A/N: I got this idea while watching a movie called 'Sybil' or something like that. Anyway, here goes!

High Tension: Who Am I Really?

Chapter One

Sam yawned and sighed. Her hand held the remote control to the TV in the living room. It wasn't every day she actually watched TV down there. She hardly watched TV at all. But today just seemed like the day to do something new. Unfortunately, the television wasn't on her side. She flipped through channels, trying to look for something to watch. "Gosh," she groaned. "There's nothing on TV at all. I knew this was a bad idea. Maybe I should call Danny, or Tucker." She looked at the clock. 6:34 PM. Tucker would be at home, on his computer playing DOOM right then. Danny would either be hunting down a ghost, or trying to study. If neither of those, then he would be watching TV, doing Internet research on NASA, or some other past-time. He was so unpredictable, unlike Tucker. She guessed...she guessed maybe that's why he was such a great friend. You can never know what to expect until you trust him. You just can't help but to love the guy.

At the word 'love' Sam felt the blood rush to her face and she blushed. She crossed her arms over her chest and slumped back in the couch she was sitting on. Now her mind was really spinning. She wondered if Danny liked her? If he knew she liked him a lot? Did he even have a clue? When did she even start loving him? It all happened so fast, was it since they met? Or just now? Are her hormones just out of control or something? Or is this real love? Why is she asking herself all these questions?

Sam massaged her temples. "Oh," she murmured. "So many question marks..."

"Samantha, sweetie, could you come into the kitchen, please?" her mother called from the kitchen. Her mom and dad had been talking in hush conversation for a very long time now. She'd tried to listen in, but their words were too incoherent and too vague. She just couldn't understand a single word. Sam rolled her eyes. It was probably just some lame thing they're planning on telling her about to try and get her to be the happy, pretty, dressed-in-pink, little princess they always wanted.

Sighing, the girl stood. "It's Sam, not Samantha," she muttered beneath her breath and walked into the kitchen where her parents stood, cheery expressions on their faces. Their cheesy smiles made her almost flinch. She fought against that and looked at them questioningly. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Sam?" her mom said. "We have something very important to tell you, dear."

"Really? Please don't tell me it's another program or shrink. Look, nothing's wrong with me. I'm not troubled. My grades are fine. Danny and Tucker are just friends not accomplices in my 'master plan to annoy the heck out of you people' as you so plainly it last time. I don't even know what had gotten into you guys when you said-" Sam stopped talking. Her father held out a picture. Sam scanned it.

"His name is Juan," her father said, handing her the picture. Sam took it and glanced at it briefly before looking at her parents.

"So?" she asked. She looked at the picture again. In the picture, a boy stood, posing for the camera by leaning over a tree stump. He was smiling brilliantly, kind of like the way Danny's father smiled: proud and definitely confident with a high self-esteem. His hair was short, brown, and spiked up on his head. His eyes...his eyes were the most vivid green-blue color she'd ever seen. They were entrancing. "What's it got to do with me?" Sam looked at her parents square in the eye.

"Samantha," her mom began. "Juan is from a very good and well-mannered family. They're the Vicks. We've been a very close bunch of friends for a very long time along with the Mersions. Generations even. In fact, I used to be a Mersion as well. I married into the Manson family when I fell in love with your father. These three families have also been having a bit of friction between them. That is why your cousin, Amelia Manson, has married into the Mersion family to create some harmony. A friend of your father's daughter, Loretta Vick, has married into the Mersion family as well. You and Juan have been the deciding point between all three families. You have been betrothed to Juan for about two years now."

"Is this some sort of incest junk you're trying to lay on me softly?" Sam asked, disgusted.

"Why, no, Samantha," Mrs. Manson said sharply. "No, not at all."

"Juan, Samantha, is of no relation to our family," her father added quickly. "You and him are not related. In fact, this is the first time anyone members of any of the three families have been married into the other family. You need not worry about that."

"So that's it?" Sam asked now. "You're gonna force a fiancée on me?" She put a hand on her hip. "And you didn't even ask for my consent for the matter."

"Samantha, you need to understand," her mom said. "These three families need each other to maintain our reputation. We are all needed to keep the connection in one of the biggest corporations in the world. If this does not happen, then the intricate structure will fall apart. Do you want to live like your little friends Danny and Tucker?"

At this, Sam snapped. "What are you trying to say? Stop putting Danny down! He's not exactly poor, you know. He's not! So he isn't rich, is there a problem with that? Do you think there's something wrong with him because of that? The same goes for Tucker! So what?" she shouted. "I'm not going to let you put them down because of money!"

"Then marry, Juan, Samantha. Agree to the marriage," her mother urged. "It won't be for a few more years anyway. You have nothing to lose."

"Oh sure, it seems that easy doesn't it?" Sam asked. "To marry someone you've never even met? A few years, you say. It won't make any difference!"

"Samantha, please," her father said. "Do it for the family. If not for yourself, then for us. Your dead great-grandfather. He worked too hard for all his hard work to go into ruin should the company break apart."

"Don't even think of bringing grandad's name into this," Sam said. She lvoed her great-grandfather. She would have rather lived with him than with her parents. So she had a soft-spot, didn't everybody?

"For great-grandfather Izzy, Samantha?" her mother asked. She would have broken down into tears at her great-grandfather's name. She couldn't argue with that. But everything they'd said only made her angry with them. How dare they lay this evil and heavy burden on her shoulders? Why don't they just squish her with a gigantic boulder already? It would be better. Now this one decision had her future hanging on the balance. Choose what her heart was telling her and deny only to let the family business go into ruin, or choose to marry this Juan guy and live her life in misery. She looked at the picture again. He looked sincere. He couldn't be all bad, could he? She bit her lip hard and looked at her parents, then at the picture.

Sighing, she hung her head. She had no choice. She only had time. "When do I meet him?" she asked.

"Oh, Samantha, we're so proud of you!" her mother said gleefully.

"I haven't said yet that I'll marry him," Sam snapped quickly and coldly. "I only asked when I'll meet him."

"Don't worry, we're arrange the meeting soon!" her mother said.

Sam nodded and began to walk out the room as her parents began to talk about something in hushed voices. She couldn't believe what she had just done. She was going to meet some guy she didn't know and that guy may become her fiancée. "Oh," she groaned, going up the stairs now. "Maybe I can make this a little fun. I can mess around with this kid until he can't even mess my life up." She smirked at the picture. "Juan Vick, you have no idea what's coming your way."

E/N: Okay! It was going to be a one-shot, but I decided against it! Five chapters max though people!

--Airamé Phantom