New story... well, this should be interesting. The first chapter isn't all that exciting, it's sort of setting the stage for the rest of the story, but I hope you like it anyway!

Read and review please!


Chapter 1

Yumi's POV

High school. I admit, only a year ago, the thought of going to high school freaked me out. But now, I didn't mind high school. I didn't want high school to come, but only because it was summer vacation, and we had to go to our new school, Kadic, in a week. I guess it wouldn't be too bad though, because it would be great to see everyone from school again, and we would get our own dorms at Kadic. Yeah… I was ready for high school.

The only thing I dreaded about high school was he would be there. He was the guy strolling around the pool right now in his swimsuit, making girls swoon as he passed. He was the guy strutting around, thinking he was all that with his mess of shaggy brown hair, his toned body, and his 6 pack. He thought he was the greatest person to walk the planet. He was Ulrich Stern.

The Stern's and my family went way back. Well… our parents did at least. Our mothers had been best friends in college, and once our fathers met each other, they decided that since they both cared about the same things (pride, money, responsibility, and all that shit of course) they might as well be friends. Even my little brother, Hiroki, looked up to Ulrich as if he was some hero.

In fact, Ulrich and I were the only two people between our families that hadn't gotten along. And it wasn't like we used to be used to be best friends, and got in some fight like most people thought. We hated each other from day one.

I even asked my mother about it once, how long we had hated each other. She said that even though she and Mrs. Stern brought me and Ulrich together whenever they got together, we hadn't gotten along. You know how in preschool you're everyone's your best friend, because it doesn't matter how different you are from everyone else? Yeah? Well me and Ulrich still hated each other, even way back then. It amazed Aelita when I had told her. It never amazed me.

"Oh, Yumi," Aelita said with a sigh as she lay on her towel next to me in the sun, "can you not wait for high school? I mean seriously, it means all of the people from our school, and from Meadowbrooke will be together! Which means, all new people to meet!"

I snorted. "Which means Ulrich and his slut of a girlfriend, Sissi will be at our school." Ulrich and I had gone to different schools all of our life, with the exception of preschool, but now going to high school together sounded like torture.

"Oh, come on Yumi. There are so many people at that school… Ulrich and Sissi are two people out of like, 100," Aelita said, shifting her position. I had to say, Aelita looked gorgeous today. Her almost shoulder length pink hair was wavy after being in the pool, the way I thought it looked best. Aelita liked straightening it though, saying it looked ugly wavy.

"I guess you're right," I agreed. I sighed, absorbing in the sun. My black two piece suit was beginning to get hot, and I was ready for a dip in the water. "Hey, Aelita, want to go split a smoothie or something? I'm sick of tanning."

"Yeah, good idea!" Aelita said cheerfully. The two of us got up from our chairs, and walked along the pool's edge to where the bar to by food was. As I walked, I heard a snickering behind me. Just before I got the chance to turn around, I felt two hands on my back, shoving me into the pool. I screamed, but my scream died out when I sunk below the water. I surfaced to find Ulrich standing where I just was, laughing hysterically, and Aelita watching me with her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, just go die Stern," I shouted at Ulrich. I noticed I had gathered a lot of attention from the pool-goers, but I didn't care. "I'll get you back for that."

Ulrich smirked. "Sure you will, Yumi," he responded sarcastically.

I smiled evilly to myself. Ulrich didn't think I'd get him back, but oh, I would. He can count on that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Odd's POV

"So, find any hot ones?" I asked Ulrich as he approached me. He sighed as he collapsed onto the lawn chair beside me.

"Only a few semi-hot ones. Gosh, what happened to all the real hot girls that were here early this summer?" he asked, sounding disappointed.

"Um Ulrich… they probably went off to college. And the seniors are probably all partying on their last actual day of summer," I answered him. God, sometimes he could be so stupid. "I tried to sneak into their party last night, but they caught me. …Actually, a group of hot drunk girls caught me as I fell off the stair banister, but I won't go into details about that," I boasted slightly, grinning.

Ulrich glared at me jealously, but before he got to open his mouth to ask what exactly happened, Aelita came strolling over. Damn… Aelita looked hot in her pink bikini, dotted with white flowers. It kind of hurt me to see her looking so hot like that. But, I didn't really want to think about Aelita that much… it always made my head hurt.

"Hey guuurl," I said in an almost drunken sounding voice as she sat down next to me. She laughed, shoving my side a bit. She made a little "ooh!" noise when she saw my hair. She immediately sat down next to me, running her fingers through it.

"Did you just re-highlight your hair?" Aelita asked. I nodded. Last night I couldn't sleep, and since my purple highlights were fading, I decided to go over them. I needed to have fresh purple hair to impress all of the new girls going to Kadic. Kadic was a school mostly combined with Meadowbrooke and BlueValley, BlueValley being the school Aelita had gone to, and Meadowbrooke being the school Ulrich and I had gone to, but a number of other schools went to Kadic as well. I knew most of the people from Meadowbrooke, but still, there were new girls to meet!

"It's hot," she complimented. I grinned at her.

"I know it is."

I noticed Ulrich was looking around the pool area for someone. Maybe scouting out girls? But he looked annoyed, probably from not getting enough attention. "Aelita, where did Yumi go?" Oh, so that's it. He wanted Aelita to leave.

"She left. But, um… I was going to leave anyway. See you later Odd!" Aelita said as she got up from next to me. "Bye Ulrich!" she added, as if she'd almost forgotten to say goodbye to him. I smiled and waved as she walked away. One thing I really loved about Aelita was she always noticed me more than Ulrich. All the other girls took Ulrich as their first pick in guys, me as a second or third.

Basically, if Ulrich was dating someone, and the girl who wanted to date him got excessively hopeless, they went to me. And when Ulrich decided he wanted my girl, he just had to kiss her and he won her over- just like that.

But this year, I wanted to have a good, long-term girlfriend. This year, I was going to be better than Ulrich.


I don't care if you absolutely hated the beginning or you loved it, just leave me a review with your comments! If people don't like the story, then I probably won't continue it. So... review please!

.xXSapphireEyesXx.