i'm an australian and am in the process of writing a story that is set in california.

i basically want it to be as accurate/authentic as possible so i decided to get a little more info on the typicalities of an american high school, because american high schools are obviously different in some ways to australian ones.

info on:

- the timetable of a typical school day
- a typical school calendar (when the school year starts/ends, holidays etc)
- common school events and when they usually occur in the school year (like school carvnivals, sporting events, proms etc)

also, i was wondering what AP (advanced placement) involves. as far as i'm aware it is for advanced study of a particular subject. how many AP classes can one student take? are AP classes separate from normal classes?

and fiiiinally (i really am clueless)...in australia there is just one maths class that covers all maths topics. in american films/tv shows i've noticed that the students will say "i've got trig"...or "i've got algebra"...are there really different classes/teachers for different maths topics?

if you can answer any of the above it would be muuuch appreciated. thanks