"Okay, okay, settle down, everyone," Ms. Marist urged in as calm a manner as she could manage. Considering it was only third period, and only the first day of the school year, her patience was already wearing thin. "Please find a seat; it'll be yours for the remainder of the year, so choose wisely. I advise you to not choose a seat next to someone who will distract you."

Maddie glanced around the room, looking for an open desk. She spotted a boy with red hair and freckles in the front corner of the room, and the desk next to him was empty. No sooner had she taken her first step in the direction of the desk than did the red-haired boy proceed to pick his nose. She cringed and began searching for another seat. Some brunette took the open seat that was next to Lana, and a sense of relief settled over Madeline that she wouldn't have to spend a year sitting next to Lana.

Her eyes moved to the right of the room, and she noticed another boy, with brown hair and bright green eyes, who had an empty desk next to him. She recognized him as one of Dylan's friends – though she couldn't remember his name – and could faintly recall him having some connection to her parents' hospital. The boy, coincidentally, was already staring at her, and seemed to be silently willing her to sit next to him.

She almost did, too; her feet were itching to walk in his direction. Reluctantly, she looked away and turned her focus to the other side of the classroom. She found a girl sitting in the back row by herself. She had angel-blonde hair, which had been braided into two pigtails. Pink-framed glasses were resting low on her nose; her head was bent down intently watching her hand as she drew colorful doodles on a sheet of paper.

Maddie smiled, deciding this was her safest bet, and made her way to the open desk. She settled down, tossing her bag over the back of the chair.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked, greeting the girl with her friendliest-looking smile.

"Sure, I could use a friend," The girl responded. She extended an arm, and Maddie was sure she was going for a handshake, but instead, she was being pulled into a tight hug.

The two were vaguely aware that class had started, and Ms. Marist had begun teaching. However, it wasn't enough to dissuade them from talking to one another. "I'm Luna, by the way," she whispered while pulling away. Now, she extended her hand for Maddie to shake and she almost questioned the reverse order before deciding that this was definitely a normal concept for Luna.

Maddie studied the girl's hand, curiously observing the mass of friendship bracelets and bangles decorating her wrist, before taking it. "Madeline, nice to meet you. Are you new?"

Luna nodded, "Yeah, I moved here this summer! You're really the only friend I've made so far. I tried talking to this other girl during English class earlier, but she was kind of passive."

Madeline's brows furrowed, "Which girl?"

"I think her name was Lana?"

Maddie smiled. "I love you already. This is going to be a great friendship."

Luna smiled with her teeth, her eyes bright with excitement. "Good. I was worried that I would be 'the new kid' and friendless until the next one of us shows up."

"Don't worry. I won't let that happen to you," Maddie responded. "Although, I'm pretty sure there's another new kid this year, so, you're not alone."

The boy sitting in front of Maddie turned around, giving the two girls a huge grin, his blue braces standing out on his perfectly white teeth. "The other new kid's name is Jason," the boy chimed in. "He's sitting with Dylan, Maddie."

Maddie looked over to Dylan, and found that he was in the seat next to the boy with the bright green eyes, and behind them was an unfamiliar boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and skin too freshly tanned to be a local.

"And who are you?" Luna asked, her voice going soft, as she rested her head on the palm of her hand.

"I'm Zach," he replied, sticking out his hand. Luna reached forward with a trembling hand, taking Zach's and shaking it, letting her fingers linger as they pulled apart.

"Hey!" A loud, shrill voice kept Luna from saying anything more. "You three in the back." Zach, Luna, and Maddie all turned to look at Ms. Marist, who was glaring in their direction. "Is there something you would like to share with the class?"

The three of them muttered out a chorus of "No" and their cheeks flushed with humiliation as they sunk in their seats.

Zach waited until Ms. Marist had moved on, returning to face the whiteboard, before turning back around in his seat to continue talking to Maddie and Luna, specifically the latter of the two.

On the opposite side of the classroom, Dylan and Carson were initiating Jason into their little circle through an exchange of jokes, most of which were revolved around their defenseless teacher, who was none the wiser.

One of the three of them must have laughed too loud, or the scratching of pencils must have paused for a moment too long, because before any of the boys could fix themselves to make it look like they were taking notes and paying attention, Ms. Marist's head swiveled around, an angry scowl on her face as she made eye contact with each of the boys.

"Is there something funny about the Boston Massacre?" She asked, addressing only Carson, Jason, and Dylan.

Dylan scratched the back of his head sheepishly, biting down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Jason lowered his head, and had begun pretending that he was jotting down some notes. Carson, however, only stared back at her, a devious glimmer in his eyes and a sinful curl in his lip.

"I actually think the costumes were quite hilarious."

There was a sudden, tense silence that swept over the classroom. Even Zach, Luna, and Maddie, who had been incessantly chatting on the opposite side of the room, all paused and turned their heads in Carson's direction. The students all looked to Ms. Marist, anticipating her to retaliate by scolding him or sending him out of the room.

"Well, Mr. Daniels, since you have such an interest in the Boston Massacre, maybe you can fill us in on what we've covered so far."

"I'm pretty sure you're the one that's getting paid to teach, not me," he responded, leaning back in his seat and lazily crossing his arms over his chest.

Ms. Marist stammered for a moment, her brows narrowing in. "You need to have more respect for me and my class," she said, annunciating every word sharply. "The Boston Massacre was a crucial moment in American history, and you're too busy talking during my lesson to understand why. Had John Adams not coined the shooting as a "massacre," colonists would not have been as inclined to side with the anti-British movement-"

"Sam Adams," Carson interrupted with a disinterested tone, his eyes focused on his teacher's, challenging her.

"Excuse me?" Ms. Marist exclaimed.

"You said John Adams coined the shooting as a massacre," Carson explained. "John Adams, however, represented the British soldiers in the trial succeeding the Boston Massacre. It was Sam Adams that called it a massacre. He was the one who represented the colonists that instigated the attack on the British soldiers during the street fight in March of 1770. In fact, the colonists he represented were all members of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, the society he founded. Sam Adams was the one who first called the fight a "massacre," and the term quickly caught on, which created a large-spread anti-British movement and sparked the push for Revolution and independence. Sam Adams. Not John."

The teacher's mouth twitched, falling open on a soundless stammer. Her hands, which were clasped tightly together in front of her, had grown white at the knuckles.

"Of course, as you said, I wasn't really listening during your little lesson, so I could be completely wrong," Carson said, ending his sentence with a yawn. "After all, you are the teacher. It was you who went to college and studied American history, not I." It sounded as though he was conceding, and the class simultaneously took a deep breath of relief that it was ending here. That is, until, "Remind me again, which clown college was it?"

No one dared to say anything. No one dared to move an inch. Everyone sat perfectly still and perfectly silent, holding their breaths and counting their lucky stars. Zach looked reverent, Luna looked anxious, Maddie looked somewhere between bothered and impressed, Jason looked baffled – entertained, nonetheless – and Dylan looked like he was ready to whack Carson on the back of the head.

Carson, however, seemed fully and entirely unfazed. He must have been purposefully trying to twist the knife further, because he pulled his phone from his back pocket and began blatantly texting despite the no-phone policy, knowing full-well that the teacher was still staring at him.

Ms. Marist struggled to form words for a moment before clearing her throat. "I meant Sam Adams," she insisted, trying and failing to make her tone sound neutral instead of defensive. "It was merely a slip of the tongue."

To the great relief of everyone, the bell rung, signaling the end of the class period. all of the students quickly stood from their desks and hastily packed their belongings, desperate to get out of the classroom.

Ms. Marist watched silently as the children left her classroom, keeping an eye on the back row of students. Just as Maddie and Luna reached the door with Zach chasing behind them, she stepped in front of them, blocking the exit and shutting the door with more force than necessary. The two girls shared a look before turning to see who else was left in the classroom besides them.

Jason, Dylan, and Carson stood not too far from them, assessing the situation with wide eyes and panicked faces. It became apparent to all of them very quickly that Ms. Marist had intentionally stopped the six remaining students for a very specific purpose.

The teacher glowered at the group, eyes scanning over Luna, Maddie, Dylan, Zach, Jason, and Carson with disdain. She closed the classroom door and moved to her desk, signaling the group of six to follow her.

Slowly, the moved to circle around her desk, exchanging looks of worry and concern. Maddie worked up the nerve to look at Carson, and found him and his bright green eyes, staring at her, still. She quickly looked away, taking interest in the hat Ms. Marist had pulled from one of the drawers of her desk.

"If you are going to talk in my class, you're going to do so in a way that is productive to your education," she declared. She held out the hat, and one by one, offered it to each of the students, demanding each to take one sheet of folded paper from the hat.

"On each sheet of paper is the name of a historical figure. In addition to a 5-page research paper on your historical figure, which I will expect on my desk at the beginning of our next class, you will have an ongoing in-class assignment. For the next two months, you will have to walk, talk, think, and act like the person on your paper."

Maddie rolled her eyes, Zach gawked and made a sound of protest, and Carson scoffed, but seemed to have understood that he was most likely the final straw that had led them all to this position, and had spoken out of turn enough for one day.

"This is crap," Dylan said crumpling his sheet and shoving it into his back pocket.

Ms. Marist raised a challenging brow at him. "You break character, you serve detention. Understood?"

All six reluctantly made noises of agreement, deciding best to comply now before they could do any more damage they would regret. Ms. Marist dismissed the group with the wave of her hand, and the six scrambled to leave the classroom.

As Madeline walked out of the room, she slowly unfolded the sheet of paper and made a disapproving face at the name before flashing the paper in Luna's direction. Luna shrugged and held out her paper for Maddie to read– was scribbled in dark letters.

"Could be worse," Madeline admitted. The girls decided it was probably better to come to terms with their punishment now, rather than complain about it. It was better than serving detention every day.

"Who'd you get?" Jason asked, coming up on Maddie's side. Maddie and Luna both showed him their papers, and asked about his. He put up a bit of a fight and tried to keep the name hidden, holding the slip of paper tightly against his chest. Eventually, Madeline wrestled it out of his grasp and opened up the paper, revealing

Both Luna and Maddie stifled their laughter in an attempt to be supportive as Jason expressed his distaste about not only having to talk like a historical figure for the next two months, but for it to be a woman on top of all else.

Dylan revealed his paper next, the name appearing on the crinkled paper. Jason made a joke that Dylan would look good toothless and with white poodle hair, which had only pissed Dylan off more.

"I'll wear a wig once you put on a frilly pink dress and fake tits," he grumbled, crumpling up his paper in his fist before tossing it into a nearby trash can.

Next was Zach, and he explained that he couldn't even pronounce the name on his paper. Maddie rolled her eyes and held out her hand. He placed the paper in her hand and opened it up:

She raised a brow, "You don't know who Shakespeare is?"

"No?" Zach responded with uncertainty. "Is he like the Ronald McDonald of Shake-Shack?"

"Oh my God."

Dylan patted Zach on the shoulder, "I'll help you with that paper. You're clearly gonna need it."

They were still discussing the basic facts about Shakespeare when Carson appeared, fitting into the hole in the circle between Jason and Dylan. He had lingered behind in the classroom for a moment after everyone else had left, and had consequently missed the reveal of everyone else's people. The group eagerly anticipated the name as he unfolded the paper to show them.

Everyone turned to look at Maddie, who held her paper limply in her right hand, the name on full display. "The fucking chances," she muttered miserably to herself.

"Looks like we're lovers for the next two months," Carson said, a complacent and sinister hint to his tone, his lips curling into a smirk.

Maddie rolled her eyes, "No, we're two people on opposing sides of a war. You just happen to be a popular politician and in love with me, and I just happen to be a Princess."

"Of course," he responded with a mischievous smile. "Whatever you say, Princess."

Not a lot was certain from that point. The preceding weeks – after spending that weekend splayed out on the floor of Maddie's living room scrambling to write their research papers – had bonded them. They snickered when Zach had to speak old English during class, and made jokes every time Jason spoke in his high-pitched girly voice. They mockingly bowed anytime Luna or Maddie walked into the room, and they all got a kick out of how angry Madeline got when Carson switched seats with Luna in order to "play the part correctly."

Not a lot was certain, but one thing was clear. This had bonded them for life. And it was only their beginning.

*