"𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚"

🀢 🀣 🀥

"Wake up!"

I groaned hearing Lydia scream into my ear. My sister is a lot of things but gentle is not one of them. Squinting my eyes open to adjusting to the bright lights coming from my window, I watched as Lydia plopped down at the bottom of my bed.

"Good morning," I grumbled pulling the straps up on my baby doll nightgown, trying my hardest to not let my eyes close. I was still extremely jet-lagged from my flight last night and was in severe need of my daily dose of caffeine.

Unfortunately for me, my sister didn't require caffeine to wake up as her high-energy-killing machine self, "Ariel, today is the first day of our sophomore year and you as a Martin, you need to look your best. Now I abou-"

"Lyds," I moaned, trying to make her slow down long enough for me to be able to take in everything she was saying. It was taking everything in me not to fall back on my pillows. Rubbing my eyes and letting out a small yawn, I try to give my sister my biggest smile as I squeezed her hand, "I am excited to go to school too, but that is two hours from now" I scowl, feeling myself slowly lean back on my bed.

Lydia didn't seem to care, as she pursed her lips for a few seconds before standing up ripping the sheets off the bed with her, "You need to get ready. I bought you an outfit yesterday that is hanging in the bathroom and I am curling your hair after."

With that, she left the room, slamming the door before the pillow I threw could hit her little strawberry-blond head. Letting out another yawn, I slowly rolled myself out of bed as I began to plan out my day. It seemed surreal that I was finally back home. Beacon Hills. The thought of starting the new school year at Beacon Hills High caused an elated giggle to bubble from my lips as I couldn't help but grin.

"This will be good for me," I mutter to myself.

"Ariel!" Lydia's screamed through the wall of their connected rooms, "Hurry up."

Choosing to ignore my sister's shouts I continue to nod at myself, "This will be good," I repeat, my voice squeaking at the end however as doubt begins to settle in.

Heading to Lydia and I's shared bathroom, I immediately noticed the outfit Lydia had laid out for her. It was a pair of tawny boots with an autumn plaid skirt, complemented with a white skirt under a knitted vest. It was adorable.

I quickly throw the outfit on, noting how the heel on the boots make me look taller. Humming to myself with a smile fo satisfaction, I wash my face, before moving to begin applying a light layer of mascara, Lydia walked in with a curling iron in hand, already fully dressed. Of course, she looks amazing.

"I have such great taste," Lydia complimented herself, before walking over to plug the curling iron in, "You look amazing."

"Thank you, Lyds," I smiled taking the chance to look in the mirror and admire my appearance. My eyes don't linger too much on my looks as I quickly feel like a fraud in comparison to my sister who looks like a supermodel in three inch high heels and a tight mini dress.

Although we were fraternal twins, you could go so far to say that we weren't related. We looked nothing alike. Our main difference being our hair color. Lydia had gorgeous strawberry blond waves with golden hues that glimmered in the light. Every woman on my mom's side of the family had the same exact hair. Every woman except for me. My hair has always been a basic chocolate brown color. Nobody knew where I got the trait from since my dad's side of the family was all blonde. Our eyes were also starkly different: Lydia had forest green eyes that were the same color of leaves off an evergreen tree, mine were a pale murky blue like my dad. I hated them.

I hated how my sister was the prettiest of the two of us. Not in a vain way but more in a lack of belonging sort of way. Lydia was always the one was the family favorite at reunions or the one who got the guy. It felt terrible to always be the overlooked sister who nobody paid attention to because she wasn't pretty enough.

"I am definitely prettier than Angelina Jolie," Lydia huffed, as she lowered her top to reveal more cleavage, pushing her lips out in a kissy face "I mean, I bet I could bag Brad Pitt in a second."

"Huh?" I move my gaze away from the mirror and towards my sister, feeling guilty for ignoring her when she was obviously talking to me. Or rather talking about herself to me.

Lydia just rolled her eyes as she began to walk into her room to get her bag, "I was telling you about how Jackson said he thought Angeline Jolie was the hottest woman in the world. Oh ny the way, Jackson is giving us a ride," she said as we walked down the stairs.

I smiled thinking about my sister's boyfriend, I had honestly forgotten about Jackson. It felt like forever since we last saw each other. I walked through the front door the my sister had open, looking at the grey convertible parked outside. Walking up to the car, I looked inside to see Jackson looking down on his phone. Lighting tapping the window, I watched as his entire expression melted into a cruel glower as he rolled the window down.

"What the fu...Ariel?" Jackson's peeved look melted into a warm smile as he got out the car in surprise. I huge grin fell on my face as I opened my arms to pull him into a hug.

"Jackson! I haven't seen you for an entire year," I laugh as he lifts me in the air for a second before putting me down.

Jackson may be an asshole to most of the school but I always saw him as a friend and although we had our moments. Boy, did we have our moments. Jackson would never hurt me on purpose. Danny used to make fun us saying Jackson was like a big brother I never asked for and I was his "annoying" little sister.

Pulling off his sunglasses he smirks, "Lydia didn't tell me you were coming back. I missed you," he smiled before he Brough his hand up to mess with my hair like he used to when I was 13.

"Hey, do not mess with my sisters hair," Lydia said with a joking glower on her face, "I worked very hard to make her look good today and I won't have you messing it up."

Jackson smirked placing his hands on Lydia's hips, "What will you do if I did mess her hair up," he whispered into Lydia's ear moving his hand down to squeezer her ass causing my sister to chuckle while I immediately began to gag, violently.

"I missed you too, Jackson," I say in the middle of making fake gagging noises which went ignored by Jackson and my sister who were now fully making out in front of me. I swear to god that whatever they are doing is not legal in public.

"Don't worry about me," I joked, trying to ignore the sounds coming from the two of them as they continue to devour each other despite me standing right next to them, "Just act like I'm not here. Wow. Y'all are really going at it, huh? Perhaps you need a condom?"

Lydia finally pulls away at that comment looking at me with annoyed eyes as she huffs out a groan, "God, Ariel, we were just making out," she drawled, moving to cling into the car, "hardly like we were forming an orgy," she winked at my before ducking her head inside.

Rolling my eyes, I move to enter the car, trying not to comment on how the car was obviously not meant for more than two people. Jackson didn't say anything about Lydia's comment as he began to back out of the driveway, placing an arm behind Lydia's seat, "So, Ariel, how was Canada?"

Suddenly the effort of scrubbing the mental image of my sister tonguing Jackson melted away as a much worse through began to force its way into my mind as I worked to shove it away. The last thing I wanted to to reminisce my year in Canada living with my father and his new wife.

Thankfully Lydia came to my aid, "Yeah, sis, tell him about that time you spent in Vale with daddy," she began giving me a knowing look.

I never went to Vale with dad.

"Amazing," I quickly plastered on a fake smile, "The mountains are amazing. I swear I spent most of my time snowboarding in the hills than I did anything else." Jackson and I had gone surfing numerous times so it would sound believable that I developed the same love I had for surfing to snow boarding.

"Really? I've been wanting to go up to Vale myself," Jackson smiled, "What hotel did your family stay at?"

"As much as I enjoy watching my boyfriend and sister getting along," Lydia interjected, trying to move the conversation away from my time in Canada, "School is going to start in a few minutes and we need to be there on time so Ariel can meet with the principal."

My eyes widened. I had completely forgot that I had to meet the vice principal for the new student orientation. There was another new girl in my grade named Allison, who would be joining on the tour. She was coming from San Francisco, and the school thought it would be a good idea if the two transfers toured the school together.

'At least I won't be the only new girl', I thought to myself.

Pulling into the school parking lot, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of joy. I had missed Beacon Hills and somehow the crappy school campus was comforting. A reminder of home. A chance to start over again without all the crap from the last year.

Jackson's voice brought me out of my nostalgic reverie, "Dude, watch the paint job."

I looked up to see a cute boy with a brown mop of hair, getting off his bicycle. He looked a bit like a puppy with a lost look on his face. A small smile fell on my lips as I watched him, vaguely remembering his face from middle school. He seemed nice.

"God I hate poor people," Jackson spat.

And just like that I remembered why Jackson and I didn't always get along. Because despite being like a brother to me and always having my back, the unavoidable douche bag that was his Tre personality always made ti hard for me to truly like him as a person, which led me to want to jab him with a pencil. Unfortunately the public high school system frowns on violence however so I have to settle with, "and poor people hate you Jackson."

Turning away from the poor excuse for a male that is the blonde boy named Jackson, I look at my sister who isn't in the least bit shocked by Jackson's behavior. I will never understand why my sister tolerates him, "What mental disorder does Jackson have again?"

Lydia doesn't seem to care for my jokes as she rolls her eyes, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, "It was nice to have you both be friends for an hour. Come on, sister. Let's get you signed in before you break your perfect attendance record."

I scoffed, "You act like me skipping class would be such a shocker."

Lydia looked to me with a blank expression, blinking twice before nodding her head, "Ariel you would literally lose your mind if you missed a day of class. Like birds falling from the sky and monsters coming to life are more probable than you skipping class."

That was a bit over exaggerated.

"You are probably right," I smiled, looking around at all of the new students walking into the high school building. Lydia nodded her head before dramatically brushing her hair behind her shoulder.

"I'm always right."

Just as we were making our way up the brick stairs that led way into the school building, my attention was taken away from my sister as I heard an unknown voice calling out my name.

"Since...The birth of Ariel Martin!"

I heard a male voice shout from my left cuasing me to try and turn my head towards the source of noise. I didn't know anyone well enough for them to call my name out, other than Danny. I couldn't find the source of the voice as he continued.

"Hey Ariel, you look like-"

I tried to twist around to get a better view of who was talking to me but just as I believed I found the area they were standing in, I felt my sister yank my shoulder towards the door before shoving me through the entrance.

"You're gonna ignore me," the same voice said in a deflated tone.

"Lydia, what the hell," I growl spinning over to look at my sister who was obviously trying to pull me away from someone in particular, "Someone was trying to talk to me and you just pulled me away. Now they probably think I'm rude," I frowned, pulling my bottom lip into my mouth as I nervously gnaw on it.

I would hate for the person to think I was ignoring them because I thought I was better than them. Or to have lost a potential friend because they though I wasn't interested in getting to know them. What fi the entire school hates me because a rumor starts that I am a mean and rude person who walks past people when they are speaking to me?

Lydia grabbed my shoulder's pulling me out of my thoughts, "Ariel, sweet kind silly Ariel," she smiled, moving a curl out of my face, "We don't talk to losers and geeks. We are the Martin twins," Lydia annunciated said slowly as if I were dumb, "if we begin talking to people like them, then they'll think they can talk to us anytime and eventually become friends " Lydia said in a disgusted tone.

I wore a blank expression not understanding a single letter of stupidity that had fallen out of my sister's lips. Losers and Geeks? Last time I checked, we weren't the dumbest set of twins on the block. My sister didn't seem to notice the disgust on my face as she waited for my response.

I couldn't help but laugh as I looked at my sister in amusement, "Lyds...? Are you listening to yourself? You sound like some cheesy mean girls in a pitiful y2k chick flik."

Lydia rolls her eyes, "You were away in Vancouver for a year but things are different now. Trust me, sis. I have spent an entire year working to make sure that the Martin girls are nothing less than perfect. We can't let anything ruin our reputation, especially if people begin thinking we are," Lydia shivered, "smart."

I couldn't believe the words coming out of my sister's mouth. Lydia had always been arrogant, that was just something that had come with her confidence. I never thought it was a problem, in fact, I was jealous that I wasn't so sure of myself and my worth. Lydia was never mean however and she certainly wasn't one to judge others based on their popularity.

Lydia was always the best at fitting in, however. And the last thing I needed was a repeat from last year. I trusted my sister and if she thought this is what we needed to do then, I guess, I should listen to her. I mean, I could play popular and not be mean. . . Right?

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(PLEASE READ)

A/N:

     Hello my lovely readers. I am going to be making revisions on all of the books before I finally begin publishing book three which is ready to start posting but before I do so I wanted to shift all of the stories into Ariel's point of view (please let me know what you all think of it in the comments because if you prefer third persons then I will switch them back!). As always please share the love by liking and commenting on this story as I love to hear y'all's opinions on the story and nothing makes me happier than to see you interact with the texts. Thank you for you support!!