Look a little deeper

Chapter 1: LOGAN...

MELANIE'S POV:

"Melanie! Wake up! It's your first day of school!" My step-sister Lisa sang cheerfully, shaking me out of my dreams.

I slowly opened my eyes to see her face just a few centimetres away from mine. Too close for comfort.

"No please come closer, I haven't inhaled your carbon dioxide yet." I mumbled, sitting up in bed.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked, genuinely confused.

I sighed. I forgot she didn't understand sarcasm. Especially not the science related kind. I just waved her off and shuffled into the bathroom. Today was my first day at Lisa's school. My mom had married her dad and so we had moved here last week. Even though it's a natural reaction to miss your old school and friends, I felt nothing. It wasn't like I would never see them again, we were in the information era. There was facebook, skype and twitter. They were literally just a click away. Does that analysis make me cold? Maybe, but I'm a realist. I prefer not to dwell on how I'm supposed to feel about a situation and just go with it.

"Hurry up Melanie! We won't have enough time to get you ready." Lisa said, banging on the door.

I briefly contemplated just staying there, in the shower until it was too late to do anything with my hair or make-up. At least that way Lisa wouldn't be able to turn me into Barbie. But I decided against it. I had promised mom I would try to fit in...

*Brief flashback*

My mom and I were greeted by a pixie-like girl as we stepped into our new house. Mom hugged her and made the introductions. "Melanie, this is your sister Lisa."

"Step-sister." I replied, then I turned to Lisa to make sure there were no hard feelings. "I hope I didn't offend you, I was only stating a fact."

My mom shook her head and looked up with her palms open as if to say: 'Dear Lord, she's already begun.'

"Oh, it's okay. I know you didn't mean it like that. I heard about your quirkiness from my dad." Lisa said with a smile.

So Mike had described me as quirky. I've come to realize that 'quirky' was the polite way to say wierd.

"You two are going to be in the same grade so Lisa can show you the ropes at school." Mom said.

"You don't have to worry about your first day Melanie. I know all the right things to do and all the right people to talk to. No sister of mine will be at the bottom of the food chain at school." Lisa declared passionately. Then her eyes sparkled as she seemed to get an idea. "I could help you get dressed that day. You know, pick your clothes out, do your hair and make up. You're really pretty, you could easily be popular."

"Great." I said simply. I'm going to be made into a princess. Now I can die a happy death. Not.

We stayed in silence for a while, and I just looked from my mom to Lisa. I was comfortable with silence, Lisa obviously was not. She looked nervously at my mom, probably imagining the difficulty she was going to have carrying out a conversation with me.

She cleared her throat to break the silence. "I'll, um..., show Melanie to our room."

She picked up some of my bags and walked up the stairs. I was about to follow when my mom stopped me.

"Sweetie, I want-I need you to try this time." She said. I stopped to listen to what she had to say. "It's a fresh new start, I don't want you to be friendless anymore."

"I had friends." I pointed out. I did. Two of the nicest, most straight forward girls I had ever met. Mom had never met them so it was understandable that she didn't know about them.