Chapter 1

"Hey, baby."

Corrigan Raimler was my school's most popular leech. He's the guy who's at the top of the food chain and hits on anything with two legs and a vagina. That's this guy. Didn't help he was stereotypically gorgeous to boot with shaggy blonde hair, green sparklers for eyes, and perfectly formed lips. They were sculpted by a goddess, or Corrigan liked to brag.

He took two things seriously, his friends (Bryce and me) and women (sex).

"Hi, Corrigan," I murmured as I grabbed my calculus book. I checked my mirror. I wasn't really vain; I just wanted to make sure that my hair didn't look like a bird's nest or something. It didn't, but I usually always had it under control. My hair grazed the tops of my shoulders. I turned my head and grinned when I saw the dark brunette color shimmer black from the light.

Corrigan draped an arm across my neighbor's locker and ignored their weak-kneed protest as he turned his back to them.

I didn't look. I already knew he wanted something and he had his trademark panty-melting grin on that face of his.

The green eyes helped, trust me.

"What are you doing this weekend?"

"Why? What do you want?" I moved down the hallway and Corrigan snapped my locker shut as he kept pace.

The flies flew around us and no one jostled us.

"Harris is throwing a party."

Shock. Not. Harris always throws parties.

"So?" I drawled out, bored as I turned to my class. Corrigan followed behind and draped his arms across the back of my chair. He wrapped his arms around me and breathed into my ear.

My table partner, Leisha, nearly fell off her chair. No joke.

"I was hoping you'd go."

"Why? Want to get laid?" Corrigan always wanted to get laid, but the joke was that he'd never get laid by me.

"Well…." He glanced to Leisha and shooed her away.

Leisha shooed and he dropped into her seat.

"You've got the hookup with Steele, right?"

Here it was.

"You want to get laid by Denton Steele? I didn't know you swung that way," I teased. Denton and I weren't friends. We weren't even screw-buddies. It was a one-time deal and I wasn't looking to extending it to a two-time deal. He might've been the locally grown national heartthrob, but I hadn't wanted another go with the movie star.

Corrigan ignored that as he leaned closer to me, for my ears only, "Word is that he's got a hot sister coming home for the summer. You should go visit, make friends, and bring her to the party."

"Why would I go and visit the female Steele?"

"No, no. Not her, but him. And then make friends with her!" Corrigan nudged my knee.

"Mr. Raimler," Mr. Aldross barked with a frown. He wasn't a Corrigan fan, but not many were. Although, they liked myself and Bryce even less and that said a lot.

"Yes, Mr. Aldy?" Corrigan returned smoothly and leaned back in his chair. He removed the arm around my shoulder and the one that had been kneading my leg.

"This isn't your class. What are you doing here?"

"Well, Mr. Aldy…" Corrigan took a deep breath, ready to jump into his charming act.

Mr. Aldross shook his head and barked, "Get out before detention. I don't have time to play your game."

There was a spark of disappointment in Corrigan's eyes, but he stood slowly, winked at me, and moved to the door. Just before he left, Mr. Aldross called out, "And Mr. Raimler…"

"Yeah?"

"I enforce a no-mauling policy in my classrooms. You and Miss Jeneve can pick up your 'mauling' elsewhere from now on."

Corrigan barked out a laugh and suggested to me, "What do you think, Sheldon? You. Me. Janitor's closet in forty eight minutes?"

The classroom laughed. Mr. Aldross frowned.

I winked and drawled back, "Which one?"

"Get out," Mr. Aldross barked again and Corrigan left, satisfied.

"Miss Jeneve." Mr. Aldross frowned my way.

"Yes?" I yawned and stretched, knowing my breasts were nicely outlined against my thin top. Sometimes the game was so easy…sometimes.

"Would you please write your answers to questions eight and ten on the board?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Aldross." I stood and walked to the board. As I grabbed the chalk, I spoke up, "And Mr. Aldross?"

"Yes, Sheldon?" He asked.

"Corrigan can maul me, but I don't maul back." I sent him a seductive grin and whispered, "Just wanted you to know."

Mr. Aldross shook his head, probably in disappointment while more than a few coughed behind me.

Just then the door opened again and Bryce Scout strolled in to take a seat at my table. Bryce was Corrigan's exact opposite, but the two fitted the best friend duo perfectly. Corrigan smoozed anyone and everyone he chose while Bryce produced the same results with his silence. The quintessential gorgeous bad boy: black Mohawk, sea blue eyes, and cheekbones that couldn't compare to how the rest of his body was chiseled. Anyway, Corrigan talked and Bryce listened. It worked for the two and they were the top of the social hierarchy.

I heard the swift intake of breath from nearly all the girls in the room, but I often wondered why half of them fell over backwards when Bryce was around. He didn't give so many the time of day.

"Mr. Scout," Mr. Aldross sighed. "You're late. Again."

Bryce greeted him by laying his head down on the table. He closed his eyes and the class watched as he promptly fell asleep.

I laughed.

A few others laughed and Mr. Aldross stood in shock. The disrespect was damning and it didn't help to come on the heels of the Corrigan and Sheldon show.

"Mr. Scout, you will wake up as you progress to the principal's office." Mr. Aldross must've had enough.

Bryce lifted his piercing blue eyes and grinned triumphantly as he looked right at me. He quickly grabbed his books and left, but I knew that's what Bryce had wanted.

Mr. Aldross glared. "Miss Jeneve, please return Mr. Scout to the classroom. You can inform him that I've changed my mind." No doubt, he wanted to torture Bryce by making him actually stay in a class.

Everyone knew why he sent me. Besides Corrigan, I was the only other person that Bryce would listen to. Whatever, I didn't mind. I wouldn't have to write the answers on the board for the homework that I hadn't done.

As I strolled out the door, I glimpsed Bryce turning a corner that didn't lead towards the principal's office.

"Bryce," I called out. A second later, as I turned down the same hallway, I saw he was at his locker.

"Hey," I greeted as I leaned against the locker beside his.

"Hey," Bryce greeted, his head still in his locker. A second later, he raked his eyes over me and grinned as he reached for my book. He placed it in his locker, grabbed my hand, and led me farther down the hallway.

"What are we doing?" I already knew.

"Why'd you come after me?"

"Mr. Aldy wanted me to inform you that you weren't going to the Principal's office anymore." I left the rest out on purpose.

"I wasn't going to go. You know that." He grinned as he pulled me into a janitor's closet. And when that door closed, no more words were needed. Once inside, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as his head dipped and took my lips in his, fiercely. Hot.

This is what Bryce and I did. We weren't together, but most everyone assumed we were.

Neither of us did commitment, but if we had, it would've been to each other. That was another unspoken agreement. If anyone wanted out of the situation, the other would let them go with an easy smile, but probably no well-wishes.

Our clothes were still on, and would've remained on (I had some class), when the door opened abruptly and the janitor stood frowning at us.

Before he could muster a lecture, Bryce pulled me out and we both meandered towards his locker. He kissed me deeply once more before the final bell rang and the hallway was flooded.

Our hands fell apart when he opened his locker and produced my book.

"Thanks," I murmured, ruefully.

Bryce looked to say something, but Corrigan interrupted as he bounced up to us and threw one arm over both of our shoulders.

"How are my greatest friends?" Corrigan asked.

Bryce smirked.

"I'm not making friends with Steele," I retorted.

"Oh, come on. I bet she's hot. She has to be hot. Be friends with her for me."

"What's up with Steele?" Bryce questioned. I searched his face, but there wasn't a hint of anything. Bryce had been doing our thing for years and he'd known about the Denton Steele event. He'd never commented on it and I'd never offered any explanation, but—really—how do you explain that?

"He's got a super-fine sister coming to town. I want Shell, since she's hot and heavy with Mr. Sexiest Man Alive to seduce his sister around to our social crowd."

"Seduce?" I grinned. "I don't do girl on girl."

Bryce chuckled as a bright smile lit on Corrigan's face.

"That'd be perfect! You can do that too." Like it hadn't already been his secret hope.

"Hi Bryce. Hi Corrigan. Hi Sheldon."

Becky Lew was one of the head cheerleaders and the queen of the underworld minions. She ruled all her little queens: cheerleaders, dance team, some of the cross-country, yearbook, and all the skinny blonde girls who aspired for popularity. Some brunettes and redheads too, but there just always seemed to be more blondes than any other hair color.

I didn't not like her, but I didn't like her either.

Becky hated me, but was nice to me. I was pretty tight with Bryce and Corrigan so she needed to be nice to me. To tell the truth, I would've handled it on my own anyways. I could turn bitch when I was heated enough, but it didn't happen that often.

"Becky," Corrigan grunted and turned his back.

Bryce leaned his back on his locker and watched.

Two minions gasped behind Becky and we all knew why.

Corrigan had snubbed Becky Lew.

I didn't care about that.

Why had Corrigan snubbed Becky Lew?—that was the real question.

"So, Sheldon—let's talk about this weekend," Corrigan continued. "I'm thinking that when you go to reacquaint yourself with Steele, you should wear one of those pink lacy thongs. You have about a million anyway."

"How do you know what my thongs look like? You snuck into my room, didn't you?" I should've cared. I didn't.

Corrigan looked affronted, but I saw the mirth that sparkled in his eyes.

I swore, but it didn’t touch my grin.

"I just went up once to look for Bryce. Any decent red-blooded male would've looked."

"Corrigan," Becky spoke up. She had decided that she wasn't one to be ignored.

Corrigan resumed, "And then you should ask if Steele's sister has a matching pair of pink lacy thongs. That'd be awesome. You could both wear them when you bring her to the party."

"Corrigan," Becky said again.

I laughed and shifted so my side pressed against Bryce's when I noted, "Someone's knocking at your door, Corrigan."

Bryce snaked an arm around my waist and cupped my hip.

Corrigan grew still and sighed. He turned to Becky and asked, "What do you want, Lew?"

"I'd like to know when you're coming over tonight." A smile blinded us, she was so happy for her opening. "My dad's coming home for dinner and it'd be nice to make sure he won't walk in on us."

Corrigan froze in place.

Becky seemed so sweet.

And hot damn—the minions seemed to preen.

He said slowly, "Becky, if and when we hook up—you can be sure that your dad's going to be scheduling around us. Not the other way around." The statement made no sense, but it didn't matter. Corrigan was being his usual cocky self and to add insult to injury, he tsk-tsked her—such a dismissal.

Becky tightened her mouth and started to retort, but I drawled, "Corrigan, I never knew. Were you hoping for a twosome with Steele's sister and Lew?"

Becky hissed, but caught herself in time. She knew better than to play her games with me.

Bryce must've grown bored because he straightened away from me and left the group.

"Where you going, Bry?" Corrigan called after him and left to follow.

I sighed. I already knew what had happened; Bryce had given him his 'out.'

Don't ever say best friends never looked out for each other.

"It's true, you know." Becky tore my attention from the guys back to her.

"What is?" I asked, tired of the game now. Bryce and Corrigan were both gone. Baiting her wasn't fun without Corrigan to suffer the consequences.

"Me and Corrigan. We hooked up at Bryce's party on Friday. You weren't there."

No, I wasn't. I knew everyone wanted to know where I was, but I told none.

"You and Bryce have a fight or something?" Becky shifted closer to me, like it was a whispered secret between the two of us.

"Well, if we did then we just kissed and made up."

"I don't get the two of you. You're on his arm half the time and the other half he's got someone else on his arm. What's the deal?"

I smirked at her. Everyone wanted to know. No one would find out.

"So…you and Corrigan, huh? Good luck with that." I patted her shoulder and pushed past to my own locker.

I wasn't really surprised to see that Corrigan had waited for me.

"Your girlfriend's a bit too nosy for her well-being," I murmured as I opened my locker and stashed my book.

"She's not my girlfriend," he muttered.

"Where'd Bryce go?" Spanish for second period wasn't looking too enticing. Sex was.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "What am I going to do about Lew?"

Spanish it was. Sadly.

Corrigan fell into step beside me and I pointed out, "It'd help if I knew what happened."

"We hooked up," he evaded. That was a given, but what else happened? There was always something else.

"And went back for seconds last night?" I guessed the 'something else.'

"Please," he puffed his chest up. "Thirds was last night."

His cockiness rolled over off his shoulders.

"And you suggested a fourth tonight?"

"Something like that."

"So Becky Lew is your new screw-buddy and she doesn't know it?"

"She thinks she's my girlfriend."

Bingo. We just found the problem. So many thought they were the girlfriend.

"That’s why you want me to bring Steele's sister." It made sense. A movie star's sister would trump Becky Lew on any day.

"Oh no, I just want to get laid by a movie star's sister. You know me better than that, Sheldon. I can dodge Lew all week." He flashed another arrogant smile.

I think the girl behind me fainted, but I didn't care. I called him a not-so-nice word instead, but I did it with a sparkle in my eye.

"Please," he huffed. "You and Bryce are always all over each other, but the minute emotions might come into play, the two of you are all over someone else. Who's the bad guy between us?"

My eyes cooled. "Watch it." He knew where to step and where to avoid. He'd just stepped wrong. Corrigan knew the conversation that had words like Bryce, me, and emotions were always off limits.

"I'm just saying, help me out."

"You don't need my help getting laid, Corrigan." Had he not just left Becky Lew in his dust?

"It's different. Girls in school are different. Seriously, make friends with Steele's sister for me?"

"How do you even know if she's hot? Maybe there's a reason why she's not known. She could be ugly and fat."

"She's not. I've already met her." He cursed at his slip.

I arched an eyebrow. That was new. "You didn't want me to know that?"

"Look." He glanced up and down the hallway and moved closer. One of his hands rested at my hip as he whispered, "She's not exactly a fan of mine."

I slapped his hand away and said, "You already shagged her, didn't you?"

"Not quite," he sounded pained, but shook his head. "Just do it for me? Please, Sheldon?"

Whatever.

I sighed and replied dully, "Yeah. I'll make buddy-buddy and bring her round."

"To the party?" he pressed.

"To the party." I was such a sucker.

Chapter 2

When I entered Spanish, I saw the normal crowd in the back. Bryce sat, listening to whatever Chad Yerling was saying. A few of the other guys were also listening while some of the girls either gossiped or had perched on the guys' laps.

Stephanie Hills was perched on Bryce's table, but not his lap.

As I moved forward and dropped to the empty seat at Bryce's table, she shot off and scurried away.

Bryce switched his attention to me and leaned closer.

"What were you talking to Corrigan about?"

I shrugged and refused to meet his eyes.

"Wanna skip?" he suggested.

I smiled and asked, "And do what?"

"You know." His eyes fell to my lips and stayed there. One of his hands rested on my knee and started a slow rhythmic caress.

"Scout," Chad called.

Bryce ignored him and asked me again, "Now or never. Wanna go?"

I bit my lip, knowing it'd turn him on, but murmured, "You're in a weird mood today."

Bryce sighed and leaned back. His hand stayed in place.

"So a no, then?" he asked. Bryce and I had our own language. And we both knew my response was an evade.

I could never say no or yes. Neither could he.

"Scout," Chad said again, a little huffy now.

I leaned forward and pressed a slow, torturous kiss to Bryce's lips.

He grasped the back of my head and held me in place as he explored me in return. I heard Chad groan in frustration. He'd lost the battle for Bryce's attention.

"Mr. Scout and Miss Jeneve."

Our teacher, Mr. Dwellsworth, banged a ruler on his desk.

I tried to pull back, but Bryce finished the kiss before he released me. I was a little relieved to hear him panting right alongside me.

"Mr. Scout and Miss Jeneve!"

"Yeah?" I asked, knowing my voice was hoarse.

"I don't want the two of you to sit at the same table. Mr. Scout, please switch seats with Miss Veera."

"Who?" Bryce asked as he stood, relaxed and confident.

A girl in the back, tiny and pissed, stood up as she grabbed her books. She glared as she retorted, "That's me." She brushed past him and her red hair smacked him in the face as she dropped into his vacated seat.

Bryce chuckled as he took her seat.

She glanced my way, but hunched her shoulders as she opened her book to read.

She wanted to be alone. I didn’t give a damn so I leaned close. "What's your first name?" When she ignored me, I reached out and plucked her book away. "What's your name?"

I wasn't one to be ignored—ever. As she paled, I knew that she had remembered.

"Her name is Shelly Veera and you need to leave her alone, Miss Jeneve," Mr. Dwellsworth spoke over the classroom.

Pff. I glared at him, but leaned back and waited. It wasn’t long before he started his lecture. That was when I leaned over again. "Why are you all pissy?"

She made a sound like she was in pain, but didn't reply.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see that Chad held out a note for me.

We should've skipped.

I looked to Bryce and nodded. Then I bit my lip again and grinned when he coughed. So much promise, so much lust. As I continued to hold his gaze, warmth started to burn inside of me. It wasn’t long until I knew that I had grown wet between my legs. His eyes darkened in desire—

"Mr. Scout!"

I rolled my eyes and turned eyes front.

"Yes, sir?" Bryce groaned under his breath.

Mr. Dwellsworth became red in the face. "You continue to disrupt my classroom day after day. I have had enough, Mr. Scout."

Bryce didn't say one word.

That was something I'd always been envious about. Bryce had the hot body that could get him into a magazine, but it was the air that surrounded him. He drew in all the attention. He could muster anyone to do anything for him without a single spoken word.

Sometimes it turned me on and other times it pissed me off.

Today was the former.

Deciding to join the fray, my hand shot up in the air. "Mr. Dwellsworth."

You could feel the enraptured tension in the class. All eyes trailed towards me. Oh yes. They knew something was going to happen. It always did when the two of us teamed up to cause a scene. I should’ve brought popcorn to pass out.

"Yes, Miss Jeneve?" Mr. Dwellsworth was cautious now. He also felt the inevitable.

"Bryce didn't say anything to disrupt your class. He coughed. That was it."

Mr. Dwellsworth weighed his words, but forced politeness came out. "Miss Jeneve, when I ask to debate the decisions of my classroom, you may talk then. Right now, I am the teacher and I will tolerate your disrespect no longer."

"So are you going to have us leave?"

His eyes narrowed as they took in my relaxed state and saw that Bryce mirrored my look. It had been practiced and perfected throughout our lifetime because of parents who thought they could tell us what to do. Or, at least, that's what my third shrink told me when I made the not-so-startling revelation that I struggled with authority. It was because my parents were never parents to me. The little they chose to stick around didn't grant them the right to suddenly turn parent on me for two holidays of the year.

I had liked that shrink, but my parents hadn't.

"No, Miss Jeneve." He sighed and shook his head. "No, I am not. Unlike every other adult figure in your life, I'm going to make you learn something. I think, from now on, you and Mr. Scout will be tutored in the library by two of my student aides."

Shelly gasped beside me and I cast a curious look her way.

And to this, she ducked her head back into her book and tried to ignore everything else. Interesting.

"Are you serious?" Bryce yawned. "We get an hour to ourselves in the library instead of coming here?"

"Trust me." Mr. Dwellsworth grinned, in all his evils delight that a teacher could muster. "You won't be enjoying yourselves."

I didn't really care what our 'discipline' was, but I spoke up, "Are you serious? Just because I spoke up for a friend doesn't give you the right to expel us to the library. You have no reason to remove us from this classroom."

"Oh, Miss Jeneve." Mr. Dwellsworth shook his head. "You are not being removed from this class."

"Shut up, Sheldon," Bryce murmured. "We get out of here."

It wasn't the point.

"You may both leave now, but if you are not in the library when my student aides report there, you will receive detention for the rest of the week."

Well, it was pretty obvious to everyone what we were going to do. Detention it would be!

Bryce stood and waited at the door for me.

I heard Chad starting to laugh just before the door shut behind us.

In the hallway, Bryce asked, "What was that about?"

I shrugged. "I had a point."

"Whatever. I think he's getting used to us after two years." He chuckled. "Wanna skip?"

"That's what got us into this punishment in the first place."

But we both knew we were going to go.

Bryce shot me one of his melting grins. He tugged me close and rested his forehead against mine. As his lips rested above mine, he said again, "Let's go somewhere else."

"And do what?" I smiled and enjoyed the brush of my lips against his. Bryce transferred my book into his hands and clasped me closer to him. I reached around his neck, bringing my body flush against his. Turning, he backed me up against a locker and then started to kiss my neck.

"You guys need a room."

Who else? Only a few would dare… Corrigan.

Bryce didn't stop.

"What are you doing out of class?" I remained in his arms and tilted my neck for better access.

Corrigan leaned against the locker beside us and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He looked dejected when he mumbled, "Nothing. I could go for some food."

I teased, "Isn't Becky Lew in your second period?"

Corrigan rolled his eyes and pushed off from the locker. "You guys coming or not? My treat."

I sighed and Bryce felt it so he stepped away.

We shared a glance and both turned to follow our best friend. Something else was up. When we got outside, I saw that Corrigan was already in my car.

"Of course," I said sarcastically as I took the driver's seat. "You're the one who wants food, but I'm the one driving."

Corrigan grinned at me. "You like driving stick, Sheldon. We all know it."

I shared a resigned look in the rear-view mirror with Bryce before he laid down in the backseat.

"No sleeping," I remarked as I pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yeah. Yeah," Bryce mumbled back, but Corrigan turned and punched his best friend in the stomach.

Without shock, pause, a reaction, anything—Bryce reached up and slammed Corrigan's head against his headrest.

I shook my head, grinned, and pulled out into the street. This is why we were best friends.

"Oomph," Corrigan breathed.

Bryce laughed and punched Corrigan in the shoulder before he went back down.

"So what's up with this impromptu food trip?" I asked, shifting gears.

"No reason. I'm just hungry," Corrigan murmured as he turned back in his seat. He tapped the dashboard for awhile and then reached to change the radio station.

Uh, that wasn’t normal. When Bryce sat up and met my gaze in the rear-view mirror, I knew he thought the same thing. Corrigan was evading my question. Corrigan only evaded when he was upset.

"Right, you're just hungry." Bryce studied his best friend.

"If you wanted food, you would've gone to the vending machine," I added and pulled into my house's driveway.

"Thought we'd go to a restaurant or something," Corrigan protested.

I didn't like restaurants. He knew that.

"Whatever," I brushed it off as I climbed out and led the way into my kitchen.

Having rich parents had its benefits. When I requested a chef to come in, a chef came in. I wasn’t a hearty eater so the chef was only requested when Corrigan and Bryce ate through my stock. As they did now—they both attacked the fridge to find lasagna while I heated some grilled chicken. It wasn’t long until we headed for the media room and I curled on the couch as the guys sat on each end. They inhaled their food.

After Corrigan got up for more, I leaned forward and punched Bryce on the arm.

"What?" he asked as he cradled his arm.

"You start it."

We both knew what I meant.

A pained look crossed his face. "Oh, come on. You're the girl. Be girly."

I punched him again.

"Ow! That one hurt."

"Bryce," I warned.

"Fine. Alright, just stop hitting me."

I raised my fist again, but Bryce caught it and hauled me onto his lap.

He grinned in satisfaction as he leaned back against the couch. Both of his hands moved to my hips and he held me in place when I moved to slide off.

"This will be more enjoyable if you stay exactly where you are."

Hearing the microwave door open and shut, I leaned forward, kissed Bryce quickly and twisted his nipple.

"Ow! That hurt too," Bryce cried out.

I slid off his lap as Corrigan returned with his second helping. Another heated look passed between us, but then Bryce groaned. "Alright, man. What's up?"

Corrigan froze mid-chew and looked over.

He finished chewing, swallowed, and settled back against the couch. He kept his plate on his lap.

Bryce looked at me with raised eyebrows, but I watched Corrigan instead.

"Alright…you should know…I'm moving."

"What?" I sat up and asked in shock.

Bryce's eyes widened—a feat that I'd never seen before, but he didn't say anything.

Corrigan watched us another moment and then threw his head back in a laugh.

"I'm so joking, you guys. God—look at you." He kept laughing until Bryce punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he yelped and moved away. Corrigan shook his head and continued eating in between laughs. "Seriously. You guys looked like I'd died or something. That was hilarious."

"Not funny." I glared.

"It was funny." Corrigan chuckled as he finished the rest of his food. When Bryce and I continued to stare at him, he threw his hands in the air. "Come on, guys! Seriously! You don't want to go there."

"What is wrong with you?" Bryce asked, more curious.

"Nothing's wrong with me. Why do you automatically assume something's wrong?"

"Because we were making out and you interrupted. You never interrupt us," I spelled it out. That was my first clue anyway.

"If you want to make out right now, don't hold back. I have no problem with it." Corrigan flashed his charming grin again.

I blinked, stunned at how slippery he could be. Then I said, "No. Tell us."

He glanced at Bryce for a second and shook his head again. "Seriously. Nothing's wrong."

He didn't want to share and it was starting to become more work than it deserved so I rolled my eyes and gave up. "How do you know Steele's sister? What's her name?"

Bryce glanced to him and asked, "You already know her?"

Corrigan stiffened, but answered, "Her name is Mena and yes, I've met her. It didn't go so well."

"What happened?" Bryce flashed a grin. "You hit on her, but shagged her best friend."

Classic Corrigan and as his jaw tightened, Bryce had hit the bulls-eye.

"Oh come on, Corrigan. How are you expecting to make a better impression over that?" I laughed.

The charm was back when he replied, "I've got a few tricks."

I narrowed my eyes and then rolled my eyes. Corrigan was in one of his moods and I lacked the energy to play his game.

Bryce studied him for a moment longer and then decided the same as me. Corrigan would do what he always did.

"Come on. I'm ready to go back. How about you two?"

Whatever. He decided when we left, now he decided when we went back? I didn’t think so. I knew Bryce had turned to me, so I flashed him a wolfish grin. The desire was starting to pulsate between my legs. I wasn’t going to go back to school with that throbbing. I was going to do something about it.

I dug my keys out and chucked them to Corrigan. "Crash her and you pay for her."

He sent a suggestive leer at us before he jiggled the keys. "Thanks, Sheldon. Feel free to tape it so I can watch later," Corrigan called over his shoulder as he jogged up the stairs and out the door.

Bryce watched me, trying to gauge me.

He always did this too.

Sighing, I uncurled my legs and stood. As I stretched, Bryce enjoyed the show with a half-grin curling at his mouth. I bent forward, holding his gaze, and reached for his plate, then grabbed my own and traipsed up the stairs.

Bryce followed as I placed the dishes in the sink. Then I proceeded to my room. I left the door open and fell on my bed as he followed inside.

"When are your parents coming back?" he asked as he pulled his shirt off.

My eyes traveled over his muscular chest and stomach. I licked my lips. The throb had doubled. I felt it in my toes. "They're in Italy and won't be home until Thanksgiving." My voice was husky as I knelt on the bed. "Between you and me, I don't even think they'll be back by then."

Since my room could get stuffy, he left the door open and moved closer to me.

"You told me they'd be back this weekend. I remember," Bryce stepped closer and closed his eyes when I slid my hand down his chest. I hooked a finger on the inside of his pants and he said, "Because that was your excuse for missing my party on Friday."

I unsnapped the front button and slid the zipper down.

I pulled him down on top of me and whispered, closing my eyes as his hand started his own exploration, "Maybe I just didn't want to go and see you hit on all those other girls."

"Baby." Bryce rolled me underneath him and propped himself up on one elbow.

I opened my eyes and held his sapphire ones.

He bent forward and pressed a kiss to my jaw when he murmured, "You're always my first choice. You know that, don't you?"

In truth, I hadn't gone because we'd had a 'near emotion' event that day. That's what Corrigan called them when I witnessed a cheerleader pawing the front of Bryce's pants that afternoon. Bryce hadn't known I was around, but my jaw clenched and I turned away. I hadn’t enjoyed seeing that.

Corrigan shook his head when I left down the opposite hallway and out the door.

The sight of a girl mauling Bryce wasn't anything new, but the sight of Bryce enjoying it had cut deeper than I wanted to acknowledge. I begged off the party. My excuse had been weak. At the time, Bryce registered it with a flicker in his eyes, but he hadn't said anything.

I entwined a hand around the back of his neck now and pulled his head to mine. Against his lips, I whispered, as I twisted one of my legs over his, "I better damn well be."

Bryce smirked before he captured my lips with his and his full weight fell on me.

Moments later, both of us were panting as the rest of our clothes followed to the floor and Bryce gasped, "Condom."

"Usual place," I whispered against his skin as I stayed wrapped around him.

Bryce groaned and I pressed against him.

We hadn't been together all weekend.

"Baby," he grunted. "I have to go. Condom, now."

The haze disappeared enough for me to remember the importance of that little piece of rubber and I let go. Bryce was off the bed in a flash and he grabbed a condom from my dresser drawer. He met my lips when he returned and it didn't take long before the condom was applied and Bryce rolled me underneath once more.

He slid in and both of us groaned in pleasure.

As the tempo sped up, Bryce continued to kiss just underneath my ear. It was one of my spots that he'd discovered early on. I tilted my head back, ran a hand down his back, and moved to meet his lips with mine.

He groaned into my mouth and increased his thrusts.

After awhile, both of us held on as we climaxed together and our bodies shuddered. We stayed put, wrapped around each other with Bryce still inside of me until our bodies had stopped convulsing.

I sunk down onto my pillow and nearly purred when Bryce ran a hand down the side of my body, from my shoulder to my knee. It was soothing and I rolled to allow him to move to the other side of my body.

Chuckling, Bryce pulled out and pressed a kiss to my hipbone as his fingers finished their exploration of my body.

He moved to the side and pulled my bedcovers over both of us before he turned and wrapped an arm around me, spooning from behind.

My entire body was content. Yawning, I glanced at the clock. 12:45.

"We should go back for the rest of the afternoon.” But I was so tired. I felt my eyelids starting to close.

Bryce chuckled into my ear. One of his hands started to run over my back in a circle. "What for? We'll get reamed out by the principal."

"We should stay in bed all day?"

"Why not?" He propped himself on an elbow and looked down on me as I fell to my back. He smiled and murmured, "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Because you have soccer practice in three hours," I pointed out. "If you're not in school, you can't play."

A shadow of weariness passed over him as he sat up and moved to the edge of the bed.

"What?" I asked and sat up.

Bryce shook his head and reached for his pants.

"What?" I repeated and reached for my own.

"Nothing," he clipped out and moved to the shower. When I heard the water running, I dropped my clothes and crossed to the bathroom doorway.

I could see Bryce in the shower and his eyes found mine through the translucent glass shower door. He finished and stepped out a moment later. As he moved aside and dressed, I finished my own shower.

Bryce sat on my bed as he waited for me to finish dressing.

I couldn’t handle the silence and cracked after awhile. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Are you done?" He stood and grabbed a set of car keys on my nightstand. He knew I kept keys to all the cars in my parent’s garage. There was an extra set in my bedroom, one in my purse, and another in a kitchen drawer.

"Are you mad?" Even as I asked it, I felt my chest tighten a little. This was encroaching onto a conversation I didn't want to have, but I'd already asked.

"I don't want to fight so let's just…," he waved towards the door. "Let's go."

"What fight? Did I say something to offend you? Is this about soccer practice?"

Bryce opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He closed it and turned towards the hallway.

I followed behind and neither of us questioned it when Bryce drove us to school in my dad’s Maserati.

Chapter 3

The parking lot was full of students when Bryce pulled into a slot and turned the engine off. Neither of us moved as we watched the crowd outside the door. It wasn't uncommon for nearly everyone to flock outside, either in the back or in the front of the building when the weather was warm. There was an extended break between fifth period and sixth.

I couldn't stand the tension, but I also knew I didn't want to get out of the car with how things were between us. "I don't know what to do right now."

Bryce bit off a bitter laugh and shook his head. "You don't have to do anything."

"What?"

"You're always saying that. Get a clue, Sheldon," he snapped and slammed the door behind him.

I watched as Bryce was greeted by Chad, Trenton, and so many others.

Get a clue? What did that mean? And why did I actually care?

I followed behind, feeling just…uncomfortable. I didn't care that most of the students had knowing looks on their faces. Bryce glanced up as I neared where he stood, but I didn't want to stop and chat. It must've shown in my face because a path cleared for me so I was able to walk inside without any hassle. As I stepped into the girls' locker room to avoid people in the hallway, there were three girls at the sinks. All three stared at me.

"What?"

All of their eyes widened and turned away. When they left, I glanced up and saw that one had stayed behind. She had jet-black hair that streamed to her waist. She was petite with a cute green top over a faded jeans and black boots that stopped just underneath her knee.

"Hi?" What'd she want?

"You're Sheldon Jeneve, right?" she asked and tamed a strand of hair that was out of place. She didn't look nervous, just confident.

"Yeah. And you are…?"

"I'm Mena Cruiw. My brother is Denton Steele."

Oh. I studied her again and saw a faint resemblance in the eyes, but that was about it. The nose curled at the same spot.

"You have a different last name?"

"I was adopted by my stepfather, but they're having problems so they sent me out here to live with my biological dad."

"You and Denton are half-siblings?"

"No." She leaned against a sink. "We're full brother and sister, but he still loves our dad. Me, I'd rather not have anything to do with him. My mom and biological dad were your neighbors before they got divorced. My mom moved to New York."

This sounded complex. "Look," I murmured. "I don't really want to hear your family's genogram."

"That's okay." she shrugged. "I don't really want to tell you my family's genogram. We're messed up, that's the gist of it."

"And why are you talking to me…?"

"Because you shagged my brother and didn't give him the time of day afterwards." She grinned and it lit up her face and eyes. Corrigan would've called her hot without the smile, but he would've considered her deadly with the smile. "I wanted to meet you."

"Nice to meet you." I dismissed her as I turned my back to leave. I expected her to say something, but she didn't. When I got to my locker, I realized why—she'd followed me.

"What?" I grabbed my sixth period book.

"I thought maybe," she shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we could be friends? You know who I am and you don't care about my brother. I like that. I heard around that you don't have a lot of friends."

"I don't do friends."

I cringed inside. Bad choice of words.

"This isn't about popularity. Trust me." She gestured to the hallway. I glanced around and saw a good portion of the guys were eyeing us, up and down. I'd grown immune to the attention, but I shouldn't have been surprised they were watching her.

Mena waved them off. "I know who my brother is. I can be popular off his name. I can be popular on my own too. I was Homecoming Queen at my last school for the junior class. I went to the largest high school in Manhattan. I'd like to think that says something."

"Becky Lew likes friends." Becky Lew liked followers.

Mena parroted my thoughts as she snorted, "Becky Lew likes to be followed around and fanned. She wants errand girls, not friends. I was lucky to get a few good friends at my old school. I like you. I heard all about you from Denton and this morning around school. You don't give a crap what people think of you. It works for you." She stepped closer. "And you don't play those childish games that all girls inevitably do. I'm tired of that life."

I frowned and moved away from her. I didn't know what to think of this girl, but then Corrigan interrupted us as he stopped between us. His back was to Mena. "Do I need to know what happened between you two?"

Corrigan did that so efficiently. It was a perfected technique that cut out everyone else.

For a moment, I thought he meant me and Mena, but then comprehension dawned and I whispered, "No. You don't need to know because I don't even know."

He meant Bryce and me.

"Bryce is furious. I'm asking." He shifted closer to me. "Should I know what happened?"

"You want to know all the dirty secrets?" I teased. "You want the play by play?"

Corrigan took the hint and returned, "You taped it. Right? Tell me you taped it."

Mena shifted farther to the side as Corrigan dropped to lean against the locker that she had been standing against. She frowned at his back, but our attention was thwarted when Bryce stopped beside us. He ran his eyes over us before he drawled, "Principal wants to see us."

I groaned and buried my head in my locker.

"Hope your nooner was worth it. I heard you guys were supposed to be at the library instead." Corrigan gave us a knowing leer.

"We skipped because you were hungry," Bryce pointed out.

The leer disappeared.

Becky Lew chose that moment to appear at my locker. Her crowd of minions flocked behind her. When Corrigan stiffened, something flared in her gaze and then she turned to Bryce. The smile she always wore around them turned seductive and she ran a hand down his chest. “Hi, Bryce.”

No one knew what to do.

It was common knowledge that Bryce was off-limits when I was around. There was a reason why Stephanie Hills scampered off his table when I arrived. It wasn't because I turned sudden bitch, it was because Bryce really did choose me first. Girls got humiliated when I showed up.

I frowned and glanced at Corrigan, who turned to me.

Then I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry." I tried to hide my smile behind a hand. "You were all after Corrigan this morning and now you're into Bryce?"

The seductive gleam vanished from Becky's eyes. They narrowed in anger at me instead.

I caught a glint of amusement in Bryce's eyes so I moved forward and leaned my back against him. He tensed a moment and then slid his arms around my waist to dip his hands inside. His thumbs played with the top of my underwear.

Becky frowned and stepped back.

"What are you doing, Lew?" Corrigan leaned against my locker now.

She paused and studied him a moment. Then she glanced at Bryce and me.

She'd tried the girlfriend bit with Corrigan, which hadn't worked and now…I couldn't understand her thought process. She wanted to make Corrigan jealous? And I had ruined it because I had laughed at her and then stole the show as Bryce had his arms around me, not her? Did she really think that was going to work?

I caught an appreciative gleam in Mena's eyes before she disappeared down the hallway.

Becky was flushed, but she retorted, "I thought I'd say hello to Bryce since you've ignored me all day."

"There's a reason for that." Corrigan bounced on his heels. He was ready for a fight. The malice was mixed with enjoyment.

Bryce chuckled in my ear and I leaned more fully against him. The two continued when I let my head fall backwards to his shoulder and I murmured under my breath, "Truce?"

Bryce pulled away slightly to look at me. His eyes searched my face before he sighed and murmured, "I was just touchy before."

"Yeah, but…" I pulled away and turned so my stomach rested against him. "I don't get what you were mad at before." I ignored the warmth that spread over my body.

"I wasn't. Can we drop it?" Bryce straightened and I pulled away.

"I'm the one who avoids. Why are you avoiding this? I don't even get what you're avoiding."

Neither of us were aware that Corrigan and Becky had stopped to watch us. The entire hallway watched us.

"I'm not avoiding anything. I just don't…"

"What?" I cried out, more annoyed that I didn't understand. If I understood what I'd said to piss him off, then I could understand what he was avoiding. I just didn't understand and we were nearing one of those 'near emotion' events. The need to bolt was starting to rear inside of me.

Then it was there. I'd had enough. I pushed through the group and shrugged. "I'm out."

A second later, I heard Bryce curse.

Ignoring the principal’s heed, I headed to my art class. Mr. Sayword wouldn't say a word, even if the principal did track me down. Seriously, though, how can one truant student be so important?

I managed a grin to Mr. Sayword when I entered the room and headed straight to the darkroom. I flipped the switch that let others know not to interrupt. Instead of grabbing some film, I pulled out my drawing pad and started a portrait.

No, I wasn't upset. No, this wasn't a self-coping mechanism. I just wanted to avoid any and all. The darkroom gave me that.

After ten minutes, someone pounded on the door. I looked up. "What?"

"Are you almost done? We have some pictures we need to develop too, you know. You're not the only one."

I stood and opened the door.

There were three students and all of them took a step back, startled when they saw who it was.

"Oh. Sorry, Sheldon," a girl said as she grabbed her camera and hurried away.

The other two gaped. One was a boy with wire-rim glasses and messy black hair. He used gel to make it stick out on its ends. It looked trendy, which was accentuated by the plaid vest that was snug over a black silk shirt. The other boy was tall, lanky, and wore a Suns tee shirt.

Neither looked familiar.

"What are your names?" I asked since they hadn't moved out of my way.

"Um…I'm Teddy." The plaid vest guy pointed beside him. "This is Brent."

"Hi."

They didn't move.

"Move."

"Um…" Teddy began again.

Just then I looked up and saw Bryce enter the room. He glanced at Mr. Sayword and scanned the room. His eyes stopped when he found me. "We're supposed to be at the principal's office. I've told you twice."

" I said that I was out."

"Then you should've left school. They know you're here so we gotta go and pay our penance or something," he growled and skimmed his eyes over Teddy and Brent.

Both snapped to attention and ran off.

"Were you talking to them?"

"No," I sighed and moved back into the darkroom for my drawing pad. Bryce followed and looked around.

"I've never been in here," he murmured and leaned against the counter.

I eyed him up and down and made my decision. I shut the door again and flipped the same switch.

"What is up with you today?" Enough was enough.

"Noth—" he started to say, but I interrupted.

"Bryce. Seriously. I'm here and I want to have this talk. Tell me what's up with you."

His eyes locked with mine and I saw that he was considering it, considering something. "Why'd you bail on my party?"

"Are you serious? This is what that's about? Because I bailed on your party?"

"Yes and no." He sighed and pushed off from the counter, but kept a hold of its edge. He bounced back and forth, doing reverse push-ups from the counter. His arm muscles bulged with each movement. "I don't know," Bryce mumbled with his chin tucked downwards. He looked at the floor. "I just…I don't know. I'm on edge today."

I was dumbfounded. Yeah. I had bailed on Friday night, but so what? He still got laid. Corrigan said he saw Bryce disappear into a backroom with one of the cheerleaders. And Saturday night, Bryce had been all over some cross-country runner.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "We should go before we get in more trouble."

"Since when do you care how much trouble we get into?" They couldn't do anything to us. Bryce was the soccer team's captain and heavily recruited. The school needed that attention. And I just didn't care. The school knew that and had given up on me a long time ago. They wanted me to continue attending school and classes. At least, that's what their school counselor had confided in me once.

"I don't, but it's a big practice tonight. I don't want my coach more worked up than he needs to be, you know."

Then it clicked. I felt like smacking myself in the head. This was the beginning of Scout Week. Those same recruiters and more were visiting the school's teams. They came to the practices, games, and talked with the families.

"Which ones are coming to your practice?" A flicker of tension passed in Bryce's eyes and I knew I was right. I moved closer and slipped my arms around him. "Which ones?"

He hugged me back, slowly. "Brown. Stanford. Florida."

"You want Brown, right?"

"Yeah."

Just then, someone pounded on the door again. It stopped after someone hissed, "Bryce and Sheldon are in there. Ssshh!"

Bryce chuckled in amusement, but he shook his head a moment later.

There weren't any more interruptions, but a discreet knock sounded at the door. Mr. Sayword murmured, "Uh…Mr. Scout and Sheldon, the principal requests your presence in his office. Please finish your developing as soon as possible."

Bryce cracked a grin as I laughed. "We're almost done, Mr. Sayword."

Before we got to the main office, we saw Corrigan in the hallway, hunched over an open locker.

"Seriously, dude." Bryce clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Corrigan jumped around, eyes wide, and nudged the locker shut with his heel. When he saw it was us, he relaxed.

"Jeez. Don't do that!" he hissed and opened the locker again. He was on a mission.

"Don't you ever go to class?" I asked.

"Not if I can help it," Corrigan muttered.

"Whose locker?" Bryce reached inside and plucked a book out. He opened the cover and read, "Theodore Campbell."

Theodore Campbell? "That's Teddy. He's in my art class."

"Yeah, well, he's going down," Corrigan mumbled as he looked through Teddy's bag.

"What are you doing?"

"He spray-painted 'Greco' on my car. The douche is going down. I'm looking for his keys."

"Greco? What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but it's on my car," he growled. Corrigan never growls. In fact, a serious Corrigan was a rare event.

"What are you going to do?"

"Steal his car and give it to Hoodum."

"Isn't that excessive?"

Hoodum ran the local gang that specialized in the economics of refurbished cars. They stripped cars, stolen or 'legitimately' donated.

"He spray-painted my car. No one does that and gets away with it."

Fair enough.

"How do you know it was Teddy?"

"Chet saw him do it. He did it when we left school." Then a set of keys was produced and he took off down the hallway.

Before we could follow, our names were shouted down the hallway. "Mr. Scout and Miss Jeneve!" The principal's secretary, Mrs. Walker, was irate as she pointed at us. "If you do not get your butts in this office within thirty seconds, you are both expelled from this school."

I grinned. I liked to see an irate Mrs. Walker.

Chad Yerling grinned when he saw us walk in. He leaned back in one of the waiting chairs, his arm rested over two more, and had kicked up his shoes on another pair of chairs. Three students were forced to squish together in the remaining two chairs across the waiting room.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked as he moved his legs. Bryce and I sat down while Chad rearranged himself to lay sprawled over three other chairs.

Mrs. Walker harrumphed as she sent a withering glare our way before she walked into the employee's lounge.

Chad beamed and folded his hands underneath his head. "I got caught getting a blowjob in the boiler room."

"By who?"

Chad shrugged. "Just some girl."

I narrowed my eyes and studied him. He was lying, but whatever. I saw that the other students were frozen at his words. Chad's coolness rose another level.

He nodded in our direction again. "So what are you guys doing here?"

I shrugged and Bryce replied, "Mouthing off? I don't know."

Chad smirked. "Did you guys go to the library in second? Word is that you took off." And had sex.

He hadn't said the words, but they were still there.

"We skipped to eat with Corrigan."

The sneer disappeared from Chad's face as the office door burst open and a student sprinted inside. He panted as he doubled over for breath, "Corrigan Raimler is—"

We shared a look. Oh shit. Bryce moved in a flash and dragged the kid outside.

Chad glanced to me. "What was that about?"

I shrugged and moved to follow. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that Mrs. Walker was still absent—she was. Chad moved to follow too, but I shook my head. "You cover for us. Tell them I got sick."

He could've come, but I didn't like Chad—never had. He gave me the creeps.

"Okay." Chad nodded, but watched through the window as I darted around the hallway.

Bryce had dragged the kid outside and was already interrogating him by the time I got there. "So what were you going to say?" He prodded the kid with a finger in his shoulder.

He trembled when Bryce towered over him. "I…I…" he stammered and glanced up at me.

"Just tell us what you were going to say."

"I…Corrigan…" He took a deep breath and rushed out, "Corrigan Raimler stole one of my friends' cars. I know it wasn't his because it's Teddy's."

Bryce and I shared a look.

"You were going to tell the staff that Corrigan stole your buddy's car?"

He paled when Bryce repeated his words.

"No…nnnnoo. I wasn't. I was just…"

"Corrigan is my best friend."

The kid shrunk back against the wall.

"He's my best friend too," Bryce murmured. He heard the lethal promise in that voice.

"Um…"

"What's your name?" I asked as I shifted closer to him.

His eyes widened further and he stuttered, "D-d-Darrell."

"Darrell? And you're friends with Teddy?"

"Yeah."

I nodded and brushed against him. Bryce shifted backwards to give me space and I crooned into Darrell's ear, "When you hear that Teddy's car is gone, you're going to not remember anything about it. Okay?"

He nodded quickly and swallowed.

I ran a hand down his arm and murmured, "And the reason you're not going to remember anything is because my friend could get into a lot of trouble. I don't want that. Bryce doesn't want that." I moved back and stared him in the face. "You don’t want that either. If we hear that Corrigan's name was slipped by anyone, you're the one that we're coming after. Got it?"

He jerked his head up and down. His hands covered the front of his pants as I stepped back. Then he rushed past us, back inside.

I cursed as I realized what had almost happened. Dammit, Corrigan. Bryce shared my sentiment and yanked his phone out of his pocket. It wasn’t long until I heard him bark, "You idiot! You were seen by a kid. Do you know what would've happened if the kid had told?"

I breathed in relief as I fell back against the bricked wall of our school and sat down.

Bryce swore again, "No. It's criminal charges, asswipe. You could've gone to jail or…" He hung up and stared at me.

I spoke the obvious, "It's not the first time we've bailed Corrigan out of jail."

"I know." Bryce slumped next to me and slid to the floor. "But they would've pressed him harder because he'd be connected to Hoodum."

It was known around town that the cops had a vendetta against Hoodum and his gang. They wanted to shut 'em down completely, but they were having a hard time. Hoodum was slippery and smart.

The door opened again and Chad poked his head out. "Hey, just so you know, Mrs. Walker is freaking out that you guys are gone. You might want to get back in here."

"You were supposed to cover for us." I glared at him as Bryce took my hand and helped me up.

Bryce looked at me, surprised, but Chad shrugged and muttered, "I tried, dude. Jeez."

When he went back inside, Bryce held me back by my elbow. "What was that about?"

I shrugged and moved inside.

Relief was evident on Mrs. Walker's face when she saw us. She snapped two fingers at us and pointed to the seats. "You two, stay put and don't move. I don't care if you're sick, if you have to vomit, or the school burns down. You stay put or face expulsion."

Bryce and I sat.

The other students were still there and had mixed looks of fear, awe, and trepidation.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall when Bryce started to chat with Chad. Over the next hour, each of the students went inside the principal's office until it was just me, Bryce, and Chad. It seemed to take longer than an hour.

Mrs. Walker received a phone call and then hung up. She repeated her instructions for us to stay put before she left the office once more.

"Seriously, guys. What'd you do? I haven't seen Mrs. Walker that pissy since Corrigan got caught screwing the Spanish teacher's daughter."

"Oh yeah," Bryce laughed.

Corrigan's popularity had skyrocketed that week. He'd been suspended for three days, but his arrival to the Friday football game had been to a standing ovation. None of the parents had stood, but some had been amused. Corrigan had saluted the crowd. I rolled my eyes as I remembered. No one liked the Spanish teacher, Corrigan least of all.

"Sheldon," Miss Connors said softly. "Can you come with me?"

I snapped to attention and shot up. Mrs. Walker had returned with the counselor.

"No," I said.

Mrs. Walker looked taken aback, but Miss Connors wasn't surprised. She sighed and stepped back from me.

Oh hell no. I was not going to deal with her.

"Sheldon, please." Miss Connors said again. She frowned at Bryce's hand that had moved to cup my elbow.

"You can't make me talk to you.”

"Miss Jeneve," Mrs. Walker snapped. "You will talk with our counselor or you will be expelled."

I narrowed my eyes at her and called her bluff. Whatever. I didn’t care. "Expel me then."

Her eyes bulged out.

"Sheldon, this is ridiculous." Miss Connors stepped forward. "I just want to talk to you. That's all. I want to know how you're doing."

"No, you don't," I spat out. "You want to try to figure me out. I'm not one of your subjects to understand and test."

"You have so much potential," Miss Connors pressed. "I don't understand why you're wasting it all away. I want to help you."

"I'm fine with how my life is." I stepped back. The chair pressed against the backs of my knees.

Bryce was still beside me. He watched me, but this wasn’t something I wanted him to see. I didn’t want anyone to see this.

"No, you're not. Sheldon, you spend your time with these boys..."

Bryce whipped his head towards her.

Miss Connors faltered, but resumed again, "You are so intelligent, Sheldon. You could already be in college. Your IQ tests were—"

"You can't say any of that!" I shouted. "That's confidential."

"Sheldon, please…"

More students had filed into the office, but they all stopped abruptly.

I shook my head. I needed out of there. I needed to get away, now. "You can't do this. You can't make me talk to you. Expel me then. I don't care. Screw you." I shoved past them. At the door, I stopped and met Bryce's gaze. "Call me later."

He nodded, his jaw was clenched.

Chapter 4

I went home and showered again. After I had changed into more comfortable clothes, I moved downstairs to my father's study. Inside, I sat behind the computer and typed 'Greco' in a search engine. A moment later I searched through the results and found out that 'Greco' stood for a Greco Defense, named after Giachino Greco. It was a chess move that was used by amateurs who were stupid.

Corrigan had been right. The word had been an insult, but a nerdy insult. So I forwarded the article to Corrigan's email.

When I went downstairs to watch a movie later, the doorbell rang. Muttering an irritated curse, I was surprised to see Mena at the door.

"Hi." She gave me a nervous wave.

"Come on in." I gestured inside and we walked towards the kitchen. "Do you want anything to eat? Or drink? I was going to watch a movie."

"Oh. Um…" She laughed again and shook her head. "I can't believe this."

"Believe what?"

"This. Me. You." She waved between us. "I'm nervous and I'm never nervous. I've gone against some of the richest snobs in the nation and I'm nervous around you."

"Why?" I took out a diet soda and slid it across the counter to her. "You want a glass with some ice?"

"Sure." She sat on a stool at the counter, then explained, "I'm nervous because… I don't know. Dumb, huh?"

"I told the school's counselor and the secretary of our principal to expel me today," I stated. I hopped onto the counter and dangled my foot over the edge. "It's not dumb, but there's not a lot that makes me nervous."

"I know. I heard. That was pretty balsy."

I shrugged. "Had nothing to do with balls." I didn’t care about the consequences.

"So…" She took a deep breath. "Have you thought about what I said before?"

"About being friends?" Who outright asked for a friendship?

"Yeah. I know…it's kinda stupid, but I wanted to know before I entered the social scene tomorrow."

"Actually," I smirked. "I'm supposed to become friends with you anyway."

"Why?" She asked as she sat up straighter on her stool.

"Because of Corrigan. He asked me this morning to make friends with you. He wants you to come to a party this weekend."

"Oh!" Disgust flickered over her face before she contained it. "He recognized me after you left school. He did a double-take and started muttering about second chances. I don't believe in second chances for scum like him."

"He's one of my best friends."

"Oh." Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I just—"

I waved her off. "Don't worry." I laughed and drank some of my own Diet Coke. "Corrigan's an ass. I told him myself this morning."

"I'm sorry. I knew he was one of your best friends. I just…when I met Corrigan, he slept with my best friend and never called her. She cried for an entire week."

That sounded exactly like Corrigan.

Mena grimaced again and then she cringed when her phone rang.

"It's my brother," she mumbled before she answered it and moved into the living room.

I nodded. Denton Steele was on the other end of that line. Something in me should’ve reacted, but it didn’t. The superstud had been an embarrassing mistake. Since my parents were gone and their parents had divorced, I didn’t see a future where I would have to see him again.

Then my front door slammed again and I heard Corrigan holler, "Sheldon! Where are you, you freak?!"

I waited as I heard his voice grow louder. Just as he turned the corner, a sly grin spread across his face and he shook his head.

I laughed.

"I cannot believe you." He patted his chest. "You are my idol. I love you. I will always take your side whenever you fight with Bryce."

"Shut up," I chuckled and glanced down.

"Seriously, though," he sobered. "You're a living legend at school. Again. You told the counselor to go to hell."

"No, I didn't."

"You told her to expel you. That's the same thing. You said 'screw you.' I've never heard of any student who had the balls to say that."

"Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “I was pissed."

"And frantic," he added as he hopped up next to me. He patted my knee. "Bryce told me what happened. And thanks, by the way, for covering for me."

That's right. I'd forgotten.

"Corrigan, if that kid talks…" I started, concerned.

Corrigan stopped me with his hand. "Don't. It's covered."

"I know, but Bryce is right. If the cops find out, you know they're not going to be nice. They're after Hoodum."

"I know and seriously, shut up about it.”

I snapped my mouth shut.

"I'm sorry," he muttered in the next second. "I'm worried about you, okay? Bryce said you freaked about the counselor."

"I know and seriously, shut up about it."

Corrigan flushed, hearing his own words, but he shut up. He jumped off the counter and raked a hand through his hair. And then we watched each other, at an impasse. He never wanted to be reminded how stupid his actions had been—not for the action, but because someone had seen him. I didn't want to talk about my counselor freak-out.

"Look," he began. "Want to go grab something to eat? Let's go do something."

Just then Mena came back into the room and stopped short at the sight of Corrigan. His back was still to her. She stood silent and shook her head to me.

I asked, "Like what?"

Mena mouthed 'thank you' and moved to walk down the front hallway. A second later, just because I was listening for it, I heard a soft click.

"What was that?" Corrigan twisted around.

I shrugged. "Did you know that Mena already goes to our school?"

"Oh yeah. I meant to talk to you about that. You know her. I saw her talking to you when you took off," Corrigan accused me as he grabbed my hand and pulled me off the counter. He dragged me up the stairs and into my bedroom.

"What are we doing?"

"You're changing and we're going to go out." His voice was muffled as he pressed his nose in my closet. A moment later, he produced some leather pants and a barely-there halter top.

"Nice try, but no." I shook my head and fell on my bed.

Corrigan nearly giggled as he dove back into the closet and pulled out a barely-there skirt with the same halter-top.

Laughing, I pushed him out of the way. "Get out. I'll find my own clothes. And where are we going?"

Through the closed door, Corrigan called out, "Let's go play some pool or we can go swimming at Chad Yerling's house."

I finished dressing and yanked opened the door.

I wore the barely-there skirt, but my sweater covered the top. It hugged in all the right curves.

"Bryce is a very lucky man," Corrigan mused as his eyes lit up. He suggested, "You have those black boots that come to your hips. You can wear those…"

I slipped on my flip-flops and walked past him. "Let's go. You're driving."

"Then I'm driving your car." He dangled my keys in the air.

I whisked the keys from his hand and locked the front door behind us. Inside the car, I suggested, "How about we go and hustle us some money?"

Corrigan cringed.

"What?"

"Let's just play. Why do we need to hustle?" He glanced at his knuckles.

"Because just playing isn't fun. Hustling is so much more fun and you won't get into a fight. Promise."

He sighed, "I don't like that look." He waved a finger in my face. "That look has gotten me in jail before. I don't like that look."

I grabbed his finger and pushed it down. "Stop waving your finger in my face. And you go to jail plenty enough on your own, you don't need me to get you there." It was true.

"Stop giving me that look." Corrigan sighed when the look intensified.

I stopped at the school's hangout, The Café Diner. It was a stupid name, but everything else wasn't. It had the best burgers, salads, shakes, and some of the employees would slip us alcohol. Corrigan gave me a twenty when I went inside and marched past the back counter. He stayed inside and moved to one of the tables to chat.

After I struck a deal with the head cook, I walked through the main area and I couldn't find Corrigan, but Chet pointed him out.

As I moved around the back corner, near the phone booth, I saw Corrigan had his tongue shoved down some girl's throat.

I took pity and turned to leave. I didn't get far when Chad stepped into my path.

"What do you want, Yerling?"

His eyes trailed down and then back up, but not after it lingered on my breasts.

"Eyes up front, Yerling. Now," I snapped. "And I'm waiting."

He smirked. It was the same grin that I'd seen him use on more than a few drunken girls.

I just sighed on the inside. It wouldn't be my eyelashes that I'd bat at him.

"You don't like me much, do you?"

"What makes you say that?"

He didn't answer that, but said instead, "Are you and Scout exclusive? Because I've seen him with a lot of other girls, you know."

Nothing new here, buddy. "If Bryce and I are exclusive, then it's Bryce and me who should know that."

"He slept with Lew on Friday at his party." He shifted when I tried to move around him.

I sighed and regarded him. The douche wasn’t even smart about his lies.

"What?" Chad sent another of his grins that he'd perfected to get into so many pants. Corrigan had a look. Bryce had a look. And Chad had a look.

"Are you telling me this because you're hoping you have a chance with me?"

His eyes widened a bit, but he recovered. "Why? Would you be interested?"

I leaned closer and whispered, "I get approached by a lot of guys. I don't know why you think that you'd have a chance. And you got the wrong guy. It was Corrigan that slept with her." The grin was wiped clean when I leaned back. "Now move before I move you."

I heard a slight hush fall over the diner. Everyone had been watching. Chad knew it. I knew it. I hadn't cared, but now Chad was all the more humiliated because of it. We were at a stand-off. What would Chad do to protect the little dignity he had as a piece of scum?

We stared each other down.

"What?" I crossed my arms again. Still, Chad didn't move. He just stayed there, angry and fighting for control.

I noticed that Chet stood up, along with a bunch of other guys in the room.

Chet was good friends with Bryce and Corrigan, but he was also on the football team with Chad. In fact, a lot of the guys that stood up were football players. I wasn't sure if it mattered because the male dominance placed Bryce and Corrigan at the top, but Chad was below him.

This might've been a showdown to change the social status and Chad might've chosen me to be that symbol.

"You don't want to do this."

In the back we could hear a moan. Corrigan chuckled and hushed her.

"Do what?" Chad lifted an eyebrow.

Okay. Play the innocent idiot. "What I think you're doing."

Chet stepped closer. "Leave her alone, Yerling."

“From what? I'm not doing anything. I'm just standing here."

Chet came to stand behind me. He grabbed my elbow and moved in front. Then he turned to face the other football player. Both were tall and large, but there was an underlying warning with Chet’s tone. "Step back, Yerling."

"What? You're going to escort her out? All safe-like and be her knight in shining armor?"

Two more guys moved around behind Chad, Tatum and Holster. They were both football players, but they were loyal to Chet first. A part of me was relieved, but that pissed me off. I shouldn't need to be relieved at the sight of these guys, not here, not in my territory.

“Come on, he’s not going anywhere.” I felt Chet’s hand on my elbow and he led me out the door. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I bit out. No, I wasn’t. I was pissed. I shouldn’t have been scared by that dick. "What the hell was that?"

Chet glanced at me. An apology flashed over his face as he sighed. "Chad's been a loose cannon lately."

"He hit on me and I turned him down."

"You humiliated him."

"No." I had, but he'd chosen the when and where. That wasn't on me.

"Great, well…I don't think it matters. He's had his eye on you since eighth grade. Be careful, okay? Tell Bryce about this."

I nodded and climbed into my car. Instead of going to the pool hall with Corrigan, I turned around the back door of the kitchen and got out to put the beer inside. Then I headed home, alone, where I was for another hour before I heard my doorbell ring again. I knew Bryce would probably stop over, but I had locked the doors anyway.

When I got there, it was Corrigan instead.

"Hey."

He brushed past me. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Great. I bit my lip as I studied the outrage on him. He wasn’t going to let this go so that meant I’d have to explain…what, exactly? I moved past him and headed back downstairs to the media room.

"I was just around the corner. I would've helped, Sheldon."

It wasn't the point. I waved him off. I didn’t need help. No, I had. I shouldn’t have needed help. "Chet was there. It was fine."

"Are you stupid?"

I bristled and sent a warning glint his way.

He caught it and lowered his voice. "Seriously, Sheldon. That was scary, even for me. Chet said it took him, Tatum, and Holster to stand up before Chad finally backed down. This is huge.”

I groaned and pulled a pillow over my head. "Shut up."

"I cannot—" Corrigan stopped when the front door slammed shut.

We glanced at each other before he took off running upstairs.

I stayed put and waited, tense, for what seemed like forever. I even shut off the television and listened, but I didn't hear a thing. I should've gone upstairs. I should've contained the situation, but I knew it'd come down to an argument between Bryce and myself or Bryce and Chad Yerling.

I chose to be selfish.

I went to the pool table. I was good on a normal basis, but I sucked that night. And then I heard the door slam again. Cursing, I dropped the pool stick and dashed upstairs.

A note was left on the kitchen counter.

Went out. Be back later.

B & C

Chapter 5

I skipped supper, shot another hour at the pool table, and even watched a movie. My mind was reeling, but I couldn't bring myself to call Bryce or Corrigan to find out what was going on. It pissed me off because I wasn't relaxed, laughing, or being satisfied. I was anxious, pissy, and tense. All three emotions that I hated.

When the doorbell rang at 10:32 that night, I shot off the couch and raced upstairs.

Instead of seeing Corrigan or Bryce, I opened the door in surprise to find Denton Steele. He grinned at me and skimmed his eyes up and down my body. I had changed to a skimpy tank-top with no bra and pajama bottoms that rested low on my hips. Coral toenails peeked from underneath. I brushed my hair behind my ears. The slight movement teased my shoulders and I felt goose bumps break out over my arms.

"Steele," I greeted, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"You look good, Sheldon." He nodded. "I like your hair like that, when you let it loose."

I touched my hair. It wasn't anything special, but it was straight. The guys seemed to like how dark it was.

"Can I come in?"

"No." But I held the door open and waited as he passed by.

He glanced around the place and whistled, "It looks just like I remembered." He flashed a grin that girls nationwide swooned over. With his brown locks styled to frame his face and those hazel eyes, I remembered why I'd made a play for him before and grinned at the memory of my orgasm. He'd been creative.

"Remember my garage?" he teased.

"I remember the feel of the couch in your garage," I replied. I actually remembered the echo of my orgasm around the building.

Denton chuckled and moved into the kitchen.

"So what brings you to my doorstep at this late?"

"Aren't you going to ask if I want anything to eat or drink?" He frowned. "I think that's what you offered my sister."

"You’re here because of your sister?"

The flirtatious glint was gone now. Instead, he gave me a chilled look. "Look. I don't want my sister hanging around you."

My eyebrows arched at that one.

"How come?"

"No offense, but you're not the type of girl I want around Mena right now. She's," he frowned. "She's vulnerable right now."

"Because of your mother's divorce?"

"Mena told you about that." A scowl flashed over his face before it was replaced with concern. "Yeah, but it's more than that. She's going through some stuff and she's not adjusting well to being back home with our dad. I'm staying at the house for awhile to help her out, but I can't stay forever."

“Does she know how you feel?"

"She does. I've told her my concerns."

"And what are those?” Though I was sure that I’d heard them before, other times, other people, other situations.

He halted as he considered me. My face was void of defensiveness. I really was curious. "I told her that you're more experienced in the guy department than she is. She talks big. I know she does, but she's only dated one guy."

"Or was it one guy that I know about?"

"No," he answered. "It was just one guy. She dated him for a year and they never had sex."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." Denton shrugged. "She's not ready for the world that you live in, Sheldon."

"What world is that?"

He gave me a knowing look. "I learned tricks from you that time. You didn't learn anything from me and I'm the famous actor. That says something."

"Maybe she could learn to toughen up," I challenged, but my heart really wasn't in it.

Denton stiffened. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you. Our family has its problems, but we've got two parents in each home. Mena has serious anger problems against her biological dad, but she's got her parents. And you…" Don't.

Oh, whoa. That was a slam. "What exactly are you saying, Denton?"

"I really didn't come over here to piss you off or hurt your feelings."

"But you are, so say what you came to say."

Denton sighed and studied me a moment. I felt like everyone did that when they picked their words with caution. People did it a lot around me.

He broke, "I don't want my sister to become a girl that screws her movie star neighbor because she's pissed off at her parents."

I felt a punch to my gut. "You're in luck. You don't have a movie star neighbor. You just have a girl that screws her movie star neighbor because she's bored and he's pretty good in the sack."

He grinned tightly and shook his head, then raked a hand through his hair as he considered me again.

The silence was thick, but he broke it when he murmured, "I'm out of line. I know that. I know I had no right to say what I did and if a guy ever said that to my sister, I'd beat him down."

"Was that an apology?" Was he kidding?

"Yes. No. Kinda." He shook his head and chuckled in disbelief. "I cannot believe how I'm stumbling over my words. I'm an actor and I never stumble over my words. It's one of the reasons I’m so good."

I didn't care.

He caught my look. "But then again, you probably don't care."

I tilted my chin up.

"Okay. Look—I don't want Mena to become as tough as you."

That was different. I sighed and stepped back. "For what it's worth," I murmured, "I think that's why your sister wants me as a friend. I'd give her protection at school."

That caught his interest.

"She's your sister," I added. "That's going to get out and she's going to be eaten alive by some of those girls in there." Mena might've thought otherwise, but she was wrong. In fact, she was delusional.

"I never thought of it that way." He skimmed his eyes over my figure again. "You're hot when you're pissed off."

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not that girl who screws her movie star neighbor because she's pissed at her parents anymore."

Denton barked out a laugh. "Wow," he whistled. "That was good."

Just then the door shoved open and slammed again.

"Sheldon," Bryce called out before he turned the corner. "We gotta go. Corrigan's in jail…" His voice trailed off when he saw I wasn't alone.

Denton sent me a frown as he glanced between the two of us.

This was ironic.

I said weakly, "I'm not in jail. It's my friend who…"

"Would be Mena's friend too," Denton finished. He walked past Bryce and threw over his shoulder, "Just talk to her and let her down gently, please?"

When the door shut again, Bryce asked, "What was that about?"

"Big brother thinks I'm not a good example for his precious little sister," I muttered.

"You haven't even met her yet."

Never mind. "What's Corrigan in jail for?"

Bryce hesitated, but said, "Fleeing the scene of an accident."

"What accident?"

"Corrigan smashed up Yerling's car. When he tried to leave, the police flashed their lights and he took off." Bryce chuckled. "He led a high-speed chase. He's so proud of himself for that one."

I sighed, but darted to my room and changed. Again.

I threw a bulky sweatshirt on and replaced my pajama pants with a pair of baggy jeans. "I'm ready," I said as I moved back downstairs.

Bryce nodded and held the door open when we moved to his car.

I caught a glimpse of his knuckles as my motion-detector flared on. They were bloody and bruised.

"Whose blood?" I asked, but I already knew. "Is that what you guys did? You beat up Yerling and Corrigan beat up his car? For what? For good measure?"

He shrugged and started the car.

I shook my head. "Is this just because of me? I just had one older brother come to my house and tell me that he doesn't want his little sister to grow up and have a life like mine."

"What?" Bryce shot me an incredulous look as he pulled into traffic.

"Nothing. How much money do we need?"

"A thousand cash, just to be safe." Bail varied on the crime.

"Stop at the ATM at Garrity's. You can wash your hands off in the bathroom."

When he pulled into the gas station, he murmured before either of us got outside, "Look. This wasn't just about you. A lot of the guys were behind this. Yerling's been off lately and he's made some of the guys nervous. And the girls."

"I was the last straw?"

"Something like that."

"What if he presses charges?"

Bryce shrugged, "He won't. He knows better."

"Or what? He'll get beat up by everyone else?"

"Something like that."

"I'm starting to hate that phrase," I muttered as I threw open the door and moved to the ATM machine.

When I got the cash, I bought a soda and an energy drink. In the car, I handed the energy drink to Bryce and drank my soda.

"Thanks," he murmured as he opened it and put it in the cup holder.

A moment later, we pulled into the jail and approached the front desk.

"Can I help you?" A deputy glanced up and raked his eyes over each of us. His eyes lingered on Bryce's bruised knuckles.

"Yeah. I'm here to post bail for a friend of mine," I spoke up.

When he asked, I gave Corrigan's name and a moment later we were given some paperwork to fill out. It seemed to take forever, but in truth it was probably fifteen minutes before we saw Corrigan smirk cockily when he was hustled from the back holding area. They took off his handcuffs just before he was allowed his personal items and moved through the gate.

"Hey," Corrigan greeted us both with a hug.

Bryce thumped him on his back while I punched him in the stomach.

"Ow," Corrigan grunted, feigning pain, but he grinned a second later and wrapped me in another big hug.

We trailed back out to the car in silence and I took the backseat.

Once we were inside, he asked Bryce, "So did you…?"

Bryce flexed his knuckles in response and let out a hiss in pain.

"Man," Corrigan whistled. "You did him good."

I rolled my eyes in the back, but remained quiet.

Corrigan twisted in his seat and asked, excitement in his eyes, "Wanna hear about the chase?"

I groaned, but a chuckle slipped out.

"They could've shot you, Corrigan," I pointed out.

"Nah, man," he laughed. "When they cornered me, I got out all slow with my hands in the air. It was awesome, but they were rough when they cuffed me."

Bryce asked, "They pull their guns?"

"Yeah. A few. They put 'em away quick though when they realized I was just a kid. I bonded with my arresting officers. I was cracking jokes on the way to the station. And I told them all about Chad, what he did."

"What?" Bryce asked sharply. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"They said they'd keep their eyes out for him."

"Man," Bryce groaned. "If they go over there, they're going to want him to press charges against me."

"What? Nah." Corrigan shook his head, but a cautious look flashed across. He laughed again and exclaimed, "No way. Yerling won't say a thing. He knows what'll happen if he does."

"What is this? Like Fight Club?" I mumbled.

"Yes," Corrigan answered while Bryce replied, "No."

They glanced at each other and shared a meaningful look.

Corrigan corrected himself, "I mean, it's not anything like Fight Club."

"Right," I scoffed in disbelief.

"The first rule: no one can talk about it. The second rule is: no one can talk about it. And the third rule is: if they do, they're out. Did I get it right?"

"It's not like that." Bryce met my eyes in the rearview mirror. "Yerling's pulled some other stunts lately. He just needed to be put back in his place. That's all."

"Let's grab some food. I'm starving." Corrigan pointed at the closest fast food and we trudged inside.

One of the girls whispered to her friend behind the counter and soon two additional employees were at the counter.

I groaned when Corrigan literally licked it up.

I sat at a nearby booth and waited as the two morons got their food. Bryce grabbed a soda for me, but neither moved for a moment when their food had been placed on their tray.

I marched up and grabbed the tray. As I moved past, I bumped shoulders with both of them on purpose.

"Hey," Corrigan protested when he spilled his drink.

"Oops," I deadpanned.

Bryce came to sit beside me on my side of the booth. Corrigan sat, inhaled his food, and grabbed the rest of his burger. He stood at the counter while he finished it and his drink.

Bryce relaxed against the booth and slid an arm on the back. He purposely stretched and slid his leg beside mine.

"Stop," I murmured.

Bryce chuckled and leaned closer to me. He whispered in my ear, "It'll be fine."

I shrugged him off.

Bryce frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you? You're usually up for this stuff."

I was, but I acted like a 'girl.' That pissed me off more.

"Nothing," I mumbled.

"What? Is it Yerling?"

Nothing.

"Is it what Steele said to you?"

Nothing.

"Oh." He got it. "It's the counselor thing."

I tensed beside him.

He leaned closer and pressed a kiss underneath my ear.

I relaxed slightly and closed my eyes when his hand slid onto my leg. He massaged just inside my thigh before he continued his exploration around my neck. I hung my head down, helpless and turned so he could capture my lips with his. I felt his fingers dip inside my pants and murmured, huskily, "If you wanted to take my mind off that, its working."

Bryce chuckled and his breath teased my skin.

"Let's go. Now," I breathed.

Bryce shot up. "Corrigan, we're leaving."

Corrigan finished talking with one of the girls and jogged over with a suggestive smirk. "You two go on. I'm going to grab a ride home with this girl."

Bryce and I looked over and saw that she was giggling with another friend. They both blushed when they realized they were the center of our attention.

In the car, Bryce kept a hand on my leg. It stayed in place.

When we pulled into my driveway, I hit the garage opener on my keychain and Bryce pulled his car beside my mom's Chrysler. Mine was still parked outside.

"Sheldon."

We were startled when a figure spoke up from the driveway's darkened edge, but she stepped forward and the light shone over Mena's strained face.

Bryce swore.

I let out a breath I'd been holding when I murmured, "Mena. What are you doing here?"

It was almost midnight.

"My brother came and talked to you, didn't he?" she asked, anxious.

"Uh…yeah." We moved inside and into the kitchen. Mena followed and perched on the stool she'd earlier occupied. She hugged herself.

"I knew he would." She shook her head. "He's just being an overprotective brother, but he doesn't understand anything."

Bryce frowned at me. He nodded towards the kitchen table, but I shook my head. He went to the fridge and grabbed a beer before he disappeared upstairs.

"Wow," Mena breathed out.

"What?"

"Bryce Scout. Wow."

"Are you serious? Your brother is Denton Steele."

"And my brother is my brother," she replied, dryly. "Believe me. I don't see the allure."

Let's hope not.

"Uh…" I shifted uncomfortably. "I've had a really long night, so…"

"Right. Cut to the chase." Mena nodded. "I can do that."

I relaxed slightly.

"Here's the thing…my brother thinks I'm this innocent little girl. He doesn't want me to be as worldly as you. That's a load of crap. Denton just wants to shelter me from all the bad stuff in this world and he thinks that you've seen more than your fair share."

Um… This was nearing a 'near emotion' event.

Mena proceeded, unaware, "I am a little sheltered. I'll own up to that, but he thinks that I haven't even had sex. That's not true. I've had sex with lots of guys, he just doesn't know about any of them."

"He seemed pretty sure that you hadn't had sex with your boyfriend."

"Because I hadn't," Mena said bluntly. "Justin was Denton's errand boy. He told him everything. Justin and I never went further than kissing on the lips."

Ewe. I cringed and asked, "He asked your boyfriend if you guys…?"

"Yeah. He was like Denton's spy. I figured it out pretty quick and realized that Justin was the perfect cover for me to live my life my way."

I sucked in my breath. This talk was really becoming too uncomfortable.

"Listen, I uh…" I glanced towards the stairs and gestured upstairs. "I've got…"

"Okay." Mena grinned widely and nodded, "I get it. You have more important things to do than listen to me complain. I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"I doubt I'll be there."

"Oh. Oh yeah because of…that thing that happened, right?" She watched me intently, but I smiled.

"Okay." Mena laughed again and moved to the front door. When she left, I locked the door, hit the garage button, and reset the security system. I stopped in the bathroom before I moved towards the light that shone out of my bedroom.

Bryce leaned against my headboard, shirtless, with an empty beer beside him. ESPN was on my flat-screen.

I shut off the lights and shimmied out of my jeans and sweatshirt. I crawled underneath the covers and felt Bryce pull me into his arms. I could smell my mint toothpaste on his breath.

"Who was that girl?" he asked.

"That was Steele's little sister. She started at our school today and asked to be my friend." I still felt weird about the whole thing.

"That's the girl that Corrigan wants to bag?"

"Yeah, but I don't think he knows how protective Denton is of his little sister." I turned over and grinned up at Bryce as he looked at me.

"It's kinda freaky," he frowned.

"What is?" I slid a leg up and nestled it between his.

"That dude was here before and she showed up tonight. That's what's freaky."

"They're just…I don't know. Messed up or something. He cares about his sister and she's trying to have a life. I can relate."

"You can?"

"No. Not really, but I think it's sweet."

"Because you haven't had that," Bryce bit out.

I slid my hand around his neck, but we both swore when his phone rang.

Bryce reached over me to grab it and cursed swiftly before he flipped it open. He sat up and murmured, "Yeah, mom?" He yawned a replied, "No. No. I'm at Corrigan's house. We were watching the game. It's still on."

A second later he closed his phone and placed it on my bedside table.

Since he was up there, I shifted smoothly underneath him and wrapped my legs around his waist.

Startled, Bryce shifted more comfortably, but bent and kissed my chin, then my cheek, lips.

He finished under my ear and I moaned.

Chapter 6

I woke and instantly knew Bryce wasn't beside me. I knew that without feeling for him or opening my eyes. He rarely was. Whenever he did sleep over, he was the first up and he rarely woke me for a morning round.

It was just something weird about us. We didn't do the morning quickie.

What he had done, though, was left my bedroom door open.

That was another thing about Bryce. He liked to leave my bedroom open. He told me once that it was because my room got unbearably stuffy, but I didn't mind. When I got up to close the door, I was surprised when I saw Bryce walk back in and pull his shirt over his head. I sat back and watched as he tugged it down to cover his chest.

I whistled appreciatively.

Bryce ignored me and shuffled some things underneath my bed until he emerged with a pair of men's sandals.

"What are those doing under there?" I asked as I fell onto the bed.

Bryce fitted a belt around his waist and replied, distracted, "I dropped them down there awhile ago. It's going to be seriously hot today."

"I thought you were home."

"I'm going, but these are my favorite pair and since I remembered they were down there…" He looked up and raked his eyes up and down my figure.

My sweatshirt had ridden up and a wide amount of skin showed.

I didn't move to cover up.

"So what are you thinking about Corrigan's new girl from last night?" Bryce turned away and leaned against the wall.

What'd I say? No morning quickies for us. Someday I might ask why that was, but not today.

I grinned slyly and sat up. I removed my sweatshirt and scooted up in bed, knowing that my pajama bottoms would get caught against my bedcovers. My movement would pull them down further. And they did.

Bryce noticed too.

"I think it's pathetic," I said flatly, but I grinned slyly as I watched Bryce watch me.

"She's cute. What are you pissed about?" His eyes lingered at my hipbone where my thong peeked out.

"I'm not. I'm a little tired of watching Corrigan roll over those girls, though. They let him do anything to them."

Bryce swallowed slowly. He watched as I wiggled further up and my pants wiggled further down.

"You let me do anything to you," he said huskily. "And you haven't even met her."

"I don't have to meet her to know she's just like all the others," I said evenly. "And I don't pant after you and I don't pin my heart on my sleeve." Here we go, a conversation about the two of us was now on the table. The game was over.

His eyes whipped to mine and stayed there.

I sighed and stood. I moved to the closet and grabbed some clothes.

"What's your problem?" Bryce asked as he moved to the doorframe. He watched me strip down and step into the shower.

Over the water, I said, "Nothing. I'm just kinda tired of having to be nice to those girls. They're around for, like, two minutes and then he's got another girl over." If he wasn't going to say anything about 'us', then two could play at that.

"Are you serious? You're actually mad that Corrigan plays these girls?"

"No," I said tightly and finished rinsing my hair. I held Bryce's eyes and knew we thought the same thing. Bryce played the same games, but he played them when I wasn't around. And I did my own thing.

Bryce sighed and moved from the doorway. When I dressed in my bedroom, I heard the front door slam shut.

I wasn't planning on going to school, but I'd already gotten dressed so I figured…

Outside, just as I climbed into my car, I braked suddenly. Mena stood on her house's patio with a blank stare on her face. That was odd. I frowned, but reversed and drove to school. I wasn't about to put much thought into Mena's life when I barely thought about my own.

When I walked into school, I saw a group of guys surrounding Bryce at his locker. He was turned with his head bent as he listened to whatever Chet was saying. Corrigan stood on the outskirts with a girl with dark brown hair that fell to her waist. She was short, but had exotic eyes. They glowed when she looked at Corrigan, but she still looked awkward.

My guess, this was the girl from last night. And I smirked when I saw that Becky Lew stood on his other side, just behind him. Becky chatted with her friends while New Girl glanced self-consciously around. She hugged her books to her chest and averted her eyes when they trailed and met mine.

Holster nudged Corrigan and nodded in my direction. Corrigan immediately left the group and fell in line beside me. He threw an arm around my shoulder and said, cockily, "So what do you think?"

"I generally try not to think."

Corrigan laughed and tightened his hold around my shoulders.

"No, about Logan. What do you think about her?"

"Are you serious?" So that was her name.

"Yeah. Why?"

I kicked my locker open.

"Because," I murmured as I reached inside, "you just ignored the girl."

"Well, yeah, but…it's the first morning. You know how it is."

"The school hierarchy, you mean. If you're all into her, everyone might think you have a girlfriend and they can't think that."

"Yeah." He said like it made perfect sense.

"Sometimes," I started and leaned against my locker, "being the arrogant womanizer that you are might bite you in the rear."

"What do you mean?" He shifted on his feet, but listened intently.

I shrugged.

"Corrigan, someday you're going to meet a girl that's going to know her place with you and not be alright with that."

"Huh?" he questioned.

"Look, you know me. I don't care about these girls as long as you don't ask me to be nice, but one day one girl that you're going to actually want won't be okay with your chain of command."

"Not following."

Bryce walked to us just then and punched Corrigan in the arm.

Corrigan ignored him and asked me, "Seriously. What do you mean?"

Bryce glanced between the two of us.

I saw Becky Lew pass behind us. She skimmed her eyes over all three of us and her mouth tightened.

"Do you really want a girl that's okay with all the other girls you got going on?" I continued.

Bryce went still beside me.

I ignored him and waited for Corrigan's answer.

He shrugged.

"Not really thinking about that right now, you know," he responded thoughtfully. The moment vanished when the first bell rang and self-assured Corrigan fell back into place.

He threw an arm around my shoulder and walked beside me.

Bryce disappeared in the opposite direction.

"Seriously." Corrigan asked, "Should I take Logan, Mena, or Becky to Harris' party?"

"Since when do you take girls to the party? You usually just show up and pick."

"That's right." He laughed. "That's why we're friends. Sure you don't want a ride with me?"

"A ride?" I teased, my eyes darkened. "Or a ride?"

Amusement leapt to Corrigan's eyes and he smiled slowly.

"You know which one." He nudged me with his shoulder and patted my ass as he left for his own class.

I stayed in place and watched as he passed his first period classroom.

Corrigan didn't go to classes. That was a universal law. And someday, sometime, that law would come back to bite him in the butt.

Leisha smiled warmly as she approached the classroom and asked, "No Corrigan this morning?"

"Nope," I murmured and walked to our table.

We both sat down and I asked, "Why can't we have coffee in our classes?"

"No doubt," Leisha huffed and yawned dramatically.

Leisha was pretty cool. She wore the most outrageous outfits. She had on a taffeta shirt with ruffles on her neckline that spread past her shoulders.

Outrageous.

We had grown used to each other since we were assigned table-mates in the beginning of the year. I hadn't known who Leisha was before our first day in Calculus, but she had informed me that she'd always known who I was. At first she'd been on guard around me, but when she figured out that I wasn't going to screw with her, she started to relax. Now we almost seemed friendly to each other.

Just then Mr. Aldross entered the room and said, "Miss Jeneve, you are wanted in the counselor's office."

I stiffened and asked, tensely, "Why? What for?"

He started to write on the chalkboard and responded, "That is none of my business, Miss Jeneve. I would not know that information."

I stayed in my seat.

Leisha watched me. So did the rest of the class.

Mr. Aldross wrote the daily set of questions from our assigned homework.

"Okay, class…" He turned back around and saw I had remained. His lips tightened as he stared at me. Clearing his throat, he asked, "What are you still doing here, Miss Jeneve? You are wanted in the counselor's office."

"And I told the counselor yesterday that she can expel me. I'm not going to talk to her and you can't make me."

He started to say something, but the words died in his throat.

Bryce walked in, late like normal.

Irritation flickered across Mr. Aldross' features before he spoke, "Mr. Scout."

Bryce dropped in his seat and leaned back in his chair. He didn't respond.

"This is becoming a daily routine that grows tiresome."

I met Bryce's eyes and smiled haughtily.

Bryce looked amused, but he stayed quiet.

"Maybe you should sleep some more," I suggested.

Our teacher snapped his attention back to me.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, but looked cautious.

"You just said that it's getting tiresome. If we can't get enough sleep at night, you should let us bring coffee. That's what I think."

"You shouldn't even be sharing your opinions, Miss Jeneve. You are supposed to be in the counselor's office."

"Yeah, well," I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm not going." I raised my chin up and stared back, steadily.

Mr. Aldross stared at me and I knew he was wondering what he would do with me.

"Then you may go to the principal's office," he quickly named his only other alternative.

I rolled my eyes and stood up. When I was at the door, Mr. Aldross commented, "Please wait, Miss Jeneve."

"Changed your mind?"

"May I please see your homework?"

"I don't have time for that, Mr. Aldross. The principal needs to see me," I taunted him and dramatically threw open the door.

I hadn't gone a few steps before the door opened again and Leisha ran to catch up.

"Hey," she gave me a tentative grin.

"Mr. Aldross asked you to escort me?" I asked, already knowing.

"Yeah." She ducked her head. "Sorry."

"It's cool," I shrugged. "I'm not going. You know that right?"

At my locker, I traded my books for my purse.

"So are you skipping?" She asked, her shoulders hunched.

I eyed her outfit again. The taffeta clung to her skin. She wore some type of tight khakis that were pinned to itself with large black buttons that ran up and down her legs. She almost looked like a naughty librarian.

"Where'd you get that outfit?" I asked.

"What?" Confusion crossed her face as she glanced down at herself. "This?"

"Yeah. Where'd you get that?"

"Hot Topics. Why?" She frowned.

"It's cool. I like it." And I did, I wasn't lying.

Just then the door opened again and Bryce strolled out. He grinned at the sight of us and moved to lean beside me.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Did he kick you out or send you after us?"

"He's got his ass all twisted," Bryce commented.

"Nice articulation," I joked and Bryce grinned ruefully.

I yawned and asked Bryce, "Wanna go for coffee?"

Bryce frowned, but said, "Sure."

I eyed Leisha and asked, "Wanna come?"

Her eyes widened.

I saw the glint of a smile at Bryce's mouth, but he just watched.

"I shouldn't." She shifted on her feet and glanced at the classroom door. "I should go back. I mean, Mr. Aldross is expecting me."

"You're right." I grinned wolfishly. "You should go back."

"Um." Her eyes glanced between Bryce and myself again, anxiously. And then she exclaimed, "I'm going to go." She disappeared down the hallway, but was back within a moment with a black purse tucked underneath her arm. And she looked nervous, very nervous.

I felt a pang of conscience and said, "You don't have to come."

She bit her lip and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Leisha, you're a good kid. Lying to a teach is not your forte. You can't really want to skip with us."

"I do. I really do," she insisted.

"Okay." I exchanged a look with Bryce. He raised an eyebrow, but that was the extent of his feedback. "Let's go."

Bryce took shotgun in my car and Leisha hopped in the back. She giggled as we left the parking lot and confided, "You're right. This is the first time I've skipped school. I kinda like it. It's a rush."

Bryce and I both chose to remain quiet on that matter.

When I pulled into the coffee shop, I informed Bryce, "You're paying."

"What?" Bryce asked. "Why am I paying? We're not on a date."

Leisha giggled behind her hands.

Maybe bringing her wasn't such a good idea.

"You're paying because you're the man. Men buy things."

"And women put out?" Bryce finished the sentiment and flashed a suggestive grin.

"Exactly," I murmured and pushed inside. I wasn't serious, but I grinned a little at the Leisha's sudden intake of breath.

She hesitated at the door when Bryce held it open for her. "Girls first." Bryce ushered her inside with a hand at her back.

Leisha looked like a deer in headlights.

The clerk frowned at us, but filled our orders. I moved to study the magazines when Bryce dropped onto one of the couches. After we'd gotten our coffee, we sat there in silence. Bryce leaned back and closed his eyes. Leisha watched Bryce, shyly, and then nibbled at her nails when she looked to me. And I drank my coffee while I watched her. I almost felt sorry, she was out of her league and she knew it.

When the door's bell jingled, Bryce sat up and bumped his knee into mine.

"What?" I asked and he gestured towards the front door.

It was Mena and Denton.

Mena had a glazed look in her eyes and Denton looked bored.

I remembered the blank look that had been on her face when I first left for school.

"Do you guys know them?" Leisha asked and then gasped. "That's Denton Steele."

"They're weird, Sheldon." Bryce murmured and leaned for his drink.

I was starting to agree.

"Oh my god. Do you guys know them?" Leisha pressed again, eagerly. All her virgin-blushes and awkwardness was gone now. The presence of a celebrity could work so many miracles.

"Something like that," I murmured and plastered a warm smile on my face when Denton noticed us. He did a double-take, but left Mena's side. Mena remained at the counter.

"Hey, Sheldon." Denton flashed a smooth grin my way and took the seat beside mine.

Bryce leaned back and watched underneath his eyelids.

"Skipping school?" Denton managed to condemn and flirt with me at the same time.

"I have first period free," I lied smoothly.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Hi." Leisha stuck her hand out. "I'm Leisha Summers."

"Hi." Denton turned celebrity in a flash.

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Sure." He winked at me. "Sheldon, do you want an autograph?"

I looked at him coolly and murmured, "I think I gave you my autograph."

"Oh right." He flexed his back and added, "I never knew nail marks stung so much."

Mena sat beside Leisha at that moment and handed a drink to her brother.

Denton dropped the celebrity façade and turned into big brother immediately. It was impressive.

"Thanks, Mena," he said softly.

She ignored him and gazed at me. "Hey, Sheldon."

"Hi, Mena."

She glanced warily at Bryce. Her eyes lingered a moment and Bryce raised an eyebrow when he looked at me.

Denton's jaw clenched. He thrust a hand out, "We didn't meet yesterday. I'm Denton."

"Bryce," Bryce grunted as he shook hands.

"Did you guys get your friend out of jail?"

Bryce and I both grinned and enjoyed the startled looks on Leisha and Mena's faces.

"Sure did." Bryce lifted his cup in a salute.

"Who was in jail?" Mena asked.

"A friend," I answered and switched the topic, "So, Mena, you're not going to school today?"

Denton frowned and answered first, "She's not feeling well today."

"Looks fine to me," Bryce commented.

"Looks fine to me," I repeated.

Mena gave her brother a forced smile and said tightly, "I'm feeling fine, but Denton thinks he felt a fever coming on."

"Coffee's a good antidote," Bryce deadpanned.

Denton scowled his way, but recovered almost immediately.

Bryce and I both caught it and shared a look. I shifted in my seat and introduced, "Mena, this is Leisha. Leisha, this is Mena. Mena's first day was yesterday at our school."

"Oh really? I don't remember seeing you." Leisha said warmly. I enjoyed her naiveté.

"So why was your friend in jail?" Denton said abruptly. I don't think he enjoyed the naiveté.

I ignored him and murmured, "Mena, do you have a fever now?"

"No," she said quickly.

"See? Coffee heals anything," Bryce said easily, but kept his eyes on Denton, alert.

"Look, man, I was concerned for my sister. What's your problem?" Denton bit out and flexed his hands.

"I think I skipped my second day when I started high school too." I laughed and shifted in my seat, getting comfortable.

Denton caught the insult and glared at me. "You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"Me?" I asked innocently, fighting a smile.

Bryce bit back a smile.

Leisha gulped and had the whole deer in headlights look again.

Mena just frowned.

Denton leaned forward and retorted, "It may work wonders in bed, darling. In real life, people are going to stop dancing to your tune real quick."

"Funny how you're still dancing," I mused.

A wall slammed in place over Denton's eyes and he stood up. "Let's go, Mena. You're feeling better. I should take you to school."

Mena stood reluctantly.

I suggested, "You can ride with us. We should get going too."

"No," Denton said quickly with a hand at his sister's elbow. "I'll take her. I don't know if she'll actually get there with you."

Bryce laughed.

"Was that an insult?" I joined in Bryce's amusement.

Denton shook his head and dragged Mena behind him. We watched through the window and saw him shake his arm in the air at her. Mena shrugged him off and got into the passenger seat. A moment later Denton followed and his tires squealed out of the parking lot.

"What…," Leisha breathed out. "What was that?"

I shrugged and stood, "Let's go." Game over.

Leisha led the way and Bryce fell in step beside me. He ignored my back pocket and slid his fingers into my thong's top strap. His thumb gently caressed the outside of my pants and he murmured into my ear, "Big Fame Steele's got a temper on him."

"I know."

He held me back and the coffee shop's door shut with us on the inside and Leisha on the outside. She stopped at my car and glanced back for us.

He nipped at my bottom lip and murmured, huskily, "Can we please ditch this girl?"

"And do what?" I nipped back.

Bryce slid his tongue against mine before he replied, "Do what we should've done yesterday."

"Spend the whole day in bed?" I laughed and pushed away from him.

"Why not?"

I looked in surprise and saw that he was serious.

"Whatever, Bryce. You have scouts all this week." I moved to leave, but he caught my arm again.

"What?" I asked again, breathless.

"I'll still play. Let's skip. Come on."

"You won't play and you know it." His coach was strict, which was needed with Bryce. Coach Bewer was also a pseudo father figure to Bryce, including punishment and discipline. The soccer field was probably the only place that Bryce didn't get away with our games.

"Seriously, Sheldon."

"Seriously, Bryce," I said firmly. "No." I slipped out of his hold and was outside before he could drag me back inside.

Bryce followed reluctantly and shot me a dark look as he sat in the passenger seat.

Leisha just watched us both warily. She was like a breath of fresh air.

Chapter 7

Bryce didn't comment the entire drive back towards school, but it wasn't a long drive until I turned the engine off.

A group of students stood just outside the school's doors. Some smoked, some just chatted.

"There's Yerling," Bryce noted and gestured towards the door. Sure enough, Yerling and his posse stood amongst the group.

I sat back with the keys in my hand. I wasn't sure I wanted to be around for whatever was going to happen.

Leisha had moved to the door handle, but she paused and waited for us.

"Go," I said briskly and she left. Bryce and I both watched as Chad stepped to the front of the group. He threw his cigarette to the ground and watched my car. His eyes trailed to Leisha, but he let her pass without a second look.

He still looked bloodied. A large bruise had formed at his jaw and at the corner of his eye. His nose was swollen and his eye was bloodshot.

"Holy," I murmured. "He looks awful."

Bryce bristled beside me.

"Your knuckles didn't look like they'd done that."

Bryce didn't comment on that, but he said instead, "Let's go back to your place." He grinned charmingly, "You can put ice on my knuckles."

"It's not the only thing that needs ice."

He grinned faintly, but moved across and kissed the underside of my jaw.

"Seriously." I put a hand on his chest, intending to push him away.

He slid a hand down the inside of my thigh until I firmly pushed him back.

"What is up with you?" I demanded, seriously. "Contrary to what you might think, I don't spend my days on my back." At the glint of amusement, I added, "Or straddling some guy or on my knees. What is going on with you?"

"Nothing," he said tightly and settled back in his seat.

I watched him, concerned.

"Bryce," I said softly. No more games.

He glanced away, but I heard his breath of surrender.

A moment later, he relented, "I don't need to be at practice anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm off the team."

"What?!"

"It's not like that," he said hastily. "I already got the scholarship. They don't want me to play high school anymore."

Oh.

I sat back stunned. And then I cried out, "That's not fair. They can't do that." He'd miss everything. His senior games, play-offs, even state—and that's if they got there without him.

"They already did. Dad met with them last night and finalized everything."

"You're really not playing for the rest of the year."

He nodded.

"How's your coach feel about that?"

Bryce's jaw clenched and he replied tightly, "He's not happy."

"Did you go to practice last night?"

"Yeah, but I didn't need to."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want to be having this conversation," he pointed out.

"Bryce, you're such a shit."

He chuckled.

"Does Corrigan know?"

"Yeah."

"Corrigan knows and I didn't?"

"Because of this. You're acting like a girl."

"I'm acting like your best friend, idiot," I retorted and slammed the door as I got outside. As I stalked away, Bryce called my name. I ignored him and kept going.

I had moved almost all the way to the door before Chad caught my elbow.

"Back off," I snapped as I wrenched my arm free.

In a flash, Bryce was at my side. He maneuvered to stand between me and Chad.

"Hey, hey." Chad had a feral smile on his face. He raised his hands and backed up. "I'm not going to hurt her. Oh, that's right. I never hurt her in the first place."

"You're a wounded animal." I grinned at him, back on familiar ground. "You've been put down, but you just keep coming back for more."

Bryce moved so his back was to me. He had effectively cut me off from Chad's glare.

"What's wrong, Scout?" Chad taunted. "You don't even want your girlfriend talking to me?"

"Back off, Yerling."

A sophomore had come to the door, but turned back when he noticed what was going on.

"Or you're going to mess up my face again? I heard Raimler got arrested for my car. Thanks, by the way. Now I know where to send my insurance information. Are you going to pay for my medical bills?"

Bryce remained silent. Again, he didn't have to say anything.

It seemed to infuriate Chad even more because he shook his head and spat, "You know what pisses me off about you, Scout? You, Raimler, and your little girlfriend walk around this school like you own it. The only reason you get away with everything is because you do to everyone else what you did to me and to that kid from the office. Someone goes against your unspoken rules and you knock him down."

The door shoved open behind me and Corrigan pushed his way to Bryce's side.

Chad glared at him now.

"What do you want, Raimler? You weren't a part of this conversation."

Corrigan grinned, self-assured, and shot back, "Maybe I should've been. You mess with my friends and you mess with me."

Bryce shifted on his feet. Corrigan moved forward, just a slight inch of a step, but everyone knew that Corrigan was the threat now. Bryce had moved to the background.

I had become nonexistent to the guys. It wasn't even about me, not anymore. I wondered if it had ever been about me. I remembered Chet's words and Bryce's. They had both said that Chad had been off lately. He'd pulled some stunts that weren't okay with the guys.

There was a code among the guys. They could do a lot, say a lot, but nothing would be done as a reprimand. It makes a person wonder what was so bad for Chad to be taken down. And to have all the guys be okay with it.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a bunch more had followed Corrigan. Chet, Holster, and some others must've left through a side door. They came from behind us and had formed a circle around Chad and his group. Some of those guys started to look nervous.

Corrigan was saying, "You know what you did, Yerling. You better watch it."

"Or what?" Chad sneered. He took a step closer. "You're going to hurt me, Raimler? You and Scout. You can't hurt me by yourself. We both know that."

Corrigan bit back his words, but Bryce shifted again. That same inch and suddenly he was back in charge. He murmured, seemingly relaxed, "I can hurt you."

Chad's glare seemed to darken and his eyes skimmed over me. Whatever he thought, he didn't share. A second later, one of the guys murmured, "Teacher."

Immediately the group dispersed. Chad and his friends took off into the parking lot while everyone else either took a lounging stance or walked back inside the school. And me? I headed inside and actually went to the rest of my classes. I even disappeared to my art room during lunch. I wasn't eager for a replay with Chad Yerling and the rest. I didn't even want to banter with Corrigan.

Mr. Sayword glanced at me questioningly, but he didn't say anything. When I was in the developing room later, a brisk knock sounded and I called out, "Yeah?"

Mr. Sayword called through, "Can I come in?"

I flipped the switch and the door opened. He closed it behind him and flipped the switch back.

I waited. He'd never come in before.

"Uh huh." Mr. Sayword cleared his throat and shuffled on his feet. My art teacher was nervous. He tucked his longish sandy-colored hair behind his ears and straightened the wire-rim glasses over his nose bridge. His buttoned-down shirt was a little rumpled, but his pants were still nicely pleated.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Uh…Miss Connors called me into her office for a consultation."

"What?" I asked sharply.

"She has heard about our unique teacher-student bond."

What bond? I respected the guy. That was a bond?

I remained silent.

"Yes, she—uh—she wanted to ask my opinion on your state of well-being."

"What'd you say?"

He blinked, his eyes were magnified behind the glasses, but he gazed in stupefaction to me. He stared another moment and I noticed that his eyelashes were rich and plump. I was jealous. I wish I had those eyelashes.

"I said…well, to be quite honest, I told her that I had always thought you were a magnificent student. You've always been on time. A hard worker. You've never talked back to me or bullied another student. Your projects are always done wondrously with a touch of genius."

What the hell? I blinked.

"Miss Connors was…she was, well…she was—she seemed a bit taken aback by my opinion and thought perhaps we have an unusual bond."

My smile was barely constrained when I guessed, "She thinks we're sleeping together?"

He coughed and pounded his chest. He needed to turn away and cough some deep wrenching hacks before he was composed. When he turned back, he gulped and looked at me.

I held firm and stared him down. That's when I saw the truth.

The one teacher that earned my respect is the one rumored to be my lover. Poetic, really.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Well," he began, "I really just wanted to make you aware of the situation. Miss Connors seemed to have quite a list of concerns about you."

"Do I quit the class?"

To this, I saw my first glimpse of anger in my normally-composed teacher.

"No." He said it short, simple, and final.

I grinned despite the situation and replied, ruefully, "I'm guessing Miss Connors doesn't know about those balls."

He frowned, but replied, "Well, Miss Jeneve, now that you have been apprised of the situation, I will leave you to your work." He nodded and I saw some amusement that tickled the corner of his mouth.

I finished a drawing for the rest of sixth period and headed to the cafeteria for study hall.

Chet moved down and I took his seat. The rest of the group all moved, grumbled, saw it was for me and shut up. I hid a smile at their expense. Bryce dropped his history books on the table across from me and sat beside Becky Lew.

No one reacted, but—like always—they watched me for the reaction.

I disappointed them all and focused on my homework. I finished my calculus and got up to buy a pop. When I returned to the table, Bryce was back at his seat across from mine. Becky Lew and her friends had moved to the open section of the cafeteria. They were painting signs for the soccer and basketball team. The rest of the cheerleaders had moved into the cafeteria so it must've been a planned event.

I ignored Bryce and started my history homework until the final bell rang. Bryce walked beside me towards my locker and asked, "What are you doing after school?"

I ignored him, but then he tapped my arm and leaned closer when we arrived at my locker. His arm draped across the top of the locker and he effectively entrapped me against the locker.

"What are you doing now?"

I shook my head and slipped out from underneath.

"Sheldon," he called out.

"I'll see you later," I called over my shoulder and disappeared around the corner.

The counselor's office was vacated, but the back office doors were still open. I walked to Miss Connors, knowing from prior trips where her office was located and watched her shuffle papers around her desk. She gripped a pencil in her teeth and frowned at her computer screen. The day must've been long for her because there were sweat marks down the back of her silk blouse and her skirt was rumpled where she would sit on it.

She sighed in frustration to herself and wrote a note on a pad near the phone.

I cleared my throat.

As Miss Connors whirled in her chair to see me, I said tightly, "So I hear that you think I'm sleeping with a teacher?"

"Sheldon," she murmured, reproachfully.

I walked in, shut the door, and took a seat in the lounger besides her desk.

"It's out of line and I'm a bit disappointed in how unoriginal you are," I said firmly and leaned back.

She smiled tensely and retorted, "Got you in here, didn't it?"

"So you know it's a lie?"

"I know that you're not sleeping with Mr. Sayword, but you have to admit that it's a bit suspect. You mouth off to the teachers except him. You are either consistently late or you don't show up at all, except sixth period. You've never been tardy to one of his classes and you've had him for four years now. The days you do skip, you always stay after the next day." She sighed. "You do the math."

"I respect him."

"Your other two friends have never shared an art class with you. Is that why? Do you act out because you're reacting to their influence?"

I didn't even dignify that with an answer.

"No." Miss Connors ran a hand through her straw-colored thin hair. "I didn't think you'd respond to that one either."

"What do you want?" I asked, my eyes flat.

She seemed to consider me for a moment before she replied, "Honestly?"

I nodded, mute.

"I care about you and I think you're wasting an unfair amount of potential. You could be in college. Yes, I know that you've heard this already and I don't care. You could be the captain of track, volleyball, yearbook staff. You could have any number of prestigious scholarships if you wanted. I've read some of your essays. You have so much talent and I cannot stand the fact that you just waste it away."

"I'm living a typical teenager's life."

"A typical teenager is not rumored to screw an entire sports team."

I hadn't been aware of that one. It made me smile.

"I see." Miss Connors groaned. "You think that's funny. Granted, I've watched you around campus and I'm impressed at the amount of power you seem to hold with the other students. However, I'm not stupid." She shook her head as her bore into mine. "I know what girls have to do to earn that spot."

"Did you call me a whore?"

"What? No!" Miss Connors looked horrified and flushed. "That's not what I meant. I just..." She caught the amusement in my eyes and sighed in disappointment. With a gentled tone, she asked, "Have you heard from your parents lately?"

"No." I stood up and shook my head. I moved to the door.

"Wait. Please, Sheldon?"

"I'm not some wasted space due to negligent parents. That's not me, not who I am. I'm not going to talk to you about my hurt feelings because the last time I heard from my parents was three months ago." I left the room and walked down the hallway. Just before I opened the counselor's door that connected to the senior hallway, I stopped and heard a resigned sigh from her office.

My hand paused for a moment, but I hardened inside and left.

Chapter 8

I drove past the Café Diner and saw Bryce's car in the parking lot. Corrigan's was somewhere else. As I continued home, I sent a text to Bryce and Corrigan telling them that I had beer waiting at home.

When I got home, I removed one of the cases that was still in my car from our previous trip to the diner. I stuffed it underneath the steps leading to the connecting door. As I moved down the hallway to unlock the front door, I found a note that had been stuffed underneath the door. I opened it and read:

Whores get stoned to death. Are you the stone or whore? Or maybe you're death.

I laughed and crumpled it up. After a quick toss to the garbage, I pulled out a frozen pizza and warmed the oven. It took two minutes for the oven's pre-warm up bell to ring and as I slid the pizza in, my front door opened. Bryce and Corrigan were both laughing as they made their way inside.

"Grab the beer from my trunk," I shouted over their laughing.

Corrigan hollered, "Will do."

Logan was the first to appear around the corner. She was hesitant, but seemed to relax when she saw an easy grin on my face. I still hadn't formally met the girl, but I was determined to be in a gracious mood. There was no bitchery allowed when it was beer and pizza night.

I crossed my feet as I leaned against the corner and stared at her.

She changed her expression back to caution and edged, hesitantly, onto one of the stools.

Neither of us said a thing.

Logan stared at anything except me. Her hands also seemed to fight with each other. She'd hold them still, then they'd start trembling, and she'd jerk only to start it all over again.

When I heard footsteps jog down the stairs, I smiled to myself at her predicament. She's with a guy, one of the most popular, and thinking she's his new girlfriend. She's in his other best friend's house, who's a girl, who's known to get her jollies by taunting girls just like her. What to do?

Predicament.

A moment later, Bryce and Corrigan both walked in with a case in their arms.

Awkward silence time was done…for now.

I raised an eyebrow and murmured, "You could only handle one case?" I said it in disdain.

Corrigan wasn't affected and grinned cockily. He jumped onto the counter right in front of Logan and shot back, "I'm just conserving my energy for more pleasurable activities."

He ran a hand down the side of Logan's face and lingered at her lips.

Logan flushed, but didn't move her head back. She even relaxed her lips and Corrigan slipped his finger inside where, after a moment's hesitation, she sucked it. Her eyes looked somewhere else. Not at Corrigan, Bryce, or myself.

Bryce whistled in appreciation and asked, "Why don't you do that for me?" He held up his hand.

I punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" He cradled his arm, but smiled endearingly at me.

Corrigan sniffed the air and asked, "Please tell me that I'm smelling pizza?"

"You are." I knew my eyes were frosty as I watched Logan take two of Corrigan's fingers into her mouth.

"Hey," Corrigan suddenly said as he noticed something in the front hallway. "You have a voice message on your machine." He looked at me, confused, "Since when do you use your machine?"

I'd been distracted with creepy notes. I hadn't noticed.

"When was the last time someone even called your landline?" Bryce asked.

Corrigan jumped off the counter and hit the play button.

A second later, I stiffened when I heard my mother's voice echo around the house's hallway and kitchen.

"Hello, dear. This is your mother. I am calling because your father and I are getting a divorce. I won't be returning home for Thanksgiving and I have no idea what your father is planning over the holiday. I'll be in touch with my new number. Love you, honey. Hope you stay out of trouble."

The air was thick in silence when the machine clicked it's end.

All three watched me, but I was paralyzed.

Finally, I choked out, "God."

Corrigan reached inside one of the beer cases and offered a bottle. Bryce took it, opened it, and moved it into my numb fingers.

I downed it.

Another beer came along and I downed that one.

A third proceeded the same until I spit it out and threw the bottle across the kitchen.

The buzzer rang on the oven, but I ignored it and walked upstairs. I passed my bed, headed straight for the bathroom, dropped my clothes, and stepped into my shower. I turned it to a scalding temperature and stood there, with my head hung downwards. After awhile, I slid down and wrapped my arms around my legs, hugging them to my chest.

I don't know how long I stayed there, but I stayed when I felt the first chill. I didn't move until my entire body trembled from the cold. And I wasn't too surprised to see that Bryce had taken root on my toilet seat when I climbed out. I wrapped a towel around my body and moved into my bedroom. After I closed the door, I just crawled into bed and pulled the covers over me.

Bryce stood beside the bed. He watched me.

After awhile he slid to sit on the floor beside my bed. He didn't watch me, but just stayed there.

I didn't cry. I didn't do anything.

"Do you want a beer?" Bryce asked sometime later.

"Yes."

"Okay." He stood up and returned a little later with four beers. He uncapped two and handed one to me. I sat up and downed it. I passed him the empty bottle as he held out the second. The third and fourth went down the same way.

After the fourth, I looked up and asked, "Is this a wrong coping mechanism?"

Bryce flashed a grin and my heart beat.

He leaned down and whispered, just before he touched his lips to mine, "Coping is coping, baby. Either way, you get through it."

I captured his lips in mine and found myself in his arms. I had one knee firmly between his legs on the bed and raised my body so I was kneeling above him.

"I don't want her in this house."

Bryce nodded and left. I heard the front door shut a few minutes later. With a tentative knock at my door, Corrigan called from the hallway, "Can I come in for a minute?"

I didn't answer and the door was pushed open.

I had laid back down, still wrapped in my towel, but I knew my face was void of emotion.

Corrigan's eyes skipped over the empty beer bottles.

"Hey," he murmured and moved to sit beside me. His hand came out to smooth down my hair, but I shoved it away.

"Sorry," Corrigan breathed, ruefully. He took a deep breath and commented, "So…drunk orgy is the way to go?"

Drunk orgy was the way to go.

He nodded and patted my shoulder. As he moved to the door he stopped short said, "If you want to go hustling, give me a call."

"I will," I murmured, hoarsely.

Corrigan threw me a tender smile and moved through the door.

I laid there and heard a murmur of voices from the front hallway. A second later, the door shut again. Another minute and Bryce appeared in the doorway. He had the case of beer underneath his arm.

A grin slipped past my lips at the image of him.

He grinned back and moved to sit on the side of the bed.

After setting the case on the floor, he asked, "You want another one?"

"Yes." I sat up and leaned against the headboard.

Bryce took two out. He handed one to me and downed his own.

I didn't down this one, but took some sips as I watched him stand up and empty his pockets. He placed his phone on the nightstand and then pulled his shirt over his head. He grabbed a handful of condoms and placed them on the nightstand before he sat back on the bed.

He met my gaze.

I took another sip and asked, "Do you think I'm a whore?"

He frowned, but asked, "How many guys have you slept with?"

"Three." I didn't hesitate.

"No," he answered and I knew it was the truth. He had thought about it.

I murmured, "Brian Kincaid. He was my first."

"Our first time was the end of freshman year."

"He was before that, long before that. He was my first boyfriend and I thought…I thought it was what I was supposed to do."

Bryce took a drink from another beer and rubbed a hand over my leg. It wasn't meant to be seductive, but soothing. Comfort.

"Nah," he murmured. "Girls don't have to do anything they don't want to do."

"I know that now." I hadn't then. I took a deep breath and finished my—I hadn't been counting—. Bryce took it out of my still numb fingers and placed it in the case.

"We've been friends for a long time," I said quietly and laid back down.