Kaylie and I passed notes during science class. Mr. Naminski didn't seem to notice; he was yelling at some girl for doing her makeup in his classroom.

Kaylie and I paid no attention. We were writing things on a piece of paper and passing it back and forth:

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Kaylie: "Did you see that guy?"

Audrey: "Which one?"

Kaylie: "The one in the grey hat?"

I looked up. There was a boy in front of us wearing a grey baseball cap backwards on his head.

Audrey: "He is HOTT!"

Kaylie: "You're tellin me!"

Audrey: "What do you think of the Bio teacher?"

Kaylie: "He looks like Crocker from Fairly Oddparents!"

Audrey: "We must be reading each other's minds, because thats what I think!"

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Kaylie and I were inseparable by lunchtime. We talked about anything and everything. Turns out we were in most of the same classes and had just about the same interests. We were both HUGE LOTR and Harry Potter fans, which was cool since we also thought we were the only ones who liked both. The one thing we disagreed on was who in the Fellowship was hotter: Legolas or Aragorn. I said Legolas. "Legolas is a fairy!" Kaylie teased. "No, he's an elf!" I shot back playfully. "And what about Aragorn? He'd be nice looking if he shaved!" I dodged a playful punch on the shoulder from Kaylie, who imitated a war-cry. The entire cafeteria looked at us; some giggled.

"Honestly, what evil force would make children run laps on the first day of gym?" Kaylie ranted as we ran the track.
"I don't know, but someday they'll get theirs and then they'll be sorry!" I said. Sure enough, as Kaylie was laughing, Brittani decided to run past and knock me and Kaylie down. "Oops! Sorry!" she said obnoxiously as she passed.

"BRITTANI MURPHY, YOU WILL SUFFER!" I roared. Standing up, I muttered sardonically, "As soon as my spleen heals." Kaylie snickered.

As I sat in the nurse's office, I described the various ways I wanted to torture Brittani Murphy. Most of them involved pointy objects. Kaylie was sitting next to me, reacting to each rather vivid torture method. She winced. "I didn't know you could do that with a hockey stick!"

"You can do anything with a hockey stick if you have the imagination," I said wearily.

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The first day at school was, all in all, uneventful. I had a friend already, which was a good thing. The incident on the track with Murphy left me with nothing but a scraped knee and a small cut on my hand. It was a good day. As I sat on my bed, chatting on the phone with Kaylie, I knew I could bear the school year as long as we stayed friends.