Beginnings

Meeting

Walking to class on her first day of high school, Elizabeth wondered what new friends she would make. Having recently moved to the city, she didn't know any of her fellow classmates so she was open to any friendly actions.

Making her way through the crowded hallways, she was dismayed when another student's backpack knocked the load of books out of her arms. Dropping to pick them up, she noticed that the student continued on their way to class with apparently no knowledge of their actions or the consequences.

Hearing the warning bell as she scrambled to grab the scattered supplies, she was worried about what kind of a standard the situation was going to cause to her reputation. Being late on the first day in a new school wasn't a good way to start.

"Here, let me help you with that." A voice sounded as she noticed another pair of hands assisting her.

Watching as his hands quickly gathered a large portion of her books and papers, she realized he was an older student. He was tall as he crouched on the floor, and his reach made it easy to sweep her things into a quick pile. Then he used his larger hands to organize them into a neat stack. Either he was a tall for his age, or he was likely to be a senior.

Looking up to meet each other's eyes, they paused for a moment as they observed each other's appearances.

He had dark hair, dancing blue eyes, and a friendly smile. Caught up in admiring him, she was embarrassed to find herself staring.

Smiling as he handed her his stack of the books, the young man didn't seem to mind her attention. In fact, he was staring admiringly at her too. "Here are your books."

Blushing as she looked down, Elizabeth was further embarrassed by her reaction. She had been around boys for years, even had guy friends that were a part of the group she hung out with at her old school. So why was this encounter so different?

"My name is Ethan Rivers, what is yours?" He even had a good voice.

Stuttering, Elizabeth managed to get her name out awkwardly. "Elizabeth… Elizabeth Mitchell."

Extending his hand again, Ethan tried to make her welcome. "It's nice to meet you Elizabeth." As she shyly shook his hand, he continued. "Which class do you have first on your schedule?"

After he let her hand go, she pulled out her schedule to check again. She had completely forgotten where she was supposed to be going. "Ummm… I have English with Mr. Whittaker in room 202."

"That's on my way to class. I'll walk with you." He offered as he helped her get back up to her feet.

"I'd like that." She accepted with a blush. "Are you a senior?" It wasn't a bad way to begin conversation, and the question was the first thing that came to mind.

Confirming her assumption, he then turned the question back to her. "Are you a freshman? I haven't seen you around before."

"My family just moved here." Then she thought she should actually answer his question. "Yes, I'm a freshman."

Reaching her class, he dropped her off at the door and said he would see her around.

Hoping so, she thanked him again as he walked off to reach his own class on time.

Lunch

When it came time for lunch, Elizabeth had met several students in her various classes of the morning, but she still hadn't met anyone as friendly as Ethan.

Walking into the large cafeteria, her first challenge was finding her way through the lunch line. The school was bigger than her suburban middle school so she was a little daunted by the many directions she could choose.

Focusing one step at a time, she found her way through the line and achieved the first part of the period. Then came the more scary part… finding a table.

Looking around at the many faces, there wasn't anyone particularly familiar. Some she had seen in class, and a few were even in multiple classes, but most had been so focused on finding or catching up with their friends that she wasn't comfortable with any of them yet.

Spotting an empty table, she began to make her way in its general direction. Although it was horrible to sit alone, she also didn't want to be rejected either. Choosing the seat nearest to the wall, she didn't want to feel like anyone was staring at her back, instead they would have to keep any action where she could see it.

Arranging her food and beginning to eat, she was somewhat awkward in her chewing as she was also conscientious of the odd glances in her direction. Many of the students were wondering who she was, or why she was sitting alone, but most were too shy to approach her.

"Thanks for saving me a seat."

She jumped as a bag suddenly plopped into the seat a spot away from her. Looking up, she nearly choked as she realized Ethan was sparing her the embarrassment of eating alone.

"Mrs. Morgan wasn't thrilled with one of my classmates, so she held the entire class back into the lunch period to make up for the time he wasted. I'll be back with my food in a minute." And he breezed away after his hurried explanation while he pulled out his lunch money.

Staring in his general direction as she watched him navigate the crowd with practiced ease, it took Elizabeth a few moments to regain her control. Finishing her bite carefully, she had regained her composure by the time he returned.

"Mrs. Morgan?" She asked in order to understand his comments better.

"The senior English teacher. She isn't reputed to be easy, and so far she is keeping to her reputation." He summarized. Digging into his food, he was obviously trying to make up for some of his lost time. Turning the conversation over to Elizabeth, he asked her how her morning had progressed.

"Fine enough. I've found each of my classes and most of my work is getting signatures and paperwork put together. Are there any teachers I should be wary of in the freshman classes?" She carried the conversation, but wanted some of his input.

"Not really, most of them are fairly easy going on freshman, unless you are a trouble student. Based on our interactions so far, I doubt that would be a problem for you though. What are your extra classes this semester?" He bounced the conversation back to her.

Pleased by the compliment, she was surprised to find that she wasn't relaxing in his presence. Something about him electrified her and she wasn't sure why. Did she have a crush on him? Putting her focus on his question, she thought through which of her classes weren't required. "I have art history and drama."

Nodding his head while he worked to swallow, he had some advice for her. "Mr. Hendrix is the art history teacher, and he doesn't like tardiness or disruptions of his class so try to be on time and don't be passing notes or he'll have a conniption fit. Then Mrs. Worthington will push you to do your best in drama, but unless she sees the next Broadway star in you, she won't hound you. I haven't had her myself, but I heard enough complaints from my friends over the years."

Thanking him for the advice, she asked to know about him. She was curious about this friendly young man. "Did you take art history?"

"Yeah, it's required before you can get into the deepest art classes. I like to draw and paint, so I took it freshman year to give myself as many options as possible. Are you into art, or more into history?" He continued to eat his meal, but he had slowed down to enjoy the conversation as well.

"Do you have any of your drawings with you? I like art, but I can't draw, so I prefer to study the works of others." She hoped he would pull out something.

"No, I only have random sketches of junk on the edges of my notes. They are simply patterns to keep myself awake during the teacher's lectures. Have you tried having a good art teacher? That can make all of the difference in the world. One of my classmates couldn't draw much at all, but Ms. Power showed her how to judge her space better and she improved a lot. You should give it a try, it wouldn't hurt." He seemed eager to avoid showing her those sketches, but just as eager to encourage her.

While Elizabeth was trying to come up with a response as she finished chewing, she was spared the task as one of his friends took the seat on his other side.

"Is this the girl you've been sketching all day? She looks better in person. Why are you maiming her so?" He teased with a wink. Then extending his hand, he introduced himself. "Hi, my name is Dirk, as in the small sword like weapon. What's yours?"

Intrigued to see Ethan blush about the comments on his sketches, Elizabeth instantly liked Dirk. "Elizabeth. So, he has been drawing me has he?" She shyly teased Ethan with a pleased tone to her voice.

Dirk laughed at the glare Ethan threw his way, but he felt Elizabeth should know.

Changing his expression to a soft smile, Ethan turned towards Elizabeth. "I hope you don't mind." He shyly asked for her forgiveness and hoped she would allow him to continue sketching her. There was something about her that he felt needed to be placed on paper, but he just couldn't seem to get it right.

"You can keep drawing me if you want, but can I see some of your sketches? No one has ever tried to draw me before." She hoped he would share.

Pulling out the images, Ethan struggled with the desire to see her reaction, and his fear of how she would react. He needn't have worried though, as she loved them for all of their imperfection.

"Can I keep the ones here on the blank sheet of paper?" She thought they were well done and it was interesting to see how he had focused on various parts of her face or tried different expressions.

"Sure, I don't need that one for class." He was pleased she wanted to keep one.

"So, when are you going to ask her out?" Dirk asked Ethan. It was a teasing gesture, but he did have a point. There was obviously an attraction between the two.

Saved by the bell, Ethan didn't have to come up with much of an answer. Although he was interested in Elizabeth, he had hardly begun to get to know her. For all he knew, she might have just left a boyfriend behind. Maybe she didn't want to go out with a senior, or what if she wasn't allowed to? He had some questions that needed to be answered before he got his hopes up too far. "We just met this morning."

"Yeah, and you draw sketches of every girl you meet. Come on, you know you like her." Dirk used sarcasm and teasing to try and push Ethan.

Holding his ground, Ethan wasn't going to rush. "Let her get settled before you go matching her up with people."

Blushing madly, Elizabeth was pleased to understand that Ethan was interested, and somewhat relieved that he wasn't pushing her in any way. Making her exit while they were arguing, she escaped off to class where she smiled to herself thinking of the sheet of paper with his sketches of her all over it.

Hallway

After school Elizabeth was working her way back towards her locker when she found a group of girls giggling as they glanced over their shoulders at her. When one of them laughed louder with a crude comment, Elizabeth understood what was wrong. The girl knew who Ethan was and liked him, so she was jealous to see him showing attention to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was the easier target, so she was trying to destroy her image before she could make one.

Fortunately for Elizabeth, another girl came to her rescue.

"Oh, be quiet. So what that he helped her collect her books, walked her to class, and sat with her at lunch. It just goes to show that he is gentleman enough to help the new girl. Besides, he knows who you are so he is never going to be interested in you." Then turning to Elizabeth, she introduced herself. "Don't mind them. They are petty, especially when jealous. My name is Susan, but you can call me Sue. You're Elizabeth, right?" Shielding her new friend from the cruel comments, Susan stood with a welcoming smile. She had blond hair and green eyes with a dash of freckles, but Elizabeth was more interested in her actions than her looks.

Smiling, Elizabeth had a feeling that she was making another friend. Three in one day was a nice start, and she had a feeling they would be ones to stick around for a lifetime.

Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, and choosing to favorite :D

Prompt: "hi I like to say that I love its history and I would suggest a story where Neal and Brice are children and Peter and El is your country. maybe they can be children of only one or Peter or Elizabeth. Co eg El is a single mother of twins and knows Peter and the two marry and Peter has to learn to deal with the Twins really cool series." (Margarete1 on Paternal Discoveries).

Song: "He Didn't Have To Be," by Brad Paisley. (Inspired the title and some portions of the storyline later).

Conversation: Quinis and I talked to beef up this idea and give it more body so many of the ideas go to her for credit.

Also, the high school is mostly made up and partly based on my own experience for bells and schedule type things. Susan is inspired by a Sue Thomas fanfiction (this does not crossover into that story line), and the name Dirk is from Sahara even though the character doesn't really have anything in common with his name sake.

This story is a long one as there is a lot to cover. Although there are no specific divides, section one is Elizabeth and Ethan, two is her settling into New York with more familiar characters, three brings in Peter and yet more familiar characters, and the fourth section is a short epilogue containing the twins grown up. I look forward to seeing what you all think :D

While this is running, I will be working to build my stash of stories back up as a few twins and triplets shots are all I have left completed right now. Persuassioned only needs to be finished editing, and The Black Sheep of the Family is in the works, and a partial story line in The Father Job with more ideas than I have time for waiting their turns.