It began as such things usually do. It began with the appreciation of the way her lips curved into a smile when someone spoke the opening line to a funny joke. Then, the way she laughed before the punch line was even fully delivered. Finally, with the way he felt to be responsible for the smile; the laughter. He, of course, was just as oblivious to what was happening as she was.

A/N: I'm new to this. I've never written fanfiction before and I'm still not entirely sure how to do it properly, formatting-wise, so bear with me. I just kind of got the idea for this because I really didn't like the way that Quinn and Logan's relationship unfolded in the show, or how it was revealed. I don't really have a specific vision for this and I'm not even sure if it's good enough to continue it. I would love feedback in that department, actually. I'm working from the standpoint that this is AU. I haven't seen Zoey 101 completely all the way through and not in quite some time, so any help in that department would also be greatly appreciated. But, I'm still a big fan of the show and want to do it justice! Basically, I'm kind of going back to when Quinn and Mark were still dating. Except, here, they break up at the beginning of the summer before this story starts. Chase has decided on his own (for reasons I'm still deciding on) to go to London earlier than depicted in the show. I'm thinking he left the previous semester and that's when Zoey started dating James. They are still dating at the beginning of the story. The beginning of the story is around, say, their junior year at PCA. Some elements are still the same, i.e. Mark leaving Quinn for Brooke. I'm kind of just exploring writing fanfiction and wanted to see if I could write something AU like this. I would really love any kind of feedback, whether I should continue or not, if there are things I could improve or change, etc. So, here's the first chapter that I've got written and enjoy! Thanks! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Zoey 101 and I certainly do not own the show, though I kind of wish I did. How cool would that be?

Chapter 1

A new year. A fresh start. That was what he needed after a dismal summer spent alone in his father's mansion. Yet again. Sure, there had been the beach and the girls. Oh, the girls. After a while, though, those things do become monotonous. After all, there are only so many girls a man can go after before he's had them all, he thought, smugly. At this thought, Logan has to correct himself. He hasn't had them all. Take Stacy Dilson, for example. She'd been pining over him for two years now. Probably going on three now, he inwardly groaned. But, it still counts because she totally wants me. Then, there was Zoey, Lola, and Quinn. He knew both Zoey and Lola had crushed on him at one point or another in those initial years at PCA. He smirked. That definitely counted. Quinn, on the other hand, had hated him from day one and the feelings were more than mutual. As far as he was concerned, Quinn didn't count. I guess that means I have had them all, he thought smugly. A second later, however, he realized just what that meant. He'd reached his end with the girls at PCA. Granted, it was a year or two earlier than expected, but it still meant that he was out of options. He laughed. Please. Who says I can't just start all over again? It's not like they're really going to say no. I'm Logan Reese. With that, Mr. Logan Reese stepped out of his father's limo, took his bag from Chauncey, and headed to his dorm room to claim the single bed before James or Michael got there.

As her parents drove away, Quinn took a deep breath and sighed, looking out over the campus. It was good to be back. Although she was nervous, it really did feel good. This year is going to be different. A fresh start, she thought. After the eventful summer she'd had, she needed a fresh start. The summer itself wasn't exactly eventful. The beginning of the summer had been the eventful part.

"Quinn?"

She spun around, hearing that familiar voice and feeling a pit in her stomach.

"Mark? I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow," she said, standing a little straighter and trying to keep her voice neutral. She hadn't expected this so soon. What she saw wasn't what she had been expecting. Mark had lost a considerable amount of weight since the last time she had seen him and he looked different. Must have been working out with Miss Perfect Body, she thought, scornfully.

Mark shuffled his feet and replied, "My parents dropped me off early."

"Oh." There was an awkward pause.

"How are you?" he finally asked.

"I'm fine. How are you?" she responded, regaining some of her composure, and then adding, "How's Brooke?"

Mark winced slightly at the venom in her voice. "I'm good, I guess. Brooke's good, too." Another pause. "Listen, Quinn—"

Before he could finish, Quinn picked up her bags, said, "I have to go unpack," and walking away as quickly as she could, leaving a very unhappy Mark behind.

She knew she should have prepared herself better for this. What was she thinking? That it would be easy to see him again after only a few months? And with the way he looked now? Looks had never really mattered to Quinn, but she had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that Mark had looked good. Really good. Why hadn't he done that for her? Was she not good-looking enough? Brooke apparently was. Trollop. And to just come up to her and try to talk to her. What was he thinking? The jerk. I mean, did it even occur to him that—

Just then, she hit something solid and fell to the ground. She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going.

"Watch it, Pensky!" Logan. Great. That was exactly what she needed.

"You watch it, Reese!" she fired back, picking herself up off the ground, glaring at him.

"You're the one that ran into me, remember?" was the response she received as she gathered the rest of her stuff and stormed off in any direction but his, hoping she wouldn't have to face Zoey and Lola just yet.

What is her problem? Logan thought, offended, as he stood up, watching Quinn as she walked away. It's not like he ran into her. She was the one who was rushing through campus not paying attention. She had the nerve to yell at him for it! It wasn't his fault. Geez… He brushed his pants off and made sure neither the expensive laptop nor the more expensive phone in his hands were damaged before setting off again. Not even back ten minutes and it's already starting again. That is exactly why she doesn't count, he thought, irritated. As he was making his way to his dorm, he noticed some guy just standing there, looking the way he'd just come. Suddenly, he made eye contact with the guy and noticed something. He looks really familiar. I know I've seen him somewhere, but where? Logan asked himself. The guy started to move in his direction and he knew exactly where he'd seen him, except he'd been a lot larger then.

"Del Figgalo?" Logan asked, with disbelief.

"Hey, Logan." Mark said, still moving towards him, eyes still looking back the way Logan had come.

"Dude, you lost a lot of weight," Logan said, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

Mark looked down, "Oh, yeah. Brooke made me work out all summer. Said it would help my image, especially if we were going to be together." He shrugged.

"Wait. Be together? Aren't you still dating Quinn?" Logan asked, thawing a little as the curiosity hit him.

"No. Uh, we broke up," Mark said, not quite meeting his eye.

Logan narrowed his eyes, shrewdly guessing what was coming next, but asking anyway, "What'd you do?"

"I cheated on her with Brooke," Mark said, after some hesitation, "I just wanted something different, you know?" He looked at Logan with a you know what I'm talking about kind of look on his face.

Logan did know what he was talking about. He'd seen his father do it many, many times over the years, to various women. Many assumed he'd done the same. In fact, he hadn't. He thought the whole idea was wrong. Sure, he messed around with girls, often moving from one to the next almost too quickly, but they'd always known what they were getting themselves into and that, generally, it was a one-time thing. Logan Reese was not serious relationship material.

"Honestly, man, I didn't think you had it in you," he said, reevaluating the person standing in front of him.

"Well, things just sort of happened," Mark said. He paused. "I saw you talking to Quinn. Did she say anything to you?"

"No, man, just yelled at me. The usual, really," he replied.

"Well, alright," Mark said, with a sigh, "I'll see you later, Logan. I gotta go unpack." With that, he turned around and left.

"See ya," Logan said, picking up his bags, yet again, and making his way over to the dorm building.

It didn't occur to him that Quinn had come from the same direction that he'd seen Mark until he finally made it to his room. The implications of that, coupled with Quinn's behavior and Mark's explanation, didn't sink in until he was halfway finished unpacking his things. Man, that sucks. Big time, he thought to himself, before shrugging it off and continuing to pull clothes out of his bag and throwing them on the bed he'd managed to successfully snag.

Quinn sat with her arms resting on the knees she'd pulled up to her chest, thinking. She was hidden from passersby in a group of trees at the north end of campus. After her run-in with Logan, she knew she wouldn't have been able to face Zoey and Lola until she got control of her emotions. Logan didn't usually get to her in such a way, but her encounter with Mark had left her feeling vulnerable. As she had turned away from him, all she'd needed was a kind smile or maybe even a hug from a friend, proof that someone cared. Instead, she got the cold shoulder and a "Watch it, Pensky" from none other than Logan Reese, the very last person she had wanted to see in that moment. Evidently, the hatred that had existed between them had not dissipated over the summer. She could normally handle the arguments and insults they regularly exchanged with relative ease. It was easy to argue with Logan and even easier to insult him. However, today hadn't exactly been normal or easy and Logan had no idea the effect that exchange had had on her.

Feeling the breeze run through her soft curls, she wondered what it was that was so wrong with her that would make Mark treat her the way he had. She wondered why Mark had chosen Brooke over her and why he hadn't just told her. In the next moment, she was fairly positive she knew the answers to those questions. Brooke is beautiful and Miss Perfect Body. How am I supposed to compete with that? she thought bitterly. At that thought, Quinn felt a sudden wetness rolling down her cheeks. She was crying. The realization made her cry even harder. She'd thought she was done with all of that. However, here it was, fresh as the day it happened. All the pain, the loneliness, the—

Quinn cut everything short; the thought, the hurt, and the crying. This was not the place or time.

She gathered her wits, dried her eyes, stood with her bags, and left her hiding spot. The Quinn that stepped out of the trees seemed confident, happy, and ready for a new year. The Quinn within that façade was trembling and nervous, unsure of what the year was to bring.

Zoey Brooks sat on her bed looking at her newly unpacked side of the room, awaiting the arrival of the other two occupants of the room. As she waited, she thought back on the past few months. She had spent her summer lifeguarding. James had visited a couple of times, but had to get back to Washington soon after each meeting. He had an internship at a law firm. While she was extremely proud of him, she wished that she and James had spent more time together over the summer. Zoey had been feeling a strange sort of distance between them, even when they were together, in the last month. She was not sure if the feeling was caused by the physical distance between the two or something deeper. She hoped that it was just in her head and that things would fall back in to place as school started.

Her thoughts drifted briefly to Chase. She missed her best friend dearly. Normally, Chase would be exactly the person she would go to with her current dilemma, or perceived dilemma, with James. However, Chase was all the way in London. There was also the issue of the conversation they'd had the day before he had left for London that was keeping her from going to him. Zoey tried not to think about that too much. There was nothing she could do about any of it if he was all the way in London.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shrill scream, accompanied by an equally shrill, "ZOEY!"

Sure enough, there stood Lola Martinez, looking as fashionable as she always had.

"Lola!" Zoey jumped up and gave her the biggest hug she could manage. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too! How was your summer? How's James?" Lola asked, looking at Zoey and wiggling her eyebrows.

"Fine and fine, if you know what I mean," Zoey replied, giggling, "But enough about me. How was your summer? You spent it in Paris, right? That's so exciting. You have to tell me all about it."

Thus, the two girls spent the next hour talking about Lola's experiences in France and, especially, the male population of the country. Neither paused to wonder why a third girl had not yet joined them. When Quinn finally entered the room, it was to find Lola's baggage thrown on the floor, still packed, and the two girls chattering excitedly on Zoey's bed. However, it wasn't long before Quinn was noticed and embraced in a doubly bearish hug from both Zoey and Lola. This reaction, coupled with the pulling together session she'd had in the trees, put the final Band-Aid on her fragile emotional state. For the moment, she forget about Mark, about Logan, about everything but finally being around her friends again.

Well, that's the first chapter. Please, please let me know what you think. I love constructive criticism. Also, I just want to state that I didn't make Mark lose weight because I have any problem with his weight or how he looks. I just envision Brooke being the type to try to control and change him to fit her own image. It also adds to Quinn's inner struggle and I wanted to work with the affect his 'changes for the better' would have on Quinn, i.e. making her feel worse because he seems to be doing better than she is. I also wanted to work with changes taking place in Mark's attitude and behavior, i.e. more confidence. I hope this all makes sense and I would love to hear back about it! Thank you for reading! :)