It was a cold rainy night in Beacon Hills as Nora glued the last picture her family had taken in San Francisco into a photo book. Nora had taken the picture of her family at Baker's Beach near the golden gate bridge while they were having a picnic. Their last meal in San Francisco before moving to Beacon Hills. She missed it already. The beaches, the sights and even the tourists. Nothing screamed exciting in Beacon Hills to Nora. Just homely, simple and green. Just houses surrounded by lots of tree's.

Her mother didn't seem to like it either, giving their surroundings an unimpressed glance when they had unpacked the moving truck. Her sister, Allison, had shown more interest in their new town and had told Nora they would be looking around town on the weekend. And she hadn't had time to see how her dad had reacted to Beacon Hills because he had left for work as soon as they arrived in town. Nora didn't think it was very fair that her dad started work as soon they arrived. She thought he would at least stay behind and help unpack.

"He has a lot of work to catch up on." Mum had told them when the movers had left after everything was taken out of the truck.

Nora didn't understand how her dad, a legal firearms dealer and a private security consultant, had work to catch up on. Dad had always finished any work he at the precise time he had too. But when she had brought it up to her mum she had replied that there were people in Beacon Hills who liked to hunt and were eager to get dad advice about what weapons they needed.

Nora glanced over her shoulder as Allison walked into the bedroom with her arms full of plastic bags.

"Thank god I'm starving! What did you guys end up getting?" Nora asked. Before leaving the house, Allison had googled the takeaways in Beacon Hills. There weren't much just a few things like McDonalds, a few pizza places and a diner. Nora left it to the fussiest eaters in the family, mum and Allison to pick the food.

"Delicious pizza." Allison answered. She put down the plastic bag on the floor near Nora's bed and began taking the pizza boxes out. "And before you ask, I got your pepperoni pizza."

"I love you." Nora sighed happily as she sat down next to Allison on the ground. She picked up a slice of pizza and smiled as she bit into it. Nothing was better than stuffing your face with food after a day of unpacking belongings.

"I don't know if that was to the pizza or me." Allison chuckled as she bit into her own slice of pizza.

Nora paused for a second and shrugged.

"Both."

"Arsehole"

Nora just grinned at her sister's words as she continued to eat her pizza. They sat in silence for a few minutes eating their dinner before Allison spoke up breaking the silence.

"So, what do you think about Beacon Hills?"

"I don't know. I mean it's our first day and we haven't really seen it properly. I'll decide how I like it when I go to school tomorrow. You know if I hate my new school or not." Nora half-heartedly joked. There was a chance that she may not like her new school as much as she had in San Francisco. No matter how many times she moved she was always nervous about going to a new school.

"No way you can hate school. You always love it. You're just nervous about making new friends." Allison said without any doubt in her voice. She was right. Nora hated meeting new people. She was always felt awkward around new surroundings and strangers.

"Okay so if I make good friends I'm probably going to like it here. What about you? You haven't really spoken about moving towns again." Nora questioned.

"I'm okay with moving again. I mean in a couple more years I'll be in college and I won't be going anywhere for awhile when that happens. I'm looking forward to that, staying in one place for more then one year." Allison replied looking up at the ceiling with a wistful smile.

Their leftover pizza was forgotten about as they both looked laid on the ground and stared up at the ceiling caught up in their own thoughts.

"I'll miss you when you go to college." Nora said softly. She didn't like the idea of her sister leaving for college and being left behind with mum and dad. She loved her parents but there were many things that they didn't do with her that Allison did. Like staying up late watching movies or baking food together.

"I'm not going anywhere now and even when I do we'll always be able to talk." Allison promised.

Nora hummed in agreement knowing without a doubt that Allison would keep that promise. An Argent always kept their promises.

Ever since Allison got her license she had been dropping Nora off at school expect for the first day. Dad always went out of his way to drop Nora off and sometimes when he had free time he would drop them both off at school and pick them up after school when it was finished.

"I don't mind if you went to work, dad. Allison could have just taken me to school." Nora told him. They were in the parking lot of the school and Nora's heart slightly began to race as she saw all the strangers around her.

"I'll always be here for your first day of school. Don't tell me your embarrassed of having your old dad dropping you off." Dad said smirking. Nora shook her head. Even with her dad's dark blonde hair beginning to grey at the edges and the wrinkles around his eyes he still looked young with his tall stature, thin build and the strong authority that he always maintained.

"Mum said you'll be pretty busy for a while. I didn't want to trouble you or anything." Nora explained.

"Your mum's right. I will be busy for a while especially since there was a body found last night, people have been interested in getting firearms to protect themselves, but I'll always be here if you need me." Dad said firmly.

Nora frowned grimly. Her dad's words had made her feel better, but they reminded her about the body she had read about on her phone this morning over breakfast.

"Do you think it was a wild animal that killed that girl?" Nora asked.

"Maybe. The police haven't given much details. But I'm not going to let people go around being unprotected and not feel safe in their own town. I'm not going have you and Allison feel unsafe here." Dad replied frowning as well. He hadn't been happy to hear about the body being found in the woods when Nora had read out the news story. He had even warned Allison and Nora not to go venturing around town by themselves for a while.

The bell rang signalling the start of the school day making Nora glance out the window anxiously. She turned around when she felt her dad touch her shoulder and saw him smiling at her, the conversation seemingly forgotten.

"You're going to do great." Dad reassured her.

"I'm not very little anymore. Next year is high school." Nora reminded him. At the end of the year she would be turning fifteen and would be able to go for her license. God she couldn't imagine it. She didn't think her dad could either.

"You'll always be little to me." Dad said. He leant forward and kissed her forehead before starting the engine of the car. "Now get out there and show those teachers how smart you are."

"Okay. Have a great day at work." Nora told him getting out of the car. And with one last wave she watched as her dad drove off and left the school parking lot. Leaving her by herself to figure out what to do. She would have to go to the office first. Get her timetable and hopefully be shown to her class. Nora silently hoped that she wouldn't have to introduce herself in front of a whole class.

It had taken her only eight minutes to find the office and total of five minutes to get her timetable. She was now sitting in the principal's office as she waited for principle to arrive and speak to her. Nora was looking at one of the trophies that was on the desk which had been surrounded by other medals when the door opened. She quickly put back the swimming trophy and sat back in her seat pretending that she hadn't touched a thing.

"Miss Argent, sorry for making you wait. My name is Mrs Lorena, and this is Hayden Romero. She's in all your classes. She's agreed to be your tour guide. Hayden this is Nora Argent. I hope you can show her all around the school and introduce her to everyone." Mrs Lorena said. Her red painted lips pulled into a large smile as she looked between Nora and Hayden.

Nora looked at Hayden and tried to see if she would like this suppose tour guide. Hayden looked okay. No critical glances or uninterested looks. Just a welcoming smile on her on her round face. Nora smiled back reminding herself to give the girl in front of her a chance. She wiped her hands on her jeans to make sure they weren't sweaty and shook Hayden's hand.

"Hi, thanks for agreeing to show me around this place." Nora said. She felt bad for making someone take time out of their day to show her around.

"It's fine." Hayden shrugged letting go of Nora's hand and whispered so only they could hear. "Anything to get me out of maths. You'll learn how boring it can be with our teacher. He drifts off when teaching to talk about his family."

Nora smiled in amusement. It reminded her of an English teacher back in San Francisco who was a sports fanatic. All the students had to do was mention something about sport and the rest of the lesson would be about that topic.

"It's lovely to have a new student come to Beacon Hills East Middle School. And I hope you fit into the school perfectly but I'm a bit busy today and won't be able to catch up with you, but I promise to pop in tomorrow to see how you're coming along." Mrs Lorena promised as she sat primly behind her desk.

"Thank you. I'm sure I'll settle in great." Nora said. She always found a way to settle into her new schools.

Mrs Lorena gave the girls one last distracted smile before turning to the computer in front of her. Nora followed Hayden as they walked out of the office and into the empty corridors of the school. The only sound that Nora could hear was the squeaking of her boots as she followed Hayden to their class and was relieved when Hayden began to speak breaking the awkward silence.

"So, did you move school's or something? I don't think I've ever seen you around town."

"No, I actually used to live in San Francisco. My dad's been moving a couple of things here for the past two weeks, but my family only got here yesterday."

"Why did you guys move?"

"My dad's work makes my family move around a lot. He works as a licensed firearms dealer and security consultant. Beacon Hills will actually be the tenth town I've lived in." Nora explained. She shrugged at the shocked look on Hayden's face. Moving around was normal for her now.

"And I've never been out of Beacon Hills." Hayden chuckled shaking her head. "It sounds pretty exciting."

"It can be. Some places have been better then others. When I was seven we moved to New York. It was one of my favourite places" Nora admitted. Visiting the Museum of Natural History had been a favourite of hers when she was little.

"You must fine Beacon Hills boring then. Not much excitement here. The only thing Beacon Hills have is shopping malls, a cinema, a skating rink and a couple dance clubs" Hayden explained.

"I don't know. I mean I read about the police finding a dead body in the woods last night. I thought a wild animal could have killed them. The news report that I read this morning didn't have much information" Nora said.

"Yeah I heard about that from my sister. Valerie works at the police department." Hayden said frowning. "But she's only new and no one has really told her much about the case. The only thing she found out was that the body was a female. But I guess it could be possible that a wild animal could have done something. She was out in the middle of the woods."

"Has an animal ever attacked someone before." Nora asked.

"I don't think so. I've lived in Beacon Hills my whole life and I've never heard of an animal attacking anyone before." Hayden said with a thoughtful expression. They came to a stop in front of a door that had math's labelled boldly on it. Hayden turned to Nora, her thoughtful expression gone, as she nodded towards the door. "Ready for your first class?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Nora smiled tightly. She took a deep breath as the door opened and nearly froze when the people in the room went quiet as they all turned to Hayden and Nora. She cleared her throat nervously and followed Hayden into room. No matter how many times she had been the new girl she was still nervous about standing in a room with strangers. It didn't help with everyone watching her with curious eyes.

"Hayden it's nice of you to finally join us for our lesson. Who is your friend?" An old man with thinning hair asked Hayden. He must be the math's teacher, Nora thought.

"My name's Nora Argent. I just moved here, and Hayden was showing me around the school." Nora spoke up. She glanced over to the rest of the class and relaxed as she saw that some of them had already lost interest in her and had begun talking to each other.

"Well it's nice to meet you Nora. My name is Mr Grant and as you probably noticed I'm the math's teacher. And you're in luck since it's the beginning of the year we're only talking about data analysis and probability. All you need is a book and pen to copy notes down." Mr Grant said as he introduced himself.

"You can come sit near me." Hayden suggested. "I like to sit in the front, so I can pay attention easier."

"Sure. I'll probably need your help with understanding some of the things in maths." Nora admitted softly as they sat down at their tables.

"Do you struggle with maths?" Hayden asked.

"Sometimes I do. I prefer Social Studies and English then I do maths." Nora said getting out a book to write her notes in. Maths had been something she had been struggling with for the past two years as the classes got harder. Nora had to do her homework with her mum in the afternoon sometimes because she struggled to grasp some of the lessons.

"Well it's a good thing you have me then. I'm actually pretty good at maths." Hayden said proudly.

"Good. It'll be nice to have someone who can help me understand all of this. What class do we have after maths?" Nora asked.

"We have foreign language." Hayden said as she pulled her timetable out of her bag. Hayden smirked and showed Nora the timetable "We're learning French. You know the language of love."

"That's one class I know I'll do great in. My family originates from France and our family still knows the language pretty good. My family's last name means silver in French." Nora told Hayden. She remembered visiting France a couple of times when she was younger to visit friends and family. They hadn't visited in a long time though. But her knowledge of the French language hadn't dwindled.

"I'll help you with maths and you can help me with learning French. Sounds like a great way to start our friendship." Hayden said putting her timetable away as Mr Grant began to start the lesson again.

Nora smiled contentedly. Her first day of school was turning out better then she thought it would.

Hayden stayed with Nora for the rest of the day as she showed Nora around the school. When it was time for them to lunch Hayden led Nora into the cafeteria as they got their food. Nora listened to Hayden's advice to stay away from the beef stew as she piled her tray up with food that didn't look it had been sitting there for days.

"My friends and I sit over in the corner." Hayden led Nora over to a small table that was pressed up against the wall, far away from everyone else, where two other girls sat huddled together. Nora smiled as she sat quietly down next to Hayden as the two girls stopped talking to each other as they sat down at the table.

"This is Nora Argent. She just moved here." Hayden spoke up interrupting the awkward silence. "Nora these are my friends Emma and Lola. Unfortunately, they don't have the same classes as us this year except for gym and English."

"I still think it's so unfair. We all had the same classes last year." Emma grumbled as she tugged at the ends of her black hair seemingly annoyed.

"It's because Hayden's smarter then us." Lola said. "We're in the dumb classes while she's with the rest of the smart people. Which now includes Nora. It's nice to meet you by the way. There hasn't been a new person in years. It's refreshing to see a new face after being stuck with the same one's every year."

"Nice to meet you too." Nora replied.

"Nice to know how much you enjoy seeing our faces." Hayden said sarcastically, smirking as she rolled her eyes.

Lola sent Hayden a mischievous grin in reply as she began to eat her lunch.

"So where did you move from, Nora?" Emma asked. She was ignoring the food in front of her as she leaned forward with an eager expression on her face as she waited for Nora to reply.

"San Francisco. But my family was only they're for a year. My family moves a lot for my dad's job. He works as a licensed firearms dealer and security consultant. We only moved here yesterday." Nora responded.

"Bummer. Must suck having to go to school the next day after moving to a new town." Lola said looking at Nora almost sympathetically.

"I don't mind. I've gotten used to it." Nora shrugged.

"So, in History, Mr Burkins spoke to the class about that body the police found in the woods last night. He said that they had a suspect in custody. We might have a murderer in Beacon Hills. I wonder what must have happened. Hayden has Valerie said anything about it." Emma asked. Her dark eyes were wide and inquisitive as she stared at Hayden.

"No. Sounds like you know more about the case then Valerie does." Hayden answered shrugging.

"Emma's a journalist in the making. She's like a dog with a bone when it comes to gossip." Lola leaned across the table to speak to Nora. "She likes to know everything that happens; here and everywhere else."

"I don't go looking for gossip. I gather information. Important information that people need to know." Emma huffed appearing offended as she scrunched her nose.

"I think that's a good thing." Nora spoke up as she looked over to Emma. She wanted to hear more about the body that had been found. "I was curious about what happened last night. They didn't have much information on the news sights this morning."

Emma smiled widely and shot a smug look at Lola who just rolled her eyes and went back to eating her food.

"Well I haven't been able to get much information. But there are rumours, and usually I don't like going off rumours, but supposedly the body wasn't whole. The police had to find two pieces of the person."

"Wait, you mean like the body was cut up?"

"Cut up or ripped apart by wild animals. I'm not very sure. I mean I guess after the person was murdered some wild animals could have tried to eat the body or the person cut the body up and placed the other half somewhere else, so the police would have a tougher time finding the whole body. You know try and contaminate evidence."

"Can we not talk about this now." Hayden groaned. Her lips pulled down in a disgusted frown as she played with her lasagne in front of her. "This isn't the type of conversation I want be having or listening to over my food."

"Sorry." Nora muttered blushing.

"It's fine. Let's just talk about something else for now." Hayden suggested looked between everyone. Her gaze lingering longer on Emma who begrudgingly nodded.

"So, what are you into, Nora?" Lola asked. "Any hobbies?"

"Nothing exciting really. I like reading and sometimes I'll go for runs, depending where my family lives, and I like to explore the places my family moves too. My sister says I'm like a tourist whenever my family moves to somewhere new." Nora replied. And it was true, she did act like a tourist, she loved taking photos and writing down the history or any type information she could find in the many journals her mum had given her.

"I love to read too. What types of books do you like to read?" Lola questioned elatedly.

"Everything really. But my favourite books are about history. I like learning about things that have happened ages ago." Nora smiled wistfully as she remembered all the museums her family had visited when they travelled.

"I'm different. Give me some romance and fantasy and I'm a happy girl." Lola chuckled leaning back in her seat. "There's not many romantic guys at our school so the only things I can get close to it is the charming man in my books."

"You mean mature man." Emma grinned wickedly. "I bet when you get with someone he's going to be like ten years older than you."

"I like my man older." Lola admitted unashamed as her eyes drooped slightly, almost like she was about to go to sleep. "He'll be tall, sophisticated and have a slight stubble. Now that's what I'm holding out for."

"And what you'll continue to hold out for until you leave Beacon Hills. No tall and sophisticated man here." Hayden said.

Lola frowned dejected but then patted her wavy, blonde hair down, "Then my heart will forever wait."

Nora couldn't help but laugh as she listened to them talking. It was funny to think that they only had just been talking about a dead body and were now talking about romance and man.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend, Nora. You must have met a lot of boys." Lola asked. Nora's eyebrows raised in surprise at the question and Lola's expression dropped; her cheeks turning red as she stuttered, "That didn't sound right. I mean since you travel a lot you must have noticed a lot of boys."

"No," Nora cleared her throat awkwardly. She had never really talked about boys in that type of sense, unless it was to admit that a person was attractive and that was only when they were in television shows or movies. "My family moves so much, and I never really felt like that towards a boy. Do you guys have boyfriends?"

"Nope."

"Waiting for my sophisticated man."

"Never."

"Are you interested in any of the boys here?" Nora asked curiously. It was a stupid question to ask she realised. Why would they tell her, a new girl, who they liked?

All three girls shook their head. Hayden shrugged, "There's no one we like really."

"Okay." Nora said. She believed them, especially Lola who had just openly spoke about liking older guys.

"Are you guys doing anything on the weekend? We should all do something together. Maybe we can go bowling." Hayden suggested. Ella and Lola nodded with excited smiles as they voiced their agreement about hanging out. "What about you, Nora?"

Nora blinked in surprise. No had asked for her to hang out on the first day, they hadn't even asked in the first month, she nodded and grinned, "Sounds great."

Beacon Hills may be simple, homely and full of trees. But maybe it wouldn't be as boring as she thought it would be.