"Charlie wake up. It's time for school."I shook my brother awake bright and early Monday morning.

He moaned in his sleep shutting his eyes tighter as if I couldn't see him. He was awake, that much I knew, just pretending to be asleep so I'd leave him alone. I had already done that an hour ago when I had tried waking him up for the first time but if he didn't wake up within the next ten minutes we would definitely be late and we had a busy morning ahead of us.

"Charlie I'm serious, get up or you're going to be late for school."I demanded in a more stern voice as I pulled the blankets off his body.

"I don't want to."He mumbled his eyes fluttering open for the first time.

"I know buddy but I can leave you in the house with mom as I go to school all day."I suggested.

His body immediately jerked awake at the mention of being left with our mom all day. He held his hands out for me which was his way of asking me to help him up.

"Good choice."I commended carrying him out of bed and onto his wheelchair.

I pushed him to the bathroom and proceeded to help him get ready. I was ready myself, our lunches were packed and everything was set for our first day.

Getting Charlie ready turned out to be more of a fight that I had anticipated. He challenged me at every turn, even going as far as faking illness so he could avoid going to school. Too bad for him that I was already acquainted with his tactics otherwise I would have actually fallen into his trap.

Thirty minutes later I finally managed to help him get ready. We were already a few minutes behind schedule but better late than never right.

"Willow I can't find my bag."He cried as he rolled himself into the kitchen.

I pointed at the bag on top of the kitchen island and instead of looking relieved, he frowned. That was probably because I found it stashed away in the back of his closet. It was probably his last attempt at skipping school.

"You're going to school today Charlie. Now settle down its breakfast time, we need you well fed for you first day."I demanded in a soft tone.

He huffed before doing as I asked. We had a quiet breakfast together before I loaded us into the truck and drove us to school. I'd be dropping Charlie off first before I went to school myself.

"You know the drill right. You get off school earlier than I do so what do you do?"I asked him.

"I wait till you come get me."He replied with a sulk.

"I don't like this more than you do Charlie but its our system and it works."I sympathized.

I got off at three so he had to wait for at least forty five minutes for me. I didn't like it but I had no one else I could trust to pick him up.

"What if the kids pick on me?"Charlie mumbled looking on the verge of tears.

It broke my heart seeing him struggle like that but he needed to go to school. I would have homeschooled him but I had school myself.

"We already talked about this bud. If anyone makes fun of you, you suck it up and wait till I get there so I can handle it. Don't try to be a hero, last time that happened I had to get you a new wheelchair and you know how expensive they are."I explained.

Charlie nodded but still didn't looked convinced.

"Hey buddy, remember, it's just you and me versus the whole world."I said putting my hand back so he could link my pinky with his.

"Forever and always."He replied giving me the first smile of the day.

"Damn straight."I chuckled giving him a wink via the rear view mirror.

I really needed to stop cussing around him but sometimes my tongue slipped. It didn't matter though because I had managed to convince Charlie that cussing was for people who were older than fifteen and that kids who cussed went to hell. It scared him straight and he never cussed.

We got to the elementary school just in time for me to walk Charlie in and maker sure he was settled in. With his bookbag strapped on my back. All eyes were on us but we were already used to getting stares wherever we went so we just ignored everyone as always. I was also too young to be a parent so I was attracting a lot of attention from the other parents, especially the dads who couldn't get their eyes off my boobs. Maybe I should have I picked a different outfit. My blue rugged jeans, tube top and jean jacket were definitely not doing the trick.

I found Charlie's class and his teacher was outside welcoming students in.

"Hello there good morning. You must Charlie, my new student. Welcome to Cresent Valley Elementary School. I'll be your second grade teacher Miss Genevieve."The kind looking middle aged lady introduced herself with a welcoming smile.

Charlie shook her hand but didn't say anything back.

"It's nice to meet you, he's just a little shy. I'm his sister Willow."I introduced myself shaking her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both and can't wait to get to know you better over the course of time."Miss Genevieve said with a warm smile.

I was grateful that she didn't ask why I was dropping him off instead of our parents. I had an answer to that but it was all lies so I appreciated that she didn't put me in a position to lie to her during our first meeting. There would be plenty of time for that when I attended all the parents-teachers meetings and other events instead of my mom. Miss Genevieve seemed kind enough so I felt safe leaving Charlie with her.

I squatted at Charlie's feet pulling his face to meet mine.

"Remember our deal, forever and always."I promised leaning in to kiss his forehead.

At least he hadn't gotten to the age of swatting my kisses off in public yet. I was not looking forward to that. He gave me his best smile and it was more than I could ask for. I straightened up and gave Miss Genevieve his backpack.

"Please call me in case of anything. Charlie already knows my number."I requested.

"I hope it doesn't come to that but I will call you incase of anything."She assured me.

"Thank you."I smiled gratefully.

With one last kiss to Charlie's forehead I watched as the teacher wheeled him into class, the door closing behind them. I stood there for a few seconds composing myself and assuring myself that he would be okay before I walked away.

I got back into the truck and drove to my own version of school hell, high school. I arrived late since I took my morning time dropping Charlie off but I didn't care. I was the new student, I'd just say I got lost on the way or something.

Classes had already begun when I got there so there was no one in the halls.

I found my way to the office reception where I was given my schedule, a map of the school,the passcode to my locker and a code of conduct booklet. Since I got there late there was no one to show me around so I had to find my own way. I didn't mind it though, it gave me a few minutes to gather my thoughts.

I found my locker first to drop off a few of my notes books before I started looking for my Spanish class. I found it ten minutes later after getting the wrong door twice. How many high school students could such a small town have that it needed such a big building and so many classes.

All eyes turned to me as soon as I walked in. The teacher was a young Hispanic man who looked like he was just fresh out of college. He was cute for a teacher, probably driving the young horny girls in class crazy.

"You must be the new student, welcome to Spanish class, I'm Mr Fernandez your teacher. Please introduce yourself to the class and tell us something interesting about yourself."He said.

I'd done the introduction so many times before, I had grown to hate it. My so called classmates didn't care about me or what I did but the teachers always seemed to think that it was important. I braced myself because I was sure it was not going to be the only introduction I would be doing over the course of the day.

"Hi everyone. My name is Willow Cooper and I actually like the crust on when I eat my sandwich."I introduced.

It was not the interesting fact Mr Fernandez was looking for but it was all I had. A few people chuckled and the teacher shook his head at me. Charlie and I didn't like changing our names with each of our mothers new marriage so we had stuck to using her maiden name. It's why we weren't technically Millers as we didn't take Roberts last name.

"Okay Miss Cooper. Take any free seat."He stated pointing towards the class.

I was only too happy to oblige as I took a seat at the back of the class. I didn't see any familiar faces in the class meaning neither of the twins were in the class with me. I was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because I would be avoiding Matthew and his manwhoring self for a little while longer and disappointed because I wanted to see Matthias so I could apologize for our exchange at the arcade. I was sure we would run into each other during the day so I didn't fret over it.

Lunch with the the mayor and his family hadn't been the complete disaster I had expected it to be. My mom and Sophia were already on the journey to best friend status so at least my mom got what she wanted from that meal. I did notice one thing though, Matthias and Matthew were completely different people for twins. Where Matthew was a self righteous bragging prick, Matthias was quiet and reserved. He had barely said anything during the two hour meal yet Matthew would not shut his mouth as he talked about himself. It didn't mean Matthias was a saint, he was just different from his brother.

His parents also favored Matthew more if not completely. My heart went out to him because in that sense we were kindred spirits as I knew first hand what it felt like to be overlooked by ones parents. I was definitely not looking for friends but Matthias seemed like the kind of guy who I could get along with. We'd bond over our sob stories if I could get him to talk to me. It wouldn't come to that though, all I wanted to do was apologize, clear my conscience and be on my way. No need to make bonds that I would be breaking in a few months anyway.

Concentrating back to class I pushed away all tonight of Matthias out of mind. I needed good grades if I wanted the chance to get to a good college.

In my second class of the day which was Math I unfortunately ran into Matthew. Thankfully I got there late and the teacher Mr Sanders was a mean one so I got the chance to avoid talking to Matthew all together. I sat two rows ahead of him and could feel him burning holes at the back of my head but I didn't dare turn around.

As soon as class was over, I packed my books and rushed out of there before Matthew got the chance to even get up from his seat. I found my third class English, one of the easier ones and after another annoying introduction I was finally allowed to sit down. The teacher was old, wrinkly and boring so I spaced out a lot. I didn't even remember her name, must have been asleep when she mentioned it.

Finally lunch time arrived and I made my way to my locker to switch out my books and grab my lunch. I was planning on finding Matthias during lunch as he had been able to elude me so far, we had totally different schedules.

Bad luck finally caught up to me because I found Matthew leaning on my locker flirting with some blonde. I would have walked away and let them have their fun but my food was in there and I was hungry.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence. The blonde turned around, eyed me up and down, rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Matthew. Matthew on the other hand, smirked, whispered something in her eyes before kissing her cheek. She smiled as if she had just won the lottery and skipped away, probably to go wait for him in some dark corner somewhere for a quickie. I gave Matthew a pointed look, he got the hint and moved aside to let me access my locker.

"Do I have to disinfect my locker already and get an STD screening?"I asked as I grabbed my lunch box.

"I don't have an STD."Matthew denied looking offended.

"So you say."I scoffed closing my locker.

I was just going to walk away but the dumb jock had other ideas as he held my hand to prevent me from leaving. Definitely needed to disinfect as I didn't know where his hands had been.

"Let go of me if you don't want to he eating out of a straw for a month."I threatened trying to laser his hand away with my eyes.

"Woah calm down tiger, I just want to talk."Matthew said letting me go.

"I don't want to talk."I declared opening my locker once more to get my hand sanitizer.

I quickly squirted some in my hand making sure to get anywhere he might have touched. He watched in shock the whole time, probably wondering what was wrong with me. I wasn't going risking illness just so I could brag, that the football captain had flirted with me.

"What do you have against me? Why doesn't my charm work on you?"Matthew asked looking defeated.

I almost felt sorry for him but then I remembered how full of himself he was. Someone needed to let him down a peg to two.

"I already told you, I don't date white dudes or have casual sex with them. You are also not as handsome as you think you are, I've seen better and besides if I was to date a white guy it would definitely not be you. You're not my type."I replied eyeing him from head to toe.

Having rendered him speechless again I took that as my chance to leave him and go about my business.

"So what I hear us that I am handsome."He yelled after me.

That was really all he got from my statement. The boy really was relentless.

"You don't give up do you?"I asked with a chuckle.

"Nope!"He replied popping the p.

Somehow I felt as if Matthew was a good guy deep down but I wasn't going to stick around long enough to find that part of him. I was not a psychiatrist. It would have been good to have him as a friend though, too bad he was a stupid arrogant jock.

I made my way to the cafeteria and a few curious heads turned towards me. I ignored them all as I sought out the twin that I actually wanted to talk to. I spotted him at the furthest corner in the cafeteria and strutted towards him. He was bent over his food as he listened to music on his headphones. I hope he didn't mind me intruding on his private moment, but since when had I cared what anyone else thought.