Marceline stood at the bottom steps of Verona High School. The school looked like a castle from fantasy times. The windows were grand, there was ivy climbing the walls. It looked almost out of a dream. She was starting over, and the nerves set in. Every step towards the front door she felt her feet getting heavier. Crossing the threshold of the door she saw the halls decorated Gold and Red. Banners littered the walls. She searched for the one that said Main Office. She knew with how huge the school was it would take her time to find her classes so she didn't want to waste any time admiring the view. Making her way towards the office she walked up to a older lady who looked as if she'd never seen a good day in her life.

"Um, Hello miss. I'm Marceline, I need to get my schedule." She said quietly. The cranky old lady pointed towards the other side of the room. Of course she missed the huge sign that said "Schedules Here!" Typical, she was such a derp sometimes. Thanking her the girl made her way to the line, happy that it wasn't as long as she thought it would be. She noticed the diversity and it made her smile. She loved her old school, but there was a lack of people who looked like her. It was frustrating because upon meeting her people already had a preconceived notion of how they thought she'd be or how they wanted her to be. She had a hard time fitting in at first but they came around.

"Hello!" She heard a girl say before she snapped back into reality.

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry. Hello, I'm Marceline. I uh, I d-don't have my schedule." She stuttered, mentally beating herself up for reverting back to her stutter that she hated so much.

"It's okay sugar, slow down. I'm Rebecca. I haven't seen you around here before, and I would recognize that pretty face. So I'm guessing that you're new here?" The beautiful red head shifted in her seat.

"Uh, yeah. I just moved here.. With my father this summer."

"Ah, well that makes sense. Yeah? Last name?" She said smiling.

"W-what?" Marceline said a little bit too loudly.

"I need your last name sugar, for your schedule." She giggled.

"Oh! I'm sorry! It's Phoenix. And It's P-h-o-e-nix not F-e-nix. Everyone spells it that way for some reason.

"Alright, sugar. Here you go. You're adorable, breathe a little bit. You're doing okay. Since you're the last person here and class is about to start. Do you want me to walk you to your first class? I'm headed that way anyways?" Rebecca said with a huge smile on her face leaning forward on her desk folding her fingers.

That's okay, I honestly think I can find them on my own. Thank you so much, Miss." I said as I started walking away.

"Marceline? Just call me Rebecca." Smiling, I walked out the office. She wasn't expecting anyone to be so kind to her so fast. Maybe Verona High wasn't going to be that bad.

---

Walking out of the office, she glanced down at her schedule.

Period 1: Senior English
Period 2: Statistics
Period 2: Art
Lunch
Period 4: Choir
Period 5: Drama
Period 6: PE

She groaned at the sight of Statistics. Marceline was more than just terrible at math. She never quite took a liking to Algebra or Geometry and had to repeat the latter twice. Numbers were bad enough but numbers and shapes confused her even more. She would never forget the day she had to answer a problem in front of the whole class and not only got it terribly, embarrassingly wrong but also got scolded in front of everyone.

When she finally looked up from her schedule she noticed the halls were starting to clear, slightly starting to panic she walked faster down the hall. She's new, the last thing she wanted to do was walk into class late so everyone could stare her down and whisper as she searched for a open seat. She didn't even have time to stop at her locker and figure out her combination. A good reason why she should have left her house earlier. She made a mental note for tomorrow. Slowing her pace down she turned the corner that would lead to her Senior English class. She thought Time to prepare myself for all the 'But aren't you a Junior questions' she always received right after the teacher makes the class introduce yourself to your partner' thing they always made you do on the first day. She shook her head. She always hated those. It was like in that very moment she completely forgets who she is as a person and even when she can somehow remember something about herself, it's never as interesting as "My parents work at Microsoft" or "I'm a ballerina." She smirked. "Hi, I'm Marceline, I'm a huge nerd who can't even walk outside without having an anxiety attack." Usually they don't even know what you're talking about, they just smile in you face and over pronounce their words, hoping you wouldn't hear it in their voice that they don't really care to know you. Just doing what they're told for the five minutes until the teacher tells you to turn back around.

Walking into the classroom, she noticed the walls were decorated with pictures both drawings and photos of Swans. Marceline went straight to finding a seat in the back so she didn't have to socialize with anyone that she got stuck around. Glancing around the half full classroom she took note of of the typical high school cliques. Jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, all paired up. Even though the school was huge, she was sure everyone knew everyone at this school, which would make it even harder for her to blend in. While she waited for the clock to hit 7:30 and for the class to actually start. She went straight for her notebook, she had been working on a dragon for the past week and no matter what she would add something was still off. She felt like scrapping it but it always upset her when she didn't finish a picture. She saw potential in everything, even if she hated it.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Looking up, not really acknowledging that the voice was speaking to her. "Oh, no. Um, sorry!" She finally took in the boy in front of her, he was beautiful.

"Cool. Hi, I'm Frank." He said reaching his hand out.

"M-marceline. It's nice to m-meet you f-frank." She sighed, she came to accept that she would be stuttering all day. She asked herself how lame she could make herself look before 7:30 even hit, then quickly pushed the thought aside afraid she'd embarrass herself.

"Nice to meet you too M-marceline." he gave a tiny laugh. The bell rang, initiating the start of class. Finally.

"Hello class, I'm Professor Don. Welcome to English." He walked to the front of the class writing his name on the white board.

Professor Don continued to talk for the next thirty-five minutes. He talked about how he's the head of the English department not only in the school but the entire district. He was boring. Not waiting for your friend to come outside boring, but more like watching paint dry while a monotone robot without auto correct tried to rap at you type of boring. He was a chubbier man with a Santa Clause beard, he had taken the pictures of the swans in his classroom and students from previous years had made drawings for him to hang up as well. He went into what he expected from us. The usual show up to class and turning your work in on time.

"Psst! Marceline!"

She glanced over. "Hm?"

"This is SO boring." He said smiling as he was pretending to die. Marceline giggled quietly at him as she nodded yes. They continued to talk during most of the class. He asked about small things like the type of music she liked and where she came from. She found out they listened to a lot of the same bands. She managed to make it through the rest of the period, but she knew it would be a easy class for her.

"When's your lunch anyways?" Frank asked scooting out of his desk.

"Me?" She asked

"Of course you, there's no one else back here." he teased "When's your lunch?"

"Oh. Um, it's after period 3." She responded putting her drawing pad in her bag.

"Cool, that's when mine is." He smiled

"How will you... I mean.. I won't be able to find you." She said

"You're wearing a yellow sweater girl, I'll find you! You can come and sit with me and my friends." He said while walking out the door. "See you then!"

"Bye." Sliding her bag on her shoulder she glanced at her schedule again searching for the room number to her statistics class. Walking down the hall way, she laughed at myself. Wait a minute, did she just make a new friend?

Notes

Update:
Rewrote June 11th, 2017.