New Guy in town (Trent)

[Marina Anne Sinclaire]

Riverside, California 2003

It was her senior year. The year she was supposed to go to her prom and have all those wonderful experiences that society says seventeen year old girls have. High school dances, kisses and pining over boys.

Yeah right. This was her after all. Everyone knew that wasn't going to happen. Your dad coming into a fortune and moving to the rich side of town didn't mean you had any more perks than any of the other kids. Sure, it meant you finally got clear braces which hurt like a bitch, and you got to choose to go to the same school to graduate cause you hated not finishing what you started but it didn't give you any more perks than that.

She was a throwback to a bygone era. She tended to dress on the more 80's and 90's style of the 00's spectrum. Her hair was long and flowy and she usually wore an alice band to keep it out of her eyes and a floppy hat to hide herself a bit. She had a rolling suitcase that she used to haul her books around when she wasn't stopping by her locker and she was still the biggest nerd on campus.

"Today is the day all our dreams come true, baby!!" her friend Carly called as she high fived her. Carly was a six foot something blonde that should have been in magazines but through a series of shitty parents and situations wasn't.

"Yeah, I finally get a Math prof that isn't a drunk?" Mari called as she slung her purse over her body sideways.

"No honey! Hottie at twelve o clock. I predict that you will date him by the end of the year." Carly announced as she literally moved Mari's head to take in the new guy.

"The Elvis wannabe? Are you kidding? I don't date preppies or jocks and they don't date me. And since when were you the psychic of the group?" Mari asked her teasingly.

"Dude, he's been checking you out since we got here, Mari. She might be right." Diana called teasingly. The goth glaced at the new guy and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah right. We're gonna be late for our first class come on you two daydreamers." Mari said as she collected the books she needed and rolled on her way to class.

[vampireking]

Trenton strode into the halls of the school. He could hardly wait. Thanks to him drinking Lidija's blood, he now knew who he was. Plus, he could walk in the day. And that was something he was going to take advantage of. To start, he had already compelled the principal and all of the teachers here to accept his presence. As for the students, well, he'd let them draw their own conclusions, which from some of the conversations he heard, they were already doing.

Just then, he heard a surprisingly familiar voice. Marina? he thought to himself. It couldn't be...could it? He looked over at the girl, and sure enough, it was Marina Sinclair. Whoa. She looks gorgeous, he thought to himself as the familiar pull towards the girl came over him. He then began walking over to them, ignoring the conversations of the other students. He knew he looked good in his white shirt, black jacket and acid washed gray jeans and Ray Bans. Yeah, he had chosen an 80s look for the day, but so what? He was hot and he knew it.

Seeing that Marina and her friends were headed towards a classroom, Trenton went to follow them. As he did so, he felt someone link their arm through his and he turned to see a girl with long blonde hair, green eyes, and was dressed in a white shirt and hip-forming pale blue pants.
"Hi. You're new here, aren't you?" she asked in what Trent surmised was supposed to be a seductive voice, though if you asked him, it just made her sound like she was out of breath. "Well, let me be the first to say 'Welcome' and if you need anything---"
"I'm not interested," he interrupted, removing her arm from his. Without another glance, he continued to follow Marina and her friends, choosing to take a seat that was a couple of rows behind them. As he did so, he took off the sunglasses and fastened them to the front end of his shirt and leaned back in his seat. It would be fun to see what this class was and if he could screw with the teacher.

[Marina Anne Sinclaire]

History was full of half asleep students. Most people hated the class except her. As the questions flew fast and furious she raised her hand like an over eager Herminone Granger, the professor calling on her only when no one else could answer the question. After a while, Mari slumped back in her seat bored out of her mind. She took notes with only half an ear as she listened to the professor give the lecture and slowly she laid her head down on the desk and fell dead asleep.

The professor walked over to her desk and tapped on it, "Miss Sinclaire, What route did the black death take to the West?"

"It traveled via the silk road on ships that traveled to china. Where it then spread to Venice, London, Spain and France. Via the Asian continent it traveled with the Mongols."

"What is the scientific name of The Black Death?" He said as he tapped his foot.

"Yersinia Pestice. Otherwise known as Bubonic Plague." She said as she tried not to yawn.

"Symptoms and cure, Miss Sinclaire?" He asked pointedly.

"Depends on Type, but generally fevers, coughing, and buboes under the arms, on the neck, and groin area. Generally they formed where glands were. Medieval doctors often put polices on them which consisted of dung, urine and in some cases arsenic. Doctors that lanced the buboes found that sometimes their patients survived. Now? A two week course of Cipro in an isolation unit in a hospital is required. Outbreaks tend to happen in New Mexico where it is endemic. Last reported case was a man who contracted it from the fleas on his cat in 1996."

"It would seem you learn more in my class sleeping then the rest of the students do when they are wide awake." He quipped before he glanced at Trenton, "Do you have anything to add Mr. Moore?" he added as he tried to trip someone up, "You seemed just as bored as Miss Sinclaire."

He walked back to his desk and the students shook their head some muttering "Nerd." "Geek" and "Teacher's Pet." after Trent answered questions and they glared at Mari. The bell rang and she gathered up her books to head to the next class. Keeping to herself as she navigated the halls.

[vampireking]

History was not one of Trenton's favorite subject, but he decided he would put up with it for the time. The vampire looked around and saw that half of the class was asleep. I do not blame them. This was such a boring part of history, he thought to himself. He then leaned back in his seat as the teacher continued. Presently, he stopped in front of the desk of the girl in front of him who appeared to be asleep. As the teacher began to ask her rapid-fire questions and she answered them even though she was sleeping, Trenton found his shoulders shaking in laughter, though he managed to keep quiet.

When the teacher was finally done, he commented that the girl seemed to learn more asleep than any of his other students did while he was awake, a chuckle finally escaped from Trenton. The teacher asked him if he had anything to add.
"No, I believe she covered everything," he responded with a smirk.

[Marina Anne Sinclaire]

Class ended quickly enough and Mari dissappeared down the hall. The new guy was trying to make nice and while she could appreciate it he was way too hot to be looking at her and she knew it. She kept to her usual patterns, Biology, English then lunch. Mixed Chorus and Theatre and Math. At least that was her Monday, Wednesday Friday Schedule. She sighed as lunch rolled around and she scooted into the seat with the rest of her "clique" of misfits.

There was Di, goth rocker witch, Karly, blond gorgeous gang banger, Crystal, pregnant and looking like she was going to pop. And then there was her. She came back from her time in the line and set her food down in time to seeing one of the bullies of the school picking on Crystal. The diminunative girl was crying and before Mari knew it she was in front of Crystal and nose to nose with the girl picking on her.

"Get out of my way, Mari. This isn't about you. Don't make me hit you." the bully said as she tried to intimidate the shorter girl.

"You're picking on my friend that MAKES it about me. I'll even let you throw the first punch since you're so tough and all to pick on a PREGNANT woman. Must take real bravery to pick on someone like that." Mari taunted, "Pathetic. Truly deeply pathetic."

"GET OUT OF MY WAY." the girl said as she tried to shout the smaller girl down.

"Make me." Mari growled and stood her ground as Crystal tried to back away. Security guards were starting to notice as the girl backed down and Mari turned slightly to Crystal. Patting her friend on the shoulder she walked with her back to their table, sitting down as the other two made room for them.

Another boy tried siding up to the table behind Mari's back and before she had time to register it Diana had gripped his hand. Midway as he was trying to touch Mari's hair. He flinched and Diana slammed him into a wall, "In what universe do you get permission to touch any part of her, squib?" she said darkly.

Mari turned and looked baffled, "Let him go, Di. Your food is getting cold." she said quietly.

"Geeze Di I was just trying to say hi." he whined. Squirming quietly.

"Yeah and beg lunch money off of her and then put her down. Get lost loser. The pity train is done here. This is where you leave." Diana said quietly, "Cause if you don't you're going to not like it. Back off."

The kid scurried off. Looking furtitively behind him.

"Bit harsh there aren't you?" Mari asked her. Staring at the plate of inedible food.

"Nope. Kids been trying to trash talk you. Damned if I'm gonna let him talk bad about you then try to suck up to you while you're here." Diana said as she chugged her soda.

"What about that kid in history class? He was pretty hot and good looking?" Carly asked with a wink towards Mari.

"Yeah, right. In what universe are you in? Hot guys do not go for girls like me." Mari rejoined as she stirred her food in an attempt to try and make it more appealing.

[vampireking]

After their first class, Trenton tried to catch up with Marina, but she just went to her classes. Of course. She is as studious as ever, he thought to himself. She was the same way when she was in college. And man, if that didn't sound weird, referring to her college experience when he was visiting her in high school. But that was okay. He could catch up with her later. If he'd let him. This Marina was different than what he was used to and he had to admit, he liked it.

Finally, it was lunchtime and Trenton made his way out and followed Marina's scent, ignoring the advances of the other girls. He didn't care one whit about them. All he cared about was Marina. He wanted to get to know her. Well, this version of her anyway. He knew her very well as an adult, but had no idea what she was like as a teen. A girl flashed him a seductive smile, which he ignored and continued down the hall. He didn't care about superficial girls and their hormones. He just wanted his Bella.

Presently, he came aware of them talking, dealing with someone who was trying to put them down. He listened to Marina and some girls who were obviously her friends talking and standing up fo themselves and he chuckled. What a girl, he thought to himself as he got his own lunch, compelling the cafeteria lady to not care if he paid. Then, he walked towards their table and let out an inaudible chuckle when he realized that they were talking about him. Well now, how do I want to play this? he wondered. He could be cool and confident, or maybe the shy, quiet approach was best? Ah, he'd just wing it. With that, he approached the table that Marina was sitting at.
"Hi. Do you mind if I join you?" he queried.

[Marina Anne Sinclaire]

Mari was about to spoon some uninteresting glop they claimed was spagetti into her mouth when the Elvis impersonator came over. Glancing at him she realized he looked more like James Dean and she sighed. The others at the table giggled like maniacs taken over by chipmunks. All of them looked over at Mari with knowing winks and nudges and grins a mile wide.

"We've got to go study for Chemistry. We're going to examine pheramones and how they work." Carly announced as she nodded to Crystal who giggled, "Yeah so long as they don't work too well like they did for me." she said simply as she looked down at her belly with a blush. She nudged Diana, "Come on. Someone needs to take notes."

Mari looked between them and then sighed as en masse her posse abandoned her with the new guy just as he sat down, "See you guys." she said as she stirred the food around some more then nibbled it delicately. She looked over at Trent, "So...what's your story?" she asked him cautiously, "And WHY are you sitting at the nerd table?" she said with a chuckle. "You should be sitting somewhere cool like the quad or football corner." she announced good naturedly as she paused to let him speak and took a few bites of her lunch. At very least he distracted her enough to eat. "You're Trent. I heard the girl's talking about trying to score with you in the bathroom. They've already started writing your name on the bathroom stalls in dirty limericks with bad grammar and piss poor spelling." she announced.

Way to go new guy. First day here and you had a fan base. She wondered what would happen if he flexed his muscles. Probably instant heart throb status followed by pics of him stretching going from cell to cell. Some guys could be popular just by playing hard to get. But you had to be cute and he was that.

[vampireking]

As soon as he approached the table, he could see some of Marina's friends giggling in high-pitched voices. I forgot how tiresome high school girls could be, he thought to himself with a mental roll of his eyes. But he wouldn't say that out loud. These were Marina's friends after all. Then again, he did't recall seeing any of them with her as an adult, but maybe that had been Reginald's doing. That certainly sounded like the man. He hadn't been able to control his desires and had gone so far as to hurt Marina...which was why he, Diana, and Luke had ended up killing him---not soon enough, if you asked him. But there was a part of the vampire that knew that the girl had mourned her loss despite everything he had done to her.

Wanting to use the lunch to get to know this version of Marina, Trenton briefly wondered if he would have to use his powers of persuasion to get her friends to leave, but this proved to be unnecessary as one of the girls stood up, saying something about having to study for a chemistry test, adding something about pheremones.
"Pheremones would be on a science or a biology test, not a chemistry test," he corrected and then flashed the girls a smile, mouthing the words "Thank you" to them. They had done him a huge favor by willingly leaving him alone with Marina and he made a mental note to check to see if he couldn't find them again after he returned to his proper time. After all, Marina needed her friends.

Try as he might, he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped when she asked him what his story was and why he wasn't sitting with in the quard or with the football players.
"Because they're boring, that's why. Simpering morons the lot of them," he replied derisively. And it was true. Over the years, he had seen how the "cool crowd" had been and had eaten qutie a few football players for breakfast...literally. "I saw the way you handled yourself. You've got spunk. I like that in a woman," he told her. Okay, maybe that was a bit forward, but he really didn't care. He wanted to see how a younger version of his girl would react to something like that in contrast with the older version who would either give him a disapproving glare or blush.

So she already knew his name. That was good, though he wasn't too impressed with the idea of his name being written on walls with dirty intentions and girls trying to score with him.
"Juvenile pranks for juvenile minds. If you'd be so kind to tell me the names of this girls who are participitating in these antics, I'd know who to avoid and I'd be extremely grateful," he stated. Not that they probably wouldn't make good meals, but he certainly didn't want to be bothered with them when he was already talking to hottest girl in the school.

[Marina Anne Sinclaire]

The girls giggled and nodded, "Bye! Don't stay too late." they called as they wandered off in their usual clique.

Mari sighed, "So, Trent. What's the reason you wanted to get me alone? The band got you trolling for the blood drive or something?" she asked pointedly as she sipped her milk. She knew what he was. She could tell. It stood out like a sore thumb.

"Don't hold back; tell me how you really feel, Trenton." she said sarcastically with a gleam in her eye as he went off about jocks and anything jock related, "If you hate the majority of what school stands for why are you here? Its not like Moreno Valley is swimming in cool people. We're a good hour away from L.A. and this school is on the crap end of the tracks." she said simply with a shrug.

She raised her eyebrow, "Well gee I didn't know being a bitch was attractive." she said softly as she looked at him with a grin, "As for who is writing dirty poetry about you? I don't know. Its not like I saw who did it." she looked over at him, "So I guess I get to miss out on your gratitude. Although the way you made it sound I'm not sure I want to know how you would show me said gratitude." she said honestly with a blush. He was definately operating on a higher level of flirtation than she was used to.

[vampireking]

Trent watched in amusement as Marina's friends walked off giggling.
"They seem nice," he said to her, as he once again made a mental note to track them down in the future and see if they could be persuaded to reunite with her. Then, he smirked at her question of why he had gotten her alone, mentioning the school band and asking if they had gotten him to work for the blood drive. "Uh...no...Me and blood don't exactly mix," he responded carefully. Well, they did, just not in the way she was probably used to. Besides, he wasn't sure if a younger version of Marina knew about vampires and he certainly didn't want to scare her.

From the gleam in her eyes and her sarcastic response, he had obviously amused her with his comment about the "Cool kids" of the school. It had also apparently led to her being curious and asking why he was there, as they weren't in Los Angeles and were on the wrong side of the tracks.
"Dad lost his job and we had to move. He's currently looking for a job, but in the meantime, we're stuck here," he responded. "But I have to admit that this is move is definitely starting to have some perks," he continued, flashing her a grin. He wasn't sure if she'd believe his story as he had just come up with it on the spot, but at least it sounded plausible.

He then laughed as she said that she didn't know being a bitch was attractive.
"There is a difference between being a bitch and standing up for yourself. Besides, if they can't take what they dish out, they're much more better off with just staying silent," he responded. And that was certainly the truth. He could take everything he gave out and then some, though he didn't necessarily like some of the bars he heard sometimes. But at least he wasn't killing people for what they said anymore. Though, with some of the kids he met, the idea certainly was tempting. When she told him that she didn't know who had wrote the poems as she hadn't seen them.
"Lovely. Now I have no idea who to avoid. Well, I guess just to be safe, I'll stick close to you," he stated. He wasn't sure how long he'd be staying in this time period and he didn't want to waste a moment. He then laughed as she said that she'd have to miss out on his gratitude, blushing and adding that maybe she didn't want to know how he'd express his gratitude. "I promise, I wouldn't do anything to make you uncomfortable," he assured. She's always looked really cute when she blushed, he thought to himself. It was nice to know that he could still produce that effect with her...