Thanks for the reviews, peepz! We wanted to update as soon as we could, but we had some trouble figuring out how to add chapters to the story. (pardon our ignorance, but we have not been in this website for that long.. )

Btw, we don't own Katie.

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Chapter 2:

Seventeen-year-old Katie Ryan trotted up the gray stone steps of Bayport High, looking eagerly all around. It was her first day at Bayport High, having just moved to Bayport during the recent holidays. She glanced at the din around. Voices floated in the hallway as students chatted nineteen to the dozen in their little groups, catching up with one another after the long holidays. She suddenly felt a little lost.

Not a bad school, she thought approvingly. Now, my classroom…

"May I help you?" a voice sounded on her right. She turned to see a fair-haired guy speaking to her.

Joe Hardy had been scanning the crowds rapidly for his girlfriend Vanessa when he noticed the pretty blonde finding her way around, looking a little lost. He sized her up to be a new girl, so he went up to her.

"This school is huge," he said, giving her a friendly smile. "Are you lost?"

"Umm, yeah," replied the girl, a dimple forming in her left cheek as she smiled up at him, looking a little sheepish. "Today's my first day here. I guess I am lost. I need to find Room 12A."

Joe raised his brows. Room 12A? Hey, that's my classroom too! He could hardly believe that this slender, petite girl was in his class, and a senior too! He had assumed her to be a freshman or at least a sophomore. With her blonde shoulder-length curls and laughing blue eyes, she was cute – and had a smile that appealed instantly to most people. Joe caught sight of her sheepish face and immediately liked the look of her. She's really small – almost dainty, Joe thought, as he noticed that she only came up to his shoulder. And geez, her eyes are bluer than mine! He decided to flirt with her a little.

"Room 12A? You are on the wrong side of the building," he told her with a straight face. He pointed to a stairway slightly to the left around the corridor. "See the stairs there? Go up it, walk to the left until the end of the corridor and take the turn. Walk ten steps towards your right, do a full three-hundred-and-sixty- degrees spin and you'll be there."

Katie's eyes widened before she broke into an amused grin. "Are you pulling my leg?"

"I don't think so," Joe grinned back, saying. "Do you feel any taller?" The girl laughed.

"It's the third door on your… "

A familiar voice interrupted him before he could finish. "Joe!" called Vanessa, hurrying up to them. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Hey babe," he replied, slipping an arm around Vanessa's waist, but the tall, ash-blonde beauty appeared not to hear him. Her blue-gray eyes widened in surprise when she saw the pint-sized girl Joe had been talking with, and she stepped forward.

"Katie?" she cried in disbelief. "Whatever in the world are you doing here?"

Katie blinked. She was just as surprised to see Vanessa, and it took her a moment before she recovered. "Oh Van! It's so great to see you!" she cried, throwing Vanessa a hug. "I never thought I'd meet you here!" The two girls had been close friends when they were in school back in Maryland, before either of them had come to Bayport. It had been years since they last saw each other, when Vanessa moved away…

"So…. I say, Kate, I see that you've met Joe?" Vanessa asked.

"His name is Joe?" asked Katie, somewhat blankly, suddenly realizing that Joe hadn't exactly introduced himself. "Okay," she confessed. "I didn't get his name. He was just giving me directions to my classroom." Vanessa snorted. She didn't exactly trust Joe's directions. She had no doubt that Joe's directions would land her friend in the right place, but being his girlfriend, she knew Joe was probably flirting with the new girl, and his directions probably sounded ridiculous.

Vanessa introduced them, and then dragged Katie's arm towards the stairway that Joe pointed earlier. "See you in a bit!" she called to Joe. "Come on, I'll show you around."

"So what brings you here?" Vanessa queried, as she and Katie walked around the school.

"Dad moved his work to Bayport. He's accepted a position in Bayport University."

Katie was longing to hear Vanessa's news too, so Vanessa told Katie how she moved to Manhattan before finally coming to Bayport. The two girls continued talking, catching up on each other's news, as they made their way around the school.

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okay, so we've added a character. But although we developed her character and personality, we don't own her. We just 'borrowed' her from somewhere (a little crossover) :)

Hm, we won't let her end up with Frank if you don't want us to. But then again, who's to say? We have twisted minds. Till the next chapter!