Chapter 1: Different

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That was when I saw her for the very first time. Lillian Marie Truscott, the new girl, the girl I knew I would fall in love with, the girl that would change my life forever, walking right past me in the hallway. She looked very... what's the word, different. The way she dressed was different. Even her hair was different. Everything about her was different. The clothes she wore were colorful, just like her hair. She had blue and green streaks in her long, blond hair. But her blue eyes stuck out more than what she was wearing.

"Hey freak," John said tripping Lilly causing her books to fall from her arms. That was really messed up. She wasn't doing anything wrong. I walked over to her and stuck my hand out to help her up.

"Dude, what are you doing?" John asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing. I'm helping her up," I said looking towards Lilly.

"Just leave her."

"Jerk," I muttered under my breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." I was still holding my hand out. She looked at my hand, me, then back at my hand. She finally took my hand. "I'm Joe Jonas," I said as I helped her up.

"As in-"

"Yeah. From the Jonas Brothers," I interrupted.

"Wow"

"I get that a lot," I said as I winked at her. She blushed.

"Oh, well I'm Lilly Truscott."

"Like the flower?"

"Yup."

"I like that name."

"Thanks,'' she replied. The bell rang.

"Oh. Well I better get going."

"Okay," she said. I bent down and picked up the books that she dropped and handed it to her.

"Thanks again," she said, then walked though the crowded hallway.

"I'll see you soon," I said to myself. Then walked to my class.

At lunch

I sat at my usual table, looking around for Lilly.

"What's up?" Nick asked as he sat next to me.

"I'm looking for someone," I replied.

"Who?"

"She's new. You probably don't know her but her name's Lilly."

"You mean Lilly Truscott?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"She's in like 3 of my classes."

"Do you know where she is?" Nick looked around the cafeteria until he spotted her. It wasn't that hard to find her.

"She's over there," Nick said pointing at the corner of the cafeteria. I looked to where Nick was pointing and saw her eating her lunch alone. I got up from the table but Nick stopped me. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to sit with her."

"Why would you do that?" John butted in.

"Because I want to."

"She's going to ruin your image," John said.

"Who cares. Unlike you, I care about people." I got up again and walked towards Lilly's table. "Hey," I said as I placed my tray on the table right beside hers. "Can I sit here?" She looked at me and smiled so I took that as a yes. "So how's your first day of school here?" I asked.

"It's okay I guess. It's kind of hard being here though because I'm not used to this school yet."

"Oh. Did you meet any new people?"

"No, but I'm used to it. I didn't have any friends at my old school either."

"I'll be you're friend."

"Really?"

"Sure. Why not?" We talked the whole time during lunch. It was like she forgot I was famous because when we talked, she treated me like a normal person which made me feel really good.

After school

Like after every school day, I walked home with Nick but today didn't feel right. It felt as if someone was following us. I turned around to see "Lilly?!"

"Hey," she waved. She pulled her earphones out of her ears and skateboarded towards Nick and I.

"Are you stalking us?" Nick asked jokingly as she stomped on her skateboard and landing it in her hands.

"Umm no. I live in that house," Lilly said pointing to a creme colored house.

"That's your house?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah. Why?"

"We live in the house next to yours."

"Cool. So we're neighbors."

"Yup. Oh I forgot, this is my brother Nick, but you probably already know him," I said introducing them to each other.

"Yeah, you're in a couple of my classes," Lilly said to Nick. The three of us talked for a little while until we had to part ways but I stopped Lilly.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Well I was wondering if you weren't busy, I could show you around Malibu," I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"Okay, you guys do whatever. I'm going inside," Nick said as he walked across the front lawn.

"So what do you say?" I asked.

"Sure. Let me just bring my backpack inside the house and let my mom know," Lilly said.

"Sure. I gotta do the same thing too," I said. We met back on the sidewalk after a minute or so.

"So where to?" Lilly asked.

"Hmm... what do you want to see in Malibu?" I asked.

"I want to see... the beach."

"You've never been to the beach before?" We were walking on our way to the beach while talking.

"I have, but it's probably a lot different from the one in New York."

"You lived in New York?"

"Yeah. I lived there my whole life, but my parents got a divorce and my mom wanted me to live with her so now we're living here as far away from my dad as possible."

"Oh."

"Yeah, but it's not that big of a deal. I kind of like it cause now, I don't get to hear them argue anymore." We managed to kill 10 minutes by talking until we finally reached the beach.

"This is definitely different from the beaches in New York," Lilly said taking her shoes off and walking closer to the water, letting her feet get wet by the waves.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice," I said walking next to Lilly looking at the view of the ocean.

5 hours later

"So how was your date?" Nick asked as I got into the house. It was 8:30 PM.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You know. You and Lilly."

"Oh. It wasn't a date. I was just showing her around," I replied simply.

"Sure you were."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Pretty sure about what?" Kevin asked, making his way to the couch.

"Joe and I are pretty sure that him and Lilly went on a date," Nick said.

"First of all, who's Lilly? And second of all, you went on a date? You haven't been on a date since-"

"Lilly is the new girl at our school and our new next door neighbor. And we did not go on a date. I was just showing her around," I cut Kevin off. I didn't want to be reminded about the past.

"Well what did you guys do?" Kevin asked.

"We went to the beach, McDonald's, the mall and watched a movie."

"I see," Kevin said tapping his chin.

"That totally seems like a date," Nick said interrupting Kevin's thoughts.

"I didn't even ask her to go on a date with me. We're just friends hanging out."

"Yeah but the way you asked her if she wanted to hang out sounded like you were asking her out. You were all 'If you aren't busy, I could show you around Malibu.'" Nick mocked.

"Well how else are you going to ask a friend to hang out?"I asked with annoyance.

"Whatever. You're gonna start falling for her soon," Nick teased.

"I really don't want to talk about this. I'm going to my room," I said as I ran up the stairs. What Nick said kept going through my mind. He was right. I was going to fall for her soon.

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I hope you review. Even if you reviewed it before, review it again because that's what makes me happy.

And just wondering, who do you want to win in the election. Obama or McCain?