Title: Collision Course

Rating: T: for adult themes and some swearing. (Rating subject to change!)

Summary: From completely different worlds, they're both struggling to face, and fight, their own demons. So when their worlds are forced to collide, neither one of them expects to find solace in the other. But they quickly learn that sometimes you find what you need in the person you least expect to find it from.

…X.x.X.x…

Chapter One:

He was completely and utterly screwed. There was no denying it and Dom had the intense feeling that the walls were closing in around him slowly, and he could do nothing to stop it. He glanced around the small office, trying to figure out how he had gotten himself so completely screwed to begin with.

Maybe he was just an idiot.

"Are you even listening to me, young man?"

Moss green eyes turned to stare at the source of the voice, a disinterested glint coloring the boy's jade irises, despite his dejected thoughts.

"I heard every word, Chief." The deep voice echoed the disinterest that played behind his eyes, a small smirk loitering at the corner of his mouth.

At the sarcastic tone, the older man's graying eyebrow shot upward. "Good. Then you realize that by no means are you in any kind of position to use that sort of sardonic tone with me." The younger boys jaw clenched, but the older man continued undeterred. "For the remainder of the year, you are under my thumb so to say. So I suggest you sit up straight, wipe that stupid smirk off of your face, and take what I am saying seriously because one more slip up, even the slightest little mishap, will land you in a 6 by 9 cell, and then I will most certainly be the least of your concerns."

Dominic straightened in the wooden chair and inclined his head, his body tense with annoyance. "Yes, Sir."

The older man leaned back in his seat, his hands folded neatly across his protruding stomach which was straining against the buttons of his dress shirt. "Dominic I hope I am making myself clear. I have agreed to this arrangement not because I have an obligation to, but only out of the kindness of my heart," Dominic had to suppress a snicker, but remained quiet.

The man continued, "So I expect your full cooperation. What I mean by that is that I expect you to be on your absolute best behavior for the rest of the year. Because one little mishap-"

"Will land me in a 6 by 9 cell," Dominic finished for him.

Principal Snyder inclined his head. "I'm happy to see I've caught your attention. This is your last chance to fix things. Don't screw it up." He tapped his fingers on his desk. "Have a good year."

Taking that as a dismissal, Dominic stood, slinging his book bag on his shoulder and made his way toward the door unhurriedly, his shoulders tense, but his gait suggesting otherwise.

"Oh, and Dominic?"

Dom stopped with his hand on the doorknob and turned to look at him. "Yes?"

"I'll be watching you."

With a curt nod, Dom left the office with the constricting feeling that the air was slowly running out around him.

…X.x.X.x…

It was completely vile; she had come to that conclusion. The smell, the texture, and, of course, the taste, made her nose wrinkle in disgust and Zoë inwardly shuddered as she stared at the untouched grapefruit in front of her.

"Zoë, did you even hear a word that I just said?"

She poked at the fruit with her spoon. Maybe vile was too delicate a word, she considered thoughtfully… revolting, perhaps?

"Zoë!"

Zoë was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of the angry voice, and she looked up at her mother's annoyed face. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind…" She spared the grapefruit a glance.

Sandy placed a hand on her hip. "Yes, I can see that. You've been acting very scatterbrained lately."

"Sorry." Zoë said again.

Sandy sent her daughter an irritated look but said nothing else on the matter. "While you were busy daydreaming, I was just reminding you not to forget to talk to Director Reardon about adding that piece we discussed onto your routine."

Zoë sighed quietly. She should have known. There was nothing else that her mother spoke about besides her dancing.

Zoë fidgeted at her mother's expectant look. "Director Reardon is a very busy woman, mom. I doubt she'd have time to talk over my routine… again."

Sandy merely scoffed. "Surely she has enough time for her best dancer."

"Mom-"

"And don't forget to tell her about your partner, too. I know he's gained weight, and we can't have him adding on pounds that will damage your coordination."

Although she knew Andrew hardly gained more than half a pound, Zoë knew it would be pointless to argue, and instead nodded. She stood, pushing her untouched breakfast away from her. "Well, if I don't get going now, I'm going to be late," Zoë picked her book bag up off of the floor. "I'll see you after school."

Sandy didn't spare her another glance. "Have a good day. And remember what I said."

Zoë shut the door behind her, silently wondering how she would ever manage to forget.

…X.x.X.x…

The rest of the day passed by agonizingly slowly for Dom, and he had the distinct feeling that watching paint dry would have been more entertaining than being stuck in the school for one more minute.

He couldn't remember the last time he had spent an entire day in school. Even before he had gotten himself… in trouble, Dom was never one to stay on campus for every class he had. But now he had no choice but to do so.

It was torture.

Sticking his hands further into the pockets of his hoodie, Dom leaned back at watched the crowds of people who filled the courtyard for lunch. It didn't help that every person in the school was talking about him. Normally, Dom wouldn't have cared what people had to say. But on top of the agony of not being permitted to cut school, it was beginning to grate on his already waning patience.

He wished for a cigarette vehemently.

Before his little… problem, Dom would have spent his entire lunch period off campus, smoking as many cigarettes- or whatever else for that matter- that he wanted. The thought depressed him, and he glanced around the courtyard in distaste. At the sound of the bell, Dom began walking toward the history building.

"Dom, wait up!"

Dominic stopped walking and turned to look for the source of the voice. A lanky guy with a black winter hat, despite the warming weather, adorning his shaggy head jogged in his direction. Dom adjusted the strap of his Jansport as he waited for his friend to catch up to him. Gabe Hernandez was the only guy that Dom really associated with in school, and that was only because they had been friends since elementary school.

"Hey man," Gabe said when he reached him. Dom accepted the handshake he was offered. "Finally out of Snyder's claws?"

Dom merely nodded and began walking toward class once more.

Gabe rolled his eyes and hurried to keep up with him, the chain hooked to his belt jingling against his jeans. "Don't forget to come up for air with all that explaining."

Dom cast him a bored glance. ""What do you want Gabe?"

"What did he say to you?"

"He said that if I don't act like a nice little choir boy, then I'll land myself in a 6 by 9 cell."

Gabe scoffed. "He wishes. Snyder doesn't have the kind of power."

Dom merely looked at him.

Gabe's eyes widened. "That was the deal you cut with the judge?"

Dom shrugged. "Not in so many words, but yeah. As long as I stay in school, and out of trouble, I stay out of jail."

Dom stopped in front of his history class, a look of distaste flashing across his expression.

"Well, it could be worse right?" Gabe said reassuringly, after a moment of surprised silence.

"Mr. Harris, are you planning on joining us today?" Mr. Johnson, the history teacher, raised his eyebrow skeptically.

Dom cast one last look toward his friend, and walked into the class. He was sure things could, in fact, be much worse. But, at the moment, he couldn't see how.

…X.x.X.x…

"I heard he, like, mugged this guy and put him in the hospital for, like, a week."

"No way. He definitely got caught selling drugs."

"You're both wrong. I heard he got caught jacking cars and selling them to those illegal garages."

"What do you think Zoë?"

They were all seated on the stone siding of the flagpole in the courtyard of the school, waiting for class to start, and Zoë was once again lost in her thoughts. She glanced up at the sound of her name, seeing her friends looking at her expectantly. "What do I think about what?"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "You weren't listening at all were you?"

Zoë glanced at her meekly, but there was no grapefruit to blame this time.

Thankfully Cameron piped in before she had to come up with an excuse. "We were just wondering what you heard about Dominic Harris." He jutted his chin to the right of them, and Zoë glanced over.

In the corner of the courtyard, none other than Dominic Harris sat with his usual scowl on his face and his headphones placed in his ears. He looked up and caught her eye, just as Bianca hit her in the arm, not too gently.

"Don't look!" Bianca snapped.

Zoë quickly looked away and toward the redhead. "Why not?"

"Because he's super mean, and he'll know we're talking about him." Bianca replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh." Was all Zoë could think to say.

"So," Cameron pressed. "What did you hear?"

Zoë raised her eyebrow. "Why would I have heard anything about him?"

Melanie scoffed and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Because he totally, like, just got back from jail. Everyone's heard about it."

"Oh…"

Bianca rolled her large brown eyes. "C'mon guys, you know Zoë doesn't bother with what goes on in the school. She spends most of her time in her own little world."

Zoë flushed.

"Well, I think it's cute." Cameron said, swinging his arm around Zoë's shoulders. Zoë laughed awkwardly, and moved away from him.

Melanie frowned thoughtfully, her glossy lips moving into a full pout. "Well I still say he mugged that guy."

Not interested in talking about something she knew nothing about, and that her friends obviously didn't know anything about either, Zoë stood up. "I should get to class." Without waiting for a response from the others, she made her way out of the courtyard and toward the history buildings.

In all honesty Zoë wasn't sure why she couldn't remain focused. Her mind just wandered, no matter how much she tried to remain interested in what was going on around her. Once again, she let her mind wander as she made her way toward her class.

Not that she really needed to pay that much attention. She knew the Tyler School of the Arts like the back of her hand, and could probably walk the campus in her sleep. But as much as she hated to admit it, Bianca was right. She was in her own little world most of the time.

Before she could contemplate the subject too much, she walked through the classroom door and the teacher's voice echoed out. "Thank you for joining us Ms. Sanders. I'd like to speak to you after class."

Glancing around and seeing that class had, in fact, already started Zoë flushed and hurried to her seat mumbling an apology.

The teacher continued on with his lesson, and Zoë sunk into her seat. As she pulled out her notebook, she froze having the sudden feeling of being watched fill her senses. She turned slightly to the side to see a pair of moss green eyes staring at her intently.

Dominic Harris leaned back in his seat, his eyes taking in every inch of her face like she was a prized specimen. She frowned. Zoë hadn't even realized that Dom was even in her class and, for a reason unknown to her, he was currently staring at her like she was the most interesting thing in the room.

Zoë felt herself flush again. She turned back toward the front of the room trying to focus on the lesson, but couldn't help glancing through the veil of her chocolate brown hair to see if he was still watching her.

He was.

He was reclined back lazily in his chair as though it were a recliner instead of a hard and unyielding metal desk. Every so often he would run his hands through his already messy raven black hair, causing it to fall even more haphazardly over his forehead while he tapped his pen against his notebook to a silent tune. And he continued to watch her. His eyes moved every so often to focus on the teacher, only to stray back in her direction eventually.

By the end of the class period, she had learned nothing about history. Only that Dominic Harris could be quite a presence when he wanted to be.

…X.x.X.x…

When the bell rang, Zoë was one of the first to pop out of her chair and head for the door. Only to realize that she still needed to speak to the teacher about being late.

With a resigned sigh, she gathered her books and made her way to the teacher's desk.

Mr. Johnson cast a look in her direction as if to tell her to stay put, before glancing behind her. "Mr. Harris, I'd like a word with you as well."

As the rest of the class filed out, Dom made his way over to the teacher's desk as well. Zoë frowned. Why would he want to talk to both of them? Zoë shifted when Dom came to stand next to her, not even sparing her a glance.

"I wanted to speak to you both about a tutoring job. Since Mr. Harris hasn't been here in quite a while," he gave no implication as to where he had been, but it hung silently in the air around them. No one commented on it however, and the teacher continued, "I was hoping you could help him catch up with the material."

It took a second for Zoë to realize that the teacher's gaze was on her.

Her eyes widened. "Me?"

Mr. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you Ms. Sanders. That wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

She sputtered. "Uh, no. No, it's fine… I guess."

Dom shifted next to her. "I don't need a tutor." He said.

"I don't think you're in any position to say what you do and do not need."

Dom scowled.

Mr. Johnson smiled. "Now that that's settled," he gathered some papers on his desk and handed them to both Zoë and Dom. "I'll leave you both to sort out the details."

And with that, he sailed out of the classroom. Leaving both Dom and Zoë staring at each other, both not quite sure what they were supposed to do with each other now.

…X.x.X.x…

A.N: Yeah, new story. I've been bored to tears lately, and have wanted to write something for a while, so I gave it a shot. Hope it wasn't totally terrible. This was really just a chapter to give some background information, as first chapters usually do. Let me know what you thought either way, bad or good! I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!