Hey-O. I hope you like this chapter.

Monica grinned as she pulled a T-shirt over her head. She stared at herself in the dresser mirror and ignored the rain that was pounding onto the pavement outside.

“What a beautiful day!” she exclaimed. Giselle raised an eyebrow in confusion as she passed by Monica’s room. She peeked her head inside.

“It’s pouring outside. I would hardly call it beautiful.” she huffed and shook her head before heading downstairs. The rain, especially thunderstorms, put Giselle in a crabby mood.

Monica giggled. She was feeling exceptionally happy, and rightfully so. Today was the day. She grabbed her comb and began working it through her hair in long, calm strokes. The mop of usually messy hair was actually behaving today! Monica laughed again.

“It’s a miracle,” she mumbled as it fell straight and glossy around her shoulders.

“Hon! It’s Jules!”

Monica looked towards her door and grabbed her raincoat and backpack. She bounded down the stairs, her face flushed and glowing with excitement. Jules, who was talking animatedly to Giselle spun around in surprise when Monica landed with a thud at the base of the stairs. Giselle gasped as she noticed her daughter sprawled across the floor.

“Monica!” she exclaimed, “Are you all right?” She moved to help her up but Monica laughed and stood, wobbling a bit before regaining her balance.

“I’m good!” she grinned and Jules blinked in confusion and amazement.

“You are always hurting yourself.” he grumbled, exhaling slowly. Monica smiled.

“Sorry… did I scare you?”

“You’re always scaring me. The fact that your hair is perfectly straight is scary, too. Did you straighten it?”

“No… I didn’t.” Monica stated proudly.

“Sure.” Jules rolled his eyes in a disbelieving manner, “And Leila doesn’t have a penis.”

Giselle sighed and rubbed her temple.

“Oh, Jules, you will never change,” she murmured, tossing him a stern glare. Jules smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, Mrs. Paxton, word vomit. You understand, right?”

“Go to school, the both of you.” Giselle handed Monica her lunch and kissed her on the forehead.

“Don’t hurt yourself, honey. I don’t want to have to spend my rainy days in the emergency wing of the hospital.”

Jules snickered and Monica punched him.

“Yeah, I’ll try not to die.” she mumbled, slipping into her raincoat.

“No need for the hood. I’ve got the car.” Jules said, poking Monica in the cheek.

“Well I’ll wear the hood until we get to your car.” Monica retorted, “It’s still a fifteen step walk to the driveway, and if we don't wear our hoods we’ll be soaked by the time we get to the car.”

“I guess you’re right.” Jules grumbled and opened the front door, “See ya later, Mrs. Paxton.”

“Have a good day at school, kids.” Giselle said, as Monica and Jules stepped out into the rain. Their raincoats glistened beautifully as they ran, splashing mud and rainwater onto their boots, towards the neon green Volkswagen Beetle that sat in the large driveway. Giselle laughed as they both pounced inside, Monica complaining loudly about the cold.

“Something was bound to ruin her mood.” Giselle smiled and closed the door just as the car sprang to life and went catapulting out of the driveway and down the street.

&&&

“So are you going to mope around your house again today?” Jules asked, fiddling with the CD player. Wham! came on right when Jules raised the volume. Monica rolled her eyes.

“I hate Wham!.” she grumbled and Jules gave her the finger.

“Answer my question, love.”

“I wasn’t moping yesterday, so fuck off. And no, I’m not going to mope today. I have plans.”

“Oh?” Jules looked over and Monica reached over to change the CD.

“What plans?” Jules smacked her hand away and Monica happily offered him her famous death glare.

“A date.”

“Oh?” he repeated, “I don’t remember making plans with you tonight.”

“No, you stupid,” Monica snorted, completely missing the obvious statement that Jules was making, “A date with William.”

“Who’s William?” Jules asked, staring out at the rain that was pounding the windshield.

“Oh, come on, are you serious? William Forrester? The new guy?”

“The curly-haired one?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Yup.” Monica grinned, a blush creeping across her face, “We’re going out for a shake or something.”

“So I take it you’re not going to Leila’s for videogames and a quick romp, then?” He glanced at her and Monica chose to ignore the emptiness.

“Nope.”

Jules decided to stop the pointless conversation at that point. They were at a red light, not far fromt the school when Monica noticed.

“Hey, you’re not blabbing about something stupid… is everything okay?” she asked and Jules frowned.

“Yeah.”

“Are you mad that Asia won The Search for the Next Doll? I know how badly you wanted Melissa R. to win.”

“Melissa R. was so much better than Asia. Did you see Asia’s face when she won? It was like, aarrrghhhswerlll…” Jules contorted his face and made an inhuman noise. Monica burst out laughing and Jules smiled.

“You actually did that quite well.” she said, her words garbled because of the laughter. Jules chuckled.

“Yeah, well, I’m awesome.” he pulled into the school parking lot and rammed the car into his usual parking space. Monica jerked forward as he slammed the brakes and went flying back into the seat when the car screeched to a stop.

“God, where the hell did you get your license?” she moaned, rubbing the back of her head, “What kind of idiot gave you permission to drive one of these? Holy sh—”

“Quit your whining and get out before I leave you in here.” Jules chuckled and stepped out of the car.

“Aw, bleeding Christ!” he cursed and Monica ducked her head to look up at him. She laughed out loud, for his benefit. He had forgotten to put his hood on so his hair had been soaked instantaneously by the monster-rain.

“Aw, poor baby.” Monica teased, stepping out of the car, her hood tight around her head. Jules glared at her through wet bangs and flashed her the finger before locking the car.

“One of these days, karma will bite you in the ass, too, I hope you know.” he spat, stomping into the school. Monica rolled her eyes and followed, dry and warm.

“Oh, really? Well, I hope Karma tells me before it does. I hate surprises.”

Jules mumbled something under his breath before storming away to the gymnasium. It sounded a lot like a string of profanities. Monica turned around to go to her locker and stopped in her tracks when she saw William at the front entrance. He was wearing a gray raincoat and his hair was wet. Monica felt a twang of pain. Why did he have to look so unbelievable?

I’m sure I look like a drowned rat, she thought.

He wasn’t looking at her, instead he was talking to a tall, attractive woman and a taller, equally attractive man. His lips were moving quickly and Monica blushed when he flashed them a grin and moved to open the door.

“Have a good day at school, sweetie,” Monica heard the woman call and William looked back at them.

“I will, Angela. ‘Bye, Reed.”

The tall man waved and put his arm around the woman before they both ran towards the gleaming Mercedes that was waiting for them.

“Hey!” Monica smiled and half-ran over to William. He looked down at her and his answering smile was so unbelievably gorgeous that Monica, for a short moment, forgot to breathe.

“Who were they?” Monica asked, as they headed towards his locker. She was surprised and pleased to find that it was three lockers away from hers.

“Um… I suppose you could call them guardians. My family. The only family I have now.” he replied, shrugging.

“Oh… so you live with them? I thought you lived alone.”

“I do live alone, but they come to check up every now and then. Make sure everything is okay.”

“Oh, I see.” Monica went over to her locker and opened it, “I don’t mean to pry.”

“It’s perfectly all right. I would be just as curious if it were the other way around.” he pulled out an Economics textbook and a Calculus and Vectors textbook.

“Calculus and Vectors?” Monica stared down at her pitiful Algebra & Geometry textbook. It was only 250 pages long, and the Calculus book looked more than 500, easily.

“Yes…” He looked confused and Monica blushed.

“That’s a year five course. Only OAC students take it… Twelfth graders aren’t allowed to… well… unless they qualify… but to qualify you need at least an eighty-five in AP Calculus.”

“I received a ninety-seven average in my old school.”

“In AP Calculus?!” Monica didn’t try to contain her amazement. Her eyes bulged and she clutched her locker door.

“I like Math.” William answered, overly amused by Monica’s reactions.

“B-but… holy… what are you getting in the class?”

“I only just arrived, remember?” he laughed and Monica scowled.

“Well you’re a monster.” she grumbled and William’s smile fell slightly.

“I guess I am.” he answered, shutting his door. In one stride he joined her at her locker. Curiously, he stared at the pictures she had taped on the inside of her door.

“Who’s this?” he asked, curiosity dripping in his voice. Monica blinked in surprise when his sweet scent filled her nostrils.

"My mom, and my dad. And that's me... the baby." she replied and William grinned.

"You look more like your dad." he stated, staring down at her. Monica blushed.

"I get that a lot. I know I don't look like a model's daughter."

"I never said you didn't look like your mother. I simply said you look more like your father. You have your mother's eyes... hmmm... and her nose." he explained and Monica's face reddened even more. William noticed.

"You blush a lot." he said, amused and Monica scowled.

"Yes, it's easy to make me look like a tomato. Sometimes I wish I was brown."

"Brown?" he tilted his head to one side, a gesture that Monica found particularly attractive.

"Brown... like, South Asian... it's hard to see if they're blushing."

William rolled his eyes at her words and chuckled.

"You're strange, but you're very entertaining." he said and Monica frowned.

"That sounded racist, didn't it?" she mumbled more to herself than to William.

"If you want, I can forget that you said that." he offered and Monica shut her locker.

"It doesn't matter..." she paused and looked up at him, "Can you tell me more about yourself?"

He was instantly guarded. "It depends on what you would like to know."

Monica was surprised by the cutting edge in his voice.

"Hobbies... ethnicity... things like that." she whispered and his face relaxed, though his eyes remained veiled.

"I'm English, I'm sure I mentioned that yesterday. I grew up in London, but my family went back and forth."

"To where?" Monica asked. They were walking slowly down the hall now, earning curious and sometimes lustful glances from other students. William earned the lustful glances, of course. Monica was deftly ignored.

"Russia."

"Russia? Really? That's so awesome." Monica's enthusiasm seemed to always catch him off-guard. He blinked for a moment and then chuckled.

"Yes, really. My mother was quite fond of Russia. My siblings weren't very partial to it. Because of the cold. Their winters are quite ridiculous. I suppose I shared my mother's fascination. Russia... well... it inspired me."

"To do what?"

"To draw. I drew my first picture there." he smiled as if he were admitting something completely embarassing.

"What did you draw?"

"A portrait."

"A portrait of who?" Monica pursued and William averted his eyes.

"Of someone very dear to me. Perhaps one day I'll show you."

"Won't you tell me who you drew?" Monica asked, teasing him slightly with a sing-song voice.

"Not yet, I'm afraid."

"Well, that's okay... as long as you promise to show me one day."

"I promise." he nodded and they stopped in front of the Algebra room.

"This is your next class, I presume?"

Monica nodded, surprised.

"Did we use the stairs?" she asked and William laughed.

"You must have been hanging onto each and every one of my words. I'm surprised you didn't notice that we not only went down two flights of stairs, but through a group of extremely loud girls, as well."

Monica blinked, feeling incredibly stupid.

"Great..." she mumbled and William grinned.

"I hope you haven't forgotten my milkshake offer."

"No!" she exclaimed with a bit too much enthusiasm. William threw his head back and laughed again.

"Good, because I expect to see you at your locker after final period. I know the perfect place."

"It's not The Bean, is it?"

"No, it's not The Bean." William narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Why? Do you have something against The Bean?"

"I've had some unpleasant experiences with their mushroom kabobs."

"I'm going to need to hear that story sometime soon. Have fun in class. Don't fall asleep." he turned to walk away and Monica panicked.

"Wait!" she called and cursed herself for sounding clingy. He stopped mid-step and turned to face her.

"Yes?"

Monica surfed through her mind for something to ask. "Do you like comics?" she blurted and blushed when she heard the words.

Oh, God, I'm an idiot.

"Comics?" William repeated and Monica nodded. There was no escaping it now.

"I—... I suppose... Yes, I do, although I'm not an comic book genius or anything."

"Who's your favorite character?" Monica asked, wanting to kick herself. Hard enough to leave a bruise.

William thought for a moment and Monica waited. Finally he flashed her a brilliant smile just as the bell rang.

"Batman."