Disclaimer - Unfortunately, I don't own any of the characters or situations from Four Brothers but Beth is all mine. This if my very first Fanfic so if you choose to review, please be gentle. Any reviews, good or bad will be greeted with open arms and rewarded with my undying admiration ;)

Beth Harper had been going to the same High School for the past year; seeing the same walls, the same faces and doing the same things to avoid them at all costs. She was a loner and hated nothing more than having to interact with her peers. It wasn't that she thought she was above them, it had more to do with the fact that they were bossy, loud and in most cases; intellectually inferior.

Beth was an intelligent girl, so intelligent that she purposely achieved just above average grades in everything she turned her hand to. If she scored too highly, people would sit up and take notice, they would ask questions and intrude into the world she'd created for herself. If her grades were too low, they would assign her tutors and again, she would attract unwanted attention. So she remained average enough to go almost entirely unnoticed. She walked through the halls with her head down, sat in the back row for every class and didn't participate in anything that wasn't obligatory.

This particular School Day was almost, mercifully, over. She slunk even lower in her seat at the back of class and fidgeted with the sleeves of her black sweater, pulled down low enough to conceal the bruises and scars. If anyone were to see them, they would begin asking questions and that had the potential to turn her world upside down. Things were far from perfect but she liked being anonymous, it was better than being singled out as the 'weirdo', the girl who had 'issues'. Better that she avoided them, than the other way around.

She dug a nail into a groove in the desk before her. The desk itself must have been decades old and the initials 'BD + JM 4 EVER' were barely visible anymore but she traced the letters as she did every time she sat there. Her reverie was interrupted however, when the door to the classroom was flung open by an obviously angry guidance counsellor who held a boy by the scruff of the neck. Everyone else in the room turned to assess the commotion, when the man announced that he had found the boy off School property and was returning him to his assigned class.

The teacher 'tut-tutted' and motioned for the boy to take an empty seat, dismissing the counsellor with a wave of her hand. Beth looked back down and chewed her bottom lip fervently. She recognised the boy as Jack Mercer. She didn't know him personally but she knew him by reputation. He had few friends and was usually on his own, when he wasn't being followed by a gaggle of drooling girls. It hasn't escaped Beth's attention that he was stunningly attractive. He had piercing blue-green eyes and scruffy dark blonde hair, accompanied by a slightly lopsided smirk that seemed to say that he was privy to information that nobody else was. Beth panicked as she realised that the only available seat was right next to her and she shyly watched him take his seat from beneath her auburn hair which was always unkempt and placed meticulously in front of her face as a kind of shield.

He looked over at her and smiled but blind panic got the better of her and her eyes darted back down to the desk in front of her. She tuned out the teachers voice as she always did, went back to fiddling with her sleeves and patiently awaited the blissful sound of the bell that signalled the end of the day.

Once again her daydream was rudely interrupted by a piece of paper falling by her feet. She peeked from behind a shock of hair and noticed that Jack was staring straight at her and smiling brazenly. She absentmindedly attempted to smile back but she was sure that it emerged as more of a grimace. Jerking her head back to the centre, she felt like banging her head on the desk. What was she doing? This boy had never noticed her before today and she certainly didn't want to do anything to attract attention. Despite this, curiosity got the better of her and she casually reached down, pretended to re-tie a wayward shoelace and snatched the piece of paper from the floor. Beth unfolded the paper underneath the desk, away from potentially prying eyes and then smoothed it out on her notepad. She furrowed her brow as she tried to make out the appallingly scruffy handwriting but decided that it simply said "Meet me after class".

She couldn't ascertain why a boy that looked like Jack would possibly want to meet a girl that looked like her after class so she reasoned that the note must have been for someone else and tossed it back on the ground. Unfortunately, this didn't escape their teacher's eagle eye and she marched straight over to where Beth was sitting, picked up the piece of paper and proceeded to read it aloud to the entire class. Their teacher started to walk back to the front of the classroom but stopped in her tracks and stared at Beth.

"You. What's your name?"

"Me?" Squeaked Beth, her voice wavering with nervous apprehension.

"Yes, you! Your name? What is it?"

"B-Beth, Ma'am".

"Well, Beth", she spat, "you can stay after class and write me an essay on exactly why it's wrong to be passing notes in the middle of my class."

As the teacher walked back the front of the classroom, Beth dropped her head and blushed a deep red as the boys and girls around her sniggered at her misfortune and whispered, all of them puzzling over who she could have sent the note to. They didn't have to wonder long as an unnervingly deep voice piped up.

"Miss Banner", he addressed their teacher with a cocky, teasing tone, "the note was mine. I wrote it."

"How very noble of you Mr. Mercer. This sort of behaviour has become a trademark of yours but given that all I have is circumstantial evidence and a confession from you, I have no choice but to give you detention as well. I'll see you both after class and will tolerate no more interruptions until that point."

He sank back in his chair, defeated. Beth couldn't help but look up at him, less shy this time, and give him a small, thankful smile.

Fifteen minutes later, the bell sounded and the classroom descended into disarray as kids pushed and shoved, each wishing to the first out of the door. Beth and Jack simply remained in the chairs they had occupied for the past hour, neither one acknowledging the other.

Miss Banner handed each of them a piece of paper and ordered them to write a substantial essay detailing their errors in judgement. Not wanting to be there any longer than she had to be, Beth began straight away and it took her a mere 30 minutes before she was out of her seat, backpack slung over her shoulder and heading toward Miss Banner's desk. She put the sheet of paper on the teachers desk and exited the room silently.

No more than a minute later, she heard someone running behind her. She kept her head down and walked ahead as she always did but was forced to turn around when someone grabbed her arm. She spun around, her eyes wide and her features only softened slightly when she realised who it was. There was no mistaking that gorgeous face. Without wanting to let her post pubescent hormones get the better of her, she marched on ahead, ignoring him.

Not one to be deterred, Jack followed without missing a beat and since his legs were much longer than hers, he caught her up with little effort.

"So, you ignored my note, huh?"

Slightly shocked, it took Beth a few seconds to answer. Almost inaudibly, she countered,

"That was for me?"

"Sure. My aim isn't that bad", he muttered confidently.

Not knowing what to say, Beth continued to keep her eyes on the sidewalk and said nothing.

"So, your Mom told you never to talk to strangers? I can't fault that. I am strange", he laughed.

"No, I just assumed………" she trailed off.

"You assumed it was for someone else?" He finished her sentence for her.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I've seen you around y'know. You're not as invisible as you think you are."

"Oh yeah? What else do you know about me?" Her confidence grew slightly and she found herself a little more comfortable in his presence even though his words should probably have scared her.

"I know that your name is Beth Harper. I know that you're 17, you have 4 of the same classes as me and you think that no-one sees you. You're wrong."

"I'm wrong?" She struggled for words but he seemed talkative enough to compensate for her silence.

"Sure you're wrong, I see you walking these halls every day. Hell, you seem just about as unhappy to be here as I am. Am I right?" He enquired.

"You might be."

"And I also think there's a lot going on in that head of yours. I know you're smart, much smarter than I am. I know you don't have any friends either but I think that's through choice."

"You know everything, don't you Jack Mercer?" However comfortable she felt, the simple fact that he knew so much about her when she had tried her very best to hide from the world as a whole, unsettled her a little.

"So you do know my name!" He chuckled, "Since my note seems a little redundant now, how about you meet me after class tomorrow?"

"T-Tomorrow?" She stuttered. "Why do you want to meet me?"

He shrugged.

"Maybe I think we have a lot in common, maybe I think you're mysterious, maybe I'm just inquisitive….."

"Mysterious? I'm not mysterious. I'm boring, you don't want to hang out with me." She said flatly.

"Can I at least be the judge of that?" He persevered. She had to give him full marks for effort, he certainly wasn't one to give up without a fight. Beth knew it was time she should be getting home and didn't have the energy to argue with him so she simply nodded, unsure of whether she would meet him or not but feeling that saying yes was the only way she would get rid of him there and then.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow Beth. Don't go getting yourself detention again", he said with a twinkle in his eye.

She stared at him open-mouthed and shook her head in amusement.

Until tomorrow, she thought to herself……..

Next chapter - Why is Beth so withdrawn? What is the significance of her scars? Could Garret Hedlund be any hotter!?!?

I hope you ejoyed this chapter, hopefully I'll be uploading a new one very shortly. If you loved it, review! If you hated it, review:)