I own nothing but the OC's I've created...R&R please and enjoy!
She jumped out of the limo and bounded across Spenser's campus right towards her friends, who were congregated in front of Parry Hall, which was where the fine arts were housed. They all screamed their excitement at one another. They had always been an absurdly happy group. She assumed it was because they didn't have to mix with the other Spenser students, those whose interrests never branche far from the academic. Those students dreamed of becoming lawyers and doctors and CEOs and stock brokers. She and her friends dreamed of dancing for the American Ballet Company, having their paintings shown at a fancy art gallery in SoHo, or making their stage debut on Broadway. They were all, one way or another, going to attend NYU or Juliard. They had to, just as all the others had to get into Harvard or Yale or Princeton. They studied criminal law and she and her friends studied classical ballet and Picasso's blue period.
"Come on, just this once," her blond friend, Melissa, pleaded as they climbed the steps, "we never go to any of the local parties."
"And if you give me any of that 'my body is my temple' shit you usually do," called the redhead right behind her-that was Gia, "we never have any fun."
"Come on, Laura," Melissa tried once more. Laura stopped in front of her first class, Guitar IV and sighed, slowly but surely giving into the peer pressure. "I'll see what I can do. You know how my parents are. I mean I'll still have to go to practice after school and not to mention there's the extracurricular classes I'm taking outside of school."
"Laura, you're a shoe in for Juliard," Gia argued, "you're parents are pushing you way too hard. I mean, when was the last time you had a date?"
The dark haired girl pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and gave her friend a look. "I think you know the answer to that."
Melissa smacked Gia in the arm and gave her a look that clearly said 'I can't believe you brought that up'. Laura just rolled her eyes. "I'll think about it."
She pushed into the class and sat down at her regular seat, setting her guitar case at her feet and reveled in the eclectic group of students around her. Going against the normally straight-laced style of the school itself, student who, like herself, scheduled one half of their year for classes in the performing arts center, were exempt from the school uniform as Provost Higgins had decided that enforcing a uniformed dress code would interfere with the students' creative abilities. Most of the Parry Hall students were sure he had come to this decision because Laura was his niece and he had been biased (though they would never complain).
Laura Hart, niece of Provost Higgins, daughter of Henry and Diane, was different. She was different in the most normal of ways. She enjoyed schoolwork, she enjoyed over-achieving. She was polite and friendly to all who crossed her path. She was always happy and even on days she was feeling particularly sad, she still managed to smile in a radiant way. She was loved by everyone she knew and loved them immensely in return. It was a well known fact that Laura rarely had time outside of school for friends. School and classes just monopolized too much of the seventeen year old's time.
Laura smiled and greeted those seated closest to her. Everyone was busy pulling out their sheet music and tuning their guitars when someon rapped their fingers on the door. They all looked up to find a boy with longish hair standing in the doorway. He was wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and had a guitar case in one hand. "This Guitar IV?"
They all nodded and he entered the room, taking a seat not very far from Laura. As the teacher walked in, Laura leaned towards him and held out her hand, a sunny smile on her face. "You must be new to this side of Spenser's. I'm Laura Hart."
He shook her hand and smiled back just the tiniest bit in response. "Yeah, I've actually never set foot in this building. But I really wanted to round out my college applications and I'm not too shabby at guitar playing. I'm Pogue Parry."
She raised an eyebrow. "Any relation to the person this huge building is named after?"
He grinned. "Only slightly."
"Oh," she nodded, joking along with him, "only slighty."
"Yeah," he laughed. He gave her a thoughtful look. "I don't think I've ever seen you around campus."
"I started here at Spenser last spring, and I only took classes on this side," she explained, "next semester is when I'll take all my academic classes."
"Where'd you move from?"
"I've always lived in Ipswich, but when I was younger, my parents sent me to boarding school in Switzerland."
His eyebrows rose in incredulity. "Boarding school."
Laura laughed at the look on his face. "Yeah, have you never met anyone who went to boarding school in Europe?"
"I can honestly say that no, I have not." His answer made her laugh harder. He cleared his throat. "Listen, I'm having a party at my house on Friday. My girlfriend's throwing it since it's my birthday. You should come and bring as many people as you can."
Laura tried not to laugh as she realized it was most likely the party that Melissa and Gia had tried to talk her into. She thought about it. It really had been a long time since she had socialized outside of school. She nodded at him finally. "I'll have to see if I can rearrange my schedule, but I'd love to go."
"Great," he exclaimed and gave her his address and his number in case she were to get lost on the way. After class-during which time Laura found that Pogue was a very talented guitar player and singer-Laura went through her day as usual. What she didn't realize as she walked toward the stables for her PE class (Equestrianism IV) was that everything about her wonderfully hectic life was about to change; for better and for worse.
It was such a nice day and Kate had insisted that they all sit outside in the sun. They had all indulged her and settled out under a large, well maintained willow tree not far from where several students were performing barrel jumps in the nearby training ring. The trees branches hung low to the ground, providing leafy curtains of privacy from the bustle of campus life. They were in the middle of their lunches when Pogue finally informed them about the girl he had met in the guitar class he had transferred into.
"So, you're going around flirting with other girls," Kate had asked icily. Pogue frowned at her. "It wasn't like that. She was really nice and she didn't flirt with me, which was one of the reasons I kept talking to her. I invited her to my birthday party."
"The party I'm throwing for you." The temperature around the small group dropped by ten degrees at that one cold statement. Pogue didn't look at her as he quickly responded, "yeah, the party you're throwing at my house."
Their four friends looked back and forth between them, as if watching a tennis match. Kate arched one eyebrow and picked at her potato salad. "I just don't see why you're inviting random girls over to your house."
"Because she was nice and I got the feeling that she doesn't get out and do much," he explained, "she went to boarding school in Switzerland for most of her life. I was trying to make friends."
"Yeah, friends," snorted his blond friend. Pogue glared at the younger boy. Reid was never much help in these types of situations, though Pogue knew this wasn't really his department of expertise. Reid Garwin, unlike his other two male friends, was unlike any one he knew. He was a liar and a cheater and a rule breaker, but he was also loyal to a fault. He was known for telling the truth as often as he lied and breaking a rule or two in order to do right. He talked more trash than the male population at Spenser's combined. He cheated at board games and pool, but refused to cheat at anything worthwhile (for which Pogue was very grateful). He hit on any and every girl he came across and then never looked at them twice, but he was one of only three people Pogue trusted with his life.
Their two best friends were Caleb Danvers and Tyler Simms and the four of them were inseparable and not long ago, Reid and Pogue had been tighter than the rest of them as they had both been born with wild streaks. It was the Parry and Garwin blood in them. Danvers and Simms were known for their level headed-ness and leadership capabilities, for their honesty and their intergrity. But the Parrys and The Garwins had always been known for their hell-raising. Then, Pogue had met Kate Tunney and had literally become a changed man, leaving Reid to fend for himself. Reid still still resented him for it, he could see it in the younger man's eyes every time he sided with Caleb instead of Reid or whenever he mentioned Kate when she wasn't around. Caleb had insisted he would get over it, but it was coming up on almost a year and a half and he wasn't even close to getting over it.
"Reid," Caleb snapped, brown eyes narrowed in disapproval. Reid rolled his arctic blue eyes and brushed some of his unruly hair out of his face, holding up his hands in defense. "What?!"
"Knock it off," Tyler warned, earning him a shocked look. Reid's shock was quickly replaced by annoyance. "You too, Ty?"
When they all just stared at him-only Sarah, Caleb's girlfriend, offered up a sympathetic smile-his eyes hardened and he shoved off the ground. "Fine. What the fuck ever. I don't need to put up with you guys' shit today."
"Reid," Pogue called after him, feeling guilty for running him off. Reid parted the trendriled willow branches, tossing a heated "fuck off" over his shoulder as he stepped out into the sun. He stalked forward, ignoring his surroundings and adjusted his fingerless, black gloves over his hands. He had already changed out of his uniform before class; it was Wednesday, his favorite day to skip. He shoved his hands in his pockets, ignoring his friends' calls for his return. He didn't understand why they snapped at him when they knew that that was what he did: make snide, vulgar, or rude comments whenever possible. They knew what he was like and they always, always always had to get onto him for it. Never in a million years would he admit how much it hurt to know his friends didn't care for the person he was.
Reid was so busy wallowing in self-pity he didn't notice the four legged beast in front of him and when he did finally look up, he came face to face with it's neck. He fell back onto the springy grass, arms flailing a bit as he yelled, "Oh, shit!"
The person sitting astride the large animal let out an amused laugh and Reid froze. Something about the sound of that voice was stunning. She leaned down in the saddle to look at him, her long dark hair cascading over her shoulders. The light from the sun glinted off her hair, creating a halo and for the briefest of moments, Reid was convinced he was in fact staring at an angel. "Are you okay," she asked, the last of her laughter beginning to taper off. Her deep, dark eyes sparkled and she had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. After a couple more minutes of staring, Reid finally realized he was staring and she was waiting for a reply. Not to mention. he was still sprawled out on the ground. He jumped up quickly and began to brush off his baggy black jeans. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."
She let out another one of her charming laughs. "Okay. Are you sure?"
"Uh, yeah," he muttered, scratching at his arm nervously, "Is your horse okay?"
Apparently, his question was either interpreted as a joke or was just absurd because she started laughing again. She nodded. "Yeah, I think he'll be okay."
Reid shifted from foot to foot. "What's his name?" Reid wasn't sure why exactly he had asked, but in that moment he really felt that he needed to know all there was to know about this girl. Usually, he would have used a pick up line, but he'd wisely chosen to forgo them. She tilted her head to the side, studying him, and her smile widened. "Bucephalus."
His eyebrows rose in recognition of the name. "Like Alexander the Great's horse."
She nodded back enthusiastically. "Yeah," she shrugged a little, "I'm really the only person he lets ride him, so I thought it fit, knowing the story and all."
Reid nodded in understanding. She frowned suddenly and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm being terribly rude. I almost trampled you with my horse and I haven't even introduced myself."
She started to dismount and Reid shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching to help her down. Once both her feet were firmly planted on the ground, she turned toward him and stuck her hand out. "I'm Laura Hart."
"Reid Garwin." He took her hand in his and they both tensed up the slightest bit, tilting their heads to the side as they studied one another. A light breeze ruffled her softly curling hair, but she made no move to tame it as she continued to stare at him. "I feel like I know you," she said finally, squinting at him a bit.
"I think I would have remembered meeting you," he replied in a sincere voice. She smiled again and after several moments, she said in a quiet voice, "I think I would have remembered meeting you, too."
It was a story that would be past down from generation to generation from that day on among the founding Ipswich families. It was that day, that moment, lying in the grass, that Reid Garwin fell in love.
A/N: I have, ever since I got into this fandom, wanted to write something super fluffy and just fun. And that's what this fic is going to be. Please review as the feedback helps me to know whether what I'm writing is pure garbage or fanfiction gold. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter.