This Time It's Different [Mattie; later open to BHH Juniors]

[Braeden Tyler]

It was his first day of school, and Braeden was already going to be late. It wasn't a maybe, it was an obvious THIS IS HAPPENING sort of thing. He had been late waking up, took forever standing in the shower trying not to fall asleep standing up, and had no idea how to get to the school. This had led to a long drive around town until finally, he'd given up and asked. He still wasn't sure how someone got lost in a small town, but if anyone was going to, it was him!

As the black Dodge Challenger SXT+ pulled into the parking lot, all he could think was here he was, already more than twenty minutes late, and once again, he was about to become the weird new kid. And of course, he would have to deal with the awkward whispers and stares double as soon as he walked in late. There would be fake niceties from teachers, lame introductions, and of course he would have to make his way to some random empty seat surrounded by the people who WANTED that seat empty for a reason. Of course, maybe he'd get lucky and he wouldn't instantly have people asking if he got expelled or was a narc or if he wanted to buy drugs.

What could he say? Most high schools were the exact same each and every time he moved. He always got bombarded first by the outcasts and wannabe-thugs, then later by the popular kids. That was always fun. Was he a jock, did he have a girlfriend, if they could borrow his car, if he partied... And the always interested "who can bone the new guy first!" context between the slutty cheerleaders.That wasn't SO bad, though when you're an antichrist with angst and anxiety issues, it was sometimes known to get dramatic.

His favorite part of the day would then come, lunch. Where, despite everyone's interest in him, he'd end up sitting alone, with people looking at him like he had horns or something.

Sighing as he found a parking spot, Braeden stepped out of the car, wishing he could just vanish and no one would notice. Of course, he knew he had to avoid dwelling on THAT thought too much. Pulling his back-pack closer to him, he looked around the parking lot. It was basically deserted minus a few lingering birds that seemed to be very interested in something on the ground beside an old blue jeep.

"Well, guess it's now or never," he said out loud, then walked forward,
mumbling of how he'd prefer never.

He figured homeroom was probably already over, and first was well underway. His nightmare would soon be realized. Taking one last moment to think, he slowly reached for the door, only to have it swing open quickly, nearly hitting him in the face as a girl around his age rushed out of it.

"WHOA!"

Nearly dropping his bag and falling backwards, Braeden barely managed to miss the swinging door, but wasn't able to exactly avoid the girl who came crashing into him, causing him to stagger backwards. His arms instinctively wrapped around her as he balanced himself, trying to keep her from falling either. This, of course, simply led to him feeling awkward as he they both regained their balance, so he let her go, looking at her nervously.

"Ummm... Hi... I'm uh... New... There IS still school today, right?"  Chuckling nervously at his own VERY lame joke, Braeden looked down at his boots. "Am I even in the right place? Is this... Uh... How you get to the office or whatever?"

[Matilda Celia Walker]

❀

Matilda wasn't honestly sure why it was that she hadn't enrolled in school yet. She knew that as soon as she did so that was it, the end, she wasn't in Australia anymore, she didn't go to school there, her life there was gone. Since the death of her parents nothing felt right anymore. She loved being with her big brother and her nephew, really she did. If she'd learned anything the last couple of months it was that her nephew was the greatest thing on earth and that she'd missed her family a hell of a lot more than she'd ever thought she had. That didn't mean that leaving her entire life wasn't incredibly difficult for her. She was at completely the wrong age to be uprooted and to start again. She had a system that was now invalid. She didn't even know if she'd make friends here. The benefit of California was supposed to be that people would be like her but she was just that bit too far from the beach to meet people that shared her love of surfing and that bit too blonde and tan to truly fit in. She craved the cliche she'd witnessed on TV. Short shorts and roller skating down the coast after a morning catching the surf. She was quite good at getting what she wanted, she always had been that was why she was so easily able to sneak out of those school doors every morning after her brother had dropped her off and catch the next bus out to the coast. Since the day she'd started she'd had no problem with her system. No one really paid enough attention to her as she dipped in through the door and hid out in the girls bathroom. Not exactly classy but it was effective. She always waited until the second bell rung, that meant that the halls would be baron and she could escape. Today however? Not so much. As she slammed her hands into the door, pushing it roughly open as she dipped out she had no idea she'd find someone else behind it. Her eyes grew wide as she looked over at the guy she nearly beat to death with a door, his arms wrapped around her body and instinctively she grabbed his arms to help his balance. She opened her mouth to try and make way of an apology but it never seemed to come, at least not before she spoke up instead. She smiled at his awkwardness and felt a little bit better about her own, even chuckling as she pulled her backpack back over her arm. "Yeah... There's school... You're late but there's school." That Western Australian accent came out thick and fast but she didn't even realize, for the first time she'd spoken to someone in this damn place without a panic. "I think the office is like... If you go in and take a.... Left? I don't know. I've not been there yet."

KITTY OF GS

[Braeden Tyler]

Braeden smiled at the girl as she seemed to try to speak. She seemed just as shocked to see him coming in the school as he was for her to have come barging out of it. She smiled at him as he finished rambling on, and he thought his heart might burst. He had heard all the bullshit about girls being so attractive that they knocked guys on their ass, but he figured this might be the first time that it was almost literal.

Trying to ignore his hormones, he focused instead on what she was saying. He was pretty sure grabbing her like he had probably ruined any chance at a worthwhile first impression, so to seem like he was ignoring her definitely wasn't going to help him make any friends here.

"Late on my first day, huh? Perfect way to avoid all those "new kid" stares, right?" He smiled at his own joke, hoping he didn't sound too stupid. He had to admit, he was a little lost for words. And to anyone that knew he'd, they'd tell ya, that was strange.

Listening to her speak, Braeden's grin widened at her accent. If there was one thing no man on the face of the earth could deny, it was how sexy, and amusing, Australian accents were, and how unmistakable they were to anyone else on the planet. He almost asked her how long she'd been stateside, but he wasn't sure how exactly to say something like that without sounding stupid. Thankfully, he didn't need to ask though, because she answered it for him. Or at least, she seemed to. She hadn't been to the office yet, and didn't really seem to know the school. Maybe it was her first day too? He had to admit, it made his day feel a little luckier if so.

"First day too, I'm guessing?"