We ran down the hall, searching for a new place to stay. "Where should we hide? We were lucky earlier, but I don't think we can be lucky again." I whispered as we peeked around a wall to see if someone was near.

Our breaths got caught in our throats and we froze when we saw a group of men who look to be about 19, standing in a circle. They were all talking amongst each other. Each of them were loaded with pistols and rifles. There were about five of them.

"Have any of you guys seen Kris? He was just here." one of them asked while looking around. We quickly hid behind the wall. Zeke grasped my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"I don't know. I think he went that way." another guy replied. I already knew that they were talking about our direction. Zeke tensed and his hold tightened.

"Zeke." I whispered with a wince. His hold on me was so tight, I felt like I was going to pop like a balloon. He didn't seem to notice that I was calling him because he continued to breath heavily while closing his eyes tightly.

"Zeke." I tried again as I started clawing at his arms.

He looked down at me and quickly loosened his hold on me. "Sorry." he muttered. I could hear the fear in his voice and he looked like he was about to start freaking out.

I waved him off while breathing out a large breath that was caught in my throat. The footsteps of the group of men started moving closer towards us. I looked around for a place where we could hide. My eyes immediately landed on a door with a sign on it that said 'woman' on it.

I grabbed Zeke by the wrist and dragged him over to it. "I can't go in there. That's the girls' bathroom." he protested.

I rolled my eyes and shoved him inside. I pushed the door close behind me and pulled out my phone so that I could use the flashlight since it was pitch black in the room. We walked over to the largest stall and locked ourselves in it. The whole room was dark except for the little light that shone out of my phone.

We both slid down so that our butts were on the floor. Zeke still had this look of horror on his face. I studied his face quizzically. How does he know Kris? This just occurred to me. How the hell does he know them?

He pulled the beanie off of his head and began running his fingers through his messy hat-hair. I've never seen him without a beanie on. He's always wearing that thing. My eyes widened at how nicely cut it was and how silky it looked. I was tempted to just lean forward and feel his hair. But I wouldn't do that because I would most likely embarrass myself doing so.

I quickly averted my eyes when Zeke caught my gaze. I could already feel my cheeks heat up, but thank God he can't see since its dark and the light from my phone wasn't enough to catch something like that.

"How do you know those guys?" I asked once I was able to find my voice.

"I've dealt with bad people." His answer was short and cold. Geez, what's got his balls twisted?

"Who's Kris?" I asked.

"A guy." Again, it was short and harsh. He really needs to take whatever is stuck up his butt and pull it out. There's a toilet right over there. He can flush it down.

I rolled my eyes. "You are so annoying. Who's Kris and how do you know him? Give me more than a sentence."

His eyes met mine and he frowned. "Why should I tell you? It's none of your business anyways." I felt my heart clench at his words. Why does he have to be such a bastard?

"Because I care." I blurted out. I quickly gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth. Zeke's eyes widened as he stared at me in confusion. "I-I...I mean.....I told you about my past, which was obviously none of your beeswax. So tell me Anderson, who are they and how do you know them?"

He stared at me for a couple more seconds, processing my words before looking away and staring down at his beanie that laid on his lap. "I used to deal with drugs." He finally said, filling up the silence that blanketed us.

"Really? I actually thought that you were doing that now." I muttered mainly to myself but I knew he heard me.

"You seriously judged me before getting to know me?" It wasn't really a question, more like a statement. And it's true. I did judge him before I got to know him. But he judged me too. His eyes looked into mine in annoyance.

"Well yeah. What do you expect? Your Seaside High's bad boy. They call you bad for a reason, right? You don't just get that name because you rode a unicorn like a badass."

His deep chuckle rang throughout the room. "I never realized how funny you were."

"Well I try to be." Then I folded my arms across my chest. "Plus, you judged me like I did to you."

"That's true."

Silence filled the air once again. Zeke scooted closer to me so that our arms were brushing. Then it occurred to me that I left my hoodie in the classroom we were hiding in. "Dammit!" I exclaimed. I was about to slam my fist against the wall but then I remembered what happened the last time I did that. I eyed the bandage on my hand with a scowl.

"What's wrong?" Zeke asked.

"I left my hoodie in the classroom." I responded. I rubbed my face with my hand and then my eyes widened. "And my glasses!"

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll be able to get them once the police arrive."

I felt a little better. I couldn't afford getting new glasses. A lot of my money goes to the house, my truck, electricity, water, and many other bills.

"Zeke? Please tell me who those guys are." I pleaded. I was really curious.

Zeke sighed before leaning his head back against the wall. My eyes zeroed in on his pink lips when he started talking. "Last year, I used to be with a group who were drug dealers. We all used to get illegal drugs and went around selling them. We all got carried away, we didn't realize how much deep shit we were getting ourselves in. We all got arrested once the police were able to catch us. Fortunately, my aunt was able to bale me out since she had the cash for it and promised me that she wouldn't tell my parents what I did."

"I lost touch with them because I realized how wrong it was. We used to do really bad things, Valentina. Really bad things. Like I don't want to tell you. It would make you see a whole side of me I don't want you to find out about."

I opened my mouth to ask him what he did, but he continued, "Anyways, they became angry that I was able to get out of juvie while they were stuck in there for a year. I guess they just got out and wanted to do something more extreme...." He tightly closed his eyes and his fists were turning white as he clenched them.

I leaned over and placed my hand on top of his. I gently unclenched his fingers and intwined them with mine. I pulled his hand onto my lap and I gave it a light squeeze. "It's okay Zeke." I brought his hand up to my lips and pressed them against it.

"You know. You look less nerdy without glasses." he informed me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at him. "But you look way better with them because you look different from all the other girls here at this school."

My cheeks were on fire as butterflies fluttered in the pits of my stomach. I looked up into his eyes and realized that he was being honest. He wasn't teasing me or making fun of me. He was complimenting me. I never thought that Zeke Anderson would actually compliment me.

"Are you complimenting me?" I asked with a smirk.

"Don't flatter yourself. This is the first and last time I will, freak." I knew when he called me a freak, he didn't mean it. He was just teasing. I could tell from the tone of his voice when he said it.

"That's okay. After today, you and I will be back at each other's throats. We could go back to our old lives and pretend that this never happened."

I heard him mutter something under his breath but I couldn't understand what it was that he said, but the sound of the door opening made all of those thoughts disappear. Zeke and I quickly sat up.

Moans echoed throughout the room. The hell? Zeke and I slowly stood up. I walked over to the door and peaked through the crack. I couldn't really see since it was dark. I looked up at Zeke with a questioning look. He ushered me over to him.

What's he got up his sleeve?

When I walked up to him, he bent down. "Climb on my back." he whispered. Cautiously, I got on his back and he lifted me up so that I was sitting on his shoulders. He stood up and went over to the edge of the stall so that I could peak over.

The moaning got ever louder and I grew suspicious. I lifted my phone up so that I could see. When blonde hair caught my site, I gasped. I shifted myself so that Zeke would know to put me down. When he placed me back on the floor, he sent me a confused look by raising his eyebrow.

"Who is out there." he asked. I ignored him and went over to the stall door and unlocked it. When the door swung open, I used my phone to help me navigate me towards the sinks.

"What are you guys doing?" I flicked on the lights by the door, revealing a guy and a girl. The guy had his manhood sticking out from his pants and the girl's skirt was on the floor. She had her hand on him. Both of them were staring at me with wide eyes.

My eyes grew even wider when I saw who the girl was. "Lydia?" I asked.

"Oh great. It's just the nerd." I heard her whisper to the guy who was struggling to zip up his pants.

"Who's in here?" Zeke asked as he walked out of the stall and over towards me. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Lydia standing with the guy next to her. He clenched and unclenched his jaw.

She cheated on him. With that jock. Zeke grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Valentina was right. You are a slut."

Lydia stared at him with her mouth gaped. Then her eyes turned into slits when she fitted her gaze on me. "You little bitch." She pulled up her skirt and then advanced towards me. She was about to launch herself at me, but Zeke got in the way.

"Back off." he ordered her. His voice was cold and intimidating. She took a step back and complied. I guess she's scared of him. "Both of you, get out of here. This is our hiding and we don't want to get killed because of your untamed hormones."

They both nodded and left the room. Zeke went over to the light switch and turned it off. Then he went back into the stall and sat down. He ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. I walked back into the stall and locked it behind me.

I feel really bad for him. They might've not been serious to Lydia, but Zeke thought that it was real. I was about to say something, but a gun shot caught me off guard. Cries followed in suit.

Zeke's head snapped up. We both knew who it was......