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Brian, intent on not being late to the class he had after lunch period, hurriedly grabbed his history book, blindly reaching into the clutter of his locker for the right notebook. Everything in hand, he slammed the door shut and made his way down the hall, looking down as he flipped through the notebook to read yesterday's notes. Sighing in agitation when he realized that the lined pages were full of math equations instead of historical facts, he abruptly stopped and turned round.

When he turned, needing to head back to his locker quickly, his body slammed into someone, knocking whoever it was to the floor as she was walking behind him.

"Oh Jesus Christ, I'm sorry," Brian groaned, realizing it was a girl he had knocked down. He hoped she wasn't hurt.

"It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was...," the girl said, trailing off as she brushed her blonde hair back from her face and looked up at Brian, "...going."

Brian was speechless for a moment, considering he was face to face with Julia. He assumed that any second now, she would scoff and roll her eyes in true Julia fashion, calling him a freak like she always did. But not a word was said. Natalie's heart was pounding as she looked up into the dark eyes of her boyfriend, wanting to reach out and touch him but knowing that it would be weird for him if she did.

"Um...hi," she said quietly, and Brian could hear the silent kindness in her voice, which surprised him. He heard the class bell ring overhead, telling him he was late for class. But something stronger was holding him there as Julia, his girlfriend's worst enemy, collected her books.

"Here, let me help," he offered, crouching down to her level to collect a few stray papers out of Julia's, or rather Natalie's, reach. He almost expected her to growl out that she was fine and to leave her alone, but she surprised him once again when she didn't.

"Thanks," Natalie said, flashing the smile she knew was flawless as she took the papers from Brian, stuffing them back into the folder they had flown out of when she was knocked down.

"You're not hurt or anything, are you?" Brian asked, thinking that if she was at least going to be nice to him for once, he might as well return the favor. Standing up with Brian's help as his hand was gripping the side of her arm gently, Natalie got her balance and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine," she answered, grateful for this one chance to be close to Brian again.

Once they were stood facing each other, Brian couldn't help but look into the icy blue of her eyes. It was so strange to be looking into Julia Stuart's eyes and find a sense of familiarity there. Especially considering that Brian had never been close to her his entire life that he'd known her.

Natalie could tell when Brian stared at her so intensely that he was searching for something. She wondered if he could look past the unfamiliar blue of Julia's cold stare, and see her soul there.

Shaking his head, Brian blinked a few times, clearing his throat and looking away for a moment. "Uh, well...I have to get to class. Sorry about bumping into you," he said quickly, trying to push away the strange feelings he felt when he looked into Julia's eyes.

"Like I said, it was my fault," Natalie said softly, knowing that Brian's sudden change in behavior was most likely due to the fact that he'd been weirded out. Her one moment with him was over as Brian turned and headed back toward his class. He completely forgot about his notebook.

All throughout history class, Brian couldn't pay attention. He couldn't think about anything other than Julia Stuart, and that in itself made him feel sick to his stomach. He just couldn't help but think that something really weird was going on around the school in the past couple of days. First, his own girlfriend starts having issues, and now Julia was being nice? Maybe there was something in the water...

The class bell rang and brought Brian out of his thoughts, signaling class was over. Grabbing his things, he left, heading toward his locker.

"Hey man, what's up?" he heard Zach ask as he came up on his side. On his way down the hall Brian saw his girlfriend at her locker and decided he'd stop for a moment.

"Not much," Brian answered, looking over at Zach. Seeing a mischievous look on his best friends face, he rolled his eyes. "What do you want from me?" he asked with a smile, approaching Natalie's locker. "Hey baby," he greeted, kissing her cheek.

"Hey Nat," Zach acknowledged quickly, turning back to Brian. "Anyway. So...I need you to do something for me."

"And that would be..."

"I'm ditching last class with Meg, and I need you to hand in my homework and tell Mr. Turner that I went home sick," Zach said, pulling out a paper and handing it to Brian.

"You guys are ditching to go bone before your parents get home, aren't you?"

"Dude, what the fuck kind of question is that? Of course we are," Zach replied as if it were that obvious. Julia hid behind the locker door for the moment she tried not to gag. Thinking of Zach screwing someone was more than she'd asked for, and frankly it was something she never wanted to think of again. Recovering, she shut the locker door and forced a smile for Brian's own sake as she looked at the two boys.

"Alright, I guess..." Brian sighed, taking Zach's homework assignment.

"Awesome, dude," Zach said, hugging Brian and pounding him on the back before quickly darting off. "I owe you one!" he called over his shoulder and, in a moment, he was out of sight.

Brian smiled to himself, shaking his head as he looked back at his girlfriend. His smile grew as he got an idea.

"You know," he said, leaning against the lockers, and Julia felt her heart skip at the look of lust on his face and the way he was looking at her. "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to skip last period either..."

Eyes widening at his suggestion, Julia swallowed the lump in her throat. "Uh...I can't. Cuz um...the stuff we're learning in English is going to be on the test...tomorrow!" Julia said, knowing Brian would be able to see right through her. This was bad. Very bad. Brian wanted to have sex with her. Julia could not let that happen, more so because she was scared than because Natalie had warned her not to.

Looking at Julia like she was crazy, Brian shrugged. "We don't have to, calm down," he said with a chuckle, and for a second, Julia thought he was going to force her until she realized what he had said.

"You're not mad?" she asked, and Brian cocked one brow up in confusion.

"Have I ever been mad when you've turned me down? I'm not going to force you. You know that."

Smiling, Julia realized that Brian was really turning out to be a completely different person than she originally thought he was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Seeing her own body head into the girls' bathroom on her way out of the school, Natalie followed, standing against the wall with her arms crossed as she waited for Julia to come out o the stall. Hearing the toilet flush and the lock in the door slide open, Julia stepping out moments later, she let a little smile slip past her lips.

"Hey."

"...Hi," Julia replied, walking over to the sink and turning on the tap. "So, are you having fun being me?"

Natalie scoffed. "If you wanna call it fun...," she grumbled. "Are your parents usually gone all the time?"

"Oh...that," Julia said, grabbing a paper towel to dry her hands, turning to face Natalie. "They're usually too busy with their own lives to care about mine."

"That sucks. I mean, your house is amazing, but being there alone isn't all that great..." Natalie said, receiving a nod. "I miss my family. You've been nice to them, right?" she asked, realizing she hadn't set any guidelines about that.

"Strangely enough, yes. Everyone except your brother, if the occasion calls for it..." Julia said, cracking a crooked grin, and Natalie chuckled. There were times when her brother, Scott, deserved getting some attitude shot back at him. Then remembering what had happened with Brian the afternoon before, Julia's grin faded, and she felt she should probably tell Natalie about the squabble. "Uhm...I kinda got in a fight with Brian."

Eyes widening, Natalie's jaw dropped. "You what?!" she nearly screeched.

"Well...maybe I should say 'argument'. He was freaking about how weird things were yesterday, and we ended up leaving school on a bad note..." Julia explained, almost in her old nonchalant way.

"Please tell me you apologized," Natalie pleaded. She didn't need to lose Brian throughout this whole ordeal.

"Well, yeah. I did this morning. I may be a bitch, but...I can't believe I'm admitting this," Julia sighed, "but...Brian's actually nice."

"You say that like you're surprised. I wouldn't be with him if he wasn't a nice guy," Natalie explained. And as things grew silent between the two girls she realized something. She and Julia, in a strange way, were getting along.

Hearing footsteps come through the main bathroom door, both girls looked up, glad their conversation had ended when another student entered.

Kassandra Blanc.

If Julia were telling the truth, Kassandra was even more of a freak than Natalie and her friends. And as Kassandra looked at her and then at Natalie with a creepy, wicked grin on her lips that were painted black to match the rest of her all-black ensemble, Julia's opinion was only further confirmed. Kassandra's combat boots thudded along the floor before she locked herself in a stall, and Natalie stepped right up to her own body, leaning in close.

"I'm not that weird, am I?" she whispered, very quietly, and Julia shook her head.

"Anyway, I've gotta go. Brian's waiting for me," Julia said.

"Okay well I guess I'll see you...tomorrow?" Natalie asked. "I think we should meet here again.... Discuss the weekend, or something," she whispered, and Julia nodded, the two girls leaving the bathroom before Kassandra had come out of the stall.

Hearing every line of the two girls' conversation from the very start, Kassandra smiled wickedly to her own reflection as she stood at the sinks.

Everything was going perfectly.