Chapter 1

"You seriously need to get your head examined!" Leo said. At the moment, his mop of blond hair is flopping all over the place, which makes it fairly difficult to concentrate on the equation that he is trying to teach me. I'd never say this to his face, but I can never take him seriously. He's way too sweet and way too adorable.

Leo is the person any girl wants as a best friend. I mean, not only is he gay, but he also gives the most insightful advice you can ever get.

"Don't yell at her, you know she's a tad bit special. You have to talk to her slowly for her to understand." Kristen started patting my head as if I was a dog, and I shoot her a look.

"I'm not dense Kris, I'm perfectly capable of learning this math problem." They both scoff at me, and I roll my eyes at them. I know that usually, socially awkward people are supposed to be smart, being that we have no friends which means we have nothing better to do besides study, but that definitely isn't the case for me. I'd much rather read a vampire book or watch any movie with Dylan O'brien instead of picking up a stupid text book to study.

Honestly, when will I ever need to know the circumference of a cirlcle, or the velocity of a ball that was dropped from the height of a building? Exactly, never!

Leo and Kris are the smart ones anyway, I'm more like their cheerleader. "Not everyone can be super geniuses like you guys, ya know, and my grades aren't that bad."

"Sweetie, when it comes to math, you're about as clueless as Alicia Silverstone. Honestly I don't know what I'm going to do with you." Leo sighed dramatically.

Before I can respond, Mrs. Murphy walks into the classroom, looking as disheveled as ever. She's a really old lady with messy red hair and dull brown eyes. It looks as if someone just wrung the color out of them. Leo and Kris sat in their seats on either side of me, which was done on purpose so that I could get help from both sides when I get lost, as our poor teacher attempted to introduce the class to a new section.

Trying to see clearly through her coke-bottle glasses, she is completely oblivious to the fact that Mike and Emmett, two of the football payers, are throwing balled up paper at each other. She's also clueless about pretty much half of the class texting under their desks.

As I'm turning my notebook to a new sheet of paper, I hear giggling coming from the back of the classroom. When I turn to see who it was, I simply roll my eyes and continue what I was doing. Figures it would've been Mackenzie Rivers.

Mackenzie and I used to be friends, well sort of. It's not one of those stories where two girls drift apart when they get to high school because they ran with different circles. I mean, this isn't a cliché at all.

Mackenzie Rivers, to put it simply, is just a horrible person. When we were in junior high, I actually had friends. I'm not going to say that I was popular, because let's face it, no ones ever really popular in junior high, but people liked me. Mackenzie was new and, being the nice person that I am, I reached out to her and tried to be her friend, but the bitch had another plan in mind.

She wanted to be queen bee, and according to her, I was in her way. She felt that because her parents were loaded, because she spent summers in Europe, and because she spoke three languages that she was better than everyone else, and that we should worship her.

She pretended to be my friend for a few weeks, then the next thing I know, my once full lunch table became empty. The friends I thought I had were the same people whispering behind my back, and I was suddenly an outcast. She made up aweful rumors about me so that she'd have the spotlight, and being the impressionable losers that we are in junior high, everyone ate up every word she said. Everyone shut me out, and I was completely mortified.

I wasn't like a lot of the other girls in junior high. I wasn't mean, and I wasn't a slut. I was shy and timid, which is why I didn't stand up for myself, and just let that girl walk all over me like I was pavement.

Ever since then, I've just been loser Carly. The girl who doesn't go to school events, the one who doesn't get invited to parties, the girl who only has two friends. I've learned to accept it, but that doesn't mean I don't wish things were different.

Before I knew it, the bell was ringing, and it was time for lunch. Time sure does fly by when you're daydreaming.

"Finally! If I had to listen to that old hag talk for another second, I was going to murder someone." Kris said, taking some strands of my hair and twirling it between her fingers.

Kris had a really strange obsession with hair. She'd been dying hers since I met her. She's had practically every color under the sun, including red, purple, green, and currently black. To be honest, I don't know what her natural hair color is. She could be a blonde for all I know.

Kris is one of those girls that is naturally beautiful. She has green eyes, and the softest lips ever, that's a story for another time, and her cheeks are always rosy. she's about 5'11 but looks even taller in her doc martens. Looking at her, you'd think she was some type of rocker chick, considering she's always in dark clothes, but she's actually not. She just really likes black.

"I know! She's the most annoying teacher I've ever had. Doesn't she know that she can retire? I mean seriously that chick is so ancient, she can barely stand up straight." Leo is my other best friend. He's the type of guy that could get any girl he wanted, if he was straight of course. He has curly blond hair and icy blue eyes that had all the girls fawning over him when he first got here.

"Whatever, did you guys hear all the fuss about this new kid? Scratch that, he's not new, he's just been out of town for a while, but anyways, that's all I keep hearing people talk about." she said while examining her cherry red nails. Kris had only moved here about two years ago, the person she's talking about had been gone for about a year and a half when she came, so she doesn't know who he is, but everyone else does. We sit down at our lunch table, and I start pulling my lunch out of the brown paper bag that my mother feels the need to pack me every morning.

"Of course I've heard, it's Ian Turner. I only had the hugest crush on him in junior high, but that was before I came out." Leo put his hand up to silence me before finishing "Before you say anything Carly, I already know he's not gay so I won't be obsessing over him anymore, just admiring from the other side if the room." he heaved an exasperated sigh before going off to get in the lunch line.

"He acts like he doesn't already have a boyfriend." I roll my eyes. Leo is such a man slut. He's been dating a guy named Marco, what a cliché right? A gay guy named Marco, but anyways, they've been together for about a year now.

"So do you know the guy everyone's been talking about?" She asks, peeling the crust from her sandwich.

"Unfortunately." Kristen looks up from her food, a quizzical look on her face. "He's only the worst human being to be put on this earth."

"He's not that bad." Leo said, placing his tray of who knows what onto the table.

"Yeah well, I can't wait to meet him for myself." Kris said.

For a majority of lunch, Kris, Leo and I are completely immersed in our own conversation. At first, we don't even realize that the cafeteria was quiet, like, deathly quiet. When we finally do emerge from our conversation, we notice that everyone is staring at someone standing by the door. He's tall, over 6 feet, and he has dark brown hair that looks so soft and silky, I just want to run my fingers through it.

His dark brown eyes are surrounded by thick long lashes, making them look even darker, and he's dressed in a grey V-neck and dark jeans, and to top the outfit off, he has on black converses.

Everyone watches him as he slowly walks through the cafeteria, not even bothering to get in line. He goes straight to the front and takes the trey of some poor freshman who looks like he's about to pee his pants.

Ian saunters over to an empty table and sits down. We watch every move he makes, along with everyone else in the cafeteria. For a while, everyone stays where they are, including the lunch ladies. It's as if everyone is scared to move, or even go near him.

Eventually someone gets up though, and it's Grayson Edwards. Everyone who grew up in Blue Hill knows that Grayson and Ian were the best of friends, until Ian got shipped off to juvie.

My table is all the way on the other side of the caf, so we can't even hear a word that they say to each other. For all we know, they could've been saying how much they hate and despise each other.

That idea is quickly thrown out the window though when Grayson and Ian burst out laughing. Grayson takes the seat next to Ian, and it's as if Ian never left. They were back to normal.

Maybe he isn't as bad as I remember

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Walking to my locker, I get shoved by someone. I don't even need to turn around to know that it's either Mackenzie or one of her minions. I don't even bother turning around as I put my combination in, but I do hear someone yell "Sorry, I didn't see you there Carly", but the tone of their voice makes it very clear that they aren't sorry at all. Life as a loser really sucks.

Going to my last class of the day, I expect it to be as boring and uneventful as the rest of the day was, but of course it isn't. Ian comes sauntering in about five minutes after the late bell rings, causing everyone to turn in his direction. I'm honestly beginning to think that he likes having all eyes on him. Considering that I'm a social pariah, the two seats on either side of me are the only empty seats. I usually spend last period bored out of my mind because I don't have class with Kris or Leo, and no one else talks to me, unless they're insulting me. To be honest, I'm a little relieved having someone sit next to me, even if it is Ian. Hopefully for my sake, he's been straightened out by his stay in juvie

"Hey babe, you got a pen and some paper?" I'm so busy being all excited because I'm going to have someone to talk to, that I don't even realize he had even moved from the front of the class, and took a seat next to me.

"Yeah" I say handing him my extra pen and an empty notebook. "Don't call me babe though."

He looks a little shell shocked, like I'm supposed to be putty in his hands just because he called me babe. He is clearly mistaken.

"Holy fucking shit! Well if it isn't little Miss social pariah herself. Long time no see Carly Grace." He has an all knowing smirk on his face, which I find really irritating.

"Not long enough if you ask me." Ian and I have a history of not getting along. Even before I became a social pariah, we weren't friends, and me falling from grace was a comedic gold mine for him. To be honest, I was so happy to have someone to talk to during English that I actually let myself believe that juvie straightened him out. Guess it's true what they say about people never changing.

"Aww what's wrong babe, didn't you miss me while I was gone?" he makes a pouting face, feigning hurt. "You know, I was wondering why a hottie like you was sitting all alone, but it makes sense now that I know it's you. My how you've grown up babe." he purrs, practically undressing me with his eyes.

So I've changed my mind, I'd rather be sitting by myself.

This is going to be a long year.

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After an agonizingly long English period, school finally ends. I make my way home and climb the steps to my room to do my homework, or at least try. It's hard trying to concentrate when my parents have been yelling at each other for the past half hour. They've been threatening each other with divorce for the past two years, but neither of them have enough balls to actually go through with it. It's days like this where I'm tempted to sign the divorce papers and hand them to the judge myself. Don't get me wrong, I love both of my parents, but it's evident that they're just not right for each other anymore.

They fight almost every day, and it's always about something different each time. At first their arguments were about money, then they were about my dad working too much, and after that, it was as if they randomly chose what they were going to fight about out of a hat. Just the other day they had a whole argument about dinner. I mean seriously, who argues for over an hour about what should be cooked for dinner?

It's a good thing that I don't really need to be taken care of anymore, because if so I'd feel completely neglected. I can hardly have a conversation with one parent without them throwing insults at the other.

It's been over a month since I've had a real conversation with my parents, it's usually a "how's school" and "how's work" talk which lasts all of two minutes. My home life is about as put together as a puzzle with all the wrong pieces.

When their argument finally died down, I pick up my backpack to get all of my homework out when my phone starts ringing. I check the caller ID, the break into a huge smile when I see that it's my brother Kevin.

"Hey! How's college life treating you?" I ask, practically bouncing in my seat. My brother and I are super close, so you can imagine my devastation when he told me that he was going to college on the other side of the country. I was tempted to pack myself in one of his suitcases so that he could take me with him.

"It's amazing, I mean honestly there are no words to describe this place. California is awesome. I really wish you were here to see this."

"Yeah, just rub it in my face you jerk!" I say causing him to laugh.

"I have a surprise for you kiddo."

"Really? What?!"

"I miss you like crazy, but since I can't just walk down the hall to your room and hang out with you anymore, I bought a plane ticket for you to come down here." The next couple seconds are filled with my screams of excitement, as I run around my room like a crazy person.

"Oh my GOD!!! I can't believe you did that! When do I come? How long am I staying? What are we gonna do when I get there? AAAHHH! I'm so EXCITED!"

"Hey, can you calm down and not burst my eardrums with all your screaming? Thanks I really appreciate it." He says sarcastically.

"Sorry, I can't help that I'm excited!" I smile.

"Yeah, yeah. But since school just started, I bought the ticket for when you guys have staff development week."

Every year, after the first couple months of school, we have staff development week. It's a week full of workshops and lectures that the teachers have to sit through, and it's also a week off of school for the students. It also just so happens to be two months away.

"Why even bother telling me if it isn't for another two months!"

"Jeez don't get your thong in a twist, I just wanted to let you know ahead of time." I just smirk at his thong comment.

"Whatever."

After talking to my brother for another hour, I finally hang up and start on my homework. That's until Kris and Leo burst into my bedroom.

"Get dressed my little virgin, we're going to a party!"

So much for getting my homework done.

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We arrive at the party and the house is already packed with overly horny guys, and girls whose dresses are short enough to be considered shirts.

"Whose party is this again?" I ask, climbing out of Leo's car.

"One of the guys from the football team." he responds. Oh great.

Standing up straight, I try to pull the dress down that Kris forced me into. It's a short and tight royal blue scoop neck dress that shows off my cleavage as well as my curves.

"Stop messing with it, you look hot!" Kris reprimands, grabbing my wrist to pull my along with her and Leo, who's already at the door of the house.

Once we make it inside, I'm overwhelmed by the smell of weed and sweat. I've been in the house for all of three seconds, and I'm already tempted to puke. Seriously, how can anyone be ok with this smell? Maybe they're all too drunk to even pay attention.

I push through the crowd, walking towards what I hope is the kitchen. When I finally make it, I turn around expecting to see Kris and Leo, but instead I'm standing face to face with Ian.

"I didn't know you were coming, babe. Why didn't you tell me? I could've picked you up." He says with a wink.

"I'd never get in a car with you. For all I know, you would've taken me to some remote location to murder me." I respond while grabbing a can of soda from the fridge.

"Out of all the things I'd love to do to you, murder is not one of them." He smirks while checking me out.

"You're disgusting." I push past him and walk back into the living room in search of my friends. When I can't find either of them, I decide that I might as well dance.

I place my empty can of soda on a table, then make my way to the makeshift dance floor. I squeeze my way into the crowd of dancing bodies and let the music take over. I throw my arms up over my head while my hips move to the beat of the music. I let the lyrics wash away all my negative thoughts, and just let myself have fun.

After dancing to three songs alone, I feel a pair of strong hands grip onto my waist and pull me back into a firm chest. I don't turn around to see who it is. I don't really care. I just continue to dance, and allow him to dance with me.

Normal Carly would've been uncomfortable with the fact that this guy had his body pressed tightly against hers. Normal Carly wouldn't even be dancing, but this side of me, this carefree side that I'd never seen in myself before, only cared about the music.

After a couple more songs, I decide that I need some fresh air. I turn to tell my mystery dance partner that I'm leaving, but instead shoot him a glare once I see who it is.

"I had no idea you could dance like that babe. You were being so naughty, rubbing your ass against me like that." Ian says smirking.

"Whatever, I'm leaving." I push my way through the crowd and head towards the back door. I push it open, and I'm greeted with the cool night air against my burning skin.

I step into the backyard and take a seat on the bench, under a giant tree. I close my eyes and let the air cool me down, but my peace is disturbed when I hear that annoying voice again.

"It feels great out here." He takes a seat next to me on the bench, a little too close for comfort if you ask me.

"Yeah." I open my eyes to look at him, only to see that he's already looking at me. I watch as he reaches his hand out to softly caress my cheek. Instead of pushing him away and being revolted like I thought I would, I shock myself by shuddering at his touch.

"I should've said this earlier, but you look beautiful." He says softly while looking into my eyes, causing me to blush.

"Thanks I guess." I don't know what else to say, so we sit in silence for a few seconds, then I see him start to lean in. Unsure of whether or not I should let him kiss me, I stay completely still. When his lips come in contact with mine, I'm shocked at how soft they are.

My eyes drift shut on their own accord as I lean further into the kiss. I let out a surprised squeak when his hands grip my waist and move me into his lap. Within seconds, the gentle kiss turns into something a lot more intense. I burry my hands in his hair as he moves his lips from mine to trail kisses down my neck and collarbone.

I let out a soft moan as he begins to nibble on the sensitive skin below my jaw, while his free hand caresses my thigh. He moves his lips away from my neck and captured my mouth in another searing kiss. His tongue explores mine, and I can't help but think that he tastes good, like mint and cinnamon.

"Hey Ian! We need you for a game of beer pong man." Someone yells from the back door, interrupting us. Ian and I immediately push away from each other. Without another word he gets up and walks back into the house with his friend.

A/N : so this is the start of the new and improved story!!!! I hope you guys are as excited as I am about this. The old story was good, according to you guys, but there were some issues with the plot as well as the characters. In my opinion everything was too fast paced, and I really needed to slow it down a bit, and also give a little more on the characters. In this version you guys will see more of her parents as well as her friends and the mean girl Mackenzie. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!! And the next will be out soon

The picture to your right is of Carly