Chapter 25

The morning of the first day of school was hectic. Diana had everyone up and was trying to get breakfast to everyone as they all ran around the house trying to collect their things and make sure they had everything they needed for their first day of school.

Julie and Jessica rode to school together while Zac drove separately because he had to be at work after school. Upon their arrival at Union High School, Jessica helped Julie find her locker and made sure she could get it opened before heading off to her own locker.

After putting her things away, Julie closed her locker and turned and looked around. All around her people were chatting amicably with their friends. Julie couldn't help but feel completely out of place. She knew less than a handful of people and wasn't feeling particularly outgoing at the moment. Everyone around her seemed so intimidating. Just the idea of striking up conversation with someone she didn't know made her nervous.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but let out a sigh of relief when she turned around and saw Neil and Ashley standing before her. Neil removed his hand from her shoulder and held his hands up as if to say 'I surrender.'

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Neil said.

"Oh, it's okay," Julie laughed nervously. "I guess I'm just a little jumpy."

"Sounds like you have the first day jitters," Ashley smiled warmly.

"Yeah," Julie nodded.

"So, where's Zac?" Neil asked.

"I'm not sure," Julie replied, scanning the halls briefly. "He drove separately."

"Well, I'm sure he'll turn up," Ashley commented.

"Unless he got lost in the parking lot," Neil shrugged.

Julie raised her eyebrows curiously.

Ashley waved her hand around dismissively. "Apparently Taylor got lost in the parking lot his first year driving here," she explained.

Julie cracked a smile at the mention of Taylor. "He always was kind of ditzy, wasn't he?" Julie commented.

Ashley grinned and nodded. "So, what's your first class?"

"Um ..." Julie dug her schedule out of her notebook and looked at it. "English."

"Ew, with Rogers?" Neil asked, scrunching up his nose.

Julie looked back down at her schedule to see who the teacher was. "No, Carter," she replied.

"Oh, how did you get so lucky?" Neil asked. "I had Rogers. That dude hated me."

"Neil, you never did your homework and slept through his class all the time," Ashley commented.

"Yeah, so?" Neil shrugged.

Ashley turned to Julie and rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Carter's really nice," she said. "I had her for creative writing, and from what I heard her English class isn't so bad."

"That's good hear," Julie smiled.

"So else are you taking?" Neil asked.

"Um ... Physics, American History, and Pre-Calculus," Julie replied, reading off her schedule.

"I thought you were only a junior," Ashley commented.

"I am," Julie replied.

Ashley knit her eyebrows together and snatched Julie's schedule to examine it. "So why are you taking Pre-Cal and Physics? Those are senior classes," she commented.

Julie shrugged. "I did good in math my seventh grade year, so they let my skip pre-algebra, so that's why I'm ahead in math. And I was in the advanced science class back home," she explained. Her cheeks flushed. She hated explaining herself. She knew she sounded like such a brain.

Ashley looked impressed. "Well, you have Physics with me and Neil," she commented. "Zac might have it at the same time too. Maybe you can help us understand that crap."

"God, please," Neil groaned. "I'm awful at science."

"So how did you make it to Physics?" Julie asked curiously.

Neil grinned innocently at Ashley, who simply rolled her eyes. Ashley started to open her mouth to make a comment, but Zac rushing up to them and placing his arms around hers and Julie's shoulders interrupted her.

"Hello, ladies," he grinned at them.

Neil cleared his throat and looked at Zac expectantly.

"Again, I say - hello, ladies," Zac smiled cheekily.

Neil shot him a glare as Ashley asked, "Where have you been?"

"Getting my schedule changed," Zac replied, removing his left arm from around Ashley's shoulder and pulling a paper out of his back pocket. "I now have Physics with all of you, and Pre-Cal with you, Jules."

Julie smiled. "Thank god," she sighed. "At least I'll know someone."

"How did you manage getting it changed so fast?" Neil asked. "Anytime I try to change my schedule, Ms. Fenton claims it can't be done."

"That's only because you're always trying to get into the easiest classes there are," Ashley commented.

"Whatever," Neil rolled his eyes. "So, how did you manage it, man?" he asked Zac.

"Let's just say Ms. Fenton likes me a lot," Zac grinned. "I told her that Taylor told me to tell her hello."

"Why would that matter?" Julie asked.

"Oh, she so had the hots for him," Ashley laughed. "Taylor could get away with anything when she was around."

"She even let him hang out in the teacher's lounge. From what I hear it's really nice in there too," Neil commented. "She wanted him bad."

Julie couldn't help but laugh. "You're joking, right?" she asked, looking around at them.

"Nope, dead serious," Zac replied.

"Wow," Julie laughed as a bell went off.

"Oh, shit," Neil said. "I guess we should be getting to class."

"Do you know where you're going, Jules?" Zac asked.

She nodded. "I think so. Jess pointed it out on our way in."

"Okay, well, I'll see in physics in an hour and a half," Zac grinned.

"I can't wait," Julie laughed.

"See ya, Julie," Ashley called as she, Zac, and Neil headed in the opposite direction of Julie.

"See ya," Julie replied as she hurried down the hallway to the room that Jessica had pointed out.

When Julie entered the classroom, she was surprised to find several seats still empty. She glanced at her watch and according to it class would be beginning in less than a minute. She wondered where everyone else was. She quickly took a seat toward the middle of the classroom and looked around the room.

There was a group of students near the back of the room, all of which who looked less than friendly. At the front of the room was another group of students, but to Julie they all looked like they'd stepped out of the movie Revenge of the Nerds. The seats on either side of her were still empty, and she hoped that more people would show up and at least sit by her so that she wouldn't look like a complete idiot sitting alone in the middle of the room.

Luckily, her prayers where answered when a tall blonde-haired girl walked into the room. She looked around the room for a moment before walked over to the empty seat on Julie's left side. "Is anyone sitting here?" she asked.

"No," Julie smiled.

The girl smiled and sat down in the seat. She glanced around the room once again, surveying the crowds much in the same manner as Julie. "Wonder where everyone is," she commented.

Julie shrugged. "I don't know."

"Probably lost," she shrugged. "First day everyone ends up in the wrong place. Probably because they keep moving the teacher's rooms around," she laughed. "I'm Lexi, by the way."

"Julie," she replied with a smile.

"Nice to meet you," Lexi replied. "Are you new here?"

Julie nodded.

"Well, welcome to Union High School," Lexi grinned with a roll of her eyes. "Did you just move here?" she asked curiously.

"Actually, no, I'm just staying with the Hansons for the year," Julie replied.

"Hansons? As in Zac and Taylor?" she grinned.

Julie nodded. "You know them?" she asked.

"Who doesn't?" Lexi asked. "So, why are you staying with them for the year?"

"My parents are out of the country for work," Julie explained.

"Ohh," Lexi smiled as a group of students walked into the classroom followed by a short brunette woman who was carrying a clipboard and had a pencil stuck behind her ear.

"Hello, class," the woman smiled warmly as she walked to the front of the classroom. "Before I begin, let me make sure everyone is where they belong. I'm Mrs. Carter, and this is English class."

One kid near the back of the room stood up and said, "Oops."

"Kevin, don't you ever check your schedule before you go to class?" Mrs. Carter asked, wearily.

The kid shrugged and headed for the door. "Anyone else not supposed to be here?" she asked. When no one else stood up or said anything, she proceeded with calling role before she dived right into going over the syllabus.

The first class passed by quickly. Mrs. Carter assigned the students to write a paper about themselves and gave them the last hour of class to get started on them. In that time Julie spent a lot of time trying to figure out how much she wanted to reveal about herself. Normally when she wrote papers about herself, there wasn't much to say. However this time she had the option of explaining about staying in Tulsa while her parents were out of the country, and of course there was the whole issue of pregnancy. In the end Julie decided not to reveal her pregnancy just yet. She wasn't sure if the teacher would make them do peer readings, and if she did, she certainly wasn't ready to let the other students in on her secret.

When the bell finally rang signaling that that class was over, Julie grabbed her things and stood up. She headed for the hallway with Lexi by her side.

"What class do you have next?" Lexi asked.

"Physics," Julie replied, making a face.

"Ew," Lexi replied, grinning. "You didn't tell me that you were a brain."

"Sorry, I guess it slipped my mind," Julie replied. "Do you happen to know where exactly Mr. Murphy's classroom is?"

"It's straight down this hallway," Lexi pointed out. "And when you get to the end of the hallway, turn left and it's the first classroom on the right side."

"Okay," Julie nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lexi smiled. "And my locker's over this way, so I'll see you later, okay?"

"You betcha," Julie smiled as she continued down the hallway. She took a brief detour to drop off her English book before she followed Lexi's instructions to find the Physics room. She walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. She was relieved however to find that Zac had saved a seat in front of him and beside Ashley. Neil was seated beside Zac and behind Ashley. They all waved her over to their side of the room and Julie slid into her seat.

"Cutting it kind of close, aren't you?" Zac grinned, and Julie turned around and shot him a glare as the teacher entered the room.

As it turned out, there was very little time to talk in Physics class. The only way to describe Mr. Murphy was as boring. He talked in a monotonous voice much like Ben Stein, and Julie mused that she felt like she'd fallen into class with Ferris Bueller.

He spent most of the class going over the rules for the lab and explaining the many projects that they would be doing, and the last half of the class they had to watch a movie, which showed no relevance whatsoever to Physics.

By the time class was over, Julie had to hold her head up with her hand and was struggling to keep her eyes opened. From the sound of things, Physics was not going to be a great deal of fun, seeing as Mr. Murphy thought it important to test them every two weeks and also spring pop quizzes on them in between.

Julie had never had a problem with studying though, so she figured that she would do fine. She also felt lucky that she didn't have to experience the class alone. At least she had Neil, Ashley, and Zac by her side. She wasn't so sure that any of them would be much help in the studying department though. She noticed that Neil and Zac were passing notes behind her back while Ashley was busy scribbling in her notebook.

When the bell finally rang, the whole class jumped out of the chairs and headed for the door as if they were afraid of spending another moment of their time in the Physics classroom.

"Well, that was boring," Neil commented as they walked down the hallway.

"No joke," Ashley agreed. "Mr. Murphy is just an old grump, who loves seeing his students suffer."

"Well, he'll certainly have a grand old time flunking me," Zac commented.

"You're not going to flunk," Julie said.

"Yeah, right," he muttered.

"Hey Jules is the brains of this operation," Neil said. "You think you can get us all through Physics with a passing grade?"

"I dunno," Julie shrugged as she walked over to her locker.

"Well, if you can get me through Physics with at least a C, I'll pay you hundred dollars," Neil said.

"Hey, you better not say stuff like that to her," Zac commented. "She is really smart, and she might hold you to it."

"If she can do, I'll pay up," Neil grinned as he backed away from Julie's lockers. "I'm gonna go throw my books in my locker."

"Me too," Ashley said.

"Okay, we'll meet you in the cafeteria," Zac nodded as he watched Ashley start to walk away. "So, how was English?" he asked, turning back to Julie.

She shrugged as she opened her locker. "It was alright," she replied as she placed her books inside. "I have to write an essay about myself."

"How fun," Zac commented.

"I think I made a friend though," she said with a slight smile.

"Aw, my little Julie is growing up so fast," Zac grinned, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a hug.

Julie shrugged him away as her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. "Shut up," she muttered.

Zac simply laughed as Julie shut her locker. "So, why didn't you tell me that you and Taylor were so popular around here?" Julie asked as she and Zac started walking down the hallway.

"Well, I'm not popular," Zac shrugged.

"Could have fooled me," Julie said. "I mentioned your last name to Lexi, and she immediately knew which Hansons I was talking about."

"I'm just popular by association," Zac shrugged. "Everyone around here knows who Taylor is. He was Mr. Studmuffin or something."

"And how did he get to be so popular?" Julie asked curiously as they stopped in front of Zac's locker. She knew that Taylor was friendly and definitely a nice guy, but she never had any idea he was so popular at school.

"Well, you've seen him," Zac muttered as he opened his locker.

Julie tried to suppress a laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" Zac asked, looking confused.

"You mean to tell me that Taylor's Mr. Popular around here because he's nice looking?" she asked.

Zac nodded.

"Well, that's pretty superficial," Julie commented. "And if that's how it works, then you're not just popular by association," she added.

Zac glanced at Julie as if he was surprised by her words, but she interrupted him before he could comment. "Can you hurry up?" she asked. "I'm starving."

Zac rolled his eyes. "You and your damn hunger cramps," he commented as he shut his locker.

He guided her down the hallway to the cafeteria. They looked around for a moment before Zac spotted Ashley and Neil at the table near the back.

"God, look at that line," Neil commented. "We're never gonna get to eat."

"That's why you bring your lunch," Ashley grinned, holding up her sandwich, which she had already bitten into.

"Why didn't you think of that?" Julie asked, elbowing Zac in the side.

"Hey, you're supposed to be the smart one," Zac replied, rubbing his side.

"And I'm supposed to be worried about losing a hundred dollars?" Neil smirked.

"Oh, you are so on," Julie grinned wickedly at him.

Neil rolled his eyes. "Should we go get in line?"

"Might as well," Zac shrugged. "It's just getting longer, so we might as well jump in."

"Why don't you use your popular status to get us closer to the front?" Julie commented sarcastically as she followed Zac and Neil up to the lunch line.

"Yeah, why don't you?" Neil chimed in.

Zac made a face at both of them as he made it to the end of the line. "Why don't both of your shut up?" he grumbled.

Neil turned to Julie and simply grinned. Surprisingly, the line moved quickly and once the three of them had their food, they headed back to the lunch table, where Ashley was still munching on her lunch.

"Well, that didn't take too terribly long," Ashley commented as they all sat down.

Julie quickly dug into her lunch. Normally, cafeteria food was a huge turn off to her, but she'd found herself being pulled more towards foods that she normally wouldn't have tried. Diana had explained that when she was pregnant she'd ate many different things that she normally didn't care for, so Julie attributed all of her strange new cravings to her pregnancy.

As she was eating, she spotted Jessica walking over to their table. "Hey," Jessica smiled as she sat down in the seat beside Julie.

"Hey Jess," Julie said between bites.

"How's your day been so far?" Jessica asked.

"Pretty good," Julie replied. "How's yours?"

Jessica shrugged. "It's been okay."

"Have you already eaten?" Julie asked.

"Yep," Jessica nodded.

"How'd you manage to eat so fast?" Zac asked, without so much as greeting his sister.

Jessica shrugged. "My last class is just across the hallway," she replied.

"What class is that?" Neil asked.

"Choir," Jessica replied.

"Ohh," he grunted.

"Maybe you should join choir," Ashley said to Neil. "Then you wouldn't have to wait in line for lunch anymore."

"No thanks," Neil rolled his eyes.

"I second that," Zac said. "What are you thinking, Ash? You've heard him sing."

"That's true ..." Ashley snorted. "Sorry, bad idea."

Jessica laughed lightly and turned to Julie. "So, do you want me to meet you by your locker after school?"

"Sure, that's sounds good," Julie nodded as a tall girl with dirty blonde hair walked over to the table. She sat down in the seat across from Julie.

"Hey guys," she smiled sweetly.

"Hey Callie," Ashley replied with a small smile as Zac and Neil muttered something reminiscent of a the word 'hello.'

Callie eyed Julie curiously and started to open her mouth to ask who she was just as Zac said, "This is Julie. The girl that's staying with my family," he said. "And you know Jess, right?"

Callie glanced at Jessica briefly and nodded her head curtly. "Hi," she said without much enthusiasm before turning back to Zac. "Mrs. Carlson called your name is second block. Why weren't you in class?"

"I switched," Zac replied as he stuffed a few chips in his mouth.

"He's in Physics with me, Ash, and Julie now," Neil added.

"Oh," Callie said. She glanced around the table, looking slightly annoyed. "Well, I'll see you all later," she said.

"Hopefully, way later," Zac muttered under his breath. Julie heard his words and bit back a smile as the bell rang.

Jessica groaned. "Ew, time for Biology," she grumbled as she stood up.

Julie stood up as well and started to pick up her lunch tray, but Neil grabbed it. "I'll take it for you," he smiled.

"Thanks," Julie smiled slightly. She glanced at Jessica and saw the crestfallen look upon her face and couldn't help but feel bad, but Jessica shrugged as if to say 'it's not your fault.'

Zac threw his tray on top of Julie's tray. "You can take mine too while you're at it," he said.

Neil looked around for any signs of teachers before he stuck his middle finger up at Zac. Zac smiled cheekily before looking at Julie and nodding his head toward the door.

"So, you know where you're going next?" he asked as they walked into the hallway with Jessica and Ashley a step behind them.

"American History," Julie replied.

"Who with?" he asked.

"Um ... Mr. Felton?" Julie replied uncertainly.

"Oh, that's right next to your locker," Zac shrugged. "Ya know that door to the left of your locker?" he asked.

Julie nodded.

"That's the room," Zac replied.

"Okay, great," Julie smiled. "Now what about Pre-Cal?"

"Um ..." Zac thought for a moment. "Ya know what? I'll just meet you at your locker and walk with you to class, okay? That'll be way easier than trying to explain it to you."

"Okay," Julie agreed.

Jessica and Ashley bid their goodbyes and went their separate ways to their lockers while Zac walked to Julie's to hers before heading off to his own. Julie quickly gathered her books and went into the classroom that Zac had pointed out before going to his locker.

She looked around the room for a seat and smiled with she spotted Lexi waving at her. Julie waved back and hurried over to the empty seat beside her. She and Lexi began talking as they were waiting for the bell to ring, and once class began, Julie sat back and smiled to herself. 'Union High School may not be so bad after all' she decided.

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