Chapter 1-

I walked into the cafeteria slowly, scanning the crowded tables for my friends. It wasn't hard to spot them; a group of Asian girls isn't too hard to miss, even in as diverse a high school as ours. I made my way over to them, only to find that all the seats at the table were taken. And there was a gaggle of other girls gathered around them, also trying to find a seat.

"Why don't we find a new table?" I asked them.

Kelly, who was standing next to me, shook her head. "There aren't any free tables left." A glance around the room confirmed her statement.

Then I frowned. "Wait, there are, what? Four of us that still need a table? Why not go to that one right there? There are five seats still left."

Kelly shook her head even more firmly. "Rachel, Erik Lupine and his friends are popular. We can't just go over there and sit with them. Besides, those seats are probably saved for their friends, anyway."

I sighed. "Come on," I said to all of the girls standing around. We're going over there." I grabbed Kelly's hand and all but dragged her over to the near empty table. "Sit," I ordered.

They sat down quickly, trying their best to ignore the looks of the table's original occupants. I put my backpack down on the seat I had chosen, as far as possible from the 'popular' guys, then went to get my lunch. I felt my neck prickling the whole time, until I walked into the kitchen, out of sight of anyone at the table.

When I came back I had been moved. My backpack was now on the seat right next to Erik Lupine himself. Oh fun. I cast one brief look at my friends, the traitors, then decided that I couldn't really blame them. After all, I was the one who had led them into this mess in the first place.

I looked at Erik for a moment, wondering how he had felt about having his table being taken over like this. His face was utterly expressionless, but his bright blue eyes studied me closely. When my eyes met his, a corner of his mouth quirked up, though his stare was just as intense as it had been before. I was getting uncomfortable. Carefully avoiding eye contact again, I sat down and turned towards my friends, effortlessly joining into their conversation.

I felt his gaze throughout the rest of lunch, however, right up to the moment we all left to go socialize in the commons.

o.O.o

I suppose I'm a sort of people watcher. I like to see how others think and feel when something happens. And it is really quite useful when you need to know how any given person will react to you going to their lunch table and sitting down with your friends.

But Erik Lupine and his friends are...strange. They are considered part of the 'popular' crowd, but they don't play any sports. They don't go out with their friends on weekends. Two of them are dating, but they've been dating for, oh, years now. I think since they moved here sophomore year. They had even moved here together, which was something that I couldn't imagine any set of normal parents ever allowing. The rest have never had a steady girlfriend, to my knowledge. And it wasn't because they weren't liked. No, they were plenty liked. They're just... enigmas.

So I wasn't really quite sure what they'd do when we sat down. I knew already that they always sat by themselves, never with the jocks and the other people in the popular clique. But would they object to our presence? Would they just ignore us? Tell us to leave?

Well, they had mostly ignored us. Except for Erik and his stare. Now that was puzzling.

I wondered about that through the rest of the day, going through my classes and the bus ride home without really realizing it. High school's like that: very repetitive, to the point that one day seems to blend with the next until you realize that the project you've been procrastinating on is due the very next day. It sucks sometimes, but it's very useful when your mind is on something else entirely.

But why had Erik looked at me like that? He doesn't like me. I ruled that out immediately. Aside from the obvious 'him popular me not' concept, I had seen him only a handful of times, and all of those at a distance. We had never even talked to each other. Just that stare...

I put it out of my head. Whatever's done is done, I told myself firmly. There's no use freaking out about something that could mean nothing, for all I know. Maybe I just looked funny, or something. I shook myself mentally, and unlocked the house door.

As I let myself in, I could hear Michael's loud footsteps behind me, signaling his approach. Leaving the door open for him, I put down my backpack and retrieved my book from the front pocket and my iPod from the side one. Armed with both of these, I went up to my room and closed the door. Curled up in my bed, cozy and warm under the blankets, I started reading where I had left off.

o.O.o

Somehow, my bed is the one place where I can actually think clearly. It's where I get most of the ideas for the -not very good- stories I try to write (though they're usually abandoned a couple pages in). It's also when I go for comfort reading and to relax after a long and stressful day. Like today. All I wanted to do was change into pajamas and read. Unfortunately, life had other ideas.

Homework, of course, was at the top of the list. So I had to restrict my reading time to an hour or so, and then dig into homework.

But then, about five, I got a call from Lindsay.

"Hi," I said when I flipped open my cell phone. I thought I did pretty well about keeping the surprise out of my voice. Lindsay had never called me before, to my knowledge. I hadn't even realized that I had given her my number.

"Hey, um, I had a question about today. You know how during lunch we went to that other table with Erik Lupine and his friends?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly. "What about it?"

"Well, um, do you think, maybe, that he likes me? Erik, I mean. Because I was watching him today, and he kept sneaking looks at us. And I think he was looking at me," Lindsay said in a rush, so that it took some time for me to process exactly what she was saying.

"I don't know," I said slowly. "I'm not exactly a friend of his, Lindsay. It's not like he would have told me who he liked." I felt a jolt in my stomach as I briefly entertained that possibility. "Besides, have you ever even talked to him before?"

"Well, no," she admitted. "But maybe he's just seen me around and got to know me through that. I mean, it's possible, right?"

"It's kind of hard to get to know someone by just seeing them from afar, Lindsay. And question. Why are you asking me in the first place?"

"Because, well, you're good at reading people. And I thought, that maybe, well, you kinda liked him, since you got all of us to go to his table. I just wanted to make sure that you would be fine with it, if he does like me." She sounded embarrassed. Very, very embarrassed. I could just picture how red her face was getting.

I laughed. "No, I got all of us to go there because it was next to the only table that had enough seats left for all of us. And the two other options were with kids that I'm pretty sure smoke and do drugs and kids that would have beaten us up if we had tried to venture onto their 'sacred' ground. I just figured that they were probably the best choice."

"Oh. Um, so, thanks, I guess, for telling me that. Um, bye!" She hung up. As I closed the phone, I laughed. Michael looked up from his homework at me, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Um, why are you laughing, Rachel?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. Girl stuff that you wouldn't be interested it."

"Right. Whatever. Now go away, sis. I need to finish this essay by tomorrow." He waved his hand in my direction, a clear 'shoo' sign. I ignored it.

"And when was this assigned?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

He looked sheepish. "Like, a week ago?"

"Michael, what have I told you about leaving everything for the last-"

"I know, I know," he interrupted. "Just go away, okay, and let me concentrate."

Rolling my eyes, I left the study room. My brother was possibly one of the worst procrastinators I had ever met. And that included me. Seriously, leaving an essay until the night before? Especially when he knows that it's worth maybe half his English grade? And my parents and I keep going over this with him, but he never changes. I fail to see why it's so hard to start a long-term assignment at least a couple days before it's due. All the stress of trying to finish it in one night isn't worth the extra time you have on other days. But it's his life, I guess.

And I suppose that if he becomes a famous basketball slash soccer slash baseball player, then he's going to earn more money than me anyway. Stupid Americans and their insane support of sports.

o.O.o

"I hate you," I told Tara as I sat down next to her. "Leaving me for your boyfriend? You hurt me so! I don't think I'll ever recover from the pain."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, Rachel. He took me to a concert. Who wouldn't ditch you to go to a concert with her boyfriend?"

"Hey! That was uncalled for." I smacked her shoulder.

She grinned. "I hate you," I repeated. "Loathe you. Abhor you. I find you detestable."

Her grin widened. "Aw, thanks for the love, Rach. Got to go now!" She hopped down from the low wall we were seated on and walked away with a little wave. I watched as she found her boyfriend, Thomas, and they kissed. That was about the point that I diverted my eyes, scanned the crowd for someone else I could talk to.

I mean, it's great that they're happy and like each other, but I'm not exactly voyeuristic by nature. And besides, it's always awkward to be watching your friends engage in public (very public) displays of affection.

Then I felt someone sit down next to me. And, by the sheer mass and the unmistakably masculine scent, it wasn't one of my friends. Why was he here? Or, better question, what did he want with me?

Author's Note: This is my 2008 Nanowrimo novel. My friends (you know who you are!) have been bugging me about putting this up, so here's the first chapter. I can't exactly promise fast updates, since I can be amazing good at putting off editing the first draft, but I DO have the whole thing written (typed up?), so it WILL be completed.

Thanks for reading!

~Kat