_____Author's Note______

This is a story composed by two author's daring-fox aka Lou and SophIe8 the author formerly known as SophIe. I am Lou I have been given the task of writing the first chapter. Sophie will write the next chapter, we both have our own characters, mine is Wendy and Sophie's is Rory. So every chapter Sophie writes will be from Rory's point of view, every chapter I write will be from Wendy's point of view. This beginning chapter isn't long but it's short and sweet.

~*~*~*~*~Wendy~*~*~*~*~

The heavy rain that had shocked the town strummed heavily on the windows. A rhythm that helped me stay away from the forever calling insanity. I can't explain who I am, I can't explain where I am, I can't explain how I got here, I'm not even sure myself for all of those things.

People called where I was a town, a town called Castle Rock, I call it my personal hell. It may be a small town, but it was just like every other town, the high school was just like any other, there were popular kids, smart kids that were classed as nerds, and like every school there was a weird kid.

The kid that always dressed in black, had crosses that hung from her neck, was smart yet shy, no-one talked to her, most of the other students thought she probably had a disease that caused her to have no friends, a disease that they avoided by avoiding her. She sat alone in the cafeteria, slowly eating her lunch while she looked through a textbook, deciding how to work out the complicated sum that burned her eyes.

I was that kid, and I was sitting in the cafeteria, alone at the table in the back, eating my salad, doing my homework and glancing at the ruckus that was the popular students, playing tricks on the nerds. Thankfully they were at the other end of the cafeteria, they wouldn't waste their precious breath to come and pester me.

There were two kinds of popular in this school, there were the jocks and cheerleaders that were popular because of their looks and who they were currently dating. The other popular was the tough popular, the popular that most people avoided like they avoided me, that popular was the Cobras, Castle Rock's local gang. They were famous because of what they did, those times that they'd gotten arrested and put another notch on their belt of popularity.

My sister was popular, she wasn't actually a Cobra, but she was often seen with them outside and inside school. She was in fact my twin sister, but we weren't identical, I believe the technical term to be 'fraternal twins'. We were extremely fraternal, I was dorky and whatnot and she was cool, I mean, she hung out with the Cobra's she had to be cool. She was also attractive, really attractive; guys would give an arm and a leg for my sister to only acknowledge their presence. I, on the other hand, wasn't so admired, I'm your typical nerd/weirdo, I wear glasses that hide my green eyes, I only recently had my braces removed, I had bad skin, my medium length black hair was limp and greasy, I wore a lot of black, I'm not a fan of colour, I talked to no-one in school, I had no friends.

The cafeteria silenced for the first time this afternoon, I could only guess who had walked in, and when I looked up, it was exactly who I was expecting, Ace Merrill. The leader of the Cobra's, another one of my sister's admirers, someone who I secretly admired.

I know he was way out of my league, but it made me feel less alone, having a crush on someone. It was pitiful, and when we moved here I'd sworn that I wouldn't let guys screw up my mind, I'd concentrate on my grades so I could move back to Los Angeles, go to college, back home. I had caught myself occasionally daydreaming about Ace, never in school though, that just wouldn't be acceptable, but at home in my room, or when the conversation at dinner was getting dry, I'd play with my food, nod my head when I felt it was needed and just think about him. Sometimes we'd be in a meadow in the middle of nowhere, sometimes in his car, in a forest, somewhere secret where nobody would find us.

But, unfortunately for me, looks mattered to Ace Merrill, he'd rather die than be seen with a mutt like me, if it was personality, I'd probably loose again. My only chance with him is if he was looking for intelligence, but guys like him didn't really care if the space between a girl's ears was empty or full.

Unexpectedly he headed straight for my table, and conversation soon began to flow around the cafeteria once again, people not bothered about Ace any more. I wiped my sweaty hands on my black jeans, after I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, one must look presentable for one's crush. Ace didn't seem to care.

"You seen Rory?" He asked as he sat down in a chair opposite me.

Perfect, Rory, my sister, that's what he wanted. Well, that was to be expected.

I stopped looking at him, his toned physique, strawberry blonde hair, icy blue eyes that looked as if they were reading your soul. "Not since this morning." I replied, turning back to my salad.

I had expected him to leave me alone, I'd given him the information he requested, but he sat there, I put the last morsel of food into my mouth and looked up.

"Is there something else?" I asked after I had swallowed the crunchy lettuce.

"I thought you had English with her before lunch." He said finally looking at me.

Darn it, caught lying, tut tut. So what? I hated the way he always followed my sister, it was sickening how he could reduce himself so low. He knew I'd lied; he was staring into my eyes, analysing my core.

"Okay, I did have English with her before lunch." I said, beginning to blush as he held the stare. I put my book into my bag, wanting to get away from this situation.

"And yet you claim to not have seen her." He said smugly, smirking.

God, I wanted to kiss him when he looked like that, but instead I picked up my bag and tray, saying, "Leave me alone Merrill, I don't have time for childish games."

I turned, walked towards the doors, put my tray on the stand, and left the cafeteria, never looking back.

~*~*~*~*~

The rest of the day went quickly, Chemistry was slow, but then it was Physics, so it evened out eventually. Ace Merrill was in my Physics class, he sat behind me, I felt his eyes staring into my back, I wanted to walk out and leave but I didn't.

I was at my locker when he and the official Cobra gang were talking outside the guy's lavatory, they gave me a few glances, and I immediately knew I was in trouble. I was the victim of most practical jokes; the Cobra's didn't bother me, unless I bothered them. And apparently I had bothered them by lying.

I put my books in my locker and took out two others that I would need for homework, deciding that I didn't need my bag, I put my bag in the locker and just carried the two books, I began to walk quickly for the exit.

It was Billy Tessio that called me, "Hey, Wendy."

I knew they had planned something; it was obvious the way they had stood there, snickering. But I still stopped, I thought it was better to get it over with, and if they didn't get me today, they'd get me tomorrow.

I waited for them to catch up with me, Ace walked beside me; the others were about a few feet behind.

"Can I walk you home?" Ace asked.

"No." I replied.

"Please, it's my way of apologizing for putting maggots in your locker last year." He said, grinning obviously at the memory.

"Fine." I said as I held my books close to my chest.

"I am sorry about that. I mean I didn't think you'd freak out as much as you did." He said sincerely.

"Just shut up, I just want this to be over with." I spoke the truth, what seemed like a dream yesterday was now a nightmare, Ace Merrill had a plan, and I was yet again the victim.

"Can I carry your books?" He questioned.

"No." I said holding them even more tightly to my chest.

"Are you sure? I mean those maggots really did scare you, a friend of mine was at the other side of school when it happened and he said he heard you screaming."

I hated being reminded of that incident, so to shut him up I just handed him the books. We walked in silence. We got to the exit - unfortunately it had stopped raining, I liked the rain, sometimes it was intense or relaxing and it always washed away your fears - we walked down the steps and Ace and the rest of the Cobra's stopped.

Everything happened in slow motion, he threw my books into a large muddy puddle and sneered, "Go on ugly duckling, go home." He and his friends walked past me, laughing and giving each other high-fives.

I ran from school, the wind whipped my face and hurt my eyes, and I didn't care. I ran to an empty park, one that I had been to often since we moved to Castle Rock.

I sat under a big willow tree pulled my knees to my chest, buried my face in my arms, and began to cry.