Author's Note: The idea came to me a couple weeks ago, and I just had to write it. I plan to work a wee bit harder on this one - I actually got a beta. Kudos to LovesickAuthor for betaing for me. You should definitely check her out. If you have me on author alert and received this twice - it is because I took it down for slight editing and then reposted it. I do that quite often...

Step #1: Manage your reputation.

Ashton James Lucas had a simple method: don’t get too involved. The moment emotions started coming into the picture it was time end it. He wanted to keep life simple and fun – relationships and love just complicated things. Once he’d had his fun he’d leave. Despite all this, Ashton didn’t consider himself a “player”. He never lied or cheated. Girls came naturally to him, which wasn’t surprising, considering the way he radiated confidence with every step. His movie star good looks – wavy blonde hair, stunning bright blue eyes, and a smile that could make any girl swoon – didn’t hurt either.

It was for these reasons that he found himself breaking up with a girl – again.

Even as her face went red and tears streamed down her face, she was still beautiful. She brought a hand to her eye and wiped away a few tears smudging her eye makeup in the process. She pushed away her bangs of dark brown. She began to hiccup and Ashton frowned. He took her in his arms and gave her a lingering hug, then pushed her away before she could wet his shirt with the waterfall that now cascaded from her eyes.

“So you’re just breaking up with me?” she asked between hiccups.

Ashton nodded solemnly. “It’s not you, Kiki,” he told her. “It’s me.”

She looked up from behind her damp eyelashes.

“I know,” he continued. “It’s cliché – but it’s true. Being with you made me feel so alive, but I’m not ready for it all. You deserve someone better. Someday you’ll make a guy as happy as you made me.”

A thin smile formed on her lips as she wiped away more tears. “Do you mean that, Ashton?” she asked, hopeful.

Ashton nodded. “Really,” he said. With that, he leaned down, clasping her face between his hands and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Goodbye, Kiki.”

He turned away and dug his hand into his pocket in search for the keys to his car. When he found them, he twirled them in his hand for a second and pressed the unlock button.

“Ashton!” Kiki called behind him.

He turned around and she was running at him, her yellow sundress flapping in the wind. When she reached him she took his head and gave him a long, soft kiss. For a moment, he let her kiss him, but then he pushed her away.

“Kiki,” he said. “It’s over.”

As she frowned, he opened the door to his car and slipped in. As he backed out of his parking space he noticed a small girl with a fiery mane of red hair watching him from under a tree.

Charlie Isabella Taylor was the new kid. She’d moved into town a week ago and today was her first day at school. She’d already met some very nice people.

She sat under a tall oak tree, waiting for her bus to arrive, and watched the events transpire between a stunningly gorgeous young blonde and a stick thin brunette. The brunette was crying – the boy didn’t seem to care. The boy leaned in and pressed soft pink lips against the girl’s forehead. With that, he turned around and walked off, a slightly smug look on his face. As she watched him leave, her tears began to subside. When he reached his car, the girl called out.

She ran to the boy and they kissed. The boy pushed her away and got into his car door. As he pulled out of his parking spot, Charlie's eyes met with the boy's, and he realized she was watching him. For a moment, his blue eyes stared into her green ones. Then he turned out of the parking lot and was gone.

“So how was your first day?”

Charlie looked up from her macaroni and cheese. Her dad was beaming at her behind his large, dorky glasses. “It was good,” she said. “I met some cool people. Nicole, Hunter, and Rebeccah.”

She took a bite of her food. Her dad was a tall, balding middle-aged man with dark brown hair and a slight potbelly. Despite the fact that he was a highly paid corporate lawyer, he never bought big things. The house he’d bought was a modest townhouse and his car was a 2001 Honda civic. He refused to even think about buying Charlie a car. The only thing Charlie had ever known her dad to pay the big bucks for was her education. That was why he’d found the most expensive private school around and stuck her in it.

“No one else?” he asked.

Charlie’s thoughts flashed back to the beautiful boy in the parking lot. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Only teachers and administrators.”

He took a bite of his food and smiled. Charlie glanced down at her half empty dish. She found herself no longer very hungry. “Dad, can I be excused?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Charlie took her dish to the sink and scraped the macaroni into the garbage disposal. After she was done she left the kitchen and headed upstairs into her room. If anyone had walked into the room they would have sworn a ‘50s housewife lived in it. It was perfectly neat, right down to the hospital corners on her bed. Her bedspread was white and two gray pillows were propped up next to it. The desk on the far side of her room was the same gray as her pillows with a white desk chair and a white Mac. Her dresser was a slightly darker gray than the rest of the room with a small mirror propped on top of it.

Much like her mom, Charlie couldn’t stand a messy house. Her dad, on the other hand, had no problem with one – it was in this way that Charlie found herself cleaning up after her dad nearly every weekend.

She sat in her desk chair and turned on her computer. While waiting for it to start up she turned on music from the small clock radio sitting next to the computer. When it was done loading, she logged into her Facebook. The first thing she noticed were three friend requests, from Hunter, Nicole, and Rebeccah. Grinning, she accepted each of them. After accepting them she grabbed up her cell phone and flopped onto her bed and dialed the number of her best friend.

After three rings she picked up.

“CHARLIE!”

Jennifer was the exact opposite of Charlie. Where Charlie was reserved and quiet, Jennifer was bouncy and loud.

“Hey Jen,” she said.

“So, how was the first day?”

Charlie regaled Jennifer with the tale of her first day – carefully leaving out the part about the boy. What did it matter, anyway? When Charlie was done, Jennifer sighed.

“Ugh,” she said. “Tommy is being a pain in the ass. Okay I gotta go, I’ll call you back tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Love ya!” Charlie turned off the phone and glanced at the time, eight o’ clock. Just in time to watch a couple TV shows and then turn in for the night.

Ashton opened the door to find himself face to face with the pizza man. Shoving his hand into the pocket he withdrew a fifty. The pizza man handed Ashton the pizza and Ashton handed the pizza man the fifty.

“Keep the change,” Ashton said before turning around and closing the door behind him. When he reached the kitchen he set down the pizza box on the large wooden table. Tonight, like most nights, he and his little sister, Tally, were on their own. His father was off on another one of his business trips and his mother was halfway around the world designing the inside of some brand new spa.

“Tally!” Ashton called. “Dinner’s here.”

He heard the sound of feet against the floor and a minute later his sister entered the kitchen. At the age of thirteen Tally was the spitting image of him. Same blonde hair that fell in soft waves around her face and the same sparkling blue eyes.

“Pizza again?” she asked with a sigh.

“What’s wrong with pizza?” he asked.

Tally rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with it when you don’t have it five times a week,” she said.

Ashton rooted around the cabinet in search of plates and cups while Tally went to the refrigerator and pulled out a two-liter bottle of Coke. Ashton set down the plates on the table and Tally poured them each a glass.

When they each sat down and had taken a piece of pizza, Tally spoke. “So, how did the break up with Kiki go?” she asked.

Ashton looked up from his pizza. “How did you know about that?”

Tally gave him a small smile. “I heard you telling Vince you were going to do it over the phone.”

“Tallulah Jane Lucas, were you spying on me?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

“No!” she exclaimed. “I wanted to call Leila, so I picked up the phone and you just happened to be on it. And don’t call me Tallulah”

“I’m sure, Tallulah,” Ashton said with a smile and took a bite of his pizza. He wasn’t really mad at her – it was impossible to be mad at Tally for too long, but it was still fun to tease her.

“So,” she insisted. “How did it go?”

Ashton shrugged his shoulders. “It went fine,” he said. “She cried – then she ran over and kissed me.” Ashton laughed at the memory.

“You’re a real player, you know that?” Tally said.

Ashton nodded and took a sip of his soda. “What about you, how’s your boyfriend,” he asked, cooing on the last word.

Tally’s eyes widened. “He is not my boyfriend!” she exclaimed. “Me and Brandon are just friends.”

Ashton chuckled. “You better tell Brandon that,” he said. “You might be giving him the wrong message, riding home with him.”

She scowled at him. “We were just carpooling,” she insisted. “Trying to save the world, one step at a time, you know.”

Again, Ashton let out a deep laugh. “Whatever you say, Tallulah.”

Charlie looked up from her too-good-to-be-cafeteria-food lunch as she saw Nicole take a seat next to her. Nicole had a big afro and skin the color of a mocha frappuccino. Today, Nicole had decided to wear a pair of bright green leggings that clashed wildly with the school uniform of khaki bottoms and a blue polo on top.

“Heya Charlie,” she said.

“Hey Nicole,” Charlie said as Hunter and Rebeccah sat down at the table. “Hey guys.”

Hunter had a mop of dirty blonde hair and amber eyes that entranced Charlie. Rebeccah, Hunter's girlfriend, had frizzy brown hair and lots of freckles as well as an immense amount of smarts. Hunter grunted something unintelligible.

“Hey,” Rebeccah said.

Charlie’s eyes drifted towards the cafeteria door. She watched as the beautiful blonde from yesterday walked in. She allowed her eyes to follow him as he took a place in line, tapping his foot impatiently. When he’d nearly reached the front of the line, a tap on her shoulder brought her out of her reverie.

“Char-lie,” Nicole said in a singsong voice.

“Huh – yeah?”

“I saw you looking at Mister Ashton Lucas over there,” Nicole said, grinning.

“Is that his name?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” Nicole said. “He’s got a reputation as a ladies’ man.”

After the display she saw of him yesterday, Charlie found it hard to be surprised. “I saw him comforting some girl yesterday,” she said. “I think he was breaking up with her.”

“That’s no shocker,” Rebeccah said.

Charlie glanced back at the line, but Ashton had already gotten his food and left.

Ashton carried his tray from the lunch line to his normal table where his best friend Vince was already sitting. Vince was well muscled with a short black buzz cut and brownish green eyes. Ashton placed his lunch tray down and took a seat.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Vince replied.

“Do you know who the new girl is?” Ashton asked, glancing over at the table where he had spotted the redhead from yesterday.

Vince looked in the direction Ashton had looked. “Nah man,” Vince said. “She’s cute.”

Ashton shrugged his shoulders. “Not my type.”

Vince laughed. “You have a type?”

Ashton shrugged his shoulders. Vince had a point – she was cute. But in a shy, reserved, slightly creepy sort of way. “She was watching me yesterday,” he said. “She watched me break up with Kiki.”

“She probably can’t get over your gorg bod,” Vince teased.

“You know, Vince,” Ashton said. “It’s when you say stuff like that you sound like a total fag.”

Vince laughed. “You wish I was a fag,” he said. “That way you could finally come out and we could have hot gay sex.”

Ashton threw a fry at Vince. “Shut the fuck up.”

Charlie was lost. She couldn’t find room 114, her Chemistry room. She didn’t understand, she’d found it fine yesterday. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. She stared at the school map the administration had given her, trying to determine where exactly she was, as opposed to where she was supposed to be.

“So, are you stalking me or something?”

Charlie looked up from her map to find herself face to face with Ashton Lucas.

“I – what?” she asked, thoroughly confused.

“Well first I see you under the oak tree watching me,” he said. “And now you’re here.”

“I am not stalking you,” Charlie replied indignantly. “I was waiting for my bus under the tree and you just happened to be nearby.”

Ashton eyed her suspiciously. “We don’t have a bus,” Ashton said.

“Yes we do,” Charlie insisted.

Ashton didn’t look convinced. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against a set of lockers. “Whatever,” he said.

“Why aren’t you in class?” Charlie asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Charlie held up her map. “I’m lost.”

Ashton grabbed the map. “Where do you need to be?”

“Room 114,” Charlie told him.

Ashton took a step towards Charlie so they could both see the map. He circled a point on the map. “We’re here,” he said. Then he drew a line to another point. “Follow the line, you’ll get there.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Charlie said, taking her map back.

“I’m Ashton, by the way,” he added.

“Charlie,” she said.

She began to walk away, following the line carefully, though she was sure it wouldn’t help a bit. Five minutes, tops, and she’d be lost again.

Ashton stared at Charlie’s retreating back. Perhaps she wasn’t a creepy stalker. He leaned up against the locker and pulled out the cigarette he’d been hiding since she’d first turned around the corner and he’d been worried she was a teacher coming to bust him for skipping class.

He stuck it into his mouth and propped a foot up against the locker door. Reaching inside his backpack, which he let hang loosely around one shoulder, he withdrew a small, black notebook. On the first page was a list of names, each with a check by them. At the end of the list he smiled thoughtfully and added the name, Charlie.