Ok guys. I had a sudden urge to write this one, but I've never written a romance before. I know, the horror of it. It might be slow burn, it might not, I'm not sure. I know that it's a funny spelling, but you pronounce her name Tea-ah-lu Ree-es. Anywho, enjoy my readers, and let me know what you think. (And don't tell my teachers because I'm meant to be doing homework but chose this instead) :)

As she walked along Taroth Avenue, Tiala Ries pondered… nothing in particular. She often did this on her way to and from school because this was one of the few times that she truly was by herself. She would often dream of being far away, in one of her books. She loved reading and was officially the class dictionary come thesaurus come calculator. In other words, she was the geek. Not that she minded, she got more respect than most for her intelligence, but it would be nice to be one of the cool girls for once, just to see what it felt like.

They were always being the centre of attention with their stories about their latest this or that. Whether it was the latest phone, or the latest date they went on with their latest boyfriend, the gossip always gathered a crowd. Tiala herself was about as likely to get a boyfriend as men were to go to mars. In other words, it would probably happen someday, not it the imminent future. She had to admit that she was envious of them, she would love to have someone hold her close and kiss her and tell her that they would always be there for her. What she would have loved more than anything though, was for one of her favourite characters to be that someone.

She suddenly realised that she had arrived at school. How she knew: the quad broke out with cries of "Tell us what imaginary numbers are Tia!"," Tell us the adjectival order Tia!", "Tell us about nuclear fission in neutron stars Tia!". She could usually brush off the jeering quite easily, but there were always those few that got under her skin; "Still not got any friends Tia?", "Still no boyfriend Tia?", "You gonna go sit in the cage on the teacher's desk Tia? Go on. Be a good little teacher's pet.". As always, it was the 'popular kids' who shouted the latter. They were just jealous that they were in the bottom set for nearly everything while she was top for absolutely everything. She continued walking.

She went to her form room (D12) where her friend Harrah was waiting for her, swinging her legs off the table. "Well, if it isn't little miss clever-clogs, come to show us and our abilities up again." She joked. Harrah always knew how to cheer her best friend up. The had only known each other for a few months but they had created a really strong bond in that time. They were going camping after school in the woods out the back and Tiala spotted her friend's equipment piled up in a corner.

"Somebody's organised." She said.

"Well one of us needs to be."

"True, true."

They laughed for a moment and then saw their class streaming towards the door from down the corridor and quickly took their seats. Harrah took out her book (The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien- their class book), but Tiala didn't. She was reading the lord of the rings and the Silmarillion simultaneously and was worried that she would be teased for it by her class, they were, after all, two of the most geeky books out there that were suitable for twelve-nearly thirteen-year old girls. She waited for her class to settle down and then tried to take her books out without drawing any attention to herself. Of course, all of her class instantly turned their heads towards her when they saw her draw out the two-and-a-half-inch thick novel.

Gaby was the first to start laughing. She pointed at the book; "Honestly NERD, what are you reading? The complete and detailed history of anything and everything that's ever happened?" she laughed at her own wittiness.

"No!" Tiala shot back defensively. "It's called the lord of the rings and it is the sequel to the hobbit. Not that you would know, not being able to read anything more complex than the rainbow fairies. (No disrespect to the rainbow fairies)" Several 'ooh, burn's an 'Ouch's were heard from around the class room.

"I-" Gaby spluttered "I CAN read more than those books! I'm just not so sad that I have to read to connect with my friends."

"And in order to even ATTEMP to insult me, I first have to value you opinion. Therefore by extension, you shall never be able to even minorly insult me you uneducated peanut." It was a lame insult and she knew it, but she just couldn't think of anything better at that point. Gaby tried at one of the 'cool' comebacks.

"Yeah? Well, your Momma's so fat, when she died, she broke the stair way to heaven."

Mistake made. Tiala had the perfect comeback for that insult but hadn't had a chance to use it before then. "Oh yeah? At least mine WENT to heaven."

Gaby froze in her tracks, mouth wide open like a fish out of water. She closed it and then opened it again, closed it and opened it and then just shut it. Tiala mock curtsied and took her seat again. She picked her book back up, but not before saying; "If anyone else feels the urge to pick a fight with me again, please let me know and I will happily listen to you and then make you wish that you'd never been born."

The rest of the form sat there in complete silence, awed at the heated exchange that they had just seen between assertive and imposing Gaby and quiet, nerdy Tiala. Tiala hardly ever spoke or got worked up about anything, so her outburst had been completely unexpected; and to GABY of all people.

Just then, the door swung open again and their form tutor, Ms. Stone stepped in. She looked around, surprised to see all of her class's faces staring at her, completely deadpan. All bar… "Tiala".

The girl in question looked up at her teacher. "Sorry Miss, I didn't realise that you had come in, I was engrossed in my book." She carefully inserted her bookmark and put it back in her bag.

"Ok then class…" Ms. Stone said. They were all staring at Tiala with something close to reverence on their faces. 'She must have something to do with their odd behaviour.' She thought. Her class never acted like this. They were usually all so loud and brash. Not that she minded of course… "I'm going to start the register. Toby?"
"Yes Miss."
"Kara?"
"Yes Miss."
"Orla?"
"Yes Miss."

And so on and so forth. All throughout the register, no one made a sound. It was eerie, like being in a grave yard. Finally, it all got too much for her when even after she had finish the register they all just sat there in rigid silence. "Ok class, I don't know why you're all acting like this, but I would now like you to stop. Can anyone please explain why you are all acting so oddly this morning." No one spoke but all eyes turned to Tiala. Ms. Stone continued, "Tiala, why is everyone acting so oddly?"

"Because I showed Gaby that I wasn't to be messed with, Miss." She answered quite plaintively.

"And how did you do that Tiala?"

"I retaliated to her insults Miss."

Ms. Stone sighed. "Tiala, we do not talk back rudely to peo-"

"I thought we were meant to stand up to bullies Miss?"

"You are but-"

"Well no one else was going to help me and I had finally had enough of her taunting me. I stuck up for MYSELF Miss. That has shocked the class because for a year and a half now, they have thought me an easy target; and I proved them wrong. They all laugh at me, behind my back and to my face. I'm not stupid, I do know. I apologise fully if I was meant to let myself be put down by and abusive jerk Miss. Do you think that I should apologise?"

Her teacher was silent, along with her entire class.

"I thought as much. Now, I believe that was the bell so I best be going. Thank you all for listening to me." And with that she stood up, tucked her chair in and walked out of the classroom.

OK guys! This may be a kind of on/off story when it comes to updating but I'll do my best. I hope that you all liked that. I'll try and get her to middle earth before December. Please tell me if you think that Tiala is TOO sassy. Lemme know whacha all think! Thanks for reading.