"Ed! Are you ready yet?" Dana called upstairs to Eddie, who was taking forever to get ready – rather, he was taking Dana's definition of forever to get ready. She groaned when there was no response, although she only gave him a few short moments before calling after him again, "Eddie!" She whined with as much projection as her vocal cords would allow.

Dana heard a loud thud come from Eddie's room upstairs, followed by a muffled voice calling back to her, "I'll be down in five minutes!"

Dana rolled her eyes involuntarily, and checked the time on her phone. She shook her whole body as if to shake away all her nerves before calling back up to Eddie, "Edgar Matthews, we don't have five minutes!" She scolded him like a misbehaving toddler. Fortunately for Dana, and parents everywhere, the toddler scold had a way of working for children of all ages – even teenagers.

Eddie ran downstairs, pulling his shirt over his head. He managed to flail his head into one of the armholes and requested Dana's assistance fixing his mistake. He was thankful she lent him a helping hand as opposed to scolding him. She did, however, yank his shirt completely off of him, causing him to shutter in response of the surprise vulnerability. Dana threw his shirt in his face and handed him a package of Pop-Tarts. Eddie accepted the Pop-Tarts and sighed, slouching his shoulders forward, "This is breakfast?" He moped, "They're not even toasted." Eddie pulled his shirt back over his head – this time pulling his limbs through all the correct holes – as Dana guided him through the garage door. "I hope you're happy," he mumbled. "Now I'm not going to look as good as usual. And for the first day of school? Well this is a crying shame, I tell you. Honestly I think this might be a crime. Depriving the world of my full potential? Striking down one of the world's finest with no hesitation? No qualms? No regrets? Not even a single-"

"You always look the same to me, hon." Dana cut him off, not caring. "You said it yourself, it's the first day of school. You can't be late." She made her way to the driver's side of her car, hitting the button to open the garage door on her way down the short steps.

Due to the amount of boxes still piling up along the sides of the garage, Eddie had to wait for Dana to back the car out into the driveway before he could climb into the passenger seat, so he made his way outside and stand patiently waiting. "Why just me? Why not 'we'?" Eddie asked, catching onto her specific choice of pronouns.

"Because you're more important right now," she answered abruptly and slid into her driver's seat as quickly as possible.

"Why am I more impor-" Eddie's words were cut short by the slam of the car door. He threw his head back dramatically and pouted, making a show of it and hoping Dana was watching through her rearview mirror. As he readied his voice to whine, Eddie looked up and saw Katie across the street. He perked up, happy to see a familiar face. "Hey, Katie!" He waved. Katie looked up, sending Eddie a half sincere wave, and the kind of smile you give when you pass a stranger on the street, before getting into her boyfriend's car and leaving. Eddie lowered himself into Dana's car, which now sat beside him in the driveway. "That awkward moment..." He began.

Dana attempted to seem sincere to her cousin, but her unwillingness to care took priority over her false sincerity as she spoke. "Sorry Ed, I guess she's one of those girls." Eddie cocked an eyebrow at her, questioning her without speaking. "You know," Dana explained, backing out of the driveway, "too cool for us girls. The stereotypical popular girls that you hear about it in bad high school dramas."

"You don't even know her, D." Eddie's eyebrows furrowed, wanting to give Katie the benefit of the doubt.

"Don't have to." Dana responded shortly, pushing sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose with her free hand.

"Can you just stop being bitter all the time?" Eddie shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I'm not bitter, I'm honest." She shrugged. Eddie didn't attempt to refute her statement, and remained silent for the continuation of the car ride to school. Dana turned the volume up on the stereo, unbothered by Eddie's silence. The two soon found themselves in their new school, looking at a homeroom chart to investigate where they were supposed to go. "That's weird..." Dana said, inspecting the chart.

"What's weird?" A voice piped up from behind them. Dana and Eddie twisted around to spot Ashley with an eager smile plastered on her small, round face.

"There's three homerooms." Dana answered, gesturing to the chart that was displayed behind her.

"I know. It can get confusing," Ashley nodded, "but trust me once you figure out where you're going you really can't-"

"Wait, are you serious?" Dana was in disbelief. "How many people are in one homeroom?" Dana and Eddie leaned into Ashley, anxiously awaiting her response.

"Well the three are just for our year. We have around seventy-five students in our class so around twenty-five in each homeroom."

Eddie let his legs give out to emphasize his shock. Dana's mouth hung half open as she stared wide-eyed at Ashley. She didn't flinch as Eddie began to sink down; she just grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him back upwards. "I'm sorry, I think we misheard you. You mean to tell me that there are only three hundred students in this school?" Ashley nodded, unfazed. Her response made Eddie turn around and theatrically hit his fist against the wall behind them as Dana threw her head back and squeaked out a response. "My old school had over six hundred - in our CLASS!" Dana shouted louder than she anticipated.

Ashley flinched and shook her head slightly, attempting to regain proper equilibrium. "Oh," she smiled innocently, "well this is a small town. I think it's kind of nice to be able to know everyone you're surrounded by. The sense of community and togetherness here is really astonishing. I mean you won't believe-"

"Ashley, chill." Dana stopped her, "We're not on a college tour and you're not trying to sell us into going to this place. I promise you we're already stuck here." Ashley lowered her head apologetically. "Just one question," Dana added, leaning into Ashley slightly. "This isn't one of those weird small towns where everyone knows each other and everyone is like super closed minded and old fashioned, is it?"

Ashley paused a moment to gather her thoughts with a small pout. Her smile reappeared as she began to speak again, "Well, we all know each other but as for the other parts, I couldn't tell you everyone's opinion. I'm pretty open minded though." Ashley innocently smiled again. "So let me show you to your homeroom. Thomas is your last name, right?"

"Well mine is," Dana answered with a nod. "Ed's is Matthews, though."

"That's weird. You guys don't have the same last name?" Ashley, like most people, had assumed Dana and Eddie were siblings.

"We're cousins," Eddie chimed in. "Our moms were sisters, therefore the change in last names," he explained.

"Okay well off to both of your homerooms, then." Ashley spun around on her heel, leading the march. She began speaking, facing straight ahead, with Eddie and Dana following closely behind. "I'm in the first one because my last name is Donner, Eddie you're in this one," Ashley stopped in front of a classroom door, "and Dana is in the room across the hall." Both Dana and Eddie thanked Ashley before the three separated and went to their respective classrooms.

Dana walked in and sat in the back corner of the room, hoping not to be noticed by anyone. She set her bag beneath her desk and waited as the rest of the students to began to arrive. Dana glanced up at the sound of a recognizable voice. She spotted Katie standing outside the door talking to a guy whose back was facing Dana. When the bell rang, Katie kissed him goodbye with a small smile and entered the room. As her eyes connected with Dana's, her smile was instantly wiped off of Katie's face. Dana shook her head, believing Katie was only reinforcing her earlier statement about her.

During homeroom, the students were handed their schedules, locker information, and any paperwork that needed to be completed and returned the next day. When the bell rang, Dana knew she didn't have time to find her locker so she headed straight to her next class, hoping the building wouldn't be too complicate to navigate. Dana slouched when Katie made her way into the same classroom as Dana once again. Katie refused to look at her, and Dana made up her mind that Katie wasn't going to be worth her time to try to befriend – at least not today.

Dana took the first few minutes of lunch to hunt for her locker. She found it fairly quickly and instantly discovered that the locker next to hers was occupied by none other than the infamous Katie. Katie watched Dana approach the locker and absentmindedly sighed, realizing Dana's locker was right beside hers. Dana, overhearing Katie's sigh, rolled her eyes at the girl standing beside her. "Isn't it just splendid?" Dana mumbled sarcastically while putting her things into her locker.

"Excuse me?" Katie asked, clearly offended.

"Excuse you?" Dana matched Katie's level of offense. "You're the one who's been nasty to me all day."

"How the hell have I been nasty to you?" Katie quickly retorted. "I haven't even spoken to you all day."

"Exactly," Dana countered. "It'd be one thing if you felt awkward and didn't speak to me because you really don't know me – that I understand. But you keep giving me this weird glare and sighing whenever I'm around. So clearly my presence has been bothering you."

"I haven't done any of that." Katie dismissed her comments.

"You've done all of that."

"Well I haven't meant to." Katie backed off slightly.

"Is that an apology?" Dana's eyebrow rose.

"Do you require one?" Katie quipped, somewhat snotty. Dana rolled her eyes, slamming her locker door shut, and began to leave without another word. "You didn't have to help me at the party, you know." Katie called after her.

Dana stopped and turned around, running her tongue across the inside of her cheek in annoyance. "But I did, Katie," she said with a sigh. "Listen, clearly you don't like me."

"I never said that." Katie interrupted.

Dana continued, ignoring Katie's comment. "I don't know what your problem is but whatever reason you may have to hate me, you're going to have to deal with it. Otherwise this is going to be a very long year." Dana turned and walked towards the cafeteria. Katie shut her locker with a slam, feeling defeated.

"Hey, Dana!" Eddie caught up to his cousin in the hallway. "So I have good news and bad news. Good news is that Mason is in my homeroom. Bad news is I found out that unfortunately, Katie has a boyfriend who's also in my homeroom. Jesse Koala-something."

"Why is that bad news?"

"Why would a drop dead gorgeous girl being off the market be good news?"

"Eddie," Dana nearly groaned, "you know, sometimes keeping up with you is exhausting."

"Why thank you," he beamed with an exaggerated bow. Dana lightly pushed his face away with a gentle chuckle. Eddie stood with a smile and followed Dana into the cafeteria, both of them hunting down the food line. As they were paying for their meals, Ashley ran up to the two with a skip in her trot. Mason followed closely behind, nodding to acknowledge the two before stealing a fry off of Ashley's tray. Ashley, once again leading the charge, found a table to sit at and everyone soon found spots around her.

Katie spotted Ashley and Mason and walked over to the two, smiling. "Hey Ash, can we-" She cut herself off, rounding the table and spotting Dana sitting across from her best friend.

Dana and Katie made prolonged eye contact before Dana stood up from the table, suggesting, "I'll move."

Ashley's hand grabbed ahold of Dana's arm. "Why?" She furrowed her brows.

"Yeah you really don't have to do that." Katie added softly. Katie's eyes connected with Eddie. She sent him a small wave and smile, saying, "I'm Katie, but I think you already knew that considering you called my name this morning."

Realization washed over Eddie's face, "Right, that makes sense why you were hesitant this morning. We haven't officially met." Eddie stood, introducing himself, "I'm Eddie. Pleasure to meet you." He bowed his head and rotated his hand a few times like a medieval gentleman.

A small grin pulled at the corner of Katie's lips, "Pleasure." She took a seat besides Ashley, swinging one leg over to straddle the seat. "Do you mind if we talk?" Katie asked softly to her friend. "Later?"

Ashley nodded with a smile, setting her hand briefly on Katie's leg to comfort her. Ashley then pulled her attention back to Dana and Eddie and asked, "So do you guys play any sports? Maybe cheerlead?" Ashley happened to be captain of the cheerleading squad, so it was only natural for her to ask.

Eddie laughed to himself, nearly choking on his food before Dana elbowed him. "Uh...Not really. No." Dana winced at her own answer, "I'm not really a 'team player.' But I like photography."

"That's cool, too," Mason piped up. "Maybe you can take pictures for the school. I'm pretty sure we have a photo club you could join," Mason suggested.

"I know the perfect people who can make that happen." Ashley squeaked with excitement. Dana agreed, thinking it may be a good opportunity to meet someone with common interests. Ashley and Mason began interrogating Eddie on what he might want to get involved in, and began suggesting different clubs that might interest him. As Eddie and Mason began to quip back and forth, Jesse entered the cafeteria with a demeanor that would convince everyone he owned it. Several people began to try to get his attention, but he made a beeline for Katie as soon as he caught sight of her.

"Hey babe," Jesse smiled as he kissed Katie's cheek swinging a leg over the seat to sit behind her. Katie squirmed slightly, adjusting so both of her legs were tucked under the table. "Hey," he perked up, recognizing Eddie, "you're in my homeroom." Jesse stuck a hand out to bro shake Eddie's. Eddie reluctantly complied, and Jesse started rambling to the table about the day he had so far and how hard is life was, mainly whining about the new members of the football team.

Dana whispered to Ashley as she slowly stood up from the table, not wanting to sit in awkward silence among the group any longer, "And that's my cue to go."