Disclaimer: None of the characters from "DAT" belong to me, Tessa belongs to the fabulous Sullen Lilly.

A/N: So, get ready for a long author's note. First off, I'd like to start by saying that, yes, disaster has struck; of course, what would a "Day" fic be without a disaster but, sadly, this one has struck "Made to be Broken." So, until I can get back the last chapter I updated is being a pain in the butt right now), I can't update "MTBB", sadly, because of the computer-crash. But, fear not, I hope to have this fixed by tomorrow. Now, onto the note concerning this story; I know it's a little out there for a "Day" fic but go with me here. My best friend and I had our own little "adventures in babysitting" last month and it just begged to be a story, complete with cute Sam and Laura fluffiness, because, really what is the point of living without that? Anyway, this story is set before the actual movie takes place and please review and enjoy. Phew, this was a long one.

Chapter One

A Slave to Beauty

Sam Hall knew, within seconds of seeing Laura Chapman for the first time, that he would do anything for her. A part of his mind also knew that this was a dangerous thing, that he relinquishing himself to a girl he could barely speak to, but he didn't much care. All Laura had to do was smile at him so that her cheeks dimpled and fix him with those wide brown eyes of hers and Sam would have committed murder if she had asked him to. Hell, he probably would have killed his own father if it had meant that she'd keep smiling at him.

The only problem with this new found form of slavery was that everyone in the entire school, perhaps maybe even the city, knew about Sam's feelings except for the one person that really mattered. If Laura hadn't been so cute, innocent and utterly beautiful, he would have had a hard time believing that she didn't know what she did to him when she smiled and said his name. But, whenever Laura smiled, Sam would have had a hard time believing that she was even capable of raising her voice, let alone leading him on in the innocent way she seemed to be doing. Just a smile and he was hers.

And that was exactly what was happening at that moment, as Sam sat in calculus class sandwiched between Laura and his best friend, Brian Parks, trying to pretend like he wasn't there. Whenever he remembered he was sitting next to Laura, then things turned out badly, rolling downhill until he made a fool of himself. Therefore, it was easier for him just to pretend that he was anywhere but beside the girl of his dreams, keeping his mouth shut and his eyes averted to the surface of the desk. The last thing he needed was for Laura to catch him staring at her and write him off as some stalker and asked to be moved to another calculus class.

Sam's vow of silence was going unnoticed for the moment as Laura and Brian talked around him like he wasn't even there. Laura was leaning on the desk, her chin propped up on her elbows, looking past Sam and focusing all of her attention on Brian. This would have made Sam jealous if he hadn't known that his friend and Laura had known one another since they were kids and had as much romantic attraction for each other as he did with Brian. Still, it would have been nice to be able to carry on a conversation like that...

"Anyway," Laura was telling Brian, "the only problem with joining the Decathlon team is that you have to have three team-members to even apply." She frowned and Sam thought he could die right there, killed by the absolute adorableness of that look. "Is that fair?"

What's not fair, Sam wanted to say to her, is how you're killing me and not even knowing that you're doing it. But, then again, he would have gladly died in front of his calculus class if it would keep that look on her face.

Brian shrugged. "Maybe not, but I don't see why it's such a big problem." He told her. "All we have to do is find someone else willing to join the Decathlon team."

Laura deflated slightly, sitting back in her seat; Sam could see that her shyness was kicking in again and that the thought of asking relative strangers anything wasn't looking too pleasing to her. Sam watched her out of the corner of his eye and wondered how anyone that beautiful could be that shy.

"Right." Laura agreed, almost reluctantly. "Do you know of anyone who would want to join?"

Sam looked up and made the mistake of meeting Laura's gaze because, at that moment, he would have sold his soul to the Devil if it would have put that smile back on Laura's face. But, he had a feeling that he was about to agree to something a lot worse then eternal damnation.

"What about you Sam?" Laura questioned hopefully and Sam knew he was sold. "You're pretty smart." She smiled slightly.

Sam nodded, slowly because he was too busy processing the fact that Laura had not only complimented him and meant it but had smiled at him too. "Right." He muttered dumbly, not quite sure just what was 'right'. He nodded again, just because it seemed like that was what Laura wanted.

Laura leaned closer to him, that killer smile dimpling her cheeks, her thick curls framing her face, and set her hand on top his, an pleading gesture Sam knew. "Sam, do you think you'd like to join the Decathlon team? You're so smart it would probably be easy for you and it would look really good on your college applications." She told him but Sam found it hard to pay any attention to her words. "But if you don't-"

"Sure." Sam agreed before the words could even leave her mouth. "Sure, I'll join." He said quickly, wanting Laura's hand to remain over his for the rest of his life. Laura looked at him for a moment, as though surprised by his sudden agreement, trying to find the reasoning behind it. "I mean, anything for applications helps, right?" He attempted to remark nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

Something flickered across Laura's face that he couldn't quite read as she nodded slowly, pulling her hand away as though she realized what she was doing. "That's great." Her momentary doubt passed quickly and the smile returned. "Thanks so much Sam."

Sam nodded, waving his hand dismissively, wishing he could say, oh, don't mention it, it was my pleasure. But he knew that if those words left his mouth, they would surely be followed by something like, anything you want Laura, because I already love you too much to say 'no.'

But, what good would that have done? Absolutely none.

After calculus class had come to an end and Sam had promptly filed the lesson away for later use in the back of his mind, once again freeing up his thoughts for more important people, Brian meet him in the hallway as soon as Laura had disappeared into the crush of bodies filling the narrow corridor.

As soon as Sam saw his friend and the look on his face, he knew that he was in for a lecture of some kind and he wasn't looking forward to it. Brian stepped up beside him before Sam could act as though he hadn't noticed his friend and make a quick getaway and shook his head in disbelief. "You are one sad person, you know that right?" Brian remarked.

Sam frowned. "What are you talking about?" He questioned, though he knew exactly what his friend was talking about. One of these days, he was going to get a little better at pretending...one of these days.

"If Laura would have asked you to walk off a building, you would have done it." Brian observed, ignoring Sam's question. "But I'm sure that you know this." He fixed his friend with a raised eye-brow stare.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're making a big deal out of nothing." He attempted to be nonchalant, as though he had no idea that what Brian said was true. "It's just Decathlon and besides, I was going to join an after school activity anyway, my mom's been pressuring me into it." A lie, yes, but hopefully one Brian couldn't see through.

"Fine." Brian said. "But, it just so happens that you joined the one after school activity that a certain brown-eyed beauty is involved in."

Sam felt his cheeks redden slightly and looked away from Brian. "What's your point?" He mumbled, though he didn't really want to know.

"C'mon Sam, just get over it and ask her out. She'll say yes, trust me." Brian advised. "Besides this whole thing is getting tiresome."

Sam looked back at him. "What whole thing?" He questioned, but continued on before his friend had a chance to clarify. "Besides, it's not like that between Laura and I, we're just friends." Oh boy, he was going straight to Hell because of all the lies he had just told in these past two minutes.

"That's what I'm talking about." Brian stopped suddenly and turned to face Sam, causing him to stop as well. "Acting like there's nothing there when the entire state knows how you feel about Laura. It's like something out of a movie." He rolled his eyes. "But this isn't a movie Sam, get some balls and talk to the girl."

Sam frowned, Brian's words finding their mark. "I talk to her." He defended weakly. Brian raised an eyebrow. "I do."

"Great, but you're not saying the right words to her." Brian retorted. Sam sighed, he knew his friend was right but that didn't mean he had to admit that verbally. Brian clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Maybe you should improve your conversation skills."

And with that, Brian disappeared into his classroom seconds before the warning bell rang, jarring Sam's thoughts momentarily away from Laura and filling them with the knowledge that he only had a minute to get to his classroom across the building. As he hurried down the hallway, Sam couldn't help but think about what Brian said; what could it hurt to talk to Laura, to show her that he had interest in her?

By the time Sam was receiving his first detention for being late to class, he had almost decided just what he was going to say to Laura. Almost.

Laura took her seat at the not-so-crowded lunch table beside Sam and instantly launched into the pressing topic of the Decathlon team. If Sam hadn't loved the sound of her voice so much, he probably would have been bored. Besides, it fascinating to see just how much one person could care so much about school. Especially a part of school they didn't really have to care about.

"Anyway," Laura was saying by the time Sam got around to paying attention to the topics at hand, forcing himself to abandon thoughts of a hopeful future with a certain someone. "Now that we have our team, we have to pass a preliminary test so that we can even qualify for the team."

Sam looked at her. "Wait, I didn't know there was going to be an actual test." He said. "I thought it was just sitting at a table answering questions."

"It is." Laura answered quickly, as though she was worried that she might lose her latest team member. "But the first thing we have to do is prove that we're smart enough for the team."

Sam couldn't keep himself from scoffing and rolling his eyes. "As if there's a surplus of people wanting to join." He remarked.

Laura raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say?" She questioned and Sam might have apologized if she hadn't looked so adorable with her eyebrow raised and her hands pressed against her hips. So, instead, he couldn't help but grin at her, a small laugh escaping his lips. This didn't seem to please Laura very much and her brow furrowed. "What is so funny, Sam Hall?" She questioned.

Before Sam could give her whatever excuse he could come up with first, Brian intervened, leaning across the table to get their attention. "I really don't think that's important right now." He said and looked at his friend. "Sam, I can't believe you're not jumping all over the chance to prove just how smart you are."

Sam knew that his friend was dangling bait in front of him and he did his best to ignore what Brian was saying. But, he couldn't refuse any longer and said sharply, "I do not try and prove how smart I am."

Brian raised an eyebrow. "So, I guess you've forgotten the Spelling Bee Incident of 1996?" He waited with a smug smile on his face for his friend to provide him with an answer.

Sam cleared his throat and looked away from Brian, staring down at the floor and hoping that Laura wouldn't ask the question that was already leaving her lips. "What happened?" She questioned, looking pointedly at Sam, who wouldn't meet her gaze. Seeing she was gaining no lee-way, Laura turned toward Brian. "What happened?"

Brian grinned. "In fourth grade, we had a school wide spelling bee and Sam, of course, qualified and he was the last kid on stage because all the other kids had already lost. And so, the teacher giving the test gave him the word and he spelled it but the teacher said he got it wrong. So, in front of the entire school, Sam argued with that woman because he knew he was right but the teacher wouldn't give in. So, they had to get a dictionary and look the word up; of course, Sam was right and kids started teasing him about how he was smarter then the teachers...you know how kids are." Brian shook his head and motioned toward his friend. "He hates being wrong."

Laura had an amused smile on her face but she kept silent, for which Sam was grateful for; he didn't think he could take any teasing coming from the love of his life. "Then Decathlon is perfect." She said instead.

Sam was about to say something when Brian interrupted once more, with the absentmindedness of someone thinking aloud. "Then there was that time in kindergarten when he argued with the principal that whales weren't fish." He mused. "And in sixth grade when-"

"All right." Sam snapped, silencing his friend. "I think we all get the point." He cleared his throat, almost sheepishly and looked over at Laura. "So, when's this test?"

"Next Monday." She told him promptly. "That means we have tomorrow and all weekend to study." Laura paused before she could say anything else, almost as though catching herself from saying something embarrassing. "Not that studying is the only thing I have to do on the weekends." She mumbled, looking away from Sam and down at her lunch as though it suddenly deserved all of her attention. "But we should certainly make time to study."

Sam smiled to himself, touched by her bashfulness. "Sure." He agreed. "Why not Friday night?"

Laura was already nodding in agreement when Brian spoke up, telling his friends that Friday night was his younger sister's ballet recital and he couldn't miss it. Laura frowned, thought for a moment, then spoke again. "Sam and I can study, brush up on the basics, then we can all get together Sunday afternoon and make sure we have everything down." She looked at the two boys. "Okay?"

Brian nodded, just because he knew there was no way he could get out of watching his six-year-old sister trip over herself on stage and call it dance. Sam nodded because he was too shocked by the thought of spending a few hours alone with Laura to do much of anything else.

The smile still on her face, Laura nodded once. "Great." She looked at Sam. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night, okay?"

Sam continued nodding, though he was certain Laura got the message. Hell, he would have agreed to anything at that moment and spending time with Laura was certainly the lesser of two evils.