I stepped out of the door and suddenly wished that I had felt more than what I was feeling right now. I should be excited, moving into a different place, with a different name, and a different face.. well, not really. But, I'm having a fresh, clean start, so no one even knew who I was. And now, I don't either.

Maybe I should have worn something more presentable for my first day of school here. I'm pretty skinny, actually kinda lanky for a girl my age, and I don't really eat much. Cigarettes fill me up, but I'm not hooked. I don't need one, I just want one. Come to think of it, I don't even remember why or when I started. I just can't stop, now.

Walking to school, I must have looked over my attire a thousand million times. A tight, long-sleeved white shirt in the fall. It was made outta some cheap material, though, so it was pretty airy, and had two neat holes symmetrically at each end just past the stretch of my collarbone. This didn't reveal my locket that I kept hidden away underneath my shirt, but it was tight, the thin silver chain was visible. That went along with a pair of tight jeans, but they were kinda low so a flash of my hipbones would surface every now and then. I liked them, though, so I didn't mind. I guess I don't really dress girly, but I'm not here to impress anyone. This could be putting up a flag to get everyone to leave me alone, this time.

Speaking of my lack of girliness, my hair is actually kinda short too. Not boy-short, just cropped off unevenly, shoulder-length, when I got sick of thinking that he would ever touch and smell my hair again. As much as I try to stray from not looking like someone wants me to, I'm doing the exact opposite yet doing the same exact thing that I don't want at the same time. I can never win.

I think too much whenever I think about my looks. I do take care of myself, though. A little eyeliner, but I don't need it. Long eyelashes bordered my cold, sad eyes. I wish someone would notice them someday. But at the same time, I don't.

The walk to school was longer than I had expected. It looked as crummy as the rest of the neighborhood, but at the same time, I kind of felt like home. It was bigger than it should have been, though. Bunch of guys were hanging around in the court, some pressing girls up against the wall while their crusty eye-makeup fluttered shamelessly at their pick-up lines, followed by maybe a hand creeping up a thigh or a nasal, fake giggle. It's probably better that I don't dress girly.

Since I'm just coming here, at the end of first marking period, people definitely won't recognize me. "The New Girl in Town", I guess. Some people looked like they wanted to approach me, but I glanced at them without smiling. So they didn't smile back.

I didn't really know where to go, but I wasn't about to ask for help. Especially not from a teacher, so I pulled out some crumpled papers from my pocket and read the faded text as if it were some Alien Language. I knew I was looking like that, so someone probably would try to help me anyway. Maybe I wanted help.

A kid.. no, a man with long sideburns and a leather jacket wasn't the first one to notice the way I looked, but the first one to approach me. He had laughter in his eyes, and cocked his rust-colored eyebrow when he noticed I was observing him. Probably trying to look cool, but it was kind of funny.

"You lookin' like you've just read some kind'a Chinese, or somethin'." He had a soft grin forming, and I wanted to grin, too.

"Maybe I'm in the wrong place. Or the wrong country." I kind of meant that, partially. Taking another glance around, all of the girls were either really nice and prepped up for some kind of formal I didn't know about, or just anxious to get on the corner later tonight. He stepped to my side, observing the crumpled up paper, cocking his eyebrow again. He seemed like he practiced. I felt him looking at me more than he was the paper. I probably just looked odd and interesting. To a basket case.

"Well, you do look exotic. You aren't from around here, I can tell that." I looked up at him. Exotic? What a nutjob. A smaller boy half-heartedly ran up and grinned up at the man that was talking to me. He was still taller than me, but not by much. He looked as if he were about to say something, but then stopped when he saw me, and looked almost confused. To cover it up, though, he turned back to the man as quickly as he could and calmed down suddenly.

"Hey, Two-Bit, we gotta sub' today!" He glanced back at me, and noticed I was staring at him. He had green eyes. But I looked back to the man.

"Lucky us. I can't stand Mr. Martin's lectures anymore than I can stand Sodapop's meatloaf.. or the way Steve makes the bathroom after he dares touch that wondermeat." He held his stomach as if he just got done eating the food. I finally cocked an eyebrow, but not as if I was practicing all my life to. It just came naturally. Both of them laughed, and I grinned softly. The boy was handsome, while the man was almost goofy-looking compared to him. But in a comfortable way.

He noticed that I wasn't bending over in maniacal laughter like they were, so he softened up and turned to me. "By the way, I'm Two-Bit." He held out his hand, and with his other, jabbed his thumb over to the younger one's direction. "That there's Ponyboy." I held out my hand for a second, looking at both of them, and he shook it. I secretly wondered if they had a club where they thought up weird nicknames for eachother.

"Is that--.."

"Yeah, it's my real name. Two-Bit's just nick-named Two-Bit 'cuz of his Two-Bit humor, always putting his Two-Bits into everything. But my real name is Ponyboy." He said that last part almost as if he had said it a million times before. I felt kind of embarrassed for asking, because he felt kind of embarrassed for saying it. I glanced at my old sneakers for a second, and noticed his were old, too. Maybe even older than mine.

"Wull, hey, whadd'ya know! You have Mr. Martin with us, too." When Two-Bit shook my hand, he must have grabbed my schedule when I wasn't paying attention. Smooth, for such an oaf.

"Uh--.." I got cut off once again, but this time, by the Bell. Two-Bit gave a look of fake horror and started half-heartedly bolting towards his class, and since he said I had the same class as him and Ponyboy, I reluctantly followed.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all. It may be a foreign land, and I may be exotic, but I feel like I can learn their language just fine.