-----Author's Note-----

The following events are completely made up by the author, Kristen, and any similarity between this fiction and true events is merely a coincidence. The setting is similar to a spin-off of Gossip Girl, The It Girl, but all characters and some places are reserved to me.

-----End Note-----

Alicia stared silently at the passing landscape. She was on her way to the cold, remote town of Harrison Falls, in north New Hampshire, to attend Alpine Preston Preparatory School, a boarding school. Mr. York turned the low-set Mustang convertible to a long side street, with a sign that said Alpine Ave. Alicia shivered. Even with the top on, the car still was pretty chilly.

Or maybe she was just nervous?

"Here we are," said Mr. York quietly, as he pulled into a large parking area, with about a hundred cars honking as they dropped their kids off. Alicia didn't say anything. "Honey, please give the place a chance," he said to her. "Dad, why can't you just be a normal parent and let me go to a private school at home?" Alicia asked, her voice harsh, speaking for the first time in forty-eight hours. Mr. York sighed for what was probably the twentieth time that day. They had driven all the way from Texas, stopping only to spend the night in a cheap motel.

If that's what you call the Radisson Plaza's Presidential Suite.

Alicia took a deep breath, then opened the door and got out of the car. The temperature was in the high forties, and apparently in New Hampshire that was considered a normal day in September. She pulled her sweatshirt sleeves down over her hands, protecting them from the chill. A boy walked by in short sleeves and shorts and was almost breaking a sweat. In Texas, people could handle up to 110-degree weather, but if it got even remotely below sixty degrees, everyone wore jackets.

A suit-wearing man with an obnoxious tie was holding up a sign with 'Alicia York' on it, like a limo driver. She ignored the man. She dug inside her purse, searching for a stick of gum. She was unsuccessful, and zipped her tiny Louis Vuitton purse up. She wandered to the trunk of the car, pulling hard at the largest of her bags. "Here, let me help you with that," said her father. She kept pulling until her arms gave up on her and reluctantly allowed Mr. York to get it.

After they had unloaded the six bags, Alicia put one bag on her back, one on each shoulder, rolled two of them, and had the last one on one of the rolling bags. "Let me take some," said Mr. York. She ignored him then trudged towards what she hoped was where orientation would be. "I give up!" he muttered, then got back into his car and drove away.

Now that that's over.

Alicia was immediately greeted by a girl with extremely large two front teeth, glasses, and was wearing a dress that reminded Alicia of a trash bag.

"Your name please," said Bucktooth girl. "Alicia. Alicia York," she replied, trying not to stare disgustedly at the large leaf of something stuck in the girl's teeth. Bucktooth ran her finger slowly down an endless list of names.

"York, York, York—" Bucktooth repeated quietly, "Ah yes. New student, correct?"

"Um, yeah. I'm a sophomore."

Bucktooth nodded. "Here is your ID Tag, and you must have it if you want to get into the dining hall, or if you want to go off campus for any reason. The rest of the rules will be explained in orientation," she said, handing Alicia a thin plastic card with her name, grade, and birthday on it.

"Heads up!" shouted a rather tall, gorgeous junior. Alicia threw her head back to see where the flying whatever-it-was was going. It happened to be a worn leather football, and it was plummeting towards Alicia's face. The junior snatched it mid-air, about two inches from her slightly upturned nose. "Sorry 'bout that," said the guy, smiling a perfectly straight, white smile. He had light brown hair and the most gorgeous large green eyes Alicia had ever seen. "No problem," she replied, regaining her composure. This guy had a Southern accent, and he seemed really sweet.

Wait a minute, cowgirl, you met him like a millisecond ago!

"Daniel Parker," said Hot Southern Guy, holding out his hand. "Alicia York," she replied, shaking his hand and looking him directly in the eye. "York, huh? So are you new here, or are you a freshmen?" he asked. "Sophomore. And yeah, I transferred from Texas," said Alicia. "You're from Texas? So am I. What city?" Daniel asked, genuinely interested. "Plano, it's north of—" "—Dallas. Yeah, I know, because I'm from Mesquite," Daniel finished. "Really? That's cool. So why are you all the way up here?" she asked. "Well, I could ask the same about you. But I transferred so I could play on a better soccer team, and Alpine has good academics," he replied. "Well I'm here for the dance program, because my school didn't allow it," she said. "That's cool. So you—" started Daniel. He was interrupted the sound of a hammer slamming against a wooden block. Alicia felt like she was in a courtroom.

"Attention! Your attention please!" squeaked a terribly short man. It was the headmaster. "Let's get a seat in the back," whispered Daniel, grabbing Alicia's hand. She didn't fight him.

Who would, with a guy that looked like that?

"Thank you," said the headmaster, when the room had fallen into a semi-silent state. "My name, as most of you know, is Mr. Preston, the fifth, and I just want to say welcome, new and returning students, to Alpine Preston Preparatory School!" The crowd clapped politely. "Tonight, as all of you know, is orientation. First, we will introduce the faculty!" There was polite applause again. "Please hold your applause until the end. We'll start with the English department. Please welcome, Mrs. Manning, Mr. Cooper, and Ms. Allen." The audience clapped quietly, completely ignoring Headmaster Preston's first remark. He didn't seem to notice, and continued. "Now, the Math department. Please welcome Mr. Barnwell, Mr. Ferris, Mrs. Trenton, and Mrs. Highmore!"

The headmaster continued announcing all the faculty members, then asked the audience to remain silent. "Now is all the students' favorite time—the rules and regulations overview." There were a few moans and groans, but it was mostly quiet. "This is especially important for new students." Alicia squeezed Daniel's hand, which she was still holding. He squeezed hers back.

"Never under any circumstances violate any of the following rules and regulations. Violators will be punished in ways including, but not limited to, probation, suspension, detention, free time reduction, and expulsion. Rule number one: Even though many dorms are co-ed, being in a dorm room of a student of the opposite sex after 8 p.m. is strictly prohibited. Rule number two: All cellular devices must remain off when inside the classroom. However, you are permitted to use them outside of the buildings, in your dorm, or in the dining halls. The last rule we will go over at the present is this: Any student who does not check in by 11 p.m. in their dorm office will receive punishment. The rest of the rules are in your handbook."

There were various protests, but Mr. Preston V hammered on the block again. "Students, please be quiet. We only have a few more minutes left of orientation, and then you will get your room assignments and class schedules. Afterwards, you will move along to the Lewis Dining Hall, where you will have the welcome dinner." Everyone ceased talking to let the headmaster finish.

"Thank you. Now then, let's review the three requirements each of you must have to remain a student here. The number one thing, above all, is you are required to get above a C average in at least 6 of your classes, and you cannot have more than one failing grade out of your eight classes. Number two is that all students must get a total of 6 sport seasons throughout their four years of high school to graduate. And lastly, all students must take two electives for their classes, which the majority of you already have chosen," he said. Everyone was just about ready to fall asleep. Then finally, Mrs. Westwood, the assistant headmistress, stood and said, "Thank you for your attention, students. Please go to the table with the same letter as your last name to receive your dorm room information, your class schedule, and other important documents." Everyone was halfway to his or her table by the time she finished her sentence.

'P' was a long way from 'Y', so Daniel and Alicia had to separate. But first they exchanged numbers, and promised to get to know each other better as the year went on.

---

Daniel went to the 'P' table and received his information. He was in Cobblestone Dorm, the biggest building, on the sixth floor, in room 603. He smiled to himself. All the dorm masters' rooms were number 25 on each floor, which was a long ways away from number 3. He looked up his roommates' names. Alex Henderson and Matthew Barnes were his best buds on the soccer team. How much luckier could he get?

He dragged his luggage, a total of four duffle bags, across the quad to the dorm building.

"Hey, Daniel!" shouted a familiar voice. It was Anna Messer; his ex-girlfriend who he was pretty sure still liked him.

Liked him? More like obsessed with him.

"How was your summer?" she asked him. He frowned, annoyed. "Great. I met a girl I really like," he said, just to see her reaction. It wasn't a total lie. He had met Alicia, after all, but it was only like two hours ago. She flinched a little, but kept her composure. "That's nice," she said, then walked away with her head high. He knew she was probably cussing him out under her breath as she walked to Cobblestone dorm. Shit, he thought. She's in my building.

He contemplated how hellish it would be if she lived on the same floor as him. He decided that there were very small odds of her being on the same floor. There were seven floors, each with 25 rooms on them.

If you say so.

He shook the thought from his mind then followed her footsteps to Cobblestone. He walked inside the lounge area of the first floor, and then took the elegant elevator up to the sixth. When he got out, he saw room 625 in front of him, because the dorm masters were very lazy, and had to have their room right by the elevator. He turned left and went all the way to room 603, and slipped his key in.

---

Alicia followed the arrows next to the elevator to room 602. She was in Cobblestone dorm, one of the biggest. She slid her key into the lock then opened it up. The room was fairly big, with three beds in it. No one had claimed her bed yet, so she stuck her stuff onto the one with the most comfortable mattress, which happened to be next to the window ledge, which was the perfect place to stash stuff. She set her purse on the window ledge, just to further her claim, and put her jacket into the biggest closet, for the same reason.

She heard someone jiggling the lock and sat on her bed, anticipating who would open the door. Was it Brenda Claiborne, or Anna Messer? She had received her roommates' names with her key.

The door opened to a beautiful girl with straight, golden hair. It was tied back with a ribbon, and she had on a Ralph Lauren blazer with a silk camisole peaking from underneath it, with Sevens jeans.

"Brenda Claiborne," said the girl, extending her hand to Alicia's.

"Alicia York," she replied.

"I'm a sophomore, and I guess this says that you are too."

"Yeah, I transferred from Texas," Alicia confirmed.

"Texas? And you're a York? Wait a second, are you Dawn York's daughter?" asked Brenda.

"Please don't make a big deal about it," Alicia replied. Her mother, Dawn York, was Vera Wang's good friend as well as an accomplished actress that made every boy over age eight swoon.

"No, don't worry, I won't. I thought you looked like her!" said Brenda.

Alicia knew she did. She had the same really dark brown hair, almost black, that was naturally straight, and the same deep blue eyes. She knew she was beautiful, and she loved being beautiful, but she wished she didn't look like an exact replica of her famous mother.

"So, nice to meet you," Brenda said, in a genuinely nice way. She set her bags onto the bed across from Alicia's.

Alicia heard the lock jiggle again, and knew that this girl would be Anna Messer.

A pale skinned girl that had an oversized chest and that had dark red hair stormed into the room and buried her face into the unclaimed mattress.

Brenda rolled her eyes then put a finger to her lips. Alicia got the hint, and quietly strode out of the room.

"Daniel?" she said, as she saw a light brown head just enter the dorm room right across from hers. He whipped his head around, and saw Alicia. He grinned like an idiot. She smiled back at him.

Talk about timing.

-----Author's Note-----

I will put up the next chapter after I get 3 reviews.

-----End Note-----