The girl woke up from a dream that felt longer than the night itself.

Her eyes flew open, the dream flitting away from her grasp. All she could tell was that it was blissful and it was with a boy she hadn't seen before.

She swung her legs off her bed and slapped her cheeks in an attempt to wake her brain. It's the first day of school today and she has to make the best impression on the students in her new school at St. Kingston's College as a transfer.

To do that, she had to choose from three different outfits that she was sure would make her stand out and at the same time, blend in with the crowd.

She trudged to her dresser and opened it. Hanging from there in three separate hangers were her featured outfits. She pulled out the first hanger with a simple shirt and denim jeans in it. She shook her head. That's not going to do.

She tossed the hanger upon her bed and took the second one. It's a dress. Ew no. Dresses were prone to malfunctions and she couldn't afford having one when she was in a new environment. Granted, she was susceptible to making mistakes whenever she's nervous or scared.

Well, today, she's nervous.

So, picking the third and last hanger, she decided to make a compromise and wear the most comfortable outfit she could possibly find herself in.

Like clockwork, she took a shower, dried her hair, and put on her chosen set. She did a little happy dance in front of the mirror, enjoying her view of herself in a gray hoodie with an indie band's logo printed on the front and a black Nike track pants. She tramped to the side of her room where her multiple pairs of shoes lay and picked out her favorite Adidas running shoes.

Pink never looked good with both black and gray but she didn't care. If anything, she wanted to feel as comfortable in her skin as she could and this get-up was the only thing that could do that, no matter how weird it was.

She combed through her hair, the light brown strands falling to her waist. Should she have it trimmed? She'd been itching for shorter hair lately.

She tied her hair up in a ponytail with a rubber band she dug from her vanity. Then, she popped her rose-gold-rimmed glasses into her eyes, grateful that she could see a little clearer with them. She applied a little tint to her lips and a little blush to her cheeks.

She smiled at herself from her mirror once more. She's set to go. She retrieved her white Nike cap from her bed post and headed out of her room.

The whole first floor smelled like omelette the moment she made it to the last step of the stairs. Dad must be cooking again. She loved his omelettes.

"Morning, sweet," Dad said, his voice jolly and soft. "Ready for school?"

She shrugged. "Dreading it but somehow excited as well," she replied. "Are you sure you'll be able to drop me off? You might be late."

She pulled a chair from the dining table and sat. Dad set a plate of newly-cooked breakfast in front of her, the smell of fried eggs with tomatoes intoxicating her.

"Who cares about being late when it's my daughter's first day of school?" he said. "It was the same thing with your sister."

She nodded. "So I've heard," she said, shoveling food into her mouth. Mm, that was so good.

She ate in silence, her stomach turning at the thought of going to a new school. Would she meet friends there? Would she be able to sort around cliques and secret friendships? Would she be alright with the workload?

"Come on, sweet," Dad said sometime later, breaking the silence. "It's gonna be alright."

She bobbed her head. "Of course."

She finished her meal and washed her dish on the sink. She patted her hands on her pants and remembered Mom saying that it's not good. She laughed as she continued doing it anyway.

Dad appeared in the living room sometime later, wearing his corporate attire and looking good at it. For some reason, even though he's almost forty-five, he didn't look like it. "Ready, sweet?"

She shouldered her school bag. "Ready, Dad."

The drive to school was a quiet one, with Bon Jovi's Never Say Goodbye blasting softly from the car's speakers. The girl pressed her head on the car's glass windows, noting the gray sky above them. It didn't guarantee rain or fog but she found it beautiful nonetheless. This kind of peace and settled feeling was something she wished she could have all the time.

Sure, she was scared and nervous about the new school but she had hope that there would be something out there specifically for her, be it friends, awards, or...something else entirely.

She smiled at her thoughts, making sure her Dad couldn't see her face. Thank God, he was focused on the road.

The car passed fields and major shopping centers, proving that she needed to be dropped off at school every single day. She didn't mind taking the tram or the bus but it's not like Dad would allow her. No, he'd rather drive her everyday.

The car stopped in front of a wide front gate with students strolling inside like a mass movement. The girl pushed the door open and hopped off the car.

"Have a great day, sweet," Dad said.

She nodded curtly before turning to the gate. There were two roads present, one a paved road curving to the main entrance where most of the new students are, the other a gravelly path peppered with parked cars. She wrinkled her nose at the sheer length of the paved walkway.

She spied a set of emergency doors standing ajar directly ahead of her. That's better. She decided to tackle the more direct path, the gravel crunching under her soles. It should be alright. Her shoes had been in through so much to give up on her in this ridiculously gravelly parking lot. Wouldn't these rocks pop a tire somewhere, someday?

She shrugged at the thought, throwing open the emergency doors. She took out her schedule on her phone through a series of taps and swipes. Aha, she made the right choice. First period's room was right here. First door from the emergency exit. Nice.

Several students dressed in casual clothes loitered around the hallway, waiting for the first period bell to ring before flooding the room they were in. Some talked with their friends while some were on their phones, hacking away at some RPG game.

The girl's eyes swept through the crowd and came to rest at someone reading a classic novel on a corner, leaning against the wall casually, his focus entirely on his book.

He wore a blue-and-red flannel over his maroon shirt, his glasses sliding down his nose every now and then. The girl found herself approaching the boy, noting his brown hair that fell past his eyes in straight, flat locks, colliding with glasses almost as large as hers. His ears also stuck out of the sides of his head like errant antennae that it's almost adorable.

The girl reached the boy's place and cleared her throat. He looked up from his book and locked eyes with her. Oh, God.

He stared at her with confusion with his lips partially open, his eyes a dark shade of brown that it's almost black without light hitting it. The girl cleared her throat again, forcing her hammering heart to calm the heck down.

"Hi, are you new here?" she asked, gripping the straps of her backpack. Her palms sweat like crazy.

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I am," he said, his voice sounding distant yet so familiar. She was pretty sure she'd heard of that voice before.

"I'm new as well," she said, her voice thankfully not leaping to a higher pitch. "Wanna hang out at lunch? I don't know anyone here."

The boy closed his book and held out his palm. "Well, I'll start us off," he said, smiling. "I'm Romeo."

The girl took his hand and shook it, feeling weird flashes of heat from their touch. She smiled at him. "Thanks," she said. "I'm Juliet."