Hello! Happy new year everybody! This was meant to go up yesterday but I was at my friends, so I didn't get a chance to go on the computer. Ah well, my first upload of 2012! :D Enjoy!

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"Where’s England?"

Kayla looked at Alyssa with a bewildered expression on her face. The news Alyssa had just broken to her was obviously bad; she could tell that by her depressed expression and tear stained face. But that didn’t stop Kayla from being confused as usual.

Alyssa shot her a disbelieving look through her tears. In a normal situation she would’ve been irritated at Kayla for being so dense, but in her state, she was unable to. Usually she was extremely defensive and wouldn’t let anyone see her cry – after all, she didn’t want anyone getting the impression at Alyssa Taylor was weak – but at this point she couldn’t shift the feeling of hopelessness that had descended upon her.

"You don’t know where England is?"

"Nope."

"It’s on the other side of the freaking world, Kayla. That’s where England is."

Okay, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration. But what was the difference of a couple thousand miles? Whatever latitude England was on, it was a long way from here.

"Oh." Kayla frowned. "Is that the place where there are those triangles in the desert?"

"Pyramids?" Alyssa stared at her in disbelief. She had known Kayla wasn’t the brightest spark, but seriously? "No, Kayla, that’s Egypt."

Kayla opened her mouth to speak, before closing it again when she realised she didn’t have a response.

"I can’t believe Daddy’s sending me away," Alyssa said, her voice wavering as her eyes filled up with fresh tears. The amount she had cried in the past twenty four hours was not human, and she was sure that she must have run out of tears by now. Her thoughts were contradicted as another rolled down her cheek.

"How long are you going for?"

"I don’t know," she answered. "Daddy said it’s going to be at least a year, or maybe even until I graduate."

"But that’s..." Kayla paused, attempting to work out the length of time in her mind. After a few seconds she gave up, shaking her head vigorously as if this would do something, "... ages."

"Do you think I don’t know that?" Alyssa snapped, flipping her head round in time to shoot an irritated glance at Kayla. She hadn’t meant for her voice to be so sharp, but the last thing she needed at this moment in time was Kayla’s stupidity.

"Sorry," Kayla murmured, averting her gaze to the floor. Alyssa felt a pang of guilt in her chest but it soon disappeared when another wave of sadness washed over her.

Suddenly, there was a small knock coming from the direction of Alyssa’s bedroom door. She glanced over to it, as if it may have suddenly become transparent and allow her to see the person requesting entry. But, to no one’s surprise, she found that the door was still as opaque as ever, and she called fleetingly to tell the visitor to come in.

They pushed the door open, stepping inside and closing it again behind them.

"Ruby," Alyssa greeted her, sinking back into her pillows when she realised it was no one of great interest.

"I have a package for you, Miss Taylor," Ruby said, stepping over to the bed where Alyssa was lying and holding out a parcel wrapped in black plastic.

She frowned slightly, removing the package from her housekeeper’s outstretched hands. "I didn’t order anything," she said in confusion, running her fingers over the plastic wrapping in an attempt to find out what was concealed inside. "Do you know what it is?"

"Your father told me to bring it up to you," Ruby said, in a way that sounded slightly like a robot. She always spoke like this when around them, as if she was scared of saying something she shouldn’t. She thought it was polite, but at the same time it could get extremely annoying.

"Oh."

Shaking her head slightly, she began to rip open the packaging, not caring about the huge holes she was making. It certainly wasn’t something she remembered ordering online, and it was unlikely that her father would get her a gift after what had just happened.

Ruby stood awkwardly in front of her, not knowing whether she should leave or not. Eventually, just as Alyssa was tearing the last bit of plastic from the parcel, she nodded slightly and retreated out of the door.

"Oh... my... God."

Alyssa looked down at her lap, where the now unwrapped parcel lay. The insides contained none other than a pile of heavy school uniform, looking drab and dreary even when it were folded.

Kayla opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

"What is this shit?"

She leapt off the bed quickly, as if having the scratchy material touching her bare skin was painful. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she looked down at the pile of clothes that had now fallen on the floor, some of them unfolding and twisted into creased shapes.

"I think it’s your new uniform," Kayla said, unaware that she was stating the obvious.

"I know that!" Alyssa snapped, glaring at Kayla. She bended downwards, picking up the tartan skirt with her hands and grimacing as she felt the fabric between her fingers. "I’m actually supposed to wear this?"

"Try it on," Kayla said, looking down sympathetically. "It might look better when it’s actually on you."

"Doubt it," Alyssa muttered, but she trudged into the bathroom anyway.

Standing on the tiled floor and staring at her reflection in the mirror, she couldn’t stop her nose wrinkling in disgust. She stared down at herself. The green tartan skirt reached her knees, making her look like a nun, and the collar of the crisp white shirt scraped her neck uncomfortably. She had tried to shorten the green tie as much as possible, but when it was hidden under the navy blue polyester jumper emblazoned with the school logo, it still looked as bad as ever.

"There’s no way I’m wearing this," she muttered to herself, turning round to get a better look at her back. "Daddy can shove this up his ass."

"Have you put it on? Let me see!" Kayla’s voice called from the other side of the bathroom door.

Alyssa groaned, rolling her eyes at her reflection. Pushing open the door and stepping back inside, she pulled a face at Kayla. Her friend sat there for a few moments, gawping at her appearance, before bursting out laughing. As she pressed a hand to her mouth and tried to stifle a giggle, Alyssa shot her a death glare.

"Shut up, Kayla! You’re not the one who’s got to actually wear this!"

"Sorry," Kayla murmured, but the corners of her mouth were still twitching into a small smile.

"This feels like a nightmare..." Alyssa grumbled, walking over to her bed and collapsing onto it, feeling the mattress sink beneath her. "A boarding school... in England!"

"Are you going to speak funny?"

"No, Kayla. I’m not from England, I’m just going there."

"But what if you do speak funny?"

"I’m not going to speak funny!" Alyssa snapped, throwing her an irritated glance. "Kayla, seriously. You’re not making me feel any better here."

"I’m going to be left at Serenity Falls on my own!" she pouted, as the realisation suddenly hit her.

"It’s not my fault, is it?" Alyssa said, sighing. She pushed herself upwards into a sitting position as an idea came into her head. "Hey, do you think they have a website?"

Reaching over the side, she retrieved her laptop from its case under her bed and placed it in front of her. She pressed the power button and it immediately flashed to life, allowing her to type her password and gain access to the computer. Whilst she did so, Kayla climbed onto the bed and took a seat behind her, giving her a better view of the laptop screen.

"Oh... my... God," Alyssa said, as her Google search retrieved the address to the school’s website.

Immediately, a large picture filled the screen – the same one, Alyssa noticed, that had been the main spectacle in the brochure. Even displayed more clearly, the picture did not look any more appealing than it had first done. The brickwork still looked ancient, and the whole place looked dark and gloomy as if it was permanently stuck under a thundercloud – although, in England, that was probably the case.

"Westmount boarding school is an independent educational institution for young ladies," Alyssa read, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "The school is proud to offer the best education possible for the students, and is continually successful in gaining outstanding results."

"Sounds boring."

"We take great pride in that every single one of our students is able to mature and develop in the best way possible, always achieving the best of their ability and rising to all challenges that arise. Our outstanding boarding facilities allow them their own personal space whilst encouraging them to develop social skills with other members of the school community." Alyssa stared at the screen in horror. "They’re going to turn me into some sort of nun!"

"Oh my God!" squealed Kayla.

"Look at the rooms!" Alyssa shrieked, her eyes widening in revulsion as the screen flicked onto a picture showing a standard student’s room.

The room was tiny, less than a quarter of the size of Alyssa’s bedroom, and the two beds inside it took up most of the space. From what she could make out, the walls were painted a dreary yellow which had since faded to a murky grey, and even viewed from a laptop screen, the whole place had a dull atmosphere.

"How am I supposed to live there?!"

Alyssa’s eyes trailed off to the corner of the room, lingering on the white doors of her walk-in wardrobe. Leaping suddenly off the bed, she walked over to it, throwing open and doors and stepping inside.

"Where am I supposed to put all of this?" she wailed, spinning herself round to look at the wardrobe in its entirety.

The closet was, to say the least, something of a marvel. It was large enough to be a room itself, and each wall was covered entirely in endless racks, each brandishing proudly their own collection of designer attire. Another door at the back lead to a separate section, reserved for Alyssa’s extensive assortment of shoes and other accessories. A tiny room at boarding school would be nowhere near enough room to store even half of her belongings.

"I guess you’ll have to leave it here," Kayla said. "Hey, can I have your red Gucci pumps?" she added, her face brightening at the thought.

"No!" Alyssa said sharply, narrowing her eyes. Then her expression softened as she looked around the closet longingly. "I can’t leave all of this..."

She took one last glance at her beloved clothing before emerging from the closet, collapsing backwards onto her bed in despair. Her blonde hair spread around her head in soft curls, weaving itself into the creases of her sheets. "I bet Courtney will be happy to see the back of me," she muttered, before exhaling deeply.

"Mm," Kayla murmured in agreement.

"If I leave, she’s going to assume that she’s won!" Alyssa said suddenly, as realisation struck her. "She might have been disqualified from the election, but with me out of the way, she’s obviously going to try and take over." She paused. "Oh God... Serenity Falls being run by Courtney?"

"At least you won’t have to be there to see it."

"That’s even worse."

She sunk further into the mattress, sighing deeply. "I can’t believe I’ll be leaving in a couple of days..."

"Me neither." Kayla looked at the ground. With Alyssa out of the picture, there was no doubt that she would find herself completely lost. Who would tell her what to wear, what to do and what to say? She couldn’t go back to Courtney – if Alyssa ever did return, she would never forgive her – but at the present time, her options were becoming increasingly limited.

"You will call me, won’t you?" Alyssa queried, turning to look at her. "I’ll need to talk to someone normal when I’m surrounded by a bunch of stuck-up English bitches."

"Of course!" Kayla agreed eagerly. "Hey, have you told Aiden you’re leaving?"

"Oh..." Alyssa sighed. A pang of guilt struck her insides as it all came flooding back to her. She had been trying to push all thoughts of him out of her head, but that was now impossible. Since all was revealed about her and Mr Hammond, they had not spoken to each other. He had not tried to contact her and she was ashamed to strike up a conversation with him. He would obviously be pissed off, considering that she cheated on him, and with a teacher as well.

Even though she had not felt any real emotions in her relationship with Aiden, she could not help but feel guilty about what she had done. They had been dating, and now the whole school knew about her affair. That had to be embarrassing for him, and now she realised that, she wondered how she could ever stop feeling guilty.

Would he even care that she was now leaving? Come to think of it, after the way she had acted, the whole of Serenity Falls would probably be glad to see the back of her. She had not exactly treated any of them well, aside from her small exclusive circle of A-list members that she liked to keep close. But she highly doubted even any of them would be genuinely sad to see her leave. After all, with her out of the way, it was an opportunity for them to gain the top spot.

All of a sudden, the idea of moving away was becoming a lot more appealing.

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And there you go! Hope you like it :) This story should be finished in a couple of weeks. I'm so so so happy with the amount of reads it's got! 95,000 so far and going up all the time :D I love you all. My new year's resolution is to write every day, so there will definitely be more stories coming your way :-)

PS I forgot to say - I'm running out of people for dedications, so if you want one, listen up! You have to COMMENT on this, not just vote. Because I have no record of who's voted, so I can't see you. And you don't have to be a fan, just following this story :)