Background: Main focus is on Jessie and Katie. They're in high school, they've never met before, and pretty much everything is like what it was in the show. (if that even makes sense)

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Once and Again, I own nothing. (so far)

Reviews: This is my first fic ever, and I have no idea what I'm doing...so ya, reviews would be nice. (please? lol) No reviews, no updates, mmkay?

Rated: K+

Tap-tap-tap went Jessie Sammler's thumbnail, her purple nail polish chipped and worn, hitting up against the side of her iPod. She looked out the car window, catching glimpses of the scenery rushing by, the lonely tops of tall trees accented by a gray sky.

Today was her first day back to school from winter break, the beginning of her second semester as a lowly sophomore at Upton Sinclair high school. She should be thrilled, right? Wrong!

If Jessie could pick anywhere in the world to be that morning, school would definitely not be her first choice. Sure, she made good grades. She wasn't exactly ugly either. And, as far as she knew, she wasn't on anybody's hit list. But despite also having a few friends here and there, she still felt like there was something missing. Even though she pretty much had everything in the world going for her, she still felt lonely and insecure around the sea of students.

'Ugh...my stomach is killing me,' she thought. She slipped her hand under her shirt, feeling the emptiness of the area. She barley had time to dash out the front door and into Grace's car before her step-sister went ballistic on her this morning, so eating breakfast was definitely out of the question.

In her morning rush she didn't even think about grabbing something on the way out, which would have assured her parents of her eating habits. Now her lack of food would give rise to many questions about her diet when she got home, she thought, furrowing her brow. She tapped her thumb even louder to the music.

"Jessie, will you PLEASE stop that?!" A shrill voice broke her thoughts.

She looked up to find a very disgruntled Grace scowling at her.

Jessie immediately stopped the tapping, and at the same time slipped her headphones off of her head and around her neck. "Sorry Grace, guess it's just nerves," she sighed.

"Well, we're almost there," Grace breathed, turning her attention back to the road. "Just...relax, Jessie."

Jessie nodded, rolling her eyes to herself. She looked back out the window, watching all of the students hanging around outside as Grace pulled into the student parking lot.

All of a sudden Jessie was once again knocked out of her daydreams, this time by the screeching of car brakes.

"Oh my God!" Jessie screamed, jolting forward in her seat. She regained her composure long enough to look over at Grace, who was frozen with her hands on the wheel. She looked like she was about to throw up.

"Grace?" Jessie screamed again. "What the hell!?"

Grace let go of the wheel, jumping out of the car, and Jesse followed suit.

They ran to the front of the car, only to find a flustered looking girl sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. She looked up wide-eyed at the two.

"Katie?" Grace gasped.

"Grace?"

Jessie looked on, staring at the fallen girl without realizing it. Katie, she decided, was a really pretty name. 'Wait...what??'

The girl, or Katie, spoke again, this time a little louder. "Grace, you could have killed me!" She closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, then stood up to dust herself off.

"S-sorry," Grace stuttered. "I guess I wasn't paying attention. I mean, I was, but maybe I took the turn a little fast. There must have been, like, a blind spot or something, because really, I would never--"

Katie sighed, pressing two fingers to her temple. "It's fine," she said finally. "No harm no foul, right? I'm just gonna go before I'm late." She turned to look at Jessie, and stopped. She smiled. Suddenly she forgot why she was in such a hurry.

Jessie smiled back at her, but suddenly felt herself starting to blush. "Um...are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly.

Katie laughed. Despite almost getting run over, she was grinning ear to ear. "Ya, I'm fine. Or, at least I will be once I get that killer chemistry test out of the way. That's probably the reason I walked out in front of your car. I swear, those things...they just make your head spin, ya know?" She was rambling. 'Wow Katie...could you be any lamer?'

Jessie giggled.

Katie, pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, still staring at the blonde in front of her. There was something about this girl that she liked, despite the fact that she had anything to do with Grace Manning. "What's your name?"

"Jessie," the younger girl blurted out, shifting her weight. She was obviously nervous. It was cute.

"I'm Katie," she smiled back, a few loose strands of her brown hair sweeping across her face. "And...I really have to get to class. But I'll see you around?"

"Sure, but...next time you hopefully won't be on your back in a parking lot."

Jessie had attempted to be witty, and it had failed. She was usually very quiet, and now she was beginning to understand why that worked so well for her.

Katie laughed, nodding. That sounded like something she would have said...