Chapter 1

I stepped through the door and immediately felt overwhelmed. Today was my first day at my new high school. My family had moved recently and me and my younger brother, Austin, had picked to go to different schools which meant we weren't with each other. I didn't know anybody at this school so I felt really alone. I made my way over to my locker, which took a while to locate, and dropped off most of my books. I only kept my maths and history books with me, the lessons I had this morning, then closed my locker and looked around. I just realised I had no idea where I was going. The school had given me a map of where everything was when I came to look around a bit, but it had gotten soaked in the rain on the way home.

My maths class wasn't anywhere around me so I had to go and look for it but there were so many corridors and I didn't know which one I was supposed to look down. I was stood at my locker, silently panicking for a good three minutes before someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Hey, you're the new guy, aren't you?" The boy asked.

"Yeah," I nodded nervously. He seemed kind but I couldn't tell if he was just trying to make me trust him so he could embarrass me.

"Do you need any help finding your class?"

"Yes please, I'm supposed to be in maths six," I read off my timetable.

"Oh me too, you can sit with me and my friends if you want. I'm Dylan by the way."

"Hayden," I said, and followed him down one of the corridors to the classroom. I was surprised at how nice he was being. Last night, I hadn't been able to sleep very well because I was nervous about how people were going to react to a new person in their classes.

We were some of the first people to get there, there were only a few people sat in the back corner.

"Hey guys," Dylan said. "This is Hayden, he's new. I said he could sit with us."

"Hi," I said, feeling slightly intimidated by the group as I didn't know any of them.

Dylan went to sit next to one of the guys and I sat down at the desk nearest to them.

"Hey, I'm Ashton," said the boy sat closest to me. He looked like he was strong enough to do some serious damage if he wanted to but he also had a kind sparkle in his eyes which made me trust him.

"I'm Cheanne," said the only girl.

"I'm Harry," said the guy sat next to Dylan. He looked really tired and had dark circles under his eyes.

"Hey, I'm Charlie." The blonde one said. He looked kind of tired too but still had a huge smile on his face.

The bell rang and a few other students walked into the room.

"Hi," I said again, still feeling extremely shy. Just then, the teacher walked in and started the lesson. It was pretty boring but Dylan and his friends kept talking to me and passing notes when we had to work in silence. At least one of them was in each of my classes so they helped me find my way around the school and let me sit with them. Eventually, the bell rang for lunch and I headed to the cafeteria with them. We found a table that was mostly empty, except for one guy.

"Oh, this is Leo. Leo, this is Hayden." Dylan said, introducing me to the stranger already sat at the table. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I'd never met such a nice group of people. They were honestly the best.

"Hey, Hayden, we were thinking of doing something after school today. Are you free?" Ashton asked.

"Uh yeah, I think so," I said. I was so happy they were inviting me! I never expected to make friends on my first day and they'd just been so kind and welcoming.

"Pass me your phone and I can add you to the group chat so you know what's happening," Ashton said. I passed him my phone and when he handed it back I saw he's added me and put all of their numbers in my contacts.

"Thanks," I said, as everyone started pulling their food out of their bags but I'd brought money to buy something so I went and queued while they saved my seat. When I got back, they'd almost finished eating but they still waited for me and then we headed outside for a bit before the bell rang.

"Where are you for sixth period?" Dylan asked me.

I pulled out my timetable. "English four," I said. Ugh, I never really like English. Hopefully, it would be more bearable than at my old school.

"Oh, I've got that too," Cheanne said, "You can sit with me but Mrs Allen is so boring and strict so its hard to talk in her class."

I guess I wasn't going to like English then. The bell finally rang and we all went to our last classes. At the end of the day, Harry texted the group chat to tell us to meet in the parking lot. Cheanne had to use the bathroom first so she told me to go ahead but I didn't really know the way so luckily I bumped into Dylan and Jack.

"Hey," Dylan said. "So how was your first day?"

"Not as bad as I thought it was gonna be, actually," I answered.

"Really? You had English with Mrs Allen, that's like the worst lesson you could've had." Jack said.

"True. Okay, it was really good apart from that."

We got outside and saw Leo and Charlie waiting in front of a car. Not long after we got there, everyone else turned up and we had to decide what we were going to do.

"We could grab some food and then head down to the beach after?" Ashton suggested.

"Dairy Queen?" Cheanne added.

"Okay, who's coming in my car and who's going with Dylan?" Jack asked.

I ended up in Harry's car with Ashton and Cheanne, and Leo and Charlie went in Dylan's car. Harry's car smelled strongly of pizza but I didn't mind. About fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot and about five minutes after that, the rest of the group arrived.

"We got stuck behind this really slow driver," Dylan explained as he got out of the car.

We went inside and found a couple of tables close to each other as there wasn't a free table with enough seats. A few of us went up at a time to order. I got a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard and a strawberry shake then we went and sat back down to eat.

"So, Hayden, how come you moved schools?" Cheanne asked."

"My mom got a new job and it was easier for us all to move rather than her having to travel up here every day."

"What about your friends? Did you not want to stay with them?" She continued.

"Well, I guess I didn't really have any friends. Not like close ones, anyway. I had people to sit with at lunch but we didn't really hang out much outside of school."

"Oh sorry," She said quickly, going pink.

"Oh no, it's fine. I didn't really mind. It also made moving a lot easier 'cause I wasn't leaving much behind." It honestly didn't bother me that much, I had Austin and we were happy with each other's company. People thought we were weird because we enjoyed dancing and competed sometimes but it was really fun for us so we didn't care what the others thought.

Once we finished eating, we all picked up our drinks and headed outside. Because I was so new to the area, I had no idea which way we were going so I walked closer to the back of the group and followed everyone else. We soon arrived at the beach and we were taking our shoes off so we could walk along the sand. Dylan raced straight into the sea and started splashing around before anyone else had even finished taking their shoes off.

It was really fun just splashing around for a while but it soon got too cold so we got out and lay in the sand talking for a bit. I got to know everyone more and they got to know me better too. I found out that Cheanne had a boyfriend, Harry, and they'd been together for almost two years now. I also found out that Ashton had two sisters and a brother so his house was always really loud.

When we were all starting to get too cold just laying there, we decided to head home. I went in Dylan's car this time, with Leo and Charlie. They were all talking on the way back but I just sat there in exhausted silence, only talking if they asked me a question. After driving for a bit, Dylan pulled into the side of the road in one of the richer neighborhoods. Leo and Charlie and were saying thank you when I realised they must be related.

"Wait, are you two brothers?" I asked.

"Twins, actually," Charlie answered. "Non-identical, though."

That would explain why I didn't realise until now, even though I'd spent hours with them. Barely five minutes later, after giving Dylan directions, he pulled up in front of my house.

"Thank you," I said, as he smiled at me.

"No problem, if you ever need a lift to school or anything, just call me, I don't live that far from you."

I smiled back at him and walked up the driveway as I heard him speed off down the road.