Moving Forward

Chapter 1

I stand if front of the mirror, and I can't even recognise myself.

Gone is the brown hair, and here is the blonde. Gone is the makeupless face, and here is the red lip and the bronze eyeshadow. My dark jeans and black hoodies replaced with dresses and short skirts and colourful t-shirts. My shy personality replaced with confidence and attitude.

Oh boy, I hope this works.

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I run up the stairs to front entrance of my new college with only 2 minutes until the bell goes. It really isn't the best thing when your alarm decides to not go off on your first day at a place that, I don't know, supposedly lays out the rest of your whole life for you!

My forehead is sticky, my armpits are sweaty - probably going to leave very attrack marks of sweat - and I probably have mascara running down my cheeks. But hey, nothing says back to school like a stressful morning.

I make it into the classroom just as the bell goes. Pretty proud of myself, even if I do look like a train wreck. I see an empty seat at the back next to a pretty girl with bright red hair. I quickly sit down and she smiles at me.

"Hey, I'm Vanessa. Just made it, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I'm Avery, excited to start?"

"Well, me and my friend, Roxanne, were just talking about how nervous we were. Though, we are looking forward to seeing all the hot guys." she giggles, and her friend, who has now joined the conversation, giggles too.

"Hey, I'm Roxanne, as you know. Nice to meet you. Avery, right? I like your name." Wow, I was not expecting this to be so easy. If only years before I'd tried harder maybe I- no. Forget about that.

"Yeah, it is, and thank you. Roxanne is pretty bad ass too."

"Well, it fits me perfectly then." she winks at me, smiling, and I find myself smiling back.

"Well, class, today is your first day at college, as you know." the teacher was interrupted at this point by a few stupid boys cheering at the front, he glared at them all, but carried on smoothly. "I'm sure your all nervous, and a lot may not have any friends, which is why you have been put in a class with the people around you, as you are all mostly doing the same things. So if you hadn't guessed already, this class is sort of your signing in morning class. And in 20 minutes you will disappear off to your 'proper' lectures. Normally, you'd go straight to your classes but because your here everyday on week days, it's a little bit more important that we know if you're here or not to be able to sign you extra work." a few people groan at this, me being one of them.

"Well that sucks." Vanessa says, beside me. Roxanne and I nod in response.

"Just so you know, I am Mr Thompson, and hopefully I'll soon know all your names, too. Right, time to register you all in."

So Mr Thompson registers us all, then I'm left to get to know Vanessa and Roxanne a bit more.

"Ugh, Nathan keeps texting." Vanessa complains, looking down at her phone.

"He's such a dick." Roxanne rolls her eyes. "What's he saying now?"

"He says he wants me back and that he's sorry." she tells us, but then she sees my blank face. "Oh my god! Avery, I forgot you didn't know who he was. Basically, I've been on and off with Nathan for years, but I caught him with another girl a few weeks ago, and he's expecting me to forgive him." she laughs, though it's clear nothing's funny. "Fuck off, I say! God, if Nathan's bad, I wonder what Finn would be like as a boyfriend." Really? More names?

Roxanne sees my confusion. "Finn Worthington is the biggest manwhore you'll meet, all he ever does is sleep with different girls. He's constantly partying as well, it's a surprise that that boy has even made it go college with the amount of damage all that alcohol must have done to his brain." we all laugh at this and then the bell goes. Classes, here we come. And it's all going smoothly until...

Thud!

I'm on the floor in the middle of the hallway sprawled on my back. I hear a few people snickering around me, but all of a sudden I feel big hands around my wrists, pulling me up. Can I just say, I was not expecting what I was about to see.

It was a guy. A hot guy. A guy with smooth black hair brushed upwards to the side, with bright blue eyes, and soft full lips. And not to mention his hands were still holding my wrists, and the fact that I'd just bumped into him. Great.

I hear Vanessa speak. "Really, Finn? It's Avery's first day and you introduce yourself by knocking her over?"

Well.. I guess I just met Finn Worthington.