Chapter 1
Introductions

"Ally. Wake up." I heard my mom shout from the living room of our new home.

"Please, give me another five minutes." I begged not opening my eyes.

"No. You don't want to be late on your first day of school, do you?" She rhetorically asked. First day at a new school without knowing anyone, yay. Note my sarcasm.

"I guess not." I responded.

"Then get up." My mom said and she left.

Today was my first day in a new school and it's not a school near the one I used to go. There's about three thousand kilometres separating them.

That's right. My parents decided to move from Miami to Québec City in Canada. I can't say I hate this place, because it's really pretty and the people I've met so far are really nice, but it's so far from everything I've always known and it's kind of destabilizing.

The weather is indescribable. It's not like Miami where it's mostly sunny and hot. Here, it's like all the seasons can happen in the same week. It can be really hot and sunny on Monday, a cold and rainy day on Tuesday, a snow day on Wednesday and a hot and sunny day again on Thursday. It's kind of confusing, but I got used to it.

I just need to have clothes for the four seasons in my closet. I heard winter here could be really cold and that there can be a lot of snow hence lots of accidents on the roads and falls on sidewalks. I heard that even if they are prepared, it might take too much time to salt the roads and the sidewalk and accidents happen because of that.

Honestly though, I can't wait to experience my first snow. I really want to build a snowman. I know it's a cliché, but it seems so cool. I've never been in the snow before and it always looks so beautiful in movies. It's really romantic and calming.

I've been here for a month and a half now. I spent almost all summer here. I explored a bit, but I mostly worked at my parents' store. They own a music store called Sonic Boom in the "Galeries de la Capitale," which is a huge shopping centre with rides in it. There's even an arena. I heard hockey was a really important sport here and that most of the little boys want to join a team. I guess it's the equivalent of football in the States.

So far, everything seems really nice and friendly except for one thing: I'm not really fluent in French. I manage to get myself understood and some Quebecers do speak English, so that helps me a lot, but I still need to learn French and French grammar is way more complicated than English grammar. I just wish I could become fluent instantly.

It's a good thing I'm going to an English school though. They have a couple of English schools throughout the province, so at least I can make friends I can actually understand.

Speaking of friends, I made one during the summer. Her name is Trish. I don't know if I can call her a good friend, but we get along fine. She's going to the same school I'm going, so I'm happy I'll know one person. She's really loud and eccentric, but she seems like an awesome person nevertheless.

I finally decided to get up from my bed to get dress. The school system is so different here. Basically, there's elementary school, that's kindergarten through sixth grade and then there's secondary school, which is pretty much like high school, but it's grade seven through grade eleven. They're not called grades, but secondary. I'm in secondary five, which is like grade eleven. It means it's my last year in high school here and then I'll be off to CEGEP. That's what you do before going to university. It sounds complicated, but it's not that much once you have to live it.

So, I picked up my clothes from my drawers. I want to look pretty, but not like I'm desperate. I'm going for an I-just-want-to-fit-in kind of look. I chose black skinny jeans and a black and white stripped t-shirt. I then walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Showers always calm me when I am nervous and I just love the feeling of hot water on my skin. When I was done, I accessorized a bit and put light makeup on. I'm not the kind of person that likes to wear loads of makeup. I do like it, but I want my look to be natural. Besides, makeup is so expensive that I'd rather spend my money on other things like clothes or entertainment.

I finally walked downstairs and prepared some toast for my breakfast. I put peanut butter and jelly on it. I ate both of my toasts under a minute and then grabbed an apple. I ate it and walked back to my room.

I took my school bag and made sure I had everything I needed in it. The structure of a day is so different here, so I don't need as much school supplies in one day. School starts at 9:35 a.m. and ends at 4:05 p.m. There are four periods per day, five if you add lunch. I do not have the same classes every day, which is unusual for me. It's a nine-day cycle thing. When nine days have passed, the cycle starts over. It's weird, but I'll get used to it. The good thing is that I don't have P.E. every day.

I went to say goodbye to my parents. They kept telling me to be careful and to make friends. Yeah, like it's easy for me to make friends. I had one friend back in Florida named Piper. She's really nice and I really miss her. I try to talk to her as often as I can. I might go to Miami during Christmas break to see her and my family and I am really excited about that.

So, I walked outside and stood at the end of our driveway. We have a really simple house, two stories and a basement, but it is really pretty. My room is pretty big and I have my own balcony. The view from it is just wonderful. I can see the St-Lawrence River flow from it and it's behind the house, so I'm not disturbed by people walking in the street.

Oh yeah, back to waiting. My mom told me the school bus would pick me up right in front of the house. She said it's a big yellowish bus. Back in Miami, I used to walk to school, so that is also new to me.

It finally arrived and I walked on board. It was really simple and plain. It was the basics to get us to school.

There were children that were eleven or twelve sitting in the front and then there were people my age sitting in the back. I sat at the back of the bus alone in the only empty bench I could find. I didn't know anyone and I knew Trish walked to school, so I was destined to ride the bus alone. The children at the front were speaking really loudly, and it was really annoying.

Then, right before the driver started to drive again, a blond teenage boy got in. He sat in the last seat that was empty and he had headphones on.

I couldn't help but be mesmerized by his movements. I looked at every single one of his features. He was dead gorgeous. He had perfect messy blond hair that was swept to the side and seemed to have quite the muscular body. He looked perfect. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. I must say, that style was really working for him. He had sad-looking eyes though. Even though their hazelnut colour was just perfect, they weren't full of joy. I can't imagine how beautiful they'd be if they were full of joy.

Then, he looked my way and I looked away. He seemed annoyed by something. I just got caught staring at him. I blushed a bit while looking away since I was literally checking him out.

"Câlice, faut-il que je te donne ma photo ? " (Do I need to fucking give you my picture?) He asked looking at me. Oh gosh. What do I say? I can't really speak French so I have no idea what he's just said.

"What?" I asked.

"I said stop fucking looking at me." He spat and he looked away. It was hard to take him really seriously, because he had a huge French Canadian accent which is both funny and cute.

How charming… That was a nice first impression. What's with the cussing? That's not very attractive.

I glanced at him once in a while, and he was now talking on the phone. He was speaking French, so I didn't really understand what he was saying, but he looked both angry and irritated.

It didn't suit him. I'm sure a genuine smile would look better on him like it does on most people. Sometimes, I wish people could let go of their anger and enjoy life. If we spend time being negative all the time, we are never going to be happy. That's why I chose to see the good in everything even if I sometimes wished I stayed in Florida.

Then, I felt the bus stop and everyone started to get up and exited the bus.

I did the same.

I walked inside the school and searched for my locker. I got my schedule and my locker number last Friday. I must say, this school is kind of big and I didn't know where I was going.

Then, somebody ran into me.

"Sorry." I said as I saw Trish.

"Trish!" I exclaimed extremely happy to see her.

"Ally!" She said. "I'm happy to see you."

"Me too." I said excitedly.

"How was the end of your summer?" She asked me.

"It was fine. I helped my parents at the store a lot and I wrote a couple of songs." I said to her.

"That's nice. Wait, you write songs?" She gasped/

"Of course I do. It's one of my hobbies. I don't like showing them to people though. I'm always a bit scared about what they think." I explained. "How was the end of your summer?"

"It was good. I got fired from seven jobs." She said like she won a world record or something.

"In five days?" I asked a bit shocked.

"I know right? I should've gone for more." She said. Wait, what?

"What?" I asked confused and she chuckled.

"I hate working." She said.

"Don't get a job then." I said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"But my parents want me to." She said. Oh. That's why.

"Hey, maybe you could help me." I started to say. "I don't really know this place."

"Of course. I can show you around. We'll go see where your locker is?" She asked.

"Good." I responded.

She walked me there and I opened it. I put my bag in it and only took a binder, a notebook and my pencil case with me.

"Show me your schedule." She said.

"Okay." I said as I gave it to her.

"We have maths, English, French, chemistry, physics and P.E. together." She said.

"Cool. So, that means we have first and third period together." I said. It was nice to have someone I know with me in my first class ever in Québec.

We walked to the classroom and sat in the back of it. It slowly started to get full with students and the teacher finally walked in.

"Bonjour tout le monde. Je suis M. Desrochers et je serai votre enseignant de français pour l'année." (Good day everybody. I am M. Desrochers and I'll be your French teacher for the year.) He said. Great, I forgot it was French class. How pleasant.

He then explained the rules in English to make sure we understood and he explained what we were going to do in this class during the year. That lasted for twenty minutes, and then someone opened the door of the classroom.

"M. Moon. Late on your first class of the year. Why am I not surprised?" The teacher said irritated.

It was him. It was the guy that cussed at me in the bus.

"Sorry." He said and he looked like he didn't really mean it.

"Just go sit down." The teacher demanded exasperated.

The only empty seat was next to me. Great. I'll just end up being cussed at again and I know I will, because I can't take my eyes of him. He seems so mysterious.

I continued listening to the teacher, but I watched him with the corner of my eyes so he wouldn't notice.

"Fuck, I thought I told you to stop looking at me." He whispered to me. I thought I was subtle.

"I'm not doing anything wrong. Calm down." I whispered-yelled to him.

"Yes, you're fucking annoying me." He said.

"Whatever." I said and I looked away.

He sure is a really nice fellow. Really, he's an ass, but he was somehow mesmerizing.

He spent the whole period on his phone or dozing off. He seems like an amazing student. Note the sarcasm.

Finally, the bell rang and we had a fifteen-minute break. Trish and I sat in the cafeteria and talked about the class. She asked me about my understanding of the French language and what I think of this school so far. Then, a redhead sat next to Trish.

"Really?" She said annoyed while looking at him.

"It's good to see you too, Trish." The boy said.

"Hi." I shyly said to him.

"That's Dez, but don't listen to him. He's a dimwit." She said.

"I'm Ally." I said looking at him and ignoring Trish's mean comment about the guy.

"Are you new here?" He asked me.

"Yes, I moved here from Miami." I said.

"Cool. I went there once." He said. "I love the beaches there."

"They are amazing. I love them too." I said.

"What brings you to this place?" He asked.

"My parents decided that they needed changes and they opened a store in the Galeries de la Capitale." I said and they laughed.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Your accent." Trish said. "It's so cute."

"At least I'm trying." I said a bit offended.

"Don't worry, you'll handle the French language in no time." She said.

The bell rang indicating I needed to get to class.

Well, I need to get to my next class.

It was history and it was pretty boring. I did like the change though. I am tired of hearing about American history and Canadian history was refreshing. The teacher was really boring though. Neither Trish nor Dez were in that class, so I ended up sitting alone.

The bell rang indicating the end of the period.

Yes, class was over.

I joined Trish and Dez at the cafeteria and they were arguing.

"I've told you before, unicorns do not exist." She said loudly.

"Yes, they do, I've seen one when I was in Australia." He said.

"You were hallucinating." She responded.

"But London Tipton said they are living in Australia." Dez complained.

"What?" Trish rolled her eyes. "She's a fictional character from a show and she was meant to be stupid. Do you seriously believe her?"

"Hey guys." I said, but they continued arguing.

"HEY GUYS." I said a lot louder. They both stopped talking.

"Hey Ally." They both said at the same time.

We were eating lunch and chatting about anything when I saw that mop of blond hair make its way through the cafeteria and sit down at an empty table. He was sitting alone. A part of me felt bad for him, but another part of me reminded me that he was a complete asshole and that it was normal for him to be alone since he insulted everyone.

"What's his deal?" I asked Trish and Dez looking in his direction.

"Who?" Trish asked.

"The blond guy sitting alone over there." I said.

"That's Austin Moon." Dez said. "He's bad news."

"Why?" I asked not surprised by her comment.

"He skips classes, arrives late, cusses a lot, gets into fights and he doesn't talk to anyone except for vital things. He's a loner." Trish explained.

"Maybe there is a reason for his actions?" I suggested. "People that are like that tend to have a reason for it."

"Don't try to get to know him." Trish said.

"You'll just get hurt." Dez added.

"He's kind of hot." I said smiling. "And being a loner doesn't make you a bad person."

"Don't fall for his charm." Trish said. "I heard that he only uses girls to have sex with them."

"Okay…" I said a bit disappointed. I somehow really hoped he wasn't all that bad.

"I also heard that he was involved with the police and that he had a police record for stealing and vandalizing." Trish explained.

"That's not good." I responded. "Does he have any friends?" I asked.

"No. No one wants to be friends with a criminal." She said.

"Come on. Maybe those rumours aren't even true." I said.

"No one knows. He pushes away everyone who tries to talk to him." Trish said.

"Some people say that it was more than stealing and vandalized. Some say that he put people's lives in danger." Trish said.

"Do you mean like kill someone?" I asked.

"No, but he got into a couple of fights last year and he always knocked the person unconscious." Trish explained.

"Do you believe these rumours?" I asked.

"No one said otherwise, so I don't know." She said. "Don't get close to him though. I don't want him to hurt you."

Even with Trish's warnings, I still felt drawn to him. I feel like he's not the guy he seems. I feel like there's more to him than anger and loneliness.

People don't act like that unless they were traumatized by something or something bad happen to them.

Whatever it was, I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to get to know him.

Even if my breathing annoys him.

He's a mystery I want to solve.

Thank you all so much for reading, the reviews, the follows and the favorites. It all means so much to me and you guys are all so awesome! Peace out :)

Here is the sneak peek for the next chapter:

"By the way honey, we have a dinner tomorrow night." I heard my mom shout.

"Where?" I asked.

"The neighbors, they invited us to welcome us." She said and I bet she was smiling. She just loves those kinds of dinners. It's always nice to meet the neighbours, but I don't really talk during those dinners since there isn't anyone my age most of the time.

"Great." I said even if I didn't exactly mean it.

"I heard they have a son that's about your age. You'll have someone to talk to. I heard he even goes to the same school as you." She cheerily said and I smiled slightly.