A/N: This is a Shelle story that I started a LONG time ago...I'm talkin' over two year ago...I just recently rediscovered it and started to write again...

Prelude

This fanfic starts a long time ago, when Belle and Shawn were juniors in high school. Belle had never gone to boarding school, but Shawn had from the age of 9. When they were younger they had been unseperable, but they had gradually lost touch in the last seven years. Now Shawn is back for high school, unknown to Belle.

Chapter One

Belle Black sat at her seat in homeroom, her legs propped up on the seat in front of her so no one would take it. She wore a pair of dark denim low rise jeans and a white lace top. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she had a big smile on her face. Finally, she was back in school! Summer was cool, but a lot of her friends had gone to camps and such for most of the summer, leaving Belle with a lot of time to herself. Mimi walked into the room and Belle waved, pulling her legs off the seat. "Mimi! Over here!"

"Hey Belle! Isn't this awesome, we are finally out of Sophomore Hell! Now we can't be picked on cause we are underclassmen!"

"Yeah Meems…now we're gonna be making fun of all the lil kids ourselves!!" Belle replied with a laugh.

Mimi sat down, just as the bell rang. She rolled her eyes, facing the teacher.

"Hello class. My name is Mrs. Perez. I'll be your homeroom teacher, and also, for some of you, your Spanish teacher. Now, I'm going to take role than pass out your schedules."

The roll call went smoothly, and as the teacher passed out the schedules Mimi turned back to Belle. "I saw the cutest guy in the hall when I was coming in today!"

"That's great Mimi…good luck on the new conquest!" Belle replied, rolling her eyes. Mimi saw new cute guys every day it seemed. The teacher handed her her schedule:

7:55-8:15: Homeroom

8:20-9:15: Anatomy Honors

9:20-10:20: English III Honors

10:25-11:30: Physical Fitness

11:30-12:15: Lunch

12:20-1:05: French III

1:10-2:05: Algebra II Honors

2:10-3:15: Drama

"Hmm…this is a pretty good schedule." Belle said to herself. "What to we both have Meems?" she asked, handing her schedule to her friend.

"Homeroom…Duh…Lunch and French."

"Cool."

"anyway, about this guy Belle" Mimi continued as Belle inwardly groaned. Here we go again, she thought. "He is so cute! But he seems a little standoffish, ya know? He was all decked out in the 'I'm to cool for you' look, leather jacket, the works. But, wow…it works for him"

The bell rang and they gathered their books, heading out into the hall. They said their goodbyes, and as Belle turned the corner she ran flat into someone. "sorry." She said, grabbing some papers that she had dropped.

"Why don't you watch where you are going." The guy said, picking up her Chemistry book and shoving it at her.

"Gee, and why don't you get an attitude check?" She replied hostily, a scowl forming on her face. But, looking up at him, the scowl froze on her face. This had to be the guy Mimi had been talking about; he was so cute! Belle quickly blinked. "If you'll excuse me, you are in my way"

"Oh, wouldn't want to make you late." He moved out of the way, and she brushed past him. Well, he might be cute, but he was a jerk.

Shawn Brady shook his head. The girl had looked so familiar, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. She was quite cute, he would admit, but she was just too prep squad. But, there was something about her that attracted him to her. Looked like he already had a plan for his first day back.

"I can't believe we have to dress out for gym on the first day!" Belle mumbled to herself as she changed into a pair of gray shorts and her navy blue panther's top. She hadn't expected to have to dress out for PE, so she was wearing her cheerleading practice clothes. The tank top was dark navy blue with a white panther on the front and "Salem High Cheerleading".

After tying her shoes Belle headed out to the gym bleachers. Phillip was already sitting there, surrounded by 5 or 6 girls. He spotted Belle and waved her over. A few girls looked back at her jealously. Belle just rolled her eyes. "Hey Phil-makin' new friends already?" she teased him. He just rolled his eyes at her.

"Yeah. These lovely ladies were just telling me how much they admire my basketball skills."

Belle snorted a laugh. "Skills? Boy, I could so beat your behind at basketball!"

"Right princess. You may be perfect at everything else, but I am the king of basketball!" he gloated, and a few of the girls nodded their heads in agreement. Oh, it was so on now.

"Yeah right. Keep dreaming, but I guess there is only one way to prove that I am the best"

"And that would be?" Phillip prompted her.

"You wanna play a game of one on one?" she challenged, raising her eyebrows at him.

Phillip nodded. Some of the girls stalked off. Belle just smiled. They probably thought she was manipulating Phillip, trying to get him for herself. But that was so not the case. Her and Phillip had been friends for as long as she could remember…and that was all they would be.

Shawn watched with a group of guys as Phillip and the blond girl he had met before went out on the court. He still needed to find out her name.

"She is not trying to play b-ball against Phillip." One of the guys commented with a laugh.

"Yeah, she's got to be crazy."

'Well, she is the princess…you know she'll go for the win" one of the guys interjected.

"What do you mean, princess?" Shawn asked casually.

"She's miss perfect, good grades, good attitude-"

"Good looks" one of the other guys interjected with a smirk.

"Yeah." another guy continued, "She's got it all. She's the Princess of the school"

"Yeah, yeah, but what's her real name?" Shawn asked, but the coach interrupted them. He had some boring announcements to make, so Shawn just settled back in his seat and watched the game.

Just 5 minutes into the game, Belle could hear the cheering begin. "You realize we've become a show for the whole class?" Belle asked, trying to steal the ball from Phillip.

"Yeah, well, we are attention getters" He tried to dodge left but Belle expertly grabbed the ball, charging away from him towards the hoop.

"Not fair!" He whined, chasing after her.

"Life's not fair" she shot back as she made a lay-up.

"Go B-Baby!" someone yelled from the stands. She looked over to see Jason Welles and a few of the other guys she was friends with clapping. She smiled, caught the ball, then tossed it to Phillip.

"For your sake we'll play Make it Take it" she said.

"Always so generous Belle?" Phillip replied sarcastically. She just smirked back.

They played for almost the whole class period, the score 21-19 in favor of Belle. "Ha!" Belle said as the teacher called them together to make some final announcements before letting the class go.

"Oh, we are so on for a rematch!"

"Right Phil. Don't be a sore loser!" Belle replied, punching him jokingly in the arm. "Just admit to yourself that I'm the best, and all will be good!"

"and the Princess beats King Kiriakas!" Jason said, putting his arm around Belle. She shrugged it off, wrinkling her nose.

"Whatever happened to just bowing to royalty, not touching them?" she replied.

"Why don't we just settle for a kiss on the hand?" Jason asked her, smirking.

"Ew no." Belle looked at the other guys and spotted him. The guy from earlier. And he was staring at her. She scowled in his direction quickly, causing him to blink. She turned back to the guys. "so, who's that new guy over there."

"Come on Belle…don't tell me you don't recognize him." Phillip said. She stared at him blankly. "Oh man, you really are a ditz, aren't you?"

"What?" Belle said, utterly confused. Was she supposed to recognize him? She didn't think she had ever met him before. "Who is he?"

"I'll give you one hint: the third musketeer."

"Shawn?!" she exclaimed, "since when did he become such a jackass?"

"Obviously, he became one in the 7 years he was away." Phillip responded. Belle turned around and walked towards the Shawn.

"So, you couldn't resist my charm from earlier?" he asked her smugly.

"No actually, I came up to see if you were taking home EC this year. I've heard that they teach manners there too. And honestly, I think you need them. I didn't know Neanderthals could be so crude." she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh…Barbie has a brain for comebacks it seems" Shawn said challengingly((ia/n: is that even a word?/i))

"Yeah, and Barbie also has enough sense to tell you that if you mess with her she'll get you back, cause she knows where you live."

"What?" He asked. "Doll, you're delusional. You don't even know who I am."

"Bullshit Brady. I know who you are, I know where you live, and I know you have a teddy bear that's named Billy." She crossed her arms over her chest, smiling smugly.

"What the hell?" Then he realized. "Wait? Could it be? Little Miss Belle Black all grown up?"

"You got that right.. All grown up,,,and if you know what's best for you, you won't run into me in the hall again." With that she turned, heading to the locker room.

When the bell rang, Belle head to the cafeteria, meeting Chloe and Mimi on the way. "Mimi, I found out who that guy you were drooling over was"

"Really? How did you find out? Who is he?"

"You remember me telling you about my ole best friend? Shawn Brady?"

"Yeah…"

"That's him. Its amazing how someone can turn into suck a jackass during their years away from home. Goes to show you how environment effects child development."

"Love you too Belle." He said, coming up behind them.

"Oh, I'm sure. After all, what is there that isn't lovable about me?" she replied, batting her eyelashes jokingly.

"Well, let me see…your pompous, overbearing attitude isn't a turn on. And those clothes, they scream 'look at me, my daddy's rich and buys me eveything I want.'"

Belle rolled her eyes, and looked to Mimi. "See," she said, pointing at Shawn, "childhood development issues in living color."

At lunch, Belle sat in-between Phillip and Chloe. Mimi sat herself right next to Shawn, who sat directly in front of Belle. Jason sat next to him.

Belle rolled her eyes, looking over at Mimi. She was practically drooling over Shawn. "so, Shawn, you want to go to go to DotCom this afternoon? Or maybe I could show you around town." She offered.

"Sorry. I don't like to be seen in public with chubbies like you." He replied snidely. Belle's jaw dropped. Mimi quickly excused herself from the table.

"Shawn. Courtyard. Now." Belle said through clenched teeth, getting up.

"Ohh, the princess is summoning me, how could I ever go against her wishes?" He got up, and followed her outside.

Once Chloe got over the shock she had about the comment, she laughed. The fire between Shawn and Belle was amazing. "I wouldn't be surprised if they got together."

"Yeah, Belle's just gonna have to kick him into shape first." Phillip said, shaking his head, "I thought they taught boarding school kids some manners."

"I guess not." Chloe said, "But if anyone can kick him into shape, it's her."