I can't believe my dad was actually making me do this again. Was he crazy? Or did he just hate me? I'm so nervous I think I'm going to throw up. Or faint. Or both... Maybe both...
Starting at a new school was always hard, and I should know since I'd transferred 8 times since the start of Jr high because my dad and I moved around so much, thanks to his job as a freelance lawyer, but this time it felt different for more reasons than one. For starters I knew that this time it was permanent which meant a good first impression was everything. My dad had finally earned enough money to open his own law firm in the middle of town a few weeks before summer vacation and it was already a moderate success.
Then there was the fact that, unlike everywhere else we had moved to, I had lived in this town about 7 years ago, right before mom died. I'd never been to any of the schools in the area- my mom always said she wanted me to 'enjoy the search for knowledge rather than chasing after a decent grade' so she homeschooled me. I complained at the time because it meant I never had any friends my age (except the few I'd made up) but now i'm grateful she did because it meant I got to spend more time with her.
This was the last place I remember being really happy and I think that's why dad decided to set up his business here, it reminds him of her and how unbelievably perfect our lives were back then. He probably hopes that we'll be able to find some of that happiness here again.
I mentally sighed, he has always been the happy go-lucky optimist, I used to find it infectious but after getting my hopes up so many times before I'd learnt better than to put all my faith in another wild fantasy he had conjured up on a whim and obsessively tried to make happen for the past 2 years. After all this wasn't the first time something like this had happened since the accident that killed her.
However some small part of me still felt like maybe he was right and we would actually build a life here (then again I thought that about the time we reconciled with my estranged grandfather and let's just say that did not end well).
Then there was the real reason I was more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life, one that I'd never ever admit out loud. It was the feeling I got when we approached this town, like it was calling me here. It sounds crazy even in my head but I can't deny that I liked that feeling, it was as if I was being drawn toward a new life where I wouldn't feel like such an outcast. Like I truly belonged here...or maybe this place is just a literal beacon for the crazy and hopeless.

I finally found the school after driving around for over half an hour looking for a single sign of it. To be honest that was probably my fault, I have the worst sense of direction and I can't read a map to save my life. I parked my plain silver Volvo in one of the few remaining spots headed to the front desk to pick up my timetable. Thank god this school isn't very big or complicated, if it was I never would have found my way there on time for class. I was relieved I made it before the bell rang, I think if I had to walk in late to class on the first day I might just die of embarrassment.

First period of the day was home room where we were each assigned seats and told to take 10 minutes to talk to the person next to us. I was seated next to an insanely pretty red headed girl wearing some kind of designer dress and heels. Everything about her screamed popular and rich- from her perfectly curled hair, flawless makeup and professionally manicured nails to her pink kitten heels. I suddenly felt very self conscious in my regular converse, jeans and t-shirt get up with hardly any makeup and barely brushed hair. For the first 5 minutes of our "getting to know you" time she just got out her bright pink phone (latest model of course) and started texting, it was only when the teacher walked past and told her to put it away did she roll her eyes and turn to look at me for the first time. I felt like the runt of the litter being eyed up by the award winning show poodle.
"Sooo... What do they call you?" She asked in a predictably snobby tone.
"Um Effy, you?" She raised a delicate eyebrow at my name but brushed it off, deciding she wasn't interested enough to here an elaboration no doubt.
"Lydia Martin. And since you didn't already know that I'm guessing that you just moved here" she stated, not sounding interested at all. I decided to elaborate anyway to prevent the awkward silence that usually happened when I tried talking to someone for more than a minute.
"Er yeah, me and my dad just moved here from New York"
She perked up slightly at the sound of that "New York huh? What does he do?"
"He's a freelance lawyer- or at least he was I guess, um he set up a business h-here in Beacon hills" nice one Eff, one minute into the conversation and you're already stuttering over your words.
Lydia however looked intrigued "well that explains how you can afford the $200 bracelet- but not why you look like you shop at target" she didn't even try to hide the disdain in her voice on 'target'.
"Haha yea I don't really like shopping, I just sort of order a bunch of stuff online once a year, the bracelet was a Christmas present" I shifted in my seat and tried to look casual but I felt like everything I'd do or say would be wrong.
"Well that is just unacceptable-" That was when the teacher stopped everyone's conversations and told us to switch places and start again. I really wasn't sure if I was annoyed or relieved at this. I started to get up when one of Lydia's perfectly manicured nails reached out and grabbed my arm- "What are you doing at lunch today?"
"Ummm I wasn't really going to-"
"Perfect!" She cut me off "then you can sit with me and my friends, if I don't see you before then, I'll be with the Lacrosse team and their girlfriends"
"S-Sure" I managed to stumble out before grabbing my bag and numbly making my way over to another table. For the rest of the hour I was able to make short, awkward small talk with whoever I sat next to while dreading lunch.

Isaac's PoV.
This has been the worst first day ever. I couldn't believe my dad had me working the triple late shift at the graveyard the night before I went back to school, I barely got any sleep at all. Though I guess it's better than staying home all evening waiting for him to get tired or drunk and start blaming me for everything that went wrong in this family since mom died. By third period I thought that this day couldn't get any worse when I did the stupidest thing imaginable- I asked out Lydia Martin. I just saw her standing alone at her locker on my way to class and thought that maybe this was my chance to start over- it was obvious just by looking at her that she was one of the rich, popular girls and I figured that if I could date someone like her high school would be different, I wouldn't have to be an outsider freak. Of course she said no, told me to come back when the bike I rode to school had an engine. Not that I blamed her, I didn't think anyone's standards were that low. Flustered and humiliated I quickly shoved half my textbooks and gym kit into my locker, determined to get away asap, but in my hurry i didn't see someone rushing around the corner as I turned to leave and we ended up barrelling straight into each other.

Effy's PoV
I was dazed for a second before I looked around to see the that the entire contents of mine and the guy I crashed into's bag was splayed out on the floor in front of us. I paled and froze for a second before looking up at him. The first thing I (unfortunately) couldn't help noticing was that he was extremely attractive, he had curly light brown hair, a strong jawline and a figure somewhere between muscled and lean. Bright blue eyes met my dark green ones for a second as I stumbled over an apology and we picked up our stuff. I couldn't help but feel worse when he replied with a mumbled apology of his own while refusing to look me in the face, making him look like a puppy that had just been kicked. After we had everything back in our bags there was an awkward pause where he finally looked back at me. As the silence dragged out for a few more seconds (which felt like an eternity at the time) i proceeded to introduce myself, awkwardly thrusting out my hand for him to shake, almost dropping the books I was holding in the process. We only touched for a moment before he pulled away abruptly then quietly said his name- Isaac. I was about to start up a conversation with him when I heard Lydia calling me over. When I turned back to Isaac he was quickly walking away. Feeling embarrassed for making him feel so awkward I walked over to Lydia to see what she wanted.

She had a a thinly veiled look of annoyance as she asked "What do you think you're doing?"
"Um I was apologising to Isaac, I may have ran into him..." I replied, confused at what she was so mad about.
"Okay well you need to stay away from that guy."
"What? Why?"
"That's Lahey's kid- the gravedigger. He's super weird and creepy as hell. Can you believe he actually had the nerve to ask me out just now?" she paused to let out a cruel laugh "As if I would ever even consider it. I'm so out of his league it's like we're different species" she scoffed.
I was getting more uncomfortable by the second and a little disappointed at the fact that he liked Lydia- not that I was expecting a guy as gorgeous as him to notice me anyway, but it was still crushing to discover that his 'type' was the exact opposite of me.
On one hand I wanted to defend Isaac and call Lydia out on being such a bitch. The only thing stopping me was the fact that she was the only person here who had really tried talking to me today and I didn't want to be left without any friends throughout high school. Going with my gut instinct I decided on the former- after all, when is your gut ever wrong?
"I appreciate the advice but he actually seemed pretty cool to me and kinda cute. And I think I can make my own decisions on who to hang out with thanks" Crap. That last line came out more rude than I had intended, and by the look of Lydia's face she was not going to take that. Where's a reset button when you need one?
"You want to go making friends with losers? Fine. But just so you know, that makes you a loser by association, and I'm not friends with losers."
This made me more angry, who the hell did she think she was? "Fine by me, I'd rather be a loser than one of your bratty little followers anyway." As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. It's not that they weren't true, I just didn't want to evoke the Queen Bee's wrath for the rest of high school. However, going by the glare she was giving me, that's exactly what I did.
With a sickly sweet smile she simply said "let's see if you still think that when you're eating alone by the dumpster at lunch today" and walked away, her kitten heels making a clear clicking sound as she went.
I was suddenly extremely aware that everyone's eyes were on me- they felt like little pinpricks attacking every inch of my skin, making blood run cold while my face heated up to the colour of a tomato. Under the pressure of their stares my mind and body went numb for a moment before common sense kicked in and urged me to keep my head down and walk quickly towards my locker. Unfortunately I didn't have to walk more than a few feet before I reached it so I was still getting quite a few stares from people who saw the argument. I had just finished stuffing all my books into my now cramped locker, fully prepared to go eat my lunch in the girls bathroom stall, when a pale skinny boy with a buzz cut came up beside me.
"Hey, I saw what erm-what happened just now and I um- I guess I just wanted to say that was kinda awesome." He said. Okay so now I was really confused, I just insulted the Queen Bee- surely that mean't people would avoid me like the plague not compliment my stupidity.
"Oh. well um... thanks I guess" I replied, not really sure what to say.
"Hey no problem, do you maybe wanna sit with us- me and my friend Scott- or not... Just because-you know since Lydia sort of...you know... Unless you have your own friends to sit with which is cool but-" Wow. I don't think I'd ever met someone with worse word vomit than me. I thought it best to cut him off now since I knew first hand the longer I waited the more awkward he would feel when he ran out of things to say.
"I'd love to have lunch with you guys- I umm- i don't exactly know anyone else here yet- just moved to Beacon hills like a month ago so yea..." I trailed off awkwardly.
The guy looked relieved, whether it was from me stopping his uncomfortable rant or agreeing to eat lunch with him I'm not sure. He gave me a small smile as he nervously adjusted the strap on his backpack and we made our way to the cafeteria.
"I'm Stiles by the way, Stiles Stillinski" he said after about 30 seconds of tense silence.
"Elizabeth Stone" I replied "wait -Stillinski. Isn't that the Sheriff's name?"
"Oh yeah that's my dad" he said proudly "so how'd know him, did you get caught shoplifting or something?" He added with a hint of sarcasm and a cheeky grin.
"Haha no" I was starting to feel comfortable already around Stiles- which was almost unheard of for me. "we met a couple weeks ago, my dad invited him over for coffee. They actually used to know each other when we lived here a few years ago"
"Oh right- I think he might've mentioned that at some point, so is your dad a cop too?"
"I wish, nah he opened a law firm in town. I worked there during the summer and it's Super boring!" I complained with a dramatic yawn. I felt like I was rambling again and he would regret asking me to sit with him but Stiles just grinned.
"C'mon it can't be that bad."
"Believe me it is. Like I'd rather watch Obi Wan fight General Grievous in revenge of the Sith on repeat than answer another call to some woman who stubbed her toe at work and thinks she can sue the company" Stiles burst out laughing attracting a few stares from people walking past.
"That sucks. I guess you could quit or try to get yourself fired, but then again your boss could just ground you if he saw you slacking off" he added thoughtfully.
"Tell me about it, but I guess in a small town like this law enforcement isn't all car chases and unmasking serial killers"
"True, I sometimes listen into my dads phone calls from the office and trust me they have never been about something serious, it's all "dog leash violation" and "kid shoplifting"." I couldn't help but laugh at how downhearted he sounded about the lack of crime in this town.
"You listen to the chief of police' phone calls and hope there's a murderer in your home town?" I asked with barely contained laughter. He blushed and started stuttering an explanation but I cut him off again.
"Honestly, I'm the same. I spent the last seven years on the road, travelling from state to state, wishing I had an actual home but I've been here less than two months and I feel like I'm going to die of boredom!" Wow. It felt really good to get that off my chest, even if it makes me sound pathetic. There was another pause before Stiles said wistfully "You know- I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship Elizabeth Stone"
"I couldn't agree more Stiles Stilinski".

A/N: First of all thanks for giving this story a chance despite the crappy cover and description. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue reading. This is my first real attempt at writing a full Fanfiction so please give me as much feedback as you want, as long as it's constructive I'm more than happy to hear it.