Hey people! I am back with another pointless oneshot! This one is from Cal's point of view when he was 14 in his first year of high school before he got taken. It is just a little thing about some very special firsts for Cal. Rated T for Language.

I thought the idea was kind of cute, so I just went with it :)

I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think! Oh yeah, and READ THE NOTE AT THE END. Thanks :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Cal Leandros series, it is property of Rob Thurman

First:

I sat with my arms folded across my chest slouched so far down in my chair my ass would fall off if I scooted any further. Math class was boring as hell and I was surrounded by idiots. Seriously, we were freshman in high school. Who the hell didn't know how to do algebra?

I sighed and glanced at the clock once again. I swear that thing was broken because it didn't seem to have moved at all since the last time I had checked it.

I let it be and turned my attention to more… prudent things. "Prudent things" happened to sit two rows ahead of me and one seat to the left. All I could see from this angle was a sliver of a profile and a mass of dark brown shiny hair. It was beautiful hair, just like the rest of her. I scowled at my train of thoughts and tried in vain to refocus on the teacher.

I needed to quit obsessing about her it was turning me into a goddamn girl. So what if she was pretty? There were tons of pretty girls in the world. She was nothing special. Besides, I thought soberly, she would never even consider me. Sometimes she smiled at me in the halls but that didn't mean shit. No one in there right mind would talk to me here, even if they did like me. I was a social pariah, a piece of trash, a dirt poor, dumb as rocks, son of a whore. At least that's what they all said about me. And if anyone ever talked to me I'm sure they'd be considered the same. Sure, some chicks thought it was fun to "slum it" once and a while but even they had standards. And I was nowhere near the standard.

I played with my pencil, rolling it between my fingers and wondered for the millionth time how I had let Nik convince me to do this whole high school thing. Why couldn't I just home school myself? He wasn't around to do it, he was at college and only came back on weekends, but honestly it couldn't be that hard.

"Caliban." I glanced up at the sound of my name spoken out of the thin pressed lips of Miss Johnson, our algebra teacher.

"Why don't you try your best to answer this problem." She said in a nasal tone. I didn't think it was humanly (or nonhumanly as a matter or fact) possible for her to put any more condescension in her tone.

I glanced up at her and then at the problem on the board. The answer was 27.

"43?" I said dryly. Her thin lips contorted into a smile at my error.

"How was it they ever let you into high school Caliban?" She said shaking her head. The class laughed, because she was just so goddamn funny. Fucking hilarious. I didn't give a shit though. If she wanted me to be the class idiot trailer trash than I would be, because I could not care less what these people thought of me.

"Tessa?" She said turning her lipless smile to the girl with the beautiful brown hair.

"27" She said quietly, almost apologetically.

"Thank you Tessa. Good to know someone around here has two brain cells to rub together." There were chuckles throughout the class again. Boy was that teacher sure a riot, I glared bitterly at her back covered in a smelly lumpy old sweater. I hate high school.

Suddenly Tessa turned around in her chair and her eyes met mine. They were a rich brown and framed in lashes a shade darker than her hair. She gave me a kind of half smile and an apologetic tilt of her head before turning back around.

I felt heat in my face and I knew I was blushing. Another unfortunate side effect of Grendel skin, blushes shine right the hell through. I stared down at my desk again. I was fourteen years old damn it, I should not be blushing like a girl.

Unfortunately the blush stuck around for the rest of class. I picked up my stuff and saw that asshole Eric coming up behind me. He was going to try and push my books on the floor. I usually let him mess with me, but today I was not in a good mood. I discreetly hid my wicked smile and turned slightly and stuck my foot out. As he walked by to push my shit on the floor he tripped over my foot and went down. All the way down. Do not laugh. Do not laugh. Do not laugh. Do. Not. Laugh.

All the sudden giggles filled the room.

I glanced up surprised to see that Eric and I weren't the only two in the room. Tessa was still there packing up her stuff and giggling to herself as Eric scrambled for his stuff and then quickly ducked out of the door. Poor bastard, I thought vindictively and without an ounce of compassion.

"Good for you Caliban. It's about time someone did that." I met her gaze and gave her a sheepish smile. I could feel the blush working its way across my face again. Alright Cal, I gave myself a quick little pep talk, this is your one chance to talk to this girl. Don't blow it. Say something funny… something clever.

"Uh yeah thanks." Crash and burn. Down in flames. Well…. That was that.

She walked over and picked my pencil up off the ground. Huh, I hadn't even noticed it fell. Tessa's small hand brushed mine as she put the pencil in my fist.

"See you tomorrow Caliban." She said with a smile before giving me a little wave and disappearing through the door.

That was weird.

****

The next day I was oddly excited to get to algebra (a sure sign of the apocalypse) and I tried the whole day to talk myself down. No girl had even been interested in me before and this one wasn't interested in me now. She just wasn't a total bitch, that was all. I didn't need to take one nice act and blow it way the hell out of proportion. There was a snowball's chance in hell that she liked me.

By the time I got to class I had convinced myself that she was being nice to me based on some sociology project or dare and there was nothing else to it. If only I could convince the rest of me of that.

I blushed as I walked by her again and she gave me a dazzling smile. She had pretty straight white teeth and full lips. And those thoughts really were not helping with the whole blushing thing.

I walked back to my usual spot in the back row in the corner (classic bad boy spot, I had a reputation to maintain). To my surprise she got up and followed me to my desk.

She kept coming until she was really close to me. Like, count your freckles close, "I'm going to hug you" close… kissing close. I blushed darker at the thought. Goddamn I really needed to get this whole blush thing under fucking control, this was getting ridiculous. Fucking traitor face. I inhaled and caught her scent, lilacs and butterscotch. And odd mix but it worked together really well, perfectly in fact, on her.

She leaned forward and stood slightly on her tip toes (she was a couple inches shorter than me) and whispered in my ear.

"Meet me after class?" Her breath was warm and smelled as good as the rest of her.

"Yeah, okay." I said quietly feeling vaguely like I was high. What the hell was wrong with me? Caliban Leandros did not do crushes. Her cheek brushed lightly against mine as she leaned away. I swallowed quietly… or so went the theory.

Following that moment commenced the longest class period in the history of ever. Seriously, I'm pretty sure it went on for several hours. All of which I spent staring in shock at the back of Tessa's pretty dark hair. I was so shocked that I actually answered a question correctly on accident and Miss Johnson almost fainted. Not a joke.

The bell rang and I didn't know what to do. Should I hand around here? Did she mean meet her after class in class or out of class? Or maybe she meant later all together. I mean, technically there was an eternity of time in which we could meet after class. Oh God, I hoped desperately I could keep the inane babbling inside my head.

The class emptied (waaaay slower than usual I might add) and soon it was just me and her. I took a deep breath. Come on, man up Cal.

"Um hey, you wanted to talk to me right? You want to talk here or go somewhere else? Or, I mean, if you changed your mind that's fine too. I uh…" Shit, now I was babbling and blushing. Smooth Cal, smooth as fucking ice.

She giggled at me and walked over, the perfect picture of confidence. Though I suppose she didn't have anything to be worried about. After all, I was just me, but she was… she was Tessa. You know?

She walked over and slipped her hand in mine. Luckily my hand was dry and warm, the last thing I needed was a sweaty palm. She glanced down at our fingers for a second before stepping even closer and popping my space bubble in a major way. In a good major way… but still.

"Want to go on a date with me?" Um, was that a rhetorical question? I stared at her in shock as she raised her chocolate eyes to my gray ones. She looked at me intently, I wondered for a moment what she saw there.

"You want to go on a date with me?" I responded with a question. Because seriously, any minute someone was going to pop out and reveal I was on a hidden camera TV show called "Most Ridiculous Match Ups" or something and some douche bag like Ashton Kutcher was going to run in here in laugh in my face.

"Of course or I wouldn't have asked." She giggled again and rolled her eyes at me. But seriously what did she expect? This was so out of the blue.

"Meet me by the lake, where the forest meets the rocky area you know? It's within walking distance of your house right?" I gave her props for not stumbling over the word "house" because our trailer was most certainly not a house.

"Yeah, okay. I'll meet you at sunset." The words came out before I could stop them. Meet me at sunset? What was this a fucking romance novel?

"Yeah okay." She echoed me, coyly swinging our hands together. She squeezed my fingers lightly once more before letting them drop.

"I'll see you tonight." She said with a smile before once again disappearing through the door.

I was blushing bright red again, but I was also smiling. I can't believe I had a date. I had never been on a date before in my whole life. I couldn't wait to tell Nik when he got home tomorrow. He would be happy for me, and really fucking shocked. I flexed my fingers and felt my smile widen. I couldn't wait for tonight. As much as it embarrassed me to admit it, I was so happy that someone wanted me. No one had ever wanted me before. I would make sure she wouldn't regret it. I nodded my head with determination. I was going to make this the best date ever.

*****

This was going to be the worst date ever.

I am such an idiot.

I stood nervously on the rocks waiting for my date to arrive. And I was a half hour early. A little over eager there? Seriously, way to blow my nonexistent cool. Yeah, I was a bad ass alright. A punctual flower carrying bad ass in nice clothes. I had my clean jeans on and an old button up shirt of Nik's. I was looking damn spiffy. I still couldn't believe I actually thought about what I was going to wear. Did liking a girl turn you girly?

I fiddled with the flower stem nervously in my hand. It was a red rose, totally cliché and not even the best looking or smelling flower out there but it was supposed to be romantic and all that jazz. I had cut my finger a little earlier when I picked it out, and then promptly prayed to the sterile heavens that it wasn't foreshadowing. After all, we were just meeting up and talking. What could go wrong?

Yeah, famous last words.

I realized I was pacing and then cut it out. Nobody liked a nervous date. I should look confident. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

I sat down on the rocks and watched the sun slowly sinking in the sky.

****

I was in exactly the same position an hour later. The sun had set and the sky had turned from the vibrant colors of the sunset on the water to the gray of passing light and then finally to the black of night. Clouds had rolled in and the moon wasn't visible, just the little pin prick lights of the stars. Alone in a great emptiness.

Kinda like me.

She wasn't here. She hadn't showed, and I was still sitting here. Why the hell was I still sitting here? I glanced down at the rose in my hand, I had plucked off all of the thorns with my fiddling and the stem was now bare. What a waste.

I was such an idiot. Did I really think that a girl like her would like something like me? I wasn't a real boy, so why in the world did I keep thinking the world might treat me that way. You would think a kid could learn. I was like that idiot dog that kept trying to cross his electric fence and was surprised when he got shocked every time. Every goddamn time.

I sighed and pulled myself together. I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself and just accept it.

I let the rose fall onto the rocks and stood quickly. It was time to leave and give up the ghost. She wasn't going to come, and it was foolish of me to ever believe she was. I should know better by now.

I smelt them before I heard them. I turned cautiously to see a few boys from my class approaching from the distance. What the hell?

I could smell Eric's foul stench and three other boys whose names I didn't know and didn't care to. They reached the end of the grass and began to clamor gracelessly across the rocks. I debated leaving. What could they want?

"Holy shit. He's actually still here?" I heard one of the voices call out incredulously. The other three laughed.

"She's not going to show you idiot, most people would have gotten that by now." Eric taunted as he slipped on a rock and caught himself on his hands before stabilizing again. Too bad, it would be great if he broke his own nose and saved me the trouble.

"Where's your date trailer boy?" The fat one on the left yelled from the back. He was slower than the others who were only a few feet away from me now.

"I don't know. Where's yours? Did you eat her?" I called back to baby Beluga.

"Shut your face!" He shouted back still a considerable distance away.

I should leave. I knew that I should leave. Could I take these asshats? Of course, not a doubt in my mind. But Niko and I had a long talk about fighting once. The summary was never do it. Never fight if you can avoid it. Always back away, always leave unless there is no other way.

We couldn't afford to let my monsters genes get out of control. It was like drinking if you were an alcoholic. Just tempting the devil. Just playing with fire.

Then again I had always been a bit of a pyro.

"Listen." I said to Eric, who was standing closest to me. "Let me give you some friendly advice. First of all, get some acne cream because that shit is disgusting. Second, showers are good things. And thirdly, even getting asked on a date is one step ahead of you so why don't you quit looking down your nose at people for a second and turn your attention to your own shitty situation."

His genius come back was to throw a punch at my face. There was a lot of power behind it, but unfortunately for him he couldn't beat a sloth in a foot race.

I dodged out of the way of his hand and punched him in the gut. And maybe I was a little bit too satisfied when the air whooshed loudly out of his lunges. He coughed…. Nah I'm exactly the right amount of satisfied.

"It was a dare you dumb ass. Did you really think she ever considered going out with trailer trash like you?" Short (not like I had room to talk) and ugly on his left spit as he yelled.

"Did you actually dress up?" The ginger on the right laughed. "Nice shirt, did you steal it off a homeless person?" Beluga yelled through his panting.

God, I was such an idiot. Even more so than I thought before. Of course it was a bet, of course it was a dare. Why the hell would a girl like Tessa ever go out with a punk like me. The answer was no reason, not even a goddamn dare because she hadn't even showed up to watch me get humiliated. It wasn't even worth it.

I wondered if they all laughed about it. I wondered if they chuckled at how I blushed and stuttered and actually believed that someone was interested in me. I laughed loudly but it wasn't funny it was just sad. I was just pathetic. And really, all these years of detecting bullshit and I let some pretty girl lie right to my face without noticing. I was such a piece of shit, but worse I was a stupid piece of shit.

Eric swung at me again and this time I didn't move. I felt the crunch of his fist connecting with my face and I fell all the way down. I didn't even put my hands out. I just… didn't feel like it. What was the point? Maybe I was pathetic and stupid but I wasn't going to be a monster. I was going to try not to be anyways.

So as the fists and feet kept falling on me I just lie there like a good little monster. Like a well behaved demon. I couldn't hear their jeers or the sound of their blows. I just concentrated on Nik's voice:

"Don't fight Cal. You can't ever fight." His grey eyes bore seriously into mine as he judged my reaction. I met his eyes without an ounce of doubt in mine, without a hint of the usual mocking and sarcasm.

"I won't. I promise."

I kept my promise.

They left eventually, after a long while. But I was there for a long, long time even after. I lie there until the sky began to bleed gray with pre-dawn light. Then I finally dragged my sorry ass home.

I left the flower there, crushed between the rocks. Its red color had rubbed off onto the surrounding rocks like blood. I spit some of the red out of my own mouth to dye the rocks just like my rose.

I got home and carefully put my dirty clothes in the hamper and washed my face before crawling into my bed to rest for a few hours before school. Oddly I wasn't thinking of Tessa or Eric or any of them. All I was thinking was that I should have known better. And that, at least, Niko would be proud.

****

I trudged through the hallways with my head down and tried to ignore the amount of faces turned my way. I looked like I had gotten the shit beaten out of me, and that I had. But I came to school anyways, because even though I let them beat me up I wouldn't let them win. I wouldn't give in, I would let them hurt me but never beat me. Bowed but not broken.

Or so went the theory.

I pulled open my locker and dozens of red roses fell out onto the floor. I didn't react. I just kicked them out of the way and pulled what I needed out of my locker. It would take a lot more than humiliation and shame to knock me down, after all, I'd been dealing with those emotions all my life. I was in control of them, not the other way around.

I walked over them to get to class crushing their petals against the cheap tile floor. I didn't look but I knew I was leaving a trail of red foot prints all the way to class.

I didn't let them get to me all day. I let their comments and dirty looks and laughter roll right off my back like the proverbial duck. High school sucks. I already said that, but it bears repeating.

Classes rolled by quickly and soon I was out the door and home. Well, that was the original plan. I was distracted by a soft noise from the alley by school.

I smelled Tessa and Eric.

I wasn't going to look. I wasn't. But I felt my feet taking me that direction anyways. I was beginning to consider that I had a serious issue with masochism. Huh, well it would have to take a spot in line with all my other really serious issues.

I rounded the corner to see them both standing in the alley whispering angrily at each other.

"We shouldn't have done it Eric. You took it too far. You hit him? I can't believe it, did you see his face?" She regretted it. Well, maybe she wasn't terrible after all. It said something, that she admitted it shouldn't have happened, not enough, not nearly enough… but it did say something nonetheless.

My hand rested on my cheek almost of its own accord. I had caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror before I came to school. It was pretty terrible. The black and blue bruises stood out in stark contrast to my Grendel pale skin.

"Listen here bitch-" He was abruptly cut off by Tessa's palm making friends with his face. I couldn't help but smile at the satisfying skin hitting skin sound that is made. Ah, good old fashion karma. I absolutely loved it when that bitch focused its attentions on someone else for a change.

Okay, let's get something straight here: Eric is an idiot. Eric is an asshole. Eric never fails to stoop below even the lowest expectations. So why in the world was I still shocked when he shoved her against the wall? I could not tell you. What I could tell you was how, seemingly without my consent, my feet propelled me in his direction, and how it was effortless for me to jerk him away from her and how I hardly even noticed the pain in my knuckles as they connected with the bridge of his nose.

What I did notice was the satisfying sound that it made when his nose snapped and blood, red as a rose seeped out through his nostrils. I could also tell you how much I enjoyed the following kick to the gut that sent him to the ground and the smack of his skull as it met the concrete. I stood over him and didn't say a word. I just glared with a self satisfied smirk on my face.

I had been dying for a reason to hit this bastard, and even though this wasn't the reason I wanted I didn't feel guilty at all for taking advantage of it.

I shook my head and forced the dark thoughts from my head and pushed the pleasure I got from fighting back until I could deny that I ever really felt it.

As Eric crawled up and ran away I remembered why I wasn't allowed to fight. I remembered why Niko told me I could never instigate anything unless absolutely necessary. It felt too good, it satisfied my monster nature in a way that made it want to come out and play, and no stupid high school bully was worth that. So I took a deep breath and cleared my mind until the violence backed down from a boil to the dull simmer it usually stayed at.

Good enough.

I turned to glance at Tessa who stood against the wall staring at me with a strange emotion in her eyes. It looked like she was trying to figure me out. Well, good luck with that.

I turned on my heel totally prepared to walk away and never speak of this incident again… unfortunately it didn't happen that way.

"Wait." Reluctantly I stopped my feet but I didn't turn around. It was too hard to look at her. The rejection, humiliation, and self mocking hate clenched at my insides. Damn, I was stronger than this. I could beat these emotions.

"What." I said levelly without any inflection or emotion. Huh, maybe I picked up more from Niko than just being a bad ass ninja.

"Why didn't you beat them up before? He didn't- you didn't- they-" She floundered for a moment before getting her train of thought back. "It didn't even look like you were trying with him, you should have beaten those guys… or at least hurt them, I didn't see a scratch on any one of them." Her voice was incredulous but behind that there was a respect I didn't deserve. Like she thought that I was some righteous moralistic hero. But that wasn't me, I had an older brother for that.

"Maybe there's a lot you don't know about me." There was no anger in my tone, hell I didn't even feel any. It was said again with no inflection, no passion. I didn't say it to hurt her, I said it because it was the truth. Her and everyone else besides my brother didn't know shit about me. But she was even more clueless than the rest of them if she thought I deserved any of her respect. I didn't, I was a monster through and through. I glanced down at my pallid skin and reminded myself for the millionth time why.

I started walking again then. I wasn't so emotionless that it didn't hurt to look at her. I hated to admit it. I hated to admit that in a moment of weakness I had had hope, and I had let her in, but I had done it and now I was paying the price.

But I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Then I heard another small noise from her and turned around before I could even think about the action. She was slumped against the wall and sitting on the cold ground, but worst of all she was crying.

Ah, shit.

I felt guilt and self recrimination flow into me like water into a cracked boat. I was a first class asshole.

I stood awkwardly for a moment trying to decide what to do. Do I go to her or do I stay? Slowly I walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. I didn't know what to do or say to make it better. I hated it when girls cried, I just never knew what the hell to do with myself.

"Don't cry." I said softly, in the most comforting voice I could, but she just cried harder. Shit, I was entering panic mode here. I had almost no experience with crying girls. What the hell was I supposed to say? Why was she crying anyways? Did she feel guilty? Well, if so I should fix that. She had nothing to feel guilty over.

"Don't cry." I said again my voice now slightly rougher. "I'm not worth it." Her crying stopped immediately and she tilted her chin up to stare right at me.

Tessa's face was now uncomfortably close to mine, I got distracted by the way her wet eyelashes clumped together and how impossibly big her watery eyes looked in her delicate face.

"Don't say that. Don't even think it." Before I had a chance to respond, not that it would have been a good response, she leaned forward and her nose brushed mine. I was no Cyrano like my brother so this meant that she was pretty damn close to my face (with Nik you might accidently brush your nose against his from the other side of the room, it was that damn big). Oh god, I was rambling nervously in my head again.

And then abruptly all rambling stopped in the face of complete and utter shock.

Tessa pressed her lips to mine. They were soft and smelled vaguely of cherry chap stick. Her hand came up to gently touch my face and it was soft and warm just like her lips.

My eyes closed automatically as she rubbed her lips gently against mine before her lips opened slightly and mine followed suit. Her breath was warm and sweet and the kiss became deeper but continued on without any urgency.

It was warm and soft and perfect. And then she pulled away. I opened my eyes and leaned my face into her warm palm as she ran her hand across my cheek and through my hair before pulling away.

"Goodbye Caliban." She said gently and quietly, like our kiss.

And then she was gone. She stood and walked out of the alley and I fell back onto my ass and stared off into space for a moment thinking about nothing but that kiss.

I thought it was perfect but I had nothing to compare it to.

My fingers came up to gently brush my lips as I felt a smile tug at the corners.

It was my first.

Yeah, I can be quite the cheese ball sometimes. Let me know what you guys think of it. Also:

I am thinking about writing a follow up chapter to this from Niko's point of view when he sees Cal after he gets back from college. Thoughts? I'll do it if you people are interested, but if not that's cool too.

Hope you guys enjoyed it!

-Traveler