My job has been good at keeping me busy, so I thought I should get the second chapter done before I'm overwhelmed by this job… god do I hate it.

Anyway, read, enjoy, and REVIEW!!! I need it! I'm no good at begging, but hopefully you get the message.

Beyond Yesterday

I couldn't remember exactly what I was thinking about on my way to the high school, under the moonlight. Okay, that phrase sounded totally romantic, under the moonlight, but like Melissa said, don't expect anything. And I knew that seniors were usually snobby as hell. Just look at Bill. He wouldn't even grace the lowly freshmen with his holy presence. He'd rather stay at home and laugh his head off at some idiots on the TV.

I reached the high school without even knowing it. I was probably going to walk straight into the wall when a familiar voice called, "Dana!"

I turned around and saw my best friend Anna sitting on the step of the main entrance, and I walked over to join her and our other friends. Most of them were excited, comparing to me. Thanks to Melissa's warning.

"Aren't you excited, Dana?" Anna was saying, and I turned my full attention to her. "Aren't you excited about meeting your senior partner?"

"It's just like 'show and tell,' isn't it?" I said casually. "He's just going to show me around the school, no big. By the way, how do we find our partners? The announcement didn't say anything."

"So there's finally something that the 'Know-it-all Dana Scully' doesn't know," Elena, my other friend, said in a teasing tone, and I turned to glare at her. She shrunk back, but continued. "Every senior is going to be wearing a name tag, and you match the name from the announcement to the name on the name tag, simple as that."

Anna nodded, and suddenly she grabbed my armed and rushed toward the door. "Come on, it's seven! The ceremony is going to start any time!"

***

The ceremony is just like what Melissa had warned me against: don't expect anything. I could have fallen asleep about a hundred times before the principal was done with his speech, if I wasn't chatting with my friends the whole time. I glanced several times at the seniors sitting on the opposite side of the gym; they all looked bored to death. They probably didn't want to spend their last day of summer here just to show a bunch of freshmen the way around the school.

But wait… there was a person who didn't look bored at all. I turned my attention away from the chitchat my friends were having, and tried to focus on his face. He was surveying the freshmen sitting across the gym, and he seemed to be interested, maybe trying to imagine what his partner might look like. When his eyes met mine, he blinked, and then smiled–with his eyes. And then those brown puppy eyes of his moved on to continue their survey. I felt a shiver traveling up my right arm, and I rubbed it, trying to figure out what was wrong with me, having goosebumps springing all over me just because a senior guy looked at me.

"…See?! I told you the high school has better air conditioning than the junior high!" Elena was saying, "See the goosebumps all over Dana's arms?"

I looked at the senior side again, but he had vanished into the crowd.

I looked back at my friends and yawned. "When's he going to be done with the speech?"

"I don't know," Anna said, looking at her watch. "He's been talking for the last ten minutes and he didn't even stop to drink water or something!"

"Maybe they have to be trained to produce more saliva than other people to become a principal," Elena suggested, and we had to work hard to suppress our laughter.

Finally it was over, and the seniors lined up against the wall. "Let's go and find our partners!" Elena said. I felt sorry for her. She was definitely expecting something, maybe a warm welcome. She probably wouldn't be getting any, from what I have learned about the seniors.

I took the piece of paper out of my pocket, checked the name for one last time, and stared to focus on reading the name tags on the chest of the seniors and trying not to bump into other people.

Fox Mulder, Fox Mulder, Fox Mulder… aha, found you.

I looked up–God, that guy was tall–and looked into the puppy brown eyes I saw just a moment ago in the crowd. And he recognized me too.

"Hey you were that kid that was staring at me, aren't you?" He asked half-jokingly. "You're my partner?"

I nodded and swallowed. He certainly noticed my uneasiness, because he said, "Hey no pressure, okay? I was nervous as hell as well on my first day here. You got your schedule ready to go?"

I fished my schedule out from another pocket and handed it to him. "Here it is."

"Well-prepared, aren't you?" He said good-naturally. "When I was here as a freshman I forgot my schedule and had to go to my counselor for a new one; my partner was totally pissed off."

I laughed. I was starting to like this guy; maybe seniors were not so bad after all. He smiled, and then pointed at the stairway. "You have biology first period–that's the shortest way from the entrance here. C'mon, I'll show you."

He walked toward the stairway, and I followed. This was not a bad start at all.

***

"So, any questions?"

It had been almost an hour since we started the tour around the high school; he had shown me the shortest way between my classes. We also compared our schedule, which were both surprisingly full.

"You only have one lunch period, and no free or study," He had said, clearly amused. "Not so many freshmen take so many courses; people want their workload for the first year here as light as possible."

"Well, I believe that I should be prepared for the following three years, Fox," I replied, folding my schedule.

"Mulder," he corrected me, stuffing his schedule into his pocket. "I usually prefer people to call me by my last name."

"You dislike your name that much?"

"Very. This hallway leads to the cafeteria–no shortcut this time," he said, pointing at a hallway branched out in the left of where we're standing. "It's the only way in this school."

We walked into the cafeteria, and he continued talking. "It's a pain to get here if you're going to a science or math class, because the classrooms are all located on the other side of the building. So don't bother to come down here and get takeout because you're more than likely to be late for class. But since you have a lunch period, you'd better use it."

I looked at both side of the cafeteria, and noticed that one small section was kind of "fenced in." "What's that area for?" I asked, pointing a finger in that direction.

Mulder turned and followed my finger. "It's the senior section of the cafeteria," he replied, "They always kick underclassmen out of there right away, so don't even try to step in there unless you're accompanied by a senior."

"So I'll find you in there fifth period?" I remembered that he had lunch fifth period, just like me.

"No. You'll find me over there," he said, pointing a finger at the opposite side of the cafeteria. "That's the freshmen side, but they got the best chairs and tables. The senior class has a bad trend of knocking hard on their tables and chairs, and according to my calculation the tables and chairs over at the senior section should be collapsing somewhere during November or December. Don't want to be sitting on a chair over there when it collapses."

"Okay, so I'll find you in the freshmen section of the cafeteria during fifth period–everyday?"

"Everyday. I like to sit in a public place and have people telling each other how insane and spooky I am. Feel free to ask questions if you just happen to pop in here. Anything else you want to know?"

"I think that's it for now."

"Okay then," He said, stretching his arms and yawned. "See you on Monday."

I nodded, and began to walk toward the cafeteria exit when he called, "Dana?"

I turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"What I said about feel free to ask me questions, I mean it." He winked at me, and I couldn't help but to smile. "You can never have too much help during your freshmen year, eh?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

***

"How was it?" Melissa asked me when I stepped into the bedroom we shared that night. "Did the senior piss you off? I know my partner last year did."

"No, actually," I said, changing into my nightgown. "He was a nice person."

"Lucky you," she mumbled, throwing back the blanket, her eyes bright. "So let's hear about this 'Amazing Mulder,' shall we?"

"There's not much to say," I said, ducking into my bed. "Really."

"I don't buy that a bit, Dana Katherine Scully." Melissa pouted. She got out of her bed and sat down by my bed. "So, tell me about him."

"I told you there's not much to say," I replied, pulling the blanket over my head.

"You're lying, I know it!" Melissa said, yanking off my blanket and started tickling me. I laughed, and tickled her back. Few moments later we were lying on the floor, laughing hysterically.

Mom's head appeared in the doorway. "Is there a problem, girls?"

"She won't tell me about this amazing partner that she had," Melissa said, getting to her feet. "Mom, can you make her tell me?"

Mom only sighed. "Go to bed, Melissa. And let your sister keep her secret if she wants to."

She closed the door, and we started laughing again.

"Come on," Melissa said, pulling me onto my feet. "I want to hear about this Fox Mulder character–by God, there are rumors about him flying all over the school!"

"He's really nice, nothing snotty like Bill," I said, tilting my head in the direction of Bill's room; Melissa laughed. "And he showed me the shortest ways between my classes, and he sits in the freshmen section of the cafeteria because according to his calculation, the tables and chairs in the senior sections should be collapsing soon due to the heavy pounding and knocking committed by last year's senior. And he said that I should feel free to ask him any questions."

Melissa stared at me blankly. And then she started laughing again. "That's a lot of stuff for your 'not much.' When did you reset your standard for 'not much' and 'a lot?'"

"I don't know," I said, ducking under the blanket again. "And now, I request the permission to go to sleep from my supreme big sister."

Melissa chuckled and got into bed. "You have my permission to go to sleep, Dana Katherine Scully, who just raised her standard for 'not much.'"

"Fair enough," I mumbled sleepily.

***

That's not as good as I'd like it to be… hopefully it didn't suck. I have a hobby of slapping myself hard in the face, and the only thing that can stop me from doing so is… REVIEWS from YOU! So, like the last chapter, can I have something from you? Reviews? Feedback? Constructive criticism? Flames? Anything???

Again, thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed it, even if just part of it. I'm gonna stop my blabbering now. See you in the reviews!