I woke up to the blaring sound of my alarm. I knew the day wouldn't be very interesting. It was always the same thing: wake up, eat breakfast, do my school, do my chores, sit around for eight hours. Nothing interesting ever happened to me. That's what happens when you're a homeschooled orphan who lives in a treehouse. I know, I know. I live in a treehouse-yippee. But trust me, it's not as cool as it sounds. Maybe it would be if I was allowed to leave it... ever. But nope. I've been in here for pretty much my whole life. You see I was taken in by Winnie when I was four and she was eighteen and I've been in here ever since. I don't mind it that much though. I mean, sure, it gets lonely but I've heard that high school is nothing but sadness and heartbreak, so I'm content with not dealing with those problems. Although I've escaped those issues, I still have a few of my own such as my hair. It's so long that it goes down to my knees and is incredibly hard to take care of.

I got up out of my bed and walked to the gas fireplace to turn it on. After getting the heat up a bit I went to eat breakfast before doing the exhausting task of brushing my hair.

When I eventually sat down to start on my homework I heard a tap on one of my window. Confused, I looked up to see what it was but I saw nothing. I went back to studying before hearing that same tapping noise once again. Turning to my window I still didn't see anything so I shrugged it off.

It's probably just a bird, I thought.

Although when I heard it one more time I went over to my window to see what it was.

I looked closer but still failed to see anything. Then, I heard the sound again and realized that it was pebbles hitting my window.

I opened the glass before looking down where I saw a teenage boy standing there with a handful of tiny rocks.

Shocked. That's all that went through my mind. I hadn't seen anybody in real life but Winnie since I was four.

"Hi. Can I come up there?" he asked this as if this was totally normal.

"What? Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I'm Preston. Could I get up there? I kind of need to hide," he asked. I had no idea what to do so I did what any teenage girl deprived of social contact for twelve years would do. I let him in.

"Thanks," he said, dusting off his pants. He suddenly looked up at me, his ice-blue eyes peering into mine. When he looked away I felt myself wish he hadn't. He ran his hand through his blond hair.

"So, what were you trying to get away from?" I asked, hoping to start up a friendly conversation.

"It's really none of your business. Anyway, what's your name?" he asked. The words seemed sort of friendly but from his tone you could tell he was disgusted.

"Umm, okay? My name is Zel," I told him warily.

"That's a weird name."

"Technically, my name is Rapunzel, but that's really long and also a type of lettuce soooo yeah," I informed him.

"Lettuce, huh? I can see that. I mean, you look like the type of person who would be named after a type of lettuce." I was really starting to get annoyed. And slightly confused.

"Why are you such a jerk? I mean, I just met you and I already don't like you. I let you into my house and all you've done is be mean to me. Why?"

"Look, sweetheart, I'm only here because I have no other choice. If it was up to me I'd be far away from this dump you call home. I don't care about you. I just need a place to stay for a few hours before I'm out of your hair, your extremely long hair, forever, got it?" I did not like his attitude.

"No! I don't get it!" I told him, standing up for myself. "You need to get out of my house right now! Either you respect me and explain or you leave," I told him, wondering if it sounded as venomous as I had hoped.

"Jeez, fine. I was just running away from a crazy ex-girlfriend. Is it even that important?" Although he had answered my question I could still feel the waves of disrespect for me streaming off of him.

"You know what, I don't really care. Just stay in the corner until you can leave and then get out!" I told him. "I'm going to work on my school so just stay over there and don't bug me." He walked across the room and sat on the couch next to the fireplace before grabbing his phone to do whatever without saying a word to me. That's what I wanted. Right?

I'm actually struggling with most of my subjects. In fact, the only subject I'm really good at would be writing. I mean it's not particularly fun to be writing essays but it's what I'm best at. So, after a long time of failing to get my work done I looked up and realized that he was still there.

I needed to get some lunch so I got up from my extremely difficult school work and went to the kitchen to grab some food.

"Where are you going?" he asked, not looking up from his phone.

"Lunch."

"Cool, get me something."

"Nope," I said. "You do not get to come into my house and be a jerk to me and expect to eat my food. By the way, shouldn't you be leaving by now?"

"Nope," he mocked. "So, how are you today?" he said in a monotone voice.

"Really? You're going to be all friendly and inviting now? What are you even doing?" I asked.

"I'm asking you how your day has been so far."

"Not the best," I told him with a roll of my hazel eyes.

"Why not?" he asked, pouting his bottom lip in a kind of adorable way.

"Well for starters, a complete stranger stormed into my house and forced me to let him stay so that's not very fun. He's also, like, extremely ugly and annoying."

"Ouch." He put a hand over his heart in fake pain. "Right where it hurts," he joked.

"I hope it does." I wasn't joking with him, per say. I was just... fine, I guess I was joking.

"Well, can you get me some food? I mean, come on! You can't starve your guest," he said dramatically.

"You know what? You are absolutely right! It's a good thing I don't consider you a guest."

"Haha. You're so funny."

"Trust me, I know."

"So, what do you do for fun?"

"Seriously?"

"Yep. Are you going to answer my question?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"I honestly don't do much. I write and I paint and that's it."

"What about hanging out with friends?"

"I don't have any friends other than my guardian person. Even she's not really my friend, though," I confessed with a small frown.

"Oh, come on! Everyone has at least one friend," he said, rolling his eyes with a mischievous smile.

"Not me."

"How is that possible?"

"Simple, I haven't left this tree house since I was four. Pretty easy to not have friends if you haven't seen another human in like ten years," I confessed.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yep. I mean, I'd like to go out but Winnie says that it's like dangerous or something stupid like that and I don't really care enough to try to leave."

"Well, that's stupid. I mean, don't you ever wonder what it would be like to have a normal teenage life? I know that if I was stuck in here I would've snuck out a lot," he told me.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm just more mature than you." I shrugged, raising my eyebrows as I looked at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Sure," he said. "Why don't you just like, I don't know, leave even once so you can at least experience life a bit," Preston suggested.

My tolerance towards him was shrinking at every passing second. How could someone that handsome be such a stupid jerk?

"What does that mean? You want me to just... leave?"

"Well, yeah?" For some reason, it sounded a lot more like a question than a statement. "Look, I don't know you... at all so I really don't know why I'm doing this." He exhaled slowly as if he was preparing himself for his next words. "Do you want to hang out with me and my friends tomorrow?" he asked quickly.

"What?" I asked. I mean, what did you expect me to say. This guy that I've known for literally less than a day was asking me to hang out. What? "Why do you even want to hang out with me? If you haven't noticed, I'm not the coolest person," I admitted with a chuckle. "So why the heck do you want to hang out with me?"

"I really don't know. Look, I already asked so it's up to you now. You in?"

"What? You can't just ask me to do this and expect me to just be cool with it," I protested, waving my hands through the air. "I know that this seems normal to you but if you haven't noticed, I'm! Not! Normal! In fact, I think I'm pretty strange."

He laughed at that. He laughed! "That's true. You are extremely strange."

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment." I just smiled at him, glad that I had annoyed him. "Anyway, it's your choice. Me and some of my friends are going to this party. It's tomorrow night."

"Say I did go, where is it even?" I asked.

"Do you have paper?" he asked although I noticed that he hadn't answered my question.

"Why do you need paper?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"Just give me some paper," he said, rolling his eyes at me. Oh boy! I thought, taking a deep breath to calm my anger at his talent for aggravation.

After calming myself I went over to my drawers before forcefully opening one and grabbing a sheet of paper. I walked back over to him and shoved it in his hands.

I was hoping he would be annoyed or something but he just stood there with an irritating grin. I rolled my eyes as I saw him put the piece of paper on the table and write something down.

"There's the address. If you decide to go that's where you'll need to go. I need to go now. I might see you later, I might not. I really don't care," he told me before giving me a small wave and hopping out of the tree house leaving me shocked and slightly confused.

For the next few hours, I worked on my school slowly. I tried to get stuff done and let thoughts of that party out of my head but it was nearly impossible. Eventually, I just gave up. I'd finished basically everything, well all the easy stuff, that is.

I sat on my balcony and thought about all that had happened that day, clutching that tiny piece of paper like a lifeline. Should I go? This could be my only chance but what if it really is as terrible as Winnie says it is? Maybe I could just go this one time, I thought.

Soon enough, the sun started setting, creating a chill. I watched as the sky turned into a mirage of colors varying from a midnight purple to a soft orange. I watched as the light that had shone on the trees only a few hours earlier disappeared in my world to luminate somebody else's life. Sometimes it amazed me how beautiful the world could be.

Looking at the clock, I noticed that it was almost 8:00 which meant that Winnie would be home in about an hour. I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed the supplies I would need for dinner.

I chopped, boiled, and cooked until the dinner was ready. I set everything down on the table and grabbed a book to read until Winnie got home which would likely be in a few minutes.

Just like every other day, I heard a ring and went to go and let her in. "Hey, Winnie. How was your day?" I asked.

"Annoying. Jarred wouldn't stop bugging me about the progress reports," she complained with a frown before turning around to me and switching it to a smile. "Sorry, you don't want to hear about that. Anyway, why don't we eat.

"Okay," I gave in when I realized how hungry I was. We sat down at the table and Winnie grabbed some food first. Then, I went. I tried not to take too much but I was so hungry as I hadn't eaten since lunch. I'd always been self-conscious.

"Don't eat too much. I love you but if you continue gaining weight the way you are now then soon you'll lose all that you've fought for."

"I know, Winnie," I reassured her with a small frown that I tried not to let her see. I knew I wasn't pretty. In fact, I even knew that I was hideous but that didn't mean it stopped hurting. Sometimes I felt as though I wasn't worth it. I mean, if I'm as ugly as Winnie always tells me I am then why did she adopt me in the first place?

"I'm going to be away for a few days. Will you be okay here?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I assure her before realizing what time it was.

"You ready?" she asks. I nod grimly, unhappy to take the disgusting medicine but knowing it would be foolish not to take it.

"Yep," I agree before preparing myself for the slimy, sour, sickly substance. Winnie takes the vial filled with purple liquid out of her bag and hands it to me.

I remember the first time she gave it to me. I was kind of scared but I knew that I would do anything for her. I was so happy that someone wanted me, was willing to take care of me and put up with me that I would have done anything for her at that point.

Slowly, I grabbed the container from her hand and uncapped it before pressing it to my lips and chugging it down in one gulp. Throughout the years I've learned that taking it quickly is the easiest way to get past the grossness. "I still don't get why you always make me take that," I tell her after gagging down the disgusting drink.

"It's for your own good! I rose you when no-one else would! And why would they? You're just an ugly, useless girl!" she snapped. I was shocked. Sure she'd never been the nicest but it was always like a sister kind of mean. She hadn't yelled at me like that in years and I hated it. Gosh, I hated it.

I tried not to let my face show any emotion but it was extremely hard. "Sorry, I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow," I told her before turning around and walking to my small room with a hundred thoughts running through my head. Even through all of that, one thought came to the forefront of my head.

I'm going to that party!