Walking the corridors, I was completely lost. This school is so big, how does anyone find their way around?

Going in search of my first class was a lot harder than I thought. I realised I needed help, but who could I ask that would speak to me?

I spotted a red headed girl standing by her locker. Be brave, Riley.

I walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl turned around and looked at me, a smile began to form on her face.

"Hi, you okay?" I read as she smiled at me.

I nodded and smiled back. She seemed really lovely. I pointed at my schedule and made a confused face and looked around as if I was searching for something.

Confusion flashed on her face as she watched me point to the piece of paper in my hands.

"You're lost?" I nodded, glad that I got the message through.

She smiled at me and looked at my schedule.

"That's my next class. Come on, I'll show you"

She closed her locker and linked her arm in mine. It startled me and I looked up at her, but all she did was smile back at me.

"You're new, right?" I nodded. "Don't worry, you'll be fine with me."

She lead me down the corridor and into a small room where other students had started to take their seats. When we got to the door she unlinked her arm in mine and turned to me.

"You go speak to Mr Drew, and I'll get us seats." And with that she walked off. I watched her sit down at an empty desk, in the middle of the room. That's surprisingly not bad a seat for me to be able to read the teacher's lips.

I walked over to the man sitting behind the teacher's desk and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up at me. The bags under his eyes were deep and it looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His brown hair was messy and it looked as if he had run his hands through it a lot.

I waved and he smiled. "Can I help you?" He asked me. I showed him my schedule, making sure to point to my name.

"You're Riley? The new girl?" I nodded and smiled. He smiled back at me, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Okay, we have a new person in our class today. Her name is Riley, please be nice." He addressed the class motioning to me, and making me stand in front of everyone. I would rather be anywhere but here right now.

"Riley, why don't you tell us something about yourself?"

I whipped my head around to the class. Not even knowing what to do. Everyone stared back at me. Eyes were watching me from everywhere. My eyes went wide and heat began to raise in my cheeks.

"You don't have anything to say?" Mr Drew placed a hand on my shoulder. I shook my head.

"Okay, go and sit down."

I nearly sprinted into my seat next to the redhead girl I had met earlier. She smiled at me as I sat down. She leaned closer to me.

"You don't talk much, do you?" I shook my head laughing. She had no idea how little I actually did speak. "I'm Alice. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand and I took it in mine and shook her hand. I smiled back at her as we both turned to listen to Mr Drew.

The rest of the morning went by quite quickly. Luckily Alice was in most of my classes, it seemed we had the same interests. I watched as her face light up when she told me stories. I told her my own and I wrote back notes that made her laugh. She laughed so loud in one of our classes that Ms Michaels, our algebra teacher, nearly kicked her out of the class. We had to calm down a bit after that.

I was so happy that I had made a friend, and on my first day as well! I didn't know if I could trust her yet with my secret, but I don't think it will be long before I do.

When lunchtime came around, Alice helped me find my locker and it wasn't long before Sammy had come to join us. He met me at my locker at lunch, just like he said he would.

"Hey Ri, who's this?" Sammy looked at me to see if there was any trouble. I shook my head and smiled.

"I'm Alice. I'm a friend, don't worry." Alice smiled as she stuck out her hand to my brother.

"I'm Sam. Riley's my twin sister." He shook her hand. Alice smiled at him, then looked back at me as if to say 'you didn't tell you had a brother!' I shook my head and smiled.

"Would you like to join us for lunch?" My brother asked Alice as I closed my locker door shut after putting my books from this morning's class in it and smiled back at Sammy.

"I'd love that." Alice said smiling at the both of us.

We walked our way to the cafeteria, Alice and Sammy chatting amongst themselves as we went. He asked her about her life, and she asked how we came about this town. Sammy told her how it was a new start for our family, but he didn't go into details and Alice didn't push it. She just smiled and nodded, never once did her smile falter.

The rest of the day was nice. I had become pretty relaxed around Alice. She made it easy to be her friend, and I liked that. She didn't once ask my why I never spoke or why I stopped. She didn't push it, and I was grateful for that.

We said goodbye at the end of the day, and she gave me her number so I could call her tomorrow when I got to school and she'd help me out. She was quickly becoming the best friend that I had ever had, apart from my brother.

On our walk back home, my brother told me that he was happy for me that I had finally made a friend. I waited until we were a safe distance from the school before I started signing to him.

"She's so lovely. I really like her, Sammy. She could be my first proper friend." I signed to him as we walked. He just smiled and nodded.

"She's seems nice. But be careful, Ri." I nodded.

We got back home and walked in. Mum had unpacked a few more boxes and the living room and kitchen looked somewhat normal.

She smiled as we walked in and greeted both me and Sammy with a hug each. She asked us about our days and the events that had happened. We sat down for dinner and we told her all about the day. How we were put in separate classes, how Sammy nearly killed the receptionist and I told her all about Alice. She threw a few worried glances at Sammy about what had happened with Allison the receptionist, but she was happy when I told her about Alice.

After excusing myself from dinner, I raced up to my room. I wanted to continue to unpack some more of my boxes.

Walking into my room, I knew where I needed to start. I walked over to my mattress on the floor and the boxes next to it. I started pulling out photo frames and my books.

Call me a nerd, but I loved reading. I loved pulling open a book and reading new stories. Opening up a window into another world, or another life; another way of living.

Sammy had helped me to put up a bookcase last night, but it was currently empty. I filed my books onto it, filling the space with words that I couldn't wait to read.

A few hours went by as I unloaded the rest of my room. Books went up on the bookcase, desk went in the corner, clothes in the closet, and at last I was all sorted. At some points Sammy came in and helped me with putting together the furniture.

I'd hung up fairy lights over the top of my newly put together bed. Photographs from home hung and were dotted around the room, reminding me of safety. The pictures were taken of me and Sammy and our old friends back home. Most of them included silly faces and one included our friend Thomas wearing my hearing aids and a wig pretending to be me at a sleepover night we had. They were all good memories and fun moments in my life and I enjoyed looking back on them. It was better than leaving with the memories of what happened in the end.

I had photos of me and my family hung around. Photos from before the accident and after. Baby photos of my and Sammy, you know the embarrassing ones that your mum takes of the pair of you in the bath or in front of a holiday apartment. We had matching clothes, both either wearing the same colours or the same t-shirt. There's a photo of me and Sammy when we were babies, huddled together in one of dad's t-shirts, with our heads poking through the neck and one arm out of the arm holes. We were laughing and smiling, I can only imagine how our parents were feeling taking that picture.

When I had finished for the night, I looked around. Everything looked normal. I liked it. I looked at the time, it was nearly 1:00 in the morning, and I realised I had been working so hard I hadn't even looked at the time.

As I lied in bed that night I thought about the events that occurred today. The people I had met and the things I had learnt already.

"Things might actually turn out alright" I remember thinking before I fell asleep.

I had never been more wrong.