I woke up with a headache, a pain behind my eyes from lack of sleep. The singing locusts had me struggling between a coma and consciousness all night, and it left me with only four hours in total.

I had set my alarm for earlier than necessary because I was nervous about my first day. I had only gone to one school my entire educational career, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. It was just disappointing that I had to spend my senior year with people I didn't know instead of my friends back home. Not that I had many.

I was on the soccer team back in Wisconsin, so that was mostly the community I grew up in. That wasn't something I had planned on pursuing here, though. No, here I would stick to the side lines.

I got dressed and headed to the bathroom, my feet dragging along. I wanted to make a good impression, but I never liked spending too much time on myself.

After scrubbing my teeth, and struggling to floss in my current state of consciousness, I brushed out my tangled brown waves. This made a frizzy poof around my head, until I straightened them out.

The waves were too difficult and tangled to keep natural. It was just easier to straighten them out.

I brushed on some mascara for the illusion that I looked more awake than I actually was, along with concealer under my eyes.

Just that little bit of effort made all the difference.

My grandmother proved to be a night owl, her best writing coming out after dinner, so I tried to be quiet as I walked down the stairs. To my surprise she had set the coffee pot on a timer for me, so it'd be ready once I got up. A small orange sticky note was placed on the pot.

Have a great first day! :)

I smiled and checked the fridge for some creamer, then made my drink in a to go cup. The keys to the Jeep were left by the coffee pot so I grabbed them and headed out, locking the door behind me.

The drive to school was a discerning one. I didn't have a map and I'd never even seen the high school before. I pulled out my phone to look it up on the GPS, but a little icon with a large X through it showed that I didn't have service here. I noticed that the only time I can really seem to use my phone for anything is when I'm connected to the internet.

I was lucky that small towns were built mostly the same. In the center is the courthouse. And the small school, that only holds three hundred and eighty three students, was going to be on the edge of town.

I was thankful I had woken up as early as I did because it took me an extra twenty minutes just to find where the high school was. By the time I reached it the parking lot was almost full and I had to park in the back, but I didn't mind. At least I arrived on time, that was better than being late on my first day.

I walked into the front office and made my way up to the counter. The woman at the front desk had short blond hair and a welcoming smile.

"Hello," she said, greeting me.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Beatrice Parker. Yes, we're all very excited to meet you," she said.

I knew this was a small town, but I didn't think about how fast word could travel here. She rolled her chair over to the other side of her long desk and grabbed a packet, rolling back over to me.

"Here you'll find your schedule, your student handbook, and a list of the extracurricular activities we provide for our students," she said as she handed it to me.

I flipped through the packet, quickly, only actually caring about my schedule, which I found a couple pages in.

"Thank you," I said before I walked out of the office and into the hallway.

I started up the hall, but then realized that I was going the wrong way. I turned around to go back the way I came, but, I stopped again, thinking I was right the first time.

Sighing, I walked over to the map on the wall with the layout of the school.

I could feel the other students' walking the halls eyes on me as I tried to figure out how to read the map, it made me feel uncomfortable. I did my best to play it off as if I didn't notice them.

"Do you need some help?"

I jumped as someone stepped up next to me, I turned to see a boy. He was a few inches taller than me, and he had long blonde hair that was pulled back into a small bun. His light hair complemented his bright blue eyes.

"Sorry," he laughed, "I didn't mean to scare you. You just look lost."

"I am," I admitted.

"I'm Lucas," he held his hand out to me, and I took it. I didn't notice how cold my hands were until his warm one covered mine. "You're Beatrice, right? Elizabeth Greene's granddaughter?"

It was uncomfortable how much he already knew about me. Back home in Milwaukee, the amount of people that lived in this town were less than the amount that went to my high school. I wasn't used to my whole grade knowing my name let alone the whole town.

"Birdie," I said, taking my hand back.

"Birdie?" He asked, a confused look taking over his face.

"Beatrice is a little long, so everyone calls me Birdie," I shrugged, acting like I haven't given this explanation a thousand times.

"Oh, well, do you need help finding your class?" He asked, sneaking a peak at my schedule.

"That would be great, actually," I said, moving it more into his view.

"I have Chemistry first period, too," he said, gesturing for me to follow him.

He began walking down the hall and I did my best to keep up with his pace.

"So, you're from Wisconsin?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. I accepted the fact that I'll probably have this same conversation all day with different people.

"Why'd you move here?" He asked.

I'm surprised that this isn't something everyone knew already, but my grandma probably didn't tell everyone this part.

"Um," I started, "my parents...um..."

Shock took over his face and then remorse. "I'm so sorry," he started, "I didn't know-"

"It's okay," I said, just grateful he didn't make me say it aloud.

We walked the rest of the way to the chemistry room in silence. When we stepped through the door we were met with sixteen pairs of eyes staring at us. This entire experience was like a bad dream I couldn't wake up from. I wasn't used to being the center of attention, and I wasn't a fan of it either.

"Everyone, we have a new student," the teacher, a middle aged, strawberry haired, woman with wrinkles that complimented her face, stood before me. She reached out for me, putting two hands on my shoulders and setting me up in front of the class. "Beatrice, would you like to introduce yourself?"

I clear my throat, looking out at the small group of students in front of me.

"I...um...hi?" I said, awkwardly. I turned to the teacher, "I go by Birdie," I told her quietly.

"Well, Birdie, I'm Mrs. Cherry."

Mrs. Cherry gestured towards an empty seat in the middle of the room. "You can sit next to Lucas."

I walked between the rows of the desks until I was in the middle of the room, where the empty seat next to Lucas was. I set my book bag across the back of my chair and took a seat.

The rest of the day Lucas led me to all my classes, which I was grateful for because I would, no doubt, get lost.

Once lunch time came around he led me to the cafeteria where I met his other friends. He sat down, with me sitting in between him and a blonde girl.

Her name was Amanda. She was tall, much taller than me, and tan. The tan was no doubt fake, considering the seasons were starting to change, making it too cold to lay out in the sun, but also her skin had an orange tint to it that gave her away.

Across from Amanda was a boy named Nathan. He had slick black hair that he pushed up on his forehead to stay out of his eyes, but it looked like it was growing out too much to defy gravity much longer. And next to him was another boy named Liam. He was blonde, like Lucas, and they shared the same eyes.

"So, Birdie," Amanda said, grabbing my attention, "There's this coffee shop we all like to go to after school. Would you wanna come with me?"

"I can't go today," Lucas says, stealing a fry from Amanda's tray and popping it into his mouth, "football practice."

Amanda had a stiff look on her face as she turned her attention to Lucas.

"Did I ask you?" She snapped.

Lucas swallowed the food he was chewing and looked away from Amanda, beginning a conversation with Nathan about their basketball game ‪that Friday.

Amanda turned back to me, a smile now on her face, "So what do you say? Wanna come?"

"Sure," I said.

I quickly regretted agreeing without asking my grandmother first. I was, after all, borrowing her only mode of transportation.

I pulled out my phone and sent her a quick text.

After a few minutes my phone buzzed so I pulled it back out of my pocket.

No problem. Come home whenever

"Do you want me to meet you there?" I asked, worried about having another location problem like this morning. I really needed to my change phone provider.

"You can follow me," she said, smiling.