Running fifteen minutes late, I burst into class having overslept, looking worse than a homeless wreck. I didn't have time to blow-dry my hair so it hung loosely past my chest in damp curls. Not to mention the fact that I was wearing the same shirt I wore yesterday and my jeans looked crumpled and far too baggy for my liking.

"Ashley, you know my rules about tardiness!" Ms Smith snapped, her steel grey eyes scanning my dishevelled appearance with disapproval.

"I know, I had a few...problems to take care of. I'm sorry, I won't be late again," I apologised, flinging an apron over my head and tying a loose knot before heading over to the kitchen area, surprised to see Tyler whisking a bowl of cream at our work station.

"You're late," He drawled without looking up from the bowl and I fought back a smile.

His fingers were moving shakily as the whisk clanged against the sides of the bowl. A small smile stretched across my lips at the sight of his intense concentration before I moved towards him to get a better look at the recipe book in front of him.

"A 'Sour Cream Pound Cake'?" I read aloud, "Interesting."

He was so absorbed into the beating the mixture that I don't think he quite heard me. Shrugging my shoulders, I was just about to carry out the next step in the recipe book which was to crack eggs into another small bowl and add vanilla to it when a new voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Michelle sniggered at me before she turned to Tyler and asked if she could borrow his margarine.

I narrowed my eyes at her as she leaned against the counter next to him, giving him a perfect view of the world down her shirt.

"We've run out of margarine so Ms Smith told us to ask our neighbouring group."

"Funny that we're not your 'neighbouring' group." I remarked sourly.

Her dark eyes flashed with annoyance and she was about to reply when Tyler turned to face me.

"Sorry, I just realised you spoke to me." His cheeks tinged with embarrassment, "Since you implored your heart out to last night, I thought I'd make use of my 'creativity'. Your apology was far too hands on for my liking."

I blushed deeply again and hissed at him to shut up, completely forgetting about Michelle's presence. To anybody else but the two of us, his comment sounded as if it held some sort of sexual reference as he stressed the words 'last night' and 'creativity'.

Her scowl deepened as she snatched the margarine from our worktop and sauntered back to Dylan. I watched her snap at Dylan making him raise his hands in a surrendering motion before he ran them through his dark hair. When she turned around, her cold eyes met mine but I crossed my eyes and gave her a fake smile that made her scowl even more.

Chuckling under my breath, I caught Tyler watching me a raised eyebrow making my cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"What?" I ran hand through my curls before peering over his shoulder, careful to keep some distance between us.

"Nothing."

I rolled my eyes at the singsong tone of his voice. He knew that I knew that he saw me flash Michelle a constipated look that was sure to infuriate her. A bubbling laughter left my lips as he mirrored my look, crossing his own eyes and letting his tongue roll out. I had to admit he looked freakishly adorable despite the fact that I probably looked like a retarded dog with rabies doing that face.

For the remainder of the lesson, I helped Tyler make his odd choice of cake, doing all the minor roles whilst he took charge and bossed me around.

I didn't mind. I was just glad he was back.

The lesson ended just after half the class had put their cakes into the oven to bake, so Ms Smith told everybody to leave they cakes in the oven and she would retrieve it out for us so we could stop by after school to get it.

"Are you coming with me to get the cake after school?" Tyler asked as we exited the classroom. "I need somebody to taste it."

Nodding, I forced myself to close my hanging jaw, feeling extremely pleased that he asked.

"Sure, so long as you added sugar this time," I japed.

He rolled his eyes and we parted ways - him heading off to Astronomy whilst I skipped off towards French. I wasn't fond of this class at all simply because all the guys picked it so that they could mess around but my teacher Mrs Harper was not having any insolences as they shortly found out. But that didn't stop idiots like Jonah McAllister, who currently occupied the seat next to me, from choosing this subject. What was worse was that the guys were rowdy and never stopped talking about soccer and girls.

I was glad we had an end of unit test so that I wouldn't have to deal with Jonah's voice but boy was I wrong. As soon as I walked into the classroom, his bland, blue eyes followed me to my seat making me feel even more self-conscious about my homeless attire.

"What?" I hissed at him as Mrs Harper set my test in front of me, frowning because I failed to grasp the concept of test conditions.

Jonah chuckled under his breath, smirking secretively before scrawling his name on the front of his paper. I narrowed my eyes into paper-thin slits and turned to my own paper, unable to concentrate on foreign French terms that I had to translate. I was drifting away into my own mind, wondering about how Tyler's cake would taste.

Sour cream was an odd ingredient to make a cake out of, I must say.

"Did you hook up with Miller last night?" Jonah nudged my side rather painfully, dragging me away from my blissful cake-tasting daydream.

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed in horror.

"You heard me," He whispered after Mrs Harper's hazel eyes flashed, giving us a disapproving look for talking. "Do you and Tyler Miller get down and dirty?"

"No!" I breathed, squaring my shoulders and clenching my jaw. "Where did you get that idea?"

The question died on my tongue as I watched the answer form on Jonah's lips.

"Just my observation of the two of you in Home Ec. and something I heard people talking about." He shrugged his shoulders, "You guys are getting real cosy in class."

"We are not!" I hissed. "Who's feeding you this bullshit?"

Ignoring my question, he waggled his eyebrows at me and flashed me an infuriatingly lopsided smirk. In another world, in another dimension - one where I wasn't on the verge of gouging his eyes out - I'd admit that he looked ridiculously hot with that smirk. But this wasn't another world, or another dimension and frankly, Jonah would look way better with my fingers jammed into his eyeballs.

"Did he do that thing to you that Michelle always used to talk about?" He formed a v-shape with two fingers and laughed out loud, getting a brisk yell from Mrs Harper which silenced him for the rest of the lesson.

However, my thoughts remained anything but silent - they were a raging thunderstorm, worrying about what everyone was thinking about me as well as plotting Michelle's 'accidental' death. That girl had never been taught when to let go! She always had to have the last say. If she couldn't get the guy, then nobody could. But the stupid fact was that I didn't even want Tyler. She could have him for all I cared!

Later on during the day, four girls from Michelle's clique sashayed up to me in shock, asking if I had hooked up with Tyler last night. Karolina Jensen seemed to be fuming as I tried to babble a no. Although I admitted that I had been there last night but only to talk out a little problem we had which made her blue eyes narrow until they were paper thin slits.

There was no point in me lying anyway, I promised my father that I would never steal or lie to anyone after I stole a teddy from a store when I was seven. Immediately, I regretted my reply as the girls exchanged glances and sniggered in response before they sauntered away from me.

By lunchtime I had heard two people whispering about me in the bathroom whilst I was in the cubicle. The moment I made an exit they stopped whispering and stalked out of the toilets leaving me to deal with my anger alone.

Riverdale High has always savoured gossip with starved fingers and Michelle knew that it would only take a few hours for everyone to know about the rumour she had planted. Fuming and on the verge of tears her hair out with my claws, I only just remembered to stop by Ms Smith's class after school, making a u-turn from the school's parking lot, and jogging back into school.

By the time I hurried into the Home Ec. classroom, I was out of breath and was pretty much panicking about how the brisk wind outside had moulded my static hair into a human sized hedgehog.

"Ashley! You know my rules about tardiness!" Tyler's voice welcomed me in a mocking tone as I pushed open the door. My messenger bag slapped my thigh as I waded between the tables to reach him.

"If Ms Smith hears you she'll kill you," I barked a laugh before dissolving into giggles when he flashed me the same constipated look I had pulled off earlier.

I joined him at our work station right at the rear end of the room. He was wiping away the remnants of the massive slice that he had just forced between his pink lips so his cheeks were on the brink of exploding.

"Where's Ms Smith?" I laughed as he covered his overflowing mouth with the back of his hand.

"Owswide, swoking." He mumbled through a mouthful as he gestured to the emergency fire exit.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Smoking involved a lighter, which involved fire, which made me remember my father's dying moments. Shuddering, I turned back to Tyler and faked a smile. He had already cut a delicately small slice of the cake, leaving it on a plate whilst he finished putting the rest of the cake into a small container.

"Is that for me?" I picked it up and took a large bite, not bothering to wait for him to reply.

Shoving the entire slice into my mouth in one swift motion, the dazzling hint of sour cream made my eyes widen as the subtle undertones of cocoa and vanilla essence dabbled at my taste buds, lingering for a teasing moment before fizzling away to the dominance of the sour cream again. I was about to close my eyes in ecstasy when numerous crumbs tumbled down my windpipe, causing me to splutter and choke everything in my mouth straight onto Tyler's feet.

His face wrinkled up with distaste because he thought it was the taste of his marvelous cake that made spit it out but then he immediately rearranged it into concern and shock when my face turned purple. I clawed at my neck, trying to unlock my trapped air duct causing me to wheeze.

"Jeez Ashley, breathe!" His voice was helpless as three firm smacks landed on my back.

Violent coughs rocked through me as I hacked up the entire slice and spat it at his feet.

"I'm...so...sorry..." I said raggedly, taking gulps of air in between each word.

His eyes lit up with horror as I swayed slightly and used the counter to support my weight. Immediately, his slender fingers were planted under my arms, putting all my weight into his contracting biceps as he effortlessly lifted me onto the counter.

"Tyler!" I squealed, feeling fairly lightheaded as I swiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve.

His palms were planted on the counter on either side of me, imprisoning me as he leaned forward and peered at my face.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sea-green eyes a few inches from my face.

Feeling an uninvited warmth spread through my cheeks, I nodded slowly.

"I just swallowed too fast," I managed to choke out. My throat was still burning.

Surprised at his sudden concern, I tried to calm my pounding heart. I guess the near death experience was taking a toll on my heart rate. Stepping back, he ran a hand through his dishevelled bangs making them stand in upright for a few seconds before they flopped back into place.

"Next time don't scare the crap out of me like that!" He muttered under his breath.

I don't think I was supposed to hear his incoherent mumble so I looked away, biting my lip to hold back a dazed grin. That was something the old Tyler would say to me. A warm feeling spread through my chest as I blinked wearily before jumping off the counter. Finally, as if he'd been holding his breath forever, he exhaled sharply and ruffled his hair again, attempting to conceal the fine worry lines that had just appeared.

"It's not my fault that your cake was that good!" I said grinning at him, still dazed that my near-death experience was enough to evoke some sort of emotion out of him - even if it was just horror and concern.

"Yeah right!" He rolled his eyes and slung his backpack over his shoulder and tossed the remainder of the cake in the trashcan.

Blinking in surprise, I froze and tried to comprehend his impulsive behaviour.

"Hey! Why did you the do that?" I gasped, springing off the counter and peering at the sorry cake in the bin. It was dented and crumbling like a demolished building structure.

"You don't have to pretend to like it. I get it, sour cream isn't really going to give us the edge to get a grade A in this assignment, is it?"

I glared at him with disbelief until he felt the weight of my gaze. He gave me a flat look.

"What?" He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive manner.

I continued to glare at him, narrowing my eyes just a fraction before snapping.

"I choked because I swallowed it too fast. I liked it that much and wolfed it down in seconds. Sour cream is an original and a pretty darn good idea. So no, Tyler, I didn't just pretend to like it for the fun of it. What makes you think I would spare your feelings if it's going to sabotage our chance of passing this damn assignment?"

"You actually liked it?"

"Yes!"

His mouth hung open before the same grin kids get at the mention of Santa crept onto his lips. Uncertainty made his smile falter as he peered down at me.

"Really?"

"Really really."

A sheepish smile slipped onto his lips as he glanced at the trashcan. He looked back at me with an apologetic expression making yearn to pinch his cheeks back up into their dimpled glory. I bit back my strangely burning desire to touch his face and slung my bag over my shoulders before heading towards the door. Just my fingers curled around the cold handle, Tyler called my name.

"Yeah?"

I turned around, meeting his soft eyes. He cocked his head to the left and carefully regarded me.

"Need a ride?"

**

Despite protests that I could ride home on my bike, Tyler raised a finger to the sky and then raised an eyebrow at me. I followed his gaze to the sky and groaned at the blackening clouds that were rolling across the sky, chasing away any traces of the harmless white clouds.

"It's going to rain heavily Ashley."

"I'm sure I can get home before the rain starts," I mumbled knowing full well that there was no chance that I was going to get home dry.

Tiny droplets of rain dotted the ground around us as we stood by Tyler's red sports car arguing.

"Look, your bike is going to be here for you tomorrow."

"Yeah, and how am I going to get to school tomorrow if my bike is still here?" I retorted sarcastically.

"I'll pick you up."

The dark freckles that the raindrops were leaving on the sidewalk were joining to form tiny puddles. I ignored the tickles on my cheeks as the rain made contact with my skin. Tearing my gaze away from the wet sidewalk, I met Tyler's impatient eyes and gave him a hard look. He held my gaze, clearly unfazed by the intensity of my glare until I dropped the act and sighed.

I groaned as his lips twitched with triumph. "Okay! Fine, whatever, let's just go."

The headlights of his sleek car flashed as he unlocked it. Sinking into the passenger seat, I snapped on the seat belt and inhaled the minty, lemon aroma that danced beneath my nostrils before stealing a glance at Tyler. I watched him rummage through his pockets for his car keys and smiled at how disorganised and forgetful he was. I guess some things just never change.

His usually voluminous hair was flattened and tousled from the lashing wind and biting rain and for a moment I felt slightly guilty for putting up such a fight and getting us caught in the rain.

"Is there any reason why you're staring at me?"

Immediately I tore my gaze from his face and stared out of the window as the roar of the engine helped me swallow my embarrassment quickly, though there was nothing I could do to hide the flush creeping up my neck. We spent the remainder of the journey in silence with the radio playing in the background. I made no attempt to break the silence because it was one of those enjoyable, comforting silences that didn't need to be ruined my pointless small talk.

When Tyler pulled up outside my house, he turned off the engine and unbuckled his seatbelt. Shifting his whole body, he turned to face me.

"Are you okay?"

The question caught me slightly off guard and I blinked in confusion. Tyler frowned slightly before repeating the question.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You did nearly choke to death on my cake,"

My confusion was replaced by an appreciated nod.

"I'm okay Tyler, really, stop worrying."

His haunting eyes brightened like car headlights and I felt unsettled by their sudden scrutiny. I looked away as they ran over my face, searching for god knows what. When I found the courage to look back at him, he nodded and turned the engine back on.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Don't be late," I frowned and amusement lit up his eyes.

"I'm never late," Tyler protested before rephrasing his sentence when I cocked an eyebrow up. "Okay, maybe a little...Sometimes? Oh stop giving me that look."

"What look?" I asked, pushing my hair out of my eyes as he shot me a flat look.

"Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about. You know what look I'm talking about."

"Oh whatever. Thanks for the ride Tyler," I replied before sprinting out of the car to my doorstep to avoid getting drenched by the rain in the process.