Carpe Diem, Bitch.

The Prologue

"This looks nothing like it does on Google Maps."

I drop the heavily packed cardboard box onto the kitchen unit, trailing a hand through my hair. This so wasn't worth the move; none of this was worth any of the hell I had faced. The house was nice but it wasn't my home.

"Isn't this place amazing!?" Dad grinned at me, his voice echoed through the hollow walls and I smiled tightly. His enthusiasm was almost killing me, "I mean the neighbourhood is brilliant! Your new school has a program for gifted kids-"

I didn't want to listen to him talking about this amazing new school that dad thought would be the answer to all my problems. Yeah, it was a good school. I knew that but I didn't need to hear about it every five minutes.

"Yeah, awesome!" I forced a plastic smile over my lips, and lifted myself up onto one of the counters. A rumble passed through my stomach and I groaned a little, "Can we order in for dinner? I'm starved."

Dad noticed my lack of enthusiasm and it made his smile melt a little. His expression shifted a little as he tickled my chin, "I know this is hard for you, Blaise, but try to see all the opportunities you have!" He tried to encourage me, "Here, you have a fresh start! Away from all the hassle back home."

Home. That's exactly what we left behind, and now we were in a new town with no one around us to make me feel...anything. What did my parents want from me? Did they really expect me to be okay? They knew how much I didn't want to leave, how hard it would be for me.

"I'd prefer a fresh pizza." I muttered slapping the counter. Dad smiled sympathetically as he watched me go, "And I'm taking the room facing the backyard!"

He held his hands up in mock surrender, probably just pleased that I wasn't screaming at him anymore. There was no point, what's done was done now. I heaved up one of the plastic boxes and carried it to the room I had in mind, it was the biggest and I deserved it more than my snotty sister did anyway.

Bumping the door open with my hip, I was relieved to see that there were no boxes inside yet. I blew out a breath at the sight of it; barren and starved of any personality. The walls were painted white and the floorboards were a rich shade of brown, nothing special.

Nothing like my old room. A room that was filled with seventeen years of personality, and memories.

"Oh! Blaise," Mom stepped through the door with a carefully packed box in her arms. I didn't have to look at the label to know that it was Bayley's, "Did you want this room? I thought it would be nice for Bay."

I made a show of putting my box down on the bench by the window, "Well, snooze you lose!" I grinned feeling a small bubble of satisfaction. Bayley got the biggest room in our last house too, and although I loved my old room- it was like a box, "Besides, I like this one."

"That's fine!" Mom looked a little lost for words, so just smiled at me. There was a disappointed gleam in her eyes but I had gotten used to ignoring that now, "I'll let the movers know the change of plans!"

I rolled my eyes at her tone. Of course, she had already decided to designate me to live in the smallest room in the house. It wasn't like it would be a whole load of trouble to tell the movers to take my stuff to a room that was literally closer to the staircase!

"Thank you!" I called watching her disappear through the door, probably to go complain to dad that I was throwing a spanner in her works again, "Tell dad to order the pepperoni this time, will you?"

I could already see her growling at the thought of ordering in pizza. Mom and Bayley had this health- freak thing that basically barred all junk food from the Vincent household, it got even worse when they devoted themselves to vegetarianism. Which I totally respected!

But ruling out anything that remotely looked like candy, and meat, was a real killer!

I sat down next to my box, and began to pull off the tape that sealed it shut. Opening the lid, I smiled at the contents nostalgically. My cousin Casey had given me his trinket collection as a goodbye gift, it was only a jar filled with lost necklace pendants but it meant the world to me.

Especially since the last time I had seen him was when he was in a hospital bed. I could still remember the moment he collapsed in front of me, I hadn't even noticed how much weight he had lost because he wore such baggy clothes.

I placed it on one of the empty bookshelves, and began to think of what to do with this room. I wasn't an artistic person; I didn't know what to put on these walls. How to put myself in this room, and make it mines.

I was so busy gawking around my room, that I didn't even notice the window that was directly across from my neighbour. My shirtless neighbour. I blew out an appreciative breath at the muscular back that faced me, with a hell of a tan that covered it.

My brows rose slightly at the black ink tattooed into the sun kissed skin but I couldn't see what it was. What I could tell was that it was big, but even from where I stood I could tell that it was cool. I wanted to get a closer look, but when he turned I was forced to divert my gaze.

Dread pooled through me when a knocking sound met my ears, and I cursed under my breath, forcing myself to turn. The guy was now leaning out of his window, a shit eating grin curving across his unfairly handsome features. I didn't even know jawlines could look that sharp in real life.

"Hey, neighbour!" He drawled upon me yanking my window up. A blush covered my cheeks but I tried to look nonchalant, "Welcome to the neighbourhood. You join the watch team, or something?"

A scoff of surprise left me, and I cocked my head at him in disbelief, "Was I magically expected to know that you would be standing there?" I demanded, arching a challenging brow.

"The manners of a princess, and the face of one too!" He mocked teasingly, his dark chocolatey eyes twinkled with amusement. He cleared his throat dramatically, "I'll settle for an apology; any time."

Was this guy being for real? Because he had the face of a male model, with angles that could kill, did he really think he could get away with this? I forced a sugary smile across my face as I leaned further out of the window.

"I'll take it into consideration." I drawled with a playful wink, just to throw him off. It worked, "In the meantime, perhaps you invest in some blinds!"

The look on his face was priceless as I slammed my window shut in his face, leaving him hanging out of his with an amused gleam. I tried not to think of the weird tingling sensation that overcame me at the sight of the damned smile.

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A/N

Hey, everyone!

So, I haven't posted in so long but I started writing this new story about teenagers going through shit like we all do. Some of it is from actual experiences, some of it isn't. There are issues discussed within like eating disorders, and I just wanted to say that not everyone has the same experiences as others with it.

Thank you all for reading!

- BeUniqueAndSmile