So, the set up for this one is basically that there never was a Huntsclan so Rose just grew up completely normal with her family and this is her actually meeting Jake for the very first time in either of their lives.

Content warnings:

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

"Jake, come on!"

Jake groaned and yanked the blankets up over his head. Into his pillow he muttered, "Haley, go away."

"No!" With the persistence of a younger sibling, Haley leapt on the bed and then yanked the covers away. "It's the first day of school and you have to get up!"

"No."

Haley jumped over his still body and then back again. "It's the best day of the whole year! I've already been up for two hours! Mom says it's time for you to come downstairs, right now, because there's no way she's letting you out of this house without breakfast but Dad says you're going to be late if you eat breakfast now."

"Don't you think you're a little old to be this excited about school?"

Haley stopped jumping, getting her face in close to Jake's. "No! Never! A good education is the foundation to a good life, you know."

Jake stuck his head under the pillow but Haley stole that away from him too.

"If you aren't downstairs in five minutes I'm coming back with dragon fire," she warned dramatically.

Ugh.

Haley slammed his bedroom door behind her and Jake rolled over onto his back, staring up at his ceiling. It was only sophomore year; it wasn't like there was anything to be that excited about when it came to school. It just meant less fun time with his friends and more exhaustion when trying to balance his dragon duties. There was no reason that Jake should look forward to going back to school. But, he knew that he had to get up before Haley came back upstairs. With everything else, Jake was not interested in starting the day off by battling with his sister.

Jake dressed the way he always did when the weather was this warm, in his baggy t-shirt and baggier shorts. He slumped into the kitchen, sitting between Haley and Jonathan and reaching for the spread that Susan always made for the first day of school.

"What do you think, Jakey?" Jonathan asked through a bite of toast. "Are you excited for a new school year?"

"It's just school. It's going to be the same as it is every year."

"Jake, don't think like that," Susan said, bringing a large pitcher of orange juice to the table and sitting down with them. "It could be the best school year of your life!"

"Mom, it's just school," Jake repeated. "Nothing is going to be different."

"Well, we'll see when you get home, won't we?" Jonathan said brightly.

Yeah, Jake thought, they would.

(-.-)

Rose pulled another outfit out of her closet and put it on her bed. Across the hall, Emma threw a shirt from her bedroom into Rose's. Rose picked it up and scoffed.

"No way!"

"We need to look the same!" Emma shouted back. "It's tradition."

"We're identical twins." Rose volleyed the shirt back into Emma's room.

"Don't break tradition!"

"Fine but I'm not wearing a flower pattern. My name is Rose and I'm not setting myself up for that on our first day at this school."

"It doesn't even have roses on it," Emma grumbled under her breath but she picked the shirt up from the floor and threw it off to the side. Then, she strode into Rose's room. "What do you have for me?"

"I was thinking this, a cute hair scarf –"

"Why are you always the twin in pink?" Emma demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why don't you be the blue twin for once?"

"Because I'm Cheer Bear and you're Grumpy Bear, like Dad always says."

"I am not –" Emma began hotly and then she cut herself off. "We're not doing this."

"Then what are we doing?" Rose checked the time. "We're going to be late."

"What about the dresses Mom got us for our last birthday?"

"The ones with sunflowers?"

"It's not even a rose!"

The two of them stared at each other, mentally reviewing what was in their own closet and each other's. Rose waited for Emma to speak first because she was the older twin and she always got to speak first. Finally, Emma sighed.

"Pants or skirt?"

"Skirt."

"Mini or maxi?"

"Mini."

"Short sleeves or long sleeves?"

"Short."

"Boots or sneakers?"

"Boots."

"So, those knee highs with the lace on them to peek over the top."

"Right. If we do the plaid skirts then we could also do the berets we got in Paris."

"Oh, we so could." Emma held up her hand for a high five. "Full school girl look!"

Rose high fived Emma back with all of her strength, getting a moment of sisterly satisfaction as Emma reacted to the sting of it.

"Girls!" their mother shouted down the hall. "Are you going to be ready to go soon?"

"Soon!" Emma and Rose shouted in unison before they dashed off to their separate rooms to get dressed.

(-.-)

Jake sat on the stone railing of the main entrance nestled between Trixie and Spud, inhaling the strawberry Frappuccino Trixie had gotten them all addicted to over the summer. They watched the trickle of students heading into the building, making fun of outfits and the way that some people were screaming and excited to see each other even though Spud was betting they'd all seen each other a few days before.

"Not one cute new transfer," Trixie complained and she checked the time. "Five minutes to first bell and not a single one."

"Maybe they're all in, like, the office or something," Spud said. "Figuring out schedules or whatever."

"Wouldn't they have done that before the first day?" Jake asked. "Seems kind of pointless to have to show up to school early."

"Haley would never leave if they didn't make her," Trixie said.

"Well, Haley's not from this earth," Jake replied.

"Oh!" Spud said, "Do we know them?"

Trixie and Jake followed Spud's gaze, easily finding the two blondes that had caught his attention. They looked identical and also like they had walked straight off a Parisian runway to get to school that morning. Their plaid skirts with the little ruffles bounced as they walked, although their long straightened blonde hair seemed to barely move. Their eyes were hidden behind overly large sunglasses. Jake couldn't take his eyes from the pair as they strode up the steps, seemingly oblivious to everyone staring after them, trying to figure out who exactly they were.

"One of them couldn't have been a brother?" Trixie groaned.

"They can't be the only two new kids in school," Spud said.

But, their words were all background noise to Jake, who knew that he had to figure out who they were.

As soon as possible.

(-.-)

"The boys in this school are not up to snuff," Emma said, leaning against Rose's locker before lunch. "They just keep staring at my legs."

"We do have great legs." Rose shooed Emma out of the way, emptying her bag of as many books as possible. "Anyone catch your eye?"

"No, but it's only been the first half of the day. I think we've just been spoilt by not growing up with American boys."

"There have to be a few good ones," Rose insisted. "You're just judgmental."

"I'm selective," Emma corrected. "Want lunch on or off campus?"

"Off. What, like I'm going to a cafeteria?"

Emma laughed and looped her arm through Rose's. "Who's judgmental now?"

"Still you."

They headed off campus with the same flair they did everything else with, enjoying the attention that they two of them commanded when they were together. They found the nearest coffee shop and that was where they went, even though it was crowded with a good portion of the student body. Rose ordered one of the cranberry muffins, even though the thought of cranberry made Emma gag.

"Whatever," Rose sniffed. "You've been drinking pumpkin spice since August and I haven't said a word."

"That sounds like several words to me."

Rose rattled her ice coffee in response and they went out to the parking lot, taking a seat on the first empty bench that they saw. They crossed their legs and stared out over the parking lot, picking out people from the student body.

"Uh-uh," Rose said, "hair that red? It's a dye job that's trying too hard not to be a dye job. Zero out of ten."

"Any dye is a bad look for a guy," Emma said in the way that made Rose think the word 'judgmental' all over again. "Look at him. He could be cute but then he has all that green? And, is that supposed to be a mohawk? Not feeling it."

Rose slid her sunglasses down her nose and looked at the boy that Emma was nodding toward. He was sipping on a hot coffee despite the early September heat, one foot on a skateboard. Only the tips of his hair were dyed green and Rose thought that it suited him, with his baggy shorts and skater shoes. Which is exactly what she told Emma.

"No dye job is a good job."

Rose pushed her sunglasses back up her nose. "What about that guy?"

"Too blond."

(-.-)

Jake skidded into his last class of the day. He'd never had much patience for English classes and he'd been more than happy to 'dawdle' as Rotwood described it. Jake wouldn't have called it dawdling. He and Trixie had been in a very important conversation after gym class and he'd been taking the scenic route to give the conversation all of his attention. So, there was only one seat left when he sprinted into the English room. Jake dropped into it, diving into his bag for his notebook and pen before he could get any flak from Mrs. Green.

"Turn to the person next to you and introduce yourselves and explain to each other any thought you've ever had on Romeo and Juliet," Mrs. Green instructed. "When you're done, we'll all share our thoughts with the class and then I will tell you why you're all wrong."

Jake turned to the side and there she was. For the first time, Jake was seeing her without her sunglasses on and the big blue of her eyes punched him in the gut. What a girl, he thought. He knew that she had an identical twin but Jake also thought that there couldn't be anyone else in the world like her.

"Hey."

"Hi yourself," she said. "So, what are your thoughts on Romeo?"

Jake shrugged. "Probably an idiot. He died in the end, right? Anyway, I saw you earlier today."

Her blonde eyebrows raised. "Me or my sister?"

"You."

"Are you sure?"

Jake nodded. "I saw you at lunch."

"I was with my sister at lunch."

"Yeah, but you had the ice coffee and the muffin and you were looking at me across the parking lot."

"I was not!"

"It's okay," Jake assured her. "I liked that you were looking at me. So, thoughts on Juliet?"

A smile played on her lips. "Well, going by your logic, probably an idiot, right? She died in the end too."

"That seems really depressing." Jake frowned. "That's it, that's all I know about Romeo and Juliet?"

"Not that they were in love?" she pressed, "just that they died?"

"Well, you don't say Romeo without Juliet or Juliet without Romeo so … sure, I guess I knew that they were in love."

To Jake's delight, he made her laugh for the first time.

"I can tell you're a romantic," she said, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. "It's endearing, really."

"What do you know about the play, then?" Jake challenged.

"I know it's about love. It's about how even the silliest, most childish of loves is still a real love and it can make a difference. It's about how love can be true but if the world doesn't support you back, if the circumstances aren't right, then it's doomed to fail, no matter how true it is."

"So, you are a romantic?"

She shrugged. "I guess so."

"Class!" Mrs. Green clapped three times at the front of the room, as if they were in primary school again. "Who wants to share?"

As Stacey Wintergrin stood up to share her and Lacey's thoughts, Jake leant across the aisle and she leant back toward him.

"If you're such a romantic," he whispered, "do you believe in love in first sight?"

She lifted her head, her blue eyes making him breathless again. Jake hoped that he never got used to it, but he hoped that he had a long time to try.

"I guess I do," she agreed.

"Great," Jake said, "so, we're going on a date on Friday. I'll give you my number after class and I'll let you know what we're going to go out and do. I promise it'll be the best night of your life."

She paused for a second and Jake wondered if he had come on a little too strong. Then, for the first time, she smiled at him and Jake thought he was about to fall out of his chair.

"All right," she said, "we'll go out on Friday."

She sat up in her seat like a proper student and Jake had no choice but to do the same. He had a smug look on his face and he couldn't wait to tell Trixie and Spud about this date and then get all of their help planning it because this was not a girl he wanted to let down. A girl as special as her deserved the best night out. Jake leant out of his seat again, glad that she tilted back into him, her blonde hair almost close enough to touch his shoulder.

"I'm Jake, by the way."

She giggled. "I'm Rose, by the way." Then, she kissed his cheek before sitting back up and looking like the picture-perfect student.

Best first day of school ever.