Justine, the new teen in town, closed her locker and looked down the hallway of her unfamiliar high school. Hearing footsteps she turned around and froze. “What are you doing here?” she exclaimed. “I wanted a new beginning!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Justine awoke with a start, breathing hard as she sat up in her bed. This was the third time this week she’d had that nightmare, and it only made her more nervous for her first day at Westfield High School later that morning. The whole reason she had switched schools was because of Marissa, a bully at her old high school who had tormented her since the beginning of their freshman year. Justine had always dreaded going to class knowing that Marissa would be there waiting for just the right moment to make a snide comment about her that everyone would laugh at. Now that Marissa was miles away, Justine could still not escape her, even in her dreams.

“I’m never going to get to sleep now,” Justine moaned, looking at her alarm clock. It was 3:34 A.M., just hours before she had to face a school full of new people. Sighing heavily, she laid back onto her pillow and stared at the ceiling, trying to forget about the bad dream and her nervousness about the upcoming school day.

~~~~~~~~~~

The bell rang loudly, signaling the end of Justine’s first period class. She walked quietly out of the history room and joined the enormous stream of other students struggling to get through the hallway to their lockers. 'So far, so good,' Justine thought to herself, making her way around a group of nerdy-looking girls chatting anxious about their upcoming calculus test. 'My history teacher seemed nice, and for once I don’t have to worry about seeing Marissa in English class today.'

Having finally reached her locker, Justine set her pile of books on the hard tile floor and began to turn the dial to her locker combination. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a flash of blonde hair making its way through the crowd towards her. 'Marissa!' Justine thought, and her heart began to beat faster. Memories of the night before rushed through her brain: the nightmare, the new school, Marissa’s face as she laughed at Justine. Putting a hand on her quivering stomach, Justine turned towards her locker and tried to face the possibility that her life just might be part of the worst reality TV series ever.

“Are you okay?” a kind voice from behind Justine asked. Justine turned and came face to face with the blonde haired girl she had seen just moments before. To her astonishment the girl had no resemblance to Marissa, besides the blonde hair of course. Justine let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled.

“Yeah, I was just in shock for a minute since I could have sworn you were somebody from my old school,” Justine replied.

“I know exactly what you mean,” the strange girl responded sympathetically. “I just moved here a month ago, and for the first few days I thought a few people had followed me here, too!” The two girls chuckled, and the blonde girl held out her hand to Justine. “My name’s Kim. Welcome to Westfield High School, um…”

“It’s Justine,” Justine finished for her, shaking hands with her new friend. Maybe things won’t be so bad here after all, she thought with a smile.