Kim Conweller sits in her car, drumming her fingers on her steering wheel. She's early to school today, only because her mother was actually home this morning, a rare thing for the busy radio host. For once, Kim didn't have to make breakfast in the morning for her and her little brother. So, she left a little early.

No one's here, not this early, so Kim waits, fishing out her calculus notes, going over the notes for the quiz they were sure to have today. Mr. Callum, her calculus teacher, was notorious for pop quizzes.

She loses track of time, but before she knows it, the parking lot is filling up and Laura, her best friend, is knocking on her window. Kim rushes to pack up her things and hop out of the car.

"Hey, sorry, I was studying, and I just lost track of time, I guess," she explains, tucking her hair behind her ears. Laura waves her apology off, smiling and hooking her arm through Kim's.

"Nah, don't worry about it, girl, come on," she says, leading them into the school. People mill around the hallways, talking at their lockers. Kim puts her own things away, glancing briefly down the hall at the locker six away from hers. It belongs to Jared Cameron, her long-time crush. He's nowhere to be seen, of course, he hasn't been for a few weeks.

Kim sighs, unable to help that she misses him. It's dumb, she knows, but she's always had feeling for him, ever since middle school. She remembers the moment vividly. She had been late that day, and stumbled in just after the bell rang. Jared had been the hall monitor that day, and it had been his job to report tardy students. He'd just winked at her and smiled, telling her he could let it slide. She'd been in love with him ever since.

Of course, he got hot when they hit high school and she didn't, so he never spoke to her again. Still, she can't help but carry a torch for him. She drops her gaze, shaking her head. Junior year is halfway over, she needs to get over this before senior year, so she can actually enjoy her life for once.

She heads to her first class, and pulls out her notes for a quick study session before the quiz. Mr. Callum calls for quiet, announcing the quiz. Everyone groans, disappointed. Kim smirks to herself, thank god, she thought ahead.

Just before he could pass them out, the door burst open, and Jared Cameron bursts through, a tardy slip in his hand.

"Sorry, Mr. Callum," he says, handing over his slip. Mr. Callum snorts, but gestures for him to sit down. Kim watches him discretely through a curtain of her hair. He looks… different, somehow. Taller, filled out. The most obvious change is his hair. La Push boys tend to wear their hair long, a tribe thing, but Jared's shorn his hair. His beautiful, luscious hair.

Silently, she mourns for the hair, the beautiful flow. Actually, it looks good like this too. Who is she kidding, Jared would look good even if he was prematurely balding.

Jared plops down in the seat in front of her, and Kim marvels at the way he fills out the space. He wasn't skinny by any means before, more lithely muscular before. Also, she can see all the muscles in the back of his neck, and that isn't helping the situation in any way.

Kim can hardly focus on the quiz in front of her, but she does her best. Jared doesn't have to take the quiz obviously, so Mr. Callum is having him get a head start on all the homework. Jared flips through the packet, clearly bored.

She's quick to finish up, and she feels pretty confident about her answers. As she turns it in, Mr. Callum stops her.

"Hey, Kim, I wanted to ask you something," he says. Kim nods, a little worried. "Listen, you're one of my best students, and Jared's missed a lot of time. I think you should help him catch up."

Kim stares at him, wide eyed with panic. Spending time with Jared is only something she can do in her fantasies. Talking to him in real life is impossible.

"Um, Mr. Callum, I just don't know—"

"Jared, come up here please," Mr. Callum interrupts, with complete disregard for her sanity. Jared nods, sauntering up. Kim drops her eyes, letting her hair fall around her face.

"Kim here is going to help you catch up in calculus, every day after school until you're completely caught up with the material. Kim, for your time, I'm going to be counting this as extra credit."

"Oh, okay, yeah," Jared says, frowning a little. Kim flushes; of course, he doesn't want to spend time with her, she's invisible and he's Mr. Popular. Jared turns to her, but Kim looks firmly at her feet, trying to control her breathing.

"Alright," Mr. Callum says, breaking an uncomfortable pause. "I'll let you two figure out a time."

Kim rushes back to her seat and tries to swallow down the panic. Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

"Hey, I'm Jared." There's a hand in front of her. One perfect, tawny, strong hand. Oh god. "And you're Kim?"

"Um yeah." She takes a deep breath and forces herself to look up. Jared's got this expectant expression on his face, and it makes him all the more handsome. His eyes are this deep, rich color, and suddenly Kim's drowning.

Jared finds her eyes, and his mouth slowly goes slack.

"Um, are you okay?" Kim asks, after an entire minute has passed in silence. Jared stares harder, and yeah, Kim is starting to freak out a little. "Jared?"

"Yeah, no, I'm good," he says. His eyes never break contact with her own though.

"Okay. So, I was thinking maybe after school we could just meet on the benches outside? It's nice enough I think."

"Yeah, I, sure that sounds good." The intense eye contact still hasn't stopped.

"Okay, well, I have class now, so I'm just going to… go to that." Still feeling incredibly awkward, Kim gathers her things up, and waves to Jared, who's still staring at her.

Weird.