So like I said before, even if you skipped reading the last few chapters again (since the changes were very minor,) you still should read this next bit. It is a lot better than before, even if I do say so myself.


Chapter 3

"Who was that?" Ariel hissed at DA, barely managing to stay quiet. It was about five minutes later, and they were sitting through yet another of Mr. Gillinski's mind-numbing monologues.

Ariel was the one who had given DA the nickname Daredevil, which was accordingly shortened to Dare. For some reason neither of the girls could ever remember what had originally sparked the nickname, but Ariel always guessed it had something to do with the first backflip she had seen DA try. "You landed on your face," she always giggled, "but just picked yourself up and tried again. I've never met anyone as stubborn as you." Then DA would always answer "Then why didn't you call me stubborn or something like that?" And they would both laugh.

Now, DA tried to answer her friend without looking too conspicuous. "Who?" she whispered.

"That guy in the hallway back there. He was hot!"

DA rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Ariel, I've already got a boyfriend."

Ariel's brown eyes feigned innocence. "I know, but I don't. And just because you do doesn't mean you can't look…especially if someone else in your life needs one." She grinned evilly.

The blond girl suppressed an eye roll. For some inexplicable reason she didn't think that the boy she had bumped into would spare a second glance at Ariel, even though if the comments written on the boy's bathroom's walls were to be believed, (don't ask how she knew what they were,) she was one of the hottest girls in school.

Even more bewildering was the fact that DA felt slightly pleased at this revelation. Mentally she shook herself. This was ridiculous. She had a boyfriend!

Still, thoughts of the hallway boy's broad shoulders and long, black hair filled her mind for the rest of the period.

xXx

Carlos couldn't go back to school. Not after seeing her. You are such an idiot! he thought to himself angrily as he ran down the city street where he had bolted to after the encounter with…her.

Such an idiot! It had been years since they saw each other, what had he been expecting? That she would just waltz back to him, pretend nothing had ever happened, maybe even take her to prom. Yeah, real big chance of that happening after he had left town without even saying goodbye.

Well, maybe he hadn't been thinking that, but coming back to her not even knowing who he was hurt almost as much, maybe even more, as seeing her in the arms of that….urg, he couldn't even think of a word bad enough for that guy.

What did she see in him? Didn't she know what was going on behind her back? The DA he had known would have never been that blind. Whenever Carlos heard the stories that her current boyfriend told in the boy's locker room, it made him want to strangle the guy. Literally.

But it still hurt, because even if the guy was a two-timing #*&%$!, he still had DA.

xXx

Two days later.

DA, yet again rushing through the halls of Walkerville High, desperate to reach the door to her fifth period class before the bell rang.

"Oof!" she exclaimed, her breath leaving her body in a rush as she, yet again, crashed into a hard, muscular body. She looked up from the floor where she had fallen. The same boy from the other day stared down at her, his eyes inscrutable.

"Oh, it's you!" She exclaimed. Wordlessly he bent down to help her pick up the books she had dropped. Talk about déjà vu, thought DA.

As he handed her the last book and helped her up she tried to crack a grin. "We simply must stop bumping into each other like this," she joked.

"Hey Dare, you okay? That looked like it hurt." From behind the boy DA could see Ralphie, walking towards them.

"Man, Carlos," he started as soon as he was standing close to them, "You really should have joined the football team. We would win for sure…if the Bulldogs' entire defense was like DA here, that is."

DA froze. Her eyes shot to the boy. Carlos… Flashes of memory shot through her brain, ignoring all the years she'd spent trying to forget them. Carlos eating ice cream with her. Walking in the rain with her. Saving the whales by picking up gum wrappers off the street. Coming to his birthday parties. Forgetting his birthday parties. Him never missing one of hers… until the year she turned fourteen.

Her eyes locked with the boy's. It was him.

"DA…I…I," he said, hesitatingly.

Ralphie looked from one to the other. "Oh, man. I'm sorry man, I thought you told her already! It's been a while."

DA never felt so hurt in her life. Even when he had left it hadn't hurt this bad. She rounded on Ralphie. "You knew?" She turned back to him.

"'It's been a while?' Just how long has it been, Carlos? Long enough to figure out that when you left that day without telling me you broke my heart?" Tears fell from her eyes. "According to my research, Carlos, you should have stayed wherever it was you went."

And with that she ran.


And now, the new chapter I promised you! (But first, truely awesome people review about the changes I made, if you can tell what they are!)