Summary: One-shot, AU all the way. The characters of 24 have been immersed into the catastrophic, unpredictable world known as high school. Chloe dyes her hair brown… and chaos ensues. Jack/Chloe pairing. Spoilers from Day Six.

Disclaimer: If I owned 24, Chloe wouldn't have kissed Morris in last week's episode. Also that whole "tender" conversation between Jack & Marilyn NEVER would have happened on the newest episode. "Did you leave... because of me?" There absolutely was no reason for that. It annoyed me lol. I was... adequately satisfied with Jack & Chloe's reunion. But he should have commented on her hair dammit! Her hair!

I've Been Liking Your Hair Lately

She stalked through the hallways of the building, glowering at anyone who dared to look upon her face. Her ever present companion was safely tucked in her black laptop bag, which thumped against her left leg with every step. Her clothing was simple enough, blue jeans and a white shirt with pink and yellow stripes all over it. It was simple and forgettable… except she wasn't forgettable.

If only she could disappear from the rest of the world, the world that only saw her as the computer geek, the whiz… some had even called her a computer hacker. So she was an expert with computers. So she was a genius. So the only reason anyone spoke to her was if they needed help with schoolwork. Was life supposed to be this fun?

Chloe O'Brian was unhappy. Actually, she was usually unhappy, unless she was sitting in front of a computer… or if she had successfully berated someone into speechlessness. That was always fun…

Over the summer, she had done nothing spectacular. Chloe scowled visibly as she passed the rest of the overjoyed high school community in the hallway, listening to the "Ooohs!" and the "Aaahs!" and the ever cliché phrase: "I can't BELIEVE you did that!". She hated high school and everything about it.

"Chloe, Chloe, wait up!" A kind voice called out from behind her. Chloe sighed and whirled around. It was Edgar Stiles, the only person with whom she had spoken to over the summer. He was running towards her with books in one arm… and an open bag of potato chips in the other.

"What?" Chloe snapped out, crossing her arms over her chest. Edgar had pretty much been her only friend throughout high school. Today was the first day of senior year... which meant that she was one step closer to leaving this dump.

"I didn't know you dyed your hair." Edgar's big, dark eyes widened. Indeed, Chloe had dyed her naturally blonde hair dark brown. "It looks nice."

"Thanks." Chloe rolled her eyes when Edgar didn't say anything more. "Well? What did you want?" The bell was going to ring in a few minutes.

"Can I see your schedule?" Edgar held his hand out, but not before stuffing a chip in his mouth. Chloe fished her schedule out of her bag and handed it to Edgar. "Let's see… you have AP Calculus, Psychology, AP English, and AP Physics. We have physics and psych together. This is great!"

Edgar was babbling on and on about his classes, but the new brunette wasn't even listening to him. Chloe had already taken AP Computers and AP History last year and aced both of them, no problem at all. Unlike other high schools in Los Angeles, theirs had block scheduling, which meant that they only had four classes at once and they lasted 76 minutes each. Their current classes lasted from now till the end of January. Then at the end of January, the students would get all new classes.

"Isn't it time for you two to get to homeroom?" A kind, but stern voice said from behind him. Chloe and Edgar whirled around. The vice principal, Karen Buchanan, stood before them, holding her briefcase. She had recently married the man of her dreams, Bill, who was the Dean of Students. "Chloe, is that you? I didn't recognize you." It was also rumored that over the summer she had slapped the other vice principal, Thomas Lennox, across the face because of a "misunderstanding". Everyone knew they couldn't stand each other.

"Yeah, I know." Chloe responded quickly, holding back a sarcastic retort. "Sorry, we didn't hear the bell ring."

"That's okay." Karen smiled. "I'll write you a pass." She took a small piece of paper and a black pen out of her pocket and began writing on it.

"Thanks, Mrs. Buchanan." Edgar grinned happily.

"Karen, how's it going?" Two males walked into the hallway. "Mind writing us a pass?" Chloe rolled her eyes. It was Jack Bauer and his pal, Curtis Manning. Jack was one of the only students that got away with calling the vice principal by her first name. He got away with a lot of things, being that he was captain of the football team and the best quarterback in their high school's history. Curtis, on the other hand, excelled in defense as the team's nose guard, due to his physique.

"Hi Edgar. Hey Chloe." Curtis raised his hand in greeting. He was one of the nicer jocks. He was down to earth and he certainly wasn't as pompous as Jack.

"How was your summer, Curtis?" Edgar chirped happily. He was happy when anyone paid attention to him. It was kind of pathetic, but Chloe knew that part of him wished he was as popular as the jocks. Everyone that wasn't popular had this secret desire to be popular and no matter how far one buried it away, it was still there.

Karen pursed her lips as she handed both Chloe and Edgar their passes. The two friends began walking down the hallway to their lockers. Jack smirked as the woman began writing another pass and then his eyes settled on Chloe's back. His blue eyes widened as he instantly detected the change. "Chloe." Jack blurted out, causing the brunette to whirl around.

"What?" Chloe glared at Jack after neither of them had said anything.

"Never mind." Jack responded, shrugging his shoulders. Chloe snorted and kept on walking down the hallway. Karen handed the two football players their passes and then left them soon after. The friends stood in the hall for a bit.

"What was that all about?" Curtis raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Jack didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to tell Curtis how he liked Chloe's hair. Actually, there was a whole lot about Chloe that he would never tell Curtis, despite the fact that they were best friends. He tried to hide those feelings, pretend they were imaginary… especially since he had a girlfriend by the name of Audrey Raines. "Let's get to class." The two took off without another word.

Audrey didn't know why she had taken Psychology. She knew it was going to be a hard class, but her father had wanted her to take it, so… here she was. She had friends in this class-actually she had friends wherever she went-but that wasn't the issue. The issue was the new transfer student in their class, Nadia Yassir.

She was strikingly beautiful, she was "exotic" (at least, according to Milo Pressman-who was their school's star soccer player and one of the hottest boys in their grade), and now, after seeing her answering questions with ease that had completely baffled her mind, Audrey knew that Nadia was smart, too.

She's perfect… Audrey inwardly scowled; her mind full of jealousy.

Why did this bother Audrey? Because she was supposed to be the one that everyone wanted. The attention was supposed to be on her. But now… everyone was hovering over her… well, everyone except Chloe O'Brian. She was looking just as bored as anything, staring out at nothing. Audrey didn't even know why the girl hadn't graduated early. Chloe was certainly smart enough to.

"Class is over for now." The Psych teacher, Martha Logan said, standing up at the podium. "Remember to get your books covered." The teacher looked up at the clock. There were about five minutes left until lunch. Thank goodness; she needed a rest. This was going to be a difficult class.

The one good thing about the class was that Audrey's boyfriend was in it, too. Audrey looked over to the right, where Jack was sitting. Mrs. Logan had seated them alphabetically, so she couldn't sit near her beloved. But she could at least look at him. He was drop dead gorgeous, he was everyone's favorite… and he was hers. They had started going out at the end of sophomore year… and they were still going strong. It fit, actually.

Audrey was quite athletic. She was a cheerleader and a dancer. She was talented, she was clever, she had her own debit card, she was beautiful, and she had the best boyfriend… what more could she want?

Chloe wanted to transfer out of Psychology already. The class was full of rowdy seniors who were all self-absorbed and a teacher who looked like she was going to need a psychologist soon. It was all too unbearable for words. The brunette just wished she could quit school. At least she had lunch to look forward to.

Students began moving around, sitting where they wanted for the time being. Edgar sat by Chloe and began talking to her about all of his classes… again. But what happened next surprised Chloe… and everyone else in the room. The new girl, Nadia, stood up (leaving a disappointed Milo behind), and sat next to her.

"Hi, I'm Nadia." The dazzling teen held out her hand and Chloe reluctantly shook it. "I believe you were in my calculus class, right?"

"Yeah." Chloe answered slowly, eyeing the female. What does she want? Usually people only talked to her if they wanted something. They didn't just… talk.

"And you're Edgar." Nadia turned to him with a smile, extending her hand again. "Nice to meet you."

"S-same here." Edgar sputtered out. He was clearly in shock.

"You two are friends, right?" Nadia asked, looking Chloe in the eye. The brunette nodded stiffly. "Would you mind if I joined you for lunch today?"

"Fine." Chloe rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Don't mind her, she's just antisocial." Edgar blurted out apologetically. He began talking to Nadia about the day they met in Honors Biology freshman year.

Chloe raised her eyes to the ceiling. Thank God he has someone else to babble aimlessly to. The brunette smiled to herself when the bell rang.

The rest of the week had been rather uneventful. Oddly enough, Nadia liked both Edgar and Chloe and had proceeded to eat lunch with them every day. Edgar finally had the popular friend he had always wanted… and Chloe now had a reason to ignore Edgar while he was talking (because Nadia politely listened to everything he had to say).

It was odd having a popular friend. Nadia became their bridge to the socially accepted world. People who had looked down upon Chloe were now smiling at her, commenting on her hair... and every bit of attention the girl was getting made her despise humanity even more.

The unlikely trio was sitting at their table in the cafeteria. Edgar was talking about the latest episode of The Simpsons that he had watched, Nadia was calmly sipping her juice, listening attentively, and Chloe was typing away at her laptop, occasionally taking a bite out of her apple.

Chloe felt a chill go down her spine… and she knew that Jack Bauer was near. She always knew. The golden trio was approaching their table (Jack, Audrey, and Curtis). Chloe reluctantly looked up, only to see Jack strolling towards them.

"Could this day get any better?" The brunette muttered under her breath as the group finally reached their destination. Why is Audrey coming over here anyways? She can't stand Nadia. Edgar stopped talking mid-sentence, looking up at them in astonishment.

Audrey was the first person to speak. It was obvious they came here for a reason. "The student government meeting is about to start. Didn't you want to join, Nadia?" The blonde girl flashed Nadia a fake smile. Chloe continued typing on her laptop, but not before quickly looking up at Jack.

"Yes, I did." Nadia gave her two friends an apologetic smile, standing up. "Bye Chloe, bye Edgar." Nadia and Audrey walked off, leaving the rest of them.

Curtis looked down at his tray of food… and realized that he forgot to put ketchup on his hamburger. "I'll be right back, Jack." He needed ketchup. He also wanted to see if Jack would talk to Chloe. He smirked knowingly as he walked off.

This is… awkward. Jack inwardly scowled. He was Jack Bauer, he had risen to every challenge, exceeded every expectation… and yet his soul was cowering in fear of none other than... Chloe O'Brian? That was ridiculous. So Jack threw caution to the wind and sat down right next to the female, causing her to jump.

"So how are your classes going?" Jack asked casually as Edgar's mouth dropped open in shock. He didn't get why Jack was talking to Chloe. It was unfathomable. It wasn't in the social handbook. Not even in the "acceptable exceptions to socially binding rules" paragraph in the miscellaneous section.

"Fine." Chloe snapped out impatiently, her rapid fingers pausing for a second. "I don't have time for this. Go put some ketchup on your burger or something." Jack's eyebrows raised and he scowled angrily. The teen wasn't having the best day, because of an earlier vicious, verbal spat with his brother. Chloe's cold words hadn't made him feel any better.

"Would it kill you to spare me a kind word?" Jack tried to hold back his anger, knowing that his mere presence was enough to turn Chloe O'Brian homicidal. "What is it about me that you can't stand?" The jock leaned in closer to Chloe. "Or… is it the exact opposite?"

That comment did it for Chloe. She stood up, banging her hands on the table. "You think everyone's in love with you. Well, I have news for you, superman: I don't! I hate you! You're an arrogant narcissist who obviously has nothing better to do than to waste my time." The former blonde was absolutely furious.

"Why do you always push people away?!?" Jack snarled, his temper getting the better of him. "What makes you so much better than everyone else??

"My behavior is none of your concern." Chloe's icy eyes bored into Jack's. She hated him. Hated him! He was so full of himself, it was sickening!

"It's no surprise you don't have any friends." Jack uttered before he could stop himself. He wished with all his heart that he could've taken it back. And that betrayed, hurt look in Chloe's eyes made him feel like taking a power drill and stabbing it into his shoulder.

Chloe wordlessly stuffed her laptop back into her bag and stalked off, ignoring Edgar's cries of protest. Half the cafeteria watched her departure, Curtis included. He quickly walked back to the table where Jack was standing as if he was in a daze. Curtis shook his head, smiled apologetically at Edgar, and led Jack back to their table. Things had not gone as planned…

Nadia was worried about Chloe. The brunette seemed to be more agitated and snippy than usual. The female knew better than to ask Chloe about what was bothering her… but she still wanted to know. So she decided to go straight to the source: Jack Bauer. Nadia was smart enough to know that HE was the cause of this.

Nadia stood up and excused herself from the table, saying that she had to use the bathroom. Edgar nodded his head, his happy mouth full of pizza. Chloe didn't respond, furiously banging away at her keyboard.

Nadia stalked over to "the jock's table" and tapped Jack Bauer on the shoulder. He turned his messy, brown head around and looked up at her. "We need to talk." She put her hands on her hips.

Jack's eyes widened and he stood up quickly, following Nadia out into the gym. Nobody was in the gym during lunch, unless there was some kind of meeting in there. "What's up?" Jack asked curiously. Is it Audrey? Did they have a fight?

"I'd like to know what you said to Chloe that made her so angry that she's barely spared anyone a word for the past few days." Nadia glared accusingly at Jack. "Don't even bother denying it; I know it was you. Whatever you said to Chloe, it really upset her. What did you do?"

"I was having a bad day and she made it worse! I tried to make conversation and she acted like she always does: rude." Jack snapped defensively. "She had it coming! Don't you get tired of her putting you down all the time?"

"She doesn't put me down all the time." Nadia said firmly. "No one ever deserves to have their feelings hurt. Someone might have ruined your day… but you ruined her week. Now tell me, Jack Bauer, is that fair?" Okay, so I'm overstating … it hasn't been a week yet… but I think I got my point across.

Jack ran his fingers through his hair and sighed angrily. "Fine, so I was in the wrong. She'll get over it." The jock raised his eyes to look at the clock. He still had enough time to finish his lunch.

"Go apologize to her." Nadia ordered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Excuse me?" Jack's eyebrows rose. Did she just tell me what to do?

"You heard me, Bauer!" Nadia's dark eyes flashed with ferocity. "You admitted you were wrong, and now you can do something right. Apologize!"

"Listen, Nadia. I don't take orders from anyone but Coach Henderson." Jack's face grew angry. Who did this girl think she was, ordering him around like she was his superior?

"I shouldn't have had to suggest it in the first place." Nadia shook her head, her anger gone. "If you can't step down from the high pedestal everyone put you on, if you can't be real for just a moment… then there's nothing more that I can do." And with that, the exotic beauty turned on her heel and stalked out of the gym.

"And finally, we have studied the three types of learning. You'll have your first test next week." Martha smiled brightly at her class. Despite the fact that her students seemed to be much too boisterous, they had picked up the first chapter rather quickly. She had a smart class and that was something to be proud of.

As usual, class had ended a few minutes early. Everyone moved into their "second" seats and began conversing excitedly. Evelyn Martin, Martha's teacher assistant, walked into the room, holding two bottles of water. Chloe observed all of this with an emotionless mask on her face.

"Here, Mrs. Logan." Evelyn handed the blonde a water bottle.

"Thank you, Evelyn." Martha opened her bottle and gulped down some water. "Would you like to have lunch and discuss the test together?"

"Oh, yes, that'd be great." Evelyn suddenly chuckled.

"What is it?" Martha inquired curiously, leaning in closer to Evelyn. Evelyn began telling the exciting recount of a naïve freshman… and Chloe lost interest.

Placing her chin in her hand, the brunette sighed out loud and looked out the window. Do I really have such a bad personality? Chloe thought to herself sadly, stealing a quick look at Nadia and Edgar. They were deep in conversation, most likely about something trivial, like the test next week or the new season of Degrassi that was coming up or the mozzarella sticks that were for lunch.

Chloe's dull gaze traveled about the room. In a fated instant, her eyes found Jack Bauer's. From across the room, they held each other's gazes. So many words needed to be said… and yet none could be verbalized. Ultimately, the bell ruined their moment and everyone dashed out of the classroom, Jack included.

Chloe watched his retreating form and inwardly sighed. She was one of the last people out, shuffling her feet along the ground. Nadia and Edgar were already gone with the crowd, Nadia because she knew Chloe wanted nothing more than to be alone… and Edgar because, well it was lunchtime.

Chloe pushed the door open that lead to the stairs, took one step… and found herself being dragged off by none other than Jack Bauer. Her jaw was still open as Jack walked them to the area behind the stairwell, where no one could see them.

"Let go of me!" Chloe yanked her arm out of Jack's grasp. "What the hell is your problem?" Has he finally gone mad? What are we doing here?

"I'm sorry!" Jack exclaimed, balling his hands into fists. "I've been sorry since I said it and it's been eating me away inside ever since! I had to tell you… I'm sorry." There… I finally said it. So don't…

Chloe stared at Jack in shock for a few moments. "It's… okay." The brunette was extremely confused. He commandeered me during lunchtime just because he wanted to apologize to me?

"It's just that… I had a fight with my brother that day." Jack continued on, causing Chloe's eyebrows to rise. "We don't really get along… actually, I can't remember us ever getting along. But that morning was…"

Chloe had heard of Jack's brother. Supposedly, the brothers always had to go to different schools, because they couldn't stand each other that much.

"What happened?" Chloe found herself asking. Wait, why'd I sat that? I don't even care… But Chloe knew deep down, that she was lying to herself.

"It was the summer between sophomore and junior year. Audrey and I had a fight and we were taking a break. She went on a business trop with her Dad to Washington DC and she never called me or emailed me. I figured her idea of 'break' was different than my interpretation of it.

"My brother, Gray, was… and still is, dating this girl named Marilyn. But lately, he had engrossed himself in some project and wasn't paying her enough attention. So… we started messing around behind his back… and one day, he caught us. He and Marilyn were a little shaky afterwards, but they're fine now.

"When Audrey came back from DC, she told me how much she thought about our relationship and how much she missed me, so we picked up right where we left off. I didn't tell her about Marilyn and everything went back to normal. Gray never forgave me, though. Before that instant, it was simple sibling rivalry between us. But since then… he's hated me.

"That morning, he threatened to tell Audrey about Marilyn and me. I was having the worst day… and I took it out on you." Jack smiled regretfully.

"Oh." Was all Chloe could say. She wanted to smack her herself in the forehead. "Sorry, it's just that you dumped all this information on me all at once. I don't know how to take it."

"I just figured you deserved to know the reason why I-" Jack started.

"It's ok." Chloe cut in, holding her hand up. "Are we done here?"

"I guess so." Jack shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed. I can't believe I just opened up to her like that. I've never done that before…

"Ok then. See you around." Chloe began to walk away, but then turned around. "And for what it's worth, you should probably tell Audrey about Marilyn yourself. Unless you want your brother to tell her first."

"Yeah… I should." Jack smiled lightly at the computer whiz. "Thanks."

"Sure." Chloe whirled around and kept on walking. She didn't realize that Jack was right behind her, until she felt his hand on her shoulder. The brunette jumped, turning to Jack in shock. "What is it now?"

"I've been liking your hair lately." Jack smirked at Chloe, his eyes twinkling. He walked off ahead of Chloe, who was rooted to the ground she stood on.

Holy shit… Chloe managed to retreat so that her back was against the wall. She was going to need all the support she could get for the next few seconds. Her heart was pounding as fast as she could type. That was not a good thing. Did that just happen?

Chloe O'Brian walked through the crowded mass of people in the cafeteria… and finally reached her respective table, where Edgar and Nadia were waiting for her. She was unaware of it, but a small smile was on her face.

The brunette sat down without a word, ignoring the questioning glances and unanswered inquiries. She was in her own world. Nadia grinned knowingly and twisted her head so that she could see a group of boys sitting a few tables away. Jack Bauer was seated in between Curtis Manning and Milo Pressman. The three boys were conversing happily and all was right with the world.

"What is everyone doing this weekend?" Chloe spoke up suddenly, causing Edgar to choke on his soda. Nadia burst out laughing. "Well?"

"N-nothing." Edgar sputtered out, his eyes fixed on Chloe. Nadia, not trusting her voice yet, merely shook her head.

"I need to go to the mall to buy new device for my computer." Chloe said expectantly, not really sure what else to say.

"I'd love to go with you." Nadia replied cheerfully. "I haven't been to a mall in Los Angeles yet. What about you, Edgar?"

"I know the mall she's talking about." Edgar said dreamily. "Best food court on this side of-" Chloe drowned the rest of his words out.

That wasn't so hard after all… The new brunette smiled to herself, thinking of how angry she had been lately. Maybe I shouldn't push them away anymore. After all… this is senior year. In a few months, I'll never see them again. So… I'd better make the best of it.

As the golden trio approached their table once again (Audrey made a point of escorting Nadia to every student gov. meeting), Chloe found herself smiling up at Jack. At least this hair dye wasn't a complete waste... Maybe, just maybe, Chloe O'Brian and Jack Bauer could become friends.

The End