Chapter 1: Pictures of You

I shoved my diary in my backpack from last year. Mrs. Burble has said it was better to write things down as they came to me; a way to channel my emotions into something I could better understand. Honestly, I really didn't like the idea of carrying my most personal thoughts around with me, but Mrs. Burble said she was going to ask to see my diary at school. She promised not to read it, unless I wanted her to, which obviously I didn't. Not only because I didn't want her seeing my most private thoughts, but also because I should have had way more entries than the total of two I had amassed in like two months.

Swinging my backpack on my back, I took a look at my reflection in the mirror. I sighed. This time last year, I was debating the perfect lip gloss to compliment my skin tone to make the perfect impression. This year, I didn't care. There was no one at Riverdale High that I was even remotely interested in impressing this year. I was a sad and pathetic excuse for a sophomore girl. I should be flirting with boys or gossiping with my friends over milkshakes. Instead, I was a mess, an unfixable mess, in my opinion.

I just wanted to be happy. Was that so much to ask for?

Archie called for me again. I opened my door to find my brother standing right outside of it. "You ready yet?" Archie asked me, in the condescending old brother kind of way.

"Nope," I responded, popping the p for emphasis. I tugged the straps of my backpack and stared up at my brother.

"Lighten up, Annie," Archie chuckled as he reached over and ruffled my hair.

I groaned for two reasons. One, I hated when he messed up my hair. Two, I hated being called Annie. It was the nickname my parents had went with when I was younger, but I much preferred to go by Belle now. Annie was a little girl's name and I wasn't a little girl anymore. Last year, I had tried to make the switch to Belle, but it had failed. Everyone still called my Annie. Ugh. It was the red hair that through people. They said I looked more like an Ariel than a Belle.

Archie waved his hands in front of my face. "Earth to Annie."

I rolled my eyes and swatted his hand away. "Let's just get this over with," I muttered before I slipped past my brother.

My dad was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a camera. I rolled my eyes. At some point, the first day of school pictures tradition was going to have to stop. Did he think he was coming to college with us? I stopped a few feet away from him and folded my arms across my chest.

"Aren't you late for work or something?" I asked.

Dad just smiled. "I've already talked it over with the boss. He's cool with it." He paused and chuckled. "One of the perks of owning your own business."

I shook my head. Dads always thought they were funnier than they actually were. Archie came bounding down the stairs and stopped next to me. "Annabelle, are you gonna fix your hair?" Dad asked.

While I couldn't care less what my hair looked like in the stupid picture, it was simpler to appease my father than to argue with him. I took two hair bands off my wrist before I split my hair into two sections. I then quickly threw my hair up into two messy buns, leaving tendrils hanging down the sides. I left the tendrils so I could hide behind them later.

Dad didn't say anything. He just nodded his head. I knew he was having difficulty understanding a teenage girl. He had never been good at understanding them, not even as a teenager...and he sure as hell was over his head now, having a teenage daughter. I knew it was times like this when Dad wished Mom hadn't left...for my sake.

Dad motioned for Archie and me to move closer together. Arch wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. I then forced a smile on face as Dad counted down: Three. Two. One. Cheese. The camera flashed and I pulled away, but Dad held his hand up. "One more, Annie. Just in case."

We repeated the process.

"Dad, can we go now?" I asked after Dad had taken the second picture. He nodded his head and I quickly escaped. I just had to get out of there. I didn't know why I was like this. I knew my dad loved me. I knew my mom loved me. I knew my brother loved me. But why wasn't that enough? I wished I knew.

Archie caught up to me fairly easily. Not that I was trying to run from him, but the thought had crossed my mind. It was our tradition...walking to school together on the first day. We have walked to school together on the first day of school every year since Kindergarten. Granted, Mom or Dad usually walked with us when we were younger, but still, it was tradition.

Usually, I prattled on about how excited I was for the first day of school. Not this year. I would follow our tradition, but I was going to do it my way. I fished my earbuds from my backpack and shoved them in my ears before Archie could ask me anything. In my peripheral, I could see a somewhat disappointed look on Archie's face. This was usually our time to share our hopes and predictions for the year. But everything had changed.

Once at school, I was headed toward my homeroom where I could hide out until school started, but Mrs. Burble caught me in the hallway. "Miss Andrews, how about we catch up?"

Internally, I responded How about not? But instead, I just looked at Mrs. Burble blankly and nodded my head after a few seconds. Burble smiled a smile that was too forced to be sincere and led me to her office. She motioned for me to sit down, so I did. I slipped my Converse sneakers off and sat cross-legged in the chair as I had a few months prior. I nervously snapped the hair ties on my wrist as Mrs. Burble cleared her throat.

"How was your summer, Annabelle?" Mrs. Burble asked me.

"Summer-y," I responded, blowing a tendril of hair.

Mrs. Burble looked at me pointedly. "I'm trying to help you here, Annabelle. I need you to try too.."

I snapped a hair tie a little too hard and yelped. I then looked up at Mrs. Burble. "It sucked," I sighed. "I have no friends."

"I thought I saw you with Jughead Jones last night at Pop's."

I rolled my eyes. "Because I didn't want to play third wheel to Betty and Archie. Archie made me leave the house last night. Said it would do me some good."

"And was that so bad?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess not. But Juggie is Archie's friend, not mine...or at least he was." Mrs. Burble arched an eyebrow. I groaned. "There is nothing going on between me and Jughead. I just meant that he and Archie apparently aren't friends anymore. That's all."

"Oh."

Time to change the subject. While my love life had always been nonexistent, it still embarrassed the hell out of me to talk about it. The only person I ever talked about that stuff with was myself.

Huh. That's probably one of the reasons I am the way I am.

I reached down and grabbed my backpack, pulling the diary out for Mrs. Burble to see. She smiled. A genuine smile, I'm pretty sure. "How are you liking journaling?" she asked.

I shrugged again. "I don't know. And no, that's not some teenage cop-out. I honestly don't know how I feel about it yet. I mean, I still think it's stupid and I feel stupid doing it."

"I'm sensing a but…"

"But it might have helped me figure something out once."

Mrs. Burble smiled again. "Good for you, Annabelle."

"Thanks," I muttered. I could feel my face blush. Another thing about me: I suck at taking compliments. Is thanks an appropriate response? Should I be saying more than thanks? I tried to hide my face beneath the hair tendrils I left hanging.

"Let's talk about some goals for the year."

I glanced at the clock and chewed my lip. "Shouldn't I be getting to homeroom?"

"This will only take a minute."

I sighed, leaned back in the chair, and folded my arms across my chest. Glancing down at my socks, I could see a hole I had missed near my heel. How exactly does one miss a hole in their sock? Mrs. Burble cleared her throat and I looked up once again. I nodded my head to show her that I was listening.

"First, I would like to see you attend the Back-2-School dance. Spoiler alert, they're announcing today that we're still having it."

She must have noticed the look of sheer horror in my eyes because she held her hand up to let me let her explain. "I'm not saying you have to stay the whole time or that you even have to go with anyone. I think you might enjoy yourself if you did, but I don't want to see you miss out on your high school experience. I think this is something you're capable of. So, think on it."

I sighed again and nodded my head. I'd think on it all right. Think about not going. I mean honestly, did she forget that I had social anxiety issues? I didn't go to any of the dances last year because I heard rumors that Jason Blossom was waiting for me. Probably waiting to tear me down and belittle me. So, I just avoided the situation by not going. But this year, I didn't have a need to hide from Jason Blossom. I'm sure I could come up with some sort of excuse not to go.

Mrs. Burble called my name to get my attention again. "Second, I think it would be good for you to join an extra-curricular." She must have known how I was going to react because she quickly launched into her explanation. "I think it would be good for you to interact more with your peers, outside of daily classes. Let's find a hobby you can call your own, find something you're good at, so we can build that self-esteem."

"Are you trying to kill me?" I asked her, only somewhat jokingly.

"Annabelle, those are two goals that seem pretty manageable and we have to start somewhere."

"I thought that was why I had the diary."

"It is, but the diary is also to help you make sense of new situations you put yourself into. I don't want you hiding for the rest of your life and I don't think you want that either. I know you want some changes in your life. The changes aren't going to just find you, you have to find them."

I sighed. "You know, you could probably make more money as a motivational speaker. You're pretty good at it. Almost had me convinced."

Mrs. Burble shook her head. "Annabelle," she sighed.

"Yeah, I know." I wasn't sure how going to a stupid dance was going to help me. I could almost see how joining a club would help. Almost. But Mrs. Burble was right. I didn't want to be like this anymore.

The warning bell rang.

"I should probably get to homeroom," I said slipping my Converse sneakers back on. I stood up and adjusted my backpack. "See you next week then."

"Or at the dance," Mrs. Burble said rather pointedly. "I'm chaperoning."

I reached for the straps on my backpack. "I'm still thinking about it." With that, I left Mrs. Burble's office and headed for my homeroom, completely unaware that some things in my life were about to get hella weird.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the positive reaction to this story so far. I truly appreciate it. I see that most of you are leaning with Belle being paired with Sweet Pea. ;) Sweet Belle? Haha. I'm still thinking about it. Obviously. Especially since this story was just posted yesterday. Haha. But thank you to those who reviewed: Guest (1), Guest (2), Slow-Dancing-In-The-Snow, Wayward Jules, T.K. Roses, Sweet Pea, Guest (3), LoveYourStories (your review made me smile and wonder who you are and which stories you've read. haha), Guest (4), and Guest (5). Once again, thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited, or reviewed. Y'all are amazing! Much love!

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