Jack leaned against the door frame, arms crossed against his chest. An amused grin tugged at his lips. "Is there a reason you're knocking on my door in the middle of night?" His normal light brown eyes were dark, framed by thick dark lashes.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and pointed to my house. "I'm locked out. Must have lost my-"

"Didn't ask for your life story," He interrupted. "What do you want me to do?"

I clenched my fists at my sides, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. "I just need somewhere to stay for a few hours-"

He snorted. "And you chose my house?"

"There's no other reason I would be here," I defended. "I can't go back to my friends because of her parent's. I didn't-"

"Again with all the rambling." He ran a hand through his tousled golden brown hair. "Don't you have someone else you can call?"

I shook my head, clenching my fists tighter so I didn't end up hitting him. "If you didn't interrupt me, I could've told you that."

He stood up straighter, his height looming over me. Definitely taller than I remembered. I had to take a small step back. I couldn't help but glance down at his ankle, the light on his bracelet lit a bright green. I pressed my lips together, fighting the frightening urge to make a run for it and sleep in Lindy's car. Jack's on house arrest, I reminded myself. For murder.

"I don't think my parents would appreciate if I let a stranger in the house."

"Your mom knows me. And so does your dad," I said defensively. "We aren't even strangers. We've been going to the same school since elementary. We were kind of friends then."

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "So? You go to that new fancy school now."

I let out a snort. "What the hell do you think I'm going to do? Kill you in your sleep?"

"I could easily take you, Princess." He smirked. House arrest. For murder.

The urge to hit him was only growing stronger at this point. If I was smart, I would've hightailed back to Lindy's car.

I tucked my hands behind me and put a fake smile on my face. "This was clearly a bad idea. So I'm just gonna sleep in the car. It's been real fun."

I turned to walk away, but Jack's laugh made me stop in my tracks. Did he actually find this funny? Me being locked out of my house is so freaking hilarious? "Don't be so dramatic."

"Dramatic?" I turned around and walked back up to the door. "You're calling me dramatic?" I glanced down at the cuff on his ankle again, hoping he could take a hint. Okay, so what? I was being dramatic. But Jack was pissing me off.

He still had a stupid grin on his face. "What do I get if I let you come in?"

"Not what you're thinking," I snapped.

"And tell me, Miss I-know-everything, what am I thinking?" He leaned against the door frame again, still amused by my misfortune.

"I can tell you're not thinking about puppies."

Jack stepped back from the door and gestured for me to come inside. "I'm not-"

"I didn't ask. Now are you coming in or not?"

I hesitated, scanning his face. I kept a close eye on the the arm he was using to hold the door open, making sure he wasn't about to slam it in my face to laugh at me even more. I stepped inside and he closed the door with a faint click behind me. The sound of the lock engaged and he appeared in front of me in the dark foyer.

He made a gesture for me to follow him, but there was still hesitation. I followed him into the living room, keeping the sights of his white t-shirt so I didn't bump into anything. His house was a bit bigger than mine. But I'm sure the McKinnon's could afford something triple this size. Never understood why they chose to live in Georgia suburbs.

Jack reached on the back of the recliner, pulling off a blanket. He walked back up to me and handed it to me. "Couch is all yours. Parents will probably be up in three hours to go to work. Feel free to leave when you wake up."

I couldn't tell if he was being nice or not.

Well, he did let me in his house. But after I basically had to beg.

"Uh, thanks. For letting me stay," I said softly.

"I'll think of a way you can return the favor later."

I nearly gagged. "A simple 'you're welcome' would suffice."

He shook his head. "Juliet," he breathed my name.

I didn't even know he remembered my name.

I leaned against the arm of his couch, still thinking about running out the door.

"As you can see, I'm spatially challenged," he informed.

"Don't know how that's my problem."

"I don't see how you getting locked out is mine." He raised an eyebrow.

Honestly, he's making this a much bigger deal than it actually is. Lindy's car was looking better and better by the second. "Fine. Go back to doing whatever you were doing before I interrupted."

"I don't know," he lingered close to where I was standing, "annoying you now is still just as fun as it was ten years ago."

"Are you seriously that bored?"

He shrugged his shoulders and dropped down on the other side of the couch. "I find ways to entertain myself." He looked up at me, the moonlight coming in from the sliding glass door highlighted his features.

"Isn't that what got you in trouble in the first place?"

I sat down on the couch normally, bringing my knees to my chest. I draped the blanket over my legs and leaned on my hand.

Jack rubbed his jaw, thinking, I'm guessing. "You mean last night."

I nodded and he sighed. "I decided it was a good idea for a midnight swim."

"Okay? What's so bad about that?"

"I also decided it was a good idea to cut the cuff off. Turns out it wasn't."

I was trying not to laugh. I don't know why I found it funny, but I did. "Aren't they waterproof?"

"Of course. But I can only go so far in my pool without the thing beeping like crazy."

And that's when I finally laughed. But he didn't find it funny. "So you cut the cuff off because it was going to go off anyway?"

"Jack logic." He tapped the top of his head.

I wouldn't doubt that.

A Few hours later, I awoke to the sound of the front door slamming. I turned my head a little to see the sun just starting to rise. I pushed myself up and blinked a few times so my eyes could adjust. I pulled my phone from my pocket to check the time. It was barely past six, but I didn't want to be here anymore with his parents gone.

I folded the blanket up and placed it back over the recliner. I fished Lindy's keys from my pocket and quietly left. It was almost seven, so I decided to just head over to Lindy's. With time to spare, I stopped to get her some coffee, she's going to need it for her hangover. I settled on hot chocolate. Nothing like it early in the morning. I love coffee, but Hot Coco takes the cake.

When I got to Lindy's I decided to knock on the door. I knew her mom or dad had to be up that early. I've never known them to sleep in. And soon enough, the door opened and Lindy's mom was in the doorway. "Hey, Juliet. You're here early." She let me inside, closing the door behind me.

"Yeah, I promised Lindy I would make her breakfast."

She snorted. "Good luck getting her up. I've been trying to get a word out of her all morning." She gave my shoulder a pat and went back to the kitchen.

She was going to be pissed when I wake her up.

I made my way up the stairs and into her room. After setting her coffee on the bedside table, I climbed on her bed and started jumping up and down. "Rise and shine!" I announced.

Lindy let out a loud groan and I fell onto the bed beside her. "It's time to get up. It's a beautiful Sunday morning and we're not going to waste it."

"Stop talking," She mumbled. "You're so loud."

I laughed and thumped her shoulder. "Get up. And boy do I have a story to tell you."

She waved her hand. "Tell me later when my head doesn't feel like it went through a brick wall."

"I spent the night at Jack's house," I blurted.

Her eyes flew open. "You did what?"

I nodded. "Spent the night at Jack's house."

She sat up slowly and leaned against a mountain of pillows. "Am I dreaming? Or did you say you spent the night at Jack's?"

"It didn't sound as weird in my head," I murmured.

"Why did you spend the night there?"

"I lost my keys at Michael's and it was a last resort. And let me tell you, he's a complete jackass." Punny.

She laughed a little. "I could've told you that. I had to do that stupid project with him and he was a complete asshat about it."

I told her the full story, from start to finish. And by the end of it, she was laughing so hard I thought her head was going to explode. "I would've decked his pretty little face." She grinned.

"I wouldn't doubt that."

I grabbed her coffee and she immediately perked up. "Just what I need."

"Get dressed and I'll make you breakfast. But we have to go to Michael's and see if I can find my keys." Even though that's the last place I want to go to.

"Fine."

When we got to Michael's, I noticed all the cups that littered their front lawn. Oh, I couldn't wait until his parent's got home. Lindy walked up to the door with me and I knocked and rang the doorbell. I waited a minute before doing it again and no answer. I chanced my luck and tried the door. And of course, it was unlocked.

We trudged through the mess of trash and people that didn't make it home last night. I think I even saw someone sleeping on the stairs. Real comfortable. "Where were you last night?"

"I was only in the kitchen and the living room." I didn't mention going upstairs. It's not likely they were up there anyway.

We checked the kitchen and found nothing. We made our way into the living room where two people were passed out on the couch. One was kind of hanging off of it. It felt like a scene from a movie. I didn't know people actually got this drunk.

"Juliet!" Lindy called from the other side of the living room.

I walked over to her and she held up a set of keys. I almost screamed. "Now let's get out of here." And we practically ran out of the house.

I thought Lindy was going to fall over when we got back to my house. She was still completely hung over, but it was always entertaining. And I always took care of her. What are friends for?

I made a whole pack of bacon and a mountain of pancakes. I can't cook as well as my grandma, but I can manage without burning the house down. We sat, we ate, and talked about last night's party. I told her about walking in on Michael making out with someone else and she slammed her fork down. "That weasel! He practically begged me to get you there and he did that?" She lifted her fork again. "Oh, is he going to hear from me."

"You know what's weird? I didn't even care. I've been obsessing over him since I don't even know, and seeing that, it felt like a weight off of my shoulders because now I know how much of a tool he really is."

Lindy frowned. "I'm sorry. He didn't deserve you anyway." She turned her frown into a grin. "What about the poster boy for trouble over there?" She jerked her thumb towards the McKinnon's.

I snorted. "Not my type. And my grandparent's would have my head if they knew I spent the night there last night."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Why would they kill you?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because he's on house arrest because they think he murdered someone?"

She still didn't look phased. "Did he do it?"

"How would I know? Clearly there's a reason he's a suspect."

"Yeah, I guess. But he's not the only suspect."

"He's the main suspect, Lindy."

She let out an annoyed sigh. "Okay, you have a point. I wouldn't want you dating someone who could have murdered someone else." Lindy. Always so sincere.

I filled a plate with the extra bacon and pancakes and wrapped it up. "I'm going to bring these over to Jack, at least it's somewhat of a thank you."

She grinned. "Don't like him, huh?"

A shower was definitely in the cards before I did anything. I left Lindy alone with a stack of magazines and took a quick shower. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a sleeveless, floral blouse, and pulled my dark hair back into a ponytail. I checked the time on my clock and it was almost noon. I'll probably feel bad if I wake him up. But it'll be payback for being an asshole last night. But I wasn't really a walk in the park either.

I grabbed the plate from the counter and made my way over to Jack's. My grandma would kill me if she knew all of this. She told me to stay away and I didn't have any intentions on coming over here anyway. But under some circumstances, this was a last resort and my grandma won't even have to know because I don't plan on coming back this way anytime soon.

I pressed the doorbell and heard it echo through the house. Taking a step back, I waited. When a few minutes passed, I knocked on the door. "I'm coming!" Jack's annoyed voice carried through. He swung the door open and you could say he was disappointed. "You again. What a surprise?"

I ignored him and held the plate out to him. "This is a thank you for helping me last night."

He timidly took the plate from my hands. "I'll help you more often if it means I get breakfast." He smirked now. Wouldn't expect less from Jack.

"I don't plan on needing your help anytime soon."

"My help is limited anyway." He pointed to his ankle. "I think you owe me more than breakfast."

I raised a brow and crossed my arms across my chest. "Excuse me?"

He choked on a laugh. "Dirty mind. I like it."

"You're gross."

"I'm a lot of things."

I rolled my eyes, my annoyance level already reaching its peak. "What do you want?"

He disappeared in the house for a minute and came back empty handed. "For starters, I suck at Chemistry and French." He just gets straight to the point. "And I remember you take both, right? And I'm sure you're top of your class. Shocker there," He said sarcastically.

"Is this your way of getting me to help you? Because it's not working."

"Anyway," he interrupted. "I'm way behind and I don't want to spend my whole summer doing the work. Maybe you can come over maybe twice a week and help." He didn't ask, he stated. Like he's just going to assume I'm going to drop everything to help him.

The thought of Jack asking for my help was astounding on its own. "You want my help?"

"I have to take the exams at the end of the summer so I can start my senior year." Saying he'll make it that far.

I eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out if he's being serious. "I'll think about it."

He took a step out of the house and a rush of nervousness enveloped me. "I'm sure there's a way I can persuade you." His perfect smile reached his ears.

I let out a loud laugh, but quickly covered my mouth. "Does that actually work?"

"You tell me." His smile never left his face.

And I had to laugh again. "We'll talk."

His smile slowly turned into a frown. "Is there a reason why you can't just give me an answer now?" He took a step closer and I took a step back.

I clasped my hands behind my back to maintain their shaking. "I have to talk to my grandparents." They'll never let me do it. Not even in another life.

And that's that I'm counting on.

Jack smiled again, taking a few steps forward. I glanced at his monitor but the bright light was still green and there was no annoying beeping. "Fine. Talk to you tomorrow."

Wow. Giving me a lot of time. "Okay. Bye."

I turned on my heels and went straight back to my house without a glance over my shoulder.

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So here's chapter 2, I hope you guys like it! :) It'll get interesting soon, I promise. And I'm trying to not make it similar to my other books, but you may see something similar between Willow and Juliet. But the story is different at least lol

Your votes and comments are amazing, thanks so much! <3

Part roughly edited Nov. 8th, 2015.

Edited again Feb. 20th, 2016.