"Anya!" Her mother's sharp voice brought her journey down the stairs to a halt. "You are not leaving this house without some food in you."

"But, mum-"

"No buts! Here," Mrs. Brooks commanded, sliding a plate towards her. "Sit. Eat."

"But, mum, I'm going to miss the bus!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to waste the entire morning lazing around."

Sighing inwardly, Anya took a seat at the table and gave the bagel in her plate a long look, as if accusing it of making her stay for so long. She picked at her breakfast moodily, nibbling at tiny bits every few seconds. Faith, who was standing to her right, elbowed her.

"Get on with it!" She hissed under her breath. "The longer you take, the greater our chances are of missing the bus. I really don't want to walk today."

At that, Anya began wolfing down her food in earnest, while wondering why her friend had come to the house in the first place. Hadn't she said they would be meeting at the bus stop? Oh well. She wasn't too eager to walk to school herself, and in a matter of minutes, she was done. Pushing back her chair, she hastily gathered her things and headed towards the door.

Much to her dismay, she found her mother blocking her path again. Mrs. Brooks handed her a glass of OJ. Suppressing a groan of frustration, Anya grabbed it and took a few big gulps. Finished, she thrust the glass at her mother triumphantly and wiped her sleeve across her mouth.

"There you go, mum. I'll see you after school."

"Don't forget to pick up dad's shirt from the dry cleaner's on your way back, darling. Have a good first day of school! I love you."

"Love you too, mum." With that, she pushed past her mother and let herself out.

The air outside was brisk; Anya shivered as a cold breeze blew past her. Autumn had descended over New York, and she saw evidence of it all around her. Besides the feeling of the chilly air on her skin, the crisp autumn leaves that crunched under her feet were blazing red, orange, russet and gold. The girls quickened their pace, both their minds occupied with the express hope that the school bus wouldn't leave them behind. As they turned left at the next corner, a smudge of yellow approaching them from a distance caught Anya's eye.

"The bus!" She took off running towards the bus stop. After a second of hesitation, Faith ran after her.

The bus screeched to a halt and they reached it, gasping for breath, just as its sliding doors flew open. They clambered in, still slightly out of breath. Sighing with relief, Anya slid into the seat next to Faith. She felt a tap on her shoulder.

Frowning with impatience, she turned around... and came face-to-face with the most gorgeous guy she had ever met, with the possible exception of a certain brown-eyed boy back in India. But unlike Zayan, who was cute in a puppy-ish way, the boy who had tapped her shoulder was ruggedly handsome, with windswept black locks that fell in his piercingly blue eyes that fixed on her curiously.

He gave her a friendly smile now, and Anya couldn't help but think that she had never seen anyone with such white teeth even in a toothpaste ad.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Aiden Clearwater."

Anya just stared at him, her mouth slightly open. Say something, Anya, she scolded herself in her head.

"You're Anya, right? I heard you go to Sierra High. Actually, I just moved here. I live a few blocks away. I thought you could show me around school."

This piqued her curiosity. He had heard of her? It was surprising that even her neighbours knew about her, considering the fact that she spent so much time in her room watching kpop videos and rarely made an appearance out in the sun. The smile began slipping from Aiden's face. She couldn't utter a single word, and yet she couldn't tear her eyes off him. He cleared his throat.

"It's completely alright if you don't have the time or the will to give me a tour of this place."

Say anything. At this point, any words will do. Just open your mouth and talk.

Finally, she blurted out, "Imarighwithat."

She turned bright red as he looked on in confusion.

Good job, now the cute, new boy knows how socially awkward you are as well.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I-I said I'm alright with that. Showing you around, I mean."

His face brightened. "That's great! I guess that means I'll see you later, then."

Anya could only stare as he picked up his backpack and made his way out of the bus. Somehow, they had stopped while Anya was too busy forming coherent words in her mind to notice. She turned back around and saw that Faith's mouth was hanging open in shock.

"What?"

Faith's mouth snapped shut, and she gave Anya an impatient glare. "N-nothing. It's just that he was-"

"You think I should have refused his request?"

Her best friend just shook her head mutely.

"Then what is it?" Anya demanded. "Why are you being so weird?"

"Anya, are you blind? He was pretty hot."

"Hot?" Pink spots appeared on Anya's cheeks. "Well, I did notice he was better looking than most guys our age. But you find every other guy walking past you on the street 'cute'."

"Not every guy," Faith whined. "And sure, plenty of guys are cute, but only a rare few can be deemed worthy of being called hot... especially by yours truly."

Anya rolled her eyes, but she was smiling this time. Seeing the other girl begin to open her mouth to continue, she hastily decided to change the topic.

"Where's your sister today? Is she driving to school?"

Faith narrowed her eyes, clearly annoyed at the new direction that the conversation had taken. "Yes, she is indeed. The she-devil loves to grab any opportunity to rub in my face the fact that she's old enough to drive now. I still can't believe dad bought her a new car! She's still only 16; what if she crashes into a tree or something?"

Anya hid her smile. Raven Hamilton was Faith's elder sister. Having recently turned 16 and acquired her license, she was officially allowed to drive to school, a fact that had not gone down well with Faith, who had just turned 15 and still had a year to go before she could drive on her own. Anya was 15 herself, but she would be turning 16 in the next couple of weeks, which was something she greatly looked forward to.

"She's not going to crash into a tree, Faith," she said patiently. "She's had plenty of practise, and she seems to be quite a good driver."

"That's what she wants you to think," Faith shot back darkly.

Thankfully, the bell rang just then, saving Anya from replying. Hitching her bag higher up her shoulder, she hastily waved goodbye to Faith and headed to her first class, after quickly dropping off a few books at her locker. Thankfully, her geography teacher hadn't arrived yet as she quietly slipped into the classroom and took a seat.

For the second time that morning, someone tapped her shoulder. As she turned around, she did a double take at who she saw. It was Aiden. Again? She thought. Is he following me or something?

Aiden grinned at her, waving. She reluctantly returned the gesture with a slight smile before turning back to face the front of the class as Miss Benson walked in.

"Good morning, class. Since this is the first day of school, I have decided to take a small test- nothing too difficult," she assured the students, who were already groaning with dismay and pulling faces. "It's going to be based on your general knowledge on different states in our country, so you should be able to complete it fairly quickly." She smiled at the sea of students, apparently amused at the expression of disbelief on their faces.

Anya felt an immediate disliking towards the teacher. Sighing, she rummaged through her things before coming up with a pen.

It must have been atleast 20 mins by now. If I'm lucky, the bell will ring any minute.

Unfortunately, time seemed to drag on and on; by the time the test was over and Anya trudged out of class, she was physically and mentally exhausted.

The day passed by in a blur, and before she knew it she was on the front steps of the school, clutching her bag to her chest and desperately trying not to nod off. Faith elbowed her. "Hey, why the long face?"

Anya just shook her head wearily. Just tired, she mouthed.

"Don't worry, we're having a slumber party tomorrow, remember? That ought to cheer you up."

It did. Feeling slightly better, Anya clambered aboard the bus. Aiden found her once again; it seemed like he showed up in every place she was.

"Hey, Anya! Bad day at school?" He smirked a little, and Anya had to bite back a retort.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "I'm tired."

His face clouded over with hurt, and she regretted her words immediately. It wasn't his fault; he didn't know that she wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. For all she knew, he was just a nice guy who wanted to be friends, especially since he was new here. He deserved a chance, didn't he?

"Sorry," Anya bit her lip. "Did you want to ask me something?"

"Yeah, I was actually wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow- it's a Saturday. Maybe we could go to Central Park? I hear it's really pretty in the autumn. You did promise to show me around, you know," he reminded her.

Anya remained silent for a beat, then she looked up and smiled sweetly. "Sure! We can meet there by around 10 tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me. I'll be there."

The bus slowed to a stop, and the two girls got off.

"Oooh, someone's got a date tomorrow," Faith teased when the bus disappeared around a corner.

"It's not a date," Anya said exasperatedly. "I promised to show him around, and it can't be easy being new to New York."

"Sure, whatever you say." Faith winked.

Anya rolled her eyes, then waved goodbye as they parted ways. "See you tomorrow."

She opened the front door and dropped her bag onto the floor. "Mum! I'm home."

"Hi, sweetheart," her mother's voice came from the kitchen. "Did you pick up dad's shirt?"

She hadn't. Anya gulped, then feebly called out, "No, mum, it wasn't ready yet."

"Really?" Mrs. Brooks appeared in the hallway, a slight frown on her face. "That's odd. Usually, they're right on time. Maybe I should call-"

"No!" Anya yelped. "I'll go get it later; it will probably be ready by then. They said something about having a busy week..."

Anya averted her eyes guiltily. She didn't like lying to her mother, but this time she really needed to save her skin. Her mother only nodded, and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Anya headed up to her room. Tiredness washed over her, and only now did she realize how much she was craving a nap. In another moment, she had collapsed onto the bed, her red Converse still on her feet. It had been a long day indeed.

Credit to thehalfbloodwarrior for making the amazing cover for the book.
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