DISCLAIMER: I do not own the anime Beyblade or any of its character. The lucky jerk who does is Takao Aoki, so do not sue me for anything of the sort. I only own Samantha, any other characters you don't happen to recognize from the series and the plot line

The next two weeks was the opposite of what Sam wished for.

She quickly learned some of the names of students as teachers or other students addressed them. The first name she learned was Hilary Tatibana. She was the one who made the worst comments on her dress size. It didn't make it any better when Mr. Dickenson held a back-to-school assembly on the second day of school and introduced her to everybody.

So, Sam was officially the fat girl who didn't have as much money as everyone else. That generally got most everyone to ignore her, except for the select few who found it amusing to make fun of her. Really, it was the same group of people every time, and Sam knew they were all a bunch of jerks who had nothing better to do with their time, but that didn't mean that the comments didn't hurt. She knew she was fat and didn't really care. She just hated that people had to call her on it.

Mostly, she just tried to get through her school year one class period at a time, and tried to keep up with her homework. Luckily, the restaurant was still fairly slow most days, and Roy let her do her homework after she cleaned the tables and did other daily jobs.

Sam trudged slowly through another health class, another English I class, and another History class, before walking into Mr. Balkov's class once again. This class wasn't unbearable as long as you sat down, shut up, and paid attention. Today, Mr. Balkov was teaching the class about ionic and covalent bonds, which was immensely easy for her. Sam's old teacher had gone over it last year and, since she had a fairly good memory, she remembered how to do most of it. Mr. Balkov handed out the worksheets and explained how to do them without actually doing any of the problems. Sam ignored him and finished the worksheet quickly, deciding to read her book instead of paying attention to the teacher. She managed to space out and enter the book she was reading for a few minutes, but that was all she got.

"Miss Starnette! Shouldn't you be paying attention instead of reading?" Mr. Balkov scolded, making everyone stare at her. Sam could feel heat rise up to her face as she hurriedly tried to answer.

"I-I've already finished my worksheet," she replied with the first thing that came into her mind, but then apologized, thinking that that wasn't the best thing to say to Mr. Balkov.

"Well, then, since you already know the material, you can come up to the board and solve this problem fairly easily, can't you?" he said, gesturing toward the formula on the board. She mentally groaned and nodded her head, her face equivalent to the color of a tomato. She got up, walked over to the board and picked up a whiteboard marker, reading the problem. (A/N: The 2 and the 6 are supposed to be subscripts. Sorry!)

C2H6

She was supposed to draw a picture showing the covalent bond with the formula given. She started drawing the picture when Mr. Balkov barked out, "Don't forget to explain to the whole class what you're doing." Sam nodded again and shyly started her explanation.

"W-well, according to the formula, there are two Carbon atoms and six Hydrogen atoms. Carbon has four valence electrons, which is the number of electrons in the last energy level," Sam mentally kicked herself for saying that, since he just went over that not even ten minutes ago. "A-and Hydrogen only has one valence electron. So, with the Lewis Dot Diagrams, they should look like this."

:C: :C: H. H. H. H. H. H.

"Now, we have to arrange all of them like a puzzle, so that they all have a full last energy level. Carbon can bond four ways, and with the Hydrogens, they can be arranged like this and all have full outer energy levels."

HH
H:C:C:H
HH

"And now, both Carbons have eight electrons in their outer shell and the Hydrogens are also happy because they only need two electrons to fill their outer shell." She finished her explanation and looked nervously over at Mr. Balkov. His expression was unreadable and she fervently hoped she didn't do anything wrong. Relief washed over her when he muttered out a "Good," and took his marker back. Sam sat back down at her desk and decided to wait until he was done with his explanations to do any reading in the future.

The bell rang a half an hour later and everyone filed out of the classroom and headed toward the cafeteria. Sam sat down at her usual table and brought out a book to read.

Tala couldn't believe he was in a Freshman class! He couldn't stand the class, he couldn't stand Mr. Balkov, and, at this rate, he was going to fail again! He did not want to take Physical Science again!

He stomped into the classroom full of annoying Freshman - excluding Mariah, they had been friends since first grade - and sat down in his chair next to the pink-haired girl, crossing his arms.

"Sulking again?" Mariah asked with an amused smile, like she was talking to a little kid. Mentally, he actually was.

"Yes, got a problem with it?" Tala muttered, eye twitching with irritation. Mariah only shook her head and turned her attention to Mr. Balkov's explanation of ionic and covalent bonds among elements.

For Tala, it could've been in another language for all it did him, he just couldn't make sense of what the teacher was telling him. He concentrated and paid attention all he could so that some epiphany might be able to hit him.

"Miss Starnette! Shouldn't you be paying attention instead of reading?" Mr. Balkov suddenly bellowed out as he stared over at the new girl whom Hilary loves to ridicule.

"I-I've already finished my worksheet. Sorry." Tala widened his eyes. This girl actually finished the worksheet before Mr. Balkov finished explaining? How??

"Well, then, since you already know the material, you can come up to the board and solve this problem fairly easily, can't you?" Her face colored red and she nodded her head. She got up and made her way up to the whiteboard where the problem was. He watched intently as she went through the problem, explaining every bit of it and Tala found with shock that he could actually somewhat understand it! This girl was good at explaining, and he desperately needed someone to help with his work in this class. He wondered if she would help him. He hoped so!

When the class ended, he made sure to bring his work along. Surely, she'd be in the cafeteria too. He dropped his bag next to his chair at the table where he and his friends usually sat. He decided to grab lunch first and got in line with Kai in front of him.

They must have noticed him looking around the cafeteria because Ray asked, "What in the world are you looking for? Your new girlfriend? Who is it this time?"

Tala ignored him, not even sparing Ray a glance, trying to spot Sam in the cafeteria. Finally he found her at a table in the back corner.

"I'll be right back guys," Tala said and they all gave him confused looks. They watched him as he made his way through the tables and to the table where Sam sat reading again. She decided not to eat lunch since there wasn't anything they had that she wanted to eat. She glanced up from her book and saw the redhead standing in front of her with a backpack over his shoulder. She fidgeted, nervous with his stare boring into her. Then, he completely surprised her by clasping his hands together, bending over so they were at eye level, then saying, "Will you please, please, please help me with my Physical Science homework? It's like another language to me, I can't get it at all, I'm an idiot, I'm desperate, please??"

They heard hysterical laughing from somewhere close and turned their gaze to the table where Tala's friends sat at. Tala grew angry and raised a fist as if to hit them, even though he wasn't anywhere close to anybody.

"HEY! STOP LAUGHING! IF YOU SAW THE CAR, YOU'D BE ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES TOO!" This only made them laugh harder, Max and Ray falling out of their chairs on the floor. Kai was even having trouble trying to keep from laughing. "And I call them my friends…" Tala muttered as he sat down next to Sam. He turned toward her again. "So, will you help me? My parents said that if I can get straight A's by semester, they'll pay for half of a car for me. I know which car I want, and it's totally awesome and I really want it. Please?" Tala had this adorable puppy-dog eyes look on his face and Sam just couldn't resist at all. Of course, that wasn't saying anything, considering she'd agree anyway.

Tala just beamed, and Sam smiled back. She liked his smile. He brought out the worksheet that was handed out in Mr. Balkov's class and Sam proceeded to walk him through the first problem. She told the steps to him, but made him tell her the answers and she filled in anything he didn't know. He managed to do the first one mostly by himself with Sam's help, and he started to talk through the second problem himself but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Sam! I know you want him, but Tala isn't going to go out with an elephant like you!" Everyone at Hilary's table burst out laughing at Michael's comment. Sam's eyes widened and she turned her head away from Tala, cheeks burning, and a lump forming in her throat. She gritted her teeth and blinked back tears, a regular occurrence during lunch these days.

Tala also heard the comment and turned toward Sam. She turned away from him but he could see the blush forming on her face and her trying not to cry. Tala's eyes narrowed. He loved poking fun at everyone else every once in a while, but only with people who would poke fun back. There wasn't any reason he could think of that would justify humiliating someone to the point of tears. He couldn't let them get away with that. Especially since Sam's taking the time to batter into his head enough knowledge to actually give him a chance of getting an A in Mr. Balkov's class. Michael had made him mad in the past, but now he was furious. His quick thinking brought up a comeback to the tip of his tongue and he turned around in his seat to face Michael.

"I don't know Michael, she's kind of cute…" Tala called out to them conversationally, making all of them fall silent in shock. They weren't the only ones in shock.

He thinks I'm cute?? Sam thought in astonishment as she listened to the rest of what Tala had to say.

"Besides, who wouldn't want me? I'm undeniably sexy and have more charm in my pinky finger than you do in your whole body. And I know you know, I see you checking me out every day," Tala finished with a wink.

"Is that what he's doing? Eww!" Mariah was heard over everyone else, squealing in fake realization. His friends all laughed at them for a change, and Tala sent Michael a smug smirk as he glared at Tala before turning around in defeat. Tala let out a few victory laughs of his own before turning around, ready for Sam to continue battering this stuff in his head again.

"Sooo, I have to draw the what's-his-name Dot Diagrams first right?" he asked, like nothing had just happened. Sam turned toward him again, blush still evident on her face. "Yes," she answered, then added as an afterthought, "and thank you."

Tala turned his grin to her and replied, "Don't mention it. I've been waiting for a chance to start it up with them again anyway." He could see her small grateful smile on her face even though she was staring at the table. A thought came to his mind and he smirked mischievously. He reached his hand around her waist and placed his mouth near her ear. "You know, I wasn't lying when I said you were kind of cute," he said with a huge grin. She turned to look at him in shock as a shade of red Tala thought wasn't possible colored her whole face, ears, and the upper half of her neck. Then she adverted her eyes and turned back to stare at the table, but her mouth opened and closed, trying to form words, and her eyes kept glancing between him and the table, trying to think of something that wouldn't deem her a complete lunatic.

Tala couldn't help but think her face was hilarious and started laughing. A wave of hurt washed over her, but she knew he wasn't trying to make her feel bad.

"So, shall we keep working?" he asked, his tone saying that he already knew the answer. Sam couldn't help but tease him for teasing her.

"I don't know…" she began, mimicking his tone from earlier and resting her chin in her hand, turning away from him so he couldn't see her smile. She could almost feel his panic radiating off him, making her smile wider, but she managed to keep her voice level. "If you're going to keep teasing me like that, I could just get too annoyed to help you."

"Oh, no!" he panicked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I really need your help, I won't do it again, I promise!"

He sounded like he was about to get on his hands and knees and beg, and Sam finally just cracked up laughing. "I'm joking."

He glared at her, embarrassed at his outburst. "Oh, yeah, ha ha, I'm sure I'm so funny."

She couldn't help but laugh again a few more times before sobering up and helping him with the rest of his worksheet.

All righty! Again, this is the part where I ask you to review my story because it makes me very, very happy. Ask Starlightmonkey, HeartlessOnna, and Dark Dragon - Fire Fox just how much it makes me happy. I jump up and down and squeal and hand out cookies and money. A very small amount mind you, I'm not making any money off of this stuff. (Hint Hint for anyone who didn't see the disclaimer up there) Just making sure.

Also, if there's anything that you think would be cool or exciting to have in this story, feel free to review or pm me and tell me. I'm actually stuck already. I just need a few ideas for Sam and the gang to get closer together. Just stuff to do outside of school, events that could happen during school, basic stuff like that.

Well, thank you sooo very much, and again, I would appreciate you hitting that review button down there. I would absolutely love it! Cya!