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Hidden, Part 1

Young adolescent boys crowded around Veronica Yuy. She held court, daily in the courtyard during the underclassmen lunch hour. She looked like a regal queen, sitting amidst her many admirers. She had just turned fifteen and welded her feminine power in a similar manner in a similar manner that her mother welded political power. Her long golden hair reached her waist. It was tied back into a ponytail with a silky navy blue ribbon to go with the standard uniform of all Saint Augustine students. Calf length navy and emerald plaid skirts with a tailored white blouse and a navy or emerald jacket for the girls. She swung her loafer-shod feet back and forth as she smiled at something one of the boys said.

"Sickening," muttered Randy under her breath as she watched her best friend flirt some more. Her slender, boyish figure in no way could compete with the generous curves of the four week older Veronica. Raven black hair hung down her back, braided to her waist. And unlike the impeccably worn uniform of her friend, her emerald jacket was lying on the table, several buttons of her shirt undone with the cuffs rolled up. Her birthday was tomorrow. The last day of September. She wrinkled her nose as a boy brought Veronica some pudding. "If they could be any more obsequious," she said with a snort.

"Big word there, Maxwell," Vaughn commented as he sat next to her. His white blond hair was combed away from his face, but it in no way ever stayed there. Locks would eventually fall forwards over his forehead in a rakish manner. His emerald tie was loosened a bit and his navy jacket was lying next to hers. "Obsequious," he repeated again.

"Could you two talk in plain words instead of those big ones," said Carin, her strawberry blond hair curling about her shoulders. "The rest of us normal people can't understand you almost geniuses." She was sitting on the other side of Randy, her uniform, worn in a similar manner to Veronica's. A hair band held back her hair from her heart shaped face.

"It means to fawn over, to be flattering, submissive, etc," Jet replied from his seat on the bench, his uniform in still immaculate condition unlike Vaughn's. In front of him, a book on medieval Europe was open, and neatly written notes lay beside it. A few strands of sandy brown hair blew in the wind. "Study your vocabulary more, Carin, and you would know what it means." He pushed thin glasses back up on his nose.

Carin stuck her tongue out at him.

Randy rolled her eyes and turned them back towards Veronica. "Damn, it's like this everyday. It makes me want to gag."

"You shouldn't curse in school, Randy," Jet chided as he glanced in her direction.

"Don't be such a goody two shoes," she scoffed as she hopped off of the table. "Be loose, be free, and damn it all, I hate this skirt." She swished the hem of it back and forth with distaste.

Jet rolled his eyes. "You get caught like that, the Headmistress will have a fit."

"Let the old woman have her fit."

"It doesn't help that your brothers already have her wishing you would all leave," he sighed as he flipped to the next page in the book.

Randy gave him a mocking look before she turned back to Vaughn. "Wanna take a walk? I can't stomach any more of that," she said nodding in Veronica's direction.

"Why not? I have nothing better to do," Vaughn replied as he hopped off the table and picked up his jacket and hers. He looked back at Carin and Jet. "See you two later." His cousin and his friend nodded as he walked off with Randy. "So, where to?" he asked as he fell into step beside her.

"I don't know. Anywhere I don't have to watch Veronica lord this over every girl outside," Randy said as they walked inside the building that housed the classrooms for the underclassmen. She glanced at him out of the corner of her rich cobalt eyes. "I do have something to ask you too, that I didn't want Jet or Carin to hear."

"Like what?" His brows arched curiously over his amethyst eyes.

"Like…oh, I don't know, kissing…maybe."

"Kissing?"

"Yeah, you know, you teach me, I teach you."

"Where did this come from?"

"It kind of popped into my head today during Biology class. I mean, its not something I should ask from one of my close friends, but you know, Ver's probably been kissed a few times already and…"

"You want to learn so you can kiss Donavon," Vaughn said as he grasped onto her arm and turned her to face him.

Randy's face lit up with embarrassment. "Damn empath. Don't just blurt it out like that!"

"Sorry, but I am right, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but it's not something I want made public, Vaughn. And don't tell me, there's a girl that you don't want to kiss, hmm?"

His face pinkened slightly. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Well this could help us both, you know. We'll just learn off of each other. No consequences since it's just practice and you like someone and I like someone."

Vaughn pondered that for a moment as he looked down at her. "It couldn't hurt I suppose." He regarded her a moment longer. "Yeah, why the hell not? It's a deal, Randy."

Randy smiled. "All right. Wanna start now?"

He grinned at her and looked around. "How about the storage room a little bit further down so we don't get caught necking?"

"Let's go then," she said as she grasped his hand and tugged him down the hall. It took her a few seconds to pick the lock on the door before they slipped inside. Semi-darkness enveloped them as well as the smell of paper and dust.

"If your brother's ever found out, they would kill me. So would your dad. So let's try not to get caught."

"We won't."

"That's what I want to hear. Now, how do we go about this?" he asked, his forehead wrinkling. He tossed his jacket over a shelf.

"I'm not sure. I've never kissed anyone before. I guess," she said as she lay her jacket on top of some boxes, "you put your hands here," she said, placing them on her waist, "And we close our eyes and hope we don't miss."

Vaughn nodded his head. He could see the luminous shining of her eyes in the dim light. Feathered bangs lay on her forehead. He could feel the warmth of her skin seeping through the crisp cotton blouse. Her waist felt incredible thin under his hands. He wetted his lips a little and touched his nose to hers. "So?"

"So?" she breathed. She could feel his breath against her lips, making them tingle in a pleasant manner. The heavily fringed violet eyes were half closed and his hair was brushing against her skin. Her eyes slid closed as she moistened her lips as well and leaned forwards.

There was a brief moment of hesitation on his part, but he took a deep breath and touched his mouth to hers. Her lips were warm and soft.

She pulled back from the contact. "That didn't feel too bad," she murmured.

"No, it didn't," he replied as he did it again. This time the kiss lasted longer then a few seconds. He drew her closer to his lean frame and his hands went around meeting at the small of her back.

Randy slid her hands from his forearms to around the back of his neck. His lips were moving against hers, making her feel lightheaded. The luxurious feel of his hair against her fingertips encouraged her to slide them through.

Tremors went through him as her nails scraped lightly against his scalp. Her body was pressed close to his now, so he could feel the ripening curves of her body against his. A strange feeling surged through him, making him hot on the inside. "What is this feeling?"

Her heart beat like a drum against her ribs as she aligned her body against his. There was a thundering in her ears from the blood rushing through. Her insides liquefied and her legs felt wobbly. A tremendous rush went through her and shot straight to her core. "Oh wow! I feel like I'm burning up! And this is just from kissing! What exactly am I feeling? Is this sexual attraction?"

"I've never felt like this about her before. I don't want to stop kissing her, but this is only practice. She tastes so good, like peaches and cream." Vaughn felt her lean more of her weight against him and her fingers tightening on the back of his neck, her nails beginning to dig in. His fingers were itching with the compulsion to go lower over her slim hips. Sure, he was attracted to her. She was a pretty girl, but he never imagined what he was feeling about her right now. His heart was tripping and his empathic abilities were going haywire. He felt her confusion about what she was feeling because he was feeling the same thing. Then the thought struck him. "This is desire. This is just pure adolescent lust like they skim over in health and psychology class. No wonder they don't say that much about it because it's definitely a powerful feeling."

The feel of his fingers moving restlessly against her back made more heat heave through her veins. She felt them slide up her back and then down again. Her lips parted a little against his, moving with them. The kiss was starting to take on a more demanding quality as his lips reacted to her movement.

The lunch bell rang.

The two of them sprang apart if shot. He was holding onto her at an arms length now since she swayed a bit on her feet from the loss of support. He could see a flush on her face as she took several breaths. His eyes met hers. He could tell that her eyes had darkened a few shades to a midnight blue. His own body felt shaky. "Randy?"

"Yes?" she replied, breathless. Her limbs felt rubbery. His body heat was still imprinted on her clothes. She could see that his eyes had taken on a much deeper shade of amethyst. There was a flush on his cheeks.

"That was…"

"I know. That wasn't too bad for our first try."

"It wasn't bad at all."

A half smile crossed her lips. "It was very good to be honest."

Vaughn grinned back, still breathing hard. "More than that even."

"This is going to be very beneficial to the both of us. We've learned this fairly quickly, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

"But we should still practice some more."

He raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah, we should. We don't want to be disappointing."

She laughed and shrugged on her jacket. "You think the same time tomorrow?"

"Why not? Better than watching Veronica be fawned over," he said as he pulled on his.

"You're jealous because I know she's the one you got a crush on."

A shocked look crossed over his face. "How did you know?"

A knowing smirk graced her lips. "It's the way that you say her name and the way that you look at her. You don't have to be an empath to know how someone feels all the time."

"I'll be damned," he stated as he opened the door and peered around to make sure that no one was around. "But you better not tell."

"Oh come on, Vaughn. I promise, I won't tell a soul. Maxwell's honor," Randy vowed as she crossed her heart with her fingers. She then slipped her cross from under the collar of her shirt and kissed it. "I promise I'll never tell."

He grinned at her again. "I believe you. And we better not let anyone know what we're doing."

"Things could get ugly if people found out."

"Like your two brothers that still go here and your father. I want to reach the age of eighteen."

Kids were beginning to swarm into the hallway.

Vaughn walked her to her locker, which was across the hall from his. "Thanks, Randy."

"For what?" she asked as she spun the combination on the dial.

"You know," he said, nodding his head towards the storage closet.

A smile lit her face. "Thank you too, Vaughn Winner. You're a wonderful kisser too," she whispered into his ear as she stood on her toes.

A slight chill snaked its way down his spine as her lips glanced his ear. "So are you," he said as he pressed a kiss on her cheek and grinned at her. "Well, I'll see you later in the Chemistry lab."

"Later," she replied as she watched him go to his locker. Soon, he disappeared down the hall with the mass of other underclassmen. She sighed and started off down in the opposite direction towards her math class. A secret smile passed across her lips for a split second as she caught sight of Veronica walking towards her.

"Where were you?" Veronica asked as she fell into step with Randy. "I saw Vaughn and you disappear."

"We took a walk," Randy replied as she hefted her books to her other arm. "I'm surprised you noticed with the number of guys clamoring about you at lunch."

The blond waved her hand dismissively. "I just happened to notice that's all. So, did you do the math homework?"

"Would you know me not to?"

"I didn't understand a thing."

"It wasn't hard."

"Not for a genius like you."

"You're smart too, Ver."

"I suppose," she sighed as they walked into class and took their seats alongside the windows.

As the class started, Randy stared out the window. The teacher was lecturing on statistics, very boring to her. She thought of Vaughn and their kiss. She knew it had been lust that made her feel the way she had. She had never felt it before. It was a drugging feeling to be consumed by that. She tapped her pencil thoughtfully on the college ruled paper in her notebook. "That was an interesting lunch. Who would've thought I would feel that towards Vaughn? He's always been a cutie, but this goes deeper than that. I wonder if he has a crush on me as well as Veronica. And I wonder if I could have a crush on him as well?"

Vaughn thoughts were running in a similar manner as he sat in a group with Jet in their history class. He was supposed to be conversing about their papers that were just handed back to be revised. A hand waved in front of his face, bringing him out of his trance. "What?"

"You're daydreaming, Winner," Jet said, shaking his head. "You've been like this for the past ten minutes, just staring into space."

"It's nothing important, I was just thinking of something," he replied as he picked up his paper. There were a few red marks, but very, very few.

A finely arched brow was raised over one coffee brown eye. "Nothing, huh? Where did you and Randy go off to?"

"Took a walk around school."

"We thought you would come back."

"Nah didn't want to witness more of Ver and her beau."

Jet couldn't help but nod in agreement. "It is nauseating, but she's an onna that does what she wants. Randy is the same way."

"Similar I suppose," Vaughn mused as he looked over at Jet's paper. "Let me look at yours and you can look at mine."

"Sure thing," Jet answered as they switched papers. He immediately began reading Vaughn's. He glanced up once or twice at the blond across from him. There was high color in his face. "He's up to something. I know he is. When Randy and he are together, things happen. What did they do this time?"

Vaughn looked down at Jet's paper, but the words blurred together. His mind was on Randy still. She was a headstrong onna like Jet would say sometimes. He grinned a bit. "She sure does know what she wants though and isn't afraid to ask. She's always been a handful for anyone. That's what I like about her. And she has the promise of becoming even more ravishing when she gets older. She's also my closest friend that happens to know that I like Veronica. She doesn't seem to mind that too much since she likes Donavon. The both of us will definitely benefit from this practice."

A/N: A short little series on the background of Vaughn, Veronica, and Randy. Hope you enjoyed and another part will be coming out soon! XOXO!!