Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

Author's Note: No romance...well, would it be a story of mine if no romantic conflict was involved? So, something works it's way in there, but it's not the point to the story. No, not this one. However, you do get to learn a tiny bit about these twins that Drake "accidently" ended up dating at the same time. Also my take on his friends...oh, yes, appearances from Mitch (who quit Drake's band to join his church choir) and Michael (who was in the Pool Shark episode...Shawn Pyfrom's character...thank you those two? Because I felt like it. Oh, yeah, Taylor will also show up too. I loved him and the headphones thing.

Drake sat on his desk before class started. It was strange for him to be in Mrs. Haifer's class early, but he did not want to end up in remedial English a third time, so he made sure he was early. He was talking to Taylor, who wasn't exactly listening because he was wearing his headphones yet again.

"So then I told her I was sorry," said Drake.

Taylor continued dancing to his music.

"Dude, are you listening?"

Taylor glanced up at Drake.

"What?" he asked.

Drake shook his head.

"Never mind..."

"What?" asked Taylor again, a little louder.

Drake rolled his eyes.

Mrs. Haifer walked into the room.

"I know I've said this before, but I'm not lying, Taylor, put your headphones away or I will sell them on the internet. Drake, get off of the desk and into your chair before I sell you on the internet."

"Well good morning to you too," Drake muttered.

"Okay, class," said Mrs. Haifer, beginning things. "Today, we will..." she paused as a red-headed girl stood in the doorway. "Oh, I'm sorry. Class, we have a new student. This is Christine Baylor. She just moved here from San Francisco, but you are originally from San Diego, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Christine replied. She didn't like the attention she was getting. She had been through it once already when she moved to San Francisco. She felt like everyone was staring at her. It was worse in high school than in elementary school. Now everyone sized you up to see if you "fit in" or were an outcast. She decided middle school would have been the worst place to start new like this though. You were judged on appearance, like high school, but at least in high school the cliques were formed and you could try to find your place. In middle school, you didn't know where you belonged at all.

"Well, now we need somewhere for you to sit," said Mrs. Haifer, glancing around the room. The only seat open was in front of Drake. "I guess you'll sit in front of Mr. Parker. I apologize right now," she said, touching Christine's arm. "Drake, would you please raise your hand?"

"That's okay," Christine said. She quickly headed to the open seat.

Mrs. Haifer went through the papers on her desk.

"Class, I'll be back in a moment. I seem to have misplaced the assignment for today. It's probably still in my car. Don't do anything foolish while I'm gone. That means you, Drake."

Mrs. Haifer left the room. Taylor grinned and slipped his headphones back on his ears.

Drake cracked a smile at Taylor and leaned forward to talk to Christine.

"You look like you're on death row. Come on, it's not that bad," he laughed.

"I'm just nervous," Christine replied. "It's hard enough going to a new elementary school. It's something else entirely to go to a new high school."

"Don't worry about it."

Across the room Mindy was watching Drake talk to Christine.

"He's going to corrupt the new girl before she even gets the chance to be warned," said Mindy, shaking her head.

"Well, technically," said Josh, "they know each other already."

"What?" asked Mindy.

"They were best friends when they were kids. For six or seven years. Then, as you heard Mrs. Haifer say, she moved to San Francisco."

"That poor girl," said Mindy.

"Mindy," Josh said, exasperated.

"When do you have lunch?" Drake asked Christine.

"Uh, here," she said, tossing him her schedule.

"You have lunch with me," he said. He frowned. She also had math and science with him. Definitely none of his best subjects. Who had he been kidding anyway? There was no way she wouldn't see how much he'd changed. It was just disappointing that he'd be at his worst when he saw her during the school day. Except for at lunch when he did his socializing. After Mrs. Haifer's clear hatred of him was apparent, he wondered what Christine thought. He glanced back up at her and smiled. "We have a few classes together," Drake said.

Mrs. Haifer walked back into the room.

"Alright, now...Taylor! Headphones!"

Josh sat down in algebra two and looked around. Drake wasn't there yet, but Christine was. She was talking to the teacher. Josh didn't blame her for doing that now. It must have been kind of embarrassing to have the teacher introduce you every hour. She turned around with her book. Josh gave her a smile and pointed to the desk next to him. She sat down.

"I don't think we've really formally met yet," Josh said.

"I don't think so either," she replied.

"I'm Josh," he said, shaking her hand, "and you're Christine." He glanced at her, like he was contemplating something.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm just trying to figure out why Drake thought you had cooties."

"Oh," she said, laughing. "You know, boys in preschool. He didn't seem to think I had cooties when..."

"Okay class," said their teacher. "Almost time to start."

There was thirty seconds until the bell rang. The teacher looked at the clock and then around the room. She knew who was missing. It never failed.

"Well, I see Mr. Parker will be..."

"Hey, Ms. Stone," said Drake, walking into the room.

"Oh, great, you just made it," Ms. Stone responded. "That's frightening. Take your seat, Drake."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. He sat down in back of Christine.

"Wow, you're early," Josh stressed.

"Hey..." said Drake.

Christine giggled. Drake glanced at her, and she gave him a smile. Drake returned the smile and opened his math book. Hey, he had to at least look like he was doing something or their teacher was sure to give him detention.

"Who has questions from last night's assignment?" Ms. Stone asked.

Josh raised his hand.

"Yes, Josh?"

"Number five, please?"

"Certainly. This one was a bit difficult, so if you didn't get it, don't worry..." Ms. Stone's voice trailed off. Drake was busy doodling in his notebook. He was careful of his doodles though. Last time he drew doodles of a teacher, Mindy tried to use them to get him suspended. Right now he was doodling a dog playing a guitar. He didn't know why he chose to do that. He just did it. He was quite involved with his doodle and didn't notice Ms. Stone standing over him. "Mr. Parker..." she said.

"Hi," he said, looking up at her. Everyone around him started laughing.

"Drake, I asked if you were paying attention. You obviously weren't because I asked you about three times before hovering over your desk!"

"Sorry," Drake replied. He glanced up quickly at Christine, who was giving him an odd look. He turned slightly red and slid down in his seat. He hadn't expected that to happen. Christine was probably starting to see how much he had changed, starting with school. Maybe he didn't want her to see him at lunch. That couldn't be avoided though.

Christine tried to snake her way around the cafeteria. Where was she supposed to sit? She had no idea. She felt someone grab her elbow. She turned around, and Drake was standing there.

"Hey," he said. "Come on." He directed her to a table where some of his friends were already sitting. "Hey," said Drake. "This is Christine."

Christine noticed she got a bit of an evil look from a girl sitting a few seats away. She shook it off. The girl didn't know her. Why should she give her a look like that?

"Hey, Drake," said a girl, walking up behind him.

"Hi, Melanie," he said turning around.

"Drake," she said. "I really enjoyed the other night. I wondered if we were going to go out again."

"Yeah," Drake replied. "I might call you tonight." He dodged a straightforward answer and sat down.

"Hey," said Mitch, who Drake had had a problem with since he quit his band to join his church choir which didn't matter much anymore because Drake found an eleven-year-old who played drums really well. "What happened with the Cambrie twins? I heard it almost didn't end well."

"I'd say kissing them both by the end of the night is pretty successful," said Drake's friend Michael, who was surprisingly his friend even after Drake hustled him out of some money by having Josh beat him at pool.

Christine gave Drake a confused look. He turned bright red. This was even worse than the doodling situation in algebra. At least that could have been written off as just feeling bored. He knew this didn't sound good to her. He had planned on explaining it to her, but he hadn't gotten the chance yet.

"But, their brother almost attacked him," Mitch said. "I'd call that almost not ending well."

"True," said Michael. "But I still say kissing them both would be well worth whatever their brother happened to dish out."

Drake saw the look in Christine's eyes. She wasn't liking what she was hearing.

"Uh, guys," said Drake. "Can we not talk about this? Please?"

"Why not?" asked Mitch.

"I don't think I'll be seeing either of them again, so let's just drop it."

"Yeah," said Michael. "Hey, who are you taking out this weekend?"

Christine poked Drake in the arm.

"I should go," she said.

"Wait," he started, grabbing her arm.

"No," she replied. "I just have a few things to do."

"Okay," he said, letting go. "See you later."

Christine stood up and left the table. She couldn't believe it. Was she hearing things right? Should she have expected this after the way he reintroduced himself to her? It just wasn't like him. Not that she knew anyway. Six years made a difference. She didn't like it though. Maybe she misinterpreted what she heard. Kissing both twins? Who was he taking out this weekend? She hoped she was just over-analyzing the situation. She decided she'd know soon enough, but she wasn't comfortable sitting there. Drake was great, but the rest of them just made her feel unwelcome. Especially the girl giving her the evil look. She glanced around the cafeteria. Now what was she supposed to do?

"Hey," said Josh.

"Oh, hi," she said.

"Have anywhere to sit?" he questioned.

"No," she said. "I was sitting with Drake, but..."

"His friends can be a bit intimidating?" Josh replied.

"Yeah."

"They're pretty harmless. I sit with Mindy though. You can come sit with us, if you like."

"Sure," she said. "Thanks."

She followed Josh to where Mindy was sitting.

"Hi, Christine," Mindy said, as she sat down. "Josh told me a little about you. I have to say right now, I am so sorry you had to go through your childhood with Drake as your best friend."

"Mindy..." said Josh.

"Uh," said Christine. "He's actually pretty different from when he was younger. I don't know. Time changes people I guess."

"Right," said Josh. "Anyway, Mindy will also be at dinner tonight. We were thinking the four of us could go to the Premiere afterwards. How does that sound?"

"The Premiere?" asked Christine.

"Oh, it's only three years old. Sorry, it's the movie theater."

"Oh," Christine replied.

"It's become the hangout for the high school," said Mindy.

"I see, that should be fun," Christine said.

"It's almost time for science," said Mindy. "We'd better go. If you need anything else, just ask me."

"Thanks," Christine replied.

A/N: And so the questioning begins...how is it all going to turn out? Well...events at the house while Christine and her mother are over for dinner are a bit interesting.