Please enjoy the very first chapter of my Inside Out fanfiction! I really hope you guys will give me feedback. (And go easy on me, I haven't written fanfiction in YEARS, so if you have any suggestions to help me improve, feel free to send them my way.). Here goes nothing! (Also, I have this story on another website so if you see it somewhere else don't worry that's also me!) Bare in mind that this story FULLY intends to get dark at times, but I will add trigger warnings when necessary.

"She's awake! She's awake, she's awake this is so exciting! Come on guys, it's time to start the day!" There she stands, that little bundle of Joy hopping about headquarters; waving her co-emotions to her side. She's ready to kick start the day now, "Riley's awake and it's the first day back to school after Christmas break! I can feel it, it's going to be a great day."

"But she didn't get enough sleep, ugh I'm exhausted." Sadness heaves a heavy sigh and drops herself right down to the ground.

But Disgust isn't above turning the spotlight right onto her, "You think you've got problems? Honey, all of the clothes We got for Christmas are hideous! Did you see that floral dress? Did mom not bother to read the Christmas list? Everyone knows Riley's been into the grungy tomboy look lately. And 90′s grunge is so in."

"Oh don't worry yourself, Disgust!" Joy interjects with enough positivity to power the entire room for days, "You'll find something perfect! After all, mom just washed her ripped skinny jeans! We look fab in those! Make our legs look nice and svelte."

"Yes she did…" There stands anger, fists clenched tightly, "But did you forget over break she bleached our Van Halen t shirt?! That was dad's shirt form the 80′s that he let us have and now it's completely ruined!"

"Ruined forever…and never to be worn again."

"Come on, guys, it was an honest mistake! Besides, we've got plenty of shirts to wear! Let's get ourselves together! We've got to be ready on time."

"But we're not ready!" Fear, who's now crouched behind disgust, cowers with where he stands, "We totally forgot to do the reading for English! What if she get's asked the significance of the green light in The Great Gatsby! We don't know what that stands for at all!"

"Listen! Listen, it's okay! If we need to…we'll just search the basic symbolism during lunch period on Riley's phone." Joy gives a look of very subtle distaste as she paces before the emotions, "I know it's wrong to cheat like that, but using Riley's phone guarantee's she knows the basics. And we might not even need to do this! So look alive, guys. It's time to stay alert and focused!

That annoying alarm goes off. Over and over and over. With a groan, Riley grabs for her phone, presses okay. As much as she wants to press snooze, she can't. She sits up with a yawn. God, why is the bed always so warm and perfect in the morning, and getting out of it is like stepping into a blizzard?

Her bare feet are greeted with the cold wooden floor, she crosses her room, heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and when she returns to her bedroom…finally she is feeling awake and alert.

After fumbling around her room for 20 minutes or so, and with a rather determined grin, standing in a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a black t shirt, converse sneakers, and just the perfect amount of eyeliner,

'There we go, Riley. We. Look. Fabulous.'

it's time for the day to start.

Riley heads downstairs, grabs for a cereal bar where she's greeted by her parents

"Bye, sweetheart, have a good first day back!" Her mother is quick to pat her head.

'Ugh, mom, please we're not five are you kidding me?'

Her father on the other hand, seems determined to keep Riley young and goofy, "I love you, Monkey!"

'No way, dad, that phase? So yesterday.'

"Dad, please, I'm 13, not 11." But still she smiles, gives a playful eye roll as she turns for the door.

The headphones are plugged in, and she's out the door. She's ready to take on this day with confidence.

'I'm so excited! I can't wait to see our friends!'

Music is so soothing for Riley now. Blaring in her ears as she steps through the gates– messenger bag held tightly in hand. Right at the front steps, two of her team mates of the local hockey team greet her.

'Oh, oh! There's Amanda! Oh we've missed her!'

'Oh no, she's the one who's…dating Carl. She always blows us off for him, why are we less important to her?'

'Ugh, who cares? Carl isn't cute or fun to be around.'

'Wait, since when do we not like him? I thought we liked him? Remember when Riley danced with him at the Christmas party? That was a blast!'

'Since never, boys are a gross mystery.'

That's enough to make Joy focus on the screen with a few puzzling thoughts running through her own subconscious. She's 13, they're not that much of a mystery. She thinks to herself

"Riley! How was your break?" Amanda hugs her, and Kelly stays quiet, "Ignore Kelly for now– nasty ass cold, she said it hurts to talk."

'Oh no! We're totally going to get sick! Get us away from her!'

'Hey, hey calm down! We have hand sanitizer in our bag okay? We're totally fine!'

"Oh, feel better, Kells!" So quickly the headphones are removed from her head, placed around her neck instead, "Uh, it was good, I saw family, and I got a Nintendo 3DS finally! So awesome. I spent most of break playing it actually. Parents hooked me up with tons of games for it."

"That's great, Riley! Aaaand I got some good news for you!" Amanda keeps an arm draped over Riley's shoulder as they step into the school, Kelly parting ways with them, "Carl's best friend Austin? Apparently…he's so into you! Told him on facebook over break!"

'Ew, ew, ew, ew! No way. No way, we cannot date Austin– let me handle this.'

Riley looks to her feet as they stop in front of her locker, "Ugh, does he?" Her face contorts in distaste, "I don't like him."

"Not at all? He's so cute! like, every girl in the school wants to date him!"

'Oh, sure! Make it sound like I'm blind just because I don't find Austin cute! I'm so sick of everyone just throwing boys at me! For crying out loud I'm 13 not 30!'

"No! He's…so not my type! He's gross!"

"Every time a boy likes you, you say he isn't your type! I think your standards are too high."

"Oh, come on they are not!" She unbuttons her coat, stows it away as she gets down on her knees to grab for her books, "I'm just…not really all that interested in dating. We're only 13, and out of all of us, you're the only one with a boyfriend anyway." But she stands, closes her locker, binder clutched close, "But hey, one day, like you with Carl, my Prince Charming will come and sweep me off my feet! Just…not right now." Riley gives a reassuring grin.

And Amanda can only laugh at that statement, "You goofball– Of course you will! You're way too gorgeous to not find happiness like that! Come on, let's get to class."

"It get's so lonely not having someone's hand to hold. Why do boy's have to be unappealing?"

"Oh, cheer up, Sadness! The right guy will come along! We haven't met anyone decent since the imaginary boyfriend!" Joy waves her arms about triumphantly, looking to show Sadness some form of encouragement.

"Riley wants what Amanda has, but she can't get it."

"You mean because Amanda's dating Carl? But that's okay, they make a cute couple!" Always look at the positives, right?

"No she doesn't like Carl, or any of the boys in her school. They're awful."

"What about–"

Suddenly there's an odd rumbling coming from behind them. Enough to shatter HQ, and the sound of shifting memories can be heard nearly echoing in the room– so abruptly, like an earthquake. Disgust gasps running to the back windows, "Look! A new island formed!"

The others join her, but it's Fear is the only one who seems at all skeptical, rather than excited, "That's weird…I don't recognize that island. Do you think it's bad?!"

The four emotions turn their attention back to the main screen.

"Good morning, students! I hope you all had a wonderful vacation–" But the teacher is cut off. A student, who enters late, takes away the attention momentarily. All 22 eighth graders now turning to watch her hand in her late pass.

Riley is completely frozen, eyes fixated on the girl.

The sides of her head are almost completely shaved, her hair is dark brown, almost black hair gelled up to one side– a short retro looking boy-style haircut. The girl is clad in a black t shirt, jean vest covered in patches, and a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. On her feet are ratty looking, studded boots, lace up. Her eyes are a gorgeous shade of brown, and her cheek bones so perfectly defined.

"Ah, it seems we have a new student, she transferred from a few towns over! This is Carissa Smith, and she'll be joining us for the remainder of the year! Why don't you take a seat right over there next to Riley?"

Riley is still completely frozen, but her eyes follow the girl as she walks down the row to take her seat. When she finally does, she meets Riley's eyes, raises her eyebrows and flashes her a devious little smile, followed by a wink.

The color rushes to her cheeks.

Joy leans over the controls in confusion, focused on this 'new student' who's now opening her binder, and proceeding to draw instead of bothering to take notes, "I don't understand– what's she doing? Why is she looking at this girl? Why isn't she paying attention to the teacher? She has to pay attention! She hasn't stopped looking at her even for a second."

As if right on command, the puberty button flashes bright, and Fear jumps back with a yelp, "What's happening! Are we dying?!"

"Oh, will you shut your mouth?! We can't be dying! We're still here, genius!"

Disgust scoffs, stares right at her cuticles as she speaks, "Have you guys, like, not been listening to me this whole time I've worked here?"

Joy puts her hand on Sadness's shoulder as she pushes past her, "What do you mean?"

"Okay, like I said, no, we don't like Austin– Carl's gross too, boy's are gross. I said it so many times, like, boy's are gross."

"Wait…you don't mean–?"

"Yeah, yeah I do."

Their gaze returns to the screen once more.

Carissa manages to meet Riley's eyes again, "You make a habit of not paying attention in class, little miss?"

Riley feels that color in her cheeks again, stammers as she speaks, "G-guess I'm just tired after the break h-heh. You know?"

"I feel you…but if you keep staring." Carissa is flashing a genuine smile now, "I think I'll have to tell the teacher." So clearly joking, she laughs a little. And once Riley joins her, she holds out her hand, "Carissa."

"R-Riley." How embarrassing! She's shaking her hand, but she can feel it! Her palm is so sweaty right now!

"Nice to meet you, you're really pretty."

There goes that puberty button flashing again as Disgust finally says it, "Yup. I've been saying it forever, guys. She doesn't like boys, she likes girls."

The other three pause, but Sadness is the first to speak, and drop herself right to the ground for the umpteenth time, "But liking girls is wrong by societies standards. We're gonna' get in so much trouble."

"In trouble?!" At this point, Fear is pacing in circles, shaking even, "What will mom and dad say?! What if they kick us out?! Oh goodness, what will our friends think?! What if they think we've been looking at them wrong in the locker room in Gym, or they stop hanging out with us?!"

"God, there you go freakin' out over nothin'! We're gonna' be fine! The solution is simple! We don't tell anyone, and if anybody has the nerve to tell us we're wrong, we just sock em' right in the face."

"Guys, guys! Just…let's all calm down for a minute. Don't you see?! This could be the start…of such a beautiful and magical romance! If Riley likes girls, that's okay! And she doesn't even have to tell anyone! Let's just give this whole thing a chance and take it…one step at a time." Already walking back to the controls, Joy isn't about to put a damper on this party. No, absolutely not, "We love Riley no matter what. Remember that pact we made? We're gonna' stick by it. Let's help her realize that all of this is completely okay! We're here to help you figure this all out, Riley! You aren't alone, and these feelings are totally normal."

The bell rings, and Riley's nervously gathering her things as she stands.

Carissa steps beside her, tucks a section of hair behind Riley's ear, "See you around, Riles."

And just as the classroom clears out, until she is the only one left standing in that room, she places a hand to her ear. Her cheeks flushed a light pink color, "Riles…" And she feels the biggest, happiest smile creeping across her face, "She called me Riles."