Prologue

Introducing, Carly and Sharon, plus their Weres Ran, Sabastian and Connor; Carly is a junior at Beacon Hills High and Sharon is a freshman. This is going to be an offshoot of Adoptions, because we wanted to try and introduce our own characters into the story and see what happens. This is the story of how they meet and become friends.

Carly: a punk rocker, dresses in dark clothes and a lot of band tee shirts, has wavy brown hair, brown eyes, is 5'6" and is of Hispanic descent. She's super friendly; always engaging the other students around her and making them feel welcome in any situation. Her favorite subject is math, but science is a close second. She always studies hard and does all her work, leading some of the other kids calling her a nerd but it doesn't bother her. Birthday: December 3

Sharon: a stylish girl, who wears nice clothes but also comfortable clothes, because heels just aren't an everyday thing for her. Her hair is long, brown and wavy, although he curls/straightens it often; she's of German/Irish descent so she has fair skin and bluish green eyes. Sharon is super shy around new people and doesn't easily make friends, but loves the people that are close to her. Her favorite subject includes Shop class and she dislikes Biology. Not many of the other kids know much about her since she hardly ever talks, but she gets through classes just fine without them. Birthday: April 23

Cam: Sharon's long time friend and ice skating partner, and is currently a Sophomore at BHHS; full name is Campbell. He has short (3 in) light brown hair (gelled up usually), green eyes, and is about 6' tall, of European descent; his style can be classified as Preppy/Casual as he like to dress well. He is completely loyal to his best friend and can get aggressive if pushed to far but is otherwise a compassionate person. His favorite class is French (although he is fluent in Spanish as well), and his least favorite is Algebra 2. Cam isn't quite as shy as Sharon, but he doesn't go out of his way to make a lot of friends, believing in quality over quantity, although he does warm up to Carly easily. Birthday: October 14

Adam: A sophomore at BHHS, he is 5'11" with blue eyes and shaggy brown hair. He's quite the jock, loving lacrosse and working out; he plays for Coach Finstock, jersey number is 28. Adam's quite the honest sweetheart, if a bit outgoing. Because of this he greatly dislikes bullies of any kind and his algebra class (man is his teacher mean). His clothing style could be classified as laid back or casual, often wearing loose-fitting clothes. Birthday: February 9

Ran: Carly's Were pet, is of Japanese descent so she has straight black hair and olive toned skin; she's rather quiet, not speaking very often, so Carly teaches her some basic Sign Language to allow her to communicate. Ran (name means Water Lily in Japanese) loves to read and learn, and dresses in baggy clothes to maintain comfort. She is very protective of her friends and is quick to anger if anyone threatens those she is close to.

Sabastian: Twin brother of Connor, both of whom belong to Sharon. He loves sports, eager to try out lacrosse as soon as he finds out they get to go to school. He is the quieter of the pair, with curly blonde hair. His favorite class is Shop class and least favorite is English (thanks to Jackson). His favorite candy is gummy bears, especially the red ones, and he is spoiled by Ran.

Connor: Twin brother of Sabastian, he also loves sports and is the more outgoing of the two. He has straight hair unlike his brother, so it's easy to tell them apart. His favorite class is Spanish, and he dislikes English, just like his brother. He loves M&M's, which Ran always gives him, and he is often surprised by Sharon's shy nature because she is very open around them.

Carly was sitting in Econ, laughing at Coach Finstock's antics like the rest of the class; he might be weird but he was a pretty good teacher. School had started a few months ago and they were finally getting assigned a group project, she was excited. There were a few people in the class that she knew would be good partners and some she would do anything to avoid, the rest, she'd just have to find out. When he called out her name, she perked up, ready to meet her partner; then he called out Sharon's name and Carly scanned the classroom. As Sharon met her gaze, Carly gave a warm wave and smiled; Sharon offered the briefest of smiles before turning back to the teacher as he finished pairing up the students.

Once he was done, he told everyone to get to work, and there was a brief scramble as everyone tried to organize their new seating. Once they all sat down, there was a dull buzz as everyone tried to talk without being too loud.

"Hey Sharon, I don't think we've ever really spoke, I'm Carly, nice to meet you," Carly said, taking charge and initiating the conversation.

"Well, I'm Sharon, as you know," Sharon laughed quietly, not knowing what else to say.

But Carly powered on, pulling up the paper that Coach had given them, "Okay, so we need to come up with our own company, give it a name and a business card design, that's easy. Let's see what else, oh; we'll have to describe our product and our advertisement ideas. Then discuss our wages and worker tiers, got to have some kind of ladder for them to rise up. This doesn't seem too bad, where do you want to start?"

Sharon glanced down at her paper, "Um, I guess we might as well decide on our product line, then it will be easier to decide on a business card and maybe company name. How long do we have?"

"Two weeks. We should probably find time outside of school to work on this, when are you free?"

Sharon gave a big smile, so glad to be with someone that seemed eager to do their share of the work, "I'm not in any clubs or anything so I'm free after school every day. As long as I text my mom and get home before dinner, she should be okay with it. Would it be okay if we go to your house? Or maybe the library if you want, Dad works from home so I don't know how he'd feel about company coming over."

Carly nodded in understanding, "Not a problem, my house is fine, if you don't mind meeting my mom; she's fun, just a little weird some times. But she totally nurtures my creativity and lets me do whatever I want to my room, she's really awesome like that. And I'm sure she'll let us order a pizza, do you like pizza?"

"Uh, yea, pizza's fine, pepperoni? And your Mom does sound like fun," Sharon slowly added, not sure how she felt about the barrage of information.

"Cool. Since class is almost over, did you want to just meet out front after school? I can give you a lift to my house and then you can just let me know when to take you home."

Sharon agreed to that, glad that her partner was so understanding; when the bell rang, Carly said goodbye and flew out of the classroom, eager for her next class.

*After School*

Carly stood at the bottom of the steps, twirling her keys around her index finger as she waited for Sharon. She hoped she hadn't come on too strong earlier; Sharon seemed slightly taken back when she had been explaining her mom. But it was nothing a productive afternoon couldn't smooth out, especially after she actually came to the house. Carly loved making friends, and Sharon definitely seemed like a nice person, just a little shy maybe. Just then Sharon appeared, a polite grin on her face.

"Ready to go?" Carly asked.

"Going, you're going somewhere Sharon?" asked a boy that came up behind her. He immediately gave Carly a skeptical brow raise.

"Oh, who is this? Is he coming too?" Carly asked, more than friendly.

"No, no… Cam isn't coming. Uh, right, this is my friend Cam, best friend really," Sharon fumbled.

"Oh, well nice to meet you Cam, name's Carly. I'm Sharon's new partner in Econ, we're going to be building a business together- isn't that great?"

Cam opened his eyes just a bit wider, "Yea, fun stuff. Can I walk you to your car then?"

"Sure, this way!"

Sharon nodded in agreement and let Carly lead the way; she gaped in surprise when Carly led her over to the sleek black truck that everyone knew. How had Sharon never noticed who was driving this monster? The truck was loud, to say the least; every time it pulled into the parking lot, there was music blaring and the exhaust was rumbling. The first time she heard it start up after school, Sharon had jumped out of her skin, the loud exhaust surprising her as it gunned passed her.

"Whoa, no way; no, way! This baby is yours? Seriously?" Cam asked full of awe. He walked up to the truck and carefully placed his hand on the hood.

"Yea, this is my baby all right, worked hard to get her too, provide her with a kickass sound system, beast muffler, the works. Where is your ride? You have one right?"

"You know it, I'll bring her over."

Sharon couldn't help but roll her eyes, leave it to Cam to talk vehicles with her new partner. But at least he didn't immediately hate her so that was a really big thing in Sharon's book. She looked over at her new partner and could tell that she was eager to see this ride, she was standing on her tiptoes and was scanning for Cam. She was biting the inside of cheek, she could already tell that Carly was going to be stoked when Campbell got back. And there he was, Sharon could hear his engine revving up as he pulled out of his space. Within seconds his sleek motorcycle was pulling up in front of the truck and he dropped the kickstand and pulled off his helmet.

"No way, a motorcycle, way cool! I wanted one, but Mom wouldn't stand for it 'cause my grandfather died on one. So badass truck instead, which is still totally cool. Trade you for a day sometime?" Carly joked.

"Maybe, we'll have to see about that. Glad you like it. I'd love to sit here and discuss these more but I've got to run and you too have to go build your business, so excuse me ladies, but I'm off," Cam said. He gave Sharon a hug and then with a quick wave he was off.

"You're friend is cool, I like him," Carly declared.

Sharon laughed, caught by surprise but she supposed this was good; it would be very troublesome if they didn't like each other for the next two weeks. She turned to the truck as Carly unlocked it, cautiously climbing in, the 6in lift making her pull on the door handle to get some leverage; but she quickly buckled in only to jump again as Carly started the truck up. Instantly there was loud music roaring in her ears, which Carly quickly turned down, giving Sharon a sheepish smile.

"Sorry 'bout that, I usually drive by myself, and I love loud music. Although I'm sure you know that, this truck is kinda hard to miss as I drive to school," Carly laughed. "Do you like As I Lay Dying?"

Sharon just stared wide-eyed at the older teen, not even knowing who that was, so she gave a slow shake of her head. As she listened to the music coming out of the speakers, she wondered if there were any actual words in the song, it sounded very confusing to her. Carly gave a slight disappointed look and Sharon was suddenly afraid that she offended her in some way.

"Darn, no one here really likes my music," Carly sighed melodramatically. "It's cool though, I like Pop, Country, and Classic Rock. What do you prefer?" Carly asked, fingers on the dial, switching to the radio and flipping through the stations.

"Pop is fine," she replied, barely audible.

Carly nodded her head and found a good station, instantly tapping her fingers to the beat. The first part of the car ride was quiet, Sharon staring out the window, looking at the houses as they drove by.

"So, did you come up with anything for our project? I'm completely stuck on what we could be selling… once we figure that out I think the rest will be easy, we should have no problem pulling everything together once we crack the hardest part."

Sharon agreed, but hadn't had time to think about it during school, but hopefully they'd come up with something before it was time to go home. Sharon would feel just awful if today would be a total waste because she couldn't come up with anything good.

It wasn't long before Carly was pulling into the driveway, and Sharon gasped in surprise, she didn't live too far from here. If she wanted to she could probably walk home (if it wasn't raining of course).

"Everything okay?" Carly asked, hearing the small gasp.

"Y-yea, you just live kinda close to me, I didn't really expect that is all."

"Really? That's cool!"

They climbed out of the truck and went in through the garage, a dog instantly coming to greet them. Sharon jumped slightly, not expecting the black lab to jump at her, but Carly stepped in the way, catching its paws and scolding the dog.

"Gotham, you know you shouldn't jump on new people, it's rude."

Sharon laughed as the dog seemed to look ashamed, ears down and eyes downcast, but his tail was still wagging.

"Oh gosh, I hope you aren't allergic, I didn't even think about that," Carly stated, looking fearfully back at her new partner.

"No, it's fine, I was just surprised. He's adorable though, just really, big."

"Yea and he thinks he belongs in my lap, but he's well mannered and completely smart too! I've taught him a bunch of neat tricks."

The pair moved into the kitchen, Carly calling out for her Mom to announce that she had a guest. A voice called out to them, saying she'd be in shortly and Sharon started to get a little nervous, she really wasn't good with other people's parents. But she didn't have time to dwell on it because Carly pulled her into the family room, and dropped off all her stuff and inviting Sharon to do the same.

Carly plopped down on the floor, crossing her legs, "Go ahead and get comfy, no need to stand."

"Oh, right, of course," Sharon laughed, sitting down on the couch as Gotham crawled into his owner's lap.

Just then a woman walked into the room, colorful hat on her head, "Hello! I'm Marie Hernandez, Carly's mom, nice to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Sharon," she replied after clearing her throat.

Carly just snorted, "Like her hat? She made it herself, and you're probably going to get one for Christmas if you aren't careful."

"There is nothing wrong with my hats Carly; you love the one I made for you! Right?"

"Yea Mom, I wear it now and again, you know I love it! I just can't wear it at school. But anyways, Sharon is my partner for a something in Econ, so we might be hanging out after school for awhile. Can we have pizza as a snack? Please?"

Sharon sat, watching these two interact, they spoke so fast and so openly with each other, it made her smile. Before she knew it Mrs. Hernandez was excusing herself to go order the pizza and leave them be.

"So, that was my mom, she makes handbags for people, although mostly she's a housewife, cooks, cleans, tells me to clean up my room. And she makes hats of course," Carly added, laughing again. "Aaaanyways, let's see where we could start," she carried on, pulling out the Econ paper again.

Sharon slowly started to warm up, Carly was always bouncing ideas off of her, wanting her insight, wanting to include her; she was slowly winning Sharon over. After they ate pizza and finally decided on a company product, it was time for Sharon to head home.

"Um, Carly, could you take me home now? I like to be there before Mom gets back from work."

"Of course, not a problem, do you have all your stuff?"

Sharon nodded her head, having gathered all her loose papers already; she said a quick goodbye to Mrs. Hernandez before following Carly back out to the truck. She gave the Junior quick directions to her house, the business conversation continuing as they drove. When they got to her house, Sharon whispered goodbye and hopped out of the truck, jogging up to her front door. As she glanced back over her shoulder, she was surprised that Carly was still there, waiting for her to get in the house, offering up a warm wave before finally putting the truck into gear. Sharon went up to her room to work on her other homework, happy that she got partnered with Carly, even if they were polar opposites.

*The Next Day*

The class had the whole period to work on their project so Carly was sitting with Sharon again; plopping into the chair next to her like she had always sat there. Together they pulled out their papers and got to work, Carly working on coming up with a quirky company name while Sharon worked on advertising strategies. Before they knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of 2nd period.

"Hey, Sharon, would you be okay if we sat together at lunch? That way we can work on this some more, I like to have things done early so there is no stress, you know? It's cool if you'd rather sit with your friends though," Carly added good-naturedly.

Sharon blanched, Carly was a Junior, didn't that mean she'd have to go sit with other Juniors? Sharon wasn't sure she could handle anymore upper classman, not after having to deal with Jackson all the time, and he was only a Sophomore! She blinked as Carly waved her hand in front of her face, apparently she had spaced out in her moment of anxiety.

"It's fine, you won't hurt my feelings if you want to sit with your friends, honest. I'm a big girl, are you okay?" Carly asked, seeing the crestfallen look on her partner's face.

"Yea, it's just, I…I don't really have friends here besides Cam you know. I usually sit outside for lunch because I don't want to sit by myself, I'm way too shy to try and ask someone if I can sit with them. Cam sits with me though, even if that means kinda ignoring some of the other guys he knows," Sharon admitted, feeling embarrassed.

But Carly understood what that was like so she put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "That's fine, we can sit outside, Cam won't mind right? He seems like a really good friend."

Sharon nodded her head, fidgeting with one of the straps on her pack, at least this way she didn't have to sit with any Juniors! It was still going to be weird sharing her table with someone else besides Cam though. Carly gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before letting go, telling her that she'd meet her at the Cafeteria entrance.

*Lunch*

Sharon stood outside the cafeteria, continuously readjusting her back pack as she waited for Carly to appear. It took a few moments, but Carly showed up, apologizing because her teacher ended up holding them back since they wouldn't be quiet.

"Come on, I'm just going to tell my friends that I'll be gone, don't want them to worry about me," Carly said, pushing open the doors.

Taking a deep breath, Sharon followed behind her, looking down at her feet the whole way; she was so nervous that she bumped into Carly's bag when she suddenly stopped. She could feel her face turning red, feeling clumsy for not even noticing that she had stopped walking, barely listening as Carly gave her friends a quick explanation before walking off again, Sharon right behind her.

"Where to? Is Cam already out here?" Carly asked as soon as they were outside, turning to look at the shorter teen.

Carly noticed her red face, feeling bad that she made Sharon follow her to the table; maybe she should have just met her outside instead. She waited patiently as Sharon came out of her anxious funk and led the way to the right table. As they sat down Cam noticed his best friend's face.

"Sharon, what's wrong?" he asked, looking to Carly for answers.

Carly gave a small shrug, completely unsure as to what was wrong. Instead she pulled out a baggie of Reese's Pieces and offered them to Sharon, "You alright?"

Sharon nodded her head and grabbed a small handful of the candies, eating them one at a time, still looking at her hands and not at her companions.

Carly decided to give her some time, so she pulled out the rest of her lunch and took a few bites, glancing at the other girl every so often. Cam followed suit, knowing that Sharon was embarrassed about something; that meant the more he tried to push the more she'd close up. This was something he'd have to wait out, especially since Carly didn't know why she was embarrassed either. It took a few moments before Sharon was ready to speak.

"Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to run into you, I wasn't paying attention."

Carly shrugged, "It's fine, it's not like you were running or anything, barely even felt it. What else is on your mind?"

Sharon sighed, not sure how to continue, "I just always feel so nervous around people, I feel like I probably embarrassed you in there…"

Cam sighed, "Sharon…"

"That's nothing to worry about, those kids don't care, they are really laid back. It's not like I introduced you, so you didn't even have to say hi. They probably didn't even give it a second thought after we walked away. Don't worry about it okay?" Carly suggested, smiling at the girl.

"Yea, okay. Thanks for not yelling at me for being a stupid Freshman."

Carly almost choked on her candy as Sharon said that, "Why would I do that? Everyone was a Freshman once, it's not like you can avoid it! Well, I mean maybe if you skipped a grade but, well you know what I mean. Do people say that to you a lot? What classes are you taking?"

Sharon looked up, surprised at the fierce reaction, she reached into her bag and pulled out her schedule, handing it over. Carly scanned it quickly before handing it back, commenting on it.

"You're in Bio, English 10 and Econ, hardly Freshman classes. How can anyone call you a dumb Freshie? Ugh, I swear, high school is so stupid sometimes… Why are Freshman picked on all the time? No wonder you sit out here all the time, I would too."

"If we both sat in there, I'd hardly be at school I'd be getting into so many fights," Cam admitted before nonchalantly taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Cam, that's awful, if you got into fights then what would I do while you were suspended? That's why we sit out here, to keep you out of trouble!" Sharon countered, Cam's usual attitude pulling her out of her funk. The she turned to Carly, "You weren't picked on as a Freshman?"

"Hardly, I was much more punk as a Freshie," Carly laughed. "I think a lot of people avoided me because I was weird. I wore safety pins for earrings and had my hair in a spiked ponytail, no one wanted to talk to me. But then people found out I was smart, I think I surprised the teachers too. Slowly I won people over with my friendly attitude and they learned you can't always judge people. But apparently there are still assholes in the school. You should act more like I did, then people wouldn't bother you."

"Whoa, whoa… that was you? Holy crap, I saw you during my 8th grade trip here."

"Really? Wasn't I totally badass?" Carly asked.

"Uh, not quite the words I would use but at least you followed your own style. I mean I can tell that you didn't wear that as a shock value thing like some 'goth' kids do. You rocked the style to say the least. I do like this version better though, much tamer."

Sharon just gaped at her while they were talking, "You think I can pull of spiked hair and safety pin earrings… and bands tee shirts with things like –squints so she can read Carly's shirt- Disturbed, with a creepy guy on it?"

Cam shook his head, "No, no, I won't let you Sharon. You'll have even more trouble if you do that. Don't draw any more attention to yourself."

Carly burst out laughing, the look on Sharon's and Cam's face was priceless, "Okay, maybe you couldn't and Disturbed by the way is awesome, hardly the heaviest band I listen to. Just don't focus on it too much I guess, I mean, you have friends in class right?"

Sharon just kind of shrugged and Cam reached over to grab her hand, neither committing to an answer, which was plenty of an answer for Carly. She felt bad for Sharon, it wasn't really fun to go through school and not have friends; Carly decided then and there that she wanted to be Sharon's friend (and by extension, Cam's friend too).

As they got up to head to 4th period, Carly casually asked Sharon a question, "Do you want to hang out tomorrow at lunch, I don't mind eating out here, it's kinda nice."

Suspecting the teen's motive, Sharon looked over at Carly, searching her face for any sign of teasing, but she saw none. She smiled warmly at her, nodding her head, that would be nice. They promised to meet up after school again before parting ways. Cam put his arm around Sharon as they walked back into the school, promising to be there tomorrow. So far Carly seemed nice, but she was a Junior that he knew almost nothing about- he didn't trust her yet.

*After School*

Carly was standing in the same spot as yesterday, totally preparing to offer Sharon some food on the way home, she was definitely craving some Wendy's today. It wasn't long before Sharon appeared and they hopped in the truck (this time Carly had turned down the radio before turning off the truck, so it wasn't super loud when she turned it on). She told Sharon about the quick detour, offering to get something for her if she wanted, and Sharon decided to take her up on the meal, Wendy's fries were delicious. By the time the pair made it to Carly's house, Sharon was in a much better mood than before.

"You know, we can always take a break from Econ if you want, we can just chill or maybe work on other stuff. I'm in Spanish as well, so we could totally study together if you want, you know just to mix it up," Carly offered, wanting Sharon to feel welcome here and more relaxed.

"That sounds nice, since we have plenty of time for the Econ project and we have a test in Spanish tomorrow that I'd really like to study for."

Carly smiled, "Sounds like a plan."

*A few days later*

A pattern slowly started to emerge between the two teens, almost every day after school, they would head to Carly's house for studying and homework, often working on more than just Economics stuff. And the times they didn't have homework, or they had something else to do outside of school, Carly would give Sharon a ride home; always making sure she got in the house safely.

They were slowly becoming friends, eventually sharing more about themselves and talking about the lives outside of school. The first time Sharon actually got to see Carly's room, she had been completely taken aback. The walls were filled with sketches of animals and anime characters, even original drawings. Some were painted and some were left just as pencil sketches; Sharon took a long time looking over all of them before staring at Carly.

"What, where you expecting it to be all black with band posters everywhere," Carly joked.

'Uh, kinda yea," Sharon admitted.

Carly just laughed, "I love my bands, but I love drawing more, so I started doodling on my walls when I was a kid. Mom never got mad at me or made me erase them, she loved seeing me express myself, and as I got older I started painting them."

"I love to draw too, mostly doodle but I also do more serious stuff, I had no idea we had that in common," Sharon said, looking back over some of the art again.

"Well, that's the fun part of making friends, finding all the things that you have in common, it's surprising sometimes isn't it?"

Sharon smiled warmly, "Yea, you're right."

*Later in the school year*

Long after the Economics project was done, Carly and Sharon were still hanging out every day, Cam responsibly tagging along; sometimes they'd eat outdoors and very rarely the two of them would come and eat with Carly's other friends. But Carly didn't seem bothered by it at all, she never complained about missing her old friends, or hoping that Sharon would try and get to know them better, she just let her be herself. That was probably Sharon's favorite thing about her, Carly never seemed disappointed in the choices that she made (other than her lack of music experience), and always made her feel normal.

When Sharon had a bad day, Carly was always there to help out, give her a shoulder to lean on and an ear to vent to, always taking her side of things. Sharon was starting to see why friends were important, she hadn't really had any close friends like this since middle school. She was coming to depend on Carly a lot and she surprised herself by being okay with it. Up to this point, she'd only had Cam, and she loved Cam…but this was different with Carly. Cam and Sharon had grown up together, had been thrown together at a young age and stuck through everything. They'd had some bad times, rough weather here and there but they always managed to work through it. With Carly, they were random classmates that got paired together; as soon as the project was over there was nothing stopping Carly from moving on. Carly's friendship proved to Sharon that she had something to give to others and that she had value.

The best part was that Cam had become very accepting of the older teen as well, although it didn't take a lot for the two of them to realize how much they had in common. At first Sharon had been unsure since, at least by first appearances, they seemed completely different. Cam was always dressed nicely, didn't talk to many people whereas as Carly was very punk and super friendly to almost everyone around her. But they had a mutual love of vehicles and Sharon, leading to them to figuring out other things they had in common; often talking about their favorite comic book characters or favorite authors. Sharon could tell that he was holding back still but he at least wasn't giving her the cold shoulder or minimal conversations. What really sealed their friendships was what happened after a particularly nasty day.

Sharon came bursting out of her History class, tears spilling out of her eyes; Cam, who was just exiting his French class, immediate ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"What happened, what's going on?" he asked.

"It's Jackson again, he decided to be extra rude to me today in History and it just really got to me. He did leave me alone for awhile but for some reason it's fun again. I'm fine, let's just go meet up with Carly," Sharon said, wiping her face with her sleeve.

Cam glanced around for the bully but he was already long gone, so he led his best friend down to the first floor and out the front doors. Carly turned around and saw them, her smile dropping quickly.

"Why are you crying?"

"Jackson decided to pick up his bullying again, figures Sharon is fun to pick on once more. Guess he didn't learn his lesson last time," Cam spat out vehemently. "Come on, let's get her to the truck."

But Carly was having none of it, she was tired of hearing about Jackson being a rude asshole to her. When Sharon had first confided in her about her issues with Jackson, Carly had been livid. Sharon didn't want her to say anything to him, figuring it was best if it was just left alone. But Carly couldn't see her upset like this and not do anything about it. Plus she knew that Cam had plans to confront Jackson as soon as Sharon was safely tucked away, and there was no way she was going to let him have all the credit. Jackson needed to be stopped.

"No, Jackson needs to see that she has friends that aren't going to let him get away with this, and I'm her friend too- let's go!" She grabbed Sharon's hand and started off towards the field, but Cam jumped between the two girls.

"Whoa, whoa, I'm not going to let you go out on the field and get your ass beat," Cam whispered, keeping Sharon safely tucked under his other arm. If they talked quietly enough then hopefully she wouldn't get upset any further.

Carly caught on fairly quick and whispered back, "I can handle myself, thank you very much! Besides I'm not actually going to fight him, not with Coach Finstock there. I'm actually saving your ass too! Do you want to get suspended?"

"Better to be suspended for defending Sharon than to let Jackson think he can get away with this crap! I can, and will, knock some sense into him. Take her to the truck, she doesn't need to see this!"

"Just let me handle it, and Sharon is a big girl, she needs to see that Jackson isn't untouchable! I know how to deal with simpletons like Jackson… beside if you handle it, Jackson it likely to end up dead, and since you only have a motorcycle, that means you'd have no way to transport his body and you'd have to use my truck. I am not letting my baby sit in a police impound lot because you might not know how to cover your tracks! Let. Me. Handle. It."

Cam finally backed down, partially because he was slightly surprised at Carly's insight, so he let her lead the way. As soon as they were close enough, Carly started yelling out his name to get his attention.

"Whittemore! Hey, Whittemore! You asshole, what's wrong with you? Huh?" Carly shouted, as Cam gently pushed Sharon behind him to block her from Jackson's glare.

"Do you get off on teasing Freshman? Do you think it makes you big and bad? Boy, I wish I'm around when someone knocks you down a peg or two. Hell, maybe I'll just do it myself, right now. Be warned Jackson, you better stop treating her this way or so help me I'll-"

"What will you do freak?" Jackson cut in, finally getting over his initial shock.

He grinned at her like he won, and started to turn back to the other players, Sharon's two defenders grinding their teeth in anger. Cam reached forward but Carly knocked his hand away and grabbed the back of Jackson's jersey and spun him around, "I'll curse you Whittemore."

Sharon peeked around Cam's shoulders and saw Jackson's face go as white as a sheet, his mouth feel open and all the lacrosse players gasped.

"Y-you wouldn't dare, you don't do stuff like that. You're bluffing!" Jackson called out, trying to appear brave.

Carly scoffed at his attempted bravado, raising her hand to her mouth and biting into the meat of her palm, and drawing blood. She smeared the blood across her palms with her lips and reached her hand out to him, calling out in another language. Sharon felt herself go pale, Carly was going to curse him? She knew curses?

Jackson didn't give her time to finish, he swore at her and then sprinted off towards the locker room, no doubt to get Coach Finstock. Carly gave a satisfactory grin with her blood smeared lips, looking around at all the other players, giving a quick wink to her friend Matt. Then she spun around and ushered the other two back to the truck, Sharon not saying a word.

As soon as she unlocked the doors, Carly pulled a tissue out from her door panel and clamped it down on her hand, wiping the blood from her mouth the back of her good hand. Then she smiled over at Sharon and Cam, "Did you see the look on his face?"

"Exorcism huh? Somehow I doubt he's being possessed by a demon… even if he is a complete ASS," Cam laughed, giving the punk teen an appraising look. "By the way, it's 'Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura' you pronounced Ecclesiam as Exlasiam, small mistake."

"No way, you know Latin too? Sharon, your friend is awesome! What other languages do you know? I love languages!"

But Sharon just looked at Carly, interrupting before Cam could answer, "Yo-you know curses, like black magic?"

Carly easily picked up on the tremor in her voice, "No, no, I swear I don't. I was just speaking Latin, well, kinda, I'm rusty and as Cam pointed out, my pronunciation isn't perfect. And I just bit my hand because everyone is suddenly afraid when blood comes into play. Like Cam figured out, it was just an exorcism. You should watch Supernatural you know, could learn lots of interesting things."

Sharon collapsed against the Cam, so relieved; she knew Carly wouldn't lie about something like that. Cam was still chuckling to himself as he relived the moment.

"Well you sure showed me, apparently you do know how to handle yourself. Luckily Jackson doesn't know Latin. And by the way, I know Latin, Spanish, and am learning French; I'm always open to learning new languages as well."

"Ha, that's a hilarious thought, I swear he barely knows English. But, no telling anyone that was fake, it would totally ruin the reputation I didn't know I had. Maybe we can study Rosetta Stone over the weekend some time."

Sharon laughed then, all the tension leaving her body, "Do people automatically think you can cast curses just because you like heavy metal?"

"Pretty much, yea," Carly shrugged.

Cam pulled Sharon in for a tight hug and helped her climb into the truck, offering to follow them to Carly's if he wanted her company. Both girls nodded, thinking it would be nice to have him come over. Before Carly could climb into the truck, Cam caught her arm.

"Thanks, not for saving my ass or anything. But, it's really good to know that someone else is really looking out for her you know? It's easy to be mad and talk to her when she's upset, but to actually take the fight to the bully, that means a lot. Now I can really know that you'll stand up for her as much as I would," Cam whispered.

Carly gave him a genuine smile, "Yea, and not get suspended while doing it. I know it's easy to think I have shallow friendships since I'm friends with so many people. But Sharon, she's a good person, I wasn't going to let her go through high school with only one friend. I'm so happy she let me in, I feel really close to her despite some of our differences and I won't let anyone hurt her."

Cam nodded and gave Carly a quick hug, whispering another thank you before letting her climb into the truck. As soon as Carly started the truck up, Sharon crawled across the seat and hugged Carly, whispering a soft thank you; she had never had someone go through so much trouble for her, in that moment, she knew they'd be friends for a long time.

A/N: Here is the first part of the story. Feel free to click the links on my profile, that way you can see the various styles we have set up for our characters. My polyvore has clothes setups for Carly and Ran, Sharon's has Sharon, Cam, the twins, Adam, and Matt.