Wednesday morning. On a very crowded street, a familiar young man stood in a familiar place, in front of one of the most highly-rated schools in the country. This time he was accompanied, however, by a friend of his who was much more punctual than his other friend John, and had been missing the two days before on account of a nasty sickness.

"So how did that flu treat you?" Luke asked his friend.

A disgusted look came over Ian Wallace's face.

"Oh, just miserable." he replied. "My grandmother came over once about every day to pour half a gallon of cod liver oil down my throat. She'd sit there on my bed to make sure I'd drink it, and as soon as she'd leave I'd run to the loo and heave it all up."

Of course, that got Luke laughing. He was not tinkering with his palm pilot today, due to the fact that he had someone other than John there to hold his interest. This friend had a lot more in common with Luke, due to their love of music and their strong distaste for the school they attended as well as the British aristocracy.

All of a sudden, he heard a faint yelling from down the street.

"Lucas, dear!"

He looked to see the infamous Clarissa Payne some distance away, madly waving her arms in the air.

"What's she shouting about?" he asked his friend.

Ian shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows?"

Luke looked again and stared as the girl kept wildly waving.

"Do you suppose I should go to her?"

Ian smirked.

"Do you have a choice?"

Luke sighed. He began to jog down toward Jasperstone academy, where Clarissa stood with about six or seven of her closest friends.

He arrived, slightly out of breath.

"Yes?"

Clarissa smiled.

"I just wanted to tell you that I can't wait for Marcelle's coming out party this Saturday." She then stood up to whisper in his ear. "Especially since I'll have you to escort me."

She playfully ran her finger across his chin and pulled away, as the rest of her brood broke into a giggle.

Luke stood there for a minute. This was certainly not the first time something of this order had happened to him. And each time it happened, it got all the more pointless. It surely did not excite him that he'd have to spend yet another perfectly good evening with Clarissa on his arm.

He half-smiled and briefly nodded, then turned to walk away. Clarissa gave him a dainty little wave as he looked back for a moment, and at least half of the other girls joined in. The other half was too busy giggling. He turned back.

"You're so lucky, Clarissa." she heard one girl whisper as he walked away.

But oh, how contrary luck was for him, for that same reason.

At about that same time a familiar brown-haired girl was fast-walking in the opposite direction, heading toward the place from which he had just left, carrying quite a large load of books. When he caught sight of the girl, Luke slowed down a bit to look.

The set of black shoes briskly moved, and as the girl and Luke neared each other, he saw one of the shoes suddenly move in an awkward way, twisting to the inside.

Instantly, the brown-haired girl and her books came tumbling down. Papers spilled everywhere. Immediately, Luke turned and ran over to help.

The girl looked a bit pained as she rushed to gather up her things. When he came to her, Luke noticed the noise of approximately eight girls laughing hysterically some yards behind him. The noise grew more and more faint and eventually disappeared, however, as the group entered the school. He crouched down in front of her.

"Are you alright, Miss?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." she said quickly as she busily gathered what she had dropped. With a jumbled mess in her arms, the girl stood up. Luke stood up with her, and they ended up staring each other directly in the face. Just now seeing the persona of the man who'd stopped to help her, the girl looked dumbfounded and shocked.

Luke handed her the rest of her papers, which he himself picked up.

"Here you are..." He looked at an identification card, which he still held in his hand. "...Meghan."

Embarrassment quickly overtook the girl, and she immediately turned away. She rubbed the back of her neck.

"I...I...uh..."

He handed her the card, and their eyes met again.

"Thank you."

He smiled.

"My name is Luke, by the way. Luke Brenshire."

The girl still looked stunned.

"Hello, Luke Brenshire."

She backed away a little, and began to move again.

"Well...bye." she said as she turned to walk away, cheeks turning bright red.

"Wait, Meghan!" Luke shouted behind her.

She turned.

"Maybe...er...maybe I can talk to you again." He came closer.

The girl looked puzzled.

"Like...where?" she suddenly blurted, not knowing what else to say. The redness deepened.

Luke thought for a moment.

"Well...how about here? Tomorrow. Only, you wouldn't have to fall down this time."

Meghan blushed more. Equally nervous, Luke thought some more, realizing he'd made a mistake.

"Or...maybe somewhere else would be better. Not so many...well, cars."

Meghan looked away.

"Look, I have a card. You can have it if you want. And you can call the number if you want to do something. I realize that's sort of rude of me, I mean, to leave you with a number and just walk away, but it might be easier for you than standing out in the middle of the road, and you can think of somewhere we could go. Maybe a park, if you'd like, or a restaurant, or I can take you riding, or to a store..."

Seeing Luke ramble made Meghan feel a bit less embarrassed, and she laughed. He stopped.

"You have a business card?" she asked him.

This time, it was Luke who rubbed the back of his head.

"Well...yes."

The girl put his card in her jacket pocket. She looked back at him.

"Well, maybe I'll use it." she said as she turned to walk away. Facing the other direction, a smile spread across her face.

"Alright, well, good then. I guess I'll see you." she heard from behind. She turned her head.

"Yeah, I'll...see you." she said.

His face mirrored hers, and he turned to walk back to his school. He arrived back to meet a grinning Ian.

"And who might that girl be?" he asked coyly.

Luke bent his head for a moment, bashful. Laughing, he looked up again.

"Well, the name on her card said, "Meghan B. Reynolds."

"And you think she's going to call you with that business card you gave her."

Still smiling, Luke narrowed his eyes at Ian.

"That's...what I 'm hoping, yes."

Ian laughed a bit.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she will. And when she does, ask her if she has a sister. For me, I mean."

Luke laughed.

"Hey, we can't all have a sweet little American girl to call our own." he teased.

Ian looked slightly disgruntled. Luke patted him on the shoulder.

"But maybe you'll get lucky." he said, before turning to enter the school, Ian following after.

How did you like that? Told you Ian would show up! I already have the next chapter almost completed, so two more will be up soon. I might have skipped from Tuesday to Wednesday a little too fast, but that will be explained more next chapter. It will tell why Meghan was walking alone today.

Anywayz, that's all for now, and know that I'm sticking to this story till the end, even if it takes me years to finish it!

-rf-