"Ashley? Were you just talking to Ray Budds?" Ronnie stopped me in the hall. "Yeah why? Is that bad?" Uh oh I had screwed up again. He looked uncomfortable. "Well, not bad per say just well Ray isn't the nicest guy around."

"What's wrong with him?" I asked. I was panicked. What if I was about to go out with an asshole? "Well.he's racist you know and he don't treat people too well unless you're in his inner circle."

"Oh well he ummm asked me out and I said yes." I looked up at Ronnie, or was it Sunshine? "Are you sure you want to do that?" He looked concerned. "I guess.I mean its just one date and he was nice enough to me."

"I guess. Come on I'll walk you to class."

My next class was History with Mr. Brooke. The class was apparently doing some sort of group assignment. He indicated a group with fewer members than the rest and told me to work with them. The three people sitting together seemed to be miserable. Two were in letterman jackets and one was a girl who looked bored with them both.

One of the boys, a short blond kid noticed me. "Who're you?"

"Um Ashley Cole. I just moved here and I'm supposed to be in your group."

"Oh I'm Alan Bosley. That's Emma Hoyt and Gerry Bertier. Sit down, you look awkward standing up like that." He grinned. I found a chair and sat down. "So what are you doing?"

"We have to create a new country-new government, culture everything. We really haven't done much so you won't need to do a lot of catching up." Said Gerry. I nodded. "So where did you move from?" Alan asked. "Phoenix, Arizona. My dad was transferred here." I replied. "Have you met anyone cool?" Gerry asked. "Um yeah Ronnie Bass was really nice. And three guys Petey, Rev and Blue I think their names were. And Ray.Ray Budds."

Emma looked up. "Let me guess, you're the one that Ray asked out." I could tell that this girl was less than impressed with me. "Uh yeah I'm hanging out with him this afternoon."

"Good luck." Gerry rolled his eyes. "Okay is there something wrong with this guy because Ronnie didn't seem to happy either." Alan and Gerry exchanged looks. Alan opened his mouth to say something but Emma cut him off. "There ain't nothing wrong with Ray. He's a great guy and he can be real sweet. Its just some people are too busy with other things to see that." She said, staring at Gerry. "Some people? Well maybe some people are too concerned with what's popular that they're to close minded to see anything else." Emma's mouth dropped open. "Well at least they don't spend time with those goddamn." Alan laughed. "Yeah so this project let's do it so we don't fail okay?" Emma and Gerry glared at each other, but stopped arguing. Alan rolled his eyes.

We started to work but Emma and Gerry didn't speak the rest of the class.

The next two classes-Math and Spanish-were a blur to me. I was overjoyed to hear the bell for lunch. I was at my locker when a familiar voice said "I'm sorry about what happened in History."

Emma stood next to me. "What do you mean?" She hadn't really done anything to apologize for. She sighed. "Me and Gerry I mean. We kinda wrecked the project work. It's just that.well we used to date but things didn't work out. I didn't like some of his friends and he chose them over me. I'm still not quite over it; it was only a week ago. If I get bitchy like that around him you'll understand. I'm really not like that I swear." She smiled. "It's okay. I know how that can be."

She walked away. I was just closing my locker and about to head to lunch when I saw Gerry standing next to me. "Hey Ashley, how your first day going?"

"Can't complain." I smiled. "Hey I know that you don't know many people so you wanna come eat with us? I'd hate for you to be alone."

I smiled. "That would be great. Thanks for the invite."

He smiled and we turned and walked to the cafeteria. "Uh I saw you talking to Emma. Whatever she says about me isn't true. She's just a little bitter about how we broke up." Gerry said. "She didn't say anything bad.just that you guys broke up that's all."

He nodded. "Did she tell you why?"

I bit my lip. "She said you picked your friends over her."

"Sort of. She didn't like that I was hanging out with blacks, she's still racist you know and she was being a real bitch to Julius and the guys."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. We entered the cafeteria and sat at table with Ronnie, Petey, Blue, Rev and Alan. I also was introduced to Julius and Lewie Lastik, two other football players. "Hey Ash! How's school treating you?" Ronnie asked. "Its going alright." I grinned. "So Ash," said Petey. "I heard you and Ray Budds are going out?" I rolled my eyes. What was the big deal with this guy? "Uh we're hanging out after school. Nothing big I don't really know him well."

"Well here's a tip-don't bother getting to know him. He's a jerk." Blue said. "Guys don't try to turn her against him. She's a big girl and can make her own decisions about who she dates." Gerry said. He grinned at me from across the table. The subject then turned from Ray to football, which suited me just fine.

The rest of the day passed quickly for me. I was walking from my last period class to my locker when I saw Ray was already standing there waiting for me. "Hey beautiful. Thought I'd have to wait longer." He grinned that cocky grin. "Aw I wouldn't keep you waiting." I laughed. "So where do you want to go?" Ray asked me as I gathered my things from my locker. "I've barely lived here two days I don't know anything about this town."

Ray looked contemplative. "Well let's get out of here and drive around. Maybe we'll think of something fun to do." We walked out to the parking lot and got into Ray's pickup truck. We drove down to the A&W and got sodas then he drove us out to The Hill, which I guess was the local hangout. Since it was so early in the day, the place was deserted. "So Miss Ashley, what do you think of our humble town?"

"It's.okay. I mean it isn't home."

He laughed. "Well what was so great about Phoenix?"

"I dunno, nothing really. That's just where all my friends are, it kinda sucks having to start from scratch my senior year." "Well if its any consolation I'm glad you came." God he was smooth. I smiled. "Thanks. So what about you Ray Budds? What's the story?" He laughed. "Well, I've lived here my whole life.played football since I was eight, gone to school under duress. I live with my dad mom and three younger sisters. Other than that.my life is pretty average I guess."

I nodded and played with my straw. He was really nice and he was pretty cute too. Right then he flipped on the radio. Etta James's filled the car. "At Last, my love has come along, my lonely days are over and life is like a song" I looked up at Ray. "You are so beautiful Ashley." He leaned over and kissed me. A few seconds later he broke it. "Sorry." He said as he sat back down. "What are you sorry for?" I asked. "Did you want that to happen?" He asked. "Don't answer a question with a question-its bad manners." I said. He grinned that cocky grin that I was starting to like. "Well I have a question."

"What's that?"

"Can I kiss you again?"

I bit my lip. "Do you want to kiss me again?"

"I thought you said that it was bad manners to answer a question with another question."

"I lied." I smiled. He leaned over and we kissed again. An hour later, he dropped me off at my house. "See you tomorrow." He said as he kissed my cheek one last time. "Bye."

I walked to my door thinking that maybe Alexandria wouldn't be so bad after all.