Legally Mine [READ THIS VERSION!]

* Chapter 1 - "New Beginnings" *

Almost the second I step off the school bus for the first time all year I am greeted by three squealing weirdos – who I know as my closest friends.

Before I can say hello, Natalie, Spencer and Becky have simultaneously launched themselves at me and I find myself in a group hug.

Once we pull apart, I finally have time to ask them the most open-ended question possible.

"How were your Summers, guys?" I ask the trio as we move across the front yard of the school to the gates that will take us inside.

"Well, mine was pretty great!" Natalie starts. "Oh my gosh! Thailand was a-mazing. Ooh, and did I mention I got to ride an elephant?"

Spencer, Becky and I make amused sounds, and then the four of us giggle together.

Natalie is a very humorous girl. She's so optimistic all the time, and I really admire that about her. She manages to stay completely calm, even in extremely stressful situations - like during exam times. And despite her care-free attitude towards exams, she always aces them. When I need advice, I go to her, most of the time. She's very open-minded and also open to listening to others' sides of the story before judging. Physically, she is tall, tanned, has long hair the colour of burnt toast, and brown eyes.

"Mine was okay," Spencer says before she moans. "But seeing my dad over the other side of the country meant having to hang around with the Step Monster and her offspring. Ugh."

"Did you just reference Pitch Perfect?" I giggle.

"Of course," Spencer chuckles, before continuing her tale. "I'd never felt more isolated. They took my phone off of me on the first day, and the rest of the visit went down-hill from there. Hey, I was promised that I could bring one of you along when we planned the visit, but clearly I wasn't allowed to in the end. My stupid step-mum and her rules. Ugh. The highlight was probably when my step-mum was bitten by a wasp the day we went to the pool."

"Gosh, Spence. I swear sometimes you're as venomous as a wasp...or whatever," Natalie jokes.

"Well, I do aim to please," Spencer retorts, in a mock egoistic tone.

Spencer is cunning, but only in a humorous way. She's quite sarcastic a lot of the time, but she sure means well. While Spence hangs around with us most of the time, she's a really flexible person in that she has lots of friends from different groups, like me. I'm usually closest to her when I feel like really letting loose and having some fun. Physically, she is rather tall, her skin is quite pale and she has shoulder-length straight blonde hair, and blue eyes. Everyone calls her albino, but of course she reacts by firing out with another insult, jokingly of course.

A few more steps see us entering the school gates, and finding our way over the quadrangle, filled with tons of other students organised in groups, reminiscing about their holidays and behaving excitedly.

"Bec, how were your holidays?" Natalie asks, noticing that she hasn't opened her mouth since the squealing.

Suddenly, Becky becomes really hyperactive.

"Oh, my gosh, guys. You won't believe it. While I was visiting the beach, I had this Summer fling. The guy was so, so hot and so gorgeous, and just...oh, my. It wasn't the weather that gave me heat stroke, it was him."

The rest of us squeal at Becky's exciting news.

Lastly, Becky is very enthusiastic, and again, very humorous. She's the one in our group who has the boyfriends, clearly. I chill with her when I'm looking for fun, but also when I need advice on really girly things and those romance-related – sorry Nat, they're the only areas you can't advise others about –, not that I've ever had a boyfriend before, or a crush to be completely honest, but I did need Becky's help through my first period at school. Ha-ha. Physically, Becky is quite short, has very tanned skin thanks to her Summer vacation, has long orange hair with ringlets, and green eyes.