New In Town

I closed my bedroom door as I made my way to the kitchen table where Danny was sat staring at a cup of coffee placed in front of him. He had been acting strangely all week. He had been avoiding me, gone before I got up in the mornings and came home late going straight into his room and not coming out. By Thursday I was really starting to worry.

Danny only noticed me when I pulled a chair out and sat opposite him, it was like he was released from some sort of trance. "Viv, I didn't hear you coming." He said before getting up and placing his coffee mug, still filled with coffee, in the sink to be washed later.

"Dan?" I asked looking at my step-brother warily.

"Yeah?" He said moving away from the sink towards the larder and pulling out a box of cereal before placing it in front of me with a bowl and spoon.

"Um, are you... alright?" I asked struggling to find the right word.

"I'm fine," he replied "Just a little tired. Listen, I'm going out with Dez today, I might stay the night as well, will you be ok on your own?" He grabbed his coat, putting it on, before going to the front door and picking up his set of keys.

I wanted to scream at him that I wouldn't be fine alone, that I needed him, that I wanted to know what was wrong but he looked like he really needed some time to himself for whatever reason so I merely nodded, watching him leave after he gave me a half-smile. 'Definitely forced.' I thought as I poured myself some cereal.

After breakfast I decided to catch up on a little homework, that I had been neglecting recently, seeing as I had nothing else to do. But time, unfortunately enough for me, flies when you're working and I soon split into boredom.

I started walking around the apartment, looking for some form of entertainment, my search, of course, proving unsuccessful, until I finally gave up and decided to spend the day on the sofa... even though I was most likely going to do this tomorrow as well. After about an hour of daytime TV, I realised I wouldn't survive a minute longer in front of it. Perfect. 'Now what?' I thought as I lay face down on the sofa.

[XxX]

Oliver's Pov:

I made my way downstairs as I heard the doorbell ringing signaling that Rick had arrived. I opened the door and saw my best friend standing there smirking with a six-pack of beer.

"Hey, I've got a proposition for you." Rick informed me as I let him in.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" I asked as we both sat down on the large leather sofa in the living room. I switched on the Tv and changed to a channel where a football game was being shown before listening to my friend.

"It's about this whole Vivienne thing, it's getting too easy, I was thinking maybe we should make it a little harder." He smirked opening a can of beer and handing me one.

"You think she's too easy?" I asked feeling kind of insulted by his words.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I just think that she's to easy to charm. Anybody could get her to go out with them." He said taking a sip of his beer and turning towards the game on the screen.

"You know." It wasn't a question, he knew.

"Know what?" Rick asked feigning ignorance.

"You know that I'm going out with her." I stated as he turned to look at me.

"So what if I do... I was having fun with her. I'm not ready for it to end." I looked for any signs of hidden agendas, finding none I considered his proposal.

"Alright, what idea did you have in mind?" I asked drinking from my can.

"I bet I can get her in bed." I started to laugh but stopped after I realised his face showed nothing but seriousness.

"Jeez, is that all you think about?" I asked glancing to see the score... I don't know why the TV was still on... neither of us were actually watching the damn thing. I'm pretty sure I'd seen the match anyway.

Rick shrugged before merely replying "I'm a guy, am I not?" I chuckled softly.

"You may be able to screw her but I bet I can get her to fall in love with me." I stated smirking at the screen my eyes were currently staring at.

"Alright, if you get her to tell you she loves you... I'll give you a thousand bucks." Rick said sarcastically.

"Ok," I shrugged happily. "That was sarcasm, dipshit."

"Why? Scared to raise the stakes?" My friend merely scoffed in response.

"Course not." He looked over at me and continued when he saw my amused expression "Fine! If I win, you give me a hundred bucks and wash my car for a month."

"Ok. And if I win, one hundred bucks and..." I hesitated trying to come up with something interesting "And, in the middle of one of our matches, you dress up as a cheerleader and do a dance with pompoms and pig tails!" I finished trying to suppress a laugh.

"Pff, you're not going to win."

"So you should have nothing to worry about." I replied with an everlasting smirk on my face. Rick hesitated staring down at the floor. "Fine. You're on but only if you do the same instead washing my car."

"Deal."

"You're not gonna win." He said sounding like he was trying to convince himself more then me.

"Can't wait to see on in a mini skirt waving around pompoms." I muttered, making sure that he could still hear me.

[XxX]

Viv's POV:

I walked to my locker Monday morning to get the stuff I needed for English before making my way to my first class. During the past week word about me and Oliver being... together had gotten around the school making every girl in the place glare at me in either hatred or envy. It was kind of unnerving so I made sure to stay as far away from him as possible. He didn't half make that a difficult task though.

"Viv!" I turned around to see Oliver jogging towards me with a smile on his face. I loved his smile... there was always something so... warm about it. It always made me want to smile too.

"Um, I'm kinda late for class, Oli." I said looking from one end of the hallway to the other. I heard a group of girls talking about me as I did this.

"I don't see why she's so special,"

"She doesn't even appreciate the most popular guy in school when she's got him! He deserves better."

"If I was going out with him I wouldn't treat him like that," I frowned and looked over at the group to see every single one of them sneering at me. Oliver followed my gaze and glared at the girls before asking them "What the hell do you think you're looking at?"

They all seemed surprised and particularly upset at his words before they started walking away, muttering insults about the new girl. "They're not very discreet." I mumbled staring down at my feet hurt by the girls' prejudice.

"Don't worry about them, they're bitches." Oli said rubbing my arm comfortingly.

"If they're bitches then so is the rest of the female population in the place." I said looking up at him.

"Yep, pretty much," was he reply as he bent down and kissed my cheek

"See you at lunch... or Physics?" He asked.

"Whenever," I replied monotonously. I wasn't used to being hated by everyone I saw on a daily basis, I was used to being invisible. Invisibility suited me very well. As I entered the English classroom I was greeted by Alice's smile which brightened my day instantly. At least one girl in the place didn't hate my guts.

"Hey, how are you?" She asked as I sat down next to her. "Crap. Every single fucking girl in this stupid place hates me 'cause Mr. Oh-so-popular-and-gorgeous just had to ask me out. I mean, I don't get it. It's only one guy."

Alice was silent for a while before saying "Technically, he didn't ask you out. You told him you liked him and you just got together. If it's anyone's fault it's yours."

"Shut up, Alice." I said after a couple of seconds of simply staring at her. She put her hands up in mock surrender as the bell rang.

[XxX]

At lunch Oli had invited me over to his table but I refused seeing as Allison Crawford always sat at that table. She was Queen B. of West Dale and just happened to be Oliver's biggest admirer and therefore my biggest enemy. She was leggy, had blue eyes, blond hair, very pretty, everything the most popular girl in high school would stereotypically be. She was surprisingly very smart and had a grade point average of 3.8 or something like that and was definitely out to get me. To think a week ago she didn't even know I existed. Good times.

She glared at me as I walked past their table to get my food. "Hey, Viv. You gonna join us?" Will asked when he saw me. I started shaking my head frantically.

"Course she will." Rick said before pulling me next to him. He smiled at me as I looked at Allison out of the corner of my eye.

"I-I have to go get some food." I said. I wasn't really that hungry, it was just an excuse to leave the table and Allison's death glare.

"That's ok, I took too much. Have some of mine." Rick said pushing his tray towards me.

"So, Viv, you gonna try out for cheer squad." A brunette girl with a kind smile asked me. I turned towards her as she looked at me expectantly.

"Um, aren't the try outs already over?" I asked trying to not sound rude, which isn't easy for me.

"No, there are two try outs dumb ass." Allison spat before taking a sip of her funny looking red drink. The brunette glared briefly at her friend before smiling back at me.

"I don't think cheer-leading is really for me." I answered timidly.

"A good girlfriend would be out there cheering her boyfriend on." Allison stated taking a bite of her salad.

"Well, if I'm such a bad girlfriend Oli will probably break up with me soon and maybe you'll be lucky enough to be his rebound." I said before I could stop myself. I looked up at the rest of the table to see them all staring at me with wide eyes... Except for Will who was biting back a smirk.

I glanced at Allison who looked like she was going to strangle me as soon as we were alone. Oliver came and sat down next to me before anyone could say anything else. "Hey, guys. Why are you all looking like that?" I looked down at the table as the others at the table looked at each other.

"Your girlfriend[/] just insulted me for no reason." Oliver looked over at me in shock.

"Why'd you insult her?" He asked looking as if I had just punched his grandmother.

"I-I-" I couldn't find anything to say so I just shrugged before getting up and going to buy some food, not missing the 'Bitch' that Allison hissed as I left. I could see the start of a beautiful friendship... right...

"Hey," Oliver said as he pulled my arm, turning me around to face him.

"What the hell? You can't just insult my friends then leave. What's wrong with you?"

"I was merely defending myself. Your friend doesn't seem to like me very much. She provoked me." I said shrugging.

"Look, if you're jealous of my female-"

"Jealous? Fuck that." I said before storming off. Leaving Oliver to return to his snobbish friends.