Emily's cell phone rang, waking her up from a peaceful sleep. She glanced at her alarm clock. 5:00 AM. Who would call her so early? Didn't they know she was dead up until seven? Sighing, she got up out of bed, and made her way stumbling through the dark. She found the annoying phone, and picked up.

"Herrooo?" She said groggily.

"Emily? Hey, it's Derek."

"Derek!" She was awake pretty fast after that. "I mean, er, oh hey Derek. What's up." She gathered herself-after all she didn't want to sound like an obsessed fan girl.

"Yeah, sorry to call you so early. It's just I couldn't sleep."

"You couldn't?" Emily answered coyly.

"Yup. I kept thinking about Jessica Ardenson, and was wondering if you could talk to her for me or something. Aren't you guys working on a french project together?"

Emily groaned inwardly, and sighed before answering, "Sure, just give me a few days."

"AWESOME! You rock Emily!" Derek hung up, and then Emily followed suit.

She could not believe how foolish she'd been. Thinking he'd actually been "thinking" about her? Yeah right. Like that would ever happen. She took another glance at her alarm clock, and figured she might as well stay up, instead of getting half an hour of sleep.

Swinging her scarf around merrily, Emily walked over to her locker. Derek was there of course, getting his morning dose of Jessica.

"Derek. Move please, you're in the wayyyy." For once, Emily, was finally and completely over him. And she was going to milk it as much as she could.

Unused to such demeanor from Emily, Derek turned, gave her an odd glance, and then proceeded to scoot over a few inches. He was still staring as she unloaded a few books and placed them into her tote.

"What got into you?" Emily thought he'd gone back to his ritual, so she turned surprised.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just reallllly happy today. But it's not like it's any of your business or anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, Casey is waiting for me. Peace!" She turned, her scarf hitting Derek's cheek.

He just stood there, mouth agape, wondering what had just happened, and held onto the spot where her scarf had slapped him. (Where he'd been "scarf-slapped" if you must.)

"Hellloooo. Derek? Snap out of it." Sam was shaking his shoulder gingerly.

"What? Oh, yeah hey. What's up?"

"What was wrong with you. A second ago you were not on this planet." Sam laughed.

"No-nothing. Um hey, I'll be right back." Derek made his way over to Jessica Ardenson casually.

"What's going on Jessica? Enjoying French?"

She gave him a look, then a quick smile before motioning for her friends to get lost. "Yeah, Derek. But it would be twice as much fun if you were there." She flipped her crimson hair and grinned.

"Everything's more fun when I'm around." Derek laughed, put his arm around her, and walked her to class.

Emily and Casey were chatting and waiting for the teacher. Instead of the teacher, a new student walked through the door way.

"Uhh, Mr. Polawskivac for English?" He asked no one in particular.

"Yeah...Polawskivac's always late." Emily replied.

The new kid, shifted his hazel eyes over to Emily, and tucked a curly strand of dark brown hair behind his ear. He smiled, and padded over.

"Is this seat taken?"

"Nah. Have a seat. So, I'm going to go ahead and assume you're new. Am I right?" She smiled, and Casey started giggling.

"Yeah...just moved out from Calgary. Things are pretty cool here though." He glanced quickly at Casey, before turning back to Emily. "Is your friend okay?" Casey had now started giggling even more, and was turning beet red.

"She's fine. Just a little overheated. Case? Let's umm get you to the bathroom. You can splash some water on your face." She turned back to him, gave him one last look, and pulled Casey out of the room with a pass in hand.

The two bumped into Derek, who just stared at Casey, bemused, and went on his way.

"Oh my god, Emily that guy was soooo hot. And he was totallllllly scoping you out."

"Number one, Casey, never ever say "scoping" and "you out" in the same sentence. EVER. And number two, what the heck was that about? What did you like smoke something before class. God, that was so embarrasing."

Casey laughed. "Sorry, it was just, he was soooo cute, and it was like I went brain dead or something. Anywho, what was that with Derek back there. I mean, you didn't even freak out, not one bit. No goosebumps or anything."

"I'm totally and completely over him. It's so awesome." By now the girls had made it to the bathroom.

"Thank god, I thought you would go on forever. Hey, by the by, Sam and I are getting back together."

Emily groaned.

"What? I mean, it's not like you don't have options. I mean, that new kid was into you. Don't worry Em, you'll find the right guy." Casey stared dreamily into space. "Sam, is just so...amazing."

"Tell me about it." Emily said under her breath.

"What was that?" Casey said, coming out of lala land.

"Nothing. Just that umm..so is the new kid. So uh, let's go. Don't want to upset Mr. P." Emily, dragged her out.

After class, the new kid approached Emily. "You never told me your name."

"Emily. Yours?"

"Leo. Are you busy this weekend?"

"No...but I'm grounded, why?" Emily pouted.

"Umm...I was going to see if you wanted to hang out or something...you know, orient me with this town."

She chuckled, "Well, I can probably sneak out. Here's my cell, just call and leave a message." She scribbled a number onto the inside of his hand. Winked, and left, Casey in tow.

"What was that about?"

"I just got a dateeeee for thiiis weekeend." Emily said in a singsongy voice.

Casey and her laughed, and walked to class.