My first glimpse of Midtown made my heart thump even louder. My nerves were starting to get the best of me, and I subconsciously raised my right hand to my teeth.

Before I could start biting my nails, my mom chastised, "Don't bite your nails Mia," as I blushed and sat on my hands.

My mom pulled up in front of the school and I began to climb out of the front seat as my mom said, "Have a great day Mia! And for Pete's sake, makes some friends."

I glared at her and walked to the building's main entrance.

Behind the doors were cheerleaders.

"Hello students! New students have to check in with administration and get their orientation partner," said the squad leader in a fake peppy voice.

The voice was all too familiar and I shuddered remembering all the times sympathetic visitors had used it with me.

Once I received my packet from the administrators, a thin, wiry woman with brown hair assigned me an orientation buddy.

He was short and wide, with dark brown hair and tan skin. He wore a vintage Star Wars t-shirt and on it there was a sticker that said, "Hello, my name is Ned!"

I walked up to him and he shook my hand saying, "Hi, welcome to Midtown High! My name is uhh Ned, but I'm sure you read that off my name tag."

He was friendly and gave me a tour of the school as we walked to my locker.

"Cool, your locker is next to my friend Peter's," he said enthusiastically, "I'll introduce you to him later."

Ned and I talked about science, and I told him about my love of engineering.

"You built an interactive alarm clock?", Ned said in shock.

"Yeah, it was easy. I just used the one I got for Christmas and reprogrammed it. Then I added some extra parts and now it even dispenses Skittles!"

I talked up a storm describing the building process and how many prototypes I made. I knew that Ned and I would become good friends.