1 Hey! I've been really lax about posting, so I'll get this first part of my next chapter up.

2 Its just Kyle and Sera now, but I promise everyone is in this chapter eventually!!

I have an Oscar party every year and most of my spare time has gone in to planning that! So, now that the Oscars are over, I can get back to my fic! YEA!! (

Hope you enjoy. Please keep the feedback coming. I love it! You guys are great!

Special thanks to Jacqueline, moanda and Fate! Your kind words keep me going! (

3

4

5 WEST ROSWELL HIGH SCHOOL

Jim pulled his jeep into the parking lot of the high school to drop off Sera and Kyle.

The teens hopped out and grabbed their duffels.

"Sera, Charles said he'd pick you both up at 3PM on September 1 right?"

"Yes sir!"

"OK, you two have fun! Uh, not too much fun."

"DAD!" Kyle yelled as Sera turned bright red.

"Right! I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Bye Sheriff." Sera called as she stepped away from Jim's jeep.

"Bye now."

"Later Dad."

"Kyle, remember she's 17. That means she's a minor."

"Dad…"

"Just be careful, OK!"

"Goodbye Dad."

Kyle shook his head as he walked to Sera.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"Dad giving me the responsibility lecture."

"Mom gave me the same lecture, right before she gave me the third degree. She wanted to know our exact itinerary, where the boys dorms were in relation to the girls dorms and she packed my cell, charger and even an extra battery!"

"She'll probably call it every free hour listed, just to make sure I haven't dragged you off somewhere to take advantage of you!"

"First of all you wouldn't have to take advantage of me. Second of all, I may have adjusted the itinerary slightly. I gave us two free hours instead of three and I shortened the lunch period from an hour to a half hour."

"Sneaky!"

Sera raised her eyebrows, "I try!"

"Uh, oh. Cannon is giving us the eye! We'd better head over!"

"You were the one that told me she didn't like you football types flirting with her girls! I'd watch it if I were you!"

"Sera! Over here!"

Sera and Kyle turned to see Vicki Delany and Amy Green waving excitedly.

"Made friends with Amy and Vicki already?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"No, they're pretty nice…For cheerleaders."

Sera smacked him on the arm as they walked to Amy and Vicki.

Everyone exchanged hellos, then Sera checked in with Ms. Cannon.

Pam sauntered over to hug Kyle.

"It's been too long Kyle! How's you summer been?" Pam asked releasing Kyle from her hug, but slipping an arm around his waist.

Gazing at his approaching girlfriend he smiled, "It's been my best summer ever."

Sera smiled as she returned to the group. "Hi Pam how are you?"

"Oh well hey there Sera, Didn't see you."

Sera smiled sarcastically at Pam before turning to Kyle. "Ms. Cannon says we're on one bus so I guess you're stuck with me."

Kyle extracted himself from Pam's grip and bent to pick up his and Sera's bags.

"So Kyle, is it true your dad and Maria's mom are getting married this fall?" Pam asked with a snicker.

"In November." Kyle replied nodding his head.

"So Maria's going to be your sister. That should be fun!"

She turned to Amber Timmons and laughed. "Poor thing, saddled with Psycho DeLuca, and her degenerate trailer trash boyfriend."

Sera's deep blue eyes flashed and she moved toward Pam with a menacing expression on her face.

"What did you just say?" Sera yelled.

"OK! We're getting on the bus!" Kyle said catching his girlfriend before she could do serious harm to Pam.

"BITCH!" Sera called as Kyle led her away.

"What the hell is her problem?" Pam asked shaking her head at Amber.

"Pam, she and Maria are pretty good friends, they work together at the Crashdown."

Vicki explained.

"So that's how she's got Kyle pulling a big brother routine! Carrying her bags, loading her on the bus. All because she's friends with Maria and that band of freaks! Well, I guess it's my duty to rescue Kyle from that existence. I think I'll start taking his mind off them during ASAP."

"You are so bad girl!" Amber said laughing with Pam as they boarded the bus.

Kyle and Sera sat near the back. Sera sat closest to the window and glared at Kyle as he greeted some of his teammates. He caught her look and returned to their seat.

"What?"

"How could you let her talk about them like that?"

"That's just Pam, she does that to everyone."

"Who the hell does she think she is?"

"You have to learn to ignore her. God knows we all have."

"She's so, so…"

"Annoying?" Kyle finished for her.

"For starters!"

"She's jealous. She's never liked Liz, because of Max and me. And as you know, Liz and Maria are a package deal. You get one with the other. Pam starts in on Liz and Maria dishes it back out to her, only Maria's a bit more effective."

"Still, I don't like anyone saying those kind of things about my friends."

"Geez, I hope no one says anything bad about me."

"Why?"

"Well, you were ready to kill Pam for what she said about Michael and Maria. I'd hate to see what you'd do if she started picking on me."

"Oh, she can pick on you. I think its funny when you're the butt of jokes!"

"Thanks a lot!"

Sera smiled sweetly at her boyfriend.

"You think that's funny?"

"Uh-huh!" she said shaking her head.

"You still think its funny," he asked pinning her between him and the window and tickling her.

Sera squealed and tried to push Kyle off her.

"Still think its funny? Huh? Huh?"

"OK OK I give!" She was winded, giggling and still slightly beneath Kyle when Tim Malamud and Kevin Franklin approached.

"Valenti." Kevin extended his hand as Kyle straightened in the seat, allowing Sera to sit up.

"Franklin." Kyle shook Kevin's hand then looked at the other boy. Sera noticed his tone in greeting Tim was a bit harsh. "Malamud."

"So I see you met our new girl." Kevin said reaching for Sera's hand. She looked at him suspiciously but offered her hand anyway. He kissed it dramatically as if he were Jack Dawson and she Rose DeWitt-Bukater.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I'm Kevin Franklin."

"I'm Sera Davidson. I don't think there was time for introductions the last time we met. You were too busy looking down my work uniform. Its nice to put a name with the leer."

"Sarcastic and beautiful, I like that in a woman." Kevin said finally releasing her hand.

"I trust our star quarterback is treating you well?" Tim asked moving for Sera's hand now that Kevin had relinquished it.

"I am and I think that's enough hand kissing for one day." Kyle said glaring at Tim and blocking his attempts to take Sera's hand.

"Valenti, playing the big brother role again? Geez, can't you give a guy a chance to get to know our newest cheerleader?"

"Not for a million dollars Malamud!"

"Well, perhaps we should ask Miss Davidson if she'd care to join us so we can get to know her better."

"Thanks but I don't think my boyfriend would like that very much."

"Well, what your boyfriend doesn't know won't hurt him will it?" Tim said in a conspiratorial voice.

Sera fought to stifle a laugh, then looked at Kyle. "I think he already knows! But let's ask if it would hurt him. Kyle?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt ME, but I might hurt Malamud in a second."

Kevin caught on first, "You mean you two…"

"Yep!" Sera said laughing at the look on his face.

"What?" Tim asked.

"Malamud, meet Sera Davidson, MY GIRLFRIEND!" Kyle said with an edge.

"Damn. Hey, how's it going? Sorry, guys we had no idea!"

"No problem." Sera found it hard to talk as she convulsed with laughter.

"Yeah, we're gonna go back up front. See ya later Valenti. Sera, nice to meet you. Sorry about the thing at the Crashdown." Kevin said as he backed away.

"It's forgotten. Just don't do it again or you'll be wearing your milkshake." She cocked her head and smiled sweetly at Kevin.

"Hey Valenti!" Malamud said as he made his way down the aisle, "Remember what I said about Tess? Same thing applies for Sera… Couple of hours man."

Kyle shot Malamud a murderous look as the boy left to pester someone else.

Sera looked at Kyle for an explanation, "Old girlfriend?"

"WHAT?"

"Tess, is that your ex-girlfriend? I just figured from the look on your face that he tried to move in on her."

"Oh, uh, yeah. She was…I…we went to Prom together last year."

"Oh. Does she still go here?"

"No."

"Dating a senior? Mr. Valenti, I didn't know you liked older women!"

"Can we talk about something else?" Kyle snapped.

"Sure," Sera said looking at him uneasily as Kyle busied himself with the zipper on her purse in the seat between them.

"Hey," she placed her hand on his arm. "I didn't mean to stir up bad memories."

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, it's just, that's in the past. I'm not one to dwell. Buddha says…"

Sera leaned into him and kissed him soundly on the lips.

"What were you saying?" She asked with a grin.

"I don't remember!"

"Good!"

**************************************************************************** **

Sitting on a bus for five hours was incredibly tedious; Kyle and Sera played Mad Libs to ease the boredom. Sera made an effort to keep them marginally clean, but with Kyle as her partner, she failed. Every so often one of Kyle's teammates came down the aisle to talk to him. Sera was convinced she met half of the football team in less than two hours.

Kayla Adler who was two seats ahead of Sera and Kyle, turned to face the couple.

"Hey Sera, I stole a look at Ms. Cannon's log. It looks like we're bunking together."

"We have roommates? There's only 10 of us!"

"Roommates are to act as chaperones. That way we don't get a nice dorm room all to ourselves that would be too much of a temptation. The admin fears late night visits from significant others." Kayla was pointing at Kyle as she said this.

"Would I do that?"

Vicki Delany, who was sitting with Kayla turned in the seat to look at Kyle, "Freshman year you and Kevin snuck in the room Pam and I were sharing. You nearly gave us heart attacks." She reminded him.

"Yeah, but we were only playing practical jokes. There was noting illicit going on."

Kayla muttered something and Vicki nudged her.

"Just letting you know right now Valenti, if you are planning on sneaking into my room to see Sera, I have two rules: One, you'd better keep it down, and Two, you'd better bring Devon with you."

"You're still dating Rayburn? I thought you would have dumped him by now." Kyle teased.

"Hey." Devon yelled from the seat across from Vicki and Kayla.

Devon bounced a Nerf mini football off Kyle's forehead.

"Ow!"

Sera rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a baby."

She calmly picked up the offending football and launched it back in Devon's direction. It hit his temple and she giggled.

"Hey Valenti, " Nathan Webber, the wide receiver called. "Your girlfriend's a better pass than you are." He and Jarrod Donnell found this extremely amusing.

"Laugh it up Webber, I'm still waiting for Coach to give me a receiver who can catch worth a damn."

Nathan responded to Kyle's remark by flipping him off with a wink.

"Geez! Why don't you two just whip them out right here and get the rulers." Sera said rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. "I thought you and Michael were bad, you're worse around this crew."

"Is that your subtle way of getting my pants off?"

Sera stared at him for a moment. "If I wanted your pants off I'd come right out and tell you to drop them!"

Kyle blinked about 20 times before he found his voice again.

"So will you be telling me that anytime tonight?"

"We'll see!" she replied winking at him.

TBC