A/N: It's been a while since I've written anything, but I'm excited to finally post this one. This is one of the first fanfics I've ever written and has been a work in progress for many years. Fair warning: Christianity plays a major role in this story so if that offends you then you don't have to read it. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and I respect that. I just ask that you show the same respect and keep an open mind. Constructive criticism is much appreciated and I hope you enjoy the story!

Darien Shields was finally starting his senior year and for once in his life everything seemed to be going right. He managed to maintain almost perfect grades, he had good friends, and he was easily on his way to a great future. Something still seemed to be missing and he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. He dismissed those thoughts and arrived at the school courtyard where his friends were already gathered. "Hey," he said.

"Hey Dar," his best friend Andrew Hansford said. Darien met Andrew when he transferred to the school two years ago. It was a rocky start, but now they were the best of friends.

"We're comparing schedules," his other friend Chad Murray said. Darien met Chad around the same time he met Andrew. Chad and Andrew grew up together and once Darien made a truce with Andrew the three guys were just about inseparable. "So far we all have lunch together in 3rd block."

"You can thank me for that," Beryl Stone said with a wink. "It's nice to have connections to the school leadership." Darien smiled politely at her. Even though he had broken up with her a few weeks ago after a year of dating, he and Beryl decided to remain friends and so far they were doing all right.

"What classes do you have, Darien?" Mina Adams asked as she continued to cuddle with Andrew. Mina was the peppy girl everyone loved. It was obvious Andrew had a crush on her so Darien gave him the nudge he needed and they had been together since last year.

"AP English, AP Chemistry, study block/lunch, and Sociology for the first semester," Darien started. Everyone else groaned. "What?"

"Your brain is gonna explode," Andrew said. "Senior year is supposed to be the time you get to slack off, but at least you took Sociology like I told you to."

"We can't slack off when we have to get into college," Darien replied.

"You of all people don't have to worry about getting into college," Rae Hinson said. Rae was best friends with Mina and Beryl. Once Mina started dating Andrew, Rae was forced to get to know Chad better and after a Halloween party last year Chad finally asked her out. "You gotta learn to relax a bit."

"Here's your chance," Beryl said. They all looked up and saw Serena Thomas about to walk by them. She looked like a normal student and nothing seemed out of the ordinary aside from the two buns she always wore on top of her blonde hair. "Hey Meatball Head!" Beryl called. "Nice shoes. Did you get them from the thrift store?"

Serena turned and looked down at her shoes before facing them with a smile. "No, I got them from Payless. They had a big sale this weekend."

"How fashionable," Beryl said sarcastically. "I'll definitely have to get some like yours." Serena smiled politely and continued walking into the school. As soon as she was gone the group burst into laughter.

"I got them from Payless," Chad said trying to mock her voice. It made the group laugh even more.

"Who still shops at Payless?" Rae asked.

Darien merely smirked. He really didn't see the big deal about Serena's shoes, but his friends entertained him nonetheless. The bell rang signaling ten more minutes before the tardy bell rang. "See you all at lunch," Darien said as he walked inside the school towards his English classroom.

"Hey," Beryl said as she caught up to him. "I'm really glad we're still friends."

"Me too," he said. He knew where this was going and tried to keep walking, but she grabbed his arm.

"I miss you," Beryl said stopping them in front of a classroom.

Darien sighed and shook her hand off. "We've been through this, Beryl. Our romance is over. We can either remain friends or nothing at all." Beryl sucked her teeth and hurried away. Darien just shook his head and went to take a seat in his classroom. He did care about Beryl once, but he also cared enough to break up with her when he knew things weren't going anywhere. He had every right to stop talking to her altogether since he caught her cheating on him, but he felt like he owed her since she was one of his first friends. She'll understand, he thought to himself as the tardy bell rang.

At lunch, Darien was the first to arrive at the table unofficially reserved for his friends. He looked up and happened to see Serena talking to Amy Anderson and Lita Kingston. It was an odd combination since Amy was the resident nerd and Lita was rumored to be a bully, but Serena seemed to have no problem conversing with them as they laughed together. That girl he thought as he started eating his sandwich.

"Hey man," Andrew said as he sat across from him. "How are classes so far?"

"So far so good," Darien replied. "I have sociology next."

"Good now you can relax your brain cells. God knows you need to."

"You know I can't do that. The better I do in these AP classes, the faster I can get through college…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Andrew interrupted. "Slow down a bit and smell the roses every once in a while."

"Thanks for the advice, Mr. Fortune Cookie." Darien smirked while Andrew nudged him in the arm.

"Hey," Chad said as he, Rae, Mina and Beryl joined them. "What up?"

"Nothing," Andrew said as he cuddled with Mina. "Just talking about classes."

"I'm gonna love my English class," Mina said. "Ms. H. is so slack."

"Hey Darien," Rae said mischievously. "Did I just see you checking out Meatball Head?"

"Uh oh," Chad said goofily. "Darien and Meatball Head sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Darien rolled his eyes and punched Chad in the arm as the others laughed. "Please, Chad. There's no way that'll ever happen. My eyes were wandering and I just happened to see her talking to Amy and Lita."

"The circus you mean," Beryl suggested. "I guess you can't help but stare at the freak show because they're so appalling"

They continued to talk about other things, but Darien zoned out of the conversation and watched Serena again for some reason. Amy and Lita had left and she was reading what he assumed was her Bible as she continued eating. Who actually reads that thing for leisure? He had known Serena since sophomore year and he still couldn't figure her out. Serena Thomas AKA Meatball Head was a nice girl, but almost too nice. She was obviously a Christian and she could probably talk about Jesus all day long if you let her. He couldn't deny how genuine she was; she practiced what she preached and even though it didn't make her popular Darien was secretly impressed that she stood by her convictions. Serena looked up, but Darien quickly diverted his eyes and caught the last part of his friends' conversation about the latest gossip. He hoped he wasn't staring too long at her or worse yet any of his friends caught him. The bell rang and it was time for him to go to his fourth block sociology class.

Darien entered his sociology class and took a seat in the back. He started to get settled in his seat and he happened to look up for a moment. He did a double take and cursed in his head when he saw Serena enter the classroom. God, why? He thought as she took a seat near the front of the classroom. The final bell rang and the teacher came inside.

"Good afternoon, class," the teacher said as he wrote his name on the board. "My name is Mr. Peterson and I will be teaching you all about sociology this semester. You should have received a syllabus when you registered for this class and I hope you read it. I want to call your attention to the project we will be beginning work on today." Groans filled the room. "I know, I know. It's the first day of class and I'm already putting you to work. But I think that this will be a fun project. In a nutshell, sociology is the attempt to explain and understand the way that individuals and groups interact in society. This project will specifically focus on how individuals representing different people groups interact with each other. You all represent various people groups ethnically, economically, socially, religiously, etc.

"Based on those differences, you and one partner will be paired together and then work together to present a creative project to share all that you've learned about each other at the end of the year. The point is to understand how each individual makes a contribution to society and doing it with past classes has been a great experience for everyone involved. I will have assignments prepared for you each day that will aid you in your project as we cover various topics. I've already partnered everyone together purposefully so no changes will be allowed. I will go ahead and take roll by assigning everyone seats next to their partners. So everyone stand up and go to the back of the classroom. When I call your name, have a seat together."

Everyone gathered their belongings and moved to the back of the classroom using the time they had to socialize with their classmates. Darien tried not to make eye contact with Serena, but she saw him and was making her way towards him. "Hi, Darien," she said happily.

Darien purposefully ignored her and took out his cell phone pretending to text someone. From the corner of his eye, he saw her leave to find someone else to talk to. He smirked just as his phone vibrated for real. He opened his phone and saw a message from Andrew. I'm dying he wrote.

Darien wrote him back. If you were dying you wouldn't be texting me. What are you up to?

I'm dying a slow boring death in AP History Andrew wrote back. Why am I taking this class?

For the same reason you made me take this stupid class. :P Guess who's in my class?

Darien just sent the message and then his phone was snatched from him. He looked up and saw Mr. Peterson holding his phone hostage. "First and only warning Mr. Shields: put the phone away or it's mine." He handed the phone back to him and Darien put it in his pocket. "Your partner is Serena Thomas. Have a seat and enjoy your partnership."

More curses filled Darien's mind. Seriously? He groaned and slowly sat down next to Serena in the middle of the classroom. I knew taking this class was a bad idea.

"Did I miss anyone?" Mr. Peterson asked. No one answered. "Good. I want you and your partner to complete this introductory worksheet and turn it in at the end of class. I'll give you an automatic F if you try to turn in sloppy work so make an effort, people. Does anyone have any questions?" When no one answered he began passing out the worksheets.

"This might actually be fun," Serena said as Mr. Peterson gave her two worksheets. She handed one to Darien.

"Yeah," Darien said sarcastically. "We're gonna have a blast."

"Number one," Serena read as she ignored his attitude. "'What are the first three words that come to mind when you think about your partner?' That's easy. I'd say strong, intelligent, and mysterious. What about you?"

Something I can't say out loud he thought with a smirk on his face. "The first three words that come to my mind are religious, weird, and fanatical."

"Thank you," Serena said as she made notes.

Darien raised an eyebrow at her. "Those weren't compliments. Why are you thanking me?" he asked skeptically.

"Oh, I was saying thank you for answering the question," she replied. "Force of habit."

Darien rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long year. "Next question: 'list three things about your partner that you didn't know before.' Ok, surprise me, Meatball Head."

She sighed. "Darien, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop with the Meatball references," she said seriously. "I wanna try to get along with you and it's hard to do that when you keep calling me names."

Darien shrugged. "I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

Serena smiled. "Thank you. So three things you didn't know about me. I love to sing, my middle name is Adeline, and I went to South America this summer."

Why didn't you stay? Darien thought. "What were you doing in South America?"

"I went on a mission trip with some friends from church," Serena explained excitedly. "It changed my life. We got to help this organization called Orphan Helpers and I absolutely loved it. I hope to go back because it was such an amazing experience."

Darien winced when he heard about Serena's plans for the future. He couldn't believe how close it was hitting to home. He tried to relax before Serena noticed something was wrong and focused on how he was going to answer the question at hand. "Three things…" he muttered pretending to read the worksheet again. "I play a little bit of guitar, I'm a brown belt in karate, and my favorite color is black."

"Wow," Serena said in awe. "How long have you been doing karate?"

"Long enough to get a brown belt," he said shortly.

Serena took the hint and sighed. "Number three: 'Family can play a major role in developing individuals' social standard. Spend a little time discussing your partner's family background.'" Serena looked up and noticed Darien sitting there with a blank look on his face. "Are you ok, Darien?"

"Just answer the question," Darien said stiffly. He hoped that making Serena talk would buy him more time to think about what he wanted to say.

Serena looked at him for a moment as he looked down. "Ok. I live with my parents and my brother, Sammy. My dad is a magazine editor and my mom is a homemaker. Sammy is 14 and he's a typical brother who gets on my last nerve, but I still love him very much. I also have a kitten named Luna." Serena stopped when she noticed that Darien wasn't writing anything down. "Darien, did you hear me?"

"Uh huh," he said absentmindedly. "Kitten named Luna."

"Darien, are you ok?" she asked with concern.

"I'm fine," he said quickly as he took some notes. "Is that all?"

Serena wasn't convinced. His tone of voice said it all. "Yeah, that's about it," she said. "What about your family?"

Darien sighed. He just wasn't sure how he was going to explain this when her family sounded so nice and perfect. He continued staring at his worksheet debating in his mind what he was going to say. "I don't have a family," he finally said without looking at her.

"What do you mean?"

He looked up and rolled his eyes at her. "What part of 'I don't have a family' don't you understand?"

Silence fell between them. "Do you mind me asking what happened to them?" Serena finally asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"I understand…"

"Do you really?" Darien interrupted accusingly. One of his pet peeves was when people said they understood what he had been through when they really had no clue. "People like you piss me off. I don't need your pity."

Serena looked like she wanted to say something else, but decided against it. "I didn't mean to upset you," she said calmly. "But that doesn't give you the right to be so rude to me."

Darien took a deep breath to keep his anger in check. "Yeah sorry," he said dismissively.

Serena didn't believe him, but she moved on anyway. "Number four: 'what do you hope to gain from this experience?'" Serena looked up at Darien. He was playing with his pen distractedly and wouldn't look at her. "I hope to gain a friendship," she answered. "I'm really excited to get to know you better, Darien."

Darien finally looked at her and was met with a smile. He didn't get how she could sit there and smile when he had just gone off on her moments ago. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I guess I want the same thing in a way," he said. "I'm not saying we're gonna be best friends or anything, but even though I'd much rather be partnered with someone else something about getting to know people beyond the surface interests me. Getting to know you will be an interesting experience to say the least."

Serena turned in the worksheets and sat back down. "There's only a few minutes of class left. Do you have any ideas for the creative part of this project yet?"

"Nope," he said shortly.

"I don't either. I just thought I'd ask." Darien just stared off into space. She was sad to see that all the pain he was trying to cover up and wished that there was something she could do to help. "I'll be praying for you."

Darien gave her a look. "Why bother?" The bell rang and Darien got up and left before she had a chance to say anything else to him.