Ok I know I took a while to write this chapter but a lot had been going on… So please enjoy! And I'm sorry about the pace of the story… LOL it's slow… like me!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters except for Tanya.

Strange and Beautiful

"Kirsten!" At the sound of someone calling her name Kirsten turned around and saw Tanya running towards her swinging her shoulder bag over "God I feel so hung-over from TJ"

"Tijuana was like three days ago" Kirsten pointed out

"Yeah I know! And I still feel like crap" Tanya exclaimed "Hey cute Chanel tote bag"

"Thanks" Kirsten said as she went to her locker and started putting books in there

Tanya stood next to her leaning on the lockers "Speaking of TJ, you and Jimmy seemed pretty chummy throughout the whole trip" Tanya smiled

"How did we seem chummy?" Kirsten whipped around

"Hmmm well lets see… you guys slept in the same bed, or couch whatever-"

"Only because you and Greg took the bed" Kirsten interrupted

"Yeah well that's because Greg wouldn't move and plus I didn't want to sleep on that couch… it smelt funky" Tanya walked next to Kirsten as they walked onto the front yard "and not in a good way"

"Just because we slept in the same bed, or sofa-bed, whatever, doesn't mean that we were chummy" Kirsten defended "Cos that could just mean that you and Wayne were chummy"

"Kirsten, I saw the way you guys were looking at each other" Kirsten was opened her mouth to interrupt but Tanya continued "And you guys were like flirting throughout the whole trip, I'm surprised you guys haven't kissed yet"

"We were not flirting!" Kirsten exclaimed

"Uh-huh" Tanya said as the bell rang "Then there was the beach thing after cotillion!"

"I told you already, that was a nose graze" Kirsten pouted "You sound so Taryn right now"

Tanya grinned "Well I've got Spanish now and who knows Jimmy might be in your class!" Taryn called back as she walked off

Kirsten gave a fake laugh as she walked to her Calculus class. She walked in and her heart sunk as she saw Mr Schmidt standing in front of the whiteboard waiting for students. She knew her timetable said Mr Schmidt but she was hoping there'd be an error.

"Hello Kirsten Nichol" Mr Schmidt said with no enthusiasm as she walked in

"Oh hi Mr Schmidt" Kirsten replied trying hard not to stare at his large mole on the side of his cheek

Kirsten sat herself at one of the rectangular wooden tables. Two girls from her group, Marianne and Taryn sat themselves across from Kirsten

"Hi Kirsten!" they exclaimed

"Hi" Kirsten replied forcing a smile on her face. The only way they would've got into Calculus is if their dad's paid the school extra.

"So I heard about you and Jimmy dating" Kate said

"What? Jimmy and I aren't dating" Kirsten said

"Hey" Kirsten turned around and saw Jimmy standing there with his black backpack swung over his shoulder "Mind if I sit there?" he said pointing to the empty seat next to hers

"Sure" Kirsten said moving her chair in and ignoring the giggles and whispers from Marianne and Taryn.

Marianne and Taryn flirtatiously smiled at Jimmy who uncomfortably smiled back

"So I heard Mr Schmidt is a bit of a bastard" Jimmy whispered in Kirsten's ear

"Yeah… had him last year" Kirsten whispered back

"So quiet class" Mr Schmidt banged his ruler on the table "Welcome back to Harbor. Hope you had a nice holiday. We're going to get straight to it today and I must warn you now. No lagging in Calculus because once you fall behind that's it for you. We'll be starting with an assignment today so I can see how well you guys are doing and where you're at" Mr Schmidt started handing out the papers "I cannot give you any help on this and you are not to receive any help. This is your own work"

The class was silent too afraid to talk and every now and then there'd be a few muffled sniggers at Mr Schmidt's large mole.

"Erm, do you get this?" Jimmy whispered to Kirsten after a few minutes

"James Cooper!" Mr Schmidt screamed "Why were you just talking?"

"Uhh because I don't get it" Jimmy replied

"If you don't understand you ask me!" Mr Schmidt yelled back

"But you said that you can't help us" Jimmy retaliated

"Yes I did that's why you shouldn't be asking for help" Mr Schmidt replied back

"I wasn't asking Kirsten for help" Jimmy said back. There were a few laughs around the class

"Don't be a smartass. You come up here" Mr Schmidt agitatedly pointed his finger at Jimmy

Jimmy slowly got up and walked to Mr Schmidt's table.

"Are you being a smartass?" Mr Schmidt said softly so the class wouldn't here but they still could

"No sir" Jimmy said not bothering to lower his voice

"What school did you come from?" Mr Schmidt asked looking through his thick glasses

"I transferred here from Phoenix"

"Right and you took the placement exam?" Mr Schmidt asked

"Yes, sir" Jimmy said sounding bored

"And Dr. Kim decided to put you into this class?"

"Yes" Jimmy replied

"Well Dr. Kim is new as the dean, I don't know what she saw in you when she put you into this class but very well, you do this assignment and you are not to ask for help"

Jimmy moved and sat back down in his seat. Marianne and Taryn giggled as he sat down.

"And don't bother asking your water-polo mates, I'm sure they're as thick as you" Mr Schmidt said from his table

Jimmy looked like he wanted to punch him but Kirsten lightly kicked him under the table. Jimmy looked at her and she gave him a warning glance.

The period went by slowly but finally the bell rang and the class let out an exasperated sigh as they quickly left the class to break.

"Hey so now I know why everyone looked sorry for me when they saw I had Mr Schmidt" Jimmy said to Kirsten as they walked down the hallway together.

Kirsten smiled "He's a good teacher, just a bit evil"

"Yeah, just a little, and I don't think he likes me very much" Jimmy said

"He doesn't like anyone" Kirsten said and when there was silence "Ok, he hates you more than anyone else"

Jimmy laughed "So umm I was thinking maybe you could catch me up on Calculus, I mean I don't think he stuck some secret hidden camera on me or anything so he won't know if you helped me"

"Yeah, sure" Kirsten said "Um, after school?"

"Yeah, my house at 4 o'clock" Jimmy said confirming

"What?" Kirsten said, she thought they'd study in the library or something "I mean yeah sure of course"

"Right, I would do it sooner but you know soccer try-outs, gotta go" Jimmy smiled

"Ok" Kirsten waved as he took off with some other guys

He smiled back and waved. Did she like him? She couldn't, she wasn't going to have a boyfriend until after she graduated…

Kirsten rang the bell at 4 o'clock in front of the Cooper's mansion. Once again, Jimmy's dad answered the door

"Kirsten! Jimmy rang said he'll be a little late. Come in" Dave opened the door to his house

Kirsten liked their house, it wasn't as big as her house but the high ceiling beams were beautiful.

"Come sit" Dave gestured Kirsten in their lounge room and she sat on the edge of their sofa.

"So you're tutoring Jimmy on Calculus?" Dave asked

"Yep" Kirsten nodded

"Yeah, don't know why he'd need it, I mean back in Phoenix it was pretty much the only subject he got an A in. His math comes to him naturally" Dave said as the front door opened and Jimmy came in

"Hey" he said

"Hi" Kirsten said "How'd soccer training go?"

"Good. Got captain" Jimmy laughed. "Come on, we'll go in my room"

"Bye Mr Cooper" Kirsten said leaving

"You two have fun" Dave called out

"Sorry I'm late, didn't know I'd get captain but you know Greg resigned and well they put me as captain" Jimmy said as they entered his room. Kirsten looked around and saw posters of surfing on his blue walls. There were a few clothes on the floor.

"Sorry" Jimmy apologized and picked up his clothes and threw them on his bed. He got out another chair and put it next to his study table "Sit" Jimmy said realizing this was going to be slightly awkward.

Kirsten nodded and sat down on the leather chair. She got her calculus textbooks out of her bag and placed them on the table. Jimmy sat down next to her getting out his books.

"So uhh where do you want to start?" Kirsten asked her pen in hand.

"Well I was just thinking of doing some formulas seeing if I get them, you know" Jimmy said

"Sure" Kirsten said opening her calculus book and getting started

About five minutes passed as they worked in silence. Kirsten decided looked at Jimmy's work to check his progress.

"Hey, you're ahead of me" Kirsten said amazed

"Wow, I am" Jimmy said smiling

"You don't need to get tutored on Calc!" Kirsten said hitting him on the arm

"Hahaha well I thought I did" Jimmy said playfully shielding his arm from her

Kirsten teasingly pouted her face at him

"Oooh I'm sorry" Jimmy laughed

Kirsten threw a scrunched up paper at him and smiled "Hey can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, it's down the hall on the right" Jimmy said

"Thanks" Kirsten got up and left his bedroom

Jimmy grabbed her notebook to check his answers with her answers. He saw a sketchpad under the Calculus textbook. His hand went to grab it to look at it but then he stopped himself. Should I? But she might have things she might not want me to see… His curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed the sketchpad and opened it.

The first page had a water-colour sketch of the beach. Shit, this is really good. He admired the artwork. He carefully flicked to the second page and it was a black and white sketch of an expensive vase. I never knew she was this good at art… He turned to the third page and let out a small laugh. It was a picture gone over with fine liner of typical Newpsie girls drawn all slutty. He let out a laugh as he turned to the fourth sketch. It was a picture of her father, Caleb Nichol modified with an abnormally large head and small business suit body, surrounded by cash.

"Hey what's so funny?" Kirsten entered

Jimmy held up his sketchbook "Err, sorry had to look" he put on a lost puppy's face, like a puppy who had just gotten caught chewing up their owner's shoe.

Kirsten stood behind his chair and looked at the picture. "Oh yeah about that…"

"You drew these?" Jimmy said flicking over the page and seeing a sketch of himself still in black and white

"No… I brought them off eBay" Kirsten said sarcastically
"How do you come up with these?" Jimmy said amazed

"Well I just draw whatever's on my mind or what is in front of me"

Jimmy turned to the second sketch of him "When did you do this?"

"In the car on the way to TJ… I was bored okay!" Kirsten playfully slapped him

Jimmy turned over to a blank page. He grabbed his pencil "How the hell do you draw? I mean I can never seem to draw"

"It's simple, you just move the pencil around" Kirsten said mockingly

"Right… of course" Jimmy mocked back

"You're holding the pencil wrong… Here, like this" Kirsten leaned over his shoulder and put her hand over his and positioned it. She guided his hand around the page.

Jimmy smiled. "Wow, I can see the head coming through now"

Kirsten laughed. Jimmy looked at her; her face was extremely close to his face. Kirsten stopped drawing; she felt Jimmy's eyes on her. She looked at him and was surprised to see how close Jimmy's face was and it was moving closer…

Ok… I know it was a weird way to end the chapter but you'll see what I'm doing… which is not all that interesting I assure you LOL

Please R&R