STEPHANIE"S POV

After Dean left, I aimlessly wandered in the vage direction of the house I was living in at that point in time. I had to admit it. Dean was hot. He seemed nice enough too. But, I thought, friendship was too much to hope for, let alone… well, anything more than that.

After wandering around for a while, I ended up sitting on the stone bench in the back garden. It was eerily beatiful in the moonlight. It amazed me how my grandmother could be so out of it, so far gone that she nolonger recognised me, but still keep this garden so perfect.

It was about then that my cell went off.

'Hello?'

'Hay,' Said a male voice. 'It's Dean. Just wondering where and when we should meet tomorrow.'

'Umm,' I thought for a second. 'How about Carmel Springs Farm? Go down the main street, past Kadys, Go down the 5th right, and its about just past the first bend in the road.'

'Sounds good. What time?'

'Is 7am too early?'

'Nuh, it's good. Sleep Well.'

DEAN"S POV

The next morning I followed the instructions Stephanie had given me. Down the main street, past Kadys, turn on the 5th right, and Carmel Springs Farm would just past the first bend. Although I was 15minutes early, she was already there. And she wasn't the only one.

'At least, Kelly, I'm not a superficial slut!' Stephanie biter voice was almost yelling, just around a bend in the road.

'Your just jealous-' put in a different girls voice, but it was cut off.

'Shut it a second, Kelly.' There was a pause. 'Annie, why did you that to Ben? He didn't do anything to you!'

'Tory, you don't know what your talking about! You weren't there- you never are! You were supposed to be my friend. Best friends forever- well I guess forever ended when you started dating Gary.'

'Jealous much? Just cause I'm popular and I've got a boyfriend? Bastard! Don't worry, I'd be jealous too if I wore your shoes.' Tory's voice was dripping with mockery.

'Tory, your wrong,' Kelly corrected. 'she's not a bastard, she's a poor little orphan. No friends, no money, family all dead except for a decrepit old granny who doesn't even recognise her.'

Tory scoffed. 'No wonder your jealous!' Suddenly there was a shriek of pain.

'OH MY GAWWWWWD!!! TORY! Annie why the hell did you hit her?' Kelly started to shriek, but Tory stopped her.

'Kelly, lets just go!' Seconds later, the two girls came around the corner, one with bloody nose. The moment they say me, tears sprung into their eyes, and they tried to flirt, using the whole pity vibe.

'I'm sorry. I don't do superficial sluts. I prefer poor little orphans.' I told them. 'Bye Barbie!' I walked off, leaving the two girls looking as if they had been slapped.

The moment I came around the corner, I could see Stephanie sitting on a brick fence, tears streaming down her face. I ran to sit down next to her, putting my arm around her shoulders.

'Are you okay?'

STEPHANIE'S POV

'Are you okay?' Dean suddenly appeared beside me, his arm around my shoulder.

'I'm fine.' I started, but he stopped me.

'No you're not. Please, tell me what's wrong.' I lent into him.

'I lost my best friend to the disasterous infection: Popularity.' I admitted. 'I have no one, now.'

'You have me,' He told me. 'And if it's any consolation, my mum's dead too. She died when my brother was 6mths old.' I looked up at him, startled.

'Really? Mine died when I was 6mnths old- in a fire.'

'Honestly?' Asked Dean, surprised. 'Freaky.' He dried my face with his sleave.

'So what was the fight about?' I breathed in, unsure of how to start to answer the question.

'It was a continuation of last Friday's fight. See, I was really pissed off, cause it was supposed to be just me and Tory, my ex-best friend.'

'The slut whose nose you just broke?'

'Uh, yeah. But I don't know if I actually broke it.'

'Dude, I hope so,' Dean grinned. 'Aannyy way, please continue.'

'Well she invited her boyfriend, and he invited this guy Ben. They convinced me to go down into the old mines. Tory knew I hated them, but she talked me into it. While we were down there, it ended up being just me and Ben. He was drunk- he - ' I half chocked on my words. 'Stuff happened. And they all blamed it on me. But it wasn't- I didn't- well, he deserved it.'

'What happed?' Asked Dean.

'He- he-' I gulped. 'He tried to- he forced himself onto me- pushed me against the wal…he tried to-you know…'

'DIRTY SON OF A BITCH!' declared Dean. 'Uhh sorry…'

'I kneed him where it hurts most, and pushed away from him.'

'Atta girl,' Dean put in, and I smiled weakly, dispite it all, and hugged him. I told him the rest, about the ghost, or whatever it was, and how Ben had stacked it into a hole, and I'd left him there- but then could you blame me? Well obviously Tory could.

'Where's Ben now?'

'In hospital.'

I was sitting in his lap, by that point, cuddling into him. He turned me around, so that I was straddling him. 'Dean-' He put a finger to my lips.

'Stephanie,' He began.

'Don't ever let them get you down. They know jack all, and not wanting to know you is their loss. Your beautiful, your sexy, you kick ass and don't ever let them tell you otherwise. And if you swap Nirvana for ACDC you'ld have awesome taste too.' That's when he kissed me.