Riley's P.O.V.

I gazed silently in the mirror, turning my head this way and that. The light fell across my face in certain ways, highlighting my naturally tanned skin. I scowled at the freckles sprinkled across my nose. Usually they were hidden behind my concealer. According to my mom, my dad had freckles...wherever he was. My green eyes danced across the rest of my body quietly. I had a little meat on my bones. But in my last school, I was known for being tough so no one really messed with me. I'd even had a boyfriend. A senior my mother had hated and after she passed...I never wanted to see his face again.

I wandered over to my dresser and began to look through the contents. The lawyer had helped me to pack up my things and send them. She had been kind, telling me about how she lost her mom at my age and how someday, I would be able to think about her without it knocking the breath out of me. I lifted several shirts, shook my head, and placed them back in the dresser. I didn't know what to wear. Everyone here was suntanned and perfect. I was tan but it wasn't sun-kissed like everyone else's. I was far from beautiful.

Grasping a dress from the second drawer down, I grinned. My best friend had gotten this for my last birthday. "Five finger discount." I murmured, mimicking what she had told me when I questioned how she ever could afford it. I slid out of my towel, pulling the dress over my head and letting it settle on my body...right at my mid-thigh. Right. I couldn't wear this, Iris would hate--

"I'm wearing it." I decided aloud. Rifling through my dresser, I added panties, and leggings. I applied my makeup carefully, winging my eyeliner at the corners of my eyes and painting my lips with a sinful red that matched my complexion well. Along with heels that I was never fully sure I'd wear, I studied my reflection. I thought I looked pretty good. Maybe a little too dark for the bright peppy people on this island but...good. With a grin and my head held high, I strutted out of my room like I was on a catwalk. I was careful descending the spiral staircase in my spiky heels. I usually didn't wear heels, but the overall look--or more Iris' reaction to said look--was just too juicy to pass up.

"No. No. No. Absolutely not. You look like a hooker. Go upstairs and change." Iris ordered the moment I hit the bottom of the stairs. I just rolled my eyes, strolling past her as if I hadn't heard her at all. At least I was wearing leggings. There were plenty of girls who just let everything hang out. I was not one of them.

"Shove it, Iris. Not like you gave a shit about me before, no need start to now." I could see her jaw set. Her eyes narrow. My words had hit their mark, and they had stung her. I could tell she wanted to say something, but she didn't. I did a little dance inside my head. Something about baiting her...seeing how far I could push, was pleasing to me. However, it was the truth. Iris had never cared about me or my mom before, so why should she be able to boss me around now?

"Eat your breakfast." She muttered darkly, turning her attention back to the book she had been reading before I came in. I glanced over the pastry tray as I wandered into the kitchen. It looked like something someone would set up in some yuppie hotel. Store-bought sugar-ridden things that were almost too pretty to eat. I collected a plate of waffles, making sure to douse them in a fair bit of butter and syrup before taking my place at the table. I ate in stormy silence until my aunt spoke up, the book she was reading poised in her hand.

"We better get going if we're going to catch the ferry to the main island." I nodded simply, rising from my spot and collecting my backpack from the floor near the door. This hadn't been there last night, which meant Iris had put it together for me without asking. Maybe she did care...just a little bit... NO! A backpack and a room in my favorite color did not an aunt make. It was just another instance of her throwing money at a situation she couldn't change herself. I let that beat against my stone heart, not even causing a crack.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I gazed up at the small private school, my eyebrows rising slowly. Modern walls surely hid the horrors of high school. I wondered aloud how a small collection of islands managed to support and populate not only a public high school, but a private one as well. Perhaps there was more to it than I originally thought.

Smooth white stone walls erupted vertically from the leveled ground. The windows, spacious and wide, would provide a great deal of natural light and a gorgeous view of the nearby ocean waves. In back, a luscious, green soccer field was nestled between two bleachers...apparently soccer was a big thing, who knew? All of it looked ridiculous to me. So pretty. So expensive. The school I had gone to in Bridgeport had been a ratty public school without rapidly depleting funds.

"Private schools." I scoffed. So much wasted. Expensive cars slid into the parking lot in droves, filling the front spaces up first. People with Gucci sunglasses that could've paid my rent back in the city. I've never seen so many expensive cars in my life...all owned by students! Who in the hell would let their kid have a car that expensive? It was ridiculous.. I snorted at the disgusting display of wealth.

Before I could consider moving forward, I was stopped by a red-headed girl. Her blue eyes were clear and pretty, but she was hidden behind a pair of thick glasses. The tucked in tanktop and the cardigan she wore over the top told me she cared more for propriety than the sweltering heat. Why did it always have to be so damn hot?? She was out of style, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

"You're Riley, right?" Her voice was chirpy, overly saccharine. If her eyes didn't flash sincerity, I would've highly doubted how genuine she was.

"What's it to you?" I grumbled.

"I knew it! I'm Lucy. I know everyone at this school and I've never seen you before. I'm supposed to show you to the office and to your classes. I'm a sophomore, just like you!"

Before I had time to tell her to stop talking so damn much, both of us were interrupted by a girl with honey-blonde hair carefully manicured into a bumped-up ponytail. Her outfit featured a dress that had to break at least ten dress codes, and the large diamond earrings she wore displayed her wealth. Or at least her daddy's wealth. Heels that seemed impossibly tall adorned her feet, and at once I hoped she immediately fell and broke her ankle. Was it wrong to pray for a conviently-placed pothole?

She pushed me aside and inwardly, I wished I could've taken a swing at her. What a massive bitch! I thought girls like this only existed in movies... "Aw, Lucy! Good to see that sense of style hasn't changed over the entire summer. At all." Dear LORD. If I'd thought Lucy's voice was too sweet, this one was just sickening. And fake.

The plastic goddess strode by without another thought and I glared after her. I heard a soft sigh and I turned to see Lucy grinning like a fool.

"She complimented me. Maybe we'll become friends this year?" She asked herself, mostly. I scoffed. Someone had to burst her delusional bubble before it became therapy-worthy.

"No, she wasn't. Lucy, that was sarcasm through and through. That girl is one of the fakest people I think I've ever had the misfortune to encounter." I fully expected Lucy to become angry. To shun me. To make me the new girl and the outcast. Instead, she looked as if she'd come to the same sad realization.

"You're right. I try so hard to fit in sometimes. It's just...easier for some people than others, I guess." She just looked so down, I had to say something.

"I like you. I mean, so far. You're the only one who has stepped off their pedestal to say hello to me. I was standing there by myself for twenty minutes before anyone even bothered to say hello." The look on her face almost caused me to run for cover. However, I couldn't very well do that when she launched herself onto me, encircling me in her arms and hugging me tightly.

"Damn, Lucy! Leave the poor girl alone!" If the tone of the voice speaking hadn't been so playful, I would've decked the guy. In the few moments I'd known her, I'd grown attached to the idea of having someone like Lucy as a friend. Lucy removed herself from me with a giggle. The two figures that revealed themselves seemed friendly. The boy's arm was protectively wrapped around the shoulders of a girl that seemed to be the same age as us, but as he spoke it slowly dropped to his side. The trio chatted for a short time before Nate turned to me. I'm surprised I didn't melt like butter.

"Sorry about that...Riley, is it? I'm ah, Nate. This is my sister, Kendra. I can see you've already met Lucy." He finished with a grin, causing me to smile. His eyes were such an electric shade of blue that it caught me off guard and forced butterflies into my stomach each and every time he looked at me.

"I gotta get Pun'kin butt here," he indicated the girl next to him who regarded the nickname with obvious distaste as her eyes narrowed, "to her first class early. It was nice to meet you, Riley." His eyes stopped on me for just a moment too long before he spoke once again. "Lucy. Bring her to the alcove. She looks cool." He offered me a wink that inwardly caused me to swoon, but externally made me roll my eyes as he left.

"What's their deal?" I glanced at Lucy, and at once she began talking. The girl was like an encyclopedia of knowledge around this place. But moreso, she gave off a friendly vibe that I didn't want to lose.

"Nate and Kendra are siblings, obviously. Nate's a sophomore, but Kendra...she's a senior, and she only just turned 15. She's like this amazing genius. Nate's really protective of her, though."

"Why is that?"

Lucy looked uncomfortable. "I think it's best that Kendra tell you herself. It's not really my business to tell." I wanted to laugh because so far, Lucy's ability to keep things quiet had been poor, to say the least. Still, I merely nodded and adjusted my backpack.

"Well, why don't we get to the office, then?" I replied with a smile, trying to change the subject. I was trying to mirror my sunny environment but felt ultimately as if I was failing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So the first and last day of every quarter and every Friday is free day. All of the other days, we have to wear our uniforms." Lucy placed the order form for my uniforms in my hand, and turned to begin wandering down the surprisingly quiet hallways.

I scowled. Uniforms. I'd never worn them before and the school's rules on how to wear their uniforms were incredibly strict. Socks up, black shoes, all buttons buttoned, skirt at fingertip length or longer. They didn't seem to cover hair, but they were all over facial piercings. They avoided tattoos, except to say that they couldn't be visible. The school was a private institution, but not a religious one.

"They put you with me for most of the day, at least for this quarter. Seems we have more in common than I thought. Honors courses with creative writing...You'll LOVE honors chemistry!" Lucy gush. Once again, I couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. She was such a happy person that it was difficult to be depressed around her.

We turned into our first class of the day. Creative Writing. Iris must've put me in this one, I would not have picked this elective for myself. I removed me backpack and sat it aside. The classroom was so...clean. So bright and incredibly open.

I wandered over to the far wall, near the back and Lucy followed me. I used to sit in the back. It kept people from figuring out that I was a bit of an over-achiever academically. That would put a bulls-eye on your back in my old school, but I simply couldn't take the look Mama got on her face when I received a bad grade.

The class filled up slowly, but it was full by the time the warning bell rang. I recognized the rude girl from before, the plastic princess. She was focused on her phone, of course, which she dropped back into her purse when the last fell rang. The man I assumed was our teacher strode in. I was elated to see a man dressed in a vest and button-down shirt, topped off by crisp dress pants and...converse? He seemed to be in his thirties, perhaps only a few years younger than Iris. There were faint traces of a silver hair here or there, but only when the light hit it the right way and only if you were looking closely. Intelligence shined in his dark blue eyes.

"Alright, settle down!" He announced as the final bell rang. Lowering his hands, he moved to stand before the class. "I'm Mr. Campbell. I want you to feel comfortable. However, not too comfortable, so put your phones away. I'm talking to you, Harper."

He glanced towards the plastic princess, who was at that very moment trying to sneak her hand into her purse. She huffed and rolled her eyes, gazing off in indignation. "And don't do that stupid purse thing. Seriously, every teacher knows you're doing it, and it just makes you look ridiculous. Not that most teenagers really need much help with that." I must've been the only one who laughed, but he looked pleased and I decided that I was going to love this class.

"So be nice. Don't make fun of anyone brave enough to read their stuff. Or I'll have to ruin your life. I'm single, I have no social life, no pets, not even a potted plant. I have all the time in the world to make that happen. Now, just to see how talented all my students are, write me something. About your summer, about how lame your mom is, about what you hope this class will be, whatever. Look at things from another angle. In a half hour, I'll expect these to be done. Not perfect, but done."

I glanced down at my desk, at the notebook I'd removed from my bag. Opening it, I uncapped a pen and gazed at the empty pages. More than one big thing had happened this summer. Hell, more than one big thing had happened this day. I lost my mom, moved to this shitty town. Made a new friend who seemed to need me just as much as I needed her. Met a guy whose eyes made me melt from the inside out. I chose to begin with something that was sitting at the back of my mind. Something that I needed to get out. Something that I knew would bubble to the surface if I didn't tear the band aid off, so to speak.

"Death rarely comes all at once. Instead, it comes in a series of little deaths, and many realizations. I'm not writing this so you'll feel bad for me, or so you'll go easy on me. Hell, I could care less about this class, my aunt put me in it because I think she thinks I might want to take over her stupid career goals. The death of my mom was the main thing. The big shebang. The little deaths came after. The death of my ability to connect with people. The death of my urge to someday grow up and have a family of my own. Why would I want to? What if I leave them? How could I ever hurt a child in that way? The realizations have been stark. The realization that my mother will never see me go to prom, graduate, get married, or have children. The realization that I'm stuck with no one but an aunt who could care less about me. But then there are good realizations, finally. Like the breaking of storm clouds after a long rain. The realizations that some people aren't all bad. I met people today whose purity and innocence, at least from what I perceive, are like a breath of fresh air. It's nice to finally realize that the world isn't against you anymore. That you can trust someone."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------