First Meeting

Olivia sat there in her last period class in her new school. She hated school, the immaturity of her new peers driving her up the wall, and her new teachers making her sit or stand there and say her name and say something about herself that was interesting.

"Well, first, I come from a different world, and I'm trained by the worlds greatest fighter to kill with deadly precision." Oh, yeah. She was sure they'd like that. So all she said was that she came from North Dakota and her family was here on a business thing.

She had to take extra precaution while choosing something to wear to school, not only so she would blend a little better than her normal clothes, but to hide herself from the eyes of others. Her blonde hair was normally down and waving to her waist, but she had it up in a messy bun. She'd done nothing with her face, and wore a baggy sweatshirt and a pair of stained jeans that bagged on her. Only her brown eyes had the same hint of danger that was plain to those who knew what to look for.

It wasn't as though she was afraid or self-conscious of her body - she couldn't care less - but her well developed arms shone with hard won muscles and her legs were slim and smooth with the tone of a runner. Her stomach was flat and hard, showing a slight six-pack. She had a beautiful body and she knew it. But, her school mates didn't need to know.

But for gym, she had to put on her gym clothes, luckily they let you bring your own and she chose a pair of sweats and a baggy t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it as a rough sketch.

Not many people gave her much of a look that meant anything, for which she was grateful, but she kept getting a chill up and down her spine as if someone was watching her. But whenever she looked over her shoulder, no one was there.

"Okay, class," the obnoxiously loud voice of her gym teacher rang through her ears. "Two laps around, Go!"

She watched the rest of the class run, unconsciously picking out the weak and the strong, separating them in her mind. Once they were done, the coach looked at her and motioned her to him.

Olivia sighed silently and stood, her legs tightened to spring when someone coughed and she cursed under her breath when half the class laughed, mistaking her jerk for a jump.

"We're heading out to the field. You know what to do," he walked over to the doors with Olivia on his heels. The rest of the class followed, some still snickering and some fake coughing to see what the 'new girl' would do.

She gritted her teeth and crossed her arms over her stomach to stop herself from ripping their pathetic throats out.

When they reached the field, the class went over to the grass in the middle of the track ring and stretched. Olivia hesitated when the teacher sat on the ground and told her to sit next to him. They stretched and the coach told them that they were racing four times around the track and see how well they did. There were mixed retorts to that and Olivia sighed.

This would be a synch, she could do poorly and finish somewhere in the middle to end of the group. Only if no one challenged her. The teacher in her world had told her that that was her greatest danger to herself, and she was working on it, but it would take precious time before she could over come that.

No one here was too fast anyway.

The gym teacher told them to line up and she positioned her in the very edge of the track, waiting for him to give the signal to go.

He blew the whistle and many of them took off, only a few staying behind with her. One was a brown haired boy in a tank top, that jogged next to her, glancing at her and speeding up, glancing at her again and slowing down, over and over.

"Come on, new girl. Let's see what you got!" he shouted suddenly. She licked her lips and shook her head, not trusting her voice. The boy glared and tried to trip her, almost succeeding, and laughed, jogging backwards. She stopped and glared back at him, cocking her head at him. It was on.

He took off, understanding that he had won, and she raced after him. He was faster than he looked, and Olivia grinned as she raced past several kids. Many gasped and called out the boy's name in shock. Olivia didn't even remember passing everyone one and then lapping them.

She ran side-by-side with him and he looked at her in shock. She grinned at him and said, "Let's see how much I can beat you by!"

Olivia sprinted all the way around again and slowed down when she got to her teacher, who was looking at her closely. He - a bit belatedly - glanced at the timer and said, "Three minutes and twenty-four seconds," her eyebrows raised and she realized just how fast she had been going. She screamed at herself in her head while keeping her face blank.

But she was relived to see the red faced boy run panting across the line. The coach said, "Four minutes and twelve seconds."

He glanced at the teacher and looked back at her, "What are you?" she stiffened and swallowed, frantically trying to think of a lie that would stick. But he continued before she could say anything. "That was amazing! I've never been beaten by anyone before in the mile run."

"Sorry, I," she murmured, keeping her head down, not letting him see the absolute pride on her face.

"Sorry? What in the world could you be sorry for?" he grinned and flopped down next to her, lying on his back, "That was the most fun I've had in a long time."

She cocked her head at him questioningly. "Most boys hate it when they're beaten," she said, careful to say 'boy' instead of warrior.

"Hmm. You're not wrong." he looked at her, putting his arms up and placing his hands under his head. "I think there's more to you than you let on." he got up suddenly, staring intensely into her eyes. This boy was defiantly not the type that the Counsel warned her of. This one was tricky and unpredictable. "What's your name?"

Olivia frowned, "What's yours?" she asked back.

The boy smiled, "Dev, and you?"

"Olivia,"

He took her hand and kissed the top of it gently. Now that was odd. Normal humans don't do that, right? Olivia sat there, shocked and swallowed as she almost found herself staring into his deep blue eyes. The pupils seemed to slant a bit to the top and bottom, but when she blinked they went back to normal. She shook her head and blinked, standing and walking away.

She figured it was rude to walk away like that, but she couldn't deal with someone like him right then.

He was too much like Polvolo, her old boyfriend.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling lost for the first time in her life. Olivia was relived when coach called them back from the field and almost ran down the hill to the school again to stop the feeling of Dev's eyes on her back.

She shouldered open the door, realizing too late it was locked. She gasped and hoped it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Olivia didn't feel like being questioned on her first day of school about a broken door - something that the Counsel would find out about very quickly - so she stayed and waited for the teacher to come down and tell him that she had found the door broken when she got there, hoping that he wouldn't think on anything too much.

However, Olivia sighed in defeat when it was none other than Dev that came down first… holding the key.