Drops of Jupiter

"Tell me did you sail across the sun
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star
One without a permanent scar
And did you miss me while you were looking at yourself out there"

"No way, seven classes?" Jane exclaimed quietly as Lili recounted about her new classmate in English.

Lili nodded, "The only class I don't have with him is Newspaper. Thank goodness he's not literate or curious enough to do anything to that degree."

"Don't be so harsh, Lili, he's sitting right there." Jane pointed Chase out with her eyes.

"Like I care, Jane. Gosh, I don't even know why Ms. Jones is even putting him in these classes. I know he's just going to slack off, and he's not even that attractive." Lili sat back in her chair.

Truthfully, Lili thought he was cute, but that was it. She was disgusted by his alleged behaviors and promiscuity. And she couldn't stand it when people took more pride in being good at sports and enjoying the fame than their schoolwork and the development of their mind. (This was a big indication that Lili was a BIG geek.)

"I think he's kind of handsome." Jane smiled kindly, trying to tone down Lili's sharp tongue.

"What, are you going to fall under his charms like all those girls?" Lili said skeptically.

"No, I'm more interested in his friend." She eyed to somebody behind Chase. She had been looking at him every since he walked into the classroom.

Lili finally turned around and saw Charlie sitting behind Chase. The two guys were talking to each other jokingly, with Chase turning around in his chair.

"Charlie James? Yeah, well, he's a nice guy and all." Lili had shared a couple of classes with Charlie before but they never really talked to each other. She did know that he had a nice guy reputation to his name and that was always a plus in her book. "But for a guy that could stand hanging out and be friends with Chase Meade must be a lunatic. Please don't tell me that you're going to ask him out?"

"No, I want to take a break from the whole 'making the first move' thing, but if he asks me out…you never know…"

"Yeah, Jane, you make the first moves on guys all the time." Lili said disbelievingly.

Jane didn't have the chance to answer because the English teacher walked into the classroom just as the late bell rang, telling everybody to settle in.

Now, Mrs. Garret was a stoutly-looking woman. She was shorter than everybody in her class and she tended to stay seated in her chair in front of the class.

She introduced the subject to the class and warned them that there will be a lot of reading and discussion in the class. The amount of work that the students had to do didn't fully comprehend in everybody's mind until Mrs. Garret told them that they were to write basically a book report on any book of their choice (with her approval) due at the end of the month.

Lili took all of this in slowly. English was never her best subject, and honestly, she didn't even like it that much. She was only taking this class because one, she didn't know what else to take, two, she knew that she could exceed in it, and three, she loved reading despite her not liking the class. (Especially the classics, she could never stand those teen novels. "Too many mushy and pointless dramas," she thought.)

The class thus ended while they were all silently going over some notes on classroom procedures, some notes on the book report and the list of books that students could choose from, and passing out papers that they needed to get signed by parents. (Those were always the easiest homework to do.)

Lili gathered her stuff and walked out with Jane. They parted ways at the doorway, promising to find each other at lunch third period.

Lili felt like she had forgotten about something (or someone in this case). The person she had forgotten tapped on her shoulder as soon as she turned the corner in order to walk down the stairs to get to the gym.

"Why?" Chase asked out of the blue.

"If you think that that's going to let me know what you're talking about, then you shouldn't be talking to me." She replied.

He seemed to be taken aback with the harsh reply, but, remembering his pride, recovered pretty quickly, "I was just asking why you don't like me."

"Because I completely have no intentions of making out with you, that's why." Lili didn't want to have to explain herself for not liking somebody. She does that too much at home as it is.

"What makes you think that I want to do anything like that with you?" He seemed shock with disbelief and disgust.

"Then you would have no problems with me not liking you." She said as they kept on walking down the hall.

"I think it's a little unfair for you to hate me without getting to know me." Chase said as he suddenly realized where they were headed.

"It's not unfair; it's life. You can't have everybody worshiping you."

"People do not worship me." He said with a cocky smile.

"You see," Lili pointed out to his smile. "This is what I hate about you. You always have such a godly ego that you always end up being the biggest ass around. People worship because you're good at a sport, they see a winner, but they can't see how much of a loser you really are."

"What…" He started to say but was cut off by students running pass him to get to the gym before the bell rung. Lili ended up getting away from his sight.


Sure, Lili was the only senior in her beginner's gym class in a sea of freshmen and sophomores, but to her, every gym class was the same. She didn't really care of getting teased for being older; she just wanted to get her full year of P.E. over, so that she could graduate, even if it was her senior year.

She was happily content with her class, (she even made a few acquaintances). The class was walking outside in their gym uniforms (something that they were required to purchase before the school year started) as the gym instructor, Coach Blue gave them an annual tour of what they would be doing this year.

Coach Blue was the coach of the tennis team. He was a great mentor to none other than Chase. Coach Blue thought and knew that Chase would be up for great things and he would take the time to coach and push Chase as much as he can. And the boy could handle it too.

Anyways, Lili observed all the players that she saw training with a feeling of contempt and indignation. She didn't like sports that much. In fact, she didn't like it at all. This was because she would rather stay home and read rather than tire herself in something competitive. She felt that the competition took the fun out of most games. She didn't care about losing and she felt no different if she won.

Her parents were worried about her and her health, so they had her learn tennis when she was younger. She played competitively until before she started middle school when she realized that life wasn't all about tennis. She knew that the constant tennis practices that she endured everyday was affecting her tired mentality and prevented her from making a lot of friends, which she loved even more than tennis itself.

Throughout middle school, she worked hard to keep a high grade so that she could get a scholarship to Northfield High School, a school she always wanted to go. She got the full-ride scholarship she wanted at a school most reputed for being a sports school.

"Now, class," Coach Blue started to say once everybody reached the tennis court. "This year's emphasis would be on tennis. There will certainly be other sports throughout the year but when the weather is still great; our focus will be on tennis."

"Is that who I think it is?" Some girl behind Lili whispered.

"Oh my god, it's Chase Meade!" Another girl quietly said giddily.

Lili rolled her eyes as she watched Chase practiced his serve. She didn't get what people saw in him. He was inconsiderate and rude. He was certainly not nice; she didn't think that that was something that Chase Meade was even capable of being.

"Meade!" Coach Blue yelled. "Get over here."

Chase looked over and nodded, jogging over to the group.

"What's up, Coach?" Chase said as he smiled at his mentor.

"Everybody," Coach Blue said loudly, "This is Chase Meade, and since he also has P.E. with me, he will be helping me with the tennis unit this year. He will help me teach you guys what it means to be a good tennis player."

Everybody immediately started clapping. The girls, especially, were all giddy about the prospects of Chase Meade teaching them how to play tennis. But Lili once again rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She couldn't believe this. It was bad enough that Chase also had P.E. as well as she did, but to think that he was going to help teach tennis to a couple of giddy girls and guys who think they're good enough to take anybody on, this was going to be one hell of a year for her.


The bell signaling the end of second period finally rung as Lili quickly walked out of the gymnasium in her normal clothes (which was basically a pair of jeans and a nice T-shirt) and towards the lunch room.

The lunch room at Northfield was basically like any other. It was a big echo-y room with giant windows paneling the three walls. The lunch lines were always long and since they were only given 25 minutes to eat their lunch, Lili felt it would just be better if she brought her own lunch.

"Hey, Jane." Lili sat down next to her best friend, smiling.

"Hey, what's up?" Jane was highlighting some notes from what looked like her Latin class. Yep, Jane was taking a dead language as her foreign language class. Got a problem with that? Didn't think so.

"Nothing much, P.E. was as horrible as I thought it would be. If I didn't need to take that class as a graduation requirement, then I would be taking something else that would be more worthwhile."

"You did put it off until now, Lili. You can't complain."

"I know, but seriously, why would anybody need to take gym for a whole year?" Lili continued to complain.

"Hi, Lili." Chase grinned as he immediately sat down at the table with his bottle of Gatorade and hot dog. Charlie was with him, but instead of sitting down like his jerk of a friend, he stood there, staring at Jane. Jane, in turn, smiled at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lili said in displeasure.

"Just having lunch. Gosh, Lili, I thought you were smarter than that." Chase scoffed at he twisted open his drink and took a gulp. (I don't think guys are capable of taking 'sips'... no, just gulps.)

"Never question my intelligence, Chase. I was asking what you think you were doing eating here." Lili squinted at him, angrily.

"I thought I would just have lunch with you. You could probably help me out with the new classes that we have together. That is what Ms. J asked you to do."

"You're right, Ms. Jones did ask me to help you out, but she didn't ask me to socialize with you. Now I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love your company, so you really don't have to stay here. Go eat somewhere else." Lili gestured with her hand, shooing Chase away.

"It's really okay, Lili. Let them stay." Jane told to Lili. She faced Charlie and asked him to sit down and that they would love some more company during lunch.

"Jane, what are you doing?" Lili whispered to Jane, leaning towards her for subtle effect.

"I'm trying to be nice, Lili. And so should you." She whispered back.

Lili looked like she was about to burst when she just gave up and pulled out her lunch from her backpack.

"Fine, you guys could stay; but I swear, Chase, if you do anything, anything at all, I would personally kill you myself."

"Okay." Chase held up his hands in mock surrender.


When lunch ended, the group proceeded to go to their third period classes. Lili had newspaper, which was a relief to her because this was the only class she didn't have to share with that insufferable being that was Chase.

Newspaper was a great hobby for Lili. She knew that she wanted to be on the staff since she first saw an issue in the eighth grade. She loved the issue so much that she took journalism in her very first semester at Northfield. And now that she was the only senior in the class, she was naturally nominated to become the new editor-in chief.

She introduced herself to the newcomers and started to then talk about ideas for the year's first issue. All in all, it was a good class for her. She liked it and felt as if she had a peace of mind there.


After third period, she walked down the hallway to the last class of the day. She decided this year that she was going to take something cool, and the only thing that struck her as cool was Zoology.

Yes, this is the class where you get to dissect organisms. But don't get me wrong, this isn't for fun (that would just be horrible), this was in the name of science and knowledge.

Anyways, Lili walked in and sat herself down next to Jane who had gotten there earlier. They both greeted each other and talked about homework for that night when, lo and behold, Chase and Charlie walked into the classroom.

Charlie, as smooth as he led himself to believe, 'glided' over to sit next to Jane. In actuality, he walked over to her but seemed to trip over air and was going to fall if he hadn't caught himself with the chair.

"You wouldn't mind if I sat next to you, right?" Charlie asked meekly.

Jane smiled and told him that the seat wasn't taken and that she didn't mind at all. This was…a moment, as you might say. A moment that made Lili want to puke, but that was beside the point. It was too gushy for her to bear, but she felt that Charlie was a nice enough guy that he wouldn't hurt her best friend.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I sat here, right?" Chase asked Lili as he just sat himself down next to her.

"Yes, I do mind. Now, go away." Lili scooted her seat away from him and closer to Jane.

"Ouch, that hurts, Lili." He mocked her once again, holding his hands to his heart as if Lili had stabbed him. He moved over to sit next to Charlie just to get away from her glare.

"Do you need to go to the nurse? Because I would personally ask the teacher, if you do."

The bell rung and the instructor walked into the classroom. Mr. Petricelli was a favorite among the students. He was especially Lili's favorite. She liked his teaching so much that she was his class three times! She had him for biology in 9th grade, chemistry in 10th, and now zoology.

In truth, the four seniors had had Mr. Petricelli before and they all remembered having fun in his class. This class would be no different.

Mr. Petricelli called out the roll. He looked around and told the class that many of the students in his class this year have also been his past students. He then introduced the class to the curriculum of Zoology and the expectations. He gave out papers to be signed and began dividing the class up into groups of four.

"You four seem like a nice group. But Lili, I don't think you should be partnered up with Jane."

"Why not?" Lili asked, really wanting to be with Jane.

"Because that would upset the balance too much for this group." Mr. Petricelli said, smiling.

"And balance is everything, is that right?" Lili eyed him carefully.

"Of course. Now, Jane, I want you to work with Charlie here. Chase, switch seats with Jane, please."

"Wait a minute; you're not going to pair me up with him. I would rather work with Charlie."

"What's the matter, Lili? Is there something going with you and Chase?" He said, sounding as if he took pleasure in Lili's slight discomfort.

"Nothing, nothing's going on…"

"Then you would have no problem working with Chase." Mr. Petricelli piped in and left to make his way to other areas in the room.

Chase sat down next to Lili again as she gave him the evil glare.

"You heard what he said, Lili. Nothing I could do about it."

"Are you trying to make my senior year hell?" Lili asked him.

"No, I'm not trying, I guess it comes naturally."

Lili let out an angry sigh of frustration and turned to face the board. She tried to ignore him for the rest of the period.

When the bell rung, signaling the end of the period, Lili gathered her stuff, told Jane to call her, and immediately left the classroom.

She walked out of the building and to the bus stop to wait for the bus to take her home. That's right; Lili Daniels took the bus home. Her family couldn't get her a car for her sixteenth birthday when she got her license and she was fine with that. She lived an ordinary life and she was happy with what she had at the moment.

She got home an hour later to find her mom icing cupcakes. Lili's mom was a typical housewife who married her father for the same reasons he married her. They were both quite good-looking in their day and had decided to gat married. The only thing was, as the years went by, Mr. Daniels grew wiser and more sensible of things while his wife became obsessed with everything fancy and elegant. The couple finally divorced a couple of years ago, and Lili now divided her time with her mother and her father.

"Hey, mom. Those look good." Lili greeted her mother.

"They should be; I made them for Lindsey's birthday party. Since it's at your dad's place, I thought that I should do my share by making something for her." She said with a slight smile on her face as she finally looked up to look at her daughter.

Lindsey was Lili's little sister. She was a sophomore at Dekate High School near their dad's neighborhood. Lindsey was so much like her mother, silly and ridiculous ninety percent of the time. Lili stayed with her mother while Lindsey stayed with her dad for most of the year because of school. The family got together for all the major holidays, but those were almost the only times that Lili actually got to see her sister. They talked every now in then on the phone, but in truth, the divorce of their parents has caused the two sisters to become more distant than before.

"Yeah, it's her sixteenth birthday today, isn't it? I guess we're going to dad's place tonight."

"Of course. How else would you see your sister?" she asked rhetorically.

"Wait, I take that back, don't answer that." she immediately corrected herself when she saw that her daughter was going to seriously answer her question. "Anyways, how was your first day of senior year?"

"Horrible…everything was just horrible." Lili said as she finally decided to lay her stuff down on the couch.

"Now, Lili, it couldn't have been that bad."

Lili eyed her mother widely and nodded her head to confirm that the day was that bad.


A/N: Hey, everybody! What's up? How did you like this chapter?

I almost couldn't believe the response to this story. I'm glad that the reviewers liked it. And I've actually gotten reviews of which I could respond to!!

Anyways, the end of next week would be the start of my Thanksgiving break so I could probably put out at least two chapters…so look forward to that.

Thanks to all reviewers and readers, I know you're out there! LOL…okay.

rainey: Thank you do much for pointing that out. I thought I had changed it all but I guess I didn't. Just know that you never have to apologize for correcting me, I encourage it.

wkmak: Gangster Rapper, huh? You're right, it's doesn't sound like a Mr. Darcy at all. But my inspiration for the name 'Chase' was from the show House on FOX. Dr. Robert Chase is very close to the embodiment of my ideal Mr. Darcy. Daniel Meade on Ugly Betty was also an inspiration. If you look at both of their pictures, I'm sure you would agree that they look a lot like a Mr. Darcy. (Maybe not but…at least they don't look like gangster rappers.)

Sobee1982: Now you know that Northfield High is a private school. I know tennis is weird to have as a popular sport, but I don't like football that much and I knew just a little more about tennis. Thanks for your question.