Mia woke up the next morning to the blaring alarm coming from her phone. It was Wednesday. She was not happy about that. Eyes still shut tightly, she reached for the device in order to quiet the noise. After the sound had finally stopped she kept her eyes closed for a few more minutes before slowly opening her eyes and sitting up groggily. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and got to her feet.

She took a quick shower before brushing her hair and picking out her outfit. Knowing that it would be both sunnier and hotter in Los Angeles than she was used to, she'd packed her lightest outfits. She grabbed a light pink short-sleeved top that said cute right above her heart and light blue denim shorts to go with it. Paired with sunglasses, a hat, and one of her favorite pairs of shoes she decided that she was ready. After taking a deep, preparatory breath, she opened her door and headed downstairs.

***

When Mia got to school, she was already slightly annoyed because of how Tori went on for twenty minutes straight about how annoying it was that they moved, but she got over it quickly.

Mia walked into the large school as she and Tori asked around to find the office. It took a while, but they eventually figured it out. Once they had arrived, the lady at the front desk looked up.

"What can I help you with?" she asked with a false smile plastered onto her face, looking at them with obvious annoyance in her eyes.

"We're new," Mia stated matter-of-factly as the lady rolled her dark brown eyes. Ignoring this she continued talking. "We already got signed up for our classes, we just don't know where they are."

"So you need directions," she finished unhappily. "Of course you do," she muttered under her breath. She searched in some drawers before coming up with two maps of the school. "Tell me what classes you have."

"I have A.P. Lit, A.P. Trigonometry, A.P. Biology, A.P Social Studies, P.E., A.P. French, and Art," Mia informed the unkind lady, checking them off on her fingers. She had memorized them by heart on the extremely long and boring car ride from Seattle to L.A. It wasn't that hard either. Mia had always had a great memory.

"And I have Geometry, A.P. English, Social Studies, A.P. Spanish, Chemistry, Choir, and P.E," Tori added, looking down at a piece of paper with a list of her classes written down on it.

"Well," she paused, looking at them expextantly. "I need your names," she stated, rolling her eyes again as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Right. I'm Mia and this is my sister, Tori. I'm a Junior and she's a Sophomore."

"Well, Mia, your first class is over here." The lady pointed to a classroom on the map. She continued the process until she had laid everything out for us so we knew where to go. Mia struggled to remember the directions and hoped she wouldn't forget, at least not on her first day. She couldn't afford to be late.

They thanked her before heading out and rushing to our classrooms.

Mia walked into the class quickly and quietly, sitting down in a seat near the back, hoping no one would notice her.

When class started, she turned her attention to the teacher, Mr. Guffrey. "Hello, class. So to begin our day I would like to introduce our new student, Mia Thompson. Why don't you stand up and tell us your name, your age, and your worst fear."

Oh gosh. Mia could feel her eyes widen and her throat close up in fear. Mia hated to be put on the spot like that. Mr. Guffrey ushered Mia to stand up, so, hesitantly, she did. He gave her an encouraging smile as she started talking.

"Hi, everyone," Mia said shyly. "I'm Mia, I'm fifteen, and my worst fear is probably... I don't know." She could feel herself starting to clench up as she searched for an answer. There had to be an answer somewhere. "Umm." Her stress was peaking as she stood there, in the middle of class, with everyone watching, unable to say a single word. If she had the confidence, she would probably respond with being burned alive but if she did everyone would make fun of her. 

She looked at the teacher, silently begging him to let her sit down. He gave her a small smile. "You can sit down now," he told her. She did as she was told, sitting down as quickly as possible. "Well, I'm glad that you are here and I hope that your move was easy." After that, the kind teacher began his lesson. The class went on for another hour before the bell rang signaling the end of class.

***

After Trigonometry, one of her favorite classes, Mia went to lunch. She grabbed a tray and put a salad, an apple, and chocolate milk on the surface.

She sat down at an empty table and grabbed her book. She kept her head down as she read and ate her salad slowly.

She never expected anyone to sit with her. She was the loner new girl. Who would?

A few minutes into her reading Mia heard an unfamiliar voice ask, "Can I sit here?"

Mia looked up to see a girl about her age with long, curly, dark brown hair with a tray in her hands. Mia set down her book in order to be polite with the stranger.

"Umm...sure?" Mia was confused. Why would anyone want to sit with her?

"Thanks." The girl set down her tray on the table and sat next to Mia. "I'm Bella, what's your name?" Bella asked.

"Oh, right. I'm Mia," she informed Bella. "I just moved here."
"Cool, so, how are you adjusting to the move?"

"It's actually been pretty easy."

"Don't you, like, miss your friends and stuff?"

"I mean, I really only had one friend and we weren't even that close so there isn't really anyone for me to miss."

"Well, I'll be your friend if you'll let me," Bella offered.

"Really!?" Mia asked, shocked.

"Totally! I only really have two other friends and I'm sure that they'll love you," Bella stated.

Mia smiled hesitantly. "What are their names?"

"Drew and Blake."

"Can I meet them right now? I've just never really had so many friends before," she admitted.

"Well then, I guess it's your lucky day because here I am!" she stated with a large grin on her face. "Anyway, I'm going to go get Drew and Blake. I'll be right back."

"Okay." Mia grabbed her book yet again and began reading. She was grinning like an idiot as she thought about what had just happened.

Mia continued reading for a few minutes until a hand tapped her shoulder, shaking her out of her daze. She looked up and saw Bella standing next to two boys. One had dark brown hair and an incredible jawline. He was at least 6'0 but he also wasn't super muscular but it wasn't muscles that drove her to him, it was his eyes. Dark green eyes that reminded her of a forest and were so concentrated and stubborn but also sweet at the same time. She shook herself out of her daze and turned her attention to the other boy. He was pretty attractive as well but in a very different way. His hair was light blonde and his eyes were ice blue. He wasn't very tall, either, just a bit taller than Bella. She found it easier to look away from him than it was for the other boy.

"Hey, I'm Drew," the blond told her.

"I'm Blake," the green-eyed one said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mia," she replied politely.

"Cool. So are you gonna, like, be mad if I call you hot?" Blake asked.

"What does that mean?" Mia wondered.

"I mean, if you're so polite like that then I'd assume that naturally you are also uptight and, you know, 'perfect'," Blake said bluntly.

"Wow! Are you serious!?" Mia asked. "Do you just assume that simply because I'm polite suddenly I'm just some uptight jerk?"

"Jeez, I was just joking. You took that way too seriously," Blake responded.

"Well, that's not cool at all. I can't believe that you actually think that that was funny," Mia told him in disbelief. She turned to face Bella. "Okay, so, I don't know you very well but from my interactions with you, you seem very nice. Why are you hanging out with him?"

"Hey! It was just a joke. I'm not actually like that. I swear," Blake defended.

"Yeah, he really isn't always like this. He's actually nice behind the 'bad boy' facade that he puts up in order to make himself feel better than everyone else. He's just being a jerk right now because he thinks that you're hot," Drew defended to the now very confused Mia.

"What!? No, I don't!" Blake replied. "When have I ever done that?"

"Let me check. Hmm, Chloe, Kat, Sarah. Yeah, remember her?" Bella said when his eyes widened at the name, Sarah. Who was she?

"Ok, that was different and you know it," was his only response.

"Okay, I'm very confused. Who's Sarah?" Mia asked.

"She's nobody," Blake responded a little too quickly.

"Okay?" Mia said. "I'm just going to let that go for now. I still think that you're kind of a jerk though."

"Well, I'm not. The only thing that I am is super hot," he replied with a small smirk.

"And egotistical. Got it."

"Oh come on. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I guess." Mia put her book back in her bag before turning to Bella. "So what's your schedule like?"

"English... A.P. Geometry, A.P. Biology, P.E., Social Studies... French and... Art," she said slowly as if trying to make sure she got it right.

"Nice, I'm pretty sure that we have Biology, and art together," Mia told her, looking down at her schedule.

"Cool."

"What's your schedule like, Drew?"

"English, A.P. Algebra 2... A.P. Biology, A.P. Social Studies... P.E., A.P. German and Art."

"Cool, we have Biology together too. We also have Social Studies, P.E., and Art together," she informed her newly declared friend as she glimpsed, yet again, at her schedule. "How about you, Blake? What's your schedule?" Mia asked, still a bit less enthusiastic than she was towards the others.

"English, A.P. Geometry, A.P. Biology, A.P. Social Studies, P.E., A.P. French, and Art," he said quickly, as though he'd memorized it by heart. Mia groaned internally at the thought of having all of her after lunch classes with this seemingly obnoxious, immature, and unkind boy.

"Great," Mia said sarcastically. "We have almost all of our classes together. At least I can enjoy trig."

"Ooh. Feisty are we? Still mad?" he asked before blowing a bubble with his gum

"Nope. I'm perfectly great!" she said sarcastically, pasting a fake smile onto her face.

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Well, that sucks for you but I am perfectly fine."

"Still don't believe you," he stated with a smirk, knowing he was annoying her.

"Whatever. I'm never going to win this." Mia gave in with a defeated sigh.

"True, I always win," he informed her with an eye-reaching grin.

And she then knew, this was going to be a long day.

The next day Mia arrived at school smiling at the thought of finally having friends to greet her.

Sure enough moments later Bella walked up to her. "Hey, Mia."

"Hey, Bella." Mia smiled at Bella's cheeriness. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Exhausted, but good," Bella confided.

"Oh, that sucks. Why are you so exhausted?"

"Well, having eight younger siblings who I have to take care of isn't exactly easy."

"Woah. You have eight younger siblings?" Mia wondered with her mouth agape. "That is one huge family."

"Don't forget my three older siblings."

"That is one huge family," Mia repeated.

"What about you? How many siblings do you have?"

"Just one. My little sister, Tori," Mia informed her, recovering from her previous shock. That's like a family of fourteen if you include her parents!

"Ahh, a family of four. That must be calm."

"Even calmer, since it's a family of three."

"Huh?"

"Yep. It's just me, Tori, and my dad," she told Bella before changing the subject, sure to avoid all topics of family. "Uhh, so what do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Well, there's lots to do. Like mostly we go to in-n-out, palace arcade or the beach. There's cooler stuff to do, I'm sure, but we aren't really that cool. I mean don't tell Drew or Blake that I said that but it's true."

"Well, then I should fit in perfectly. I'm kind of a dork. My obsession with cat shirts, reading, and coffee can attest."

"Nah," she said dismissively. "I think it's awesome that you're not cool. That way I don't have to worry about you going off to hang out with Anna and Paige," her voice was laced with disgust which made Mia assume that Anna and Paige were the stereotypical popular jerks. "Plus, this way we both like the same things."

"That's one way to put it,"

"It is indeed. So want to hang out after school?"

"Sure. I'll have to ask my dad first and I do have one question."

"Oh?"

"Does Blake have to come or could we just really subtly forget to invite him."

"You are still mad about that?" a voice questions from behind them.

"Jeez, Blake! Are you ever normal or nice, at all?" Mia asked, rolling her eyes at the obnoxious, yet cute, boy.

"Of course I am! I thought that you were over that. I mean I get that you're sensitive but-"

"And this is why I don't think that you're very nice!" she interrupts his rude comment.

"You just proved my point!"

"Wow!" Mia exclaimed before she turned to look at Bella. "Why are you friends with him?"

"That's a good question," Bella responded.

"Wow. I see how it is." Blake said sarcastically.

"Anyway, I should probably get to class. See you guys at lunch," Mia responded.

After her Literature class, she was on her way to Trig when she was met by a short rather petite girl with a fake smile on her face and a taller girl with eyes hinting at something other than kindness.

"Hi?"

"Hey, I'm Paige and this is Anna," the petite girl informed Mia.

"I heard you've always been a disappointment," Anna said, her lips all pinched up.

Did this girl I never met just say that? "So? What do you care?" Mia tried not to let it get to her but inside, where no one could see, she was crying her eyes out.

"I don't know. Why do I care?" Paige asked.

Mia shook her head "What? I'm confused, and you are really bad at trying to bully me. Bye, now," Mia said as she turned and started walking away.

"I heard your mom left you," Anna told her. This made her stop in her tracks.

"What?" Mia said as she turned back to face them. She tried to sound brave but her voice noticeably cracked, and she could feel the flashback coming.

"I heard you weren't good enough so she needed to leave with her new family."

"And you think I care about that?" Mia wondered although many tears were threatening to spill over and her voice was quavery.

"Well, from the sound of your voice, I'd say you do." That same malicious look flared up in Anna's eye.

"You are so pathetic. You think that talking to me about my weak, terrible and heartless mother abandoning me years ago is going to make me cry. You're wrong. I am stronger than you are or you ever will be." Mia turned to leave.

She had lied. Although she hadn't cried while they watched her, a tear that had been brimming in her eye at the first mention of her mother finally escaped.

She couldn't hold it in any longer as she made her way, now running, to the bleachers on the soccer field where she would, hopefully, find solitude.

As she sat on the cold metal seat with tears wetting her cheeks and certainly making her eyes red and puffy, she failed to see anything but the flashback from that one terrible night.

She looked into the eyes of the mother who had abandoned her, Tori, and their dad. She didn't think she could ever forgive her. "I'm so sorry, dear," her mother's falsely compassionate voice rang through her ears, giving her an unwanted headache.

"Why?" Mia wondered.

"Why what, darling," the sweet names were starting to get to her, and she could feel her blood boiling with anger at this liar that she had for so long called her mother. She had no right to call Mia those sweet little nicknames. Not after what she had done.

"Why were we not good enough?" coldness iced Mia's words, and tears were ready to flow down her already damp cheeks. But she had cried enough. Her mom didn't deserve her sadness. Mia had done nothing wrong. What she needed right now was to be angry, furious even.

"Honey, that's not it at all."

"Don't call me that!" Mia was done with her deceptions. "You have no right to call me that. Not anymore."

"Mia, I get that you're mad but you still need to respect me. I'm your mother."

"You lost your right to be my mother when you chose to cheat on dad and find a new family. I lost respect for you the moment I heard what you'd done!" a silent tear fell down her cheek despite all her efforts to hold it back. Stay angry! she told herself.

"Don't say that!"

"Why not? It's true."

"Mia! It is not my fault that I fell in love with someone else. Perhaps if you were kinder to me and not such a disappointment I would have stayed."

"You want me to be kinder to you!? Do you have any idea how hard it is to be kind to someone who calls me a disappointment on an almost daily basis?"

"You see? This is why I'm taking Alex and not you," tears were now streaming down her face and off her chin at a steady pace. She had, of course, heard this a million times already but no matter how many times Mia heard it she would never get used to hearing her mother say that she was a disappointment.

Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps and she looked up to see Blake walking towards her. He caught her eye and began running towards her.

"Oh my gosh! Mia, are you okay?" his tone was worried but she didn't understand. He barely knew her and the few times that they'd talked he had been so mean. Why did he care about her so much? Why did anyone care about her so much?

"Y-yeah, I'm... I'm fine," Mia stuttered shakily.

"I'm sure," he told her, unconvinced as he sat down beside her.

"I thought you were going to be nice or sympathetic or something. I guess I was wrong."

"Oh, wow! I was making a joke. I'm so sorry if I was mean. I just meant that you don't exactly seem like you're fine," Blake said, hesitantly putting his arm around her.

His touch made a tingle run through her body. It was a strange feeling, but it was a good strange.

"Thank you and... I'm sorry. I guess I misjudged you," Mia said.

"You have no reason to apologize. I know I was kind of a jerk to you and I'm sorry. I'll probably mess up again and I definitely won't be a perfect friend but I really do care about you as a friend and want you to be happy. You don't have to but I would love it if you would open up to me."

"I... I don't know. I just... I-I don't k-know you th-that w-well," she choked out in between sobs.

"Okay. Really, it's okay. I just want you to know that I'm there for you. We all are. Even if you haven't known us for a very long time."

A car engine turning off took her out of her thoughts as she looked in front of her to see an empty field. Curious as to where the sound had come from she stood up, wiping tears off her cheeks. Mia and Blake made their way to behind the school, to the place where she had thought she'd heard the noise. As she and Blake rounded the corner something grabbed her making her scream as her thoughts went to terrible places.

A gag was shoved in her mouth and she smelled something sweet as a cloth was wrapped around her nose. Only one thought registered in her mind. I have to save Blake!

Suddenly a loud zap took her notice and she saw that all of their attackers had been shocked momentarily. She realized that the source of the electricity had been... her.

A second later they got up and ran before she or Blake could catch them. Blake tried to run after them but Mia simply sat there crying into her hands. What had she done? What was happening to her?

A/N Hello, beauties. I have a question for you guys. What is your favorite non-wattpad book? For me, it's Legacy from KotLC because it's awesome and gives me more reasons to hate Fitz and love Keefe.