dream on, my dear.

"butterflies"

Aspen and her mom were all moved in. Their house was plain, but Aspen didn't mind it too much. She obviously didn't prefer it, but it was okay. She had school the next day, and her mother had already started work. She wasn't happy that she had to start immediately, but their relationship had started to get better, so she kept her thoughts to herself. Aspen was happy, but she was scared. What if she did something wrong and messed it all up? What if it's a phase, and everything would go back to the way it was?

-----

Aspen's alarm was sudden and loud. An annoyingly loud beeping rang in her ear, driving her crazy, and seemed to go on forever. She woke up, staring at the clock. She muttered her frustrations and grabbed her phone, shutting off the alarm and slamming it down on a box. She hadn't completely unpacked yet, and they were still waiting for some furniture, so all she had was her mattress, a box as a makeshift nightstand, a lamp, and the rest of her belongings and clothes scattered and in boxes that were stacked on top of each other.

She got up and looked through a box with all of her clothes. She looked through, throwing clothes on the floor. She was frustrated. She knew she had too many clothes. She bent down to pick up a shirt she had tossed on the floor, along with some jeans. She stood back up, sliding her jeans on.

"Aspen?" She walked over to the door as she finished buttoning her jeans.

"Yeah?" She started to put her shirt on, slowly, but she eventually got it on, looking at her mom.

"You almost ready?"

"Yeah." She responded, wondering if the sleep deprivation was showing.

"Alright, I'll be out in the car."

She seemed mad again, and that disappointed her. She was scared, but she was so stressed out about school, so she would have to deal with that when it came around. What if none of the kids liked her? What if this school was too difficult? Too different? Too big? She slid the rest of her outfit on and rushed out to the car. She looked good, she wasn't going to lie to herself. She knew she had good style, but she would never brag about it. She hopped into the car and looked at her mom. Her mom ignored her, never moving her gaze from the road.

"Bye, mom." She hesitated as her mom pulled up to the school. She slammed the car door, holding her favorite book in her hand, double checking that her phone was in her back pocket, made sure she had her wallet, hair ties, and school supplies in her bag before speed-walking through the school's doors. She don't know why, but she was so paranoid that she would lose her things or forget to bring something, but would never check before she left. She looked for the office, which was conveniently right next to the main doors. She walked in, greeting the lady at the desk, telling her she was new, and asking for her schedule.

She looked up Aspen's name, printed out her schedule along with a map of the school, mumbling and making small talk. Aspen took the papers, looking at the map, stressing over how large the campus was. The lady continued to introduce her to some of the other staff. "Right behind you is our office monitor, Owen!" The receptionist chimed, motioning to a desk right behind Aspen,

Office monitor?

"He'll be giving you a tour."

"Thanks." She turned around to see a boy, sitting there, looking at her. He lifted his hand up and waved, smiling politely. He wasn't super short, but she was taller than him. He had brown hair, slicked back with what looked like an insane amount of gel. He had brown eyes, wore a grey t-shirt with tannish-brown jeans and white sneakers. She smiled a bit, waved back and walked out the door.

"Hey!"

"Yeah?" She turned around, almost startled by his sudden presence.

"Aspen, right?"

"Yeah.." She hesitated.

"I'm Owen, I'm supposed to show you around?"

She looked down and let out a small laugh. She almost forgot about the tour.

"Thanks."

He showed her around. It wasn't a super fancy school, not like anything out of the movies, but it was huge. Bigger than her old one, at least. It was nice, but she hated school, so it didn't really matter anyways. He stopped at her first class.

"This is your first class. If you need help finding anything else, or have any questions, you can just go to the office if you can't find me."

"Yeah, of course. Thank you."

He's nice.

She never had any close friends before, and she wasn't expecting to make any now. Of course, she was lonely, and wanted a friend, but she wasn't going to go and make it happen. She stood at the door for a second, her heart pounding. She opened the door, stepping in slowly. Everyone went silent and stared at her, of course. She gave a quick smile and walked over to the teacher, and handed them her schedule.

"I'm new, sorry." She whispered, awkwardly. Of course the desk was directly in front of the class.

"That's alright. You're a bit behind, since you're new, but I'll do my best to get you caught up. Your seat is in the back, next to Amber. I'll come by in a second to explain more."

"Where do I sit again?" She asked, turning around.

"Amber, raise your hand." The teacher said, almost sounding annoyed. She looked around and saw a girl raise her hand, almost hesitant. She seemed shy. She also seemed nice, though. She was also very pretty. Too pretty. She was almost flustered when she saw Amber. She gave a quick smile to the teacher, mumbling a 'thank you' and hurried over to her seat.

They both stared at each other for a bit. Aspen made eye contact with her, her heart pounding even louder.

"So, hi. I'm Amber." She smiled a bit and laughed. She fidgeted with her pen and rubbed the back of her neck. She was really pretty. Aspen couldn't help but look at her.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Aspen."

"That's a really pretty name. I love it." She smiled once more.

Her smile was so pretty.

"Same for Amber. I love that name too." She blushed and looked down. Aspen grinned.

"It reminds me of fall, you know? Autumn. It also reminds me of fire." She continued to rant on and didn't realize she was still talking. She was nervous. She was embarrassed when she realized she was still talking. She was so relieved to see that Amber was still listening.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I was still talking."

"Hey, don't apologize. I wanted to listen to you."

Aspen's stomach tightened and she felt butterflies. No one has ever showed this kind of care towards her before. She found that sad, but she loved it. It made her happy. She felt something for this girl, even if they had just met.

And she was going to figure out exactly what she felt.