Chapter 1

Just like any other year I told myself as I walked past the band hall at Sinagua High School. Just like any other year I repeated just to remind myself not to expect too much. But I couldn't even fool myself, who was I kidding I was so excited to FINALLY be an upper classman. I even tried to change my appearance for this year. I had put more of a curl into my already wavy blonde hair and put on mascara (which I hardly ever wore) just to make my dark blue eyes pop. Instead of my normal jeans and a tee shirt, I wore a denim mini skirt and a purple spaghetti strap with some wedge sandals to make my normal 5'3" seem a little taller.

I continued to walk looking around laughing to myself about how short the freshmen were this year. Did I look that small? I wondered to myself. I was too busy laughing to myself and not watching where I was going. I knew these halls like the back of my hand; after all it was my third year here.

I looked up just in time to run into someone stopped in the middle of the hall. Stupid freshmen I thought as I felt a pair of strong arms grab me around my waist as I was about to hit the ground. I looked up still in a pair of arms to see who had caught me. I saw a guy with gorgeous green eyes and short black hair. Nice Kara, way to make an impression I thought as I stood up and noticed he was a good four inches taller than me.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going" I said as I knelt down to get my books that were now scattered across the hall. Wonder if I hit anyone with them I thought as I held back a laugh. He knelt down next to me and started to help pick up my books.

"Don't worry about it; I don't half the time either ... Then again I don't try to run over strangers" he said jokingly as he handed me the books he had picked up.

I mumbled thanks as I turned bright red. I continued to look down at the ground not wanting to walk away but also willing the ground to open up and swallow me whole because of embarrassment. "At least you didn't hit anyone with them when you threw them" he joked bowing down a little to look at my face which I was trying to cover with my hair.

I looked up at him smiling a little. "I'm Kara by the way, but my friends call me Kay" I said still embarrassed but trying to change the subject. "Are you new here?" I asked then instantly wanted to kick myself. Of course he's new you haven't seen him around idiot I thought to myself. "Yea, I just moved here from Portland, Oregon" he said as we stared to walk down the hall.

I heard footsteps behind me and saw the mystery guy I was walking with look over my shoulder to the person behind me. Go away I thought but didn't dare speak the words aloud. "Wow Baby P, you haven't changed all summer. Still as clumsy as ever" I heard my best friend say from behind me as he walked over and rested his elbow on my shoulder. I looked up at Jake and rolled my eyes at him.

Jake was one of my best friends since I was born, so we had numerous inside jokes and knew each other better than anyone else. This included our other best friends Alyssa and Vincent Kelly that we had met in fifth grade. When Jake and I would introduce each other to people we didn't know (Which wasn't too often) we would introduce them as our sibling, mainly because my dad married his mom eleven years ago when we were five.

"J.J. we hung out all summer. So you know I haven't changed luckily!" I joked as Jake shook his head at me. "Hey, I'm Jacob Bandura, but my friends call me Jake. Sorry about Kay, she's a real klutz sometimes ... well all the time" Said Jake as he stuck his free hand out to shake the mystery guys hand. I gave Jake a quick glare when he had the mystery guy's attention. When Jake saw this he just shrugged a little.

"I'm Jason Wilson, but call me Jay" he said as he shook Jakes hand. Cute name for a cute guy I thought with a slight smile. "Thanks J.J., I'll see you in government" I said quickly as I pushed him Jake towards the stairs that led to the history hall. As he was walking down the stairs he turned and winked at me playfully before disappearing, causing me to roll my eyes at him. What a dork I thought as I turned back to Jay and saw him smirking at me.

Getting confused at why he was smirking I shifted slightly from one leg to the other and asked "What" as I continued to squirm under his gaze.

"So you do this often" he asked still smirking at me as he was trying to hide a laugh but failing horribly. I blushed again as we started down the stairs to the history hall. The minute bell rang causing us both to look up then back at each other.

"I have to go, but I'll see you around" I said wishing I had more time with the dark haired cutie I'd run over. I turned and started to walk away. "Kay wait, do you know where room 615 is?" he asked me holding up a schedule that I was noticing for the first time.

"Yea, I'm heading there now" I said more excitedly than I should have. Then looked down and blushed for the millionth time since I had met him. Why does he make me so nervous? I just met the guy I thought to myself as we headed down the hall towards room 615.

"So what brought you to the lovely town of Flagstaff?" I asked as we walked into the classroom. "Jay! Baby P! Come sit by us!" yelled Jake as soon as he saw us. I laughed and headed towards Jake and our other friends with Jay close behind me. I sat down in front of Jake with Jay in the seat next to me. He looked a little annoyed for some reason, I just couldn't think of why. Did I say something wrong? I thought Nah; I just asked why he moved here ... Oh well.

I was brought out of my thoughts by a hand in front of my face and being nudged. "Dude, Baby P, what's up with you today?" I heard my other best friends Vincent Kelly ask. I turned and looked into his grey eyes and saw he had a mischievous look in them that I knew all too well because when he had that look in his eyes the four of us normally ended up in trouble. I then heard him, Jake and much to my surprise Jay laughing at me.

Great, turning into just a buddy I thought before answering "Nothing just a little spacey today" as I rolled my eyes the three boys. "Yea no kidding, but that's nothing new. I remember this one time we were out hiking and Kay wasn't paying attention to where she was going saying 'I know where I'm going. I know this area like the back of my hand' then right after she almost walked backwards off a cliff" said Jake laughing along with Vincent and Jay.

"Jacob!" I practically yelled at him. I realized how loud I had yelled when everyone in the classroom turned and looked at me. I look down feeling the blood rushing to my cheeks. I could hear a few people laughing at me. I was use to people laughing at my clumsiness at school, but I still blushed every time.

"See what I mean?" Jake asked laughing along with half my class. Why do I always do that? I thought to myself glancing at Jay when I wasn't blushing anymore. That was short lived due to the fact that I blushed as soon as his green eyes met my blue ones. He probably thinks that I'm the biggest freak in the school and I know Jakes not helping me at all I thought looking to the front of the classroom trying to ignore the three boys.

I was relieved when Mr. Marino called our class to attention. That way Jake couldn't embarrass me anymore. For now thought a small voice in the back of my mind. Who was I kidding Jake love to embarrass me, not that I really helped because I wasn't very graceful. I did know that even though he always messed with me if anyone else did seriously he would have my back.

Mr. Marino went through the rules of the classroom and the school. He didn't seem to interested in what he was saying, good thing no one was listening anyways. We would hear the same speech five more times after this class. I sat there staring at Jay out of the corner of y eye. I saw the corner of his mouth form a slight smile; glancing up to his eyes I saw he was staring at me as well. I instantly blushed and turned my eyes to the front of the classroom letting my hair fall so it blocked the left side of my face.

I still felt Jay staring at me till I heard Vince tell Jay to stop looking at me. I didn't have to look to know that Jake was giving Jay a warning look as he nodded in agreement with Vince. "That's all for today. You have the rest of class to yourselves" Said Mr. Marino as he headed back to his desk. I looked at the clock 8:15, great I still have 35 minutes left in class for Jake to ruin my chances with Jay I thought to myself.

I felt someone kicking my chair so I peeked through my hair at Jay. He was turned towards me with a smirk on his face. Deciding to mimic him I turned to face towards him then slowly turned the upper part of my body towards him. "Are you two going to have a staring contest? If so I will so judge" said Jake jumping out of the desk behind me. I matched Jay's smirk with my own when I was Jake out of the corner of my eye. He had his hands on his knees looking back and forth between Jay and me.

"You up for it?" I challenged Jay raising one of my eye brows. He shook his head from side to side as he let out a chuckle and said "You are so going down" Smirking at his challenge I didn't even let it falter when I heard a familiar raspy voice say "A staring contest god can Kara become even more of a loser? Seriously didn't she get the memo we're in high school?"

Rolling my eyes at the comment I said "In your dreams buddy! One" Jay chuckled a little and said "This is too easy. Two" I could hear the annoyance in Jakes voice as he said "Are you two going to just talk crap or are you going to say" but was joined in by Jay and I when he said "Three"

"How long do you think it will be until Kara messes up" I heard someone ask from the small crowd that was slowly growing around us. I hadn't realized till then just how dry my eyes were getting. Don't blink Kara, don't blink I thought to myself as my eyes started itching like crazy.

Just like he had heard what I was thinking Jay said "Come on Kay, you know you wanna blink" in a taunting tone. He slowly leaned closer to me so we were only inches apart. I unfortunately caught myself looking at his lips a second too late.

"Jay wins, Kay looked away" yelled Jake laughing "Baby P, next time don't look" Jake continued and jumped away just as I swung my arm to hit him. Instead of continuing the torment Jake grabbed Jay's wrist and held it up declaring him the winner. He then pulled Jay up from his chair and started to lead him around the room. I watched for a second till I heard a throat clear next to me.

I turned and saw Vince looking at me with a knowing look. "What?" I asked pretending I had no idea what the look was for. "Nothing just be careful Baby P. You just met him" said Vince as we both looked towards Jay and Jake just to see about half way across the room Jake starting to talk to our old red haired best friend Rachel.

"Hey Rach, did you see Kay lose?" asked Jake forgetting about Jay. "I didn't have to, you can tell by looking at her that she's a loser JJ" said Rachel in a snotty tone. Jay turned and made his way back to where Vince and I were sitting with a smirk playing on his lips. "Doesn't have much of an attention span does he?" Jay asked us with a laugh in his voice.

"Nope, it's not really one of Jake's stronger qualities. Now that I think about it the only thing JJ's good at is making fun of me" I said joking as Jay sat back down. "That's not true JJ's good at basketball and baseball. Its only his hobby to make fun of you Baby P" said Vince as he got up to go join Jake across the room.

I sat there glaring at Vince's retreating figure for a while before I realized how quiet it was. It was driving me nuts, I couldn't stand silence, it always seemed too awkward to me. It must have been getting to him too because we started talking at the same time.

"You go first" I said but Jay shook his head at me and didn't say anything. "Okay? SO you never answered my question earlier" I said looking at him when I was done. He laughed a little and said "Which one was that?" I felt myself blush slightly and my lips unwillingly pulled into a faint smile.

"What brought you to Flagstaff?" I asked as I adjusted myself in my seat. I watched as his face shifted from amused to a little annoyed. "Oh, that question" he mumbled to himself not realizing I could hear him, but then continued more clearly "My parents just got divorced. So my mom, sister and I moved here to get away from him"

"I'm sorry. That sucks" I said knowing how it felt to have only one birth parent because my mom left my dad and I one week short of my third birthday. "No not really, he was a creep" Jay said still looking annoyed. He looked away from me clenching his fist. I reached over to touch his hand but he pulled his hand away from me still looking at the front of the room.

I turned away from Jay feeling guilty about bringing up an unpleasant subject for him. You didn't do anything wrong, how were you suppose to know you just met the guy I thought to myself as I reached into my bag for a paper and pen.

As I started to doodle I heard my former friend Rachel say "Don't mind Kara, she can be real heartless at times" My head snapped up and my eyes narrowed as they met hers. She smirked at me leaning towards Jay. Just ignore her I thought as I forced myself to turn away from her and glared at my doodles.

The redhead on the other side of Jay knew all the right buttons to push when it came to me. After all she was my best friend from sixth grade to half way through freshman year. Back then it was me, Rachel, Alyssa, Jake and Vince against the world. We did everything together, and then Rachel decided that Alyssa and I weren't cool enough to be her friends. Now she was only nice to the boys.

After it was silent for a little while she continued "Anyways, I'm Rachel, also known as the best cheerleader at Sinagua" I rolled my eyes and thought If you're the best then why is Aly captain? I stopped glaring at my paper and looked up when I heard Jay say "Nice to meet you" but nothing else. I laughed a little when he dismissed her; personally I thought it was great because all the guys besides Vince and Jake were the always falling all over her.

When I looked at Rachel she looked shocked but quickly pulled herself together. "So, what's your next class" she asked as she sat at the edge of his desk. I watched in amusement as she kept trying to get his attention only to be dismissed.

Jay looked up at Rachel briefly and said "English with Socum" then he turned to me and asked "So Kay, what do you have next" Resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at Rachel I said "English with Socum" I glanced at Rachel and saw her jaw dropped this time. Is she losing her touch? I thought smiling.

"Well lets walk together then" said Jay smirking at me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jake and Vince making their way back over to us. Jake sat in front of Rachel resting his arm on her leg, while Vince sat on my desk.

"So Rach, whatcha doing Friday?" asked Jake causing her to look at him. "There's a party at my house Friday and you three boys better be there" she said standing up and started to walk away but turned around and looked at me while saying "Oh Kara you're NOT invited" Then she smirked as she reached her snobs who welcomed her back with open arms.

"Wow and to think I use to be friends with that ... Then again at least I found my brain unlike you two" I said in disgust looking at the boys. Jay looked at me slightly shocked saying "You two were friends?" as he pointed between Rachel and me. I nodded at him as we stood up to go to our next class. "Watch it loser" said Rachel as she pushed past me knocking my books out of my arms and onto the floor. "Why should she? You're the one who ran into her" said Jay as he grabbed her arm around to turn her to look at him.

I looked up shocked, no one besides Lys and me talked to Rachel like that. Wow Jay is amazing. He's standing up to Rachel for me I thought as I smiled to myself. I looked up and saw Rachel looking back and forth between Jay and I looking worried. "Um ... Let go of me" she demanded as she tried to pull her arm away from Jay. Without looking from my face he said "No, not until you apologize to Kay" she rolled her eyes looking over at me and said "Yea not gunna happen" She then turned and looked at Jay but quickly looked back at me after she saw the look on his face. "Right of course ... Sorry Kara ... Happy now?" she asked as she ripped her arm away and walked off.

I looked up and saw him looking at me smiling slightly. "What a jerk" I heard Rachel say as she and her friend Melanie walked away. "Yea totally" agreed Melanie My eyes shot after then and I could help but laugh but the smile left my face when I saw how pissed Jay looked. "Hey just ignore them, They're like that with everyone" I said trying to reassure him.

"Hey man, thanks for standing up for Baby P like that. She just ignores Vince and I" said Jake patting Jay on the back. I looked up at Jay and saw he was once again smiling. "No problem, she doesn't need to talk to Kay like that" said Jay as he nudged me slightly. I stuck my tongue out at him.

I heard my friend Alyssa yell "MARCO!" from down the hall, without thinking I along with Jake and Vince yelled back "YOUR MOM!!!" I only remembered where we were when I heard Jay laughing next to me.

I blushed as a bubbly girl with chestnut brown hair and chocolate brown eyes came bouncing down the hall. As she walked down the hall a couple of guys turned around to watch her walk by, but only kept walking when they saw Vince and Jake glaring at them. Aly looked back confused at what the boys were glaring at but shrugged to herself as she reached us.

"So guys guess what! I'll tell you what" she said before any of us could open our mouths. "Lys I hate to brake it to you sis, but when you say guess what you should let people guess" said Vince looking at his sister amused. "Whatever you say bro, anyways I was walking passed Rachel and her snob crew and I heard them say how some guy totally denied her. It's great she's so confused" said Rachel not noticing there was someone new with us.