Second Chances

Chapter 1

At First Glance

                        Cassie's eyes fluttered open and she was in her dorm room with her roommates, Nicki and Nicole, fast asleep on the other beds. She took a deep, ragged breath preparing on facing another day of everlasting sunshine. She stiffly got dressed and put on the usual duo of mascara and lip-gloss. She popped three bagels in the toaster and went to go wake her roommates. They were always a hassle in the morning, but today they were a tad more stubborn. First, she went over to the drapes and pulled them back. Morning sunlight flooded the room making Nicki and Nicole pull their covers higher over their messy bed heads. She then proceeded to the usual tug-of-war with the blankets on the two girls' beds. Cassie won like she always does and went on to the feet pulling and as she predicted, Cassie's roommates held tight to their headboards. They eventually fell to the floor with their pillows. They usually got up by now, getting tired of Cassie's many different wake up calls, but here they lay still struggling to reach unconsciousness. Cassie reached and snatched up their pillows tossing them on the beds. She then snatched them both by their arms until they sat straight up. They finally gave up and slipped into their jogging suits as Cassie already had. The bagels shot up out of the toaster and the girls went to get their breakfast.

                        After their morning jog, Cassie, Nicole, and Nicki went to the Star Bucks they had on campus and got their daily dose of cappuccinos in them. They then walked to their first class of the second semester. Mr. Bender was wearing his common jeans and collared shirt. He was the science teacher of the school. See, there were only a hundred or so that attended the school they went to. It was not because it was exclusive on who they let in; it was just not many people come to this small town in California. It seems weird, because so many people come to California and it’s so popular. That is what the big towns are like (can someone say Hollywood?). Nestlé Seed, you see is not a big town. It's tiny, so who would think to attend a school in little o' Nestlé Seed. Also, students in this school are sent here for a reason. It varies for each person. It's not that the students have special needs or are insanely smart. For instance, Nicki is here, because she needs to get away from her own life. She described it as getting claustrophobic from to much stuff going on. Nicole is here for a totally different reason, she doesn’t have enough going on with her that she needs a chance to socialize with brand new people. You may be wondering about Cassie. Well, she's a little more complicated. You'll discover why later on. Anyway, the class was surprised to learn that a new student had arrived last night and would be coming in Mr. Bender's class in just a few minutes. Naturally, they were all anxious to meet the new kid. Everyone was so busy talking about the new guy that no one actually saw him come in the classroom except for Cassie.