Jimmy Halpert paused in front of his mirror and ran a hand through his messy hair. He looked over his appearance another time and tugged on the hem of his t-shirt. The fact that it was the first day of high school was terrifying to him.

“James!” Larissa’s voice called from down the stairs, “You’re going to be late! Tom is getting ready to leave and you have to go with him and Pete.”

“Coming,” he answered, “I promise.”

“You’ll be taking the bus if you miss them,” she warned, “I have to take Kara to her class so I won’t be able to take you.”

“I know.”

“Okay,” Larissa said. “I’ll see you after school.”

Jimmy didn’t answer, and as he heard the door close he grabbed his book bag and ran downstairs.

“Good god squirt,” Pete groaned, “what took you so long? I promised Emily I’d meet her before the first bell. We’re going to be late.”

“Sorry,” Jimmy apologized quickly and climbed into the backseat of his oldest brother’s car.

He wasn’t overly close to his older brothers, but they still were the type of family that would have each other’s back and stick up for each other. He was glad to have that going into high school.

“You’re going to be fine,” Tom assured him when he noticed Jim wringing his hands together nervously. “Besides, you’ve got the two of us. And no one is going to mess with Pete’s younger brother.”

“Thanks,” Jim muttered, “I appreciate it.”

“No problem little brother,” Pete said with a waive of his hand, “but I’m blaming you if Emily gets mad at me for not meeting her.”

“I can deal with that,” Jimmy shrugged.

When they pulled up to the school, Pete pulled his old car into the student parking lot and they went their separate ways.

Jimmy wandered the halls for a moment of their suburban high school. They lived about ten minutes outside of Philadelphia in the suburbs and lived the typical All-American family life.

“Hey watch it!” an angry voice warned him after a small collision, “stupid freshman.”

“Sorry…”

“Just be more careful next time,” the big guy muttered and put his arm back around the girl at his side and just stalked off.

“Don’t worry about him,” a female voice said beside him as she closed a locker, “he’s just a stuck up football player. Hi, I’m Cassie.”

“I’m Jim,” Jimmy answered, suddenly deciding he was too old to be called ‘Jimmy‘ anymore. It was time to have a more grown-up name.

“Welcome to Kennedy High,” Cassie said with a smile, “so, you’re a freshman?”

“Yeah,” Jim nodded, “what grade are you in?”

“I’m a freshman too,” Cassie said as a pink tint blushed her cheeks, “but my older brother is on the football team here already. Max, the guy that you ran into to, is a jerk. My brother doesn’t get along with him very well.”

“Oh,” Jim said as he adjusted his book bag. “Well, I should probably get to my homeroom. Where are you headed?”

“Ms. Stein,” Cassie told him after a quick look to the schedule in her hand. “You?”

“Mr. Griffin,” Jim answered and kicked his shoe against the floor. He was really hoping he’d have the same class. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Definitely,” Cassie beamed. “Maybe we can bump into each other at lunch?”

“I like that idea,” Jim agreed. “See you later.”

“Bye Jim.”

He watched as she walked away, her blonde hair bouncing behind her, and smiled. It felt good to already have a friend, and couldn’t wait to see what else the day had in store. His nerves felt as if they were finally calming down a bit.

Before he knew it lunchtime was nearing, and he juggled the different books he’d been assigned through his morning classes as he tried to make his way back to his locker. He was hoping that Cassie would be at hers too, and so he was disappointed when she walked up and he wasn’t there.

“Jim,” Pete’s voice asked behind him, “you doing okay?”

“Yeah,” Jim nodded as he turned around, “I’m just starving now. Ready for lunch.”

“You can come and sit with me and my friends if you want,” Pete offered and Jim thanked him. “Seriously, it won’t matter.”

“Eh,” Jim paused and scanned the hallway for Cassie’s blonde hair, “I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“Whatever,” Pete said with a grin, “if you want to, you can. My usual table is over by the art wing. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks Pete,” Jim said genuinely, “I really appreciate it.”

“That is what brothers are for, right?” Pete asked with a shrug and turned and walked away.

“I didn’t know Pete Halpert was your older brother,” Cassie’s voice stated from behind him, and he turned around, surprised. “I guess that’s because we didn’t exchange last names earlier. He’s a friend of my brother.”

“Really?”

“Uh yeah,” Cassie giggled, “you still wanna have lunch?”

“Sure,” Jim answered, trying not to sound overeager. He didn’t know enough about Cassie to form any kind of crush yet. “Lead the way.”

“Sweet,” Cassie said and smiled up at him. “I’ve got some friends who were supposed to be saving us seats at a table not too far. Let’s go.”

Jim nodded and followed closely behind Cassie in the crowded hallway and into the lunchroom. He was anxious to meet some of Cassie’s friends. He hoped that they weren’t too weird. He chewed on his bottom lip, a nervous habit he’d picked up as a toddler.

“Hey guys,” Cassie greeted a table where two other girls and another guy were already sitting, “this is Jim.”

“Hi,” Jim offered as confidently as he could with a wave.

“Hey man,” the guy greeted, “good to see Cassie introducing another guy to our group, I’ve been outnumbered way too long.”

“Oh please Nick,” the girl with shiny black hair chided, “you wouldn’t be outnumbered if you knew how to make friends.”

“Leave him alone Kim,” Cassie groaned as she rolled her eyes. “Sorry Jim. They get like that sometimes.”

“No problem,” Jim shrugged, “and I’m happy to help you out Nick.”

“Great,” he said with a laugh, “so, do you like baseball?”

“No sports talk,” the other girl interrupted. “That isn’t allowed here.”

“But…”

“Nope,” she said again, “sorry Nick. But you know that I hate it.”

“I’m not fond out if either,” the girl named Kim said, and Cassie agreed.

“Fine,” Nick pouted, “later then Jim, okay?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “for sure.”

“Oh,” Cassie exclaimed suddenly, “I’m a horrible friend. I totally didn’t properly introduce you to everyone. Sorry Jim, this is Kim, Nick, and Kendall. We’ve all known each other since we were in diapers.”

“It helped that our mothers all went to the same birthing class,” the redheaded Kendall commented with a soft laugh. “I guess it made them bond. We had endless play dates as kids and we’ve been close ever since.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed, “it’s a little weird to have my best friends be girls, but hey, it works.”

“You’re just glad you have friends,” Kim teased. “So Jim, what middle school did you go to?”

“Uh,” Jim stammered, “I went to Hendricks.”

“The private school?” Kendall asked.

“Yeah,” Jim answered, “my parents applied for me to go there like the second they knew we were moving to this area. And for some reason they let me in.”

“Wow,” Nick stammered shoving a fist full of fries into his mouth, “so why are you in public school now?”

“I didn’t want to go to private school anymore,” Jim answered with a shrug. “My brothers would go on and on about this school and I just felt like I should go here too.”

“Were your parents cool with that?”

“Not at first,” Jim told them, “but they warmed up to the idea. Pete and Tom really helped there.”

“Wait,” Kendall interrupted, “your brothers are Pete and Tom Halpert?”

“Yeah, is that a bad thing?”

“Nope,” Kim stated, “it’s a good thing. A very good thing. Your brothers are like royalty here. The basketball team would be lost without them. Can you play too?”

“They taught me everything I know,” he shrugged. “I’m okay I guess.”

“Are you trying out for the team?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“You should,” Cassie encouraged, “if you play anything like your brothers, you won’t have a problem getting on the team at all.”

“Thanks,” he said with a grin. “Maybe I’ll think about it.”

“Totally,” Nick agreed, “and if you want me and some guys meet down at the basketball court at the rec center on Saturday mornings. We’re always looking for more players.”

“That sounds good,” Jim nodded, “I’ll think about it for sure.”

“Great,” Nick cheered, “we need good players. But you’re going to be on my team, just saying…”

“I thought we had agreed to no sports talk,” Kendall scolded, her blue eyes shining from behind her glasses. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah boys,” Kim added, “has anyone had Algebra yet?”

“You really want to talk about school Kim?” Cassie asked. “Do we have to?”

“Nope,” Kim sighed, “anyone got anything?”

“We’re pathetic,” Kendall groaned, “oh my god, Cassie, did you see Jackson McGree in homeroom this morning? He looked good…”

“No boy talk!” Nick cried. “No.”

“But…”

“Nope,” Nick insisted, “come on Jim, back me up here. Please!”

Jim shrugged, “I’m sorry, but I have to agree with Nick here. Why don’t we talk about movies or something…”

“Speaking of movies, there is going to be a showing of The Shining in the park on Friday night,” Kim piped up. “You guys wanna go?”

“The Shining? Really Kim? You know I hate scary movies,” Kendall protested, “can’t we just watch a movie at your house Cassie?”

“Oh come on Kendi,” Kim groaned, “it’ll be fun. And there will be tons of people there?”

“In the park?” Jim asked, “where?”

“There’s a park that near the rec center where they set up a big screen one Friday a month, well, during the warmer months, and you can go and watch movies. It’s free, unless you want to buy some snacks from the concession stand,” Nick explained. “We try to go to all of them. Lots of kids come out for it.”

“Oh,” Jim muttered, “I never knew that.”

“How long have you been living in Overbrook?” Kendall asked, popping another grape into her mouth.

“We moved here right before I turned twelve, so I guess about two years.”

“And you spend most of your time with Hendricks,” Cassie stated simply and Jim nodded.

“I didn’t know anyone else,” Jim shrugged, “so yeah. And I focused a lot on my grades and school.”

“Don’t worry Jim,” Cassie said smiling, “we’ll get you a social life. But you have to come with us to movie night at the rec.”

“Sounds like fun,” Jim answered. “Sorry Kendall.”

“It’s okay,” she sighed, “can’t win them all.”

There were a chorus of laughs from around the table and the conversation started turning to other things. Jim had to admit, it was a pretty good first day of high school.

Five Thousand, Four Hundred, and Sixteen.

So high school isn’t the scariest thing around. I actually had fun and my classes aren’t that bad. Actually I think they are pretty easy, but I guess that is from taking all those ‘advanced’ classes last year. My Algebra teacher is actually thinking about bumping me up to the next higher class. We’ll see.

But I met some really cool people today. It was really easy to become friends. Nick Anderson for instance, him and I are going to be cool. He loves baseball too and even goes to Phillies games with his grandpa. His grandpa has season tickets or something. Anyways… lunch was fun with him and Cassie Jenkins, Kendall Peters, and Kim Canteen. Cassie is actually the first person I met; she’s pretty cool. Kendall and Kim are awesome too. I mean really, they were all great.

I can see myself really being friends with them, like good friends.

Which is good. I need to make some good friends. I really don’t have too many of those.

Pete and Tom were great too. As much as older brothers can be, at least. They really are good brothers. I’m lucky to have them.