Childhood Friends

AN: This is my first fanfic, so please be nice, the chapters after this are probably going to be a lot better than this one.

All reviews welcome

Disclaimer : I don't own any of the characters in this chapter except for Niall, Daniel, Becky, Samantha and the boy who Kurtis

kicks the crap out of.

Anyway here ya go!

Lara Croft walked down the long corridors of her school, whilst being shoved and pushed by some of the girls in her class, that weren't the nicest people in the world. Whilst walking through one of the two concourses that her school held, she looked up with tears in her eyes from the names being called at her from her fellow pupils, only to catch the eye of a boy who was also at her school. He had dark brown hair with a scruffy edge to it and amazing, deep blue eyes and she would almost say that he was attractive. He was laughing with his friends, until he saw Lara in the corner of his eye. As soon as he saw her he stopped laughing and smiled at her and she returned the gesture and a tear strolled down her cheek when the girl's behind her shouted "Ooh, Croft's got a crush on Kurtis !!!" For it was Kurtis Trent that she had seen. She wandered off to her class glancing a look over her shoulder, only to see Kurtis looking at her with a smile on his face.

After what seemed like forever, lunchtime came, but Lara dreaded it just like any other time of school. She was constantly bullied by the girls in her class, because she was intelligent and now they had another reason to make her life a living hell. Kurtis. He was one of the most popular people in school, everybody wanted to be his friend, every girl wanted to be his girlfriend and everyone would souk up to him. All that was except Lara, that was why he liked her.

When she took her lunch tray, she wandered over to a small table at the back of the dinning hall The oldest girl in her class, Becky, came up behind her and deliberately pushed her in order for Lara to spill the contents of her tray. In reply the girl only said "Oops", her voice full of sarcasm. Lara knelt down to pick up her spilled food, when she noticed that there were another pair of hands helping her pick up the spilled food. She looked up to see who it was, only to find that it was Kurtis. Her heart leapt when he talked to her.

"Hey" He said relaxed but had a smile on his face that made Lara's heart skip a beat.

"Hi" She replied.

"You need some help, I'd be happy to"

"Thanks"

She picked up her lunch with the help of Kurtis and then walked over to the bin and dumped the food in with a sigh. At that moment Kurtis' friend, Niall, wolf whistled at the sight of Kurtis and Lara. Niall then walked over to Kurtis put a hand on his shoulder .

"You like her don't you" He said with an amused grin on his face.

"She doesn't follow me around screaming my name to get my attention, or beg me to go out with her, she's not like all the other girl's" Kurtis said with a sigh.

"So, that's a yes then". Kurtis nodded. "Anyway, are you coming to sit with us?"

"No, I think I'll stay with her just to make sure she's alright, the other girl's bully her like mad, you know"

"God, you've got it bad now you're protecting her!" Niall joked as he began to walk away

"See you later" Shouted Kurtis over all the talking of the other diner's.

"Good luck" Shouted Niall in return as Lara began to walk over with another tray of food. A smile pulled at Kurtis' lips.

Lara approached Kurtis with a grin on her face. He was actually talking to her! Wait, why am I getting all excited over HIM, it's not like I fancy him or something. "You mind if I sit with you, I can't be bothered with Niall and that" Asked Kurtis in a soft voice. "Sure, it's not like I have any friends to keep seats for" At this comment Kurtis felt sorry for Lara, he thought it was bad having everybody wanting to be his friend, but he would hate it if he didn't ave ANY. With that Lara and Kurtis sat down together eating and talking about anything, they both seemed to be interested in the same things, ancient languages, and ancient artefacts although Lara found this hard to believe.

They sat there peacefully until they had finished their meals and then took separate paths to the courtyard.

Lara walked over and sat on one of the swings in the school courtyard, only to be joined by two of the girl's from her class. Lara sighed and began to get up when the older of the two pushed her to the ground, and started to talk to her.

"What were you doing with Kurtis at lunch ?" She demanded whilst looming over Lara

Lara got back to her feet with a fighters stance and replied "What's it to you?"

"If I'm going to be his future girlfriend then I don't want you watching over him now do I" The tone of her voice showed that it wasn't a question but a statement this girl was making.

"I don't have to take orders from you, anyway, why would he go out with you? You're like 10 stone overweight, stupid, and ugly, yeah, you really know what a guy wants." Lara spat back at the girl, Becky, who was not happy with what she was hearing.

"You've done it this time Croft". Said Becky and then with a powerful shove forward, Lara fell to the ground, knowing that the pain was only just beginning.

Kurtis was sitting on a bench looking over some history notes when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned around to see Niall and his other friend, Daniel running towards him.

"Hey, what's up, you alright?" asked Kurtis with curiosity marked all over his face.

"That. Croft. Girl. You. Like. Is. Getting. Her. Arse. Kicked. By. Becky." Daniel managed to get out during breaths.

"What, why?"

"That's the best part it's over you!" Replied an amused Niall

At that Kurtis dropped his books before sprinting to where Niall and Daniel had came from. He stopped when he noticed a large group of people shouting and screaming. Must be Lara and Becky, he thought to himself before sprinting to the fight scene. He was going to have to force his way in, in order to help Lara. Wait, I'm going to help her from getting a beating, Wow Niall was right, I have got it bad Kurtis thought to himself as he sprinted towards Lara, Becky and all the people surrounding them.

When he got there, he saw a horrific sight. Lara was lying on the ground, her once high, clean ponytail, filled with dirt and her bobble was hanging loosely at the bottom of her ponytail. Her short sleeved white shirt, which stopped just above her underarms, was now red stained with blood. Her trousers were ripped at the bottom, and showed a deep gash

running along her shin, her school tie was ripped, she had bruises on her arms and a black eye and a cut on her right cheek which also had tears running down it. Samantha, Becky's companion, was forcing Lara to the ground, while Becky kicked Lara's ribs. When Kurtis got up as close as he could, he turned his head at the sight of someone he cared about being beaten so badly, and she could do nothing about it. But he could. He noticed a boy shouting "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!" At this Kurtis got an idea.

He screamed at the top of his lungs "Hey, you want a fight, well you got one" At this everyone stopped looking at Lara and Becky and turned to look at Kurtis and the boy he was threatening. Becky also stopped pounding her fist into Lara's stomach and smiled sweetly at Kurtis. He just rolled his eyes. Before the boy in front of him could realise what he meant, Kurtis slammed a fist into his stomach. Lara's eyes widened in disbelief, the most popular boy in school was saving her skin! Kurtis motioned for Lara to get up while he kicked the boy in the shin sending him to the ground. Lara nodded her head and tried to get into a sittiing position but screamed in pain. Then she lifted her shirt up to see a huge bruise forming on her stomach. At hearing the scream, Kurtis automaticlay turned his head to see Lara flop back down on her back whilst breathing heavily. He continued to blow a few more punches at the boy in front of him before going to Lara's aid. He knelt beside her and pulled her into his arms. Everyone stared in disbelief. The most popular boy in school just saved and hugged the geekiest girl in school. She was a loner, and suddenly she managed to fall for the most attractive boy in school, and the best yet, he was falling for her. Becky came back to reality and leaned down and slapped Lara on the face before turning fast on her heels but suddenly stopped at the sound of Kurtis' voice

"Hey, you, girl who looks like a cross between a heffilump and a homosexual!" joked Kurtis with another idea on his mind.

Becky let out a sigh. "Becky." She replied

"Right, Becky come here." Kurtis shouted, he was going to make her pay for what she did to Lara.

"What?" Becky said as she turned around

"I'm gonna humiliate you like what you did to Lara."

"Just try me" She said with a smug grin. "Oh, and 'it's' names not 'Lara', it's Croft."

"Firstly, it is Lara and secondly, I'll take you up on your little offer."

"Go ahead, you won't get very far"

"Fine, would you like to go out with me?" The last part of the sentence are words that he would not like to ask Becky but someone else, someone very close in his arms.

"Are you kidding, of course I would, I new you would come to your senses, that whore was wrong after all"

"Hey, don't you dare call her that." Laughter broke out among the crowd at Kurtis' protection of Lara. Although, Lara was very great full of him for trying. "Anyway," Continued Kurtis, "Becky,darling. You. Are. Dumped."

"What, what for?"

"Work it out, I'm sure your not that thick, I know that telling the time is difficult for you, but, you're 13 now surely even YOU can work THIS out"

Becky stared daggers at him, but felt tears swarm up in her eyes.

"Anyway, that's the exact point, you are a thick, ugly, fat, Bitch!.Who feels better by picking on people weaker than you!" Tears strolled down Becky's face. " See, told you I would humiliate you" Kurtis helped Lara to her feet and when she tried to brake free, Kurtis let her.

Lara casually walked up to Becky, spat some blood out of her mouth, took 2 small steps back and jumped into a twirling kick, smacking Beck in the jaw and sending her to the ground. She turned back to Kurtis with a smile on her face looking almost proud of herself. "Who are you calling weak, I could have kicked the shit out of her with my eyes closed , but that other bitch holding me down" She said, turning back to Samantha, with that Lara landed a punch in Samantha's stomach, leaving her moaning in pain.

She limped back to Kurtis, who she leant against and he planted a light kiss on her cheek. She looked up at him and smiling, this was the happiest she had felt since her mother's disappearance. When they walked away, Niall and Daniel jogged up to them and then began to walk with them. Niall was the first to speak "Told you you had it bad, you kicked the living shit out of that boy just to save her" Lara turned to Kurtis in confusion. "I'll tell you later" he replied seeing the confused look on her face.

Straight after getting her away from the fight, Kurtis, Niall and Daniel took Lara to the school nurse. Of course they had to lie about what happen in order to not get Lara in trouble and not tell the nurse that there was a fight (Although Kurtis was quite chuffed that Lara was fighting over him, though he didn't mention it). They told her that there was a commotion on a set of stairs and Lara was at the wrong place at the wrong time. This was there plan at the moment, although questions would be asked about Becky, Samantha and the boy that Kurtis bet up just for looking at the fight, but they'll let them handle it for themselves.

At the end of the day, Lara stepped out of the school gates, knowing that she would have to face the girls from school, and she dreaded that moment. She wasn't all that pleased that Winston was not at the gates to pick her up in her usual limo, that's probably another reason for them to bully me, at least I have someone to talk to about it now, or was he just acting it to look tough? In amongst her thoughts, Lara didn't notice her name being shouted across the road, until the owner of the voice, put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Kurtis with a smile on his face.

"Speak of the devil" Lara mumbled under her breath

"What?" asked a puzzled Kurtis

"Nothing, so, what do you want?. Pride, all the boys to know what their up against?"

"No, I just wanted to see how you were, y'know I can be nice when I wanna, and you did take a real beating over there."

"I know, I was on the receiving end of it, well thank you my hero" The last word was full of sarcasm.

"Mind if I walk you home?. Daniels away to Niall house 'cause they've got football training"

"Go-ahead, I could use your company, your the first person at school to say something nice to me in like, FOREVER, anyway, I thought you were American, why don't you call it 'soccer'?"

"I've got used to the British words for certain things." There was a pause before Kurtis spoke again. "Quick get on this side of me." He said urgently.

"Why?" Asked a confused Lara at his urgency

"The beast and her henchmen are coming, unless you want another beating we gotta look like we're together, and if you don't I don't think I can save your ass twice in one day" Joked Kurtis swapping places with Lara.

"Thanks, but I don't-" Lara was caught mid sentence when Kurtis took her hand.

She looked up at him, her cheeks turning red and said. "What are you doing? I'm not 2 I don't need a babysitter"

"If you get taken away then I'm coming with you, plus I don't want to admit this but I kinda wanna hold your hand" Replied Kurtis, his face also turning red.

"Fine with me." Lara was surprised at herself for not taking her hand away.

They walked to Lara's house and then talked for a minuet or two, before Kurtis said, "Well, guess I better get goin', see you tomorrow. Kay?", beginning to walk away

"Kurtis wait!" Kurtis walked back to Lara

"Yep ?"

"Thanks for helping me out today, I may not admit it much, but sometimes I do need help."

"That's fine, at least you have me to talk to now, we may not be in the same class, but we can still hang about with each other, anyway isn't Niall in your class?" asked Kurtis before taking a step closer to Lara.

"Yeah, but he can be a total asshole at times." Joked Lara

"I'll talk to him, just walk with him at break and lunch and there's a big chance you'll find me." Said Kurtis turning away from Lara but stopped when she grabbed his hand.

"Kurtis, don't you dare tell anyone I told you this, especially Niall and Daniel, but I sorta like you to, promise you won't tell anybody"

"I won't" was Kurtis's simple reply before planting a kiss on Lara's lips. This sent shivers down Lara's spine. And she couln't help but smile against his lips.

My first kiss. They both thought to themselves

"See you tomorrow" Shouted Kurtis, while walking away

"Yeah"

They next year of their lives Lara, Kurtis, Niall, and Daniel were practically brothers and sister. Lara would have preferred it without Niall or Daniel but they weren't so bad. Lara and Kurtis were boyfriend and girlfriend, you could even say they were first loves, until Lara left for Cambodia, leaving Kurtis heartbroken, she still wrote to him, telling her she would be back soon, but when she returned from Cambodia she was sent to a privet school for her 'own well being'. She never really saw Kurtis again which also left Lara broken-hearted. Although, they both vowed to themselves that they would find each other again someday.