A/N: Okay! So, NOW we get to see when John and Lia met. Next chappy should be some more Atlantis whumpage, but for now, just some rather interesting background for these two. Tell me what you think!


Straight up, what did you hope to learn about here
If I were someone else, would this all fall apart
Strange, where were you, when we started this gig,
I wish the real world, would just stop hassling me

-Matchbox Twenty, Real World


Faux Wood Blinds

Chapter Five - Propulsion Force


- flashback - McCarthy High, First Period Math

Lia Gilbert looked up when the classroom door opened one time more than it usually did. A tall, lanky guy ambled in, his messy black hair looking like he had crawled out of bed and not bothered to do anything to it. However, the rest of his appearance was immaculate, and he looked rather annoyed to find that the only empty seat left in the room was on the front row. He muttered something under his breath and threw his bag down next to Lia, then slouched into the chair. She had never seen him before, and since her school was small, she knew that he was new. He glanced over at her and half smiled when he realized she was looking at him.

"Hello," Lia held out her hand, "I'm Lia Gilbert."

The half smile turned into a full grin that made it all the way to his gray-green eyes. "John Sheppard." He shook her hand, and Lia felt butterflies leap to life in her stomach. He was cute.

"Did you just move here?"

"Yeah, my dad was transferred to McCarthy Air Force base."

"Oh." His father being in the military explained this guy's clean-cut appearance. Lia suddenly felt at a loss for words, but the clanging of the bell saved her. The math teacher, a grumpy professor, who had nothing better to do than make life hard for highschool students, ambled in and closed the door with a snap. The teacher, Professor Harrison, as he insisted they call him, pulled out his check list and called roll. When he got to the end, he paused.

"Ah, our new student... John Sheppard." Harrison locked eyes with John and waited for the dark-haired kid to reply.

John was not paying the least bit of attention, instead he was busily working on a sketch, illustrating a math equation entitled 'Propulsion Force of Catapult with 500 lb. Weight'.

"Mr. Sheppard!" Harrison barked. "Please be so kind as to announce your presence."

John raised his head, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Sorry, sir. What do you need?"

There was a sudden undercurrent of suppressed laughter as Harrison's face turned purple and a vein in his temple stood out, pulsing slightly.

"Please announce your presence," the man ground the words out between clenched teeth, "before I send you to the office." The professor was always looking for a reason to get someone in trouble, which was hard to do when everyone avoided him. It always got under his skin because the principle never took his complaints seriously.

"Oh, right-o, I'm here." John smiled cheerfully at Harrison and returned to his sketch.

Lia held her breath, trying not to laugh at the look on Harrison's face; someone behind her snorted, trying to hold in their laughter. From the ensuing giggles, Lia figured that David 'Bull' Thompson, the football team captain, had made some silent joke. Harrison looked like he was fixing to blow a gasket, and he wheezed when he spoke next.

"Young man, show some respect!"

John set his pencil down with a snap, stood up from his chair and saluted smartly, standing at attention. "John Sheppard, present and accounted for, sir. Ready to proceed with this class, sir." He snapped out the word 'sir' biting off the sentences, then stood still as a stone, staring right through Harrison.

There was a moment of complete silence where the whole room stared at John, eyes wide, and then, before Harrison could make up his mind how to respond, there was a rippling of laughter in the small class, growing until almost everyone was laughing. Lia kept looking from John's stone-faced expression to Harrison's purpled face and the pulsing vein.

oooooo

"Hey, is this spot taken?"

Lia looked up to see John standing across from her, waiting for her permission to sit down. "No, it's not taken. I'm not exactly the most popular person to be seen with at lunch you know."

He shrugged and sat down, spilling his lunch from a Sonic bag. "I don't care what they think."

"That was pretty funny this morning, not to mention funny." Lia smiled at the thought of Harrison, dragging the very annoyed principle through the classroom door and spluttering that the whole class had turned against him.

John grinned sheepishly. "I was trying to be serious, you know."

David Thompson sat down next to John with a thump, followed by three more football players, Billy Simpson, Veron 'VW' White, and Rick Smith. Billy slapped John on the shoulder.

"You are an awful liar, Sheppard."

John frowned. "No, I was being serious.

Thompson winked at Lia. "Sure he was, right Hotlips?"

John raised his eyebrows at Lia. She had a disgusted look on her face and her cool gray eyes suddenly looked like steel.

"Go shove a stick up your arse, David."

The other three guys sniggered, but John tensed, suddenly getting the feeling that there was fixing to be trouble. Thompson glared, his hands clenching into fists on the table top.

"Do you always have to be a bitch when someone complements you?" He snarled.

"Only when it's you hitting on me again." Lia raised her voice a little to be heard clearly over the noise.

Thompson stared her down for a moment before getting up, followed by his cronies. He paused and spoke to John. "I wouldn't be associated with her, if I were you. Makes for a bad image you know." He smirked.

"Is that a threat?"

The football captain paused and the other three turned back to see what would happen. "Depends on if you listen or not."

"Then I guess I should warn you, I don't listen too well." John turned his back on the football player.

Thompson clenched and unclenched his fist, and then deciding to wait, turned on his heel and returned to his table, White, Smith and Simpson trailing in his wake.

"He is a sick bastard." Lia slammed her fist on the table.

"Issues with your ex?" John asked, around a mouthful of cold cheeseburger.

"Please don't insult me like that." Lia rolled her eyes. "He is the football team captain, and he has managed to bed every girl in this school, except myself and one other."

John snorted. "Let me guess..." he looked around the room, then pointed discreetly to a Goth girl who looked like she could kick some arse, "she's one of the ones he can't get."

"More like scared to try. See that guy next to her? That's her boyfriend." Lia indicated a tall guy with died black hair and massive amounts of chains hanging off him.

"What's so special about him?"

"They piss him off and they don't get their joints."

"Oh, I get it." John got serious. "So, Thompson just doesn't take no for an answer?"

"Nope." Lia shrugged. "That is part of the reason I'm not 'cool', I turned the Bull down."

John laughed. "Well, it sounds more like bullshit to me." he caught Lia's eyes with his own. "I think you're cool."

Lia smiled, "You're pretty cool to." She leaned toward him. "And, John, watch your back, David Thompson is a bad person to have as an enemy."

John raised his eyebrows. "So, does that mean you are offering me an opportunity to make him my enemy?"

"I don't think you need my help."

"You sure about that?" He teased.

Suddenly, Lia smiled at him. "No."


oooo what evil will i come up with next? -MythDreamer