--

Tears slowly filled Ashlee's hazel eyes as Rennie continued to drive back home. Rennie kept her eyes on the road but they always made their way to Ashlee. Ashlee was staring out the car window, up at the full moon as the tears began to fall from her cheeks. It was silent all the way until they got home. Ashlee quickly ran to her room and sat on her bed, wiping the tears away.

Stupid, don't cry. I'll wipe them away for you, here. I grinned and wipe her tears away softly. Her thought of me saying this disappeared. She stripped her clothes off and took a very long shower, thinking of what to do.

Why did you have to do it, Gabriel? Can't I have at least some privacy? I wouldn't get together with any guy so fast, Ashlee thought as she climbed onto her king-sized mattress. Besides, I like you.... She soon enough fell into a deep sleep.

"Hi! I'm Angel" she said as two guys walked in fron of her. New kids.

"She's also the school's official wannabe whore" Ashlee cut in. The new kids started to burst out laughing.

"Really?" one of them asked.

"Mhmm" Ashlee shot a look at Angel.

"I resent that! I'm not a whore" Angel snapped.

"I said wannabe whore, dumbass" she corrected.

"I'm doing so much to not hurt you right now" she mumbled. Ashlee walked around her. Angel was scared. Ashlee was the only person in the school to have the guts to actually snap back at the principle and use facts to prove anyone wrong, even when she's wrong.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Drake asked as he stood next to Ashlee.

"Wanna see a fight?" she grinned. He let out a laugh.

"OW!" Everyone looked around to see who was screaming. I went behind the school and saw Ashlee, Angel, Drake and the new kids. The new kids were videotaping the fight with their cell phones.

"What the hell!? Stop!" I yelled. I took the cell phones and broke it in half. Stupid grade 9's. "Leave" They quickly left.

"Stupid bitch" Angel growled as she wiped the blood off her mouth.

"Go to hell slut" Ashlee snapped. Drake quietly let out a laugh.

"Stop!" I yelled. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Guess it was too late for that. I walked over to Ashlee and held her chin, looking at her mouth. Ouch.

"Yeah, save your energy" Drake added, addressing to Ashlee.

"You okay Angel?" I softly asked "That must hurt" She shook away from me.

Ring.

"I gotta go to gym" Ashlee said. "Bye Drake"

"Bye" he and Angel said at the same time. She was really embarrassed and in pain at the same time. I bit my lip, feeling sorry for her.

"Hey, what do you have? I have a spare" Drake asked.

"Same" I mumbled.

"Wanna go to the cafeteria?" I nodded, since I really had no choice.

"So... Uh.. How did you and Ashlee meet?" I asked. He looked at me as we sat down in the cafeteria. He handed me a water bottle. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Here" he handed me a picture from his wallet. There stood a very dorky girl with frizzy hair, a loose t-shirt and glasses. The guy next to her looked the complete opposite, with gel-up hair, an Exco sweater and he looked very confident and happy.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Ashlee and I when we were 15" he answered. My eyes widened. This was Ashlee!? The very pretty and confident girl with nice clothing and a personality to die for? Once you get to know her.

"So.. What happened?" I asked, hoping to not sound shallow.

"Well.. Alot of people made fun of her. They told me to leave her because I could do so much better" I stared back at the photo.

"Then what?" I asked. Drake snatched the picture back and placed it back into his wallet before he continued.

"She got tired of it. She broke down crying, saying that she wanted to change herself. Not for me, but for her. And soon enough, she became the Ashlee you know today" He gripped onto the water bottle in his hands.

"So how did you meet?" I asked again.

"Ashlee went to a school not to far from mines. She was my penpal when I was in grade 5 but became my neighbour in the summer time. We went out at the beginning of grade 7. Then she moved here; so did I" he explained. "My parents knew Ashlee was a really nice girl, so they wanted us to be happy, together" I nodded. He shook his head as he decided to change the topic.

"So how did you guys become friends?" he asked. "Since she was constantly made fun of, she doesn't really let anyone into her life. It's hard to, you know? I think you're her only true friend." The last two words hurt me in the guts. Was it true? Were we close enough to trust each other with anything? I felt awful for doing things to her.

"We.. cried together after we got dumped" I said. Drake rose an eyebrow.

"You cried?" he asked. I nodded, embarrassed. Guys were suppose to stay masculin and not show weakness. "Your friendship must mean alot to her"

"I guess..." Drake was making me feel really guilty about Ashlee. She seemed like she would be the envy of all the girls at her old school. Except it was the opposite.

"You're making her really happy. Don't stop." he said. Then glanced over to me. I let out a small grin.

"Yeah, I won't" I replied. I use to hate Drake for making Angel dump me. But..

"You're a really good guy, Gabriel" Drake added with a genuine smile. I can see why so many girls fall for him. And if he didn't leave Ashlee, I would of never met her.

I walked around the hallway around the school, with some time left before math.

"Hey! Ashlee!" I called from the end of the hallway. She lifted her head from the water fountain and blushed as the other girls in her gym class 'awwwed' and laughed about the maniac calling her from the end of the hall.

"Shh.." Ashlee said as she approached me "What do you want, Gabriel?"

"I'm sorry for every stupid thing I ever did to you" I replied with a very sincere voice.

"Which would be everything?" she asked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm. I looked to the ground.

"Really, I am..." I mumbled loud enough for her to hear. Ashlee lifted my head up with her hands cupped under my chin. Her face met mines.

"Forgiven" she smiled as she let go. I smiled back.

"Aww, is your boyfriend?" one of the girls from the water fountain asked.

"What a cute couple" Another said.

"Are you planning to get married?" Another asked.

"Who knows" Ashlee answered as she looked at me with a smile. I blushed. "See you, Gabriel" she walked down the hall with the other girls.

Ring.

"Surprise math review" Mrs. Carr announced "Let's see how many of you know your math" She glanced at the clipboard "Rachel with Gabriel"

"What!? That's like freakin' suicide, Mrs. Carr!" she yelled in horror. I lightly let out a laugh as she stood next to me in front of the class.

"Okay, whoever hits the button on the table and answer the question wins. Someone else will face the winner and so on." I glanced at Rachel's face at the corner of me eyes. She seemed nervous.

"Good luck" I whispered.

"Thanks, I'll need it" she whispered back, in a nervous tone.

"Okay, here's an easy one." Mrs. Carr said. Rachel moaned and everyone let out a laugh, including me. "A van travels a maximum of 100 km/h. Its speed decreases in proportion with the number of passengers. The van can carry a maximum of seven people. Given that the van can travel 88 km/h with 3 people in the van, what will be the speed of the van when 6 people are on board? "

Beep. Rachel glanced over to me.

"How do you know the answer so fast!?" she asked, shocked. Everyone laughed again.

"100 - 3t = 88 100 - 88 = 3t t = 12/3 t = 4 km/h reduction in speed per person When six persons are on board, the van travels at 100 - 6t = 100 - 6(4) = 76 km/h" I answered.

"That's correct. Well done, Gabriel" Mrs. Carr said. "Next, Deandre" He made his way up to the front of the class.

"I forfeit!" he called. Everyone laughed and Mrs. Carr lightly hit her head on her clipboard.

"Just try, Deandre, please?" she asked. He shrugged. "Nine large pipes will drain a pond in eight hours and six small pipes will drain the same pond in sixteen hours. How long will it take 3 large pipes and 5 small small pipes to drain the pond?"

Beep.

"Let V= volume of water in pond. Let P = volume drained by one large pipe in one hour. Let p = volume drianed by one small pipe in one hour. Let t = time V. - 9P*8 = 0 V-6*p*(16) = 0 +(-V+6p*16 = 0) V = 6*p*16 -9P*8+6p*16 = 0 9P*8 = 6p*16 V-3(P)(t)-5(p)(t) = 0 P = 1.33p which would be 6p*16-3(1.33p)(t)-5(p)(t) = 0 96p-4pt-5pt = 0 96p = 9pt t = (96p)/(9p) t = 10.667 hrs = 10 hrs 40 min" I said again. Deandre just sat down without knowing if I got the question right or wrong. It was right, of course.

Ring. The last bell finally rang and everyone rushed out of the classroom. Except me who stayed and neatly packed everything into my Timbaland stringbag.

"I was very impressed, Gabriel" Mrs. Carr said as I placed my arms into the string of my bag. "It's good to have you back"

"Thank you, Mrs. Carr." Ashlee knocked onto the door, awaiting for me with Drake. Mrs, Carr and I both glanced over and I smiled.

"I heard you aced your surprise math review" Drake said as he walked in. "Congrats"

"Yeah, smarty pants" Ashlee giggled. I smiled "Let's get coffee and celebrate!"

"That's your answer for everything, Ashlee" Drake sighed.

"So?" They both headed out the door, arguing. "Hurry up, Gabriel! We're getting coffee!"

"No, we're not!" They began to argue again. I lightly blushed as Mr. Carr laughed.

"Everything is perfect, Mrs. Carr" I said with smile.