1. Abby

Summer is about over and school will begin soon. I am worried about the first day of school. What if no one likes me? What if I don't fit in? This has never been a problem for me because I have always been in the same school, with my same friends and with other people who are like me in my surroundings. I don't want to leave my friends at all. Since we were at private school, we all live in different towns making it hard to see each other out of school. Now that I won't even be in the same school as them, I'm afraid that I won't ever get to see them, especially my best friend Brooke.

We have known each other since I started private school in first grade. We are complete opposites. She is a big soccer star and plays on three different teams. She seems to be irresistible to the guys, considering she turns them down all the time. Nobody seems to notice her best friend standing on the side of all her fame and beauty. She lives about half an hour away from me and it is going to be really hard to see her on the weekends because she is always playing soccer. I just hope that it wasn't a mistake leaving my old school.

Maybe I should have joined a sport so I got to know some people before school starts. I hear that's what most kids do, but I'm not really the athletic type. I'm more into reading and painting in my spare time, not kicking a soccer ball around with my friends. No turning back now. Here it goes.

2. Brett

Junior year is going to be a killer. There is going to be so much more work and between sports and homework, I don't know what I'm going to do. Middle school and freshman year were easy to slide by in but now, it, like, determines your future. My parents are going to kill me if I don't keep up on my school work. They might even threaten to take me off the football team in the fall so I can get a fresh start at school. That would pretty much ruin my life and my chances of getting a scholarship to college my senior year. Summer's almost over and with pre-season underway, I really have to my head in gear.

No girls for me this year, well at least in the fall. My dad thinks in the past, girls have been in my way of truly "excelling in great things" but I doubt it. The truth is, girls make me work harder at football and lacrosse. I try to impress them so I work harder when I see them on the sidelines. All my previous girlfriends have become obsessive over getting me back and all the girls I haven't dated but want me won't stop bothering me. Maybe this year I'll find a girl who can help buckle me down and help keep up with all my work.

3. Abby

The first week of school was bordering on miserable. All my classes are boring, the class sizes are huge and the teachers barely exist. Class is basically the jocks fooling around the entire period, the teacher not caring and me trying to get as many notes possible, based on if I can hear the teacher at all over the noise. There is one boy in my Algebra II and History classes who I would think of as an annoying jock, but he's not, at least not in class. His jock friends are always joking around and being rude to the teacher, but he sits there taking notes. I really admire him for it. His friends usually try and have him join in with them, but he just ignores them. I think his name is Brad or Brent or something like that, but I'm not sure. I heard he is a huge football and lacrosse star. It seems like her truly cares about his school work and doesn't care what his friends think.

I haven't met anyone yet, as in friends. At lunch I sit by myself at a table in the back of the cafeteria. All the girls seem to be crowding over the jock table while the jocks throw stuff at each other. The only civilized people I have noticed so far don't eat in the cafeteria, they eat in the computer lab. I find that kind of weird, but maybe I'll join them next week, since I have no reason to be in the cafeteria alone.

The homecoming dance is coming up in a few weeks. I haven't decided if I'm going to go yet. We're allowed to bring friends form other schools so maybe I'll bring Brooke. I don't mean to use her, but maybe some people will come talk to her, forcing them to talk to me. I really want to make new friends, but it's so hard when I'm not outgoing and especially with so many people around.

4. Brett

I am trying really hard to be attentive in class, but it is so hard with the guys fooling around everywhere. They even began making fun of me for always studying and paying attention in class. My grades are important to me, but not so important that I would loose my friends over it. I think I'm going to loosen up in class little by little and become myself again. I don't really like the new me anyway.

"Hey man! What's up?" A big guy, Mark, came barreling down the hallway at me, "Haven't seen ya in awhile. Where've ya been? Studyin'?" He began to laugh at his not so funny joke and his stomach bounced.

"Nah. I gave up on that shit, man. Too much work."

"Good choice, mah man," He slapped me in the back. "I gave up on that crap my sophomore year, too. I'm all about football now." Mark was a senior, the linebacker on the football team and one of my good friends. We met on the middle school football team, I was in sixth grade and he was in eighth. "I gotta go, see ya 'round!" He pushed his way into the hallway traffic.

"Excuse me? I believe I was assigned this locker number?"

"Huh?" I turned around and saw a dirty blonde girl standing behind me. She wore glasses with blue eyes hidden behind them. She was mostly legs and she was thin and slimly cut, but it was hard to tell under her baggy shirt and loose jeans. Her straight hair was pulled back into a ponytail tied with a plaid scrunchy.

"This is my locker." She handed me a piece of paper with a locker number on it. I looked up at my locker number and it was the same one.

"Seems we have a problem here. I was assigned this locker as a freshman last year and we're supposed to keep the same one. Must be some kind of mix up. Let's go over to the main office and figure it out." I figured she was new since she asked me where the main office was. I walked down several hallways, with her in tow. When I saw some of the guys, they gave me weird looks, most likely for walking somewhere with this new girl who is not at all my type. When we got to the main office I told Ms. Goldberg, the school secretary, our problem.

"That sure is a problem," She said shuffling through her desk, "Ah ha! The locker binder!" She opened a binder and ran her fingers up and down several pages, "Names and grades please."

"Brent McCormick, Junior."

"Abby Gelman, freshman." I was surprised to hear that she was a freshman considering she looks my age. As Ms. Goldberg shuffled through the binder, I realized that this girl Abby had a certain sense of hidden beauty in her. I know that sounds so weird but she seemed genuine and classic. Like she didn't stuff her bra or wear make up or wear slutty clothing. Then it occurred to me that she was in two of my classes, Algebra II and history.

"It seems we do have a bit of a mix-up. You have both been assigned the same locker." She shuffled to the back of the binder and ran her finger down the page, "And, I am sorry to say, there are no empty lockers. We have come to the decision of either sharing or taking it up with Mr. Shuemer." Mr. Shuemer is the principal and there was no way I was going to talk to him. We don't get along too well.

"I'm fine with sharing. How about you?" I turned to her to find her looking right at me. I was kind of spooked by it, but it was a gentle stare. She was sort of grinning, too.

"That's okay."

"Wonderful. Have a good day!" Ms. Goldberg, I always noticed, has too much energy for a high school secretary.

By the time we got into the hallway, the bell had already rung for class to begin. We walked down the hallway in silence for a few minutes. It was kind of awkward, actually. I usually don't feel awkward around girls, so what made her so different?

"Abby, right?" I figured making conversation with her might be a good idea. Maybe get to know her before I reject my new locker-mate. Who was I turning into? I would have never done that last year.

"Yeah." She stared straight ahead, down the empty hallway.

"Locker buddies. That's pretty cool."

"I guess." She seemed so uninterested with me. Most girls were too interested in me.

"Are you okay?" She just nodded. I stopped and stood in front of her. "Listen, I'm not so fond of sharing a locker all year either, not that I have a problem with you, it's just that the lockers are tiny. So let's try and make the best of this by getting along with each other. That sound good?" All of a sudden, she burst into tears. I have never seen a girl cry before so I was a little shocked. I led her over to the wall and sat her down on the ground. She folded up her knees to her chin and buried her face in her hands. I wasn't sure what to do so I did what I would to my little sister if she started crying. I sat down across from her on the floor and started to run my hand through her hair and try to calm her down. I know that almost sounds like I was trying to be romantic, but I really wasn't. Once she calmed down a bit, I asked her what was wrong.

"I feel so alone." She managed through some sniffles and a cough.

"You're new here, right? Like to the town or something?"

"I-" cough "went to private-" sniffle "school."

"Oh, okay. So you feel like you have no friends here, is that it?"

"Uh-huh." She said finally looking up at me, with puffy red eyes. "I sit alone at lunch and study outside by myself when I'm done eating. During my free I do work, not socializing with other people." I kind of felt bad for her. Everyone in the school knows each other from middle school.

"What period do you have lunch?"

"Sixth." She said with a sniffle.

"Me too. Why don't you come sit with me at lunch today?"

"No, I couldn't, I'd be-"

"Intruding? Not at all. Especially since I invited you." She smiled big at me. As she sniffled some more, I suggested that we get going because class was almost over and the hallway would be flooded.

5. Abby

What a mess of a day! I talked to that boy Brett, well actually, I cried in front of him and we share a locker. He is a really sweet boy. He has a bright warming smile and a genuine heart. His body is very built and is glossed with a light tan, probably from the summer. His shaggy brown hair just touches his eyebrows and he is kind of, I can't believe I am saying this, sexy. Mainly due to his body and flashy green eyes.

I told Brett I feel like I have no friends so he invited me to eat lunch with him since we have it at the same time. I thought it was going to be miserable but it actually wasn't that bad at all. We had decided to meet at our locker and walk to lunch together. When we got to the cafeteria we headed for the jock table surrounded in cheerleaders batting their eyes at the guys. Brett put his hand on my lower back, which was uncomfortable at first, but then I enjoyed it. It almost gave me the feeling that I did belong.

"Guys?" Everyone turned immediately to Brett, "This is Abby. She's a new freshman." Everybody stared at me for what seemed like an eternity and then they continued their conversations and batting eyes. Brett, with his hand still on my lower back led me to a little sub-division of the group where a bunch of guys sat with mounds of food on their plates, chatting away.

One of the guys looked up from his food, "Brett, my man! How's it goin'?"

"Good, good." At first I wasn't sure why Brett didn't introduce me but after lunch he told me it was because he realized it was drawing way too much attention to us that he was telling everyone about me.

"Who's the chick?" One of the other guys asked.

"She's a girl, Rob, not a chick. Her name is-"

"Abby." I decided that letting Brett do all the talking was just leaving me out, which was what I was trying to escape.

"Abby? Cute name." The guy named Rob complimented me with a raise of his eyebrows, signaling a type of wink thing.

Brett and I walked over to the food line to get our food. While waiting in line he told me who all the guys at the table were. The first one who spoke to us, his name is Zack, and Brett said he is kind of ignorant to things that don't concern him. Then there was Rob, the one who called my name cute, Mark who was some big football guy and Tom. Brett didn't say anything about Tom. All of them, including Brett, are juniors, except for Mark who is a senior. When we got back to the table there were two girls sitting at the table next to Zack and Tom. Brett sat next to one girl and I sat across from him next to the other.

"Hi, I'm Stacy. This is-" the one next to Brett started saying.

"Nicole. What's your name?" The one next to me cut her off.

"Nice to meet you both. My name is Abby."

"So, Brett, you ready for a big football season?" Stacy asked, inching closer to him. He didn't seem interested and didn't respond. She had huge blue eyes with black makeup on them. I guess it looked kind of good with her blonde hair, but it also looked kind of skanky. At one point during lunch, she got up to go somewhere and she wore a denim skirt that couldn't have been longer than four inches. She was also wearing a little tiny lace and silk tank-top. Her entire outfit was so revealing she might as well not even bother wearing clothes. Nicole on the other hand, she seemed a slight bit more reserved, but not too much. She had on skin tight jeans and a skin tight tube top. She had her perfectly wavy brown hair down and it fell to her elbows in a waterfall type flow. When Brett got up to go to the other side of the table and talk to all the guys, I stayed to sit with Stacy and Nicole. They are really nice girls and they invited me to gout to lunch with them tomorrow. Apparently Nicole is dating Zack and he drives them, along with Brett, to go get a real lunch once a week. Of course I said yes due to my desperate attempts to make friends here.

After lunch everyone went to their classes, but Brett stayed at the table for some reason. He looked up at me as I started to walk away. How could I resist his unbelievable eyes? He motioned for me to sit back down, but next to him. He put his arm around my waist, which felt a little weird considering we have only known each other for a few hours. Also, a guy has never touched me as much as he has in just this one day.

"Did you enjoy lunch?" He asked looking straight into my eyes.

"Yeah, thank you so much for letting me sit here." I smiled at him. I guess when he put his other hand on my thigh and sort of turned his body to me, I should have assumed what was about to come.

"No worries, babe," Babe? "I liked having you here." His arm was off my waist so I looked around, the room was empty. I turned back to him and he was even closer. He put his hand on my neck/ jaw area just below my ear. He pulled me into him and he kissed me! He actually kissed me! Fireworks went off and my heart dropped. It was the best feeling in the world! Although I would have preferred my first kiss to be with someone I knew a little better, it was still absolutely wonderful! One of the most popular and most attractive guys in school just kissed me! He slowly pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled back with a big dopey I-just-got-my-first-kiss-from-a-hot-popular-football-and-lacrosse-jock smile. He got up so I followed him.

He took my hand and held it until we got into the hallway and he let go. "I gotta go to class, it's down in the science wing. See ya later, babe." And he took off, but not before he kissed me on the cheek. The science wing is on the opposite side of the school from the cafeteria.

I still find it kind of odd that he kissed me. I don't mean that I didn't like it, it was just kind of, oh I don't know. Why am I complaining? Every girl wants to be me right now, I think.

6. Brett

I can't believe I kissed Abby. I think it was more a spur of the moment thing. I mean, not like I really like her like that, do I? No, I was just caught up in the moment. What moment? Sitting alone with her in the cafeteria? I must be going crazy and it's only been a week of school. The phone is ringing. Most likely my parents calling from work or something.

"Hello?"

"'ello?" A woman with a French accent asked.

"Yeah, I'm here. Who is this?" I know no one with a French accent. Who the hell is this?

"This is Natalia. I am looking for David, please." What on Earth could this French woman want with my younger brother? He's only a year younger than me but still, this woman sounded much older.

"One sec. Lemme get him for ya. Dave! Phone! Now!" I shouted out my room and down the hall to his room.

"Got it!" He yelled back. I decided to stay on the line because I really wanted to know what was going on. "Oh, hi Natalia. How's it going, babe?" I racked my brain for the name Natalia. That senior! She's a senior exchange student! But what is she doing with my brother?

"I have waited long to talk with you, David. When can I come to your house?"

"Anytime, sugar. My brother's here but that doesn't matter."

"I will come soon. I look forward to it."

"See you in a bit, babe." They both hung up. What was going on between them? How did I not know about this? My brother and a hot French exchange student? About five minutes later the door bell rang.

"Got it!" I yelled out to Dave. I answered the door and it was Natalia. She looked wonderful! She wore a tiny black leather skirt barely three inches long. Her long legs were bare and had black boots almost touching her knee. She had on a white tank top that bore her belly button and it was completely see through making obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra. Man, she was hot!

"Hey, Natalia." Dave said coming up behind me, "This is my brother, Brett. He's a junior. Brett, this is Natalia. You know, the French exchange student in the senior class?"

"Yeah, I know." Dave took her hand and they went upstairs.

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