Chapter 1

*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP* 

Elana groaned as her old alarm clock signaled her to wake up. Not quite ready to get up and face the day, she slowly reached over towards her nightstand. She hit the snooze button then grabbed the clock and curled her half asleep self around the electronic. Cuddling it like a stuffed animal. Five minutes later, the alarm went off again, only to have the snooze button pressed once again. After the sixth time, Elana finally got up and glanced at her alarm clock.

"! Not again!" The clock read 8:10. School started at 8:50, and the school bus picked her up at 8:21. Elana sprang out of her bed, sheets landing in a messy pile on the floor. It was officially a race against the clock.

Elana ran around the room throwing on whatever clothes she could get her hands on, not caring too much what she looked like, but still conscious enough not to wear a total fashion disaster. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, before grabbing her backpack, and duffle bag. With a final glance around the room, Elana swiped her phone and solar charger before running into the kitchen to hijack an apple. Then she was off down the road. 

Elana walked down the crowded hallways of her school making her way towards her locker. A few people waved hello as she passed. 

Elana wasn't a 'popular kid' but she was known by most of the students at her school. Elana, however, chalked that up to just being her school's environment. Everyone was practically family, the upperclassmen cool enough to be dorky and own their craziness like it was the best thing ever, and honestly, it was. As a senior, Elana knew what it was like to be a freshman. Walking into high school thinking your the coolest most mature person ever, and then BAM! You're actually the most annoying person on the face of the planet, well at least at a normal high school. Here at The Renaissance Academy of Arts and Sciences, or RA for short. Everything seems normal until you go to the first school assembly. Like what school has a garden gnome called Larry as a school mascot? RA does. Elana could remember her first time at an assembly, it was crazy. The upperclassmen dancing to the music being blared throughout the auditorium. Singing along with the drum line as they played the school's fight song. Then the games. The teachers played too, and the craziest part was when the senior English teacher handed the winning class the school's mascot. Then VOOM! the seniors grabbed the gnome and ran, everyone, cheering at the prospect. It wasn't until later that she found out it was a tradition for the seniors to steal Larry and the return him in a crazy way at the end of the year. 

So at RA, the freshmen weren't annoying brats but were cute little kids that needed to be taught how to not be scared to express who they are as a person. You like Anime. Great cosplay at school nobody will judge you. Like tattoos or piercings? Then be prepared to talk to some teachers and students that find them interesting. Basically, if you took all the people that got made fun of and put down at a typical high school and then placed them in a separate school you'd get Renaissance. 

That's why Elana loved her school, it was a school of art and expression. Speaking your thoughts and being yourself, she was sure that's why many people knew her. Nobody could hide in the shadows here. Plus, she had a lot of interests. She was in a band, she was on the advanced dance team, she took art, and creative writing classes, and she was even in the schools musical, a production written by some of the other seniors in her school. 

That's what her duffle bag was for. It carried all her rehearsal clothes as well as one of the costume pieces she had brought home to fix. 

She had just finished putting her duffle into her newly painted locker when two pairs of hands reached for her. Elana ducked down slipping away from her two best friends. They had tried to hug her. Elana didn't really like hugs all that much and usually tried to avoid them if she could, but her friends, Shelby and Kaitlyn loved hugs. They would always try to hug her, and Elana would always avoid them until it eventually turned into a game. One Elana was currently winning. 

"How do you do it! I thought for sure we had you this time." Shelby frowned at Elana, her hands placed on her hips. 

Shelby was the least girly of the group of friends, her wardrobe consisting of cargo pants and T-shirts. She almost never wore makeup, and a ponytail was her best friend. But despite that, she was the most mom-like of the group. She was always the first to notice when something was wrong and was very good at knowing what to say in tough situations. Unlike Elana who had a hard time feeling compassionate and tended to be more nervous and confused when it came to dramatic teenage girl hardships. Something that became ten times more dramatic when you handed it to an art student.

Shelby was also the one that cooked when the three were together, hence why she was the mom. 

"I know, we had her surrounded this time, yet she still slipped away," Kaitlyn pouted as she glanced over at Elana. 

Kaitlyn, Elana's other friend. Was the quiet girl, she had long blonde hair, and in Elana's opinion the prettiest face. Her wardrobe was more feminine than Shelby's but still basic compared to Elana's She was also very nice and compassionate like Shelby, but she did have some weird quirks. Put her with her friends and she would brighten up and out would come this- sometimes- overwhelmingly, bubbly personality. She was the only one with a boyfriend of the three, a guy from the previous years senior class. They were one of the cutest couples, even the teachers thou