You're Never Too Young
Wow, I just finished a series, yet I'm already back for another one. This idea has been floating in my mind for a while now, yet I've been postponing b/c it's too hard to juggle more than two series at a time. I know that the high school fics have been done numerous times, but I really wanted to do one, my way. I don't really remember seeing any fics like mine. What you should know before you get started is that very little stands from the show. All the friends go to the same high school, and I'm well aware that they didn't on the show. Ok, Monica's overweight, Phoebe's very strange, Rachel's popular, Joey's a womanizer and girls flock to him, Ross is a geek, and Chandler is sarcastic and not popular…well himself on the show for the most part. Ross and Mon are siblings…the guys are juniors, while the girls are sophomores. Yes, I am well aware that Phoebe did not attend high school on the show, but she does in my fic. And her mom is dead—she lives with her grandma. Although it includes all of the friends, it's all from either Monica's or Chandler's POV, in a way. It's not first person, though. This will become C&M relationship fic, b/c all my favorites are! Ok, please read, review, and tell me if I should continue. I'm holding my breath here.
Disclaimer: No matter if they're teenagers or adults, I don't own these characters.
Strangers are just friends waiting to happen.
--Unknown
Monica stepped off of the school bus and walked slowly towards inside the school building. The first day of school had become a depressing day for Monica once she had passed the age of 10. Although she had a few close friends and random acquaintances with whom she would converse with, it never felt fulfilling to her. Something was missing in her life.
"Monica!" Somebody called from within the crowded cafeteria, where students were waiting for the bell to ring. She turned around and noticed her friend, Phoebe, with her blond hair in pigtails. When Phoebe approached her, Monica tried her hardest to stifle the laugh that was threatening to escape her throat. Phoebe stood in front of her, wearing a very busy, green skirt with a clashing pink shirt.
"You sure look…" Monica was at loss for words, "Different. Like always…"
"Yeah, well, that's what I was trying to go for."
"It kinda reminds me of a tablecloth."
"Oh, it is."
"That explains it," Monica stated sarcastically and rolled her eyes. Phoebe could be incredibly strange sometimes, yet she was one of Monica's best friends. Many people avoided speaking to Phoebe because of her strange behavior, but if they would take the time to know her, they would see how caring she could be.
"There's Rachel," Phoebe said, pointing to a table across the room.
Monica hesitated, "Maybe we shouldn't go over."
"Yeah. Who's she hanging out with?"
"Some popular people."
"Figures."
The beginning of high school had paid a huge toll on Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica's friendship. When they were younger, the three were almost inseparable. Once they started high school, however, Rachel began to hang out with a different group of people. She was popular, and had very little time to spend with them.
"Plus, why would a popular person want to spend time with two losers like us?" Monica thought to herself bitterly. Although, outside of school, Rachel and Monica still saw each other often, considering their parents were friends and they lived less than a block from each other, Monica no longer felt she had any other connection with her.
Once school began, Monica found her classes with little trouble. She was disappointed that she had very few classes with her friends. She dreaded having to hang out alone, when everyone else seemed to have a handful of friends. Luckily, Phoebe had lunch with her. And Rachel had some classes with Monica, too, but she didn't rely on Rachel as a friend.
"When did everything change?" Monica wondered as she wandered through the halls to her third period class. She entered her Chemistry class and chose the table furthest from the front. She looked around to find herself surrounded by juniors.
"Great, maybe some of Ross' 'friends' will be here," she thought sarcastically, as she scanned the different faces. She wished that Ross was more than a year older than her. In fact, she wished that he would already go off to college and leave her alone. She was sick of his annoying habits, although most were only ones a sister would notice. Plus, Ross was a huge loser in school, and made many enemies. Therefore, when those people found out that she was "Ross' sister" they would begin to torment her, too.
After what seemed to be an eternity to Monica, the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. Stanley, began to take role. She listened to the names, trying to figure out if she knew anyone. She recognized a few peoples' names—a girl from last year's gym class, a guy from her homeroom, one of Ross' close friends, and a few names of people who had beaten up Ross in the past. She sighed as the teacher began to assign seats to everyone. Her seat was in the front, unfortunately. She hated being in the front b/c she felt like all eyes were on her, yet she could see no one behind her, unless she turned around, causing a distraction. She was relieved, however, to find out that she was sitting next to one of her brother's closest friends and her neighbor, Chandler.
"At least he won't annoy me," she thought as he sat down beside her.
He turned towards her, and she focused her attention on him, noticing he was looking at her.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi," she replied, and then turned her attention back towards the teacher lecturing them in front, as did he.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey Ross," Chandler greeted as he entered the gym.
"Hey man, how's your day going so far?"
"Eh."
"Same here. Although I did get a really good physics teacher."
"That's interesting," Chandler quipped.
"Thanks man," Ross answered sarcastically.
Although Ross was probably Chandler's closest friend, they were different in many ways. Ross was very interested in school, especially in science, while although Chandler did okay in school, it was not his first interest. Chandler's interests were in the areas of music, movies, and watching sports—not playing them. He was not very athletic, and the only sport team he was on was swimming, although most of the guys around him did not consider it a sport.
"You wanna see the new Lord of the Rings movie this weekend?" Ross asked as they waited for their gym orientation class period to end.
"Sure."
Ross left Chandler to go talk to some other person, whom Chandler did not recognize.
"One of his honors classes friends," Chandler decided.
The fact that Ross was in all honors classes and Chandler wasn't, sometimes created a barrier between the two friends. Their friends differed, since they were rarely ever in the same class anymore. Actually, Chandler was quite surprised when they ended up in the same gym class. It was only the 2nd time that they had been in the same class in three years of high school. If they hadn't been neighbors, Chandler doubted that the two of them would've remained friends. Chandler, bored, and not finding anyone else to hold a conversation with, sat on the bleachers and played a Dave Matthews Band song in his head, trying to pass the time.
The bell for fifth period rang. Relieved, Chandler said good-bye to Ross and headed for his locker. On his way, he met up with his other close friend, Joey.
"Hey Joe," Chandler greeted as he walked up to Joey's locker.
"Hey, I had the best day!"
"Yeah?" Chandler asked, uninterested for the most part. Although Chandler and Ross were probably Joey's only male friends, he had all the girls surrounding him. Maturing had obviously agreed with Joey, while it just made Chandler feel awkward and self-conscious. As Joey revealed the events of his day, and showed him his arm full of girls' phone numbers and dates, Chandler feigned interest. Often, he was jealous of Joey. He had everything Chandler dreamed of. Girls flocked around Joey, while they seemed repelled by Chandler. Chandler was a junior in high school, and had never even had a real girlfriend—unless his 3-day relationship with Sandra Adams in 8th grade counted as a "real relationship". Once Chandler and Joey made their way into the cafeteria and Joey and Chandler sat down, a dozen girls made their way towards the table.
"Ok, ladies, don't worry, there's enough of Joey here for all of you."
Chandler shook his head, as he got up to buy lunch. When he returned, he noticed, frustrated, that his seat was taken.
Joey looked up when he noticed Chandler without a seat and just shrugged.
"Well, at least he tried," Chandler thought bitterly, as he rolled his eyes and walked away.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chandler searched for an empty table to sit at, but found none. He noticed Ross' sister sitting alone, and decided that her table was probably his best bet.
"Hey, can I sit here? I…don't really have a seat," Chandler asked, and looked at his feet, ashamed.
"Yeah, sure," Monica answered kindly.
"Thanks."
"Doesn't Ross have lunch now?" Monica wondered.
"Nah, he has like 6th or 4th or something, I dunno."
"Oh."
"Is anyone else sitting with you?"
"Yeah. My friend Phoebe is."
"Oh, the wei…" he caught himself, not wanting to insult Monica's friend, "interesting girl with the plaid stockings?"
"Yeah that's her," Monica laughed, "But she doesn't wear the stockings anymore."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, that was a 'freshman year' phase. I think her new phase is tablecloths as clothing."
"Hmm…different."
"That's for sure."
"Where is she now?"
"She's over there," Monica said, pointing to the food line, "Arguing with the cafeteria ladies."
"Why's she arguing?"
"Because she thinks that the vegetarian meals are crap. She feels it isn't fair that the meat eaters get the 'good food'."
Chandler scrunched his face, "Well, if she ate meat, she could get the good meals, too."
Monica laughed at his joke, and he laughed, too.
"Maybe this lunch period won't be so bad, after all," he decided, "If anything, Phoebe can be our entertainment."
"So, we're lab partners…" Monica began, bored of the silence that had formed between them after Chandler's joke.
"Yup. And just so you know, I'm terrible at science…all sciences. I almost failed Biology last year."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"So…you're in Chemistry during sophomore year…looks like the Geller genius genes hit you, too."
Monica looked away, "Yeah well…I'm not in honors Chem., like Ross was…"
Noticing he had hit a touchy subject he apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"Nah, it's okay," Monica remarked, pretending to brush it off.
Monica wasn't too offended. She knew that Chandler didn't mean anything by it. He didn't know about the ongoing rivalry for the better grades she had with her brother. He actually seemed pretty nice—compared to the other high school guys she knew. She and Chandler had actually been friends when they were younger. He, Ross, and Monica would play together at one of their houses. However, that was before the whole "boys/girls have cooties stage". Once that happened, Ross had made sure that Monica stayed far away from him and his friends. Although they no longer felt that way, they had never tried to bridge that gap that had formed between them.
Monica looked around the lunchroom and ventured, "Joey's at lunch…why aren't you sitting with him?"
Chandler shrugged as he got up to throw out his trash, "All those girls stole my seat."
"I'm sorry. I know how it feels—one of my friends abandons me for others."
"Sucks, doesn't it?"
"Yeah."
"But Joey's a good guy—he's a good friend, whenever there are no girls around."
"I see."
After that, Phoebe returned to the table.
"Well, well…who do we have here?" Phoebe wondered.
Monica introduced him, "This is Chandler…he's a junior."
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi…oh aren't you Ross' friend? I think I've seen you over at Monica's before."
"Yeah…you're the girl with the plaid stockings."
Phoebe smiled and nodded, "Wow, you remembered? How sweet…I didn't think anyone noticed."
Monica and Chandler just turned to each other and shared a look.
So what do u think? Should I continue? It's all up to u…if u want me to continue, then review. Otherwise, this fic has to face the "delete button" in my brain and computer...ok sorry that I make no sense, but it's late. I really hope u enjoyed it. If u like it, then next chapter will be up soon.:)