{Some curse words will be censored}

"Finally." My twin brother exasperated as I skipped down the stairs to meet him by the front door, "You better not take this long every day. I do sometimes what to get to school on time."

"And the longer you stand there whining at me, the later we're going to be." I retaliated. Alex rolled his eyes as he opened the front door. We both shouted goodbye throughout the house and our father's voice could be heard calling back from the kitchen before we left.

"Can you drive?" I requested as we reached the car.

"Fine." Alex sighed knowing there was no point arguing with me. I always won. I grinned triumphantly and climbed into the passenger seat, dropping my backpack down on the floor by my feet. As we drove through the streets of the unfamiliar town, I leaned my head against the window and let my thoughts take over.

I was nervous, I'm not going to lie. It was our first day at a new school, a chance to start fresh and gain a completely new reputation. I was just worried my reputation would end up being the same as it was at our old school. People liked to put labels on me. Names like "freak" and "emo" were constantly thrown at me because of my hair colour. I didn't make me want to dye it back, though. I liked my pink hair, it reflected me as a person and a few immature school kids weren't going to change that. I also wasn't the "coolest" teenager out there. I was more interested in taking pictures than hanging out with people or going to parties and people thought I was weird for that.

"Rosie." Alex broke my daydream and it wasn't until then that I realised we had arrived.

"Right, sorry, I was-"

"Daydreaming? Doesn't surprise me." He chuckled. I was known to walk around with my head in the clouds so his amused reaction was nothing unexpected. I let out a small laugh as we both unbuckled our seatbelts and got out the car. We went to the main office and got our schedules and locker combinations before setting off to find our first classes.

"What have you got first?" Alex asked me as we stood outside the main office.

"Art class, you?"

"English."

"I guess this is it then, huh?"

"I guess so, meet me at lunch?"

"Sure, good luck." I wrapped my arms around Alex's middle in a quick hug.

"You too, sis." He hugged me back and smiled before we both went our separate ways. I wandered around the school in search from the art classroom only to find myself back in the middle of the hallway. I glanced back down at my schedule, hoping that maybe it would give me some answers. With my eyes downcast, I didn't see the tall, curly haired boy running towards me. He was searching through his bag for something and therefore didn't see me either. It wasn't until he ran right into me that we acknowledged each other's existence. We both would've ended up on the floor if he hadn't grabbed onto my shoulders and I hadn't grabbed onto his waist to balance ourselves.

"S-sorry... I-I didn't... I should've been looking where I was going." He stuttered nervously.

"It's okay," I chuckled, removing my hands from his slim waist as he moved his hands from my shoulders, "I probably shouldn't have been stood right in the middle of the hall."

"Are you new to Liberty?" He wondered, relaxing a little when I gave him a friendly smile.

"What gave it away? The fact I look like a lost puppy?" 

"Well, there is that." He laughed, "Plus, I take a lot of pictures around here," He gestured to the camera hung around his neck, "And I think I would remember if I took a picture of a girl with bright pink hair."

"There is that, I suppose." I giggled, "But, yeah, no, I'm new. I'm trying to find the art classroom but I'm not having much luck."

"Mrs Winston's art class?" He asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I have her now, too. I can walk you, if you like. I'm late anyway and I can just tell her I was helping the new student out."

"Oh, okay, so you're using me?" I raised an eyebrow at him, a smirk on my face.

"Think of it as a deal. You help me get out of trouble in exchange for me not leaving you stranded here." He winked. I laughed and rolled my eyes before following the boy to art class.

***

I took my tray of food and scanned the cafeteria. Alex had ditched me to talk to the music teacher about joining jazz band so I was left to eat lunch by myself, and since I didn't have any friends yet, I was guaranteed to look like a loner. However, my problems were seemingly solved when I spotted a familiar head of brown, curly hair sat by himself at the back of the room. A small smile on my face, I walked over to him and set my tray down opposite him, causing him to look up, a surprised look taking over his face when he saw me.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" I questioned, my bag already slipping from my shoulder.

"Uh, y-yeah, no, go ahead." He nodded and I giggled at his awkwardness. It was cute. As I began picking at my sandwich, I felt eyes on me and looked up to see him staring.

"What?"

He shook his head, blinking a couple times, "N-Nothing, it's just, I... I'm... Well, I'm surprised you're sitting with me, that's all." He stammered.

"Why?"

He shrugged, becoming all flustered as he looked down at his food, "I dunno. Pretty girls don't usually choose to hang with the yearbook guy, I guess." Now it was my turn to blush.

"Well, I don't know if I would qualify as a "pretty girl", but thanks." I laughed it off, not knowing how else to react, my cheeks still burning, "And maybe I want to be friends with the yearbook guy." I bit my lip, giving him a smile.

"You want to be friends? With me?" He sounded genuinely surprised that someone wanted to be his friend and that made me feel bad. I get the feeling he's not the most popular guy in school, but I wasn't just being friendly out of pity. I really did want to get to know him.

"Yes," My smile never faltered, "But if we're going to be friends, we might need to learn each other's friends, since we never told each other this morning."

"Oh yeah, we didn't, did we?" He laughed a little, "I'm Tyler Down."

"Rosie Standall." I giggled, holding my hand out. He laughed again as he reached forward and shook my hand. We went back to eating before I spoke up again.

"You said you're in yearbook, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" He looked over at me, furrowing his eyebrows in curiosity.

"I was wondering if maybe... I could join?"

"Seriously?" He looked shocked, "You want to join yearbook?"

"Yeah, if that's okay..."

"Of course, yeah, no, that's totally okay, that's more than okay... I just didn't realise you were into photography."

"Trust me, I am. Just ask literally anyone who knows me." I laughed and so did Tyler before I took my phone out, "Do you want to see some of my photos?"

"Sure." He nodded so I handed my phone over to him and he started looking through the pictures I'd snapped on there.

"The pictures I've taken on my camera are way better, but this is all I have to show you at the moment."

"These are... Wow, these are amazing, Rosie. And you took these with just your phone?" He asked, awestruck as he handed me my phone back.

"Yeah, thanks." I giggled bashfully, feeling the colour and heat rush to my cheeks.

***

"Tyler! Tyler, wait up!" I called, running from Mrs Bradley's communications class when I saw Tyler walking down the hall at the end of the day. Tyler stopped walking and turned around, smiling when he saw me.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked, shoving his hands into his jean pockets.

"Nothing, I just wanted to walk with you. I mean, we're friends now, remember? Isn't that what friends do?" I stated, an eyebrow raised.

"I guess," He chuckled, "You know, I've never had a friend with pink hair before."

"Interesting," I grinned, "And I've never had a friend with curly hair before. Actually, no, that's a lie, I've known loads of people with curly hair, but I've never had a curly haired friend who was a photographer as well."

"Life is full of new experiences." Tyler laughed, but his smile soon fell when a guy with short brown hair wearing a varsity jacket walked up to us.

"Hey, you're the new chick, right?" He asked me.

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool, is this freak bothering you?" He pointed to Tyler.

"Um, no. And he's not a freak." I frowned, not happy with this guy talking about Tyler like that.

"If you think that then you must be as freaky as him."

"Maybe I am, got a problem with that?" I crossed my arms and took a step towards him, glaring up at him.

"You f*cking weirdos must be made for each other." He grumbled under his breath, before walking away but not before bumping his shoulder harshly into Tyler's. Tyler stumbled but I grabbed his arm before he lost his balance.

"Thanks, you know, for standing up for me." He told me, a grateful smile on his pale face.

"No problem, who was that guy?" I asked, glaring in the direction the guy had gone.

"Montgomery de la Cruz."

"Well, he's a dick."

"You said it, Rose." He said and I smiled at the nickname he gave me.

"Rosie!" A voice called and I turned around to see Alex walking over.

"Hey, Alex." I smiled at my brother.

"Hey, who's this?" He glanced at Tyler.

"Oh, um, this is Tyler. He's in yearbook. Tyler, this is my twin brother, Alex."

"Hi." Tyler greeted awkwardly.

"What's up." Alex gave him a nod before turning to me, "C'mon, Dad'll go nuts if we're late home."

"Okay, bye Tyler." I smiled up at my new friend.

"See you around." Tyler smiled back at me before Alex and I walked out the school doors.

"So, what were you doing with that Tyler guy?" Alex asked me as we walked over to the car. I rolled my eyes at him and it didn't go unnoticed, "Hey, don't roll your eyes at me. As your older brother, it's my job to make sure you're hanging out with the right guys."

"Eleven minutes, Alex. You're older than me by eleven minutes!"

"And I learnt a lot about life in those eleven minutes you weren't born so shut up."

I laughed at my brother's wit and shook my head before assuring him, "Tyler is just a new friend. Like I said, he's on the yearbook committee and I wanted to join and we just got talking."

-

BITCH THERE'S GONNA BE A SECOND SEASON OF 13 REASONS WHY ALL MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE