Chapter One- Meeting Mandy

Mandy's P.O.V

What was I doing here? I mean, really? I didn't belong here. For goodness' sake, I belonged back in Florida- not Malibu! This wasn't me at all.

But it was a bit late for that now, when I was walking down the corridors of Seaview High with Principal Fisher walking briskly next to me, wasn't it?

"Here you are." Principal Fisher smiled proudly at me. "Your class teacher is- Mr Carelli!" He opened the door wide for me, and let me walk through first, him following after me.

"Ah! Hello! What do we have here- a stranger dressed in black from head to toe? Wavy long hair, and bright green eyes, so beautiful, so! Black Capri jeans, the silver off-one shoulder T-shirt, the black Converses- so beautiful it makes my eyes hurt!" A big fat guy with curly blonde hair at the front of the class waved at me, bowing down once he'd finished.

The whole class was staring at me. Scarily enough, I was wearing a white and silver tiger-emblem off-one-shoulder T-shirt, with the black jeans and Converses. If anything, I thought I looked a little sharp myself. Had that guy just made that rhyming poem up on the spot about me and my outfit though? Freaky.

"Um, hi. What's up?" I said, dubiously. I gave a little finger wave to fat guy.

"Good morning Principal Fisher." The class chanted, recognizing the old man standing beside me, including a still dramatizing Fat Guy. This couldn't be my new class. It couldn't be!

"Good morning class. Now, if you'd like to come with me to the front Mandy- that's right- this is Mandy, everyone. She's just moved from Florida to us in Malibu. Now I trust you'll all make her feel welcome. I'll check on you later today Mandy- see you later class!" Principal Fisher beamed at me, before leaving. Suddenly he turned on his heel. "Oh, and uh, that's Mr Carelli. Mr Carelli, Mandy, Mandy, Mr Carelli." And with that, he swished out of the classroom, closing the door behind him- trapping me with the mad Mr Carelli.

"Hell-o, Mandy! Did you like my poem? I hope you did. Because if not, I can put on top of the box a lid-" Mr Carelli sang. Okay. What. A. Freak.

"OKAY! Thank you, Mr Carelli! Don't you think we should Mandy a place to sit though?" A girl with long, wavy hair with blonde-ish highlights said, her face spelling out "you are SUCH a freaky duh-brain" called from a few metres in front of me.

"Very well! As you can see there is a seat there- I very much like your wares-"

"We're trying out poetry." The girl with wavy hair rolled her eyes at me. "Mr Carelli gets a little excited sometimes." I grinned at the girl, sliding in the seat next to her- the one which Mr Carelli had pointed at. For some reason, I was glad to be next to her. She seemed nice- not like so much of a nutcase, like Mr Carelli, whose voice I had now blocked out. Seemed like I wasn't the only one.

"Lucky us." I grinned. The girl smiled. She stuck out her hand.

"Miley Stuart."

"Mandy Jackson."

"Lilly Truscott!" I jumped around to see a blonde girl in front of me, grinning. I laughed.

"And I- am the Smokin' Oaken. Feel free to fall helplessly in love with me- everybody does." A boy with dark floppy hair winked at me from behind Miley. I stared at the guy like he was a freak.

"Is he with you?" I asked Miley and Lilly ridiculously.

"Yeah. His name is Oliver- and don't worry, nobody falls in love with him. You're quite safe." Lilly grinned at me. I smirked at a deflated Oliver.

"Oh, thanks a lot Lilly, ruin my chances with all the hot chicks! Ignore her, babe. I'm smokin' hot." Oliver winked at me again. I laughed. Oliver looked like the sun had just started smiling on him.

"Call me babe one more time," I spluttered. "and I will knock your teeth out!" I was in hysterics. The bell rang. Lilly jumped in her seat.

"Dang! That always gets me- how come you didn't scream, new girl? Usually people start yelling about fires." I shrugged.

"Florida isn't a lot different from here. The bell's just the same- maybe a bit louder. Your eardrums get used to it after a while." I got up from my new desk- which I had barely sat two minutes in- slapped my black bag with skulls on onto my shoulder and started walking companionably with Miley, Lilly and Oliver.

"Hey! New girl! Wait up!" A girl with straight, short-ish hair came running up to me, a girl with lots of earrings behind her.

"Amber and Ashley alert." Lilly groaned. I stared at her.

"Why do you wanna hang around with them? They're obviously not cool enough for you. But we can help you with that- because we are!" The girl with the earrings giggled. The first girl had said the same last sentence at the exact same time. I looked at them, confused.

"Ooh- tsss!" They both yelled, fingers touching.

"Ooh- bleugh!" Miley and Lilly copied, pretending to be sick. Oliver laughed- before seeing Amber and Ashley's faces.

"Just because you're plastic and fake Amber, doesn't mean everybody else wants to be." Miley grinned, happy with her and Lilly's scold.

"Whatever, loser- why would ANYBODY want to hang out with last page losers- three years running? Even Dandruff Danny is starting to beat you!" Amber- the one with loads of earrings- laughed. Ashley copied her. "So- you coming?" Ashley asked me. I looked from Miley to Amber.

"Fine, whatever. Go with them if you want too." Lilly said, disgusted. I grinned and took a step towards Amber and Ashley, but making sure Oliver, Lilly and Miley could see me too.

"Oh, yes, you are cool." I said, gushing out the words. I noticed the water cooler in the corner, and grabbed Amber and Ashley towards it. "Much cooler than them!" I said- grabbing the water cooler and tipping half of its contents on Amber and Ashley. They screamed loudly. I watched, not even bothering to hide my grin.

"Wanna go grab some lunch?" Miley asked, grinning at me, laughing at the spectacle of Amber and Ashley screaming in the hallway.

"You're sure you wanna brand yourselves as freaks by sitting with the new girl on her first day?" I asked, smiling, but not joking.

"Freaks? You're not the one wearing a water beret." Oliver laughed. I high-fived all of them at the same time- me, Miley, Oliver and Lilly.

And suddenly I knew that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.