Untitled(for now) Chapter 1

          I stopped to survey the "scenery", as my friends called them, across the street, standing outside Mike's Bistro, the local, well, bistro. There were three boys about our age, 16 or 17, but only one of them caught my eye. He was tall, well over 6ft, with short dark brown hair. The black tank top he was wearing showed of his toned, sculpted arms, and clung to his chest like a young child to its mom. I shuddered. Tank tops on men just did something to me.

              I took a cursory glance at the other two before diverting my attention back to the one with the nice arms. The other two appeared to be twins, both having the same tall, lanky bodies, and light curly hair. They were attractive in their own way, but there was something special about the dark haired guy.

As if he felt my stare, he turned and caught my eye. He gazed back at me for a moment before flashing me a perfect smile and turning back to the twins, saying something that made them crack up into bouts of laughter.

              My friends, Clarisse and Paige, had stopped and were staring at me. They had no doubt followed my gaze and already checked out the boys by the bistro, but my gazing had intrigued them more.

"Has some unlucky young man finally caught Raya Danvers eye?" Clarissa laughed, eye brows waggling.

Paige started cracking up, loud, gasping shrieks that eventually had everyone within hearing distance giving her weird looks.

              It really wasn't that strange for me to be looking at a member of the opposite sex... just not in that way. I had sort of a... reputation... for being a man-hater. It wasn't true. I had no problem with the entire male gender, just the typical hormone-induced, self centered, egotistical teenage ones. Not after what Kyle had done- but I shoved those thoughts aside, packing them neatly away into a box that I would open again in a week or so, and only then because I had too.

Really, I didn't mind the reputation. I had a bad temper, and with those type of guys around it tended to soar. When it did, bad things happened. So if my reputation, however false it may be, sent the entire male population of Athens High School cowering away with one glare, so be it.

              "I think I'm in the mood for some of Mike's coffee," I said, shooting a pointed look in the dark haired guy's direction.

              I quickly looked both ways, then walked out onto the painted crossway, and towards the bistro. A quick glance over my shoulder hand me chuckling for the rest of the walk across the street. Clarisse stood there, mouth agape, staring at me like I had just spouted a third arm. Paige's laughing came to a stop as she, too, stared at me like a circus freak. Clarisse was my closest friend, but she really didn't know me at all.

              Clarisse had been my friend since day one, when I stepped into Mrs. McMillan's homeroom class, halfway through junior year. I'd known I would be an outcast, and it didn't really bother me. The kids in this high school had grown up together, they all had known each other practically since birth. I was the outsider. Still, I didn't expect to be tripped only seconds after handing the note to the teacher and heading to a desk in the back that I had noticed was empty when I'd first come in. I'd whirled on my attacker, a low growl traveling its way up my throat. Fortunately I was saved the further humiliation of trying to come up with a lie to explain the growl, because just as it was almost loud enough for anyone to hear, Clarisse started to berate the boy from her desk a few chairs to the left. From the tone of her voice and the ensuing laughter, I could tell that she had had to do this very thing many times. I'd slowly gone back to the seat, making sure everyone had forgotten I was the source of the previous bit of entertainment for the morning. As I say down, Clarisse caught my eye and gave me a small wink and a smile. I'd known that she'd be a good friend.

              Still, I'd kept some parts of my life secret from her. It was necessary. I had decided that when I came to Athens it would be a chance to start over, to reinvent myself. To keep that part of my life away, only going back to it when my body couldn't hold out any longer.

              So I didn't blame Clarisse or Paige, who was more Clarisse's friend than mine, for not knowing that I had plenty of experience with men, and that I really wasn't as secluded or man hating that they thought I was.

I waved them over. I knew I shouldn't let them see, that I shouldn't even give in to the feeling that this mystery guy had invoked in me, but it was like I couldn't control it. Time for my friends to see a part of me that I preferred to let keep to the shadows.