"Kay!"

The sound of Kshiti's nickname caused the young girl to glance around. She wasn't quick enough for from behind she was wrapped up in a bear hug that removed her feet from the ground.

"Mac." Kshiti croaked from the raised hug. Then he was placed back on the ground. The short girl turned around to see Mac. He was her age, like almost all of her friends, and was six foot two. He grinned happily.

"I haven't seen you all summer." He reached out to ruffle her hair but the slender girl dodged with ease.

"That's what happens when you spend your summer out of town." She pointed out dryly. Mac just smiled at her. 

"Snipy as ever. Did you go see the new X-man movie yet?"

Kshiti rolled her eyes. "No. Why would I possibly want to see that movie?" She punched him in the arm. "Of course I saw it moron." Mac chuckled almost over the sound of her next words. "Did you?"

"Of course. No self respecting Nerd would miss it." He pointed out placidly. Nothing ever really bothered Mac. He might be tall and kind of hulk-like, but he was sweet. 

"Kay! Mac!" The two turned to see Carly and Dee. Carly and Dee were the quintessential nerdy girls. Carly was a beanpole, a bit of acne and glasses. Dee was Kshiti's height, overweight and had short black hair, but still really beautiful. They were both pretty awesome to hang around. Kishiti bounced up on her toes and waved at her friends. Within seconds they were sharing hugs with each other as if they hadn't seen each other yesterday.

The four of them chatted and discussed all the way to their lockers and finally to picking up their schedules. They happily compared them. Finally Brad showed and the five discovered they had only a few classes together. Dee had more Science classes. Brad had more tech classes, including some off campus at the local college. Kshiti and Carly had more English classes. Brad was in theater as a tech. The five friends were disappointed at the lack of classes together.

"It's not fair." Carly huffed. The twig of the girl was only shorter than Mac. Dee patted her friend on the back.

"At least we all have lunch together." Brad pointed out logically. The pentad nodded their heads in agreement. 

"And after school. Except for Brad sometimes." Kshiti pointed out though the warning bell drowned out most of her words. At the sound the five friends scattered. Kshiti went off to her first class of the new year, English. She settled towards the back and pulled out a note pad. It was obvious that this wasn't it's first year of use. It was well used. Most of the pages were covered in notes and abstract drawings. When the spot next to her was filled, she briefly looked up to see who it was, It wasn't someone she recognized and he looked older than most juniors. Held back? Or old for his age? She looked back down at her clean page, picked up her pencil and started to rectify the problem.