Chapter 3.

"Who knows the answer to this problem?" The teacher asked looking around the room for a show of hands, Rocky looked around the room too but no one had their hand up so he raised his. "The answer is 345 ma'am." "Correct thank you Samuel." He smiled sweetly and wrote his answer down.

"Alright now, who can answer this next problem? 785 times 5 equals what now?" She looked around for a show of hands and everyone looked at Rocky who sighed and raised his hand in the air. "The answer is 3925." The teacher thanked him again and Rocky again returned a smile.

His attention went out the window as the teacher took off her glasses because he knew that there would be a- 'Don't let Samuel answer all of the problems for you, do some work yourselves show me what you know.' speech coming on, he'd heard it so many times he could give it himself.

As he looked out the window he saw a girl in the distance on the kick ball field by the gym area. Her outline looked newly familiar to him, but, he figured it must be his imagination recognizing the figure because he was sure he hadn't seen any one that looked like that before so he returned his attention to class as the teacher's speech ended.

The class looked hardly phased by her words and continued to sit bored by it, until the bell rang. "Alright tonight's homework assignment is to work out of the book on page 346, be sure to show your work okay, thank you and-.....oh dear." The woman said noticing that Rocky was the only one actually writing down the assignment in his assignment book.

She flopped down at her desk and shook her head in exasperation. "What am I doing wrong?" She said to herself, but he answered her anyway. "Personally, I think it's just lack of will to learn on their parts.....You're doing a great job Mrs. Creed." He patted the woman on the shoulder before he walked out of the room.

"Ugfh!" He banged into someone when rounding the corner and knocked them to the floor. "Oh! I'm really sorry!" He said helping the person up- it was Maria! "It's okay," she said slowly. "it was my fault." She looked him up and down and then walked down the hall. Rocky looked after her with question but figured it was nothing so he walked to his next class.

Maria glanced over her shoulder and watched him go with a smile, before she disappeared into the crowd in the hall way.

* * *

"Hey Colt, over here!" Rocky called to his brother when he saw him leave the cafeteria to join most of the school outside. The lunchroom was too small right now and they were getting another side built so they were allowed to eat outside if they wanted to until further notice to avoid over crowding.

"Hey, Rock'. Whoa!" Colt was tripped from someone sitting at the stone picnic tables. His tray flew off into nowhere and he stumbled forwards onto his hands and knees, but quickly pushed himself back onto his feet. "Haa haa haa......well, well look at you on your little hands and knees like the dog you are, Douglas." Darren Whittle stated watching him dust himself off. "Yeah little horsy, you giving out free rides again?" His best friend Bah Ha followed him up.

Colt dusted himself off and looked at them with bitter eyes but then turned on an arrogant smile. "You think after all this time you'd learn not to mess with the bull, because here come the horns!" He rushed at them slamming into Darren knocking him to the ground getting ready to beat him senseless but both Rocky and Bah Ha were trying to stop him from his attack on the other boy.

When they were finally able to yank him away, he spit on the ground beside the bully's head. "Aahh you're not worth it anyway." He walked away with his brother to the table he, Emily and Eleanor were sitting at.

"Man that guy really gets on my nerves what's his problem in life?" Colt wondered mostly to himself looking back in their direction. "Uh, you." Rocky said taking an obvious stab at the answer.

Colt looked at him with a scrunched up face then turned his attention else where. "So did you guys hear about the new girl, Maria?" Eleanor said opening her chocolate milk. Emily nearly choked on her own drink hearing the name of that girl and Rocky tried to act as though he wasn't interested. "What about her?" Asked Colt blissfully unaware of the new girl in topic, how she was now a no touch topic.

"Well I heard that she was some kind of snob," this got Rocky's attention and he put his ear to it but doodled on a piece of paper to pretend he wasn't. "and that her parents are rich and live in a huge mansion, but here's the twist I also heard that her father was an undertaker and her mother was the one who put them there."

Colt huffed out laughter and Rocky looked at his friend a minute. "Where did you hear that?" He asked her receiving a pinch on the shoulder from Emily and he winced from the brief pain.

"This boy told me, during third period." Emily across the table with wide eyes and nodded her head. "That would make so much sense, why just the other day-..."

"Emily, enough." Rocky said cutting her off but she went on.

"She was in you guys' backyard hitting on Rocky like there were no tomorrow."

"Really?" Colt asked, bringing his attention to the conversation. "And then when I went back there she had the nerve to-..." Rocky slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. "Emily, that's enough!" He nearly shouted at her and the girl looked stunned as well as his brother and friend. "I don't wanna here anymore out of your mouth about this girl you don't even know her." He said in a tight low whisper.

"Rocky, what are you saying?" She asked him cocking her head. "I'm sorry for yelling at you but that's the way it came out.....Not to long ago you to were being talked about and disliked because of what people think of your weight so I really wouldn't start in on rumors about this girl Maria, okay?" She nodded stiffly a little frightened by this sudden outburst of emotions for a perfect stranger and even more shocked at how he walked away from the table leaving his food behind.

"Rocky I-....." But the rest didn't come out of her mouth she just sat there silently picking at her food.

"You want me to talk to him?" Colt offered but she shook her head trying to fight tears and got up herself going inside the cafeteria to eat her lunch. "It was just gossip." Eleanor said to Colt who gave her a look that simply said, 'Sorry.'

Rocky huffed over to a tree, angrily grumbling to himself about how people are now a days and as he sat down he heard a familiar voice in the back of his mind. "People can be so cold sometimes don't pay it any mind."

"Maria?" Rocky asked himself turning slightly around to see the other side of the tree and sure enough the petite brown haired girl was there smiling at him. "Hi, nice to see you again." She said to him and he looked kinda nervous but didn't move from his sitting place.

"You too." He managed to get out. "Wanna have lunch with me? I see you left yours behind we can share if you like?"

"U-umm, y-yeah sure." He stammered out as she handed him a half of her store bought sandwich. "Thank you." He said to her and took a bite she watched him eat with a smile and began to eat herself.

'Soon Rocky, very soon.' She thought and opened her drink after placing her sandwich in a cover from bugs.

After a while she looked at him, he was staring at the ground sadly and she lifted his chin to have his face meet hers. "Rocky....?" She asked, "Yes?" He responded, almost mindlessly. "What's the matter?" she began to slow the movement of her lips.

"I'm.....afraid." She turned herself more to reach out for him into a hug. "It's okay Rocky you don't have to be afraid anymore......" She said to him and her mouth remained shut the whole time......