1Disclaimer: I don't own any part of South of Nowhere, although it'd be pretty sweet if I did.

A.N.: If any of this sounds familiar to you, like you've read it before, it's because I previously wrote the fanfic Because I want You and I didn't like how it was turning out, so I'm starting from scratch . . . sorta. I hope you like it. Please review, even if it's saying how much you hate my story. Suggestions are also welcome.

CHAPTER 1

FIRST SIGHT

ASHLEY P.O.V.

Pulling into the school parking lot, I can't believe that I'm actually here. Education was never my forte. I would much rather be sleeping. Well, that is until I happen to look up and not far from my car is one of the most gorgeous people I have ever seen. It's strange, but everything, everyone around her, seems blurry to my eyes. I can make out a boy with blonde hair and a dark-skinned boy on each side of her, but my eyes are focused on this amazing blonde in between them. If there's such a thing as love at first sight, I think it would feel like this.

Great, the bell rang for first period and now I'm late. I grab my bag and head toward my locker, hoping that today won't completely suck.

SPENCER P.O.V.

Pulling into the school parking lot in the car driven by my brother, Glen, I look around at the school grounds. These people who are supposedly around my age, look nothing like what teenagers back in Ohio look like. They seem a bit trashier here, actually. I wait for Clay to get out of the car before I make my exit out of the back seat, a place where I dread being because who knows what kind of girl Glen had back here last.

I walk in between Glen and Clay, being a bit nervous of my new location. The 3 of us wind up checking out a school map which turned out to be a waste of time because, well, it didn't help. Clay wandered off in search of the office to correct his schedule and while Glen was being the ape he was, still reading the map, I checked out my surroundings, which happened to include this extremely hott guy. Well-built, tall, dark hair. Very modelesque. I was fascinated, well, at least until his girlfriend walked up. The conversation bored me, but at least I learned their names: Madison and Aiden. Oh, and when cheerleading practice was, but I honestly had more to worry about than that right now. And besides, Cheerleading wasn't what I wanted to do. Let's just say that my mother had influenced me in that department.

The bell rings, which I assume is signaling for first period to start and Glen and I go our separate ways. I look down at my schedule and see that I have Health first period . . . wherever that is.

I wander around a bit, not a single soul in sight. Well, that is until a see a girl, struggling at her locker. I walk to her and the second she faces me, I'm taken aback. She is completely gorgeous. Too gorgeous for her to have such an attitude, I notice, as she snaps at me and says, "Can I help you with something!"

I stutter a bit, hopefully from the fact that I'm new and, besides my brothers, she's the first person at this school that I've spoken to and not because I find her breathtaking and she's made me weak in my knees. I finally get the words to spill out of my mouth, "Yeah, uh, do you know where science lab 3 is?" A simple answer would do. A simple, down-the-hall-take-a-left type thing, but no such luck. Instead, the contents of her locker fall out and she sighs, "Man . . . " I figure since I distracted her, I may as well help her pick up her stuff. I wind up accidentally spilling her latte, which caused the attitude to resurface.

"Ugh, Ow! Damn," she shouts.

"I'm sorry . . . ," I say.

"Who cares what you meant? You always gotta create a disaster everywhere you go?" Okay, it's just a latte and it's not like I ran up and smacked it out of her hand then laughed in her face.

"What is your problem? I'm just trying to find my way around here," I explain.

"Yeah, you and everybody else in this place . . . ," she angrily says as she slams her locker and storms off.

I head off in search of my class and hope that not everybody in L.A. has the attitude of her.

ASHLEY P.O.V.

Sitting in math, 8th period, I can't help but think of that girl. Here she is, new to the school and I go and be a complete bitch to her. She didn't do anything wrong. It's not her fault that my home life sucks, but I took it out on her anyway.

The bell rang and the first day back to school was finally over. Now it was time to go find that girl and apologize. Something that is also not my forte. I wander around before I remember hearing Madison say something about a new girl joining the squad. It wouldn't hurt to check the gym and by now, their practice should be over. Thank God because, I couldn't bare watching those cheerbitches dancing around. Well, if that new girl was on it, maybe I could, but even then it'd be hard to do.

I walk through the double doors of the gym and sure enough, sitting on the bleachers is the blonde beauty. I climb up the bleachers and say, "So, uh, are you a basketball fan or you just like watching guys pat each other on the ass?", smiling, as I take a seat next to her.

She smiles and says, "Question? Are you on meds?"

I know I'm not, but it doesn't hurt to joke to ease the tension that's been created from our encounter this morning. I pretend to ponder at her question and say, "Actually? No . . . my mom fired my last therapist after he hit on her, and anyone who believes in the holistic approach to my mental health."

That gave her the chuckle I'd hoped for and fuel for her next question, "So you are crazy?"

I smile and say, "They think I am. It gives them reason to justify my behavior . . . are you?"

She smiles back and simply says, "No."

I look around and say, "Then what are you doing here?", disgusted that anybody would want to watch these macho boys running around and sweating.

She points at a blonde boy, possibly the blur I saw earlier and says, "Brother."

"Cute," I say, lying through my teeth, "Haven't seen him around." I honestly didn't care about her brother, but I knew it'd give me some information about her once she answered, which she did.

"Yeah, we just moved here. He's hoping he'll get to play or his world will end.". Sarcasm. She's got my sense of humor.

Hearing that she's new, I might as well fill her in on how our school runs. I say, "And I thought I was dramatic . . . Well, for his sake, I hope he's not too good."

Raising an eyebrow, she says, "Meaning?"

I continue, "Uh, meaning that the basketball star, I.E.: Aiden, can't be the star if another star, that would be your brother, replaces him. Which means the cheerleading queen, Madison, can't be the queen if she's not dating the star." The girl laughed and said, "I know." Satirically, I said, "At King High, it's all about being somebody . . . "

She tilted her head and said, "And who are you . . . ?"

Ah, finally, an introduction. I say, "Today? I haven't really decided yet . . . ," then I giggle and hold out my name, saying, "Ashley Davies."

She shakes my hand and says, "Spencer Carlin. Nice to meet this side of you." That's right. She met Bitchley Davies this morning.

Sincerely, I say, "Yeah . . . sorry about this morning. Stepfather #3 came by, which pissed off Stepfather #4 and they got into this whole parental argument over . . . ," I lean down for a moment to adjust my shoe lace that was peaking out and as I rise back up, I catch her staring at my lower back. I continue, ". . . my tattoo. You like?"

She clearly becomes nervous and says, "I thought those were illegal for minors?"

I scoff and say, "Everything cool is. Anyway, it was a long night and I woke up a little cranky and you received the benefit of it."

"Lucky me," she says with a chuckle.

I didn't want the conversation to end, so I said, "You see much of La La Land?"

Spencer ponders and says, "Um, yeah, Universal City, Santa Monica Pier . . . "

That's boring, family vacation-type places. I need to show her around. I say, "Ok, stop, stop. You're killing me. Come on," rising from my seat.

She seems worried and explains that her brother's her ride home, I tell him I'll get her home safely and we're off and headed toward the fun.

A.N.: Ok, so it's 2:18 a.m., I'm exhausted. So if the chapter's not great, tell me, and I'll write the next one when I'm more awake. Anyway, click that little purple button and review: say it's good, say it sucks or suggest what you want to read in upcoming chapters. Thanks . . . and good night.