Disclaimer: Again, everything in this story is mine. If you so dare to copy my characters, and/or plot, I shall smite thee. Mwhaha. I don't care if you change their flippin' names andrearrange the story a little bit… it's MINE! Thank you. : )

The characters and events portrayed in this story are fictitious. (In other words, they have been made up.) Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Thank you, come again.

Chapter One: Around the Corner

Damnit… I hate this class…I thought to myself with a sigh and I had glanced up towards the clock on the wall, tapping my pencil lightly against the desk I was leaning on. Woah… only five minutes left? I must have spaced out or something, because Algebra sure seemed to be going a lot faster that day than it normally did, especially since it was the last class of the day on a Friday. Compared to the rest of my week, it was probably the only real good thing that had happened.

After losing my best friend Joanne last Sunday over basically nothing, the past week had been dull, empty, meaningless, and worst of all, slow. I won't lie: I missed my old friends. They were just about the only thing that brought me to school everyday, without them I wouldn't have bothered. They had been there for me even after my parents had divorced, but they left me after Joanne was gone. As well as the departure of my 'friends', or so they used to be called, my motivation to do anything, disappeared. I had also lost tons of sleep over the whole ordeal.

Now, I had realized just how much I really hated getting up and going to school.

Coming back to reality, I sighed again and looked over at the teacher, who was still lecturing us on something that I was sure had been covered last year. All I could really hear was… blah, blah, blah, etc, etc. I guess that my lack of sleep was taking effect on my ability to process exactly what the teacher was saying. And, before I knew it, the bell had rung, bringing me back to my senses, and that bell meant that the worst school week ever, was finally over.

I hurried to gather my belongings so that I could escape the hell hole otherwise known as school, and get my ass home for some relaxation time. It took about a minute or so for me to put everything that I would need to take home for the weekend back in my backpack, and as soon as I was done, I rushed out of the classroom and into the student-infested hallway. Somehow, I had managed to push past the other people quick enough that I was soon at my locker and twisting the dial to enter the correct combination. It only took two tries instead of the usual four to open it; I guess I still had some luck left.

I threw my math binder and book into the locker and grabbed my English book, placing it under my arm. I slammed the locker shut, and headed towards where the entrance to the school building, which was down one flight of stairs and around a corner. This corner was known as the 'blind spot', because it was rare if you didn't go around it and hit someone. I almost always ran into someone as I went around it, and today was defiantly no exception.

It didn't really help that I was in a hurry either, because as soon as I had hit the landing just below the stairs, and had rounded that cursed corner, I ran straight into something solid. And before I knew it, I was on the ground, my book off to the side of where I was lying. It took only a moment for me to realize where I was, and what had just happened. I sat up, rubbing my forehead and I heard a grunt from the person I had hit.

I looked up at them then just as they had done the same. And that was the first time my hazel eyes met her green-blue ones.

The girl I had run into appeared to be somewhere around the age of sixteen or seventeen, and I couldn't really tell if she was tall or short. She had strawberry blonde hair, that looked kind of orangeish-red. Her turquoise eyes were bright, and they seemed to be holding a smile that could clearly be seen, and it kind of seemed as though she were hiding something. I noticed that she had a thin line of black eye liner on that only made her eyes seem even brighter. She was wearing a shirt that matched her eye color, with a black jacket over it, and a simple pair of blue jeans. Her shoes were just a old worn out pair of Nike sneakers that looked like they had been well used.

I wondered silently to myself why I hadn't seen this girl around school before… but then again, I was always in so much of a rush to make it to class on time, that I hardly ever found the time to study the faces of the people I walked by.

We kept eye contact for another moment before I remembered that I was sitting in the way of the other students' path. So, I got to my feet, and offered her a hand to help her up. I mumbled a quiet apology as she took my hand, and I gave a sheepish smile. She nodded her head, and returned the smile, with her own brilliant one. After she had stood up, I noticed that she was shorter than me, by at least an inch, and that was a lot, considering I'm only 5'1".

"I'm Samantha, Samantha Rivers." She said, and that had to be the least thing I had expected at that moment. Normally when you ran into someone, you said an apology, and both took off. But this time was different.

"Renae Sanson." I replied nervously, as I bent down to pick up my book, as well as the one she had dropped after the collision. "Here, I believe this is yours… uh, Samantha." I said as I handed the book back to her.

I then glanced down at the book as I was returning it to her, and I noticed that it was for Biology. Sophomore, maybe? I thought, before I looked back up at her just as she was giving another one of her smiles, and I felt like I had literally melted inside. She seemed to have this strange effect on me, an overpowering kind of thing. I could literally be her 'bitch' if she wanted to order me around to do her bidding.

"Just call me Sam." She said, as she retrieved the book from my outstretched hand. My hand had casually brushed against hers, as if by accident.

Sam…I thought, as I was speechless. Coming in contact with her seemed to have dumbfounded me, and I didn't know why. There was just something about this girl… something different. She wasn't like the rest of them.

I twitched nervously, and withdrew my hand away from hers as quickly as possible. She flashed another one of her smiles and I felt weak again. I suddenly found that I had the urge to want to get to know this girl better. Damnit, why does she have to be so frickin' gorgeous? Waita minute… did I just think that? My eyes had widened as I realized what I had just thought. Sam must have noticed that my eyes had widened, because she gave me a weird look. An eyebrow raised and everything.

I figured that the source of my nervousness had to come from that, but why was I feeling this way around another girl? I never had this kind of feeling around anyone, not even the guys at my school. Why was this showing up now? Was something wrong with me? I knew wouldn't find out the answers to these questions just by staring at her like I was, so I offered that we go outside and get away from the noise of the other students. She agreed with a nod of her head.

As we headed towards the doors that led outside, walking side by side, I glanced over at her for a moment, but when she looked my way, I looked in the other direction. It was childish, I know, but it was better than being caught gawking at her like some drooling teenage boy. God, why did she have to be as beautiful as she was? It took all of my willpower to tear my eyes away from her and concentrate on where we were headed.

I breathed a sigh as soon as we had reached the other side of the door, and I looked over at Sam and smiled. She returned it, and I had to look away again so I wouldn't faint or something. She was still smiling even when I had looked up again.

"So, uh… are you a sophomore?" I asked, trying to break the nerve racking silence between up.

She nodded her head in reply. "Yup, I sure am. How'd you guess?" She asked me, raising that eyebrow of hers again.

"Lucky guess." I said, shrugging one of my shoulders. "That, and I saw your Bio book. I know that's a sophomore class." I smiled sheepishly, and I adjusted my backpack so that it didn't feel so uncomfortable. "I'm a freshman myself, but I'd prefer to be a sophomore." I said, giving a quiet laugh that sounded nothing like it normally did. I blamed my nerves on that one.

"Well, being a sophomore's not all it's cracked up to be." She said, giving a smirk and laughing.

I liked her laugh, it was… enticing, and it really caught my attention, though not as much as her smile had, but never the less, I liked it. She seemed so laid back, comfortable, confident; everything I wasn't, and wished I could be…

ShadowedNightmare