Rejection hurts. Liberty Van Zandt was always successful in academics. She always made straight A's and was at the top of her class, but when it came to love, all she knew was rejection. Her parents, who were also both scholars, always taught her to never give up, to keep trying and she would succeed. This approach worked well in school, but for romance, it only seemed to make things worse.

Just the day before, Liberty had been rejected for what was probably around the fifth time by her longtime crush, JT Yorke. JT was sweet, confident, handsome, and most importantly, funny, which is what Liberty loved most about him. JT had never liked her back, so Liberty was always getting rejected by him, although his rejections were usually gentle, or some sort of white lie he created to spare her feelings. This time, he was cold. With a more serious tone of voice than Liberty had ever heard him use, she could tell he was finally just annoyed with her and her relentless pursuit of his heart. The conversation ran through Liberty's head all day, and she grew more and more upset each time it did another lap around her mind. She tried her hardest not to show any emotion, although all she wanted to do was cry, which was something her father had always taught her not to do because it represented weakness.

Liberty's thoughts were interrupted when she heard Mr. Perino call her name.

"Liberty, you'll be working with Sean Cameron on this project."

Oh great, she thought sarcastically. Liberty always hated working in pairs. She always preferred to just do all the work herself because she could never trust others not to screw up her perfect grades. She knew she would never be able to work with someone like Sean, who always slacks off on his schoolwork and spends his time causing trouble with thugs like Jay Hogart and Alex Nunez. She looked over at Sean, and noticed that he didn't look too happy to be working with her either. Guess the feeling is at least mutual, she thought.

Sean turned to Liberty as Mr. Perino read off the other partnerships for the project.

"You want to start working on this in the library after school? The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have other things that I need to do this week," Sean said unenthusiastically.

"That's fine. I like to get my work done as early as possible anyway," Liberty responded.

After school, Liberty headed to the library to get started on the project with Sean, hoping that focusing on the project would take her mind off of JT's rejection. She chose a table and laid out all her school supplies, organizing it in a way that would be efficient for her to complete her work. Sean appeared from around the corner, books in his hands. He spotted Liberty at her table and approached her, tossing the books onto the table.

"You got books for us?" she asked, shocked that Sean was actually prepared to begin the project.

"Don't act so surprised. Like I said, I want to get this over with," he replied nonchalantly.

Liberty reached for one of the books, but as she looked up, she noticed JT, standing about 10 feet away. He was supposed to be looking at books for his own project, but his gaze was distracted by a certain Manny Santos reading a book behind the window. By now the whole school had known that Manny was pregnant with bad boy Craig Manning's baby, courtesy of Craig's ex, Ashley Kerwin, announcing the news to the whole school at lunch the day before. JT had a crush on Manny since the beginning of the year, and was absolutely shocked by the news. Liberty sat there wondering what JT saw in Manny, as it was obvious that she didn't like him back, and was too busy dealing with Craig's drama to even notice him at the moment.

"Wow, 1958 was the first year they started importing Japanese cars. That's kinda cool." Liberty faintly heard Sean talking about what he had just read in his book, but she was still too lost in her thoughts of JT to care. After receiving no response from Liberty, Sean looked up at her and noticed that her eyes seemed distracted by something else. He followed her gaze, which led to JT. Sean rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers in front of Liberty's face, which took her out of her thoughts. "JT?" Sean asked her.

"I'd rather not talk about it, thank you very much. I'm fine," Liberty responded coldly. Sean was one of the last people she would ever want to talk about her feelings with. She didn't trust his tough exterior, not believing that he actually cared about anything.

Sean's tone of voice softened. "I got dumped last week."

"Yeah?" Liberty responded, more nicely this time.

Sean nodded. "Yep. Amy met some guy at motocross. Hope she likes mud." A small smile crept across Liberty's face at Sean's joke.

"I'm sorry," she responded sympathetically.

"It's okay. I'm moving on, which is exactly what you gotta do with JT," Sean advised.

"I suppose you're right, but it's hard. He's the first and only guy I've ever really liked," she admitted.

"You just gotta distract yourself. Find ways to stop thinking about him. Plus, he's just JT. He's really not all that smart. You can do better than him." Liberty smiled at Sean complimenting her.

That night, after school, Liberty was finishing up her part of the project in her room. Her and Sean had gotten a lot of work done after their conversation in the library, and were already almost done with the project. Though still upset about JT's rejection, Liberty actually found herself thinking about Sean. After their conversation, she had found herself impressed with his kindness and empathy, and also with his willingness to actually help her out on the project.

Wait… Do I actually LIKE Sean? Liberty wondered. She had liked JT for so long, it felt weird to even think about liking someone else. Sean is right though. He doesn't like me. I need to move on.

Liberty woke up early the next morning. She looked through her closet, trying to find something different to wear than her usual striped shirts and overalls. She had thought about JT and Sean all night. She knew that she had failed all these years to make JT like her, and was thinking that maybe things could be different with Sean. Liberty never liked tight clothes, like what Manny and Paige usually wore, but she knew that's what guys like JT and Sean were into. Despite her preference for modest clothing, she decided on a pair of black skinny jeans, a tight white T-shirt, a black leather jacket that she rarely ever wore, and a red ribbon tied around her neck for accessory. She traded in her normal, plain ponytail for a sassy side-ponytail, letting her natural curls show more. She also put on some black eyeliner and mascara to make her eyes pop, even though she almost never wore makeup. She looked herself up and down in the mirror, almost not recognizing herself. The style she went for was reminiscent of Sean's signature bad boy look, but was so far from who she normally was. She sighed, but still sucked it up and decided to wear her new look to school, realizing that she would have to change if she wanted someone like JT or Sean to like her.

Liberty grabbed her backpack and headed down the stairs. Luckily, her parents had both already gone to work, so she wouldn't have to explain her rebellious makeover.

"I didn't realize the school was putting on Grease," Danny remarked, laughing, when he saw his sister's new look.

"Shut up, Daniel. My new look is none of your business," Liberty responded angrily, walking out the front door.

Liberty towards the front steps of the school, immediately spotting Sean. He was sitting on the steps, with Jay, and another guy that Liberty had seen hanging out with Sean before, but didn't know the name of. She started heading towards Sean, eager to show off her new look to him.

"You like?" She asked casually as she approached him. Sean rolled his eyes, while the other guy looked at her and smiled warmly.

"Uh…" Sean started to say, but was interrupted by JT.

"Well, well, well. I see Halloween's early this year. Or are you playing Rizzo in the school production of Grease?" JT remarked condescendingly as he walked up from behind Liberty.

"Actually, I wasn't going for a veneration of the 50s. Perhaps I was subconsciously inspired by Sean's masterly work on our assignment," Liberty said, doing her best to ignore JT. "Work I look forward to continuing." She winked at Sean and then walked away.

Liberty walked through the front door of the school, feeling the eyes of the other students on her as they checked out her new look.

"Did we get stuck in a time machine or something? I thought the year was 2003, not 1953," Spinner said to Jimmy, the two boys laughing at her outfit.

"Total fashion faux pas, did she raid the drama club's wardrobe?" Paige added as Hazel giggled.

Liberty knew her look was different than everyone was used to, but she just ignored all the snide comments and judgmental looks. She kept her head up and didn't say a word to anyone as she walked to class. She sat down in her normal seat and pulled out a book, only looking up when she was approached by Emma.

"What's with all the sexy makeovers lately? First Manny and now you?" Emma asked, wondering what was going on.

"I got tired of being the same old boring Liberty," Liberty responded curtly, not wanting to tell Emma the real reason for her bad girl makeover. She knew Emma would not be happy about Liberty's new crush on her ex.

"Is this about what JT said to you the other day?" Toby asked as he took his seat next to her.

"No," Liberty replied, annoyed, and not wanting anyone to know that she actually cared what dumb boys thought about her appearance. "I just thought I should break out of my comfort zone a bit and try something new."

"Okay…" Emma said, going back to her own seat.

Sean walked through the classroom door. Liberty looked up from her book and smiled at him in a flirtatious way. Sean just ignored her, walking right past her without even glancing in her direction.

Great, this isn't working either. I need to ramp it up to make him notice me, Liberty thought to herself.

Liberty rushed to get to lunch early. She thought that maybe Sean would appreciate her buying him lunch. In the lunch line, she grabbed a few foods that she knew he liked. She grabbed him a soda and a large slice of chocolate cake, which she knew was his favorite. She also grabbed him a banana to balance out the rest of the meal.

"Quite a meal there!" said lunch lady Sheila.

"Food is the best way to a man's heart," Liberty replied as she handed Sheila cash for the meal.

"You're definitely right about that. Good luck, sweetheart," Sheila responded.

"Thank you Sheila!" Liberty said, grabbing the tray. She looked around for where Sean was sitting. Once she located Sean, she immediately headed toward his table. He was sitting with his usual posse, Jay and the other tall guy. She slid the tray of food onto the table right in front of Sean.

"All your favorites Sean." Sean just looked at her with a blank expression. "What do you say we ditch school and go chill in the ravine?" Sean rolled his eyes.

"Liberty," he said firmly.

"I can get us a five finger discount on a pack of smokes," Liberty continued to try and persuade Sean.

"A five finger discount?" Jay said, laughing. Liberty knew that Jay was making fun of her, but she didn't let that bother her.

"I'm edgy. I'm on fire," Liberty responded. Sean stood up, and leaned in closer to her.

"Liberty, you're about as edgy as a butter knife. I'm not interested in you, and I never will be. Got it?" Sean said, in a really frustrated tone.

Liberty was shocked at this. Yesterday Sean had been so kind and understanding towards her. She wasn't expecting him to be so blunt this time. She was used to JT at least letting her down easy. She felt tears starting to form behind her eyes. She ran off, without saying a word. She didn't want anybody seeing those tears fall, especially not big, tough guys like Sean and Jay.

I be myself and nobody likes me. I change to fit into what society wants me to be and still nobody likes me. What the hell is wrong with me?

Liberty sat in the library after school, staring at a book. She was supposed to meet Sean to work on their project again, but now she dreaded seeing him. Sean spotted her at a table and sat down next to her.

"I'll finish the project and put your name on it, don't worry," Liberty said, not even wanting to work with him anymore after she had embarrassed herself in front of him.

"Hey…" Sean started to say.

"I should've known. You're James Dean and I'm just some square girl that nobody ever asks to the sock hop."

"What if somebody did wanna ask you out?" Sean asked.

"Ha," she replied sarcastically. "Nobody likes me."

"Somebody does," Sean said. Liberty looked up at him, confused. "And you have to forgive me or else he says he's gonna knock my teeth out." Sean nodded his head toward the doorway of the library, motioning for Liberty to look in that direction. Liberty eagerly turned around, curious to see who her secret admirer was. It was the tall, quiet guy that always hangs around Sean and Jay, but never really says anything.

Liberty smiled. He's kinda cute! She thought.

"Yeah. He's got this uh… smart girl thing. He liked the way you said 'veneration' and 'masterly'," Sean told her. Liberty just continued looking at the guy, thinking about how to approach him. Sean gave her a friendly pat on the back, and got up from the table. The guy started walking toward Liberty, a warm, welcoming expression on his face.

"Hi, I'm Towerz." He introduced himself and held out his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Liberty. Nice to meet you." Liberty shook his hand, immediately feeling butterflies

"How about we go out sometime? I'd really like to get to know you."