Derain picked up his book and his bag calmly walking out into the hallway. He caught sight of Mike and tapped him on the shoulder. He began to talk with him on the way to gym class.

This would be boring, accorind to him the guys would be playing basketball. And usually no girls participated. He just shook his head. "My friend, I'm sitting this one out." he walked into the gym and sat on the floor. He pulled out his book and began to read it quietly.

Crystal finally looked down at her schedule and when she saw that it was gym she smiled. She loved being active but in normal schools the girls rarely participated. She knew that she could always take her own basket ball or whatever and do whatever she wanted by herself. It was what she usually did. She almost ran down the hall, she'd already dropped her gym clothes off in the locker and changed fast.

As soon as she was done, which was faster than at least half the other girls she ran out. Then she remembered that he was then and she suddenly began to feel ashamed of the shorts, t-shirt, and shoes she was wearing. She walked over to the rack of basketballs though and took one out. She bounced it a few times before going to a corner and throwing it against a wall and catching it when it came back.

Derain looked up and saw Crystal. She was going to play. He wondered if she was just bored. She had on a cute looking little gym get-up. He smiled watching her play with the ball.

He smiled and went back to his book. Maybe he'd participate next time. He couldn't resist watching her though. He tried not to make it too obvious as he used his book for cover.

When the rest of the people came it was obvious that she would be spending the rest of the time alone. The girls had clustered onto one side of the gym and were watching the guys plays. The gym teacher did nothing as usual and occasionally they'd throw a ball back and forth.

It gave her time to think and realize what she was supposed to do right now. As she threw the ball against the wall she ignored him now, thinking he wouldn't want anyone to talk to him. He was reading, which meant he was probably entertained enough.

Derain sighed at got up. He streched a bit and yawned. Then when he opened his eyes he saw a ball coming straight for his face. And he heard snickering too. He moved his head to the side and let the ball hit the wall. He cocked his eyebrows at the amazed guys standing in front of him.

"Frickin' idiots. Can't even hit a still target with a ball." he scoffed and picked up the ball. He was well on the other side of the court but decided to show off. He took the ball and shot it. It landed with a 'swish' through the net. The girls all exclaimed and he smiled as the guys turned around mad. Idiots was what they were. Singling out the new guy. He sighed and streched again.

Crystal had been continually bouncing the a ball off the wall with a zoned out expression. She didn't hear anything or see anything that was going on at this point. The way she was studying the wall was peculiar though. She was planning at the same time, the way she would apologize to him for her reaction to his questions. She stopped suddenly and looked over at him.

She was tempted to walk over to him and she started to slide in his direction, pretending that she kept throwing the ball a little too much in the direction of where she was. She got into this so much that she was surprised that it slipped out of her hands and went bouncing away and towards his feet.

Derain simply picked the ball up and tossed it back to her. He didn't want to deal with people who were rude right now. He cocked an eyebrow at her then walked out of class. He slipped his bag on his shoulder and his book into his bag. He went outside and sat on the steps of the school.

Could this day get any worse? Then his cell phone rang. T-Pain's 'I'm in Luv Wit a Stripper' played and he knew it was Ashley..... He sighed a picked up the phone hearing a gushing chirpy voice blast into his ear. He held the phone away from his ear as she yelled at him.

She looked mournfully at where he had been. She gave up then and walked slowly back to where the changing room was. After talking to the teacher she managed to get out of class. She walked slowly to where the library was and sat down in a hidden area. As soon as she got there she laid her head down on a table.

Why had she snapped at him and why had she been so rude. If it was only because she wasn't used to it. She felt a dark wave come over her and leaned her head against the table. She had a way of putting herself down when she messed up on a mission and this wasn't the first time. If she let her parents find out they wouldn't let her forget it, so instead she hid in the library and waited for the next period or just for the day to end.

Derain made his way to his English class. His favorite class wouldn't mean a thing. He had no one to talk to here. And since Crystal was so obviously fed up with him already it made him even more depressed.

He was especially ticked off because he'd had to listen to Ashley demand things from him that he didn't owe her. Friggin........... God how he hated selfish people. And dumb blonde bimbos just made his day worse. He again sat in the back near the window.

Crystal stayed in the library, ignoring the school bell. She was staring at the wall, lecturing herself for her stupidity and starting to feel lonely again. She opened the book finally and started to read it. She'd chosen it because it let her get away from the real world the most. It was going to be a long day if she was going to hide from her own guilt.

Maybe someone would actually notice if she was gone. There was too much going on for her to realize that missing class might make her parents even more angry.

It took Derain a while to notice that Crystal wasn't in class. He sighed and raised his hand. He got a pass to go to the bathroom. He saw a couple of girls walking together and then asked if they'd seen her. They told him she was in the library.

He ran down the hallways to the library and entered quietly. He searched around quickly before finding her hiding spot. He plucked her in the head. "Idiot, what are you doing skipping class on your first say of school?" he hissed in a quiet tone. Always had to play the nice guy.

Crystal was deep in her book when she heard Derain talk to her. She nearly fell out of her chair but righted herself and looked at him sheepishly. She didn't want to tell him that she'd been lecturing herself for being a moron in the first hour.

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me," she said with her head slightly bowed. "I'm sorry I was so rude. I'm just not used to being asked questions and it was overwhelming." She still had her head bowed and was afraid to look up at him.

Derain just sighed and shook his head. Then he looked down at her a swatted her upside the head. "Even if that was the case, you still shoulda come to class... And after that outburst I was the one feeling unwanted here."

He sighed again and held out his hand to her saying, "Well we can go back to class together and you say you got lost or you can stay here and tell that lie later."

Crystal nodded meekly, a genuine expression of guilt coming to her face. She had heard head bowed as she picked up her things, afraid to look at him for some reason. She was too busy wondering how he'd found her to notice what the next class was.

As they started to walk back to the class though she felt jittery, almost nervous about entering it. Would the same boys who laughed at her first hour be there? Would she be forced to be humiliated by them again.

Derain gave her a small push on the back through the door. Then grabbed her hand lead her to the seat next to his. Really this sudden shyness wasn't making any sense. But nothing she'd done so far had.

Maybe that's why he felt the need to almost protect her. She seemed like someone who would make a good friend. And he wanted to be friends with her honestly. Besides, he wasn't the type to cheat. Ashley had asked again why he was going to this high school instead of the one she was going to.

He had just told her to mind her business and hung up. He put his phone on silent, and was pretty sure his phone had alot of missed calls and messages. He looked at Crystal and wondered where she had zoned out to.

Crystal had taken the seat next to his and taken out a different notebook. They were all cheap by the looks of it but that was because she had only her own money to buy these supplies. She was writing what the teacher seemed to be lecturing on. There were small doodles on the side however and her mind was rampant with what her parents would have thought if they knew she'd almost skipped a class.

They would have been devastated and these thoughts were racing through her head. She glanced at Derain occasionally, wondering if he had any idea what she was here for. He probably didn't because none of the others guys or girls she'd done this to knew. There was something different about this one though. he actually seemed to care.

Derain looked over at her and noticed that she looked a bit sad. What was with her? Why couldn't she look bored like everyone else. Now he felt as though he'd done something. And he wanted to make her smile. She didn't look the same with that furrowed brow. He hadn't seen her smile yet, but still. He'd love to. Hecould imagine her as a kid sister to him. He had too much trouble with Ashley to try with Crystal. Even if she was adorable.

Crystal had noticed that Derain almost seemed to be watching her. She would have smiled but it might have given something away. The way she'd acted by going to the library had been genuine and she regretted the actions but would also be punished for it later. She wasn't sure what was going to happen yet but she dreaded it. There were no physical signs when you looked at her initially but sometimes if you watched her carefully enough you could see the slight limp that she had.

She would show the notes to her parents as evidence she'd been diligent in class but someone would probably tell them about her lateness to one class. As the class seemed to drag on she kept the face though she desperately wanted to look at him now, study his face and see what it was about him that she found so curious. It wasn't his looks and it wasn't his fortune, that much she was sure of.

"Hey Crystal, you wanna come hang out later?" Derain whispered out the side of his mouth while continuing to do what the teacher had asked. He wasn't paying it much attention so he wouldn't know how it would look when he handed it in. But he didn't mind, he was more focused on Crystal and her sad profile.

She seemed as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, and he wanted to help her out some at least.

"Sure," she said softly as she did what she was told to do. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled slightly. It was exciting that he was actually interested in making her happy. She hadn't planned on that but now that she had the advantage she would be able to move a little more quickly.

She was starting to feel something that she hadn't expected though. She wanted to ignore the idea of that and she stared blankly at her paper for a moment.

Derain grinned a bit as she said 'yes'. He could relax if he took her to his house. And he could take time to find out about her. She was such a puzzle to him. He loved figuring people out, and making them happy. She didn't seem like someone who would smile all the time, but neither did she seem like someone who cried over every little thing.

(OHMAGOSH!!!! I'm so sorry, but things have been going a little bad here lately, so I haven't been on)

She hadn't answered with a definite yes but hanging out with him would give her a chance to get to know him, understand what she was trying to get. There was one route she was considering at the moment, being so good and kind hearted in front of their parents that they liked her more. She didn't think it was possible but the only other option was to have him killed after a marriage between him and her, but that wasn't likely either. She needed more details about the company and his family.

"What's your favorite subject," she asked after the teacher had quit talking so they could work on whatever project she'd told them to do, this one was a book report on a book that you were supposed to read within the month, she'd already written so many of those she could practically just re-write one of the book reports.

((It's fine, I've been busy too.))

Derain blinked while thinking..... "I'd have to say creative writing. I love to write things." He smiled down at her gently, she seemed a bit more relaxed, if only by a little. He wondered about her, someone who wanted to know about you, but didn't think about revealing things about herself. He petted her head fondly before turning to his work. He sighed, this wasn't anything new. He'd read the book already. He opened one of his many notebooks and took out a pen to begin writing the report.

He hoped she'd have fun with him later.

She'd blushed deeply when she'd patted her head and looked around suspiciously and making sure that no one was watching. She was pleased when she'd figured that out. She had a book in mind that she would use which she'd used for previous book reports so she could make it even better, add some details. She'd also turned to her notebook and began an outline of the book report. She peaked over at him occasionally though, studying him, how he wrote and what his hand writing looked like.

Derain noticed her watching him and smiled a little. She had blushed and looked around to see if anyone had seen. He thought she was adorable, then looked at her.... Adorable, didn't he have a girlfriend? Or was she his fiance? He couldn't remember at this point...... Even though he'd just met this girl, his head was filled with thoughts of her. Crystal was getting in his way and she didn't even know it. Boy was this gonna be a trip..... He had to get over this attraction and fast before something he regretted happened.

He turned to what he'd been writing and saw the last line was gibberish, so he erased it and re-wrote it carefully in neat print. His father found it weird that he wrote in print rather than cursive. It was easy he thought, he liked things simple. Which was why he didn't want to run a multimillion dollar company, but as sole heir, what choice did he have? He looked back as Crystal and thought that if he could've been a normal guy, he would've dumped his girl and tried to get her. She seemed like the type of girl that one could spend their life with.

WHOA!!!! That was way outta line! He looked down at his paper, concentrating hard on not losing focus of the assignment this time.