Meeting the Foreign Exchange Student

At a little more than 5 feet tall, with long, well-toned legs and a thin yet curvaceous body, she was a blonde bombshell ready to cause an explosion at Apponoquet High. All the guys would oogle at her assets as she passed them by in the hallway. Her looks were so intimidating, most guys were too afraid to talk to this Russian Goddess.

One exception to this was the captain of the football team, Jeremy Napier. He stood at 5'9" with dark, wavy hair and blue penetrating eyes. He was a muscular guy, making every girl want him and every guy jealous of him. Basically, he was the typical jock stud that every High School has.

Jeremy decided that he was going to ask this mysterious woman to the prom. Surely she couldn't say no to a hottie like him. She was in his gym class, so he figured he would show off a little and let the glistening sweat drip off of his masculine body and blind her with love.

"Over here!" he shouted to his friend. "Let me shoot the ball!" His friend obliged and passed the basketball to Jeremy, who made a very impressive lay-up. "Score for the Nape-man!" he exclaimed. He made 24 points that game, making shot after shot. Not once did she look his way. After the class was over, he quickly showered and was determined to speak with her.

"Hey, you! Wait up!" he called after her as she was walking to her next class.

She turned around to face the guy who was yelling for her. "Can I help you?" she asked in awkward English.

"Yeah. Well, no. But I can help you. I wanted to know if you would like to go to the prom with the most popular guy in school."

She gave an odd sort of smile and let him linger a little bit before answering. "Sure," she finally said.

"Great! I'll pick you up at 6:00." He started walking away feeling very suave when he realized he forgot something. "Oh! What's your name? And where do you live?"

She walked up to him, gave a sly look and replied very softly into his ear "Lidiya. 123 Eugenia Street." She then walked away, leaving Jeremy in awe.

His next class was Chemistry. Of course Jeremy started bragging to all the guys about his catch for the prom, which had everyone except for one girl, Natalie, talking. She was intently listening in on the conversation, but did not say a word.

"Are you going to introduce her to the backseat?" one kid asked.

"What do you think? Of course!" Jeremy replied as they both let out a hearty laugh.

Natalie's silence wasn't totally unlike her, seeing as how she was an outcast. For this reason, no one paid any attention to her shocked facial expressions.

When the bell rang, Natalie did something out of the ordinary. She tugged on Jeremy's jacket, preparing to tell her something. He gave one look at her and cut her off before she got the J' out of her mouth. "Watch the jacket," he said, and walked off. All she could do was stand there in disbelief and let him walk away. She decided that maybe it was for the best.

Two weeks later, Jeremy picked Lidiya up to go to the prom. She looked absolutely stunning. She wore a crimson gown that fell into a puddle around her feet and a tiara that sparkled in her hair.

When the duo entered the banquet room that the school rented for the night, all eyes seemed to gaze upon the seemingly perfect couple. Everyone had just got there, so they were mingling with each other, talking about Jeremy and Lidiya. Unlike most of his peers, Jeremy didn't mind having all the attention, so he took Lidiya on the empty dance floor immediately when the first slow dance came on.

Not even a minute into the song, someone had come up and suddenly yanked Jeremy by the tux and punched him in the face, sending Jeremy crashing to the floor. Everyone was pointing and laughing at Jeremy who was sprawled out on the dance floor as if a steamroller had just passed through. Jeremy looked up at and saw someone he did not recognize. A dark haired guy with muscles twice the size of his, who did not look very pleased at all.

"Don't you lay one finger on her again, prissy boy, or I will show you how we deal with little punks like you in my country!" Crouching down next to Jeremy was Natalie, who finally was able to tell him what she tried to two weeks earlier.

"That is Ruslan. He is Lidiya's brother who doesn't take kindly to guys touching her."

"How do you know?" Jeremy asked.

"She is in my Russian class and we became close friends. She told me." Natalie replied.

"Well why didn't she tell me? I should have known about that guy!"

"Because," she explained, "she doesn't like you. She thinks you are a pompous jerk who deserved a beating. She told me her plan to get her brother mad at you, and when I found out that she was actually able to pull it off, I was going to warn you. But then you ignored me, so I let you find out for yourself. Anyways, have a nice time. I'm going to get back to my date." She then walked away towards Ruslan, who was cooling down in the corner of the room.