Some of us are born lucky. Some of us are lucky to be born. I believe I am the latter. So that's how I live, like I am lucky to be here at all. Yet, I sometimes find myself wishing for things I do not have, such as confidence or the ability to handle new overwhelming situations like starting school. It seems ungrateful to wish for the things you lack but it is human nature.

Sitting in the car, I could swear I was going to chew a hold through my lip by the time we reached the building. Nerves gnawed at my stomach, encasing my body more with each passing moment. Being a small town girl, I was used to the comfort of familiarity. It was rare to see any new faces in Brinley and I was certainly never one of them.

Of course no one else in the car shared my anxieties, seeing as this was nothing new for them, and in fact Fin and Emma were both slumped in their respective seats half asleep. Jace was driving silently, either not having anything to say, or respecting the silence that had fallen over us almost the second we had climbed into the car.

"Jace, what do you teach?" I needed a distraction until we got there. Something else to think about before I suffocate myself with worries.

"I teach 9th grade English." He responded, keeping his eyes on the road. I nodded. "You like to read Iz?" Jace thankfully engaged in conversion with me.

"I guess. I mean I'm more of an art or music kinda person." I was never any good at any core subjects, preferring more imaginative uses of my time.

"My friend Will is the 7th grade art teacher, so maybe you'll have him." He smiled at me through the revue mirror to which I gave him a small one back.

I was going to say something else, but before I had the chance, we pulled up to a large building that read HARLAN HIGH SCHOOL: HOME OF THE HAWKS

I gulped already overwhelmed by the sheer number of teenagers standing outside the building, gathered in large clusters that were bigger than my whole grade back home. I could feel my heart in my throat, as Jace pulled into a parking spot.

"Emma, Fin, wake up." Jace said, shaking both of them. My siblings groaned but lazily opened their eyes.

"Welcome to Harlan High school." Emma smiled tiredly at me, pulling her backpack onto her shoulders.

"Yay." I cheered sarcastically.

Fin laughed, "It won't be that bad kid, don't worry."

I sighed and stepped out of the car, grabbing my bag. I followed Jace and the other two inside the huge building, trying to memorize the way to the front office should I ever need to go there. There were so many hallways here.Each one looked exactly the same, giving me no way to even recognize where we had gone. By the time we reached the office, I had given up trying to figure out where we had gone.

"Okay, Emma and Fin go to class. I'm gonna help Izzy and get her to where she's going." Jace said turning to the 3 of us. Emma and Fin nodded.

"Bye Iz, good luck." Emma gave me a tight hug.

"You'll do fine kiddo." Fin encouraged, also squeezing me for a second.

When they had both left, me and Jace walked into the office where a white haired lady sat behind a desk that was almost taller than her.

"Mr.Cane, how can I help you." She asked boredly, peering over her glasses.

"My younger sister needs her schedule Edna." Jace remained chipper, ignoring the obvious apathy dripping from the woman's demeanor.

"Doesn't your younger sister already have her schedule?" This lady reminded me of the receptionist from Monsters inc.

"Well actually this is my other sister who just moved in with us." Jace explained patiently.

The old bat looked at me over her hot pink spectacles. "Looks the same to me."

Jace and I sighed simultaneously. Yes, me and Emma were twins but we did not look enough alike for someone to not be able to tell us apart. This lady either needed better glasses or maybe she was simply being difficult for the fun of it.

"This is Emma's twin Isabelle. I need Isabelle Canes' schedule please." Jace was losing his patience but this old bat didn't seem to care as she glared at him. Some people think their the only ones allowed to feel annoyance or inconvenience.

"Here you go." She grunted handing me a piece of paper. I mumbled a quiet thank you but got no response to which I took as a sign to leave the office quickly.

"She seems..." I trailed off not knowing what to say.

"She seems like a total witch that should have retired about 20 years ago." Jace laughed, shaking his head. He sighed and gave me a small smile. "C'mon, I'll show you to your first period which is..." He took the schedule from my hands reading it over. "...Spanish."

I nodded and followed behind him as we once again went through the snaking halls. Jace was explaining something to me but I was too nervous to pay any mind to the words coming from his mouth.

I was focused on establishing who I was going to be. And unfortunately the closer we got to the classroom, the more the ghost and the shadow pushed the ruler to the back of my mind to be forgotten about until the next time I got lost in my thoughts.

"Izzy did you hear what I just said?" My head snapped to my brother and I just realized that we had stopped. He chuckled obviously seeing I had been lost in my own little world. "I said, I'm in room 24 just down the hall if you need me."

I nodded slowly. It hit me that he was going to leave and I was going to be alone for the rest of the day. My apprehension must have been visible, because Jaces features softened and he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Izzy you are smart, kind, sweet, and a whole bunch of other good things and if you let that show I can guarantee that you'll do fine." He quickly pulled me into a hug. "Good luck Izzy, I know you'll do great." He whispered. And then with a small smile he walked away.

"One two three." I whispered to myself before pushing the wooden door open. A tan middle aged woman with dark hair and bright red lipstick, looked up from a clipboard and looked at my curiously.

"¿Quién eres tú?" She said in what I assumed was Spanish. Problem was, I did not speak a word of Spanish and had no idea what she said. So I stood there awkwardly, painfully aware of the stares I was getting from the class.

"She asked who you are." A blonde girl whispered from her seat. I gave her a grateful look and turned my attention back to the teacher who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Oh, I'm Isabelle Cane." I said shyly, feeling my cheeks heat up. She looked back down at the clipboard in her hands and nodded.

"¿Tu no hablas español?" Once again I looked at her with a blank stare. "And that answers my question." the teacher sighed sounding slightly annoyed with me. "Go take a seat next to Lainey please." She pointed to the blonde who had helped me earlier.

I nodded mumbling a quick thank you and took the seat in the middle row.

"Not a Spanish scholar huh?" The girl asked with a smile. I blushed and shook my head. "That's okay, half the class can't understand a word Mrs.Garcia says." I gave her a small smile and she stuck out her hand.

"Lainey Hendix." She introduced herself. I took her hand and shook it gently.

"Izzy Cane." My voice was small and shy contrasting the confidence and ardent tone this girl held.

"I thought Emma was the only sister." A boy in front of Lainey leaned back in his seat looking at me curiously.

"I just moved in with them." I clarified.

"How come?" The boy pressed furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

I felt my cheeks tint a deep red. "Just, family stuff." I muttered not meeting his eyes.

"Gavin, why would you ask that you prick?" Lainey smacked him on the back of the head earning a whine from the brown haired boy as he rubbed the sore spot on his skull.

"It's fine really." I mumbled not wanting to create enemies so soon after getting here. I didn't need to fill the gap of hatred I had lacked since leaving Brinley.

"No she's right I shoulda kept my mouth shut." The boy sighed then looked up at me with a small smile. "I'm Gavin Taylor, nice to meet you." We shook hands and he turned his attention back to Lainey.

For the next half an hour we talked about all sorts of things. Turns out, Lainey is into photography and Gavin is into pottery. Artists understand other artists.

When the bell rang for the end of the period, Lainey put a hand on my arm stopping me from leaving. "You should sit with us at lunch. We can talk some more." I nodded quickly, liking the idea of having someone to sit with on my first day here. "Cool, see you then." She smiled and left the classroom.

"Bye Izzy, see you there." Gavin called jogging after Lainey.

Period one was a success. Now just to get through the next six.

THE WORLD THAT WAS MINE

3 periods later, I dragged myself down the hall, and somehow managed to make it to the cafeteria without getting lost. This school was huge and busy and confusing.I had been late to every class so far, simply because I couldn't find any. Jace found me in the wrong hallway after 2nd period English class and after laughing at me for a second he so graciously showed me where I needed to go since he didn't have a class.

"Izzy come here!" The blonde waving to me frantically caught my eye and I saw a group of maybe 5 kids sitting at a table secluded from the rest.

As I walked over, I spotted Emma sitting at a crowded table in the middle of the room. She was talking about something animatedly and it seemed that everyone there was listening intently.

We made eye contact for a second but when she patted a seat beside her I shook my head pointing to where Lainey and Gavin were saving a seat for me among the other 3 people I had yet to meet. She followed my finger and raised an eyebrow as if she didn't know why I was going over there. I shrugged and mouthed an apology, joining my new friends.

"Hey girl." Lainey said as I took a seat in front of her. "This is Quinn, Reid and Naomi." The two girls smiled and waved and the boy nodded at me seemingly more focused on his food. "Guys this is Izzy Cane, the new girl." I smiled shyly and gave a small wave.

"Are you related to Emma Cane?" The girl with almond colored skin and dark hair asked curiously. She was Quinn if I remember correctly.

I nodded. "She's my twin."

The other girl, Naomi I think who had bleach blonde hair with purple streaks and pale, porcelain skin looked up from the dress design she was drawing. "I didn't know Emma had a twin or a sister for that matter."

I shrugged. "Not very many people did." That was a comment I had been getting all day long. I was some big mystery. In all fairness I didn't know I had a twin anymore than Emma did so it was no wonder that it was a big deal that I suddenly existed. "Do you all know Emma?"

The boy shook his head. "Everyone knows Emma Cane, she's the most popular girl at our school." He was Reid I believe.

"Oh." I hummed. I was the epitome of shyness and tended to have very few if any friends but the more I learned about Emma, the more different we seemed, especially in that way.

"I really like that design." I complimented the dress Naomi was drawing. It was a beautiful mermaid gown with layers that reminded me of rose petals and it was a beautiful ocean blue color.

"Thanks, I'm designing it for my sister's wedding in a few weeks." She said proudly.

"Careful there Naomi, wouldn't want you to upstage the bride." Gavin said, shoving a fistful of chips into his mouth. Naomi blushed wildly but didn't acknowledge him.

Lunch flew by in a whirl of art talk and banter that I happily listened to interjecting every now and again. The next period I had was art class which I thankfully shared with Naomi, Gavin and Reid.

When we entered the room, I was stopped by a tall blonde man with a streak of paint and a goofy smile on his face.

"You must be the new student slash sister Mr.Cane told me about!" He exclaimed.

I nodded a familiar coy pink coating my cheeks. "I'm Izzy." I mumbled noticing just how many people were watching us now that the bell had rang and students had trickled in, taking seats at long metal tables.

"Me and your brother have been best friends since Kindergarten so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Jace had mentioned something about his friend earlier in the day saying that he was an art teacher so I assume this was him. "I'm Mr.Fitz, welcome to 7th grade art." He announced putting a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded looking around the colorful room. Artwork was displayed everywhere as well as witty signs and posters. The walls were painted rainbow colors making the room feel lively and energized.

"Gremlins!" He yelled, gaining the attention of the other students in the class. "This is our new Gremlin! You know the rules, be kind and don't feed her after midnight." The class nodded and all mock saluted him. "Now little Gremlin, find a seat!" he pointed to the empty chair beside Gavin which I happily took.

They were finishing a project today so Mr.Fitz told me to just free draw. I decided to draw a flower I had seen in a text book earlier in the day and within minutes I was completely immersed in the strokes of my pencil as it drifted across the blank paper.

"Wow Izzy that's so cool." I jumped hearing Reid's voice behind me.

"Woah, Izzy you're really good." Gavin leaned over with wide eyes.

Soon Naomi and the others and the others at my table were oohing and aahing at the sketch much to my embarrassment. I thought I was going to burst into flames from the heat on my cheeks by the time Mr.Fitz came over.

"Young padawan you have much talent." He said leaning over my shoulder.

"Thanks." I muttered.

The bell rang soon after that and everyone ran out the door. The rest of the day went by fairly smoothly. I had one class with Emma and Lainey, Quinn, Gavin and Reid were also there. Naomi had grumbled about having to go to gym class but Lainey reminded her that it was only one period and gym class wasn't so bad. We all disagreed but Lainey didn't seem to care.

The whole period, Emma kept giving me weird looks but I kind of ignored her and focused on the History lesson in front of me. She seemed to be giving my new friends a side eyed look, almost disapprovingly.

By the end of the day I was exhausted to say the least. Walking to the car, I spotted Fin and Emma leaving against it waiting for Jace and I to join them. But before I could join them, I locked eyes with someone I never wanted to see again. Someone whose very existence made my stomach churn.

The world is determined to weigh you down. Chains of your past grapple and pull you back to dark places, never letting you leave. We are all just trying to find light in a dark world.

But sometimes there is no light.

And with the light, the world is too dark to find your strength.

A/N-Did I quote Avatar? Perhaps. Have I been binge watching Avatar? Perhaps. Did I finish all 3 seasons in a week? Perhaps. Am I ashamed? Not in the slightest.

This chapter is a little more dialogue heavy than my others but I introduced a lot of characters and there wasn't much room for the usual amount of internal monologue. This is the longest chapter I've written so far so I hope you enjoy.

Who do you think it could She made eye contact with? I guarantee no one will get it ;)

Thank you for reading and voting! I appreciate it so much!