“Brittany, who’s your friend?” Kasey McAllister asked her as she sat down.

“This is Celia Slate,” Brittany said. “It’s her first day.”

“Hi,” Celia said and gave Kasey a little wave.

“Well, if you’re a friend of Brittany’s, then I guess you’re cool,” Kasey said as her friend next to her nudged her. “Oh, this is Kerri Thomas.”

“Hi, Celia,” she said. “Since you’re new here we can show you around later, and I just remembered. We have cheerleading tryouts on Friday if you’re interested.”

“I wouldn’t know the first thing about cheerleading,” Celia said. “I mean I love to dance and all but…”

“Don’t worry Celia,” Brittany said. “I can’t teach you the routine. We can practice after school.”

“Well…okay,” Celia said as the bell rang.

“Hey, I heard you have a really cute brother going here,” Kerri said. “Tony, right?”

“Yeah, I have two brothers,” Celia said. “Can’t forget about Jesse. He would never allow it.”

“Jesse…huh,” Kerri said starry-eyed. “He sounds cute.”

“He’s a chipmunk,” Simon spoke out.

“Well, that’s even better,” Kerri said. “I love the cute and cuddly type.”

“Oh, brother,” Simon said under his breath. It was enough for Jeanette to hear. She was trying hard not to laugh.

She turned her head to hide her face as their teacher stepped forward to bring the class to order. He amerced himself in their instructor’s words trying to forget Jesse Slate even existed.

Simon didn’t even notice when the bell rang. He was staring into his text book when Jeanette nudged him. “Simon, class is over.”

“What?” he asked startled back to reality.

“It’s lunch time, and I’ve starving,” Jeanette said as she placed her books in her bag.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” Simon said gathering his things.

When they entered the lunch room the noise from the chattering students was deafening. Simon and Jeanette walked over to the lunch line and were so joined by their siblings.