Author's note:

Gomen= Informal 'sorry' in Japanese.

Chapter 2: Group hugs and Confrontations

Maybe I should just bedazzle this thing and be done with it.

People were staring enough as it was.

I swear, the second I grasped that squishy handle, I suddenly and completely sympathized with and understood the character Gregory House that much more.

The cane like, embodied bitterness. Bitterness at being 'handicapped'. Bitterness at the world for handing you this poor hand. Bitterness at having to use a crutch of sorts. And bitterness at everyone in a 20 foot radius staring at you like you've grown a second head.

It was the next day after my appointment with Dr. Cullen, Friday morning at Forks High School.

I grew to hate the 'clip-clop' sound that followed the use of my cane, through the white tiled floors of Forks High School. It was only marginally better than the constant squeaking from the wet floors though.

The pitying and questioning looks I was receiving weren't that much better.

Even my so-called friends reacted rather poorly.

"OH MY GOD! Babe, what hell happened to you?!" I heard Daisuke gasp loudly as I hobbled into homeroom, which caused everyone in the entire room to turn and gawk at me.

My stomach churned under such scrutiny and inwardly vowed to throttle my loud mouthed friend as soon as I could get him alone.

I grinned savagely at everyone, silently daring anyone to ask me what happened. No one did, till I reached my seat, where Daisuke and Brooke rushed me. But the whispers were rather loud as everyone in the room went back to their business. Which now involved gossiping about me. Lovely.

"Sweetie, what happened to you?" Brooke gasped, gingerly touching my shoulder.

I stared at her flatly, "Should I tell you, or should we just skip the formalities and go straight to the loudspeaker?" I drawled dryly, eyeing my Asian blabbermouth in particular. "We dunno what actually tweaked it, other than it just is." I continued with a hopeless shrug.

Daisuke flashed me an apologetic half grin, "Gomen.." he apologized quietly, "But you look so banged up, I couldn't help it!" he gushed sympathetically.

I scowled and laid my head on my folded arms on my desk. "Can today just be over already..?" I groaned. "I honestly think I should just have Dai bedazzle this thing in rhinestones and rainbow duct-tape and be done with it. That way people would have even more of a reason to stare at me." I sighed, eyeing everyone in the room who was trying to inconspicuously get a look at me and the shiny silver thorn in my side.

At the rate this was going, the entire population of Forks would know about my issue by dinnertime. I groaned quietly again and buried my face into my arms.

And as if things could get any worse, suddenly I heard a very familiar voice cry out "Whoa! What happened to you?"

I slit open an eye only to be faced with the last person I wanted to see right now: Darren Pike. He was hovering in the doorway to my classroom, his dark brows raised in surprise. "What do you want?" I growled, not bothering to lift my head. Why was he even here? He didn't even have this homeroom!

It must've been a trick of the light, but I thought I imagined a look of hurt crossing over Darren's tanned features, before a frown replaced it. "Well, excuse me if I wanted to see if you were alright. I heard you looked like crap." he growled right back, gesturing to my cane.

What the hell. Like I really wanted to hear this. "Bite me, Pike." I snapped, sitting up. "Why the hell would it matter to you anyways, huh?" I demanded, fully irritated by this show of attention from him. First he sounded like he was concerned about me, then he goes and tells me people are saying I look like crap! Was he mental or something?

Anger flashed in Darren's dark eyes, covering up the look of mild confusion I'd spied in those depths. "I don't need this from you. I'm outta here." he muttered over his shoulder as he turned to leave.

I stared after his retreating form, before shaking my head in wary bewilderment. "I swear that boy is bi-polar." I mumbled to my self, not seeing the knowing look shared between my two friends. I turned to look at them. "You both saw that, right? He acts all concerned, then he goes and inadvertently insults me!"

Brooke shrugged, "Maybe he likes you." she suggested lightly, not meeting my eyes.

I snorted outright. "Uh huh. Sure. And Dai has a thing for Pamela Anderson too, right?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "I'm the fat bookworm chick, remember? He's the sports star play boy. He's just messing with me, I know it."

Brooke and Dai looked at me, then each other, and said together "She's in denial."

I stared at them for a moment. "I am not!" I refused loudly, they just patted my shoulders and smiled identical patronizing smiles. "I'm not in denial!" I repeated as the two of them took their seats on either side of me, just as Mr. Monroe, our homeroom teacher walked in.

Mr. Jackson Monroe was an aging African American, with curly salt and pepper hair and a bristly mustache. He was one of my favorite teachers, and it wasn't because of any love for the subject he taught: Current World Issues. Because the world didn't have problems anymore, it had issues.

Instantly, he spotted me and my cane, and the same sympathetic look passed over his graying features. "I'm sorry to hear about your leg, Katelyn." he said gently.

I flushed and smiled halfheartedly. This was only the start of many similar comments to come that day, I might as well take it with a smile.

Finally, lunch rolled around and I thoroughly abused the meaning of the phrase 'comfort food', as I tucked into a thermos of my homemade Ginger Chicken Soup, and turkey apple bacon sandwich on crusty French bread, all washed down with a diet orange soda.

Suddenly, as I was about to dig into the second half of my sandwich, the small mass of 14 year old girl collided with my back. "Kate!" the usually quiet voice of Daisuke's younger sister-turned-my-shadow-and-surrogate-little-sister Miyuki cried fervently against my back as she clung to me tightly. "Are you okay? I heard you were hurt and had a cane so I ran to see you!" she explained in a rush.

I heard the impact of Daiske's palm hitting his own face without even having to see him while Brooke and Dave chuckled. I cracked a comforting grin at Daisuke. Ever since I had became friends with Dai, Miyuki Sato, his freshman sister had taken a real shine to me, now calling me her onee-chan (Big-Sister), or Kay-Sempai at times while in school. Even though, I was kinda more masculine than her real older brother. But maybe that was the appeal? Who knows.

"I'm fine, Yuki-chan." I assured her warmly as I turned in my seat to get a good look at her, her pretty fair skin flushed and her grey-black eyes were glistening with unneeded worry. Even her straight-as-a-pin midnight colored hair was a bit frazzled from her cross-cafeteria sprint. "Nothing to get so riled up about." I comforted her as I tweaked her button nose, earning me a watery smile in return. "But I do feel rather loved though, since y'all made such a fuss about me." I laughed as I gestured to the rest of our table.

"Aw." Brooke cooed, then I let out a loud gulp as I spied the oh-so-familiar glint in her green orbs as she cried out suddenly "Group hug!"

I blanched as I saw everyone glance at each other for a second and then practically glomp me at the same time. "ACK!" I squeaked from the pile of arms and limbs, "Okay, okay, I feel your love!" I laughed as I was lovingly crushed beneath my personal group of spazzes. They were all careful not to bump my injured knee, thankfully.

I noticed in the heap of limbs that Dave mainly hugged onto Brooke, and poor Miyuki mainly held onto Dave, but they were all hugging me in a way.

I flushed and laughed as I heard the rest of the cafeteria cheer and clap at our touching moment.

From under Dave's elbow, at least I think it was Dave's, I spied the almost forlorn looking face of Darren Pike. He was paused near the end of the salad bar, tray of food in hand. Staring at our table, almost sadly. That threw me. What was he looking so… Wistful for? I frowned, my brow knit in puzzlement.

As if he could sense my eyes upon him, Darren shook his head slightly and went to the Jock area of the lunch room without another glance in our direction.

Well, that was weird. There couldn't be any truth to what Dai and Brooke were saying.. Could there? No. It wasn't possible. He couldn't like me… He just wanted me to think he did, to mess with my head. Stupid jock-strap.

This wasn't 'Pretty in Pink', where the poor sassy chick snags the pretty rich dude, defying all social clique laws. This was reality. Life has no soundtrack, high school was cruel, and teenage boys were the cruelest of the lot. Especially sports stars.

After breaking off the massive group hug, Dave laid his lanky arm on my head, as if it was an armrest and asked, "So, not to be the bearer of bad news, but does this mean our beach trip is on hiatus again?" he asked, glancing around hesitantly.

Oh. Right.

Dai and Dave had been planning on a beach trip since I'd moved here, nearly a month ago. Since I had never been to the northern beach in La Push before, it was a kinda Welcome party. Trip. Thing. But every time we'd gotten close to actually going, something always came up in someone's schedule. This was the third time planning it.

"Well, there's always next weekend, right?" Miyuki asked brightly after a long pause. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yanno, I could always go another time…" I started, but then was drowned out by everyone's loud protests.

"No way!"

"You have to come too!"

"You gotta come!"

"This trip was your welcome to Forks thing!"

I shut my jaw with an audible 'click'. "Never mind then!" I laughed nervously holding my hands up in surrender, a bit surprised by the degree of ferocity that I was refused. I felt loved. "Well, I could just find my self a comfy rock with a view and park it." I amended quickly as everyone nodded.

So with that, we all finished our respective lunches and Dave held my bag as we made our way towards my personal hell, aka, Physical Education.

The volleyball vultures would be there waiting..

"But I don't wanna go, Dave! They'll just be mean to me!" I wailed as I half heartedly clung to the post outside the girl's dressing room. I had already sensed the malice emanating from that room. "I can feel their hate!" I cried desperately.

"They're just jealous because you get to sit out doing the Pacer and Sit Up test and they don't." Dave reassured me warmly as he ever so gently dislodged my grip on the post. "If they bug you, you can just get Coach Clapp to make them do the perimeter." he reminded me as he steered me towards the door.

I looked over Dave's elbow, grinning suddenly, "Hi Brooke!" I chirped happily, as Dave whipped around, only to see that I had tricked him and repositioned my grip on the post.

"That's not cool." he muttered flatly.

I grinned cheekily up at him. "It worked though." I laughed. "So, you ever gonna tell her how you feel?" I asked suddenly, all seriousness now.

Dave's pale face flushed suddenly, "I… Haven't got that far yet." he sputtered.

"If you don't act fast, you're gonna loose her." I told him gently.

"I know, I know.. I just… I don't know when there's a right time, Yanno?" he asked, running his large hand through his long-ish red hair. "I want it to be special."

I smiled sympathetically, "I know." I muttered as I patted his arm. Then a thought struck me, "Hey, why don't you tell her at the beach? It's all rustically romantic like, right?" I asked, bouncing on my heels in excitement.

A smile broke out onto Dave's face, lighting up the entire hallway. "That's perfect!" he cried, hugging me. "You're a genius, Kate!"

I laughed as I awkwardly hugged him back.

But then I found I was suddenly being pushed gently towards the door again, "But you still have to go to class." Dave muttered with a smile.

I stopped suddenly. "I just realized something."

"What?"

"I don't have to dress down either." I was free to stay in my blue jeans, purple tank top, and orange sweater. "No revealing shorts and too tight tees! Or savage volleyball girls in dressing rooms!" I cried out in joy, doing a little one-legged dance with my cane.

Dave grinned, "See? No need to freak out." he assured me as he turned on his heel to head towards the boys dressing room. "See ya in there." he called from over his shoulder.

"See ya." I echoed, heading straight into the gym, only slightly dragging my feet this time, silently wondering if I hadn't just caused Miyuki more pain by help out Dave...

After handing in my Doctor's note to Coach Clapp, I sought out a safe place to watch the procession of the boys Pacer test, which was on the opposite side of the gym as the volleyball squad.

Dumbed-down, the PACER is nothing but a run-from point A to point B before the tape recording goes 'Beep' as many times as you can type of test. A pissing match between the hard-core sports people. Naturally, it was a matter of great importance to the great almighty Darren Pike.

But as I watched him run, he seemed distracted. In fact, he stopped running after about 50 or so laps, probably no more than half of what he would normally do. I could barely manage 20 with the shape I was in, but that's another matter entirely.

As he stopped running and came towards the wall where I was sitting in a folding chair, I desperately wished for the ground to swallow me whole.

He was coming closer, his dark features unreadable. No such luck.

My heartbeat became erratic as he kept on approaching. What did he want from me? We weren't friends, so did he have to keep on getting in my space like this?

Finally, he paused a few feet from my seat. "Can I sit here?" he asked quietly.

Seeing no other option than to let him or be inexcusably rude, I nodded mutely, not meeting his gaze.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he gracefully sat down on the floor a foot away from my seat, warily. I trusted Darren about as far as I could throw him.

I had no intention whatsoever of breaking the tense silence between us, fully content to just watch Dave continue his laps, listening to the generic din of gym class, entirely ignoring Darren's presence, all while staying a safe distance from the volleyball squad's area of the gym.

But apparently, Darren had other plans.

"So, how'd you manage to hurt your self this time?" he drawled, staring out at the dwindling remains of runners left. His tone was painfully neutral.

I didn't answer him right away, as I looked at him in my peripheral vision. Was he trying to make civil conversation with me? Why?

"You're trying to make small talk with me." I stated, not as a question, but as a statement of disbelief.

Darren smirked. "Is that a crime?" he asked dryly, still not looking at me. There was the arrogance I'd come to know and expect from Darren.

"Why?" I asked abruptly, still not answering his questions.

"Why not?" he fired right back, still smirking. How I longed to wipe it off his pretty face…

"You're a jock and I'm a nerd. We don't talk, we throw snide comments at each other." I supplied quietly, my hands clenching and unclenching in my lap. Boys like him didn't just go from teasing and tormenting me, to suddenly acting all concerned when I got hurt. It had to be some sort of trick.

It was like bad fan fiction!

He was the Draco Malfoy of Forks High School and I was Hermione Granger. Forever enemies till the day they die. Malfoy never got all friendly with Hermione. It was completely out of character for him!

"Who says?" Darren suddenly asked, finally turning to look at me. The fire I saw in his eyes unsettled and frightened me. I leaned away from him.

"Who says what?" I asked, confused and slightly afraid, my heartbeat roaring in my ears.

"Who says we can't talk, be friends?" he continued in that same sort of husky tone, not moving, yet he seemed to loom over me, even though I was looking down at him from my chair.

My nerves getting the better of me, I began to sputter "Y-you did!" I managed to choke out, edging out of my seat slowly. "You did when you made fun of me for being fat and knowing the answers in English! You don't just make me feel like crap, then do a one-eighty and act like we're friends!" I was shouting now, and suddenly on my feet, trembling with emotion.

Too suddenly, as a particularly large spasm of pain ripped through my knee upward, causing me to gasp and fall back on to the chair. Tears of anger, unbidden and unbeknownst by me, began to blur my vision.

And Darren had the gall to touch me softly on the shoulder! I slapped his hand away, hissing "Don't touch me!"

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said-" he began, but suddenly, Dave had a large hand on his shoulder.

"What're you doing, Pike?" he asked slowly, his usually gentle blue eyes turning to cold steel instantly, his hand still on Darren's shoulder.

"None of your business, Simon." Darren all but growled back, glaring daggers at Dave from over his shoulder.

The air was positively charged with emotion, with Dave and Darren about to start beating the crap out of each other.

I got up from my seat and touched Dave on the arm lightly, "Don't bother, Davey. It's okay." I tried to calm him, as he tore his eyes away from Darren's face and looked down at me. He opened his mouth to protest, but I tugged on his arm. "It's okay. I'm okay." I repeated with more force. "Lets just go somewhere else."

As I turned to grab my cane and my backpack, much to my surprise, Darren already had them and handed them both to me. "I meant what I said." he said quietly as he did so, his eyes still burning with that bizarre intensity.

I stared at him incredulously, but said nothing. "Lets go, Dave." I muttered as Dave took my bag one again and we headed towards the doors, class was nearly over as it was.

"So, care to explain what the hell that was all about?" Dave asked quietly as we pushed through the double doors into the deserted hall way, fully recovered from his near beat down with Darren.

"Frankly, I'd rather not." I sighed wearily, wiping my eyes on the back of my hand.

"Alright. Now do I need to find you a baby sitter while I go change?" my tall red headed friend teased in a mock serious tone. I knew he was trying to get me to lighten up from what just happened. "Or will you be needing rescuing again any time soon?" he continued, ruffling my hair.

I flashed him a watery smile. "I think I can manage." I laughed quietly, leaning against the wall while I used my hand to straighten my hair. "I'll stay right here and wait for you." I chirped and tapped my cane on the floor twice.

"Okay, but don't go wandering off or anything." Dave warned teasingly.

I rolled my eyes and brandished my cane, "As if I could get very far!"

Dave laughed as he made his way towards the boys dressing room again.

As he went through the door, I let out a wavering sigh and laid my head back on the cool painted brick behind me. What a day.

The situation from the last few minutes replayed in my mind. Where did Darren get off? What was his deal? Why was he trying to get on my good side and be my friend all of the sudden?

Another twinge of pain caused me to wince again, but this time it wasn't from my knee, but the back of my head. A tension headache. Lovely.

Then there came the bell and the low roar of the school day ending. Which meant that Darren would be coming this way in a matter of seconds and I really didn't want an instant replay of that weird fire and husky tone I had just witnessed.

So I snagged the first boy who came out the door, another senior. Teddy something or other. "Hey, can you tell Dave Simon that Kate went on ahead to club?" I asked.

Teddy smiled, "Sure thing. And sorry about your leg." he said sympathetically.

I smiled halfheartedly as I turned to leave, waving behind me as I went.

When I finally limped my way into the auditorium, nearly everyone was there. Brooke, Daisuke, and Miyuki were already seated in our corner of the room, pouring over their scripts. Or, rather, Brooke was pouring over her script, and the two Asian siblings were probably squabbling over Brooke's many costume and set changes.

That's right, our Brooke was playing the leading lady, opposite my Phantom. My obsession, my reason for living or killing as the situation called for it, my Angel of Music: Christine Daae.

Where as Daisuke was a part of our Techie group, costumes and make up, obviously. Miyuki however was part of the set design crew, but did a little freelancing in make up if her brother needed help.

With her back to me, I saw the perfect opportunity to sneak up on my fair lady love. I fished my mask from my pack and a near by fake rose and crept over towards her, finger to my lips as Dai and Yuki saw me. As I reached her, mask on, I pulled her abruptly into my embrace, rubbing the fake rose gently across her cheek, "Sing, my angel…!" I hissed into her ear as she shrieked in surprise.

I let out a cackle that ended up as a hiss of pain because I had ditched my cane for a free hand to snatch up my fair Christine with. "Ouch ouch ouch." I hissed as I limped back towards my cane and removed my mask.

Brooke fixed me with a smug smile. "Serves you right, sneaking up on me like that." she accused with a mock indignant sniff.

"Oh you know you love me." I teased, sticking out my tongue.

The four of us erupted into a fit of laughter as the rest of the club filled in, Dave and Darren included. Dave took his usual seat with us, while Darren lingered by the stage for some strange reason.

The head of the Drama department, Mrs. Fisher, a willowy fair haired woman in her late 30's, walked out onto stage, looking slightly nervous. "Alright everyone, settle down, settle down. I have an important announcement to make." she stated loudly enough for everyone to hear.

My eyes flickered to Darren, who was still waiting by the stage, his face unreadable as usual. Why did I have the sinking feeling this had something to do with him…?

"Mason Hendrick has unfortunately fallen chronically ill and has resigned from his role as Viscount Raoul de Chagny." Mrs. Fisher announced sadly, shaking her head of wispy blond hair.

Whispers broke out like wildfire throughout the auditorium.. My heart sank.

Oh man… That sucked. Mason was a great guy to work with, one of the very few guys in the club-oh god that didn't mean that-

"His replacement shall be Darren Pike."

Oh. CRAP.