Beginning with lithium, the electrons do not have room in the first shell or energy level. Lithium has two electrons in the first shell and one electron in the next shell. The first shell fills first and the others more or less in order as the element size increases up the Periodic Chart, but the sequence is not immediately obvious. The second energy level has room for eight electrons. The second energy level has not only an s orbital, but also a p subshell with three orbitals. The p subshell can contain six electrons. The p subshell has a shape of three dumbbells at ninety degrees to each other, each dumbbell shape being one orbital. With the s and p subshells the second shell, the L shell, can hold a total of eight electrons. You can see this on the periodic chart. Lithium has one electron in the outside shell, the L shell. Beryllium has two electrons in the outside shell. The s subshell fills first, so all other electrons adding to this shell go into the p subshell. Boron has three outside electrons, carbon has four, nitrogen has five, oxygen has six, and fluorine has seven. Neon has a full shell of eight electrons in the outside shell, the L shell, meaning the neon is an inert element, the end of the period.