Chapter 1

Kate lay sprawled out on her new double bed, a thick book lay open at her feet as she studied its contents. The first textbook she would use while at Harvard. The last few days of the orientation week were disappearing fast and Kate was looking forward to making even more friendships then she already had. The start of university was a daunting experience for all the freshmen, more so for her having transferred from the other side of the world. A sudden knock on the door interrupted her reading and she looked up to see a blonde haired girl standing in the doorway.

"Caleb's here, we're going down to Tycoon if you want to join us," she offered and Kate nodded, jumping up.

"Do I need much?" she asked and the girl shook her head.

"Just a jacket and some money."

It only took her a few seconds to grab the items and she was out to the common room that currently sported three people.

"I still think we need something to make this more homely," another girl stated as she entered the room, her jet-black hair tied in a messy bun and a tall, dark haired boy rolled his eyes.

"It'll be more homely when all your stuff is spread around it," he replied as he placed an arm round the blonde. The two girls were Sarah Wenham and Lisa Filitonga; the young man Caleb, Sarah's long-term boyfriend. The three of them were friends from their days at Spenser high.

"Hey Kate, great to see you again. You ready?" he greeted and she nodded.

"Guess we should head off then," he said, swinging around and heading for the door. The three girls followed him, winding through the hallways of the student apartments and outside to where Caleb's Mustang was parked. Kate had only ever been in it once, only meeting the three friends a week ago when she moved in. As she hopped in the same feeling came over her as it had before, she was nowhere near as rich as this boy, she didn't want to ruin anything.

"You seemed to find this place quickly," she mentioned as they drove off, referring to their place of destination.

"Well we have to have some place to hang, there's no Nicky's out here," Caleb replied and Kate laughed lightly, nodding though she had no clue what Nicky's was. A short while the later the car pulled up at a small clubhouse with a neon displaying 'Tycoon' to anyone who passed by. Exchanging glances with the others they stepped forward, opening the door and allowing the music and smoky atmosphere to engulf them.

"Caleb!" a voice called out almost immediately and he turned around to see three boys sitting at a corner booth. He nodded his head in greeting and headed over, pulling the girls with him.

"Bout time you showed," one of them stated before they all stood up, pulling Caleb into a hug. One of them, sporting longish, feathered hair stepped forward to embrace Lisa as the others began chaotic, idle chatter. Kate stood awkwardly to the side, not knowing if she should do or say anything until Sarah noticed her, smiling apologetically.

"Guys this is Kate, she's our new roommate," she announced and the three unfamiliar boys attention fell on her.

"Kate this is Pogue," she introduced the boy with the longer hair first and he removed his arm from around Lisa's shoulder to shake her hand.

"And this is Tyler," she continued and Kate moved on to a boy with short, dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He is HOT! She thought to herself as she shook his hand, eventually turning to the last boy. His blonde hair fell over his face and a mischievous grin was playing on his lips.

"Lastly this is -" Sarah started but was interrupted by him as he stuck his hand out.

"I'm Reid Garwin," he said for her, not bothering to hide it as his eyes traveled down her body and back up to meet her blue/grey ones. Defiantly potential there. Once he let go of her hand they moved to sit down again, all of them falling back into conversation.

"Are you girls hungry? I'll go order for you," Caleb offered and they placed their orders, Sarah pecking him on the lips as a thank you, before he stood up and moved to the counter.

"What's up?" Reid started, leaning forward with a smirk still present and Kate began to wonder if it ever disappeared. Another thing she noticed was how attractive his voice was.

"Nothing much. Just trying to get used to America," she replied and he nodded, his eyes penetrating hers.

"Where you from?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You'll have to excuse our friend here, he's never cared much for places outside Ipswich," Pogue interrupted, slapping him on the back and the blonde's eyes casually glanced over at him before he elbowed the older boy in the ribs.

"He's excused. I'm from Australia," she answered, amused as she watched Pogue clutching at his side, causing Lisa to dote over him.

"Harvard hey? Why on earth would you choose this place?"

"I just thought it'd be fun to check out my options overseas and somehow I managed to score myself a scholarship here. I'm still not entirely sure how," she told them and Tyler giggled.

"That sounds like Reid in the latter part. We're still not sure how he made it here. It's not as if he's going to show up at half of his lessons."

"Watch it baby boy," Reid warned and Tyler threw his hands up in defence as he let out a laugh.

"How come I haven't seen you guys around?"

"Harvard's a big place you know. What courses are you doing?" the blonde pointed out and she inwardly winced. She wasn't used to such big places.

"History and Literature and also medieval history," she told him and he looked at her as if slightly impressed.

"I do Literature."

"So how come I didn't see you?" she raised an eyebrow at him and he broke into yet another grin.

"Never cared much for orientation lessons," he winked before leaning back to listen in on Lisa and Sarah's conversation. A short while later Caleb returned, soon followed by their meals and Kate bit her lip at the size of the burger that was placed infront of her.

"They say everything's bigger in America," Reid said as he noticed her expression.

"I thought that was just Texas?" He shrugged and his eyes darted from her meal to her face several times before he leaned forward again.

"Bet you can't even take a bite of that without breaking it up first."

"Wanna put money on that?" she dared and he looked at her before reaching into his pocket.

"Sure. Tyler?"

"I bet you can't either," he agreed, his own note joining Reid's on the table.

"Well this isn't fair. Is anyone else on my side?" Kate asked, turning to the rest of the group, Sarah the only one to acknowledge her.

"I will." Soon four notes lay on the tabletop and Kate had the burger in her hands, moving it from side to side as she inspected it. She looked at the two boys, raising her eyebrows before she leant in, wrapping her mouth around it. Tearing a chunk out of it she managed to grin triumphantly, turning it around to show them. Their expressions matched in shock as she reached out for the money.

"Guess that's mine then." she smirked once she had managed to swallow the mouthful.

"No need to brag," Reid grumbled picking at his food and Tyler slapped him on the back.

"Don't be such a sore loser man," he attempted to console his friend before Lisa caught their attention.

"You guys coming to the party tomorrow night? First college partay. Woo!" she cheered, obviously excited at the thought of it.

"Shit yeah," Tyler accepted, Reid nodding his head in agreement before he looked to Kate.

"Where are we meeting?" she asked and he broke into a grin.