A week after the opening social was when school started. Mr. Ryan signed both Lanie and Rachel up for Eastside High School, much to Lanie's delight. Conner had said he'd be going there, so she was looking forward to potentially seeing him again.

The night before the first day of school, Mr. Ryan came up to Lanie's and Rachel's room with a surprise. "Hello, ladies," he said. "Guess what I've got for you?"

"What?" Lanie asked.

Mr. Ryan reached into his bag and pulled out two brand-new, unopened Samsung Galaxy phones. "We got new phones for you," he said.

"Oh my gosh!" Rachel exclaimed. "Thank you, Mr. Ryan! Thank you so much!"

"We thought they'd come in handy," said Mr. Ryan. "I'll bet you two are gonna start meeting a lot more people at school and wanting to keep in touch with them."

"Yeah, probably," said Lanie.

"Speaking of school, I'm also here to give you your schedules." Mr. Ryan handed Lanie and Rachel printed-out schedules of their classes for the school year.

"Thanks," said Lanie. "How far away from here is the school?"

"Just a few blocks," Mr. Ryan answered. "You guys can walk there."

"Alright," said Lanie. "Thanks again."

After Mr. Ryan left, Lanie looked at her schedule. It looked like it was a block schedule, with First, Second, and Third Periods on Mondays and Thursdays, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Periods on Tuesdays and Fridays, and all six periods on Wednesdays. Lanie's Periods were Geometry, English, P. E, US History, Chemistry, and Art, in that order. "Rachel, what have you got?" Lanie asked.

"I've got Photo Arts, Geometry, P. E, US History, Chemistry, and English," Rachel answered.

Lanie looked at Rachel's schedule and compared it to her own. "Looks like we have Third, Fourth, and Fifth Periods together," she said.

"Not bad," said Lanie.

"We'll just have to worry about getting a good spot at lunch," said Rachel.

"Oh yeah," said Lanie. "That'll definitely be a challenge."

***

The next day was Monday. Lanie and Rachel both woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready for school. They took turns showering, getting dressed, doing their hair, and packing their backpacks. Once they were ready, they left the orphanage and set out for Eastside High. As they went, they ran into a few of the other high school-aged kids from the orphanage, such as Aaron and Trevor. Aaron and Trevor told the girls that they'd been to Eastside High in years past, and they assured them that it was a good school. "You'll like it," said Aaron. "The teachers are nice, and they've got a lot of good clubs."

"Most of the kids are cool, too," Trevor added. "Just make sure you stay away from the weird kids."

When Lanie and Rachel reached the school's front gates, they both got out their schedules to remind themselves where their First Period classes would be. It turned out Lanie's Geometry class was in a separate building from Rachel's Photo Arts class. "Well, I guess this is where we split up," said Rachel.

"I'll see you at lunch," said Lanie. She turned and went in the direction of Mrs. Kirkland's Geometry classroom. She got there just a few minutes before the bell rang and entered the room. There were a handful of other kids already in there, as most of the class hadn't arrived yet. Since Lanie wasn't sure where to sit, she just took an empty desk near the back of the room.

A minute later, another girl came up and sat down in the desk next to Lanie. "Hey," the new girl said. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I am," Lanie answered.

"Nice," said the other girl. She looked to be a grade above Lanie, with wavy, mousy brown hair and smooth pale skin. She wore a white coat over a pink tank top and a light blue skirt. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lanie."

"My name's Diana," said the other girl. "Diana Jackson."

"Cool."

Diana looked Lanie up and down again. "You're not from around here, are you?" she asked.

"Oh no," Lanie answered. "I just moved to Atlanta a couple weeks ago. I'm originally from-" She stopped herself, remembering that she wasn't supposed to say she was from Nashville. "-Tennessee."

"Huh," said Diana. She and Lanie probably would've talked more, but then the bell rang, and Mrs. Kirkland stepped up to begin the first day's lesson. "Well, I guess we'll talk more later," Diana said quickly.

***

After Geometry was over, and Lanie had made it through Second Period English, it was time for lunch. As Lanie was making her way to the cafeteria, she ran right into Rachel in the hall. "Hi Lanie!" said Rachel. "How'd your first two classes go?"

"They were alright," Lanie answered. "I didn't see anyone I recognized from the orphanage, but-"

"Me either," said Rachel. "But remember that guy Conner Hawkins Mr. Ryan invited to the opening social?"

"Yeah."

"He was in my Geometry class."

Lanie's jaw dropped. "No way," she said.

"Yes, he was there," said Rachel. "He said he recognized me from the opening social, and I told him I was your roommate. He said he'd talked to you at the opening social."

"Yeah, we did talk," said Lanie. "Did he say what other classes he had?"

"No," Rachel answered. "But he did tell me he was gonna be the vice president of the school's board games club. And their first meeting's gonna be on Wednesday at lunch."

"Nice," said Lanie. "That should be fun."

Lanie and Rachel both got their lunches and went in search of somewhere to sit. Neither of them were sure where to go, until Lanie heard someone calling her name. "Lanie!" someone was saying.

Lanie turned and saw Diana sitting at a table with two of her friends. "Oh! Diana!"

Rachel looked confused. "You know her?" she asked.

"Yeah, she was in my First Period class," said Lanie.

"Want to sit with us?" Diana asked.

"Sure," said Lanie. She and Rachel both sat down at the table with Diana and her two friends.

"So what are your names?" Rachel asked.

"I'm Diana Jackson," said Diana. "This is Penelope Christensen."

Penelope smiled and waved. "Hi," she said. She had two flaming red pigtails and a low-cut T-shirt.

"And this is Nicole Collins."

Nicole was a dark-skinned girl with black hair and a leather jacket. "Hey," she said. "What are your guys' names?"

"I'm Lanie Evans," said Lanie.

"And I'm Rachel," said Rachel. "Rachel Miller."

Diana nodded. "It's nice to meet you," she said. "How long have you known each other?"

Lanie and Rachel looked at each other, unsure how to answer that question. "About a month," said Lanie.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, we're both orphans," said Rachel. "I was at a foster home when Lanie was admitted to the foster home, and she became my bunkmate. Then there was some..."

"Shenanigans," Lanie said, her tone clear that she didn't want to go into detail about what happened. "Me and Rachel-and another younger girl-ended up going to Atlanta and having Mr. Ryan take us into his orphanage. I assume you know about the Orphanage For All Ages?"

"Oh yes," said Penelope. "I've met a lot of people here that live at that orphanage."

"That's where we're living now," said Lanie.

"You're lucky," said Nicole. "I've heard Mr. Ryan's a really nice guy."

"He is," said Rachel. "He got us new cell phones just yesterday."

"No way!" Diana exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know," said Rachel. "I wasn't sure if an orphanage like that would have the right budget to give its kids their own cell phones, but..."

"Well, the Orphanage For All Ages is supposed to be one of the better orphanages out there," said Penelope.

"Have you made any other friends there?" Diana asked.

"A couple, yeah," Lanie answered. "And there was an opening social where we met a few other kids Mr. Ryan knew."

"Really?"

"Yeah. There was this guy named Conner Hawkins-"

Diana's smile faded. "No," she said.

"What?"

Diana shook her head. "Conner's my ex," she said. "He is off-limits."

Lanie felt a stab of annoyance. "What do you mean, 'off-limits?'"

"Diana used to date him last year," Penelope explained, "But then Conner dumped her, and she's been sore over it ever since."

"We don't talk about Conner," Nicole sang.

Ignoring her, Diana looked Lanie and Rachel square in the eyes. "Listen," she said, "If I'm going to let you hang out with me, then you can't go mixing with my exes. Comprende?"

Lanie sighed. "Comprende," she said begrudgingly.

"Great!" said Diana. Just like that, her friendly smile was back again. "Anyway, how was your other class?"

"Oh...it was alright," said Lanie. "It was English, with Mr. Hayden."

"I have him for Fifth Period," said Diana.

"Nice."

Lanie, Rachel, Diana, Penelope, and Nicole continued to talk about their classes and their past school experiences for the rest of the lunch period, until the bell rang. When the bell did ring, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. "Well, it was nice meeting you," said Diana.

"You too," said Lanie. "See you tomorrow."

***

Since Lanie and Rachel both had P. E. together, they both went to the gym right after lunch. There wasn't anything really major in P. E. that day-just a few laps of walking around the track. The coach didn't even have them change into their P. E. clothes. Since it was only the first day of school, there really wasn't anything big planned for class. So the kids just got to walk around the track and socialize to their hearts' content.

When the final bell rang, Lanie and Rachel both started making their way through the halls to the front of the school. As they went, they ended up running into Conner Hawkins. "Hi Lanie!" Conner said when he saw them. "Hey Rachel!"

"Oh...hi Conner," said Lanie. Ordinarily she would've been happy to see someone she kind of had a crush on, but after her conversation with Diana earlier, she couldn't get excited. She didn't want to risk losing a friend before they'd even established a relationship.

"Did Rachel tell you about our board game club?" Conner asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna come?"

"I don't know...I mean, I'd like to, but..."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well...you know Diana Jackson?"

Conner frowned. "Yeah. Why, did you have a run-in with her?"

"She invited us to sit with her and her friends at lunch," Lanie explained. "They seemed pretty nice, but Diana said we couldn't hang out with you, or else she wouldn't let us hang out with her..."

"Oh, don't listen to her," Conner scoffed. "She's not worth it."

"She said you were dating her last year, and then you dumped her," said Rachel.

"Yeah, I did," said Conner. "I didn't like how chatty and gossipy she was, and she just didn't feel like the right girl for me. So I broke up with her."

"It sounded like she was still mad about that," said Lanie.

"Yeah, I wouldn't hang around people like her," said Conner. "If they try to control what you do, then they're not your real friends."

Lanie wasn't sure; Diana, Penelope, and Nicole had seemed pretty nice, aside from the no-hanging-out-with-Conner rule. But Conner did have a point. "You're right," she said. "I think I'll go to that board game club of yours on...Wednesday, right?"

"Right," said Conner. "See you then."

***

Angelina angrily paced her underground bunker. After Lanie, Rachel, and Jenny had escaped the Nashville location, Angelina had gone back to the original Washington D. C. location of Pretty And Pink Foster Care to meet with some of the other witches that were helping run the operation.

"So you had four of our girls break into the Nashville building's secret bunker," one of the witches, whose name was Anna, said. "And three of them escaped."

"Yes," said Angelina. "I've searched all throughout Nashville and the surrounding area, but I haven't found hide nor hair of them! And I can't let them keep running amok and risk them exposing us to the authorities!"

"Why don't you get in touch with the authorities to help them find those girls?" another witch named Elena asked.

"Because if the authorities started looking into what we're really doing, then we'd be done for," Angelina answered. "No, we'll have to do this on our own."

"But what of those girls?" Anna asked. "Rachel, and Jenny, and Lanie-they could be anywhere by now. I know you're especially obsessed with finding Lanie..."

"Yes," said Angelina. "And I will find her. She and her pathetic friends can run and hide all they want, but they can't escape for good-especially Lanie. She may not realize it now, but she has an important destiny..."

To be continued...