*Beep! Beep! Beep!*

Franny groaned and turned off her alarm. Oh how she hated Mondays. As she pulled herself out of bed and she put on some clothes she grumbled and complained that she'd allowed herself to go out and drink last night. Of course it was great fun at the time, and she hadn't planned on drinking so much, but now she had a splitting headache and all Franny wanted to do was crawl back under her covers and go back to sleep.

Franny didn't do that though. She merely grabbed her book bag and a roll off the stove and walked out the door. She needed coffee, but she didn't really have time to drink it. She stopped at a cafe anyway. She got a normal coffee and drank it as she walked to her Art college, Quarrybanks.

Quarry banks Art College in Liverpool wasn't the most grand school. Liverpool wasn't the most grand place in England either. Quarrybanks is just where Franny went to school. She was an art student in her second year at Quarrybanks and she rather liked the place. She was good at drawing, but best at painting. Her favorite thing to do was paint and it showed in her work. Her paintings were always the better between her drawings and sketches.

Franny was a girl of nineteen with light brown hair that went down her back annoyingly. She had normal blue eyes and she was somewhat tall. Much taller than most of the girls she knew.

Franny's full name was Francesca Reynolds, but she hated that name, so she called herself Franny. She had two friends in the whole school. Her best friend was a girl called Emily Sparrow who was in her year and had most of the same classes as Franny. Her second friend, who she wasn't as close to, was called Stuart Sutcliffe. He shared a painting class with Franny and they'd been paired up on a few assignments together a few times. Stuart spoke with her most days as they walked down the halls and he talked to her at her locker, but they didn't see each other after school or any other time. Emily was the one that Franny spent most of her time with.

"Oh, stop it Franny!" Emily laughed swatting at Franny's shoulder as they walked to Franny's locker, "You know you had fun!"

"Yeah I had fun, but I woke up with the worst headache!" Franny laughed shaking her head, "just promise me no more late nights and drinking on Sunday night's. I hate Mondays enough already."

"Fine," Emily said holding her hands up in surrender. "Anyway did you ever send in that piece for the contest?" Franny nodded and sighed as she gathered her things for her first class.

"Yes I did, but I doubt I'll win anything." She said shrugging, "It wasn't one of my best works."

"I'm sure it was great!" Emily said rolling her eyes. That was when Stuart walked up.

"Me too!" He said with a firm nod, "Even though I'm not sure what we're talking about." Franny laughed and closed her locker.

"Francesca is doubting her abilities. Again." Emily said rolling her eyes. Evidently this happened quite often.

"Oh?" Stuart asked as they all started walking down the hall. "How come?"
Franny started to answer him, but Emily didn't give her much of a chance. "She entered that contest the school had last month and she doesn't think she'll win anything."

"I entered that contest." Stuart said grabbing Franny's hand and playfully swinging their arms back and forth.

"Oh I'm sure to lose now!" Franny said giggling, "Stu, you are so much better than me!"

"Awe! No I'm not!" He said bashfully, "And even if I do win, you'll be runner up most definitely."

"So you're saying you had a chance before he entered?" Emily asked as they stopped in front of Stuart's locker. Franny loved Stuart's locker because he hung up all his random sketches and things in it and it smelled like fresh paper and oil pastels and fresh paint. Franny's locker smelled like someone left their lunch in it for too long one day.

"Yes, I had a slim chance, but Stuart is better than me at everything." Franny sighed rolling her eyes as Stuart glanced at her as he got his needed materials out of his locker.

"Am not!" He argued.

"Am so! You're even better at painting than me!" Franny said as Emily rolled her eyes and leaned back against the lockers by Stuart's. The conversation went on until Emily gasped loudly and grabbed Franny by the wrist.

"Look!" She said pointing across the hall. Franny scoffed and went back to talking to Stuart. Emily had a crush. That was all. She had a crush on John Lennon, the annoying Teddy boy who caused a the trouble at Quarrybanks. Franny didn't like him much, but Emily was in love with him.

She didn't have much of a chance with him though. John liked the easy girls. His type seemed to be tall curvy blonds. Emily was tall and thin, but she wasn't as curvy as the girls John liked. She was also a red head with a bit of a temper. Emily's chances were smashed even more by the fact that John hated Franny and Franny disliked him nearly just as much.

"She found Lennon." Franny said to Stuart as she shut his locker and looked around. Stuart was friends with John, but he knew Franny's disliking towards him. He laughed as Emily stared at the obnoxious Teddy boy as he walked down the hall past them. Emily sighed dreamily and then looked at Franny.

"Isn't he just perfect?" She asked giggling. Granny rolled her eyes when suddenly the Secretary started speaking over the loud speakers.

"Attention students, the results to last month's paint contest are now posted at the front office. Thank you." Franny and Stuart looked at each other as the bell rang signaling the first classes.

"Oh I should go!" Emily said, "tell me who wins will ya?" Franny nodded and Emily hurried off to make her first class.

"You wanna walk by the office?" Stuart asked with a sly grin. Franny looked at the clock on the wall.

"I don't have time." She said, "I won't be able to make it from the office to my class without being late. I'll have to look later."

"Alright, then I'll walk you to your next class and we'll look then." Stuart said before Franny walked off. She waved to him as she turned a corner and hurried to her class.

Franny hated Mondays. Everyone hated Mondays it seemed, but Franny hated them because she shared her morning class with John. As she sat down she saw him give her one of his stupid smirks. Of course because they shared a class he had to sit next to her every day, just to annoy her. He had to get up and move today.

"Good morning Francesca!" He said using her full name, knowing she hated it. "How are you this Fine day?" John smiled smugly at her as the teacher Mr. Packard got up in front of the class and called for attention.

"I hope you all had a fine weekend," he started like her did every Monday. "And I also hope you all completed your assignment over the weekend!" Franny pulled out the mentioned assignment and handed it to the blond girl Mr. Packard had asked to take up the homework. John didn't have his, but he did wink at the curvy bleach blond as she got to his seat. She only giggled and went on after finding he didn't have the assignment.

"Thank you Miss Price. You may sit back down." Mr. Packard said putting the homework on his desk, "Now, this week I'm assigning a bigger project. You and a partner will both be working on your sketch technique. You will sketch your partner's profile, and he or she will sketch you. This is for a grade so do your best. You will sketch six pictures on the mentioned partner all at different angles. Questions?" Mr. Packard looked around and Franny raised her hand right before he was about to go on. He nodded for her to ask and she out her hand down, "Who's picking our partners?" She asked, hoping she could pick so she didn't get any unwanted partnerships.

"I have already chosen your partners and I will call them out now." Mr. Packard said. Franny took in a heavy sigh and she listened for her name. Mr. Packard was going down an alphabetical list pairing people at the top of the list with people at the bottom randomly. Suddenly she heard Mr. Packard say: "John Lennon you are paired with Francesca Reynolds." Franny's heart stopped beating briefly and she looked at John, who was smirking at her. She let out a disappointed breath and she looked at her desk.

"Now this is for a grade, so I don't want any bad sketches because you don't like the person you are partners with. It is due on Monday, so you can start now and use the rest of the class to draw your partner." Granny raised her hand again hoping maybe she could change partners with someone.

"No, there will be no switching partners, miss Reynolds." He said before she could ask, "Now if anyone has anymore questions let me know. Your homework from last week will be given back to you on Friday as well as the scores for last week's test."

The subject was changed and Mr. Packard quickly went over some sketching techniques for the class before the bell rang and the class was dismissed.

"Lucky isn't it, Francesca?" John asked following her annoyingly to her locker.

"Yes I suppose." she said, wanting him to go away. He said a few more things to her, but Franny was ignoring him. He eventually went away and then Stuart appeared.

"Hey you wanna go to the office now?" He asked, noticing her scowl. She nodded and they walked down the hall.

"What happened?" Stuart asked taking her hand in his playfully.

"I just got paired with Lennon on a project " Franny grumbled as they reached the front office. They found the results taped to the wall by the door. Stuart responded as they approached.

"Oh, well I'm sorry. How long do you have to deal with him?" He asked as they both looked at the page.

"Until Monday next week." Franny said starting at the bottom of the page to find her name. When she reached the top she gasped. Her name was labeled under "Runner up". Stuart's name was labeled at first place though.

"I told you you'd win." Franny said smugly. Stuart shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"And I said you'd at least get runner up." He said, "it says that we need to bring our school ID with us to the office to claim our prizes." That was when the bell rang. Franny scrunched her nose up and she and Stuart hurried to their class together. They shared this one with John as well.