Hey. This is chapter one of 'fighting back' hope you like it.

First of all though, a full summary…Claire has gone to university in Morganville and is doing okay until Monica decides to target her. Things take a rocky turn and its up to Claire to solve everything. But Claire has a few secrets of her own, and when secrets are kept they mount up and make things go from bad…to worse.

Story starts.

Chapter1 – fleeing the dorms.

Claire POV.

" So you wanna go get some coffee later?" James Lorrand asked me while he escorted me to the common room. He wasn't that bad looking with dark green eyes and light brown hair. He was 5ft 11 so he was quite a bit taller than me.

"Um_" I started when a shriek cut me off. Queen bitch (or so I'd heard) and leader of the poplars had thrown herself at James.

"Baby! Here you are!" Monica Morrell cooed.

"Oh, hey Monica" James muttered meekly.

"Hey, how about we ditch the rest of the day and go hang out at the coffee bar on campus?" she suggested seductively.

"Fine" James agreed with a shrug. God what an asshole! He asks me out and then totally forgets I exist!

"Go to the café on campus, I'll catch up in a sec" and with that command James headed off the café without a backwards glance. Jerk!

Monica twirled around to face me and with a flick of her freshly manicured nails, slashed them along my cheek. It burned painfully.

"What the hell?" I snapped, pushing her away from me. I wasn't one to be pushed around and walked all over.

"James Lorrand is my boyfriend. So keep away from him you hag" she spat at me.

"Well he can't be very interested in you since he was asking me out on a date" I spat back furiously. What the hell was up with this girl?

"Like he would do that. Your pathetic, worthless, and your not as pretty as me" she looked down her nose at me, which just got me all the more mad at her. I can't stand stuck up snobby rich brats like herself.

"So your gonna look down on me just because I'm not some rich bitch who gets a manicure every day?" I snarled.

"Shut up! Just keep away from him, when I'm done with him you can gladly have my cast-offs" she gave me an evil grin.

"Yeah dork" her evil minions, Gina and Jennifer chorused.

"I wouldn't touch your cast-offs even if it was to save the human race," I told her matter-of-factly. "God only knows what you could have done with them. I don't fancy catching any infectious diseases from touching your cast-offs after you."

"Watch your back" Monica warned me. "This ain't over."

"I'm so scared" I snapped sarcastically.

"You will be" Gina threatened.

"Don't hold your breath. Or seconds thoughts, go right ahead and hold your breath. It would be a nice reprieve," I hissed.

They all twitch off towards the café, Gina and Jennifer flanking Monica.

"If they twitch their butts anymore then they are gonna break something" I muttered under my breath.

I soon became engrossed in my lessons, and by the end of the day I thought I was going to get to the dorms before Monica got to me. But of course, just as I think this, guess who twitches around the corner? That's right, TPU's number one hag from hell!

She stopped when she saw me, a mean grin flashing across her face. Great. What was she planning now?

"Well look who it is" Monica chirped. "Little Claire."

"Just finished your lessons have you super-freak?" Gina drawled.

"I heard she got boosted up two years early, she's only fifteen. I'd say that made her queen of the freaks," Monica laughed and the monikettes dutifully laughed with her.

"What a smart arse!" Gina cackled.

"If you're done being annoying" I said, "then maybe you can go, oh I don't know, make out with some randommer? Isn't that what you usually do?"

"Oh, you did not just say that!" Monica hissed.

"What you gonna do?" I challenged, raising my chin.

"You've asked for it now" Jennifer smirked.

"Girls" Monica slowly smiled. "Time for some fun." (A/N-just to let any of you perverted people out there know I don't mean this in a weird way)

Gina pulled my arms back behind my back while Jennifer yanked my head back by my hair.

"Your gonna get what you deserve now little Claire" Monica warned me. She slapped me hard across the face. My anger flared. I flung my foot out into her shin. She yelped like a siren and fell to the floor. Her minions instantly let go of me to help her.

"Boys!" Monica screamed. "Get here now!"

Two tall sturdy looking guys walked into the room. The one was grinning evilly and the other just looked…well…a cross between concerned and angry.

"You know what to do" Monica's voice was full of absolute hate. The two monikettes picked her up, and left the room. Which meant that I was left in a room, which was deserted apart from the two strong guys in it. Who were destined to most likely beat me up.

"So…" I said, "I haven't actually done anyth_" the brown haired boy cut me off sharply.

"You leave Monica alone and you don't get hurt. Understand?" he snapped.

"Sure but I didn't do anything!" I insisted stubbornly.

"Whatever" he replied, turning to leave.

"Hey!" the other boy said. "What about the beati_"

"Enough!" the brown haired boy hissed frantically. "We're leaving-now!"

"Ugh! Fine!" the other boy huffed. Stomping out of the room.

"Um…" I began, slowly edging towards the stairs.

"Keep out of Monica's way and you'll survive," he said.

"Hey! I didn't even do anything to begin with! And I could totally take her!" I ranted, angrily stomping my foot on the floor.

"I never said you couldn't take her. And I never said that Monica didn't start this. I am just giving you some advice on how to survive in this place, okay?" he told me.

"Ugh! Fine!" I huffed, folding my arms across my chest and glaring up at him from under my bangs.

He stared at me for a long moment before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

I let out a sigh of relief. At least I didn't get beat up. I really didn't fancy having a bitch fight tonight. Or a real fist fight tonight for that matter.

I stared after the guy's retreating figure. And what a mighty fine figure it was. His brown hair was cut in jagged; uneven layers and it just brushed his shoulders. It totally gave you that want-to-run-your-fingers-through-his-hair type feeling.

And his body looked great with a top on so imagine if he had that top off!

Wow! Wait! Red flags Claire! Cool it! He can't be that nice if he is with Monica. But the little voice in the back of my head just wouldn't shut up.

He might be different to Monica. He did stop me from getting beat up after all.

I wrestled with all kinds of different questions on the way back to my dorm. When I got there I let out a startled cry.

I stepped into my room and gazed around it. All my reading books had been thrown carelessly around the room; my textbooks had been littered around the place as well. They had mostly been shoved down the sides of my desk and bed.

My wonderful Goth clothes were strewn all over the floor in crumpled heaps and scattered over the bed. If they had been torn then I was screwed. It's not easy to get clothes in Morganville.

Throwing myself onto my bed, I lay face down there until I thought of what I was going to do next. The one thing I wasn't going to do was quit and beg to go back home and go to a university there. That just wouldn't do. And it wouldn't prove my point at all.

I jerked my self of the bed and grabbed a backpack of the floor. I ran round my room picking up all my clothes and shoving them into the bag. I squashed in my shoes and my accessories as well.

I picked up my school backpack and piled the rest of my schoolwork into it. I rammed my reading books into the free space.

I snatched up my mini ipod dock and griped it under my arm. Using my blanket at the bottom of my bed, I placed the rest of my reading books into the centre and folded it up.

Slinging it over my shoulder, I walked to the door and checked to see if anybody was around.

The hallway was deserted, so I slammed the door shut behind me and sprinted down the stairs and out of the building.

I was free. For now.

I slipped out of the university grounds and headed to the café common grounds, where I could purchase a newspaper.

As soon as I had the newspaper, I flicked through it until I came to the 'rooms for rent section'. I picked the first one I saw and dialled the number on my mobile. A male voice answered on the answer machine. I left a message, and set off towards the address.

Hopefully I could live there and just…well…carry on as normal. Well, as normal as possible in this town. Which isn't easy. This town is weird. I had only been here a few months and I had already established that…

End chapter!

So…. what do ya think? Good? Bad? How about leaving a little review and letting me know what you think? It will be much appreciated!

Besides, if you review you get to find out who the 'boys' are that Monica called on to get Claire. And you will also find out what point Claire has to prove.

So…review basically!

Xxx