(Figure I’d try my hand at everything. I’ve done mystery, fantasy, thrown in some romance in all of them. Why not take a shot at teen life?)

Chapter One

.:Be Mine:.

Nadia Cole sighed wistfully as she walked onto a dead looking school campus. As she glanced around the grounds, all she saw was a muted gray atmosphere. The land was soaked and muddy with several puddles she was forced to avoid from the night’s rain storm, but the skies had cleared up and returned to a crisp blue. It appeared to be a beautiful morning…not that it could change her current mood.

She was a senior now and she couldn’t wait to rid herself of the school, the people, and the annoying teachers it contained. It had been a long three and a half years of pure misery for her.

Her.

HER!

She was the one every guy on campus supposedly wanted to be with. She was the one every girl wanted to be best friends with.

Why?

Because she was rich – thus making her the most popular girl in school, that’s why.

Every school had its stereotypes. She was also classified among the thousands of students who were judged from the moment they set foot on high school grounds. It was just another ordinary part of the school life.

She just thanked her lucky stars she wasn’t shipped off to some boarding school or even put in a private school—she couldn’t imagine it would be much better there then at the public one she currently attended.

She ran a slender hand through nearly waist length flaxen hair before readjusting the straps of her denim backpack.

Never once had she looked into the mirror and liked what stared back at her. She had the makings of a model about her: Tall, slender, blonde, with piercing baby blue eyes, perfect pink lips and the cute button nose.

She wanted to gag.

It was because of those looks that she got the highest ask-out rate in the entire school.

For some, it was what they dreamed of. For her, it was just another nightmare.

They thought she had the perfect life and the perfect family.

They were sadly mistaken.

Her mother walked out on her when she was two, and Nadia had been too young to even remember what she looked like—and dear old dad, being a new hotshot director, was never home longer than three days in a row. It was truly a lonely life to lead. A life the rest of the student body knew nothing about yet assumed they knew everything there was to know.

The pressure was really piling up on her now. She couldn’t come up with enough excuses to get rid of the guys who continually hounded her—asking her out like it was the only thing they knew how to say, and never taking no for an answer. She admired how upfront they were, but they weren’t for her. None of them were. And each day that passed she grew more and more distressed, for her least favorite of all holidays (if it was actually considered one) was fast approaching.

Valentine’s Day.

And may God help her.

She briskly walked (more like ran) past a set of lockers which were almost home to the guys who hung there. Dunstan Hill (a.k.a. ‘D.D’.) was the so-called ‘leader’ of their little pack and one of the worst stalkers you could ever have. Luckily he was too engrossed in hearing himself speak than to notice her as she passed by. And for that she gave a huge sigh of relief.

She could see her dark blue locker, paint chipping away from harsh weather and time, straight ahead of her and the only thing on her one track mind right now was getting to it and hiding in the nearest unlocked classroom. She’d managed to succeed doing this without being spotted only twice in her lifetime, and she was determined to make it thrice that morning.

7…19…36…

Wait…wrong locker combo.

4…12…38…

The lock released and the door swung open.

Books, papers, and notes proceeded to fall out of the locker once the only thing keeping them in place was removed. Her Literature book landed on her foot and she had to bite her lip to keep from saying anything that would bring on more unwanted attention. When the tsunami of school related items finally ended she glanced around cautiously, making sure she didn’t cause too much of a scene, when in fact no one saw at all or chose to ignore what they had witnessed.

“Great start to a great morning,” she told herself sarcastically, shoveling the books back in the metal box and leaving out the ones she needed for her first class. When she lifted the notebooks, she noticed something that she hadn’t put in her locker.

It was a red rose, possibly the most beautiful one she had ever seen. It was only half bloomed and its crimson petals were thankfully unharmed by the fall from her locker. It almost looked to perfect to be real, but it was. Attached to the dark green stem with a red silk ribbon that nearly matched the shade of red of the rose petals was a note, written in a messy script, like the person who wrote it was in a real hurry. But it only contained two words and they didn’t help in identifying who it was that had broken into her locker.

Be Mine

“’Be mine,’” she read aloud, detaching the note from the rose’s stem and flipping it over to see if there was more writing on the other side.

Zip. Nada. Zilch.

Darn.

“Bit early for valentines and roses, isn’t it?” Kylie declared from behind her. “And where’s the chocolate?” she inquired with a slight pout.

Kylie Scott. She was quite possibly the second richest person on campus, along with her step brother, Dean. Even though the two weren’t related by blood they still played their roles of brother and sister to the tee. It was hard to say they weren’t from the same parents, both having light brown hair and blue-green eyes.

Nadia shrugged her shoulders at Kylie’s declaration before reluctantly handing her the crimson rose to hold while she finished loading up her locker.

“So who’s ‘the brave one’ this time?” Kylie asked, smelling the rose’s sweet scent and smiling as she noticed that all the thorns from the stem had been removed to prevent the pricking of fingers.

“I have no idea,” Nadia replied honestly, taking the rose back after shutting her locker door. She ignored her best friend’s saddened expression to having it taken away from her. “All the note said was ‘be mine’.”

“Oooo. Mysterious,” Kylie said with a grin and bright turquoise eyes. Nadia couldn’t help but reflect the smile.

“What’s mysterious?” Dean asked, coming up behind his sister and giving her sides a good poke. She shrieked, glared, and poked him back before going into explanation mode.

“Nadia got an early valentine from a secret admirer,” she said with excitement. A little too much excitement at six thirty in the morning for a teenager.

“She did?” He glanced over at Nadia who was looking oddly at Kylie, almost as if she would pounce on her at any moment if she wouldn’t calm down. “Secret admirer?” he repeated.

Nadia groaned.

“Oh, come on!” Kylie yelled, catching the undivided attention of a few curious freshmen. “You can’t tell me you aren’t the least bit curious to find out who he is.”

“Of course I am, but I am so sick of this stupid game they all seem to want to play with me.”

“Just because Zach only wanted you for your money and popularity doesn’t mean all guys only want you for your money and popularity.”

“It has nothing to do with that and you know it.” Nadia’s voice was low and it was taking a lot to keep herself from unleashing her built up rage.

“Alright, so you get asked out—a lot. That doesn’t mean you can’t agree to go out on one date with one guy.”

Nadia had no response, so she chose to glare instead.

“Just give me a week, and by Valentine’s Day, I’ll find you a guy who wants you for you,” Kylie finished, but Nadia looked skeptical.

Sapphire eyes darted from Kylie to the strangely silent Dean, then back to Kylie again. Those darn puppy dog eyes worked wonders for both of them, although Dean looked just as skeptical as she did.

“All right. You have your week,” Nadia said and Kylie clapped her hands together.

The bell rang and the two friends began to walk to first period (which they had together), leaving Dean behind since his first class was in the opposite direction.

He could still hear them as they walked a little ways, but their voices were beginning to be drowned out by the crowd that was forming seemingly out of nowhere in the hallways.

“Do you truly believe there is such a guy who would love me for me?” he heard Nadia ask.

“Yes,” Kylie replied, fully believing in her answer.

“Who?”

He couldn’t hear his sister’s answer but he knew his.

“Me.”

(My first attempt at teen drama. There are so many ways that this can go wrong, but hey, no harm in trying. Right? RIGHT?!)

!!!REVIEW PLEASE!!!

I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

::begs&grovels::

EoSpHoRuS