When Jake wakes up, it's to a blast of noise that nearly pops his eardrums. He rolls over blearily, slamming the snooze button, before realizing that the sound isn't coming from his alarm. Great. He lies there for a few seconds, before dragging himself out of bed. The noise is coming from downstairs, and now that he listens to it closely it sounds like a saw, or a really loud vacuum.

He throws on a shirt and jumps down the stairs, only to be greeted by his mother's cry of "Jake! I told you not to do that - you're going to get yourself killed!"

He obligingly trots down the last few steps and leans over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, yeah. Dad tryin' to burn the house down again?"

His mother sighs. "He got one of those buzz saws. He's got in into his head that if he can build the porch, he won't have to pay for one. Go try and get it out of his head, will you?"

"Love to," Jake says through a mouthful of a sandwich (it wasn't his, but hey, in this family if you leave it out it's public domain), "but I have to get to school early."

"Oh, yes. You have that track thing." His mother says absentmindedly, glancing back out the window. "Good luck, honey."

"Thanks, ma."

He takes the rusty old pickup that he'd gotten as a sixteenth birthday present. It had been in terrible shape when he'd got it, and a year later it looks like it'll barely make it to the school. He doesn't mind - it's not like they have a lot of money for vehicles, so it's a big deal that he even got this one. And he knows just enough about cars to fix it up whenever it breaks down - for now, at least.

When he shows up at school, he parks around the block and looks around as subtly as he can. The school's open - but at this hour, no one is here. He slips into the library doors and hurries to the back, where the history section is, and pulls out a copy of Berger's Ways of Seeing.

So, fine, he told a little white lie about the track mix. And another one before that, about going over to Brian's. And about having to stay late for tutoring. He's figured out that if you tell a bunch of lies, they start to blur together. They start to come out automatically. He doesn't want to - but he has to.

He ignores his conscience and buries himself in the book.

"Okay." Cassandra tells herself firmly after she locks the door behind her. "You can do this. It's not like you've never been the new girl before, right?" But not in a place that barely qualifies as a town, another part of her brain says. Shut up, she tells that part of her brain. She straightens her skirt and starts walking.

It's nice out, even if it's crazy hot, and she's glad she decided to walk. The school is barely five minutes away from her house, anyway, and it would be an absolute crime to waste a morning like this. Plus, she might just be a little nervous about starting a new school that's already been going for nearly a month, where everyone knows everyone, and they've already probably started assignments and midterm prep and -

Breathe, she tells herself, as she sees a flash of bright orange. Orange is never a good sign. She walks a little faster. Maybe she should have seen if they have a swimming pool anywhere - burning some energy this morning by doing laps wouldn't have been a bad idea. Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow.

The school looks abandoned when she gets there - and when she checks her watch, she sees that it's because she's forty-five minutes early. She probably could've planned this out better, but hey, at least she has time to get to know the school before people start showing up.

You'd think the office would be at the front of the school - but no, apparently it's hidden in some back corner or something. And this school is so tiny, she's surprised it has any back corners. She would keep looking for it - but then she finds the library, and come on, it's a library, so she steps inside to take a quick peek around. There's no one at the desk but the lights are on, so she figures it's okay for her to look around a bit.

It's tragically undersupplied, but when Cassandra finally stumbles on the Mathematics section she's delighted to find a copy of Euclid's Elements. She flips through it, just to calm herself down. She's almost succeeded, when she hears the soft thump of a book closing a few aisles over.

She's so startled, she lets out a little squeak. A second later, a head of mussed-up brown hair peers out from behind a bookshelf.

"Who the hell are you?" The guys asks, and for a moment Cassandra's too surprised to be offended. And then that moment passes.

"I could ask you the same thing." She says. "I was just trying to read - I didn't realize anyone else was in here."

"Okay." He seems a little less perturbed than a moment before, but he's still staring at her like she's an apparition. "But that doesn't tell me who you are."

"Oh. Right." She flushes. She really needs to work on that whole good-first-impression thing. She sticks out a hand, awkwardly. "Cassandra Cillian."

He shakes her hand, which is good because otherwise it would've been even more awkward. "Jake Stone." He replies, this time with a smile that makes her heart flip a little. Keep it together, she tells herself. You don't need to be so nervous you throw up. You really, really don't.

"So is this your -"

"I just moved here, and -" She says at the same time. They both stop. At this point, her face is probably on par with the beets that their neighbors had brought over the other night. He gestures for her to keep going, so she clears her throat and starts again. "My parents and I just moved here, last minute. So this is my first day. In case you hadn't noticed. This place is, um, kinda small. So you probably have."

"It's tiny." Jake agrees, and luckily he doesn't give her a weird look. She knows she needs to stop rambling, she knows it. She'll work on that soon - sometime when her heart rate is back in the 61-65 bpm range. "You'll get used to it after a while."

"I hope so." Cassandra mutters, before the loud clang of the bell reverberates through the room. Her eyes widen. "Oh, shit. Shit, shit shit." She was supposed to be at the office at least ten minutes ago, and if it weren't for that stupid book -

She darts off without saying goodbye.

Jake blinks twice, before double-checking that the book looks untouched on the shelf and heading out to the hallway. It's busy, so no one notices him slipping out of the library door. If they did, he could just say he came in those doors, anyway. Except that the new girl - Cassandra - had seen him in there. Well, she probably wouldn't mention it to anyone. It's not like it was weird, finding a student in the library. For all she knew, he was in there doing homework like any normal person.

He shakes off his worries and heads over to his first class - Pre-Calc. Wonderful.

He takes one of the spots at the back, saying a quick "hey" to Brian and Jimmy before getting settled in his seat.

"Hey, man, did you hear?" Jimmy leans over to whisper to him. Jake swats him away good-naturedly. "There's a new chick in town. Brian says she's smokin'."

"Oh, yeah?" Jake asks nonchalantly. "This chick have a name?"

Jimmy shoots an expectant look over at Brian, who shrugs. "I dunno. Just saw her standin' in the office talking to Principal Baird. Looked like they were goin' over paperwork."

Jake is spared the trouble of responding because just at that moment Cassandra busts into the door full-speed. She stumbles a little and manages to catch herself on the desk, gasping, before looking up at the sea of interested eyes. She takes a rattling breath, and Jake can feel the panic emanating off her.

"Move over a spot." He nudges Jimmy.

"What?"

"Just do it." He says, and Jimmy does with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. He gives a little wave to Cassandra, whose eyes light up with relief as she all but runs over to the empty seat.

"Thanks." She whispers, grabbing her books. "That was - a little nerve-wracking."

"You looked like a deer in headlights." Jake says, and maybe it was a little meaner than he'd intended, because her smile falls a little and she focuses on opening her textbooks. "Listen," he starts, "I didn't mean -"

But then Mr. Franklin is clearing his throat to bring the class to attention, and Cassandra is staring adamantly at the front of the classroom.

"I was right, wasn't I?" Brian leans over and whispers. "She's so hot, it's like -"

"Shut up, man." Jake whispers back. "Give her a few days before you start in with the moves, alright?"

"You're just jealous." Brian sighs, settling back into his seat. Jake snorts.

"Of what - your lump of a face, or your stunning intellect?"

"Just wait." Brian replies with a smirk. "I give her until the end of the week before she falls in love with me." Jake opens his mouth for a sarcastic retort, but then Mr. Franklin turns his cutting gaze on them and he clams up.

Cassandra is trying really, really hard not to concentrate on the whispers going around the room. It isn't working, until the teacher says something about prime numbers and the bounded gaps conjecture being 'unproven surmising'. She clenches her fingers around her pencil. Don't do it, she tells herself firmly. Don't do it, don't - "Mr., um, Franklin?"

"Yes?" He looks more startled than disapproving, which she takes as a good sign.

"That's, well, it's a little outdated - actually it's a lot outdated, since Yitang Zhang proved the bounded gaps conjecture nearly two years ago."

There's an uncomfortable silence. Cassandra focuses on the smell of peaches.

"Ms. -"

"Cillian. Cassandra Cillian."

"Well, Ms. Cillian." Oh, drat - the teacher has a very strict tone in his voice, and the underlying glare tells her she's already stepped out of line. "I'd appreciate it if you'd let me teach my lessons. Any questions about the validity of my teaching -"

"It's not a question." Shut up, Cassandra, shut up. "It's a correction. If you'd just look it up -"

"Enough." His voice is thunderous, and Cassandra shrinks back a little. "I'll see you after class, Ms. Cillian, but in the meantime I will continue to teach, if that's not too much to ask."

"Yes, sir." She mumbles, sinking back into her seat. She's screwing this up so badly and she's less than five minutes into her first class. It'll be fine, she tells herself with a kind of forced optimism. This was just a blip. Now you know not to correct the teachers - even, she adds a little petulantly, if they are blatantly screwing up the lesson.

She'd been excited for this class, but as it turns out, small-town grade 12 math doesn't compare to her Manhattan AP class. At least the rest of the lesson is correct, she thinks as she fiddles with her bracelets. She takes out her notebook and starts doodling math theorems, before thinking better of it - she's in the very back row, but still. Someone could see, and she really doesn't need to be any more of an outsider than she is already.

She's still fiddling when a small bunched-up piece of paper lands on her desk. She glances over and sees the guy from this morning - Jake, right? - shooting a quick glance over at her. She opens it, after checking to make sure Mr. Franklin isn't watching. Don't worry about Mr. F, it reads. He's always a jerk. She glances over at Jake with a smile that's half thanks and half passing notes? Really?

He grins in response.

Cassandra can't keep the smile off her face for the rest of the lesson.

He spends the rest of the lesson trying to follow whatever the hell Mr. Franklin is talking about now - sinusoidal functions? Really? - and watching Cassandra out of the corner of his eye. She doesn't seem to be paying attention at all, just alternates fiddling with the frankly ridiculous amount of bracelets on her wrists and doodling in a notebook. It doesn't look like actual doodles, though, when he catches a look at the page - just a bunch of letters and numbers and oh hell, she's some kind of math genius, isn't she?

When the lesson finishes he grabs his books and shoots Cassandra a quick look of sympathy before he heads out. She's still focused on her notebook, though, so he isn't sure she notices.

"Dude," Jimmy hisses at him once they're out of earshot. "What was that about? You got a thing for new girl?"

"Nah, man." He says with a conspiratorial grin. "But I can't help it if they all love me."

Jimmy laughs along with him, and he ignores the urge to glance back at the classroom doors. It's just a talking-to, anyways. She'll be fine.

"So, listen," Jimmy is saying when Jake tunes back in to the conversation. Brian's caught up with them and is listening as intently as he can without ruining his "coolly disinterested" vibe. Sometimes Jake wonders why he's friends with these people. "We've got the town barbecue this Saturday, right? So, we invite the new girl -"

"Cassandra." Jake interjects.

"Yeah, her - anyway, we invite her, we get the gang together, and we pull an Initiation."

"But what?" Brian adds in, looking a little more interested than a moment before. They haven't had a kid to put through the hell of an Initiation in years. "Saturday's less than a week away. We need time to plan, dude. You can't just throw together an Initiation."

"We can get together after school today, at the old treehouse." Jimmy says, even skipping a little bit. "And the rest of this week - there isn't much going on."

"Except those of us who have to work," Jake interjects. Jimmy rolls his eyes.

"You don't really have to work out on the rig until you're 18, everyone knows that. Right now it's like, a trial thing. Just tell your dad you have school shit."

Jake weighs his options. On one hand, the last Initiation...didn't go well. On the other, this way he'll be able to stop them from going too far. He sighs. "Alright. I'll be there."

"That's the spirit!" Jimmy crows, clapping him on the back. "Okay, so right after school - let the gang know."

Jake ignores the twisting in his stomach. It'll be fine this time. Last time they just got carried away. It'll be fine.

When the door closes behind the other students, Cassandra finally looks up from her notebook. Mr. Franklin is eyeing her like something distasteful and possibly dangerous - a really ugly crocodile, maybe. Or a hippo.

"So, Ms. Cillian." He says, and his voice is so nasally Cassandra can hardly stop herself from laughing. She swallows to keep it down. This is serious, really. She's never been in trouble with a teacher before - but then again, she's never had a teacher this ignorant before, either. "I understand that it can be difficult, transferring to a new school -"

"That isn't what this is about." Cassandra bursts out before she can stop herself. "I'm not some sort of a - a problem child. I was just trying to point out that you were teaching an outdated and incorrect view on a point that I happen to know a lot about." He's growing red in the face, so she adds quickly, "I wasn't trying to be disrespectful, sir."

He stops, clears his throat. He looks like he wants to throw her straight in detention for the next month - but she hasn't done anything wrong, she knows she hasn't, and he knows it too, so all he does is say crisply, "Apology accepted. Don't let it happen again."

"No, sir." She replies, snatching her books off the desk as fast as she can manage before darting out the door.

She's in such a rush she doesn't notice the post in front of her until it's too late. She smacks into it full-on, a flashing pain stabbing through her head. She stumbles back, clutching her forehead. Ow, ow, ow. She reaches a hand out to rest on the wall and recites the periodic table until the pain fades away. Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen -

"Are you okay?" A voice breaks through the haze, and Cassandra forces her eyes open. It's a bit blurry at first, but she makes out a girl standing in front of her - a really pretty girl, nonetheless. She has smooth brown skin and curly almost-black hair, and she's looking at her with an expression of concern and a little amusement. Cassandra squeezes her eyes shut again to focus.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. I'm fine - or at least I will be, once I can see again. Which, really, should be any time now. Probably."

The girl laughs, and then Cassandra feels a hand grabbing onto her arm, guiding her. "C'mon. Let me help."

"Thanks." Cassandra says gratefully, trying to force the heat from her cheeks. She needs to stop this trend of getting into embarrassing situations in front of attractive people, STAT. "I'm Cassandra, by the way. Designated new girl."

"Lamia." The girl replies. "And really, you can stop introducing yourself. Everyone knows who you are after that face-off with Mr. Franklin."

Cassandra groans. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yeah." Lamia laughs. "But don't worry about it. The gossip'll die down in oh, probably a month or so."

"That's really - reassuring." Cassandra replies with a wince. "Thanks."

"No problem." Lamia replies, letting go of her arm when she starts walking in a semi-straight line. Hopefully there aren't any more posts in her general vicinity.

The rest of the day is a little less eventful. She meets a few new people who she's never going to remember the names of, and she settles into her classes fairly easily. And she doesn't piss off any more teachers, so that's a good thing, right?

At lunch, she grabs the lunch she'd packed and heads to the library. She's not going to avoid the cafeteria forever, but right now it's one more intimidating thing that she doesn't need to add to her list of worries.

She's knee-deep in Euclid's Elements when she sees Jake slip in, glancing around like he's expecting to be followed. Small town people, seriously.

"Is there some sort of rule I don't know about that makes the library off-limits?" She asks, and he jumps, head whipping around.

"Hey." He says sheepishly once he realizes that yes, it's just her. "I just -"

"I'm just here to read," She interjects softly, before he can make up some excuse. "Which is what I assume you're here to do as well, considering it's the library, so do whatever you want. I'm not nosy, I promise."

He looks at her for a few seconds, appraising her. "Okay." He says, finally, and settles back in the corner where he'd been that morning.

It's hard to concentrate when someone else is in the room, so Jake takes turns reading and studying the girl in the corner with her head buried in some math book. She has a black eye, although how she got one in the hour since he's seen her is a mystery, especially since she doesn't seem like the type of person to get into fights - verbal ones aside, as this morning's Pre-Calc proved. Finally, he gives up on Ways of Seeing and just asks, "So, did ya beat someone up already?"

Her head jerks up, and he can see the confusion flash across your face.

"Oh." She says, finally, when she realizes what he's talking about. "No, I, um - walked into a post."

He looks at her for a second, and her face is so absolutely serious that he can't help it - he cracks up.

"What?" She sounds mildly offended, and a little confused.

"Noth - nothing." Jake gets the laughter mostly under control. "Just - never mind."

She looks at him for another minute, before shaking her head and going back to her book.

"So what do people do in a town this small all the time?" Cassandra pipes up after a few minutes of silence.

Jake shrugs. "Drink. Bowl. Dirtbike."

Cassandra's face scrunches up. "Oh."

"It's not that bad," he says with a little sympathy. "You'll meet lots of people this way."

"Sure." She says, but she doesn't look convinced. "Is there at least any sort of clubs at the school? Like, math/science clubs? Or anything academic, really, I just - need something to do."

"Not school stuff." Jake says, and her face falls. "We have some sports - football, soccer -"

"Swimming?" She asks eagerly, and he laughs.

"Not a club. But we do have a swimming pool just a block away."

"Oh, good." She looks relieved. She bites her lip, but doesn't look like she's going to say anything else, so Jake goes back to reading.

"Listen," he tells her a good ten minutes later. "I don't usually do this."

"Do what?" She asks, without looking up from her book. "Talk to people? Read?"

"Just, the library thing. I'm catching up on some homework, is all." He sees a flash of irritation flicker across her face.

"So you're just letting me know that you're not a nerd? Or, what, that I shouldn't assume this makes us friends? Fine. I won't talk to you in public and risk embarrassing you."

"Cassandra, that's not what I -"

But she's already storming out.

He runs a hand through his hair. It's probably better this way - the last thing he needs in his life is another complication. Even if this one can occasionally make him smile when he least expects it.

He goes back to his book.