Yeah yeah, so I am that cliché new student who's lost in a sea of popularity and peer-pressure. I'm Tara. I am going into junior year at Plainview Public High. I moved here from Fairbanks, Alaska, so that's why I look like an albino squirrel or something. We moved to get away from the cold, and other reasons. I guess I will miss the cold, it gave me an all natural blush, and we had tons of snow days. But, I'm glad I came here. I can finally have a social life.

It is finally the first day of school; well for me. School started September 4th, but its December 15th now. I look out the frosty window and see a thin blanket of snow covering the ground. Great, its just like Autumn in Alaska all over again. I shrug and rub my eyes to wake them up and straighten out my lashes. I take a look in the mirror and notice my lovely hair. By lovely, I mean it looks like a baby poodle died on my head. I wonder if baby poodles actually look like that… that would be creepy. Anyways, I push my tangled brown curls out of my face and behind my ears. I notice that my eyes are red and puffy, and that my nose stud is sticking halfway out of its hole. My eyebrow ring is all crooked, and my vertical labret barbell is sticking up from the top. I shove my stud back into my nostril and start squishing my cheeks around with my palms, making weird faces and noises. Might as well get it all out now rather than embarrass myself at school. Oh right! I have school this morning. I glance at my clock, which reads 7:38 am. School starts at 8 am, so I run down the stairs. Actually, I trip, fall, and then tumble down the stairs.

"Oh! Ouch! Argh! Oogie! Oh, that one hurt!" I grunted as I rolled down the stairs and to the bottom. Mom is just sitting down at the table, reading Seventeen Magazine with her glasses perched on the bottom of her nose. She's got a lit cigarette in her in her left hand and a warm cup of hot chocolate in the other. She looks up at me and the words 'I should've seen this coming' all written all over her face. Then she breaks into laughter as I grab onto the railing of the stairs and try to pull myself up.

"Yeah, thanks Mommy. I love you too." I said sarcastically.

"Breakfast's on the table, Hunn." She says absentmindedly.

I eat my toaster waffles and crispy bacon in peace. Bacon is so nice and crispy. I could survive on bacon forever, but not. while I'm daydreaming about all the bacon in the world, Mom reminds me that I have to be at school in 13 minutes.

13 MINUTES! I CAN'T GET READY IN 13 MINUTES! Oh, wait yes I can! I sprint up to my room and grab my sparkly hairbrush. I tear it through my hair and tug angrily at the tangles. Come on hair! I don't have time for this! I have a life to attend to!

After I brush out my hair, I run to the bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face with my favorite peppermint face wash. I pat my face down with a face cloth and tie up my hair. Before I even realize it, I am back in my room and tearing through my closet for something to wear. I pull out a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and a pair of nice dark jeans. I quickly change the band-aids on my arms and throw on my clothes. I quickly open my drawer to get out a pair of socks. I pull out a popsicle one and an Angry Birds one and stick my feet into them. I don't like to wear the Angry Birds one because its all linty now, but I don't really have the time to examine each of my socks for their lint content right now. I grab my bag with the Hogwarts Crest on it, and I pull my cell phone off its charger and shove it into my pocket. I grab my iPod, headphones, chewing gum, and schedule and stick them all in my bag.

I check my watch and see that my bus comes in 15 seconds. Oh. My. God. I can't miss my bus! I jump down from the top step and land like a kitty on the living room floor.

"Bye Mom!" I shout as I throw myself out of the front door and skid my way down to the corner of my street. Oh crap! The bus is like 15 feet behind me. I pick up the pace and make it to the stop sign half a second before the bus does. I haven't caught my breath yet as the door to the bus opens. I grab onto the railing and drag myself up the stairs of the bus. The bus driver smiles at me with her slightly yellowing teeth.

"First day?"

"You know it." I manage to say.

I start looking for a place to sit. Wow, these girls look mean. They're all giving me dirty looks. I see a girl with blonde pigtails looking out the window. Her huge Gucci bag was sitting in the open space next to her. Seriously, you could fit a mall in there.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?" I say shyly. She turns and gives me a death stare, and then looks at her bag, and then back at me. Oh… I guess not. But then, I say something I really shouldn't have.

"Uhmm…. Your Gucci bag does NOT need it's own seat." I say clearly. She sighs and puts her bag on her lap. I sit down, happily. I pop my hand into my Hogwarts bag and pull out my iPod. I push my hair behind my ears to put my headphones in and Pigtails gasps in horror. Is there a spider in my hair or something?

"Ew! You have so many piercings! And you have those big hole-thingies in your ears!" she says in a nasally voice.

Why thank you, Pigtails, I'd of never noticed they were there until you notified me. I just look at her.

"So?" I ask her.

"It's gross, you emo girl!" she snorts.

I have some not so nice words I'd like to say, but I just shrug and start listening to music. I keep on clicking 'shuffle' until one of my favorite songs pops up.

"…Love me or hate me still an obsession

Love me or hate me that is the question

If you love me, Thank you

If you hate me, f*** you…" (Lyrics by Lady Sovereign)

I'm lost in the song when we pull up to the school. In a rush of bags, boys, and designer clothing, I'm already off the bus and getting pushed around towards the steps that lead up to the Main Entrance. Here goes nothing…. I start walking up the steps, trying to avoid the big crowd and get to the Principal's Office without losing an arm, or a piercing.

I'm looking around, seeing a blur of different faces and clothing. Catching bits of conversation I shouldn't be hearing.

"Dude, you shoulda been there last night it was-."

"Gina, I told you that this eyeshadow would make your eyes pop!"

"Where do babies come from?"

Maybe I shouldn't have heard that last one. I shudder on the inside and continue on my way. I finally see the blue sign with the words 'Main Office' written in white print. I pull out my schedule from my bag and actually bother to look at it this time,

Period 1: College Pre-Algebra

Room 241

Fuller, Kelly, Ms.

Math first thin gin the morning… greeaaattttt….. I'm not a math person. It makes me upset. I step into the Main Office and go up to the secretary. She looks like a nice person.

"Um, hi. My name is Tara Radford. I'm the new student from-" I started but then the secretary looked up and smiled cheerfully.

"-Alaska! Welcome to Plainview, Sweetie! Please take a seat and Principal Mason will be with you shortly!" she said sweetly and pointed towards the chair. I sat down and rested my elbow on the armrest. I looked around the office, but nothing really caught my attention. All of a sudden, I heard yelling from a closed door to my right.

It sounded a bit like "Detention for 2 weeks! Don't ever let me catch you ditching again Heffley!"

Well, that's exactly how it sounded. Then I heard some more yelling.

"What? Two whole weeks?" someone cried out.

"I'll call your mother if you keep on arguing with me, Heffley!" someone else barked. Oh, feisty eh?

"Yessir…" I heard and then the door opened. Out came a very tall boy. He was about 6'4, but wasn't very muscular. He had some "guyliner" around his brown eyes and he was sighing and grumbling angrily. He was followed by an older, burly looking man with a sandy colored buzz cut and soft blue eyes. "Guyliner" looked at me with a puzzled face, as if he was trying to figure out who I was. I cocked my head and looked right back at him. Our mini staring contest was interrupted by the older, burly man.

"Ah, Ms. Radford! Welcome to Plainview High School! I am Principal Mason!" he said in a warm tone, making me forget that he was just yelling at "Guyliner" a few minutes ago. Not knowing what to say, I just smiled and stood up.

"Uh…Hi." I tried to say 'Salutations kind Principal. How do you do?' but that didn't work out too well. My heart was beating really fast for some reason; and "Guyliner" was still staring me down.

"This is one of your new classmates, Rodrick Heffley." Principal Mason said, gesturing to him. I have Rodrick a tiny little wave and whispered 'Hi'. He gave me one of those little head nods. I don't get why guys do that…. It makes me wonder if I can do that.

"Now off to class. Heffley." Principal Mason said sternly and Rodrick left without saying anything.

"Please, follow me into my office Ms. Radford." He said kindly and I picked up my bag and followed him through the door. I sat down in the blue armchair across from his desk. Principal Mason put his finger on the intercom and called out someone's name.

"Nicolette Dires, please report to the Main Office. I repeat, Nicolette Dires, please report to the Main Office."

I just sit there awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say. Principal Mason notices this and makes some small talk until "Nicolette Dires" comes.

"Have you met anyone yet?" he asks kindly.

"Um… no not yet, I almost missed the bus this morning so I didn't have time to socialize." I explained. He nodded and Nicolette walked into the office at last.

"Sorry I'm late, Sir." She says loudly and clearly. She's got honey colored hair up in braided pigtails and a nice peanut-buttery tan. Her eyes are green with flecks of blue and grey. She looks really friendly and nice.

"Ms. Dires, this is Tara Radford. She will be joining us for the rest of the years at Plainview High. I would like you to escort her to her classes please. You both have lunch together too." Principal Mason told Nicolette and she nodded. She turned to me and gave me the world's biggest smile. She didn't even blink at my piercings.

All of a sudden, Nicolette grabs my hand and pulls me out of the chair. She nearly made me swallow my own tongue ring, and that wouldn't be good. She's holding onto my wrist. "She'll be fine with me!" she says excitedly and runs out of the Main Office dragging me along. This'll be fun.

"Hi I'm Nicolette, but you can call me Nikki, or CoCo." She says warmly. I like this girl a lot. She's really sweet.

"Hi I bet you already know my name, but I'm Tara. Just thought you'd like to know…" I laugh at my lame excuse of introducing myself. She just smiles and chuckles quietly.

"Hey, you've got some cool looking piercings! They really suit your face. Especially the one in the middle of your lip and the one on your nose bridge. I've never even seen those kinds before!" she comments. I get a really warm, fuzzy vibe from her.

No one has ever complimented me on my piercings. Normally, its just the old ladies who scold me and say 'worthless punks like us shouldn't dare show our faces ever again, and how ladies back in their day couldn't even wear lipstick until they were married.'

Not that I actually cared….

"Oh, uh thanks! This one's called a Vertical Labret," I point to my lip, "and this one is called a nose bridge. I'm surprised I could even keep this one in, it has the highest rate of rejection." I explain as I point to the barbell in between my eyes and she nods enthusiastically. Next thing I know, we are already in front of room 241. My first class, College Pre-Algebra. CoCo nudges me and I look at her. For some reason I go all timid and small.

"You'll do fine Tara. I'll be back as soon as class ends to bring you to the next one." She reassures me. I nod and whisper 'thanks' and open the door to room 241.

"It wasn't that bad…. I understood everything that Ms. Fuller said." I told CoCo and she nodded her head.

"See, I told you that you would do great! Did you see any cute guys?" CoCo smirked and then stuck out her tongue.

"I was too scared to miss anything important to look around. But there was this one boy who kept on looking at me. I saw him this morning in the principal's office. I think his last name was Heffley."

"Oh, that's Rodrick." she said at once. "He's the wannabe rockstar, and he's got his own band called Loded Diper. He throws awesome house parties and likes to wear guyliner. His ex-girlfriend Kelly-Jean Binder is still crazy about him, but apparently he's single. " CoCo informs me.

"Wow, you really do know about some of the people in this school don't you?" I say. How does she know all this anyways?

"I work for the school paper. I have details on EVERY junior, senior, and sophomore." She says with pride. Well that explains everything… we continue talking about my first couple of classes as we walk down to the cafeteria for lunch. I was surprised I could have lunch this year. I'm taking mostly AP classes and electives, but my mom told me I needed to eat lunch especially this year so she made me drop Spanish Honors and just take regular Spanish. This left me an open space for lunch. I just realized how big this whole school is. Back in Fairbanks, there was only 50 juniors, and now there's 500.

While I'm looking around and listening to CoCo tell me about the pros and cons about all my teachers, we finally arrive at the double doors leading to the cafeteria. CoCo opens the door and stands aside, motioning for me to go in before her.

"Thanks!" I smile at her. She really is quite helpful and nice. I start to walk through the door but I end up crashing into someone. I am pushed back a couple of feet and my Hogwarts bag whacked them, but the person in front of me looks unaffected.

"Oh my God! I am SO SORRY!" I begin to spit out several different apologies and look up to see who I smacked into. Wow, what a coincidence; it was Rodrick. I love how I didn't see this coming even though this happens in all the chick-flicks. Rodrick just tilts his head.

"It's okay. But what do you have in that bag? Rocks?" he asks, rubbing his knee.

"Oh! Sorry! And that's boulders to you!" I say in a mock-serious voice, trying to be funny. Wow, that really was a bad joke. He looks alarmed for half a second, probably thinking 'Is this chick crazy? Why would she have boulders with her?' but then realizes I was kidding and smiles. He's looking directly into my eyes. Does that mean something? Is there an eyelash in my eye? Now I'm looking into his. They're a deep brown. Now lets get something straight, this all happened in a matter of 15 seconds.

"Hey! Rodrick! You comin' or what?" someone yells from the behind us. I turn my head slightly to see a group of three boys. One of them was a beach blonde with a ninja headband and nerd glasses. The other two had black hair and smirks on their faces.

"Yeah, wait up." He calls out and jogs slightly to catch up to them. They start to walk away, but I can hear them talking about me.

"Yo, who was that?"

"I dunno…"

"Well you should, she's cute." I start to blush, and then wonder if guys at this school have any subtlety.

"I think she's the new girl, from Alabama or something."

"Alaska!" I call out loudly, but not turning to face them, but then I wished I hadn't. CoCo just smiled.

"Flirting on your first day? I didn't know you had it in you!" she teases.

"Flirting? How does me walking into someone, and then making a stupid joke about the supposed rocks in my bag count as flirting?" I ask in a truly confused voice.

CoCo just sighs and shakes her head. "You've got a lot to learn, Alaska."

And that's pretty much how the first day went….

A/N: this is my first Wimpy Kid fic. Tell me if you like it, hate it, love it, despise it. Please review, your feedback leads to a better story.

Disclaimer- I don't own anything familiar. I don't own the lyrics- those go to Lady Sovereign. I don't own Hogwarts either (if I did, I would probably die from its awesomeness :])