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“If you think I’m doing what your idiot of-a-mum asked me to do, you’re more stupid than I thought.”

Mia narrowed her eyes at her supposed new sister. “Trust me, I don’t expect anything from you.”

Savannah flicked her golden hair off her shoulder in a well-practiced motion. “Good. Because I wouldn’t be seen dead with someone like you.”

She went to leave but turned back again. “Oh, and just to let you know, your outfit is beyond tragic.”

And with a final wrinkle of her nose, she took her leave, sashaying away in a pink mini-skirt.

Mia sighed and looked up at the brick building that was her new high school.  

“Might as well get it over with,” she muttered to herself.

BANG. The thick mathematics textbook crashed into the locker door. Today was not going well for Mia Fernwood.

“Look at me like that again, and I’ll be throwing more than your books around,” sneered the blonde jock.

Mia gulped and bent down to retrieve the contents of her bag which was now littering the hallway of her new high-school. A crowd of people had formed around the incident, but none had come to her rescue. Not that she expected them to. After all, she was the ‘weird new girl’ that dressed in dark colours and spoke with a foreign Philly twang.

She hadn’t intended for the blonde meathead to see her roll her eyes, but she found it impossible not too when he strolled down the hall in his high school football jacket, tucking a loose strand of his locks behind his ear and followed closely by his cronies. It had been so cliché. The hottest boy in school, the football captain, the boy all the other boys wanted to be friends with, and all the girls wanted to date. Mia couldn’t help but shoot them a derisive glance. After all, sights like this were exactly what Mia had been dreading about moving to a small town.

The meathead had caught her disapproval though, and hadn’t hesitated before confronting her.

“Can I help you…? Freak.”

Mia almost laughed at his insult. Did he not think she had heard that word before?

After his crystal blues had looked into her own hazel eyes and found a lack of fear, his anger had only been increased. He was a hunter, and she was the prey. The prey must always show fear, because if they don’t, where is the thrill of the hunt?

So, he had ‘put her in her place’. Slammed his hand on the locker behind her, his large frame engulfing her small one. Despite feeling a little intimated by his muscle clad body, she was determined not to show it. After her continued insistence on maintaining his eye contact, challenging him to go further, he had torn the backpack from the shoulder, and proceeded to throw what was inside.

At least that action had forced her to look away. Had forced her to kneel down before him and pick up her things.

She watched him through narrowed eyes as he swaggered away, feeling triumphant that he had won this encounter. Mia had known guys like him before. She knew it wouldn’t be the last incident.

The rest of the school day was less dramatic. Although no-one spoke to Mia. She had very clearly been branded as an outcast. Trying to be friends with her now would essentially be social suicide. Mia didn’t care though. She liked it that way. She had no interest in making any friends in this awful town. What would be the point when she was planning to leave as soon as possible?

When she got back to the house she now had to call home, she found with relief that she was alone.

Hamlet, her faithful patchwork mongrel waddled over to her to say hello.

“Hello, boy. I missed you.” She scratched behind his ear in the spot he liked the most before walking through to the kitchen.

There was a note on the marble kitchen island from her mum, addressed to both her and Savannah.

“There’s fresh cookies in the oven, hope your first day back at school was a good one!”

Mia scoffed and screwed the post-it into a ball before throwing it into the trash. She pulled open the oven and found the promised baked goods inside. Grabbing the whole plate, she took it up to her new bedroom, her faithful companion following close on her heels.

Mia had barely unpacked yet. She felt that if she unpacked, it would be all too real that she had been forced to move here. She rested the plate on one of the cardboard boxes next to the bed with ‘BOOKS’ written on the side, and fell backwards onto her single white wire framed bed with a sigh. Hamlet jumped on next to her, nudging her for another stroke.

She obliged, while placing her Skull Candy headphones over her ears, hit play on Spotify and turned into a cookie-eating-robot. Hamlet faithfully hoovered up any stray crumbs. She’d almost managed to escape to another world of sugar and prog rock, when the tiresome image of her mom hovered into view above her.

She waited until her mom mimicked removing headphones before actually taking them off.

“So…how’d it go?!”

It never failed to amaze Mia how chirpy her mom could be, even when she damn well knew there was no reason to be.

“It was fine.” Mia replied flatly.

Her mom was used to this kind of response. She sat on the edge of Mia’s bed nodding a little too much. “Good. Good…and er…” Her eyes flicked to the depleted plate of cookies. “Where’s Savannah?”

Mia shrugged. “How should I know?”

Her mom’s face faltered a little. “She didn’t walk you home then?”

“Nope.”

“Well…maybe a teacher asked her to stay behind for something.”

Mia snorted. “Yeah. Sure Mom.”

Mia’s mom, Carla, was desperate to make this whole situation work. It was their chance at a fresh start and a new life. Things had to go well.

“It would help if you made the effort too. I’m sure you two would really get on if you gave it a chance. And you always used to tell me you wanted a sister when you were little.”

“Mom. Those pom poms are permanently glued to her hands. Do I look like the cheerleading type?”

A wave of irritation crossed Carla’s face. She loved her daughter more than anything in the world, but sometimes she wondered if she experienced any other emotion apart from cynicism.

“It might actually be good for you to get involved with some of the school activities.”

Mia laughed. “And what would be the point in that?!”

Carla threw her arms into the air. “To make friends, Mia!”

“I don’t need or want any friends. Especially not here. What would be the point when I’m going to go back to Philly when I finish school?”

Mia’s mom rose from the bed and sighed before moving to the doorway. She turned her head back towards her daughter. “You know Mia, you may think you’re protecting yourself by not allowing other people into your life, but all you’re doing is living in the past. And that’s not living. It’s existing.”

Mia neglected to answer, and her mom didn’t wait for a response. As soon as she left, Mia got up to shut her door. She hated her.

The sound of an engine and the slam of a car door caught her attention outside her window. Maybe Bob was home. She went to look, but instead of Bob’s black truck, a red convertible was sitting outside the drive. She instantly recognised the blonde leaning against the passenger side as Savannah. Her red and white cheerleading outfit almost making her camouflage against the paintwork of the car. When Mia cast her eyes to the driver, her heart sank. She’d only seen him once, but that was enough to burn the image of his furious features into her brain. Only this time, he wasn’t looking angry. Very much the opposite. His muscled arm was draped over the frame of the door, his hand resting on the steering wheel. He was looking at Savannah with a mixture of lust and confidence.

She was too far away to hear what they were saying, but she could easily guess that it was laced with flirtation. The confirmation came when Savannah leaned into the car, placing her lips over those of the meathead jock. They lingered there, giving anyone walking by a clear image of their tongues colliding into the other. Mia curled her lip and looked away.

Great. Her new sister was dating her bully.