"Get out of the way, freak!"

Victor was pushed from behind and sent tumbling to the ground, along with all of his school things. He looked behind him to see who the administer of his embarrassment was, and found a tall, broad, guy with the name Jones embroidered on his letterman jacket, and a cruel smirk on his face.

He wasn't alone. Of course he wasn't alone. Two girls behind him looked down on Victor and laughed at him. The one who looked particularly vicious was a short-haired blonde wearing a baby blue preppy dress.

The other had long dark brown hair, big green eyes, and was dressed head to toe in red and black. Even though her smile was unsure and her laughter forced, she was still the most beautiful girl Victor had ever seen, at least in Storybrooke anyway.

After he realized he'd been staring too long he scrambled to the floor, trying to look as confident as possible while striding up to the Jones boy.

"You have a problem?" Victor said, trying to sound intimidating.

The jock laughed in his face, "Pathetic," he spat before knocking past him with the two girls in tow. Only the brunette spared him a backward glance, her face unreadable.

Victor waited till they were out of sight to start picking up his things. As he turned around he noticed someone already bending down to help him out.

"Kil's a bastard, don't worry about it," the guy muttered, "It's like an initiation. If you haven't been harassed by Kil, you probably don't go to Storybrooke High,"

Victor shoved the last of his things into his back pack and looked up to the friendly student who was smiling like a Cheshire cat, handing him the last of his things. They both stood up.

"Jeffery Lewis, at your service," the boy said, arm outstretched.

Victor took it, "Victor Frank" he said with a slight smile.

"I'm guessing you're new since I've never seen you before; where are you from?" he asked as they started walking. Well, Victor was walking. Jefferson was striding. He had a strange sort of suave but outlandish sense to him.

"New York," Victor replied.

"Ah, must be different. Going from such a big city, to such a small one," Jeffery observed.
He nodded, " I feel like I just stepped into a cheesy 80s movie,"

Jeffery laughed loudly, "It can drive you mad,"

Victor looked quickly at his new friend and then away.

"So, who were those girls?" Victor asked, feigning noninterest.

Jeffery side-glanced him, "When you say girls, you mean the girl in the red, right?"

Victor blushed and didn't reply.

Jeffery sighed, "Her name's Ruby Lucas, go figure. Of course she's totally hot, but way off limits. She's Kil's girl.

Victor nodded, looking at his feet.

Jeffery looked over at Victor, "My friend, I think I need to explain some things about this school to you..."

Jeffery explained about the different social classes in their school, but mainly about the "Populars" -the envy of this school. Everyone either wanted to be them or be with them. In the end, only the rich and beautiful could. They did not socialize with anyone but themselves, but they loved to pick on the "lower" classes in this little society.

And of course, they were headed by Kil Jones himself.

"The only way to keep sane in this school is to go unnoticed, be boring"

Victor laughed at Jeffery for this and pointed out the rather formal, if not eccentric, look he had going on- what with the bright waistcoat, button down, and black slacks.

Jefferson looked him with a crazed smile, "I never said I was sane,"

They continued walking until Jeffery stopped them at a group of people in front of some lockers. Victor could already tell that they were a group of misfits, and wasn't surprised that these were Jeffery's friends.

"Everyone!" Jeffery practically sang, "This is my new special friend, Victor. Everyone say hello!" he finished cheerfully.

There was a prolonged silence as everyone stared a Victor.

Jeffery looked around the group, "Fine, I'll introduce you all. Rude, I swear."

He grabbed the arm of a girl next to him, "This is Isabella French, an actual saint," Jeffery said, matter-of-factly. The girl he gestured to was a cute brunette in a yellow springy dress. She gave him a sweet smile.

"Just ah, Belle. Nice to meet you, Victor" she said sweetly with an accent- Australian maybe? Victor wasn't sure. She was a beauty, but only reminded him of another brunette that caught his eye.

"And this is Archibald Hopper," Jeffery said moving on to the next. He was a flaming redhead with a sweater vest and tortoise shell glasses.

"Archie actually, hello" the ginger said with a shy smile.

The next in the circle was a boy, who Jeffery identified as Robert Gold, with slightly long brown hair, a flannel shirt, worn jeans, and black combat boots. His only greeting was a nod of his head.

"He's very shy," Jeffery whispered loudly as an aside to victor. Robert scoffed, but said not a word.

"And last, but not least, Mary Margaret- one of my oldest friends," Jeffery said as he wrapped his arm around the conservatively dressed girl, "how are you my darling?" he said to her.

Mary Margaret smiled at his antics and then looked to Victor, "Hi Victor," she said in a tentative voice.

"And we," Jeffery said gesturing to the group, "are the freaks of Storybrooke High," he said with an insane glint in his eye.

"Better run now, dearie," Robert added in his distinct Scottish brogue with a menacing smile.

"Actually," Victor said, "this might be where I could actually fit in,"

They all laughed, warming up to him.

"Or at least that's what Kil thinks," victor added, resentfully.

"Oh yes, our buddy Kil had a little run in with Victor here earlier," Jeffery explained to the group.

They all nodded in understanding.

"Don't dwell on it," Belle said placing a petit hand on Victor's shoulder, "the first day of school freshman year Kil knocked all the books out of my hands. He still calls me book worm,"

Victor noticed a flash of anger crossed Robert's face before he composed himself again.

Victor looked back a Belle with disbelief, "wow, Kil's a real asshole, isn't he?"

She nodded, "but you get used to it,"

Victor wasn't sure he wanted to.

Because their senior class was so incredibly small, Victor ended up having four classes with Jeffery, one with Archie, two with Belle and Mary Margaret (excluding homeroom which he had with Belle), and three with Gold.

Considering it was his first day at a new school, Victor thought he was off to a good start.

His first class was Anatomy, which he had with both Jeffery and Gold. As they started walking off to the designated science hall, Victor noticed his brother George surrounded by many boys and girls alike. His brother was always the popular one; always attracted everyone. Victor could see why- he was a great kid, good-natured and had great manners. Despite all the praise he received, he was quite humble. It was George's sophomore year, and Victor was glad to see that he was adjusting well.

As they entered the Anatomy room the trio sat at the nearest table, Robert pulling up a chair to the two person desk.

Gold threw his stuff onto the table, "Christ," he complained, "I hate science,"

Jefferson nodded in silent agreement.

"What? Come on guys, it's not that bad," Victor defended. He had always had a passion for the subject.

Robert and Jeffery looked at him in bewilderment.

"What, do you like science or something?" Robert asked him with an almost disturbed look on his face.

"I don't believe in science. I refuse it." Jefferson said complacently.

Victor laughed, "oh so what do you believe in then? Magic?"

Jefferson and Robert shared a glance, and then looked over at victor, nodding furiously, their expressions serious.

He scoffed, "naturally,"

Gold smirked, "hey if you don't believe, you've gotta leave. Can't be friends with someone who doesn't"

"Believe or Leave. I like that! Jeffery said thoughtfully, and then all of the sudden gasped loudly, shocking the other two boys.

"We could so be a band!", he exclaimed.

"Christ, Jeffery. You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Robert barked.

"No, guys… think about it," Jeffery said determinedly.

Robert and Victor gave each other an exasperated glance.

As class began to start two girls hurried in, obviously tardy.

Victor usually wouldn't have given a damn, but one of the girl's vibrant red attire was all too familiar.

Ruby Lucas was in his Anatomy class.

She was with another girl, but not the preppy little blonde from before. Her friend had short black hair, a dark exotic completion, and deep red lips. She was gorgeous, (as were many of the girls in this school, victor noticed) but next to Ruby she looked plain as bread.

As Victor stared at her, Jeffery noticed his line of sight and grinned.

"Victor! Your girlfriend's here!" Jeffery noted, louder than necessary.

Victor gave Jeffery a faux death glare, and Robert snorted.

As Ruby and her friend sat down, the teacher, a short pudgy man, walked to the front of the room and introduced himself as Mr. Baker. He started to drone on about the rules of regulation, but no one actually cared until he smiled cruelly and said, "and there is assigned seating,".

He put the seating chart onto the projector and, though the whole class groaned, no one was quite as upset as Robert.

"I hate everyone," Robert grumbled as he picked up his books and went to his designated lab table.

Victor looked up at the projection of the chart and found that his seat was at the very back left of the classroom. His lab partner was…

Ruby Lucas.

In that moment Victor wasn't sure if he should thank his lucky stars or curse every deity he knew of. Of course, Victor thought, where else would she sit.

He shuffled off to his desk and situated himself. His lab partner joined him shortly after, sitting down without a word. They both looked ahead as Mr. Baker continued with his introduction.

There was incredibly awkward silence, and Victor contemplated on what to say. He was still upset from earlier, when she laughed at his misfortune, but he was also still completely hooked on her. He decided to stay as indifferent as he could.

"Nice to see you again," he said coolly without as much as a single glance towards her.

She turned, staring at him, stunned- eyebrows furrowed and a look of confusion written on her face.

He looked at her, "Oh, do you not remember? You, Blondie, and that dumb jock? Me and my books on the ground? Ring a bell?"

He regretted his questions immediately. He sounded like a jerk.

She just looked away to her hands folded in her lap, "Oh yeah.. um, I'm sorry about that," she apologized quietly.

All of Victor's anger and embarrassment melted away. He looked at her, trying to catch her eye, but she still looked down as if… ashamed? He was expecting her to be snotty and rude, not shy and diffident.

He smiled at her, "Hey, it's alright. It's no big deal," he amended.

She looked up at him, and by God, he could get lost in those eyes. "No, it's your first day, I feel bad about it," she said with a bit more confidence.

"It's fine, I did meet some people. Not everyone rejected me," he said playfully, but hoped he didn't sound obnoxious.

To his delight she smiled, showing two rows of perfectly straight pearly white teeth, "Yeah I forgot, you befriended Jeffery and Judd Nelson over there," she said, glancing at the two. Robert sat directly one row in front of Jeffery and leaning all the way back in his chair talking to him. Jeffery was bent over forward, barley sitting in his seat, too engaged in their conversation.

"Is- is that what you call him?" he asked, trying to hide his smile.

Ruby smirked and gave a shrug. Victor pressed his lips together nodding and looked straight forward to Mr. Baker.

He turned back to her, "He does look like Judd Nelson, doesn't he?"

And with that they both burst out laughing. Victor decided that this type of joy really became her, unlike the cruel giggling he experienced earlier.

"Ms. Lucas and Mr. Frank," Mr. Baker puffed, "is there something you would like to share with the class?"

They both tried to stifle their laughter, "no sir," victor choked out.

Robert and Jeffery both looked over, grinning at Victor.

"Then I suggest you both refrain from your little outbursts untill you're outside of class," Mr. Baker said hotly. They both nodded, still helplessly giggling.

By this time the only person in the class still staring at them was Ruby's friend that she had come into class with; her face looking angered and confused. She turned back around after making eye contact with Ruby.

For the next couple of minutes Ruby and Victor had to fight keep from laughing, but they kept setting each other off. If one had finally calmed down, a simple glance at the other's smiling face would be enough to make them start giggling again.

Oh, what an unlikely pair.