Chapter One

Valerie's day was already off to a horrible start. It was only the first day of junior year and she was late for school. She tried to hurry into homeroom, sending Mrs. Krane an apologetic look as she took the only empty seat in the room. As she surveyed the room she saw a few of the girls from the cheer squad, they smiled and waved at her causing her to smile painfully in return. She wouldn't be on the squad this year, because she had injured her leg at cheer camp over the summer.

Even though it didn't really make any sense, she couldn't help but feel that she was dropped on purpose. She had been the smallest on the team, and even though she had fought it tooth and nail, they had chosen her as lead flyer. Valerie was afraid of heights, especially when she had to trust other's to catch her. It had been the same routine they were working to perfect for two day, and it was the same pull of gravity as she headed down toward the girls on the floor, except this time nothing stopped her fall.

"Ms. Wither's, come get your schedule." Mrs. Krane called from her desk, interrupting Valerie's thoughts.
She got up slowly from her desk, trying to keep her weight balanced, the doctor had told her to stop favoring her uninjured leg, or the injured one would never regain strength. As she walked to Mrs. Krane's desk she could feel the eyes of her peers on her. She knew what they were all thinking about, everyone had heard about her fall.

"Thank you." She said distractedly as she peered down at her schedule. Two study periods? That was simply not going to fly.

Valerie's parents were all about her pushing as hard as she could. They were already disappointed that she wouldn't be on the squad this year, no way were they going to let her take it easy with two study periods. It just wouldn't fit their image of the 'perfect' daughter. She was going to have to go to the guidance department and find an elective class to fill one of them. When the bell rang signaling the end of homeroom, she tried to awkwardly maneuver around the dispersing class, back to her desk to grab her messenger bag. Connor O'Riley already had it in his hand, and he was moving towards her.

"Here you go Val!" He said cheerfully as he approached her, placing the bag on her shoulder.


"Um, thanks Connor." She mumbled as she turned to walk out the door. Honestly, Connor kind of creeped her out. He had been trying to get her to go out with him since last year, and boy was he ever persistent.

On the way to the guidance office Valerie was trying to think of a good elective class to take, something that would be an easy A, as she was running over a mental list of all her choices she bumped into something, or rather someone solid.

"Omph." The air rushed from her lungs as she tried to keep her balance.

"Christ, watch where you're going." A husky voice growled from above her.

She looked up, ready to tell the person off for being such an asshole, and her eyes met with none other than Slade Sawyer's dark glare. She pushed her blonde hair out of her face, and bit her lip before stepping around him. She was not going to waste her time telling him off, because even if she did call him out on being an ass, he would probably take it as a compliment.

Slade's father owned the funeral home in town, and they actually lived there. For some reason this seemed to make him think that he was some sort of powerful being or something, because he always acted like everyone was an annoyance to him. The only people Valerie had ever seen him hanging with, were the weird goth kids, or the trouble makers. She shook her head to clear it of unwanted thoughts of Slade Sawyer as she rounded the corner into the guidance office.

oOoOo

She had spent her whole first period in guidance (which thankfully was one of the study periods), but Valerie had decided on a photography class to fill her other free slot. It sounded easy enough, take a bunch of pictures, suck up to the teacher, and get a nice and easy A. Perfect.

Right?

Wrong.

After lunch the day had seemed to be getting brighter, and she even found that she liked her next two teachers, for math and science. Now she just had to get through the last period of the day, photography. Valerie was feeling pretty confident about her choice, so when she entered the room just as the bell was ringing, she wore a big cheer worthy smile on her face.

"Nice of you to join us." The teacher, a man in his low thirties said sarcastically.

"Uh- um-"

"Please take a seat." He gestured to the only empty seat in the room.

Valerie started toward the empty chair, but stopped short when she saw just who she would be sharing her table with.

Slade.

She wanted to protest, but this teacher didn't seem to be warming up to her charm just yet, so she sat down with a huff next to the grim reaper himself. She stole a peak at him from the corner of her eye as the teacher started introducing himself to the class.

"My name is Mr. Ventrella." His voice droned on in the background as she continued peaking at Slade.
He started leaning closer to her, which made Valerie very nervous. Just when she was turning to tell him to back off, he smiled at her, one side of his mouth lifting slightly higher than the other. She felt herself gasp as he continued looking at her with those dark eyes.

"Boo." He whispered causing her to jump a mile.

"Miss?" The teacher's voice interrupted their little exchange, causing Valerie to tear her eyes away from Slade.

"Huh?" She asked.

"What's your name?"

She swallowed slowly. "Valerie, Valerie Withers."

"Well Valerie Valerie Withers, Why don't you stop staring at this young man and pay attention."

Valerie wanted to say something snarky in return, but decided against it. This teacher didn't seem to be quick to forgive and forget.

"So as I was saying." He continued on, still staring at her. "I hope you guys chose your seats wisely, because you are sitting next to your partner for every project in this class."

What? No, he had to be kidding! Valerie was mentally screaming.

She was just about to protest but Slade beat her to it, practically dislocating his shoulder as he flung his hand in the air.

"Yes.-" Mr. Ventrella looked at him, waiting for Slade to introduce himself before speaking.

"Slade Sawyer." He started, and then paused before beginning again. "Sir is there anyway- I can't work with her." He said in a tone that was dripping with his obvious dislike for me.

"Well son, you're gonna have to." Mr. Ventrella said with a smile.

"Ugh." He groaned, rubbing his hands over his face roughly

"Trust me, I'm not thrilled either." Valerie mumbled, rolling her eyes at his obnoxious behavior. Really, he should be thrilled that he gets to be this close to a girl that isn't covered in white face makeup, or sporting raccoon eyes.
He turned to her now, and blinked slow and hard, as if he could just wish her away.

Valerie was wishing she could go away as well, junior year definitely sucked so far.