I woke up with sleep crusting my eyes, exhaustion a part of my bones. I think tired is a part of my personality, it's not even a physical state any more. Blegh. I turned my head to my alarm clock, 6:30am. Perfect, have time for a very long shower and do myself up. First impressions are everything after all. I untangled myself from the bed and noiselessly crept into the shower sans underwear and turned the knob all the way. The freezing jet water jolted me awake and I ground my teeth against the numbness. I know you're not really supposed to be doing this because of risk of risk of hypothermia, but by now I have mastered the art of cold showers. I was used to hauling out of bed at the crack of dawn and not being able to wait for the shower water to heat up, otherwise I would miss breakfast since most of the good stuff would probably been gone. At least this time, I had the luxury of actually enjoying my shower, as the water started heating up. I lathered my hair in my favourite shampoo, the Aussie Macadamian Nut and let myself get lost in the scent. I scrubbed the rest of my body with Jo Malone soap and took a quick cursory glance between at the apex of my thighs. Perfect, still a landing strip. Don't need to visit a salon any time soon..

In a midst of steam I escaped from the bathroom, none too gracefully. That was another problem with me. As great as I am with musical hand eye coordination, I was a total klutz. I'm completely surprised I haven't broken a bone yet. Touch wood.

I took my time laying out my outfit and putting it on immaculately. The pencil skirt was decent, but I opted for stockings instead of tights. Needed all the confidence I could get to be honest.. But I over estimated how the school shirt would fit me. I was cursed (or blessed, depending on how you look at it. But mostly I just think it's a curse.) with a generous bosom. The buttons where my stomach was closed fine but the buttons making their way up my chest looked as if it were to burst. Just ever so slightly.. Man, I have no luck. I took out the school tie hoping the buttons would be covered et VOILA, I AM SAVED. I shrugged on the blazer and did my usual make up and hair routine. Just a hint of eyeliner and mascara and blow dried my hair into a thick mass of brown that cascaded down my back. I packed the necessary things in my satchel and went downstairs to hunt for breakfast.

As usual, dad was already gone. There was a post it on the fridge door with a twenty pound note held up with a magnet.

For lunch it said.

I poked around the fridge for any eggs, bacon, cereal, ANYTHING...

It was kind of obvious that dad was a bachelor. There was no fresh groceries and nothing nutritious in the fridge or the cupboards. I would need to restock unless I wanted to die of malnutrition. Ii was about to give up hope when right in the periphery of my vision I found a box of poptarts which were two days out of date.. er I'll live. I set out to ready my nutritious breakfast when I spotted a book on the dining table. At first I thought my eyes deceived me when it was actually my ratty copy of 'Twilight' from a few years ago. Odd. I thought I left that in a hotel on our Rio tour. Maybe it's not mine.. Maybe dad thought I'd be into it. Couple of years too late dadio..

Well, one thing to prove whether the book was mine or not would be in the inside of the cover, I gasped when it read in blood red ink:

Red,

you always were a weird one. Hope you find this books satisfactory. I hear vamps are all the rage these days.

All my love

S.L.

No.

Noooooooooooooo. This is way TOO freaky. Only my closest friends knew my nickname, and the scrawl was definitely not my dad's. It seemed like some kind of sick joke. The first page had another scrawl that I did not recognise. That puzzled the hell out of me.

"I know things haven't gone your way a long time. This is a gift, to start afresh. What sixteen year old girl wouldn't want this opportunity? Enjoy. Your friend."

. . What does this even mean? Friend? This was giving me a headache too early in the morning. I glanced at my watch. Shit. It was already 8:15, I needed to go. I grabbed my satchel, my violin and put my iphone on google maps so I could find my way to school. This was going to be a very long day.

After twenty minutes of trudging around, I finally found it. To be honest I expected the buildings to be totally decrepit, but it wasn't too bad. Needed a bit of TLC but hey ho.

I saw most of the kids milling into the entrance or hanging around in groups with each other, talking and laughing. My first day nerves started to get a hold of me. What if I didn't fit in? What if I didn't make any friends? AAAAAAARGH. Red, get a hold of yourself. You'll be fine. Pep talk. You've performed in front of thousands of people and yet starting a high school makes you want to shit your pants. This is seriously not funny. Irrational fears. Breath Red, breathe. No one is really paying any attention to me, phew. At least I'm wearing the uniform, if I went along with what dad said and turned up as a dork with no uniform and a note I'd probably be beet red right now.

I walked in and looked for the reception, which was just by the entrance. The lady behind the glass was nattering to another lady about their booze filled escapade over the weekend. I sighed and tapped my foot impatiently. I looked up again and she was STILL talking. I HATE time wasting. I cleared my throat loudly. And she scrambled to look at me and tried to imply a sense of decorum. Not bloody likely lady, I just heard you disclose how you did the walk of shame this morning and puked in a dustbin.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Her cheeks were still slightly pink from being overheard. Good.

"Uh yeah, my father enrolled me a week ago. I was supposed to start today.." I trailed off.

"Name?"

"Scarlett Hunter." I responded clearly. She typed something in the old computer in front of her and turned back to me and handed me a small file of papers.

"Yes, starting sixth form today. Odd since it's November. Any particular reason you've moved?" she inquired. Nosy bitch.

I gave her a saccharine sweet smile "Nope, just change of scenery." she looked at the computer again.

"The file has your school planner, your schedule, the school rules, school map, various clubs you can join. There's the wind band, orchestra, dance club, debate club, just have a look in the file. Can we just confirm what classes you've decided to choose for this year? It says Advanced Subsidiary Levels Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Advanced Level Mathematics." I nodded my head. Yup, perfecto.

Her eyebrows hitched up at me. "Wow, you must be very clever. These are really hard subjects." my smile did not reach my eyes. She thinks she knows me. I thanked her for the 'help' and tried to find the sixth form area when I bumped into someone.

OOOOOMPHH. Ow. "Ahhhh so sorry!" I apologised to the lump I walked into. I looked up to find a lanky Asian guy in front of me. Probably Chinese or something. He smiled. Brace face.

"Hey no worries.. wait are you new? I've never seen you here before. Ever." Okay, calm down Jackie Chan, I just ran into you. I still felt bad about ploughing into him.

"Er yes, I've just started today. What's your name?" Information is power, he has to disclose first. He smiled again.

"Eric, Eric Yorkie." I nearly did a double take. Whut. Is not that the guy from... I patted the ratty book inside my satchel and forced my expression to smooth before he could catch me having a weird out. I am the queen of the poker face. Lady Gaga ain't got nothin' on me. I smiled a small smile.

"Well Eric, Erick Yorkie, do you mind helping me out? I need to find where my first lesson is, and even though I have a map I'm crap at Geography." He laughed. Oh dear. It wasn't even slightly funny at all...

"Sure girl, I'm the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need, study buddy, shoulder to cry on, dinner date." He wiggled his eyebrows in what I think he tried to pass off as an enticing manner. Er. No mate.

I faked a laugh "Ah ha, no I'm more of a study alone kind of type. And as for the crying, I look really ugly when I cry and I'd rather no one see that." Don't want to be too much of a bitch on my first day, I need to make friends. He laughed again. Whut. Did I look like a clown or something?

"I think it's impossible for you to look ugly in any way. I'm sure you're beautiful when you cry." Um he's coming on a bit strong here. Back away, back away partner! He doesn't even know my name! Didn't even ask!

"Uh yeah sure, so yes do you mind telling me where I need to head off to? I don't want to be late. First day and all." I shoved my schedule in his face so he could stop with the creepy. He looked at it intently.

"Woah, A2 Maths? I didn't know you were older than me. I thought you were my age." He pouted. Umm..

"Yep, love Math. Uh why, how old are you? I'm sixteen." I volunteered. His eyes bugged out at me.

"You're sixteen and you're doing second year Maths? Nuts! Shame I won't be in your first lesson though." He kept looking at the rest of my schedule. "You have Chemistry, I have Chemistry too! But not the Physics or the Biology." He pouted. Ah, slow down Romeo. I coughed.

"So yeah, can you just please point me the direction to Math? Don't wanna be late." Or waste any more time with you, just saying.

He grinned a broad grin. Sheesh. "Yeah, I'll walk you! Don't want you to get lost!"

"No it's really fine, you don't have to do that.." I mumbled weakly. Eric dragged me to Math, as in LITERALLY dragged me, probably afraid that I'd bugger off the first time he turned the other way. I probably would have if he let me. He then introduced me to the teacher which was Mr Davies, which kind of pissed me off. HELLOOOOO, I can speak for myself. I took a quick cursory glance around the room and sighed in relief. There were no 'characters' here, Eric was probably just a one off put down on my first day by God to mess with my head.

There was in total seven people in the class including me. Perfect. Mr Davies handed me a thick textbook and let me choose where I wanted to sit. It was lovely since there was so few people so we literally had a desk to ourselves. Plus the majority of class population were guys, with two nerdy looking girls who looked like they would keep to themselves. My kind of class. Mr Davies was pretty snazzy too. He was young, probably fresh out of university with a beard. Yummy. He started scribbling on the white board the objectives, page number etc. I felt calm. Math was good to me. It was another language, but universal in all countries. It was the basis of music, of rhythm. Once you knew one formula you knew them all. He did some basic recap on logs and exponentials and once everyone was happy instructed us to do the questions on the board.

Within fifteen minutes, I've already sketched the y=ax graph, and the e=x graph and used most of the logarithm laws in the questions. Then I moved on to the binomial equation (which I knew off by heart). I put the paper beside me and moved to the last of the questions. I glanced at my Rolex. It was only 9:30am. I had another hour and a half but I was nearly finished. I didn't want to be bored for ages but I didn't want to be that plonker who seemed like a show off in front of everyone because I've already finished, plus I was fresh meat. So I just doodled in my notebook then fussed with my watch, trying not to draw attention to myself. I was so in the zone that I didn't notice teacher hottie right behind me when he cleared his throat and I jumped.

"Miss Hunter, what are you doing?" He said in a low voice. Mmmmn yummy. But I'm in trouble.. I bit my lip.

"Uh, I finished the work." I squeaked in a small voice. What the hell was wrong with me. First day in a new school and I'm already a mouse. I'm Scarlett Hunter for pete's sake. He flipped my text book to a page right in the middle and pointed at the Trig questions, to solve A cos 0 + B sin 0 = C in a given interval. Then he took my sheets with the scribbles of solved equations to the front desk and took a glance at them then returned to whatever things he was doing before on his laptop. I looked at the Trig question, and sighed. Trig was tricky, but not impossible. I set out to do the fifteen questions and just before the bell rang, I finished. I made my may to hand in the paper on teacher hottie's desk but he stopped me before Ii made it out the door.

"Scarlett," he called out. "A moment please." Most of the people already left, and I swallowed my nerves. Uh oh, what have I done... He put the sheet of the first set of questions I answered in front of me. It was full of red ticks.

"Yes sir?" I inquired. He arched an eyebrow at me.

"Have you done this content before?" Oh. Is this a trick question? Will he hate me if I have? "It's not a trick question." Well, there ya go. He's just read my mind. He looked at me again "You've just joined us, and you're only sixteen so really you're supposed to be starting the AS content of Math. I've checked the rest of your schedule and the rest of your classes are AS. How come you're so far ahead?" I didn't mind answering his questions. He was asking expressly as a teacher. I played with the strap of my satchel.

"Where I used to be, we had tutors that specifically catered to us. Math has always been kind of easy for me, so I excelled and I did more advanced material than other people because the tutors said there wasn't really any point stifling my intellectual growth." I admitted sheepishly.

He smiled a beautiful, classical English smile. Be still my heart. What a rogue. "You have a natural affinity for the subject, I looked at the paper and you've hardly rubbed anything out. All your answers are confident and underlined, perfectly justified. I've only seen one other person with work like yours. Have you considered doing Mathematics as a degree for University?" One other person? I wonder who that is... hmmmmn.

I laughed. "Ahhha, no. I couldn't imagine doing a four year degree dedicated to Math as much as I love it. It's more of a hobby really. The equations just come together in my head. You know what they say when you turn what you love into a job, plus I couldn't teach to save my life." He mmmmed and I walked out of the class, thanking him and tucking the sheets of paper inside my satchel. I bumped into someone again. Today I am just a klutz. I sighed. I looked up to see that Eric was the mass I ran into. Oh no. He was waiting for me. Erghhhhh. I decided to play nice until I could find other people to hangout with. Or a hiding place..

He grinned. Well aren't you cheerful sonny boy. "Hey.. uh... What's your name again?" he scratched his head. I rolled my eyes. You didn't sunshine.

"Scarlett." I told him. Better not scare the poor boy off.

"Aww that's pretty." Is he gay or something? Last time I checked Scarlett was a hooker name. "How was your first class?"

I smiled a genuine smile. "Really good thanks, thoroughly enjoyed it!" he gave me an odd look.

"Really good? A2 Maths? With Mr Davies? He's a real ball buster." I shrugged. Each to their own. "I remembered that you have Chem next and I wanted to meet you so we could walk together." Oooookaaaay. I can't even remember my own schedule and he already knew it down to a T. Creepy creeper alert. When I got to the lesson, it was much more stricter compared to teacher hottie's. It was apparent that this class was ruled by an iron fist by an older, painfully thin lady who was called, don't even laugh.. Miss King. Miss King was certainly the King, she was no none sense and I liked that. She also had a seating plan, and has already accommodated me to sit next to a girl called Jessica. Jessica...? No... It couldn't be THE Jessica. I tried to shake myself out of my weirding out again.

Jessica was complete torture to sit next to. She was the complete opposite of me, all talk and no game. Complete gossip girl. I didn't mind the odd goss sesh but this girl should really consult the Guinnes World Book of Records by the way she natters. I'm surprised King didn't bite her head off for being a chatterbox. I opened my textbook to the right page and started drawing pi bonds and sigma bonds and ionic interactions between the molecules, but the girl just WOULDN'T STOP TALKING. ERGH.

I looked at her to check whether she was blue or not from all the talking she was doing because I really don't know how she can talk and breathe like that at the same time. When I saw she was still alive, I carried on with my work. I was seriously about to complain to King and ask her to move me somewhere, ANYWHERE ELSE, the toilets even, just not next to her but I became startled. As she was in the middle of some kind of slander about someone I've never heard of but 'should be dying to meet' I recognised that she was short, but taller than me, with a head full of brown curly hair, exactly the same description as Jessica in the book.. and the personality matched perfectly. Her friend on her other side looked up from her work and shot me a sympathetic smile which I assumed was to excuse her friend's atrocious behaviour.

Looking at this girl, she felt oddly familiar to me. She was Asian, like Eric. She had cat eye glasses, and her black her was swept up in a ponytail. What caught me off guard was the kindness in her eyes, I haven't seen anyone look at me like that since Vitalia. She introduced herself

"Hi, you must be Scarlett. You're new right? I'm Angela." she smiled. I took a small breath. WELL. WELL FUCK ME AND COLOUR ME YELLOW. What the actual hell. This was nuts. This was insane. I tried to calm my heart rate my taking slow, steady breaths. Am I dreaming? Am I still in a coma? What? What? This is nuts. Why are their names the same from twilight, complete with physical descriptions. I patted the book absent-mindedly in my satchel. Calm down. Calm down Red, you're just being paranoid. I blew out a breath and put my poker face in place.

"Are you alright?" Angela inquired. Jessica was already nattering to the first person in front of her. She moves on quickly that one.

I put a sphinx like smile in place "Yes thank you, totally fine." Calm girl, calm. I thanked the Lord for letting me be the queen of poker faces, and she dropped it. The girl was too nice for her own good, although I appreciated it.

The bell rang, and finally I could escape. I handed in the sheets to King but before I could leave Jessica ambushed me.

"HEY! WHERE YOU GOING SCARLETT?" I winced. She may have just perforated my eardrum. Not good.

"Uh just to the toilet, y'know girly minute." I hedged. Lie. I was actually dying for a rollie, and I didn't know these girls well enough whether they'd judge me for being a smoker or not and I'd rather not lay out all my cards on the table now. She told me to sit with her and her friends for lunch, she TOLD me not asked. Eh, beats being a loner. I shrugged on my coat and tried to find somewhere to smoke, and made do with the woods behind the school.

I took my little tin out and rolled the paper, tobacco and filter just how I liked it. Yes, I know all the lectures. Blah blah blah, smoking is bad for you, you shouldn't do it but I've done all my research and to be honest I'd take my chances. Being an orchestral player was stressful like you wouldn't believe, and everyone had their vices. I mean, I wasn't a chainer but I liked my rollie once a day. Everyone seems to assume smokers are uneducated low lifes, but that's completely not true. It's not as if I flaunt it to the whole populace and I was discrete.

After I finished, I sprayed myself with my favourite perfume to mask the smell, Fleur Cherie by L'Occitane. Then I squirted some pocketbac on my hand. THESE WERE MY WEAKNESS. When we went on tour to New York and I went to my first Bath and Body Works store I immediately fell in love. I bought about a gillion of these hand sanitizers and was known to just put some on with no reason whatsover. I wasn't one of those people who believed in the 'pheromone thing' where we shouldn't mask our odors. If you want BO, that's your prerogative but for me, no thank you.

I made my way to what I assumed was the canteen and looked for 'Jessy girl' and her gang of goonies. No one gawked at me, which was good and I sat on their table.

"HEY SCARLETT." Jessy girl said. Ergh. I'd have to get my hearing checked after today. She stood up and dragged me into the chair next to her as if we were BFFL's. Okay girliooo.. Time to prove my 'Twilight AU' crazy theory to the test when she introduces me to these people with her. If they have the same names in the book then...

She interrupted my internal monologue " So, let me introduce you to everyone! This is Lauren," she gestured to a girl with beautiful corn silk straight hair, with a tilt to her nose and she did not look amused. She gave me a once over and sneered. WOAH NOW. Judgey judgey. Shame really, she could be really pretty but I pegged her as a serial pouter. She does not like me. Oh well. Then Jessica pointed to another person who she made goo goo eyes at and introduced in a baby like voice. Ew. "This is Mike." She sighed. She actually sighed. I turned to look at him and inhaled sharply through my nose. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuck. What is going on with my life. Am I insane? Am I at an institution? Am I dead? Lord please give me a sign. I feel kind of faint but schooled my features so people wouldn't realise I'm a freak.

Mike was cute, in a teenage kind of way. He wasn't 'handsome' or 'rugged' but he's the kind of guy you wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen around with holding your hand. He had lovely clear blue eyes and blonde hair artfully styled into spikes. His physique wasn't totally awful either, but his face still had a bit of chubby on it, no hate though. His eyes sparkled when they met mine. I nodded at him.

Jessy girl continued, "And this is Angela, you've already met in chem." Angela bestowed a kind smile and I smiled back. Mike turned his attention to me whilst I took my glasses off. I felt faint and a migraine coming on. I really did not expect this today. Why am I loony? WHYYYYYYYY?

Mike flashed his Banana republic smile at me "Hey." I can imagine he makes girls swoon with that smile. Luckily I'm not easily swayed. Just then Eric bounded up between us with an off smile.

"Hey Mike, I see you've met my home girl Scarlett." Woah. De ja vu here.

Mike cocked an eyebrow at him."Oh, YOUR home girl?" suddenly a black dude who appeared out of nowhere (who I'm assuming is Tyler, since I'm going completely loco) came up right behind me and pressed his lips to my cheek "NO, my girl." and the boys ended up chasing each other. It didn't bother me, my guy friends back in orch were very affectionate, although it was just weird since I've literally just met the guy. I shrugged.

Jessy girl gave a fake laugh. "Oh my God, you're like a shiny new toy. Everyone wants a piece of you." I have a feeling she loves the attention and she's jealous that it's directed at me. I mentally shrugged. Not trying to be vain, but I was used to attention. It's nothing new or novel to me. Lauren sniffed. DAMN, does that girl have a cold or what? Snooty bitch.

I was so caught up in the moment, of my crazy alternative universe that I didn't even notice when the integral parts of the puzzle bounded in.

PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW AND FOLLOW. More fun goodness to come! Hope you're liking Scarlett and how all of this is panning out! More reviews mean more updates! Huzzzaaah!