Okay, so this is the beginning of a new story. It will probably have... four parts, I want to say. Each part is a different part of the relationship between Kate and Beth. This is the first... and each chapter will build off the last. I decided to do something with the whole Spelling Bee thing at the beginning of the movie. This is what I came up with.

This story is for my lovely lady. Always and always. I L-O-V-E you!

A-w-k-w-a-r-d

Awkward –adjective. Embarrassing or inconvenient; caused by lack of social grace: an awkward moment.

It only seemed natural that their first meeting was an awkward one. Kate had never been anything if not clumsy and lacking in social grace. There was a reason she'd had more imaginary friends than real ones as a child, after all. At her past schools (all 7 of them) she had managed to blend in without much effort. No one had ever thought to take notice of her. She was the quiet blonde observer in the back of the auditorium, the timid student that sat in the front of the class and knew all the answers, but was never called on. The students didn't know her name, the teachers forgot her name, and she had grown accustomed to being called "Hey, you."

When Kate had arrived at Forest Hills, she had expected it to be the same as the other schools. She would glide by under the radar, and stay just as long as her mother could avoid another major heartbreak. She had been through it a dozen times, and knew the routine. It wasn't that she didn't try to make friends. She did her best to awkwardly edge in between groups of friends at the lunch table, and even threw out a joke or two that no one ever seemed to find funny. It could never be said that her loneliness wasn't from a lack of trying.

When Coach Claypoole had suffered her Acute Angina in the hallway, it began a chain of events that no one could have foreseen. The joining of the girls' gym classes was merely a coincidence, and mention of a certain boy's name was little more than accident, she was sure. When the fight that consisted of volleyballs being hurled at each girl's head began, Kate had tried to stay invisible. It was what she was best at. However, upon realizing that the three girls were arguing over the same cheating boy, she began to feel discontent nagging at the pit of her stomach. However, as soon as one of the volleyballs came flying towards her, hitting her hard in the face and knocking her to the floor of the gym, she couldn't help but to get involved. Somehow, she became intricately intertwined in the feud, and after being knocked to the floor several more times, she'd had enough.

"This guy is cheating on all of you, and instead of taking it out on him, you're beating the shit out of each other?!" Her words had come out as a cry of desperation. She saw enough self-deprecation at home, concerning her mother and the Skips. She couldn't stand to see it happen to three confident, cool girls at school.

It had honestly been the only reason she'd interjected. However, when her cry and their fight landed the four of them into detention together, she tried to distance herself. She didn't want to get involved. There were many things she would have liked to get involved in at her school, but a cat-fight between three scorned women was not one of them. However, she simply couldn't resist. Listening to their conversation from the table across the library, she had no choice but to intervene. And then, suddenly, their eyes were on her.

She wasn't sure how to deal with the sudden and unfamiliar attention from others. So, she did what she did best when she was under examination. She talked. But by that point, it didn't matter; she had their attention.

More specifically, she had the attention of one dark-haired, green-eyed girl. A girl with painted pink lips, narrowed eyes, and dimples that pressed deep into her cheeks. Almost immediately, she was drawn to her. There was something about the way she carried herself, and the confidence she had. In that library, she could feel Beth's gaze upon her, and when she raised her eyes to meet it, she felt a warm flush creep into her cheeks.

When Beth had shown up at Kate's house later that evening to plot John Tucker's demise, she felt that same warm, flushed feeling. So she studied the other girl, and tried to adopt her cool, collected behavior. She studied the way Beth's hips moved when she walked, and the way she idly brushed her fingers over the strands of dark hair that fell to her shoulders. She didn't want to be Beth; she simply wanted to be around her. The other girl filled her with a strange ache in the lower part of her stomach, and if she had been awkward before, it was suddenly multiplied by one hundred now. She found it even more difficult to speak around her, and often tripped over things in her way. Beth never seemed to notice. She would smile as Kate stuttered, her dark eyes glittering with adoration for the girl who never seemed to find the right words, and Kate felt herself beginning to falter.

Those sparkling green eyes, devilish smile, and deep dimples did something to Kate. They made her doubt everything she had ever known, and caused her whole awkward world to come crashing down around her.