Kayla's POV

"I've got to head off to practice", Aaron says, the first words he has said since the ice-cream incident.

I nod, and he runs off leaving me standing at the steps of the school. I know that I should probably go to a class, or call Steph. Instead I head to the art lab.

As soon as I smell the paint and see the brushes, my heart calms down, and my head gets back in the game. So what if I licked the same spot of ice-cream as Aaron Delany? I didn't have feelings for him, and I had an ultimate goal. Besides, I was entitled to have fun with my fake boyfriend. That was the point wasn't it?

I put on my headphones, grabbed a brush and sat in front of a blank canvas. And I started to paint, humming to myself, lost in the art.

Until I see a flash come from behind me.

I whip around, taking off my headphones to see a girl behind me. The first thing I notice is her afro hair, and really dark skin – probably African American. She's dressed in the normal school uniform but is wearing a huge hoodie over it, so I can't reallu determine what her body looks like. Around her neck is a Nikon camera, and her face has an expression I can't quite decipher. Almost like fear and reservedness.

"Girl why did you take my pic?", I say, getting up and moving towards her.

"Please don't break my camera. Miss Peach told me you'd be here and I- I like art so I just had to take a picture. Here, want to see?" Her voice is barely louder than a whisper. And what's all this talk about breaking her camera? I may be pissed but I probably wouldn't do that. However, I am interested in seeing the pictures, so I nod.

She removes the camera from around her neck and shows me the pictures. To be honest, they are very impressive.

"This is some nice work", I say, and she grins.

"You're not too bad yourself", she gestures to the canvas in front of me. "Painting an ice-cream in the background of a tattoo shop?"

I flush. "Only thing in my mind"

She walks around the painting, examining it. "You might want to show the light from a bit of a right angle, and enunciate the details a bit more. It's already good, but put more emphasis on the background or blur it, makes the ice-cream pop a bit more." Her advice is valid, but she still seems to be whispering, still seems a bit shy around me.

"I like constructive criticism from a fellow artist. I'm Kayla by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Quinn."

"Pretty name . So you want to get out of here?"

She hesitates a bit and I think she is going to say no, but she nods.

We walk out of the class, and I wonder where Steph is. She should be having literature now, that is, if she didn't get detention which is always a possibility.

Quinn and I set off down the hallway

"Oh I'm so sorry, excuse me", she says, offering her hand to the girl on the floor who turns out to be Amanda, the head cheerleader that Jason was making out with last week.

Amanda slaps away Quinn's hand and struggles to her feet on her own.

"Don't touch me orphan, gross. How dare you bump into me."

First of all, that girl has no right to insult anyone with all the cake make up on her face. Also, I like Quinn - she seems like a really chill person, and I don't let anyone insult my friends.

"Hey", I say, stepping between them and cracking my knuckles. "You should watch your mouth slut."

"Well, well, if it isn't Jason's ex.", she giggles like a banshee. "Heard you're dating some looser now."

"Stop it Amanda", Quinn says. "Your issue is with me"

"Shut up orphan", she barks at Quinn, before turning to me. "Heard your boyfriend has daddy issues, but maybe you like that, At least he has parents unlike your dead moth..."

Her next words are cut off by the sound of her screaming as I slap her hard across her face.

"Don't you dare slap me you good for nothing whore", she says, slapping me back, her manicured nails tearing my flesh. I can feel blood dripping out, and that pisses me off.

I grab her by the hair and push her to the floor, then I punch her in the nose. I enjoy the satisfying sound of my knuckles coming in contact with her bones. I also enjoy the sound of her screaming in agony until...

"Kayla stop"

I look up to see that we have an audience. Standing in front of me are Steph, Aaron, Jason, some blond guy in glasses and Marcus, one of Jason's friends.

"Stop hitting her", Jason says as I deliver one final punch to Amanda's nose. Girl got off easy this time.

"Jason she hit me. I'm ruined, my face is ruined'", she wails, bringing her fingers to her nose and gasping when she sees them covered in blood.

"Girl I did you a favor. This is a much better look than whatever you plaster on your face everyday"

"You fucking bitch", she screams as she begins to sob loudly. 

"Amanda shut up", Steph rolls her eyes. "You are not the main character"

"Shut up Amanda", Jason snaps. "You'll get a teacher here in no time."

Too late.

"What is going on here?", a male voice interrupted us, and I turned to see Mr Kabab materializing beside us, his features a mixture of shock and anger.

And then his eyes fix on mine and I know he's going to pin this on me. I mean yes it is my fault anyway.

I grimace. There is no way I am being let off without punishment. Amanda glares at me with a vindictive grin.

Then Quinn steps forward.

"Amanda tripped on an easel and injured her nose Mr Kabab", she says, making her already quiet voice as innocent as possible.

And just like that, Quinn gains my respect.

I am convinced that this girl is amazing... and an idiot.

"Really?", Mr Kabab asks, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So maybe you'd care to explain how she got outside the arts lab. And what happened to Miss Barnes?"

"As Amanda fell, she accidentally scratched at Kayla's face. And we helped her out of the art's lab so she didn't mess up any paintings."

There is a moment of silence as Mr Kabab glares at Quinn. "Young lady, I am not stupid". He turns to the rest of the classmates standing at the door. "Any one wants to tell me what really happened?"

"But sir", Aaron says "Quinn is telling the truth"

"Yes sir, that's what happened", Steph pipes up.

"No it isn't...", Amanda starts to say, but Jason steps on her foot.

"That's what happened, right Amanda?", he glares at her, and she stomps her foot, looking angry.

"That's what I saw", Marcus adds

"I mean, its statistically possible that it could occur", says the blond guy, adjusting his glasses a bit.

Mr Kabab looks frustrated. "Fine. Both of you go to the nurses office. Amanda may need stitches after her...fall"

Jason leads Amanda out of the room, her glaring and muttering the whole time, Marcus at their heels. Mr Kabab follows them.

We wait for the sound of footsteps to die down, then Quinn glares at the blond boy.

"'It's statistically possible...', what kind of lame cover up is that?" she asks, her quiet voice laced with the faintest edges of annoyance. She starts towards him as he furrows his brows in confusion.

"It is statistically possible.", he defends, holding her back by her waist as she lunges at him, though she is so slim that he only needs to use one hand. I can't help but notice his pronounced British accent.

"Hold up, timeout", Steph says. "First of all, very good lying all of you, we should become actors. Secondly, who the frick are you and you", she says pointing to Quinn and the blond guy.

"I'm Quinn"

"And I'm Keon", he introduces himself, still holding Quinn away.

"Oh... are you both dating?", I ask.

Aaron, Quinn and Keon both stare at me as if I've lost my mind. Then Aaron starts laughing while Quinn and Keon both gag.

"As if I would ever date this idiot", Quinn says. "Can't you tell? We're siblings"

"Twins to be accurate", Keon adds.

Steph and I both stare at each other, then at the 'twins', then at each other again.

Keon rolls his eyes and adjusts his glasses. "Stop acting slow. I thought you'd be smarter if you were Aarons girlfriend. We come from a mixed race family."

"Yeah, my mom is American and dad is Nigerian."

"You guys have different accents though", Steph points out.

"Yeah, Keon spent six years in Britain and now he has some weird accent and he thinks it makes him better than everyone."

"You're just jealous that you didn't get to go to Britain", Keon quips back and Quinn sticks her tongue out at him.

I want to watch them argue because it looks pretty interesting, but the blood dripping down my face and forming a puddle by my hand is quite distracting.

"Look, break it up twins. My girlfriend is bleeding, and I'd like to take her to the nurse.", Aaron says pushing himself between the twins. Quinn mouths the word 'boyfriend', while Steph shoots me a wink as Aaron helps me up from the floor and leads me out of the room and to the nurses' office.

And of course, the nurse isn't there.

Aaron starts to rummage around.

"what are you doing?"

"Looking for a first aid kit. I need to treat your wound before it gets infected."

I raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"I know how to clean a wound Kayla,", he replies, his back towards me as he continues his search. "Aha", he raises up the kit. "Get seated and we'll start."

I take a seat on the big white nurse bed thingy, and he sits beside me, taking off his glasses. In his hands are some tweezers which have cotton wool on them.

"This might sting a bit", he says, and uses the cotton wool to swipe at the scratches.

"How do you feel?"

"Humiliated. Can't believe I let a girl like that make me bleed", I respond honestly. "So...Quinn and Keon?"

"Yeah", he says, his hands still busy. "They're good, really close siblings. But their dad isn't around often, and people give Quinn a hard time. They think she's nadopted just because she has a different skin color", he shakes his head as if he can't believe it.

"I mean, it is a bit hard to believe"

"Not really", he says, his face coming closer to mine as he continues to clean the wound. "This is 2023, anything can happen."

"Yeah", I say, but I'm not really focused on this conversation anymore. I just keep staring at Aarons dark eyes, so intent on his work, so intent on defending his friend, so intent on helping...me. He looks at me, and catches me staring, but I don't look away.

I push him down so that he is on the nurses bed, and I am on top of him.

"Kayla", he sighs, his voice barely above a whisper.

I run my hands through his hair, placing kisses on his cheek, inching closer to his lips.

"Venom", Aaron says, his voice a whisper, but again, more insistently.

"Venom"

I recognize the word... our safe word, and I instantly back off.

"Kayla...", his says, his voice out of breath.

I don't look at him, I can't. the safe word was never meant to be used, I was never meant to do anything to warrant him a reason to use it. And yet, here I was taking advantage of him in an empty nurses' office.

"I should probably go", I tell him.

I don't wait to hear his reply. I grab a band aid and leave there as fast as I can.