AN: The premise of this story is that all of the Primeval characters attend secondary school together. However, I am an American with no experience of how British secondary school actually is, so let me know if I mess anything up too badly. There will definitely by Conby, Jecker, Memily, and maybe DannyxSarah. Anyways, enjoy and review.

Primeval High

Chapter 1

It was the first day of his last year in secondary school, and Connor Temple was sitting outside the school, ten minutes before it opened. As he flipped idly through his comic book, he thought about how different this year was going to be than all of his others. The big difference, he decided, was the absence of his two best friends, Tom Mathis and Duncan Greene. Thinking about Tom made Connor think about the spring before, when his life changed forever.

For months, Tom had been suffering from severe headaches and nausea. When his parents finally took him to see the doctors, the results were worse than they had thought. Tom suffered from a malignant brain tumor, and it was killing him. Tom's family tried every treatment they could find, while Connor and Duncan settled for just spending as much of their limited time with Tom as they could. It was a rough couple of months, especially due to the mood swings the tumor brought on. The last time Connor could go to see Tom, Tom barely recognized him and shouted at Connor for no reason. Tom died in the middle of May, mere weeks before the term ended.

Tom's death sent Connor into a tailspin. He spent most of his time locked away in his room, just sitting and staring out of the window. He wasn't able to see Duncan during the summer because his parents took their family on holiday to Scotland, and then enrolled him in a boarding school in the country. The last time Connor saw Duncan was as he was packing up to leave for their start of term. Duncan said his parents thought it would be a good idea for him to get away from places that would remind him of Tom. That had been two weeks ago. Now Connor was sitting in front of the school, looking at a comic book without really seeing it, and trying to figure out how he was going to survive his last year.

That was when she caught his attention. The first thing he noticed was her hair, it was cut in a short, pixie style and it was so blonde it was almost white. Next, Connor noticed her size, she may have been petite, but she gave off an air of toughness that Connor was strangely attracted to. And most importantly, she was new to the school. She wouldn't know anything about Connor, his awkward nerdiness, his sever lack of coordination, or the fact that one of his best friends had just died. Connor could be anyone to this girl, He just had to go over there and play it cool. He could do that, he thought, he could be cool long enough for this girl to like him even after she found out about his collection of Star Wars collectibles. Connor stood up and began walking towards her, all he had to do was say something clever and cool…

XXXXX

Nick Cutter walked down the hallways of school confidently, talking with his best friend, Stephen Hart as he went. It was the first day back, and Cutter was determined to let nothing get in the way of his grades this year. He was focused on becoming a zoologist and he knew he needed top grades to follow that path. As the pair walked on to their first class, Jenny Brown-Lewis brushed past them in an attempt to get to her class as well. Cutter immediately stiffened, but tried to hide it. Unfortunately, after over ten years of friendship, Stephen noticed everything Cutter did.

"Still remind you of her?" Stephen asked quietly. Cutter knew Stephen was referring to Jenny's twin sister, Claudia.

"Yeah," He replied thickly, "Every time I think I'm going to be ok, I see somewhere we went once, or smell someone wearing her perfume, or-"

"See her identical twin sister?" Stephen suggested.

"Exactly" Cutter finished.

The two friends were silent for a moment as they continued to their class.

"You can't blame-" Stephen began, but suddenly he was cut off by an announcement over the PA system.

"Will all seniors please report to the auditorium for a brief meeting with their student body president" (AN: What is the British equivalent, because I can't figure it out. Is it a student body prime minister? Help!)

Cutter looked smug as he rushed off to the meeting, not eager to re-hash the same conversation with Stephen again. Stephen, however, felt differently.

"This conversation isn't over Cutter" he called after his friend's back, "We will continue talking about this!"

"Ok mum," Cutter shot back over his shoulder, "Now hurry up or we we'll be late."

Stephen sighed and followed Cutter, thinking about how stubborn he could be sometimes.

XXXXX

Abby Maitland sat in the auditorium and tried not to laugh at the fidgeting boy next to her. Connor seemed like a sweet, if klutzy, guy, but she knew there had to be more to his reputation than he was letting on, there always was. She thought about how much she had gleaned about him in the fifteen minutes they had been talking. He seemed nervous when he first walked up to her, she'd barely noticed his mumbled "alright?" and she immediately assumed he was just trying to get in her pants. But he hadn't. Connor had offered to help her find where she was going, and when she said yes, he could barely hide the look of excitement on his face. He'd walked next to her in the hallways, asking her questions about her life without trying to pry. That was what shocked Abby the most, the fact that when she talked with Connor, it was about her. He didn't interrupt with a story about him, or brag to her about his accomplishments, he just seemed content to listen to her talk about her life, as if he needed the distraction from his own.

But she'd also noticed the way the other students in the hallways looked at Connor. When they passed other guys in the hallways the looks most of them gave her weren't that hard to understand, she'd been getting those looks her whole life, it was nothing new. But the looks Connor was given confused Abby greatly. Some looked at him with confusion, as if wondering what he was doing walking around talking to Abby. Others gave Connor a look of pity. The women were the same way. Most of them also gave Connor a look of pity, but Connor seemed to ignore all of these looks as he guided Abby through the hallways. Now Connor was fidgeting in his seat while the rest of the senior class filed into the auditorium. Connor had chosen for them to sit near the back of the room, and now he was slouched down low in his seat, like he was trying to avoid being seen. Abby looked over at him again.

"Connor" she whispered, "what's wrong? Why are you hiding?" At her words, Connor sat up straighter in his chair and looked around guiltily like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"M'not hiding" Connor mumbled, "Just bored, that's all." He sat up in his seat and looked forward without saying anything else. Abby wasn't buying it; she could tell when someone was lying to her, especially when he wasn't doing a great job of hiding his nervousness. At first Abby thought it might be her that was making Connor nervous, but he'd seemed fine this morning, and she didn't know why she should make Connor nervous. Before she could continue to question Connor on his odd behavior, someone, and Abby could only assume he was the student president, stepped onto the stage and walked over to the podium.

"That's James Lester" Connor whispered, "He's the student body president. He's a great public speaker; I could see him as a civil servant in the future. You never know, he might even be the ambassador to Russia."

"He looks a little uptight" Abby whispered back, "I doubt he's much fun."

"He's not so bad," Connor replied, "He can be a little… sarcastic, at times, but he still cares about us and what we need."

"If you say so" Abby replied. Lester grabbed stood behind the podium and addressed the crowd.

"My fellow seniors," he began, "I know this year is going to be tough, especially in the beginning. With the recent passing of two of our number in the past months, I'd like to begin today with a moment of silence for Tom Mathis and Claudia Brown-Lewis."

At this, Lester stepped back a pace and bowed his head respectfully. Abby looked over at Connor and saw he was completely slumped over, his head resting on the back of the chair in front of him, and his body was trembling slightly. Abby wondered how well he had known Tom and Claudia and if they had died together, or in two separate incidents. Just as Abby was beginning to place her hand on Connor's shoulder, Lester began speaking again and Connor sat up suddenly, wiping his eyes hurriedly as Abby's hand shot back to her lap.

"And though they are gone, they will never truly be forgotten. We should honor our passed friends by studying harder and passing the exams with ease at the end of this academic year, and then going on to achieve greater things, it's what they would have wanted. Thank you."

When Lester finished his speech, the room burst into applause.

"Ya see," Connor said to Abby, "Told you he was good."

"Yeah, I guess." Abby replied as they were getting up and leaving. I didn't know anyone died recently, did you know either of them well?"

At her question, Connor stumbled slightly, but recovered quickly.

"Lester knew Claudia pretty well; they were both in the student council together. I didn't know her that well, but she seemed nice." Abby noticed the omission.

"What about T-" she began, but Connor cut her off suddenly.

"This is me," he said, stopping at an intersection, "remember, go down this hallway and make a right, your class is on the left. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Abby replied, "Thanks Connor, for everything."

"No problem" he said as he walked off, "anytime."

And with that, Abby trudged off to her first class of the day.