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ONE MONTH LATER

La Jolla High School, California

Even as she stood in theby her Sarah felt utterly alone One h to prepare her for new school, new friends

New life

God, how she ined her first day as a senior in high school would feel like She had so many plans at her old school and now she stood here completely lost

Clenching her backpack in her hand she walked off in no particular direction She wanted to get out of the middle of traffic of bodies Where in the heck was Valerie? She had said the main entrance hall just outside the counselor’s office hadn’t she?

They’d been dropped off together by her aunt but Sarah had to go to the counselor’s office Since she’d enrolled so late her schedule hadn’t come in the mail like Valerie’s No sooner than the ether had Valerie started socializing proot back from the office

The bell rang and Sarah tried not to panic She glanced at her schedule but had no idea where her first class was She backed up slowly until her back was against a wall Had Valerie really abandoned her? No she wouldn’t She took in some of the faces around her and wondered if she should just ask someone for directions to her first class

High pitched squealing got her attention and she turned to the front entrance to find souys that had just walked in Sarah rolled her eyes She’d always hated those types of girls The guy was obviously a jock because he wore his letterman’s jacket and so did his two friends

Deciding she was on her own, she walked back toward the office and frohen she realized a map of the school had been just outside the office all this ti their schedules and then looking up at the map Apparently she wasn’t the only newbie at this school Not much of a consolation Sarah looked around for Valerie, feeling more than a little annoyed at her

Male laughter erupted just behind her and she turned to find the sauys horsing around The tall one that was greeted at the door by the squealing girl was s when their eyes met The smile on his face seemed to dissolve slowly And she stood there frozen, her lips slightly opened For aand then she heard Valerie

“There you are!”

Sarah snapped out of her daze and watched as Valerie who’d already taken Sarah’s schedule sether!”

“We do?” Sarah’s cheeks still felt warrateful for her ti

Valerie talked about the classes just until they were far enough away and around the corner of the building “Oh,at you?”

Surprised, and not sure why, Sarah pretended to not understand “Who?”

Valerie gasped “That was Angel Moreno! Don’t you remember I’ve told you about him and his brothers?”

“No,” Sarah lied Of course she remembered part of the reason she could hardly breathe when she recognized him

The bell rang again

“Oh, shit,” Valerie looked at her watch “We’re gonna be late on our first day”