Welcome to my first attempt at a chaptered story. Well, first attempt in a long time. This little thing has been floating around in my head for about a week now, amd I finally started to type it out late last night. So here's the first chapter. Meet Flack as a kid ;) This story will feature Flack/OFC and probably D/L in later chapters once they...grow up. Duh. Anyway! Read/review, let me know if I should continue or not!
He was the type of kid growing up that would pick on people. He only did it because he could and he liked to see how far he could push someone. He liked to get a rise out of them. It wasn't that he was mean natured in any way, most of his friends did the same thing back to him after all. There was pushing on the playgrounds and on the basketball courts, the immature name calling in the lunch line at school, the playful punches and smacks on the walk home at the end of the day.
It escalated sometime around the end of 6th grade, when he started to figure out that girls didn't really have cooties. There was a new girl in school named Emma. She was quiet, too quiet for Don Flack Jr's liking. She sat in the back of the class, doodling in her math notebook and staring longingly out the window. Her dark hair was worn in two braids and went almost all the way down her back. Of course, since he was sitting beside her he couldn't help but reach over and tug on one of the braids. She turned, looking at Don as if he'd grown a third head and she glared at him. Next thing he knew, he was on the floor beside his desk, rubbing at his cheek from where she'd punched him. She'd punched him! A girl had punched him! Oh great, his friends were never going to let him live that one down. But he did get a strange sort of satisfaction from watching her be led out of the classroom, no doubt for a trip to the principal's office. Of course, he wasn't too thrilled when he was pulled up and forced out of the classroom as well.
The two of them sat side-by-side just outside of the office that held their doom. Neither knew what was going to happen to them, although what they had wouldn't really constitute as a fight since only one person did the hitting. Don was scowling, his blue eyes narrowed as he concentrated on his dirty sneakers. If he came home with a suspension, his father would kill him. And really, how dare a girl hit him!
The female of the two was doing her own bit of scowling and glaring at the floor. The guy had pulled her hair after all. And her parents had always taught her that if someone did something to her first, she could hit them back. He'd gone out of his way just to be a jerk to her. She was new, not even at the school for three weeks. Being new was hard when you came into a school where you knew no one and no one was exactly nice to her. Emma was new to the whole state of New York, moving there from Georgia with her mom after her parents divorced. Her father was still back in Georgia, as far as she knew, but she really hadn't had any contact from him in a couple of months. So now it was just her and her mom, which was weird and hard all at the same time. Add in attending a new school and Emma was one confused and anxious child. She wasn't so sure she liked New York, at least not yet. The people were different, the streets were different, the house they lived in was completely different. The kids at her school weren't so nice, especially the blue eyed/dark haired boy sitting next to her.
Both looked up as the door to the principal's office opened. Their principal was a taller, heavy-set man who had to be in his 40's with graying hair and mean looking dark eyes. He motioned for them to come inside. Don was the first to stand and he took a couple of steps forward before glancing back at her, noticing she hadn't moved. She looked terrified. Don rolled his eyes, maybe some girls still had some cooties that made them act completely weird. "Are you coming or what?" He finally asked.
Her brown eyes met his blue ones and she nodded once, pushing herself to stand from the chair. He let her walk in front of him into the office and took one of the empty seats in front of the principal's desk. The man sat down and Emma stared at the nameplate that read "Mr. Matthews" and thought that his name didn't fit him for some reason. He looked like a Mr. Meanness maybe but not a Mr. Matthews. She tried to pay attention as he started to talk.
"Do either of you want to tell me what happened?" He asked, eyeing both of the children.
Emma chewed nervously on the inside of her lip. She'd never been in trouble before, at least not this bad. It wasn't like her to hit someone but he HAD done something to her first and hair pulling hurt! She folded her hands in her lap, about to open her mouth to try to explain herself when Don spoke up first. "I uh..pulled her hair in class," He all but mumbled.
Mr. Matthews raised an eyebrow, glancing at the young girl. "That true Emma?"
He knew her name? That was scary. But Emma's head shot up, her eyes wide. She nodded, stuttering out a soft "y..yes.."
He nodded, looking back to Don, "Then what happened."
Don let out a loud sigh, wanting to know where all of this was leading already. He wanted to know if he was going to be suspended and end up getting his butt beaten when he got home. "Then she hit me.." He shrugged, "I don't really blame her though."
Mr. Matthews was fighting a grin, knowing how Don Flack Jr. could be. He was a bit of a handful but really was a nice kid, just got a little too rough in his version of horseplay. And now a girl had actually put him in his place. He just nodded, grabbing a stack of papers on his desk. He scribbled something on a few slips of paper, handing one to each younger person. "You both have detention for the next three days, after school."
"That's it?" Don asked, surprised since he figured it'd be a ton worse than just detention.
Mr. Matthews raised an eyebrow again, "Do you want something else Mr. Flack?"
Don shook his head quickly, standing up. "No no, detention is fine!"
Emma stood up slowly, reading over the paper. She'd never had detention before, she didn't know what to expect. Mr. Matthews looked at her, "Emma? No more hitting. If you have trouble, go to one of your teachers."
She turned a light shade of pink, nodding her head before she turned and followed Don out of the principal's office. Both were quiet until they reached the hallway, noting that there was 10 minutes left of their class. Don tucked the piece of paper into his pants pocket, "So uh...I'm sorry for yanking on your hair or whatever."
She was still looking over the paper, but looked up when she realized he was actually addressing her. Emma smiled some, noting the bruise forming on his left cheek. "Well..I'm sorry for hittin' you." She shrugged her shoulders, "You're actually the first person I've hit before.."
Don grinned, "Nah it's not so bad. Guess we should get back to class, huh?"
Emma started to follow him down the hallway to their classroom. "Hey..so what's this detention thing?"
Don laughed, mostly at the 'weird' way she tended to talk rather than at her question. "Kinda like a study hall, only we're supposed to think it's punishment. It won't be so bad."
"Oh..and hey what are you laughing at!" She scowled again, swatting him with the piece of paper.
Don's laughter just continued to filter down the hallway as they kept walking.
And so began the unlikely relationship between a Georgia girl and a New York boy.