I have so many great story ideas! But I seriously need to finish what I have before I start another one... boy, oh, boy! Remember to review! :)

Jen waved at me as she disappeared into the building. She always liked to be early to her classes—what an over achiever. I stood outside, alone. Enjoying the early morning sun that blinded my view. There was a slight breeze that rustled the leaves to the nearby trees. I closed my eyes, enjoying it all. Minus the roar of diesel engines and the chatter of other kids, it was almost perfect. I attempted to clear my head, to get rid of all thoughts before school started. The last thing I needed was my concentration on something other than school. School needed to be my distraction for a change.

But why had Gram seemed so angry? Usually she could understand Wyatt's reasoning even if she didn't agree with it. Most of all—the question that has been playing on replay in my head—what were they talking about?

And why wouldn't they talk to me?

Everything has been so secretive recently. I never thought my family would ever keep a secret from me. Shows you how wrong I was.

"Falling asleep already Brat?"

My eyes shot open and everything I had been thinking seemed to be flushed from my brain. Jake stood in front of me, his body towering over mine, leaving me in a shadow.

"What? No." I answered quickly, sounding nervous. For some weird reason I felt like I had been caught doing something I shouldn't. Then again some people might argue I shouldn't think on the chance of my brain hemorrhaging.

Jake cocked a brow, looking down at me sternly. "What happened last night?"

I wish I knew... "You were acting like a freak. Weirding me out and all," I knew he wasn't talking about our conversations-the one where he had asked me if I thought Zach was cute. How disturbing.

"Are we playing this game again?" Jake asked; he didn't seem like he was very patient today. "You know what I'm talking about."

I shrugged, not caring to elaborate.

He rubbed his face and gave an exasperated sigh. "So let me get this straight...you just like jumping off your front porch like Wonder Woman into your gram's garden?"

I couldn't help but laugh. He looked at me annoyed. It was his fault for making a funny analogy.

"Because it looked to me like you were eaves dropping and didn't want Gram to see you," he glared at me, waiting for my conformation.

Again, I shrugged. "What's it to ya?"

"You shouldn't be doing that," he said, his voice stern. What was he...my father?

"Well I shouldn't have to." I sniffed, getting annoyed myself. Why did this kid always have his nose all up in my business? It was none of his concern...and frankly, it was starting to annoy me. "Families shouldn't keep secrets."

Jake's expression softened and his shoulders relaxed. "Sam, have you ever thought maybe they are just trying to protect you?"

I threw up my hands exasperated. "Yeah, and that worked out just dandy last time! Why are people always trying to 'protect' me? I don't need protection!" I almost yelled, but stopped myself.

"You don't say?"

I turned, readying myself to punch somebody. But it was just Darrel, waggling his eyebrows at me; clearly implying something I didn't wanted to think about. Gross.

"Not now Darrell." Jake and I said in unison. It was kinda creepy and Darrel stared at us confused, not really sensing the tense and annoyed atmosphere.

"Well, duh! I would take her back to my house or—oomph!" Jake gave him a hard shove in the chest, cutting him off mid-sentence. I was kind of glad he did...I didn't want to hear the rest of what Darrel had to say.

"I'm gunna be late," I mumbled and walked away quickly before Jake could stop me.

x-x-x-x

I paid for my lunch and scanned the lunch room. Darrel was sitting with a new girl today; Jake wasn't at the table yet. Which was probably best because Darrel starting making out with the girl. The sight of it made me want to vomit...and definitely not sit there...it was now contaminated with Darrel cooties.

"Hey."

I spun and almost smacked my tray into Zach. He dodged it; taking a step back he smiled.

"Oh, hey! Sorry," I smiled at him too, a little sheepish. "Didn't mean to try and take you out."

He waved a hand at me. "Don't worry about it."

We stood there awkwardly and he cleared his throat. "Do you want to sit with me today?" He asked nervously.

It was like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders. The sickness that had come over me with the sight of Darrel and Jane Doe seemed to fade.

I smiled, grateful that I wouldn't have to sit at that table today. "Sure."

I followed him to a nearly empty table. Two other kids sat on the opposite end playing with a Gameboy under the table, a plate of uneaten macaroni and cheese in front of them. When we sat the peeked up from their games and nodded at Zach.

"Hey guys," Zach said, sounding friendly. I quirked a curious eyebrow. He knew them? I didn't expect someone as cool as him to acknowledge what half of the school considered nerds. Then again...he was talking to me so who was I to judge? And hadn't I got mad at Jake for making judgments? Obviously I've been hanging around him to much.

"This is Sam. Sam that's Oliver and Luis," Zach introduced. They both muttered a unison hello, their fingers taping away furiously on the game systems buttons.

"Dammit Oliver, I told you not to use the golden sword!" Luis grumbled; his brow creasing.

I held in a snort. Zach gave me a knowing smile and took a bite from his own macaroni and cheese.

"I hate it when they use the golden sword...," I muttered just loud enough for Zach to hear. He choked on his mac and cheese but neither Luis nor Oliver noticed.

"I remember one time I got a platinum sword," he teased back.

I glared. "Lucky bitch."

He laughed and I did too. Its not like we were being mean really...but it was just funny. Zach took a sip from his Vitamin Water and gazed at me. I pretended not to notice. But I wondered if my hair looked like a mess today, luckily my awful hack job had grown out some. Did I have food on my shirt? Normally, I wouldn't care and I was a little bothered that I did today.

"How's your day so far?" He asked looking away finally.

I rolled my eyes. "It would have been better if there was no school."

He frowned. "But then you wouldn't have seen me."

I bit back a smile. "True, so maybe it's not too bad."

He did smile. "If only I were in more of your classes."

I sighed dramatically. "If only." Jake sat down at the table with Darrel, scowling. He glanced in my direction and his scowl deepened. Clearly, he wasn't happy with my choice of company today...or maybe he wasn't happy about the company he was stuck with.

It was his fault. If he wasn't so damn nosy all the time I wouldn't mind sitting with him...I may have even invited him over.

"What classes are-"

I was cut off by a small 'eep!'. Slimy mac and cheese was dumped on my head along with a diet cola that I could taste with my open mouth. Someone had dumped their tray all over me.

"Shit...Sam are you okay?" Zach stared at me in shock. "I'll go get paper towels!" He jumped up and ran for the bathroom.

I sat stock still blinking cola and cheese from my eyes. The cafeteria got extremely quiet; all eyes on me. Even Oliver and Luis had paused their video games.

"Oh gosh! Oh no! I'm s-so sorry!"

Slowly I turned, feeling cheesy noodles slide off of my head and hit the floor with a sloppy smack. A girl I didn't recognized stood behind me frightfully, her eyes wide. Behind her—of course—was Rachel, smirking.

"I t-t-tripped!" Her voice was hoarse, she was completely terrified. I glanced at Rachel again. I wasn't surprised the girl had tripped. In fact, I'm sure it was intentional. I just sat there dumbly; still blinking crud from my eyes.

"Uh," I wanted to say it was okay, but for the first time in my life I think I was too mortified to do so. Hatred flared up inside me along with complete and total embarrassment.

"Now I recognize you Sam! You didn't look right when you weren't covered in garbage," Rachel sneered and to my horror nearly everyone laughed.

Nausea rolled in my stomach and I leaped from my seat only to slip on the gooey mess on the floor. A new round of laughter rolled through the cafeteria. My instinct told me to run. My dignity told me something else.

Naturally, I listened to my dignity.

Before Rachel could blink I had my mac and cheese in hand and tackled her to the ground. Her fem-bots screamed along with her. She clawed at me but couldn't find a way out. Slowly, I dumped the mac and cheese all over her and threw the bowl aside.

"Oh. My. God!" Rachel screamed bloody murder and began punching. I dodged as many as I could but she grabbed my hair and rolled on top of me. I took my cheesy hands and rubbed them all over her face, smudging her perfect make-up. She spat on me and I flipped her back over so I was on top. People gathered around us, boys hoot and hollered while girls screamed. I could barely make out Jake yelling at us to stop. The crowd must have been keeping him away.

A whistle blared making everyone freeze. I still had a hold of Rachel's neck and she had a handful of my hair. People backed away and Mr. Donn marched up looking furious. Teachers stood behind him looking just as mad and appalled.

"Get up."

Rachel shoved me off and went to stand but slipped landing back on top of me. The crowd tittered and Mr. Donn glared at them making them all fall to a hush. Finally we both made it to our feet but were still in danger of slipping. Noodles fell from our clothes each one making a squishy sound when it hit the floor.

"Everyone head to your next class." No one moved. "Now!" Mr. Donn's face started to turn an unhealthy shade of red and everyone scattered-despite the fact that we still had fifteen minutes left for lunch period.

I turned.

"You two! Don't move."

I froze and turned back to Mr. Donn. Most of the teachers were gone now also. It was just me, Rachel, Mr. Donn, and regretfully Mrs. Meyers.

Mr. Donn pointed to some chairs and we took a seat. My guess was he didn't want us to get his office dirty. We sat, leaning as far away from each other as possible.

"I called their parents and informed them that they were going to be late," Mrs. Meyers informed him.

"Good. Then they have some time to start cleaning."

Just then the janitor wheeled in his little cleaning cart. Rachel looked mortified...I could care less. It was only fair, we did make the mess...and knowing that it was going to be pure torture for Rachel just made it so much more enjoyable.

We started wiping the goop from the floor while Mr. Donn and Mrs. Meyers stood guard. I kept glancing at Rachel and had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't laugh. She looked like she was about to cry...or puke...maybe I could get a two-for-one.

When we finally finished Mr. Donn made us sit again.

"I'm shocked...seeing such behavior come from young ladies," he started his lecture. Rachel gave me the stink eye and couldn't believe that Mr. Donn would classify me as a young lady. I tried not to fall asleep. "You should be ashamed."

Rachel looked at him innocently. "Mr. Donn, sir, I was just an innocent bystander. Samantha suffers from an anger problem...I guess I was just an easy target for her to take that anger out on," she spook sickly sweet and I had an urge to smack that self-righteous look from her face.

"It takes to fight Ms. Slocum."

Ha! Eat that you self-righteous bitch!

She blinked, surprised by his reply. "It was merely self defense," she sniffed and I rolled my eyes. That girl didn't know a single thing about self defense...her daddy should put her in a class or something.

Mr. Donn shook his head.

"I understand Rachel," said Mrs. Meyers, sounding sympathetic. She probably thought I had some anger issue too. "Mr. Donn I believe Rachel is the victim here."

"What! You have got to be kidding me!" I yelled. Rachel gave a satisfied smirk and I clenched my fists resisting the urge to punch her. "She was the one who started it!"

"I did no such thing," Rachel said haughtily.

"How's that?" Mrs. Meyers asked me. It was obvious whose side she was on.

Not. Fair.

"She purposely tripped that girl so she would dump her lunch on me!" I glared at Rachel and she flinched.

"Not everyone is as demonic as you are Samantha," Rachel said simply. Maybe not...but she sure was.

"Now that seems highly unlikely. It was probably just an accident."

I stared at Mr. Donn in disbelief. Why on earth was he letting Mrs. Meyers control the situation? Could he not see that she was taking sides without bothering to figure out the truth?

"You are free to go Rachel," Mrs. Meyers said.

Seriously? "I thought that was for the principle to decide," I spat rather nastily. Who died and crowned her queen? I mean sheesh! The principle was standing off to the side just letting her give orders.

Mr. Donn seemed conflicted but didn't say anything. So Rachel got up, smiled at me wickedly and skipped out.

"Samantha, detention after class. I hope you think long and hard about your actions." Mrs. Meyers seemed to turn to stone when she talked to me. "Return to your class now." She turned and left. I stared after her, my mouth hanging open.

"Mr. Donn this is completely unfair." I said sounding a little defeated.

He shifted his weight looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry Sam." He turned and left just as quickly.

I looked down at my cheese stained clothes not bothering to go to my class.

"What a bitch and he's obviously has no balls."

I lifted my head to see Zach standing over me. Paper towels in his hands. He sat down beside me and placed the paper towels on the table.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" I asked weakly.

He shrugged. "Aren't you?"

I sighed. "Were you there the entire time?"

He nodded sheepishly. "Yeah."

I let the corner of my mouth lift in a small smile. "Creep."

He laughed and grabbed a paper towel. "'Kay cheese head. Look this way." He directed my chin so I was looking at him. He grabbed a water bottle and poured some on the towel then started wiping my face.

"I feel like a baby getting cleaned up after din-din," I said feeling a little embarrassed.

He smiled. "Well I'm not changing your diaper...sorry."

I laughed and picked a noodle out of my hair. The smell of cheese was starting to make be feel a little sick...it was safe to say I wouldn't be eating mac and cheese for quite a while.

We sat in silence. Zach continued to help me get cleaned up...but there was only so much that could be done. He reached down to his bag and pulled out a pair of Darton High gym shorts and sweat shirt.

"I ordered these last week and just got them...so they aren't dirty or anything," he handed them to me. "You can probably go to the bathroom and rinse out your hair."

"You don't have to..."

"I know. Just take it."

I grabbed the clothes from his hands. "Thank you."

He shrugged. "No problem...I have a request though."

I tensed a little. "What?"

"Go with me to the movies Saturday."

I smiled. "Okay...that is if I'm not grounded." There was a good possibility I would be.

He brightened. "I hope you won't be."

I really hoped I wouldn't be too.

achooreviewachoo! (: