A quick thanks to my lovely friend and editor Kate, she has been an absolute star! I couldn't have done this without her and her input, she has been so fundamental in the creation and inspiration of this story and the continued progress of it!

A short dedication to BrittWitt16, Kate, and a whole host of fanfiction writers and friends who inspired me to get back into writing and go for this story! I love you all and i'm so grateful that you're all my muses!

Our family situation was complicated. Perhaps that's why we had moved from one country to another, or perhaps it really was just that Norman had gotten a better job offer in America; either way it was a change that I didn't welcome. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, I always said I wanted to visit America, I wanted new experiences. Our new house was massive compared to our old one, but that didn't make the transition any easier. Luckily I wasn't starting a fresh on my own and we had moved here over the summer allowing me and my Step-Sister Dori all the time in the world to understand the not so little town of Beacon Hills that we had moved to. I suppose perhaps by American standards Beacon Hills was little…but it was practically a city to me. I had found rather quickly that some of the surrounding hills offered a wonderful view of the town at night or in the day. It was beautiful in its own way and, perhaps other than the vast forests and the really good curly fries, the one of thing I liked about the town.

Dori, also known as Theodora, was really my only consolation prize about this whole trip/life changing experience. I had known Dori prior to 'The Marriage', but our interactions had been limited to 'Hey Dori!' and 'Do I know you?'. Norman, Dori's dad, knew he wasn't my father. He knew he couldn't help with the scars that had been left when my dad had ran out on mum when I was 6, but he knew that he could be the friend that I needed. He did a bloody good job all things considered. And Dori? Dori was my other half-we were two sides to the same coin (naturally I was the Queen). We were practically joint at the hip, but we were opposites in many respects.

I suppose that's why she was looking rather relaxed, whilst I was freaking out…the familiar feeling of nervous butterflies welling up in my stomach. I don't know why I was so nervous. Schools weren't a problem, I'd survived them before, and surely American schools couldn't be that different? Besides if people didn't like me then that was just that. It wasn't as if I'd have no one, Dori was here and I wasn't being completely shoved into the lion's den all on my own. I tapped out a rhythm on the leather of my steering wheel, breaking the nervous silence…Breathe, Charlotte, Breathe. I did really need to get a handle on my nerves.

I glanced to the passenger seat to my right; driving an American car was still bizarre. Dori shot me a bright grin. I knew underneath the pleasant smile she was as nervous as I was, she was just better at hiding it. While I was all jittery movements and tapping feet, she was perfect smiles and small chuckles. It was part of her charm, as much as my quirks were my own, I suppose. But really I wish Norman or mum had driven us. I was so worried I'd crash, between the road being the wrong side and the heebie-jeebies I had, I felt about ready to run us into a tree - there were certainly plenty to choose from. But I couldn't do that firstly because Dori was in the car with me, and secondly because she looked really pretty today and I wouldn't want to make a mess of that. Anyways I've heard whiplash is a right bastard and I wasn't fond of being in pain…

I was, however, seriously contemplating turning around when we finally saw the school, greeted by the sign emblazoned 'Beacon Hills High School est. 1941'. It looked like any old school from any of those teenage dramas that Dori and I would sometimes watch when we needed a mindless break, already there were tonnes of students milling about outside.

The car we were in was notoriously shoddy and reliably unreliable. I really hoped that it would last long enough to get us home that evening because I certainly wasn't fond of being stranded at school, particularly ones that looked like they were part of a horror movie waiting to happen. It was so much larger than our old one…a mere 750 students where as this one appeared to have a good few thousand…the nerves certainly increased-if that was even possible.

"We have to wait by the bench, right? That bench?" Dori questioned, emerging from the passenger side of the car. I winced as the Ford's door rattled closed behind me, sounding decidedly unhealthy.

We had of course been told we'd be taken to our first classes by the Vice-Principle, which I suppose was the US equivalent to a deputy head. We had been unable to collect our timetables and the like during the summer, mostly due to moving issues and talks about Visa's. I even think mum had a chat with the Sheriff about safety over here, I'm pretty sure if that's the case the whole of the Sheriff's department know mine and Dori's names.

Apparently we'd be receiving our timetables today that in itself was worrying; would I get lost? Would Dori and I have the same break? Would anyone get my references to popular culture? Most importantly would I have a decent group of teachers? Knowing my luck no I wouldn't, I'll probably have all of the most hated and boring teachers in the school for the next few years…Sods law, my friend, Sods law…

"I guess so, it's pretty much the only bench around…" and it was, despite the vast grounds the only bench directly out front of the school was that one, unless my bad eyesight was really getting the best of me. It was stupid of me but I was scared to go over there as there was a dark haired girl sitting there. It was nothing really, more nerves than anything and I knew that. Nerves once they had to be put into action often made me chatty. Whereas Dori looked fine but ended up really quiet for the first few minutes until she calmed down. My attention was soon drawn away from the girl and I stopped quite abruptly in the middle of the car park.

"What an Idiot!" the comment was directed at the jackass who nearly bludgeoned a poor boy on a bike with his car door. Admittedly the car was enough to give anyone a complex, but there was something about the driver that made me grit my teeth. Maybe it was just that the poor boy who nearly got whacked with a car door looked ultimately like a harmless puppy or maybe it was that I never was fond of people being rude. Either way as much as I hated making uninformed opinions on people I wasn't too keen on the Porsche owner.

Dori snorted unattractively at my remark, giving me a nudge towards the bench. It wasn't altogether too hard to tear my eyes from him, but I felt kind of bad for not going back and confronting the moron who nearly hit him. I had to silently remind myself that it wasn't any of my business, getting on someone's bad side on the first day of school wasn't a good idea…and yet I'd probably manage it by the end of the day.

I followed behind Dori, her steps were strong and to the average person she looked like your normal confident teenage girl from her fashionable loose jumper to her fitting boots. Underneath it all was a bundle of social anxiety which left her shoulders tense and her hand gripping the strap of her bag tightly. I myself plodded along at a bimble of a pace, my hands stuffed in the pockets of my jeans and a slight unevenness to my walk. I wasn't anywhere near as fashionable as my Step-sister and I was perfectly comfortable not being so…I just really wanted to wear a pair of comfortable converse and lounge about.

We had just reached the lengthy pathway up to the school doors when Dori seemingly tripped head first over thin air as a petite red head strutted past like it was a catwalk. I had to stop myself short to not fall over her myself, she was gazing longingly at the girl who was quickly disappearing through the double doors.

Dori scrambled to her feet exclaiming "who the hell was that?!" Her blue eyes were still fixated on the closing doors that laid before us. She didn't even seem concerned with the dirt that had collected on her knees or the scuffs on her new boots. I was entirely confused about the whole thing, Dori was usually absurdly graceful. To see her flop to the ground was odd at best, worrying at worst. But apparently the red head made an impression.

"That would be Lydia Martin," a stranger intoned gravely, "5 foot 3, genius, and destined to be mine!" I whirled around to my right. The boy was pale, with cropped hair, and a goofy smile.

"And is she aware of her great destiny?" I quipped back, craning my neck backwards slightly to look at his face which was dotted in a peculiar amount of moles.

"No…but my eight year plan is in progress" The smile never fell, it was oddly charming in a twitchy awkward type of way. Although I'm not sure how successful his supposed eight year plan was currently…

"My one year plan has just started" Dori smiled suggestively at the boy; apparently she'd taken an interest in the so named Lydia Martin. I'd probably be dragged into her schemes and be planting bouquets in lockers by next week. I always seemed to be wingman on her wooing missions, not that there have been that many, or that we'd been that successful in our exploits.

"Hey! I saw her first!" He gestured wildly with his arms, nearly hitting a passer-by in the face. The puppy eyed boy from earlier looked sufficiently annoyed from his place behind his friend, and noticing my glance gave me a quick, if forced, smile.

"What are you five?!" Dori retorted with a grin. Her posture was more relaxed than I'd seen today. Nice to see one of us without metaphorical butterflies trying to destroy their stomach.

"And a half!" He countered, earning a surprisingly easy laugh from me. He was a funny boy, even if he was in competition with my sister of all people. He seemed to know it too as he sent a grin back in my direction.

"Stiles, we gotta go, I've got to talk to you about…that thing" His taller friend muttered vaguely behind him, nodding towards the intimidating school building. The boy, 'Stiles' sent Dori and I, a quick departing nod before turning back towards his friend. It seemed the little banter session was cut short, it was a shame really, as Dori could be amusing when she really got into it.

I turned my attention back to Dori besides me "So…you've been here ten minutes and someone already caught your eye, ay?"

"Shut up, you try not to find someone like Lydia attractive." She said with a joking glare in my direction.

"I don't find anyone like Lydia attractive." She looked aghast as we neared the bench we were supposed to wait at before first lesson. Truth was I saw the appeal, she was a gorgeous girl the type that had I the reason I could be very envious of.

"I know you're straight, but don't tell me you wouldn't make an exception for a fine piece of ass like that!" It amused me that Dori talked like that, she didn't mean it badly…in fact she was very clearly joking at the same time as recalling the image of a skirt covered backside to her inner eye.

"Well…" I trailed off as we neared the girl from earlier, not wanting to be overheard talking about such things. She seemed nervous, but not unfriendly…she kind of reminded me of a baby deer; small, shy, with doe eyes.

Dori sat beside her first, I merely followed hesitantly. She was talking on her phone, I tried not to listen, politely staring at the tree across from me, most likely looking rather demented as I did so. I hope I don't have maths first; maths first thing on a Monday morning would suck, in fact it might just make me run away to Mexico and join a drug cartel…

It wasn't until Dori practically whacked me around the back of the head that I noticed the girl was no longer on the phone and was staring at me with worried deep brown eyes, she was adorable-the type where you want to wrap them up in blankets and cuddle them all night long.

"I'm...uh, I'm Allison?" It wasn't supposed to be a question of course, but I guess she was just as nervous as me. It was probably her first day here as well, I couldn't blame her for it especially as she'd just had to witness one of my many 'staring plaintively into the distance' moments, or as Dori liked to call them 'episodes'. I think she just liked to make me come off odder than I am, even if she was dragged down to my depths of nerdom by affiliation.

"Charlotte, it's nice to meet you, you've met Dori, yeah?" There was a nod and I saw the question on the tip of her tongue, the cliché 'so you're from England?' that we'd been asked ever since we moved here in June. But she seemed to think better of it and just sat back in her seat rigidly…I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, it was in fact the last thing I wanted. It was however a special talent of mine along with sleeping for ungodly amounts of time and consuming more sugar than I am sure is healthy.

"You really need to work on your episodes, Lottie" it was a quick whisper in my ear, a way of making me roll my eyes without putting much effort into it. I hated being called Lottie or any variation of Charlotte, or at least I had yet to find someone who did so and didn't annoy me. It was just like how I called Theodora, Dori, it was a way of pissing the other off without properly starting something.

Lucky I didn't have to endure the tense silence for much longer as a dark skinned man in a very neat suit approached us with a smile, I assumed he was the Vice-Principle by the way he was clutching at a small collection of paper. Which presumably was our timetables, and locker information. Oh god…American's have combination locks don't they?

"Hello girls! As Allison here already knows I'm Vice-Principle Samuels, I'm here to give you your information and take you all to your first class…if you'd follow me" There had been a moment sat there on the bench when my butterflies had dissipated but it seemed they were back in full force now and more than ready to make me feel sick. There was gentle chatter between the four of us, Dori and me clutching at our papers, the usual talk of what it was like moving and how the change was. I didn't say more than that it was an experience and that it was harder finding clothes my size now…not only was the sizing different, but they seemed to cater to girls of Dori's size verses my own. I wasn't especially large but apparently clothes shops didn't get the memo.

Apparently Dori had a different lesson to me, in fact while I had English with Allison she had Music, a subject I didn't take for my severe lack of talent. Dori at least knew something about music. We had left her at her classroom a few minutes back and she promised to meet me outside my room, apparently she had 'better navigational skills' then me; which was far too true. I could get lost in my own house if I wasn't thinking about where I was going.

When I finally stood outside Allison and I's classroom I felt sick to the stomach, she seemed to share my sentiment and shared an anxious look with myself, I briefly wondered if taking off my glasses would make me feel any less nauseous, but realised that wouldn't be the smartest idea. I just really didn't like how my stomach was behaving at that very moment I had never felt so sick in my entire life; not when I went to a sundae bar and tried to eat my entire weight in ice-cream or even the time that Martin Ramsbottom humiliated me in front of everyone after I confessed to having a crush on him when I was 10… Fuck Martin Ramsbottom, the bastard…as you can see I still was bitter about that.

I took a shaky breath as the door opened to the class room; well here goes nothing, ay?

Let me know what you thought of this chapter either here or on my tumblr imaginesofeveryfandom :) Thank you, lovelies!