Your Average Teen

Summary: Carly McKeever's life was normal. Dating, school, the normal teenage drama. But then her whole life got flipped around when her family was moved to Japan. Suddenly she's enrolled in a new school, with new people and adventures. And she thought her school back home was bad!

Disclaimer: Well, I'm not really witty so no funny things here about me not owning Prince of Tennis… for now!

Note to Self: Edited version. A little better? I wanted to put it up before I go shopping...


Chapter one:

Finally, Carly thought as she leaned back to fall on her new bed. She couldn't believe that tomorrow was going to be her first day of school. It seemed so long ago that she had been saying goodbye to her friends in Texas. It was going to be so weird without them. Courtney, Catherine, Clara, Shannon, Summer. They did almost everything together.

She closed her eyes. Japan was so much different than Texas. The weather, the customs, everything! It was scary, but exciting. An adventure! A chance to make new friends, have new stories to tell, and learn new things. Most people would probably still be mad about moving, but Carly never was one to be pessimistic.

A knock on her door brought Carly back to reality.

"Carly, are you ready for school tomorrow?"

"Yeah mom!"

She opened her eyes to look at the time. 10:00 pm. Jet lag hadn't been the kindest to her. She sighed. Turning off her stereo she turned the other way and fell asleep.


Come back to Texas
It's just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyways.

It's time to get up already?!, Carly thought as her arm reached out to turn off her alarm. It was a special clock that her friend's had given her as part of their "care package". The special Ohio (Come Back to Texas) alarm was only one of the many things her friends had bought for her. A stuffed animal armadillo, jalapeno jelly bellies, Astros jersey, and cowboy hat were just a few. There were even some that had nothing to do with Texas, like a Hannah Montana CD, Twilight, and blue nail polish. But her favorite item was a Texas shaped picture frame with them all acting silly inside.

As she got out of bed she wondered what she was going to wear today. Scanning her already messy room she saw her uniform. Carly still wasn't accustomed to the fact that most schools here had a uniform. Well, she thought, at least I can still wear my jewelry. And the uniform isn't too bad. So she washed her face and brushed her teeth, straightened her hair, tossed on the uniform, and put on her eyeliner and lip gloss. Finally she was almost ready except for one thing. Her jewelry. Carly's jewelry expressed who she was, and how she's feeling. The jewelry is her. She decided on a simple silver set of bracelets each with a different design, and a silver necklace with a charm on it. She was good to go.

As she went downstairs her mom looked up. "Carly, do you know what time it is? You're going to be late at this speed. Carly looked at the clock. Oh crap, she thought as she grabbed her book bag and a bagel and went out the door. She mentally kicked herself for not waking up earlier.


By the time she arrived at the school Carly was not a happy camper. She made it on time all right, but in the process she skipped her morning coffee. And Carly without coffee made her go out of whack. It most definitely wasn't her best day ever. She wondered what her friends back home were doing. It was supposed to be the first day of high school and she knew that they were probably having a blast getting lost in the school. She shook her head. This wasn't the time to daydream about what might've happened. It was a time to make whatever she wanted happen.

Carly sighed. Why was it that all the halls looked the same? Couldn't they paint one hall pink and the other yellow? Deep inside she knew they couldn't, it would make the school look weird and the colors clashed like crazy. But seriously, where was the principal's office? At this rate, it wouldn't matter if she had been early. She knew that she should have taken her mom's offer to drive her to school, but she was so used to walking. Anyways, she had figured, it wouldn't be too hard to navigate. This was the last time that she'd trust herself on something like this.

It wasn't supposed to be that hard to find it. She even had a map of the school! She had followed it perfectly, as far as she knew she didn't have any trouble reading maps... And yet, when it said to turn left there was no left hallway to turn! She stared at the map again, willing it to suddenly help her. And as she peered at it, she realized something. The map was turned the wrong way! How stupid could she get? It wasn't that hard to mess up on, no matter how dumb it sounded. She thought she had come through the back entrance when really she had come through the side! But really, it wasn't Carly's fault, it was the coffee's.

Finally she found the principal's office. She knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in."

Carly opened the door and walked in. "Um, hi, I'm a new transfer student. My name is Carly McKeever. I need my new schedule."

"Oh, of course. Let me find it for you Miss McKeever." The principal searched through his messy pile of paperwork. Most people would have cringed at the sight of the office, seemingly covered from end to end. But Carly's room was far worse.

"Here you go." He handed Carly a sheet. How in the world he was able to find her sheet so fast will remain a mystery. "Do you need me to show you to your class?"

"No, it's ok, thank you for asking though. Um, I guess I'll be going now." She said and turned around, opening the door and walking out.

She knew the principal meant good, but she didn't like the idea of standing out so much. At her old school, she did stand out a lot, but in a totally different way. She stood out as the happy go lucky, friendly person. She didn't want to stand out as the new girl. She chuckled. That was sort of ironic, since everyone here was new. Sooner or later they were all going to leave. People here came and went, she wasn't any different. But she knew going in with the attitude that she would soon leave and never see them again would not help her any. She smiled. She was just going to be Carly, the Carly that everyone back home knew and either loved or didn't love.


A knock on the door woke up the majority of the students in the class, although some didn't bother to look up. In walked a American girl. There really wasn't anything extraordinary about her looks. But the way she carried herself made her stand out. You could see that she was, albit nervous, sure of herself and who she was. Carrying herself with pride, you still didn't feel intimidated by her.

She purposefully walked over to the teacher and handed her a piece of paper she was holding. The teacher cleared her throat. "Class, settle down."

The class kept mildly talking, it wasn't as if they would get in trouble. The teacher tried once more to no avail. Carly could tell she was beginning to get mad. The teacher tried again.

"Class, please settle down."

That was the last straw. The teacher was in a bad mood today, and her students weren't listening to her.

"CLASS! SETTLE DOWN!"

All the students instantly stopped talking.

"Just because you aren't in a Japanese school doesn't mean that you can disrespect me. I'm sure your counterparts never talk over the teacher."

Carly watched as the teacher scanned the class as if daring someone to speak against her. "Ok now, we have a new student. Her name is Carla McKeever. Why don't you say something to the class."

Some of the kids groaned. Not another student, just as one leaves another comes. Would the seating chart ever remain the same?

Carly cleared her throat. "Hey!" Carly threw her arms out in a silly, "yes it is me, yes I'll sign your autograph" pose. "I'm Carly, duh. I'm from Texas, the land of cowboys and western movies." Saying that, she laughed.

"My mom got a business transfer here for a year which is why we moved." She paused for a second, contemplating what to say next.

"I guess I like to shop, play volleyball, and talk! My sign name is my hand 'talking'. And, yeah, that's about all."

A few of the students were now intriuged. This girl seemed quite outgoing and happy-go-lucky. Maybe she wouldn't be too bad after all. Well, no one could be as bad as Emily, the girl who sucked her nose. At least that's what they thought.

"Ok then Carly, you can sit in the empty seat over there." The teacher pointed over to a seat near the window. It wasn't in the back, but it wasn't in the front.

Carly nodded and walked over to her new seat. As she slid into the seat, the girl in front of her turned around.

"Hi," she whispered.

Carly took in her features. The girl was Asian with black hair going just below the shoulders. Her hair naturally framed her face prettily. She wasn't wearing any glassses and her eyes were brown. She had a little bit of acne on her forehead, barely noticable at all unless you looked closely. Overall she seemed fairly nice. And no, Carly wasn't just basing it on looks.

"My name is Tiffany." She smiled happily.

"Oh, my name is Carly, but I guess you already know that." Carly laughed.

"Yeah, I did." Tiffany's smile seemed to curve more upward as she let out what most would call a giggle, but not an annoying one.

Hearing a disruption in class the teacher turned around.

"Please be quiet class." She pointedly looked at Tiffany and Carly.

Tiffany quickly turned around and got back to work. Carly also started taking notes and looked at the board. Just great, she thought, the day just had to start with math. She sighed, no matter where she went she just couldn't escape it.


Finally the bell rang, symbolizing a break in class. Some people drifted out of the classroom and others got together in little groups. Carly was somewhat unsure of where to go, so she just started to talk to Tiffany.

"Hey Tiffany, why are you here?"

Tiffany looked up from her book she was reading. "Oh, to broaden my horizons or something like that. At least, that's what my parents claim."

"That sounds... nice." It also sounded quite crazy.

"Not really, although I do get my mangas and animes." Tiffany looked thoughtful. "But what can I do about my parents?" She shrugged.

"Run away from home and... No, I'm just kidding you." Carly waved her hands in front of Tiffany in a dismissing manner.

Tiffany laughed. "Yeah. Like I'd do that."

"Of course you would! Come on, I know everything you think! I'm psychic like that!"

"Right..."

They looked at each other for a few seconds and then just started laughing. It wasn't the joke as much so as the light-heartedness of the conversation. Carly smiled. Japan was turning out pretty darn good after all.

Suddenly someone jumped onto Tiffany's back.

"Hey Tiffo! Whatcha doing?"

This girl was also Asian with medium black hair in a ponytail. She wasn't wearing glasses either and her brown eyes suited her face. She seemed happy and hyper.

"Hi Christy. This is Carly! Carly, this is Christy."

Christy dislodged herself from Tiffany's neck and peered at Carly.

"Hi, I'm Christy!" She stuck out her hand.

"Hey Christy, I'm Carly." She grabbed Christy's hand and shook it.

"Owww... Your grip is tight."

"Oh, sorry! I play volleyball and basketball, so yeah, I'm use to gripping things sort of tight."

"So? I play basketball too."

"Well you don't play volleyball though."

"How does that matter?"

"It matters a lot!"

During their little "arguement", Carly and Christy had gotten closer so that their faces were close.

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes it does!"

Saying that, Carly playfully pushed Christy.

"What was that for?"

"Oh, you wanna fight?"

They stared at each other and then cracked up.

"This... is... so totally... pointless!" Christy was laughing really hard.

Tiffany laughed. "Yeah, you two's arguement was pointless."

"But it was fun." Carly pointed out.

"Says who, Carly?"

"Says you, Christy."

"No I didn't!"

And with that they started another fake arguement on pointless things.


Note to Self: Ok, well this is my first fan fic… That I'm actually posting since I think it's ok. (Watch like all these people throw tomatoes at me since it's so bad!). Actually this isn't my first chapter. Well, it is, but it's not done. I just want to get input into whether this story is ok or not. I know that you really haven't learned much about my OC, but let me assure you I already know her personality and it's not a Mary Sue. I mean the character is based off someone I know… So that would be saying she's a Mary Sue! xD So please tell me if you think this story is good or bad or whatnot. I don't want to get too far into it and post it and everyone think it's awful!!! So anyways, I'm also opening to pairings for my OC since nothing's really decided yet (I do have someone in mind though!). So yeah, please review!!! No flames, but constructive criticism is allowed. And if you don't like OC's then don't read… (Note to Self: It's a little too late to tell them that.) (Note to Self: Leave the job of writing stories to someone else.)