Hello, everyone...

This chapter was made with painful realization that having an idea and translating it to words to look decent are two completely different things. That being said, I hope that you will like how it turned out. I also apologize for errors you might find. English is not my language, but I tried. Enjoy and let me know what you think... :)

Chapter 1

There are very few places in the world where you can feel like yourself. One of those places is that little piece of Heaven we call home… But, home is not necessarily a house or any other living space. It can be found in the smell of a freshly baked pie as you walk by that small bakery on the corner; or in the first rain of the fall, when it pours intensely on you… Or in the arms of a loved one as you listen to their heart beating. Wherever it is you know you've found it, because suddenly you're warm, comfortable and safe.

But, Zoe Hart wasn't feeling like herself lately.

She had this deep seated feeling that life simply wasn't fair. Or at least, it wasn't fair to her. If it was she wouldn't be pacing across the hard wood floor rethinking every decision she ever made. Zoe cursed under her breath for trusting that fraud of a psychologist she was paying a solid amount of money to make her life easier. Closure… If only finding it was as simple as flipping open-closed sign, like they do it in stores.

And it all started last night, when she snuck into little town following someone else's advice. Zoe chose night to come; she needed time to prepare before facing everyone. She knew life wasn't fair, but never counted in weather to mess up her plans. She was just a few steps away from small hotel where a booked room awaited her. Just few steps, but it wasn't close enough.

"Hey, sweetheart…" Zoe heard the voice behind her and froze. "There's a hurricane alert. You can't be wandering the streets like that".

"I bet you're not from around here-"he said catching up with her and then she saw it; surprise and recognition written all over his face "Zoe?!"

But, Zoe couldn't speak. She closed her eyes and wished him away, but he stayed right there. Looking at the man in front of her, she knew one thing – whatever she'll end up finding it won't be what she came looking for.

Memories came back in a flash, flooded her completely…

It was exactly ten o'clock as she ran out through the side door and hurried toward the parking lot. It didn't take long before she spotted a deep red Chevy parked near the exit and a guy leaning on the hood, waiting. Everything about his looks screamed that he didn't belong there – black leather jacket, loose white V-neck T-shirt and worn jeans. Only if one took a closer look, it would become obvious that he had devilish, but still boyish spark in his eyes and that the high school parking lot was exactly where he should be.

"Hey, Cinderella" he greeted her, trying not to laugh at her white puffy dress.

"Shut up!" Zoe spat as she battled with layers of fabric. "Harley picked it for me. I couldn't say no".

"Oh… I, um… You look good. I'm just not used to seeing-"

"Gee Wade, thanks. You're not used to me looking nice? You really know how to give girl a compliment, you know!" she glared at him.

"No!" he almost yelled it. "It's not what I meant".

There was a short moment where she actually hoped he would give her an honest, real compliment - something like 'you always look nice' or anything close to being cheesy. As they stood silent, her waiting and he struggling to find words, everything that could be heard around them were two melodies mixing over their heads. One was a sweet pop song coming from the gym and the other one, a rock guitar solo coming from the car.

Then, she just laughed. "Come on, I'm just messing with you" she said triumphantly. "That's for being an idiot and not coming to the Prom. Now, let's go before Lemon and George unscrew their tongues and realize I'm not there".

"You're a real pain in the ass" Wade said as he watched her go around his car to take the passenger's seat. This time, instead of response he got a wicked smile from the girl who was already messing with his radio.

He sat in the car, shook his head and started the engine.

After a twenty minute ride he pulled up and parked under a big tree.

"Here!" he said as he threw a duffle bag at her.

Zoe prided herself for being smart enough to pack some clothes and avoid being stuck in that dress the whole time. Her satisfaction quickly subsided as she had to yell at Wade for about a minute just to get him to turn around so she could change.

"You're such a jerk!" she yelled when he finally obeyed.

"I don't get it. I've seen you in a swim suit countless times. How's that any different than me seeing you in your underwear?"

"It's called underwear for a reason, Wade. It means something has to be worn over it".

"Mere technicality…" he said. "And hurry up before you freeze to death".

It was May, but it was always cold by the water. But, when they agreed to meet after her courteous appearance at the Prom there was no doubt about where they would go. This bank was their spot in a way. And it was for quite some time, ever since they decided to bury their battle axes in this very place. It has been just two years, yet it seemed like it was forever ago.

Wade sat on the half-rotten log closest to the water and opened a bottle of beer, waiting for her.

"I believe that graduation calls for a little classier celebration" she said sliding next to him and waved a bottle of red wine in front of his face.

He just smirked and she guessed he knew exactly where that bottle of wine came from.

"I knew I was a bad influence" Wade said almost too proudly.

Classy wasn't really that classy since they had to drink from plastic cups. That didn't stop Zoe from proposing an inspired toast to their future. Wade bumped her cup trying to match her enthusiasm.

The word 'future' was always a bump in their conversation. It was said, but never defined or elaborated. He knew her plans, she knew he didn't have any. It was always accompanied with certainty that things were going to change – drastically and inevitably. So, they usually just skipped it, just like they did now and talked about other things.

And they talked about almost everything…

It was the unlikeliest of friendships. One Zoe couldn't imagine happening for so long, considering she hated him at first. She hated everything about Bluebell really. It was a symbol of her terrible faith and misfortune that had fallen on her fragile fifteen year old shoulders.

Before she came here, New York was her home. She loved Manhattan and its crowded streets, lights and noises; smell of roasted chestnuts and snow in the winter. She loved colors of display windows in the spring and going away to Hamptons for the summer. In the fall she would look forward to a new school year, reunion with her friends and fancy school uniforms.

She lived a happy life until one day when she learned that the man she loved, admired and looked up to wasn't her real father. Overnight, he went from Daddy to just Ethan and it broke her heart. When he walked out of the door for good, leaving her and her mother, she hated both of them. Shortly afterwards, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown and things became even worse. Decision had to be made fast. So, a week later Zoe Hart got off the plane in Mobile, Alabama and faced the man to whom she owed her existence for the first time. Harley Wilkes, GP with a small practice in an even smaller town was her new father and Bluebell, Alabama her new home.

It was her first nightmare, her little personal hell. It took some serious getting used to, but before she had any time to really cope with what happened, Zoe was being presented to a class of sophomores as a new student at the beginning of the year.

It would be an understatement to say that she didn't fit in and things at home weren't much better. Harley was OK and he was trying to be as understanding as he could, but he was still a stranger. Then one night, as she lay awake in her bed staring at the ceiling she made a decision – she'd focus on school, maintain her stellar grades, graduate, leave for Med school and never return to this dreadful place.

First glimpse of her plan's demise was her new permanent lab partner – a boy named Wade Kinsella. He was annoying, rude and couldn't care less about his GPA and he also found it very amusing to make her life impossible. Wade never kept with his part of the assignment, his notes were terrible and on more than one occasion he came close to burning down the entire school. Zoe put up with it for a month before she made a new decision – to fight back.

The only thing she could think of would affect him was to mess with his reputation. For some reason, girls at school found that bafoon irresistible and he liked taking advantage of that. All he seemed to care about were girls and his position on the football team. So, she started some rumors just to see how it will go – and it went well. A week later he got his first 'no' and a disgusted look from a girl in senior class.

Zoe's plan was good but it had one miscalculation. She didn't count on him fighting back, harder than ever… When he did the unimaginable by placing a dead mouse in her house model for Crafting class, she did the unimaginable, too. She let the whole school know that they were together and it resulted in Wade's first dateless week since he started showing any interest in girls.

Meanwhile, Zoe missed that little moment in time when she stopped crying over her destiny and started looking forward to going to school where she could yell at Wade for a few hours for various reasons.

By the end of the semester she made her first girlfriend in Bluebell. Once she got over the fact that the girl's name was Lemon and that she was a total control freak, she was able to see that Lemon Breeland was actually pretty great. Although, friendship with her did come with one nuisance – Lemon was dating George Tucker, who for reasons she couldn't understand was best friend with Wade Kinsella. Consequence of that was four of them spending way too much time together – Lemon and George swooning over each other and she and Wade bickering like an old married couple.

On her first New Year's Eve in Bluebell she had amazing time, but also a hard time admitting it. She had previously retracted her statement about dating Wade Kinsella in exchange for the right to do their assignments alone. He was still annoying as hell and she still hated him, but it was more bearable being around him. Lemon sacrificed some of her time with George and spent the entire evening with Zoe.

Things were looking up…

On the first day back to school she sat patiently in her seat waiting for the rest of her clique to show up. When Lemon and George came she couldn't but notice worried glances they exchanged as they kept glancing at the door. Wade showed up late for class looking terrible and he just gave a weak 'hey' as he passed her chair. Later that day, Lemon told her that his brother Jesse left to join the army and heard, for the first time, the whole story about Wade's life.

Wade adjusted quickly and was alive and kicking in no time, but Zoe agreed with herself to go a little easier on him. Just a little, so he wouldn't label it sympathy. That was one thing he wouldn't forgive. Not that it mattered to her… that much.

Few months later, George got his driver's license and permission to drive to drive alone to a party in Daphne. As Lemon beamed how it was wonderful idea and that it will be awesome, Zoe could think of around dozen reasons why sixteen year old boy driving at night isn't the smartest thing. Even though it wasn't on her list of reasons, waking up Harley little after midnight to patch up Wade's hand didn't match Lemon's description. But, who could really assume that Wade was going to break some guy's nose just because he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer for Zoe.

That night she said 'thank you' to Wade for the first time and in that moment decided to remove 'bafoon' from the list of words to describe him.

"Well, well… Fancy Doc sneaking like a thief… Up to no good, doctor Hart?" he said, his voice bitter.

"Hey, Wade" Zoe said almost in a breathless whisper.

"Hey?!" he repeated mockingly. "What are you even doing here?"

And that was exactly the question she just asked herself. Every answer she had to it seemed pointless and stupid now.

"I… uh… I came to finish something" she said vaguely.

"Well, good luck to you then".

First drops of rain hit their faces.

"You better go inside" Wade said matter-of-factly and turned to leave himself.

"Wade!" she waited for him to turn around and look at her. "Are you OK? In life, I mean… "

"Yeah… "Wade lifted his arms in the air. "Peachy!"

He didn't say anything else and she didn't dare ask. But, then she saw it. As he was walking away palm pressed to the back of his neck. And just like that she knew he wasn't OK, just like, she admitted to herself, neither was she.

A/N: Biggest problem I had was how to structure this story. I realize that maybe I have created a mess - remembering while remembering, memories inside memories can be tricky at times. I hope it wasn't too confusing for you. Also, as you can see I showed just a glimpse of what it was like before... More is to come and everything will be explained as future and the past collide. You will learn more about Zoe and Wade and everyone else... but only if you want to read. Feedback is really appreciated.