My stomach let out a painful growl, but I refused to touch the food before me.

"I have a question," I asked, as Jasper scooped up the last remnants of his dessert. "Were you Storeroom Stalker?"

He tilted his head, and his eyebrows drew close ever so slightly. "I beg your pardon?"

I debated for awhile, and then told him everything.

"Hmm. Interesting. Well I can tell you for sure that it isn't a Blackcroft. The only people who know where you are right now are me and Damian. Our little group is in the lead of the race so far. And I intend to maintain it that way."

If this guy had his own custom-made shirt, it would be

but with much less flair of course.

"So! Red or blue?" 

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Pick a colour, red or blue." Jasper snapped his fingers and a waiter materialized out of thin air with the bill. He barely looked at it but just handed over his credit card. 

Oooh, an AMEX Centurion! The most exclusive credit card in the world! 

"Wow. How quickly you change the topic. I'm guessing you're not going to tell me what it's for."

"My patience is running thin, sweetheart." I was beginning to learn that in Jasper's books, term of endearment equaled to a demand for me to comply. It was a warning.

"Blue."

"Excellent. Now. Musgravite or red beryl?"

"What?"

He sighed, impatient. "Purple or red?"

"Um. Purple."

"Good." From somewhere within his suit - yes, he was wearing a suit, black no less - he pulled out a cream-colored envelope and handed it to me. "I expect you to be on time. I'll fetch you at your apartment."

Of course he knew where I lived. I opened the envelope and took out the card, reading it. A pause. "I don't have the clothes."

"I'll handle that. Just dress as usual, and be on time for when I pick you up." The waiter came back with Jasper's credit card and he stood up, leaving the table, not caring if I followed.

I was seething inside. The invitation card crumpled beneath my fingers, until it was nothing but another wrecked piece of paper. 

No matter how far I run, the men still control my life.

*

The good news was, only my cafeteria table had heard Jasper's announcement. And the people who saw me leaving with  him assumed he was a relative of sorts. I even had a girl come up to me to ask if she could get his contact number.

So I guess Leila's eyes aren't the only blind ones around here...... 

The bad news was, those that knew about it kept hounding me. Not all clearly. Mr Hood disappeared off the radar. And it wasn't so much Damian ignoring me as me ignoring Damian. We couldn't get too close anyway, we were supposed to have just met.

"Look Leila," I explained for the umpteenth time. "It's just.......a family thing, alright? I'm going to sort it out."

"An arranged marriage? Is that even legal? I mean, your birthday hasn't even passed yet! Surely there must be laws."

I lost what little patience I had. "The laws don't apply to my family!" I snapped.

Leila stared.

Crap. "I mean......it's New York. As long as you have parental consent, even a 16-year-old can marry."

"Your parents allow this?"

"My dad - yes. My mum......she would never."

"So it's not valid right? Both parents should agree! Bring it to court, Hayley!"

Yowzers, this girl will never fit in at Blackcroft. "I know. We're just in the middle of finalizing things. Don't worry," I said, putting on my most reassuring smile, "I'm not going anywhere."

Leila looked more mollified, and the talk turned to other things. But deep down I knew.

I don't really have a choice, do I?

No. No you don't.

*

Second class ended and I was making my way to the next one when footsteps clattered behind me. "Hayley, wait up!"

I sighed, turning around and already launching into my well-rehearsed speech. "Look Emrys, I'm really not in the mood to answer your questions, alright? I'm sorting it out on my own and I don't need people to keep asking me about this and that. Just leave it."

Emrys came to a stop. "Oh. So you prefer pizza?"

Who doesn't?

But anyway. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was going to ask you if you preferred a healthy dinner or a high-calorie one. I'm planning to ask you out tonight? To make up for getting you into detention?" 

I stared, uncomprehending. "You weren't going to ask about yesterday?"

He tilted his head and actually managed to feign puzzlement very well. But I could detect the small twinkle in his eyes. "What happened yesterday? From what I remember, you, Leila, me, the new kid and Kaylan had a very normal, very average lunch. Well, except for Kaylan accidentally slipping on spilled milk and crashing his face into a plate of mashed potatoes, before landing with his butt in said spilled milk." My eyes widened; that had not happened, he was making it up! He continued. "Nothing else happened besides that. There were no Men In Black showing up, no sirree."

I hesitated. "You sure?"

He made a sound of exasperation. "Of course I am! I'm Emrys Parker! The see-all, know-all!"

I rolled my eyes. "Changed your title again?"

"It's one of my aliases. I change it according to the situation - and the girl." He winked. 

Inside I felt a wave of gratitude, though I did not show it. Perhaps not all men are jerks after all. Thank you Emrys.

A thought popped into my head. "Hey Emrys, you said you see all and know all right? Do you happen to know of anyone who's lost a varsity jacket recently?"

He dipped his head low and elegantly began to stroke his non-existent beard. "Truly, a most wise and soul-searching question this is. The question thou should asketh thyself is not who, but why? Why would he hath lost his jacket? Unto which circumstances can this tragedy be blamed? To what event - "

And - I kicked him in the shin. Really, you would think that he had gotten used to it by now.

"Ow ow, okay! Varsity jacket huh? Mostly the jocks I guess. The sweaty smelly sporty people. To be honest as long as you actively represent the school you need to have one."

Huh. Did Mr Hood represent the school much? Welcome to the Bad Boy Regionals, 2016! Today Pambrooke will face off against Viridian High...... Seemed unlikely. But until I had conclusive evidence I wasn't going to take his name out.

I changed the subject. "Well I would love to have pizza, but unfortunately I have a study session with William. Apparently my grades need help. You should try it some time."

If Emrys had been a little bit cuter, the face he was making would have resembled this

"Fine." Is he actually sulking? "Go ahead and pick nerd boy over me. I'll watch Netflix and eat pizza alone."

I laughed. "Upgrade pizza to sushi and I'll say yes the next time you ask."

I started walking away, and behind I could hear him yell.

"That's a date!"

*

William had called yesterday night. Leila and him were the only contacts I had in my social phone. How sad. He fixed our study sessions to be three times a week, about two hours long, where we would be focusing on a subject per session. Today was our first session and we had agreed to meet at a diner nearby.

He was already there in a booth, with notes and papers spread out over the table. Highlighted phrases were dashed here and there, equations were maniacally circled and his head was bent over so low the nose almost touched the paper he was writing on.

I watched him and the muscle near my lips twitched. Going up to the counter I ordered a can of cold soda, straight from the fridge. Tiptoeing to just behind him, I pressed the can hard against his cheek.

He gave a yelp at the unexpected cold and scrambled away, arms flailing. I burst out in laughter at his panicky expression and slid into the seat opposite him.

His cheek was red from a mixture of embarrassment and the cold. "Haha. I'm going to get you back for that." He didn't sound at all confident though, and mumbled his words.

I eyed him critically. He reminded me of a jellyfish. Just floating along with the current, going wherever he was pushed to. I'd never spoken to him before yesterday but I had seen him a few times in class, and it was clear how low his confidence was. He knew all the answers to the teacher's questions but never raised a hand to say so, even though it looked like he really wanted to. Rather, he would perch on the edge of his seat, almost falling out of it, hoping that he would get picked.

"William. Sit up. Straight. Don't slouch. Your nose can't write your paper. And push those glasses up. "

He blinked a few times but obliged, his eyes flickering around in uncertainty. That was another telling sign of his low self-esteem. He couldn't look a person straight in the eye. For a moment I felt so tempted to just

but I figured it would be too creepy.

Anyhoo. Since it was our Physics teacher that started this teamwork we decided to study his subject today. I had been brushing up, but of course I hadn't learnt enough to be worthy of my final year syllabus. As we progressed through the chapters I could see William's eyes grew wider and wider, along with his incredulity. Anymore of this and it looked as if he would descend into catatonic shock and disbelief at my sheer ignorance. He was too polite to say so of course, but I took the initiative to say that I had behaved terribly at my previous school, and was always playing truant and the like. That was the reason why I was transferred.

If anything he now looked even more terrified.

William was remarkably patient with me. He took the time out to explain each and every step, and didn't seem to mind going back over them again and again. I made a comment about it and he smiled. It wasn't a shy smile or an embarrassed smile, but a real one this time.

"I have a younger sister. Willow. She's ten and I have to teach her all her homework. My parents work 9 to 5 jobs so, I'm usually the one taking care of her. You learn to be patient real fast."

It was just so casual, so nonchalant, so......normal. Just two teens hanging out at your neighborhood-friendly diner. No drama, no angst - cough cough Mr Hood - and most of all, no attempt at subjugation. For once I felt as if I was really Hayley Banner.

"So what we have here is Newton's Second Law. Where acceleration is proportional to the net force applied. But in this case, the force of 10 N isn't the net force, because - "

"There's friction," I supplied. "So we need to subtract the frictional force - 2 N - to get the net force. Put it into the equation and......the answer is 3 kg?"

William nodded with a smile. "Correct. Again."

Hey, this isn't so bad. I felt quite proud to be honest.

"Now we go into the third law. And after that, we'll do some questions that combine all three of Newton's laws."

I gaped. "All three? Is that legal?"

He gave a small chuckle. "Unfortunately it is. Sometimes you even get them in other subjects? Like my Maths teacher. She uses Physics in her questions too. So yeah."

"Thank the gods I'm not in her class then."

He shot me a look. "Did you just - "

" - quote Percy Jackson?" I finished. "Yeah I did."

He looked at me. I arched an eyebrow. "The fact that I can't recite formulas, verbatim, doesn't mean I don't read."

"Verbatim. Nice word."

"Why thank you."

He leaned forward, looking distinctly more animated. "So what's your favorite book?"

"Is that a trick question? A bookaholic doesn't have a favorite. Can you name me yours? Just one?"

He answered with no hesitation.  "Attack on Titan, by Hajime Isayama."

Now it was my turn to give him a look. Very obviously mimicking me, he arched an eyebrow.

"The fact that I'm a nerd doesn't mean my favorite book has to be Harry Potter."

I shook my head and laughed.

We worked steadily and I was definitely making some progress. At this rate I might just stay to take the finals.

Two hours passed and we got up to leave. I now had an armful of his notes. "I think you're making a nerd out of me. I actually enjoyed these two hours."

A warm hue of scarlet spread up from his neck to his cheeks. Man he sure did blush easily. He gave a cough. "Glad I could help."

William insisted on walking me to the taxi stand. As we waited, he shuffled his feet and fidgeted, tucking his hands in his pockets. I wasn't paying much attention because I was busy looking for a cab.

He cleared his throat. "Hayley, do you remember - "

"Oh! Taxi!" I yelled. The yellow vehicle pulled up to the kerb. I opened the passenger side door and looked back at him. "What did you say?"

His mouth opened - and then he closed it, shaking his head with a small smile. "Nothing. Safe trip back!"

I said my goodbye and got in the car, giving the driver my address. The taxi took off. It hadn't left the kerb for more than two minutes when my phone thrilled, signaling a message.

Remember to apply Newton's Third Law.

I frowned, puzzled but amused.

What? I texted back.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

......I know the definition. I have your notes. How does it apply to our situation?

I'm texting you from the diner. So an opposite reaction would be you texting me when you reach home.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help the smile that touched my lips.

Very funny Mr Winston.

:)

Is that another law?

This time his response took longer to arrive.

It's a smiley face? Don't tell me you don't know what's a smiley face.

What's a smiley face?

Gasp! You Seaweed Brain!

I might or might not have giggled a little at that one.

Tilt your phone horizontally. Doesn't it look like a smiley face?

I tilted. Huh. It worked. But if that was the case.....

:(

What was that for?

Newton's Third Law. An opposite reaction.

......Very funny Miss Banner.

And this time I really did burst into giggles.

The taxi arrived at my apartment and as promised, I texted William. He sent me another smiley face and a goodnight! I replied equally and tucked the phone in my bag, a smile hovering around my lips.

I was just going to enter my block when  I saw - him.

*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *.

So how you guys holding up so far? Still good? Still with me and the story? Excellent! I just wanted to tell you - *TV channel changes*

The Rebel Faction : We interrupt this author's note with an important announcement! Our spies have received information that the author plans to kill - *TV channel changes*

- is very important, so I hope you guys remembered what I just said. Also I should probably tell you that - *TV channel changes*

The Rebel Faction : - and that's why we need all the support we can get to overthrow her rule! So how do you support us you ask? Well all you have to do is......

*both author and faction together*

Click that winky little star at the bottom and my/our plans will come into fruition!

~~~~~~~~~~>

Heehee this is fun! Oh, and has any eagle-eyed reader spotted the change in media? *winks*

This chapter is dedicated to booknerd8199 for all the votes! Good luck with your story and I hope the rating keeps climbing!