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Music bumped from the small gym, spotlights shined on the school's sign that sat on the front lawn. Kids loitered in the gym, streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons held tightly in mesh nets having above them. A shiny disco ball twirled around, reflecting off of the floor, the streets were quiet as Brian and his friends padded down the sidewalk towards the school.

"Wait wait" Jason said holding them up.

"J come on we're already late" Chris said to him.

"There she is gentlemen" Jason said resting his hands on their shoulders as they stared at the building "Our home for the next four years" he said to them.

"Didn't know you were so sentimental J" Brian said to him.

"Shut up, come on, high school, this is the big leagues, no more lame Jr. high dances that are over by nine" Jason said to them.

"Speaking of which..." Chris said to him.

"Come on we're already late for our own graduation dance" Brian said as they walked away.

~*~


Emily swayed along to the music, holding a cup of punch in her hand, a large banner scrolled across the gym wall "Congratulations Bridgewater Junior High Class of '89" it read. The doors opened and they entered the gym, she looked at them disappointed as they came towards her.

"Where have you been?" she asked them.

"Not our fault, Jason wanted to stop and stare at the high school and deliver some right of passage speech" Brian said filling a cup with punch.

"Again?" Emily asked him "Oh here we go" Emily said as Lisa passed across the gym with her friends by her side "Incoming" Emily said walking away from him.

"Here you are" Lisa said cheerfully, stopping in front of him.

"Hey Lisa" he said smiling at her.

"I was wondering if you were ever going to get here" she said "I wanted to give you this in person" she said handing him an envelope.

"Thanks, what is it?"

"My graduation party is this weekend."

"Oh wow, thanks" he said looking at it.

"So? Will you be there?"

"Uh..." he said as he spotted Emily behind them, shaking her head no vigorously "Sure" he said as Emily hung her head in defeat.

"Wonderful, well we have to work the room, come find me later, I'd love a dance" she said.

"Sure" he said to her.

"Girls" Lisa said as they walked away, he breathed a sigh of relief before refilling his cup.

"Wow Lisa Jones, nice" Jason said coming to his side.

"Yeah..." he said taking a drink.

"She is every guy's dream girl...what she want with you?" Jason asked, Brain looked at him irritated.

"Ha ha" Brian said "She just invited me to her graduation party that's all."

"Oh cool, can you bring a guest?"

"Jason!" Emily said, startling him "Why didn't you tell her off?" she asked him.

"Em...".

"It is mind blowing how incredibly dense she is" Emily said.

"Who needs to be smart when you're that gorgeous" Jason said as Emily glared at him "Of course I mean you" Jason said to her as she looked at him annoyed
"I'm not helping myself here am I?"

"Not in the slightest" Brian said to him.

"Look you have complained countless times at how you don't like her and find her incredibly pushy and annoying, why don't you just tell her that?" Emily asked.

"Well come on Em I don't want to be rude" Brian said to her.

"Since when is honesty rude?" Emily asked.

"Em now I know you've had this long standing feud with Lisa since...ever" he said.

"Yeah what's your problem?" Jason asked as Emily turned to glare at him once again.

"My problem? You even have to ask?"

"Oh not the third grade skating party incident again" Brian murmured.

"She spilled that soda on the floor on purpose you know she did" Emily said to him. "I fell into a puddle and hit my head and she found it just so hysterically funny" Emily said to them. "I didn't like her before then anyways and I like her even less now."

"Why because she's pretty and popular?" Jason asked, Emily looked at him.

"You really think I'm that superficial?" she asked as they glanced at each other, Brian shot Jason a warning look.

"No...course not" Jason said to her.

"Besides I thought going after a guy who was crushing on your supposed best friend was against some rule?"

"Can we please not bring Heather up right now?" Brian asked.

"Think about it, Heather was her leader what makes you think she's any different?"

"It's not the mafia Em" Jason said to her.

"Yeah it's worst, trust me, I'm a girl, I know these things, we're brutal" she said to him.

~*~


Vicki sat in the passenger seat of the car as she and her mom drove to their new home, Lizzie looked over at her as she stared sadly out the window.

"So...nothing like a mother daughter road trip huh?" Lizzie asked, Vicki glared at her "Still mad at me huh?" Lizzie asked as Vicki pulled her sunglasses down and put her headphones on "I'll take that as a yes" she said.

~*~


The basketball swished through the net.

"That was my point" Brian said to Jason as the ball bounced on the driveway.

"Time?" Jason asked.

"Please" Brian said as they sat on the pavement "Man it's hot today" he said taking a drink of water.

"Hey hey share the wealth" Jason said taking a bottle from him "What do you say we put this on hold, go down to the pool" Jason said to him, he laughed.

"Nice try" Brian said taking the ball.

"Dude I'm serious if I have to stay out here any longer I'll pass out" Jason said to him.

"Yeah sure and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm winning" Brian said.

"So you give any thought about Lisa's party tomorrow night?" Jason asked taking a drink of water.

"Yeah uh I'm not going to go" Brian sighed.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"J, I'm just not interested that's all" Brian said.

"Not interested? What is wrong with you? You know how many guys in our class would die to be in your shoes?" Jason said to him.

"God J she's just a girl" Brian said grabbing the bottle from him .

"No, she is THEgirl."

"Tell you what J, if you like her so much, why don't you date her?"

"Love to except she thinks I'm a pervert".

"...And?" Brian asked.

"What? Oh! Em" Jason said "Do not tell her about this."

"I'll play you for it" he said to Jason as they saw the moving truck come down the street and come to a stop at a house.

"New neighbors?" he asked.

"How long do you think they'll last?" Jason asked.

"Who knows, come on lets finish this game and then head down to the pool."

"Sounds like a plan" Jason said as they stood up.

"Here we are" Lizzie said as they drove into the neighborhood, Vicki pulled her sunglasses up as she parked in the driveway.

"This is it?" Vicki asked looking out of the window.

"Yes it is, welcome to our new home" Lizzie said getting out "Wow you're ahead of us" Lizzie said to the truck driver as Vicki got out of the car, she pulled the "For Sale" sign out of the ground.

She stepped up onto the porch and looked in the front window Brian dropped the ball, Jason picked it up and threw it through the hoop as he stared at Vicki.

"My point" Jason said to him making a basket.

"Uh huh" Brian said as he watched Vicki open the door and step into the house.

"What are you staring at?" Jason asked him, looking in the same direction.

"Did you see her?" Brian asked him.

"See who?" Jason asked looking around.

"The new girl" Brian said to him, pointing to the front porch of the house.

"I don't see anyone" Jason said "Come on" he said shoving the ball into Brian's chest.

"Yeah right" he said as they began to play again. Vicki looked around the house.

"Well?" Lizzie asked hopefully, Vicki shrugged.

"It's alright I guess" she said.

"Well that's a start" Lizzie said.

"I'm still mad" Vicki said to her.

"Of course" Lizzie said to her "How about I make it up to you?" Lizzie asked.

"We're going back home?" Vicki asked hopefully.

"Nice try, you get the biggest bedroom" Lizzie said to her.

"Oooh" Vicki said to her "Yeah that makes us even" Vicki said rolling her eyes.

"Come on" Lizzie said dragging her upstairs "Welcome to your new room" Lizzie said opening the door, the room was bare, the walls plain colored. Two slender french doors led outside to a small balcony, a tree hung over it, leaves falling on to the ground.

"Wow" Vicki said going in "This is beautiful" she said looking around "I can really have this one?" Vicki asked curiously.

"All yours" Lizzie said to her.

"Okay...I'm sorry for the way I've been acting...I'll try to lighten up a little" Vicki said to her, Lizzie smiled.

"And I'm sorry for not discussing this with you beforehand, I know I threw you for a loop and you had every right to be upset."

"Yes I did."

"But it's just you and me now okay? We have to stick together."

"Okay" Vicki said as Lizzie hugged her.

"It's us against the world kid" Lizzie said to her. "Come on lets start unloading" she said as they went downstairs.

Music played loudly from the moving truck as they took stuff into the house. Brian and Jason were still playing basketball in his driveway.

"How much longer?" Jason asked as sweat poured from his forehead.

"What's the matter J? Heat getting to you?" Brian asked happily.

"I hate you" Jason said "Look I'm giving you the win alright? Can we please go swimming now?" Jason asked.

"You're just going to give up?" Brian asked bouncing the ball off of the ground.

"You would've beaten me anyways."

"Yeah I know" Brian said.

"Good, I'm going to change I'll meet you back here in a minute" Vicki came back outside and walked to the truck.

"Hey wait, there she is" he said to Jason "That's the girl I saw" he said.

"Wow...she's cute" Jason said to him.

"Honey some of those might be heavy, just be careful."

Lizzie called outside to Vicki as she pulled a box from the truck.

"I think I can manage mom" Vicki said picking the box up.

She began to carry it up to the porch when her shoe caught on the sidewalk and with one swift motion she went down. Brian quickly ran from Jason's side and through the front yards.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked kneeling down to her level.

"Yeah I'm okay" Vicki said to him "Oh my god ow" she said trying to move her foot. "Okay maybe I'm not that okay" she said to him he grabbed her hands and carefully pulled her up, she fell against him.

"Hi" he said as he looked down at her.

"Hi" she said as her face turned red.

"I uh...I'm Brian" he said to her.

"I'm Vicki" she said to him.

"Vicki, pretty name" he said to her.

"Yeah? I always thought it made me sound like some snotty rich girl or some evil old lady" she said as they laughed.

"Come on I'll help you inside" he said to her.

"Oh thanks I'm sure I'm okay though...ow ow!" she said before screaming in pain "Or not" she said.

"Come on" he said smiling as he helped into the house.

"Oh my god" Lizzie said running into the room "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah I think its just a sprain" Vicki said to her "Mom" she said her eyes darting towards him.

"Oh, hello" Lizzie said to him.

"Hi" Brian said to her.

"Hi, I'm Lizzie, Vicki's mom and you are?".

"Oh I'm Brian, I live up the street, I just thought she might need some help" he said.

"Oh well thank you" Lizzie said to him.

"No problem, I'll see you around" he said to Vicki as he left.

"Yeah, okay" Vicki said smiling at him.

"Bye and thank you" Lizzie said to him.

"Oh my god" Vicki whined "I am such an idiot!" she said throwing her head back and covering her face with his her hands in embarrassment.

"He's cute" Lizzie said to her.

"Yeah I noticed" Vicki said irritated.

"Should I start planning the wedding?" Lizzie asked before laughing.

"Not funny" Vicki said glaring at her.

"I'll get you some ice" Lizzie said to her as she went into the kitchen.

"What was that?" Jason asked with a smile on his face.

"What?" Brian asked him.

"You...riding in on your white horse" Jason said to him.

"Shut up" Brian said.

"Seriously...someone's in love" Jason said.

"No I'm not, come on are we going swimming or what?" Brian asked going into his house.

"So...what's her name?" Jason asked following him.

"Does it matter?" Brian asked as they went upstairs to his bedroom .

"Come on lover boy, what's her name?" Jason asked as Brian dug through his dresser drawers and pulled out his swim trunks.

"Vicki...McAdams" he said to Jason. .

"Oooh" Jason said teasing him as he went into the bathroom and closed the door in Jason's face.

~*~


Music played as the water splashed, people lounging around the pool, they sat under an umbrella at a wooden picnic table.

"Check it out" Jason said to Chris as they watched Lisa and her friends lying back on towels by the pool, sunbathing.

"Oh baby" Chris said "Did it get hotter out here?" he asked as they saw Lisa stand up and climb down the pool ladder.

"Oh yeah that's it get nice and wet..." Jason said as they watched her dive into the water.

"Here we are gentlemen" Brian said setting four cans of soda down on the table as his friend Omar set a plate of fries down next to it.

"Alright, Texas hold 'em" Chris said opening a pack of cards.

"So I heard you got invited to Lisa's party tomorrow night" Omar said to Brian as Chris dealt out the cards.

"You going?" Chris asked.

"I don't think so" Brian said picking his cards up.

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Why not?" Chris and Omar asked him.

"Why is everyone so upset that I'm not going to this party?" Brian asked.

"I think he'd rather stay home and check out the new girl anyway" Jason said as Brian flicked a card at him.

"What's this?" Omar asked.

"There's a new girl?" Chris asked.

"You guys know our boy here's a real prince charming?" Jason asked.

"Oh really" Omar said intrigued.

"So...tell us about new girl."

"She has an actual name you know" Brian said to them.

"Which is?" Chris asked.

"Vicki...Vicki McAdams" he said.

"Vicki? sounds like a rich girl name" Chris said, Brian laughed.

"Yeah, she said the same thing" he said as they all looked at him.

"So...she pretty?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, she's beautiful" Brian said to him laying cards down on the table, they looked at each other trying not to laugh.

"What color eyes does she have?" Omar asked.

"I don't know like brownish type color, you know at one glance they're brown but they got like a goldish..." Brian said as he looked at their faces "What?" he asked.

"You're so in love" Jason said laughing.

"No I'm not...so I noticed the color of her eyes big deal...anyone would they're so amazing" he said as they laughed at him.

"Someone has a crush on the new girl" Chris said.

"I do not" Brian said blushing.

"So uh how exactly did this turn of events happen?" Omar asked.

"Look, she fell, I ran over to see if she needed help, I helped her into the house and I left, not a big deal".

"Hi boys" they heard, they looked up to see Lisa standing there, still wet from the pool. Jason dropped his cards "I was wondering when you were going to come in, the water is amazing" she said sitting next to him and wringing her hair out.

"I think I need to go in right about now" Jason said quickly getting up from the table.

"Me too" Chris said following him.

"Will one of you be a dear and get me a diet soda?" she asked looking at Omar, he looked around.

"Oh please let me do it" he said annoyed as he got up from the table.

"So, what are you playing?"

"Uh Texas hold 'em" Brian said to her as he pulled all the cards into a pile "Which I guess is now solitaire" he said shuffling them.

"So, tomorrow night is my party."

"Yeah look about the party..."

"I really really hope you'll be there" she said smiling at him.

"Would it be alright if I brought a guest or two?" he asked.

"...sure" she said reluctantly "Bring whoever you like" she said to him "So hot out here, I'm getting back into the water, you coming."

"Yeah I'll be in in a minute" he said.

"Where'd she go?" Omar asked setting a soda can on the table.

"Back in the water" Brian said to him.

"Great, I stood in that line for nothing, want to play blackjack?" Omar asked.

"I told Lisa I'd get in the pool" Brian said to him.

"Hey listen" Omar said to him as he stood up and pulled his shirt off.

"Yeah?"

"All joking aside, if you really like this girl...Vicki...go for it, maybe it'll turn out the way you want it to" Omar said to him.

"Thanks" Brian said as he dove into the pool.

~*~


The next night there were kids crammed into Lisa's basement as music made the house thump. Brian, Emily and Jason walked down the basement steps.

"Wow" Jason said as they reached the bottom.

"Cannot believe I let you drag me here" Emily moaned "You didn't have to do this for him" Emily said.

"I know, I'm doing it so he'll finally get off my back" Brian said to her.

"I'll take it either way" Jason said.

"Oh hey!" Lisa called from across the room as she approached them "You came!...and you brought...guests" she said looking at Emily and Jason.

"Trust me, we're not staying long" Emily said to her.

"Good" Lisa said to her.

"Lisa...you're looking..." Jason said to her "Wow" he said looking her up and down.

"Back off you little creep" Lisa said to him.

"Okay" he said to her before giggling.

"I need a drink" Emily said groaning as they made their way to the refreshment table "So...Jason told me about your new friend."

"Course he did, why did I think he wouldn't?" Brian asked as he handed Emily a soda.

"Well?" Emily asked.

"Well what?" Brian asked.

"Do you like her?" she asked.

"I don't know Em, I just met the girl twenty four hours ago" Brian said to her.

"I think you do" Emily said in a sing song voice.

"Really? How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"Trust me, I know these things, besides I saw you go to her house this morning" Emily said to him.

"She hurt her ankle really badly I wanted to see how she was" he said to her.

"See?" Emily asked.

"What are you doing over here with...her" Lisa said coming to his side and linking her arm with his "Come on, work the room with me" she said to him as she pulled him away.

"Good luck" Emily said to him.

Lisa hung on to Brian all night, her arm linked with his pulling him along to greet her guests. He then sat on a couch with her and her friends.

"God kill me now" he said to himself as he listened to them talk.

"Oh would you be a dear and get me some punch?" Lisa asked handing him a cup.

"Oh me too" Erica said handing him her cup as well.

"I had diet" Megan said handing him a cup.

"No problem" he said as he went to the table.

"Great party huh?" Jason asked.

"No" Brian said filling up Lisa's cup, she waved to him, he waved back. "It's like she asked me here to be her personal assistant, do me a favor deliver these to the girls on the couch" he said handing Jason the drinks.

"Where you going?" Jason asked.

"As far away from here as possible" Brian said to Jason.

"Ladies" he said to them.

"What do you want perv?" Lisa asked as she and her friends looked at him in disdain.

"Brought you ladies some refreshments" he said handing them their drinks.

"No thanks" she said "..where is Brian?" she asked looking around.

"Oh uh he took off".

"What?" she asked before growling.

"Punch?" he asked, she took the cup and threw the drink at him before stalking off.

~*~


Brian walked up the street when he noticed a light shining down the driveway of Vicki's house Vicki sat on a large swing that sat in their new backyard she lied her head back so she was staring up at the night sky.

"Okay here you go sweetie" Lizzie said coming outside with a bag of ice.

"Ow" she gasped, grimacing in pain as her mom set her foot on a small stool.

"Ooh still hurts huh?" Lizzie asked.

"I told you mom it's a sign that we shouldn't have come here" Vicki said to her, Lizzie looked at her.

"If it still hurts tomorrow we'll find a doctor to take a look" Lizzie said to her "We don't want it to swell up" Lizzie said going back into the house.

"Hi" Brian said startling her.

"Oh, hi" she said to him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you...You remember me right? "he asked.

"No, that's okay, course I remember you, not every day a strange boy comes to a girl's rescue" she said as they laughed. "Come on in" she said as he opened the gate and came into the yard.

"Oh wow that looks really bad" he said.

"Feels even worst" she said to him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah just a sprain" she said to him "Sit down" she said as he sat on the swing next to her.

"I don't know if you know this but uh...I came by earlier...to see if you were okay."

"Yeah my mom told me, that was really sweet, you didn't have to do that" she said to him.

"I wanted to" he said shrugging.

"So...what brings you by?"

"Oh I was at this party, girl in my class was having her graduation party tonight" he said.

"Oh" Vicki said to him, she looked at her watch "Must've been a pretty boring party" she said.

"Yeah it uh...wasn't the best I can tell you that much" he said as they smiled at each other "What about you?" he asked.

"Was a nice night I'd thought I'd come out and commiserate under the stars" she said, he laughed.

"I guess you're not thrilled about being the newest resident of our little town here huh?"

"Is it that obvious?" she asked "Moving wasn't exactly my idea of fun...and now this sprained ankle just adds insult to injury...no pun intended" she said as he laughed.

"Where you coming from?" he asked.

"Seattle."

"Wow...long way from home" he said.

"Tell me about it."

"Does it really rain there all the time?" he asked.

She laughed "No, believe it or not the sun does come out there" she said as he smiled at her.

"So...just you and your mom?"

"Yeah, my parents were divorced when I was eight."

"Oh, I'm sorry" he said to her "No brothers or sisters?" he asked.

"No...I wish I did though."

"Oh yeah? Want mine?" he asked, she laughed.

"You have a brother or a sister?" she asked.

"An older brother, he's kind of a pain but if you want him to you're welcome to him" he said to her, she laughed.

"I'll get back to you on that."

"Okay, well you know this place isn't that bad I mean we got...a movie theater...the mall...okay yeah this place is pretty bad" he said, she laughed.

"Wow, sounds exciting" she said to him.

"Uh there's a diner down on 4th street where everyone hangs out."

"I'll have to check all that out...well once I'm walking on two feet again" she said to him.

"And I can introduce you to some people" he said to her.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah let's see there's uh...Jason, one of my best friends he's...he's an acquired taste" she laughed.
"Emily, she's Jason's girlfriend, she's interesting, uh...Chris and Omar, Jacqui, Ariel..."

"Sounds like you know some colorful characters" Vicki said to him.

"Oh they're colorful trust me" he said as she laughed. "And uh...there's me" he said to her, they smiled at each other.

"You know we didn't really get to talk or anything yesterday what with me being a klutz and all" she said to him, he laughed.

"yeah uh...well...Brian Littrell" he said sticking his hand out.

"Vicki McAdams" she said shaking it as they smiled at each other.