Summary: Faye Schwartz' life, is not, by far getting better. Her father's AWOL with no reason or lead to where her went. Her mom's dating the principal and for some sick reason of his own, he manipulates Faye's, mother against her. Then there's Damon, the foreign exchange student from Sweden, who makes Faye crazy with fury to a point where she thinks she'll lose her mind. But will Faye ever believe that there's more to her feelings on Damon? Will she ever be able to believe that she can fall in love?

Getting a foreign exchanged student didn't matter to me. I was indifferent to the fact that there would be a stranger, from a different country, living in my house. That all changed, however, when he finally arrived.

Damon, the foreign student from Sweden, had a way of getting under my skin. And according to him, I did too. I don't know when we finally agreed on it, but we made a few rude remarks to each other and would have had this big fight if it wasn't for Alec, my older brother, before we figured that we strongly disliked one another.

I spent most of my summer vacation at Kourtnee's, my best friend and neighbor, but that didn't last long. Instead of talking about her boyfriend, she wanted to talk about Damon. Like I hadn't heard enough of him already. She told me that she thought he was hot, and then she went into explaining why he was hot, like she was trying to convince me, or something to that affect. She got really into it by describing is blond hair—not the bleach-blond type that many people have—and how dark his blue eyes were, until I finally left.

I was pretty sure she would have started on talking about his muscles, not that I would know, because, like I said, I don't like Damon.

My other friend, Marissa, wasn't a help either. She was constantly called my house, hoping that he would pick up the phone and she would have to talk to him, because I was out or something.

I tried calling James, my best guy friend—not to mention my first boyfriend back in seventh grade—but he was working with his dad, so I didn't see him.

The rest of my summer went by slowly and I stayed home to keep my little brother, Mikey, company. Before I knew it though, school was starting.

I woke up on Monday morning at five, so I could have the shower first. I got dressed in dark blue jeans and an old blue hooded sweatshirt.

I wasn't very popular at school, but I had my share of friends—those that didn't tease me about Mikey.

I pulled on my shoes, after digging through my closet for about five minutes, grabbed my book bag and headed down the stairs. I didn't want to think about Mikey at the moment.

I headed towards the kitchen to get money. Damon and Alec were already sitting down at the table getting cereal. I don't know much about nutrition nor do I care, but Alec does. It might have to do with him being an athlete, I don't know. I just wish he wouldn't be so persistent that I eat right.

I reached into the 'money jar' and pulled out a five and a couple of ones. I turned around so I was facing the table and noticed that Damon was staring at me oddly. I paid him no attention, Damon was just sometimes weird like that.

"Faye," Alec said in a warning tone.

"What?" I looked up at him in surprise.

He pointed to the fruit bowl. "You have to eat breakfast," he told me.

"I can't," I whined. "I just brushed my teeth. It'll taste nasty."

"Then take one to school with you. You have to—"

"Whatever. I'm going to be late." I didn't want to hear his health speech again.

"Its just school. Why are you in such a hurry?" Damon asked. That was another thing, I didn't want to be anywhere near Damon, but I also wasn't ready for school. At least not the teachers, or the principals.

"I haven't seen all my friends," I replied simply and headed out the door.

"Faye! Faye!"

I turned and saw Marissa, Kourtnee, and James walk quickly from one side of the gym to me.

"Hey Shortie! I haven't seen you in ages," James yelled over the noise everyone made in the gym.

"Hey Jim," I said casually. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll do anything for you Shortie."

I smiled pleasantly. "Good, then stop calling Shortie."

"Why? It's who you are. You're what five-four?" he asked innocently.

"Five-five." I replied through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, geez. I didn't know that an inch mattered that much."

"Well it does."

"See ya later, Shortie." he said smiling and walking away.

I gaped at his retreating back.

"He only does it to make you mad," Marissa put in.

"Yeah, well," I said too angry to say anything.

"So where's Damon?" Kourtnee asked suddenly and I was snapped out of my fury with James.

"How the hell should I know? Maybe he got lost on his way over," I replied.

Kourtnee looked hurt. "Jesus, Faye, what's your problem today," she asked with what? Pity in her voice?

Before I had time to answer, my name was being called. I turned around to see who was so urgent to talk with me and found to my horror Mrs. Johnson, the vice principle.

I had an unfortunate experience with her last year when I was a sophomore. I had hoped she would have left the school considering all the trouble I gave her.

"Faye Schwartz, may I have a few words with you in my office?" she asked and I wondered if I really had a choice. Obviously not since she started leading me to her office, she gripped my arm so tightly that I expected to find a bruise later.

"Sit Faye," she said, pointing to one of her chairs in her office. "I think you have a good idea why you're here." I guess she wanted me to answer since she didn't say anything and just looked at me.

"I do?" the words were out off my mouth before I had time to think about what I was saying.

She nodded. "I want to talk to you about your behavior."

Oh Dear God, not this again.

"Last year, you neglected to do your homework. Your teachers were quite worried that something was wrong, but all you told them was that you had better things to do. You got in fights with upper class-men. You argued with teachers. I don't think I remember a time when you didn't have detention."

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I did have better things to do than homework, but it wasn't as if I was failing. So why worry?

My guess is the teachers thought that I would be just like Alec, a straight-A student that finished all the work. Too bad for them.

And yeah, I did get in fights, but it was only because of Joey Matthews and his friends. If he'd leave me alone, I'd see no point in kicking his ass.

Seeing that I wasn't going to answer anytime soon, she continued, "I hope you'll make the best of your junior year. I don't want to see you in detention. At least until four weeks has gone by. Okay?"

"Um. Can I go now?" I asked. I tried to look as if I was listening, but I couldn't. Mrs. Johnson was just too boring to hold my attention for long.

She nodded. I got up and headed for the door.

"Don't forget our talk," I heard her say as I walked out to the hall.

I headed for my first period class—Calculus, dreading the long day ahead of me.