I'd never really enjoyed History as a subject, so falling asleep during class came quite easily to me. Although, luck was not on my side when my name was called and I was rudely awoken. My History teacher, Mrs Ashton stood with her hands on her hips, foot tapping. 

"Oh, I'm sorry miss. I must have dozed off, you know how it is," I chuckled nervously. Mrs Ashton pursed her lips.

"You've been called to the office,"

"Who, me?" 

"Unless there's another Kirby Bloom in this classroom," Mrs Ashton was unimpressed, "The principal would like to speak with you so I suggest you hurry along,"

Mrs Ashton returned to the front of the room and continued her lecture on Communism. I accepted that she wasn't going to disclose any more information so I gathered my books and hurried out of the room, ignoring the fact that every pair of eyes in the room were following me.

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -    

(cut to the office) 

I finally reached the administrative end of the school and stood awkwardly in the office. After only a few moments, I knew exactly why I was there. 

Loud and aggravated shrieks sounded through the wooden door of the Principals office, shrieks that I could recognize if I were blind folded. The secretary shifted in her seat, gave a side glance at the door then at me, and continued typing. 

"Send her in," came a solid voice through the intercom on the secretary's desk. She nodded at me and ushered me towards the door. Suddenly I wished I was an only child. 

"I did NOT hit him ok? You're just trying to scare me since I'm new. This is crazy. ABSOLUTELY CRAZY." 

"Mr. Bloom, please, lower your voice and sit down. Yelling is not going to get- Ah, here is your sister,"

I cringed when my brother looked over at me, "KIRBY, you'll stand up for me won't you?? I didn't hit him, everyone's acting all crazy," 

My brother looked rampant, as if he'd been accused of murder. "Reilly, just shut up. Sit down,"

Reilly quickly shut his mouth, sat down and looked shunned, as did Principal Archer. My guess is he'd been trying to shut him up for the last hour but failed miserably.

"What did he do this time?" I asked, sitting in the seat beside my now mute brother.

"Reilly here has gotten himself into a fight with a boy in his Chemistry class. Apparently it lasted well over 30 minutes. Now, Kirby, I'm sure you understand that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated,"

"Yes Mr. Archer, I do understand. What exactly happened though, is it all his fault?"

"Apparently some rather crude remarks were made by your brother that sparked the fight,"

"Right...So is this boy ok?"

"Yes he's fine,"

"So I take it he's not pressing charges,"

Principal Archer raised an eyebrow at my fluency in the conversation, "I doubt he will press charges,"

"In that case, Sir, do you mind if I ask what the big deal is then?" I asked, in still quite a calm and neutral tone.

"Well-"

"Sir, I think this could easily be solved with an afternoon detention as well as a written apology to the boy. This really is quite minor since you say the boy is in good shape and Reilly doesn't look too bad. "

"You know Kirby, you're very right. Aside from his recent violent streak, Reilly seems to be a very good student, and since you and your whole family are new to the school, I'd hate to tarnish your reputation so soon," 

Reilly nodded, his eyes ever so slowly widening in realization that he was off the hook.

Principal Archer continued, "But you know, Reilly, if this happens again, I'll be much harder on you,"

"Yes Sir, I understand,"

"You can bring that written apology to the office by tomorrow morning, then you'll have lunch time detention tomorrow...Consider yourself very, very lucky,"

"Yes, I definitely do. Thank you so much Principal Archer," Reilly said, his eyes now widened almost to the point where they took over his whole face.

"Yes, thank you Sir," I said.

"That's alright. Now you get back to class you two," 

We both smiled politely and hurried out of the room. 

"You're such a moron," I said, making Reilly carry my books. 

"And you are a goddamn legend! I'll praise you forever!" He said as enthusiastically as a little kid receiving candy. 

"I know, I know. Please, no autographs,"

"The ego has already landed,"

"So what really happened anyway?" I asked, unlocking my locker. We decided there was no use in going back to class since there were five minutes until lunch. 

Reilly slammed the books into the locker and groaned loudly. Thank god my locker was in the part of the school that was usually empty.

"It was so goddamn stupid, I started talking about home and the country and shit like that, then someone asked me about kangaroos and if I'd seen one. Anyways, I said they were really cool animals and the little punk starts acting like a clown, saying I go round rooting the wildlife and I just lost it and smacked him in the face,"

"Gee, real smooth,"

"He deserved it. He's a little bastard punk," 

"And to think, you were trying to tell the principal that you didn't hit him," I shook my head, re-tacking a photo onto my locker door.

"Yeah, well, it's the school system's alternative to pleading insanity," 

"So he must be pretty sore huh,"

"I guess...yeah...Meanwhile my guts look like World War 1," Reilly rubbed his stomach through his t-shirt.

"I'm sure they do. You do realize that you've gotta stop doing that. We've been at this school for three days and you're already bashing people up,"

"I know...I know..."

"If you can hold those urges for two more years then we're cool," I locked my door and started heading towards the cafeteria. 

"Thanks Kirb, I know you're probably sick of saving my ass,"

"Probably? I've done it that many times that it's easier than blinking," 

"Ok, ok, I get the idea." He rolled his eyes and grinned as he heard the bell ring.

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -        

(cut to the cafeteria : lunch time)

"Kirbyyyyyy, have you got any spare change??" Came a whiny voice from behind me.

"Go play on the road Indie," 

"You're such a bitch," My awfully pretty 14-year-old sister sat in front of me and eyed my fat salad roll. 

"You're the one who just had to spend her allowance on make-up,"

She only rolled her eyes and continued to stare at my food.

"Why don't you go ask Ezra. I'm sure she's rolling in it since all my change suddenly went missing from my room,"

Indie looked over towards our other sister who, while with a mouth full of lasagna, was telling a very extroverted story to her fellow 12-year old fans (friends) who each wore braces and glittering clips in their hair. 

"Good idea," India left as suddenly as she appeared and gave her fluttering eyelash look to Ezra, which seemed to work since she came back with tomato sauce on her face. 

"So I heard Reilly got himself beaten up already," 

"News travels fast,"

"It's not fair," She moaned, snatching a slice of cucumber that had escaped from my roll. 

"What, that his stomach is covered in bruises?" 

"No, not that silly...It's not fair that Ezra already has a huge group of friends, Reilly's already been in a fight which means he's being noticed...And I'm still just floating around,"

I put my food down and looked unimpressed, "Indie, are you looking around? Can't you see that I'm not sitting with anybody?"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, exactly! I feel pretty loserish too, you know...Ezra's 12 for god's sake,"

Indie burst out in her weird shots of laughter that only came every once in a while. It was a loud, segmented laugh that made me want to laugh too. 

"It'll get better, Kirb. We haven't even been here a week yet...Ezra and Reilly are just showmen, they make people become friends with them. But you and me....." 

India's gaze snapped back to the food in embarrassment. She'd ventured into un chartered ground. India and I have come to the mutual agreement, after years of fighting, that we don't like each other and that it is against those rules that don't exist to act like we are friends. 

"Anyway, do you have money, so I don't waste away?" She asked.

"Oh, poor dear, then you'll be at most a size 4. I really do feel your pain,"

"Just answer the question for God's sake,"

"No, I don't have change,"

"Fine,"

"Fine."

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -    

(cut to the Bloom household : chaotic yet strangely cosy) 

Changing schools is never an easy thing to do, unless you have excellent luck. But changing schools as well as countries is much harder than I had ever anticipated. I'm not one of those statistics whose parents have split up and as a result of a mid life crisis, the mother has made the radical decision to move to another continent and change her children's lives, as well as her own. 

No, that is definitely not the case. My parents are still a happy couple, almost to a sickening extent, they're the 21st century's answer for Mike and Carol Brady. We are quite well off, regardless of there being six children. One of which is over 18, unemployed and lives off his parent's income.

So, I guess I don't really know why we moved from Australia. Maybe for a change of scenery? 

Anyway, this whole changing school's shit has proved to be quite challenging, but mostly for Indie and I it seems. I'm just not taking to these American people at all. 

"Kirby,"

I suppose there is a slight chance that I'm over-reacting since I've only been at school for three days and haven't yet made the effort to speak to anyone. But every other time that I've changed schools, people have always approached me first. I just don't understand! Do they have a phobia against Australians?

"KIRBY,"

Not even my History teacher likes me. Granted, that's probably because I fall asleep in her class, but have some decency will you! Maybe I'll try to talk to someone tomorrow...

"KIRBY!"

"Whaaaat??"

"Your brother will be thinking we've abandoned him by now," My mother said, trying desperately not to burn herself while she turned the potatoes over in the oven.

"Brother...?"

"Spencer! I asked you to pick him up from soccer an hour ago, remember?" 

"Oh mannnn...." I moaned and stamped my feet for a little while, "Why can't Jesse do it? Last time I checked he was 18 with nothing better to do."

"Your brother is a full time musician Kirby Bloom, he works very hard. Now go pick up your brother before the social workers show up at our door!"

"Full time musician my ass," I murmured, the car keys jingling in my hand, "You're supposed to actually get gigs to be a full time musician..."

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -   

(cut to the soccer field : the empty parking lot) 

"Spence! I'm so sorry baby cakes, I totally forgot, I'm so sorry," 

"It's ok," 8-year-old Spencer said in his little voice that was still so adorable. He picked up his muddy shoes and hopped in the car. He looked scruffy and dirty, absolutely gorgeous. 

"Did you win?....Let me guess, you won," 

"Yep!"

"Go Spence! You're a champ," I said, loving to hear him giggle. I put his favourite tape into the deck and pressed play, a wonderful grin spread over his face when the sounds of Van Morrison's 'Brown Eyed Girl' swept through the car. 

"How was school?" He asked me, his little eyes looking up from his seat. He was so small for his age. 

"Not that great....I still haven't made any friends," I sighed. 

"Oh, you will, really soon too. You're the coolest,"

I smiled broadly, "Thanks Spence,"

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -    

(cut to school the next day : cafeteria)

"Rye?" I called out to my brother who was walking straight past my table with a shocking look of worry on his face. He seemed reluctant to stop. 

"Kirb...Um...Hello,"

"Hello? Since when do you say 'hello' to your sister? How....formal,"

"Well, you see, I'm kind of in a rush right now," He looked around cautiously, checking both doors, "I kind of did something that I probably shouldn't have..."

"Oh god...you've got to be joking...What did you do,"

"Uhmm.......Well, yesterday, when I was writing that letter of apology, I realized that I shouldn't be the one taking the blame. He was the one who started the fight....and so I kind of.....told him that...."

"WHAT?"

"And now he's chasing after me..." Reilly turned to look at the entrance and his eyes widened in fear, then he disappeared. 

Over at the door stood a tall, lean and blonde boy with three other guys behind him. He looked royally pissed off, as did his friends. If I had a guy that huge after me, I'd be running off like a wimp too. 

"You know kangaroo boy," The blonde one came over to me.

"Pardon me?" 

He pursed his pillowy lips in irritation, "Reilly. You know him."

"He's my twin brother,"

"Well, in that case, you can tell him he can expect a visit from me any day now, and believe me, I don't plan on doing any talking," He clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked, "Enjoy your lunch."

I gulped and watched him leave, hoping to god Reilly had hidden somewhere small and dark. Furthermore, I wondered when he had gotten so stupid, did he seriously think he could win in a fight against him??

"Excuse me, that guy who was just here, what's his name?" I asked a pimply guy on the table behind me.

"That's Zac Hanson, he's an asshole,"

"Ok, thank you...."

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -        

(cut to the Bloom living room)

I'd done a little bit of research on Zac Hanson, but only to keep myself occupied. As usual, I had gone against my word and forgotten to strike up a conversation with someone. Therefore I was still without any friends.

So far I have found out from various people around the school, mostly teachers, that Zac comes from a family of seven children (sounds familiar, don't you think?). He was the star quarter back on the school football team until he was in a car accident last year and badly injured his knee. He gets great marks and is loved amongst teachers, but tends to be a bit of a bastard to those not in his friendship group.

"I can't let him beat up Reilly..." I sighed, resting my head in the palm of my hand.

Spencer replaced the lid on his apple juice and looked up at me, "He's your best friend Kirby...You're allowed to do something to stop him getting hurt..."

"You think so? Is it even any of my business?"

"No...but I don't think Reilly really cares deep down. He loves you a lot,"

I could just hug that little cherub forever.

"You know, you're right munchkin, tomorrow I'm going to go round to Zac's house and beg him not to hurt Reilly,"

"Good idea!"

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -                

(cut to the Bloom basement : a.k.a Jesse Bloom's hole)

Thanks again to my skills in research, I had higher knowledge - I knew where Zac lived. That means Reilly will not be bashed to a pulp and there will be no need for reconstructive surgery. 

"So, you're just going to go to this guy's house and ask him not to bash Rye up?" Jesse asked, his expression bordering on sceptical. 

"Yes, that's right,"

"And you seriously believe he's just gonna say 'Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me'?"

"Well," My eyes darted around his room, "I'm not so sure now,"

"I don't mean to discourage you, but I doubt he'll give in that easily,"

"But...I really, with all my heart, don't want him to hurt Reilly,"

Jesse thought for a moment and pulled up his socks before he replied, "Hmm...How far are you willing to go to keep little brother in one piece?"

".....Pretty far. You know, within reason,"

"If I were to present my idea to you, will you give it a go?"

"Depending on what it is...as long as I have the option to pull out,"

"Of course. First of all I have to ask you a series of questions. If you are ok with the conditions of my idea, then I guarantee you it will work, I bet my life on it," I wanted so badly to laugh at the way he was talking, but instead I nodded.

"Right, first of all," Jesse said, moving over to sit on the rug with me, "Do you find this Zac guy attractive?"

I raised an eyebrow, Jesse looked expecting, "Yeah, I do actually."

"Ok. Do you have any problems with, say, making a move on him?"

"Ohhh, now I know what you're getting at with this. You want me to get all cosy with him so he leaves Reilly alone for me,"

"Precisely, isn't it a great idea? And besides, I really don't think a guy like him is intelligent enough to listen to reason. He thinks with his...Well, you know,"

I nodded and fought the urge to feel like a Bond girl, "You know....I think your idea just might work,"

And besides, I might actually have fun.

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -        

(cut to departing the Bloom household)

I was finally ready at 5 o'clock. I applied lip gloss as a final touch and got ready to leave.

"Jeez Kirb, is your skirt short enough?" Reilly asked from the living room sofa.

"Um...."

"Where are you going?"

"Um...Can'ttalknowgottagobye," I closed the door quickly and ran to the car. 

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -            

(cut to the Hanson house)

I found the Hanson house straight away and parked across the road. The only sign of life was the open garage door, a Ben Harper song wafting down the driveway. There was nobody in the garage. An open tool box sat behind a contraption that would probably be a car some day, once it had a motor, wheels and a body. 

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Zac himself pounded down the stairs, stomping down three at a time, whistling loudly to the song. He stopped in front of his tool box when he spotted me. 

"Hello....Reilly's sister," He said, I expected a little more spite to accompany his tone, but he seemed to be friendly towards me. 

"Hi Zac, I'm sorry...I forgot to knock," 

"Oh, that's fine, come in," He said, cracking open a can of soda, "What was your name?"

"Kirby,"

"That's an interesting name,"

"Thanks..."

"Would you like a drink?" He pointed the can at me.

"Oh, no thank you, I'm fine," 

Gee Kirby, this is going well. Really, congratulations.

"I um...I guess you're wondering why I'm here," I asked, Zac nodded and smiled, "Well, as you know, I'm new at the school...And I haven't made any friends yet, and I thought you seemed interesting, so, here I am..."

"You thought the guy who wants to bash up your brother seems interesting?"

"Yeah..." I said nervously, visibly flinching when he picked up a piece of a car and flexed his muscles. He laughed and looked at me funny. I stood watching him operate on the car in the making for at least five minutes which made me awfully uncomfortable. 

"Are you just gonna stand there looking pretty or are you gonna help me?" He asked with a smile on his face. 

"What do you want me to do?"

"Just the usual, passing the tools," 

"Oh....alright,"

Zac rolled onto his back and pushed himself under the 'car'. 

I pulled at the hem of my denim skirt and grimaced, "My skirt's a little too short to kneel, so I'm just going to stand here,"

I heard Zac's laugh through the steel contraption and waited for an order.

"Spanner please," He called. I found the spanner and held it down low enough for him to grab, "So, you're from Australia, hey,"

"Yeah...We moved about a month ago,"

"Do you like it here?" He asked. 

"I suppose...."

"It must be hard. You know...moving countries,"

"It is,"

"Hey, um," Zac came crawling out from underneath the car, "This is boring, let's go do...something else,"

"Oh....Alright," I said. Does he mean what I think he means? No...

"So this is my house...I'd have a big family usually, but...well...I don't actually know where any of them are," 

"I have a big family too, and no one ever seems to be home,"

"Oh? How many?" He asked. 

"Six kids,"

"Ah, I win, there's seven of us,"

But you see, I already knew that, Zac. 

"Are you guys close in age?" I asked.

"Well I have two older brothers, we're pretty close, the younger kids kind of stick together,"

"Oh right," I said, lifting up a photo frame. An older photo, four blonde kids, two parents, smiling faces. 

"What about you?"

"Well, Reilly and I are best friends...My older brother and I are pretty close...My two little sisters are extremely annoying and my little brother Spencer...Man, I love him so much, we're best friends too," 

Zac smiled widely, "That's really nice," He said. The tone he said it in made me believe that he meant it. 

He kicked off his Airwalks and chucked them into the closet in the living room. Then he pulled off his shirt and I nearly choked right there. He grabbed a new one off the pile of laundry on the couch and slipped it on. I was able to breath.

"You have try some of my Mom's carrot cake," He said proudly, making it difficult for me to decline. He soon had a rather fat slice of a brown coloured cake on a plate, as well as one for me. 

"We can sit out there," He said, opening the sliding door that led to the back patio. Zac juggled his plate and managed to sit on the railing of the deck, looking out onto the yard, I did the same. 

"So....Do you mind that I just came to your house like this?" I asked him, taking a bite of the cake that was surprisingly delicious. 

"No, I don't mind at all. I love meeting new people. And I think it's better to do it out of school, you know,"

"Yeah, I agree, making friends at school is pretty stressful,"

"Mmhmm, it's more easy going out of school," He said, three quarters of his cake already gone, "I wanted to talk to you, but...well you know...that thing with your brother,"

"Right..."

"So I'm glad you came here, so I can talk to you,"

I gave him my greatest 'you'll-definitely-win-him-over' smile and he gave one back, finishing off his cake. 

"Who's your favourite band?" I asked.

"Oh, gosh, there are so many...."

"Me too," I chuckled, "Do you like Alicia Keys?"

"Yes, I love Alicia Keys...What about older stuff, like Zeppelin,"

"And Hendrix,"

Zac looked impressed, mixed with a look that showed he was grateful to meet someone with the same taste in music. 

"None of my friends even know who the hell Hendrix is, let alone like his music..." He said. 

"Well, they haven't heard real guitar playing then,"

"Damn straight," Zac still had a smile on his face, his crimson lips curled perfectly into one of the best smile's I'd seen in a long time, "So are you free to hang out for a bit longer?"

"Sure, I've got all night," I lied. I never actually told my parents that I was going anywhere...

"Awesome! My brother bought some DVD's home last night, do you wanna watch them?" He asked, hopping off the rail. 

"Sure, sounds cool,"

Zac and I went up the stairs, turned right and then right again until we came to a halt. 

"So whose room is this?"

"This is Taylor's, he's the second eldest, 19," Zac grabbed a plastic bag from the chair beside the closet that had three DVD's in it. 

"Jeez, this is like a HI-FI store," I said, eying the huge stereo in the corner, the TV, DVD player, video, PS2, laptop, camcorder....

"Yeah, I know, he works a hell of a lot. But I think it's a bit strange that he can afford all this and he works at Wal Mart....I think he's a drug dealer or something,"

I laughed out loud, I even sounded a bit like Indie. I made myself shut up immediately. 

"Ok, he's got The Godfather, The Gladiator and Shrek....What'll it be little lady?"

"Um.....What about The Gladiator?"

"Sounds good, Russell Crowe is awesome,"

"Yep, gotta support my fellow Aussies," 

Zac took the disc out of its case and began dealing with the TV set. 

"Are you sure Taylor won't mind us being in here?"

"Nah, he doesn't care. I think he's working til late anyway,"

The room was actually quite big. Dark drapes, clothes everywhere and a giant bed in the centre. At least fifty pairs of shoes were lined up underneath the window. And not crappy shoes, nice ones. Hush Puppies, Doc Martens and Timberlands.

-    -    -    -    -   ; -    -    -    -   ; -        

(cut to an hour later)

As usual, I began to get a little bored half way through the movie. I started sighing and looking around the room and at anything bar the movie.

"You ok?" Zac asked.

"Oh, yeah," I said, smiling politely. Zac nodded and continued to watch the movie. Now is my chance. I have to defend my brother. He's my twin for god's sake, it's like letting the male version of me be beaten. 

Zac and I were already quite close together, sitting up against the wall on Taylor's bed. I took a deep breath and wet my lips. I looked over at Zac, closed my eyes and went in for the kill, my lips landing firmly on his.

"What the- What are you doing?!"

Oh SHIT. 

Evacuate, evacuate!

"Zac, I'm-I'm sorry, I..."

"Oh my god," Zac looked stunned. 

"I'm so sorry, I should leave," I hopped off the bed at top speed and went for the door. 

"No! Kirby, wait," 

I stopped with my back towards him, hand on the doorknob. 

"Please don't go, I'm sorry I snapped like that," He said. I turned around, finding it extremely difficult to look at him. What a fool I had made of myself. 

"I'm, I'm sorry, I just thought,"

"It's ok, really, it's ok. You just caught me by surprise, that's all. I totally wasn't expecting it," Zac's voice was so kind and convincing that I found the nerve to look at him, he was standing beside the bed with his hands in his pockets, "Please don't leave. The movie's not over yet,"

"Oh, I don't think I can stay..."

"Oh come on, don't feel weird about it, there's no hard feelings,"

"Um...." I stood awkwardly at the door and thought about it. He seemed cool about it, it couldn't hurt. "Ok..."

I sat down beside the smiling Zac once again and tried to watch the movie. Fifteen minutes later there was another interruption. 

"I have a confession to make," Zac said, his brown eyes boring into me.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, um, the real reason I freaked out like that is because I have a girlfriend..."

"What? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Zac looked embarrassed, "Because...because the truth is I've been dying to kiss you since you walked into the garage, but...I love my girlfriend and I just can't,"

"Oh...." I swallowed hard.

"We can still be friends, can't we?"

"Of course we can,"

"I mean, it would be stupid not to be, right?" 

"Right,"

"Do you mind if I put my arm around you? Friends can do that, can't they?"

"Friends do that all the time," 

I smiled at Zac to soften the mood and he smiled back, snaking his arm around me until we were both comfortable in each other's embrace.