(Song of the chapter: 'Monopoly' - Victoria Monet & Ariana Grande)

They stared at me, stunned.

"If you are," I continued, "you might want to avoid hitting me in my middle area. Don't know if you noticed, but I just ate thirteen tiny pancakes."

Checkmate, motherfuckers, I thought as I sat back, feeling smug.

That is until Rhys popped off on me.

"Have you been absent from this entire conversation?" He looked really, really pissed.

"Why would we hit you?"

"I dunno. Everybody else just seems to think it's the way to go," I replied honestly.

His eyes flashed in anger. "Everyone else has clearly lost their mind. What part of what happened was any of your fault?"

"Look, there's the gaps for one," I tried to explain. "He might've told me something really important and I just... forgot. Also, he and Jacques were very tight when we were young. That's the main reason he's turned everyone against me."

I sighed. "I should have followed him. Made sure he got home safe."

Rhys rolled his eyes. "You were nine. A hysterical ten-year-old boy was not your responsibility," he said bluntly.

"Besides, if you'd ended up following him they might have just taken the both of you. How exactly was that supposed to be a better solution?"

I stared at him. "You know, you're the only one that has ever pointed out that last bit," I said, amazed.

"We've already established that you've been surrounded by fools your entire life. Now, can we move on?"

Jasper and Brandon had been bobbing their heads back and forth between us like they were watching a tennis match. Now Brandon's brows furrowed.

"Why not fight back?" He asked, sounding like he was trying to crack Portuguese.

"If you fought back, people would realize you aren't to be messed with and they'd leave you alone."

I sighed in double-standards.

"Like I said, the bullying first started when I was really young," I started, strumming my fingers on my chin. "Afterwards, I'd just sit there and, like, cry." A wry smile twisted my lips to the side.

"Thankfully, I got older and realized that crying was really stupid and wasteful, so I stopped doing it. But instead of respecting my growth, they decided they missed the old Avalon and have tried to bring me back down to that crying child ever since," I took a sip of my drink.

"Plus, I'm a girl. If I start lashing out at the way they're treating me, I'm not dangerous - I'm hysterical. It's just a matter of putting me back in my place, or 'disciplining me' as Hitler so thoughtfully put it.

"So, in a sense, I have been fighting back for a while now. It makes no difference, or just makes them angrier, so there's nothing to be done."

I finished my drink in the silence.

"Anyways, Bimbo out there is probably running her mouth to everyone on her contacts list about whatever she thinks this is," I waved a hand around the table.

"You can explain away punching Jacques at school pretty easily. It might even boost your reputation. But I need one of you to give me a shiner or something so nobody gets the wrong idea about whatever this was."

I twirled my cup around my finger. "You sure you don't want to hit me? Not even a little bit?"

"Oh my God." Rhys's eyes flashed.

"WE'RE NOT GONNA HIT YOU!"

"But-"

"NO! It is not fucking happening! So drop it." His gaze told me that it would be an extremely bad idea to keep pushing this.

"Well, geez," I muttered. "I'm damned if they do, damned if they don't, huh?"

I just couldn't win with humans.

Jasper, who'd been looking supremely amused during I and Rhys's dispute, suddenly burst out laughing.

I speared him with a glare. "Dude, what the fuck is so funny? Do I have clown makeup on my face? Why the fuck do you keep laughing?"

The idiot clown kept laughing.

Brandon raised his eyebrows in amusement. "I wouldn't take it personally. He does this sometimes when he's trying to cover up the fact that he's been farting."

I was completely dumbstruck.

Jasper was wheezing and holding his stomach. "Brandon, how could you lie like that?" He inhaled, obviously trying to get a handle on his chuckles.

"I never fart in the presence of others." He pleaded his case, quite unconvincingly, to Rhys who just stared. "I'd never do such a disgraceful thing. Well," he thought.

"Not unless I've been drinking frobscottle. Then all bets are off. Bombs away!"

He made an explosion sound with his mouth.

Rhys looked at Jasper as if wondering whether he'd been dropped as a child.

I wondered the same thing. It was time to get out of this fricking circus. I couldn't believe I'd just been trying to protect their image.

"You know what, you guys can tell her whatever the fuck you want." I pushed back my chair and stood up. 

"Say you threw me out of the window, or don't. I don't care. Protect your own image." 

I walked over to the window, undoing the latch.

"You can exit the building through the door like a normal person, you know," Rhys said from behind me.

"Up yours," I retorted without looking back.

I swung on foot, then the other outside. "Also, I probably don't even need to say this, but you have to stay away from me at school. Got it?"

Without waiting for a reply, I let myself fall, grabbing onto the tree branch on the way down. They weren't idiots... well, mostly. But surely they knew what I meant.

The consequences of hanging out with the school's nerd could be terrible for all of us.

_

RHYS

"Her name's Avalon," I said into the phone, putting the groceries down on the kitchen island.

After we'd watched her scuttle down the tree like her bones were made of fluid, Brandon and Jasper did a little meet-and-greet with fans before leaving, then we all headed to the store to do some grocery shopping.

Luckily, there weren't any kids or teenagers around so we weren't recognized. There were a couple of old ladies though who kept giving us sideways glances, which caused me no small amount of anxiety. Jasper teased me relentlessly the entire way home.

"Aww, that sounds so pretty," Lilith cooed into my ear, her cool British accent ringing through the speaker. "You've got to meet her?"

"Yup," I responded as I started to sort the groceries into what went into the freezer, pantry and cupboards. There was a lot, but then again we were three teenage boys living under one roof.

"So how's she like? Do you think we'd get along? What would you use to describe her? I need details!"

I transferred the phone to the crook of my neck, holding it to my ear by my shoulder to free up my hands.

"I can't say," I replied honestly. "She's just... different." Truth was, I had never met such a human being in my entire existence.

"As for getting along with her, good luck with that," I snorted, grabbing some bags and taking them to the pantry.

"I think she's made a mission of antagonizing everybody."

She just doesn't trust people, my thoughts whispered, and I agreed. I couldn't really blame her, not after her story. Jasper was doing research, but I knew it in my gut that it had all been true.

Even the pain she'd tried to hide.

"Oh, then we'll get along fine," Lilith said dismissively. "After all, I have you as a mate."

My lip quirked. "Very funny."

I hadn't missed the subtle desperation in her tone. "Everything okay?" I asked softly, hoping nothing had gone wrong.

"I've got all of it," she blurted out. "I'm so ready to be done with this crap, but you know what they tell me? That my appointment is set for bloody next week!"

I could feel her rolling her eyes. "Well, bugger me blind, because I thought I was meeting up with the Italian mob, not investment bankers."

I contemplated some canned food.

"Wanna come back here for a while?" I asked softly. She sighed.

"No. I've already made contact, so it's too risky. Gosh, this whole thing is so stupid. I just wish I can show them that it makes no sense why they're punishing us like this."

Me. They were punishing me, it was my crime.

But with friends, I've learned, misfortune was shared. The idiots I surrounded myself with were only too eager to jump into the fire with me.

I breathed out the knot of worry in my chest and told myself for the thousandth time that she could handle this.

"I know, it'll be over soon. Make sure to be careful and don't do anything reckless," I instructed.

"Okay, dad," she teased. My brows rose. Since she'd slapped her own foster father with an NDA and had banned him from contacting her, I just knew she wasn't referring to me.

"What did you just call me?" I asked, unamused.

She giggled. "Look Pops, I'll be careful. Nothing bad is going to happen to me, alright? Now," her tone changed, "tell me Jasper hasn't gone and drunk all of my tea."

I held in a chuckle. I took a pack of Earl Grey from the bag I held and placed it on the shelf before me. I knew it was a good idea to buy more from the store since Jasper had been guzzling the shit down like he was on a cleanse.

I shuffled the pack behind an object, hiding it. "Your tea's safe with me, Lilith."

_

AVALON

Yawning, I made my way down the stairs, backpack in tow. There was just something absolutely heinous about Monday mornings.

I was in the middle of half-sleepwalking into the kitchen when the sight of my mother standing there with a cup in her hand jolted me into alertness.

She yawned into a coffee mug, mimicking me. "Oh, look. They really are contagious," she remarked with a laugh.

I rarely saw my parents - actually my aunt and uncle who'd allegedly adopted me, either way, they were still my parents - on weekdays. They were either sleeping off the night shift in the mornings, back at the hospital when I got home, or volunteering on weekends. I could count the amount of times I'd seen them this month on one hand.

"Hey, mom," I greeted, shaking off my surprise. "How was your shift?" I asked in Spanish.

"Over, which is just great," she replied with another laugh. There were purple eye bags under her cornflower blue eyes, so I could tell she meant it.

She ran a hand through her blonde hair before placing her cup in the sink.

"I packed you lunch," she told me, picking up a brown paper bag. She came towards me and held it out.

I gaped at her. "Are you feeling okay?"

The last time I'd ever gotten my lunch packed was sometime in middle school, and I was now in junior year.

She chuckled. "I'm actually half-asleep right now, but I just thought I'd catch you before you went to school. And I haven't done this in a while." Worry shone in her blue eyes.

"Is this weird? You probably just get lunch at school anyways, maybe I should..."

She made a move to take the bag away, but I reached out and grabbed it. I didn't really know why there was such distance between my parents and I, but I wasn't about to add more.

"No, it's fine," I said hurriedly, taking it. I pulled the ends apart and peered into it curiously. "What is it?"

"I packed some tamales I made for your father yesterday." My eyes lightened.

"And then there's a banana, 'cause I'm basic and didn't know what else to put in there," she admitted sheepishly.

I took out the banana, biting back my grin. "Okay, I'm just gonna replace this one," I told her, walking towards our huge fridge and pulling the door open. I replaced the banana but grabbed an apple from the produce drawer.

My mother perked up. "You like apples?" She asked me, intrigued.

"Mmhm," I mumbled from taking a bite of the fruit I held. I got another one and put that in my lunch bag, then rolled it up and placed the whole thing in my bag.

My mom held her arms open for me and I went to them. If it was wrong for me to wish her sleep-deprived more often, then I didn't want to be right.

"Have fun at school," she told me after kissing my temple, which caused a brief flare of warmth to go through me. My mood darkened again at her words. She had no idea.

"Sí," I lied. "Go get some rest, mom."

I waved goodbye to her before leaving.

Outside, I allowed the gates to open only an inch before stepping out and closing them behind me. The walk to school was only a little under 30 minutes, so I grabbed my headphones from my backpack and selected a playlist to help pass the time.

My soul nearly drifted from my body in pleasure at the first sounds of Coldplay's instrumentals.

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of para-para-paradise

I bopped slightly to the music, making my way to school uninterrupted.

That is, until a blue Porsche sidled up next to me.

Perturbed, I lifted my gaze from the sidewalk and paused my music. The passenger's side window rolled down and Rhys lowered his shades to look at me from across the empty seat.

"Want a ride?" He asked me.

I stopped short. Was this actually happening?

I dubiously looked behind me to see if he was hopefully referring to someone other than me. Nope, nobody was there. I incredulously turned back to Rhys, who was now staring at me as if I was the crazy person.

I regarded him for a single silent moment, then put my Beats back on and continued walking.

I heard the shrill sound of the horn even through my soundproof headpiece. I turned to glare at him, taking off my headphones again.

"I am talking to you!" His blue eyes flashed in what looked like anger. It annoyed him to be ignored, did it?

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough on Saturday," I said, trying to keep my cool.

"Sure, we shared some sob stories, and had this holding-hands-around-the-campfire-singing-Kumbaya vibe, but we're in the real world now. And in the real world, we're not meant to interact. I can't be seen getting out of your car. Besides," I tried to offer another explanation. "I'm kinda doing this whole 'lone wolf' thing, and you'll cramp up my style."

Inwardly, I congratulated myself for my clever use of irony. Outwardly, I watched Rhys's eyebrows rose into his hairline.

"Are you done?" He asked placidly. He hadn't made any move to leave yet.

"Go. Away."

I put my headphones back on with a huff then resumed my walking.

When I'd taken three steps the Porsche accelerated to meet me. Same thing happened three steps later.

And three steps after that.

"FUCK OFF!" I was done being diplomatic, and glared at him with the full force of my fury. He was unfrazzled.

"Get in the car, Wolfe." 

Brandon, who'd been catching up on a few zzz's in the backseat, awakened from his snooze at that moment and saw me.

"Oh, hi Avalon. Are you going to ride with us?" He asked drowsily.

I facepalmed.

"I think the jury was just about to vote, Brandy," Jasper piped up from beside him, looking, as usual, very amused at I and Rhys's bickering.

I felt a headache coming on. For the sake of my own sanity, I walked over and opened the door, getting into the passenger seat. Once I'd snapped on my seatbelt I turned to glare at Rhys, letting him know just how unhappy I was about the arrangement.

And also because he smelled and looked ridiculously good for eight in the morning.

He smirked. The light hit his face in such a perfect angle right then, with his sunglasses half down and those magnetic blue eyes peeking through and sparkling a little in the sun.

I nearly turned to mush and had to look away. I needed a distraction ASAP.

I reached over and turned on the car radio as Rhys started driving again. He flicked a glance towards me but didn't stop me. Drake came on, rapping about putting money in the grave. Idiot.

I turned the knob, looking for something heinous to play. Something that would be appropriately off-putting to my current company.

Sam Smith... no, Jhene Aiko hell no... I continued turning the knob until I heard this song playing:

Oh oh oh oh oh
So put your hands up
Oh oh oh oh oh
'Cause it's a stand up

Jackpot! I turned up the volume. Not heinous music per se, but on the male population the effect was similar to insect repellant.

I won't be leaving 'til I finished stealing
Every piece of your heart, every piece of your heart

"What the fuck is that?" Rhys asked with his nose scrunched up, proving my point.

"Is that... One Direction?" Jasper asked in a horrified tone.

"What? Why is is still playing on the radio?" Brandon cut in. "Aren't they broken up or something?"

"Actually, they're just on a hiatus," I started to explain. Rhys abruptly reached over and turned off the radio.

Amused, I turned it back on.

So put your hands up
Oh oh oh oh oh

"Make it stop," Jasper groaned, placing his hands over his ears. Rhys switched it off again. I turned it back on and raised the volume even higher.

He cut me with an enraged glance. "STOP THAT!"

"What do you mean?" I blinked my lashes innocently at him. "This is a bop." I started bobbing my head up and down to the music, which only aggravated him further.

I'm a thief, I'm a thief
You can call me a thief

"I'M A THIEF! I'M A THIEF!" I sang along, off-key and on purpose. All three males groaned.

"Step on it, Rhys!" Jasper hollered, still holding onto his ears. "Try and outrace this health hazard!"

Rhys's foot descended on the gas pedal.

We reached school in record time after that. Only a few students were milling around in the parking lot when Rhys put the car into park. He switched off the ignition, cutting off the sound of 1D music, and gave me a hot glare before swinging open his door. Jasper and Brandon got out at the same time.

I took a deep breath, squaring myself, then opened my own door.

Students turned eagerly in our direction when they saw three of the Four Horsemen walking towards the school building.

There was a collective pause when they saw me.

My heart skipped in my chest like a frightened rabbit. 

I sped up, walking ahead of the Horsemen and trying to separate myself from them. I'm not with these guys! I wanted to yell.

People were staring at me with visible confusion. Some of those gazes, however, had turned deadly.

Jacques Frost burst out of the school doors, heading in my direction.

My reaction was instinctive; I started backpedaling before I even realized what I was doing. I hit a wall of muscle, and looked up slowly.

Jasper grinned down at me cheekily. He slung an arm around my shoulder casually, like there wasn't an evil Nazi aiming for us.

"Guess what's up, Sunshine?"

He puffed out his chin, looking proud. "Me. That's what's up."

My fear dimmed a little as I wondered what was up in his skull.

Rhys was now in the lead, and he raised his eyebrows at Jacques when Jacques got close enough.

"Can I help you?" he drawled.

Jacques dragged his menacing gaze from me to look questioningly at Rhys.

"What the hell, man? Why the fuck did you do this to my face?" He pointed to a fading bruise on his head, incredulous.

Rhys looked at him. "Who are you again?"

I felt Jasper snort beside me. Brandon walked up beside Rhys and scrutinized Jacques, whose face was twisted in an expression of extreme disbelief.

"He looks like he might be one of the jocks," - Jacques was literally wearing his football jersey and holding his trademark football - "so he could possibly be a pretty big deal around here." Brandon's voice was as bland as could be, but I had the feeling he was mocking Jacques.

"It's Jack. Jack Frost. You did this to my face last Friday?"

Oh shit, he was getting mad. My nerves quivered, and I almost didn't notice when Jasper squeezed me tighter.

Rhys was unworried though. "Oh. You're that wannabe." He said it so flatly, I was shook.

"Did you even bother putting any ice on it?" He asked, contemplating the bump on Jacques's head while the rest of his face was plainly reddening from rage.

"I am NOT a fucking WANNABE!" Jacques finally snapped. He sounded like a kid throwing a tantrum.

"And I demand an answer! Why did you do this to me, and what the actual FUCK are you doing with HER?!"

That last part was directed at me, just in case you were wondering.

"Oh her?" Rhys lazily turned to look at me, like he just remembered I was there. Our eyes locked and I bit my lip.

"I'm not sure yet," he shrugged, turning back to Jacques.

Huh, what did that mean?

"But you know what I'm not doing?" His tone switched up them, from lazy calm to barely restrained anger. Ah, jeez.

"I'm not beating her up like she isn't just a fucking fifteen-year-old girl, you utter lunatic."

Jacques immediately went on the defensive. "You think she's just a fifteen-year-old?" His eyes were darkening again. "Don't you know what she did?"

"I don't care if she pantsed Obama," he drawled, which made Brandon splutter with laughter, "or if she lit Joan of Arc herself on fire. You don't hit girls, you twat. Didn't your mother raise you properly?"

"Oh," Jasper winced. "That's the worst insult Rhys could give someone."

"Oh, you don't care." Jacques' thick black eyebrows rose at Rhys. He seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"It makes sense that you don't, none of you knew him. But I - we - all care." His eyes fixed on me again.

"You think running to them would give you what? A Get-out-of-jail-free card?" He barked a short laugh. "Think again, bitch."

Anger rose in me, finally loosening my tongue. 

"Do not speak to me, you hellbound creature," I scoffed, crossing my arms.

Jasper cheered. I gave him a look.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough," Rhys took a threatening step towards Jacques, who stood his ground. They were both in alpha wolf mode at this point.

"If I find out that you've laid a finger on her again, I will knock your teeth out. Got it?"

Jacques blue eyes held Rhys's. Damn, the two of them looked really similar at a glance, both standing at almost the same height. The only difference is that Jacques dressed like the preppy boy next door, while Rhys dressed, well, like he was on his way to a burial. Or like he spent his free time vandalizing public property. The typical all-black bad boy look.

And Jacques hair was white while Rhys's was black. It was like looking at Day and Night, but with their connotations switched. And for some reason, Night was on my side.

"Crystal clear," Jacques finally answered. A despicable light still shone in his eyes when he looked at me for the last time.

"Enjoy your day, Lonna." Before anyone could say anything, he saluted us with his football before jogging off.

Goosebumps rose on my arms. I blew out a breath, rubbing them slightly.

I realized Rhys was looking at me. So was Brandon.

"Well, that went well," Jasper chirped merrily. I finally remembered to shrug his arm off my shoulder.

_

The rest of the day was just as weird as the beginning. Students whispered in the hallways whenever they saw me. Gossip had already spread fast.

I tried to tune them all out and keep making my way to my classes, but from the snippets I heard, a lot of students were confused as to why the Horsemen were hanging out with me. I didn't know what to tell them.

Thankfully, no one asked, just continued to talk about me.

I made my way to AP Bio and took my usual seat at the back. The teacher, a balding short man with hints of grey in his facial hair, was explaining the experiment and how we'd need partners for the exercise. I wasn't worried - I hadn't had a partner in years and teachers weren't opposed to me just handing in my own work.

But then, who came in not long after Mr. Carmichael had finished talking but Jasper fucking Drew.

I froze. Oh, fuck fuck fuck.

"You're late, Mr. Drew," Mr. Carmichael admonished amongst frenzied whispering from the peanut gallery.

Jasper shot the teacher a crooked grin. "What's up, Benson? Ooh, did you do something to your 'stache this morning? It looks very spiffy," he complimented, tweaking Mr. Benson Carmichael's mustache.

Mr. Carmichael flushed with pleasure. I heard some girls giggle.

"Why, thank you," he said importantly, straightening his tie. I mentally facepalmed.

"Take a seat, oh and try to find a partner. You'll be needing one for today's exercise."

No sudden movements, no sudden movements...

Jasper immediately turned and grinned at me like he'd always been there. Fucking hell.

He made his way towards me, prompting more whispering, and plopped into the empty seat next to me.

"Howdy, pardner," He twanged in a Texan accent. I groaned and slunk in my seat.

Mr. Carmichael explained the exercise, then we were allowed to start.

"I'm doing this," I took up the microscope, declaring my part of the two-person project.

"Okay," Jasper easily agreed. "While you're doing that, I have a few theories I wanna run past you." He cleared his throat.

"First of all, I don't think cotton candy's actually bad for you."

Oy. I stabbed my eyeball onto the microscope lens, almost wishing I could trade places with the eukaryotes I was examining.

"I also think that unicorns are the ones that are real, but zebras aren't."

I gave a noncommittal grunt, mainly focusing on jotting down my observations. I heard the scratch of his pen against paper. He was probably doodling or something.

"I also think that humans should take a month out of every year to go live on a huge deserted island, where we'll live with only the clothes on our backs and sing Nickelback songs around the campfire every night."

Never had I been more grateful to not be human. I gave another noncommittal grunt.

After a few more of these nonsensical propositions I heard him ask, "Hey, wanna play Uno?"

A question this time. I couldn't just grunt.

"No," I grunted.

"How about now?"

"No."

A short pause.

"Do you wanna play now?" He asked, poking my cheek. Incensed, I finally raised my head from studying the fruit fly to glare at him.

"Are you able to register anything at all in that thick skull of yours?" I snapped.

"I'm busy. Also, do not touch me."

He didn't look miffed in the least, however, two girls sitting at the closest table to us gasped.

"OMG, she is so rude," one of them hissed beside me."It's like she's trying to drive him away."

"He's only sitting there because he feels sorry for her, honey, but he'll come to his senses soon," her friend whispered back. "Gawd, we all did the right thing not getting anywhere near that creature all these years."

My ears stung as I turned back to finishing up the lab report. I knew that all what they said was true, but the critique still hurt.

From the corner of my eye I saw Jasper turn to look at them. They shut up immediately.

Perplexed, I looked up at him. He turned back to me with that same easy grin on his face, like nothing had just happened.

Okay, now I was actually seriously wondering if there was something wrong with him.

He looked amused, like he could tell what I was thinking.

"Are you almost done? Can we play Uno now?" He asked hopefully. "I'm bored." He pouted cutely.

I sighed. Oh, what the heck?

"Sure. Pass me the cards."

He happily did, and explained the rules for my benefit, since I'd actually never played it before. We were deep in the game when a shadow fell across our table. We looked up to see Mr. Carmichael looming beside us.

I expected we'd get in trouble, but all he said was, "Are you done with the work?" His tone was hushed, like he felt bad for interrupting.

Jasper gave a thumbs-up, then grabbed my lab report and his worksheet and handed them both to him. I was surprised to see that he'd filled in all the blanks with neat handwriting.

So he wasn't just doodling after all, in between talking my ear off about his stupid statements.

Mr. Carmichael studied the papers then gave an affirmative nod.

"Good. Carry on." He moved on to inspect the work of others.

I looked at Jasper in surprise and saw that his expression mirrored mine. Almost unconsciously, we both started to giggle.

What was this feeling? Kinship? Some sort of... friendship? I cut off my laughter immediately.

I had no desire to make friends.

_

There I was, minding my own business in Spanish - my favorite period since nobody who took it really cared and just generally left me alone - when the seat beside me was pulled back.

I'd been staring out the window from my usual seat at the back row, since I felt safe enough to let my guard down in the class. However, my hackles rose when the person dropped into the seat.

Please don't be him, please don't be him, I chanted, slowly turning around to face whoever it was.

"Hola, señorita."

The sight of those vivid blue eyes made me immediately prickly. I glared at him.

"Why are you even in this class?" I hissed. He raised thick black eyebrows and leaned back in his seat, getting comfortable.

"Because I pay for my education?" He slowly drew out.

Smartass.

"I meant here. In Spanish," I got out through gritted teeth. "Why the fuck are you taking it?"

He ignored me and pulled out his notebook from his bag, taking his time getting his pens out of his pencil case. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the window.

"It's one of the languages my many, many tutors growing up didn't cover," he finally replied, tapping his pen on the book. I turned back to him curiously.

He shrugged, not looking at me. "I always thought it would be useful for something." With that, I saw him dart a brief glance at me from the corner of his eye. I frowned.

Ms. Martinez cleared her throat then and explained to us that for the first part, we needed to carry on a five-minute conversation with the person next to us in complete Spanish.

The person beside me was Rhys. Why, oh why was the universe completely against me today?

Rhys turned to me then and smirked at my expression. I probably looked like I'd just eaten a lemon.

"Hola. Soy Rhys," he told me. "¿Cómo está usted?"

My God, his pronunciation was perfect. And hearing him speak another language, my language, really had me feeling some type of way.

As usual, this made me snappish.

"Te ves como algo que raspé al costado del camino," I retorted bitingly. His eyebrows rose in amusement.

"I'm not sure that's what you're supposed to say back," he whispered.

"Here, repeat after me, 'Gracias, Rhys. Estoy genial. Te ves muy guapo esta mañana'," he told me helpfully.

I groaned and let my head fall onto my desk.

_

I showed the coach a doctor's note during P.E, which got me excluded from doing any of the exercises for the day. Good ol' Alex.

I wandered around very low-key, checking on what the other kids were doing. Some people were running track, cheerleaders were practicing their cheer routines, the usual. I leaned against the wall outside, casually scanning the field.

That's how my gaze came to rest on Brandon.

He was in the middle of the field, amongst guys who were practicing soccer drills. Some guy kicked the ball over to him, and in one fluid movement he trapped it with his chest. Which had nothing covering it.

I got a good look at his abs and almost transcended.

He bounced it off his pectorals then dribbled it between his feet. Then he kicked it onto his back in some complicated move, let it roll towards his head, then straightened and bounced it off his forehead and right back down to his feet.

Every single player around him was just watching in awe. Even the cheerleaders had stopped their practice to drool. He, however, seemed unaware of all this.

He smoothly passed the ball back to his teammate, who tried to dribble it like he'd done, but wasn't as successful. Brandon helped to direct him until the guy started getting the hang of it. While the dude was deeply involved in practicing the moves, Brandon turned his gaze to the right and caught me staring.

I stilled. There were a lot of people on the field, maybe he wasn't actually looking at me...

He waved. People closest to him turned to see who he was waving at. Which just so happened to be... me. Just great.

I jerked my chin at him, scowled, then turned and walked back into the building.

_

After all the craziness, I wasn't exactly inspired to go to my last class, which I shared - again - with Rhys. I grabbed my lunch, which was safely untouched, then wandered over to the one room in the building where I knew I'd be unharassed and free to eat my lunch in peace: Detention.

It was currently unoccupied since school wasn't over yet. I grabbed a chair and used it to spring myself up onto the ledge of the high window at the opposite end of the room. It would be a convenient method of escape if any unwanted intruders came in.

I'd finished off my tamales and was biting into my apple, deeply immersed in the book on my lap, when the door suddenly opened a fraction.

A full head of red hair poked itself inside. Smiling green eyed spotted me.

"Guys, she's in here," Jasper announced before walking in, Brandon and Rhys following behind him.

Oh my lordt.

I had a mouth full of apple so I couldn't do more than just glower at them as they came in, but it didn't do much to deter them.

"You skipped class," Rhys noted, sitting backwards on a chair.

"I think we're being a bad influence already," Brandon spoke, sitting on a table Jasper was currently leaning against.

"I'm sure you never skipped a class before today."

I had to set him straight. "I'm a nerd, not the fucking teacher's pet," I snapped after finishing my apple.

"And I was trying to hide from you people. Why won't you leave me alone? Are you from some alien planet where people can't take a hint?"

"Actually," Jasper began, stroking his chin. "I could be. My father could be a Martian for all I know since I've never met him. And I could ask my mom about that, but she's not in the picture either, so."

He shrugged, like it was all the same to him. I blinked, my mouth hanging slightly open. The guys stared at him as well. Seems I was not the only one completely not expecting that.

"Whatchu reading there?" He asked, gesturing at my book.

"It's called Red Queen," I answered mechanically, still a bit stunned.

I stared at the book cover for a moment to collect my thoughts. "It's typical dystopian fiction," I said.

"Society is divided into different groups and they all hate each other, but there's this one group that's the most powerful group and that one makes the rules, so others just have to fall in line. They continue being harassed and oppressed and can't fight back or do anything about it. At least, not in the first book."

"But happens in the story?" Brandon asked, interested.

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "In this world, there are two types of people: Reds and Silvers. Reds have red blood and they bleed like, you know, normal people. Silvers are silver-blooded, pale, pasty asses. However, they also have superpowers. One Silver is ten times more powerful than any Red, even the babies. So, they're the ones in charge."

I pushed more hair out of my face, getting a little bit annoyed by it.

"The Silvers have been involved in this centuries-long war with another country of Silvers, and they decided it was a good idea to make Reds from ages 18 and up who don't have jobs fight in their war." Disgust curled my lip. "It's basically glorified target practice."

"Population control," Rhys put in. He had his chin resting on the back of his seat. "Even if they're ten times a powerful as the Reds, it won't matter if the Reds are ten times more in number. They don't want them to become a threat."

The dude had both looks and brains. I had to admit, he was quite a tempting package. But no way I was biting out of that apple, Satan.

"That's true," I said, fishing for a hair tie in my bag. "The Reds are actually more than the Silvers. But that's not the only way they're dangerous." I paused for a moment to put my hair up.

"There's this girl named Mare, and she's a Red. However, she somehow also has superpowers, and the Silver rulers find out about this. And the strange thing is, her powers are very unlike any of the powers the Silvers have." I finally succeeded in pulling my hair into a messy bun.

"She's like this weird blend of the two species, and stronger, because her powers are better than theirs. They realize that if what she is gets out, it'll upset their whole fucked-up society and question who has the real power. So they lie, bribe and scheme to hide what she is." I fluttered the remaining few pages of the novel with my thumb.

"Great reading material," I remarked glibly, like that's all it was. Like none of it applied to me.

"The message seems important somehow," Brandon noted thoughtfully. He squinted at me.

"Can I ask how you planned on getting down from there?"

I looked down at the chair, which was quite far away from me, then back up at him.

"I was gonna just fall on my face." I said snidely. "It's no biggie."

"I'LL SAVE YOU!" Jasper leaped to his feet and thundered over to me like some wannabe superhero. My eyebrows rose.

He held out his arms. "It's okay. You can come down," he told me gently.

"What, we're doing trust exercises now?" I was slowly running out of patience for the three stooges.

"Yes," Jasper responded cheerily. He beckoned encouragingly.

"Come on, jump. I'll catch you."

I looked down at him for a long moment. Did I know that he wouldn't let me fall? Actually, I did. But did I trust enough to actually fall?

Not exactly.

I opened the window behind me as far as it would go, and in one fluid movement I leaped out.

He did say jump, I thought as I fell.

Practice makes perfect, after all.

***********************************************************************

Translation: "Te ves como algo que raspé al costado del camino" - "You look like something I scraped off the side of the road."

'Gracias, Rhys. Estoy genial. Te ves muy guapo esta mañana', - Thank you, Rhys. I'm great. You look very handsome this morning.

I'd like to apologise for my Spanish if it isn't correct. I'm learning Spanish and taking dem Duolingo daily lessons but, it's not the same, ya know? (　'_ﾉ' )

Anyways, I'm back bitches!

Love ya,

Lulu.