Who am I? Yes, I suppose that would be a good place to start. I am just another stereotypical face in the crowd. I'm not a cheerleader, I've never tried out for any clubs/sports teams, and I'm sure as hell not a preppie. Maybe if I fell into one of these categories, I wouldn't be in such a mess. Deep down I know this isn't true, I know that it's because I'm in this situation that I'm not in one of these categories. I wouldn't exactly say that I'm gothic or a punk, but I can't exactly say I'm not. I do like black, a lot, but no so much as to fall into one of these stereotypes. Who am I? I am Asha Williams. I'm not one of the popular kids, and to tell the truth, I don't really want to be. I'm happy with who I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I guess the next thing for me to explain is how I got to the point where I would have to tell these things to you. It all began in my freshman year in high school. To be specific, it all started on the first day of my freshman year. Up until that point I had never even considered it an option to be gay. In my family, it just wasn't done. For hundreds of years both the Williams and the Colbreds had been considered a respectable, straight, family. Almost a dynasty, if you think about it. Leave it to me to undo hundreds of years' worth of status building, right? So back to the point at hand, I suppose. It was my first day of high school, and like all the other freshmen, I was scared spitless from all of the stories my older siblings had told me over the summer. But scared as I was, I still kinda wish I had been watching where I was going. For you see, this is how I met Gwen Millers.

I still don't think I have much of an excuse for running into her, other than the fact that I had my nose buried in my schedule. Although I still don't guess that gives me much right for colliding with the most popular non-cheerleader tenth grader our goddamned school had. Now don't get me wrong, I seriously don't think that Gwen wanted any of the popularity perks, and she was no snob, but I mean, come on! Who doesn't want to be hero worshiped, as she was by most of the ninth grade? Apparently Gwen doesn't. So anyway, I ran into her, and what did she do? She helped me up. I mean God, here I was, this ninth grade nobody, and Gwen Millers helps me up, when I run into her! If that isn't a good way to start high school, I don't know what is. However as I soon found out, I evidently, don't know what is.

"Oh my god!" Gwen gasped as I walked headlong into her. "Are you alright?"

I must admit that I had heard about Gwen from my brother Charles, he's a senior this year, and from what he told me, she's not all sugar-'n-spice. However, given that I had just floored her, I think he was wrong. Now can you guess the first thought that ran through my brain when this unfortunate happened? No, it wasn't brief apologies or anything like that. The first thought I had, was: God she's hot. Now, I must admit, this shocked me a bit. After having just floored the school's hottest babe, the last thing I would have thought that would come to mind is 'God she's hot.' Well think about it…or preferably, don't. Let's just say, that this was the first sign that I received.

"Um…give me a sec…kay?" I mumbled.

Gwen raised a dark eyebrow, but nodded. After about two minutes, I nodded and she reached her hand down and helped me up.

"T-thank you…" I mumbled still more, blushing a little…well okay, a lot.

"Hey, no problem." She smiled sweetly, showing off her perfect teeth and gorgeous smile. "So what class do you have next?" she asked me as we began to walk.

I checked my schedule again and told her bio. Gwen's beautiful greenish-blue eyes lit up when she heard this, she then proceeded to chatter about how the previous year she had flunked bio and so had to take it again. All the time she talked, I found myself having to consciously prevent myself from having perverted thoughts about this angelic presence beside me. After a while I realized that she was nervously floundering to keep up a conversation.

"Gwen…" I slowly supplied. "Do you, wanna…oh I dunno, come over to my place or something?"

Her eyes lit up again when she heard these words, and I wondered if she could possibly have these same feelings coursing though her.

"Don't you think people will talk?" she asked me softly.

"Who cares?" I countered.

For a second it seemed as though Gwen cared. But she shook her beautiful raven-haired head and told me otherwise. For a second it seemed as though, assuming that I could keep my mouth shut about these feelings I felt toward her, Gwen could supply me with a half-decent social life, quite a change from my some what lacking junior high days.

"Great." I replied and skipped; I mean that literally, off to bio.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

High school comes and goes, but by 3:30 that afternoon, I was sure Gwen was here to stay. By the time we reached my house and I had introduced her to my parents, I was very sure. We made it to my room and I turned the radio on, hoping there would be something close to my tastes on. I sighed in content, turning up the volume a little, as John Rzeznik blared through my room.

"You actually listen to this?" Gwen shouted over the radio.

I tuned down the volume and arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well…yeah." I replied. "What do you listen to?"

"Oh, you know." She shrugged. "The usual. N'Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Brittany Spears, that kind of thing."

Or in other words: pop. I supplied myself. I, personally, hate pop, and couldn't quite understand why anyone else could like it either. Shrugging off the difference in opinion I put in a CD.

"Do you like No Doubt? Avril Lavigne? U2? Anything?" I asked her, on the verge of desperation.

She gave me a bemused look and simply asked who they were. This threw me a little. I really couldn't believe that this girl hadn't heard of No Doubt or Avril Lavigne. Hell, she shared Gwen Stephani's name after all. I realized then that this could take some getting used to.

"Uh…look. Wanna go catch a movie?" I asked her, not dreaming that it might be awkward. "I happen to know someone who can get us into Reloaded."

"The Matrix Reloaded?" she asked dubiously. "Isn't that rated R? Who could you possibly know that could get us into and R rated movie?"

Despite myself I felt a slight smirk crawl onto my face.

"My brother." I replied simply.

Gwen seemed to accept this explanation, for she followed me down to hall to Charles's room. I knocked on the door and he, thank God, answered it. He was dressed for work at the Movie Theater.

"What'd ya want runt?" he asked as he hurried to finish getting his socks and shoos on.

"Charles," I started sweetly. "Do you remember that twenty dollars you owe me?"

Charles sighed, obviously exasperated at my goody-goody act, which wasn't very good, given the black nail polish and fingerless gloves I had on.

"What do you wanna see?" he asked me automatically.

"Two tickets for Matrix Reloaded please." I ordered him, grinning.

Tying the laces on his last shoe Charles nodded and dragged me out to the car. I, in turn, dragged Gwen out with me. You're wondering why Charles was so agreeable? Well normally he wouldn't have been, but you see, I've got my dear older brother over a barrel. You see Charles is still technically seventeen, and so legally a minor and I caught him drunk. Proudest moment of my life, impressive isn't it? So now he has to get me tickets to any movie I want. It seems like a fair bargain. He gets me my movie tickets, and I keep him from getting his ass tanned by dad, who is not under the impression that Charles is above spankings yet. So Gwen and I got into the movie and all was well, for the time being. Little did either of us know that the good stuff had yet to come.