==Dirk's POV==

Plop.

The box labeled in sloppy letters as 'Kitchen" was dropped onto the floor, alongside the others of its kind. I stretched my back for a moment, relishing in the lack of anything heavy in my arms.

I looked around the dwelling that my brother and I had just moved into. It was nothing special, really. Just a small, sparsely furnished house with a tiny livingroom, cramped kitchen, bathroom, diningroom, and an upstairs that barely held the two bedrooms. We'd have to decide on those soon.

At that moment, my fifteen-year-old brother, Dave strode in hoisting the last box in his arms. "Hey, Bro, what all are we unpacking tonight?" He asked, depositing the box onto the heap of others.

I looked at the clock, which read eleven forty-three. We had arrived there behind shcedule. "Uh...I guess just what you need for tonight and in the morning. We've got to get to school tomorrow." He nodded in response and shuffled some boxes around before pulling out one labeled "Dave's Room." He headed up the stairs while I grabbed my own box.

Tomorrow was Dave's first day at the new school as a Sophmore, and mine as a Senior. Even though I was only eighteen at the time, I was Dave's legal guardian. Our parents had been gone since I was eight, and we'd been staying with our grandfather for the past few years. Unfortunately, he'd recently passed away, and since I was eighteen now, with no other relatives that were older than me, I was the only one left to watch over him. So, I moved us out to Washington, all the way from Texas, as a way of escaping everything, and hopefully to move on with our lives to the best of our ability. Sure, it was difficult to leave behind, but our past would do nothing but drag us down there. So what choice did we really have? Besides, I'd only really had Callie, Calib, and Roxy, -who technically didn't count as a friend, considering she was my cousin- and I'd only ever seen Dave bring home Rose -Also our cousin- and Jade. And we could easily keep in touch with them online. Maybe this would be our chance to branch out and make new friends. At least, I hoped so.

I hopped up the stairs with my box and headed into the room that Dave hadn't claimed. It took less than an hour to get my things unpacked and head back downstairs. I assumed Dave was already asleep by now, and my suspicions were confirmed when he didn't come down to help me unpack the kitchen supplies.

In all honesty, we'd probably just grab some McDonalds for breakfast in the morning, since neither of us were exactly gormet chefs, -and that was putting it nicely- but maybe I just needed something to do to make myself tired. I was jittery from the exitement of the move, and I needed to get some sleep so I didn't fall asleep in my classes, so I guess working was my best bet.

And sure enough, the task wore me out more quickly than I's thought it would, showing just how bone tired I really was from the move and the emotions from everything. And soon I found myself cutting off the lights and heading upstairs.

I stripped myself out of my shirt, pants, socks, and shades, and slipped under the covers in my boxers. I set the shades on the bedside table and shut off the lamp, falling asleep shortly after.

Sharp, obnoxious beeping from my alarm clock tore me from my rest the following morning. I sat up groggily and smacked the button in irritation, -mornings weren't exactly my thing- squeezing my eyes shut against the harsh light flowing in through the curtainless window. I mentally reminded myself to put that up later.

I retireved my shades from the end table and slid them on before swinging my door open and trotting down the stairs to find Dave already in the kitchen, eating creal at the counter. "We have a dining room, you know." I said. He looked up at me and scowled.

"Bro. We're supposed to be starting over in this place, right?"

I gave him a perplexed expression. "Yeah, little man, of course. Why are ya' asking?"

He frowned further. "Well, can't we start over with pants? Or a shirt?"

I almost burst out laughing, but stopped myself. "Dave. Why should I be required to wear pants in my own house?"

He went silent after that. I laughed inwardly and grabbed some things for a shower along with some clothes from my room. My shower was quick, and soon I was throwing my clothes on and cleaning the fog off the mirror to fix my hair into its usual spiked fashion.

Once I was satisfied with my appearance, I walked out to the door, slipped my coat and shoes on, shoved my hat on my head and grabbed my bag and car keys.

"Dave! You ready to go, little man? I've still got to get some food." I called up to him.

"Yeah!" He yelled back, skipping down the stairs moments later with his bag slung over his shoulder. We headed out the door, cold winter air nipping at us, and slid into my truck.

I started it up and fastened my safety belt, checking to make sure Dave had done the same, and pulled out of the driveway.

It was about a ten minute drive to McDonalds -where I got a McMuffin- and another five to get to the high school.

I finished my food as I pulled into a parking space. Dave hopped out as I cut off the ignition. "See ya, Bro." He said, closing the door and taking without waiting for a response.

I sighed, muttering a soft "later," and slid out of the truck, locking it behind me as I walked toward the school.

After signing the final forms -I had enrolled us over the phone- in person, I grabbed my schedule and maneuvered skillfully through the flocks of students to my homeroom class. I would only be in that class for about ten minutes.

And what a long ten minutes it was. Of course, I wasn't suprised by the staring and the whispering. Obviously people would stare. I was a new kid with pointy, anime shades, not to mention the fact that I was as pale as a ghost. But what did suprise me was that someone decided to talk to me.

"Oh, don't mind them. They're just staring 'cause you're new, is all." A stout, slightly rounded girl with glasses and bucked teeth smiled at me. I nodded in response, not exactly sure what else to say.

"So what's your name?" She pressed, resting her cheek in her hand, head tilted to the side in curiousity.

"Dirk Strider." I replied.

She smiled warmly. "Jane Crocker. Nice to meet you, Dirk." I nodded again, deciding mentally to be less antisocial. I wanted to make more friends, after all. Besides, she seemed nice enough.

"Nice to meet you, too."

Our school had an A-Day-B-Day schedule, and since today was an A day, my first class was Government with Mr. Radford.

I ghosted through the halls quickly, reaching the class within two minutes, and leaving myself about three to grab a seat. I stopped myself from immediately claiming a seat in the back of the class. I wouldn't become an outcast again. That's not was this move was about. So I slid into a desk to the side of the room, taking my hat off and slipping it into my bag.

Slowly, more students filtered into the room, filling empty seats and shooting glances at me. A few girls even giggled.

When the bell rang, Mr. Radford began roll-call. Eventually, he reached my name, calling it out and glancing up at me with a frown. "Strider, please remove your sunglasses while in class." There was a small murmur of giggles through the class. I only grimaced back at the middle-aged man. "I can't."

His expression melted into one of slight annoyance. "And why is that, Strider?" More giggle from the class. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, far from happy about this conversation taking place in a class full of people. My eyes were not a topic to be brought up.

"It's for medical reasons." I explained, hoping the teacher would drop the issue. But of course he didn't.

"Such as?"

I sighed. "No disrespect intended or anything, but you should have recieved an email about this."

He paused for a moment before going to his computer, presumably checking his email. His eyes scanned the screen for a few moments before he stood up staraight, blinking at me. "Right...sorry, my mistake. I should have checked my email during homeroom."

The room rippled with whispers and murmurs, and nearly everyone spared at least one glance at me. But soon, the teacher settled them down and class began. I frowned to myself, shifting akwardly in my seat. I just hoped there would be no more scenes like this for the remainder of the school day.

Fortunately, there weren't, much to my relief. The rest of the school day flew by relatively eventless. At the end of the day, I stepped out into the icey outside world, snow dancing lazily down from the sky, and quickened my pace when I spotted Dave already at the truck.

I unlocked it as I walked, and by the time I reached the vehicle, Dave was already seated and buckled in. He looked over at me as I opened the door. "Hurry up and turn the heater on, Bro. It's freezing."

I slid into the seat and thumped him on the back of the head, getting an "Ow! What was that for?" in response.

"Hush your whiney little ass up and be patient." I retorted, pulling the door shut and turning the key in the ignition. "It's only fifteen minutes." He only mumbled as I clicked my safety belt into place and switched the heat on, putting it on the lowest setting until it warmed up. I gave him a look. "Happy?"

"I will be when it warms up."

I rolled my eyes, its effect lost behind the shades, and pulled out of the parking space. He was such a stubborn little fuck, but I loved him so much, no matter how much he irritated me. Which was quite a lot.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway -the snow coming down harder now- and entered the house, we began unpacking. It took us a few hours to finish, and by that time it was nine fifteen. We decided to reward ourselves by going out for fast food. Snow was in sheets now as we made our way to Burger King, making the decision to just eat inside. No need to head out into the snow again just yet.

After waiting in line for a few minutes in a short line, I paid for our food and we located a booth. I had just settled down and tore into a glorious burger, when a familiar voice interupted me.

"Oh, Dirk!" Jane Crocker beamed, skipping merrily towards us, and I waved at her. "Hey. Jane, right?" I offered, hoping I had pinned the right name with her face. I was fairly certain that was the correct name.

"Why, yes. That's right." She confirmed, and shifted her cheerful gaze to Dave. "And who is this? Is he your brother? Why, he looks like he could be your twin." I shook my head. "No, we're not twins. He's just my younger brother." I glanced at him. He looked uncomfortable, of course, no one but me would ever be able to tell but me. I was the only one who picked up on his slight grimace, the tiny tapping of his shoe under the table, the way he went silent whereas with friends he never shut up. But this was how he always was with new people. He had a tendency to immediately shy away from any reaching hand. And he wasn't the only one. I had the same problem. New friends were not my forte. But this was a new beginning for both of us, and isolation was absolutely unacceptable. So I made a tiny gesture with my head, signaling for him to introduce himself. He gave me a small nod to show he understood, and moved his gaze to Jane. "Dave Strider. Nice to meet you."

Jane smiled warmly. "Jane Crocker. Pleasure to meet you, too, Dave." She then turned back to me. "Hey, wanna eat together? I'm here with a friend of mine and I saw you. So I figured, hey, more the merrier, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, sure. Move on over."

"Great!" She exclaimed happily, bouncing off and returning shortly with a young boy carrying a tray of food in one hand. The boy looked to be somewhere around my age with messy, raven black hair and deep, enchanting green eyes that stole my breath the moment my own eyes found them. He adjusted his glasses with the hand that wasn't carrying the tray and looked at us. Jane took this opportunity to introduce him to us. "This is my friend, Jake English. Jake, this is Dave and Dirk Strider." She motioned to each of us in turn.

Jake smiled friendily. "Well, It's a pleasure to meet you both." I swear my heart skipped a beat when I heard his voice. It was a smooth, buttery voice with a British accent and God did it suit him. I wanted to hear more of it. "Why don't you two sit down?" I asked, scooting over towards the wall to make room for them. "Thank you." Jake grinned, sliding into the seat next to me, Jane across from him. Now that I really looked at him, he had a faint familiarity about him. I racked my brain for where I might have seen him, before I realized that he probably went to my school. He might have even been in a few of my classes today, but I didn't pay much attention.

"So Dave, Dirk, what do you think of the school so far?" Jake inquired, nibbling on a french fry, and we both turned to look at him. Dave responded first, to my suprise. "It's pretty cool. The people there are relatively nice, at least." Jake nodded and smiled. "Yes, most of the people at our school are quite friendly. Though there are a few bullies, I regret to say." Jane gave him a sympathetic expression that made me wonder if Jake was being bullied. Even though I had just met the guy, just the thought made me frown.

I took a bite of my burger as Jake shifted his head to look at me. "What about you, Dirk? How do you like the school?" I swallowed the mouthful of food and responded aftr a moment. "It's nice. Bigger than our last school. I almost got lost earlier."

Jake chuckled and sipped from his straw. "Don't worry, Dirk. You'll grow accustomed to it sooner than you might think." I flashed him a smile. "Thanks."

He nodded and Jane spoke up. "So where were you two before here?" I frowned. This was still a tender subject, considering everything that had happened there. But I responded nontheless. "Texas."

"Oh?" She continued. "How neat! What made you decide to move here? Did one of your parents get transfered here for a job or something?" That struck a nerve in both Dave and me. Of course she couldn't have known that our parents were dead, but it still hurt to think about them. Over the years, I had created an iron shell, and whenever someone mentioned them, it didn't effect me. But after our grandfather passed away, maybe that shell had cracked, leaving me exposed to being broken again. I exchanged a glance with Dave, who looked just as uncomfortable with this topic as I felt, and replied a bit more quietly than I had intended. "It just...seemed like a nice change of pace."

Jane seemed to understand that the issue should be dropped, because she moved on quickly. "Yes, well there's plenty to do here! There's a big mall, a lake, ice skating rinks, amusement parks, and plenty more to do." She rambled as I finished off the last of my burger and drained more of my drink. Suddenly, Jake's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he slid it out, inspecting the screen, and his face paled a bit. "Jake?" Jane looked at him, worry apparent in her expression.

"I-I have to go, guys." He stuttered. "Something's come up." He stood up without another word, exiting the booth and rushing through the resteraunt towards the door. Jane stood up after him, turning to us quickly. "Sorry, guys. See you in school tomorrow." We both nodded in confusion as she followed suit after Jake, leaving us with many questions. "Well that was..." Dave began, trailing off and watching Jane slip out the door. "Odd." I finished his sentence for him. "Yeah, that." He said, finishing his drink.

I thought for a moment before speaking again. "Is it just me...or was that Jake fellow cute as all fuck?" I asked, playing subconciously with the straw of my drink. Dave swallowed his drink and scoffed. "Bro, please. I really don't need to know about every boy crush that you develope."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not a boy crush. I just think he's a very nice and good looking guy, is all." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Right." He balled up the wrapper for his burger and tossed it onto the tray. "Just wait. I can already tell that you're gonna get a crush on him. It's only a matter of time before you start bringing him home to 'hang out'."

I reached across the table and smacked him on the head. "Shut up, Dave. Now, come on. Let's get home."

AN: Hey, guys, I'm back! I'm really super excited about this story. I decided I wanted to write it in a different style than Is That a Challenge? Also, I am planning to make this story longer than my last one. So, I'm probably not going to update all that often, since I'm kind of just writing it in my free time. But hopefully, it'll get updated frequently enough! Well, I hope you enjoy this story, guys!