Lexi woke up early the next morning, a little weary.  She hadn't slept well, but she washed her face and gave herself a little pep talk, trying to energize herself.  She was really looking forward to this school year.  She'd been accepted into the varsity cheerleading squad, and was excited about getting started.  Over the summer, she'd gone to the school several times a week for voluntary practice.  Football season was only a few weeks away, so the girls had a lot of work to do to tweak their routines.<br/><br/>For the first day of school, she dressed with care, making sure she looked impeccable.  She'd always been well-liked, and liked to think it was because she was friendly, but she was realistic enough to know that her popularity was a result of her status as a cheerleader.  She wore jeans and a thin green sweater that contrasted nicely with her red hair, which went up into a ponytail.<br/><br/>She went downstairs and saw that the kitchen was deserted.  Her dad was probably already gone to his office, or maybe at the driving range, and her mother never woke up before ten.  Lexi quickly ate a bowl of cereal and rinsed it, and then grabbed her bookbag.  She left without saying goodbye to her mother; waking her up would not go over well.<br/><br/>She went over to her car, smiling.  Her friends would be excited to see the new silver convertible Mustang.  She'd gotten it over the summer for her birthday, so a lot of them hadn't seen it yet.  The drive to school was fast, and she pulled into the parking lot a little early, so that she had a good parking spot.  Her first class was cheering every day, and it was a two-period block, taking up valuable electives slots from her schedule, but she'd decided it was worth it.<br/><br/>Lexi went into the school, smiling and greeting teachers and familiar faces.  She said good morning to those who weren't familiar, too, as she made her way to the gym for cheerleading.  Of course, all the girls knew each other.  The squad was ten girls, and only four were juniors.  Since it was the first day, and a couple of the girls had been away for the summer, the morning was spent chattering and goofing off, with little attention paid to cheering.  The first day was usually like that in all the classes.<br/><br/>Her next class was Math, which she was okay at, and then Chemistry.  She preferred English and History over Science and Math, but they were required courses.  She worked hard to get good grades, but Math and Science definitely took more work for her.  She was actually an advance student in English and History, in those courses with seniors rather than her own class, but those classes were her last two for the day.<br/><br/>The rest of the morning passed in a blur, the entire school abuzz with excited chatter and hugs in the hallway as students greeted each other after the summer break.  The classes, so far, had been the same, with the teachers just taking a few minutes to introduce the new students to the school and talking basically about the curriculum for the school year.  A couple of them assigned quick homeworks assignments, but most didn't.<br/><br/>Lexi ate lunch with her friends in the cafeteria, and then went toward her art class.  She had four classes in the morning, lunch, and then her three afternoon classes.  She walked down the hall and glanced around, waving at a couple of girls she knew.  And then her eyes landed on a boy she didn't know, and yet she did. Was he a new student at the school, perhaps?    He didn't look the same as the night before; he was dressed differently, and his hair was pulled back instead of hanging loose around his face.  But the lips, the high cheekbones... it was the guy from the street the night before.  Immediately, she walked up to him and said, "You!  You're the guy from last night.  Where'd you go so fast?  It's like, one minute you were there and the next minute you were gone."