“No no, you divide the square root of the number by pi,” Marten explained as he, Kat, and Kody walked down the hall.

“No, you--wait…” Kat paused, thinking. “Oh. That’s right. Dammit.” She turned to Marten. “You are infuriating,” she hissed. The freshman smiled innocently at her.

“I try,” he said.

“Well you do a damn good job,” Kat grumbled as Kody laughed at both of them.

“You two are hilarious,” he commented.

“Shut up, Kody,” Kat said, pushing him. As Marten chuckled, she turned back to him. “You too, nerd boy,” she said as she shoved him as well. Her scowl quickly became a look of shock as she watched Marten stumble a few feet to the side, then collide with someone. Both he and the person collapsed to the ground, books and papers scattering about. “…Oops.”

“Ugh,” Marten grumbled. “Sorry…”

“Oh, that’s alright!” the person he had landed on said. “But, uh, do you mind movin’? This looks a little funny.”

“Huh?” Marten said, then raised his head and opened his eyes. They nearly popped out of his head as he realized what his face had landed on, or rather, in between. “Oh my God, I am so sorry!” he exclaimed, scrambling backwards and turning a color not unlike a tomato.

The girl laughed, then got to her feet, pink cowboy boots clicking on the tile floor. “It’s fine, really,” she giggled. “We’ve gotta stop meetin’ like this, though.”

It took Marten a few seconds to put two and two together, but eventually he recognized the redhead. “Ohhh. Oh, geez, yeah, we do,” he said, scratching his head. The girl--the fox with the southern accent that he’d collided with the other day--offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. “Again, I’m sorry, but you can blame this one,” he said, jerking a thumb at Katarina, who still looked confounded by the whole fiasco.

“It’s no problem,” the cowgirl told him again. Then, she extended a hand. “I’m Raina, in case you wanna have a name to add to the apology next time.”

“Marten,” he replied, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“And you definitely met her,” Kody snickered from behind him. Marten jabbed him with an elbow.

“The smartass back here is Kody, and the one that pushed me, and subsequently you, is Kat,” he explained. Kody grinned and waved, and Kat just offered a guilty smile.

"Pleased to make ya'll's acquaintances," Raina said with a smile. "Now uh, I suppose we oughta be getting to class..." she said thoughtfully.

"Oh no, she's right!" Kat said with a gasp, then proceeded to speed off down the hall.

"Don't hurt yourself!" Kody called.

"I will not be late!" could be heard from around the corner.

Kody shook his head. "If nothing else, all that rushing around keeps her fit, I guess."

Marten and Raina chuckled. "Anyway, we really should get to class," Marten said. "We'll see you around, I guess."

"Sure," Raina nodded. "Just try not to get so close anymore, kay?"

"Aha, got it," Marten said, turning red again.

"Bye now!" she called as she made her way down the hall.

As Kody and Marten headed in the other direction, Kody elbowed his freshman friend, grinning. "So, enjoy the view?"

"Dude! Shut up!" Marten exclaimed, shoving him into a locker door. As he collided with it, they both stopped, and proceeded to bust out laughing. Then, the bell rang.

"Aw, man!"

~~~~~~~~~~

On the way out of school that day, Marten stopped in one of his classrooms to drop something off with a teacher. He almost didn't notice the girl in the back of the room until he heard a small cry of frustration. He looked back to see a girl with long black hair, wearing what he thought to be an extremely conservative dress for this day and age. She was frantically trying to gather a mess of papers that were now scattered about the floor.

Marten observed her ordeal briefly, then walked over to her. "Here, let me help," he said, beginning to pick up the papers. When they'd collected them all, he stood up, handing the stack to the girl. "Here you go."

"T-Thank you," she mumbled almost inaudibly, not looking at him.

"Sure thing," he replied. Then he peered closer at her, recognition dawning on him. "Oh, you're Krysten, right?" She looked at him now, surprise evident. He laughed. "You were walking around at lunch the other day. Advertising the ski club, I believe?"

"O-oh..." she began. "Yes..."

He extended a hand. "I don't think I introduced myself then. I'm Marten." She simply stared at his hand for a long while, looking hesitant. "Um, I just washed them, I swear," Marten said with a slightly embarrassed smile. She flinched, seeming to snap back to reality. Slowly, nervously, she reached out and took his hand. He shook it gently.

"N-nice...to meet you..." she said quietly.

Marten nodded, trying his best to smile at the strange girl. "You too. Don't you have a, uh, bus to catch or something?"

She shook her head a bit. "My, my brother is coming to pick me up..." she said in her tiny voice.

"Oh," Marten said. "Well, I walk home; we can walk out together, at least. Um, if you want, of course," he added, scratching his head.

She looked surprised for a moment, then a tiny smile flashed across her face. "Um, sure, that sounds...nice..." she mumbled.

Marten smiled, then indicated the door. "Shall we?"

She nodded, smiling demurely, and they proceeded to the exit. "Ladies first," Marten said as they got to the doorway, throwing his arms toward the entrance, earning a tiny giggle from Krysten.

"So, ski club, huh?" Marten asked as they wandered down the now empty hallways. "You ski, I take it?"

She nodded. "Yes, but...being in the club wasn't really my idea...neither was being in charge of anything in it..." she said, speech getting progressively quieter.

"Oh really? Whose was it then?" Marten inquired.

"My um, my mother's..." she mumbled. "She wanted me to be...involved...in something at school..."

"I guess that's good. At least she cares."

Krysten frowned, looking almost like she was going to disagree, but said nothing.

When they got outside, Krysten pulled an iPhone out of her pocket, and tapped the screen a few times, reading text messages. "My brother's on his way," she said.

"Okay, would you like me me to wait with you until he gets here?" Marten asked.

She shook her head. "N-no, I'm fine, you've done enough," she said. "Um, thank you again..."

"It’s no problem," Marten said. "If you ever need help with anything, feel free to ask. It's nice to feel like I'm good for something other than math," he laughed.

Suddenly, Krysten squinted at him, and her face finally showed recognition. "You're that freshman. The genius. You won that competition my family sponsored last year."

Marten smiled sheepishly. "Guilty as charged. I'm making an effort not to be known just for that, though."

She giggled. "I'm sorry. It just suddenly occurred to me, is all. Anyway, you can go, my brother will be here in a minute or two."

Marten nodded. "Alright. I'll see you some other time, I guess?"

She nodded. “Probably.”

"Good," Marten said with a smile. "Bye!" he called as he headed down the hill and off the school grounds. As he turned the corner at the bottom of the hill, he watched a shiny black car with blue racing stripes zip past him and up the hill. “Huh. Wonder who that is,” he thought aloud before continuing on his way.