More than one student watches them curiously.

Only two of them can be described as helpful. 

They approach the new students.

"Hey. Are you the new students?"

Factual questions, she can handle. 

"Yes, we are. My name is Rowan..." 

"...and I'm Liam. We just moved here from across the pond," he finishes, smiling.

He extends a hand to the boy. "And you are...?" 

"Danny, and this is Allison Theron. We're your tour guides."

"Have you stopped by the office yet? We should make sure we get your schedules."

"Danny and Alison," Liam repeats, shaking Danny's hand and nodding at Alison. 

"We only just got here, actually, so it sounds like the office is our first stop. Lead the way!" He follows Danny and Alison, Rowan trailing behind him. 

Danny greets the secretary warmly.

She tells him about her daughter's recent struggles in school. 

He nods along, offering to tutor her. 

Soon enough, they have their schedules.

"Do you want help getting to your classes? Me and Allison can help you find your way around."

"Well, I wouldn't want to make you late for your own classes..." Especially since Liam and Rowan have very different schedules; Raven tested into all the AP classes, and Liam didn't try. 

It turns out, though, that Allison is in Liam's first class, English, so they can walk together. 

Danny seems amenable to being a bit late. Luckily, Rowan's student handbook contains a map. He circles the relevant classrooms, and leads her to her first class himself.

"I can lead you to your next class too, if you want. Otherwise I'll see you later?"

"Thank you for your help," Rowan tells Danny, inspecting the map carefully. "I think I will be able to find my way around now." 

She goes to her first class, AP Chemistry. Hopefully it will be new material, rather than repeating what she covered last year. If not, she can always use that hour for homework or something. 

Is she comfortable with stoichiometry? Redox reactions? Van der Waals forces? Calorimetry?

If so, she might want to get some homework done.

Some old, some new. Rowan takes careful notes on all of it, in handwriting that has evolved over the years to use as little space on the page as possible. 

It's strange not knowing anyone in this class. She's used to being in the same classes as Liam at least some of the time, but they won't have anything together at this school. Dad was very keen on the idea of her making new friends, though, so maybe that will happen. At least the people in AP classes are likely to be reasonably conscientious students.

Most of them seem fairly attentive and studious.

One of them send to be ignoring the teacher entirely, staring at a blank notebook page. 

There's always one. This one seems more blatant about it than most, though, which is interesting enough to get her attention. 

Rowan waits for a moment when the teacher is not talking, and therefore everyone else is taking the opportunity to chatter amongst themselves, to ask, "Did you cover this already, or something?"

Initiating conversation. Liam would be proud.

"Something."

He looks her up and down. 

He sits up straighter, turning slightly towards her.

"I don't recognize you. New student?" 

"Yes, my brother and I just moved here from England."

What else...? Oh, right, names. "I'm Rowan."

"Nice to meet you, Rowan. I'm David, from right here. It looks like you're jumping right in," he says, gesturing to the classroom.

"I enjoy learning," Rowan agrees. "This is mostly new material, but only mostly; I was on the science track at my old school." Well, science and maths and everything else she could cram into her timetable, but no need to mention that just yet.

"Do you have a favourite subject? I'm guessing it isn't Chemistry."

"Journalism isn't the worst, but mostly I'm looking forward to phys ed." 

"Not my thing. You might see my brother there, though; I think he signed up for the team sports class."

Rowan smirks slightly. "Personally, I was happy to find out our twelve years of mandatory physical education up to this point meant we could escape it for the next two."

"To each her own. I think I'd fall apart if I had to sit around all day. You should talk to Callie, she'll claim you as her new best friend." 

"Thank you for the advice." 

Rowan goes back to taking diligent notes. She's not sure if she wants to be 'claimed' as someone's best friend on her first day. Liam will know; she can ask him at lunch. 

He'll go back to staring, then. 

Meanwhile, Allison and Liam walk to English.

"What brought you two all this way? It's a big move to make."