BEING ALONE WAS PEACEFUL AT TIMES. On days like this, when the air made you want to bathe in hot chocolate, I didn't mind going out by myself.

          Most people didn't like to study unless there was silence, but I wanted the noise. It improved my concentration level, and for my ACT and SATs, I had to be more focused than a camera lens. I knew that a perfect score was unrealistic, but with enough studying, I could get there. My averages for school grades rested in the high nineties ever since elementary school, and with perfect scores on both tests, the Valedictorian spot should be mine.

          Every single break I had, I would spend it with my nose in a textbook.

          Today was Tuesday, and school just let out, so kids came in and out the doors of Drinks On Me!—a place in south Tuscon that served just about every drink imaginable. The Gossips, a clique of Wayfield students who knew everything about everyone in south Tucson, strolled in and took the table right in front of me. As soon as their butts hit the seats, Shelly Jensen, the "leader," familiarized everyone about Brown Academy's cheerleading squad and their mono scandal.

          Usually, I would've eavesdropped on the situation, but a familiar face sat down in front of me. I glanced up from the page about fluorescence and phosphorescence and locked eyes with Randy Williams.

          "Hey there, tiger," he said with a smile, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

          He greeted me as if we were long time companions who wandered through the desert together. The only conversation I ever had with him was yesterday—when I ran away from him like a crazy druggie.

          "Um, hi?" I replied, interested as to why he was sitting in front of me.

          He shoved his hands in his pockets as he never broke eye contact. "So, are you with someone, or are you here alone?"

          I almost gaped at his bluntness, but then I straightened my back, not leaning over the book anymore, and stared at him quizzically. "I'm alone," I told him, crossing my legs beneath me. "Well...not anymore."

          With anyone else, my confidence came naturally; Ashton was the only person who made me stutter stupid. Randy was forward, from what I gathered about him and now experienced, and I could easily match it. I just hoped he didn't think I was flirting.

          "Cool," he said and glanced down at my book. "Ah, studying chemistry, I see. What's the occasion?"

          "Science portion of the ACT," I told him. I held up the study guide I was creating. "I'm aiming for a perfect score."

          He upped his eyebrows in amusement and shock. "A perfect score, huh?" he said and let out a low whistle. "Damn, seems pretty tough."

          I shrugged. "I'm tougher," I replied. I sipped on my peppermint hot chocolate, but it was bone dry.

          "Want some more?" he asked, pulling out his wallet.

          I check the time on my phone. Three-thirty. My night shift at KFC started in two hours, and I still had other things I needed to do before then, but I let Randy buy me another drink.

          Randy, in my book, wasn't an asshole, unlike someone I was acquainted with. He achieved the bad-boy look well: muscle shirts, leather jackets, messy dark hair. Though, his heartwarming smile caught people off guard.

          He was relatively new to Wayfield, starting here in the middle of junior year—The Gossips were intrigued by what his life was like when he lived in New Mexico. Seated next to Trinity Vasquez, one of The Gossips, in AP Bio during Randy's prime arrival, she couldn't help but explain to me all the speculations about the "handsomely, ambiguous" boy. Since their sources didn't go past the Tucson borders, she only relied on rumors.

          It was true that no one knew Randy's story; he kept himself a mystery, which I thought was pretty cool. The only other person I knew who could do that was me. And I could admit that made me a little curious about the guy.

          "Thanks," I said to him as he handed me a freshly made cup of mocha. "I owe you."

          "Don't worry about it," he said, taking his seat. "Us Hispanics gotta stick together, am I right?"

          I laughed but in bewilderment. Usually, people never knew I was part Hispanic until I told them. Randy had a good eye. "Technically, I'm only half," I said, "but how could you tell?"

          "Just a hunch," he said with a grin. "And a mixed breed, wow. Where from?"

          "My mom is Colombian, and my dad was from the UAE," I answered and then took a sip of my drink. "You?"

          "Get outta here, both my parents Colombian," Randy said, and only now I picked up on his slight accent. He leaned back in his chair. "Wow, a fellow paisa. That's crazy. Do you speak?"

          I shook my head. "My parents didn't want me to get confused since they both spoke completely different languages, so we all stuck with English. But my mom slips up every now and again. Our family was out at the park one day, and my dad was doing some stupid. So, my mom whispered to me, saying, 'Mira a este Gonorrea.' I just nodded along, not knowing what the hell she just said. I was a freshman and already took health, so I thought she called him an STD or something."

          Randy exploded with laughter. "That's priceless, oh my gosh."

          I never guessed I would be having a conversation with Randy Williams about Colombian slang, but it was surprisingly easy to share a conversation when you had something in common. Especially an entire ethnicity.

          "So, Randy—"

          "You know me?" he asked, a little shocked.

          I paused. "Yeah, you're in my fourth period, right? AP Statistics? You sit in the far left side of the class."

          He nodded. "Yeah, yeah," he said and then gazed down at the table, and I raised my cup to my mouth. "So...are you single?"

          The hot liquid from my container skipped over to my breathing tube as I took a sharp inhale. I clamped down on my cup, mid-sip, and coughed. Randy simply glanced down at the table as I was freaking choking.

          "Excuse me?" I asked after I could breathe again.

          "I asked if you were single," he repeated like I was a child asking where kids came from. I just stared at him, blinking slowly. He then waved his hands in the air, dismissive. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not asking for me. Someone already has my heart."

          I released a breath of happiness. I thought that our new friendship would've gone south if he liked me, so I was relieved that he didn't. Guy friends were tricky; I learned that from Calum. When friends kiss, especially those of the opposing sex, it got complicated fast.

          "Why do you ask then?" I questioned Randy.

          "I've heard things," he said, and then directed his finger behind him. "Shelly's in my homeroom. Overheard her saying that you were involved in a love scandal or something. Something about Calum and Ashton, whom I know you know, and this kid named Brian. It seemed fishy, so I thought to ask you myself."

          I scoffed to myself. Shelly must've been at the dance. "Well, you wanted the inside scoop, so here it is. First off, Brian is a nobody. He tried to kiss me at the dance when I barely even knew him. Second, Calum is my best friend and always has been. Nothing ever happened between us." Calum and I promised to keep our former relationship a secret. It was easier that way. "Third, Ashton is...something different. I'm still trying to figure that out."

          The Gossips were quiet, obviously listening to what I had to say, but I could care less. Instead of broadcasting misleading rumors, they could now share the truth.

          "Seems like your name is your life story, Valentine," he said with a smile.

          I didn't know he knew my name. "You know me?"

          He grinned for the one-hundredth time. "Yeah, you're in my fourth period, right?" AP Statistics? You sit in the far right side of the class."

          Chewing my lip to hide my own smile, I chuckled. "I walked myself into that one, huh?"

          Randy peeped down at his watch, and I also checked my phone. We'd been here nearly an hour, chatting. It was time for me to pack up and head home, and Randy appeared to have somewhere to be as well.

          "Leaving so soon?" I joked, closing my textbook.

          He shot me a quick smile. "Yeah, I've got to pick my sister up from cheerleading practice. You?"

          "Got put on the night shift at KFC," I told him. "I have work in an hour."

          "Oh, you work there? Maybe, I'll stop by one time," he said, standing up. "My sister loves chicken like it's a drug."

          I laughed, but then remembered what he said before about his sister. "Your sister's a cheerleader? At our school?" I asked. If she wasn't, then I could only assume.

          He shook his head. "No, Brown Academy. She chose to go there instead of Wayfield when we moved here. She's a junior."

          Before we severed ways, I left Randy with one more piece of information. Needless to say, he and his sister were going to have a long talk tonight.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

          The moment I stepped through the school doors the next day, I knew something was unusual. People were staring. At me. It wasn't like the entire school had their eyes on me, but I already made eye contact with six people, and I didn't care for that shit at all.

          Ignoring the weird vibe I got from people, I proceeded to my locker. But standing there were faces I wasn't supposed to see until later in the day. It creeped me out and made me want to turn my ass back around. But Dana saw me and pointed at me, so now everyone was looking.

          Again, I didn't care for that shit at all.

          I nodded slowly and turned on my heel, avoiding her, but she must've been a track star before she came to this school. She was already standing in front of me and pushing me back. Now I, against my will and utterly perplexed, was standing at my locker.

          "You two," Dana said, shoving a finger in both mine and Ashton's face, "got some explaining to do."

          Ashton and I turned to each other, both confused. "What?" we said in unison.

          "You guys kissed and didn't tell anybody," she said.

          I was deceased. My soul left my body, and I froze like an idiot. Calum was quiet, and I didn't dare move my eyes to see his expression.

          "How did you even get that information?" asked Ashton, obviously not as troubled as I was. The situation was a little different for him.

          "Michael heard it from Trinity Vasquez, and he told me," Calum said, and I couldn't tell if he was upset or not. He sounded the same, and honestly, that made me even more anxious.

          How the hell did Trinity even know about that? She was at the table with Shelly and the other Gossips when I spoke my truth to Randy. I said nothing about kissing Ashton. They must've added it in there for flavor. It made matters worse because they happened to be right.

          "Why didn't you tell me?" Dana asked me. She wasn't upset; it was more like a that's-awesome-but-I-wanted-to-know-because-I-love-juicy-details type of tone.

          "To be fair," I replied after returning from the Spirit World, "I was going to tell you."

          She slapped me on the arm like the abuser she was. "But you didn't," she said.

          "I don't get why it's such a big deal," Ashton said, stepping in and chuckling. "People kiss all the time, and it just so happened to be us. It literally happened like four days ago, and we needed time to think it out. Like damn, calm down."

          The bell rang, signaling for us to head to homeroom.

          "I'm gonna get those details later, Val. I want to hear every single detail," Dana said as she walked away.

          Ashton sighed. "I'm going to class. See you guys there." He pushed himself off one of the lockers and left.

          Now, Calum and I were alone, something that used to be not scary. My unsteady hands opened my locker in a hurry, grabbing all my stuff for the day. Calum was silent, and I couldn't take it anymore.

          "I'm not a two-timer!"

          He shifted towards me and let out a short laugh. "What?"

          I sighed and shut my locker. "I don't want you to think I'm some whore or something."

          "Val, why would I think you're a whore for kissing Ashton?" he asked, and I looked down at my shoes. "Val, we're not dating anymore, remember? And didn't I say that if you found someone you liked, you wouldn't hold me against them? So, if you like Ashton, then go for it."

           "But isn't there, like, some code or something?" I said. "Something about not dating your ex's best friend?"

           "Whoever made that code obviously doesn't know the works of love, Val," Calum said with a laugh. He flung an arm around my shoulder as we walked to homeroom. "And also, a whore? Seriously, Val?"

           "It was just...I don't know," I told him with a small shrug.

           "I would never call any woman a whore. It's a terrible word and degrading to women," he said.

          I giggled. "Thanks for the womanly support."

          Calum let out a heavy sigh. "Gotta tell them what they want to hear, or they'll never let me smash."

He ended up walking into homeroom with a red handprint on his arm.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

WAZZZZ UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP! So, my gum is stale cause I've been obnoxiously chewing it for over five hours now. But it gets the writing done.

Anyway, so the truth unfolds about the smooches shared between Ash and Val, annnnnnnnnd we're finally introduced to Randy! Hands down, one of my favorite characters out of this book. I hope you guys love him as well.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get chapter 15 done tonight also cause the wattys deadline is approaching. I gotta hustle like crazy cause there are a lot of changes that need to be done.

But anyway, I have to pee.

How's your siblings?

Peace out!