Yellow and brown colored leaves tumbled off of the side of the road as Luna Goodwin drove by in her cherry red Aston Martin. Her golden locks were concealed by a white scarf. Teetering on the bridge of her nose was her oversized, black, Saint Laurent sunglasses. Like most days in New Brooks, the sun stayed hidden behind the thick mass of the gray storm clouds but that didn't discourage Luna from flaunting her new designer glasses. Practicality, was the one word Luna threw out of the dictionary when it came to style. Instead of wearing something that offered more protection from the brisk fall weather she wore thin, leather gloves, and a red peacoat.

In every other part of the state of Virginia people were experiencing warm temperatures that belonged solely to the summer months. But the tiny town of New Brooks, which resided in the northern region of the state, always had a rather dead feeling in the air. The temperatures were cool, the ever conflicted sky bounced between white and gray- never blue- and the days always seemed to be shorter. It was a town that seemed to be ruled by the night.

Luna glanced at her clock radio, the numbers flashed repeatedly as if to remind her that she only had five minutes before the school gates would close- and she was ten minutes behind schedule. Peeking at her mirror, to make sure there was nobody behind her, Luna gripped her steering wheel tightly and accelerated down the road. Her phone buzzed repeatedly as worried text messages from her friends flooded her inbox. Luna Goodwin had never been late to school, or anywhere, for that matter. She had impeccable timing and refused to acknowledge that being fashionably late was an actual thing. Being late, she thought, was only an act of a careless person and she could not afford to be careless.

The little arrow on her dashboard flew past every large number until she was speeding at ninety miles per hour. Her hands moved agilely as she navigated the car around each sharp curve. The roads from her house weren't in a particular good shape, Luna lived in the middle of a forest and the construction workers refused to travel that far into no man's land unless something drastic happened- like an earthquake. And since earthquake had yet to happen, Luna was stuck swerving around potholes and giant cracks in the asphalt. It was amazing that she had yet to crash but then again, crashing was another imperfection that she didn't have time for. The gatekeeper sent her a furious glare as she rolled into the student parking lot of New Brooks High. A large, mischievous grin broke out on her face she parked in her usual spot. People, ranging from close friends to mild acquaintances, corralled around her car before she had the chance to get out. Luna pulled off her scarf, freeing her golden curls from their bounds and put away her sunglasses.

"I thought you were going to be late," Jane cocked a brow, and held out her hand to help Luna out of her car.

"You have such little faith in me, Janey, darling. When have I ever been late?" Luna's voice was sweet but assertive. She could make a whole room stop and listen by just uttering one sentence.

"There's a first time for everything," Jane reminded Luna as she gathered her books.

Luna simply rolled her eyes. Waving and smiling like a true princess, she wormed her way through the crowd. Jane followed behind her, elbowing anyone in the rib that got in their way. They approached the steps of New Brooks High with a large crowd following behind. The high school wasn't large, it was just one elongated brick building, with single glass tier on top for the science classes. The rest of the student body was already at their lockers or in their homerooms. Luna's grin widened when she saw Will, her boyfriend of three years, standing by her locker.

Will and Luna had been friends since kindergarten. They met on their first day when Ms. Greene, forced them to pair up and work on a coloring book. Will had lost his pack of crayons and Luna let him borrow hers, thus beginning a ten year friendship.

"You weren't outside today," Luna pouted as he took her backpack off of her shoulder, "I thought you had ditched me."

He leaned against the locker next to hers and smiled. "I had to speak to coach about me missing practice tomorrow but I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you? How about a piggyback ride?"

"Tempting but no. I'm not exactly in the right attire for a piggyback," Luna said, looking down at her black collared dress and heels.

Will's eyes dilated as he took the time to see the attire Luna was referring to. She blushed under the weight of his stare. Will was always looking at her like that, like she was the reason he breathed and though she was often ogled by people because of her natural beauty, only Will's stare ever affected her. It was hard for a girl not to go unaffected when Will turned his dazzling gaze upon them. He had a lean, sinewy body fit for the soccer field, sparkling blue eyes and a mane of honey colored curls. Luna's favorite part of him though, were his adorable dimples that hadn't changed since kindergarten.

"Okay break it up you two, the bell is about to ring in two minutes and I do not want to be late," Jane huffed behind them.

Luna bit her tongue, to stop herself from snapping at her friend. She knew Jane didn't really care about being late. There was a certain price Luna paid by befriending Jane Gale. Back in middle school, Jane had been the social loner with thick rimmed glasses and greasy black hair. Luna had been that one kid who passed right by the awkward stage, blossoming into a twelve year old Barbie doll. Even back then Luna had been the cool kid, she always knew what to say and wear and how to act. Taking pity on poor Jane, she decided to teach her the art of being Luna Goodwin. It had been a very long process but by the end of it nobody remembered the old Jane, not even Jane herself.

"Yes, let's," Luna held Will's hand in one hand and balanced her books in the other.

"So, what did you need to talk to coach about?" Luna asked as the three of them slipped into class. Taking her seat in the front row, Will and Jane sat on her opposing sides.

"I told him I needed extra time to study for my AP Calculus test."

"But Calc is your best class, you have like a 110," Luna wrinkled her nose as she stared at Will.

"Of course," Jane interjected, "He's William Haverstock if he had anything less his mom would have heart attack. She'd start preaching about life decisions even though he has 4.0 GPA and is captain of the soccer team..."

Will winced, knowing every word that she said was true. His mother was very proud about his accomplishments and boasted regularly. Sometimes her boasting turned into insane hyperboles like the time she tried to convince people he came out of the womb reciting Shakespeare. She was absurd but she was his mother and he would have to endure her tales until he left for college.

"Yes, I know that but coach doesn't. I was hoping that maybe you and I could go out. They're playing Father of the Bride tomorrow night at Wilton's and I know you love that movie." Wilton's was the town's dine-in Movie theater. They hadn't played a new movie since 1996 but nobody was complaining. The parents loved the oldies and the kids called it 'authentic'.

"Oh Will-" Luna began but she was interrupted by Mr. Wilkes, their homeroom teacher.

"You two shut up," he slammed the door shut as the bell rang, "If we wanted to watch an annoyingly perfect couple gush over each other, I would have put on Friends."

Burrowing his head in his arms, Will groaned as Luna blushed furiously. The rest of class let out a series guffaws. Mr. Wilkes taught trigonometry, and all previous seniors warned the upcoming juniors about his tendencies to be very...blunt. He was a bird-like man with a heavily lined face and a receding hairline. Even the hair he had left had turned white. The poor man, just last year he had had a full salt and pepper pompadour but that was before his wife left him, his daughter flunked out of college.

"Ok, now that we got that out of the way let's get to attendance. Martin Arthur?"

"Unfortunately here," a goth boy said from the back of the class.

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine," Mr. Wilkes muttered while crossing him off the list.

The rest of homeroom continued in that fashion, with Mr. Wilkes tormenting every last kid in his class until he felt better about his own miserable life. Luna and Will continued to make awkward eye contact, neither of them were willing to suffer Wilkes's wrath.

The bell rang not a moment too soon and the kids rushed out of the class. A laugh bubbled up in Luna's chest as she reached the open corridor. Sparing one look at her boyfriend, she could see he was in a similar condition. Snickering to each other, they intertwined their fingers and strutted down the halls of New Brooks high. Everyone, ranging from squabbling post-pubescent freshman to the dazed and slightly hazed seniors, stopped and stared as the alpha couple passed by. The boorish white walls of New Brooks high, were covered in array of multi-covered posters advertising for various clubs. September was always filled with kids, flocking to the walls in hopes of finding the perfect extra curricular activities to fill their time. The more intensive clubs like the drama club, or student council received tables with student advisors standing by idly.

"Clara," Luna said as she approached one of the large white tables, in the middle of the hall.

Behind the table, with a bright pink banner that read 'Homecoming Court' was a small brunette, leaning back in a metal fold up chair. She had been reading a book in her lap but the book fell to the floor as she jumped, startled by Luna's sudden appearance. Clara dove after the book. On her way back up, she hit her head off of the the table, knocking her glasses off of her face. Bending down, Luna helped the girl to her feet as Will picked up her glasses. Clara was a sweet girl and a good friend but she was always so wrapped up in a fictional story. Luna found that it was best to get the point with her, or else she might as well be talking to the wall.

"Thanks," Clara blushed as she took her glasses from Will.

"Pride and Prejudice?" Luna asked, looking at Clara's book, "I have to admit, Jane Austen is a favorite of mine as well."

Hugging the book close to her chest, Clara returned to her seat and neatly rearranged the ballot boxes. After she was sure, every last flyer and and 'I voted' sticker stack was in a perfect row, she looked up and acknowledged Luna.

"Sorry, Luna. I was so caught up in the story, I didn't see you guys approach. But how can I help you?"

"It's fine, I was just wondering if you had any updates on the election," Luna asked.

"You're winning by a landslide, again. I think by at least three hundred and twenty-eight votes."

Every year, since freshman year, Luna had successfully won the title of homecoming queen. Winning was something she was very used to. As the president of the student council and captain of the tennis team, Luna often faced competition but she always prevailed in the end. It did help that she had great campaigning skills, all which were taught to her by her mother, the mayor.

"I'm up?" Luna quirked a brow, "I didn't know anyone else was running."

Since she had been the undefeated victor for the past three years all the other girls had given up on running. They decided that they'd rather focus on having a good time at the dance, then having to suffer in defeat one more year. The news had been music Luna's ears, though she enjoyed a healthy competition it was always nice to be handed free things.

"Yes," Clara, said with a slight nervous edge to her voice, "Coco decided to run again this year."

Coco, it was a nickname Corinthia Connors gave to herself the start of sophomore year. It was another poor attempt at reinventing herself to become more popular. Coco was that one girl who went through all the phases over the years; jock, emo, prep- she even went through a 70s disco theme in the eighth grade. The girl deluded herself into thinking that a brand new pair of shoes could change the fact that when it came to friends she was a living revolving door. She was too busy reinventing herself to stop and realize that there were other people on the planet and they mattered as well.

"Is that so," Luna said with a tight smile. Will flinched as her manicured nails dug into his forearm.

"Yes it is," A nasally voice announced behind them. The sound of clicking heels echoed in Luna's ears as Coco approached.

Once again Coco's image had changed drastically. Long gone were the collared shirts and plaid skirts of junior year, now she donned revealing, sequined crop top and zippered leather skirt. Makeup was caked onto her face, making her look like an oompa loompa in lipstick, and her heat damaged ginger hair, was completely cemented in place by tons of hairspray.

"Sorry Luna, I know you like things that are easy," Coco said, glancing at Will, "But what fun is that. If anything, I'm really doing this for you."

Doing this to drag you through the mud.

Coco's glossy lips were closed, but Luna swore she heard her say that. It was almost as if she had heard her voice in her mind. Shaking off that ridiculous notion, Luna met Coco's stare and gave her an equally fake smile.

"Stop humoring yourself Coco. Luna's beat you three times, it's not going to stop anytime soon," Throwing his arm over Luna's shoulder Will smirked, and they walked away. Jane followed behind, holding a hand over her mouth as she tried to contain her snickers.

"Oh and Corinthia?" Luna stopped and looked back, "Stop calling my boyfriend a whore. A lie, isn't true no matter how many times you tell it. It won't make him like me any less and like you any more."

Coco's orange face turned bright red, the veins in her neck were exposed and throbbing. She fisted her hands, threw them above her head as if she was punching the air. "My name is Coco!"

Hysterical cackles spewed from Jane's mouth, drowning out Coco's voice. She clutched her stomach tightly, while trying to calm her laughter but the scenario was just too funny. Coco believing she was an actual threat to Luna, that must have been a joke! There was nothing she had on her. Luna Goodwin was the total package, smart, pretty and kind to those who deserved it. Jane truly believed Luna had no flaws. In the years that they had been friends she tried to look for the tiniest quirk that would shatter Luna's perfect image but she couldn't find anything. Perhaps that was because the second biggest flaw Luna had was being too perfect. Being perfect was already impossible but being too perfect was just phony. If anyone took a closer look at the golden girl they would notice her careless smile was actually carefully placed and every step she took in her casual strut was actually measured in her mind. She exerted all of her energy into forming the perfect image so people would be so blinded by that, they would miss her biggest flaw- her past.

**So this was just a little introduction to Luna before the whole disaster strikes. You might not like her now, I get it, not even I like her at the moment. Right now, Luna's living a very cliche and perfect life- just like she wants it to be. I promise things will change in a few chapters. Please tell me in the comments what you think about Luna Goodwin- the golden girl- and do you think she has an actual personality under the Queen Bee persona? If so, what do you think made her this way? Also tell me what you think of Jane and Will because they will be important characters in this series.

Thank you for reading and continuing to show me your support. I can't really tell yet if you guys like the book so far so please tell, if you want me to continue with it.
XOXO,
Ro.**