Chapter One:

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Elizabeth Peyton walked down the empty solemn halls of Oakland High School in Los Angeles, California. Her head was ducked down, scowling as she clutched a book. You could barely make out the title: Kissed by an Angel, E. Chandler. Her feet moved quickly, with a purpose only she of the few people in the school would consider completely ridiculous. Tucking her book under one arm, she opened the door to classroom 42, her fourth period. That period was Chemistry, not her favorite subject in the world, but it was required. She entered the room, faintly smiled at her teacher, Mr. Walker, and walked up to him placing her book and her schoolbag on her spotless desk.

"Good morning Miss Peyton, ready to get started?" Mr. Walker's voice echoed in the open air of the classroom.

"Sure," Elizabeth said turning her back to him as he waved her toward the door. She walked briskly to the auditorium, the teacher at her heels. Her long brown hair tossed from side to side with every step she took and her bright emerald eyes were only partially awake. It was 7:03 in the morning and no one was at the school, except her, Mr. Walker, and, she guessed, one or two more teachers.

"Just up there, mop, a bucket, and a broom. Sweep first, then mop the floor, got it?" Elizabeth nodded at his words and with that, Mr. Walker set out of the auditorium.

As soon as she heard the door swing closed, Elizabeth let out a loud groan. Why did she, of all people have to have detention in the morning?! The reason wasn't even her fault! It was also completely unnecessary considering the fact she could've stayed after school. No, she had to have the one teacher that was clueless to what happened. The one teacher that didn't know the true story. The one freaking teacher that 'had things to do' after school. What did that mean? She would've betted he went get his nails painted and danced around in a tutu in front of his mirror all afternoon. She laughed inwardly at the thought as she walked up the steps of the stage. She grumpily grabbed the broom and started sweeping with unnecessary force. As she was sweeping, she rethought about the 'incident' that occurred yesterday that bought her this detention. It involved her, and her so called guy-friend, Joshua Evans.

Flashback:

"Josh! Get back here!" Elizabeth ran after him completely out of breath from running and yelling. He had just poured a huge bucket of water over her head after she dared him with a strict face. She turned the corner and found him leaning against the wall doubled over laughing hard. She walked up to him and smacked him over his head.

"Why did you do that?!" she screamed at him, " that water was freezing! And now 'I'm soaking wet in the middle of school! Josh, I swear if I ever, ever, get the chance, I'll kill you!"

He threw his head back against the wall, gasping for air. She kicked him in the shin.

"Shut up Evans," she threw at him.

" Never, that was priceless! Maybe you shouldn't have dared me," he smiled cheekily at her and she glared at him.

He started walking towards the art room with Elizabeth following huffing out of frustration with him. Hearing the free period bell, he sighed in relief, he didn't want to hear the stupid teachers rant about random junk. He peered into an art classroom, only to see no one was in there. He walked forward and Elizabeth yanked him back.

"We can't go in there!" she hissed.

"And why not?" Josh asked tilting his head in a questioning manner.

"We'll get in trouble!"

Josh shook his head at her and walked in anyway. She followed him reluctantly, looking around for teachers before she did.

"Woah! Check it out!" Josh pointed toward the cans of paint at the back of the classroom, "bet I can make quite a mess with that stuff." He smiled mischievously.

"No, Josh! Please don't, we'll get in trouble!" her voice shook with fear because she knew in the back of her mind, he would do it just because she said not to.

"Come on, Lizzy, live a little," he said while unscrewing a can of violet paint.

" Josh!" she whispered as he dipped his fingers in the paint and turned towards her. Her face filled with terror upon realizing what he was going to do.

"Don't you dare Joshua Evans, don't you dare," she said each word with a step backwards, and her back hit the door. She closed her eyes just in time to feel the paint splatter across her face. She heard mad laughter from across the room.

"THAT'S IT EVANS, YOUR DEAD!" she yelled. She quickly strode across the room opening another can of paint, this one was orange. She plunged her hand into the paint and threw it at him. He let out a yelp of panic and failed to doge it as the orange paint spread across his shirt.

"That's how you want it Peyton? Bring the paint on girl, bring the paint on," Josh grinned with his eyebrows knitted together.

Soon, a colorful chaos filled the room and new paint cans were opened, each teen splattered with a new color every time. The footsteps outside in the hall were drowned by the shrieks and hollers of the two inside the art room.

"Excuse me!" Elizabeth and Josh whipped their heads around to see a shocked and infuriated Mr. Walker. Elizabeth had just shoved a bucket of paint over Josh's head and he was now looking around blindly, trying to tug the can off.

"What on earth do you think you're doing Elizabeth? Do you have any idea-"

Mr. Walker was cut off by a loud crash. They both looked down at Josh. He had tried walking, and walked into a set-up canvas. The can had come off and he was covered in a slime-colored green paint. Elizabeth burst out laughing and Josh rubbed the top of his head. A shrill shriek came from the doorway as Josh stood up.

"What happened?" Rachel Henderson, Josh's girlfriend, stood behind Mr. Walker, just as shocked as him.

"Elizabeth just earned herself a week's worth of detention for wrecking the art room. I'll see you tomorrow, 7:00 sharp." Mr. Walker stomped out of the room.

"But I-. Shoot." Elizabeth glared down at a dizzy Josh, his eyes glazed over and a dreamy look on his face, "This is all your fault Evans"

"I'm taking him home! Good luck with detention, Elizabeth," Rachel attempted to pick Josh up, but decided on dragging him to her car. As she left, she shot Elizabeth a glare over her shoulder.

End Flashback

Elizabeth shoved the mop into the bucket and cursed under her breath.

She heard a chuckle from the doorway to the auditorium. She looked up to see a cobalt blue-eyed boy smirking in the doorway.

"Don't push it, Evans. Or I'll mop the floor with your face," Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him.

Josh held his hands up in surrender, "Hey, hey I was only partialy conscious when he gave you this detention ok? So don't blame me."

" I most definatly blame you! You're the one who threw the paint at me first!" She yelled at him from across the huge room.

"Oh, right. Well have fun… mopping," he smirked at her, "by the way, I only came here because I wanted to talk to you about Sam Murray, but I can see you don't want to. So bye." With that, he left leaving Elizabeth to glare a hole in his back wondering what he meant.