The entire situation has changed, and the tables have turned.

I've been trying to engage in a proper conversation with Leigh, but all he does is ignore me. Sometimes he blocks out everything with his AirPods or gets absorbed in excessively loud and intense games like 'Call of Duty.' He even lets Sawyer into his bedroom, which annoys me more than all the salt he adds to my wounds.

It's early on a Monday morning when Lilith stops to grab her coffee from IHOP, while we sing along to a Katy Perry song playing on the radio.

"Did he just blush?" My eyes widen as the bartender brings Lilith's coffee and refuses to accept her tip, or is it a bribe? I still don't understand the need to give extra money after paying for the service.

"He's just some strange guy," she rolls her eyes and winds up her window before driving off.

"Looks like something more to me." I chuckle, and she nudges my arm.

When we arrive at the school car park, instead of joining Lilith and her group of bully friends, I head to the hallways with my new hairstyle, glowing skin, and perfectly manicured nails. In short, I'm a refined and elegant version of myself, thanks to the spa weekend Lilith arranged.

The hallways are crowded as I stride over to Evie's locker. She's so focused on her test script that she ignores my presence, so out of impatience, I start poking her until she looks at me.

With terror in her eyes, she blurts out, "I can't believe I got a B! I'm sorry, Ava. You look pretty and expensive, but I have a B. That means I just broke my A+ record. I can't handle it. I might as well die." She panics.

I grab both her shoulders and make her face me. "Okay, calm down and breathe."

"I can't. Look, I have a B," She lifts the paper as if I haven't seen it.

"You're exaggerating..."

"I swear to God, if you finish that word, I'll stick this inside your nostrils." For a moment, she looks threatening, and my eyes widen.

"Now you're scaring me."

"I'm sorry, Ava, but I can't let my parents down, and the teacher won't give me a chance to retake the test." Her shoulders slump as she pouts.

I try to think of a way out, and then it hits me.

"Don't worry, just go and study. Leave the rest to me." I grin at her.

"Now you're really scaring me. What are you planning? Ava, you're not going to threaten Mr. Moreno. Oh no... please don't even try to sneak into the principal's office to change the scores." She panics even more.

"Can I do that?" I feign interest.

"Ava," she calls, a warning evident in her tone.

"Just kidding. I'm not going to do anything illegal, or at least not that I'm aware of. So calm down and go read your book. You have a makeup test today." I remind her enthusiastically.

Evie looks more than confused as I quickly turn and head in the other direction down the hall. "Wait, is the teacher a man or a woman?" I pause to ask.

"Male, Mr. Moreno?" She answers, perplexed.

I hope The Leigh Syndrome works on older men. If I'm correct, I've seen it work on some of my male teachers and the football coach.

With that in mind, I set out to find the boy who is deliberately avoiding me.

The school bell rings as I stand outside the senior social studies homeroom. It takes me a few minutes to gather my courage and turn the doorknob.

I've never been to classes outside of my grade, let alone a homeroom filled with seniors. I feel incredibly uncomfortable as I become the centre of attention for too many jocks, cheerleaders, popular girls, and older teenagers.

I freeze, unable to find the right words to defend my intrusion into their homeroom. Instead, I let my eyes wander, allowing the gazes of numerous students to pour onto my awkward self.

"Excuse me?" The voice is too close, and it startles me. I flinch and find Mr Wick standing next to me. I've seen him several times around the administration office, and rumours suggest that he is deeply in love with the student counsellor, Ms Polen.

"Hey..." I find myself grinning widely, to the point where it might start hurting, and more awkwardly, I don't know why I'm grinning or how to stop.

"You're in this class?" he neutrally asks.

"Oh no." I clear my throat and refocus—scanning the more mature students until my eyes land on a familiar pair of captivating forest-green eyes and enviable hair.

"Ava?" Arlen Garret narrows his eyes, and beside him stands Tyron Bertram, who is possibly picturing me naked as he chews on the tip of his pen, looking amused.

Rolling my eyes internally, I give Arlen a small smile, and that seems to set the bull charging. Leigh stands up. Well, that was easy.

"She's with me, Mr. Wick." Leigh shamelessly admits to his teacher and pulls me by the forearm down the empty hallways.

Whatever!

"What do you think you're doing?" He abruptly pins me against the wall and glances sideways before focusing his attention on me.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm also a Hills High student. I have every right to walk freely in this school as a human being." I retaliate.

His lips curl up, and a smirk takes over his expression. "By stalking me in class? Isn't that against the law?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not stalking you," I assert.

With observant eyes, he quietly inspects me from head to toe, triggering a quick internal and physical reaction within me. "Okay," he simply utters and starts to turn away.

Not so fast...

I grab his arm and pull him back, a slight smile expressing my smugness. I want to kiss him, no, I want to knock some sense into him.

"Why are you stalking me?" He derisively questions.

"I. AM. NOT. STALKING. YOU," I huff, and his smile widens. Goodness, how can someone be this good-looking? I take a deep breath, struggling with my own body's ridiculous response to anything involving Leigh. "You're going to talk to Mr Moreno and convince him to give Evie a makeup test," I say with authority.

"You must be insane."

"Maybe I've finally grown some courage." Oh no, I shouldn't have said that. Leigh's eyes widen amusingly, and he starts to chuckle.

He's so infuriating. He embarrasses me to the point where I look down and irritably retort, "Are you going to do it or not?"

"Who do you think I am, some authority figure?"

"You could seduce a teacher," I throw at him with scorn.

Instantly, disappointment etches into his face, and he swallows, lowering his gaze to the floor. "Ava... what happened that..."

I decide to interrupt him, as his words will only keep replaying in my head and won't take away the image he has left in my eyes. "I don't care. I'm here only for Evie," I boldly emphasize.

He frowns and meets my eyes. "And what makes you think I would do that?"

"You owe it to me," I remind him. That's the least he could do after the pain he put me through.

He swallows, his intense gaze unbroken. "On one condition... you're going to stay away from Arlen." His eyebrows arch as he waits for my response.

Feeling annoyed, he has no right to tell me who I can be friends with. "And why would I do that?"

"Your friend could forget about a makeup test." He slowly bites his plump red lips, and I have to look away, overwhelmed by the desire to taste him as we stand in such close proximity that I can feel his breath on my skin.

"Fine," I mutter.

"What?" There's a hint of mockery in his tone. I hate him...

"I said, fine," I repeat it louder, and a smile takes over his beautiful face.

"Good! Then we siblings have a deal, Ava." He adds, and it stings.

"We are not siblings," I warn him, making it clear once again.

Leigh's eyes hood as he cautiously leans toward me. "And what makes us not siblings, Ava?" he whispers slowly. His voice, his closeness, his everything makes my breathing hitch, and I have to part my lips to take in more oxygen.

I can't function. Leigh is everywhere. He has managed to get into my head and invade my universe. I can't see anything else but those enticing lips that play games with my vision.

Damn me, I cup his jaw and pull him to my height until his soft flesh is pressed against mine. The taste is the most luscious flavour that takes over my senses as his lips hungrily devour mine in an extremely pleasing manner.

Footsteps...

Reality comes crashing down with approaching footsteps, and we quickly pull apart. I scan around to make sure no one witnessed what just happened.

Is it too much to ask for some self-respect and dignity, Ava? Great, now I feel embarrassed as I barely look him in the eyes before scurrying away to class.

***

"I gave it away."

My eyes involuntarily close as I hear the voice.

I just got my lunch from Gibbons and Mon, our regular cafeteria assistants, when I head to the table that Evie and I usually use for lunch, only to find it occupied by some freshmen.

And I just learned that the notorious serpent lookalike gave away our table for her own pleasure.

Putting on a smile, I spin around to find a crowded table filled with cheetah boys, school Barbie girls, and Evie, who looks deeply upset, almost like a Smurf. I need to rescue her from that toxic place.

I walk over to the table and push the curly athletic guy away who is glued to a naive Evie. Yes, I bless the courage that makes me situate myself between Evie and the jackass.

Embry is sitting beside Lilith and Suri, while Quinn is squeezed between Lord Zachary and her boyfriend.

"Hey, Ava," Suri waves at me, and I offer a small smile.

"Hey, hot thing. I saw you earlier today," the curly boy next to me starts with me.

Okay, he's a womanizer.

Ignoring his presence, I try to eat my lunch, even though the creepy vibes around the table are making me feel nauseous.

"I like your hair and your eyebrows. Where did you spend the weekend?" a cheerleader sitting on the lap of the number 52 cheetah basketball player asks. I think her name is Julia Rubbers, though sometimes she pronounces it like Robbert. Hills High students and their celebrity obsessions are something else.

"Thank you. I went..."

Interrupting me, Lilith takes over. "I know, right? All the high-end spas offered discounts for Black Friday, and it annoyed me. So my dad agreed to let a pilot fly us to Los Angeles, where we spent the day at a five-star French spa. I shared it on Instagram. Didn't you see?"

"What? That's insane," one girl manages to blurt out between the shocked reactions from around the table.

"I know, right?" Lilith gushes.

"Where is it located?" Embry asks her friend.

"Beverly Hills," Lilith replies, biting into her chicken wings.

"So, I've been meaning to ask if you've spotted any celebrities?" Quinn asks.

"Oh no, I'm sure I didn't care at the time. Girl, we felt like credit cards. The service was so good, and everyone treated us with such dignity," Lilith explains our excessively luxurious weekend experience.

She spent Saturday convincing her dad to let us borrow his helicopter. You'd think that was fancy enough until you see the bills after getting our bodies pampered. It almost drove Sawyer insane; she vowed to preserve the money on her body by skipping showers.

"How much did it cost?" Embry asks, yet another question.

"It was service for three, we paid 20."

"Bucks?" Suri and Julia exclaim in unison.

Giggling, Lilith shakes her head and bites into the chips she stole from Embry's tray. "No, dummies, thousand."

"At the end of the day, it's worth it," Embry mumbles and lowers her head. Strange.

"Shit, that's a lot of money," one of the cheetah teammates says.

"I don't think it's a lot. It's not common; it doesn't even make sense. Imagine paying that much for bread..." I'm interrupted by Lilith's do-not-dare-destroy-my-reputation look.

"What is she talking about?" Most of the boys lean forward, seeming interested.

Great!

"Don't mind Ava; she's just being British," Lilith smiles, daring me to stay silent with her warning deep green eyes.

"Yes, I caught the fruity accent," a blonde boy winks, and I lower my eyes. I can feel Evie's body language begging me to escape with her.

"I like British," Number 52 says.

"I loathe the British," Embry firmly declares, meeting my gaze. I automatically swallow and try to hold her stare, even though I want nothing more than to disappear right now.

"Why hate something special? I think British has the sweetest flavour." And here comes the almighty voice.

Wait, what did he just say?

I tilt my head towards what drew everyone's attention. Of course, it must be a tradition for all students, boys or girls, to drool over the attractive treasure, who is Leigh Boyce.

"Hey, Leigh?" Embry shoots up and hurries across the table to where Leigh, Tyron, and Arlen are standing. "You should join us," she offers him a seat.

"The table is full." I didn't just say that. Yes, I did. So I mentally slap myself.

Embry's admonishing eyes meet mine, just like everyone else's, and I wish the bell would ring to end the break period. "We can manage a seat. We can cuddle and do a lot more," she seductively suggests, and that's it. The image of Leigh and Embry burns inside me, and my stomach churns.

I clamp my mouth shut with my palms, hoping it's enough to hold back the nausea as I run out of the cafeteria to the toilet.

Well, you can guess how the rest of the hours went. I only had Evie by my side. They've been pointing at me, calling me the "strange girl strikes again."

During general mathematics class, Eric Joseph mumbles something from behind. I know it's meant for me, but I let it go and focus on the teacher. That's when Miss Polen stops by the door and asks for 'Miss Kyle.' It takes me a moment to realize she means Evie.

"Why?" Evie turns to me, transparently terrified.

"Detention, chubby child," Lisa grins.

Great, she's still the bitch she always was.

Evie ignores her and starts packing her belongings in a time-consuming manner. Miss Polen realizes it would take forever, so she informs Evie, "I have an appointment in a minute, but you can find Mr. Moreno in his office."

He did it! I smile to myself.

"Told you, you have a test today." I smile at Evie, but she still looks afraid as she disappears through the door.

That leaves me to fulfil the deal. That is cutting ties with Arlen Garret.

"Whoa, juice or is it tea?" Lisa and her sidekick annoyingly mimic.

I shoot them an irritated stare. "What?" Lisa shrugs unconcerned.

"Careful, the strange girl strikes again," Eric Joseph mutters under his breath.

Yes, that's what he's been calling me for a while now.

"Nah, it's 'Mother Theresa strikes again.' Ouch, we missed the walk of shame," Lisa vocalizes derisively.

What the bloody fuck? She did it... She stole my clothes...

"YOU BITCH!"

***

Christian comes to pick me up after I serve a two-hour detention with some groups of school troublemakers in shamelessly inappropriate outfits. Sorry for being judgmental, but I can't believe I've now joined their league.

I must look like a sneaky teenage crook who belongs in jail.

Too much drama? Let's just call it a day.

Lisa Austen seems more than pissed off as she follows behind her father, who's eyeing Christian from a distance.

"Warrior nun," his rude daughter whispers before innocently biting her lips and heading towards their eccentric red Mitsubishi Outlander.

"I can't believe you attacked Lisa Austen. Are you crazy?" Evie exclaims with wide eyes, gripping my forearms.

I roll my eyes and exhale. "You've said that a hundred times already. Stop making it sound so brand new," I whine as we both climb into the back seat of Christian's new Audi SUV.

Throughout the past month, my mum had been warning her fiancé to stay away from her car, so he finally got a family car on the first day of Black Friday.

"I still can't believe it. So don't blame me for being surprised about the British..."

I interrupt her. "What? Warrior nuns?" I tease and find myself giggling.

"God, I'm so sorry. It has been a long day, and I'm going insane," I whine, sinking into the new comfortable leather seats.

By the time we drop off Evie at her house since she refuses to let me fight my battle alone, it's past five, and I wait for Christian's outburst. I expect him to scold me or ground me or something. However, it's all quiet as he takes the route to Hills Drive.

"Aren't you going to scold me? Ground me or something?" I cautiously ask my mom's fiancé.

"I don't like that family. That man seems egotistical. I think it wasn't so bad being a British Wonder Woman sometimes," he smirks at me through the rearview mirror, and my eyes widen before I burst into surprised laughter.

He has my back. He really has my back. I feel at ease.

"But don't do that again. Fighting isn't something good kids do, and I trust you, Ava. So stay away from trouble just, as we all avoid negative energy." He smiled, and I weakly nodded in response.

He had no idea how much trouble I was in. It would be better if he didn't trust me, as I am a disgrace. When he finds out, he will despise me completely.

"Your mom is still at work, let's keep this between ourselves. Alright?" He added as he pulled into the driveway.

Who wouldn't want such a great stepfather?

After tossing and turning, I found myself heading to the kitchen to make some tea. It was past midnight, and the house was eerily quiet with all the lights turned off.

My mum had come back around nine, luckily Sawyer had made dinner, which I must say was delicious. After we all finished our dishes, we headed to our bedrooms.

Now, returning to the present, I briefly froze in my tracks upon seeing the sight in front of me as I switched on the kitchen light.

My heart practically stopped at the sight of the melancholy boy sitting on the wooden dining table, his face covered by his hands.

"Leigh?" I whispered, immediately forgetting everything as all I wanted to do was to pull him close, and embrace him until the tears on his face disappeared.

He didn't reply, so I took cautious steps closer to him and stopped by his side.

"Are you alright?" I softly asked, but he remained wordless and expressionless.

Now, I could feel my heart again, only it was beating faster than normal. I had to grab a chair beside him and sit down before I lost consciousness.

I held his hands and gently peeled them away from his face, revealing his wet cheeks and bloodshot eyes. He was in pain.

"Hey," I whispered. "Look at me... Leigh, look at me." I commanded, and he obliged with a shaky breath.

"What is it?" I asked him softly, feeling my heart ache for him.

He swallowed and kept his gaze locked with mine before asking, "Does it really matter?"

"It does." Without hesitation, I responded, and he abruptly shook his head before smirking and looking away.

"Shouldn't you be asleep? Get your things and go back to bed," he muttered. I didn't know why, but the dismissal in his tone hurt deeper than a blade.

"If you think I'm leaving you like this, you're wrong." I shook my head and reached out my hand to touch his face, but he pulled back.

"You left me, you hate me, you don't want me. Besides, I'm used to being left behind. So, don't give me hope for something I won't have..."

"Leigh, I..."

He cut me off and continued, "I've wanted you since the first time I saw you in this kitchen, and when I thought I had you, I lost you. I can't even begin to explain how much it hurts to be in the same house. My room is opposite yours..." He sadly smiled. "Yet, I can't even talk to you without seeing that hate in your eyes... I never wanted you to hate me." He swallowed angrily.

I didn't know what to say. Leigh had come here in the darkness, crying over our relationship.

"When you kissed me earlier, I just wished I could have that all the time. But then, at lunch, I saw the way you looked at me, and I knew you would never forgive me."

"Being committed sucks, and it seems to repeat history with me. Why me?" He murmured softly, but I heard him.

What was he talking about?

"Leigh..."

"I'll go to bed." He immediately began to stand up, but I tightened my grip on his hand. I wasn't strong because I knew he only gave in for some reason, not because of my feminine hold.

I swallowed, my eyes starting to water. I was so confused, and I didn't know what to do. "Leigh, I am lost. Everything is so complicated. I wanted to move forward, and then I saw you with..."

"Mrs Gabriella threatened to fail me if I didn't have sex with her... and I have to pass her subject to..." He paused to take a breath. "To play football, as I have to play football to make it to Princeton... That's where my mom and dad saw my future, and I thought... I thought. I just wanted to fulfil it, you know? I love football." He looked at me, and my walls crumbled. All I could do was try to piece the fragments together.

A teacher was using his vulnerability, his obedience towards his parents and pursuit of his dream, to blackmail him into having sex with her?

He wasn't even seventeen yet. How cruel could this world get?

"Leigh..."

"I'm sorry, Ava. I'm so sorry... I'm a mess. I'm not perfect or even close to it. I'm nothing but a damaged book wrapped in an interesting cover." He sadly articulated, and my heart pounded.

The urge to pull him into a hug was overpowering, making my heart race.

This time, when I reached out my hand to touch his face, he didn't retreat. He allowed me to stroke his smooth skin. "Leigh, you're nothing like that. There's nothing wrong with you. The problem lies with the people around you."

"That's not an excuse."

"It's not an excuse, it's the truth. You have no idea how good you are." I swallowed and brought my other hand to the left side of his chest, feeling his heart beating against his ribcage. "Deep down, you have the kindest heart. I believe you're goodness wrapped in an interesting cover."

His gaze intensified as I poured my own into his glistening green eyes. "You hate me," he muttered.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted you every day..." I paused to swallow before leaning forward and locking my eyes with his. "Here's your quote of the day—I desperately want you too, Leigh Boyce."