Hi all, I've been working on this story for well over a year now. I've got quite a bit of it finished, so I'd love to see what you guys think about this. I wasn't going to publish it yet, but I'm just putting my feelers out there to see who'd enjoy!

Loud buzzing interrupted what was once a peaceful sleep. I rolled across the bed and reached for my phone to silence the alarm before rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. A heavy sigh escaped me once I realised what day it was.

We were back in Buffalo and it was my first day at A.R. Gurney high. While I was excited to finally be at an arts school, I was dreading going through the process for what seemed to be the hundredth time. It was like a ritual. Find the office, introduce myself, grab my schedule and spend the rest of my day feeling lost and struggling to make it to class on time because I couldn't read a map, try to make friends, try harder to not embarrass myself. Dad promised that this was the last time, that I'd graduate here, but I wasn't holding my breath.

I stretched out before finally throwing the blankets off of me. The chilly air immediately hit and I pulled the covers back up to my chin so I could enjoy a few more minutes of warmth before having to face my new reality.

Knuckles rapped on my bedroom door. "Chloe, we're leaving in twenty minutes." Dad called. He'd decided that he'd stick around long enough to drive me to school on my first day. I appreciated the gesture, but I knew that he was just itching to get back to work.

For twelve years I spent my life packing and unpacking moving boxes as dad move us around from city to city. It wasn't his fault – we just went where ever his job decided to take us. Ever since mom died he was thrown into a deep depression and his way of coping was to work. He wasn't a bad father by any means, but he valued his companies, more so after we lost her.

After the tragedy I didn't see much of him. I had a rotation of nannies and depending on where we were, aunt Lauren would take care of me.

It had been twelve years since mom passed, and dad had decided to move back to our hometown, where I was born. The decision for him wasn't easy. There were a lot of different things that contributed to this move, mostly my desperate need for normalcy in life. Dad knew that I wasn't coping well with constantly being moved all around the globe but he was never around enough to see what exactly it was doing to me.

I finally worked up the courage and allowed my toes to touch the cold wooden floor. It was only the beginning of winter and I was already dreading it. My joints were stiff as I arched my back and stretched my legs out simultaneously. An aching pain shot through my hip and I hissed.

Since dad was away for ten months of the year, he gave me the master bedroom with the attached bathroom. I splashed my face with cold water and inspected myself in the mirror. Anybody would think I was a high school freshman. Standing at five feet tall with minimal curves to help me out, I looked like I hadn't even hit puberty yet. I wasn't ugly by any stretch of the word, but I looked young. My strawberry blonde hair was thin and wispy, making it almost impossible to manage, and my baby blue eyes paired with my button nose that was scattered with freckles didn't do me any favours either.

'Cute' was the word mostly used to describe me. Mostly from elderly people who thought I was just so adorable for picking up their dropped change and handing it back to them at the checkout or offering to carry their bags to their cars.

The worst though, was my last crush, Jacob Vosk.

Two schools ago, I was living in New Zealand where I'd made a name for myself as an English whiz. To put a long story short, I tutored Jacob for half a semester before working up enough courage to ask him out on a date. My inexperience brain had me believing that he was into me, but nope. He called me cute and eventually it came out that he was just using me for my English notes.

After yanking a brush through my hair and brushing my teeth, I pulled out my favourite pair of high waisted black jeans from my dresser and tugged them over my hips.

'Maybe my curves are coming in after all.' I thought to myself as I did an awkward dance around my bedroom, trying to get my jeans up. Once I was satisfied, I threw a white t-shirt over my head along with a grey hoodie.

I headed downstairs to find my dad in the kitchen reading the newspaper. "I made bacon and waffles, your favourite." He gestured with the newspaper towards a plate sitting on the kitchen bench. My mouth watered but my stomach was twisted with nerves. "Not dressing to impress today?" He asked after taking in my appearance.

I rolled my eyes. "Been there, done that." I muttered before taking a seat across from my father.

What was I nervous about though? I'd done this whole first day thing so many times by now that I'd lost count. The only thing different this time was that it was an arts school.

I picked at my plate as dad finished up his paper and began to read his emails and I couldn't help but feel a slight hint of annoyance. Even at breakfast, he was working. Student teacher night? Working. My thirteenth birthday? Working. My first high school play that I wrote and directed? He showed up, but his mind was on, you guessed it – work.

"Ready, kiddo?" He asked as he placed his phone into the breast pocket of his jacket.

I silently nodded my head and shrugged my backpack over my shoulder before slipping on a pair of black canvas shoes and headed out the front door, closely followed by dad.

The car ride was short which made me wonder why dad insisted on driving me. We stopped outside of a two story, orange brick building with a white roof. Green grass and garden beds surrounded the school, making it look welcoming instead of... well, a school. A large, brightly coloured mural was painted on the side of the building, depicting all different forms of art. This was nothing like any of the other schools I had been to, the students here were buzzing and full of life.

A sea of students was pouring through the doors, eager to get to their lockers and after a short farewell to my father, I joined them. The halls were equally as colourful as the outside of the school. Photographs, paintings and drawings decorated walls and lockers and I couldn't help but gaze around in awe. If I wasn't so busy being impressed, I would have had a headache from all the bright colours.

After another glance around, I realised that there were no signs to indicate where the office was.

A girl with copper skin and curly, dark hair walked past me and I tried to get her attention.

"E-excuse me-" aaaand she was gone. Probably didn't hear me.

I looked around, fully aware of how clueless I probably looked, and began down the corridor to my right.

"Office is the other way." A voice giggled to my left. "You look so lost."

I spun around to face a tall girl with the longest, blondest hair I had ever seen. Her smile was warm and welcoming enough that I felt a little more at ease. She wore blue jeans and a white top with a multicoloured scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Liz, we gotta go. Redwin is going to murder me if I'm late for another one of her classes." Another girl appeared from over her shoulder. Her black hair was spiked up and her piercing brown eyes were set in a frown as she shifted her backpack over her left shoulder. She looked like the scary goth kid you expected to see at an art school. Her black, ripped skinny jeans and leather jacket told me that I really should not mess with this girl.

"I'll catch up with you, Tori. I have to show..." She looked at me, studying my face.

"Chloe."

"Chloe! I knew you looked like a Chloe. I have to show Chloe where the office is." She grinned at me as she grabbed my wrist and tugged me in the opposite direction of where I was headed. "I'll catch up with you later!"

The goth looking girl rolled her eyes and disappeared into a sea of students.

"Don't worry about Tori, she's a grumpy guts." The blonde girl – Liz – giggled. "New here, huh? I was the new kid last year. Kinda scary isn't it?"

"I've been to too many different schools to be scared at this point." I muttered.

"Ah you're a pro, I see!" She exclaimed gleefully as she led me through the sea of students. Moments later we were standing in front of the office door.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Chloe. I hope you're in at least one of my classes!" She chirped before skipping away into the crowd.

What a strange human.

I pushed open the door of the office where a woman with frizzy red hair sat behind a desk, clicking away at her keyboard with her perfectly manicured fingernails. She stopped and gave me a warm smile in greeting.

"Chloe Saunders, right? We're so excited to welcome you to A.R. Gurney!" She said as she shuffled through a stack of papers before holding up a paperclipped bunch in her hand, as if it were a prize. She slid it across the desk towards me. "Here's your schedule, a map of the school, and a list of elective extracurricular activities if you're interested. We received your chosen classes from your previous school and unfortunately home economics is full so we've had to put you in physical education. I hope that won't be too much of a problem?" She looked at up me expectantly.

"N-no, not at all." I wanted to retch. Physical education was my least favourite subject. I had the coordination of a scallop and I was so unfit that I was out of breath after walking up a flight of stairs. A gym was the last place I wanted to be.

"Excellent. Your first class is math with Mr. Torres. I'll go ahead and mark it for you on your map." She highlighted a section on the piece of paper and thrust it towards me when she was done.

"Welcome to A.R. Gurney!" She grinned.

That's chapter one done. Let me know if you'd be interested to read more, I've got plenty of this story already written!