Bright sunshine hit Michele’s face as she groaned in annoyance.
‘Man, that guy was such a weird flirt. I mean, he seriously wants me to bow down to him. Yeah, in his dreams.”
“Wait up Michele!” Michele turned to see Millie and Maya running to catch up to her.
“Wow. You just rejected Gary Oaken. How do you feel about it?” Millie joked.
“Pretty darn good. That guy deserved it in my opinion.”
“But it still took guts to do that.”
“I guess so.”
Maya jumped in after her response excitedly, “Why don’t you meet our gang and have lunch with us?”
Before another word could be said, Millie and Maya dragged Michele left towards a shady area with Michele protesting all the way.
They saw a group of people already sitting in the area talking and chattering loudly amongst the grassy area underneath the tree. The people grew quiet as the trio of girls arrived. The silence made Michele quite uneasy about being there.
One girl with blue hair stood up immediately with a twinkle in her eye. “That was quite some show you had there.”
“Oh Danae, you were there?” Maya chirped.
“Of course Maya. How could I not miss Gary Oaken being rejected?”
“That’s true.”
“However, congratulations to you.” Danae declared facing Michele. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Michele.”
“I’m Danae and this is my boyfriend Lumen.” She said pointing at a boy sleeping.
The sleeping boy waved in greeting.
“Eh…. He is never awake.”
A green haired boy came up behind May and hugged her. “Hi May.”
“Hey there! Ah Michele! This is my boyfriend Denny.”
Denny glanced at Michele. “Hi, it seems like you’re everyone’s new hero.”
“I agree, especially with our group.” They turned to see Andy walking beside them. He pecked Millie on the cheek before digging into the food.
“You’re such a pig Andy!”
“I can’t help it. It’s good.”
Millie giggled flirtingly while 4 girls stood up from the grass and walked towards Michele. Michele glanced at them with intrigue.
“You are Michele, right? We know about the thing with Gary. You’re welcome here anytime.”
“Thanks, I guess.” She replied unsurely.
The blond haired girl prattled on. “Ok. So I’m Macy, the girl with highlights is Casey, the one with pigtails is Demy, and the short one is Rena.”
“Cool.”
“So Michele,” Macy continued, “do you have a boyfriend currently?”
“Not that I know of, why?” Michele responded with her eyebrow raised.
“I thought….. that you would like Gary, unless you have a boyfriend.”
“Are you joking? Who would like that guy?”
Macy paused for a moment. “I did. In a matter of fact, everyone one of us girls in this group has dated Gary.”
“Are you serious?!” Michele shouted in shock.
Millie stepped in at this. “You see Michele; we have all dated Gary, only to have him dump us for another curvy cheerleader. So our group is known as the Gary-Haters group.”
“I really don’t blame you.”
“We are still pretty surprised how you were able to reject Gary.”
“He is way too cocky for his own good. Not only does he think he is the prince of this school, he acts like one too. What a creep!” came the disgusted response followed by a shudder.
“True, but that’s what made him hot.” Andy stopped eating to look at Millie. “But I have moved on obviously. Besides, Andy is much cuter.”
Andy sighed in relief. “Thanks Millie.”
“No problem.” Millie smiled softly.
“What? No make-out kiss? What has the world become?” teased Ash.
“Excuse me?” replied a reddening Misty.
“Well, what else would you give me?”
“I don’t know, maybe like tons of food every day!”
“Well, who knows?” piped in Maya. “It could be something reserved for the bedroom…”
“Maya!”
“I’m just saying.” She shrugged.
The reply was a silent glare. Millie was even more embarrassed than before. Michele looked around and saw everyone cracking up at Maya’s remark. She couldn’t help but crack a smile as she leaned against a tree taking a short break. Her eyes closed as she contemplated the morning events. She couldn’t believe that she could find such welcoming people on her first day and she had only been at this school for a few hours. ‘Maybe’ she thought to herself. ‘Maybe, this time, it won’t be so bad after all.’ Her eyes fluttered open again as she watched Millie and Maya engaged in a verbal spar. It was so amusing, that time passed quickly and the bell soon rang again for the second to last class of the day.
Everyone scrambled to get their stuff ready for the last two classes of the day.
“What are your last two classes Michele?”
Michele looked up to see Millie asking her.
“I think I have Music + Dance and then Chemistry.” She responded looking at her schedule.
“That’s great! I have Music + Dance with you too!”
Andy came up behind Millie. “Hey don’t forget about Maya, Denny and me.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right!”
Michele stood up and gathered her books. “Well, let’s go to Music + Dance.”
“Wait! I’ve got to tell you something. About the Music + Dance class…………..” Millie watched Michele run off.
“Oh shoot! I couldn’t tell her.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’s bound to know eventually.”
“Yeah you’re right.”
“So……….. Come ON!” Andy sprinted on ahead to catch up to Michele.
“Still…….. I don’t like the look of this.” And with that thought, Millie quickly hurried into her Music + Dance classroom.

Michele happily opened the door to the dance studio, only to find Gary Oaken inside.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“Look who it is, it’s the girl who rejected me.” Whispers started flying across the room.
“Whatever.” She placed her backpack at the back of the studio while presently ignoring Gary.
“Hey, we could pretend like you never rejected me and we can go for dinner on Sunday, my treat. How about it?” Gary stuck out his arm and flashed a charming smile.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I still won’t go out with you. Besides, I have something to do on Sunday already that doesn’t involve weirdoes like you.” Michele responded smoothly.
Gary’s smile turned into an angry scowl. “You’re going to regret this.”
Michele scoffed at him. “I already am.”
“Oh yeah Michele, I wanted to tell you something about this class.” Millie added scooting next to Michele.
“Is it that Gary Oaken is in this class?” She replied sarcastically.
“Well, that too, but mainly to watch out for our teacher.”
“What do you mean?”
Before Millie could answer, the dance teacher entered the room with clicking black stilettos. She looked around to see if everyone was present. When her eyes landed on Michele, she narrowed her eyes and walked up to her.
“Ah yes, the new transfer student. Welcome, I’m Miss Miriah and I am the Music + Dance teacher. In this class, I expect that you will listen to what I say because I will not fail to flunk you.”
“Yes, madam. Michele automatically spouted.
“Even though this may be an elective to you, it can still affect your grades.”
Michele nodded in fear.
“Very well.” Miss Miriah paced back to the front of the room to begin the lesson.
“Today, we will be looking at powerpoints of the history of Jamaican dance and there will be a quiz about it tomorrow.”
The class groaned in disappointment as notebooks were being taken out.
Millie whispered in Michele’s ear. “See what I mean? Miss Miriah is the strictest teacher in this school. She won’t fail to flunk students in this class.”
“But this is an elective.” She whispered back.
“But she is known for failing many people in this class, so be prepared for a long fifty minutes.”
“I can’t wait for my next class.” Michele sarcastically drawled.