"Stop following me, Nathan!"

"Please, Meredith, listen to me…"

"No! Just get away from me."

Meredith Gordon was pretty, smart, and one of the most popular girls in the senior year at Bennet Academy. Until recently, she'd been dating Nathan Petrelli. But she had just ended the relationship, and Nathan wasn't about to let it go. She strode away down the hallway, and he ran after her. "Mere, please… just stop for a minute, talk to me."

She stopped, sighed, and turned to face him. "What, Nathan? What could you possibly have to say to me right now?"
"I can try to explain."

"Okay, I'm listening. Make it good. What happened to us, Nate?"

"I'm sorry. I just… I'll always care about you, you know…"

"Nathan, I know. I see you looking at her. I know what happened at the dance."

"You… saw."

"Yes! How could you, Nathan? She's my best friend. And you know, all this time I was asking her if she liked anyone, and she told me about this guy, but she would never tell me a name or anything, and then I find out who this guy is – you!"

"I didn't know…"

"Yeah, that much is obvious. You know, for someone who's supposed to be so smart, you can be pretty dumb, Petrelli."

"Meredith… I was stupid… I know what I did, and I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you… how I feel about you is different to how I feel about her."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I… I don't love her, Meredith."

Meredith listened to him struggle to explain himself, then looked over his shoulder and smiled at what she saw behind him.

"Meredith?"

"Oh… you know, Nathan, I think you have bigger things to worry about right now."

"What?"

"Turn around."

Nathan turned around slowly, and saw Heidi Butler standing behind him – and she was fuming. "Oh no…"

Heidi strode up to him. "So, you don't feel anything for me, isn't that right Nathan?"

"Um…"

"Don't bother. I thought you liked me, Nathan. I thought you were meeting Meredith today to break up with her. I thought you wanted to go out with me. But apparently, when you kissed me, you were lying to me."

"I'm sorry.."

"Don't. Do not tell me you're sorry. I'm not interested in liars, Nathan."

"And neither am I." Meredith added.

"Sorry, Nathan, but I'll never go out with you. In fact, if you want to date a girl ever again, try taking some tips from your little brother, I hear people actually like him."

With that, Heidi brushed past him to join Meredith, and the two girls both turned and walked away to join a small group of girls waiting at the end of the corridor for them.

Nathan was left standing alone in the corridor, staring after the girls as they left, laughing and chatting. He had a horrible feeling that they were laughing at him, and an even worse feeling that they might be right to do so. When they were out of sight, he ran a hand through his hair and glanced at his watch.

When he saw what time it was, he swore, grabbed his bag, and started running towards the physical education centre – he was almost late for football practice.

-----------------

Fortunately, Nathan was in pretty good condition, so it didn't take long. When he arrived at the changing rooms, pretty much everyone else on the team was already there, and already getting changed, so he found a space near his friend Aaron Hotchner.

"Hey, where have you been?
"Don't ask."

Aaron scrutinised his friend's face. "You broke up with her, didn't you?"

"Yes. She dumped me."

"Really? Huh, I wouldn't have thought Meredith would do that."
"Well, she did."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"You're not going to let up on this, so… she knows I like Heidi. But I tried to cover it up by saying I didn't like Heidi, and Heidi heard that, and now neither of them wants anything to do with me."

Aaron let out a low whistle. "Whoa, that's… weird. You really aren't very good with girls, are you?"

"Have you been watching that show about the FBI again? Because I feel like you're profiling me, and I'd like you to stop it."
"Geez, fine, I will… but you really need to relax."

"Duly noted. Now shut up."

"Fine. I'll leave you alone." And he picked up his things, and went to join Derek Morgan and DL Hawkins, two other seniors on the football team.

Nathan was left sitting on the bench, wondering why everything in his life seemed to be falling apart at once. Practice didn't go much better, he couldn't concentrate on anything and the coach ended up leaving him on the substitute bench.

At the end of the session, as the other guys went back to get changed the coach called Nathan over.

"Now, Nathan, I need to talk to you.
"Is something wrong?"

"No, not really. Well, you've been the quarterback for a long time now, and your performance recently just hasn't been up to scratch."

"I can do better…"

"I'm sure you can. But, as of now, you're no longer quarterback."

"Who is?"

"I'm going to give it to Brody. He's on good form right now."

"Brody. Of course. Well, it's your decision."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Nathan walked away, got changed in silence, and went out to his car.

A/N: Okay… just to let you know, there will be some characters from other TV shows appearing for cameos in this story.

In this chapter, the cameos are Aaron Hotchner and Derek Morgan, both of whom appear in a show called Criminal Minds (which, surprisingly, is about…. FBI profilers). There will be characters from Lost, House MD, and a few more from Criminal Minds showing up in later chapters.

Also: I don't own Heroes, any of the other TV shows I mentioned, or any of their characters or plots.

I'd also be eternally grateful if you could please press that little "Submit Review" button and tell me what you thought of this chapter.