Aria hated school, the only reason she came to school was so she could run, sure she could do everything on her own and enter 5ks; but her father thought it would be better for her to socialize.

So she went to school, for her dad, and because she loved socializing. But with what happened yesterday, she wasn't in the mood for talking.

Aria walked into her first period, world history, sitting at her seat close to the window where you can see the track. Only seven more hours until practice, Today I'm kicking that pretty boys ass.

The bell rang and everyone started to pile in, Aria didn't look away from the window. She was too busy thinking about how to keep her title, what was she thinking? Of course she was keeping her title she never lost it, it was just a mishap, yeah that's it.

"Ok class, today we are going to go over the project today. Now since this is your first project for me and we have a new student, I thought it only fair to assign partners," said the teacher.

A groan erupted from the class. Aria continued to look out the window, she wasn't to worried, it wasn't like she knew anyone. It was her second day.

"Alright, Smith and Wilson," a cheer and slapping of hands ensured. "Moore and Rodriguez."

What's the worse that could happen? she thought. They continued on until Aria finally heard her name.

"And finally Jefferson and Dunbar. Ok, you will each be given-" Aria didn't hear the rest of what her teacher was saying, she knew that name.

She directed her attention to the rest of the class to see the boy from practice who beat her time. He looked at her and smiled, oh how she wished she could slap it right off him. Either God hated her or she's still in her bed dreaming.

The bell rang and the teacher gave the last of the instructions while everyone filled out. Aria couldn't hear it, she was too busy gathering her books as to leave without taking to the boy.

"Hey," he said as she ran right past him.

Aria hurried as fast as she could to her next class as to avoid him. She felt a slight tug on her arm once she entered the hallway.

"Hey slow down 'No Luck Girl," he said while chuckling. Aria just stared at him blankly, he cleared his breathe.

"Um, I'm Liam Dunbar," he held out his hand to her.

"Speed Runner," she said while shaking his hand.

"Ha, yeah, I've never run before, so I'm as surprised as anyone."

Aria felt like a vein had popped in her head, "Well, you're really good for a first timer, you even beat me," she was hesitant. You even took my state title, by 10 seconds.

"You were impressive though, I've never seen someone run so fast before."

"Hm," Aria turned and walked towards her next class, Liam followed her.

"You never told me your name."

"Aria."

"Aria? Like the video game Aria?"

"My dad's idea, my mom was high off of the epidural or something. At least she was able to stop him from naming me Lara Croft."

Liam laughed, she was still mad though, just a little less.

"So," he said after catching his breathe, "what's the rest of your schedule like?"

She knew he wasn't going to leave, so she might as well humor him, "Math, then biology, English, History of Music, and then French."

"Oh cool, we have most of the same classes, Just not French and the History of Music," great, she was stuck with him.

Torture, that was her first couple periods, not that Liam talked to her. He could take a hint, she will give him that, but this was her second day. HOW COULD SHE NOT NOTICE BEFORE! You think she would remember the guy who was in four of her classes, but NO, she was too busy thinking about practice to worry about the people in her class.

It was finally time for her fifth period though, which meant, no more Liam. She tried to get out as quickly as possible with little interaction, but he had to ask.

"Hey before you go, can we talk about meeting up to work on the project."

She took a deep breathe and turned around, "Lets talk during practice, then we have more time."

"Oh ok," he said.

She almost ran to the History of Music, getting inside and going to her assigned seat at the back of the classroom. She threw her stuff onto the floor and put her head on her desk. She felt like screaming, she was so frustrated at herself and at Liam, no way is she giving up her title.

"Um, excuse me? Are you ok?" a soft voice asked her.

Aria reluctantly lifted her head up from her desk to see a timid girl in a pink dress with a white cardigan, long red hair and a head band looking at her. She gave off the impression of a quiet girl who didn't have many friends, mainly because she was too scared to ask or talk to anyone. No where near Aria's social standards.

"Yeah I'm fine," Aria said rubbing her temples with her hands.

"Oh ok, it just seemed like you're troubled."

"You could say that."

"Well, as long as your alright," the girl paused.

Aria looked up at the girl who's face was bright red, she was stuttering, probably trying to come up with the courage to talk to her. After a while Aria sighed, Might as well help her.

"I'm Aria, Aria Jefferson. What's your name?" Aria asked putting her hand out.

The girl looked up surprised and then realized she needed to respond.

"AH! I'm Ca-catriona, Catriona Donella," she said carefully shaking Aria's hand.

"Nice to meet you Catriona, can I call you Cat?"

"Um, I'm not a feline, but, i guess it's fine."

"Yeah, ok, so I'm just gonna,h Aria pointed to her desk and laid her head back onto it.

"Oh, ok, if something is troubling you, it's best to say. I may not be much help, but I've been told I'm a good listener."

Aria pondered it for while, until she decided that she needed to vent. Might as well be to a stranger, what's the worse that could happen?

"I'm sure its not all too bad," Catriona said after hearing Aria.

They were sitting at the benches outside of school, it was the end of school and they had the last two classes together. It was more than enough time for Aria to vent to the quiet Catriona. Least to say, she now knew to not make Aria angry.

"Yeah it is! I was the top in the state, now I could lose my title to some pretty boy first timer, who has never even ran a 5k before," Aria slammed her head down onto the desk in frustration.

Catriona didn't respond, Aria guessed it's from her little people skills.

"Then doesn't that mean you just have to get better?" Catriona finally said to Aria's surprise.

"How? I was top in the state! You just don't get better than that!" Aria screamed out in frustration throwing her head back.

"There's always room for improvement. I think you can do it, I'm sure it took you some time to get to the top," Catriona said grabbing her bag.

"Come on," she held out her hand to Aria. "You have practice right? I'll watch you and we can get ice cream afterwards."

Aria looked at her hand, sighing while she took it. How bad could this be? I mean it's not her type of person, but if she was offering to help, why not take it? Maybe she could help Catriona learn to assimilate into society.

"Alright. Today. We. Are going. To run in pairs," the couch spoke, passing in between his words. "Dunbar, Jefferson, McCall, Peterson, Stilinski, Davis, Brown, your group one," Aria drowned out the rest of the names, knowing what this meant. "These groups will be the people you will run with the for the rest of the season. You will train together, you will run together, no exceptions."

Aria felt like she was about to die, she had to run with the kid who took her title, for the rest of the season. This meant she was stuck with this kid, not only everyday at school, but everyday at practice too. Maybe she could speak to the coach and convince him to let her run on her own.

Aria got up for her seat on the bleachers and went to talk to the coach.

"Hey, coach Miller, is it ok if I run on my own?"

"Haha, that's funny Jefferson, though I know I don't have to worry about you on doing your mileage. It's a liability if you run on your own, the school can't afford to get sued," coach Miller said.

"But, he'll just slow me down."

"You were at the same speed yesterday, and he did beat you. Him not keeping up is the least of my problems. He's also on the lacrosse his stamina should be fine."

"But-"

"Do we have a problem here Jefferson? You may be the fastest, but you can still be kicked off the team. Go run, now," he walked off leaving Aria there shocked.

She walked back over to the bleachers and sat down next to Catriona. She got her shoes out and angrily put them on.

"You know it could be worse, you maybe stuck with only him," Catriona said handing her her other shoe.

"Yeah, but the rest are seniors and juniors who will probably run with their friends. He's also the only one close to my speed, everyone else is 20 seconds slower," Aria said walking down the bleachers. "You don't have to wait."

"No, I'm ok, I'll just draw," Catriona said waving to Aria.

She sighed and walked over to group 1. Consisting of a multitude of seniors and lacross people. She saw Liam standing there and tried not to make eye contact. But he remembered their promise to talk.

"So, Aria on the GameCenter, where do you want to go?"

"What?"

"Where do you want to run?"

"Oh," she thought about it, knowing she was going to be stuck with him, maybe she could lose him while running. "Let's head toward the mountains."