Chapter 4

Steph sat in her fifth period class, Geometry Honors, tapping her fingers impatiently on her desk. She was sitting in the front row of the classroom, right in front of the teacher's desk. She looked to the left and saw Amy sitting about three rows away. She looked to the right and saw Tyra sitting about three rows away in that direction. And then she looked back down at her fingers, which were still tapping impatiently on her desk.

Assigned seats sucked. In none of Steph's previous classes, with the exception of her second period computer class, had she been assigned to any seats, at least not alphabetically. The teachers had all basically let the students sit where they wanted to sit as long as they were quiet. No, not this stupid teacher. Not Mr. Patterson, this old, grouchy man. He had assigned Steph's class to seats and had them all arranged by their last names. For the very first time in her life, Steph cursed her last name.

"Stephanie, mami, are you going to give me your cell phone number yet?" came the annoying voice from behind Steph again. Rey Mysterio's assigned seat was the seat directly behind Steph's, much to her dismay.

"No, Rey, you cannot have my cell phone number," Steph whispered loudly, shaking her head no. It was the fifth time he'd asked the question in the past thirty minutes.

"Pleeeease?" Rey asked. "Mami, you know I can show you what real love is like!"

"No," Steph whispered again.

"All you have to do is give me your number and I can call you. Then we can set up a date," Rey went on excitedly.

"NO!" Steph yelled, breaking the silence that had filled the room only moments before. "No, no, freakin' no, ok?"

"Problem, Miss McMahon?" Mr. Patterson boomed. He was standing right in front of her desk. He had moved incredibly fast for an older guy.

"No sir, there's not a problem," Steph said, turning red.

"GOOD!" the man snapped. He slammed both his hands down hard on her desk, making her jump. He leaned down, his face inches from Steph's own face. He was so close that she could smell his sour breath, could see the nose hair poking out of his nose. "You listen to me, Miss McMahon. You will not disrupt my class, understand?"

"Y-yes sir," Steph answered, blushing even more. "I understand."

"Don't get on my bad side," the man said. "I'll be watching you." He stood up straight again and walked over to his desk. He sat down, leaned his arms on the top of his desk, and stared at Steph for the remainder of the period.

When the bell finally rang, Steph was the first person out of her seat. She bolted out of the classroom and stood right outside the door, waiting on Amy and Ty to join her. They came out soon after, and both looked at her, concerned.

"You ok, Steph?" Ty asked.

"Yeah, you ok?" Amy asked.

"Yes, just a little embarrassed," Steph said, letting out a deep breath. "That man has it in for me. I can already tell what this year's going to be like in his class."

Amy shook her head. "I think you're right." She pulled out her schedule and examined it. "So, I have Creative Writing sixth period. How about you guys?"

"I have Aerobics," Ty said after looking at her schedule.

"So do I," Steph said, also looking at her schedule. "In the gym."

"You guys are so lucky to be together," Amy said, starting to walk away. "I better go so I can find my class..."

"Later, Ames," both girls called. They watched her walk away, then looked around.

"Please tell me that you know where the gym is," Steph said.

"Unfortunately, no," Ty said. "My schedule says it's on E-Hall, though."

"Where the hell is E-Hall?" Steph wondered.

"No clue," Ty replied. "But I'm sure we can ask around... Oh look, there's my evil big sister," she said, pointing. "We can ask her."

Steph looked in the direction in which Ty was pointing and saw Trish leaning against the brick wall twirling her hair around her finger and tapping her foot. She looked to be impatiently waiting for someone. Steph hated to admit it, but Trish was really a very pretty girl. I'd kill to have boobs like that, she thought. Aloud, she said, "I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Nonsense," Ty said, already starting to walk over to where Trish was standing. Steph followed, dragging her feet, but just before they reached her, Chris walked up.

"Hey, baby," Trish purred, throwing her arms around Chris's neck and pressing herself against him. "Long time, no see."

"Long time?" Chris chuckled. "Babe, it's only been one period."

"I missed you. One period's too long to be away from you," Trish replied, touching his hair. "Much too long."

"It's only-" Chris started, but he was cut off when Trish kissed him. He put his arms around her and kissed her back...

"Do we have to watch this? It makes me want to puke," Steph said to Ty, trying not to be loud.

Steph's comment was loud enough for Chris to hear, apparently, because he broke the kiss and looked at Steph, face burning red. "Hey, Steph, I didn't see you there," he said, breathing hard and letting Trish go. Trish looked at Steph and Ty and frowned heavily.

"We just walked up," Tyra explained. She looked at her sister. "I need your help."

"I thought I told you never to talk to me in school!" Trish snapped, rolling her eyes at her little sister. "I thought I made it perfectly obvious to you that I didn't want to be seen with you when I made you ride the bus to school this morning. If people find out that I'm related to a freshman..." Her voice trailed off as a look of pure disgust appeared on her face. "If people find out that I'm related to a freshman... Just imagine how my popularity would decrease!"

"I only wanted to ask you where the gym was," Tyra said in a small voice. She looked at the ground, looking and probably feeling completely miserable.

"Couldn't you and your little friend here have asked someone else?" Trish asked, eyes on Steph. "Anyone else?"

Chris looked at Trish, frowning. "Why are you being so mean to them?"

"Because, Chrissy-honey, they're freshmen," Trish said, pouting as she looked up at him. "I can't be seen talking to their kind."

"We were freshmen once, too, and it wasn't so long ago," Chris pointed out. "Or have you forgotten?"

"But that was a long time ago. We're seniors now. We're elite, the top of the pyramid, the cream of the crop!" Trish exclaimed. "Just imagine the damage these two lowly freshmen have already done to our popularity in the last few minutes!"

"How can you talk about your own sister like that?" Chris asked, practically glaring at her. "And Steph here is my friend... I've known her longer than I've known you."

"Like I care," Trish muttered, rolling her eyes at Steph again. "You're my boyfriend, and that's all that matters. You're mine."

Just then, the warning bell rang. "Um, Chris, I hate to interrupt, but could you tell us where the gym is?" Steph asked quietly. "We don't want to be late."

"I'll do you one better. I'll show you where it's at," Chris said, attention shifting back to Steph. He smiled reassuringly at her. "It's not that far away from here."

"But Chrisssss!" Trish whined. "Then you won't be able to walk me to class!"

"Baby, I walk you to class all the time," Chris pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to get a tardy... And I have gym sixth period, too, so it makes perfect sense for me to walk them to class."

"You know what? Whatever," Trish said. "Go ahead and walk those two freshmen to class, see if I care. You're the one who's going to lose all your popularity, and then you're going to come mooching off of mine. But I'm not sharing!"

"Trish, it's not even that serious!" Chris protested. "And you know I've never cared about being popular."

"Whatever, Christopher," Trish snapped, turning on her heel and starting to walk away. "Oh yeah," she said, turning around and glaring at Steph and then at Ty. "Ty, we're going to have a little talk about your poor skills in choosing friends when we get home."

Chris's mouth dropped. The comment had obviously been a dig at Steph, and he definitely didn't like it, but Trish had walked away by the time he had thought of something to say in response. He looked after her, then groaned. "God, that girl drives me crazy sometimes! Why is she so rude?"

"I've been asking myself that same question since...well, forever," Ty said, speaking for the first time since Trish had started yelling at her about not talking to her at school.

Steph touched Chris lightly on the arm, and he looked at her. "Um, can you show us where the gym is now?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, sure," Chris replied. "Follow me." They followed him to the end of G-Hall, where he turned right. They walked a little further down the hall until they came to a set of double doors. He held one door open, and Ty went in. Steph went in next and he followed close behind her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side as the bell rang. "Hold on, Steph. I want to talk to you for a sec...alone."

"Want me to wait for you?" Ty asked Steph, raising her eyebrow when Chris pulled Steph aside.

"No, that's ok. I'll, um, meet you over there," Steph said, looking at the floor.

"You sure?" Ty asked.

"Positive," Steph answered, still looking at the floor.

"Ok." Ty walked over to the bleachers where the people in the Aerobics class were meeting.

"Steph, look at me," Chris said softly, standing in front of her. He gripped her shoulders lightly, one hand on each shoulder. Steph looked up, feeling more embarrassed than she ever had as the thought of what Trish had said replayed in her mind. "Are you ok?"

"I'm trying to be," Steph said, looking away. "I think I'll be ok."

"Look at me," he said again, letting her shoulders go and using one hand to gently tilt her chin up for the second time in one day so she could look at him. When he was satisfied with the way she was looking at him, he went on. "Don't let Trish get to you. She's being the world's biggest bitch today, and I don't know why. But you should know that... Well, she doesn't know what she's talking about." He leaned a little closer to her. "Maybe she doesn't know it, but you're a great person."

"Thanks," she said, staring up into his eyes. Suddenly, she felt a lot better, and so she told him. "I feel so much better now, Chris... Really."

"Glad to hear it," he said, smiling at her. Before she knew what was happening, he put his arms around her and gave her a quick hug. "Now come on," he said, pulling away much too soon for her liking. "Let's get to our Aerobics class."

"Our Aerobics class?" she inquired.

"Our Aerobics class," he confirmed. He laughed at the look on her face. "What? A guy can' t have an Aerobics class?"

"I just never imagined having a class with you," she said truthfully. "I thought it would be impossible for me to have any kind of class with you."

"Impossible things are happening everyday," he said, winking at her.

"You so stole that from Cinderella," she accused him, but she couldn't help but smile. "You're so corny."

"What are you talking about?" he asked in mock surprise. "These days, corny is cool!"

They laughed, and together they walked over to where their class was sitting on the bleachers...

A/N: I know this chapter might seem kinda dumb but it's just a sort of set up chapter. I can't really explain. It'll get better at some point. I have some CRAZY ideas. You guys haven't seen the last of Trish, LOL!