Rick was pretty sure he'd never been this bored before. The principal, Mr. Henry was dragging on and on about how great this freshmen mentoring program would be. All Rick cared about was meeting his freshmen, and then getting out of here.

After what seemed like hours, Mr. Henry finally ended his speech. The freshmen were starting to arrive, so the mentors were dismissed to go to their designated classrooms. Rick rushed down to his room, hoping to get the introductions over with fast. One girl, whose short blonde hair was soaking wet, was already in there. She smiled at him, then looked down at her feet. Seconds later, a boy, tall and skinny with shaggy black hair, walked in. He must of known the girl, because he went over to talk with her.

Two out of the three were here. One morekid, a little chit chat, and he could go home. Then Rick heard footsteps from behind him. Rick looked up expecting to see a little freshman, but instead he was looking at one hell of a girl. She was gorgeous. No other way to put it. Her curly brown hair fell just right around her face, and her eyes. Wow! So easy to get lost in. At first the came across as brown, but the longer he peered into the them the greener they seemed.

"Uhh, do I have something on my face?" the girl was confused as to why he'd been staring at her face for so long.

"Oh no! Sorry! I was umm spacing out!" Rick awkward answered.

"Oh um okay," she sighed and then looked around while biting her lip. Rick couldn't help but stare at her again. He knew she probably was doing it out of nervousness, but it just came across so cute. The way her front teeth slid over her bottom lip like that. It was kinda sexy in a way.

She glanced up at him and gave a "everything okay there?" look that brought him right back to reality. Why was he even thinking this? She was only a freshman, which is way too young for him. Plus, he is her mentor. That means he should watch over her like a big brother. He smiled at her, and decided to start this little meeting.

"Alright guys since we're all here, how about we start. Let's sit in a circle over here." he suggested.

The group all walked over to the desks, shifted them so they all faced eachother, and sat down.

"All right, so I'm Rick Rodgers, and I'll be your mentor this year," started Rick, "I'm supposed to help you comfortable here in high school. This is the room we'll meet in every day before lunch. So how about we get to know eachother better. Umm let's all introduce ourselves."

The boy spoke up first, "Uhhh hi, I'm Josh Davidson."

"I'm Lindsey Seward." said the wet-haired girl.

"Uhh it's Kate, Kate Beckett," the girl answered quietly.

"Alright nice to meet you Josh, Lindsey, and Kate." he looked at each kid to make sure he'd gotten there name right. "Umm do you guys do any sports?"

Kate answered first this time, " I play volleyball."

"Cool! What postion?"

"Setter," she replied.

That was it? That's all she had to say? What was her problem? He moved on to the next girl, "How about you, Lindsey?"

"I'm on the swim team. My favorite stroke is the breast stroke, but I like freestyle too." That would explain the wet hair.

"I play basketball, but I don't know if I'm going out this year. I might do this internship at the hospital instead. I'm thinking about being a doctor."

Rick looked over at Kate and she was smiling at Josh. So she could smile around Josh but not him? He suddenly felt a need to impress her.

"Well I play football. I'm the running back. I'm the one who runs around the field." Rick was only joking but Kate was smiling at him now. Getting warmer.

"Don't all football players run around the field?" she joked back. Warmer.

"Well I run the most."

"Oh," Kate laughed. Bingo.

Realizing he'd only been talking to Kate he turned to Lindsey, "So do you know what you want to do when you grow up, Lindsey?"

"Yeah, I think I want to be a veterinarian."

"Oh an animal person?"

"Yep," Lindsey giggled.

"How about you, Kate?" he couldn't help but turn the conversation back to her.

"I'm not sure yet. I don't ever really think that far ahead. You know?"

Rick smiled at her. She seemed to be more comfortable around him. "Yeah, I'm the same way. I just live in the present and don't worry about the future."

"Exactly!" Kate smiled back.

Wow. Her smiled made her look ten times more beautiful. the way her whole face just lit up. Oh crap, he was going there again. He needed to distract himself. Ask a question.

"So you guys all went to Washington Junior High, right?"

"Yeah," Josh and Lindsey answered at the same time, then everyone turned to Kate.

She looked down like she was embarrassed, then she answered, "Uhh no, I went to St. Clare's."

Dang. No matter what he asked, she managed to surprise him somehow. Of course, that made him want to know more and more about her. The rest of the meeting went the same way. He'd ask a question meant for the whole group, but he'd end up only reflecting on Kate's answer.

"Alright, so I'll see you all in here for the first day of school?" Rick asked as the meeting came to a close. He was only looking at Kate. Please say yes. Please say yes.

"Of course, my parents would never let me miss the first day of school!" said Kate.

The other two mumbled yeses. They'd figured out by now that Rick didn't care about their answers.

"Sweet!" Rick smiled, and for once in his life he couldn't for school to start.

...

Kate couldn't believe it. She had walked in that room with every intention of not getting close with Rick Rodgers, and now somehow she had left really liking him. He just had this thing about him. She couldn't put it into words. He talked to her like he wanted to hear her talk all day, and oh the way he looked at her with those sweet blue eyes. Why was he so unbelievably hot?

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

Kate wasn't going to let herself like him this easily. She had heard too many bad things about him already. She decided that if she was going to be able to trust him, she'd have to get to know him a lot better, but still Kate couldn't wait to do it.