Hello All,

I know it's late, but better late than never. I'm back once again! Gotten to 17k reads! And what's more we've arrived at 81 pages in total! Exciting milestones for once It's Complicated and now the more clickbait appropriate title Little Miss Complicated and the Bad Boy. 

      Hope you all enjoy this one,

                                                          Xoxo,

                                                              PaintMeAPicture.

Red. That is all I am able to spot in a sea of students. It's visible every direction. Who knew, school, the bane of our existence could influence us enough to wear their defining color?

"I thought last year was bad," Brecken scans the locker area, searching for some sign of any another hue

"Did it rank close?" Ava leans against her locker, and in doing so her lengthy black hair rocks from her left shoulder to the right.

"Not particularly," Khloe mimics her girlfriend's movement, and together they link hands. This causes a chain reaction for all of us, except when I impulsively stretch out my hand, I am greeted with nothing but air.

"Well I'm glad we all agreed not to participate." I purse my lips, tugging down on Luke's white and green baseball tee.

"Yes, wearing the colors of our rival school was a great way to win the student body onto your side." Ava ends her acerbic and completely unnecessary comment with an anticipated eye roll.

"Looks like he didn't get the memo," Josh points to a suddenly visible familiar face, emerging through the crowd...or rather, shoving his way through.

"Ariiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." I drag out the end of his name as long as I possibly can, looking him up and down. There he stands, daringly, modeling his red and white letterman jacket.

"Why aren't you guys dressed? It's spirit day..." He smiles awkwardly through his confusion, looking back and forth between all of us.

Ava of course is dressed head to toe in black, Khloe in a blue romper, Josh a khaki tee with jeans, Brecken in one of her many band t-shirts and her eternal beanie, me in well...you know already, and Ari in that stupid letterman jacket.

"You completely ruined our theme." I rise from my place against the lockers, and punch him in the shoulder.

"Your theme?" He raises a questioning eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, our theme." I huff, as if it were obvious he should not conform to the school's almost cultish agenda.

"Would you care to elaborate just a tad bit further?" He grins, and takes a step closer. I must admit, he doesn't look half bad in that jacket. Fitting in suits him very well. "Earth to Adriann?" He chuckles, waving a hand in front of my face. Did I really just space out daydreaming about Ari's biceps? I need to get a hold of my brain.

"Right...sorry...our theme...right..." I puzzle over the words, trying to remember what we were just talking about.

"Our theme," Brecken saves, gently shoving me aside. "Is not listening to the school."

"That's an awfully long title," Ari points out.

"Of course that's the first thing you notice," I re-approach the situation, finally recomposed and prepared to argue.

"It seemed like you were noticing something pretty irrelevant a second ago as well," Ava smirks from her spot on the wall. Faster than the words come out of her mouth, my face flushes. I meet Ari's eyes, but before I can see his expression, I migrate my gaze to the floor.

"Ava," I can hear Khloe whisper in the background.

"Owe!" She yelps, as Khloe nudges her in the ribs. There is dreadful moment of total and utter complete silence.

"Getting back to our topic," Brecken begins once again. "We aren't wearing school colors because that would totally ruin our campaign." One difference between Brecken and I, is that I would never ever in a million years say the word totally. That, and I wouldn't even attempt to suffer wearing a beanie during the summer.

"Campaign?" Another question.

"You're really not getting this, are you?" Brecken sighs.

"We cannot do everything the school tells us to do, if we're fighting the homework policy." I explain finally feeling the scarlet beginning to drain from my face.

"You were a twin yesterday, and a pirate the day before?" He continues.

"Off topic," I dismiss him, with a relaxed hand. "Now off with that jacket."

"Oh Adriann, of all things, I never thought you'd beg me to strip for you." He grins, that dopey, toothy smile..

"I'm not begging. I'm demanding." I return to my spot against the lockers.

"So you are demanding that I strip for you?" He joins me on the wall.

"Ari!" I grit my teeth, raising my voice and drawing attention from a few passing bystanders.

"Fine, fine." He removes the jacket, slowly, his eyes on me the entire agonizingly embarrassing experience.

"And your entire freaking shirt sleeves are red," Khloe rolls her eyes.

"I give up," Brecken storms off towards her first class, dramatically. The rest one by one follow in Brecken's footsteps.

"Just you and me now," Ari states the obvious, making me even more uncomfortable.

"I'm aware," I giggle.

"Do you wanna ditch first period?" He proposes, surprising me.

"Mr. Perfect wants to ditch first?" I turn to face him.

"First you ask me to strip for you, second you tell me how perfect I am." Khloe was right. He really isn't subtle...

"Alright. You wanna ditch? I'm in." I nod.

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"Ar, when you said we should ditch, I kind of thought we might enjoy ourselves during said ditching." I pant, as I continue pressing my way up the sidewalk on the hill.

"Trust me, this'll be thrilling." He looks far down the hill to see me, or what must look like an ant at the distance. "Now hurry up!"

"At least tell me where we're going?" I try, lifting my t-shirt over my head to wipe the sweat from my face.

"Well if you caught up..." He urges. There is no way I am catching up to or beating Ari Sheppard when it comes to any kind of hiking. I am a girl who leads a life of complete non-athleticism.

Finally I reach the top of the hill on Beetle-Berry Lane, a street people tend to avoid, as no one resides here anymore, and the roads are rotten for any driver. Also the name is not misleading; It's one of the creepiest streets around.

"You made me climb this whole entire hill just to see a house?" I take a breath between words. Definitely not a hiker.

"It's not just any house," Ari makes a big gesture with his hands, as if somehow that will give me a clue.

"If you say it's one of those haunted houses up on a hill that you read about in a book, I swear to God." But I know already that's the case.

"It's one of those houses, haven't you heard of it at some point?" He tries, scratching the back of his neck, which I am sure is not nearly as dampened with sweat as mine.

"You know, generally those stories are passed around through small towns." I educate him on what is usually thought of as common knowledge.

"Shut up and explore the abandoned haunted house with me." He orders me, as if he is in charge. Although this is his ditch day, and he suggested I join him on his adventure...so why not go into a dark, creepy, empty house with a boy whose biceps I am resisting the urge to daydream about.

"Right then." I agree, following close behind him as he approaches the door. Just as I expected would happen, the door doesn't budge. Before I can suggest anything like let's go home or oh well we tried...Ari gets a better idea. Without running it by me, he picks up the nearest rock, which just happens to be right next to the door. Suddenly the large bay window, one of the only portions of the house in tact, is shattered. He immediately climbs through. "What the hell were you thinking?!" I scream, still following him, despite my gut feeling this is going to end terribly.

"Here we go," he smiles at me through the darkness, grabbing my forearm, and guiding me towards the stairs. I guess we'll just forget about that recent window incident? He turns the flashlight on from his phone, and shines it up the steps. Old paintings hang crooked on their nails along the staircase. Yellow wallpaper patterned with pink roses tears at the floor and the ceiling, looking more washed out than I knew it was capable of. "You scared?" His teasing voice is a beautiful mix of raspiness and softness, two opposites combined into the perfect tone.

"Not as much as you are," I grin, knowing there is probably twice as much fear inside of me, despite his good boy approach to life.

"We both know that's not true," he assures me.

"Maybe," I admit, drawing closer behind Ari, as we reach the top of the stairs. "You know I was kind of thinking we could experience joy and laughter rather than fear and death during our adventure...just my perspective."

"Live a little," he continues, turning left onto a corridor. He is using lines that I would normally use on him. Maybe I'm a bad influence on him.

There is a worn patterned carpet along the narrow hallway, covered in scattered moth holes. An end table is beside one of the many doorways, where a once beautiful vase used to rest, and now shattered it lays in crisp pieces on the floor, surrounded by crunchy, brown petals.

"Wait is this breaking and entering?" I ask, as he begins to wrap his long fingers around a doorknob.

"It could be," he turns around to look at me. He touches my cheek, rendering me speechless. His hand is warm, or maybe my cheek is, I can't tell. "Stop worrying about the police, and worry about the ghosts."

"Uh huh." I nod, using the only sounds I can get out of my throat. He slowly twists the handle, and the door opens inwards, towards the back of the room.

The curtains are drawn tightly closed, and if not for the flashlight, it would most definitely be pitch black. I can almost feel my body start to shiver. Perhaps it is due to the false fear building up inside of me, or perhaps it is my perfect best friend who just caressed my cheek.

"Come on," he ushers, despite the fact that his grip on my wrist is dictating my every movement.

In the far end of the center of the room is a grand, king-sized bed, draped in an olive leaf green duvet, paired with two deflated and unhopeful yellow-white pillows. To either side of the bed is an end table, one with an old fashioned alarm clock, and the other with a red reading lamp. Against the right wall is an enormous wardrobe. It reminds me a lot of the one from the the classic tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: big, ornate, and embellished.

My moments of exploration are over, because out of nowhere in the distance, the so familiar sound of sirens draws near. "Ari..." I whimper.

He whips around to face me, panic overcoming the both of us. "We have to hide," he informs me, his voice giving me orders, but his body petrified. I can hear the sound getting closer and closer. Those damn things can go however fast they want, and clearly we were in fact breaking and entering.

"Ar, they'll be here any minute." I tap my foot on the floor, darting to his side. "The wardrobe." I point. He nods, and moves swiftly ahead of me, his paralyzation suddenly ending, knowing we are in crisis and danger.

If the cops catch me, I'll have to go back to Lana. I'll be stuck in that situation again. While living with one of my two attractions is a little tough, I'd much rather be there than in my own home. Luke's home is mine. Not Lana's. Not again.

He jiggles the handles of the wardrobe, rapidly. The door opens to my delight, and one after the other, the two of us quickly squeeze inside. The sirens stop, signaling the police's arrival. 'They're here'. I want to say those words to him, but we both know what that terrifying silence means.

I scoot to the very back of the wardrobe, which is surprisingly deep behind all of the vintage clothing. Ari follows.

"Turn off the light." I whisper in his ear, pressing my balled up body against his side. Together we squeeze our own knees to our chests, and hold onto ourselves for dear life.

"Hello?" A loud, aged voice shouts from downstairs. I can hear the pitter patter of multiple footsteps downstairs. There must be at least three officers outside, probably more. I can't get caught. I just can't afford it.

The footsteps creak as they approach the stairs. They're coming. I begin to breathe heavily, uncontrollably. I try to calm down, but I'm losing it, because I might lose everything.

To relax me, Ari wraps his arm closest to mine around my back, resting on my shoulder, and pulling me even closer to him. Obviously, this does anything but calm me down.

"Shhh," he whispers. "I know." He does know. He didn't think about the consequences, and neither did I. I should have. I should have procrastinated this ditch day.

Every second another stair is surpassed, and another footstep breaks my heart. They've the landing. Now they're opening the doors the corridor houses, getting closer and closer to the end of the hall, where in the wardrobe Ari and I hide, him trying to calm me down, and me in silent heavy tears.

It happens. They twist the knob to our room. It swings open with force, and a crash sounds as it collides with plaster wall.

I have to be quiet. But I can't stop sobbing, and hiding every bit of noise when you're crying that hard is near impossible. That's when he kissed me. Not for a dress rehearsal, or for a joke, but for real...or maybe just to shut me up.

His lips are just as soft as I remember, smooth even, like you'd think a cloud would feel. To my surprise I kiss him back. I can't help it. I want to. I've been wanting to. I've been wanting him.

Finally he pulls away, and looks at me, his eyes piercing through the darkness. Using his free hand, he puts his thumb to my cheek, and wipes away my tears.

Suddenly, it's all ruined, as the two of us jerk out of our daze, listening to the double doors of the wardrobe being fumbled with. The doors swing open. But past the long jackets and maxi dresses, it must be impossible for them to see us. Will they climb inside and feel around? Or worse, shine a light and push a fur coat to the side.

"All clear boss, they must have run away when they heard the sirens." A voice comes from the doorway of the room. I sigh, letting out a breath I did not know I had been holding so far in.

Ari and I hold each other, as we wait for the sound of the cars to start, and leave. It is not until that moment that we speak.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He suggests.

"That sounds amazing." I let out another breath, and follow Ari into the unknown, because I trust him.