Hey! I know I shouldn't be starting a new story now…but I've got writer's block on iwwam. (feel free to review it with suggestions : ) II'll probably think of something for it soonish but I got a request for that to be closh and this idea came to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own the clique. Or anything else. At all. Or the surprise that will come fairly soonish.

I walked up the steps of my new school, Hotchkiss academy with my older brother Todd. I sighed; being the new girl once again was never fun, but at least now I was used to it. Once we got inside, I had to wave bye to Todd because he had senior classes and I had sophomore ones. I walked down the hall to my first class, wondering why no one else was in the hallway.

"Let's get moving, you're late to class, young woman!" a teacher snapped at me.

"Huh? I thought class started at--"

"Five minutes ago! Now scoot!" the grumpy woman said, turning to go into her empty classroom.

Maybe she's grumpy because no one wanted to take her class. Or maybe no one wanted to take her class because she's always—

All of a sudden I was lying with my back on the floor, staring into the most velvety, gorgeous brown eyes I have ever seen ever. Like in real life, in pictures, in the movies, ever.

"H-h-heyy. My name is Josh. And you are?" gorgeous eyed-boy asked, tilting his head to the right, making him look extra adorable.

"Umm, who am I? Right. I'm Claire. Claire Lyons," I said, pausing awkwardly before adding, "And you can probably get off of me right about now."

"Oh, right," he blushed, then pushed himself off me and stood up. "Sorry about knocking in to you, I--"

"It was just as much my fault as it was yours. Would you mind giving me a hand here?" I said, reaching out my hand for him to grab. He pulled me up, and I felt sparks where our hands had touched. I looked up at him into those brown eyes, and he looked right back. Finally I forced myself to look away.

"Yea, um, I really need to get to class. Um, do you know where, um, room 243 is?" I asked, looking away from those eyes.

"Right. Um, class. Wait, room 243? I have that class next, too. Marine Bio, right? I'll walk you there." He replied, looking pointedly away from me as well.

"Not like you have a choice," I replied, picking up my dropped stuff.

"You watch it, or I'll just leave you here," he smirked, revealing a set of pearly teeth.

"And I would probably never talk to you again," I retorted, standing up. He pouted in mock-hurt and I slapped him. Hard.

"Ok, well it's this way," he gestures to the right and began walking.

"Can we move a little faster? I've already been yelled at to get to class," I rolled my eyes.

"You can go as fast as you want. Butyou'llbegoinginthewrongwayhaha!" He turned around and sprinted down the hall in the opposite direction.

"Josh you little—GET BACK HERE!" I sprinted down the hall after him and caught up with him in a heartbeat.

"Whoa. You run fast for a girl," He said after catching his breath.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I asked, fluttering my eyelashes exaggeratedly and flipping my hair in a very girl-ish manner that made him chuckle.

"Hey, this is the room," He said, gesturing to a door painted to look like a coral reef. He stood there for a minute with his hand on the doorknob just looking at me. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Umm, aren't you gonna open that? We kinda need to get to class…" I reminded him.

"Right. Um, Class," he said for the second time in the last five minutes, still not moving. I rolled my eyes. Grabbing the handle over his hand (sparks again), I pushed open the door and we stumbled through.

The teacher glared at us. "You are ten minutes late. This is no way to start off the school year. Do either of you have a pass?"

"Uh, yea, I do," Josh smirked at me. I glared back while he handed the teacher his slip.

"Thank you. Nice to see you again, Mr. Hotz. And you?" He turned to me. Whoa. His last name is Hotz? How fitting!

"Hi, yea, I'm Claire Lyons. I'm new, and the forms I got said that school starts at 8:10, but then I found out when I got here that it started at 8:05, and then I got lost, and Josh--" I was rambling and I knew it. Lucky for me the teacher cut me off.

"Ok, Ms. Lyons. Please, both of you take a seat." He handed us each a syllabus and Josh quickly went to grab the seat saved for him by his buddies. I was looking around for a seat, and he smiled at me apologetically.

The teacher ech-hemed and asked "Ms. Block, please move your stuff so Ms. Lyons may sit."

A model-looking brunette glared at me as she moved her stuff from the desk that separated her from who I assumed was her boyfriend by the way they looked at each other. He was pretty cute, with shaggy-ish blonde hair and puppy-dog brown eyes. Josh was sitting two seats away from Puppy Boy, and he smiled over at me, like sorry for abandoning me. Am I forgiven? I giggled and shook my head no, turning to face the board. I tried to pay attention, but I kept hearing a clicking noise. After a few minutes, I realized it was the noise of keys clicking on cell phones as the kids on either side of me sent rapid-fire texts. Puppy Boy and "Ms. Block" were moving their fingers at lightning speeds, and I took their distraction as a chance to look around me. In between Josh and Puppy Boy was a black-haired guy with two different colored eyes, giving him a husky look. On Brett's other side was an athletic looking blonde and a fiery red head. A quick peek at Brett's screen showed that they were all in the same conversation, and I quickly looked away, not wanting to intrude any further.

"Hey, Blondie," Block asked in a whisper, "Are you a grocery store employee?" I knit my eyebrows in confusion and shook no. "Then why are you checking me out?"

The three girls, plus Puppy and Husky snickered out loud; Josh laughed softly before trying to catch my eye and telepathically apologize, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. If these were his friends… I turned my head to the teacher and paid attention for the rest of class.

--

"Claire! Wait up!" I heard someone calling behind me, but I held my head high and kept walking. "Claire!" I rolled my eyes.

"Need saving?" A girl in bright pink leg warmers and navy blue shorts, paired with a lavender tank top asked.

"Totally. Thanks," I said as she fell into step beside me. Her perky dirty-blonde pigtails bounced as she walked. The whole look was totally ridiculous, but for her it really worked.

"Claire," Josh said, finally caught up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, breathing hard. "I'm so--", he started to apologize while I begged leg-warmer girl with my eyes to say something.

"Josh," She interrupted, earning a thank you grin from me, "Claire and I are busy right now. Can you puh-lease build a bridge, and get over it?" Giggling, we sped up and went to the end of the hallway. I couldn't resist taking a quick look back before turning a corner. I saw Josh still standing there looking after us, so I glared back. He turned and walked dejectedly back to his friends who were standing at the other end of the hallway waiting for him, texting again. Useless.

"Hey, thanks for saving me," I said, turning back to leg-warmer girl and smiling.

"Yea, whenever," she offered. "I'm Layne, by the way. Layne Abeley. Claire, right?"

"Yea," I giggled, "Claire Lyons. "Nice to meet you. Hey, do you happen to know where room 332 is?"

"No way, you have Mr. Milton for homeroom? Me too!" She held out her hand for a high five, and I slapped it. "Great. I'll introduce you to my totally cool friends, Meena and Heather. I'm sure they'll be delighted to meet you. You are new, right?"

"Yea. Fourth school in as many years," I offered, sorta bitterly.

"Ah. Moving family? That's tough. Well I'll do my best to make however long you're here fun." Then she muttered something under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. Well, now that Josh and his friends have taken notice of you…" she trailed off as if contemplating her next words.

"Are they 'those girls'?" I asked as we started climbing the stairs. "Y'know, the ones who think they own the world? They have 'em at every school," I offered, not sure I knew what she was gonna say.

"Yea, well… this school has two. Every year is like the '08 presidential election: the most important decision of your life for this year: whose side are you on? Massie block or Alicia Rivera? Or a non-voter, like Meena, Heather, and I. BUT, if either of them decide they don't like you… you're kind of O-V-E-R done. You either run to the other clique, or, you hide out with us. And you don't look like an Alicia girl to me," she finished, giving me an once-over.

I was about to ask what that meant, but we had just reached the room, and I wanted to meet her friends.

"Meens! Heather! Hey, how were your summers! She rushed in and got hugs from these two girls while I stood to the side awkwardly. After a few more "omygodsogreattoseeyou!"'s and big hugs, she turned to me. "Hey, girls, this is Claire. This is her fourth school in as many years, so…"

"Oh, you're one of those. C'mere, lemme give you a hug!"The one who I assumed was Heather exclaimed.

"Yea, that's harsh," Meena agreed. "Well, hey, you can totally hang out with us whenever," She offered, tucking a piece of light brown hair behind her ear. I smiled my thanks.

"And guess who's been chasing her?" Lauren asked with a little excitement in her voice.

"ooOoo," they cooed, wiggling their eyebrows. I already felt at home.

"Josh. Hotz." Layne said slowly, letting the name sink in.

"Omigod!" they squealed, and I blushed.

"No, he's a total jerk. And his friends, too. He was totally just gearing up for some text-flirt session with some Massie girl, it's not like he actually liked me." I protested. I knew it was true, I just didn't like hearing the words come out of my mouth. Hey, the truth hurts, but it can set you free.

"Uh huh," Layne didn't look at all convinced. I raised my eyebrows. "Which is totally why he came chasing after you down the hallway and I had to step in," she reminded me. I rolled my eyes. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and we all turned to see who it was.

"Hi, Mr. Milton," none other than Massie Block said in a sickly sweet voice, "Our homeroom teacher isn't here, and some random teacher," she rolled her eyes as she said this, "told us to come hang out in your room. Is that ok?" Being absentminded as he was, he just waved her on in.

UN-fortunately, behind her trailed her little posse, which included Josh & his dog-eyed friends. Plus some jocks all decked out in football jerseys.

"Oh, no," I groaned. "Hide me!"

"He's totally trying to get your attention," Heather said, batting her green eyes. Layne and Meena nodded.

"Hey, Claire," He said softly, appearing beside me. Apparently he had given up on the trying to get my attention deal. I allowed myself to look up, and was once again hypnotized by his gorgeous eyes. Stop it! I forced myself to blink and look away, horrified that I was blushing. "I'm really sorry about--"

"Joshie!" Massie snapped, and he looked over his shoulder at her stern expression.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. I'm so sorry," he looked really disappointed to leave. But really? If he wanted to stay, he totally could.

"Like hell you're sorry," I scoffed, and turned back to face the girls, giving them a 'told ya!' smirk. They looked part shocked and part like it was what they expected.

"No, really, I am," he begged, but I just waved him away. "Do you really think I have a choice??" He asked, hurt in his eyes. Another 'Joshieee!' rang out.

"Yea. I do. And you might like to pretend you were interested in me, but if you really choose to go over there, I know you're not," I said, still not turning around.

"Really, Claire. I think even from only knowing you a couple of hours that you're the coolest girl here. But Massie is in control and if I don't go, I'll--"

"Josh." I interrupted him. "I've been to wayy too many schools to count. I've met a million and one of these girls. And met a million and one guys like you, under their control. And trust me; guys who think I'm worth it will risk it."

"Well maybe I'm not that brave," he suggested, biting his lip in a way that was so adorable I wanted to shoot myself. But I knew guys like this; if wouldn't change now, he probably wouldn't ever.

"Somewhere inside you, you are. You just don't care enough to try. Too late, Josh. Good looks won't get you everything." I sighed as Massie's call was heard again, much more harsh this time. He jumped, looked back one more time longingly, and walked slowly over to the queen. I sighed; glad to finally get rid of him.

"But he's so cute!!" Meena exclaimed when he was over by his friends. I rolled my eyes.

"I've had way more than my fair share of starting out failed relationships what with my moving and all," I stuck to my main point.

The girls sighed, gazing at him, but I forced myself to do what I knew I had to: Flip my hair and walk away.

Worthy of continuation?

xoxo