First Day (01)

Mrs. Korsgren tells everyone that your first meal will be "puppy chow". When Chloe gags, Mrs. Korsgren smiles at the reaction, she explains the puppy chow is melted chocolate over cereal.

When she asks for a demo team, Soph throws her hand up excitedly. Before you can back out, you're both in front of the rest of the class microwaving the chocolate and picking out a cereal from the pantry cabinet. How do you handle being a demo girl?

I really need to have a talk with Soph about her excitement over...well, school. Her joyful, ready spirit is something I love about her, but when I get pulled into things like this, it seems like a lot.

Still, it's too late for me to back out now, so I embrace the demo completely. I hold up every ingredient and utensil, displaying it like I'm the woman in the pretty dress on the gameshow presenting the grand prize, then act like the nurse to Soph's surgeon, handing her what she needs but letting her take the lead on the actual mixing process.

The class is a reasonable audience. Even JuJu laughs at some of your spokesmodel antics and Mrs. Korsgren seems taken by Soph's winning personality and demonstration skills. You catch Will watching you with particular interest, while Skylar whispers things to Fee that force her to suppress a laugh or two.

Finally, the class comes to an end and the bell rings. All that's left is Study Hall! Soph grabs her bag and hangs out with you while Fee moves quickly to join you before you leave.

What do you do?

I can't help but meet Will's eyes a few times while I'm up there. It's not so much that I'm relishing his attention...it's more that I'm drawn to find more of Ares in him. Like I need to confirm what I already know in my heart is true.

When class is over, I pack up my stuff, eager to be done with the hard parts of the day and onto something easier. I give Fee a chance to catch me and loop my arm into hers when she comes close enough, heading out into the hall with her.

"How's your day been, Fee? Like all your teachers?"

It's so cute how excited JS is that I don't want to rain on her parade with my real feelings about school. I guess that's something I'm only okay doing with Soph.

"They might be kind of tough, but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end," I answer optimistically. "What do you have right now?"

"You're lucky," I tell Fee. "You'll have the best Spanish tutor around!"

I'm tempted to pull her out of class so we can hang out and chat about boys together, but on the first day that's way too much. And really, for her, it's too much anytime. I know Soph would want her in class.

"I'll see you after school, then, okay?"

JS gives you a quick hug, then Soph does, too, and you head off to Study Hall. You know Red has Study Hall, too. But who are you most looking forward to seeing? Who do you dread you might run into?

I'm most looking forward to seeing Preethi in study hall. Since she tends to sit in the front row of classes, I didn't really get to talk to her much today. Study hall will be more casual and we can catch up.

I find myself search for her dark hair when I enter, and subconsciously dreading that I might instead find Victoria's equally dark, but braided hair instead.

You cruise into the library and see a few of the "Study Hall Regulars" lounging in chairs or lying on the floor. Victoria is "holding court" with some new sycophants, showing them some makeup tips and the latest hot goss. Preethi has her nose in a book and she's doing that thing where she chews on the inside of her cheek when she's concentrating on something.

What do you do?

I head straight toward Preethi, looking to grab a seat near her. I don't expect to linger with her for all of study hall - she's going to take it too seriously for me - but I'll hang out for a bit and check in.

I do my best to ignore Victoria and her hangers-on. Who cares what they're doing? She's lucky to be alive.

"Hey Preeth. It was good. Hit a couple of awesome parties, hooked up with some awesome people, got a really good tan." I reach over with my toe under the table and gently nudge her shin to get her to look up at me. "Come on, books can't be that important yet. It's the first day."

I nod at her explanation about the books, resisting the urge to tell her she's skipping her whole high school experience right now just to jump ahead in college. What's the point?

Instead, I ask, "Tell me you did something fun this summer? Or maybe you did someone fun?" I waggle my eyebrows at her suggestively.

The corner of my mouth turns down at the way she shrinks, but I quickly push that away. I can't wallow with her, that'll only make it worse. "Hey, the fact that they called you Jail Bait means they were into you," I tell her. "You wouldn't be bait if you weren't tempting, right? And hey, I mean, we've all been rejected before. Even me."

At least I've gotten her interested in the conversation now, even if it is about my own failures. But when she sits back to cross her arms, I notice she's wearing this gods-awful clear plastic belt with multicolored grommets. Maybe, maybe, someone like Iris could pull it off - a literal goddess - but otherwise it's really only going to work on somebody who's, like, ten.


I lower my voice and scoot a little closer to her. "Well, once I got on a bunch of chat boards and just...like...offered, you know? And nobody took me up on it. I couldn't even get literal internet creeps to go for it. And once, I, uh...I stripped down completely. Like, naked-naked, in front of this guy, and pretty much threw myself at him. And he said no." I can't tell her, of course, that it was Hades, and that there was a lot more involved in all of that. Still, I haven't lied - that did happen, and it did kind of sting in a weird way.