Lionel Richie's Hello rings through my new bedroom as I'm unpacking my films and organizing them by genre on the walnut eight-cube unit my dad bought me when we moved back to Creaks Hill.

After two cubes were filled, I heard the front door unlocking and opening.

"Sweetie?" My dad shouted from downstairs.

"In my room," I shout back, now putting my action films on the cube under romance.

After a couple seconds passed, I hear my father, Emanuel, running up the stairs. When he reaches the top floor, it suddenly becomes silent, as Emanuel's cologne fills my scent, I realize he's in my room.

Turning my head, I find him perched against the frame of my bedroom door.

"How's organizing?" Emanuel slowly asks, paying attention to the full boxes against my wall.

Hey at least my bed is here. That's the most important thing.

I shrug my shoulders. "I procrastinated until 5.00pm," I admit, discreetly checking the time to see it's only 9.00pm.

"I'm not surprised," Emanuel chuckles. "I brought Chinese, you want some?" he adds, and I eagerly nod.

We both make our way downstairs, and when I face the living room, I'm still surprised to see all the furniture out and in place.

We've only been here a week, and I still haven't unpacked all my boxes. I'm a sad excuse of a teenager.

We make it to the kitchen, and my nose immediately catches the delicious smell of dumplings and spring rolls on the honey pine kitchen table.

Just as I'm about to pull up a seat for myself, my dad's authoritative voice echoes off the still empty walls. "Wash your hands, Amanda."

I slightly cringe, remembering I haven't washed my hands in a while.

Once Emanuel and I both washed our hands by the kitchen sink, we take a seat from across each other on the table.

"So how's your case going?" I ask him as I'm chewing on a dumpling.

Emanuel is a juvenile defense attorney, which means he chooses to help those who will not be tried as adults.

He sighs, and angrily shoves a single chili chicken in his mouth. "They want to trial him as an adult because his birthday in on the 30th of July. He'll be eighteen soon."

"You have to make his sentence less than seven months, dad. What's he charged with anyway?" I ask.

"Beating up his father to almost the brink of death," he deadpans, and my eyes widen.

"And you defended him before?" I ask, and a dry laugh leaves him.

"This isn't the first time it happened sweetie."

My mouth stays open in shock until my lips decide to get dry.

After we both finished eating our food, we threw out the trash, and faced our kitchen, which was filled with several different boxes on the counters.

Emanuel slaps his hands together. "Let's unpack!"

➸

After we both successfully unpacked the kitchen utensils and put them in the correct cupboards, Emanuel and I separated ways, going to our bedrooms for the night.

The next morning, Emanuel went to the office early, and I was left home alone by 10.00am.

After dressing in black sweatpants and a baby blue t-shirt, I rush downstairs and open the fridge to find... nothing.

With the help of Google Maps, I found a grocery store from my house that is only a ten minute walk from here, so I quickly ran upstairs to get my wallet and dark grey baseball cap.

After a nice walk outside, I'm outside of Whole Foods.

A bell rings above me as I open the door wide enough for me to enter.

Already knowing that I won't need a cart, I grab the dark green basket from the stack in front of me, and make my way to the bread isle.

I immediately spot the soft flatbread, and grab the package that contains ten.

Just as I begin to make my way to find the ranch dressing, the bell from the door catches my ear, followed by loud, deep laughing.

Furrowing my brows, I look out of the isle to find two tall men, who are around late-teens or early twenties.

I first find my attention on the man who entered first. And to say he looked scary would be an understatement.

He's wearing a black tank top, and black sweats, which exposes his two arms filled with different tattoos.

He caramel hair is moved to one side, and I immediately see a piercing on his nose and lower lip.

I move my attention from the guy who looks like he could kill me with a blink of an eye, and look at the one standing next to him.

My eyes widen when he begins to smile devilishly.

He may not have his arms full with tattoos and face filled with piercing, but just by his presence, I feel the power he has against people radiating off of him.

With his broad shoulders, muscular arms, and laid back brown hair, he could be a model for Calvin Klein.

"Yo Evans," the first man who I have now determined to be a puppy killer, shouts, before knocking down more than two dozen apples off of the stand.

My mouth hangs open when the guy called Evans, laughs at his friends behavior.

"You're such a fucking dumb ass Travis," Evans low voice fills my ears, and I feel a sense of familiarity to it.

Both Travis and Evans hang around the store for a few more minutes, but I stay still in the isle until they both leave.

After retrieving the dressing, I buy some chicken and tomatoes, and make my way to the cashier.

While waiting for the middle aged women named Patty to finish scanning my items, I began thinking about the two boys who really made an interesting first impression.

➸

"Rely, you always lose, I win. That's how it goes," I grin, quickly looking at the soccer ball that's between us.

"Hey, I've been going easy on you baby, now that's you're leaving me, I'm gonna win," Tyler smirks, kicking his right foot back.

I scoff at that, and rub my hands together. "Ready? One... two..." Tyler stands across from me, eagerly waiting for me to stay the last number.

"Three!" I shout suddenly, jumping out from my stiff position and rushing to the soccer ball.

I begin kicking it towards Tyler's net, and I hear him groan behind me.

"Damn it!" I hear him grumble under his breath just as I kick the ball towards the net.

"No!" I scream in agony when the ball misses the net by a mere inch.

It starts rolling in the direction of the road, and I run a little faster so it doesn't reach the road.

"I'll get it," Tyler shouts, zooming past me, making his way to the ball, which is now staying still on the center of the street.

Tyler bends down to grab the ball when suddenly, the roar of an engine fills the silence of the neighborhood, and my eyes widen when everything begins to happen slow motion.

"Tyler!"

My head shoots up off of my pillow as my heart begins pounding rapidly against my chest.

Tears begin spilling out of my eyes from the memory, and I viciously swipe them away, refusing to cry... again.

Checking the time next to me, I see it's 7.21am. Ten minutes before my alarm is planned to go off.

The first day of school, I think to myself as I slowly get out of my bed.

After spending enough time in the bathroom, I go to my matching walnut dresser and pull out black leggings and a navy green t-shirt.

Once I'm dressed, I throw on my dark grey baseball cap, and rush down stairs to find Emanuel by the kitchen counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Made you grilled cheese sweetie," he states as he opens up the panini press, revealing a slightly burnt grilled cheese.

I thank him as I go to retrieve the yummy goodness.

"Do you want a ride today?" He asks, and I look outside and find grey clouds spread out across the sky.

"No thanks, I love when it's cloudy and breezy," I admit, and he chuckles, admitting that he already knows that common fact about me.

Once we've both finished eating, we part ways outside as I begin walking to the direction of my new high school.

Halfway through the walk, I start passing my old street. Without giving it a second thought, I switch my route and walk inside my street.

I spot my two floor, cream brick home, right across the park where it all happened.

As I'm nearing the park, I find a large figure gently swinging on the swings, looking down to his feet in the process.

"Hurry the fuck up Evans," someone shouts from the parked black BMW in front of the park.

I take in the caramel hair that's peaking out and I immediately come to the conclusion that these two are the guys I found in the grocery store yesterday.

"Shut. The fuck up, Travis," Evans growls, but stomps away from the swing nonetheless.

Once they've sped away, I silently make the rest of the way to Creaks Hill Secondary School.

5 minutes pass until I'm standing in front of the double doors of the school.

Releasing a shaky breath, I head inside and find the office on the left side of the hall.

"Hi, could I please have my schedule for the semester?" I ask the secretary by the front once I'm inside the air conditioned office.

Her green eyes meet mine, and her eyes soften behind her glasses. "Sure sweetly, but you'll have to go to guidance."

"Where's that exactly?"

Once the secretary who introduced herself as Angie gave me the directions, I leave the room and follow her orders.

I enter the guidance office after a few minutes, and face a brunette man behind the desk. "Schedule?" He asks without looking up from his computer.

I nod, but realize he's not looking at me. "Yes."

"Name?"

"Amanda Tanner."

Right when I give my full name, he types it on his computer, and is followed by the sound of the printer.

He quickly turns around on the spinning chair, and grabs a hold of the schedule.

"Here. Enjoy your first day," he states bleakly, handing me my schedule without looking up.

After taking my schedule, I leave the office and lean against the wall beside the entrance, quickly scanning my schedule.

Period 1: AP Chemistry, room 210

Period 2: Writers Craft, room 332

Period 3: Lunch

Period 4: AP English, room 134

Period 5: Studies in Literature in Film, room 324

Although I love sciences, I slightly cringed at the thought of having Chemistry early in the morning.

My locker information is down at the bottom of the page, telling me it's on the second floor.

Without bothering to wait, I look around the large school and find a staircase by the left.

Once I'm upstairs on the second floor, I check my locker number. 2035.

I slowly walk up the hall, following the number of the lockers.

Just as I reach the 30's, I look up and find an espresso tanned man in glasses leaning against a locker while looking down on his phone.

I clear my throat, capturing the man's attention. I point to my locker. "Uh, can you move please?"

Without responding, he rolls off of my locker and leans on one five or so lockers down.

As I'm putting my two binders into my locker, the warning bell rings, telling the students that there's five more minutes until class starts.

Shutting my locker, I quickly make my way to Chemistry, which I later find out is really close to my locker.

When I first enter the science room, I'm immediately hit with the scent of chemicals.

The whole front row is already filled with people, so my gaze follows to the next row, only finding one open seat available beside another girl.

Must make friends. Must not be lonely in my last semester of school.

I cheer myself on as I make my way to her.

"Hi," I greet the girl sitting on the left side of the long desk.

The girl looks up from her phone that's laying on her lap, her hazel eyes looking into my brown ones.

"Is it already if I sit here?" I ask, and she brightly smiles.

"Yeah, yeah! Of course," she removes her bag off of the other side of the desk, giving me room to sit.

"I'm Amanda," I introduce, and she gives me her hand to shake.

"Claire. Nice meeting you."

The final bell rings, and our homeroom teacher begins speaking. "My name is Stephanie Jarvis. But you will either call me Ms. Jarvis, or Ms. J if you're lazy. We are not on a first name bases. Understood?"

The class mumbles yes, uh-huh, and whatever.

Ms. Jarvis flashes us a smile, "Perfect. Now let's start."

➸

An hour into the class, all the students are answering a refresher quiz when the door slams open.

My attention, however, is still locked on the quiz. Almost done.

"—why are you late to my class?" I hear Ms. Jarvis ask in the background.

There's a small pause, before I hear a deep voice respond. "Busy doing something."

"Like what?"

"You really want to know?" Without even bothering to look up, I can already sense he has a smirk plastered on his face.

Once I finished the quiz, I drop my pencil, and start twisting my wrist.

Looking up, I immediately spot the two guys I've been continuously seeing the last two days.

"Just take a seat," Ms. Jarvis sighs, rubbing her forehead from the stress they're giving her.

Evans walks to the back row with Travis following along right behind him.

I don't even realize I'm staring at Evans until Claire nudges me. "Hot right?" I hear Claire say beside me.

I turn towards her, and notice she's looking up at Evans with lust. "People call him Evans. Not his first name, obviously. He once attacked this person from calling him it."

"Damn..." I look down and whisper.

I make eye contact with Claire again with confusion written all over my face. "Is his name embarrassing? Why wouldn't he want to be called by it?"

She shrugs. "It's a hot name actually, don't know why he doesn't like it."

"Girls! Quiet!" Ms. Jarvis yells.

Claire giggles before looking back down to her quiz.

➸

Once the period ended, I stand up from my seat, and put my binder and my new chemistry textbook in my bag. I quickly pull out my schedule to check what my next class is.

Writer's Craft, room 332 with Mr. Bradley

After waving goodbye to Claire, I start walking towards the classroom door, but am shoved to the side once I'm nearing it.

I look up to see who the person was and come face to face with the puppy killer, however, Evans is standing next to him, looking at the floor.

Once he looks at me, his face shows pure anger. I look down, getting ready to hear what he's about to say.

"Watch where the fuck you're go—" Evans suddenly stops talking, and I look up to see his face filled with confusion. Puppy killer looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"What's wrong?" Travis asks, but Evans simply looks down and shakes his head until his mahogany eyes lock with mine.

My eyes widen an inch, feeling a sense of emotions swarming through me.

"Leave," Evans demands with a straight expression.

No need to tell me twice.

I quickly rush out of the classroom, walking to my next class.

Well at least that's over.

➸

After my second period finished with ease, I asked for directions to the cafeteria.

I find a table by the windows and take a seat. Just as I begin pulling out my lunch from my bag, the chair across from my own scrapes the ground as it's being pulled back.

"Hi, can I sit?" Claire asks, and I nod.

I pull out my wrap, which coincidentally is wrapped by plastic wrap.

"So where'd you live before?" Claire suddenly asks once I've picked up my wrap.

"Uh, I lived here up until I was 10. Then... I moved to Crown Heights," I express, and Claire's eyes brighten.

"Wait what school did you go to before you left? Maybe we were in the same class!" She shouts excitedly.

"I was at the public school around the block. I was in Ms. John's class in grade four," I admit just before taking a bite.

Claire's mouth hangs open. "Oh, my God! I was in that class! I remember you! You were always around..." Claire suddenly stops talking and I furrow my eyebrows.

Does she know about Tyler and I?

Just as I'm about to ask her to continue, some enthusiastic students begin expressing what will be going on for the first week back to school.

Guess I'll just find out later.

➸