Chapter 1:
Mondays were the worst. It's prety universal, everyone hates Mondays, but none more so than the highschool student. To the casual observer, East High was full of excited teenagers ready to learn, but to the student it was chaos. Nothing but an eclectic jumble of teens reliving the weekend, dragging their feet down the halls, and trying desperately to slow down time before reaching first period. Anything was a welcome distraction.
A group by the main entrance stairs were praying before class. Seemed that group had grown since Columbine. Others down the hall had scattered the contents of some snappers on the floor, so anyone who walked on them made a big poping noise. That particular trick had been used four years previously. The culprits stood at the end of the hall covertly pounding fists and smiling, but not so much that a teacher would notice.
Only one student other than the boys' friends could tell, and she didn't care enough to say anything. Jocks were known to do this kind of thing every year, especially seniors who thought these antics would leave some sort of permanent mark on the halls of the school. She did, however look one of the jocks in the eye as she passed; one Jason Hanson. He was one of the varsity basketball players, dated just about everything in a skirt, and still managed to keep a decent grade in his classes. She was in his English class, and can remember him participating well in said class, so obviously he wasn't one of the dumb jocks. Other than that they didn't walk in the same social circles. She doubted he even knew her name, but all the same, she smirked at him and raised a single eyebrow, jerking her head in the general direction of the hall behind her. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
Then, she passed him by and headed to her Spanish class in the West Building. The image of him grinning stayed in her head until lunch. Even she wasn't immune to those strait white teeth, and adorable dimples in his cheeks. She'd always been a sucker for sandy-blonde haired guys with blue eyes and a natural tan, and he had those in spades. He moved well on the court, and towered up at a good six foot four, which did funny things to her insides when he passed her seat in class. It wasn't that she was immune at all, she just didn't date.
Year after year she'd see girls walking down the halls with various stages of swollen bellies and she vowed not to become like them. Her freshman year it was easy enough since she wasn't developed in any way. However her sophmore year her body decided to develope more visible curves. Nothing amazing, but it was enough to appeal to the testosterone filled boys. She came to realize quickly that even the boys from the Debate team and Chess Club had only one thing on their minds. Her last date and last boyfriend had been Winter Homecoming junior year with Timothy Burns, a member of the Math club. He'd been cute, but when he thought he could park with her afterward and touch her in places without asking, she'd dropped him like a hot brick. On her walk home down second street, she vowed no more guys untill the last of Senior year, and definetly no sex.
Mary laughed at herself now, cause Jason was certainly the wrong boy to be fixated on. He had a reputation. Although none of the girls he'd dated turned up pregnant, there were a lot of them, and not a few had had a very public confrontation with him in the halls. The subjects of those fights were very clear what kind of a relationship they'd been in, sometimes giving more details than Mary ever wished to know about. Yes, Jason Hanson was exactly the type of guy she'd been trying to avoid, yet she smiled at him. Dare she even say it; flirted? It had to be the New Year. It was the first day of school since the Turn of the Century, and she'd made a resolution to enjoy the last half of the school year. That meant she needed a boyfriend but the previous year had taught her well that the right guy was hard to find.
She first tried from the nerd pool, and though the smart guys were appealing in their brain power, they were either too shy to make even a single move, or they thought her interest was a more serious thing. The sudden confessions of love, and epic love poems were far from flatering. In fact, Mary was half freaked out by it all. Likewise it frustrated her that the others were too scared or intimidated by her to even be able to suggest a place to eat, or even admit that they wanted to get to know her better as more than just a friend.
Having failed to secure herself an intelectual boyfriend, she had tried for some of the handsome, yet not-quite-all-there boys in her classes. This was an even bigger mistake. Very quickly she got the impression that a purely physical relationship was in their future, protection optional. Ofcorse when she reacted as any self-respecting female would react to such a proposition, she suddenly found herself labled as a frigid tease, and sometimes a lesbian.
Her goal was to make it to Prom with a satisfactory date. She didn't want to miss out on the single most important night of her highschool years, and she didn't want to settle for a guy that was more grabby than an octopus. If she couldn't have someone that meant the world to her, she at least wanted to be able to smile about her partner when she looked back years later.
College was no longer an issue. She'd applied and been accepted into WSU, and nothing short of a cataclysmic event could bring down her grades. What she needed before she focused on being a full-time college student was a fling. Just an uncomplicated relationship with a like minded guy just out to have a little shared fun. Which brought her back to the main snag in her plans. She needed a guy, and she needed a guy that she didn't feel like hitting with the short buss. One that was confident enough to not be offended when she didn't fall head-over-heels for them, and a little good looks added to the mix would be a pluss as well.
It almost made her choke on her own fluids when the image of Jason of the irresistable dimples popped back up into her mind's eye, unbidden and wholey too appealing. She was about to push the thought and the image asside when she stopped. He wasn't bad looking, and he did manage a decent grade point average. So far, her selections had left something to be desired. Perhaps she should considder the basketball player.
It was that thought that was going through her head when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to find the object of her thoughts smirking at her, with his illegally appealing dimples and fathomless eyes.
Mondays were the worst. It's prety universal, everyone hates Mondays, but none more so than the highschool student. To the casual observer, East High was full of excited teenagers ready to learn, but to the student it was chaos. Nothing but an eclectic jumble of teens reliving the weekend, dragging their feet down the halls, and trying desperately to slow down time before reaching first period. Anything was a welcome distraction.
A group by the main entrance stairs were praying before class. Seemed that group had grown since Columbine. Others down the hall had scattered the contents of some snappers on the floor, so anyone who walked on them made a big poping noise. That particular trick had been used four years previously. The culprits stood at the end of the hall covertly pounding fists and smiling, but not so much that a teacher would notice.
Only one student other than the boys' friends could tell, and she didn't care enough to say anything. Jocks were known to do this kind of thing every year, especially seniors who thought these antics would leave some sort of permanent mark on the halls of the school. She did, however look one of the jocks in the eye as she passed; one Jason Hanson. He was one of the varsity basketball players, dated just about everything in a skirt, and still managed to keep a decent grade in his classes. She was in his English class, and can remember him participating well in said class, so obviously he wasn't one of the dumb jocks. Other than that they didn't walk in the same social circles. She doubted he even knew her name, but all the same, she smirked at him and raised a single eyebrow, jerking her head in the general direction of the hall behind her. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
Then, she passed him by and headed to her Spanish class in the West Building. The image of him grinning stayed in her head until lunch. Even she wasn't immune to those strait white teeth, and adorable dimples in his cheeks. She'd always been a sucker for sandy-blonde haired guys with blue eyes and a natural tan, and he had those in spades. He moved well on the court, and towered up at a good six foot four, which did funny things to her insides when he passed her seat in class. It wasn't that she was immune at all, she just didn't date.
Year after year she'd see girls walking down the halls with various stages of swollen bellies and she vowed not to become like them. Her freshman year it was easy enough since she wasn't developed in any way. However her sophmore year her body decided to develope more visible curves. Nothing amazing, but it was enough to appeal to the testosterone filled boys. She came to realize quickly that even the boys from the Debate team and Chess Club had only one thing on their minds. Her last date and last boyfriend had been Winter Homecoming junior year with Timothy Burns, a member of the Math club. He'd been cute, but when he thought he could park with her afterward and touch her in places without asking, she'd dropped him like a hot brick. On her walk home down second street, she vowed no more guys untill the last of Senior year, and definetly no sex.
Mary laughed at herself now, cause Jason was certainly the wrong boy to be fixated on. He had a reputation. Although none of the girls he'd dated turned up pregnant, there were a lot of them, and not a few had had a very public confrontation with him in the halls. The subjects of those fights were very clear what kind of a relationship they'd been in, sometimes giving more details than Mary ever wished to know about. Yes, Jason Hanson was exactly the type of guy she'd been trying to avoid, yet she smiled at him. Dare she even say it; flirted? It had to be the New Year. It was the first day of school since the Turn of the Century, and she'd made a resolution to enjoy the last half of the school year. That meant she needed a boyfriend but the previous year had taught her well that the right guy was hard to find.
She first tried from the nerd pool, and though the smart guys were appealing in their brain power, they were either too shy to make even a single move, or they thought her interest was a more serious thing. The sudden confessions of love, and epic love poems were far from flatering. In fact, Mary was half freaked out by it all. Likewise it frustrated her that the others were too scared or intimidated by her to even be able to suggest a place to eat, or even admit that they wanted to get to know her better as more than just a friend.
Having failed to secure herself an intelectual boyfriend, she had tried for some of the handsome, yet not-quite-all-there boys in her classes. This was an even bigger mistake. Very quickly she got the impression that a purely physical relationship was in their future, protection optional. Ofcorse when she reacted as any self-respecting female would react to such a proposition, she suddenly found herself labled as a frigid tease, and sometimes a lesbian.
Her goal was to make it to Prom with a satisfactory date. She didn't want to miss out on the single most important night of her highschool years, and she didn't want to settle for a guy that was more grabby than an octopus. If she couldn't have someone that meant the world to her, she at least wanted to be able to smile about her partner when she looked back years later.
College was no longer an issue. She'd applied and been accepted into WSU, and nothing short of a cataclysmic event could bring down her grades. What she needed before she focused on being a full-time college student was a fling. Just an uncomplicated relationship with a like minded guy just out to have a little shared fun. Which brought her back to the main snag in her plans. She needed a guy, and she needed a guy that she didn't feel like hitting with the short buss. One that was confident enough to not be offended when she didn't fall head-over-heels for them, and a little good looks added to the mix would be a pluss as well.
It almost made her choke on her own fluids when the image of Jason of the irresistable dimples popped back up into her mind's eye, unbidden and wholey too appealing. She was about to push the thought and the image asside when she stopped. He wasn't bad looking, and he did manage a decent grade point average. So far, her selections had left something to be desired. Perhaps she should considder the basketball player.
It was that thought that was going through her head when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to find the object of her thoughts smirking at her, with his illegally appealing dimples and fathomless eyes.
