AMELIA

We arrive on campus, and thanks to Cameron, my mood for my first day is ruined. I can't even find joy in watching and breathing the ambiance of my university.

"Do you mind telling me your first class if you're not going to cry?"

"Do you have to add the last part?" I grumble as I search through my bag.

"I am just being cautious. Goodness, are you on your period?"

Seriously?

Fuming, I shoot him a glare. When our eyes lock, he surrenders his hands, his lips forming an attractive pout. I slightly feel embarrassed and hand over the course schedule to him.
He started it. He is being rude all the time.

"Let's see!" His lips purse while he drives with one hand, shifting his gaze between the campus lane and the paper in his hand. "Math. Oh!" He reads and then hands the paper back to me.

"You know the building?" I ask him, and his smile returns.

"Trust me, Princess. I own this school." He winks, and my eyes roll, while he chuckles and dials someone on his phone, asking them to meet him at what he calls the 'stalker spot.'

When we park by some aligned cars, his car is the rarest one, and he doesn't forget to brag about that too.

As I circle around, trying to push his presence to the back of my mind, he decides to glue himself to me, dropping his arm over my shoulder, something only Jake does.

I stiffen, but he is too mischievous to even notice I want him to take his hand off me.

He goes on and keeps walking with me in his arm, my bare hand glue against the side of that naturally chiseled torso of his I've seen so much of these days and can't get it out of my mind.

Focus!

"You made a good decision not trekking to school on your first day. Imagine fainting under the sun like a fish on the sand, and I had to catch up and give you a mouth-to-mouth rescue. I could've enjoy the mouth-to-mouth, though." He leans and whispers the last part sensually.

Stunned, my stomach makes a grumbling sound, and he notices, chuckling at my expense. I nudge his side, and he chuckles even more but tightens his hold around my shoulder, not letting me go.

"You should be honored you are with me, Princess," He remarks after waving at a group of three girls gaping at him, who suddenly cover their after-braces smiles with their hands over their mouths at his acknowledgment.

Agreed, he's got the kind of features you can't overlook, but is it worth treating him like he's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Exasperated, I breathe, "I didn't ask for it."

"Body language never lies. Your cheeks say otherwise." He mocks, and I force myself out of his embrace. "Aww, Princess."

"Stop calling me Princess." I grit, and he chuckles.

"You need herbal tea for your stomach cramps; you're so moody." He remarks, not letting me toss back a comeback. He distances away, jogging up the stairs towards two guys around his age and height.

"Boy, don't you deserve some award right now?" A dark-haired guy, with one hand in the pocket of ripped jeans trousers, says while Cameron brotherly slaps hands with the other dark-skinned guys, who dress in all black, and praise Cameron upon arrival. "Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali!"

"If you're talking about those I could sell and make money, I could settle for it," Cameron says, swiftly bro-hugging the other.

I am hesitant to walk into their conversation, so I take slow steps up the stairs, but of course, Cameron doesn't forget about my existence. He spins around, calling everyone's attention, including the innocent bystanders going about their day.

"Ladies and gentlemen-" He begins, and the all-black-dressed guy slaps him on the back of the head. Despite my nervousness, I can't help but laugh. "Ouch! Goodness! Okay, gentlemen? I present to you, Princess." He waves his hand at me, swiftly descends a few steps, and reaches out to take my hand, embarrassing me even more to the core.

In the presence of his two friends, my cheeks turn the deepest shade of red, and I find it difficult to meet their gaze.

"I am actually Amelia," I tell them, and Cameron's eyes roll sarcastically.

The darker-haired guy leans and whispers something in his ear, and Cameron's face contorts. "Get out."

"The Amelia? You are Jake's fiance." One asks, and I nod. His smile widens. "I'm Edward."

"I'm Collins."

Gaping and blinking at them, they couldn't stay in character, they burst into laughter. Who claims to be Edward, throws his hand over Collins's shoulder and says, "Yes, we are like the Edward Collins from Twilight, but there are two of us."

"So you technically have half of his powers?" I go along with their quip.

"Nah, we come in trio." He shakes his head. "We've got Bella." He taps Cameron's forearms, and Cameron cringes, brushing off where he was tapped at, and that does it, I chortle, laughing too.

"He's actually Layton, and that's Garrett." Cameron exposes them in return while I struggle to compose myself after laughing out in real tears. "And they're going to find a way to write my test for me while I am here in freshman math class, keeping eyes on my buddy's girl." He smiles connivingly at them and pulls me towards the building entrance by interlacing our hands.

"What the heck, bro?" Garret and Layton exclaim while Cameron salutes them with two fingers and enthusiastically pushes the door.

"I believe in you two. Get me an A."

"You have a test today? I thought school just resumed?" I ask him, yanking off my hand from his in the hall.

He is more attentive to what I do than what I say. "Come on, it's just a hand. I am not grabbing your ass." He plainly says, winking when I fume at him.

It is the second time he does this today, and I swear each time, the adrenaline reaction in me gets worse. It's almost scary. I have to immediately think back to Jake and our kiss this morning before he leaves and those times he kisses deeply to remind myself it isn't only Cameron and me left in the world. There's so much more. For example, a fiance left his perfect job and returned to a miserable one for his woman.

"I don't want to hold your hand. Isn't that simple to understand? You should respect my boundaries and those of Jake's. He's your friend," I spit like a psycho, suddenly infuriated, and it's my hormones doing the most.

He stops, and I do too. He faces me, his gaze lowering on me. He is so towering and has nice broad shoulders, making me look tiny before him.

"I am only kidding, Princess." It's like he is offended by my words, but his eyes surely don't show. "I don't fuck my friends or friends of my friends. You can rest assure that this is just friendly teasing."

Will it kill him to have a filter?

I wish I could say his words bring me peace, but it only keeps getting worse. Every girl who passes by has to have their eyes on Cameron, and all through the time, because he is looking at me, he is even oblivious to them.

Actually, it kind of gives me relief that I am not the only weird woman. The absurd ability to attract people even in his silence is in his nature.

"Then don't crowd me." I shove him so I can make way for myself from his intimidating stare.

Ignoring whatever his reaction is, I push the door to the lecture hall open, finding an unexpected number of people occupying the seats. Crowd, buzz, laughter, everyone engrossed in their own business. It happens; everyone succeeds in having their first day organized, except for me. Look, no matter how much I wish, I can't even be early on my first day, and if this persists, then I won't be able to reach the grade I set for myself.

Just when I think I've seen it all, all those eyes are pulled to me. For a second, I wonder if there's something wrong with my appearance, and I'm rendered paralyzed with panic, but when I take in the whiff of the air! The scent of combined rarity fills my nostrils and raids my mind, time stops.

"Come with?" Cam whispers in my ear and takes my hand without asking for permission yet again.

Of course, it's him.

"What are you doing?" I carefully pull, staring down at our interwoven hands that he's not letting go.

"Only because you're nervous," he excuses. But this is wrong. This is wrong.

"The class is full." And everyone, more than that, girls are all looking at him, and I am next to him.

Attention has been my thing in high school, but this is some high-level attention that I never had before. I didn't date the star quarter; I dated a college guy while I was in high school, so despite being talked about and admired, I'm not as mighty as the cheerleader who has the most popular guy in school. But around Cameron, it feels like it. There are gasps, murmurs, giggles, and even glares sent at me.

This is not good.