Note: K. A. Applegate was my hero. But then he decided to kill Rachel. Oh. And he owns everything. I'm just one of the many individuals picketing on his lawn, begging for a continuation of a series that captured my heart and possibly stole my sanity when my favorite char died.

Rachel POV

My name is Rachel.

And I'm stuck in a stuffy classroom with a hand on my chin and basically daydreaming

Yeah, you heard me.

I, Rachel, am daydreaming.

After all, what else is there to do during classes and the teacher simply chooses not to show up?

I sighed and took a look around the classroom, noting that the volume of the noise we were creating is steadily climbing. My disdain mounted as I saw the tableau in front of me.

There were some boys bragging near the front, in exaggeratedly loud voices. One of their most interesting conversation would go along the lines of…

"No way you can shoot a three pointer blindfolded!"

"Bet I can!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

Utterly fascinating, wouldn't you say?

My eyes slid past them and saw some gossipy girls who were interspersing their airhead chatter with carefully orchestrated girly giggles, while their eyes dart occasionally to a certain guy in the class, which more often than not was my cousin, Jake.

I suppose he could be a dream boy type. Right height, plays basketball, nice guy, not bad looking, with "to die for eyes and a slow smile that can melt your insides…" quote, unquote.

That description is ofcourse provided by my tree hugging best friend who was sitting behind me and who coincidentally has a crush on Jake since she first laid eyes on him.

And I gotta tell you, that was a long time ago. Cassie and I were playing together since we were in diapers.

She was currently far too engrossed in one of her biology books that probably goes on about how to operate on rabid and crazed animals. Her parents own this goodwill clinic that takes in about any imaginable injured animal that they can lay their hands on. Cassie probably handled more animals than how many outfits I bought in my lifetime. Okay, maybe just about as much outfits.

People say I'm pretty, and in the conventional sense, I suppose I am. I play it to the hilt too. I knew so much beauty tricks that given the chance, I could make Jake a literal slave for Cassie. Not that she'd ever allow me. That girl is just waaaaaaaay to subtle in declaring her true feelings…

But ever since I was young, I knew I wanted something more than people patting me on the head and pinching my cheeks. I wanted them to see me more than just as cover girl material…

I wanted…

"A chance to finally confess your true feelings for me?"

I blinked and jerked back from the annoying face hovering near me.

Marco.

Jake's buddy.

Ever seen one of those dog shows when a Great Dane would come strutting in… And by its flanks, a Chihuahua is barely visible?

That's figuratively and literally what Marco is to me.

He's a midget and he makes up for his saddening height deficit by imitating an extremely irksome fly.

He'd crack jokes all day regardless of the fact that ninety percent of the time people would just like to stuff a sock down his throat just to shut him up.

"So what's your answer, Rachel?"

I wasn't in a good mood. It was hot inside the classroom, I was bored out of my wits and I never really have been gifted with a long temper.

But I suppose these facts do not justify the reality that I grabbed Marco by the collar and dangled him a few centimeters off the ground. Atleast, that's what the teacher thought when she walked in on us and saw what happened.

Marco did not help the situation by screaming at the top of his lungs, "Get away everybody! She's a hormonally charged female and she so wants me!!!"

After an irritatingly uncalled for trip to the guidance counselor, where I was interrogated on the basic principles of the birds and bees, I was walking back to the classroom and malevolently plotting just how hard I can physically bash Marco's head in.

I wasn't in any hurry though. I could always tell my math teacher the guidance counselor detained me longer…

Suddenly, a door swung open heading right towards me.

I acted on instinct and kicked it back. I should probably have not kicked it back too hard but I was still in a snit because of the fiasco earlier that I vented my frustration on the hapless door.

And the innocent bystander behind it.

I heard a muffled grunt of pain behind the wood so I peered behind the door to see who was driving me nuts this time. The room beyond was dark so I flipped on the light switch next to the door. The light came on and I blinked to let my eyes adjust to the light.

The first thing I noticed was the shoes. They were ratty and tattered, a beat up old pair that should have been replaced months ago. Checking out the rest of his ensemble, I came to the conclusion his family didn't have much, taking in to consideration the faded and awkwardly mended hand me downs that he was wearing.

Finally, I took stock of the person in the clothes. Sprawled on the floor was a dweeby kid with blond hair that was sticking up in all direction and wearing an expression that had me taken aback.

Normally, if a door bashed you on the head and landed you on your butt on the floor, you'd be cussing at the darn thing and the person behind it. But this kid had a resigned expression on his face, almost like he was used to this kind of stuff happening.

I don't know why, but the pathetic expression on his face just made me madder.

"Are you planning on sitting there all day?" I snapped at him, but held out my hand all the same. "Are you hurt or something?"

"I'm okay." He responded meekly and got on his feet without looking me in the eye. He kept his eyes pinned on the ground as he headed for the door as though escaping.

My eyes narrowed. I had a lot of stuff on my I-can't-stand-this list but right there on the top was the fact that I hated kids who just won't stand up for themselves.

I grabbed the kid by his shoulder as he turned to leave. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

Furtive panicked eyes met mine for a second as the kid braced himself for an oncoming attack before dropping his gaze on the floor. Seriously, he was rivaling Marco in grinding my last nerve.

"Aren't you mad at me?" I asked him brusquely.

Startled, he looked up, met my stare again and said with the most conviction I have heard as of yet from him, "No. Why would I be?"

"Because I just walloped you on your butt and…" I broke off, suddenly noticing something. "Hey! You're bleeding!"

Calmly, he lifted a hand to his forehead and wiped away the trickling blood. "Don't worry about it, I'm used to it."

That. Was. The. Last. Straw.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I roared and the kid jumped about a foot in the air in surprise.

"You're saying you're used to being a human punching bag? You're saying you'd just accept that? That's pathetic! You're a human being just like any of us and no one has the right to hurt you or beat you up because we are all the same human beings no matter what clothes we wear or what stuff we do!" The kid had rapidly changing expressions on his face; awe, fear, surprise, doubt, but those were not the emotions I wanted to feel from him.

My hand was still on his shoulder. I gave him a shove. He stumbled back, nearly falling back down again as he struggled to maintain his balance.

"You get pushed, you push back." I advanced towards him. "That's not just your right, that's also your obligation. Because if you don't…"

I glared at him and finished my statement, putting great emphasis on my words. "No one else will do it for you."

Again, the kid's face was in obvious onslaught of a dozen emotions, but I could see that the fear and doubt was still surfacing the most.

I sighed in consternation and turned to leave.

Now let me just clarify for future reference that I was caught in an extremely unbalanced position. I had just barely turned my upper body when a blow connected with my shoulder blades and sent me stumbling.

I must have looked like an idiot then as I tottered on my unsteady legs before I ended up on my side on the floor.

I got to my feet in a blink.

The kid was in shock, his eyes wide as saucers at what he did while his mouth hung open.

If anyone else had done that to me, I would probably have broken both their arms by now. But oddly enough, I felt almost happy that the kid had the guts to finally stand up for himself

I dusted myself off and held out my hand, scowling. "Don't make it a hobby to strike from the back. I'm Rachel by the way."

"Oh. Um, hi." He shook my hand held my gaze, albeit a little skittishly. "Tobias."

And that was when the world as I knew it ended.