Best opener/Defense

What would you all say is the best opener/defense to start learning as a beginner? Any tips on how to study these? I always have trouble with opening  because I feel quite lost. 

Thanks

LEARN THE FOOLS MATE.

THEN YOU WON'T LOSE TO IT. . .

I think more important than learning specific openings is learning basic opening theory.  There are 3 goals you should be trying to achieve in the opening: centre control, piece development and castling.

With this in mind, don't move pieces more than once in the opening if you can help it.  Knights are often better developed before bishops.  Then come the queen and rooks.  Try to play moves that accomplish more than one thing.  For example, 1.e4 challenges the centre AND allows for later development of the king's bishop.  A move like 1.c3 is playable, but not ideal, as it doesn't really challenge the centre and doesn't facilitate any development.

Basic Queen's Gambit lines are good to learn at a low level, but 1.d4 isn't as common.  You probably won't get a lot of opportunity to play the black side of this since most lower level players tend to use 1.e4.  Against that I'd recommend the Sicilian.  It's a real beast of an opening, but you can get away with just knowing the basic principles for quite a while.

This is the kind of position you might see a lot if you take up the Queen's Gambit.  Low level players love grabbing the pawn, but there's not really any advantage in doing so.

Any classical 1.e4 e5 games. The main theme in these older double king pawn games is rapid development and attack on the f2/f7 squares. This basic form of attack will branch out into other tactics as you advance.

13 years is a long time to struggle?!