Alex and I had been at Liberty High for just over a month now and, well, quite a lot had happened. We became good friends with Hannah and Jessica and I guess you could say we were our own little club. We called ourselves FML Forever and we all went to Monet's after school for hot chocolate and whatever crap Alex had found on his great menu journey. I will admit, I was pretty impressed by his commitment. After a while, though, Alex stopped coming to Monet's - before he could even get to the bottom of the menu, may I add. He found new friends in the jocks. I tried to warn him that his new 'best pals' were a bunch of dicks, but he didn't listen. He was too caught up in the fact that the popular kids actually liked him. Then Jessica stopped coming. At first, Hannah and I had no idea why, until we found out that Alex and Jessica were in fact dating. I was mad at first. I mean, Alex is my twin brother and he didn't even tell me that he was going out with one of our closest friends, but I guess I got over it eventually. Me and Hannah stayed friends, but after a while we stopped going to Monet's too and only really hung out at school between classes. And here we are now. Alex and Jessica are still together, as far as I know, but they don't seem as close as they once were. Maybe they're just going through a rough patch, I don't know.

Anyways, I was currently in the dark room developing some photos when Tyler walked in.

"Hey." I beamed.

"Hey." He replied, a lot less enthusiastic than me.

"Why so glum, chum?" I asked and he chuckled, causing me to smile because I made him smile even though he seemed unhappy.

"I've got an appointment with Mrs Antilly." He sighed.

"And you don't want to go?" I guessed.

"No, I hate going. Every session is the same; she asks me how I'm doing, I tell her about what people have said to me or done to me since I last saw her and then she gives me some shitty advice that never works." He ranted.

"Well, why don't you just not show up?" I suggested like it was the most obvious solution ever, which to me, it was.

"I wish I could, but my mom insists that it helps me and she'll freak if she finds out I missed an appointment." He let out another sigh.

"Okay, well, how about I come with you?" I offered.

"I don't think you're allowed to."

"No, not actually come in with you, but I could wait with you, keep you company in the office while you wait for your turn?"

"You'd do that for me?" His eyes lit up and I smiled.

"Of course, I've got a free period now anyway." I shrugged.

"You're the best, you know that?" He stated.

"I know." I grinned and Tyler laughed before we both left the dark room and made our way to the office, where we found Jessica sat on one of the chairs, her eyes red and bloodshot as if she'd been crying.

"Hey, Jess, you okay?" I asked her, concern clear in my voice as Tyler and I sat down. We weren't as close as we used to be, but that didn't mean I liked to see her upset.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just meeting with Mrs Antilly." She explained, her voice dull and sad.

"Oh, me too." Tyler said and she just nodded. About five minutes later, Hannah walked in.

"Hey Rosie, Jess." She smiled at the two of us. She kind of ignored Tyler, but she didn't really know him to be fair.

"Hey." Jess replied gloomily.

"Hi." I smiled back at the girl in the beanie.

"Everything okay?" She asked, noticing Jess' state, much like I did.

"What, like, in the world?"

"Or, with you?"

"Yeah." Jess mumbled, staring at the floor.

"You could drop by our office later, if you wanna make a full report?" Hannah suggested, a small grin on her face.

"Our office?"

"Monet's." I spoke up, sharing a smile with Hannah.

"Oh, yeah, right. I forgot about that, our office thing."

"It's been a while." I claimed.

"Yeah, there's just so much going on." Jess told us and Hannah and I exchanged a concerned look. At that very moment, Alex walked in.

"Male!" Hannah and I exclaimed in unison, looking at each other and giggling when we did so.

"Females." Alex said with the world's tiniest smile.

"Hey, how about a Monet's reunion after school?" I suggested. I wanted our friendship to go back to the way it was, and it looked like Hannah did too.

"Yeah, I believe you still have a few drink selections left on your great menu journey." Hannah reminded my brother and I giggled quietly as she called it the same thing as I did. Tyler heard me giggle and smiled at me, causing me to smile back. I felt a little sorry for him, he was kind of left out in this situation.

"You were so committed once." Hannah added.

"Yeah, commitment's hard for Alex." Jessica snapped, spitefully glaring at Alex. Being the protective twin sister that I was, I gave her a dirty look for speaking to him like that.

"Yeah, well, at least I have the ability to try something new in life." Alex snapped back, returning her glare. My own glare fell as I looked at Hannah and she looked at me, both of us confused as to what was happening.

I didn't see the girls or even Alex for the rest of the day, until the end of the day, when I bumped into Hannah after last period.

"Oh, hey, Rose." She grinned.

"Hey." I grinned back.

"Pretty awkward earlier, huh?" She said as we made our way towards the school exit.

"Awkward would be a great understatement." I agreed.

"Has Alex said anything to you? About him and Jessica?" She wondered.

"No," I shook my head and shrugged, "She just started coming round less and less and now, she's stopped coming round altogether and Alex seems all angsty and barely talks about her anymore. I tried to ask him about it, but he just brushed it off. It sucks, you know? We used to tell each other everything, and now, all of a sudden, I'm left to just guess what's going on with my twin brother." I sighed as we walked out of school, stepping into the early autumn sun. Hannah opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted when someone called her name.

"Hannah! Hey, Hannah!" It was Clay Jensen. I guess you could say we were friends. I met him through Hannah and he's a pretty cool guy. Oh, and he and Hannah are soulmates. Fight me.

"Hey, Helmet." Hannah beamed.

"Hey, Jensen." I smiled at him.

"Oh, hey, Rosie, I didn't realise it was you."

"Seriously?" I laughed, "I have bright pink hair."

"That's true, my bad." He chuckled.

"Hey, Helmet, urgent question," Hannah began, changing the topic, "Have you noticed anything weird about Alex lately?"

"Um, well, his hair is weird, but that's not new."

"Excuse me, his hair is awesome." I said, playfully glaring at Clay.

"I didn't say it wasn't awesome, it's just, like, distinctive." Clay defended himself.

"And he's an amazing dresser," Hannah added, "I mean, you could take a few lessons."

"You totally could." I backed her up, both of us smirking.

"You're right, I'm glad we got round to my failings because I was wondering when we would get to that." Clay said sarcastically and we both giggled.

"Are you working tonight?" Hannah wondered and I knew I'd just turned into a third wheel.

"Yeah, we're both on at six, I think." Clay replied, "So, speaking of tonight, I don't know if you know this, but there's a penumbral lunar eclipse at 11:49."

"A what?" Hannah and I asked in unison.

"Okay, so, the Earth's shadow is called the penumbra and tonight, the moon is gonna pass through it. The last show is at nine, and if we clean fast, which we probably can because no kids are coming to see that English movie because it's kinda super boring, we can get out in time and I could maybe point it out to you? I-I mean, if you want?" He began to stutter towards the end and I internally aww'ed at him getting all nervous about kind of asking Hannah out.

"You want to show me the moon?" Hannah raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips.

"Well, there would be a shadow- not like a full eclipse, you wouldn't see the... But yeah." He awkwardly replied.

"You should, like, patent yourself." She giggled, "And yes, I'll look at the moon with you. I might even howl."

"Cool."

"Cool."

"So, yeah, I'll see you tonight, and I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Rosie." And with that, he ran off. As soon as Clay was gone, I grabbed Hannah's arm and squealed.

"Ow! Rosie, would you stop digging your nails into my arm?!" She yanked her arm out of my grip.

"Sorry." I giggled.

"What's up with you, anyway?" She laughed as my outburst.

"Are you serious? Clay just asked you out!"

"What? No, he didn't, he just asked me to do something with him after work."

"You're going stargazing with him, which is, like, the most romantic activity ever."

"He asked me to look at the moon with him." She corrected me.

"Okay, you're going moon-gazing," I rolled my eyes, "It's still romantic."

"It's not romantic," She laughed, "And I don't know what your obsession with Clay and I is, but we're just friends."

"Right, okay, so that's why you practically completely blanked me when he came over, is it?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she just rolled her eyes at me, walking ahead of me.

I giggled as I ran to catch up with her, "Hey, if I, as one of your best friends, can't tease you about your crush, who can?"

"Alright, fine, can I be chief bridesmaid at you and Tyler's wedding?" She smirked at me and my cheeks warmed up.

"Shut up." I gave her a shove and she just laughed evilly, knowing she'd gotten me back for teasing her about Clay.

***

As I walked into school the next day, I couldn't help but feel like everyone's eyes were on me, particularly on my legs. I self-consciously pulled my skirt down a little as I reached my locker.

"Is it just me or is everyone staring at me?" Hannah asked me as she joined me on our way to our shared first class; Mrs Bradley's communications class.

"You feel it too?" I asked her, kind of relieved I wasn't the only one.

"Is there something wrong with us? Do we have toilet paper stuck to our shoes or something?" She panicked, as we both subtly checked ourselves over, not finding anything out of the ordinary.

"Maybe we're just being typical teenage girls and being paranoid." I said, hoping that was all.

"Maybe." Hannah nodded as we reached Mrs Bradley's classroom.

Turns out it wasn't just Hannah and I being paranoid. While Mrs Bradley went ahead with her lesson about social learning theory, the class was much more interested in the piece of folded A4 paper being passed around. It got passed to Clay, but he only had a second to look at it before Mrs Bradley asked him for an example of what she was talking about and so Sheri Holland took it from him. After she looked at it, she passed it on to me. I unfolded the dreaded piece of paper to see it was a hot/not list of all the girls in the sophomore year of Liberty High, no doubt put together by a group of douchebag guys. Three names caught my eye. The first two being Hannah, with 'best ass' and Jessica, with 'worst ass'. What really caught me off guard with those to was the handwriting. I'd recognise it anywhere. Alex.

The third name to catch my attention was my own, and when I saw what was written above it, a lump formed in my throat.

Thunder Thighs
Rosie Standall

I bit my lip as tears pricked my eyes, not wanting to cry in front of the entire class. Maybe I was overreacting by letting some stupid high school list effect me so much, but you don't understand. I struggled with body image issues all through middle school. I was so insecure about my weight and my body that it would keep me up at night and cause me to have emotional break downs. I worked my ass off through freshman year to change the way I looked at myself and now, I was finally at a point where I was actually confident in myself and the way I looked, but this list; this pathetic, meaningless list was all it took to bring back those feelings.

'Don't let it get to you. It's just a stupid list made by some stupid idiots.' I told myself in my head, and that was barely enough to hold me together until the end of class.

"Hannah, wait up!" I ran to catch up with her after class, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? You're on the list, too."

"I know." I almost showed how much it was effecting me but I quickly pulled myself together, "But the person that put you and Jessica on it... It was Alex." Hannah's eyes widened and her jaw clenched, anger and hurt now clear on her face.

"I recognised his handwriting." I answered the question I knew she was about to ask.

"But- but why would he... He's supposed to be our friend!" She cried.

"I know, I don't know why he did it, but I'm not letting him get away with it."

"What about the person who put your name on the list? They can't get away with it either!"

"But we don't know who they are, we do know it was Alex, though." I pointed out.

"Fine, but as soon as I find out who put your name on the list, I'm kicking their ass because they're wrong. You do not have thunder thighs." She claimed and I only managed to give her a small smile.

***

"Alex? Alex Standall?!" Hannah yelled as we both stormed into the boys' locker room, causing all the boys to panic and put their clothes on. I blushed when I got a glimpse of Tyler's slim, bare torso before he pulled his gym shirt down. He realised I'd seen and started blushing too, but I was quickly pulled back to reality when I remembered why we were here in the first place.

"Alex, what the hell?!" I shouted as my brother once we reached him by his locker.

"What were you thinking?!" Hannah barked at him.

"Seriously!" I added.

"Come on, you guys know you can't be in here." Zach Dempsey tried to reason with us.

"Why not? You've all been staring at my ass and her thighs all day." Hannah snapped, as the coach walked in and freaked when he saw us girls.

"Hey! Get out, it's the boys' locker room!"

"We're not done." I growled at Alex before following Hannah out. 

A bunch of guys cheered and wolf-whistled and made grabby hands at Hannah's butt and that pissed me off, but what really got me was when I heard Montgomery go, "BOOM, BOOM!" and I turned to see him and some of the other jocks laughing at me. I knew he was imitating the sound of me and my fat thighs walking along and I couldn't help the tears that filled my eyes as I shut the locker room door behind Hannah and I.

"Are you okay?" Hannah asked me when she saw the tears in my eyes.

"I'm fine." I muttered, unable to stop the crack of my voice.

"Rosie..."

"I said I'm fine." I said sternly and Hannah got the message not to ask again as I walked away, ignoring the concerned look she wouldn't stop giving me. I soon reached my destination, the dark room, and as soon as I shut the door behind me, I broke. The tears I'd been holding in since this morning came spilling out as I slid down the wall and pulled my knees to my chest.

After what felt like ages, but was only about ten minutes, of sobbing into my knees, the door to the dark room was slowly pushed open and I mentally cursed myself for forgetting to lock it.

"Rosie?" Tyler's voice softly called out. I jumped to my feet, frantically wiping my eyes and plastering on the most convincing smile I could muster.

"Uh, hey, Ty." I cringed at how thick and shaky my voice sounded.

"Are you okay?" He frowned, walking over to me.

"Yep." I said, but then I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. Something snapped as I met his concerned ocean blues and I couldn't stop the fresh tears from filling my eyes.

"Are you really?" He asked again and this time I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut as I fought back the sob crawling up my throat. I failed as it came out strangled and I bought my hands up to cover my face. Tyler just stood there awkwardly at first, having no idea what to do, but then I felt him carefully pull me into his embrace. He touched me hesitantly, as if he was afraid he was going to break me, but when I wrapped my arms around his torso, he hugged me tighter. He didn't say anything, he just held onto me while I clutched his hoodie and sobbed into his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. You probably think I'm a wimp." I sniffled, pulling away after a few seconds and trying to wipe my eyes.

"Of course I don't." He said softly.

"I just... In middle school, I guess you could say I had...issues with my body. I'm a lot more confident now, but I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was when I let one dumb list bring me down." I ranted, trying not to get too upset again.

"You are strong, and you're beautiful." Tyler told me and I blushed as he grabbed his backpack and unzipped it, before pulling out a photograph and handing it to me, "See?" It was picture that he'd taken without me knowing. I was stood under a tree in the courtyard, talking with Hannah and Jessica and I happened to be laughing when he took it. I actually did looked pretty.

"What people have been saying today, and that list... It's not true. You're beautiful, and so is your body, all of it. Don't listen to the people that say it's not." Tyler rambled and I smiled up at him, my cheeks heating up.

"Thank you, Tyler." I said genuinely. Tyler smiled back at me and started leaning it. At first, I thought I was just imagining it, but when I realised I wasn't, I started doing the same thing. Our faces were inches apart, and my heard thumped in my chest as our lips got closer and closer. Suddenly, the bell went off, causing us to jump apart.

"We, uh, we better get to our next classes." I stated, both of us blushing furiously as we picked up our bags.

"Yeah, um, I'll see you around, yeah?" Tyler replied, just as awkward as me.

"Yep." I nodded before we both left the dark room and went our separate ways.