So I told myself a few weeks back that I wasn't going to jump head first into a new fandom without some proper consideration. Today I just thought to myself, fuck that!

So I've decided to test the waters by randomly throwing this fic I've been writing out there to see if anyone enjoys it. I've been reading South Of Nowhere fanfic for a while now and there are so many immensely talented writers out there I've been a little bit intimidated to try something of my own.

But I've had a hell of a time writing it so far. I've got about five chapters done at the minute so hopefully someone out there will enjoy it. It's almost pretty much my first shot at writing in first person, so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks.

I lie back against an old wooden bench in the quad and take a moment to bask in the L.A. morning sun. My face is hidden under my ridiculously gigantic sunglasses as I swallow the last mouthful of the Starbuck's coffee I'd stopped off to get this morning. If I had my way, I wouldn't get to school until five seconds before the warning bell but my nerdy little sister, Kyla, had to get in early this morning to set up her chess tournament or whatever it was she was going on about. I seriously can't pay attention to anything before I've had my morning coffee.

So that's why I'm sitting here on my own fifteen minutes before school is even due to start. I have no idea where my other friends are, although now I think about it Chelsea is probably somewhere in the art department and Aiden will most likely be on the basketball courts getting all sweaty and gross.

I'm interrupted by a hand slapping me on the back of the head and I turn to kick the shit out of whoever just slapped me to see my best friend, Taylor, grinning down at me with mischievous hazel eyes. I roll my eyes, knowing that she's done something that will most likely get her into a lot of trouble, which would probably explain why she looks so proud of her achievement.

"Hey Taylor." I greet her lazily, as she slumps down beside me, still wearing that same shit-eating grin.

"Guess what I just did?" Taylor brushes off my greeting and gets straight to the point, as always. "Go on guess?"

"I dunno." And I really don't. With Taylor it could be anything. "Did you...key Sherry's car again?" No wait, she did that last week. "Did you...hit Madison?" No wait, she doesn't hit girls...

"No." Taylor tells me impatiently. "Come on Ash, what kind of guessing is that? I keyed Sherry's car last week and you know I don't hit girls."

"I know." I reply, starting to get mildly irritated. I am not in the mood for this first thing on a Monday. "Just tell me Tay."

"Well, you know the cheerleaders have practice in the gym on Monday mornings?" Taylor's grin widens until it's so massive that the Cheshire cat would be proud.

Oh dear lord, what did she do? She doesn't normally act this proud unless it's something really bad. Please tell me it has nothing to do with the Science Lab. Last time it did it got really messy. I've got three words for you. Multiple. Frog. Dissection.

"What did you do?"

"Well I snuck into the changing rooms whilst they were changing afterwards and I noticed that Madison was in the shower."

I can see where this is going and a grin starts to form on my own face. My best friend is quite the stealthy genius sometimes. You wouldn't expect someone of her height and stature to be so sneaky but she really is. One time she snuck into my house and stole all my underwear. Let me tell you now, being forced to borrow your mother's underwear is not fun. Not fun at all. Especially if your mother happens to be an evil bitch.

"So..." Taylor paused for dramatic effect and I roll my eyes once again. Taylor always has been a bit of a drama queen. "I nicked all her clothes!"

Taylor unzips her rucksack to show me a bundle of cloth that is immediately recognisable as Madison's clothing and cheerleading outfit. I feel my eyebrows shoot up in disbelief before the laughter begins to bubble in my throat. Before we know it, we're both cracking up.

"Fucking hell Tay!" I exclaim through tears of laughter. "You are absolutely bat shit crazy!"

She really is. That girl really doesn't know the meaning of the word boundaries.

"I know right?" Taylor smiles at me, seemingly very proud of this fact. "Come on Davies, give me some." She holds up a hand which I slap with my own in a resounding high five before she slings an arm over my still shaking shoulders.

"So what class do you have this morning?" She asks as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a cigarette whilst I simultaneously reach into mine for a lighter. She leans over and lets me light it, taking a drag before giving me a pearly white smile and my shoulders an affectionate squeeze.

Taylor and I have been friends since 10th Grade. She'd just moved from England to the USA and was new to King High. The first time we met was when Madison and I were having a screaming match at each other in the middle of the corridor before class.

If I remember correctly Taylor meandered her way along the corridor and pushed through the crowd before getting right in the middle of the argument to stand in front of me. Then she held out her hand, introduced herself, told me she thought I was cool and then turned to Madison and started explaining to her why because of the imbalance in the world's population, lesbians help to rid the world of loneliness.

I was originally kind of freaked out by her and not just because she believed lesbianism solved the issue of geographical seclusion. Taylor is tall, about five foot nine and built like a brick wall, her own words not mine. She works out a lot and her arms are bigger than half of the guys around here. But the thing about Taylor is that although she looks and acts hard, if you scratch the surface you get to see the gooey centre. Huh, kinda sounds like a chocolate commercial. Damn, now I'm hungry.

"Algebra." I answer Taylor's question with a groan. I really hate Algebra. I mean Math with numbers is hard enough but Math with letters? That's just plain mean.

"That sucks. Wanna skip?" Taylor asks, blowing out a perfect smoke ring and I'm momentarily distracted by how sexy she just looked. Taylor and I will never be more than friends but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate her rugged sexiness from time to time.

She catches me looking and throws me a wink and a smirk and leans over to whisper in my ear.

"If it helps any, I think you're smoking hot too Ash."

I chuckle, Taylor has always been the biggest flirt. She's been slapped more times than I can count. Not that I didn't try, I was keeping a tally chart for a little while but it was simply impossible to keep track. She even flirts with Madison for God's sakes! But I think that might just be to piss her off.

Speaking of, I can see Madison storming across the quad right now and...What the fuck is she wearing? She's dressed like Taylor's Grandma, who's half blind by the way.

"I think she had to dress from lost property." Taylor sniggers in my ear and I can't help but chuckle. This is the most hilarious thing that's happened since...yesterday. My Mom forced me and Kyla to go out for Sunday dinner and a pigeon shitted on her head. I laughed so hard I thought I'd actually ruptured something.

But holy shit does Madison look angry. Her face is so red you could probably fry an egg on it and her lips are so thin for a moment there I thought they'd actually fallen off.

"Fuck, look how red her face is." Taylor whispers in my ear, with a breathy laugh. "She looks like an angry, Spanish pixie."

I had to laugh at that. Taylor has a way of making the most serious of situations funny. She could do stand up comedy at a funeral and people would laugh.

"But dude, when she stomps along like that, it totally makes her tits bounce."

"Ew. Taylor." I groan. She's right of course, those things are bouncing like they're on mini trampolines but was it really necessary to point it out?

"Sorry babe, but look at her. Couldn't you just eat her up?" Taylor all but growls out.

"Maybe if I didn't know what a bitch she was." I shudder.

Madison's hot and all but her personality is so repulsive and she's such a homophobic bitch that it even makes her body look ugly to me.

Madison finally gets to within yelling range and I feel Taylor's grip on my shoulder tighten slightly. That's one thing you should know about Taylor. She's fiercely loyal and if anyone messes with me they will be answering to her. It's not that I can't look after myself or anything, I'd like to think that I've got enough street smarts and attitude to get me by, but it's always nice to know that someone's got your back.

"Hey Maddie baby." Taylor calls out and I can't help but laugh as Madison's face gets even redder if that's possible. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your beautiful company?"

"Don't mess around with me." Madison growls and for a moment I will admit that I'm kinda scared of her, but only for a second.

What? That bitch is kinda psychotic.

"What have you dykes done with my clothes?" She hisses loudly and I'm sure I just felt something wet hit me on the face. Eww! That is so nasty. Madison cooties are on me! Somebody get me to a shower stat!

"What are you talking about honey?" Taylor drools out in her deep, English accent as I rub my face frantically on my shirt. "And by the way, you look absolutely fabulous today! Where did you get that gorgeous jumper? I simply must have one."

Now this is funny on more than one level. Firstly, it's hilarious because Madison is so tightly-wound about her appearance that right now she looks like she's about to internally combust.

Secondly, it's even more amusing because Taylor doesn't really give a fuck about how she looks or what clothes she wears. She doesn't care about labels or trends or her hair. She only really cares about her body and the frustrating thing is she keeps in such great shape that no matter what she puts over the top of it she always looks good. Like today for example. All she's wearing is a pair of faded and ripped black jeans that look like they've never been introduced to an iron, a white tank top that shows off her arms and two tattoos and a pair of red and white basketball sneakers that are falling apart, but she still looks great.

So now I'm in hysterics and have almost my whole fist in my mouth to try and control my laughter at the look on Madison's face and the irony of Taylor teasing the queen of fashion about her clothing.

Madison crosses her arms across her chest self-consciously to try and cover up the puke-coloured, woollen sweater that she's been forced to borrow and I'm a goner.

Unfortunately, Madison doesn't find my amusement particularly...amusing.

"I swear to God Davies, if you don't stop laughing and give me back my clothes in five seconds flat I will bitch slap you so hard..." She trails because suddenly Taylor is on her feet and all five foot nine of her is towering over Madison in a rather intimidating manner.

"Now Maddie." She says in a deep, threatening voice. "I know we're soulmates and all but I'm afraid I can't allow you to threaten my best mate like that. You can say what you like to me, because let's face it we can just have some great make up sex afterwards..." Taylor smiles evilly when Madison's face twists in disgust. "But you really shouldn't speak to Ashley like that."

I could tell by Madison's face that she doesn't know whether to argue or to run away with her tail between her legs. Whereas I know that Taylor would never actually lay a finger on the other girl, Madison does not and it's something that we often use to our advantage.

"Whatever Jones." Madison spits out Taylor's last name like it's a curse and flounces away in all her bitchy glory, her hair hitting Taylor in the face on the way, which makes me laugh even more because Taylor instinctively pulls her head back and it looks more like she's being hit by a giant hammer than a lock of hair.

"Her hair smells really good." Taylor comments after the shock has worn off and I punch her playfully in the arm as I get up to stand beside her. In case you hadn't noticed, Taylor has a really weird relationship with Madison. It's somewhere between the realms of hate and lust.

We both watch as Madison makes her way back towards her bunch of cheer-whores and something catches my eye. In the midst of green and yellow cheerleader uniforms is a slim blonde. I can't see her face because her back is turned but holy shit does she have killer legs! I'm talking tanned and smooth and long and toned and – .

"Ash, you're drooling." Taylor nudges me out of my leg induced drool-fest just as Madison finally reaches her groupies. She says something to them, something that's obviously about us because they all turn to glare our way.

Wow.

If I thought her legs were hot they've got nothing on her eyes. Even from all the way across the quad I can see that they're a light, piercing blue. She's staring right at me and I think my cheeks are starting to heat up. What the fuck is wrong with me?

"Dude, why are you blushing?" Taylor asks bluntly. As usual. "I haven't seen you this red since sophomore year when I filled your locker full of condoms and announced to the entire corridor that you were a hermaphrodite."

Yes, she really did that. If being gay wasn't bad enough I still get kids coming up to me and asking to see my 'teeny-weeny'.

"I still haven't forgiven you for that." I mutter, although my eyes are still firmly planted on the blonde. They have now drifted to her ass, which also happens to be flawless.

Who is she?

"Who is she?"

Shit. Did not mean to say that out loud.

"Who?" Taylor asks, raising an eyebrow at me. I hate it when she does that, it makes me feel like I'm being interrogated.

I'm not going to answer her. If I just keep my mouth shut she'll never know and I won't be subjected to years of teasing for blushing just because a girl glanced my way.

"Who?" Taylor asks again. Damn, that girl is persistent. "The hot blonde with the cheer-whores?"

Shit. Busted.

"Yeah..." I admit slowly, waiting for the teasing comment that is sure to come.

"That my friend, is Spencer Carlin." Taylor surprises me by answering. "She just moved to L.A from Ohio with her family."

How does she know these things? It's seriously creepy.

"And I know that because I spoke to her yesterday." Taylor reads my facial expression, as she so often does. "And the reason I spoke to her yesterday is because the Carlin's are my new neighbours."

Oh. So I may have jumped to conclusions about my best friend being a stalker a little too quickly.

My eyes drift back up to the blonde and I'm disappointed to notice that she's walking away arm in arm with Madison. That little bitch better not contaminate Spencer with her bitchiness.

Spencer...Isn't that a guy's name? Ah well, who gives a fuck? The only thing I can think about as I let Taylor drag me out of the quad is how her legs and ass look even better when she's walking.

Thanks for reading.

I'd love any comments, tips, thoughts, criticisms that you might wanna throw my way. It would be a big help. Thanks.