I SLAM THE front door behind me with as much frustration and irritation I have kept bottled up inside of me all day. I slam it so hard I swear I feel the foundations of this tiny, dumpy little house quake.

So does my mom, apparently.

"Well, should I ask how your day was or should I take your assault on our innocent door as an answer?"

I flinch, just the tiniest bit as the door opens behind me and I turn to face my rather pissed off little brother.

"Ow!" He cries dramatically, eyes narrowing into a glare fixed in my direction.

Mom rounds the corner from the kitchen then, complete with an apron wrapped around her waist and hands on her hips. "Peyton Mackenzie Church! Did you just slam the door on your brother?!"

I glance over my shoulder at Jayden, checking him quickly for any sign of injury or death, and shrug when I realize there's no visible damage. "I totally forgot he was behind me."

"I was literally talking to you the whole time!" He whines.

"Honestly, I've spent sixteen years perfecting the art of tuning you out Jay. Looks like it's paid off."

Before Jayden and I can launch into an all out verbal war, our mom holds up a hand and sighs. "Enough, you two. If you could refrain from killing one another for the next hour, I've spent half the afternoon preparing dinner. Whose hungry?"

Without a word, Jayden and I both leave our bags, shoes and jackets by the door and brush past our mom into the kitchen. As I pass her, I smile and give her a kiss on the cheek.

As we enter the kitchen, Jayden and I are both surprised by the familiar face already sitting at the kitchen table.

"Yaya?" I sputter in disbelief, shoving past Jayden and wrapping my arms around our only grandparent.

"Oh, Peyton, kopelia, it's so nice to see you again," she tuts, her soft accent comforting me as she gave me a tight squeeze of a hug. "Oh, and you too, Jayden. I'm so happy you're both here now," she smiles, squeezing Jayden against her next.

If I didn't know better, I might say that our mother had brought in reinforcements to convince us we should be happy here. Or, more likely, to convince me to quit complaining, since Jayden appeared to be more compliant with the whole "spontaneously moving across the country" thing.

But I do know better. My grandmother, our mom's mom, only got to see us about once a year for Christmas. Otherwise, we spoke to her on the phone for birthdays and got the odd novelty postcard sent to us. Her husband, our Pappous, had passed away three years ago from cancer, and she's lived alone ever since. Mom had offered to bring her to New York to stay with us, but she'd stubbornly refused, saying her life and her friends were here in Rock Valley.

Seeing Grandma again was quite possibly the only bright side to this dim, little town.

"How was your first day, you two?" Grandma asks, clearly ignoring my earlier theatrics.

"If I didn't get a detention, does that count as good?" Jayden asks humorously, taking a seat across the table from me.

Grandma smiles widely, picking up a bowl of pasta salad and dropping a scoop onto her plate. "Well, of course it does, agori. That's always a good thing. And you, Peyton?"

"Oh, don't bother with her, Yaya. Peyton's been whining and stomping her feet since we arrived," Jayden snickered, scooping potatoes into his plate.

Childishly, I stick out my tongue at my brother. "Well, it's gotten much better since I came home, Yaya."

"Oh, kopelia, you flatter me," she grins, showing off rows of even, yellowing teeth. "But a little birdie told me you weren't too happy about the big move here. And it wasn't that one," she adds, pointing a finger at Jayden, whose stuffing his face with roasted vegetables.

Automatically, I narrow my eyes in Mom's direction. "Seriously? You called her in to make me feel bad?"

"Actually, I meant to come by when you got here, but I was feeling under the weather. But it's a good thing I got here today, or your mana would've been lost in that kitchen!"

Jayden and I snicker, watching our mom look at our grandmother with irritation.

That clearly explained the plate full of traditional Greek cuisine tonight. Back in New York, Mom never cooked. We had people for that. But every Christmas, when grandma made the long trip out from Arkansas, she'd kick our staff out of the apartment and completely take over our kitchen. For those twelve days, our table overflowed with all the lamb chops, souvlaki, pork, potatoes and salads we could ever hope for. It was always my favorite part of those precious visits from Yaya.

Come to think of it, our dad was never a big fan of grandma coming to visit. He seemed annoyed by the culture shock of having a traditional Greek woman in his modern American upper class family.

"Well, it's delicious, Yaya. Do you think you could cook for us every night?" I ask cheekily, stuffing a forkful of meat in my mouth.

"Funny, Peyton," Mom mutters, rolling her eyes.

"I've made sure to leave your mother all of the recipes," she chuckles, clasping her hands in front of her. "And you could always give them a try too, kopelia."

I almost choke on my food, coughing uncontrollably at the idea of myself in the kitchen. "Uh, I don't think that'll work out well, Yaya. I could, um, never do your recipes justice."

"What she means is, she burn everything and probably set the whole house on fire."

I don't give Jayden the opportunity to duck before lobbing a roll at his head.

The rest of dinner passes by all too quickly. Before I know it, we're pushing away our dessert plates as Grandma gets to her feet.

"Well, it's getting dark out there. I should get back before Alexandros decides to claw my pillow up again," she tuts, shaking her head at the memory of her cat ripping her cushions to shreds more than once.

"Do you have to go, Yaya," I ask, my lip slipping out into a pout.

My grandmother walks over to where I'm seated, leaning down and kissing my hair. "I'm not far if either of you ever want to come visit."

"You bet," Jayden grins, getting up and coming over to hug Grandma. "See you later, Yaya," he chimes before loping out of the room to avoid doing any dishes.

"I mean it, kopelia. I'm so happy to have all of you here. I like the idea of getting to know my engonia better."

I smile to myself, thinking of just how happy I've been since waking into the house tonight. Even Mom was smiling more than I'd seen her since last Wednesday when we'd heard about the divorce.

Maybe life in Rock Valley wouldn't be as terrible as I thought it would be.

"S'agapo," I smile up at my grandma. I love you.

"Ki ego s'agapo."

"Each of you will be paired up for this project. You'll have ten minutes with your partner to come up with a significant historical event to do your presentation on. When the timer goes, one of you will come up, tell me who your partner is, and tell me what you'll be presenting. No duplicates allowed, so make sure you have a back-up."

My history teacher, Mr. Reiken, drones on for a few more minutes about this project we're being assigned. Looking around the room, I can see other people in my class making eye contact with whoever they're hoping to partner up with.

Of course, nobody makes eye contact with me. Day three at Rock Valley High, and I've made absolutely no progress making friends. Although, that may have more to do with my lack of effort than my absolutely sparkling personality.

My new routine is simple. I wake up at an ungodly, get dressed, eat some of whatever Mom had tried to cook for breakfast and walk to school with my annoying little brother. Jayden has had no trouble fitting in. Our very first day he'd made friends, which meant I spent my days at school speaking only when spoken to by my teachers. Then we'd walk to Yaya's, devour whatever delicious treat she had whipped up for us, go home for dinner, do my homework and go to bed.

It's the middle of March, which means I only had two and half months until graduation. Originally, the prospects of spending this short amount of time avoiding all the small town folk I had to share air with at school was more than okay. But to be honest, while it had been refreshing the first day and a half, the loneliness was beginning to sink in.

So when I'd gotten to class this morning, I'd surveyed my classmates to see if any of them might stick out as someone I may be able to tolerate.

No dice.

"Alright," Mr. Reiken's voice cuts through the fog in my brain. "I'm sure you all know who you're partnering up with. So, you can go have a seat with your partner now and get to work brainstorming."

All at once, chairs scrape against the floor as they're pulled away from desks. My classmates scramble around, meeting up with their friends and taking a seat at each other's desks. Not surprisingly, I stay put at my desk on the far side of the class, balancing a pen between my finger tips while I wait for everyone to sit down.

It takes a minute, but eventually the loud babbling in the room dulls to a quiet chatter as everyone started planning out their projects. I resume doodling in my notebook, resigning myself to the fact I'd be doing this project on my own.

But I hear someone clearing their throat beside me, and I look up to see a sight blonde girl smiling down at me.

"Hey there," she says in a slightly accented drawl. "My name's Addison. Do you wanna be partners?"

To say I'm caught off guard is an understatement. I blink away the obvious surprise in my eyes and force a tiny smile onto my lips, telling myself not to act like a cold hearted bitch and accept this lifeline I'm being thrown. "Uh, yeah. Sure, that'd be great. I'm Peyton, by the way."

Addison grins, pulling up a chair from a nearby desk and taking a seat at mine. "Oh, I know who you are. Not that I'm a stalker or anything. I just mean we don't get a lot of new kids around here. And definitely none that look like you, I mean wow. You could be a frigging model or something," she says, her words coming out in a rush before she pauses with a horrified look on her face. One hand comes up to cover her mouth as she continues. "Ohmigod, I'm so sorry. I sound like a crazy person. You must think I'm a freak or something!"

For once, a genuine smile graces my face as she babbles on. "Don't worry about it, it's cool."

Her grin returns as she pulls out her notebook, crossing her legs and resting it on her knees. "Okay," she says with a huff. "You got any ideas for this assignment?"

"Actually, yeah." Flipping the page of my own notebook back, I tap my pen against the words I have written there. "We weren't given any restrictions really, about period or place. But what about the role women served during the wars? I know a lot of people will probably be going for the World Wars themselves, but I was thinking we could focus on the services woman provided while the men were fighting. Like working in factories and such. What do you think?"

Addison blinks, considering my idea for a split second before bobbing her head furiously in agreement. "I love it! And, like, how it effected their rights afterward!"

"Exactly."

"Wow, well that didn't take much time. We've got a few minutes to go before we have to fight our way up to the front," she says, tapping her pen against the front of her notebook. "So, how are you liking Rock Valley so far? I know you came from the big city. Must be a big change for you, huh?"

I shrug my shoulders, leaning back in my chair and stretching my long legs under my desk. "It's okay, I guess. Certainly different to say the least. Really small."

"You haven't made many friends yet, have you?"

I let out a laugh, a rye smile twisting up the corners of my mouth. "Yeah, not so much. What was your first clue?"

Addison shrugs. "You kind of seem standoffish. You look at most of us like we're bugs or something. You don't make eye contact with anyone unless necessary."

She's not wrong.

I give the girl in front of me a quick once over. She was dressed differently than most of the other girls at the school in a vintage looking yellow floral dress and denim jacket, with worn looking combat boots on her feet. Her blonde hair was loose around her shoulders, tucked haphazardly behind one ear, and she wore next to no makeup on her face, with the exception of some mascara.

I flash her a grin and motion at her dress. "Anyone who can appreciate a good vintage dress like that is far from a bug in my opinion. But in my defence, most of the people I've totalled to have been more stuck up and self-centred than some of the girls I knew back at my old school. And trust me, that's saying something."

She looks down at her dress. "It was my mom's. I always thought old clothes had more character than the things they make nowadays— gosh, I'm babbling again. Anyways, I totally get that. A lot of the kids around here suck, they're so competitive and judgey."

"I think that's just most teenagers now," I laugh. "But, I used to be one of those girls, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining about them, huh?"

Over the chatter of the class, the timer on Mr. Reiken's desk buzzed noisily and people started getting out of their seats.

"I'll go up. Be right back!" Addison chirps before standing and shuffling up to the front of the classroom to join the line-up.

"Mad Addy's your partner?" An unfamiliar voice sneers from behind me. "I pity you."

I turn around in my chair to face the girl sitting behind me. I vaguely recognize her from my first day here, when her overlord Clarissa decided to try and out-bitch me at lunch. Her badly bleached hair and not so classy low-cut sweater scream train wreck so loud I'm sure the school secretary could hear.

"I'm sorry?"

"Addison Turner is a freak. Everybody knows that. I'd watch yourself if I were you," she insists, leaning forward and resting her chin in her palm. "If you hang around her, you're going to lose any hope you have of being somebody around here."

I let out a fake laugh I reserve for moments just like this. "That's real funny. Because you know all about 'being somebody', right? I mean, as long as 'being somebody' refers to following around some red-headed bimbo like a lost puppy and letting your boobs hang out like that just to get some attention of your own."

I watch as the Barbie wannabe turns three different shades of red, her fake smile turning into her baring her teeth in my direction. With a sweet smile, I turn around and start gathering up my books.

"All done!" Addison chimes as she skips up to my desk, a grin spread from ear to ear. "Mr. Reiken loved your idea!"

"It was a joint effort," I remind her.

"But it was your brain child. Say, what are you doing for lunch today?" She asks happily as she gathers up her notebook and pen.

"Same as yesterday, which is absolutely nothing."

"Why don't you come eat with me and my friend, Eliza? I promise we don't bite!"

My eyes flick back to the girl behind me, where she's watching me not so subtly through narrowed eyes. Turning back to smile at Addison as I stand up. "I'd love to."

"Great!" She squeals, her hands clapping together joyfully. "I'll see you in the cafeteria later!"

She scampers off again just as the bell rings out overhead. Chairs scrape against the floor as the rest of my classmates make their own beelines for the door to get to their next class.

While I try to get out early, a stampede of teenagers blocks my path, giving the wannabe behind me the opportunity to click her tongue at me in distaste.

"That was a bad move, hun. You're going to regret that," she smirks, pulling out her phone as if that is actually supposed to make me feel threatened by her.

I let out a snort of a laugh, turning on my heel to walk away. "Try me."

Hey guys! I know it's been a while, but I'm so behind in NaNo it's cray 🤦🏼‍♀️
I'll try for a new update again soon.
Until next time...

Lots of love...