A/N: This is my first story so any feedback would be very much appreciated!And for those wondering, Baja does not and has never existed in this story. Events have and will be shifted a little from the original storyline.
Oh and disclaimer: all the characters - except for my original ones - do not belong to me (sadly...). I'm not trying to make money off of this, etc. etc. etc.
MONDAY
"Oh jeez," Dana staggered dazedly backwards. Two hands shot out and caught her around the shoulders, holding her steady. She glanced up sharply from the campus map that had held her so occupied she had run headfirst into a wall – a distinctly human-shaped wall. And as her gaze traveled upwards, she saw a handsome face staring amusedly down at her.
"Wow, you're tall," she blurted out, and then blushed. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly.
"No prob," he laughed. "Lost, little freshman?"
"Hey!' she exclaimed hotly, "I'm not little."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Or a freshman," she added.
"I've never seen you around," he remarked with a casual step forward.
"I just transferred," she explained, clutching her books closer to her chest as she felt her breathing quicken. He was intimidatingly attractive – and nice, too.
"Ah, I'm Eric," he held out a hand.
"Dana," she replied, shaking his hand firmly. Her hand tingled at the touch and she felt her hear beat just a hair faster.
"Nice to meet you Dana," he smiled. "So, where were you headed before you so rudely ran into me?" he winked to show he was just teasing.
Sense of humor too, she mentally remarked. Sometimes god really does give with both hands…
"Lunch…wherever that is," she said aloud, shooting a frustrated glare at the map she had clasped in her hand.
"Yeah, it's kind of a confusing school."
"And huge. It's gotta be four times bigger than my last school," she sighed.
"You know, I'm actually heading to lunch. You should come eat with us," he smiled widely, revealing two rows of toothpaste commercial worthy teeth.
"Sure," she grinned.
**
"Ugh," Dana groaned, swiftly ducking behind Eric. He peeked back at her, a quizzical expression on his face. "No, don't turn!" she pushed lightly on his shoulder.
"Why?" he laughed, fascinated by her antics.
"Because I'm hiding from that annoying blonde ass holding court over there," she hissed. He looked over to see who she was glaring at.
"Ryan?"
"You know him?"
"Everyone knows him," he gestured vaguely. "Why are you hiding from him?"
"He's in my English class, and let's just say we didn't hit it off well," she peered around him. In the back of her mind, she wondered that she felt so comfortable with him already. It was like she'd known him for years instead of minutes. Shaking off those overly clichéd thoughts, she focused on the situation at hand.
"He hit on you," he said dully.
"No, that'd be giving him too much credit," she shook her head. "More like he assumed that since I was girl, naturally we'd be going out whenever he wanted. Ass."
"That does sound like him," he grimaced. He shot a glance at the table and then down at her before reluctantly heading toward the table.
"Wait," she squealed and grabbed hold of his arm, "what are you doing? You're walking towards him!"
"Yes," he stopped and gave her a little push. "And so are you."
"Eric!"
They stopped in front of the group, Dana blushing furiously as they all looked up. Ryan smiled lasciviously, "I knew you'd come back to me. Friday still okay?"
"Shut up Ryan," Eric rolled his eyes. "Dana, these are my friends. When they're not acting like dicks at least."
"Ah," she winced in realization.
"Yeah," Eric nodded. "This is Ryan, whom you've met."
Ryan leapt off the table top and stalked over to her, standing too close for comfort. "So Friday?"
She took a step back, "Not a chance in hell."
"We'll see how long you say that," he proclaimed confidently. She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to slap him across the face, and scowled.
"Lay off man," Eric said with a small push. "And that's Aaron," he continued, pointing the people out as he named them. "And over there's Tom and…"
**
"Hello?" Dana said, flipping open her phone as she struggled to open the front door.
"Hey, how was your first day? We all missed you over here," Emily's voice floated cheerily through the receiver.
"Em!" Dana chirped happily. She dropped her books and bag on the floor with a thud, and sprawled out on the sofa. "God, I missed you guys too."
"I can't believe we're not spending our senior year together," Emily mourned. "All that havoc we had planned…"
"Right, cuz we were actually going to do all those things," she said with a skeptical chuckle.
"Ya never know. Now spill. I wanna know everything that happened today," Emily demanded.
"The school here is insanely large, so I pretty much just spent the day glued to my map like some pathetic freshie," Dana groaned, "and I managed to run headfirst into this gorgeous guy."
"Oo, do tell." Dana swore she could see Emily's eyes brightening in interest.
"His name is Eric and he's incredibly tall-"
"How tall?" Emily interrupted.
"Six…five? Give or take two inches?" she estimated.
"He's too tall."
"For you maybe," Dana teased. "You and your short guys. I like my boys tall."
"Yeah, I know," there was pause, which Dana assumed was Emily rolling her eyes in exasperation. "But that makes him more than a foot taller than you. Too tall."
"Whatever," she dismissed, "and he's beyond beautiful."
"That part I approve of."
"Good to know," Dana laughed. "He's really nice, funny too-"
"I'm liking. White?"
"Have you ever seen a 6'5" Asian guy?" Dana countered. "I'm like the only Asian here. All the girls look like Malibu Barbies – plastic boobs and all."
"Does that mean all the guys look like Ken?" Emily joked.
"God, I wish."
"So, how hard are you fallin' for this guy?"
"Pretty hard," she confided. "He seems like a really nice guy."
"But?" Emily asked, hearing her slight reluctance.
"I dunno…"
"It's been four months," she said gently, "and this guy sounds perfect, and Dana you deserve a little perfect after last year. A lot of perfect, actually."
"I guess," she said unconvincingly.
"You do," Emily insisted. "Go after him. It's your senior year, have a little fun."
"Yeah, but…"
"Yeah?"
"He's got this friend, a really good friend by the looks of it…"
"Uh-oh. A girl friend?"
"No, it's this guy in my English class named Ryan. Arrogant, player, jerk, you know the type."
"What'd he do?"
"He walks into class, jumps on my desk, and goes "Baby, how does Friday work for you?"" she mimicked.
"You're kidding."
"No."
"That could be a problem," Emily mused.
"You're tellin' me."
"No, I mean, if this Ryan guy likes you then Eric…" she trailed off.
"Oh, but I don't think he likes me," Dana clarified. "I'm just a novelty to him, a pale Asian amidst all those spray-tan blondes? It's a game to him."
"Maybe, but even so – guys are weird sometimes. If Eric's as nice as you say, he might not want to risk his friendship by competing for you."
"Yeah," she said thoughtfully. "Wait," she shook her head, "we're totally getting ahead of ourselves. I just met the guy. I doubt he likes me."
"Yet."
"Or ever," Dana objected.
"Psh, come on. One Asian girl in the whole school? Trust me, if not this Eric kid then someone – probably lots of someones – will come calling. Use the whole Asian fetish, yellow-fever thing to your advantage. Just make sure whoever you choose is hot, because I don't wanna have ugly pictures in my room."
"Lovely," Dana rolled her eyes, "we're not superficial at all."
"You're in Orlando, now's the time to be superficial. Besides, how else am I gonna live vicariously through you if you're all holed up in your house, dating ugly guys?"
"Thanks buddy," she said sarcastically. "And why do you need to live vicariously through me? You've got Joe."
"Yeah, but a girl needs a little drama in her life. A little boy drama, and since me and Joe are pretty much the most drama-less couple on the face of the earth, I need you to fill that hole."
"Aw shucks, you sure know how to make a girl feel special."
"That's me, a giver," Emily sighed dramatically. "Now go get that hot giant. And deck the little asshole friend if you have to. Go and conquer! I command you."
"I'm not just going to throw myself at him to amuse you."
"Who said throw? Just flirt with him, maybe flash a little cleavage?"
"Em, we're Asian. There's nothing to flash babe."
"Eh, true. Then just … I dunno… fall on him. Again. You fall all the time, just aim it at him. Guys love the whole damsel in distress thing."
"You need to stop reading Seventeen."
"And you need a boyfriend," Emily retorted.
"Touche."
"So how's your last week of summer goin?"
"Decidedly boring without you."
"Aw, thanks," she smiled. "Bet you and Joe are being all mushy and gross."
"Maybe. Now tell me what else happened today."
"Well…"
**
A/N: What'd ya think?? Should I continue? (And thanks for reading!!)