Making New Friends:
It was a week or so later, and Ryan was completely settled in his new school. Every day he got more and more accustomed to his surroundings, used to everything and everyone, and every day he got more and more popular. And yet still each new day presented small surprises for him too. As the days went by, he realised that he was happy here- happier than he had ever been in any of his previous towns and schools. He had friends; lots of them, and he was rumoured to be the most sought after guy in school apart from his newfound friend, Blade Silverstone. It seemed that one of the girls in the popular group was trying to get his attentions, Alina Harman, and he was having fun just flirting with her. He was in several advanced classes, but no one made fun of him for being a near genius at sciences or maths. He wasn't resented for being class president, or for being the new forward of the basketball team. In fact, most people seemed to admire him for it. It was unbelievable. He'd had a party thrown for him to welcome him in. And his new friends were really nice to him. They seemed to be genuine, and Blade always made sure that he kept an eye out for Ryan, something for which Ryan was very grateful.
In fact, the only regret that Ryan had was that he still hadn't had a chance to talk to the other girl, Serena. The one that he was actually interested in. There were two reasons for this; firstly because he was never alone, and didn't want to upset Blade by talking to someone who wasn't in their clique (he hadn't forgotten the look in his eye when Blade explained it to him), and secondly because whenever he got near her, she seemed to run away, or look away for some reason. He couldn't figure out why. He'd meet her eye often in class, but she'd never come up to talk to him. She'd just give him a very small smile and turn away.
But besides this, his days were busy and eventful, and he savoured every moment of his new found popularity. Everywhere he went, he found new friends and learned new things... and he couldn't get enough of it. He didn't have to worry about being alone anymore- he was almost constantly surrounded by people.
But one day, that changed. In retrospect, Ryan would think that it was definitely for the better, but as it happened, he couldn't help feeling a little left out. That Monday morning, when the two groups came into school, it was clear that something was wrong, not between them though, as though they were sharing a common problem. Alina wasn't flirting as much with him as before, (he was somewhat relieved at this), and Blade wasn't as carefree as he usually was. But they wouldn't tell him what the problem was. Ryan just managed to catch small fragments of conversations passing over his head, such as "for the Circle", "the Elders are going for it", "we need to meet all week". He knew that they weren't saying much because he was around, and he couldn't help but feel hurt that they wouldn't include him in their troubles. However, he had to respect their rights to privacy, and so when Blade asked him at the beginning of lunch, apologetically, "Hey, sorry, but we're gonna have to change all our plans for the next few weeks... push them back a bit... we kinda need to sort some stuff out ... is that okay?" He couldn't do anything but force a small smile and say, "Sure".
"Don't take it personally, we'd tell you if we could... but it's better that you don't know. I'll see you around fairly soon."
And Ryan did try not to take it personally, but it was hard. Suddenly, he found that he was entering the cafeteria alone, for the first time since he had moved to the school. He considered sitting at the back table alone- all the other members had left school- but didn't really think he wanted to have a solitary lunch. He scanned his eye across the cafeteria, trying to decide whose table to join. There were the rest of the jocks, who liked him well enough, but he didn't really know them, the geeks, who seemed to worship him as some sort of genius, which kinda freaked him out a little, and there were the misfits, who he would rather not go anywhere near. The cheerleaders, the prefects, the musicians and artists... -No, no no,- he mentally checked off all the tables in him mind. He didn't want to sit near any of them. This was hopeless. Just as he was thinking it, his eyes came to rest on the last table besides the popular one, in the cafeteria. There was only one occupant at it, eating an apple and reading a book. She still tried to hide behind her beautiful hair, but she looked a little happier than she did before, perhaps because of the absence of a certain person and her group.
His heart raced. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He could talk to her, if she'd let him, and no one would know, or get mad at him. He just hoped she'd talk back. He grabbed an apple and a coke and headed over to the cash register, watching her out of the corner of his eye all the while. -She looks so sweet,- he thought to himself as he paid for his lunch, -immersed in the book like that.- He began to walk over to her table, but was beaten to it by some of the cheerleaders, who were sauntering past. He was just close enough to catch part of their conversation.
"Well, if it isn't the freak! I don't get it. Why do you take up a whole table that other people could use, just by sitting at it." That was Michelle, the captain of the cheerleading squad. "I mean, if you weren't here, loads of people could use it!"
"I'm only taking up one seat!" Serena sounded timid, and even from this distance away, he could tell that she was really upset. His heart went out to her.
"You think that people are gonna sit anywhere near you! I don't think so. Most people don't associate with losers. Even the freaks know better than that! I mean, you're a complete misfit. Look at you, sitting here reading your stupid book." Michelle swiped Serena's book out of her hands and pushed it off the table onto the floor.
Ryan had heard enough. He strode over to the table where the commotion was taking place, noting that the whole cafeteria was staring at them, and that tears had formed in Serena's eyes in humiliation. People saw him coming over, and they parted to let him through, staring at him in awe. The cheerleaders also moved aside, and he could see Michelle turn around in front of him, to see who was causing all the fuss. When she saw that it was him, the scowl melted off her face and was replaced instantly with a flirtatious smile. He kept walking up to the table, and stopped purposefully, only to be greeted by a simpering "Hey Ryan. Want to come sit with us?"
But Ryan had other ideas. His heart burned in anger for Serena, and he silently stooped down and picked up the book that Michelle had tossed on the floor, and handed it back to Serena, who looked up at him gratefully through wide eyes. Ignoring the shocked looks of the cheerleaders and the whispers circulating around the cafeteria, he said audibly, "Is it okay if I sit here?"
*~*~*
"Is it okay if I sit here?"
Serena looked up at him, through eyes misty with tears, and her cheeks flooded with heat. She couldn't believe that Ryan Drache had witnessed that... humiliation. Of all the people to see her being made fun of... She just wished the ground would open up and swallow her. When she'd seen him come up, she'd expect him to make fun of her, just like the rest of then. But he hadn't. Instead he'd picked the book up for her... it was so sweet. She couldn't believe it. No one had ever done that for her before. Stood up to someone for her. And he wanted to sit with her... Her, Serena Hardwood. She was so shocked that all she could do was stare at him. He looked back at her expectantly, a wry smile twisting his mouth. It was then that she realised that he was waiting for an answer.
"Um, sure" She moved her book to the side as he slid his tray onto the table and took a seat opposite her. She looked away, embarrassed, wondering why he was talking to her. Then it hit her. The cliques, they weren't here. So he'd decided to sit with her. She wasn't sure if she was offended or happy. She glanced at Ryan, who was biting into his apple, and found that he was watching her intently. As he met her eyes, he smiled at her cautiously, and she couldn't help but smile back and remember that he had just faced down the cheerleaders for her. The cheerleaders... she turned around to see where they were, and found that they had returned to their table across the cafeteria, and were shooting venomous and envious glances her way. Now that was something different.
She couldn't help herself, however; she had to know if he was sitting with her out of pity, or because there was no one from his groups, and found, to her mortification, that her mouth was moving of its own accord, and a rather pointed question had just slipped out. "Will Alina mind that you're sitting here?"
His smile evaporated, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "Alina? Why should Alina mind? And why would I care if she did mind?"
"Aren't you two going out? That's what I heard."
"No!" He sounded rather horrified at the thought. "Really, trust me. We're not going out. She's... not really my type."
"Oh." Now Serena felt really foolish. "Sorry."
A long silence followed, and not a compatible one either. Ryan seemed to be searching for something to say while eating his apple, and Serena couldn't turn back to her book, because that would be rude, and anyway, she couldn't really stop staring at him. She searched her mind desperately for something to say, but he beat her to it.
"Um, I didn't thank you... you know... for showing me around on the first day back... It was really nice of you... so... yeah... thanks."
"It was nothing."
"No it wasn't. You were the first person I talked to at this school... and to me that's kinda a big thing." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "I... I haven't seen much of you since then."
"Yeah, well..." she searched for an excuse. How could she say that she couldn't bear to see him with Alina around, or that they wouldn't talk to her anyway? "Well, I've been busy, and you were always surrounded by Alina and Blade and their groups. I didn't want to interfere."
"I wish you had. I dunno... I thought we could have gotten to know each other... I'd hoped that... well maybe, that... that we could have become friends. After all, you are in all my classes."
"Yeah."
"So what do you say? About being friends?"
"Um, yeah. I'd like that." She paused before adding cautiously, "I don't think Blade or Alina would like it though."
"Well, it's up to me who I talk to. And I'd like to get to know you better. So ignore them. And anyway, they won't be in for a couple of weeks, so this is the perfect opportunity"
"I guess. Well if you need a lab partner or desk partner, you can always sit next to me." She muttered the last part quietly to herself. "No one else wants to."
Ryan heard, and met her eyes as he said, "I don't know why not. You're easily one of the most beautiful girls here, and one of the smartest too, from what I've heard." Serena shook her head, but he kept speaking. "Yes you are. You are beautiful and talented and sweet, and anyone who can't see that is just plain stupid."
Serena shook her head again. He was just saying that to make her feel better, though she appreciated it. "No, I'm not. And anyway, you're the genius around here, or at least that is what's going around the grapevine."
"I heard the same about you."
"Did you take the IQ test last summer?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah. I do it every couple of years. What did you get?"
"Um..." Ryan seemed embarrassed. "Don't tell anyone, but I got a 143" (this is out of 150)
"Wow! See, I told knew that you were smart!"
"Nah, just luck, I guess. And you? What did you get?"
She blushed lightly. "I got a 145."
"What was that you were saying about being stupid? At least we now know who's the smart one out of the pair of us!"
"Like you said, it was just luck. And anyway, it's practically the same as yours. So I guess we're pretty evenly matched."
"Looks like it. Anyway, so what do you think of the school?"
"I'm liking it a lot better now..."
*~*~*
A couple of minutes later, Ryan stood up.
"Where are you going?" Serena looked bewildered and slightly upset that he was leaving. Ryan couldn't help but feel pleased that she didn't want him to go.
"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you! Come on. We're gonna go do something."
"What?!"
"You see, I notice that every lunch, you sit here and read, and I've decided that we're gonna change that, and go do something. So get up, and toss your trash in the bin. Let's go!"
"But-"
"No buts. And anyway, I'm new around here, so you have to be a good host and let me do what I like, right?"
"I guess, but-"
"I said no buts. And what I want right now is to go do something else."
Serena stood up, smiling shyly at him as they left the cafeteria. "Okay. Um... so what now?"
"I don't know. You know the school better than I do."
"Well, there are lots of things that we can do..."
"And I've got a few weeks before the others come back, so I think we have time to explore everything. I'll tell you what. Let's go for a walk around the school and grounds and just chat for today. We both have a double free period after lunch, so we have plenty of time. Tomorrow we get adventurous. Okay?"
"Alright. Now this here is..."
*~*~*
Serena laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time in five minutes. She was having an amazing time with Ryan. She couldn't believe how things they had in common many. They were both adopted, both fairly new to the town, both dedicated students... they were both into music and sports, and he even liked a couple of the same films she did! He was sweet and funny and caring, and she felt that she could be herself around him. She felt... free, more so that she had ever done when she had first come to this town. She was really surprised; he wasn't like any of the other people in the popular groups at all, and she told him so.
"Nah, they're really not that bad. I mean, not all bad. They can be nice... they took me under their wing and I'm really grateful for that. I know that they aren't particularly nice to everyone, and I know you get the raw end of the deal... You just have to get on the right side of them... but they're not completely bad."
She was impressed- he was such a gentleman that he even stood up for them, though he wasn't biased by them. He was loyal and perceptive... unlike most guys that she knew who were their age.
It was strange that they were having such a great time, considering the fact that they hadn't done much. Just wandered round and round the school playing fields chatting, although this was in a way, an entirely new experience for Serena. She'd always kept to herself before, stayed out of everyone's way. But Ryan was helping her to overcome this, dragging her around the school, forcing her to say hi to people and mix with everyone else. If anyone else had tried this, she would have hated it... hated them... and gotten embarrassed, but with Ryan, it was different. She was enjoying every minute of it, and somehow it didn't seem as daunting as it had been before. He was opening doors for her, helping her to make friends with other people... he'd introduce her to anyone that came over to say hi to him, and in this way she met more people in one lunch period than she had met in her entire time at the school. His popularity seemed to be infectious, and she caught many an envious glance directed her way by some of Ryan's adoring female fans, and she found many guys looking her over somewhat appreciatively once they had been introduced. She wasn't really sure what to make of it; the feeling was completely alien to her, but she just stuck close to Ryan, and let him manage the situation, all the while admiring his ease of communication, and how well he mixed with everyone, not just the popular kids.
And all the while, she'd gotten to know him. Really know him. Granted, they hadn't had a lot of time to get to know each other intimately, but their conversations were deep and meaningful, while still remaining light and pleasant... not the boring bitchy monotonous stuff that most people chatted about. She didn't care for idle chatter... and he didn't try to engage her in any of it. Instead they spent their first lunch time together just exploring each other's characters and learning a little about each other. They mainly kept to the things that they had in common, chatting about their old towns, and what life had been like before moving to Silverstone High, about school and lessons, touching briefly on their childhoods, their dreams and ambitions... almost everything they could think of. They debated on the merits of their favourite books and films, and told each other their worst fears... by the end of the lunch hour each had found something truly valuable in the other, and were well on the way to being close friends.
*~*~*
They'd been walking around the expansive grounds for nearly an hour, and Ryan had gotten her to open up on some of her childhood. Serena couldn't believe it. She'd found herself telling him things that she hadn't known were inside of her before. She wasn't sure why, it was just something about him that made her feel like she could trust him completely.
"So tell me, why do you hate this school?" Ryan looked genuinely concerned for her.
"I don't hate the school..." She told the lie calmly, feigning innocence
"Sure you do, or at least, you don't like it all too much. You can't lie to me; I see it in your eyes. So spill."
She looked down at her shoes. "It's difficult to explain..."
"Just try to explain. I'll try to understand. I just can't bear to see you hurting, and don't tell me that you don't because I can see it in your eyes. And, you know, maybe there is something that I can do to help... I'd like to try, if that's the case."
"That's really sweet of you, Ryan, but I don't think there is anything that you can do... it's just me, I guess"
"No, it's more than that." She didn't reply. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to force you to tell me or anything... I know that we've only just met. I just wanted to help, that's all."
"It's not that I don't trust you or anything like that.... It's just that... I dunno. You and me, we had different experiences. Completely different experiences. And I don't want to influence your thoughts. Much of it involves... them"
"Them? You mean Alina and Blade and the rest of them?"
"Yeah. Look, I didn't want to get into all of this because they are your friends and all."
"Still, I know that they upset you. I have a right to know."
"I know. Look, I'll try, okay? I... I was new at this school a month or two ago, when my family moved here from Miami. We moved around a lot, I used to live in England when I was younger... But my parents had decided that we were going to settle here permanently. I was kinda excited. I'd never really stayed in a town long enough to make really firm friends, and I thought that this was my chance, you know? I really had to make this one work."
"I know the feeling" Ryan felt sympathetic.
"The problem was that I didn't make any friends. Not any. I mean, I can sort of understand it, these people have grown up together, and I'm just some complete stranger. But you'd have thought that someone would come up and try to be nice..."
Ryan felt bad. He couldn't sympathise with this, he'd had a completely different experience.
"It was okay for you, I guess... or at least you had it easier than I did. When you came in, you were immediately liked, and you got admitted to the clique, and so you made friends immediately." Her voice turned bitter. "I didn't get that. No one came up to me to talk, and I was shy and scared of going up to people in a strange town, and so I just never met anyone I could talk to or hang with. I just got left on my own. I didn't really mind that all too much, because no-one took any notice of me, and so I could bear it, you know?" She looked up at Ryan.
"The thing is, Alina and I had a small run in before I'd joined the school. We both applied for a few of the school scholarship awards... it entitles you to all sorts of privileges, such as extra free study periods, and early college acceptance, and financial funding for college. And I was lucky enough to get them. A couple of them, actually. Alina didn't, and when she found out that some... some nobody had beat her to it, she was really mad. And then she noticed that people were ignoring me, and she took it into her own hands, making snide comments and spreading rumours around about me." She stopped. "I'm sorry. I know that you hang around with them..."
"It doesn't matter. I can see what they do to you."
"Yeah well, so does everyone else, but no-one ever does anything about it. And when Alina's group do something, the rest of the school do it too... and before I knew it, I was a social outcast and no one would talk to me."
"You don't have to worry about that anymore." Ryan put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "You have me now."
"I know." She looked down, unsure of how to put it. "But the others... they're not gonna like it."
"I don't care. I'd like to spend some time with you too... and if they can't see that... well then maybe they're not worth hanging with."
"You... you don't have to do that for me."
"Well, tough, cos I am. I think that you're worth talking to."
Serena decided that it might be time for a change of subject. She felt that she was getting a bit out of her depth here, and anyway, she was curious to know more about Ryan.
"That's really sweet of you, but that's enough about me. I want to know more about you."
"More about what?"
"I dunno. Anything. Just tell me things about your past."
"There's not much more to say. I used to live in San Francisco, with my previous foster family."
"What was that like?"
"Living with foster families... well, I've never really known anything else, have I? They're nice enough people, and they've looked after me, but they're not parents, are they? They never take as much interest in you as they do with their own children and family... or at least some of them don't. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad, but still... I'd have liked a little consistency in my life. I spent a lot of time moving around, and with different families... and I dunno. I guess you got the better end of that deal; you got consistent parents who love you. I would have liked something similar for myself."
"Did you like it there?"
"Where? San Francisco? Yeah, I guess. Well, no, not really. I... just never felt like I could fit in. I mean it's a cool city and all, there is always something going on, and its really exciting, but I didn't really have any real friends, not before I came here."
"Like me..." Serena was surprised.
"Yeah. A lot like that."
"But... I mean... I'm surprised. You get on so well with everyone here... I just thought that you'd always been this confident."
"No. I can see how you would think it, but no. I'm kinda shy and introverted most of the time." Serena looked at him with a sceptical expression. "Yeah, I know, its hard to believe! It's just when I came here, I guess, like you said before, I got the right start. For some reason I got invited into Blade's group, and so people started to be nice to me. I got popular by association."
Serena nodded. She knew what he meant.
"But before, I was no-one. The kids at my old school didn't like me. I tested for genius in the sciences and maths when I was in fifteen, and I got trophies and medals for everything else, and I guess a lot of the kids just got resentful."
"I know what you mean. I got the same thing at my old school and I get it here too. I guess you don't feel it here, because you're popular, so they admire it in you. But in me..."
"I know. It's so stupid. They shouldn't overlook talent like yours. But people can get pretty spiteful for the smallest of things, I know that. Who knows, maybe you'll get a chance to redeem yourself. I mean, did you get asked to test for advanced honour roll classes?"
"Um yeah. I bet you did too, right?"
"Right. There are only the two of us. I got my acceptance letter today."
"Same here."
"So are you transferring?"
"Yup. Why not. I mean, it isn't many juniors that get asked to take advanced senior lessons."
"I know. I'm gonna go for it too. And I was wondering... if you want... if you'd like to sit with me in classes. I mean, there won't be anyone to object to it...?"
"Yeah, I'd really like that."
"Us juniors have to stick together, you know!"
*~*~*
"So... tell me something else..." Ryan grinned, in spite of himself. Serena seemed to have a load of questions for him...
"Like..."
"Like... did you leave a girlfriend behind in San Francisco?" Ryan gave an embarrassed laugh, unsure of how to answer that, and Serena mistook it for anoyance "I'm sorry. It was none of my business-"
"No, it's okay. It just... and don't laugh, okay, ... I've never had a girlfriend." Ryan blushed, embarrassed to admit this fact to her.
"Really!" She sounded surprised, and Ryan wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or happy.
"No."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound condescending, but I mean, you're so good looking and all, I just thought that..."
"No... anyway, no one would talk to me, remember? And I'm kinda fussy. No-one ever really took my fancy... well not much, anyway. Now your turn." Ryan was rather eager to get off the topic of his non-existent love life.
"What! No fair!"
"It is totally fair. You asked me, and I answered, so you have to do me the same courtesy."
"Fine! Well, if you must know, the answer is no."
"No you don't have a boyfriend, or no you have never had one?" Ryan couldn't help himself. He had to know. Not only to tease her further by forcing her to answer his questions, but because he just... had to know, for some reason.
"No, I have never had a boyfriend." Ryan sighed with relief, but he was surprised too. She was so beautiful... had no one else ever seen that?
"Wow. I mean, how is that even possible?"
"Gee thanks." She sounded a bit hurt, and he realised that she'd taken his comment the wrong way.
"No I didn't mean it like that. It's just that you really are gorgeous, and I can't believe that no one has ever asked you out."
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly miss popular over here, am I?"
"No, but that's just a mistake, and we're gonna try and fix it, okay?"
"That's a sweet thought, but I don't think it's gonna happen."
"Why?"
"Because people like Alina will never like me, and I don't really think I could do it."
"Well you don't have to do it alone. I'm coming with you. Trust me. We can only try, right?"
"I guess."
"Good. From now on, we stick together. And as Humphrey Bogart once said- 'I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'."
She giggled, and he put a finger under her chin, grinning, and said in an imitative voice, "Here's looking at you, kid." He was planning on going further, but his voice caught in his throat as he stared into her eyes. Some kind of strange, yet not unfamiliar current was passing between them, and it was pulling him towards her... Gulping nervously, he broke the contact, and tried to change to topic abruptly, as he pulled away and the feeling subsided.
*~*~*
It was strange, how they progressed from strangers to best friends over the next few days, but it seemed natural to them. Spending all their time together had only heightened this feeling of trust. Serena knew that she could trust him implicitly, even though they had only met a few days ago, and she felt comfortable around him... felt that she could tell him things that she would never dare to tell other people, and she knew that he wouldn't judge her for them. And what was better, she knew that he felt the same way. In Ryan she found someone who understood her shy nature, someone who could match her brilliant intelligence... who could understand how she felt and what she meant without trying. He encouraged her to find new parts in herself- to bring out the adventurous turn in her that she had never really known that she had. Ryan in turn found someone who would easily be able to soften his temper, ease his hurt and listen to him with a sympathetic ear. Here was someone that he could turn to, someone who could console him, tease him out of his darkest moods. They shared all but their deepest secrets, and that was only because the rules forbade them to do so.
*~*~*
It was another free double period some days later, and Ryan was wondering where Serena had got to. For once, she wasn't in the common room, or the library studying, and Ryan had no idea where she was. After thinking about it for a while, he went over to ask another of the pupils who had a free at that time.
"Hi."
"Hi." She was a short junior from some of his classes, and right now she was also blushing furiously. Ryan tried to ignore it.
"I was wondering if you could tell me how to find out where someone is during their free periods."
"Well, you can't. Not really. There isn't like any record about where people are. You just do what you like. But" she piped up, seeing his face fall slightly, "If you told me who it was... maybe I could show you."
"Um, yeah... It's Serena. Serena Hardwood."
"Serena?" Her nose wrinkled in slight scorn. Ryan frowned slightly. Something in his vampire senses told him that she wasn't being entirely honest with him. "I don't know... sorry." She shrugged, and turned away, but Ryan caught her shoulder and turned her to face him once more.
"Are you sure...?" His voice sounded pleading, but even as he spoke, he was searching her mind for the answer. Another useful vampire power. In his mind he could see images of the music corridor, and he withdrew himself from her mind immediately, satisfied that this was probably where she was. -The music corridor? But she doesn't do any music...-
"No." The girl looked apologetic, and turned away, unaware of what had just gone on.
"Oh, well, thanks anyway." Ryan left the room and walked down the corridor, only stopping once to ask for directions to the music rooms. Following the instructions, he soon came to the corridor that he had seen in the girls mind. He looked around himself curiously. He hadn't been to this part of the school before, though he had heard about it...
It wasn't commonly used, but the school had once had a recording studio/radio station built into it, and although it wasn't used any more, pupils were free to use it, as long as they took care of the equipment. The rooms were soundproof and so he couldn't hear a thing, but looking through the door of the outer room, not the recording studio, he could see someone with a cascade of dark brown waves with her back turned to him. It had to be Serena.
Cat quiet, he opened the door, and slipped into the outer control room. This room had a switchboard and all sorts of electronic devices in it, but Serena was in the other room, the actual recording room, which was also soundproof. Ryan sighed, disappointed. He'd wanted to hear her. From what he could see of her she was playing on a keyboard or a piano of some sort. Overcome with curiosity, he considered opening the door and slipping in quietly without her noticing, but then spotted a pair of headphones plugged in to an outlet in the wall which connected the outer room to the recording room. Silently, he moved over to where the desk was, and settled himself in the chair, slipping the headphones over his ears. What he heard amazed him.
A beautiful, sweet, piercing melody flowed through the headphones. It was beautiful, slightly haunting but bittersweet too. From his new position at the desk, he could see her playing the keyboard, mixing effects with one another as she played, and the effect was unbelievable. Ryan closed his eyes in appreciation. The melody flowed over him, and he just lost himself in the music. Then, out of nowhere, to his surprise, came this sweet soft voice. Ryan's eyes shot open in surprise. No, he wasn't dreaming, she was singing to herself. And her voice was... amazing. It was pure and sweet, and full of emotion... he had to shut his eyes again, and he fell into the music again... becoming lost in her hypnotic voice. He put his entire consciousness into focussing on her words.
"On my own, pretending he's beside me All alone, I walk with him till morning Without him, I feel his arms around me, And when I lose my way, I close my eyes, and he has found me.
Through the rain, the pavement shines like silver All the lights are misty in the river In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight And all I see is him and me forever and forever.
And I know it's only in my mind, That I'm talking to myself, and not to him, But although, I know that he is blind, Still I pray, there's a way for us.
I love him, and when the night is over, He is gone; the river's just a river. Without him, the world around me changes, The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers.
I love him, but every day I'm learning, All my life, I've only been pretending. Without me, his world will go on turning, A world that's full of happiness that I have never known.
I love him I love him I love him But only on my own."
Ryan couldn't believe it. She could sing... and what an amazing voice. He wanted to go in and talk to her, but at the same time, he didn't want to disturb her, or scare her. So, he quietly took off the headphones and left the control room, heading back to the common room, a small smile on his face, humming a few bars of the tune that would stick in his mind for the rest of the day.
*~*~*
Serena sat down in her biology lab lesson and sighed. Biology was not her favourite subject. She liked it well enough, she supposed, but she wouldn't have said that she particularly enjoyed it, even though she was good at it. Now chemistry... there was a subject she could really sink her teeth into. It all made sense in chemistry... the world was ordered and neat, just the way she liked it. There was an explanation for everything in chemistry. Biology on the other hand... it was so unpredictable. Things could and did change, and there were all sorts of complications... just like her life as of late. All of a sudden a lot of things weren't the same, and she wasn't really sure if they made sense or not. Besides, it was lonely in lab lessons when you had no one to sit next to or work with. Looking around her, she could see the classrooms and the hallway buzzing with students chatting before the bell rang, and it made her ache somewhere inside to know that there was no one who wanted to talk to her. But there was no use dwelling over all that again. Sighing again, she reached down and busied herself with getting her notebooks and other stuff out of her bag.
Perhaps the fates read her heart or maybe it was just sheer coincidence, but just then the bell rang and at that same instant she was startled out of her reverie by the sound of a book thudding on the desk next to hers. She looked up in surprise- no one ever sat at that desk, and her heart stopped. There, smiling down at her was Ryan.
"Hey! Do you mind if I sit here?" She just stared at him. "Don't tell me that you forgot... I thought we were going to work together... But if you really don't want to..."
"No. Not at all... I mean, yes, I do... want to work with you that is." Serena blushed, as she completely muddled up her words. Grinning wryly, Ryan sat down and began to get his things out of his bags. "... but don't you already sit next to someone...?" She turned around to see if she could see anyone from the cliques.
"No. None of them take biology. And I just got moved up to this class this week. That is... until I get transferred to advanced senior biology... and anyway, I told you that we were gonna stick together from now on."
"Yeah, you did..." Serena was shocked and also faintly amused. She'd thought that he was just saying that to be nice, but he'd meant what he said. That was something new. Mind you, she wasn't complaining. Now she'd have someone to sit next to all the time... and not just anyone, either. Ryan Drache, no less! And she'd get to sit next to him in lectures too... No, she wasn't complaining at all.
"Plus," Ryan continued, "I figure that if we're gonna take all the advanced senior classes together, I may as well start working with you now, so that we can get used to being partners."
"Sure, I'd like that, but I warn you...I'm not so good at Biology."
"That I find hard to believe."
"Why?"
Ryan dropped his voice, so that no one else would hear. "Well, because you, like me, have tested out of this class into Advanced Senior Biology... and I've heard that you're a scientific genius."
"Well, not really. Chemistry's more my thing. And I quite like math. I guess I'm pretty good at the other two, but I'm nothing amazing, trust me."
"I very much doubt that. And anyway, I prefer Physics and Biology to Chemistry and Math, so between us, I think we have it fixed. Besides, I don't think your idea of not very good is the same as most people's is it?"
She blushed. "No, but-"
"No buts. My previous statement still remains. You are humble and amazingly clever, and trust me it shows. Now, I've looked ahead at the class schedule for the semester, and I think that I've covered all the work and write ups for the next few weeks, and if I'm a decent judge of character, I'd guess that you've probably moved ahead too. And I bet you've done the same for most of your other subjects too."
"Yeah, you're right." Serena said the words grudgingly, but she was smiling.
"So, I'm afraid, this means that we're gonna have quite a lot of time to ourselves to get to know each other. And that means that you're in for a few weeks of random tricks and jokes from me, and I'm in for a lot of brilliant insightful comments from you."
"I'm not so sure about the brilliant or insightful part, but there will definitely be comments from me!"
"No, you have to think positively from now on. You are not allowed to think negatively. Okay?"
"Okay"
Suddenly Ryan snapped his fingers, and his eyes lit up as if he'd just thought of something. "I've got it!" He dropped his voice down again until only Serena could make out his words. "You know the science fair that's coming up at the end of the year... well, I thought that maybe we could enter it together... come up with something amazingly brilliant. What do you think?"
"Yeah, count me in!" Serena dropped her voice too, as the teacher began to talk to the class.
"Well, what do you think of...creating a miniature piano?
Serena smiled at him, her eyes wide with amazement. "You think that we could do that?"
"Sure, between us, I think we could get it right. And if not, we'll just blame each other"
Serena laughed. She had a feeling Biology was going to get a lot more interesting from now on.
*~*~*
Ryan was headed towards the gym. He didn't have after school basketball practice today, but he felt like a workout, and thought that having the gym to himself for a while wouldn't be a bad thing either. He wanted some time to think things through... like how his life had gotten so much more complicated all of a sudden. All he wanted right now was to get some exercise, and try to forget all of his other problems. As he walked by the double doors of the gym, however, he saw that his idea of being alone wasn't about to come true. There was someone already in there, a girl, shooting hoops. He was surprised. There weren't usually people in the gyms after school, unless there was an activity on. And she was on her own. He just stopped and stood there, peering through the glass in the door, watching her as she dribbled up to the backboard and gracefully completed shot after shot successfully. Man, she was good, he couldn't help but admit to himself. He admired her skill, as she moved tirelessly from one drill into the next without stopping.
Just then, she turned around, dribbling the ball down the length of the gym, and Ryan took in an involuntary breath. It was Serena. He'd half been hoping it was. She hadn't noticed him, however, and he could see that her face was calm and she was entirely focussed on what she was doing. She looked good. He couldn't help the thought that ran through his mind. He couldn't help the fact that he was staring at her, either. She was wearing a light cotton white short-sleeved sports shirt, and a black sports tennis skirt, and white trainers. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but some of the foremost locks had come loose, and she pushed them impatiently behind her ears as she turned to take more shots. She was really good. He couldn't believe it. Was there anything that she couldn't do?
Suddenly Ryan was overcome with the incredible urge to go in and play with her. -Why not?- He tried to reason with himself. -We're friends, and I could do with a workout... even if I'm not on my own...- Conveniently forgetting that he could practice pretty well at home, he headed off to the changing rooms where he hurriedly put on his basketball training kit that the team were given. He then headed back out to the gym doors. He hesitated once when he reached them, but gathering his courage again, he opened the door quietly, and said softly "Hi."
Serena spun around, surprised, catching the ball and holding it to her. Obviously, she hadn't seem him standing at the door. "Hi." She said breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"
"I just felt like a workout." God, he couldn't stop staring at her. He saw her shift her weight uncomfortably and try to pull her skirt down a little, to no avail, and he dragged his eyes up to her face. "You?"
"The same. I just felt a bit restless, I guess."
"I know what you mean. You didn't tell me... I didn't know that you were on the girls' team."
"I'm not." She laughed. "I'm nowhere as good as those guys! No, I just come out to mess around a bit. I'm not all that great."
"Sure you are. I was watching you from outside. And you looked pretty damn good to me from over there."
She blushed, and he realised that his words had more than one meaning. But he didn't retract his statement. A short pause followed, as they both looked away, finding the floor rather interesting all of a sudden. "No, I'm not particularly good. I need more practice. But I can see that you need the gym, so I'll just-"
"No, there's no need for that. I just want a bit of a throw-around, so why don't you stay and we can practice or play one on one, if you like."
"You sure?" he couldn't tell what she was thinking from her tone, it was even and calm.
"Of course. Are you game?"
"Yeah, I guess. But you'll have to go easy on me. I don't think I'll be much competition for our star forward."
"You might surprise yourself. Come on." And with that, she tossed the ball to him, and they took up their positions in the centre of the court.
The game that followed was a good one, one that dragged for a reasonable length of time. Ryan was surprised at how good Serena actually was. While her technique wasn't as fine-tuned as his own, she was adamant and persistent, and kept at it. She really made him work hard at keeping possession of the ball. She was lithe and quick, and whenever he turned around, she would be there, waiting to block him. It was just the workout he needed, and he accepted the challenge easily. And he won, although narrowly. After that, the pair of them called it quits, and for the next half an hour or so, they just tossed the ball back and forth, and completed a few basic drills, and talked. It was a great warm down for the pair of them, and that afternoon session became a weekly feature for them both.
*~*~*
Serena glanced sideways at Ryan, who was walking beside her out of school. He'd kindly offered to walk her home after their basketball session, so long as she showed him around town for a bit the next day, and she'd been so charmed that she'd agreed. And she wasn't regretting her decision, even though they weren't really talking much. It was an amiable silence, and she felt completely at ease with him. There was no need for idle chit chat... they were more than happy to be in each other's company.
However Ryan seemed to be a little different right now. He kept opening his mouth, as if to say something, before deciding not to, and shutting it again. Serena was dying of curiosity, and after a few minutes of silence, she went for it.
"Okay, spill."
"What?"
"Tell me what it is that's bothering you."
"Nothing's bothering me."
"Yes there is."
"No, there isn't."
"Well you keep starting to say something, and then you stop, so tell me what it is. Or don't you trust me" she teased, pouting slightly.
"No, it's not that-"
"Then tell me!"
"No!"
"Fine" She pretended to get all huffy about it, but she smiled at him too, to let him know she was kidding. A comfortable silence then followed, before Ryan suddenly burst out with it.
"Why didn't you tell me you could sing?"
"What!"
"You have an amazing voice, and you play the keyboard really well. Why didn't you tell me?"
"How do you know whether I can sing or play or not? You've never heard me."
"Yes I have."
"What! When?"
"A couple of days ago. We had a free period, and you were in the studio."
Serena turned crimson in self consciousness. "You heard that? Oh my god!"
"What? Don't get all embarrassed about it. You sounded really good. Was it one of your own songs?"
"No. I wish. It's one from a favourite musical of mine, 'Les Miserables'."
"It was a beautiful piece. But it was so sad..."
"Yeah, I always found that song easy to connect to..."
"Well I hope that you won't after you've hung around me for long enough. Don't take that the wrong way. You sounded great."
"No, I didn't. I just do that sometimes... to mess around"
"It didn't sound like messing around to me."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It sounded really good. Do you take lessons or something?"
"No. I ... I never had lessons. I always wished I did, but... no."
"You should. Not that you need them, but you have such a great voice."
"Thanks." She ducked her head in embarrassment.
"So do you want to be a professional singer or something...?"
"Well, I'd love to, of course... but I'm not sure. There are so many options...?"
"What else are you considering?"
"The usual... Medicine, Politics, Law... the works."
"Wow, you are one ambitious, well rounded person."
"What about you? What do you want to be?"
"God, I dunno. Don't really think about it all that much. A medic or a lawyer, I guess. Just as long as it's challenging, I don't really mind."
"I bet you could do anything you set your mind to do."
"I think the same thing applies to you."
"Yeah, well we're two of a kind, aren't we?"
"You could say that." Neither of them knew how true that was.
*~*~*
A couple of days later, Ryan found himself knocking on the front door or an imposing building, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for the door to be opened. "Hi, Mrs Hardwood, is Serena in?" Ryan was slightly nervous, as he always was when entering the Hardwood Mansion. It wasn't that the elegant surroundings, the mansion, and the wealthy family disturbed him or made him nervous... far from it- after all, his current foster family was fairly wealthy themselves. He just wanted to stay on the right side of her parents. Serena had told him how strict they were sometimes, and though at the minute they seemed to love him and what he had done for their daughter, he didn't want to cross that line any time soon. So, whenever he came over, he always made sure he was presentable and polite, and so far it seemed to be working. He'd only met her father once; he was always working in his study. He was very quiet and serious, but you could see a cool intelligence behind his eyes that had gained him Ryan's eternal respect. Her mother was different character entirely. Elegant and polished, she always managed to seem gracious and friendly all at once. She was quite attractive for a woman in her middle thirties, although she didn't look a lot like her daughter at all. Ryan liked the woman; she'd always made him feel at home in their mansion, and she seemed to dote on him, as if he were her own son, and that made him feel loved in a way that he'd never felt before, moving from family to family as he had done.
"Serena? Yes, she's upstairs I suppose." Mrs Hardwood smiled at him, she was used to him coming over all the time, and then frowned slightly. "She didn't tell me that you were coming over..."
"No, I'm sorry. This is a bit unexpected. I meant to surprise her. If it's inconvenient..." Ryan knew that some people didn't necessarily like unexpected visitors, and tried to turn away graciously.
"No, it's fine, Ryan. I was just a bit surprised that's all. Now, if you'll come in, I'll call Serena down. I think she's in the music room now. Probably practicing something or other."
-Music room?- Ryan hadn't known she had one. Still, he didn't want to disturb her, and he did love surprising her... "No, it's okay, Mrs Hardwood. I wanted to surprise her. I'll go up to her myself, and wait till she's done, if that's okay, of course.." He said this a little hesitantly, as he didn't want to push his luck with her parents, and he'd never been allowed upstairs before.
Mrs Hardwood seemed a little worried about letting someone up to Serena's room, a boy nonetheless, but then seemed to think better of it. She knew, of course, that there was nothing between them, and she thought of Ryan as almost her own son. "Well, alright then. Serena's wing is on the landing, turn left, and her bedroom is three doors down. The music room door is through there."
"Okay, thank-you Mrs Hardwood."
Ryan crept upstairs and found the door to Serena's room. Carefully, he winched the door open centimetre by centimetre, and tiptoed in. As he did, he stared around himself in amazement. This girl was perfect, literally. Her room was large, but cosy, with thick beige carpeting and cream walls, and her bed was neat and made up, the cream covers unwrinkled. Her desk was tidy and organised, with stationary kept in a designated stationary holder, and, Ryan noted with some amusement, the books on her bookshelf were arranged in height, then alphabetical, then colour order. One of the shelves on her bookshelf was dedicated to trophies and medals that she'd won for her various talents, and all in all, her room was like an enlarged version of her locker, neat, tidy and clean. Ryan scanned all the trophies and ribbons on her shelf idly... basketball honours... sports scholarship awards... music awards... principal violinist awards... science and maths honours grades 7 through to junior level...English awards... theatrical medals... was there anything that she didn't do?
There was another two doors leading off from the bedroom into other rooms. One room, Ryan supposed was the bathroom, but the other... he could hear music coming from the other side of it. But it wasn't singing, or piano playing, but the beautiful sound of a stringed instrument... a violin or viola by the sounds of it. She played really well... he had to admit. Even from here, he could hear the emotion she put into her playing... she was amazingly good. He sat down on her bed and listened for a while as she played through various sonatas and romances, and then when he could bear it no longer, he quietly opened the door while she was playing. She was facing him, he found, but she didn't see him, on account of her playing her pieces from memory with her eyes shut. Watching her, Ryan thought that he could fall into some sort of trance... she was mesmerising to watch... he couldn't take his eyes off her...
Suddenly there was a hushed gasp and the music stopped and the trance was broken all at once. Roses were blooming in her cheeks, and she looked completely and utterly flabbergasted at the fact that he'd crept up on her, yet again, while she was unawares. Unsure of what to do, he burst into rapturous applause, and besieged her. "Please don't stop. God, you're so amazing at... well practically everything... how on earth do you do it?"
Serena seemed to be recovering from shock as she replied. "Firstly... I am not amazing, and secondly, I am not good at everything... and thirdly, you can't tell me that you can't play a musical instrument, so you know I'm not amazing."
"Yes, you're right, I do play instruments too, but that doesn't mean that you're not amazing."
"So what do you play?"
"Don't try and change the subject."
"Just... humour me. What do you play?"
"Well... I'm a cellist, and I used to play piano... but I dabble at everything, you could say. I've played violin a bit, too. I'm not as good as you, I mean you must be almost virtuoso yourself... right?"
"I don't know about virtuoso, but I'm okay."
"There you go again; being modest... you're really good."
"Thanks, I'm studying for my diploma on the viola next year..."
"God, I know it's hard... I did my Cello diploma a couple of years ago... it nearly killed me! Still I was really pleased when I passed."
"What with?"
"Distinction."
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks. Still, like I said, I'm not as good as you are."
"We're not getting into this argument again! I know, we could duet sometime... if you want..."
"Yeah... that'd be great. And I play the guitar as well... not much... just the simple stuff..."
"What do you mean?"
"I just like to play it and sing... it's calming sometimes."
"Really... show me." And she got out a guitar from the instrument rack behind her, and handed it over to him."
"Hold on a second, I'm not playing anything!"
"Why not? You've heard me play and sing now, twice, I might add" he couldn't help but grin slightly as she continued. "All of this without my permission, so I think its only fair that you perform for me."
"But-"
"No buts. You have to do this... or..." she trailed off.
"Or what?"
"Or... I won't talk to you ever again!"
"Is that a threat?"
"Sure is."
"You wouldn't do it."
"Do you really want to risk it?" he looked away... he knew what the answer was.
"Fine. Um... what should I sing?" Ryan was feeling a little nervous now.
"I dunno, anything. Just something you like to play."
Ryan sat for a few moments, searching for a song, and then, settling on one, he began to play.
"Its amazing how you can speak right to my heart... Without saying a word, you can light up the dark...
Try as I may, I can never explain, What I hear when you don't say a thing...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me, The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all...
All day long I can hear people talking out loud... But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd...
Try as they may, they can never define, What's being said between you heart and mine...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me, The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me... The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all..."
He stopped, and tried a shaky grin at Serena, who looked absolutely spellbound.
"Wow."
"Um, thanks? It was a bit rusty, I haven't played in such a long time."
"That was amazing! You have a really nice voice. You have to teach me how to do that, and maybe how to play the cello. Just a little bit- I've always wanted to learn..."
He couldn't help but laugh at how eager she seemed. "Okay, but only if you teach me how to sing, and help me brush up my violin playing."
"You've got yourself a deal."
*~*~*
To anyone who watched them, they looked like two lovebirds, laughing and talking together all the time, but if you asked either of them about it, as many a person did, the answer was always negative. And it was the truth. They weren't going out. Their relationship went a lot deeper that that.
In any other circumstances, I think that both Ryan and Serena would have fallen rather deeply in love with each other. However, there were certain barriers, the main one being that each didn't know that the other was also a Night Worlder. They were both aware that as Night Worlders, falling in love with a human was impossible. And due to the spells of Rialle and Iliana, their shielding charms were working extremely well, and neither of them had yet realised the similarity of their best friend to their Circle Partners.
Not that if they had recognised each other, the problem would have gone away. Falling in love with your partners was also strictly forbidden. Kherron had told them that this was to make sure that their minds were only focussed on their fighting and not on their problems as a couple. Whether this was the whole truth or if Kherron was making up convenient cover story remains to be seen. Serena tried to ease her disappointment by forcing herself to realise that she only wanted a friend right now, and that a boyfriend was more than she could handle, and Ryan simply tried to convince himself that he wasn't interested in her.
Their sparking problem had also started to be overcome as dampeners to weaken the soulmate bond between them had been heightened by Raksha and Kherron. And with the bond between them weakening, it was easy for them to do so. By the end of the first week, both had managed to forget that they were ever interested in each other.
So the pair of them had each silently accepted that a relationship was impossible, and managed to manoeuvre around it, settling for a solid, true friendship that ran deep. People soon knew that both of the new kids were the best of friends, if nothing more, and got used to seeing them together. They could be seen together during and after school, and were often around at each other's houses, or telephoning each other for a chat. Things were great at school, because the spells hadn't lifted yet, and the cliques weren't back yet, so they were free to spend as much time as they liked together. Their private music lessons flourished beautifully, and their grades soared higher than before. They worked together, hung around together... they got closer and closer by the day, and their friendship progressed to a level that seemed impossible to be platonic to anyone that watched them.
*~*~*
Those few weeks would always be remembered with fond memories when looked upon in the future, for it was during those lunch hours and free periods and lab lessons that Serena and Ryan formed the most stable relationships in their lives. Both found a steadying force in their new found best friends, and used each other as their rocks to lean upon in hard times, something that both of them would need in the coming years.
It was a week or so later, and Ryan was completely settled in his new school. Every day he got more and more accustomed to his surroundings, used to everything and everyone, and every day he got more and more popular. And yet still each new day presented small surprises for him too. As the days went by, he realised that he was happy here- happier than he had ever been in any of his previous towns and schools. He had friends; lots of them, and he was rumoured to be the most sought after guy in school apart from his newfound friend, Blade Silverstone. It seemed that one of the girls in the popular group was trying to get his attentions, Alina Harman, and he was having fun just flirting with her. He was in several advanced classes, but no one made fun of him for being a near genius at sciences or maths. He wasn't resented for being class president, or for being the new forward of the basketball team. In fact, most people seemed to admire him for it. It was unbelievable. He'd had a party thrown for him to welcome him in. And his new friends were really nice to him. They seemed to be genuine, and Blade always made sure that he kept an eye out for Ryan, something for which Ryan was very grateful.
In fact, the only regret that Ryan had was that he still hadn't had a chance to talk to the other girl, Serena. The one that he was actually interested in. There were two reasons for this; firstly because he was never alone, and didn't want to upset Blade by talking to someone who wasn't in their clique (he hadn't forgotten the look in his eye when Blade explained it to him), and secondly because whenever he got near her, she seemed to run away, or look away for some reason. He couldn't figure out why. He'd meet her eye often in class, but she'd never come up to talk to him. She'd just give him a very small smile and turn away.
But besides this, his days were busy and eventful, and he savoured every moment of his new found popularity. Everywhere he went, he found new friends and learned new things... and he couldn't get enough of it. He didn't have to worry about being alone anymore- he was almost constantly surrounded by people.
But one day, that changed. In retrospect, Ryan would think that it was definitely for the better, but as it happened, he couldn't help feeling a little left out. That Monday morning, when the two groups came into school, it was clear that something was wrong, not between them though, as though they were sharing a common problem. Alina wasn't flirting as much with him as before, (he was somewhat relieved at this), and Blade wasn't as carefree as he usually was. But they wouldn't tell him what the problem was. Ryan just managed to catch small fragments of conversations passing over his head, such as "for the Circle", "the Elders are going for it", "we need to meet all week". He knew that they weren't saying much because he was around, and he couldn't help but feel hurt that they wouldn't include him in their troubles. However, he had to respect their rights to privacy, and so when Blade asked him at the beginning of lunch, apologetically, "Hey, sorry, but we're gonna have to change all our plans for the next few weeks... push them back a bit... we kinda need to sort some stuff out ... is that okay?" He couldn't do anything but force a small smile and say, "Sure".
"Don't take it personally, we'd tell you if we could... but it's better that you don't know. I'll see you around fairly soon."
And Ryan did try not to take it personally, but it was hard. Suddenly, he found that he was entering the cafeteria alone, for the first time since he had moved to the school. He considered sitting at the back table alone- all the other members had left school- but didn't really think he wanted to have a solitary lunch. He scanned his eye across the cafeteria, trying to decide whose table to join. There were the rest of the jocks, who liked him well enough, but he didn't really know them, the geeks, who seemed to worship him as some sort of genius, which kinda freaked him out a little, and there were the misfits, who he would rather not go anywhere near. The cheerleaders, the prefects, the musicians and artists... -No, no no,- he mentally checked off all the tables in him mind. He didn't want to sit near any of them. This was hopeless. Just as he was thinking it, his eyes came to rest on the last table besides the popular one, in the cafeteria. There was only one occupant at it, eating an apple and reading a book. She still tried to hide behind her beautiful hair, but she looked a little happier than she did before, perhaps because of the absence of a certain person and her group.
His heart raced. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He could talk to her, if she'd let him, and no one would know, or get mad at him. He just hoped she'd talk back. He grabbed an apple and a coke and headed over to the cash register, watching her out of the corner of his eye all the while. -She looks so sweet,- he thought to himself as he paid for his lunch, -immersed in the book like that.- He began to walk over to her table, but was beaten to it by some of the cheerleaders, who were sauntering past. He was just close enough to catch part of their conversation.
"Well, if it isn't the freak! I don't get it. Why do you take up a whole table that other people could use, just by sitting at it." That was Michelle, the captain of the cheerleading squad. "I mean, if you weren't here, loads of people could use it!"
"I'm only taking up one seat!" Serena sounded timid, and even from this distance away, he could tell that she was really upset. His heart went out to her.
"You think that people are gonna sit anywhere near you! I don't think so. Most people don't associate with losers. Even the freaks know better than that! I mean, you're a complete misfit. Look at you, sitting here reading your stupid book." Michelle swiped Serena's book out of her hands and pushed it off the table onto the floor.
Ryan had heard enough. He strode over to the table where the commotion was taking place, noting that the whole cafeteria was staring at them, and that tears had formed in Serena's eyes in humiliation. People saw him coming over, and they parted to let him through, staring at him in awe. The cheerleaders also moved aside, and he could see Michelle turn around in front of him, to see who was causing all the fuss. When she saw that it was him, the scowl melted off her face and was replaced instantly with a flirtatious smile. He kept walking up to the table, and stopped purposefully, only to be greeted by a simpering "Hey Ryan. Want to come sit with us?"
But Ryan had other ideas. His heart burned in anger for Serena, and he silently stooped down and picked up the book that Michelle had tossed on the floor, and handed it back to Serena, who looked up at him gratefully through wide eyes. Ignoring the shocked looks of the cheerleaders and the whispers circulating around the cafeteria, he said audibly, "Is it okay if I sit here?"
*~*~*
"Is it okay if I sit here?"
Serena looked up at him, through eyes misty with tears, and her cheeks flooded with heat. She couldn't believe that Ryan Drache had witnessed that... humiliation. Of all the people to see her being made fun of... She just wished the ground would open up and swallow her. When she'd seen him come up, she'd expect him to make fun of her, just like the rest of then. But he hadn't. Instead he'd picked the book up for her... it was so sweet. She couldn't believe it. No one had ever done that for her before. Stood up to someone for her. And he wanted to sit with her... Her, Serena Hardwood. She was so shocked that all she could do was stare at him. He looked back at her expectantly, a wry smile twisting his mouth. It was then that she realised that he was waiting for an answer.
"Um, sure" She moved her book to the side as he slid his tray onto the table and took a seat opposite her. She looked away, embarrassed, wondering why he was talking to her. Then it hit her. The cliques, they weren't here. So he'd decided to sit with her. She wasn't sure if she was offended or happy. She glanced at Ryan, who was biting into his apple, and found that he was watching her intently. As he met her eyes, he smiled at her cautiously, and she couldn't help but smile back and remember that he had just faced down the cheerleaders for her. The cheerleaders... she turned around to see where they were, and found that they had returned to their table across the cafeteria, and were shooting venomous and envious glances her way. Now that was something different.
She couldn't help herself, however; she had to know if he was sitting with her out of pity, or because there was no one from his groups, and found, to her mortification, that her mouth was moving of its own accord, and a rather pointed question had just slipped out. "Will Alina mind that you're sitting here?"
His smile evaporated, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "Alina? Why should Alina mind? And why would I care if she did mind?"
"Aren't you two going out? That's what I heard."
"No!" He sounded rather horrified at the thought. "Really, trust me. We're not going out. She's... not really my type."
"Oh." Now Serena felt really foolish. "Sorry."
A long silence followed, and not a compatible one either. Ryan seemed to be searching for something to say while eating his apple, and Serena couldn't turn back to her book, because that would be rude, and anyway, she couldn't really stop staring at him. She searched her mind desperately for something to say, but he beat her to it.
"Um, I didn't thank you... you know... for showing me around on the first day back... It was really nice of you... so... yeah... thanks."
"It was nothing."
"No it wasn't. You were the first person I talked to at this school... and to me that's kinda a big thing." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "I... I haven't seen much of you since then."
"Yeah, well..." she searched for an excuse. How could she say that she couldn't bear to see him with Alina around, or that they wouldn't talk to her anyway? "Well, I've been busy, and you were always surrounded by Alina and Blade and their groups. I didn't want to interfere."
"I wish you had. I dunno... I thought we could have gotten to know each other... I'd hoped that... well maybe, that... that we could have become friends. After all, you are in all my classes."
"Yeah."
"So what do you say? About being friends?"
"Um, yeah. I'd like that." She paused before adding cautiously, "I don't think Blade or Alina would like it though."
"Well, it's up to me who I talk to. And I'd like to get to know you better. So ignore them. And anyway, they won't be in for a couple of weeks, so this is the perfect opportunity"
"I guess. Well if you need a lab partner or desk partner, you can always sit next to me." She muttered the last part quietly to herself. "No one else wants to."
Ryan heard, and met her eyes as he said, "I don't know why not. You're easily one of the most beautiful girls here, and one of the smartest too, from what I've heard." Serena shook her head, but he kept speaking. "Yes you are. You are beautiful and talented and sweet, and anyone who can't see that is just plain stupid."
Serena shook her head again. He was just saying that to make her feel better, though she appreciated it. "No, I'm not. And anyway, you're the genius around here, or at least that is what's going around the grapevine."
"I heard the same about you."
"Did you take the IQ test last summer?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah. I do it every couple of years. What did you get?"
"Um..." Ryan seemed embarrassed. "Don't tell anyone, but I got a 143" (this is out of 150)
"Wow! See, I told knew that you were smart!"
"Nah, just luck, I guess. And you? What did you get?"
She blushed lightly. "I got a 145."
"What was that you were saying about being stupid? At least we now know who's the smart one out of the pair of us!"
"Like you said, it was just luck. And anyway, it's practically the same as yours. So I guess we're pretty evenly matched."
"Looks like it. Anyway, so what do you think of the school?"
"I'm liking it a lot better now..."
*~*~*
A couple of minutes later, Ryan stood up.
"Where are you going?" Serena looked bewildered and slightly upset that he was leaving. Ryan couldn't help but feel pleased that she didn't want him to go.
"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you! Come on. We're gonna go do something."
"What?!"
"You see, I notice that every lunch, you sit here and read, and I've decided that we're gonna change that, and go do something. So get up, and toss your trash in the bin. Let's go!"
"But-"
"No buts. And anyway, I'm new around here, so you have to be a good host and let me do what I like, right?"
"I guess, but-"
"I said no buts. And what I want right now is to go do something else."
Serena stood up, smiling shyly at him as they left the cafeteria. "Okay. Um... so what now?"
"I don't know. You know the school better than I do."
"Well, there are lots of things that we can do..."
"And I've got a few weeks before the others come back, so I think we have time to explore everything. I'll tell you what. Let's go for a walk around the school and grounds and just chat for today. We both have a double free period after lunch, so we have plenty of time. Tomorrow we get adventurous. Okay?"
"Alright. Now this here is..."
*~*~*
Serena laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time in five minutes. She was having an amazing time with Ryan. She couldn't believe how things they had in common many. They were both adopted, both fairly new to the town, both dedicated students... they were both into music and sports, and he even liked a couple of the same films she did! He was sweet and funny and caring, and she felt that she could be herself around him. She felt... free, more so that she had ever done when she had first come to this town. She was really surprised; he wasn't like any of the other people in the popular groups at all, and she told him so.
"Nah, they're really not that bad. I mean, not all bad. They can be nice... they took me under their wing and I'm really grateful for that. I know that they aren't particularly nice to everyone, and I know you get the raw end of the deal... You just have to get on the right side of them... but they're not completely bad."
She was impressed- he was such a gentleman that he even stood up for them, though he wasn't biased by them. He was loyal and perceptive... unlike most guys that she knew who were their age.
It was strange that they were having such a great time, considering the fact that they hadn't done much. Just wandered round and round the school playing fields chatting, although this was in a way, an entirely new experience for Serena. She'd always kept to herself before, stayed out of everyone's way. But Ryan was helping her to overcome this, dragging her around the school, forcing her to say hi to people and mix with everyone else. If anyone else had tried this, she would have hated it... hated them... and gotten embarrassed, but with Ryan, it was different. She was enjoying every minute of it, and somehow it didn't seem as daunting as it had been before. He was opening doors for her, helping her to make friends with other people... he'd introduce her to anyone that came over to say hi to him, and in this way she met more people in one lunch period than she had met in her entire time at the school. His popularity seemed to be infectious, and she caught many an envious glance directed her way by some of Ryan's adoring female fans, and she found many guys looking her over somewhat appreciatively once they had been introduced. She wasn't really sure what to make of it; the feeling was completely alien to her, but she just stuck close to Ryan, and let him manage the situation, all the while admiring his ease of communication, and how well he mixed with everyone, not just the popular kids.
And all the while, she'd gotten to know him. Really know him. Granted, they hadn't had a lot of time to get to know each other intimately, but their conversations were deep and meaningful, while still remaining light and pleasant... not the boring bitchy monotonous stuff that most people chatted about. She didn't care for idle chatter... and he didn't try to engage her in any of it. Instead they spent their first lunch time together just exploring each other's characters and learning a little about each other. They mainly kept to the things that they had in common, chatting about their old towns, and what life had been like before moving to Silverstone High, about school and lessons, touching briefly on their childhoods, their dreams and ambitions... almost everything they could think of. They debated on the merits of their favourite books and films, and told each other their worst fears... by the end of the lunch hour each had found something truly valuable in the other, and were well on the way to being close friends.
*~*~*
They'd been walking around the expansive grounds for nearly an hour, and Ryan had gotten her to open up on some of her childhood. Serena couldn't believe it. She'd found herself telling him things that she hadn't known were inside of her before. She wasn't sure why, it was just something about him that made her feel like she could trust him completely.
"So tell me, why do you hate this school?" Ryan looked genuinely concerned for her.
"I don't hate the school..." She told the lie calmly, feigning innocence
"Sure you do, or at least, you don't like it all too much. You can't lie to me; I see it in your eyes. So spill."
She looked down at her shoes. "It's difficult to explain..."
"Just try to explain. I'll try to understand. I just can't bear to see you hurting, and don't tell me that you don't because I can see it in your eyes. And, you know, maybe there is something that I can do to help... I'd like to try, if that's the case."
"That's really sweet of you, Ryan, but I don't think there is anything that you can do... it's just me, I guess"
"No, it's more than that." She didn't reply. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to force you to tell me or anything... I know that we've only just met. I just wanted to help, that's all."
"It's not that I don't trust you or anything like that.... It's just that... I dunno. You and me, we had different experiences. Completely different experiences. And I don't want to influence your thoughts. Much of it involves... them"
"Them? You mean Alina and Blade and the rest of them?"
"Yeah. Look, I didn't want to get into all of this because they are your friends and all."
"Still, I know that they upset you. I have a right to know."
"I know. Look, I'll try, okay? I... I was new at this school a month or two ago, when my family moved here from Miami. We moved around a lot, I used to live in England when I was younger... But my parents had decided that we were going to settle here permanently. I was kinda excited. I'd never really stayed in a town long enough to make really firm friends, and I thought that this was my chance, you know? I really had to make this one work."
"I know the feeling" Ryan felt sympathetic.
"The problem was that I didn't make any friends. Not any. I mean, I can sort of understand it, these people have grown up together, and I'm just some complete stranger. But you'd have thought that someone would come up and try to be nice..."
Ryan felt bad. He couldn't sympathise with this, he'd had a completely different experience.
"It was okay for you, I guess... or at least you had it easier than I did. When you came in, you were immediately liked, and you got admitted to the clique, and so you made friends immediately." Her voice turned bitter. "I didn't get that. No one came up to me to talk, and I was shy and scared of going up to people in a strange town, and so I just never met anyone I could talk to or hang with. I just got left on my own. I didn't really mind that all too much, because no-one took any notice of me, and so I could bear it, you know?" She looked up at Ryan.
"The thing is, Alina and I had a small run in before I'd joined the school. We both applied for a few of the school scholarship awards... it entitles you to all sorts of privileges, such as extra free study periods, and early college acceptance, and financial funding for college. And I was lucky enough to get them. A couple of them, actually. Alina didn't, and when she found out that some... some nobody had beat her to it, she was really mad. And then she noticed that people were ignoring me, and she took it into her own hands, making snide comments and spreading rumours around about me." She stopped. "I'm sorry. I know that you hang around with them..."
"It doesn't matter. I can see what they do to you."
"Yeah well, so does everyone else, but no-one ever does anything about it. And when Alina's group do something, the rest of the school do it too... and before I knew it, I was a social outcast and no one would talk to me."
"You don't have to worry about that anymore." Ryan put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "You have me now."
"I know." She looked down, unsure of how to put it. "But the others... they're not gonna like it."
"I don't care. I'd like to spend some time with you too... and if they can't see that... well then maybe they're not worth hanging with."
"You... you don't have to do that for me."
"Well, tough, cos I am. I think that you're worth talking to."
Serena decided that it might be time for a change of subject. She felt that she was getting a bit out of her depth here, and anyway, she was curious to know more about Ryan.
"That's really sweet of you, but that's enough about me. I want to know more about you."
"More about what?"
"I dunno. Anything. Just tell me things about your past."
"There's not much more to say. I used to live in San Francisco, with my previous foster family."
"What was that like?"
"Living with foster families... well, I've never really known anything else, have I? They're nice enough people, and they've looked after me, but they're not parents, are they? They never take as much interest in you as they do with their own children and family... or at least some of them don't. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad, but still... I'd have liked a little consistency in my life. I spent a lot of time moving around, and with different families... and I dunno. I guess you got the better end of that deal; you got consistent parents who love you. I would have liked something similar for myself."
"Did you like it there?"
"Where? San Francisco? Yeah, I guess. Well, no, not really. I... just never felt like I could fit in. I mean it's a cool city and all, there is always something going on, and its really exciting, but I didn't really have any real friends, not before I came here."
"Like me..." Serena was surprised.
"Yeah. A lot like that."
"But... I mean... I'm surprised. You get on so well with everyone here... I just thought that you'd always been this confident."
"No. I can see how you would think it, but no. I'm kinda shy and introverted most of the time." Serena looked at him with a sceptical expression. "Yeah, I know, its hard to believe! It's just when I came here, I guess, like you said before, I got the right start. For some reason I got invited into Blade's group, and so people started to be nice to me. I got popular by association."
Serena nodded. She knew what he meant.
"But before, I was no-one. The kids at my old school didn't like me. I tested for genius in the sciences and maths when I was in fifteen, and I got trophies and medals for everything else, and I guess a lot of the kids just got resentful."
"I know what you mean. I got the same thing at my old school and I get it here too. I guess you don't feel it here, because you're popular, so they admire it in you. But in me..."
"I know. It's so stupid. They shouldn't overlook talent like yours. But people can get pretty spiteful for the smallest of things, I know that. Who knows, maybe you'll get a chance to redeem yourself. I mean, did you get asked to test for advanced honour roll classes?"
"Um yeah. I bet you did too, right?"
"Right. There are only the two of us. I got my acceptance letter today."
"Same here."
"So are you transferring?"
"Yup. Why not. I mean, it isn't many juniors that get asked to take advanced senior lessons."
"I know. I'm gonna go for it too. And I was wondering... if you want... if you'd like to sit with me in classes. I mean, there won't be anyone to object to it...?"
"Yeah, I'd really like that."
"Us juniors have to stick together, you know!"
*~*~*
"So... tell me something else..." Ryan grinned, in spite of himself. Serena seemed to have a load of questions for him...
"Like..."
"Like... did you leave a girlfriend behind in San Francisco?" Ryan gave an embarrassed laugh, unsure of how to answer that, and Serena mistook it for anoyance "I'm sorry. It was none of my business-"
"No, it's okay. It just... and don't laugh, okay, ... I've never had a girlfriend." Ryan blushed, embarrassed to admit this fact to her.
"Really!" She sounded surprised, and Ryan wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or happy.
"No."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound condescending, but I mean, you're so good looking and all, I just thought that..."
"No... anyway, no one would talk to me, remember? And I'm kinda fussy. No-one ever really took my fancy... well not much, anyway. Now your turn." Ryan was rather eager to get off the topic of his non-existent love life.
"What! No fair!"
"It is totally fair. You asked me, and I answered, so you have to do me the same courtesy."
"Fine! Well, if you must know, the answer is no."
"No you don't have a boyfriend, or no you have never had one?" Ryan couldn't help himself. He had to know. Not only to tease her further by forcing her to answer his questions, but because he just... had to know, for some reason.
"No, I have never had a boyfriend." Ryan sighed with relief, but he was surprised too. She was so beautiful... had no one else ever seen that?
"Wow. I mean, how is that even possible?"
"Gee thanks." She sounded a bit hurt, and he realised that she'd taken his comment the wrong way.
"No I didn't mean it like that. It's just that you really are gorgeous, and I can't believe that no one has ever asked you out."
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly miss popular over here, am I?"
"No, but that's just a mistake, and we're gonna try and fix it, okay?"
"That's a sweet thought, but I don't think it's gonna happen."
"Why?"
"Because people like Alina will never like me, and I don't really think I could do it."
"Well you don't have to do it alone. I'm coming with you. Trust me. We can only try, right?"
"I guess."
"Good. From now on, we stick together. And as Humphrey Bogart once said- 'I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'."
She giggled, and he put a finger under her chin, grinning, and said in an imitative voice, "Here's looking at you, kid." He was planning on going further, but his voice caught in his throat as he stared into her eyes. Some kind of strange, yet not unfamiliar current was passing between them, and it was pulling him towards her... Gulping nervously, he broke the contact, and tried to change to topic abruptly, as he pulled away and the feeling subsided.
*~*~*
It was strange, how they progressed from strangers to best friends over the next few days, but it seemed natural to them. Spending all their time together had only heightened this feeling of trust. Serena knew that she could trust him implicitly, even though they had only met a few days ago, and she felt comfortable around him... felt that she could tell him things that she would never dare to tell other people, and she knew that he wouldn't judge her for them. And what was better, she knew that he felt the same way. In Ryan she found someone who understood her shy nature, someone who could match her brilliant intelligence... who could understand how she felt and what she meant without trying. He encouraged her to find new parts in herself- to bring out the adventurous turn in her that she had never really known that she had. Ryan in turn found someone who would easily be able to soften his temper, ease his hurt and listen to him with a sympathetic ear. Here was someone that he could turn to, someone who could console him, tease him out of his darkest moods. They shared all but their deepest secrets, and that was only because the rules forbade them to do so.
*~*~*
It was another free double period some days later, and Ryan was wondering where Serena had got to. For once, she wasn't in the common room, or the library studying, and Ryan had no idea where she was. After thinking about it for a while, he went over to ask another of the pupils who had a free at that time.
"Hi."
"Hi." She was a short junior from some of his classes, and right now she was also blushing furiously. Ryan tried to ignore it.
"I was wondering if you could tell me how to find out where someone is during their free periods."
"Well, you can't. Not really. There isn't like any record about where people are. You just do what you like. But" she piped up, seeing his face fall slightly, "If you told me who it was... maybe I could show you."
"Um, yeah... It's Serena. Serena Hardwood."
"Serena?" Her nose wrinkled in slight scorn. Ryan frowned slightly. Something in his vampire senses told him that she wasn't being entirely honest with him. "I don't know... sorry." She shrugged, and turned away, but Ryan caught her shoulder and turned her to face him once more.
"Are you sure...?" His voice sounded pleading, but even as he spoke, he was searching her mind for the answer. Another useful vampire power. In his mind he could see images of the music corridor, and he withdrew himself from her mind immediately, satisfied that this was probably where she was. -The music corridor? But she doesn't do any music...-
"No." The girl looked apologetic, and turned away, unaware of what had just gone on.
"Oh, well, thanks anyway." Ryan left the room and walked down the corridor, only stopping once to ask for directions to the music rooms. Following the instructions, he soon came to the corridor that he had seen in the girls mind. He looked around himself curiously. He hadn't been to this part of the school before, though he had heard about it...
It wasn't commonly used, but the school had once had a recording studio/radio station built into it, and although it wasn't used any more, pupils were free to use it, as long as they took care of the equipment. The rooms were soundproof and so he couldn't hear a thing, but looking through the door of the outer room, not the recording studio, he could see someone with a cascade of dark brown waves with her back turned to him. It had to be Serena.
Cat quiet, he opened the door, and slipped into the outer control room. This room had a switchboard and all sorts of electronic devices in it, but Serena was in the other room, the actual recording room, which was also soundproof. Ryan sighed, disappointed. He'd wanted to hear her. From what he could see of her she was playing on a keyboard or a piano of some sort. Overcome with curiosity, he considered opening the door and slipping in quietly without her noticing, but then spotted a pair of headphones plugged in to an outlet in the wall which connected the outer room to the recording room. Silently, he moved over to where the desk was, and settled himself in the chair, slipping the headphones over his ears. What he heard amazed him.
A beautiful, sweet, piercing melody flowed through the headphones. It was beautiful, slightly haunting but bittersweet too. From his new position at the desk, he could see her playing the keyboard, mixing effects with one another as she played, and the effect was unbelievable. Ryan closed his eyes in appreciation. The melody flowed over him, and he just lost himself in the music. Then, out of nowhere, to his surprise, came this sweet soft voice. Ryan's eyes shot open in surprise. No, he wasn't dreaming, she was singing to herself. And her voice was... amazing. It was pure and sweet, and full of emotion... he had to shut his eyes again, and he fell into the music again... becoming lost in her hypnotic voice. He put his entire consciousness into focussing on her words.
"On my own, pretending he's beside me All alone, I walk with him till morning Without him, I feel his arms around me, And when I lose my way, I close my eyes, and he has found me.
Through the rain, the pavement shines like silver All the lights are misty in the river In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight And all I see is him and me forever and forever.
And I know it's only in my mind, That I'm talking to myself, and not to him, But although, I know that he is blind, Still I pray, there's a way for us.
I love him, and when the night is over, He is gone; the river's just a river. Without him, the world around me changes, The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers.
I love him, but every day I'm learning, All my life, I've only been pretending. Without me, his world will go on turning, A world that's full of happiness that I have never known.
I love him I love him I love him But only on my own."
Ryan couldn't believe it. She could sing... and what an amazing voice. He wanted to go in and talk to her, but at the same time, he didn't want to disturb her, or scare her. So, he quietly took off the headphones and left the control room, heading back to the common room, a small smile on his face, humming a few bars of the tune that would stick in his mind for the rest of the day.
*~*~*
Serena sat down in her biology lab lesson and sighed. Biology was not her favourite subject. She liked it well enough, she supposed, but she wouldn't have said that she particularly enjoyed it, even though she was good at it. Now chemistry... there was a subject she could really sink her teeth into. It all made sense in chemistry... the world was ordered and neat, just the way she liked it. There was an explanation for everything in chemistry. Biology on the other hand... it was so unpredictable. Things could and did change, and there were all sorts of complications... just like her life as of late. All of a sudden a lot of things weren't the same, and she wasn't really sure if they made sense or not. Besides, it was lonely in lab lessons when you had no one to sit next to or work with. Looking around her, she could see the classrooms and the hallway buzzing with students chatting before the bell rang, and it made her ache somewhere inside to know that there was no one who wanted to talk to her. But there was no use dwelling over all that again. Sighing again, she reached down and busied herself with getting her notebooks and other stuff out of her bag.
Perhaps the fates read her heart or maybe it was just sheer coincidence, but just then the bell rang and at that same instant she was startled out of her reverie by the sound of a book thudding on the desk next to hers. She looked up in surprise- no one ever sat at that desk, and her heart stopped. There, smiling down at her was Ryan.
"Hey! Do you mind if I sit here?" She just stared at him. "Don't tell me that you forgot... I thought we were going to work together... But if you really don't want to..."
"No. Not at all... I mean, yes, I do... want to work with you that is." Serena blushed, as she completely muddled up her words. Grinning wryly, Ryan sat down and began to get his things out of his bags. "... but don't you already sit next to someone...?" She turned around to see if she could see anyone from the cliques.
"No. None of them take biology. And I just got moved up to this class this week. That is... until I get transferred to advanced senior biology... and anyway, I told you that we were gonna stick together from now on."
"Yeah, you did..." Serena was shocked and also faintly amused. She'd thought that he was just saying that to be nice, but he'd meant what he said. That was something new. Mind you, she wasn't complaining. Now she'd have someone to sit next to all the time... and not just anyone, either. Ryan Drache, no less! And she'd get to sit next to him in lectures too... No, she wasn't complaining at all.
"Plus," Ryan continued, "I figure that if we're gonna take all the advanced senior classes together, I may as well start working with you now, so that we can get used to being partners."
"Sure, I'd like that, but I warn you...I'm not so good at Biology."
"That I find hard to believe."
"Why?"
Ryan dropped his voice, so that no one else would hear. "Well, because you, like me, have tested out of this class into Advanced Senior Biology... and I've heard that you're a scientific genius."
"Well, not really. Chemistry's more my thing. And I quite like math. I guess I'm pretty good at the other two, but I'm nothing amazing, trust me."
"I very much doubt that. And anyway, I prefer Physics and Biology to Chemistry and Math, so between us, I think we have it fixed. Besides, I don't think your idea of not very good is the same as most people's is it?"
She blushed. "No, but-"
"No buts. My previous statement still remains. You are humble and amazingly clever, and trust me it shows. Now, I've looked ahead at the class schedule for the semester, and I think that I've covered all the work and write ups for the next few weeks, and if I'm a decent judge of character, I'd guess that you've probably moved ahead too. And I bet you've done the same for most of your other subjects too."
"Yeah, you're right." Serena said the words grudgingly, but she was smiling.
"So, I'm afraid, this means that we're gonna have quite a lot of time to ourselves to get to know each other. And that means that you're in for a few weeks of random tricks and jokes from me, and I'm in for a lot of brilliant insightful comments from you."
"I'm not so sure about the brilliant or insightful part, but there will definitely be comments from me!"
"No, you have to think positively from now on. You are not allowed to think negatively. Okay?"
"Okay"
Suddenly Ryan snapped his fingers, and his eyes lit up as if he'd just thought of something. "I've got it!" He dropped his voice down again until only Serena could make out his words. "You know the science fair that's coming up at the end of the year... well, I thought that maybe we could enter it together... come up with something amazingly brilliant. What do you think?"
"Yeah, count me in!" Serena dropped her voice too, as the teacher began to talk to the class.
"Well, what do you think of...creating a miniature piano?
Serena smiled at him, her eyes wide with amazement. "You think that we could do that?"
"Sure, between us, I think we could get it right. And if not, we'll just blame each other"
Serena laughed. She had a feeling Biology was going to get a lot more interesting from now on.
*~*~*
Ryan was headed towards the gym. He didn't have after school basketball practice today, but he felt like a workout, and thought that having the gym to himself for a while wouldn't be a bad thing either. He wanted some time to think things through... like how his life had gotten so much more complicated all of a sudden. All he wanted right now was to get some exercise, and try to forget all of his other problems. As he walked by the double doors of the gym, however, he saw that his idea of being alone wasn't about to come true. There was someone already in there, a girl, shooting hoops. He was surprised. There weren't usually people in the gyms after school, unless there was an activity on. And she was on her own. He just stopped and stood there, peering through the glass in the door, watching her as she dribbled up to the backboard and gracefully completed shot after shot successfully. Man, she was good, he couldn't help but admit to himself. He admired her skill, as she moved tirelessly from one drill into the next without stopping.
Just then, she turned around, dribbling the ball down the length of the gym, and Ryan took in an involuntary breath. It was Serena. He'd half been hoping it was. She hadn't noticed him, however, and he could see that her face was calm and she was entirely focussed on what she was doing. She looked good. He couldn't help the thought that ran through his mind. He couldn't help the fact that he was staring at her, either. She was wearing a light cotton white short-sleeved sports shirt, and a black sports tennis skirt, and white trainers. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but some of the foremost locks had come loose, and she pushed them impatiently behind her ears as she turned to take more shots. She was really good. He couldn't believe it. Was there anything that she couldn't do?
Suddenly Ryan was overcome with the incredible urge to go in and play with her. -Why not?- He tried to reason with himself. -We're friends, and I could do with a workout... even if I'm not on my own...- Conveniently forgetting that he could practice pretty well at home, he headed off to the changing rooms where he hurriedly put on his basketball training kit that the team were given. He then headed back out to the gym doors. He hesitated once when he reached them, but gathering his courage again, he opened the door quietly, and said softly "Hi."
Serena spun around, surprised, catching the ball and holding it to her. Obviously, she hadn't seem him standing at the door. "Hi." She said breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"
"I just felt like a workout." God, he couldn't stop staring at her. He saw her shift her weight uncomfortably and try to pull her skirt down a little, to no avail, and he dragged his eyes up to her face. "You?"
"The same. I just felt a bit restless, I guess."
"I know what you mean. You didn't tell me... I didn't know that you were on the girls' team."
"I'm not." She laughed. "I'm nowhere as good as those guys! No, I just come out to mess around a bit. I'm not all that great."
"Sure you are. I was watching you from outside. And you looked pretty damn good to me from over there."
She blushed, and he realised that his words had more than one meaning. But he didn't retract his statement. A short pause followed, as they both looked away, finding the floor rather interesting all of a sudden. "No, I'm not particularly good. I need more practice. But I can see that you need the gym, so I'll just-"
"No, there's no need for that. I just want a bit of a throw-around, so why don't you stay and we can practice or play one on one, if you like."
"You sure?" he couldn't tell what she was thinking from her tone, it was even and calm.
"Of course. Are you game?"
"Yeah, I guess. But you'll have to go easy on me. I don't think I'll be much competition for our star forward."
"You might surprise yourself. Come on." And with that, she tossed the ball to him, and they took up their positions in the centre of the court.
The game that followed was a good one, one that dragged for a reasonable length of time. Ryan was surprised at how good Serena actually was. While her technique wasn't as fine-tuned as his own, she was adamant and persistent, and kept at it. She really made him work hard at keeping possession of the ball. She was lithe and quick, and whenever he turned around, she would be there, waiting to block him. It was just the workout he needed, and he accepted the challenge easily. And he won, although narrowly. After that, the pair of them called it quits, and for the next half an hour or so, they just tossed the ball back and forth, and completed a few basic drills, and talked. It was a great warm down for the pair of them, and that afternoon session became a weekly feature for them both.
*~*~*
Serena glanced sideways at Ryan, who was walking beside her out of school. He'd kindly offered to walk her home after their basketball session, so long as she showed him around town for a bit the next day, and she'd been so charmed that she'd agreed. And she wasn't regretting her decision, even though they weren't really talking much. It was an amiable silence, and she felt completely at ease with him. There was no need for idle chit chat... they were more than happy to be in each other's company.
However Ryan seemed to be a little different right now. He kept opening his mouth, as if to say something, before deciding not to, and shutting it again. Serena was dying of curiosity, and after a few minutes of silence, she went for it.
"Okay, spill."
"What?"
"Tell me what it is that's bothering you."
"Nothing's bothering me."
"Yes there is."
"No, there isn't."
"Well you keep starting to say something, and then you stop, so tell me what it is. Or don't you trust me" she teased, pouting slightly.
"No, it's not that-"
"Then tell me!"
"No!"
"Fine" She pretended to get all huffy about it, but she smiled at him too, to let him know she was kidding. A comfortable silence then followed, before Ryan suddenly burst out with it.
"Why didn't you tell me you could sing?"
"What!"
"You have an amazing voice, and you play the keyboard really well. Why didn't you tell me?"
"How do you know whether I can sing or play or not? You've never heard me."
"Yes I have."
"What! When?"
"A couple of days ago. We had a free period, and you were in the studio."
Serena turned crimson in self consciousness. "You heard that? Oh my god!"
"What? Don't get all embarrassed about it. You sounded really good. Was it one of your own songs?"
"No. I wish. It's one from a favourite musical of mine, 'Les Miserables'."
"It was a beautiful piece. But it was so sad..."
"Yeah, I always found that song easy to connect to..."
"Well I hope that you won't after you've hung around me for long enough. Don't take that the wrong way. You sounded great."
"No, I didn't. I just do that sometimes... to mess around"
"It didn't sound like messing around to me."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It sounded really good. Do you take lessons or something?"
"No. I ... I never had lessons. I always wished I did, but... no."
"You should. Not that you need them, but you have such a great voice."
"Thanks." She ducked her head in embarrassment.
"So do you want to be a professional singer or something...?"
"Well, I'd love to, of course... but I'm not sure. There are so many options...?"
"What else are you considering?"
"The usual... Medicine, Politics, Law... the works."
"Wow, you are one ambitious, well rounded person."
"What about you? What do you want to be?"
"God, I dunno. Don't really think about it all that much. A medic or a lawyer, I guess. Just as long as it's challenging, I don't really mind."
"I bet you could do anything you set your mind to do."
"I think the same thing applies to you."
"Yeah, well we're two of a kind, aren't we?"
"You could say that." Neither of them knew how true that was.
*~*~*
A couple of days later, Ryan found himself knocking on the front door or an imposing building, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for the door to be opened. "Hi, Mrs Hardwood, is Serena in?" Ryan was slightly nervous, as he always was when entering the Hardwood Mansion. It wasn't that the elegant surroundings, the mansion, and the wealthy family disturbed him or made him nervous... far from it- after all, his current foster family was fairly wealthy themselves. He just wanted to stay on the right side of her parents. Serena had told him how strict they were sometimes, and though at the minute they seemed to love him and what he had done for their daughter, he didn't want to cross that line any time soon. So, whenever he came over, he always made sure he was presentable and polite, and so far it seemed to be working. He'd only met her father once; he was always working in his study. He was very quiet and serious, but you could see a cool intelligence behind his eyes that had gained him Ryan's eternal respect. Her mother was different character entirely. Elegant and polished, she always managed to seem gracious and friendly all at once. She was quite attractive for a woman in her middle thirties, although she didn't look a lot like her daughter at all. Ryan liked the woman; she'd always made him feel at home in their mansion, and she seemed to dote on him, as if he were her own son, and that made him feel loved in a way that he'd never felt before, moving from family to family as he had done.
"Serena? Yes, she's upstairs I suppose." Mrs Hardwood smiled at him, she was used to him coming over all the time, and then frowned slightly. "She didn't tell me that you were coming over..."
"No, I'm sorry. This is a bit unexpected. I meant to surprise her. If it's inconvenient..." Ryan knew that some people didn't necessarily like unexpected visitors, and tried to turn away graciously.
"No, it's fine, Ryan. I was just a bit surprised that's all. Now, if you'll come in, I'll call Serena down. I think she's in the music room now. Probably practicing something or other."
-Music room?- Ryan hadn't known she had one. Still, he didn't want to disturb her, and he did love surprising her... "No, it's okay, Mrs Hardwood. I wanted to surprise her. I'll go up to her myself, and wait till she's done, if that's okay, of course.." He said this a little hesitantly, as he didn't want to push his luck with her parents, and he'd never been allowed upstairs before.
Mrs Hardwood seemed a little worried about letting someone up to Serena's room, a boy nonetheless, but then seemed to think better of it. She knew, of course, that there was nothing between them, and she thought of Ryan as almost her own son. "Well, alright then. Serena's wing is on the landing, turn left, and her bedroom is three doors down. The music room door is through there."
"Okay, thank-you Mrs Hardwood."
Ryan crept upstairs and found the door to Serena's room. Carefully, he winched the door open centimetre by centimetre, and tiptoed in. As he did, he stared around himself in amazement. This girl was perfect, literally. Her room was large, but cosy, with thick beige carpeting and cream walls, and her bed was neat and made up, the cream covers unwrinkled. Her desk was tidy and organised, with stationary kept in a designated stationary holder, and, Ryan noted with some amusement, the books on her bookshelf were arranged in height, then alphabetical, then colour order. One of the shelves on her bookshelf was dedicated to trophies and medals that she'd won for her various talents, and all in all, her room was like an enlarged version of her locker, neat, tidy and clean. Ryan scanned all the trophies and ribbons on her shelf idly... basketball honours... sports scholarship awards... music awards... principal violinist awards... science and maths honours grades 7 through to junior level...English awards... theatrical medals... was there anything that she didn't do?
There was another two doors leading off from the bedroom into other rooms. One room, Ryan supposed was the bathroom, but the other... he could hear music coming from the other side of it. But it wasn't singing, or piano playing, but the beautiful sound of a stringed instrument... a violin or viola by the sounds of it. She played really well... he had to admit. Even from here, he could hear the emotion she put into her playing... she was amazingly good. He sat down on her bed and listened for a while as she played through various sonatas and romances, and then when he could bear it no longer, he quietly opened the door while she was playing. She was facing him, he found, but she didn't see him, on account of her playing her pieces from memory with her eyes shut. Watching her, Ryan thought that he could fall into some sort of trance... she was mesmerising to watch... he couldn't take his eyes off her...
Suddenly there was a hushed gasp and the music stopped and the trance was broken all at once. Roses were blooming in her cheeks, and she looked completely and utterly flabbergasted at the fact that he'd crept up on her, yet again, while she was unawares. Unsure of what to do, he burst into rapturous applause, and besieged her. "Please don't stop. God, you're so amazing at... well practically everything... how on earth do you do it?"
Serena seemed to be recovering from shock as she replied. "Firstly... I am not amazing, and secondly, I am not good at everything... and thirdly, you can't tell me that you can't play a musical instrument, so you know I'm not amazing."
"Yes, you're right, I do play instruments too, but that doesn't mean that you're not amazing."
"So what do you play?"
"Don't try and change the subject."
"Just... humour me. What do you play?"
"Well... I'm a cellist, and I used to play piano... but I dabble at everything, you could say. I've played violin a bit, too. I'm not as good as you, I mean you must be almost virtuoso yourself... right?"
"I don't know about virtuoso, but I'm okay."
"There you go again; being modest... you're really good."
"Thanks, I'm studying for my diploma on the viola next year..."
"God, I know it's hard... I did my Cello diploma a couple of years ago... it nearly killed me! Still I was really pleased when I passed."
"What with?"
"Distinction."
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks. Still, like I said, I'm not as good as you are."
"We're not getting into this argument again! I know, we could duet sometime... if you want..."
"Yeah... that'd be great. And I play the guitar as well... not much... just the simple stuff..."
"What do you mean?"
"I just like to play it and sing... it's calming sometimes."
"Really... show me." And she got out a guitar from the instrument rack behind her, and handed it over to him."
"Hold on a second, I'm not playing anything!"
"Why not? You've heard me play and sing now, twice, I might add" he couldn't help but grin slightly as she continued. "All of this without my permission, so I think its only fair that you perform for me."
"But-"
"No buts. You have to do this... or..." she trailed off.
"Or what?"
"Or... I won't talk to you ever again!"
"Is that a threat?"
"Sure is."
"You wouldn't do it."
"Do you really want to risk it?" he looked away... he knew what the answer was.
"Fine. Um... what should I sing?" Ryan was feeling a little nervous now.
"I dunno, anything. Just something you like to play."
Ryan sat for a few moments, searching for a song, and then, settling on one, he began to play.
"Its amazing how you can speak right to my heart... Without saying a word, you can light up the dark...
Try as I may, I can never explain, What I hear when you don't say a thing...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me, The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all...
All day long I can hear people talking out loud... But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd...
Try as they may, they can never define, What's being said between you heart and mine...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me, The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all...
The smile on you face lets me know that you need me, There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me... The touch of you hand says you'll catch me, wherever I fall... You say best... When you say nothing at all..."
He stopped, and tried a shaky grin at Serena, who looked absolutely spellbound.
"Wow."
"Um, thanks? It was a bit rusty, I haven't played in such a long time."
"That was amazing! You have a really nice voice. You have to teach me how to do that, and maybe how to play the cello. Just a little bit- I've always wanted to learn..."
He couldn't help but laugh at how eager she seemed. "Okay, but only if you teach me how to sing, and help me brush up my violin playing."
"You've got yourself a deal."
*~*~*
To anyone who watched them, they looked like two lovebirds, laughing and talking together all the time, but if you asked either of them about it, as many a person did, the answer was always negative. And it was the truth. They weren't going out. Their relationship went a lot deeper that that.
In any other circumstances, I think that both Ryan and Serena would have fallen rather deeply in love with each other. However, there were certain barriers, the main one being that each didn't know that the other was also a Night Worlder. They were both aware that as Night Worlders, falling in love with a human was impossible. And due to the spells of Rialle and Iliana, their shielding charms were working extremely well, and neither of them had yet realised the similarity of their best friend to their Circle Partners.
Not that if they had recognised each other, the problem would have gone away. Falling in love with your partners was also strictly forbidden. Kherron had told them that this was to make sure that their minds were only focussed on their fighting and not on their problems as a couple. Whether this was the whole truth or if Kherron was making up convenient cover story remains to be seen. Serena tried to ease her disappointment by forcing herself to realise that she only wanted a friend right now, and that a boyfriend was more than she could handle, and Ryan simply tried to convince himself that he wasn't interested in her.
Their sparking problem had also started to be overcome as dampeners to weaken the soulmate bond between them had been heightened by Raksha and Kherron. And with the bond between them weakening, it was easy for them to do so. By the end of the first week, both had managed to forget that they were ever interested in each other.
So the pair of them had each silently accepted that a relationship was impossible, and managed to manoeuvre around it, settling for a solid, true friendship that ran deep. People soon knew that both of the new kids were the best of friends, if nothing more, and got used to seeing them together. They could be seen together during and after school, and were often around at each other's houses, or telephoning each other for a chat. Things were great at school, because the spells hadn't lifted yet, and the cliques weren't back yet, so they were free to spend as much time as they liked together. Their private music lessons flourished beautifully, and their grades soared higher than before. They worked together, hung around together... they got closer and closer by the day, and their friendship progressed to a level that seemed impossible to be platonic to anyone that watched them.
*~*~*
Those few weeks would always be remembered with fond memories when looked upon in the future, for it was during those lunch hours and free periods and lab lessons that Serena and Ryan formed the most stable relationships in their lives. Both found a steadying force in their new found best friends, and used each other as their rocks to lean upon in hard times, something that both of them would need in the coming years.