Story Name: United Hearts

Plot: Cornelia is an invisible, shy school girl. Caleb has recently transferred to Sheffield Institute, and all the girls are falling for him. Will fate make their worlds collide, and will they form an unlikely relationship in the process?

Note: All chapter names are song names, and I'll try to make them fit a certain event in each chapter. I will only put a few lyrics in each chapter, because it'll just waste my time if I put them all. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Mistake

It was a summer's day at Sheffield Institute, and Cornelia and Elyon were enjoying their lunch outside. Cornelia was 16, had blonde hair, and was...well, let's put it this way: unpopular. Her best friend in the whole world, Elyon, had brown hair, and was close to only Cornelia at school. They both shared the same interests, and were inseparable.

Cornelia sighed as she stared up at the blue sky, while taking a bite out of her sandwich. Elyon continued to read her messages that had been sent from Alex – a guy that Elyon had had a crush on ever since the second grade.

"Oh my gosh! Check this out – 'I was hoping that you could meet me at the coffee shop you usually go to. How about after school?' Eek!" Elyon squealed and jumped around playfully. She noticed that her friend wasn't paying attention and snapped her fingers in front of her. Cornelia blinked a couple of times, and said "Huh?" in a dumbfounded tone.

"Cornelia!" Elyon sighed "You're supposed to be giving me advice! What should I reply to him?"

"Um, how about, 'Ok'?" Cornelia grinned at her friend, who rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, you think I'm crazy. I get it." Elyon looked at her friend strangely, and inspected her closely. Cornelia noticed and tried not to giggle.

"Ok, what have I done wrong now?" she joked

"Cornelia...if you don't mind me asking..."

"Go ahead. Shoot." Cornelia grinned widely at her friend.

"Are you still with Peter?"

The question took Cornelia by surprise and she turned expressionless within a few seconds. His name could have that affect on her instantaneously, and she starting concentrating on the ground hard.

"Oh...it's just-" Cornelia was cut off by Elyon.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to "she said, too quickly.

"No, it's fine. We broke up a few days ago. He was...with another girl" she avoided eye contact with Elyon, who's jaw immediately fell to the ground.

"W-WHAT. THAT JERK!" Elyon was about to storm off to find him, to teach him a lesson, when Cornelia grabbed her arm.

"Elyon? No! Please? Just leave it. He's...not worth it." She pleaded and made eye contact with her best friend. Her eyes were watery and she used her other hand to wipe her tear away cruelly.

"Alright, fine. I'll leave him, for now." Elyon steadied her head and looked suspiciously at her friend. "Who was the girl, anyway?"

"Kim...Kim Jones." She was head cheerleader at the Institute, and also one of the snobbiest girls. For this reason, Cornelia disliked her attitude very much.

"You mean – my biology partner? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Elyon glared at the ground, wanting to teach her a lesson. She knew that Cornelia and Peter were dating, and yet she still had the nerve to get in between everything and make things so complicated for them.

"I didn't tell you because...it might have put you off Alex, and made you feel sorry for me. I didn't want to feel like...like a burden to you" she whispered the last part, and she tried to smile to hide her thoughts.

"What? No! I care about you Cornelia." Elyon hugged her "I'm sorry"

Cornelia smiled and shook her head. "Don't be. I'm glad it's over – it was his greatest mistake".

The bell rang for class, and Cornelia groaned and threw her sandwich in a nearby trash can. The principal – Mrs Knickerbocker – walked heavily towards her. She was a rather large woman, who looked around her 40s. Oh, great, thought Cornelia. What did I do now?

"Miss Hale, you know more than well that eating or drinking outside the cafeteria is prohibited."

"Yes, Principal Knickerbocker. Sorry, it won't happen again" said Cornelia, with gritted teeth.

"Good. I expect your behaviour to be perfect. After all, we have an inspection next week and – oh yes! I just remembered! A transfer student is arriving shortly, possibly tomorrow. As you may or may not be aware, you have been chosen to guide him through his first few weeks at Sheffield Institute. That is, until he is comfortable in our learning."

Cornelia's jaw dropped open at what she just heard. What did she say? What did I do? I have to get myself out of this.

"That's um, lovely, Principal Knickerbocker, but I have to um try out for the school play tomorrow, and so-" she tried to lie her way out of it, but there was no use. The principal always knew how to work around an excuse.

"Oh, wonderful! You could take Caleb with you, to show him around and get him involved!"

"I'll help out, too, Mrs Knickerbocker! I'm free tomorrow all day, and Cornelia won't mind either!" piped in Elyon, grinning at the thought of helping out.

"That's great, Elyon, excellent thinking. Now, get to class, quickly, come on." Cornelia's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Mrs Knickerbocker handed her a note to give to her teacher, explaining why she was late. The principal nodded at them and walked away, leaving Cornelia feeling furious and Elyon giggling at the scene.

" 'I'll help out too, Mrs Knickerbocker!' "Mocked Cornelia, which resulted in Elyon bursting out laughing in the hallway. A teacher walked past and frowned at them, which made them both stop. Elyon was in fits of laughter, but controlled it with her hand. Cornelia opened the door to her class, showed the note to her teacher, and took her usual place at the back. She took out her algebra book and listened to the teacher explaining some equations on the board.

"Caleb", huh? How am I supposed to talk to him? He'll probably ditch and hang out with some other guys. Yeah – that's right. He won't stick around with me, anyway. It's not like I'm the only one in the school who can look out for him. Not that he'll want it. Not from me anyway. Cornelia's thoughts wondered off into space, and she stared out of the window, tired and bored from school. She couldn't wait to graduate high school and start planning her own career – instead of the school planning it for her. Cornelia's thoughts were interrupted by the teacher, who was now standing in front of her. He smacked his fist on the table, causing Cornelia to jump in surprise, and the class to snigger. She blushed in embarrassment, and mumbled "Sorry" to the teacher, who frowned at her. The class was staring at her, and she buried her head in hands, to avoid their stares.

"Miss Hale, can you repeat what I just said?" Cornelia looked up at the teacher, who had his hands on his hips, staring at her intently. Her cheeks were heating up by all the eyes that were set on her face, and she opened her mouth – yet nothing came out but jumbled words.

"I...The first-what you-I mean-" she struggled and put her head down in shame, trying to hide her face with her hands again.

"That's enough, Miss Hale. Go the principal's office." He demanded, which made Cornelia's head shoot up in shock.

"No, sir, I...really, I didn't mean to-"

"Miss Hale! Leave now, before your parents are involved in this!"

She mumbled under her breath, before grabbing her school bag and walking swiftly towards the principal's office. This is officially the worst day ever. Wait a second...what if this means that I can't be with the new kid tomorrow? She thought. Cornelia triumphantly knocked on the principal's office and stepped inside.

"Mrs Knickerbocker?" she inhaled before speaking to the principal. "I was sent here for..."

"Our meeting?" Cornelia looked confused at the lady and tilted her head. "About the exchange student? Only I was told that it would be tomorrow. Never mind, sooner the better." The principal smiled and gestured for her to sit down, and Cornelia felt relieved that she didn't have to explain to her about the incident in class.

"Oh, I also forgot to give you this" she handed a paper to Cornelia, which showed Caleb's schedule. "It'll be easier for you to stay with him or find him, if you have a copy of his timetable."

Great! Thought Cornelia. This is just what I need, she added sarcastically.

"We decided to put him in a lot of your classes, so you're able to keep track."

"Mrs Knickerbocker, if you don't mind me asking this, but why was I chosen to...?"

"Well, you have been involved in many school activities. You have an excellent GPA and an impressive stack of extracurricular activities on your plate." Cornelia felt overwhelmed that the principal found her an exceptional student, and she smiled. At least one good thing came out of this, she thought. "It can potentially encourage Caleb to take part. You can influence him greatly and..."

She continued to ramble on about school values and thoughts. Cornelia nodded appropriately, pretending that she was paying attention. Ten minutes had passed in the office, and finally, Mrs Knickerbocker had stopped expressing her love for the school and ambitions for future exchange students and programmes. In this time, she explained to Cornelia that her attention had to be focused on Caleb and making him feel at home. She advised Cornelia to allocate places where they should meet for lunch, etc. Cornelia nodded, though she was thinking it was a waste of time. It's not as if we'll like each other's company in the first place, thought Cornelia.

Cornelia was finally let out by the principal, and almost bumped into Elyon.

"What did she say to you?"

"Um...she thought I was here about the new guy. I got this." Cornelia held out the timetable, and Elyon peered at it.

"I wonder what he looks like" she thought

"Probably a combination of a bear and giraffe" said Cornelia sarcastically. Elyon burst out laughing, and they made their way to the school gates.

"Hey, don't you have that date with Alex?" asked Cornelia.

"Oh right! I completely forgot about it!" Elyon blushed in embarrassment, and Cornelia pushed her in the direction of the coffee bar. "What are you doing?"

"YOU are going to go now, and I'm going home to start on our science project" grinned Cornelia.

"Ok, fine. I'll call you after it's over and I'll tell you how it goes!" giggled Elyon. They hugged, and left their separate ways.

Cornelia smiled to herself and walked home quickly. That night, she started planning the project that they both had agreed on, got a call from Elyon who described the date in sharp detail, danced around in her room listening to music and she soon fell fast asleep. Little did she know that tomorrow would be full of surprises.

Hope you all liked this chapter! I wanted to make it long so it would stop you all from waiting!

Ok, as promised, here are the lyrics for Mistake (By Demi Lovato). I think that the chorus suits the part where Cornelia tells Elyon about Peter cheating on her. Here it is:

Think you made your greatest mistake
I'm not gonna call this a break
Think you really blew it this time
Think you could walk on such a bad lie
Won't be taking your midnight calls
Ignoring the rocks you throw at my wall
I see it written in your face
You know you made it
Your greatest mistake