I tossed and turned all night. My dreams were riddled with the nightmares surrounding starting a new school. In one of them, I went to school in just my underwear. In another, I had toilet paper stuck to my shoe. There would be a crowd of faceless people laughing at me, every dream ended the same way. I woke up in a sweaty haze every time, until I finally gave up and stayed awake. It was around 6 AM that I decided to roll out of bed and start my morning.

I took a hot shower to relax my tensed muscles and spent the whole time thinning. I shut the water off and immediately, cool air envelop my body and goosebumps formed on my rose scented skin. I quickly wrapped the towel around my body and padded into my room, my uniform hung and ready to be put on. After getting dressed, slipping on my shoes and wrapping my tie around my neck, I ruffled and manipulated my wet hair to try and create some waves.

I slipped downstairs, the scent of breakfast filled my nose as soon as I turned the corner. My mom had a breakfast sandwich heated and was sitting on the counter. I could hear her in the office talking on the phone, she worked early in the morning. I sat down with a cold glass of water and ate my sandwich, scrolling through Instagram and liking all my old friends posts.

My dad came down the stairs in his button down and slacks, making a beeline for the fresh pot of coffee. He joined me and read the newspaper while I finished my breakfast. As soon as it was gone and I was satisfied, the next thing to do was apply the little amounts of makeup I usually wear; Mascara and chapstick. Pinning my damp hair out of my face and gathering my things, I signaled to my dad that I was ready to leave.

"Emmalee, have a great day at school!" My mom called from her office. My dad grabbed all of his belongings and hustled me out the door. The ride to school was somewhat silent, with the morning radio playing in the background, as my dad drank his coffee and laughed at the occasional dirty joke that I understood, but had to pretend not to.

"Have a good first day of school! Make friends, hun!" He yelled out the car door as soon as we made it to the school, parked in the drop off zone. I only smiled and said, "Okay!" Before closing the door. I slung my backpack over my shoulder, pulling my hair from under the strap and wincing. I walked inside the school, brushing at the skirt to make sure my ass wasn't out. As soon as I made it inside, I noticed all the girls had super short skirts. I suddenly felt less insecure about my skirt and shirt, but focused more on how bland I looked. Every girl was in full beat, flawlessly done and plain gorgeous.

I also couldn't shake the idea that I was as pale as a ghost. Every girl I saw seemed to get tanner than the last, the fresh sun kissed skin coming back from summer vacation. The only thing I did was keep my head down and not make eye contact with most of the girls. I also tried not to get in someones way or step on the heels of the person ahead of me. I made my way to the office, the line rolling out the door.

The line seemed to be moving quickly, my nerves setting in with each spot I moved up to. I was able to observe the common appearances, but was taken aback by the boy who just walked out. I could see the tattoos under his shirt, the piercing in his lip shimmered with each step. This school is strange, it's suppose to be formal but yet they allow tattoos and piercings?

When I finally reached the front of the line, I had no problem collecting my schedule. As soon as the paper was in my hand I was quick to get out of there. As soon as I rounded the corner to leave the room, I slammed right into a hard surface. I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy reading my schedule to notice the boy standing right in front of me. I guess he didn't think I would run into him until I rammed my face into his chest. I stumbled back, but his hands quickly grabbed mine and caught me before I stumbled to the floor. I felt my eyes wander, slowly, up his body until our eyes met.

He wasn't wearing a jacket, so I could see the black inked tattoos through his white button down. He was inked from his chest up to his neck and all the way down his arms. He had the same lip piercing, as well as guaged ears, until I realized he was the guy I had seen before. Up close, I noticed he had bright blue eyes, and blond hair, though I could see red pieces of hair poking through the blond. I suddenly realized that I just embarrassed myself in front of him, and whoever else hd witnessed it, and my cheeks began to grow hot.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going..." I managed to stutter. He was still holding my arms, smirking.

"It's alright, love. I should have moved out of the way. Are you alright." He asked and let go of my arms. I nodded, dazed by the thick Irish accent he had. He shoved his hand out, "Nice to run into you, literally. I'm Niall." I chuckled and took his hand, shaking it gently.

"Emma." I replied, still blushing and grinning. He kept his smirk as he waved goodbye and turned the corner, heading to what I assumed was his locker. I turned the other way, my cheeks were still burning hot.

"Keep it together, Emma. You just met him, there is no way you can go for a guy like that, anyways. Your parents would be furious!"

"Shut up, Mind. I can still fantasize about him!"

I was in an argument with my own mind, when the 10 minute warning bell rang. I only knew it was a 10 minute warning bell because it was only 8:35, and people were still walking through the halls and greeting friends from last year. Freshman were scurrying to find their classes, like they will be for the next few weeks, and seniors were standing in the middle of hallway traffic, like they will be for the rest of the school year. All I could do was squeeze my way through the crown and try to find my way to room 113, Ms. Kilmer's room.

When I stepped inside, my eyes roamed the few kids who were here. English 10, where we read and do essays on the books we read, and watch movies after the essays are complete as a reward. At least, thats what my school in Utah, did for English. I quickly found a random seat in the room, pulled out a notebook and a pencil.

Once the one minute warning bell rang, the rest of the class started to rush in. One of them looked like the boy I met today, Niall, only he had brown hair and there wasn't a hint of bright red. His face was much different from Niall, his hair was shorter, but styled the same way as the blond. He had an eyebrow piercing on his left side, a lip ring on the right and a bunch of tattoos going down his neck and disappearing into his shirt. He had a layer of stubble, like he hadn't shaved in a few days. I couldn't take my eyes off of him and I didn't even know him.

The teacher started roll call, where I learned this guys name was Liam and he had to retake the class. He's a Junior. I was off in a day dream about both Niall and Liam when the teacher said my name.

"Emmalee Johnson..." I didn't respond. I scanned the room waiting for someone to respond, still recovering from the dream that unfolded behind my eyes.

"Emmalee. John." She repeated. This time I raised my hand, and blurted small, "Here." I quickly glanced at Liam and felt my stomach drop. He was staring at me, and smirking. I only shot my attention to the board, where the teacher commanded us to look. My nerves were going wild.

"If you look at the board, it shows my simple classroom rules. Of course..." Her voice drifted as I, once again, slipped off into Emma world. I read her rules, no yelling, no cell phones, and all the simple things. She passed out a syllabus, which had all the test dates and in bold letters stated when the state test was. There was also the end-of-semester final and every book we'd read in class. All her information and small fun facts about here were listed on the back.

"For our first assignment, I would like you to find a partner and you will complete this simple work sheet. It covers things you've learned from third grade, all the way to last year. I will give you one minute to find your partner and begin the activity." She spoke before sitting down at her desk and typing away at her laptop.

I sat still, of course, waiting for a brave soul to come to me. I kept my eyes on the sylabus to pretend like I was interested. That's when a voice snapped my head up.

"Would you like to be partners?" Liam asked, smirking. Again, another accent thrown at my face. I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded, as the flutters of butterflies errupted from my stomach. I twisted myself so I was facing him next to me, and placed my feet on the little shelf under his chair. He had grabbed the worksheet, and I had grabbed a pencil from my bag.

He handed me the paper to read, in which I did. It was easy stuff. 'The difference between your and you're' and 'The difference between their and they're'. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

"This stuff is easy. I thought we were in high school..." I spoke, and it didn't come out as a squeak, instead my normal annoying voice. He reached his hand out and grabbed the paper from my lap, his thumb grazed my thigh, giving me a wave a goosebumps that I covered with my hands. He laughed as he read it, grabbing the pencil from my desk and answering all the questions. My eyes flicked from the paper to his face, to his skull tattoo on his neck.

When he handed my pencil back, and gave me the paper, all he said was, "How does this look?" He smirked. I only widened my eyes and peered down at the paper. To my surprise, he did get all of it right. He looks like the type to slack off and not do the work properly, but he was pretty smart.

"I guess it helps that I've taken this class before." He spoke. He must have saw my shocked face, because he started to chuckle. To avert the attention I decided to go and put the worksheet in the turn-in basket on Mrs. Kilmer's desk. I felt his eyes on my back the whole time I was going to her desk and it left a burning sensation.

When I spun around to return to my seat, his eyes instantly shifted to the somewhere else in the room. I swiftly sat back down, put myself back in my original position and fixed my socks as Liam cleared his throat.

"So, I noticed that you're not from here because I've never seen you before." He started, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Utah. We just moved here this summer." My voice started to shake, playing with the hem of my skirt. I suddenly thought of my friends, I missed them.

"Well, welcome to California." He greeted. I smiled at him and slowly began to forget about my sadness as we talked. It was a short conversation, as the class finished the worksheet and Mrs. Kilmer averted our attention back to the screen. Liam never left the seat beside me the entire hour and a half long class.

Maybe living here wouldn't be so bad, after all.

**