New day, hopefully a better story… I'm headed out for the weekend. I might be able to post the next chapter to this but you might have to wait till Monday! Anyway I hope you all enjoy…

As always, the characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing them!

Firsts

At First Sight

September 7th 1988

Scarlet sighed, wishing that it was some kind of cruel joke. It was the second day of classes and she already had homework. Brushing a lock of hair out of face, she tucked it behind her ear as she stopped outside of the entrance of the school. Looking down the street, she tried to spot her mother's station wagon. Students were crowded in the parkway in front of the school making it hard to pick out her mother's car.

With a sigh, she readjusted her backpack and started down the steps towards the lawn. In front of her was a group of cheerleaders, giggling and chatting.

"… so then he took me down to that place at the rink, and well I don't think I need to tell you what happened after that!" The girl in the middle giggled and tossed her long blond hair over her shoulder. "I will tell you this though, that boy has quite the talent!" the girls broke in a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

"Cheryl, that's terrible!" the brunette next to her exclaimed. They continued off the parking lot. Scarlet stopped and leaned against a light post. For the forth time that day, she wished that her dad had never gotten that transfer to Hayden. When her parents sat her down at the beginning of the summer and told her of the transfer, she thought of it as a chance to change.

It wasn't that she didn't have friends at her old school; she missed Namaoi and Margaret like crazy. But she hadn't been one of those girls. One of the girls that all the boys wanted and all the girls wanted to be. For two years, she had been over-looked by just about every boy at her old school. Looking down at shirt she sighed. She should probably get some new clothes. She was still unpacking and was sure that one of her boxes had been lost in the move.

Deciding to start her homework while waiting, she moved towards the courtyard and made herself comfortable under a tree. Pulling her bag towards herself, she grabbed her math textbook out and opened it. The numbers swam before her eyes as she tried to workout the problems. She grabbed a pencil and tried to make notes.

"Nuts to this!" Slamming the book closed and shoving it deep into her bag, she checked her watch and looked around. She had been working for almost an hour and the parking lot was almost empty. Guessing her mom was running late from her new job, she decided to wait a bit longer before trying to catch a city bus home. Grabbing a book from her bag, she opened it to the marker and started to read.

The warm fall breeze floated around her, and she lifted her hand to push her hair back out of her face. Looking up from the page, her eyes scanned the lawn and stopped on a boy who was standing on the steps of the school.

He was dressed in a basketball uniform, track bag slung over one shoulder and ball under his arm. He had stopped on the steps and was just staring at her. A shorter blond boy was waving his hands in front of his face trying to get his attention. Scarlet looked back down at her book and tried to remember where she left off. She raised her eyes to peer over the top of the book and watched as he seem to come out of his trance at look down at his friend. Slinging his arm around the smaller boy, they started back down the steps.

She turned back to her book and glanced at her watch. "Where the hell is she?" she thought.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over her and she raised her head to see what had caused it. He was staring down at her, blue eyes twinkling. His hair was shaggy and was curling at the tips.

"Sorry?" she shook her head to clear it. She was sure he had said something but had no idea what he said. He gave her an easy smile.

"I said, hey."

"Um, hi." Scarlet squirmed under his stare. "Can I help you with something?"

"You just seemed kind of lonely over here all by yourself. You're new here right?" He lifted his hand to block the sun from his eyes as he stared down at her.

She placed her marker into the book. "Ya, two weeks ago."

"How you liking Hayden?" He flashed her an easy smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him.

"It's a lot different than my old school." she turned her head and pushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm still getting use to the weather here. Compared to here it rained everyday." She stood and moved to brush the grass from her pants. "I'm Scarlet." She held out her hand. With a smirk, he took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Mike. Wow, Less than Zero? That's a pretty heavy book." He reached down and picked up her bag from the ground. He held it out to her and she shoved her book into it and zipped it closed. Swinging it onto her shoulder she met his gaze.

For the first time since he approached her, he broke his stare and scanned the empty school grounds. "Are you waiting for your boyfriend?" he asked, fixing his stare on her once again.

She laughed that the thought of her having a boyfriend. "Like that'll ever happen." She thought.

"No, my mom was suppose to be picking me up here… an hour and half ago." She looked away from her watch. "She must have gotten stuck at work." She sighed.

"Do you need a lift?" He seemed almost desperate. She studied his face and noticed that her seemed like he was begging her with his eyes.

"I don't know, you're a stranger, I'm not suppose to talk to strangers…" she said throwing a sarcastic smile his way. "You don't even know where I live. What if it's on the other side of town?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down.

"That's perfect, more time to time to talk." He placed his hand at the small of her back and carefully moved her towards the only car in the lot. "Don't worry, I got my license a month ago."

"Wow." She gave the car a once over. "Nice car."

The jet black Trans-Am seemed to glitter in the bright sun. His hand left her back, and she shivered at the loss of contact.

"Thanks, my dad works for this pharmaceutical company and I got this for my birthday." Unlocking the door he held it open for her and motioned for her to get it. Once she was in the car, he closed the door, and threw his stuff in the trunk. Hopping it the driver seat, he put the keys in and turned. The car purred to life.

"Sorry if I smell. I just got out of basketball practice." He flashed her another grin before putting the car in drive and easing it forward.

"Really? Basketball? And here I thought that was the chess club uniform and you just had a totally hard game." She turned his head and watched as he laughed. He was rifling through a pile of tapes, seeming to look for one.

"So Guns 'n Roses ok to listen to?" he didn't met her eyes as he slipped a tape into the radio.

"Wicked, they totally rock! I love them." She gave him a smile when he looked over and noticed him laughing. "What?"

"I would have never guessed."