Disclaimer: I do not own the characters created by Janet Evanovich. I just really really wish I did!! I am just using them in this story. I only own Carmella, but you can have her if you want her!

Carmella sat and stared at the board, twirling her pen between her fingers. Stacy and Shell were sat on either side of her looking extremely confused. She smiled slightly. The five girls had temporarily adopted her into their gang and so she had an escort wherever she went and shared each class with at least one of the girls, except in Chemistry and Health where she was on her own. History was not as fun and interesting as it used to be. Of course that could be because she'd learned about the rise of Hitler about two years ago in her old school. Stacy and Shell were clueless, despite the fact that they'd been studying the topic for about three months.
"Miss Mañoso, am I boring you?" The teacher's voice suddenly cut into her thoughts. Carmella dropped her pen and looked up.

"Huh?"

"This may be your first day my dear, but that is no excuse for not listening. Or maybe you think you are already so good that you don't need to participate in the class." Miss Davies continued. The whole class were staring at her, apart from Shell and Stacy who were sending death glares at Miss Davies.

"Well Miss Mañoso, perhaps you would like to tell us the year that Hitler took power." The teacher said maliciously. Carmella sighed.

"Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933 by President Hindenburg. After Hindenburg's death in 1934 Hitler abolished the Presidential Office and merged it with his own to become 'Fuhrer and Chancellor' of Germany, meaning he had absolute power. So actually, he didn't take power, it was handed to him by Hindenburg." She replied. Miss Davies stared at her in surprise, along with half the class and Stacy and Shell. Miss Davies cleared her throat.

"Um…yes, that is correct. Well done. So class…" She said and Carmella went back to twirling her pen. Stacy nudged her.

"'Mella, you are totally smart!"

"Yeah, totally smart!" Shell chimed. Carmella smiled at them, she had to agree with them, in the most modest way possible.

"I know" She replied

Her first piece of homework was a history essay on the Nazi regime, easy she'd done one at her old school. Sophie, Lizzi and Nikki were waiting for them outside the classroom. As she walked out, Nikki and Lizzi linked arms with her and Stacy.

"We all have theatre studies now, Sophie and Shell have Geography." Nikki told her. Carmella had already learned that Sophie was the Fuhrer of their little gang and that Nikki was second in command.

"Ok, we'll meet by the water fountain in the entrance hall for break." Sophie instructed. Everyone nodded and went their separate ways. A lot of the other students in the hall gave them a wide berth and it soon became apparent to Carmella that these were the stereotypical 'popular' girls, the ones that thought they were better then everyone else and that everyone else hated. Sammy had been one at her old school, until Carmella and Freya had led a revolution and overthrown the 'popular' crowd. Carmella smiled at the memory. It had been fun and she'd made a load of new friends doing it. The only enemy she'd made was Sammy and that really didn't bother her. Carmella sighed mentally. She didn't know if she really wanted to be friends with these girls. Maybe she was being to judgemental, not all schools were the same and she didn't really know these girls yet. They walked into the drama hall and Carmella had to admit she was impressed. The hall was huge with black curtains all around the outside. The walls behind the curtains were black and the windows had been painted black. Two sets of theatre lights sat in the middle of the room pointing towards the stage. There were no tables or chairs, just a few gym benches stacked along the back wall.

"Someone put the Goths in charge of decorating." Nikki said, shooting a look of distaste at a group of four girls and three boys in gothic attire. They simply stared back.

"I think it's kinda cool." Carmella said "It gives it atmosphere." Nikki and Lizzi looked at her with an expression usually saved for the insane. Carmella shrugged and wondered into the middle of the hall. The ceiling was also black, but had tiny silver spots on it.

"They're stars. It's a map of the sky." A voice beside her said. Carmella looked and saw one of the Goths stood next to her. She had long white-blonde hair, with deep purple stripes in it and was wearing a long black and purple skirt and a black velvet corset-style top. Her boots were similar to Carmella's and she was very pretty. Carmella smiled at her.

"It's amazing. I really like it. I think it gives the hall a real depth and mysterious atmosphere." She said. The goth smiled.

"You like it? Woah, you must be a first. Well the first person to actually say out loud that they like it. Of course, a lot of people keep their opinions bottled up for fear of being mocked by the 'beautiful people' as they like to call themselves. You know them as Sophie, Nikki and co. You're Carmella, right? You're in my history class." She asked. Carmella nodded.

"Yep, Carmella Mañoso." She held out her hand. The goth shook it with a dainty pale hand, covered in various rings.

"That's a cool name, Spanish?" Carmella nodded.

"Kinda, Cuban. I guess it's practically the same thing."

"I'm Cassandra. Cassandra Lefay. I think it's French or something; it probably started off as something different but got dumbed down by immigration." Cassandra smiled. Carmella grinned.

"Hey goth-girl, get away from Carmella!" a voice shouted. Both girls turned and saw Nikki walking towards them.

"Keep your wig on Nicola, I wasn't about to mug her." Cassandra replied.

"Yeah right, you were probably just trying to cast a spell on her you freak." Nikki said maliciously. Carmella was shocked.

"Nikki we were just talking, it's cool."

"It is so not cool Carmella, you don't know what that look are like. They're probably just trying to get friendly with you so they can sacrifice you to their freaky cult leaders."

"Yeah Nicola, that is exactly what I was doing. I thought I'd go for the new girl because the only other choice was you and we need a pure virgin, so she was the obvious choice." Cassandra replied. Carmella tried hard not to laugh. A small crowd was gathering.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Nikki hissed.

"Oh that's right; I forgot you're a moron so I need to spell it out for you. It is common knowledge, Nicola, that you are a dirty whore." Cassandra smiled sweetly. Nikki looked furious.

"Whatever Cassandra, just because you a flaming lesbo!" she retorted.

"I can assure you, Caz is not a lesbian." A deep male voice contributed and one of the Goths appeared at Cassandra's side. He was almost six foot tall with dark brown hair and a floor length black leather trench coat. He draped his arm over Cassandra's shoulder and pulled her close to him.

"And besides, even if she were a lesbian, would it be such an awful and shocking thing? Unless you're a homophobic bigot Nicola." Another voice said one of the girls appeared by Cassandra's side. She had short, deep red hair and was wearing baggy black trousers and a lacy black top.

"Oh look Cassandra it's your girlfriend." Nikki hissed.

"Actually, Caz is my girlfriend Nicola, didn't you get the memo?" The guy asked.

"Leave it Dan, come on Meredith." Cassandra said, motioning to the red head. She glared at Nikki and walked off with her friends. Carmella stared at Nikki.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh Nikki? She was just being friendly." She said.

"OMG 'Mella, you are so lucky we found you! That little crew are total freaks. Cassandra used to be our friend but then she tried to get with Sophie at a party and, well obviously we disowned her. Meredith is her bodyguard and Dan pretends to be her boyfriend. The others are Amanda, the one with the choppy black hair-she's the only one who actually has natural black hair, the guy next to Amanda is Alex who bleached his hair by accident, that's why it's white, the other girl with the long black hair is Estella. She is seriously scary, we try to avoid her. She's a witch. The other guy is…oh I forget his name, um…oh yeah its Harry or something like that. But whatever, just avoid them at all costs. They're freaks." Nikki said and walked back to Lizzi, who was chatting to a load of guys. Carmella was staring subtly at Harry. He was pretty hot. His black hair stood in spikes with each tip dyed red and he was laughing with Alex and Dan, while the girls compared jewellery. The door of the hall opened, forcing Carmella to tear her eyes away from Harry, and a guy with dark brown hair and eyes like pools of melted chocolate walked in. Carmella almost melted on the spot, he was gorgeous! This school was full of hot guys! He looked at her, winked and smiled. She smiled back, a proper '200-watt' smile as Steph called it. He started to walk over to her, when the door opened again and a man who looked to be in his thirties walked in. The class all turned and looked at him.

"Morning everyone, you know the drill, four to a bench facing me." He instructed. Everyone moved and pulled a bench of the pile and arranged them to face the teacher. Nikki and Lizzi sat down on a bench with two guys, leaving Carmella looking for a space.

"Hey, wanna sit here?" A voice asked. She turned and saw the chocolate-eyed guy smiling at her. She nodded.

"Thanks!" she replied and sat down next to him.

"Ok everybody; quieten down so I can take the register." The teacher commanded. He zipped through the names, until…

"Carmella Mañoso, that's a new one. Carmella, are you here?" He asked.

"Here sir." Carmella replied, raising her hand slightly.

"It's Andy; everyone calls me Andy in these classes. So Carmella, do you want to tell us a bit about yourself? Well, that wasn't really a question, come to the front!" Andy commanded. Carmella groaned, stood and walked to the front of the class.

"Um…hi, I'm Carmella and I moved here from Florida a couple of weeks ago." She said briefly, hoping that would be enough.

"This is brilliant, ok class do you remember how we've been doing character hot-seating? Well we can try it out on Carmella here, that is if you don't object Carmella?" Andy said enthusiastically.

"Well, I…"

"Brilliant! Who wants to go first? Now all you need to do Carmella is answer the questions as yourself as honestly as you can, um…Jamie, you start us off!"

"Where about did you live in Florida?"

"I lived in Miami for a few years and then moved to Tampa Bay."

"How come you left?"

"Um…it's complicated. Basically I fell out with my Mom."

"What about?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Carmella asked quietly. Andy nodded.

"It'll be good for you to talk about it and for them to know how to act around you." Carmella sighed.

"Ok, my mom stole my boyfriend, who I realise now was a total asshole. We fell out about it and I ran away to Cuba." She answered. The class went quiet, until Cassandra asked.

"Why did you go to Cuba of all places?" Carmella was grateful to her for breaking the silence.

"I have family in Cuba and it's a place where I feel safe."

"How long did you stay?"

"Two months, then I came here to find my dad."

"Why find? Didn't you know where he was?"

"Not exactly, I hadn't seen him for six years." Another gasp from the class.

"Why did you come to Trenton high?"

"When Dad found out I'd been out of school for three months and had run away to Cuba, he got a bit angry and said I was going to school. I thought he was just joking to try and scare me." The class laughed. Andy jumped up.

"Thank you Carmella, that was very insightful and helpful, back to your seat and I'll carry on with the register!" Carmella resumed her seat next to the hottie, who smiled at her.

"Ok, do we have an Anthony Morelli?" Andy called. Carmella looked up. Morelli? He said that he had a kid the same age as her, interesting…

"Yep." The guy next to her answered. She looked at him in surprise.

"You're a Morelli? As in, Joe Morelli?"

"Yeah he's my uncle. Woah wait a second, did they say your surname was Mañoso? You're related to Ranger, aren't you?" It was more of a statement then it was a question. Carmella nodded.

"I'm his daughter."
"Yeah, Uncle Joe was telling us about your dad. He's a mercenary, right? And didn't he steal Joe's pregnant girlfriend?" Anthony said coldly.

"No he didn't steal her, she left Joe because he said some bad stuff and she came to live with us." Carmella replied in an equally cold tone. Anthony grinned suddenly.

"Did you threaten to curse Grandma Bella?" He asked. Carmella sighed.

"Yes, she kept saying she was going to put the eye on me. I don't even know what 'the eye' is. I just told her that if she did, I'd curse her." He laughed softly.

"I've gotta say it cupcake, this relationship is not off to a good start."

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I sat next to Tank in the control room, pretending to do some work.

"Bored Steph?" He asked. I looked at him blankly.

"How did you know?"

"You've completely shredded the pile of rough paper I gave you. Lucky those weren't important documents." He grinned slightly. I smiled and went back to watching the monitor. It was fixed on the gym where Bobby and Lester were working out. I hadn't noticed that before! Bobby climbed off the treadmill and peeled his sweat soaked shirt off. Lester replaced the weights he'd been lifting, stood opposite Bobby and also took his shirt off so both men were just wearing running shorts. Interesting…They walked onto the crash mats in the centre of the room and bowed to each other. Lester said something and Bobby laughed. They started dancing round each other, still talking casually. Then, Bobby lunged at Lester and they tumbled to the floor, wrestling. I sat forward in my chair suddenly very interested. This was better then professional wrestling. I mentally replaced Bobby and Lester with Ranger and The Rock. Now that was something I would pay good money to see. I heard someone laughing and looked over to see Tank almost doubled over with laughter

"What is it?" I asked, wondering what was so funny.

"Ranger and The Rock? Is that one of your little fantasies?" He managed to say. I felt my cheeks flush.

"Did I say that out loud?" I asked, absolutely mortified. Tank nodded, still laughing. Could this get much worse? Of course it could.

"The Rock? I've gotta say babe, I've never heard that one before." A familiar amused voice said. I spun in my chair and saw Ranger leaning against the wall. My face burned red. Tank looked up, saw Ranger and burst into a new wave of hysterical laughter. I really did not think it was at all funny.

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Carmella balanced her lunch tray on one hand and tried to put her bag back onto her shoulder with the other hand. She was going to drop the tray. She knew it, it was inevitable. She would drop it and the soda would spill down her top and she would slip in the suspicious looking pasta salad and everyone would laugh at her. She squeaked as the tray started slipping and the food slipped ominously to the edge. 'Just drop the bag' the voice of reason said 'drop the bag and balance the tray' it was the logical thing to do 'No! Don't drop the bag! Your phone is in the bag, if you drop it then it might break! You left your ornamental butterfly hair clip in the bottom pocket; it'd be crushed if you dropped it!' The voice of the teenager replied. The voice of the teenager won; it always did.

"Oh hell! No no no no no!" She squeaked quietly. The tray was going, it was going, it was…a hand shot out and grabbed it from Carmella's. She let out a breath of relief and looked up to see Harry holding the tray. She smiled and hitched the bag up onto her shoulder.

"Woah, thank you! I am so indebted to you!" She smiled, taking the tray off him.

"Indebted to me hey? Oh the power, the possibilities." He grinned. She laughed softly. He was really cute looking. Cute in a dark, vampirish sort of way. He looked more casual then the other goths; he was wearing baggy black trousers and a Metallica top. A think silver chain with a cross on it was around his neck.

"You like Metallica?" Carmella asked. 'Duh, he's wearing a top that proclaims he likes Metallica, honestly Carmella you can be so dumb sometimes!' she scolded herself. He looked down at his top and then smiled.

"Yeah, they're cool. Rock's the only way to go." He stated. Carmella nodded.

"I totally agree. I think the old stuff is better, more original. I like Meat Loaf and Queen especially." She said. Why was she telling him this? Like he'd actually care what music she liked! He nodded.

"Yeah? That's pretty cool. So does everyone call you Carmella or do you have an abbreviation?" He asked. She smiled.

"Well, the 'beautiful people' have started calling me Mella for some reason"

"Yeah, that's because they can only manage words with two syllables." He smiled. Carmella mock-frowned.

"They are my friends you know." He laughed.

"Yeah, sure. They only befriended you because you're extremely pretty and they saw you as a threat. If they got you early, they could brainwash you." He said darkly. Carmella stared at him.

"Um…I don't know what to say to that…you think I'm pretty?" She said. He grinned.

"So, back to abbreviations."

"Yeah, well my old friend used to call me Mel back hom-back in Florida, but that doesn't seem to fit now. Let me think…dad calls me Sweetheart, that really doesn't go, um…Dad's friends call me Princess and my friend Oli calls me Caramel. That's it. Do you have nicknames or are you just Harry?" She asked.

"Just Harry. Or Hazza, but generally it's Hazza. So you are now Princess Caramel. Is that ok your highness?" He asked, doing a elaborate bow. Carmella laughed.

"Ok course kind sir." She replied. He straightened up and grinned. Suddenly a shadow fell across them. Harry looked up and groaned. Carmella turned and saw Anthony Morelli stood behind them. He grinned slowly, his eyes resembling a puppy. Carmella smiled slightly.

"Hi Morelli." She said politely. He grinned.

"Hey Mañoso, what do you want Goth?" He spat at Harry. Harry just glared and started to walk away.

"Hey Harry, wait up!" Carmella said. He stopped and turned. She handed him her lunch tray and fished a piece of paper out of her bag on which she scribbled her cell phone number.

"Here, um…gimme a ring sometime. We'll go shopping; I could do your make up for you because, no offence, your eye-liner is kinda…smudgy. I have one at home that would really go with your eyes." She grinned and handed him the paper, taking her tray back off him. He grinned.

"I'll keep that in mind your highness, and remember you owe me. See you around Princess Caramel." He winked and walked off. Carmella turned back to Anthony.

"Hey, that was unfair. I was talking to him, you had no right to just come over here and talk to him like that. You are so arrogant." She said and turned to walk away.

"Oh come on Mañoso, I was just messing around, me and Harry are great buddies. He knew I was just kidding. So what are you up to this lunchtime?" He asked. Carmella shrugged.

"I dunno, I couldn't find Sophie and the rest of them after Chemistry so I just came straight here. I think I'll just do a bit of exploring." He grinned.

"You could come to the field, we're having football practice. Loads of people watch. I'll take you now if you want" He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. Carmella raised her eyebrows.

"Sure, lead on."

The stands around the field were scattered with students. The stand closest to the field had five familiar people on it. Sophie noticed her and waved.

"Mella, over here!" She called. Carmella smiled and walked over with Anthony beside her.

"Hi guys." She smiled.

"Hey, sorry, Lizzi forgot to tell you we meet out here for lunch." Sophie said, shooting a scorning look at Lizzi, who looked at her feet, ashamed. Anthony touched Carmella's arm.

"I'll see you later Mañoso, enjoy the game." He winked and jogged across the field. Carmella sat on the stand next to Lizzi.

"OMG Mella, have you got something going with Anthony? What about your boyfriend?" Stacy asked.

"He's not my-"

"I don't blame you, Anthony is totally hot. You know, Sophie used to have a thing for him, she'd-"

"Stacy, shut up!" Sophie snapped. A gang of cheerleaders were practising on the sidelines. Carmella watched them intently. She loved cheerleading. She'd done it at her old school and had been pretty good.

"What's up Mella?" Lizzi asked.

"Huh? Oh, I was just watching the cheerleaders…do you know if they're having try-outs?" Carmella asked. Lizzi nodded.

"Yeah they are, a couple of the girls dropped out a few weeks ago. Tryouts are tomorrow lunchtime. Are you gonna go for it?" She asked. Carmella nodded.

"That's way cool! There are two spaces and Sophie and Nikki are trying out! It'd be cool if you all got in!" Lizzi smiled. Apparently maths wasn't Lizzi's strong point. Carmella nodded and focused her attention on the field. The guys had all run out from the changing rooms and were throwing a ball between them. Anthony looked up at the stands and waved. Carmella smiled and waved back. The five girls looked at her.

"You are totally flirting with him!" Shell squealed.

"What? No I'm-"

"It's so cute; you two would make such a cute couple!" Nikki chipped in.

"It's nothing like that-"

"You should totally ask him out!" Stacy chirped

"I'm not going to-oh forget it." Carmella muttered and focused her attention on the game.

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Ranger came back into the control room a couple of hours later. Tank and I were playing rummy with our feet up on the control panel. He cleared his throat and we both dropped our cards and pretended to be watching the monitor screens. He sighed.

"You two are poor actors." He said. I spun around and grinned. Tank looked up.

"What's up boss?" He asked.

"I have to go out after a skip, where're Bobby and Lester? I need one of them to go get Carmella from school." Tank shrugged.

"Ask Steph, she's been perving on them all day." He grinned. I hit him on the shoulder.

"I have not! Anyway, they're in the offices." I replied. Ranger grinned and hit the intercom. Lester's voice answered.

"Hey Lester, I need you to go get Carmella from school."

"Sure thing boss." Ranger disconnected and looked down at me, stroking a loose curl off my face and behind my ear.

"I'll see you later babe." He dropped a kiss on my forehead and walked out.

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Carmella skipped down the steps of the school and saw a black BMW parked outside the school with Lester slouched against it. The five girls walked up to her.

"We're going to the mall, wanna come with?" Stacy asked. Carmella shook her head.

"I can't tonight." She replied, still looking at Lester and the car. She loved that car. She had every intention of having that car when she got her proper license. Either that or the Porsche Boxster. The girls followed her gaze and saw Lester.

"Woah, check out the cutie! And the car as well!" Sophie grinned. Carmella smiled as well, this could be fun.

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" She suggested. Sophie laughed.

"Oh you are so naive; I can't just go talk to him." Carmella shrugged.

"Ok, I will." She said and walked down the path towards the car.

"Hey Lester!" She smiled.

"Hi Princess, how was school?" He asked. She shrugged and linked arms with him.

"It was ok, I guess." She replied as Lester escorted her to the passenger side, opening the door for her. She slid in and looked up to the school entrance. The five girls were staring, mouths open in shock. She waved as they pulled away from the curb and sped down the street.

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Thanks to everyone who read, hope you like this chapter and I'll try to update soon, but I've got a load of school work, anyone want to write an English essay on Much ado about nothing for me?!?!!?!! Please please please review, any suggestions or comments are welcome but please nothing nasty! Thanks v. much to Rangersgirl and Mcshnee, I appreciate it! Arigato!