there's the man of the hour!" he said, placing the paper down. Petruccio had syrup smeared on his face, "How do you feel this fine morning?" Ezio slumped down in his chair as his mother placed a plate of food down in front of him, "Tired I'm assuming from the fact that you're not answering me," he said. His mother walked over and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Claudia get down here your breakfast is getting cold," their mother, Maria, called. Claudia came down the stairs, and sat down at the table.

"I didn't even finish drying my hair yet," she complained. Their father, Giovanni, was a very successful banker and he was well known all over town.

"You look very pretty," he said, smiling at her. Ezio rolled his eyes, and finished his breakfast, then went upstairs to take a shower.

"Malik! Malik I'm hungry!"

Malik rolled over, and saw his brother standing in the door, "Can't you just eat cereal?' he grumbled. Kadar shook his head.

"I want toast but I can't reach."

"Well I want sleep," Malik said, rolling back over. Kadar walked over and jumped on the bed.

"Please Malik? I don't want to wake mom and dad," Malik sighed, and got up.

"Fine," Their parents were paramedics and they had worked the night shift last night, so it was up to Malik to make sure Kadar was ready for the bus. Malik went into the kitchen and popped two pieces of toast in the toaster, then poured himself a bowl of cereal. The toaster went off and Malik got up, taking it out and putting peanut butter on the toast. He placed the plate down in front of Kadar and sat down, eating his cereal.

"Malik do you have to graduate this year?" Kadar asked, and Malik chuckled, ruffling his hair.

"Yes I do," Malik answered.

"But I don't want you to leave."

"I'm not leaving for good, and the school year just started. Don't worry about it," he said, and his cellphone went off. Malik picked it up, and saw it was from Altaïr, "Come on let's get you ready for the bus! Altaïr's gonna be here soon," Malik got up and Kadar followed him into his room.

Malik helped him get ready, pack his backpack, make his lunch, then the two of them made their way over to the bus stop. Malik yawned, and shoved his hands in his jean pocktes, waiting for the bus. Soon enough, the bus showed up, and Kadar got on, waving to Malik, "See you after school!" Malik smiled, and waved back. Moments later, a white Honda Civic showed up, and Malik got in the passenger seat.

"What's up Malik?" Altaïr said, as he put the car in drive and headed to pick up Ezio.

"Not much. Had to make sure Kadar didn't miss the bus," he said, yawning, "Our last year of high school. I can't believe it's finally here," he said, as they pulled into the cul-de-sac where Ezio lived. It was one of the biggest houses in the cul-de-sac, but they did have a big family. Altaïr pulled up and leaned on the horn.

"Ezio always takes forever," Altaïr complained, picking up his phone and sending Ezio a quick text. Moments later, he appeared, yawning and fixing his hair, "Seriously Ezio?" he said, as he climbed in the back.

"Shut up Altaïr," Ezio grumbled, "Claudia took forever in the bathroom this morning."

"One of the reasons why I'm glad I don't have a sister," Malik said, as they drove down the road, heading to get Desmond, "Hey did you forget Connor?"

"No he texted me this morning and said he didn't need a ride," Altaïr answered, "I think his mom is going to give him a ride," They pulled up in front of a bungalow, and Altaïr leaned on the horn. Desmond walked out of his house, wearing his favorite white hoodie. He got in the back.

"Morning sunshine," Ezio said, punching Desmond in the shoulder, "You look tired. Did you have a certain girl over last night?" he asked, smirking.

"What? No! I was up skyping my mom," he answered.

"Yeah that's code for kissing Lucy," Malik teased.

"Shut up," Desmond mumbled, "I didn't even see her over the summer. We did text though."

"Come on Des. You've been secretly swooning over her for I don't even know how many years," Altaïr said, as he pulled up to the school parking lot, "Speaking of Lucy," he said, pointing to a blue Prius.

"Oh man," Desmond groaned, "I look like shit this morning."

"No you don't. You look like shit everyone morning," Ezio said, smiling. Desmond punched him in the arm, and they got out of the car. Lucy was standing by Rebecca's car with Rebecca, Leonardo and Shaun. Desmond shoved his hands in his pockets, as the group walked over to the join their other friends, "Hey guys!" Ezio called, and they all turned, smiling.

"Welcome back to school!" Rebecca said, smiling. Shaun had his nose in book, completely ignoring everyone. Ezio hugged her, "How was your summer?"

"Uh, alright. Spent most of it in the country at my uncle Mario's place. You?" he asked.

"I worked. It was pretty boring. Shaun just read books all summer," she said, punching Shaun in the shoulder. Shaun looked up.

"It was a very productive summer," he said, placing his book in his backpack, "I prefer not to travel and just stay out in the sun, reading."

"Shaun all you do is read," Altaïr said, as they all walked towards the school, "One thing I didn't miss was them," he said, motioning to a group of people sitting on the steps.

"Uh, I can't stand Cesare," Ezio said, "And his sister isn't any better."

"Robert is a pain too," Malik said, as they walked to their classes, "See you guys at lunch?" he asked, and they nodded, going their separate ways. Ezio and Desmond had their first class together, so they continued walking together.

"Hey where's Connor? Isn't he in this class?" Desmond asked, looking around the room for their friend.

"I don't know. It's weird for him not to be here," Ezio said, pulling out his books. Their math teacher, Achilles Davenport, was one of Connor's favorite teachers, and he was Achilles' favorite student.

"Good morning class," Achilles said, entering the class room, "And welcome to advance math. I trust you all had a good summer. Hopefully not too much math involved, like mine," he said, placing his books down on the desk as the class chuckled. Desmond pulled out his cellphone, and texted Connor.

Hey where are you? You're missing math.

Desmond looked up as Achilles passed out the course outline, and began explaining it, "Now, many of you chose this course because you wanted to be challenged, but I can assure you that a little less than half will transfer out before our first test. It's not that it is a difficult course, but tha..."

Desmond looked down at his phone, and saw Connor had answered him. He opened the message, and his eyes went wide, "Mr. Miles, what have I said about phones in my class?" Desmond looked up and saw Achilles standing by his desk.

"I-uh-was just..." he began, but Achilles cut him off.

"You know the rules ," he said, and held out his hand, "You'll get your phone back after class," Desmond placed it in his hand, and Achilles walked over to his desk, placing it on the desk, then continued talking.

Ezio leaned forward and poked him, "You never have your phone out. What's up?" he whispered, looking up at their teacher.

"I'll tell you after class," he whispered back, and began taking notes.

The bell rang, and Desmond walked up to Achilles' desk. The math teacher looked up at him, and handed him back his phone, "Don't let this happen again," he said, looking at him over the top of his glasses. Desmond nodded, and followed Ezio out of class, heading to their next class.

"Des what's on the go?" Ezio asked again. Desmond looked at his phone.

"Connor's mom died last night," Desmond said, and Ezio's jaw dropped.

"No," he said, "Poor Connor. She seemed to be doing so well at the end of last year," Desmond nodded, "We gotta find the others and tell them. Where is he?" Ezio asked, and Desmond checked his phone.

"He's at his place still, packing," Desmond said, as he texted Connor back, "We gotta go see him."

"How about during lunch?" Ezio suggested, and Desmond nodded.

"Sounds good. You tell Malik and I'll tell Altaïr. We'll meet at his car when the bell rings," Ezio nodded, and headed off to English. Desmond sighed, and shoved his hands in his pockets, heading to biology.

The only good thing about biology was that Lucy was there.