Chapter 1

It was a bright sunny morning, like most mornings in late September, when 17-year old Gabriel Kelly left for school. He could have driven, he had his license, but a lack of a vehicle prevented him. So he walked. Following the same path he had since High School had started. While he walked, he did what he always seemed to find himself doing, looking back on his life.

Born November 13th 1989, Gabriel Kelly was the son of an ex-army Major turned construction worker and a successful architect. Sadly his father had died from a fall from some faulty scaffolding when Gabriel was 5 and his mother had gone off the rails for a few years before getting her life back together. Being the son of a very busy single mum was tough, and though he never found himself wanting for anything material, thanks to hefty compensation and life insurance payouts, he was starved of love and had grown into a loner who didn't relate to people very well.

Gabriel arrived at the school 5 minutes before the first bell; just enough time to drop his laptop off at the computer lab, before heading to Maths. Going to Maths, Gabriel's eyes were sidetracked by the one girl who, without fail, always managed to catch his sight. Jennifer Ross.

"Like I'd have a chance anyway," Gabriel thought to himself before hurrying down the corridor.

Jennifer Ross was hot, and she knew it. She didn't flaunt it or anything, but she knew how to use it to get what she wanted. She was always the centre of attention. If anyone was doing anything, she knew about it.

At 1.8m or 5'10", Jennifer was of Caucasian descent but one couldn't be sure with her bronze skin earned from hours on the beach. Her shirt held in perfect 36C breasts and her toned legs led up to what was unanimously voted the best arse in the school. She was excellent all over.

She was walking to class with her fellow cheerleaders, two of whom were also her best friends, when she felt someone looking at her. While normally this wouldn't have been a great occurrence, today it disturbed her. Looking around for the source, her eyes fell on Gabriel as he shuffled past.

"Surely it wasn't him that gave me this feeling. I don't know anything about him," Jennifer thought to herself. She continued to watch him as he walked ahead and the feeling inside her continued. "It can't have been him. But why does this feeling remain when I look at him?"

Maths was the usual. Officially it was called General Mathematics, but everyone just called it Maths. It was the course you took if you weren't good at the advanced stuff but still needed maths for whatever you needed to do. Mr Loscialpo was the teacher. Today would be about calculating world time.

As the class got underway, Gabriel found himself drifting in his thoughts again. Why did his eyes always fall onto Jennifer? Sure, she was the hottest girl in the school but he knew she was out of his class. There was just something about her and Gabriel couldn't place it.

Across the room, Jennifer was having similar thoughts. She couldn't shake the feeling that came every time she glanced at Gabriel, discreetly of course. If she was caught looking, then people would think she was insane. And she was afraid if she was to look at him, she would end up staring, and that would be really bad.

"But what do I do about this feeling? It's so strong, it feels like it will tear me apart if it grows anymore," Jennifer said to herself. Luckily, class ended before she had a chance to do anything. Thankfully, she had Senior Science next, without Gabriel. She packed her stuff and left before she looked at Gabriel again.

Gabriel's next class was Physics, something he was good at. Sure he was good at General Maths, but his true passion was in the Sciences, Physics and Chemistry. Here he could shine. Or would if he properly applied himself. Lately he had been distracted by random thoughts protruding on his mind. Thoughts of what life is, what it will be like in the future and lately, the girl he would marry. And every time he thought of what she would be like, an image of Jennifer popped into his head.

"Damn I need to shake this. It is getting so I can't do anything without my mind wandering," Gabriel told himself. Trying his best, he looked over the projectile motion problems before him. Looking over the problems and the images of their flight caused him to drift back into looking at his life. Before he could pull himself out of it, the bell suddenly rang, signalling the end of Physics and the start of lunch. Packing his gear, he headed to the computer lab. Bringing his own lunch meant he could avoid the cafeteria food and the crowds.

Working on computers was also something he was good at, and it always seemed to take his mind off his problems. Once the teachers found out how good he was, he was asked to help out with maintaining and updating the computers. Gabriel accepted the work as it gave him something to do besides sit around and do nothing. So each lunch, he came to the computer lab to check and see if there was anything that needed to be done. Lately there had been some networking problems with the computers so he was trying to solve that. It needed to be done fast so, like usual, Gabriel would be staying after school to work on it. He brought his Laptop so as he could run a few tests.

Setting up quickly, he got to work while chewing on a sandwich.

Jennifer sat with her friends chatting about everything from the latest fashion to who had dates for the coming weekend. Jennifer however, had her mind on a different topic, Gabriel.

"Why can't I shake this feeling? At least when he isn't around I can ignore it. But when he is around, it's overwhelming," Jennifer complained to herself. She was shaken from her thoughts by someone calling her name.

"Jennifer, I asked if you had a date for this weekend. What's up with you today? You have been off in your own world since before Maths," Lisa asked. Lisa was one of Jennifer's best friends.

"Oh, no I don't. I think I'm just going to have a quiet weekend. You know, relax," Jennifer replied offhandedly. Her friends had a reputation for always partying, but Jennifer liked to just have some alone time every now and then. Especially in the last few months. Things had changed in her life and she was still coming to terms with them. This business with Gabriel wasn't helping at all. "Gabriel, I can't feel him. Thank god, I can relax a little. I wonder where he is." Jennifer asked herself, looking around the cafeteria as she did. She couldn't see Gabriel anywhere. "Oh well, at least this feeling is almost gone. Now I can concentrate on school and other things in my life," she said to herself.