Seven Eight Nine....

Chapter 1 - Mr I-don't-need-an-alarm

John's POV

I sighed. I in no way wanted to go to school today, but there was no way my parents would believe I was sick again. The schedule was just so awful today!

English, French, History, (the only halfway decent subject on a week two Tuesday) and then, in the afternoon, the worst subject, the one every student dreaded: double cross country!

Two whole periods of shivering in a freezing field in the middle of nowhere. Two whole hours of Mr King screaming at me to stop staring at the puppy on the other side of the park and start running.

It's not my fault animals are so adorable! I can't wait to choose my GCSE subjects; there's no competition on what job I want when I'm older.

Being a vet would be the best thing in the world (with the possible exception of Miranda tickets)! Plus, I won't have to do P.E ever again. It's like a dream come true! I can't drop French though (stupid school rules) and I'll need at least a C in English.

Anyway, enough chatter. I've got two years left, then goodbye Mr King. But in the meantime, I guess I'll just have to live with the pain.

I was about to roll over - I still had ages until I needed to get up for school - when I realised that Laff and Herc, short for Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette and Hercules Mulligan respectively (gosh am I thankful for nicknames), are dropping by my house early today so we can meet the new kid.

I glanced at my clock: 7.15. They would be here in fifteen minutes! I leapt out of bed and sprinted downstairs. My sister Martha gave me the 'I told you so' look as I juggled making and eating toast with brushing my hair.

She had told me to set an alarm last night, which I had laughed off, since I wake up every morning at six am whether I like it or not. The one day I sleep in, it matters!

Somehow, I managed to pull on my shoes just as the doorbell rang. I answered it, trying in vain to look a little less like I'd just run a marathon.

"Where have you guys been? I've been waiting for ages!"

Laff laughed "Mon ami, don't fool us around. You look as if you've just woken up!"

"He's right," added Herc "you do look a mess."

"Alright, you got me," I responded "I overslept."

"Il est très facile to set up an alarm, John. I can help you after school if you want."

I fake-smiled "Thanks, but no thanks.". They wouldn't get the reason I refused to to set an alarm; to be honest, I doubt anyone would. It's stupid really, but I hate relying on machines to do stuff for me. That sounds pretty vague, so I'll explain: I've never quite trusted, say, alarm clocks, to actually wake me up. I'm always scared they'll glitch and I'll end up being late to school, or worse. I don't want to talk about why.

Anyway, enough inner-monologuing; we needed to get to school.

"Guys, come on, we're going to be late!"

"Look who's talking, Mr I-don't-need-an-alarm!"

Time skip brought to you by the fact that I can't be bothered to describe three pre-teen boys walking to school

I was about to walk into school via the normal door (aka the PRE building and our form rooms) when Herc pulled my arm.

"Office, remember? We need to meet the new kid"

"Oh right," I replied "I wonder what he'll be like?"

"You mean you wonder if he'll be SDR (A/N: work it out), friends with us, or neutral" added Laff, with a half-smile on his face.

"Yup," I laughed. "always did wonder why they took the name of a 200-year-old political party"

"Probably something to do with the fact that even SDR idiots can see that Miranda is the best musical EVER!

A/N: So, that's my first chapter! Sorry if it's not great (too much talking, too short, just generally bad etc.), I'm pretty new to this whole writing business. Anyway, if you are reading this, it's most likely because you're one of my friends who has found my account because I didn't hide it well enough, in which case GO AWAY (and go to bed, I know you stay up until 2am). If not, and if you are genuinely reading this because you think it's good so far, thank you so much! I'll try to update every week, and I won't do many of these authors' notes unless something's come up and I can't update as frequently as I want to. Bye!

- the person who regrets calling their account Octopusesaregreat101