A/U : I have two reviews..(*makes sure not to speak so loud, as not to scare them away*)...Anyway! So here's the first chapter. Yeah, the blue lockers? We have those at my school, and they're a really, really ugly color.


Chapter One : Unlikely Friends

Maria Amherst sighed and slammed her locker shut, glaring at the sickly looking blue that all the lockers were coated with. God, but couldn't they pick another color? Black, maybe, since that was a blend of all colors. Maybe white, even, the forever neutral shade of nothingness. Of course they hadn't; they had settled on pale blue, and a nasty shade at that. Almost worse than vomit green, which had been last years color.

She swung around, dodging what looked to be a freshman, and making her way towards her first period. The worst class of the day, in her opinion. She was truly alone in that class, sitting back in the corner, watching the other students, mostly male, flit around Miss. Perfect. It had been that way since day one, when Dawn Glasgow had showed up late, becoming the center of attention by fault or default.

Shaking her head, she watched as the subject of her thoughts came floating into the room. Falling into her seat with a sigh, Maria watched Dawn chat with every person in the room, twisting her perfect, real blond hair around one perfect French tipped nail. The girl was dressed in white, from her shoes, to her skirt, to her tank top. She looked like an angel, in truth, though Maria would be caught dead rather than admit it.

The bell rang, and the teenager dragged herself away from her thoughts to focus on her teacher, only to swing her eyes towards the door like every other student when it opened.

Ryan Bristow stepped into the classroom, as perfect and hot as always. His black hair was spiked up, the tips dyed dark red. Faded jeans and a red tank top, a white work shirt unbuttoned over the top, completed the rogue look. Every girl in the class (which was about five out of fifteen), about drooled. He didn't help that the boy had not an ounce of fat on him.

"Sorry I was late, Ms. Crawford. I had to stop and talk to my seventh period teacher." He said smoothly, moving into the seat across the isle from Dawn.

The teacher nodded and smiled, and Maria almost gagged. Anyone else, and their stick-up-the-ass History teacher would have given them a detention or embarrassed them. Not the Alpha Group, though, as Maria had taken to calling them. The straight-A students who always seemed to be first in anything. Jackson Colburn and Ty Curning were the last parts of the group, and Sydney Destow had moved away at the start of the year.

Sighing, she tore her thoughts away from the 'Alpha Group' and told herself to get back to work. She couldn't afford to slack off, not like last year...


Dawn sighed and tucked a strand of honey-colored blonde hair behind her ear. God, this class lasted forever. It was one of the few classes that she didn't have with Ty or Jack, though at least Ryan was around to save her skin. Otherwise, she'd have fallen asleep and failed the first semester.

She looked over at Ryan and smiled, blue eyes meeting blue eyes as she silently asked for the time. Nine twenty five, he mouthed back, and her smile got wider. Five for minutes and she'd be free of their History teacher and go on to art, her fine art of choice. Ryan had piano, because he couldn't draw worth crap, but both Ty and Jack were in art. Jack, because he needed the credit, and Ty because he liked to art. She was a little of both.

She tuned in a bit to the teacher, the word 'project' catching her attention. "...the groups will be in fours, with," the teacher counted out the students, "One group of three. I'll choose the group, of course, and place the hard-workers with such." A subtle hint that not everyone was passing.

She called out the roll, and Dawn almost groaned when she saw her name was on the end of the list. "Dawn, how about you and Ryan, and..." She looked around for a third wheel, knowing said person wouldn't have to do anything. Dawn and Ryan were always together and got a high A, no matter the other person in the group. "How about Maria?" She raised her voice, "Ms. Amherst?"

'Ms. Amherst' stood up, popped out one earphone and made her away towards the group of three desks that Ms. Crawford was pointing at. "Oh. Great. I'm in your group." She said after the teacher had turned around.

Dawn wondered for a second whether the blonde highlights in the light brown hair were from the sun or from bleach. Then she swallowed and said jokingly, "We don't bite, ya know, or even fail."

Piercing amber eyes stared at her, "You better not. Fail, that is. I need this grade."

Ryan snorted, "I've need the grade sheet. You're the only person in this class with a straight hundred for the final grade."

"Which, if we get lower than a hundred on this project, will fall." She said slowly, like pointing something out to a child. Dawn winced; Ryan hated that tone, and seemed to have taken an instant dislike to their new third.

She personally thought the girl was cute. Light brown hair was streaked, probably by the sun, with honey blonde. Her eyes were odd, a liquid dark amber, but nothing creepy or weird. She wasn't wearing makeup, which was odd, but then, she didn't need it. A brown shirt made her glow, followed up by dark jeans and what looked like Nine West three-inch leather high heeled boots from last year's sale.

Dawn sighed and zoned back to the present, opening her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Ryan. "Why the hell do you need a straight hundred in History? Why not in something useful?"

She could see this was going nowhere. "You know, I'm gonna have to chalk this up to jealousy, because no one is this much an asshole unless they envy you."

Dawn smothered a laugh, then cleared her throat. "C'mon, guys, can't we get along for a few minutes?" She asked lightly, only to be subjected to an eye roll by Maria, "At least long enough to pick a nation."

Ryan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How about England?"

"No way. Too popular, too common. Same with France and Germany." Maria said automatically. "We should do something heard of, but not too common. Transylvania?"

Dawn shook her head, "That'll be hard to find facts on, and way too popular as well. A lot of people will choose it because of the vampire legends. How about..." She trailed off and looked at the map, "Romania?"

Maria and Ryan both just looked at her for a second. Then Ryan nodded and said, "I'll go for that one. I've heard of it, but half the class probably hasn't."

"Ditto." Maria said after a second, then glanced outside. "Almost time to change classes. We gonna meet and work the rest out?"

Ryan nodded, "How about the coffee house on the corner of Paramour and Faraday? Its where most of my group usually hangs after school."

She nodded as the bell rang, "Sure, but remember, I'm not part of your group." She said it a little causticly, and Dawn winced.

If first period mirrored the rest of the day, today was just gonna suck.


"Dude, you should have heard her! Something sure as hell crawled up her butt and died, or maybe its still biting. That would explain the tone of her voice." Ryan growled, his good mood gone as he made his way towards the coffee house.

"She can't be that bad, Ryan." Ty, always the one to look on the good side. "Maybe she just had a bad day?"

"Maria Amherst? I have her in my Biology II class. A nasty piece of work. Didn't he even flinch when she cut open the baby pig." Jackson said, yawning.

Dawn sighed, "I must admit, she was very...caustic. She was not insulting me personally, but she does act like she's above us."

"Which, in Dawn terms, means she's a stuck-up bitch." Jackson translated, forever the tactless one.

Ty was silent as Ryan threw an arm over his shoulder. "Well, just wait to make your decision." He opened the door and scanned the chairs and couches. "If she's here...Probably ditched us."

"Actually, I'm behind you." Maria said from behind them, her tone chilly and cool.

Everyone froze and turned around, clogging up the doorway. "Um, hi, Maria." Dawn said with a tight smile.

Maria merely looked at her with cold as ice amber eyes. "Please move, or I'll be stuck here all day."

They trooped in, Ryan choosing the usual spot by default. Two couches were pushed together, making a half-T shape. A coffee table was in between, for people to put their stuff. He claimed the corner of the smaller couch, and proceeded to unload three book and a spiral.

Dawn, Ty and Jackson moved to take the three-person couch, automatically leaving the seat beside Ryan open for Syd, even if she was gone. Seeing there was no other place to sit, Maria took the empty seat, as far from Ryan as the couch would let her get.

"What books have you gotten?" She asked after a second, extending a hand.

Still disgusted at himself for talking about her in front of her, he gave the books up without argument. "Romania for Dummies, Wold History : Romania, and How Romania Became a Nation." She read off, then handed them back and looked up. "That's it? Only three?"

Dawn shook her head, "That's all the school library had, but we'll be going to the public library later."

Ryan nodded, "Its open till seven, right? We should be done by then." He glanced at the clock.

"No worries, I'll get them. I work there, so I know what to look for." Maria said, still cold as ice.

Ty cleared his throat, "Anyone want anything? On the house." Looking at Maria, he explained, "Its my parents place, so I get everything free, as long as I work on the weekends."

She seemed to be thinking as everyone else spoke. "Hot chocolate with whip cream. Can you do that?" Maria asked after a second.

Ty blinked at her and nodded, "Sure." He hadn't pictured her for hot chocolate, much less whip cream, but whatever. "Any food?"

"Cheese danish." She said off the top of her head. "I think coffee houses serve that stuff."

Ty nodded, "Yep. My mom makes them in the back, so their fresh too." He stood, only having to remember Maria's order. For everyone else, he just told his parents 'the usual', which was pretty cool. "C'mon, Jackson, I'll need help carrying things."

"Sooo...." Ryan let it trail out, pushing hair out of his eyes. Seventh period had been swimming team, and he hadn't bothered to re-gel his hair.

Dawn took over. "I'm really, really sorry about what I said out there." She said in an almost pleading tone.

Maria looked a tad surprise before her face went blank. "Don't be. You were only telling the truth."

Ryan butted in then, "We met you once. We should have bothered to get to know you first, before really judging you publicly, or talking about you." Dawn nodded in agreement, having nothing to add.

"Well, whatever." Maria was still a little struck they apologized. "Look, you're not the first person, and you're not the last, and you certainly not the worst. Really, I don't know why I'm reacting the way I am."

"Because a stranger was ragging on you and basically saying cruel things about you, even when they don't know you?" Jackson asked, sitting down and handed Dawn and Ryan their drinks, and stetting down the cup holder to grab his own drink. "Ty will be back in a second."

Looking decidedly uncomfortable, she said, "Well, apology accepted. You didn't mean any harm."

A hot chocolate with heaping amount of whip cream appeared in front of her. "They didn't. They were just being insensitive, which, for Dawn, is pretty rare." Ty said as she took the coco. "Here's your danish." He handed her the plate next. "So how's it goin'?"

She took a piece of the danish and popped it into her mouth. Dawn watched her as Ryan began to tell Ty and Jackson just how messed up Europe was. "You look you've never had one before." Dawn said, clearly amused as she watched Maria moan from the taste.

"Not in a long, long time. Damn, these are good." She said after a second, finally loosening up a bit. "Anyone else want a piece? I'm not cruel enough to horde it all."

Ryan laughed and reached over, only to have his hand smacked by Dawn. "You have your own food," She motioned at the cheesecake in front of him. "Don't take Maria's, no matter what she says."

This time, everyone laughed. After that little joke, though, everyone seemed to buckle down on their homework. Ty with math, Jackson with biology, and Ryan, Dawn and Maria on history. For two hours they talked, joked and did homework, until Maria finally looked at the clock.

"Shit, I'm late for work." She muttered, "Hey, I gotta go, okay? Are we doing this tomorrow as well?"

Everyone looked up and blinked at the clock. Ryan nodded after a second. "Everyday and any day you'd like, okay?" He said lightly, standing up himself. "Hey, I gotta go help mom with dinner. I promised tonight. See y'all later."

He followed Maria out, heading towards his own car as he watched her hail a cab. Maybe she's stick around, hang out more. Everyone else seemed to like her...Kick his car in gear, he smiled to himself. Dawn was right.

You found friends in the most unlikely of people.