Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or much of anything. I'm just a fan.

A/N Jan 2013: I am currently going through and editing all of the chapters before uploading the final chapter.

Chapter One: Map of the Problematique

I want to be free
From desolation and despair.
And I feel
Like everything I sow
Is bein' swept away.

Muse - Map Of The Problematique

Rain pounded loudly against the roof of classroom number 146 as students sat around listening to the teacher drone on about American History. Two tall boys sat side by side in the back of the room, not paying much attention as they wrote notes to one another. A row behind them on the opposite side of the room sat two girls doing similar. A tall girl with curly dark blonde hair giggled at something on the note, glancing over to the two boys, while a shorter girl with long black hair rolled her eyes, snickering.

"Do you girls find something about the battle of Galveston particularly amusing?" The teacher asked, the blonde girl immediately frowned, glancing up with a look of disdain and fear flashing behind her eyes.

"Only your dismal portrayal of it." The dark haired girl muttered under her breath, causing her blonde friend to break in to giggles.

"What was that, Miss Louhi?" The teacher frowned, walking down the center of the classroom where a large walkway was cleared between the two rows of desks.

"Were you there, Mrs. Gripling? Did you experience the battle yourself?" Miss Louhi, the dark haired girl asked, the corners of her full lips tugging upwards in a smirk ever-so-slightly. The class watched with baited breath.

"What are you playing at?" Mrs. Gripling inquired; her patience was wearing thin. Her black and white grey hair was pulled tightly back in to a bun, tugging at the hairline around her face.

"I have read more accurate portrayals of battles on the back of cereal boxes than out of your mouth." The girl said flippantly, her elbows folded on the table with her hands latched innocently under her chin.

"Very well, Lucy. Since you seem to think of yourself as an expert on history; I will be administering projects to you all. Due Monday morning. You can thank Miss Louhi." The teacher said icily.

"Oh yes, what better way to learn about history than by having your students teach you." The girl said in response. The teacher spun back around in time to see that Lucy was now writing on her paper innocently.

"Thanks a lot, Luce." The blonde girl groaned, despite the fact that she was practically brimming with laughter.

"Don't worry, I've-" The dark haired girl began to say, when the teacher laughed form the front of the class.

"I will be choosing your partners." The teacher added dryly, her wicked grey eyes settling on the pale dark haired girl.

"You know I am horrible at history; I don't know anything!" The blonde girl whispered frantically.

"I'll make you a note-card for when you work with your partner, don't worry." The dark haired girl frowned, her eyes looking angrily at the teacher.

"Lucy, Jessica and Jasper, on the Battle of Fredericksburg." The teacher said finally. The dark haired girl felt her heart fall as she looked over to the table on the other side of the room. The blond haired boy glanced up from his notes that he had been passing to the boy with short curly hair, glancing back to her briefly with a frown. Her eyes then wandered up to a brown haired girl a few rows forward; she could almost sense her excitement. Jessica had fancied Jasper Hale from the moment he had stepped foot in the school.

"I'm sorry." The blonde girl whispered apologetically.

"I expect you to perform skits, that are factual and accurate." The teacher said brightly as she sat at her desk. The bell rang and Lucy frowned. She groaned inwardly as she stood up to approach the blonde boy, but was beat by Jessica, her brown ponytail bouncing eagerly.

"I'm so excited to work with you, Jasper! You're so smart!" Jessica said brightly, her head bobbing with each movement.

"Yes, Jasper. You're just so smart." Lucy sighed in a dreamy voice, clutching her hands to her chest. The boy with curly dark hair began laughing lightly at her.

"Lucy, you wouldn't know someone of any smartiness if they hit you over the head with a book." Jessica said firmly. The two boys watched as the dark haired girl fought to maintain a serious face.

"You're right, Jessica. I would have absolutely no idea about a person of any smartiness, even if they hit me over the head with a book." The dark haired girl said smoothly, causing the dark haired boy to further erupt in laughter while getting a dark look from Jessica.

"So when do you want to get together, Jazz? We can do it at my house, but my mom only lets me have one person at a time." Jessica said, blocking Jasper's way out from his seat.

"I would suggest doing it outside during lunch; I don't think I can take any of your cheap perfume in close quarters." Lucy said, folding her arms firmly.

"But it will be cold and wet." Jessica frowned, pouting as she looked at Jasper.

"I like Lucy's idea. We'll do it outside at lunch." Jasper spoke for the first time. He had a smooth voice, with a slight southern drawl. Lucy smirked at Jessica who looked thoroughly rotten as Lucy disappeared out of the classroom.

"That was great!" Lucy heard someone laughing behind her. She turned curiously to see the tall, broad boy from class.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how to notice someone's smartiness." Lucy said with a grin, scratching her head slightly. "Maybe she can tell me."

"I'm in Sam's group; I don't mind doing extra work for her." The boy said politely.

"We've been friends since I moved here; she's a great girl... but she is absolutely deplorable at remembering anything remotely factual." Lucy said appreciatively. "I suppose if I glued pictures of hot movie stars in to her text books and made her think that they were the soldiers, she may remember it more."

"Would that really work?" He laughed boldly.

"I doubt it, she'd probably forget how to read and just look at the pictures." Lucy snickered, rolling her eyes. "But thank you; I'm a bit of a history nut, so we haven't had problems working together; but this teacher is going to be the end of me."

"I think she gets her facts out of comic books." He offered. She laughed brightly, shaking her head.

"Yes, how she got through college is a mystery. Though back then I suppose the expectations were lower, and there wasn't a whole lot of history back in the ice age for her to worry about knowing." Lucy smirked as she walked towards her next class, which the large boy was also in.

"I'm Emmett, by the way." He told her politely.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emmett. I'm Lucy." She said grinning up at him briefly before glancing around the hall. Emmett and Jasper had moved there two years prior with their large adoptive family, and had barely spoken a word to anyone out of choice, though every girl in the school had followed them around at some point.

"You're not too bad. Most of the girls here seem crazy." He told her with a laugh as he looked ahead in the hall. Lucy stood on her toes to see a girl following around his younger brother eagerly.

"I think it's something in the water they're drinking. I moved here three years ago, and everyone was just as crazy then." She offered casually, grinning at the small girl chasing after the poor bronze haired boy. "If I ever had a daughter, I would not name her Jessica, it seems to be a cursed name."

"Oh?" He laughed, glancing down to the smaller girl.

"That girl chasing your brother Edward around, she's a junior now; she's gone after every boy in this school. Her name is Jessica. The girl in our History class that is Jasper's number one fan is also named Jessica." She explained as he held open the door to her classroom.

"I will remember to stay away from girls with that name." He chuckled to himself and walked across the room to his seat, while Lucy took her chair towards the front.

Lucy pulled her history book out and began flipping through it idly to find the short paragraph that mentioned the subject of her project. She had always been a great history nut, preferring to get lost in the past rather than thinking about the present or future. She didn't really need the book to remember facts from that battle; more than anything she was dreading spending her entire lunch with Jessica Jones and the subject of her most recent obsession.

A/N: Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! :D