NOTE: I NEED A BETA READER WITH A SPELL CHECKER!

- T H E - - R U L E

Y

Forced into attending St. Anthony Private School, a former Cardinal High student, finds herself breaking a Cardinal High Rule: Never befriend a St. Anthony rich kid.

- O N E: r

Every school has a rivalry with another. Why is this? Terra has wondered this question over the years and after numerous spirit weeks and attending countless football games she has finally reached the conclusion that rivalries between schools is the same as rivalries between people. People like competition. People like to see other people lose because they like to win. There are no winners without losers and usually people like to fight to over it, and in some extreme cases even to the death.

Cardinal High School, with its run down administration and it dilapidated buildings was like your regular under dog. All those attending Cardinal High weren't exactly living in the world of luxury. Nay, those attending Cardinal High were usually from broken homes with a single mom and a handful of children. Born in the wrong side of town, some would say.

So what was Terra Stallings, with the surname of a prosperous family, doing living in the wrong side of town? Simple. Her mother chose her then boyfriend over her family and so she was kicked out to the streets at the mere age of seventeen. Two months later she was pregnant with Terra. Married by wedlock, Terra's maternal family disowned her. Not a single cent of financial aid despite her grandfather's riches would ever be seen by Terra. Ever. And like most those attending Cardinal High her 'father' left the family to fend for themselves when all the factories and businesses were closed down by those rich mongles.

After the closing of many factories it was like a miniscular Great Depression. And because of this many of Terra's classmates and friends began to slowly hate the kids of the rich.

Hatred. Jealousy. Anger. Resentment.

Either way that was how the rivalry with the St. Anthony rich kids began.

So you can imagine how difficult of a situation it is when a random phone call from your maternal grandparents tells you that you are going to attend your rivalry school just because they have the money and you have the brains.

"What do you mean that you want me to go to St. Anthony?" Terra questioned in complete and utter confusion. For the past seventeen years of her life she had grown to hate her maternal grandparents for the same reason as her mother.

Terra's mother with her all too scary cobalt eyes sent Terra wanting to cower in fear. "Dear, do not raise your voice at me."

She tried to lower her voice but to no avail. "Mom, I don't believe this, just because I am soon turning sixteen they suddenly want to be in my life. And you are letting them?!"

Her mother glared at her. "I am doing this for you Terra. The financial burden to send you to college is too much, and you are too smart to attend public school," her mother reasoned while running a casual hand through her dark brown treces. "Terra, you have a better chance at going to any college you want if you make nice with your grandparents," her mother said with a sickenly sweet tone.

She knew that her mother was right but she her heart had grown to hate her maternal grandparents.

"But they left you when you were my age."

Her mother sighed, "Terra, they don't want you to make the same mistake as I did and I sure as hell don't want you to make them either."

"Mom..."

She watched as her mother forced a smile. "Please, Terra."

A traitor. That's what her classmates would call her.

"I'll do it if you really want me to."

"I really want you to."

She sighed. She knew that she was a problem child but she had to do this for her mother...

Her whole life was about to change and she had a feeling that attending St. Anthony Private School was just the beginning.

R

She wasn't the sexiest girl in the world, she knew that. She was, however, naturally pretty, with her long, dark brown hair that cascaded over her shoulder to her petite curvy body, and penetrating cobalt eyes. But it wasn't her looks that attracted people, although it did help speed up the process, it was the fact that she was a rebel. Completely and totally. Her big mouth, however, always got her into trouble with girls. If it wasn't for her guy friends she would probably be in more fights, but rarely did she ever have problems with guys.

Guys were the easiest to get along with, and they didn't mind her sarcasm. Her friends were Chad, Jareth, and Frankie. All were cute in their own ways, Frankie with his boyish good looks and hot body, Jareth with his crazy rocker persona clad in black leather, and Chad with his 'I am a hottie hear me roar' good looks. She wasn't blind to their good looks and at one point of her life she had a crush on each of them, but she got over the infatuations after getting to know them. Now, they were just the brothers she never had and didn't see herself falling in love with any of them. And why would she? She knew that they only used women and they were all not exactly boyfriend material except maybe Frankie.

"What do you mean that you are going to go to that rich school St. Anthony?" Chad exclaimed matching the same expression as the rest of the group.

"Seriously?" Jareth asked in disbelief.

She nodded.

"When are you going?" Frankie questioned.

"Shut up the lot of you!" Chad exclaimed to grab all of their attention. He took Terra's tiny hand into his and pulled her to her feet and off the couch. "Look me in the eye and tell me you are not lying."

She sighed before meeting Chad's starry hazel eyes with hers. "I am not lying," she said.

Chad raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on hers. "Are you serious?!" Chad suddenly yelled not directly at her. He groaned loudly. "I cannot believe this bullshit." He crashed on the couch.

She was surprised, he was taking this harder than she imagined. And then she realized why. Chad's father was one of those rich mongrels and he had a personal hatred for the rich.

"Chad..." she said sitting down next to him.

"You aren't leaving are you?" he asked weakly.

She shook her head. "No, I am still going to be live here but I am going to St. Anthony's. It's not like you aren't going to see me everyday, Chad. You are still my bestfriend, it's not like you are going to lose me."

Chad ran a hand through his jet black hair hair in frustration. "Never trust them," Chad said finally.

She nodded. "No need to worry about that. I know the rules. Never trust them. Never befriend them. Never, ever fall in love with one of them. Don't worry about me, Chad, I hate them as much as everyone else does."

"That's the spirit!" Frankie said with a smirk.

She chuckled.

The rest of the night, they did everything they could to keep her mind off the impending changes, which consisted of scary movies and lots and lots of junk food.

- D A Y

She groaned when awakened to conciousness. She slammed her hand over the beeping alarm. It wasn't the loudest thing in the world, but the piercing sound annoyed her to no end. She stumbled towards the bathroom and woke herself fully by going under a freezing cold shower.

She looked at her reflection. Oh how so did she hate skirts. The only reason really was because she hated shaving, she didn't mind skirts as much as she hated dresses but the whole shaving part was the nuisance. She cut herself numerous times with the razor and there was tissue paper everywhere trying to stop the bleeding.

Her mother smiled at her through the mirror.

"Having problems there, Terra?" her mother said trying to not laugh but not doing a sloppy job at it.

She narrowed her eyes at the reflection of her mother. "When I wear jeans, I don't have to worry about shaving."

Her mother giggled like a little girl. "I hated the uniforms as well, but yours seem much shorter than mine."

She nodded and fixed her white blouse. "Uniforms suck," she mumbled under her breath.

Silence.

"Well enough of this," her mother said, "Your grandfather and grandmother wants to meet you before you start school."

"Yeah, I know. Otherwise I wouldn't be awake at five thiry in the morning just to meet them for breakfast," she retorted bitterly.

Her mother smiled before handing her the car keys.

She was surprise at this. "Mom, you need the car more than I do."

Her mother shook her head. "I can use the bus. I think I can get used to the smell after awhile," her mother said with a forced smile.

She loved her mom. She really did. Not many girls were lucky enough to have a mother like hers.

"Now get out of here Terra. Your grandparents is waiting."

She forced a smile and took the car to visit her evil grandparents.

- - G

She swore loudly when a fiery red Lamborghini Diablo cut her off. That was certainly firewood to the fire already burning. "Stupid Ass!" she yelled loudly out the window. Jerk, she thought silently to herself. "Learn how to drive like the rest of us..." she mumbled to herself.

She continued on her way trying to push the incident with the jerk as far back in her mind as possible. She found the mansion after nearly twenty minutes of searching. The streets all looked the same and the buildings were all identical.

She was amazed when she found the mansion and even more amazed to meet her grandparents.

She had always pictured them as an old couple. She expected an old man that resembled Satan himself and and old woman that had horns and a messed up face. She was surprised to meet a very nice and seemingly young couple.

"Hello," she greeted them.

"Oh dear," her grandmother said with surpise. She could feel their scrutinizing gaze. She hated being sized up, usually it was from girls that were jealous of her friendships with Chad, Jareth and Frankie. She hated it. "Is that your natural hair color dear?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Um, yes," she responded.

"That is wonderful-"

"Beatrice, let's continue this at the table. I am starving," her grandfather interrupted.

Well, at least grandmother isn't so bad, she thought silently.

She followed them to a never beautiful room. She took a seat. It seemed as if this room was the size of her house.

"How is your mother doing dear?" her grandmother asked.

She was about to answer when she saw the tenseness in her grandfather's eyes.

"Mom is fine," she answered.

She hated the silence. But luckily the butler came and took their orders. She ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, with pancakes. It was the best breakfast she had in ages. Her usual breakfast consisted of a glass of milk and cold Pop Tarts to go.

"You will have breakfast here everyday. You will be attend St. Anthony. You will attend family events. You will abide by our rules."

She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Terrance," her grandmother interrupted. "Let me talk to her."

Her grandfather waved a hand.

Her grandmother got up and urged her to follow, so she did. "Terra, you are smart I've seen your records, you can be someone," her grandmother said once they were outside. "Much like your mother but your grandfather simply doesn't want you turn out like her."

"I am not my mother."

"I know, dear."

"And why do I have to abide by his rules?"

"Your grandfather is paying for your college tuition no matter where you decide to go."

"But why is he doing this? You haven't been in my life before, why now?"

"Do you want to go to college?"

"Yes. Of course."

"With the help of your grandfather you can go to any college. You just have to abide by his rules."

She was annoyed but she accepted it. She promised her mother that she would do this for her.

R

The school was not as he imagined. It gave off the feeling of richness but it wasn't what she expected. It wasn't the prison she expected but it sure as hell wasn't the same as Cardinal High.

St. Anthony was a Hollywood school, the type seen in the movies. And it seemed as if the students were also Hollywood actors. Perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect bodies, and perfect lives. She was shorter than most of the students mostly because she was younger than most of them, she knew that she was at least a year younger than most of her classmates because she had skipped a year in school.

She was parking her car when she noticed the fiery red Lamborghini Diablo that cut her off earlier.

It simply angered her. She went up to the car and peered in. There was no one inside so she was a bit pissed that she couldn't vent out anger at the driver.

"Rich bastard," she mumbled under her breath. She was walking to the school building when she noticed a group of guys looking at her. She rolled her eyes and continued walking. She needed to find the headmasters office but she sure as hell wasn't going to ask oone of them for directions.

She was turning to the right when she felt a hand grab her arm.

"Hey," a voice said.

She turned to met him eye to eye and was surprised to meet with a not so bad looking hunk of a man. He was cute, that was for sure.

"Uh, hi," she responded.

The guy flashed a smile. "I'm Wes McCoy," he greeted with a hand out-stretched.

"Uh, I'm Terra," she responded trying not to melt. She was weak at the knees and she barely even knew him.

"Terra? That's a pretty odd name," he said.

"Yeah, well."

"Do you know where the Head Masters office is at?"

Wes flashed another heart melting smile. "Yeah it's actually that way. You new to the town?"

"Uh, actually, sort of."

He smirked. "Well then welcome. The guys and I are having a party tonight, you should come."

She raised an eyebrow. "It's a school night."

"Yeah. So what?" he asked.

"Uh, nevermind. I should go," she excused herself. She was walking down the hall when he called out to her.

"Well, if you want to go just meet me after school." She turned to his direction. "You already know what my car looks like."

Lightning flashed. "Wait one second! You are the one that owns that red piece of crap?"

"Excuse me?" he uttered. "Did you just call my baby a piece of crap?!"

"Yeah! You should learn how to drive!" she added before stalking away. "Jackass!"

Okay, not a good way to start off a school year but at least one thing is for sure, she wouldn't be breaking any Cardinal rules any time soon and they couldn't call her a complete traitor...

- S

Yeah, bleh. I was disconnected from the internet for a good 3 days because the phone line is being weird. But bleh. I had another idea for a story and here it is. I dunno, I just wanted to try another way of writing without using the first person P.O.V. so here it is... I dunno, I am just bored of the first person P.O.V. is all. - HoT LiKE WaSabi