I hefted my black duffel bag onto my shoulder as I looked at my new house. It had a very homey and vintage feel to it. With worn red bricks, and dark green roof and shutters on the windows. There was a wrought iron fence at the front, and the driveway was cobblestone. We didn’t even have a garage. The Lawn was unkempt and grown over with wildflowers and weeds.
My brother Andy unlocked the door with a slight flourish.
“Welcome home kiddo,” he smiled leading me into the building.
The front door opened right into the living room that had faded yellow wallpaper, a paisley print couch and matching loveseats around a beat up dark wood coffee table. The only modern part of the living room was the TV mounted on the wall and the DvD player and sound system.
“I’ll give you the grand tour,” Andy said as he pulled my suitcase behind him along the carpeted floor. I was sure it was white when the house was new, but it was now a dingy beige colour.
He led me through a door on the left that led to the kitchen. It was small but had everything we would need. Once again the fixtures were old, but knowing my brother he bought the place fully furnished and had no intention of renovating. Cheapskate.
Surprisingly the times were sill their original white colour, the table was a light maple with four chairs around it to my right, the fridge was the only new thing in the kitchen.
We left the kitchen and walked through the living room and to the small corridor that would be on your left when entering the house. Here there was a half bathroom on the left hand side, and across was a small closet where the washer and dryer were. Then we headed upstairs. The walls of the hallway were white and Andy had hung up some of his artwork, some were pictures of tattoo’s he’d done, other were drawings or paintings. I had missed seeing his work.
I lingered at a painting of a girl with long turquoise hair, she was dressed in elegant pink clothing with pearls around her neck and a golden crown on her head.
“That’s going to be you one day Lina, you’re a princess and you’re going to make an empire for yourself.” Andy put an arm around my shoulder and gave me a side hug. I was speechless, it was so beautiful.
“Thank you Andy,” I whispered
“Anything for my little sis,” he said smiling.
I shook my head quickly swiping away some stray tears.
“That’s not what I mean Andy, I mean thank you for taking me in.”
“I only wish I had done it sooner,” he said facing me, his expression serious. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when dad died, I’m sorry I left when mom died. I haven’t been there for you when you needed me the most Lina-“ His voice broke for a second. Andy took a shaky breath and collected himself.
“What I’m saying is, from now on I won’t let anything, or anyone hurt you.” He pulled me into a hug and I wrapped my arms around his torso tightly.
I hadn’t seen my brother in the flesh in years. He was away for college when mom was losing her battle with cancer. She finally died when I was 12. She was only 40. Dad and I were fine for a while. Andy would skype us or drop in on Christmas but it wasn’t the same. When they told me that he was adopting me I was so happy I cried. Andy was the only family I had left that I wanted to be around.
“Alright my room is the last on the left, the other room on the left is the bathroom, your room is across from mine and across from the bathroom is the linen closet.” Andy said as he carried my suitcase to my room.

My room was about as big as the one I had in our family’s house, and it was a lot bigger than the one I was sharing with my ex boyfriend before Andy adopted me. I shuddered remembering some things I didn’t want to.
The walls were painted a deep purple with white trim around the single window. By the window there was a nice couch where I wold probably read by the sill. To my left there was a rustic style bedframe with white and navy blue sheets. At the foot of the bed was a chest for my stuff. On the right side of the room was a full body mirror beside a wardrobe and more drawers and a small white bookshelf. Most the furniture was dark wood or painted black or white. I loved it.
“Thank you so much Andy I love it!” I hugged my brother again as he chuckled.
“I’m glad you like it, now get some rest, school is tomorrow.” I pulled away and frowned. I had forgotten that little detail. Tomorrow I was to be attending Belleville highschool as an incoming sophomore. I didn’t know a single person and I could already tell I was going to be an outcast like I was at my old school back in Toronto. I mean I had blue hair for christsake! I was going to stick out like a sore thumb.
I sighed and flopped onto my bed. “Fine,”
“I’ll start dinner, you should unpack.” Andy exited my room and I reluctantly got up and started taking the clothing out of my suitcase and placing them in the drawers and wardrobe.
I put my knick knacks and other sentimental stuff I’ve kept over the years into the trunk at the foot of my bed. I put my makeup and hair stuff onto the top of the dresser drawers.
My wardrobe consisted of band merch, thrifted and vintage items I would find in shops downtown back in Toronto and y brother’s hand-me-downs. Which were not too shabby if I do say so myself.
I threw on one of his old Green Day shirts on and a pair of my old volleyball shorts. I put my blue locks into a bun and finished unpacking my duffel bag and purse.
There was a small fold out table I could use for my laptop so I put it beside my bed. Now I could write while sitting on my comfy mattress. I put my DSLR camera on my dresser, and went through my little memory box. I saw Polaroid pictures of my friends and I back in Toronto. I began putting them up on the wall above my bed.
Then I began taking out my band posters and pictures I’ve taken over the years. I won a few photography contests here and there. The posters that adorned my walls were from bands like The Killers, Pierce the Veil, Sleeping with Sirens, The Smiths, Nirvana, The Misfits, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots and Metric.
I hung up some of my mom’s old vinyls like NAS’s Illmatic and some from A Tribe Called Quest and Lauryn Hill. My mother loved R&B and Hip Hop while my dad loved rock. I took more after my dad’s taste in music and my brother was a mix of the two. But whenever I played those records I could sometimes hear my mom singing and rapping along too.
Finally my room was decorated to my liking and I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Andy was making a vegetable stir fry and I felt my mouth water.
He gave me my bowl and we sat down at the table and began eating.
“I can drive you to school tomorrow morning, I’ll just open the shop a bit later than usual,” he said
I shook my head “No it’s fine, we passed it on the way here and you know I’m good with directions. I’ll take my longboard.”
I didn’t want to be a bother, besides the owner of the tattoo parlour couldn’t be late!
“Alright well I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Andy tried giving me a reassuring smile
“Are the kids nice around here?” I asked hoping it wold be a yes.
Andy shrugged “There are assholes everywhere, just steer clear and try not to get into any fights. I don’t want to have to beat up a high schooler… again.” He replied.
I rolled my eyes “I was in middle school and it wasn’t even that bad!” I exclaimed
“Lina he hit you in the head with a hockey stick!” Andy retorted
I waved my hand dismissively “I was fine and I only have a tiny scar now, his nose on the other hand will never be straight again.”
Andy shrugged. “Well the punk had it coming anyway.”
We finished eating and after cleaning up we headed into the living room and had a batman movie marathon. Yes, my older brother, the tatted up badass loved anything that had to do with batman. He still slept with a batman plushie.
It was almost midnight when we decided to sleep. I lazily dragged myself up the stairs to my room and flopped onto my bed, not even bothering to go under the blankets as I was still pretty jet lagged.
That night was the first time I slept without waking or any nightmares in a long time.

---

The next morning I woke with a start at 7, my phone’s alarm was blaring PTV’s Bulls in the Bronx as I made my way to the bathroom. I jumped into the shower letting the cool water wake me up, I washed my long blue hair with my favourite vanilla sugar shampoo and conditioner. If something was vanilla flavoured or scented I probably owned it, but vanilla sugar was my all-time favourite blend.
I got out of the shower and toweled off my body and hair, I put my still damp locks back into a braid and went back to my room to get dressed.
Since it would be my first time seeing the people at my school I decided to look as decent as I could. I put on a high neck black crop top and faded and ripped high-waisted jeans, I put my brother’s old black and red flannel as a sweater on, leaving it unbuttoned. I out on some black ankle socks and my classic black beat up converse. I grabbed my black backpack, shoving in a few notebooks, and a binder or two along with my pencil case.
I walked up to my full length mirror and gave myself a once over. Then I put on some jewelry, just my usual gold ring with a small heart on it that was from my grandpa, my black lace choker necklace with a silver star pendant and a Fall Out Boy wristband. I then went to apply some makeup.
I put on some concealer for my horrible dark circles and the scar on my forehead from the hockey stick incident in middle school, as well as a tiny scar on my right cheekbone. Even Andy doesn’t know how I got it and I swore to myself I’d never tell anyone.
I dusted some powder over my face and then did my classic black winged eyeliner, applied some mascara and my favourite red lipstick. Good enough for now.
I slung my bag over my shoulder, grabbed my phone, earbuds, keys, and my longboard and headed downstairs.
“I made breakfast,” Andy said. He was still in his batman pyjama pants with a matching t-shirt.
“Shouldn’t you be at the shop already? It’s almost 8!” I exclaimed.
My brother merely shrugged. “No one’s gonna be there until 9, besides I’m the owner.” He said returning back to fixing his plate of eggs and toast.
I sighed and took a seat at the table where he had already set a plate from me. Sunny side up eggs and whole grain toast with butter on them and a glass of lemonade, my favourite! We ate in comfortable silence and put our dishes away when we were done. Andy finished before me and ran upstairs to get ready.
About ten minutes later he called from upstairs “Get in the car! I’ll be down in a second!”
I rolled my eyes, count on my brother to make me late for the first day of school. I got into his car as he came running out the front door, slamming it behind him and jumping into the driver’s seat. We sped off as I had only five minutes to get to school. Before the song on the radio could even finish, we were in front of my new school; Belleville High.
“Have a good day kiddo,” Andy said as he kissed me on the forehead.
“I’ll try,” I quipped as I exited the car.

---

I took a deep breath as I approached the building. I stepped onto the sidewalk and looked at the courtyard full of students talking to their friends about their summer vacations and catching up with one another.
Now I know that you shouldn’t judge people at first glance but c’mon, this was high school, that what everyone did!
On the front steps was a group of girls, all had long nicely primped hair, perfect makeup, similar style of tank or cropped tops and skirts with heels and purses. They were probably the most popular clique. I knew myself enough to know that I had no desire to become popular. It was too much hassle. If they didn’t bother me I wouldn’t bother them.
To the left of the popular girls was a group of guys in matching jackets and sweaters, probably a sports team. I wasn’t really into sports, so no once again.
Then there were the other obvious cliques such as the gamers, preps, the hipsters, hypebeasts, and so on and so forth. Once again I found that I didn’t fit into any of these labels. Not that there was anything wrong with any of these people’s styles or interests. They just weren’t for me.
As I was standing there staring at the people around me like an idiot a girl with long straight black hair and short blunt bangs approached me. She smiled and held her hand out for me to shake.
“My name’s Paige, Paige Morrison. You new around here?” her eyes were brown and twinkling with mirth.
I took her hand in mine giving it a shake. “Yeah I just moved here, my name’s Lina Francis.” I replied
“I love your hair! You won’t see anyone around here with blue hair,” she giggled. Paige seemed nice enough, but I cringed at her statement. If there were no other oddly coloured haired kids around here then I was right, I was once again going to be an outcast.
“Do you need to get your schedule and locker?” She asked
I merely nodded. I was a bit shy around people I didn’t know.
“Cool I’ll show you the way! And you can sit with me at lunch if you like, it must suck not knowing anyone around.” She gave me a sympathetic smile.
Well I had one friend around here at least.

---

Paige led me to the office and I picked up my schedule. I had science first period, then geography, lunch, history and English. Next semester I had math first, then media studies, gym, lunch and then visual art and writer’s craft. I was pretty happy with my courses so I didn’t ask the secretary to change anything when she asked me if I wanted to switch out of anything.
As we walked down the halls Paige looked over my schedule “We have the last two periods together for both semesters!” She said happily. “I think you have some classes with my friends, I can introduce you to them at lunch.”
“Okay, so where to first?” I asked.
“Well let’s stop by your locker first to drop off you stuff, I don’t think you wanna be lugging that thing around all day.” Paige said gesturing to my longboard with a pink polished nail.
I laughed “Yeah I guess so,”
I put my stuff that I didn’t need in my locker and she walked me to my math class.
To say that I was a little nervous was a major understatement. I was nearing an anxiety attack. I had never been the new kid at a school, and the one person I knew wouldn’t be with me!
Paige seemed to notice my erratic breathing and the shaking of my hands as we stood outside of my class.
“Hey are you alright Lina?” She asked, worry present in her brown eyes.
I shook my head no, trying my best to take deep breathes. “I- I have anxiety issues,” I said quietly. I didn’t really like telling people about my mental illnesses but I felt that Paige was trying to help me.
She nodded in understanding. “My cousin is similar, don’t worry, take some deep breathes, here’s my number and if anything goes wrong text or call me and I swear I’ll burst into your class to help you out okay?” She gave me a reassuring smile.
I shut my eyes and focused on my breathing, counting to four with every inhale and exhale, something my therapist back home had taught me. I felt my heart rate lower back to normal, my hands became steady. The panic had passed.
“Thanks Paige, it means a lot, but if you don’t mind could we like- kep this between us?” I asked nervously
Paige nodded her head vigorously. “Of course babe! We’re friend now, I’ll see you at lunch okay?”
I gave her one last smile as I walked into my class.

The teacher smiled at me, “Class, this is our new student Lina, she just moved here all the way from Toronto Canada. Tell us about yourself.”
I gulped nervously as I scanned the room. The students a stared back at me, some with faces of boredom, curiosity or a mix of the two.
“Uh, well my name is Lina Francis, I’m 16 and I like writing and photography.” I said.
The teacher nodded “I’m Mr. Harris, the only seat open is next to Mikey Way, Mikey raise your hand please.”
A lanky kid with mousey brown hair and glasses that was at the back by the corner raised his hand. I made my way to the back row and plopped down next to him.
“Hi,” I said smiling at him.
“Hi,” her replied quietly “So like, is it always snowing and cold in Canada?” he asked shyly.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, at least not where I’m from. It only starts snowing around November,” He nodded almost looking like he was making a mental note of what I had just told him. We continue to chat throughout the class in between Mr. Harris’ lesson. To say the least Mikey was a bit of a weirdo, not that I could say anything about that, I mean I had blue hair.
He did eventually warm up to me when we got talking about books that we liked, we both had a thing for Irvine Welsh books, then we got to the topic of British music, then just music in general. I also learned that Mikey was only 14! Well his birthday was coming up in a few days but he was bumped up a year because of his good grades. I guess he fit the smart quiet kid with glasses trope.
When we were having a heated discussion about who was better; Anthrax or Green Day, the bell rang.
We looked at each other’s schedules as we exited the room, it turned out that we had science this semester together, and the next semester we had math and gym together.
“I guess I’ll see you at lunch then.” I said.
Mikey nodded “You have geography next right?”
“Yeah,” I replied
“My friend Ray is in that class, you won’t miss him, he’s the dude with the afro.”
“Alright I’ll look out for him,” I chuckled as I walked off.
My Geography teacher made me introduce myself like I had I math and I was seated once again in the back since everyone else had already taken the other places. I looked around the room and I didn’t spot a kid with an afro. Maybe Mikey was mistaken.
Just as I thought that the door burst open and in ran a kid wearing a Metallica T-Shirt and some beat up blue jeans.
“Sorry I’m late Mrs. O,” He panted, resting his hands on his knees. The teacher shook her head with a smile “Starting off the year late? Why am I not surprised Mr. Toro, take a seat next to Ms. Francis.” She said. Mrs. Oswald was one of those teacher that called everyone by their last name. It made me wonder if she called her husband Mr. Oswald.
Ray walked over to where I was sitting and took the seat to my left.
“Hey, I’m Ray Toro,” he nodded at me in acknowledgement
“Lina Francis,” I replied.
“Alright class read up to chapter 8 in your textbooks and make notes on them, what you don’t finish is for homework.” With that Mrs. O sat at her desk and took out a nail file and a bottle of red polish.
“She’s pretty chill, but don’t worry, she’ll practically give us everything that’s gonna be on the exam when it’s review time.” Ray assured me.
I nodded. It was cool to have a teacher that didn’t give you much work, but it would bite you in the ass when you didn’t learn anything and then it’s exam time. But according to Ray Mrs. O will have her shit together for us when it counts.
“So do you know a guy named Mikey?” I asked trying to see if this was in fact the Ray that Mikey had mentioned before. The again how many guys named Ray with afros went to this school.
“Mikey Way, skinny dude, brown hair, glasses at the end of his nose?” Ray asked.
I nodded laughing a bit at the last part. “I didn’t really notice that his glasses were so far down his nose.” I replied. This made Ray laugh a bit.
“He must have pushed them up when he met you, he probably didn’t wanna seem like a weirdo.”
I rolled my eyes. “Compared to me he’s perfectly normal,” I stated dryly.
Ray raised a brow at me. “What do you mean? You’re pretty nor- actually scratch that I just noticed your hair is freaken blue! That’s awesome!” He exclaimed.
“Thanks man, your hair is awesome too.” I complimented.
Ray patted his hair, a goofy grin spreading over his face. “Ah man, wait till you meet the others, you’ll be at home among our group of misfits.”
“Meet the others? Am I like officially part of your gang?” I joked.
“Well we’d have to get you to sign the blood oath on the full moon but hey, I can ask our dark lord to be lenient.” We both burst out into a fit of giggles. Yeah I’m sure Ray and I will get along great.
We finished the assigned reading by splitting it up, I read 1-4 while Ray did the rest, and we’d send each other the notes of the chapters we didn’t read. The bell rang signalling the beginning of lunch.
“I’m gonna head to my locker, I’ll see you in a bit.” I told Ray
He nodded his head causing his hair to flop around.
I went to my locker and put away my textbook and binder and got the ones for my next classes. As I walked down the halls to the cafeteria I noticed some people staring and whispering about me. I guess I couldn’t blame them, Belleville was a pretty small school so they probably didn’t get many new kids. Let along a blue haired Canadian weirdo like me. I shrugged it off and made my way to the caf.
I went to the line and bought myself some fries and an orange juice. I took my tray and looked around at the various tables already filled with people.
“Lina over here!” I heard Paige’s voice shout. A sense of relief washed over me as I saw her sitting with Ray and Mikey along with two other guys I didn’t know.
I walked over to them and sat next to Paige. On her left was Ray, and across from Ray was Mikey, next to him was a guy with short ish black hair and a nose and lip ring. Next to him was a pale dude with shoulder length black hair. They both had hazel eyes while the first one’s were a bit more brown and the other’s were more striking and greenish.
“I was so worried you weren’t coming. Now that we’re friends I don’t think I can stand being with all these guys.” She sighed dramatically.
“I just had to go to my locker.” I explained.
“Well anyway I’ll introduce you to everyone.” She clapped her hands happily.
“You’ve already met Ray and Mikey, the short guy with the nose and lip rings is Frank Iero, and the pale guy is Mikey’s older brother Gerard. He’s in our year.” She explained.
“Hi I’m Lina,” I said giving Frank my hand first to shake.
“Well Hellooooo,” He drawled, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips.
I probably flushed a brilliant shade of red.
“Hey! No hitting on the newbie! You’ll scare her off Frank!” Paige scolded him, slapping his arm.
I retracted my hand quickly.
“Believe it or not, Frank is Mikey’s age, they just got bumped up into our year.” Paige explained.
“Why are you saying it like that?” Frank whined “I’m just as smart as Mikey, if not more!”
“I doubt that,” Mikey muttered, taking a bite of his sandwich.
I turned to Gerard and hesitantly extended my hand to him. “Hi Gerard, it’s nice to meet you,” I gave him a small smile.
His hazel eyes widened and he shot out of his seat. “I gotta go,” He mumbled before racing off and out of the cafeteria. My hand was still suspended in the air, it all had happened so fast.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked looked around at the other people at the table.
Frank was laughing his ass off, Mikey just face-palmed, Paige sighed and Ray had an amused look on his face.
“Gerard is- he’s a bit.. errr.. awkward around new people,” Ray said in between laughs.
Frank was still laughing non-stop, banging his hand on the table.
“Don’t worry, he’ll come around.” Paige said patting my arm.
Why did I feel like that wasn’t going to happen any time soon?

Notes

Hey guys! (Is anyone even reading this?!) I've always wanted to do a high school AU so here it is! I would have made it a school with uniforms like the one in the I'm Not Okay mv but I feel like it's more fun to have the characters and their own unique styles.
Plus my school has a uniform and I friggen HATE it.
Anyway I hope you like this first bit, and please please please! Give me some feedback in the comments.
And if anyone is wondering about my other Killjoy fic I've kinda hit a wall with that one and I may or may not be continuing it :/

thanks for reading
love MCD