"Trials of A Forbidden Romance"

Category: Romance/Drama…and a little angst in later chapters…

Synopsis: Sixteen year old Chana Levi is the model daughter of her Jewish parents. Quiet, smart…and beautiful to boot. But what happens when Chana moves to a new place, and is subjected to things she'd never experienced? Like, love? Love…with another girl…

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A/N: My brother wanted me to make this story…so you can see where it originated from. (Guys…) But, I promise to make this story sensible, and rather believable, as well, with nice lovable elements...

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Prologue

16 year old Chana Levi was no psychic, but when she stepped out of her father's car that Tuesday morning, and looked up, up, up at her new California school, something told her it was going to be a long day.

"Don't worry, my dear Chana," Chana's papa, Jacob, said as he led her into the imposing edifice. He was trying out his English, but he couldn't get rid of the thick Yiddish accent.

Chana tried to ignore the blatant stares of students rushing to and fro through the rat mazes that schools called hallways.

Chana knew that when people looked at her papa, all they saw was an old fashioned Jew wearing all black, and a yarmulke on his curly hair. Whereas, she looked nothing like him. Chana's papa was Israeli, while her mama was Italian. So, Chana was a mix; she had her papa's black hair, which tangled down her back in thick waves and curls, but she had her mother's olive green eyes and creamy skin.

It always set her apart.

Jacob nudged Chana's shoulder, attracting her attention. He nodded toward the door a few feet away that had Office on its glass window. Chana quickly followed her papa inside.

The room was rather large, with an array of people; a mixture of students, teachers, and office administrators. Chana stood silently by papa until (after an eternity), a rather short, balding man in a tuxedo, (Chana almost laughed when she thought he looked like a penguin), came out of a room behind the service desk to meet them.

"Hello! You must be…er…uh," the man looked down at the open manila folder in his hands, and read a few lines on the file. "Oh, Chana. Yes, you must be Chana Levi, our new student! I'm glad to see you could make it today," the man said. He held out his hand.

"I'm Mr. Squid, the principal at South Glenn High. Please, if you'll follow me, I'll give you a tour of the school."

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Chana felt like a sheep being herded through countless confusing pastures, as Mr. Squid, (such a peculiar name for a penguin), led her around the school. There was an upstairs, and a lower level. All of Chana's classes, excluding P.E and Honors Chemistry, were on the main floor. Her Hon. Chem. Was on the Upper floors, and her P.E class, which housed a pool, was in the Lower floors.

Soon, the tour came to an end, and Chana found herself saying goodbye to her papa as he prepared to leave.

"I will pick you up after school," he said. "After you get used to coming here, I will allow you to drive your car,"

Chana nodded obediently, and waved her papa off, as she stood outside the office door. Her papa was barely out of sight before the bell rang for second period.

(The school was so large it took a full forty-eight minutes to tour it.)

Feeling like a fish out of water… (Hey, I'm getting good at these metaphors…or are they similes?), Chana hurried to her second period, which was A.P. Calc, in room E-72.

She turned a few hallways, passed a few students, had her foot stepped on, and made it to the appointed door just as the bell rang. Breathless, Chana allowed herself to be herded into the class along with the other students.

She nervously searched the room out, looking for the teacher. Seeing no one, she quietly took a seat near the back of the room, by the windows. She pushed her schedule into her small backpack, and hung it onto the back of her chair.

She silently watched the other students as they talked, laughed, and found their way to their seats. Her eyes looked to the front of the room as the last student entered. A girl wearing a low cut tank top and a very short blue-jean skirt. The girl looked about sixteen or seventeen, with shoulder length flaming red hair. She walked with extreme confidence, and smiled when a few guys cat called out to her. When she flipped her hair, Chana could see the girl's eyes were gray-blue.

The girl passed by her, and Chana felt compelled to turn and see where the girl sat. Two seats behind her, one seat over.

Feeling eyes on her, the redhead looked up, and stared right at Chana. She smiled.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked. Chana froze, as heat washed up her face. She quickly shook her head, and turned back to the front, just as a man entered.

He wore a simple cotton shirt, and lanky jeans. He was actually pretty cute. Chana quickly squashed that train of thought, as the man-presumably the teacher- turned to the class, and clapped his hands to get their attention.

Chana felt someone tap her back, and she turned to see a young boy with wild, curly brown hair and brown eyes smiling at her.

"Hey," he said quietly. "You must be the new girl,"

Chana nodded at him. The boy held out him hand. "I'm Tobias Dobson. And you are…?"

Chana proceeded to shake his hand. "I'm Chana. Chana Levi," she said. Tobias nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Chana. If you need help getting around here, just let me know…" he said. Chana nodded thankfully at him, and turned back to face the teacher, just as he called her up to the front.

Chana paused. Wait. Did he just call her name?

"Chana Levi," the man repeated. Chana hastily got to her feet, and walked up to the front. She felt mortified when someone whistled loudly at her.

She didn't really like attention. The man petted her shoulder gently, and introduced himself as Mr. Young. He proceeded to introduce her to the class.

"So, since this is Chana's first day here, I'd like to appoint a guide for her. I've checked her schedule, and the person who shares the most classes with her is…Amelia Tyson."

Chana saw as the redhead looked up from writing something in her notebook. Her hair fell around her face, giving her an innocent look.

Chana bit her lower lip, and hoped Amelia was nice.

"It's Lia," she said loudly, but not in a mean way. "I go by Lia." She looked Chana over carefully, and then a smile broke out over her face.

"Don't worry, Mr. Young," she said. "I'm gonna take good care of her,"

Chana's face burned, and it didn't help to hear some more guys' cat calling out to her like they were in the Amazon.

"Well, you gonna introduce yourself?" Mr. Young asked. Chana looked at him, and then back at the class.

"Well…" she began hesitantly. "As you can guess…my name's Chana,"

A young boy with blond hair, sitting next to Lea boldly said loudly, "You're hot, Chana!"

A boy next to him slapped his hand in a high five. Chana was appalled at how…rather outspoken the kids here were. Tobias asked,

"You're last name's Levi, right?" At Chana's nod, he continued.

"Then, you're Jewish?"

The words barely left his mouth, and the class went silent. Someone whispered, "She can't be a Jew…look at her!"

"Now, class," Mr. Young warned. "That doesn't change anything. She's still a classmate whom you all will respect,"

He looked at Chana, and nodded for her to return to her seat. Chana did, and Mr. Young turned to the board.

Chana pulled out a notebook from her back pack, and as she flipped it open, a folded note fell onto her desk. Curious, she opened it and read the cursive writing.

Hey, new girl. My next hour's P.E. I was already told your's was, too. Hope you aren't afraid of getting wet; It's water games today!

-Love, Lea

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A/N: Well, here's the first post! I hoped you enjoyed. The story line's going to get even more interesting. Stay tuned!

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