Well I'm glad everyone is likin it so far, I'm always open to suggestions and criticism. (-:

Doubleclique – Good eye, I posted it before but kind of ran into a dead end, so I changed the storyline and am reposting. (-:

LoveAsh87 – your reviews always make me smile!

And also thanks to everyone who favorited the story already!

Spencer's POV

August 23rd 10 AM

Carlin House, LA

I can't believe school actually starts tomorrow. What kind of school starts on a Friday anyway? Whatever. One day at a time.

When you give yourself pep talks, do they generally work? Cuz they never seem to make me feel much better. Maybe because in the back of my mind I know this is hell. Taking it one day at a time isn't much help when each day it hurts worse than the one before. I'm 2,300 miles away from the girl I love and my sanity, stuck in this crazy city with no friends, and forced to go to some school that's bound to be inundated with bible thumpers. Oh and did I mention that Clay and Glen have already made friends with half the neighborhood, Dad still doesn't have a job, and Mom is being more strict than ever, I mean, when she's actually around. Yeah, I'm sure tomorrow is going to be MUCH better…

I sigh and roll out of bed and head over to my laptop to check my AIM. Frowning slightly when I don't see any messages from Laurie, but it's quickly replaced by a smile when I see the e-mail she sent me. Pictures from her first "hot" date with our friend Marcus…our very gay friend Marcus. It seems my mother had informed her mother of our relationship and Marcus was very happy to help Laurie pretend that she was straight and had been "experimenting."

I wish it were that easy for me. I don't even know if I'm bi or gay or what. Right now I don't really care because I don't think that anyone can pull me out of this depression that I've sunk into. Whatever.

I head down stairs only to find that no one is home. After grabbing some fruit for breakfast I decide to go for a run.

We really do live in a nice neighborhood out here. Much nicer than the one back in Ohio. There is even a trail running behind our house.

There's a lot of people on the trail today but I keep my head down, not really looking at any of the others, but it's on one of those momentary upward glances that I see her. The girl from school. She's stopped on the trail up ahead talking to another girl.

Dear god it should not be legal to be that hot.

All she is wearing is a sports bra and some tantalizingly small running shorts. As I get closer I see her give the other girl a hug and feel a twinge in my stomach. The girls part way, but she is running in my direction. I can see the sweat trickling down her toned stomach and I feel myself getting hot. And it's not because I've been running in 85 degree weather. Cold shower when I get back. Oh god she just winked at me. Very, very cold shower. I think to myself as I turn my head watching her pass me.

Unfortunately I really should have been watching where I was going because I completely plowed over the girl she had been talking to.

"Oh my god I am so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you okay? I'm so sorry, it's completely my fault…" I know I'm rambling, but seriously are all the girls in LA good looking?

"Whoa, calm down there, you're rambling a bit," she giggles a little and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I just feel like such an idiot." And you're super cute…

"Don't even worry about it, I've taken worse hits. I'm Kyla, by the way." She holds out her hand, which I quickly take.

"Spencer." We start walking in the direction that I was originally going.

"Do you go to East? I haven't seen you around." East was the public school closest to our neighborhood.

"No I actually just moved here from Ohio, but I'm going to be going to Christ the King."

"Oh cool, that's where my sister and I go. And by the way, if you don't want to seem like such a newbie, everyone just calls it King." She's seriously so nice, I'm glad not everyone at King is quite as rude as that other girl…whose name I still don't know…

"Thanks for the tip. Hey random question, who was that girl that you were hugging?"

"Oh that's just my sister Ashley, why?" She shoots me a questioning sideways glance.

"Oh my brothers and I kind of ran into her when we were getting registered for school. Literally." She laughs.

"Yea I can't imagine that went over well. Ashley can be kind of difficult sometimes, but she's nice once you get to know her, well that is, if she gives you the chance." She frowns slightly, seemingly lost in thought. "But enough about her, I don't know about you, but I am freaking hot as hell, you wanna come over for a swim?"

hmm…go mope around the house by myself all day, or hang out with this cutie…in a bikini…was there a question?

"Hell yea, I love swimming! Let me just run back to my house and get my suit."

"Oh don't even worry about it, we have plenty of extras, and we're almost to my house anyway." She smiles and holds out her arm, which I happily link through mine.

Turns out she was right, it didn't take us five minutes to get to her house. Wait, double take, did I say house? I meant her mansion. Or castle might be more appropriate.

After gawking at her house for awhile and a quick tour (well as quick as you can go through 26 rooms) we were just sitting on the pool steps when the topic shifted back towards school.

"So is there anything else that I should know about King?"

"Well, it's mostly rich kids whose parents don't want to put them through the LA public school system. But for the most part I guess it's just like any other school. You got the smart kids, the jocks, the punks, etc. But there's no real cliques at King, Ashley's seen to that. She has this way of destroying all the boundaries that everyone else tries to set."

"Yea she seems pretty intense." And I'm trying to ask the question I really want the answer to without making it incredibly obvious because I still don't know if I can really trust Kyla. "So everyone's pretty open-minded then?"

"Oh totally, I know it's a catholic school, but most of the kids are on the more liberal side. And they tend to be pretty accepting, regardless of race, religion, orientation, or whatever." I hope I got enough sun over the past month that she can't notice the slight blush I feel making its way across my face.

After another hour or so of laying out I decided that I had to start heading back if I wanted to be home in time for dinner.

Kyla walked me to the door and gave me a hug.

"See you tomorrow Spence."

"Bye Kyla." I turned and opened the door, almost knocking over the other Davies sister in the process.

"Seriously, do you have a thing for getting in everyone's way?"

"I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… I just, I didn't see you there." god, form complete sentences much?

"That's funny, you don't seem to have a problem now." Until she said that I didn't really notice that my eyes were trailing down her body, taking in every inch of exposed flesh. I felt my face flush when I realized I was caught and my eyes snapped back up to hers.

"Sorry, I uh…"

"It's ok Spence, most people find it hard to keep their eyes off of me." She gives me a wink as she pushes past me into the house. God she is so cocky…and so true.

"Oh and as luck would have it, I have the pleasure of showing you and your brothers around school tomorrow, so it looks like we'll be seeing more of each other…although not in the way you'd like, although that can be arranged." And with one last wink and sexy grin, she was gone, and I found myself staring at a closed door as I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.