Oh great.

As Ben recognizes me, he slowly breaks out a huge grin. "Hey, Ally! What a coincidence seeing you here, heck sitting next to you!" he says in all smiles. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Clarissa trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter. I am struggling to hold in my embarrassment, so I kick her under the table to get her to knock it off.

"OWW." she yells out in surprise mostly, but probably in a little pain. I'm not on three soccer teams for no reason. My running and soccer skills are undeniable. Ben looks over at her with a weird face at her sudden reaction, and she just plants a huge fake smile on her face and says cheerily "Why, hello there Ben! How have you been all summer?"

"Just fine, actually. My family went down to Mexico and stayed in Cabo for three weeks. It was beautiful, as usual. How was your summer, Clarissa?" he replies evenly. "Full of swimming." she lies out plainly, then starts cracking up. The 'why am I friends with her?!' thoughts start up again. Ben turns to me with a small playing at his lips and asks me "And yours, Ally?"

After blushing at the sound of my name on his tongue, and thinking I could DEFINITELY get used to it, I reply, "Just dandy. I had soccer conditioning everyday to the point where I couldn't walk. It was great," I say sincerely. I love hard workouts. He chuckles slightly at my odd ways, and the bell rings so Ben takes his seat next to me. Ms. Harold stands and walks to the front of the class where she introduces herself, and the course we'll be taking with her. The whole time, all I can focus on is how amazing Ben looks from the side. He truly doesn't have a bad side.

Apparently my thoughts take up much of my time, because the next time I look at the clock, it's ten minutes later and Ms. Harold had been calling my name, with no answer from me. I'm woken from my daydream about Ben from Clarissa who is knocking knees with me, giving me the 'we'll talk later' look. I look back up to the front of the classroom, only to see everyone looking at me. "Ummm, yes?" I ask Ms. Harold. She sighs, saying "I asked, would you please stand up, Miss Brooks, so I can introduce you." "Oh..." I breathe out, sliding my chair back and standing slightly, not wanting to be in everyone's focal point too long. I've never like being the center of attention. I always just want to slip in, unnoticed and unannounced. Being invisible was a treat for me. But being the new girl really messes with my plans.

Sighing heavily, Ms. Harold says, "Class, this is Miss Andrea Brooks. She will–yes?" she glared at me with a death threat that looks like she's saying, embarrass me, embarrass yourself, as my hand stays in its half position between up and by my side. "Umm, it's actually Alexandra." I timidly reply. "Yea, yea that's what I said. Anyways, she will be joining our school from out of state. Please make her feel welcomed, and do NOT pull any tricks. I'll know." And with that, she stalks back to her desk, so I sink back into my chair, hoping to re-hide myself from the world and it's prying eyes. Without success.

Everyone started talking, mostly about me while we make our nametags. My height, hair, clothes, weight, looks, everything. And it upset me. Clarissa must have noticed my troubled look, because she leans towards me and asks, "Hey, what's up?" "I just wish they would shut up, and leave me alone." I whisper as I write 'Ally' in cursive on my sticky paper.

My anger is slowly boiling up as one certain girl spoke to her friends, rather loudly, while staring me directly in my eyes. She has blonde curls spilling around her slender face like a halo, and dark blue eyes that are narrowed as we compete in a staring contest. It oddly reminds me of the safari, and how male lions will have fights over whose territory or whose females are whose. I have a feeling this girl and I won't get along well.

"Who is she?" I ask Clarissa, without breaking the eye contact of the chick and me. "That's Karen, she's a senior." "Why is she here then," clearly, I don't like her. She is smirking now, a talking to her friends about how 'the new girl deserves a tour of the school, and shed like to be the one who gives it'. I'm pretty sure she would lock me out if that tour happened. "She isn't the best at Bio..." Clarissa snickers, and we shared a few quite laughs.

Ben again taps my shoulder twice, and both times it sends an electric current through my whole body. I turn to him and all his perfection, glancing quickly at his nametag; perfection; to see his face is merely inches from mine. I instantly feel my face flush, then heat up, knowing I'm blushing. A small smirk graces his face as he huskily whispers, "I know you're new here, but surely you know not to mess with the popular, head cheerleader? She can kind of be a bitch, and you don't seem to be the kind of girl that puts up with bull shit." Amazed that he can already tell that about my personality, my mouth forms a small 'o'.

"Uhh, yeah...that's impressive. You must be a good character reader. But how do you know I'm going to try to mess with her? Maybe I'll just ignore her?" I ask, testing him to see how far he'll get into my head. He lets out a short vibrant laugh that boils my heart and after a few moments says, "I highly doubt you'll just leave her alone. I don't know, I can just–just tell with you. You're like an open book to me," and I gasped.

We had inadvertently leaned towards each other, until there was less than half an inch between our lips, in the past five minutes. Clarissa glances over, a questioning look as to why I gasped, and does a double take. She breaks out into smile and slips out her phone, snapping a picture of the hottest boy in Hazen High school and me with only centimeters between us.

At the sound of the click and the bright flash, we fly apart, hoping to disrupt her photo. But unfortunately, she calls out "Ha! I got it!" and triumphantly waves her phone around in the air. Glaring at her, I mutter under my breath about how I'll just hack into her phone and delete the embarrassing evidence myself if she doesn't. Knowing full well her passcode, I'm not joking. She replies, "Oh no you won't," just as the bells rings, signaling the time for second period, and she jumps up and dashes out of the room.

Growling, I stand up and gather my things. "Hey, what's your schedule?" Ben politely asks me. Handing it to him seems a lot easier, so I thrust it into his reach and say "Here". He skims over the classes and the teachers, and a smile spreads over his lips. Curious as to why he's so happy, I ask him "What?" "We have every classes together, besides sixth period!" Rethinking over my schedule, that means I only have French with Madame Keller without him. Happy myself, I exclaim "Yay." He laughs and says, "Do you want to walk with me?" Thinking it over, and realizing there is no reason for me to disagree I let out a small smile.

"Sure."

Author's Note: Oh my goodness, guys, I think this was the fastest I've ever update. Are you proud?! Chapter 2 might take a little while longer, since I'll be busy during the holidays. But maybe I'll try to get it up the day after Christmas...hmmm...
So what did you think? It wasn't as long as I would have liked, but I really just wanted to get something up. Please, please review, tell me if you like it so far! I've had one reviewer so far, so shout out to Staci15, for being the first on my cookie list. (:
Again, review! Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

-ALO