The bus was old and rickety, not at all the kind that my brain had dreamed up since I was eleven years old, but it was just as full as I had imagined. The students that seemed to have taken over the bus were listening to CD players, portable televisions, and a few were kissing, while very few were reading a book, and the few that were reading seemed to be grouped up, so that the front two rows of the bus was incredibly quiet, but once you got past it you were suddenly accosted by such a loud noise that I had to quell the impulse to put my hands over my ears. I followed Missy until she sat down in an empty seat near the middle of the bus and pulled me down so that I sat next to her. Zack and Danielle sat a seat in front of us, and Zack turned around so that he could see us both as he sat on his knees. "So, she one of you?" Zack asks Missy, motioning to me with his eyes.

'One of you?' my brain questions what it is that his question could possibly mean. What was Missy that she could be classified? She didn't look like the type to be classified. I don't respond to his question, merely turned to face Missy, awaiting her response just as eagerly as Zack seemed to be doing so. "I'm not sure yet." Missy answers somewhat cryptically. 'I'm not sure yet' ? what kind of response was that? and what is she? My brain seems to be full of questions as we pull up to the next stop, and two guys get on, followed by a girl who looks a lot like me, only her hair is shorter and down, and she seems to be hiding behind it. I would be doing the same thing if it wasn't pulled back into the pony tail. She barely makes eye contact with me and a blush appears on both of our cheeks. She sits in the seat across the aisle, and I cant help but stare for a minute before I pull out my spiral and start doodling. The whole time while I stared at the girl Missy and Zack were talking, I don't know what about, because frankly I wasn't paying much attention, but I guess it was something to do with me being like Missy because suddenly she says that I might be. I pretend not to hear and keep doodling in my new spiral, drawing the beginning of an eye, and slowly adding shape to it, adding in the pupil, the iris. I guess I got pretty involved in my drawing because the next thing I know we're pulling up to the school, and everyone is standing up. I close my spiral and stand up to move with the crowd.

"Where do I get my schedule?" I ask Missy and Zack at the same time. Danielle has left to go and do something in the bathroom, probably re-apply her makeup. I wonder how much of her lifetime she spends applying and re- applying make up? It would have to be a lot judging by the amount that seemed to be clomped up on it at the moment.

"The gym." Missy answers me and I see that Zack has gone over to wait outside of the girls restroom for Danielle. "I'll take her to get it. See ya later Zack!" she calls out to him before she grabs my arm and practically drags me down the crowded hallway. "Have you ever been here before?"

"No. Is it always so crowded in here?" I glance around as a girl drops her books, and a guy walks on them, he doesn't even bother to help her pick them up. Another boy stops to pick up the books, the girl smiles and thanks him before he goes on his way. His face gets burned into my memory, so I can draw it later . . . his shaggy brown hair, caterpillar eyebrows, and light shadow of something on his chin, dark brown eyes, and a kind of dopey nose. I smile a little bit at the thought of someone having a cartoon nose, but don't say anything.

"Yeah, s'why its called I-35. Its usually more crowded than this." She turns back to look at me as I'm smiling. "What's the look for?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about. . . stuff."

"Here, this way." She pulls me into the gym. "Which line is yours?" I look around before I see that the lines are in alphabetical order, and I get into the correct line. I don't expect her to follow me, but she does. They hand me my schedule, and I look at it. "Whaddya got?" I hand her my schedule.

English II PAP Web Mastering Algebra I PAP Biology PAP Geography PAP PE Reading Art II Drawing

"How'd you get into these classes?" she asks motioning to the art, web mastering, and English.

"My old school offered high school classes for eighth graders."

"Oh, cool. You'll have English, Web Mastering, PE, and Art with me." I wonder when she got her schedule, but she holds it up out of one of her books. "Okay, so lets go and find those classes so you don't get lost." We start out of the gym before someone calls out to Missy. She turns rigid and stops as a girl walks up to her. "Hey Sarah, how's Selene?" she reaches over and puts her arm around my shoulders.

"She's good, who's this?" she asks, indicating to me. I look at her for a moment and then blush for some reason that I don't know why, so I stare down at the floor.

"This is Kaitlin. She's new."

"Oh, a fish now? Gosh, since we broke up your standards just seem to be getting lower and lower, and you just keep getting more and more desperate. You sure do seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel." She sound horrible, like the person that some girls hope to grow up to be in high school, and others hope they don't become.

"We're not together, just friends. I didn't realize there was anyone below you in that barrel if its any consolation though." Missy shoots back and pulls me along as we exit the gym.