Chapter Two

When Harley brought Zoe back Wednesday, he figured she should have a couple days to settle in and get used to the eccentricities of the town before starting Cyrus Lavinius Jeremiah Jones High School. So Monday, February 8th, Zoe was once again sitting shotgun in Harley's car, staring out the window. She had not left the house, since arrival, except to accompany Harley to the practice, as he did not think she should be left alone right now. She had gotten into the habit of sitting in his office and reading medical journals. Mrs. Hattenbarger or Dr. Breeland occasionally interrupted her; they seemed to think she needed checking up on. When this happened, she tried her best to be polite, nodding or shaking her head. She would mumble hello's and I'm fine's when necessary. She liked when Dr. Wilkes or Dr. Breeland would tell her about what they were working on. Of course, there was a lot they could not share because of doctor-patient confidentiality, but both doctor's noticed that she perked up slightly when they talked medicine, so they told her what they could. What she did not like however, were the pitying looks, the sympathetic voices, and the constant 'Can I get you anything's?'. Zoe was strong, even at only fourteen, and she did not want to be treated like some china doll. Not to mention everything they did simply reminded her of what she had been through. She far preferred the cold, calculating world of medicine. That was where she belonged.

Based on the reaction's she was getting, she decided that it was probably best if nobody at school knew of the tragic events that had brought her here. It was her business, after all. Why should they need to know?

Zoe walked down to the principal's office and waited. After twenty minutes she decided to knock on the door. Nobody answered, but she noticed it was unlocked.

"Hello?"

No answer. There was, however the distinct sound of papers being shuffled. She knew she should probably just keep waiting, but she was not a very patient person. Besides, there was clearly somebody in there.

Zoe pushed the door open. Nobody was in the room. No sooner had Zoe deduced that it was empty than a girl rolled out from under the desk. Zoe jumped in surprise. The girl was disheveled and her clothing was what Zoe assumed was inappropriate for Alabama, though completely tame for New York.

"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't mean to startle you. Thought you were the principal, but then I saw your legs, so I figured you weren't." The girl brushed her hair back and stuck out her hand. "I'm Lemon."

Zoe wanted to laugh, but caught herself in time. She was not sure she wanted this girl as an enemy. Normally, that would not have stopped her; Zoe was a fairly outspoken person. However, it had been a long time since she had laughed, or even genuinely smiled, so the reflex was a little weak. "Zoe." She said, shaking the girl's hand.

"You must be new." The girl said as she turned back to the desk.

"Yeah. I was looking for the principal."

"He won't be back for a while."

"But I was scheduled-"

"I sent him on a wild goose chase looking for some stolen chemistry books. It will definitely take him some time finding them, considering they were in the dumpster, and already got picked up."

"Why did … ?" Zoe started, but she could not think where to go from there.

"My boyfriend missed handing in a homework assignment because I was … well … distracting him." She giggled, "Anyhow, he did it an' all, just wasn't there to turn it in. he shouldn't get judged for that. It was my fault anyway."

"So, he asked you to change his grade?"

"God No!" Lemon looked utterly shocked at the suggestion, "He would never want a grade he did not earn. That's why I did not tell him what I was doin'. Besides, I happen to think he earned it."

"Right, well-"

"Listen, I won't be much longer, but if you're in a hurry, bet your schedule an' all 'sin that folder. Probably on top, if he was planning to see you around now."

Lemon went and got out the papers, "Here we go. Zoe Hart." She read. Her eyes moved across the page, "Oh, you're from New York?"

Zoe grabbed the paper quickly. She did not know how much information was on it, and she had no interest in Lemon giving her that pitying look she had gotten so used to.

"Thanks." She said, and then quickly darted out of the room.

Wade and George had been tossing the football back and forth, waiting for gym to start.

"So, where's the Missus?" Wade asked. He had started calling Lemon the Missus lately, and George was hardly fond of it, but from Wade's perspective, any relationship that lasted longer than a week might as well be a marriage.

"Probably off raising hell."

"Without us?" Wade asked indignantly. Lemon was the school prankster. Wade respected her, but he liked to be included. She used to ask him to tag along sometimes. George usually said no; he found pranks pretty immature and petty, but Wade was almost always game. However, ever since her mother left a few months ago, she had gone into overdrive. Her pranks had gotten more detailed, daring, and dangerous. She recently had made it clear to them that now she worked alone. It was partially because she wanted to protect her friend and boyfriend from major consequences, but Wade suspected that the major reason was that she felt she had something to prove.

Wade felt for her. On the one hand, at least her mother was still alive, but on the other, his mother had left against her will. Alice Breeland, however, had knowingly, willingly left her family behind. Talk about a slap in the face. Sure, divorce is one thing, but you should keep contact with your kids if you have any kind of heart. Wade took family issues way more seriously than he wanted anybody to know. For example, nobody knew that he was trying to get a part-time job to help with the bills. Nobody knew how much his dad had started drinking after his mom passed last March. Nobody knew how fast he rushed home to make sure that his dad was conscious, or how hard he worked doing everything his dad was supposed to do so Mr. Kinsella did not get fired from his job or worse. Wade was terrified with every knock on the door that it was somebody coming to take him and his brother Jesse off to some foster care home. He did the taxes, paid the bills as best he could, and did pretty much everything he could think of to help out. He could not let anything happen to his family. They had already lost one member. Nobody else was getting taking away, by natural, or mortal causes.

In any case, he knew what Lemon was going through. Sometimes, he wondered if George got it; George came from a pretty perfect, together family. Then again, that was what everybody thought the Breeland's were until a few months ago.

"Wade?" George asked.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinkin'."

"That's a first." George said, tossing the ball back.

Wade smiled. He knew George was only teasing, "So, how's Lemon doing, ya know, with … everything?"

George's face turned from playful to serious. "I really don't know." He said with a sigh, "I mean, I try talkin' to her, but I keep worrying I'll say the wrong thing and make it worse. One of use always ends up changing the subject."

Wade tossed the ball, "Anything I can do?"

"Yeah, stop callin' her the missus."

Wade laughed.

"Hey sweetie." Said a voice from behind George.

"Speak of the devil."

"Hello to you to Wade."

"C'mon, it's a compliment."

Lemon laughed, then she gave George a peck on the cheek.

"That was so lame. You two should be rollin' on the ground getting covered in mud and not caring."

"Well, I would love to, but somebody thinks it is inappropriate behavior for a public setting."

"I did not sound that stuffy." George said, chuckling.

"Yes you did."

"Well then, how 'bout we head under the bleachers and-"

Before George could finish, a whistle blew, "Listen up. We're playing touch football today. That's touch, not tackle, this is a friendly game, and certainly not grope, right Mr. Kinsella?" He shot Wade a look.

"Nice singling me out coach. Real nice."

"Also, before we start, we have a new student."

Wade saw the girl from Dr. Wilkes practice, Zoe, standing nervously beside the coach/gym teacher. He was surprised at himself for remembering her name, but he also remembered his promise, to look out for her. She had her head held high, and she was not shaking, but if got a close look in her eyes, you could tell that she felt awkward, scared, and maybe a little sad.

"This is Zoe Hart, coming to us from a private school in New York City. I expect you all to be kind and show her the ropes. Kinsella, Carter, you two are team captains."

Great. Wade hated being team captain. If they won, it was a team effort, but if they lost, it was all his fault. Wade was pretty well liked, and he was great at football, but the team captain always had the burden of the whole team, and Wade was sick of carrying burdens for others.

Wade got to pick first. Normally, he would have called George, who was not only his best friend, but also his teammate. Wade knew that George could play better than most. However, he remembered his promise, and without thinking, he heard himself say, "Zoe."

George's looked a little hurt, but mostly confused. Wade figured he could explain later.

The only person more confused than George was Zoe. She just stood there, looking around, as though expecting another Zoe to go and join him.

"New-girl, C'mon. I ain't got all day."

Zoe slowly walked up beside Wade.

"Tucker." Carter yelled.

"Dammit." Wade said under his breath. Zoe looked up, apparently having heard him.

"If you wanted to pick somebody else you could have. I did not ask you to pick me."

"I know. I was just tryin' to be nice. Geez. Ya know, you could say thank you."

"I could." She said, then turned around.

Wade's instinct was to call Lemon next, not because she was good, but because it was just what he always did. However, he figured she's want to be with George.

"Uh, Pickett."

"Hammond."

"Garcia."

"Delvin."

On and on it went, until finally the teams were made. Surprisingly, Zoe held her-own. She was actually pretty good for a city chick.

Wade's team lost, but not by much, and it was just a friendly gym class tackle, so nobody got too serious about it.

"Not bad city girl."

"Zoe." She said, sounding annoyed. This chick made no sense.

"Yeah, well normally I would call you by your last name, but I didn't quite catch it." Silence. "This is the part where you tell me you're last name." Man! Did this girl need a script for everything?

"It's…" she stopped. It seemed an odd thing to get confused about. After a moment, she said, "Just don't call me city girl, okay."

Before Wade had a chance to react, he saw George and Lemon heading over.

Author's Note: Okay, so, a few things. First, I hope you liked my interpretation of Lemon. I thought it would be fun to write this rebellious side that we heard about in Homecoming and Coming Home, but never got to see. I think that her and Zoe might have had more in common back then.

Second, I am sure some of you are wondering why Lavon in the gym class. Well, they never exactly say ages, and while we know Lemon, Lavon, and George were all in the same grade, and we can assume Zoe was (mostly because the story would not work otherwise), Lavon may or may not have been in their grade. It was a little too iffy.

Pickett is supposed to be Addie's husband Bill, but after that I just started making people up.

As far as the timeline is concerned, at first, I was going to have it in late 1998, because Zoe is twenty-eight now and would thus be 14 then. I wanted it to be after her dad found out the truth, but not too far after. Since her dad found out when she was ten, fourteen was the youngest I could make her without making romantic entanglements inappropriate. However, I felt as though Lemon's rebellious side had a strong connection to the disappearance of her mother, who left in 1999. I figured early 1999 could work. Incase you are wondering, I got the information for dates of events from hartofdixiewikia/wiki/Timeline. The name of the high school came from hartofdixiewikia/wiki/Cyrus_Lavinius_Jeremiah_Jones_High_School. I got the dates for February that year from, timeanddate,com

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation. Please let me know what you think. Good or bad, I am dying to know. I have one more chapter to post tonight, and then I have to start writing more. Have a nice day.