Writing a John/Bekah story is almost like starting over again, except that at least I know my characters... but it will still probably be pretty rough. Please let me know what you think so far. :D This will probably be pretty funny in places, because John is such a stickler for Christian rules and doesn't really like bold women... and as we know, Bekah is bold. haha. This should be fun.

TEASER

She sighed, and the orange, snot-nosed, female ghost known as Sue chomped her into oblivion. Bekah gawked. Since when did she loose a life this early on in the game?

“Miss Pac-Man, huh? I haven’t played that game in years.”

Bekah frowned at Freddy, who’d turned his attention to someone behind them. Following suit, she faced the blue-eyed dreamboat wearing a dark blue T-shirt and a pair of jeans with a hole in one knee. His neatly combed, blonde hair clashed a little with the casual outfit, but his hot, masculine features- like the squared jaws, plump biceps, and broad chest were enough to make her forget about that.

She blinked. He pointed at the game as he informed her, “You just lost another life.”

What the…? Where were his glasses? Swallowing hard, she pocketed a hand, glancing at Frowning Freddy and back at the so-called stranger. She felt like kicking herself when his name wobbled out of her mouth like a drunken frog's croak: "Mr. Carpenter?'

CHAPTER ONE

Alice gripped Rebekah’s arm and ejected a very girly squeal as she pointed to the front of their Trigonometry class, where stood a tall, broad-shouldered man with a clean-shaved face and golden hair so neatly combed that it looked like he’d stolen it from a Ken Doll. Though she sat near the back of the room and had to peer around tall boys who were leaning across the aisles, she could see sky blue eyes that stood out like searchlights through the man’s thick glasses.

“Nerd,” Bekah whispered to Alice with a snicker. “Total nerd.”

“Bekah!” Alice protested, giving her a gentle slap on her arm, while the nerd frowned and busied himself by situating folders and books along his desk. “He’s a damn cute nerd, if you ask me. I mean… whoah,” she pretended to fan herself. “He could snort at me any time.”

Bekah laughed at her friend’s choice of words, but wasn’t really surprised that Alice had a crush on their new teacher. With long, wavy dark hair and deep blue eyes, Alice knew that she could easily sway guys with her good looks- though her petite figure still had some catching up to do with her mature face. Despite her lack of curves, she’d no problem actively seeking the objects of her desire… and that sometimes worried Bekah… especially since she’d a bad habit of getting drunk and doing God only knew what with her dates.

“Alice, I hate to break it to you,” Bekah said as the bell rang. “But he’s probably our new teacher… so he’s off limits.”

Alice rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat as the nerd smacked his desk three times with a ruler, silencing his students with a stern glare. OK, Bekah thought with the perk of her brows. Maybe he wasn’t a total nerd.

“Hello, Everyone,” he said with a crisp, clear voice that emphasized his young age- maybe 23 or 24. Since he’d obviously suffered through college to get where he was standing now, he was likely 24 or 25. He slid his glasses back up his nose, igniting a few quiet snickers as he announced, “I am Mr. Carpenter,” and then adjusted his skinny, black tie. Turning to the chalkboard, he wrote the name slowly, using large letters that appeared so neat and well-rounded in the proper places that she wondered if this was actually art class.

She glanced at Alice, and then at her class schedule. No, this was right. Room 128, Trigonometry, Mr. Carpenter.

“God, he’s cute,” a girl muttered behind her, and a male voice hissed back, “he’s a doofus.” If Mr. Carpenter had heard any of their exchange, he gave no indication, as he turned back to the class with a comb in his right hand. He ran his thumb along the bristles as he stopped directly next to his desk and scanned over the students- some watching him intently and others busy whispering and passing notes.

“If you decide not to pay attention in class, I have no problem flunking you,” he directed his threat toward the far end of the room that Bekah couldn’t see well.

Alice stretched her neck to get a look at who he’d been speaking to, but Bekah simply rolled her eyes and tapped her pen on her desk. So pass out the books and start boring us to death with all the complex equations, already.

Over the past twelve years, many a math teacher had bored her to tears, and despite this guy’s uniqueness, she doubted he’d be any different. As usual, she’d probably wind up begging her always-home-late father for tutoring sessions, and then join Alice in the park to drink away everything she’d learned. After all, she wouldn’t want to ace the math tests and be coined a nerd, she grinned. Not that she looked anything like a nerd, with long, smooth brown hair, a thin but curvy figure, and deep brown eyes which were un-aided by glasses. No, she wasn’t a nerd… maybe a loner… and she came pretty close to being coined as a Goth, because she favored black clothes and always wore black make up during Halloween season. At least she wasn’t like the other girls, dressing in pink princess costumes and batting their lashes at stupid jocks.

“When I call your name,” her teacher was saying as she doodled a bat on her notebook paper and gnawed her inner cheek. “Please stand and tell me a little bit about yourself.”

You’ve got to be kidding! Bekah cringed, and there were several groans of disgust rippling throughout the room.

We’re not in kindergarten, are we? She wanted to ask Alice, but her friend’s glazed over eyes and red cheeks revealed that she was fully glued to this new teacher, who probably could do no wrong in her eyes.

She returned to her doodling, sculpting bats and birds and horses all over her paper during the roll-call, trying to decide what to say about herself, pausing to give her only friend her close attention when her name was called. Alice shoved her hands in her jeans pockets and cleared her throat, and Bekah knew she wasn’t quite sure what to say about herself. Maybe that her mom worked long hours and spent all of her free time dating jerks she’d picked up at bars, and that Alice and her brother were party animals?

Alice cocked her head so that her long hair reached toward her waist, and said, “I love spending time with my friends, and I write when I get a chance.” She then sat down, leaving the room in silence as Mr. Carpenter nodded his head and sat half way on his desk. He glanced at her once more, ran the comb through his already-neat hair, and continued with the roll-call, seeming to sense that Alice didn’t want to have a lot dragged out of her.

Bekah supposed this wasn’t so bad… maybe this was Mr. Carpenter’s way of finding out who the problem students were. Maybe he could tell just by Alice’s averted eyes and pale face that she needed help. After all, no good nerd avoids the details.

She went back to doodling, but stopped when a small, balled up piece of paper bounced off of her hand, and then came quiet snickers to her left, so she scowled in that direction, her eyes landing on Brian Cruise, who sat two seats away but was leaning over enough to reveal his wiggling, brown brows. He cupped a hand at the side of his mouth and whispered loudly, “Cheap Rose!”

She sighed exhaustedly with the roll of her eyes and considered chucking her purse at him… and she probably would if she wasn’t in class. The ‘Cheap Rose’ thing had started in middle school, and every year, someone would decide to revive it. Even though she knew that it was mostly natural-born jerks who liked to taunt her, she couldn’t help the rage building in the pit of her stomach… because these scum bags weren’t entirely aware of how the oh-so-original name had been born.

A ball of paper landed on her desk then, and she glanced up to find Mr. Carpenter frowning at his name chart and flipping papers. Gritting her teeth, she opened the ‘love letter’ it to read, “You’re cheap and you’re hot. Do you give…?”

She closed the note before she puked on the lewd words that scared the pure, white paper, and shook her head when Alice held out her hand to read it. “Forget it,” she whispered, leaning over her desk so that Alice could hear her. “It’s just a sack of shi-”

“Rebekah Rose,” Mr. Carpenter called.

Alice’s eyes grew wide as saucers, a slow smile overtaking her, and Bekah pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek. Standing, she crunched the paper between her hands and smiled stiffly at the man at the front of the room. The same man who narrowed his eyes, cocked a brow, then shook his head as he pushed off of the desk and approached her, holding his hand open wide. “I’ll take that,” he said, and she felt her jaw drop.

“I don’t think-”

“I said I’ll take it, thank you, Miss Rose.” He stopped about a foot in front of her, hand still open wide to reveal several calluses, which were quickly covered by the disgusting wad that had been tossed at her only moments before. “Thank you,” he said, his brow perking again as he turned away from her and headed back to the front of the room. She could hear the letter crinkling as he opened it, and glanced at Brian, who was leaning over with his pencil dangling in front of the desk. He flicked his baseball cap backwards atop his head and sat back, catching her eye and shooting her a wink. Asshole.

With a click of his dress shoes and swift spin to face the room again, Mr. Carpenter narrowed his eyes at her and waved a hand. “Tell me something about yourself,” he said, reseating himself on the big desk.

That was it? He had nothing to say about the sickening note Brian had tossed her? She swallowed hard, her mind racing backwards… Let’s see, I was born on December 1, 1990, to a hard-working college girl and her mischievous boyfriend, and umm… I have a little sister named Emily and a cat named Freddie, and I like horror flicks. And umm… what else is there to know about me?

“I draw,” she said finally. “And I write, too.”

“Wow, she could write a children’s book,” Brian quipped, and laughter exploded along the two rows to the left of her desk. Rolling her eyes in a wide arc toward the ceiling, she turned left with her arms folded and scowled at the demented pea brains laughing their heads off over the idiotic remark. So she hadn’t sounded real suave. Who gives a damn?

“Mr. Carpenter,” she said over the din and righted herself again. Her teacher blinked at the miscreants before sliding his eyes back in her direction, his popping jaws suggesting that he was feeling pretty pissed off but wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. Squaring her shoulders, she announced, “Brian Cruise threw that lovely, little note at me.”

The laughter slowly died off, and she could feel the idiot staring holes into her left side. Mr. Carpenter looked amused, with both brows raised this time. “Oh, really?” he asked. “Then Mr. Cruise will have a detention.”

As she seated herself, chin raised like a proud snob, she caught Alice’s worried eyes and realized what she’d just done. Tattle on a bully, and you’re asking for a good… ass kicking.

OOO

By the way... Like or lump the title? Should I change it?