A/N: This is a prequel to my story 'The Road Less Traveled,' and represents a glimpse into McCoy's High School years. It's not necessary to have read that one for this to make sense – I hope… ;-)
Sink or Swim: Young McCoy
He swallowed nervously, the food on the tray before him remaining largely untouched. The room was abuzz with a myriad of conversations, pressing him from all sides, rendering each completely unintelligible. It didn't matter. He wasn't listening anyway. His eyes traveled across the room to where she was seated, surrounded by her usual throng of friends. She was speaking intently to one of them, a laugh suddenly erupting from behind perfect, white teeth. Looking skyward she tossed her head, flipping her long chestnut-brown tresses over her shoulder and away from her face. She glanced ever-so-briefly at him, her gaze immediately flicking away from his.
He suddenly felt nauseous, palms instantly sweating. Absently he wiped them across his thighs.
"Oh Lordy, not this again," a sarcastic voice to his left quipped. Tearing his eyes away from the lithe beauty several tables over, his gaze came to rest on the face of his best friend.
"Huh?" he replied stupidly, distractedly.
"Don't gimme that, Lenny. You've been mooning over Joss for months now. Grow a pair and just go ask her out. If she says yes, then great, problem solved; if she says no, well game over, no sense pining for what you can't have." His friend heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Besides, I don't know how much more I can take of you constantly looking like someone just ran over your puppy," he finished with a smirk.
"Are you crazy, Jeff? She'd never go out with the likes of me. She's dated every top athlete in this school – the quarterback of the football team, captain of the basketball squad, star pitcher for the baseball team – if someone's got the slightest bit of athletic talent, and a good-looking face to go along with it, well, that's her type. She'd never be interested in a nerdy, introverted, homely science-geek like me."
"Well, I've got news for you, Sport. She may have dated all those guys, but she wound up dumping each and every one of them, too. Obviously they couldn't give her what she needs. Maybe a gangly science nerd is right up her alley at this point." Jefferson clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I've seen how she looks at you in chemistry class," his friend added smugly, cryptically.
"What? You're full of it," Leonard retorted in a harsh whisper, but his eyes, his demeanor begged for additional information that would corroborate the claim. "You're just trying to play me; get me to make a total fool out of myself in front of the whole cafeteria."
"You think so? Well, don't look now, Sport, but she's eyeing you up again," Jefferson responded, angling a chin toward the girl in question. Leonard snapped his gaze back to hers. This time, a small, wistful smile toyed at her lips before she once again concentrated her full attention on one of the other girls at her lunch table.
He turned to his friend, a bewildered look of confusion, vying with disbelief, plastered on his face.
"Yep, if I'm not mistaken, that's a sure sign she's interested. So you gonna do something about it, or just sit here like a deer caught in the headlights until another star athlete asks her out? She broke up with Scott last week, and a girl like that is never single for long."
He swallowed again, tasting bile this time, when a flurry of movement caught his attention. Joss had gotten to her feet, tray in hand, heading for the waste receptacles. He jumped to his feet as well, no concrete plan in mind other than following her there. He reached them just as she had dumped the contents of her tray. Turning to leave, she almost ran into him. They did an awkward dance for several seconds, she trying to step around him and he, always moving into her path, only succeeding in blocking her escape route.
"Sorry," he stammered, finally planting both feet. He glanced at her, looking quickly away.
"Gosh, don't apologize," she said in that sweet, lilting, singsong voice of hers, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Totally my fault." She grinned at him and he felt his knees go weak. God she was beautiful.
"Leonard, right?" she asked. "Leonard McCoy?"
"Yep," he heard himself answer in a none-too-steady voice.
"Jocelyn Dupree. Nice to meet you," she said, extending a petite hand. He grasped it, reveling in the feel of her soft skin against his. "My family just moved here last summer," she announced. He nodded dumbly, praying he wouldn't faint. He remembered the exact day, the exact second, he had seen her for the first time. "Don't we have a class together?" she asked innocently.
He nodded again, feeling the sweat break out on his brow. "Organic chemistry, third period, Mister Tuttle," he supplied, relieved he had managed to say anything at all; the fact that it hadn't come out as total gibberish was a definite plus.
"I hate that class," she pouted. "I just don't seem to have the mind for science."
"Well, I'm doing pretty well in it. Maybe I could help you with it sometime…" he asked uncertainly, his voice trailing off.
"Oh Lenny, I'd really like that," she responded enthusiastically, green eyes sparkling, her hand finding and squeezing his forearm. The conversation was interrupted by one of her friends, waving urgently from across the room. "Sorry Lenny, I've gotta go – the cheerleading squad is meeting before fifth period but definitely call me," she said, pressing a scrap of paper into his hand. "I need all the help I can get in that class." And with that she was gone, his eyes trailing hungrily after her.
As if from far away, a tiny voice, speaking to him insistently, grew ever louder. Finally the words came into clear focus. "Lenny? What happened? Did you ask her out?" this from Jefferson, who had materialized at his elbow.
He turned to his friend wearing a silly grin. "Sure did, and got her number to boot," he said, brandishing the scrap of paper like a winning lottery ticket. "I guess maybe you were right," he said, eyes shifting again to her retreating form. Well, he'd survived the first trial, and was bound and determined to make her fall in love with him, just as he was already hopelessly in love with her.