When the bell rang Brintessa grabbed her things and stood up.

"So, your dad's kinda strict or something?" The boy from behind her asked.

"Or something." She laughed.

He looked at her strange.

"He's a youth pastor." She explained.

"Wow, sucks to be you." He said. "Uh, no offense." He quickly added.

"None taken. It deffinatly has it's down sides. I'm Tessa by the way." She held out her hand.

"Aaron, I'm new here." He shook her hand.

"Hey Tess, will you let your dad know I'm almost done with that book he let me borrow?" Eric asked walking up.

"Sure Eric." She smiled.

"Thanks babe." He said and walked away.

"Your boyfriend?" He asked.

"Ha, Eric? No. Senior Pastor's son. Kinda like a brother." She said as they walked together toward the door.

"Tess Lunch?" Rachel asked.

"Of course." She smiled.

"Kay." Rachel said and walked away.

"Tessa?" Someone called as she and Aaron walked out of the room.

"Yeah?" She questioned.

"I won't be there Sunday. Can you let Jake know?"

"Sure." She smiled.

"Popular much?" Aaron asked.

"Not really. Our youth group is kinda big and most of them go to school here. Actually most of the teachers here go to church there. A lot of them work in the youth group." She explained.

Aaron nodded. "Would you happen to know where Mr. Thompson's class is?" He asked looking at his schedual.

"It's right next to my next class. I'll show you." She told him and they began to walk.

"So, what's a senior pastor?" Aaron asked.

"Uh.. he's like the main guy. He's the one who stand in front of the entire church. A lot of people think it means he's the pastor for he elderly." She laughed.

"Yeah, I've been to a few churches and none of them called in the senior pastor. It was always just the head pastor."

"Yeah, I've heard that one too."

"Move nerd!" A girl called walking past and bumping into Tessa.

She said nothing but shot her an ugly look.

"Whose that?" Aaron asked.

"Ashley, She kinda hates me."

"Not a big fan of God?" Aaron asked.

"Not at all." Tessa laughed a little.

"Look, GG has a new boyfriend." Ashley teased joining a group of her freinds.

"Oh come on now Ash. You know her daddy wont let her date." One of them teased.

"Just ignore them." Katie smiled walking past.

Brintessa and Aaron just kept walking.

"Well, this is my stop. Your is the next door up." She stopped.

"Thanks." He smiled.

"Do you know where you're going after that?" She asked.

"Mrs. Nohe." He read off the name of the teacher.

"Last room on the left at the end of this hall." She told him.

"Thanks, you've been a big help." He flashed her a smile.

Her heart almost melted from it. His blond hair and brown eyes mixed with that smile was God's creation at it's best.

"You're welcome." She told him peeling her eyes away.

"Come on Miss Scott. Let not the grass grow under your feet." Her teacher called from the doorwa near by.

"Bye Tessa." He said.

"Bye Aaron." She too smiled and walked away.

"Take your seats class. The bell will be ringing soon." The teacher told them all closing the door.

A few moments later the bell rang and class began.

That class as well as the next two went fine. They where a bit boring but they were fine none the less.

The next class was one of her favorites. Mr. Geoff often had open discutions about a peticular topic on Fridays.

The group of students was almost split right down the middle of people who were in the youth group and people who wernt. It often made for really fun debates.

Mr. Geoff was one of the adult leaders in the youth group so he often allowed the christian students to express their veiws.

Tessa really liked Mr. Geoff. For a teacher he was really laid back. For example, his first name was Geoff. Most teachers made their students call them by their last names. He hated his last name.

What Brintessa did not know was that Mr. Geoff was acutally her real mom's brother. Her dad and his parents agreed it was best to keep her from knowing. Geoff's parents had been unsuportive of them choosing to keep her. When her mother passed away her parents told Jake that they never wanted to see her again. Jake feared if she knew Geoff was her Uncle she would begin to ask questions and then be heart broken when she discovered the truth.

"Tessa! What's up?" Mr. Geoff asked giving her a high five as she walked into the room.

"Not much." She smiled and went to find a seat.

The seats where really more like giant stairs gathered into a circle.

She took a seat on the second row of one of them alone. Some times people from the youth group would sit with her and some times they wouldn't.

"Fresh meat. Come in. Come in. I'm Mr. Geoff." She looked up and saw Aaron and a very pretty girl with long brown hair enter the room. She couldn't help but smile seeing Aaron.

"Tessa." Aaron smiled walking over to her. The brown haired girl followed.

"Hey Aaron." She smiled.

"This is my twin sister Angel." He introduced the dark haired girl.

"Nice to meet you." Angel held out her hand.

"Like wise. You're very pretty." Tessa told her.

"Thanks." Angel smiled taken back by her kindness.

"Mind if we seat with you?" Aaron asked.

"Of course not." She smiled and moved over a little.

Aaron sat next to Tessa and Angle sat sideways in front of them.

"Aaron said your dad is a youth pastor." Angle tried to make small talk.

"Yeah." Tessa nodded.

"Alright class. Let's get started." Mr Geoff said clossing the door.

Quickly the stairs were filled with teens.

"First, let's welcome two new students. Aaron ang Angle Carter." He pointed to them.

"Where did you guys move to Tampa from?" He asked them.

"A small town in New York." Aaron told them.

"Very good. Everyone say hi." Mr. Geoff instructed.

The whole class said hello and twins smiled.

"Alright, topid today is peer pressure! Let's start with the question: What are some things you feel like your peers try to presure you to do or think?"

"Drugs." Came an answer.

"Drinking."

"Smoking."

"Have any of you ever been offered any of these by a peer?" Mr Geoff asked.

Some of the students said yes while others raised their hands.

"Alright, Matt, you said yes. What where you offered and how do you respond?"

"I've been offered all three. I tried the beer but said no the other stuff." He said.

"He's telling an adult he drank underage?" Angel questioned how odd it was.

"We have a very strict, what's said here stays here rule." Tessa told her.

She nodded.

"Did your friend try to pressure you into the drugs or smoking when you said no?" Mr. Geoff asked.

"Yeah, of course." Matt replied.

"What did they say? How did you respond?" He asked.

"They said it was fun and that it would make me look cool. I told them I had asthma and all it would do was send me to the hospital."

"Alright, What are some other things?" He kept the topic moving.