I sped up my pace so as not to get caught in the rapidly growing traffic and quickly slipped into the classroom in which I had my next class. The weather warped wooden door squeaked its complaints and shut behind me as I made my way into the deserted room - at least I thought it was deserted until I heard a voice call out.

"Bethany, is that you? It's about time you answered my summons. I was getting worried that...," a male voice said. Suddenly a face appeared over the edge of the desk - Matt McDaniel's face. "Lainey! I didn't know you were in my class."

"Your class? But this is English. I thought you were a drama teacher."

"I'm that too, but I'm schooled first and foremost in the art of our fine English language," he grinned lazily. "How are you enjoying your first day of classes?"

I shrugged, "They're okay." Yeah, until now, I thought silently.

He kept his smile as he stood up and began shuffling some papers on his desk.

"Well, that's always good to hear. My day has been absolutely horrid with all the confusion and such. I just hope it will get better, but I'm sure it will now that I know I can count on you to help me out of any binds I may run into." His green eyes sparkled with amusement and with a hint of another thought- one that made my spine tingle. He ran his fingers through his light brown hair.

I smiled innocently and settled into the nearest desk as other students began wandering into the classroom.

All throughout class he kept giving me silent glances and occasional winks. I pretended not to notice, but secretly I was flattered that he paid that much attention to me.

The bell thankfully sounded again and I made my way to the door to leave only to be called back by "Matt" as he told us to call him.

"Lainey, could you stay a minute?"

"Well, I've got lunch now, but..." I faltered racking my brain to think of an excuse of why I had to leave.

"Great! Well, because I was wondering if you would stay and eat lunch with me. I'm afraid I haven't quite secured a lunch partner yet."

I nodded meekly wondering how the other kids would react when they saw me sitting with my teacher. “Perfect,” he said as he clapped his hands together at a silent battle won. When he produced a picnic basket, I knew it wasn't a coincidence.

I followed him to the courtyard outside the school where most of the other students were assembled. But we didn't stop there, he continued on to small copse of trees just behind the right wing of the building. Matt stopped at the edge of a tiny mossy pond and spread out his blanket.

I felt terribly uncomfortable. I didn't even know this man and here he was acting as if we were close friends.

"Sit down, Lainey, make yourself comfortable," He smiled tentatively and I settled myself on the other side of the basket, using it as a sort of barrier.

"I swear I don't bite, Lainey, at least recently I haven't," he chuckled at his own joke, his wicked green eyes burning, making me shudder, wondering if that statement was really a joke. Matt removed the barrier basket and rummaged around in it and found a plate of sandwiches which he settled in between us along with a bottle of champagne.

He uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses, offering one to me and putting the other in front of himself.

"I don't think so, Mr. McDaniel. I'm just seventeen, you know..." I trailed off.

"Oh, Lainey one tiny glass isn't going to hurt and besides I won't tell anyone if you don't." He flashed that smile again and I reluctantly took the glass from him and my stomach flip-flopped at doing something I knew I wasn’t supposed to be doing.

"Here, have a sandwich," he offered."They're my specialty - chicken salad."

I took a sandwich and tried to fake a smile. "Thank you, Mr. McDaniel, they're delicious."

"So, Lainey, tell me about yourself, Cory told a little, but what is your father like? Do you have any other brothers or sisters?"

“Well, there’s Cory and Max, they’re both my half-sisters. Max’s Mama is still married to Papa. I have an older brother Jeff, but he’s never around much. He lives near Atlanta with his girlfriend, Lucy and their two kids." Matt nodded.

“So what about your family?" I asked. He shrugged. "I don’t have any living relatives. My parents both died a few years ago and I was an only child. All of my aunts and uncles live elsewhere." His eyes took on a very sad look and I felt a pang of pity for him.

Matt easily kept the flow of conversation going with his questions and comments, I even found myself laughing a few times at his story of how he ended up in the our small Southern town. He claimed that he had grown tired of the stage and wanted a career a little less stressful in a place far away from New York City.

"Where exactly are you from? I know from your accent it's up North somewhere, but..."

"My accent?" he teased, "What about your accent? Actually, I'm from Ohio. Cleveland to be exact. It's a city in northern Ohio and from there I moved to New York to go to school and become an actor and well, you know the rest..." his eyes dropped as he trailed off, suggesting that I really didn't know the rest.

I nodded and suddenly glanced at my watch. It was three o'clock! We had been sitting here for nearly two hours! "Matt, do you realize what time it is?" I asked, using his first name for the first time.

I jumped up and frantically began gathering my things. "I missed my last class and on the first day, too!" I exclaimed.

"It's all right, Lainey, I'll explain for you...Actually, I was going to ask you about that. Would it be possible for you to drop your last class and be my teacher's aide or something? I could really use the help right now in getting settled in and now that we know each other so well, I don't know if I could trust anyone else..."

I glanced up and looked at him. He was staring at me strangely,in a trance-like state. I nodded,suddenly afraid to say anything else. "Sure, if you're positive that you need my help, I don't see why not. I guess I could switch my study hall to then."

"Great!" he stood up and gathered the lunch basket up and carried it back to the front of the school. Do you need a ride home? Since we live so close and all, it really wouldn't be a problem..."

"I don't know, I can walk. It's not that far..."

"Nonsense! You are riding home with me. I won't have you walking when it's easy for me to take you." I followed him to his fairly new black sports car and waited while he unlocked the doors. "Get in, get in.." he urged and I carefully climbed in and settled myself into the comfortable leather seat.

There wasn't much said on the short trip home. I just kept my gaze averted and watched the familiar rows of magnolias that lined either side of the main street of Marilyn Heights.

He eventually pulled up outside my home a small white washed farm style house, with old black shutters that carelessly hung on by a bolt or two. An old overgrown flowerbed attempted to decorate the front yard, but the weeds continually choked the life out of any new plant that tried to survuve. It was embarassing how our dilapadated house looked compared to his once grand-mansion.

"Thank you, Lainey, for sharing lunch. I really enjoyed it," he said and laid his hand on my arm.

I glanced down nervously and awkwardly nodded, a slight tingling sensation coursing through me.

"See you tomorrow," he said and I quickly slipped out of the car, casually flicking my wrist as a sort of wave.

Prologue Chapter One Back to Home