Title: Never Saw Blue Like That
Author: Estrellita, aka Erin Kaye Hashet
Rating: G
Category: S, R
Keywords: Uh... other character romance, I guess.
FutureFic... William, maybe.
Distribution: Anywhere you want is fine with me!
Feedback:  EKHashet@hotmail.com
Spoilers: Existence
Summary: "Kaitlyn, this is William Mulder. He'll
be your lab partner for the year. You two can sit
at that table over there."
Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, William,
or the song "Never Saw Blue Like That." However,
I do own Kaitlyn Taylor. She's all mine!
Author's Notes: At the beginning this doesn't look
very much like a fanfic, but keep reading- it turns
into one. Mulder and Scully will show up eventually.

Never Saw Blue Like That
by Estrellita, aka Erin Kaye Hashet

I was fourteen the year we moved to Maryland. "We"
meant my father, Joe; my stepmother, Adrienne; my
seventeen-year-old brother Sebastian; Adrienne's
twin boys, seven-year-old Mike and Ricky; and me. By
then, I'd lost track of how many times we'd moved. My
dad was in the army, so we had to move around a lot.
"Army brat," I think, is the term they use for kids like
me. Ironic, really, since I was anything but a brat.

My stepbrothers were the real brats. You remember
that one kid in your second-grade class who was loud
and rude and obnoxious- "disruptive" is the word
teachers use- and always getting sent to the principal's
office? Well, that was Mike and Ricky in a nutshell. At
home they were no better. They thought it was funny to
do things like read my diary or lock me out of the house,
or spit mashed potatoes all over me at dinner. So,
needless to say, they took up a lot of Dad and Adrienne's
time and energy.

The rest of their time and energy was taken up by
Sebastian. Sebastian was seventeen and got into
worse and worse trouble with every move. He'd been
caught skipping school, keying cars, getting drunk,
doing drugs, you name it. He, perhaps, took up even more
time than Mike and Ricky.

My real mom died when I was nine. I was upset when she
died, but while she was alive, I never really liked her.
She was an alcoholic, and when she was drunk, which
was often, she had a horrible temper. She was angry
and loud and would bang things and yell at me. She had
died in a drunken car crash.

My father was an okay guy once you got past the fact
that he didn't pay much attention to me. I could forgive
him for that, considering what else he had to deal with.
What I could not forgive was how he and Adrienne had
gotten together. Adrienne had been a friend of my mother's.
When she died, Dad was sad, but I remember thinking that
he seemed a bit relieved. Soon I found out why. He and
Adrienne married as soon as she finalized her divorce from
the husband she'd been cheating on with my father. The
next time we moved, she, Mike, and Ricky came with us.
Even though I hadn't liked my mother, the idea that my
father had been disloyal to her made my blood boil. How
*dare* he?

Then there was Adrienne, who gave new meaning to the
term "wicked stepmother." She would have liked me a lot
better if I had been the popular, "wicked cool" teenager
that I'm sure she was. Before my first day at my high school
in Missouri, she'd said to me, all conversational, like a
girlfriend, "So, Kait, are you going to try out for
cheerleading?"

I'd looked at her in disbelief. Smart, buck-
toothed, uncoordinated girls like me did not go out for
cheerleading. "No," I'd replied. After that, Adrienne had
no use for me.

This is the point in the story where most people
in my position would say they turned to drugs or
alcohol or sex. But Sebastian had gotten all the
rebellious genes of our family. I had gotten the
smart genes. So instead, I turned to school.
Getting good grades was the greatest pleasure in
my life. It was so satisfying to get a really hard test
back with an A+ on top. It gave me a kind of happiness
that I couldn't get anywhere else. I wondered sometimes
if that was how Sebastian felt when he did drugs.

It hadn't been quite as satisfying at my high
school in Missouri, though. I'd found that
honors students tended to be the nicest
ones in the school- less likely to make fun of
me because I was smart and because my
teeth stuck out- and since I was smart, I was
usually in honors classes. But my school in
Missouri didn't believe in grouping- thought it
was degrading or something. So I ended up in
classes with all kinds of people, many of whom
made fun of me. But I was optimistic about my new
high school in Maryland. This school did group
us by level. Plus, I had braces by that time, and
my teeth looked a lot better.

Unfortunately, I found on my first day of
school that honors students may be nicer
than most kids, but no less cliqueish. They
were all divided into little groups and didn't
pay one lick of attention to me. A few kids
introduced themselves in a kind of oh-hey-
you're-the-new-girl-nice-to-meet-you kind of
way, but that was it. It was like that for my
first two classes, English and history.

Then came Physical Science Honors.

When I got to the class I had no idea where
to sit. Everyone sat at these big, heavy lab
tables, in groups of two. The teacher was
really nice. Her name was Ms. Larson, and
she was young and pretty, with short blonde
hair. I went up to her and asked, very quietly,
"Um, hi. Um, I don't know where I should sit. . ."

"Oh, yes," she replied, and introduced me to
the class. "Class, this is Kaitlyn Taylor. She
just moved here from..." She looked at me for
an answer.

"Missouri," I supplied.

"Missouri," she echoed. "We're going to have
to find a lab partner for Kaitlyn. Let's see." She
pursed her lips and scanned the room. "Well, we
have one group of three that we can split up." She
looked at a group of three boys sitting towards the
back of the room. "Will, would you mind being
partners with Kaitlyn for the rest of the year?"

The boy looked surprised, but he just said, "Okay."

"Great." Smiling, Ms. Larson walked me toward the
back of the room. "Kaitlyn, this is William Mulder.
He'll be your lab partner for this year. You two can
sit at that table over there."

I took a good look at Will then. My God, he was cute.
He was pretty tall, and thin, with reddish-brown hair
and these amazing true-blue eyes.

He looked over at me as we sat at the table together.
"Hi," he whispered with a smile.

Oh, God, what a smile. He looked about a million times
cuter than he already did when he smiled. And those
eyes- I had never before seen eyes that were such a
deep shade of blue. "Hi," I quickly whispered back.

"Okay, guys," Ms. Larson said, "take out the pre-lab
I gave you yesterday." She walked over and handed it
to me.

I looked it over and grimaced. It had to do with the
laws of physics- we hadn't studied that in my old
school. This was one of the worst parts of moving-
being behind in schoolwork. It happened all the time.

"What's wrong?" Will asked me suddenly. Apparently
he'd noticed the look on my face.

I looked at him. "Nothing," I replied quietly. "Just- I
haven't had this before."

"Oh." He sounded concerned- honestly concerned.
"Well, we're lab partners- I can help you with it."

Now he had my full attention. This was something
completely new- a guy being nice to me for no reason
on my first day of school. It was so unexpected that
for a second I didn't know what to say. Finally I just
whispered, "Thanks."

*    *    *
Will was a good teacher. After hearing his
explanation and reading over the section in
my textbook, I actually mastered the laws of
physics pretty well. When we got our lab report
back a few days later, it had an A on top of it. *Yes!*
I thought. I was happy for the rest of the day.
Now that I think about it, grades like that were probably
what kept me from having low self-esteem, which most
kids in my position would probably have had.

Then Ms. Larson announced that we would be having
a test on the whole chapter. That got me really
nervous, since we'd been in the middle of the chapter
on my first day. I would have to learn the beginning of
the chapter on my own.

So I studied. And studied and studied and studied.
*You can do this,* I told myself. *Just study hard
enough, and you can do this.*

I took the test. And two days later, I nervously
drummed my fingers on the lab table as Ms. Larson
handed back the tests. "This was a hard test," she
said. "Really, I'm impressed. I didn't expect many A's,
but we did have a few."

"Sweet!" I heard Will say under his breath next to
me as his test was handed back. He'd gotten a 91.

Ms. Larson started to walk toward me. I held my
breath as she set my test down on the table.
"Congratulations, Kaitlyn," she said with a smile.
In disbelief I looked down at the number written at
the top of the test. 100.

"Hey!" Next to me Will sounded surprised and happy.
"I thought you said you hadn't had any of this
before!"

"I *haven't*," I said, still not believing my eyes.
100. I looked over the test. There wasn't a single
correction mark anywhere on it. My face broke
into a smile. I was pretty proud of myself.

It was kind of pathetic. I felt like a little kid who
was proud of a painting that she'd made in art class,
but I was really dying for Dad and Adrienne to see it.
I guess I was hoping that if they saw it that maybe
they'd think, "Well, we have one juvenile delinquent
and two second-grade delinquents, but we also have
one really great kid- she's smart and she works hard
and gets good grades."

When I got home, there was a note on the table:

Kaitlyn,
       We have a therapy meeting with Sebastian from
five to seven. Before we leave for the meeting we'll
pick up Mike and Ricky from day care and drop them
off at home. Please watch them until we get back.
For dinner you can make macaroni and cheese for
the three of you. See you when we get back.
                           Love,
                           Dad and Adrienne

My head dropped. I let out a long, exasperated sigh.
Teriffic, I thought, just teriffic.  I set the test down
on the kitchen counter, in hopes that Dad and Adrienne
would see it when they got home. Then I headed to my
room to try and get done as much homework as I could
before I had to baby-sit the little brats.

A little before five, the front door opened and Mike
and Ricky came bounding through the door. "Ricky got
sent to the prin-ci-paaal..." Mike sang out.

"Shut up!" Ricky yelled. "I did not!"

"Yes, you diiiiid," Mike taunted. "He stuck bubble gum
in a girl's hair on pur-pose..."

"I did not! It popped out of my mouth."

"Enough!" I yelled, exasperated with them even
though they'd only been home thirty seconds. I
exhaled. "Look, guys, I have homework to do here.
You guys go watch TV or something, okay?" I figured
if they were in the next room, they'd be entertained by
the TV and I'd still be able to keep an eye on them.

"But I'm *hungry*," Mike whined.

"Me *too*," Ricky chimed in.

I sighed. "Fine," I said. "Go watch TV and I'll make you
some macaroni and cheese."

I heard them flipping from channel to channel in the
family room as I studied the directions on the macaroni
and cheese box. While I was microwaving it, I suddenly
got a funny feeling. The TV had been on one channel
for awhile- and it was the news. Somehow I didn't think
Mike and Ricky were big fans of the news...

Then I heard the toilet flush, followed by giggling.
Not a good sign.

When I went to check the bathroom, I found Mike
and Ricky standing by the toilet, into which was
stuffed my blue cardigan sweater, which I had placed
on the back of my chair.

"Oh, my God!" I cried, trying desperately to yank my
sweater from the toilet. I pulled at it and pulled at it
until finally it came free- soaking wet and torn in the
sleeve.

I'll leave the next two hours up to your imagination.
Suffice to say that I did not get one bit of homework
done.

A little after seven, Dad, Adrienne, and Sebastian
came through the door. Dad had a pizza box in his arms
and Adrienne was carrying some papers. "Honestly,"
she muttered, setting the papers down on top of my
test. She rubbed her forehead as if it ached. "I have
had such a bad day."

I stood quietly, looking at my test underneath all those
papers. "I didn't know you were getting pizza," I said. "I
wouldn't have made macaroni and cheese."

"Well, you had to feed Mike and Ricky something,
Kaitlyn. You really think they would have made it to
seven o'clock without food?" Dad replied irritably,
opening the pizza box. Therapy meetings always made
him grouchy.

"How were they, by the way?" Adrienne asked,
taking a piece of pizza.

I was silent for a moment, still looking at the test.
I sighed. "They were fine," I replied finally. "I have to
go do homework." I turned and headed upstairs. Maybe
they'd see it later.

*    *    *
When I went downstairs in the morning, my eyes
automatically drifted to the counter where the test
had been. It wasn't there.

Sebastian was arguing with Dad. "I can't believe
you're making me take the bus!" he exploded. "I'm not
a freshman, Dad! Nobody in my grade takes the bus!"

"Sebastian, you actually think we could trust you with
a car?" Dad replied incredulously. "After all your
shenanigans? All your accidents?"

I checked the refrigerator, not that Dad and
Adrienne had ever put one of my tests on the
refrigerator before, but you never know. Then
a horrible idea occurred to me...

"Sebastian, if you'd act like an adult, we'd treat
you like one," Dad continued.

"If you'd *treat* me like an adult, I'd *act* like one!"
he countered.

I opened the trash compactor as they continued
arguing. Sitting on top were all of the papers
Adrienne had had last night. Shakily, I lifted them.

There it was. They'd thrown out my A. My 100.
They hadn't even looked at it.

Over the years, I've become an expert at holding in
tears when I don't want people to see me cry. I look
at the ceiling and let the tears run backwards, behind
my eyes. But sooner or later, the tears had to come out.
I hoped that this time it would be later rather than
sooner.

I held the tears in through the whole bus ride, but I
knew it couldn't last. As soon as I got to school, I ran
right to the bathroom and locked myself in a stall.

My eyes ran like faucets, and since there was no one
in the bathroom to hear me, I sobbed loudly. *I hate my
life,* I thought miserably. *I hate my life.*

When I couldn't cry anymore, I wiped my eyes and
opened the stall door. I looked around...oh, God.

There were urinals on the wall. I couldn't believe
it. I was in the *boys'* bathroom!

I stood there for a moment, contemplating what to
do. Should I go outside? Someone might see me
coming out! But while I lingered in indecision, the
bathroom door swung open.

*NO!* I felt like crying out. I closed my eyes for a
second. I was caught red-handed now, and there
was nothing I could do.

But the person who walked through the door
was Will Mulder.

He stared at me for a second in disbelief. "Kaitlyn?"
he said, and his tone of voice wasn't mocking or hostile,
but soft and a bit confused. "What are you doing
in here?"

That he wasn't making fun of me was heartening, but
I was still embarassed. "I-" I took a gulp of air. "I- I'm
sorry, I must have come into the wrong bathroom."

He was looking at me curiously. "You've been crying!"
he said with concern when he saw my tearstained
face. "What's wrong?"

*Everything,* I thought. *I hate my parents, I hate
my brothers, nobody appreciates me, and my really
cute lab partner just caught me in the boys'
bathroom.* Suddenly, everything exploded inside
of me and my eyes filled with tears again.

"Hey," he said, his voice soft and gentle. He took
my arm. "C'mon."

I could have said no, could have told him that no, I
just wanted to be alone, because I did, kind of. But
something about him made me trust him, made me just
want to follow him. And I did- right to Cafeteria II,
where he led me.

The door was open, but the cafe was completely
silent.

"Nobody's ever in here at the beginning of the
day," he said to me as we sat down at a table. "People
go to Cafe I to drink coffee and stuff, but nobody
ever goes here. Except me," he added. "Sometimes I go
here when I just want to think."

I managed a shaky smile. "I'll remember that."

"So what is wrong?" he asked me again.

I exhaled. "It's probably going to sound stupid," I
said finally. "It's just- well, I wanted my parents
to see that test I got 100 on, so I left it on the
counter, and- and they didn't even look at it. They
just threw it out."

Will looked surprised. "Oh," he said, and though
he was trying to be sympathetic, I could tell he
didn't really understand.

"And- and just other things," I continued. "Like
last night, they made me baby-sit my stepbrothers-
who stuffed my sweater down the toilet- and they
didn't even say thank you." I sighed. "I really hate
my parents sometimes," I confessed.

Will smiled. "I know exactly how you feel," he said.
"Sometimes I hate mine, too."

For the first time that day, I smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said. "Parents suck, don't they?"

"You're telling me?"

"Now, you're *sure* you're okay?" Will asked me
again.

"Yeah," I said, and smiled to show that I was.

"Good," said Will, and flashed his gorgeous smile
back at me.

I think that was the moment I began to fall in
love with him.

*    *    *
Over the next couple of weeks I got to know Will
better. He had a cool sense of humor, and being
his lab partner, I got to see a lot of it. He wasn't
popular, exactly, but the people who knew him liked
him, and he had a large group of friends he sat with
at lunch. He was the only freshman on the varsity
basketball team, and in the spring he was going out
for baseball. He was smart- he was in all honors
classes like me, although science was the only class
we had together. And he was the sweetest guy I had
ever met. Ever.

The most amazing thing was that he liked me. Me,
Kaitlyn Marie Taylor, who no guy had ever looked
at twice before.  For a long time I wasn't sure- I
thought maybe he was just nice to everybody, and
the way he treated me wasn't anything special. But
then one day he asked me, "What lunch do you have?"

"Lunch two," I replied.

Will looked surprised. "Really? Me, too, but I've
never seen you there. Where do you usually sit?"

I blushed. Since I'd moved, I'd been eating lunch in
the library. I hadn't yet made anyone whom I
considered to be a close enough friend to eat with,
so it was much less uncomfortable to just eat there.
"Um- in the library," I confessed embarassedly.

To Will's credit, he didn't say anything to make me
more embarassed. What he said was, "Do you want
to sit with us today?"

I stared at him in disbelief, but of course I answered,
"Yes!"

And that was just the beginning. At luch I got to
know his friends- who were all very nice- but it was
Will who I was constantly talking to.

Then one spring day, something I had never thought
would ever happen happened. Will asked me if I'd like
to go to a movie with him.

I stared at him in disbelief. For a moment I thought
that he was kidding, that he was playing some kind
of a cruel joke. How could this be happening to me?
To me, a nerd whom no one had ever looked twice at?
But Will was so sweet, I couldn't imagine
him ever doing something like this to me.

My face broke into a wide smile. "Yes!" I cried. "Yes,
I'd love to!"

So that weekend I stood tapping my foot nervously
as I waited for Will to meet me at my house. Actually,
nervous is an understatement. I had never been so
terrified in my life.

*Why?* I asked myself as I studied my reflection in the
mirror. *This is Will. He's a nice guy. You know him.*

But I had never been on a date before. I hadn't the
faintest idea how to act, and my heart was about to
pound its way out of my chest. I bent over, my stomach
tying itself in knots. I was afraid I was going to be sick.

The doorbell rang, and I drew in a shaky breath. *It's
okay, Kaitlyn,* I told myself. It's just a date.*

I went downstairs and opened the door. I attempted
a smile. "Hi, Will," I said, trying to keep my voice from
shaking.

"Hi, Kait," he said with a smile. "You look nice."

"So do you," I replied, figuring that was a safe thing
to say.

"Uh, you don't mind walking to the theater, do you?"
he asked me.

Surprised, I replied, "No."

"It's just you live close enough," he said, "and I
thought it might be nice to take a walk."

"Um-okay," I replied with a nervous smile.

We headed out the door toward the theater. Silently.
I looked over at Will, dying to say something to start a
conversation- but I had no idea what to say.

"So, uh," Will said finally, "did you want to see this
movie?"

I looked up. "Oh! Uh, yeah," I said stupidly. "Yeah,
I did."

"Oh," Will replied. "That's. . . good."

"Yeah."

More silence.

"So, have you done the science homework yet?" Will
asked.

Flustered, I stammered, "Ah- no, not yet."

"Oh," said Will. "Me either."

I'd skip the details of the rest of our walk to the
theater, but honestly, there are no details to skip. I
didn't trust myself to put a complete sentence together,
and Will eventually gave up on trying to start a
conversation.

By the time we took our seats in the theater, I was
fighting back tears. *My one chance to go on a date
and I blew it,* I thought miserably. *And it just had to
be with the sweetest, cutest guy I've ever met.*

My mood didn't change when the movie started. I felt my
heart sinking not long after the opening credits. The
movie was *horrible.* I sat there in misery for about
twenty minutes.

I glanced over at Will. He didn't look very happy either.
Slowly, he looked over at me. I looked back at him. And at
the exact same time, we both burst out laughing.

"Shhh!" snapped the woman behind us, who, amazingly,
must have actually *liked* the movie.

"This movie sucks," Will whispered. "Let's get out of
here."

We were still laughing when we went back outside.

"Oh, God," I gasped between laughs, "that was the
worst movie I have ever seen!"

Will struggled to regain control of his self. "Let's go
back to my house," he said. "We can watch a video there."

"What do you have?" I asked.

"Just Disney movies," he said. "Plus *Caddyshack* and
*Steel Magnolias.* My parents have some weird emotional
attachment to those movies." His smile faded. "Oh, yeah, I
forgot. My parents are going to be there. You'll have to
try to ignore them."

I laughed. "Oh, come on," I said. "They can't be worse
than my parents."

When we got to Will's house, his mother was standing on the
porch watering the flowers in the hanging plant.

She turned toward me, and immediately I saw where Will got
his beautiful blue eyes. "Hi, Will," she said. She was a lot
older than Adrienne, probably in her late forties or early
fifties, but still very pretty. She was short and thin, with
short reddish hair frosted with gray. She smiled at me and
shook my hand. "You must be Kaitlyn," she said.

"Yes," I said. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Mulder."

"Nice to meet you, too," she replied. "It's Mrs. Scully,
actually- I go by my maiden name."

"Oh. Well, nice to meet you, Mrs. Scully."

Mrs. Scully looked at Will. "Back so soon? I thought you
two were going to see a movie."

That impressed me, both that she knew we were going to a
movie and noticed that we were back early.

"Yeah," replied Will gruffly, his manner changing suddenly.
He avoided her gaze. "We're watching a movie here."

I looked at him in surprise. He'd been so sweet just a minute
ago, and now he was all sullen.

"In the basement?" Mrs. Scully asked.

"Yes!" said Will, his voice amazingly annoyed.

"Okay, then," said Mrs. Scully. "We'll leave you alone."

Will rolled his eyes at me as we followed his mother into
the house. I looked at him quizzically, wondering what was
up with him.

Will's father was sitting in the living room reading the
paper, which he put down as we walked in. "Hello, Will."
He looked at me. "Hello, Kaitlyn."

"Hello, Mr. Mulder," I said. "Nice to meet you." He was a
tall, thin man with glasses and gray hair. For a man in his
early fifties, he was handsome.

"Decided not to see the movie after all?" he asked.

"No, it was really bad," I answered. "So we came back
here."

"Ah." Mr. Mulder smiled. "Have you eaten?"

"No," I said just as Will said, "Yeah."

I looked at him in confusion. He glared at me in
exasperation. Then he sighed. "No, we haven't eaten."

"Oh. Well, why don't you eat something now?" he said.
He got up and walked toward the kitchen. "Scully?" he
called. "Don't we have some leftover pizza?"

"Hold on a minute, Mulder." Mrs. Scully opened the
refrigerator and pulled out a pizza box. "Yes, we do."

How weird, I thought. His parents called each other by
their last names. That was a lot less sickening than
"honey" and "sweetie-pie," which was what Dad and
Adrienne sometimes called each other- but somehow, when
Will's parents addressed each other, there was much more
affection in their names.

"Want me to heat this up for you?" Mrs. Scully asked us.

"Fine," muttered Will. His eyes kept drifting involuntarily
toward the basement. Hoping to halt the change in attitude
he'd had ever since we'd arrived at his house, I spoke up, "Um,
Will, why don't I meet you downstairs, and I'll bring the food
down?"

Will let out a deep breath. "Fine," he said again, but a bit
more calmly. Then he turned and started for the basement.

The microwave let out a long "BEEEEP," signaling that the
pizza was done. Mrs. Scully took it out and put it on a plate.
"So, Kaitlyn," Mr. Mulder said, "where is it that you moved
from?"

"Missouri."

"Missouri?" Mrs. Scully looked at me. "I lived there once."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, when I was a kid," she answered. "My dad was in the
navy, so we moved a *lot.*" She rolled her eyes as if to
emphasize how much.

"Me, too," I said softly. "My dad's in the army."

"Really!" Mrs. Scully smiled. "You know, you look a little
like me when I was your age- same height, same hair color."

I caught sight of myself in the nearest window and
couldn't believe that. "I bet you didn't have teeth like this," I
said, pointing out the buck teeth that braces hadn't quite
fixed yet.

"Are you kidding?" Mrs. Scully laughed out loud. "I had
braces for almost three years. My brother Bill teased me to
no end about my teeth."

I smiled a little. My brothers were like that, too- they were
always calling me Rabbit or Bucky the Beaver.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Kaitlyn?" Mrs. Scully
asked me.

"A brother and two stepbrothers," I said, and somehow I felt
comfortable enough to add, "but we don't really get along."

She threw me a look of sympathy. "That's too bad," she said.
"It's good to get along with your siblings when you move a
lot."

"Did you?" I asked her.

"Sometimes." She gave a sad smile. "I became very close to my
sister over the years, though. She's been dead for more than
twenty years now, and I still miss her." Abruptly she turned
away and picked up the plate.

"I'm sorry," I said gently. I tried to think of something to say
next, and could only come up with, "My mother is dead, too."

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Scully handed me the plate. "You never
really get over losing a family member," she said. "I miss my
father and my sister every day." She turned away. I got the
odd feeling that she didn't usually open up this much to
people she'd just met.

"Thank you for the pizza," I said.

"You're welcome." She turned back toward me. "It was a
pleasure to meet you, Kaitlyn."

"Pleasure to meet you, too."

"There's soda down in the basement if you two want it,"
Mr. Mulder called to me as I headed downstairs. "Blue
cooler. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," I called over my shoulder.

My mind was bursting with questions as I headed down
the basement steps. Why had I just had a more meaningful
conversation with a woman I'd known for five minutes than
I'd ever had with a man I'd known for fourteen years? What
was so bad about Will's parents that Will couldn't wait to
get into the basement away from them? *Why in the world
would Will hate his parents?*

Will was sitting in front of the TV and sorting through
videos with his back to me as I came down the basement
stairs. I set the pizza down on the coffee table, and he
turned toward me. "Hey," he said to me, reaching for a
slice. "Sorry about my parents."

I stared at him, not comprehending in the least. "What do
you mean, sorry about your parents?"

"Ah, you know." He waved his hand absently. "They can be
annoying."

"They weren't annoying," I protested. "They weren't
annoying at all. I was just talking to them."

Will smiled. "Yeah, well, you don't live with them."

"Well, what are they like when you *do* live with them?"

Will exhaled. "They're just-" he paused. "They're always
*there*, you know? They never leave me alone. They know
every single little thing about me- I can't keep any secrets
from them. And I'm an only child, so they focus all their
attention on me."

I stared at him incredulously. "That's it? *That's* why you
hate your parents?"

"Well, not just that." Will sighed. "My parents are
*weird*, Kaitlyn. They may have seemed normal just now,
but believe me, they're not."

I raised my eyebrows. "How so?"

"Well." Will let out a deep breath as if he was just
beginning a long story. "Do you know what my mother
does for a living, kaitlyn?" He didn't wait for me to answer.
"She's an assistant director of the F.B.I. But do you know
what section she's in charge of?" Again, he didn't wait for me
to answer. "She's the boss of this section called the X-Files. It
investigates all these 'supernatural' cases." When he said
"supernatural" he made quotation marks with his fingers. "You
know, aliens and monsters and stuff. It's ridiculous. That's how
my parents met, actually- they were partners on the X-Files
before I was born. That's why they call each other by their
last names- don't get me started on that." Will rolled his eyes.
"But they always tell me about things that happened to them
before I was born, and the scary thing is that they actually
*believe* them."

I didn't say anything. I've always kind of half-believed in aliens
myself. I think it comes from being good at science.

"Like, supposedly," Will continued, "my dad was abducted by
aliens while my mom was pregnant with me, and when he was
returned he was dead for three months until my mom brought
him back to life. And they said when I was born my mom had to go
out to the boonies to have me because aliens with spines of steel
were trying to take me from her." He began to tick off other
abnormalities on his fingers. "They say my mom had a chip
implanted in her neck, they say my dad had an alien virus, they
say they've been trapped in a haunted house, they say they've
known a man who could squeeze through floor vents-" Will
gave me a look. "They say they were attacked by killer cats
that live in the sewer. And they believe it. Honestly, I think
they might have some mental problems."

I waited about five seconds before speaking. "So you hate your
parents because you think they're weird."

"I think they're weird and I think they're annoying," he replied.

"Weird and annoying," I repeated flatly. In spite of myself, I was
starting to get angry at him. "Will, do you know how much I
would give for my biggest problem to be that my parents are
*weird*? Do you have any idea how much I would love to hate my
parents because they *focus all their attention on me*?" My voice
rose higher and higher as I spoke until I was almost yelling.

Will looked at me, surprised.  "Hey," he said softly, "Kaitlyn,
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset." He moved closer to
me. "What's so bad about your parents?"

I sighed. I really didn't feel like explaining. After all, we were
on a date. We were supposed to be having fun, not complaining
about our parents. "Oh, I don't want to talk about it," I said
finally. "Let's just watch a movie."

"Okay." We looked through the various titles in silence.
Finally, Will looked at me. "Are you mad at me?" he asked.

My face broke into a smile. Of course I wasn't- how could I
possibly be mad at someone with such an adorable puppy-dog
face? "No," I said, "I'm not mad at you."

He looked at me hopefully. "So- does that mean you'll say yes
if I ask you to the Spring Fling?"

I looked at him, speechless with shock. "What?"

"Will you-" Will looked at me uncertainly. "Will you go to the
Spring Fling with me?"

Being asked to a school dance had always been one of those
vague wouldn't-it-be-great-if dreams, like winning the lottery.
I'd always watched girls get dressed up for and discuss their
dates to school dances, while I sat quietly aside, the nerdy
new girl who no one would ever ask. Was it really happening
to me now? It seemed too much to hope for.

I realized suddenly that a long time had passed since Will had
spoken. "Yes," I breathed. "Yes, I'll go."

"Great." Will gave me his gorgeous smile. Meanwhile, my head
was spinning in ecstasy. I was going to a dance! I'd have to get
a dress, shoes, maybe get my hair done-

"Hey," said Will, "we still have to pick out a movie."

"Oh, okay." I sorted through various Disney movies, then
picked up a video tape without a label. "Hey, what's this?"

Will glanced at it and rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's *Plan Nine
>From Outer Space,*" he said. "It's considered the worst movie
of all time, and my Dad's seen it like three hundred times. I told
you my parents were weird."

*    *    *
The Spring Fling was the freshman/sophomore end-of-the-
year dance, and took place in late June. The day before the
dance, the freshman class had an assembly where the
teachers gave out academic awards. I was sitting with Will
and some of his friends, some of whom had gotten awards. I
was congratulating them, but mostly I was trying to ignore
the stupid kids behind me who kept yelling out, "Hey, where's
*my* award?"

I wasn't expecting to win anything. After all, I hadn't been in
the school for very long, and all of the awards designated
the best student in a certain subject for the entire grade. If
I'd get anything, I thought, it would be for science. But Will
was the one who ended up with that award.

I smiled at him when he came back to his seat.
"Congratulations," I whispered.

"Thanks," he whispered back.

"And now for our final award," announced Ms. Larson, who
was acting as emcee, from the stage. "This is not an award we
give out without some serious thought. Every teacher has a
say in choosing the winner of our All-Around Academic
Achievement Award. It is given to a student who we feel has
demonstrated superior achievement in *all* areas. This year,
we all felt it was a pretty clear-cut choice. "

"Oh, it's gotta be me," said the kid behind me sarcastically.

"What makes this award all the more special," Ms. Larson
continued, "is that the recipient of this award is a transfer
student who had to spend much of her own time studying
material that she hadn't had in her old school. I am very
proud to give this year's Freshman All-Around Academic
Achievement Award to. . .Kaitlyn Taylor."

My jaw dropped as everyone around me started to
applaud. Still amazed, I made my way up to the stage. Ms.
Larson handed me a HUGE certificate and gave me a hug.
"Congratulations, Kaitlyn," she said. "Well-deserved."

When I got back to my seat, Will hugged me, too. "I knew
you'd get it," he whispered. "This is awesome."

It *was* awesome. In fact, I couldn't stop smiling as I looked
at the award in my hands. It was moments like these that
made all those hours of studying worth it. I was very proud
of myself.

At home I tacked the certificate to the wall of my room,
right above my bed.

The next night, I admired my reflection in my mirror. My long
blue dress was beautiful, my makeup was perfect, and my hair
was exquisite- done up in a mass of twists and coils. Will
would be here any minute. Since my house was within walking
distance of school and neither of us wanted our parents
driving us to the dance, he was going to walk to my house and
then walk with me.

The doorbell rang downstairs, and I ran to answer it. "Hi,
Will," I exclaimed. "Oh, my God, you look great!" And he did.
He was cute enough in regular clothes, but in a suit, with his
hair nicely combed? Dazzling.

"You look more than great," he said to me with a smile.
"You're gorgeous."

I smiled happily. "Just let me talk to my parents." I went into
the kitchen, and Will followed me.

Dad and Adrienne were yelling at Mike and Ricky to stop
chasing each other around the kitchen table. Adrienne was
swearing at them. "You SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!" she screamed
as they went on running.

"Boys, you eat your dinner!" Dad was ordering them.

"Uh, Dad?" I yelled to be heard. "Dad, I'll be home by eleven,
okay?"

"Okay," he said without even looking up. "If you don't sit
down right now-"

Will chose that moment to introduce himself. "Hello, Mr.
Taylor," he said conversationally.

Dad looked at him like he'd just noticed that he was there.
"Oh, hi. . .Ed, is it?"

"Uh, Will," he corrected. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor."

"Oh, nice to meet you, too," he said just as Mike and Ricky
finally sat down at the table. With nothing else to
concentrate on, Dad turned his attention to us. "So, you're
going to a dance?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Oh, good," Dad replied.

"What did you do with your award, Kaitlyn?" Will asked me
out of the blue.

I looked at him, surprised. "Uh, I put it in my room," I
answered, bewildered.

"What award?" asked Dad.

Will looked shocked. "You didn't tell them?" he asked me.

"Uh, I got an award for achievement in school yesterday,"
I told Dad and Adrienne quickly.

"Oh, isn't that nice," said Adrienne lightly. "Mike, why are
you not eating your meat?"

"Honestly, boys," added Dad, turning his attention back to
them, "we try to make you food you like."

Will's eyes had been growing wider and wider during this
conversation. "Don't you even *CARE*?!" he suddenly exploded.

Dad and Adrienne dragged their eyeballs away from the
twin terrors. Now he had their full attention.

"Your daughter got the biggest academic award that you
can *get* in our grade, and you barely look up? Do you even
care about her at all?" he went on furiously.

"Will," I said under my breath. This was getting a little
embarrassing.

But he went on. "*I* got an award- a much smaller award
than the one Kaitlyn got, and my parents put in a frame and
took me out to dinner! And *you* just go right on with your
business when your daughter gets straight A's even though
she moves all the time, and is also the sweetest person I've ever
met?"

Dad and Adrienne were staring at Will like he wasn't speaking
English. Finally, Will turned and walked out to the front
porch.

"Will!" I called, and ran after him.

When I caught up with him, he was sitting on my front step. He
turned and looked at me as I sat down next to him. "Kaitlyn, you
have just made me feel like the biggest jerk," he said softly.

I was taken aback. "Will-" I began.

"You were so right," he said. "I do have great parents." He
sighed. "My God, I have been such a spoiled brat."

"You're not a brat," I protested, putting an arm around him.
We stood up and began to walk, and he put an arm around me,
too.

"Yes, I am," he countered. Then he sighed. "Kaitlyn, how do
you put up with them?"

"Ah, you get used to them," I said lightly. I was determined
not to let my family ruin the Spring Fling for me. "And you
are *not* a jerk, Will. You are the sweetest guy I've ever
met."

He smiled at me. "And you're the sweetest girl *I've* ever
met." He took a step closer. "And the prettiest." His head
started to move closer to me. "And the. . ."

And before I knew it, his lips were touching mine in my very
first kiss.

For the rest of the night I floated on the magic of that kiss.
I couldn't tell you how the cafeteria was decorated, how
anyone else was dressed, what songs they played. The only
thought in my mind was *I love Will.*

When I came home that night (still floating), the kitchen
light was on. I took off my shoes and earrings when I got
inside, and went into the kitchen.

Then I stopped short. On the refrigerator door was my
award, surrounded by a sheet of blue construction paper.

"Congratulations, Kaitlyn," Dad said softly. He was
standing by the kitchen table.

I swallowed. "Thanks," I said uncomfortably. I had no idea
what else to say. There was a long silence. Then Dad walked
over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You know, Adrienne and I have read plenty of psychology
books," he said. "To help us  figure out how to deal with
Sebastian, Mike and Ricky. They all said that children seek
negative attention." He paused. "I don't think it ever occurred
to us that one of our children might be seeking positive
attention."

There was another awkward silence. These moments where
we talked were so rare that when they occurred I never
knew what to say.

"You're a smart girl," he continued finally, "and you work
very hard, and you have a lot to put up with. We're very proud
of you for everything, and if we haven't made that clear
enough, I am truly sorry, Kaitlyn."

I looked at him. "It's okay," I said, and it was true. That was
all I had needed- him saying those words. I smiled and said it
again. "It's okay."

*   *   *
One day that summer, I walked to the front door of Will's
house. Before I got to the front door, I looked at the sky, and
let the tears in my eyes run backwards.

Mr. Mulder was at the door when I walked through it. "Hi,
Kaitlyn," he said to me.

"Hello, Mr. Mulder," I said to him, and without thinking, I
hugged him. A bit surprised, he hugged me back. I walked further
into the house, into the kitchen. Mrs. Scully was standing there.
I didn't even have to say anything to her- I think she could see it
in my eyes.

"Oh, no." She reached out and put her hand on my shoulder and
looked me in the eye. "Kaitlyn, I'm so sorry."

"So am I," I managed around a lump in my throat.

"Will's down in the basement," she said with a sad smile.

I made my way down the basement steps. Will was sitting on the
couch, but he got up as he saw me. I walked toward him. Maybe
he's inherited some of his mother's psychic abililty, for I could
see in his eyes that he knew before I said it that what I'd always
known could happen had happened. Nevertheless, I said it.

"I'm moving," I said, unable to contain my loud sobs as I fell into
his arms.

*    *   *
I wrote to Will almost as soon as I moved into my new house in
Washington. I told him about my relationship with my parents
improving, and then wrote, "I know everyone says that long-
distance relationships never last, but let's
prove them wrong. I don't want to lose you, Will."

I was afraid he wouldn't agree with me, maybe that he wouldn't
even write back. But, proving to me why I didn't want to lose him,
he did.

"I'm so glad you're getting along with your parnets better," he
wrote to me in his first letter. "Kaitlyn, I would never want to
lose you. For the rest of my life, I could never hope to meet
someone like you. I thank God I had the opportunity to know you.
I see everything so differently now. You really taught me not to
take what I have for granted. That's why I'm going to tell you
the same thing I just told my parents.

"I love you."

The End


Please, PLEASE review this story! Feedback is always important
to me, but it's more important for this one than any others for a
couple of reasons. First of all, this is a fanfic only in the
loosest definition of the word, so it lets me know how
effective I am at original characterization and plot- basically,
how good of an original writer I am. And second of all,
Kaitlyn is a character very close to my heart because she's
so much like me when I was younger. (Thankfully, my home
situation was nothing like hers, but I was smart and buck-
toothed like she was.) So, please tell me
truthfully what you think of this story. If it means being cruel,
so be it. My address is EKHashet@hotmail.com

And now, here are the lyrics to the song from which the story
gets its title. It's a beautiful song, and I just thought it worked
for this story on a number of levels.

Never Saw Blue Like That
written by Tom Kimmel, Jeff Franzel, and Mark Luna
Peformed by Shawn Colvin

Today
We took a walk
Up the street
We picked a flower
And climbed the hill above the lake
And secret thoughts
Were said aloud
We watched the faces in the clouds
Until the clouds were blown away
And were we ever somewhere else?
You know, it's hard to say
And I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh I, I never saw blue like that
I can't believe
A month ago
I was alone
I didn't know you
I hadn't seen you
Or heard your name
And even now
I'm so amazed
It's like a dream
It's like a rainbow
It's like the rain
And some things are the way they are
And words just can't explain
'Cause I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh I, I never saw blue like that before
And it feels like now
And it feels always
And it feels like coming home
I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh I, I never saw blue like that before
Oh I, I never saw blue like that...