The teacher turned and smiled at her large period three sophomore English class. She was in her late-twenties, had short dark brown hair, and wore a black pencil skirt that ended at her knees and a white blouse. Picking up a red dry-erase maker, she took the cap off and wrote on the white board: PEN PALS.

She rolled her eyes as she watched a few of the fifteen and sixteen year olds in her clasa groan in annoyance, but she smiled lightly as she saw a smiles spread onto some of her students' faces. Like Miley's.

"Okay," she exclaimed, "so, as most or you know, we have a school that we are linked with in Germany. And their sophomore class and our class are going to write pen pal letters back and forth with each other until he end of senior year when we go on our senior class trip and meet them! Okay, so, I am going to read off your pen pal and then, you guys are going to spend the rest of the class period writing to them, okay? Just introduce yourselves, things like that."

As the teacher, Ms. Fields, read off the pen pal names, Miley grabbed a pen and a lined piece of paper from her multi-colored polka dotted backpack. She looked down at her blue and white cheerleading outfit while thinking what to write about. Finally, after a few minutes, she decided what to write.

Dear Nick,
I'm not going to be fake with you because well, to tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea who you are. So, it's basically like being pen pals with a stranger. So, you're going to be the person I vent to. Okay? Let's see, here's what people know about me, I am a sophomore at East Northumberland High (obviously), I am the captain of the cheer squad, my boyfriend is the quarterback of the football (American football) team, and everyone envies me for my perfect life. But the things that people don't know? I'm struggling to keep a fake smile on my face, the perfect look is so undeniably and pathetically fake. The thing is, everyone believes it. Even my twin sister who's also my best friend, Demi. My family looks so pulled together, but the truth is, I hear my parents fighting in their room at night, my mother crying, my older sister throwing up her food, and my brother talking to dealers on he phone. Had anything ever been perfect? There was a time when I thought my life was flawless, but now? It's broken. My little sister, Noah, died last summer and my family hasn't been the same since. Demi and I try to be the strong ones. Hold it together for our families, but I see the cuts on her wrists and the way she never eats. And me? I wear a mask and at night, when I'm alone in my room, I take it off and sob myself to sleep, but I would never do drugs or cut or anything. I can't. I was her role model. I have to live for the both of us now. For both Noah and I. And the past. I have to live for the way my family used to be. I shed no tears at her funeral, I shed no tears in front of anyone, only myself. Alone. Alone. I guess that's how my life is now. Alone. The only things that keep me sane is music and cheerleading. I sing, play piano, guitar, and write music and lyrics. It's the way I pour everything out. It's my way of coping. Cheerleading was something both Noah and I loved so much. I'm a flyer and the captain. I make up the routines and come up with the music number, my sister (Demi) is the co-captain. It's so much fun. When I'm playing music and cheerleading, I actually have a smile on my face. It's such a great feeling. Well, this might not be the happiest letter ever, but it was good to get everything off my chest. Is it sad to say hat you now know more about me than anyone else? Can't wait to get your reply! And don't make it happy-go-lucky because no one's life is like that. Tell me what's really on your mind. :)

Peace,

Miley Stewart

P.S- Here's my school picture. This is what I look like.

In the picture, I had a huge smile on my unblemished face, my blue eyes were bright because of the flash and I have to say, it was a pretty great picture of me. My wavy brown hair was natural and flowing freely on my blue and white cheerleading uniform.

Hearing the bell ring, I closed up the white envelope, wrote NICHOLAS GREY on the front, licked it shut, and gave it to my teacher who smiled at me.

"How'a your family doing," she asked with a look of care in her brown eyes.

I smiled widely and laughed, "perfect, why?"

"Oh, just wondering how they're holding up since Noah," she explained looking at me with a facial expression of disbelief. She doidn't believe that we were perfect. No shit, Miley, how could she, I asked myself. She put her hand on my shoulder and smiled sweetly, "you know, if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks," I laughed, "but I really don't need to talk to anyone. I'm perfect. She's gone," I shrugged, "it's been a few month. Everything's back to normal now," I smiled.

She sighed shaking her head, "you know, if you keep telling yourself that, you're going to break. My little sister died when I was your age, you know. It still hurts," she said in a weak voice, she had tears in her eyes, but I knew sue wouldn't let them fall.

"Thanks," I nodded, "but really, its all good. Have a good weekend, Ms. Fields," I bid before grabbing my bag and leaving. As soon as I got out of the classroom, the president of the newspaper club, Natalie, walked up to me, her photographer snapping shots of me walking.

"Miley, can we get your take on some of the controversies in the world," the blonde haired teenager asked.

I heard a laugh from behind me and someone wrap their strong arms around my waist, "it's a little early for the paparazzi, don't you think, Natalie," my on again off again boyfriend of two years asked before kissing me passionately.

She rolled her eyes and walked away. Keeping up with the status quo, I kissed back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Eww, get a room," Demi teased as she walked up with the rest of our friends.

I pulled away and laughed before hugging her in greeting, "shut up," I joked. Pulling away, I sighed as I saw the bracelets and make up on her arms that hid the cuts, but I wasn't going to say anything. Especially there, in front of all our friends.

"Come on," Emily said when the bell rang. Grabbing my hand, she pulled me towards our next class.

Although it seemed like everything in my life was fake or too perfect, Emily was the only one who could see through my happy-go-lucky attitude and falsifycated grin. She was my best friend and we were each other's rocks. She knew when I needed to hide and I knew when she needed to run.

Throughout the day, my mind kept on snapping back to the letter and to Nick. Who was "Nick Grey"? Would he think I was a freak for writing what I did? And then it hit me, my desire for a perfect appearance had gotten so bad that I cared about what a complete stranger who lived in Germany thought about me.

A/N: Hey guys! This is Ashley, AKA NileyFanForever :). So, Anna (xCaliforniaSunshineInMyEyes) and I decided it'd be cool to do a collab together. I live in The States and she lives in Germany. We vent to each other and help each other through problems or give each other advice. She came up with the idea that Nick and Miley were pen pals from other countries and then we messaged each other and tweaked it so we could get all the details right. It's going to be pretty awesome I think. :) So, this chapter just introduced the pen pal idea and wanted to show what kind of life Miley is living. So, yeah! Anna is going to be doing Nick's letter and Nick's life and then I'll do the third chapter and it'll be Miley's letter and her life. We hope you guys enjoy our collab and keep on reading it! :) Please review, that'd be awesome :).