"Hey, check it out," eighteen-year-old Roger said, looking past Mark's shoulder, before they were supposed to go to first-period Junior-Senior Composition class that day.

Seventeen-year-old Mark looked up from putting his books in his backpack. "What?" he asked.

"It's that new girl from Wyoming that everyone's been talking so much about," Roger said.

Mark stood up and turned around. He saw Roger was looking at a girl with very long, brown hair. "Yeah, so, what about her?" he asked, looking back at Roger.

"Well, why don't you go talk to her?" Roger asked. "By the look on her face, she has no friends yet and is pretty lost. I mean, come on, go from the central United States to here? That's gotta be a shock. Leave it up to Mark Cohen, future famous filmmaker, to, you know, show her the ropes of Scarsdale High. It'd be good to have you talk to someone besides me, Benny, and Maureen."

"But why me, instead of you?" Mark asked. "She's a beautiful girl. She can get one of the jocks to show her around."

Roger's eyebrows rose. "The jocks?" he asked questioningly, looking at Mark. "What are you, crazy? We have to snag her up before they do, Mark; you, me, Maureen, Collins, and Benny; even though Collins is away at college. Why not take a chance, Mark? I know you can."

Mark mirrored the look Roger was giving him. "Fine, if you think it's so easy, you go talk to her. Besides, you know I'm with Maureen, Rog, and she'd freak if she saw me with another girl, friends or not."

"Fine, I will," Roger said, and much to Mark's surprise, he shouldered his backpack, stood up, and went over to the girl. Mark watched as Roger began to talk to her.

"Hi," he said, "I'm Roger Davis. I hear rumors you're the new girl around here."

The girl looked up at him. "Yeah, I guess I am," she said nervously. "Is it that obvious?"

"A little," Roger said, smiling at her. "What's your name?"

"Bridget," she answered. "Bridget Kincaid."

"It's nice to meet you, Bridget," Roger said, nodding at her. "Say, would you like me to show you around?"

"Sure, that would be nice," Bridget said, smiling at him. "Thanks, Roger."

Roger smiled. "No problem, Bridget. So what's your first class?"

"Choir," Bridget answered.

"Oh, yeah," Roger said, smacking his head for effect. "I forgot. I'm in first-period choir with you."

"Really?" Bridget asked. "What part do you sing?"

"First tenor," Roger said.

"Cool," Bridget said. "I'm a first alto."

Roger nodded. "Yeah, I heard Mr. Saunders testing your range the other day. You're really good."

Bridget smiled. "Thanks," she said.

"So what are you planning on doing after high school?"

"College somewhere, I'm not sure where yet; I want to sing on Broadway someday. And if I can't do that, at least I'll have a back-up office administration job or something. What about you?"

"I'm hoping to go to the West Coast and get a record deal," Roger said. "Santa Fe, New Mexico has good labels. That's my first target."

"That's cool," Bridget said. "So, Roger Davis, would you mind walking me to my first class?" She smiled at him. "I don't know where anything is around here yet."

Roger smiled. "Of course," he said, and after glancing at Mark one last time and giving him a victorious smile, he walked away with Bridget.

Later that morning, Roger waited for Bridget to come out of her Advanced Placement biology class. He fidgeted nervously as he stood around, waiting for her. She smiled when she came out and saw him there.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey yourself," he replied, smiling as she came over to him. "So how were all the icky dissections today?"

"Well, besides the Formaldehyde, I find it all fascinating," Bridget said, looking up at him. "Why, are you squeamish?"

Roger laughed. "Kind of," he admitted sheepishly. "I find all of that stuff creepy. What class do you have after lunch?"

"Um," Bridget said, and she checked her schedule, "it says Film Critique."

"Really?" Roger asked, surprised. "I bet my friend Mark is in that class with you."

Bridget shrugged. "So when do I get to meet all your friends?" she asked.

"Well, we usually hang out at Mark's house after school," Roger said, "so you're welcome to join us if you want. His mom's nice, but a bit of a control freak sometimes. Then you can meet the gang."

"OK," Bridget said, smiling at him.

"In the meantime," Roger said, "how about I take you out for lunch? We can go to Subway or something?"

"OK," Bridget said again, "I'd like that. Thanks, Roger."

"No problem," Roger said, smiling down at her, and he leaned down to kiss her.

"What was that for?" Bridget asked, when they'd parted. She looked up at him.

"I've wanted to do that for weeks," Roger admitted, looking down at her. "Is that OK?"

"Yes, it's OK," Bridget said, smiling at him. "You're my boyfriend now; you're supposed to do that."

"Oh, OK. I didn't realize there was a manual." Roger grinned evilly.

Bridget laughed. "You can do it again if you want."

"I can?"

"Yes."

Roger grinned and leaned down and kissed her again, more passionately this time.

"Davis," a sharp voice said from behind him.

Roger jumped and pulled away from Bridget. He turned around, his cheeks reddening up. "What do you want, Benny?" he asked, looking over at Benny and shooting daggers at him, angry that Benny had caught him off-guard like that.

"You haven't introduced me to this new girl of yours," he said, coming over to them. "Hi, I'm Benny Coffin."

"The unoriginal third," Roger said, grinning evilly at him.

Bridget laughed and smacked Roger playfully. "Roger, be nice. It's nice to meet you, Benny," she said, holding out her hand, which Benny shook. "Are you a senior, too?"

"Yep," Benny said. "We all are, except Mark; he's a junior. Our friend, Collins, is a sophomore in college at NYU. He hopes to teach there someday."

Bridget nodded. "Well, it was nice to meet you," she said, "but Roger and I were actually just about to go to lunch."

Benny nodded. "Well, cool," he said. "Cat and I were about to head out, anyway. It was nice to meet you, too, Bridget. See you two later."

Benny grinned evilly at Roger and then turned and left. Roger rolled his eyes.

"Sometimes I hate him," Roger said. "His parents are really rich, so he pretty much thinks he runs the school. Can't help but introduced himself to everyone. He was bound to get to you eventually."

"He doesn't act rich," Bridget said.

Roger looked at her. "Well, trust me, he is," he said, "and if his parents have their way, besides his inheritance, he's gonna marry rich, too. They aren't very happy with Cat."

"Is her full name Catherine?" Bridget asked, seeming interested, as they began to walk down the hall.

"Yeah, but we call her Cat because she has, like, a hundred of them," Roger said.

Bridget laughed. "I think that sounds neat," she said. "I can't wait to meet the rest of your friends. But for now, I can't wait for lunch."

"Oh, right," Roger said, suddenly remembering. "OK, let's go."

He put his arm around her waist and they walked out of Scarsdale High.

So I decided to try my hand at my first pre-Rent story. Please, no flames. I'll be putting up more chapters ASAP. In the next chapter, you'll learn more about Bridget, as she meets Maureen and gets to know Roger, Mark, and Benny better. Oh, and Collins is going to show up, too, LOL. Can't forget about him! As always, I love feedback.

Until next time, lots of love,

Renthead07