a new town, a new school (open)

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

Lucas had gotten a ride to school with Keith that morning. So far things were not going too bad, but again he hardly seen anyone yet. They had gotten there early so that his uncle could get settled in before classes started. In the meantime Luke made his way to the main office to get his schedule and locker information. The lady at the desk told him that his guidance counselor was not in yet and that if he wanted to talk to her she would probably be in later that day, just in case he had concerns about his schedule.

As he made his way out of the office and into the hallway the dirty blonde found a spot off to the side and looked over the papers that he had been handed inside. It seemed rather routine to him. He was not an over achiever as such and liked the extra time to read what he wanted to on his own. So not having any additional mandatory reading seemed like a good deal to him. It worked good for him at his last school so he did not find a reason to change that just yet.

Slowly he found his way to his locker. Maybe he could of came in with Keith the other day to do this, but Lucas had slept in and later went to get a haircut. It was not as much of a haircut as a buzz cut to be more exact. In his mind it was an extension of him starting over with a clean slate. Plus it was easier to maintain than the look he had before, and he felt certain it would not cause for too much negative attention from his fellow classmates.

As Lucas opened his locker students were starting to file into the building. He figured that some of the buses had started to arrive. His locker was empty for the time being. As more people started to near he closed it. However he knew in a school that size that everyone was bound to know right away that he was the new kid. Luke studied his surroundings, and the students that passed by in them. It made him miss his closer friends. Especially Skills and Haley. Without them he felt a bit lost. He missed their antics, but most of all he missed their companionship.

[Jennifer White]

It had been just another day for Jenni. She woke up, got dressed for school, ran out to the buss stop late, like she does every day. On the buss she played loud music while sleepily staring out into the sulky morning sky. As she was mindlessly making her way to the locker, she slammed into something that shouldn't be there. And that just happened to be the super cute new guy.

Her books flew out from her hands, and papers scattered. The other students sneered and stepped around the homework mess. When she looked up, she was staring into beautiful sapphire blue eyes. "I'm so sorry," She mumbled,
moving down to all fours, trying to get everything together.

At least she had taken the time to look good today, she thought. She wore a typical black outfit with the band "oath" printed on it, and dark eyeliner with her hair down and straight.

She hadn't made such a grateful introduction, minus points for her already, she thought. As she looked down she started to grab her papers as fast as she could. She had already made a fool of her self and just wanted to leave before the other 'blondes' came in and made even more fun of her. If she ever had a chance with this guy, she just probably blew it for looking like a fool.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

He was snapped out of his daydreaming daze when someone had bumped into him. Books and papers going everywhere. Lucas looked down to who had crashed into him. It was a girl with dark hair and light skin. She mumbled an apology to him. He was still partially in shock and was working on recovering. Some moments after she had gotten down and had started to gather her belongings Luke followed her lead. Although he focused on gathering up the books that had fallen.

They had a small audience watching on from just a little ways down the hallway. He knew the feeling of the stares of those watching on all too well. It might of been a different school, but some things he figured were universal no matter where you went. As he finished gathering the books Lucas made sure that they were in a neat pile before going to help her with the rest of her papers. Back home he imagined this would be something that would most likely happen with Haley. His best friend had her clumsy moments.

As he was helping the girl gather her papers some girls came over. "What goth chick, you can't get a guy's attention any other way so you have to bump into them?" The words came from the girl that stood closest to them. Lucas did not look up and only knew that she had been wearing some sort of pink heels. He did not let the girl's words change his mind about helping gather up the rest of the papers.

After some moments the girls moved onto other things, giving other students a hard time. "That's the kind of girl I had hoped I could get away from," Lucas stated as he handed her the papers he had gathered. "Maybe they're just jealous you thought of it first." He smiled at her kindly. As he went to get up he saw other students watching on, but mainly out of curiosity he figured. The few that he noticed seemed to look away as soon as he had seen them watching.

[Jennifer White]

Jenni gathered all her papers, going for the most private ones, mainly her drawings and poems. The least she needed was for him to see those. As the new guy got down to help her pick up her papers her heart jumped. Normally if she had done something like this the guy would have just sneered and left, not wanting to be seen around her. But this guy appeared to be different. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the blondes. Great, She thought, just what I need. They came over and stood near them. Jenni knew better than to look up, because anything she did would just entice them to berate her more.

As they spoke the cruel words, her cheeks turned red. She hadn't bumped into him to get his attention, the least she wanted was that. But the new guy kept quiet and helped her finish up gather her stuff, witch was a real relief to her. It almost made her feel special that the new guy didn't conform and try and get a in-on the 'pretty girls' of the school.

As he handed her papers to her, she listened, staring into his eyes. "Well I wouldn't say I thought of It first." she said it so quietly that she doubt he heard her. But without thought she put her hand on his. "Thank you so much." She said, more audible than before. She tried and made it sound like she was thanking him for a lot more than just helping her get out of this disaster. As she noticed the other students watching she blushed even more and moved back a step. "Well I guess I should get going..." She said, almost as if her fantasy of finally making a friend was coming to an end. He was probably just being nice, she thought. No way he would be interested in hanging out with me at lunch or anything. The most she could hope for now was that they shared similar classes.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

The fact that she thanked him allowed Lucas to know that she did have manners. Clearly she just had her moments, but everyone had those. Her face gained some color as she went to step back away from him. As much as he had grown use to the idea that girls liked him and had crushes on him he still was not the greatest at handling it in the spur of the moment. What he was good at was being nice, well around girls at least. So as she commented that she should probably get going he knew what he had to ask. Especially considering that she seemed like someone that he could easily be friends with.

"How about lunch?" She was the first person he had met and by the looks of it he was not going to get too far with the others just yet. Sure most of the girls were staring at him and were probably drooling over him in their minds, but so far not many of them seemed like the type he could just hang around with. No, they all wanted to be their boyfriend or something similar. Maybe this Jennifer, that was what the papers had had written on them, was not much different but he knew they probably had more in common or at least some similar interests that would make them decent friends.

"That way maybe you can give the kid some information on who's who and how things really work around here," Luke commented. Besides becoming friends with her could not be that bad he thought to himself. Maybe other people would wonder why they were friends, but he had not always been popular. He had a past not to different than her own by what he had saw so far. She reminded him a lot of Haley, Mouth, and Faith in a way. They had gotten their fair share of not so nice looks, stares, and in some cases bullying. "Besides I think we could each use a friend."

[Jennifer White]

When Lucas asked her to spend lunch with her she was quite surprised. But she needed a friend, and despite her reservations about him not being interested in her at all, she agreed. "Sure, no problem. I usually sit at a table alone and read through the lunch period, but it would be great to have someone to talk to for a change." She couldn't believe she was actually going to spend time with the new guy right off the bat.

As he told her about giving her information on people, she was amused. It wasn't uncommon for the new guy to ask about all the people around the school. "Oh yeah, there is definitely some things you need to know about certain people around here." She smiled and took a few brave steps closer to him, suddenly not caring about other peoples stares. "I will warn you, being my friend might not be the best thing for your image... but you are right about me needing a friend!" She said it enthusiastically, moving somewhat even closer to Lucas. Maybe it was his friendliness that made her so attracted to him. "I look forward to getting to know you. You seem as if you might have some interesting things to talk about." she smiled.

She looked down at her schedule and remembered where her first class was. "Well the bell should be ringing soon..."

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

There was something about how the girl responded and acted towards Lucas that he could both relate to but yet feel a little uneasy about. Jennifer seemed to be a bit like him. She read, although he knew that perhaps maybe she did it more to have something to do than because she enjoyed it as much as he did. Still there was the part of him that brought to his attention the likely hood that she might have a crush on him. He was not sure if might was even the right word to use. Lucas reminded himself to play it cool and not to make things awkward. After all he knew how it was to have a crush on someone and how it felt like to talk to them that first time. So he wanted her to feel comfortable, but also not too comfortable.

“I’m not really worried about my image.” In truth he was fine with just being himself. Maybe people would not like who he was because he did not fit perfectly into any one mold, but he was not going to try to be someone that he was not. Besides he had learned that sometimes to be popular all you had to do was be good at something like basketball. In general he was not worried as to if he would be popular or not. No, he just wanted to feel good about himself and who he was. “I never really have. Back home I became popular over night one day and it really was not all it was cracked up to be,” he informed her. Luke figured that might help put her at ease a little. “Last time I checked there’s no set rules on who can be popular and who they can and can’t be friends with.”

Lucas then thought about what she had said about having to get to class. He had a slight idea of where his class was but there was still some doubt in his mind. “Room 136 is down the hall that way, right?” Luke motioned towards the further end of the hall. It made sense to double check with someone that had been going there for a good while and knew the layout of the school hopefully a lot better than he did.

[Jennifer White]

Jennifer nodded as the new guy said he didn't really care about his image. It was a big sigh of relief to her, honestly, to meet someone who finally didn't care about what other people thought. As he talked about being popular it only confirmed her relief. "Well, thats good to know." She smiled and moved just a little closer. She looked into his eyes almost transfixed. She was almost startled when he asked where Room 136 was. "Yes, its right down that way. It also happens to be where my first class is." She though for a moment before asking, "Why don't you sit near me? I can help you take notes and such." This was going to be a really great day. Not only did she make a new friend, but she shares a class with one too.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

Lucas was a bit surprised that he happened to have the same first class that day as the girl that had just bumped into him earlier. Some people might call it fate, but he was not sure that quite fit the situation at hand. At least he would have someone that he knew in the class. So at least he would not feel too alone, and he would not feel like that new kid that knew nobody. "That would be nice," he told her. His words were genuine. "So health class... I have this sneaking suspicion that at least some of the students don't take the class all too seriously. Would my suspicions be correct?" Lucas really did kind of picture that there would at least be one person jerking off during class even if not everyone in the class noticed. He sort of saw it as being a guy because of which subject it was. Back home it was Tim during enough of the classes that they had, but even Tim knew how to keep it rather covert. Luke than turned to walk to class, and waited for her to follow along side him. "You can tell me on the way to class."