Unexpected Friends

The bell signaling the end of first period rung and we all stood up, gathering our belongings. The boys and I walked out of the classroom, still conversing about music. We looked at our schedules and it turned out that Zacky and I had our second period in the same building. We bid farewell to the others and walked to class.

"So JJ," Zacky began, as we navigated the busy hallways. "Why'd you move all the way from Texas to Cali?

"Oh, it's because my parents found better job opportunities here." I explained. "It was kind of a surprise to find that we would be leaving the town I had grown up in. It was tough since I had a lot of great friends there."

"Aw that sucks," Zacky said, as we stopped outside my second period class. "But hey, give Orange County a chance. It might not be like your farm back in Texas, but you know what OC has that you didn't have before?"

"What?" I asked, wondering what Zacky could possibly be talking about.

He smirked. "You have me and the guys!"

I laughed and gave him a little shove.

"Yes, that is true Zack."

The warning bell rang, signaling that we had two minutes left until class began.
I opened my mouth to tell Zacky that he should get to class or he would be late, when two boys came running up to us.

"Hey Zack!" A boy with black hair chirped, grinning.

"Oh hey Matty," Zacky said, surprised to see this individual. He turned to me.

"JJ, this is my younger brother Matty." Zacky explained, gesturing at the boy with black hair.
"And that's his friend Johnny,"

I smiled and held out my hand.

"I'm JJ" I grinned, pleased to be making new friends. "Nice to meet ya'll."

I could now see the resemblance between Matty and Zack. Matty, Johnny, and I said good bye to Zacky, then walked into the classroom. The teacher, Mr. Fender, walked up to us, a clipboard in his hand.

"Why hello there guys," He smiled. "Could you tell me your names please?"

"Jillian Jacobson." I said, stepping forward. "I go by JJ though."

"Alrighty," Mr. Fender said, making a note of that on his clipboard. When he was done, he looked to Matty and Johnny.

"Matthew Baker"

"Johnathan Seward"

Mr. Fender nodded. "You guys can sit anywhere you want. I'll only move you if I feel like the seating arrangement is a problem."

We nodded, then headed to three empty seats in the back of the classroom.

The final bell rang just as we sat down. Mr. Fender passed out a syllabus and explained the classroom rules and what we could look forward to learning in his Geography class. After he was done explaining, he said that we still had about 20 minutes left and that we were free to talk as long as we kept the noise level down.

"So JJ," Matty began. "How do you know my brother?"

"Oh, he's in my math class." I explained. "I sit near him and his group of friends."

"Are you talking about Matt, Jimmy, and Brian?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I am! Do you know them?"

"Haha I sure do!" Johnny laughed. "I go and bother them when I hear them having band practice."

I chuckled, picturing Johnny annoying the older boys. "Wait, they're in a band?"

"Yeah," Matty answered. "They're always in Matt's garage, screaming and stuff. It's quite interesting actually."

"Oh, they're the ones who make all that noise?" I asked, remembering how my mom complained one night at dinner about how loud their music was.

"Yup," Matty nodded. "You can hear them from your place? Where do you live?"
I told them my address and both boys smiled.

"Dude, that's only a block away from our houses!" Johnny exclaimed.

"That's awesome!" I said, glad that my new friends lived so close.

"Yeah," Matty said, still smiling. "It gets pretty crazy when you have Jimmy, Matt, and Brian on your street."

I laughed. "I bet it does. So who plays what in their band?"

"Good question." Johnny said. "Matt's the singer, Brian and Zacky play guitar, Jimmy's the drummer, and their friend Justin plays the bass."

"Oh ok," I nodded. "That sounds cool. Do ya'll play?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah, I play bass. Matty doesn't play though."

Matty grinned. "I'm more of a baseball kind of guy. What about you J?"

"I play piano, clarinet, and guitar. I'm not very good on the guitar though."

"Hey,that's ok." Johnny smiled. "It just takes practice."

"Thanks dude." I said, smiling back. "By the way, how are ya'll getting home today?"

"Zacky will drive us to his place." Johnny answered. "Do you wanna ride with us? I'm sure Zacky would be cool with it and we could all hang out."

"That would be awesome!" I said, recalling how I had just planned to take the bus home. "I'll have to text my parents and see if they're ok with it though."

"Alrighty that's cool." Matty said. "Here, lemme give you our numbers so you can text us if it's a go."

I handed them my phone and the two boys added their numbers. They gave the phone back to me and I quickly texted my parents, asking if I could go to Matty's house after school.

"I just texted my parents" I said, as I felt a felt my phone vibrate. I took it out and saw that my mom had already texted me back. Maybe she was free right now at work. I opened the message and read:

Sure honey that's fine! I'll text your dad saying that you have my permission. Just be safe! Aw, I'm glad you're making new friends already!

I grinned, and texted back my mom a quick Thank you and I'll be careful! I looked up at Matty and Johnny and gave a thumbs up. They smiled, happy that we would be able to hang out later.

"What classes do ya'll have?" I asked, as I pulled out my slightly crumpled schedule from my backpack. Matty and Johnny pulled out their schedules and we found that the three of us were together again in Biology, our next class and we all had 4th period lunch after that. I had band by myself, but had Johnny in my 6th period art class. The three of us had 7th period gym together and Matty was in my 8th period English class.

I smiled, happy that in the majority of my classes I knew somebody. It was something I hadn't expected in my new school.

The bell rung and we walked out together, heading to Biology.

Notes