Ever since my father had married Claudia, I never felt special or unique. When my mom was alive and well, she and my dad would make me feel like I was a princess. But after she died, my dad had to work a little more, but he still made me feel special. But after he married Claudia and she and Cassidy had moved in, I barely ever saw him anymore and Claudia and Cassidy made me feel anything but special.

I missed feeling like a princess sometimes, which was one of my biggest secrets that I never wanted to tell. I was tough and terrifying Ivy who wasn't afraid to get in a fight with anyone, and no one could know that I really just wanted to be mommy and daddy's little princess.

But that was something that I knew I could never happen again, and I had to accept that fact and just move on with my life.

But right then, I did feel a little special. And I was surprised that it wasn't because of my dad or any of my friends or family, but it was because of Jack.

He was supposed to be a womanizer? I highly doubted that it was true. He was way too sweet to be someone who just uses girls...

But I couldn't believe that I was really where I was with Jack! Why would he want to go anywhere, especially in public, with someone like me? Oh, my gosh... I don't even sound like myself anymore... I sounded like Cassidy!

Boy, was that scary...

"Are you okay?" Jack asked me, and I blinked rapidly as I saw a hand waving in front of my face. "You kind of zoned out for a second."

I continued to blink, surprised that he had caught me staring at him. But then again, I was sure that it was kind of obvious since we were sitting across from each other in a booth...

Jack had actually taken me out to dinner. It wasn't anything really fancy, but it definitely wasn't a place that I could afford. In my mind I was definitely calling it a date... Even if he didn't consider it to be one, I did. I was just happy that he was okay with being seen in public with me. That was all that really mattered to me...

"I'm fine," I answered, taking a sip of my water nervously. I didn't want him to think I was some sort of creep... "I'm just fine..."

"Do you mind telling me a little more about your family?" he asked me after I had placed my class of water back onto the table as we continued to wait for our food. "I understand if you don't want to. I hope you don't think I'm being too pushy or anything..."

"No, I don't think you're being too pushy," I assured him quickly, a little too fast to sound like a normal person. "Actually, I was kind of expecting that you'd ask..."

"Well," Jack began, looking down at the table now. "I was just wondering if you're step-mom and step-sister are always abusive toward you..."

"They're just angry that I got into Neverland Academy and my step-sister Cassidy didn't," I informed him with a sigh, rubbing one of the cuts I had on my cheek from Cassidy's blow. "Claudia, my step-mother, only slapped me because Cassidy made it look like I hurt her."

"So they don't hit you a lot?" Jack made sure to ask.

I nodded quickly, not wanting him to think that I got abused at home or anything. "Sometimes Claudia will grab me or something, but nothing like this has ever happened before. They just wanted Cassidy to go to Neverland really badly, so they were just angry with me."

"Are they usually nice to you?"

I let out a bark of laughter, causing a couple from the table next to us to look over and give us a look. Jack and I both ignored it as I said, "Definitely not."

Jack blinked, obviously waiting for me to continue on.

"Claudia makes me look like a huge bitch to my dad," I explained, playing with the straw that I had just put into my glass of water. "She always makes it look like I'm the bad guy who starts it all. She just wanted me out of the house, which is why I stay at a dorm at Neverland even though my house is twenty minutes away."

"That's horrible," Jack told me with a frown, and I couldn't help but swoon ever so slightly at his accent. I'd never be able to get over that... "You really don't deserve to be treated that way."

"Yeah, well..." I sighed, my hand clenching into a fist as I laid in on the table. "My dad's completely blind when it comes to Claudia, but I guess it's because he's never home. Claudia and Cassidy spend so much money that my dad has to work almost twenty-four hours for six days a week... It's ridiculous."

"I wish there was something I could do to help," Jack said, suddenly slipping his hand over mine and entwining our fingers so I was no longer forming a fist. "I really wish there was..."

My eyes widened as I looked down at our joined hands. He was actually holding my hand... This was too good to be true! It was like I was his girlfriend or something...

My thoughts brought butterflies to my stomach, and I looked up at Jack and smiled at him. Was this really a date? I would be really happy if it was... He was holding my hand! Who would hold a girl hand if they didn't like them?

A womanizer would...

I felt myself frown as I thought of that. Both Chloe and Eli had told me that Jack was a womanizer. Did he do this to every girl that he was with? Did he already have a girlfriend that he was going to break up with for me? And then would he go off and find a better girl and then break up with me?

I pushed the thought away, continuing to smile at him now. I wasn't going to let what Chloe and Eli had said bother me... Jack was a nice guy, and he was treating me to dinner after I had practically gotten beaten up. He was a really good guy...

"I think I've asked you enough questions," Jack grinned, leaning back in his chair but continued to hold onto my hand. "How about you ask me a few questions? We can get to know each other a little more."

"Okay," I smiled brightly, trying my best to think of a question as quickly as possible. What should I ask him? There was so much I wanted to know... "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue," he answered, not missing a beat. "Yours?"

"Orange," I answered with a nod, glancing back down at our hands and smiling to myself once more. "What are you scared of?"

"I don't like heights."

I blinked at him in surprised. "Really?"

"Yep. What about you?"

I smiled bashfully. "I'm... I'm scared of snakes." 

"What kind of baby is afraid of snakes?" a new voice sneered from a few feet away from us, causing me to rip my hand out of Jack's in surprise. I looked over to see Courtney making her way toward us, Eli's arm around her waist as they both made their way over.

What a big freaking surprise.

"A lot of people are afraid of snakes, Courtney," Jack informed her flatly, slowly removing his hand from the table and placing it back in his lap. "I wouldn't be surprised if you started screaming if you saw a snake."

Courtney scowled at him. "As if."

"Come on, Courtney, don't make fun of her," Eli smirked, and I could tell what he was going to say next wasn't something that would help me. "You shouldn't make fun of a scaredy-cat."

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. "I'm not a scaredy-cat," I snapped at him, wanting ever so much to punch both of them in the nose. "Just because I'm scared of one stupid thing doesn't mean that I'm a scaredy-cat. And nice work using a second grade term, you moron."

Eli's eyes narrowed at me, which was just the reaction I wanted. Two could play at this game, and I wasn't about to let him get to me. He just wanted to annoy me enough until I hit him, because that meant I would get kicked out of his precious school.

I wasn't about to let that happen.

"But it's so surprising to see you two on a date!" Courtney squealed in fake sweetness, her voice hurting my ears more than it usually did. "Are you running out of girls at our school, Jack? Have you been with every girl in the school so now you're going after the poor girl?"

"You need to watch your mouth, Courtney," Jack threatened, his hands clenching into fists now as well. "You're really not one to talk when it comes to how many people you've been with."

Courtney's eyes flamed with anger, and I knew that Jack had gotten her there. But I couldn't help but wonder how many girls Jack had already been with, and I couldn't help but want to know if Courtney had been one of them...

"I thought you were going out with that Simon guy," Courtney sneered now, turning away from Jack and now back toward me. "Don't tell me you're cheating on such a cute guy like that for this womanizing idiot here."

Oh, no. I had totally forgot that I told her I was going out with Simon! So did Jack think that I was unavailable? But he was holding my hand... But friends held hands when one of them was upset... Was that all that was? I sure hoped not!

"We're still going out," I lied smoothly, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. "I can't just hang out with a friend of mine? Simon doesn't have a problem with it, so you shouldn't either."

Courtney scowled at me. "Uh-huh, whatever you say."

"Come on, Ivy," Jack sighed, standing up and pulling his wallet out of his pocket. He placed two twenty dollar bills on the table before taking my hand. "Let's get out of here."

I smiled up at him. "Gladly."

Courtney and Eli both sneered as the two of us walked away, but I could have cared less about them. Because Jack was still holding my hand, even after we had left the restaurant. We held hands all the way until we got to his car, where he stopped me before I could go to the passenger's side.

"Sorry about them," he apologized in embarrassment, dropping my hand and rubbing the back of his head. "They can be really... full of it."

"I noticed," I nodded, rubbing my arms over my arms as the chilly night air nipped at my skin. The only light that we had was from the lamps above us, and  there was luckily one right over his car. "I'm used to it though, I guess. I wasn't exactly the most popular girl at my old school."

Jack blinked at me. "Really? It seems like you'd be."

Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I looked down at my feet as I continued to rub at my arms. I was about to jump in the car and turn up the heat until I felt something soft being pressed against my shoulders. My eyes widened a little when I looked down to see Jack's jacket now keeping me warm.

"Thanks," I mumbled, not knowing what else I was supposed to say.

"No problem," he assured, but I still didn't look up at him because I didn't want him to see my blush. Why was I acting this way? No guy had ever had this type of effect on me! Not even when I had a crush on Henry did I blush like this! I never got these kinds of butterflies, and I never felt as nervous as I did right then...

"Hey, Ivy," Jack whispered, causing my hand to snap up at him now. Instead of meeting his eyes, my lips met his as he leaned closer. My eyes widened, afraid that this was an accident and he didn't mean to be that close to me, but when he slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, I knew that he had done it on purpose.

At first I was kind of scared, because I hadn't ever kissed someone before. I had barely even hugged a guy, and they were only Simon and Henry. Since one of them was gay and the other had been my best friend ever since before I could even remember, it just wasn't the same with them.

I hadn't ever felt this way before. Not for Henry, not for anyone. I never wanted to kiss anyone so badly before, and I never wanted to be so close to a person either. This totally wasn't like me, and it was scaring the hell out of me, but at that moment it didn't bother me that much since Jack was with me.

It felt nice, and even though I didn't feel like myself, I wanted it to continue. Because this feeling was definitely not a bad one. Not at all...

I wrapped my arms around his neck, his jacket falling from my shoulders and onto the ground. He didn't seem to care though, and neither did I, because he lifted me up off my feet as we continued to make out like we didn't have a care in the world.

And right then, I didn't care about anything but him.

I wasn't cold anymore, because Jack was definitely warmer than his jacket was. We continued to make out for who knows how long, and we both didn't notice when the two people that had bothered us in the restaurant exited out into the parking lot.

"She'll learn her lesson soon," Courtney sighed to Eli bitterly as they watched us from a distance. If only I could hear her from where Jack and I were. "She'll soon find out what happens when you mess with The Lost Boys."

Eli smirked, but he was watching us with a different kind of look in his eye. "The bitch won't see what hit her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That scarf is so adorable!" Chloe exclaimed as I wrapped it around my neck the next morning.

I purposefully wore the scarf that Henry had knitted me to school the next day. I knew it was going to annoy Courtney, and that was definitely the point. I wanted to get her angry at me... I wanted to get under her skin and piss her off, and I knew wearing the scarf would do that.

But I didn't get how she could have thought it was ugly. It was really cute! I guess she just wanted to get me angry, which was actually working... But I think everything she could have said would have gotten me angry, so she didn't have to tease me about the scarf.

"Hurry, or we're going to be late," I told her as I grabbed onto the doorknob and threw the door open. "I don't want to get lectured for being late."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Chloe insisted, but her voice was so muffled that I knew she was buried deep in our closet, which I knew meant that she wasn't coming just yet.

I stepped out of our room and into the hallway, letting out a shout of surprise when I almost tripped over something. I looked down at what my foot had almost gotten caught on, and my eyes widened when I saw a vase of at least a dozen red roses.

"Um, Chloe," I called, not even looking away from the vase as it continued to sit on the ground in front of our dorm. "I think someone sent you something."

"A present?" Chloe exclaimed, suddenly out of the gigantic closet as she bounded toward the door. "For me? Really? I love presents!"

When she looked out the door and saw the roses, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She had a boyfriend or something, right? She probably did, because it seemed like every girl at Neverland Academy was going out with someone...

Chloe walked over and picked up the vase, eyeing it carefully. "Who would send me flowers?"

"You don't have a boyfriend?" I blinked, staring at her in disbelief. "I thought you did."

She shook her head. "Nope. I'm single."

"Then who would send you roses?" I questioned, stepping closer as I began to examine the bouquet myself.

Chloe looked through the roses for another second before pulling out a small, white card. I blinked, feeling stupid for not thinking of that first. Of course there would have been a card telling us who they were for...

"They're for you," Chloe informed me slowly, her eyes moving over the card as she read what it said. "And they're from... Jack?"

My eyes widened in excitement. "Really?" I cried out, grabbing onto the roses and walking back into our dorm. I didn't care about being late to class anymore, I only cared about the fact that Jack had actually sent me roses. Roses, the most romantic flower on the planet.

"Why would Jack send you flowers?" Chloe questioned as she handed me the note. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?"

"Yeah, you did, but..." I trailed off, looking down at the note to read what it said.

                Ivy,

                I hope you like the flowers. They reminded me of you. I had a lot of fun with you last night. I hope that we can hang out like that a lot more in the future.         

                                                                                                              Jack

"What did you two do last night?" Chloe asked now, her eyes widening as if she was already blowing everything out of proportion in her head.

"We just kissed, don't worry," I assured her with a smile, kind of out of it as I placed the vase on the middle of the coffee table. "I didn't sleep with him or anything."

"Thank God," Chloe sighed, shouldering her backpack and turning toward the door. "Who knows what kinds of diseases he's had? He's been with almost every single girl in the school."

I made a face. "I highly doubt that."

Chloe looked over her shoulder at me. "Who's been here since freshman year? Me, not you. I think I know a little more about The Lost Boys than you do."

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her just a little. She was making me sound stupid, and I hated when people made me sound stupid. Claudia and Cassidy did it every single day, and I was getting tired of it.

"Maybe Jack really likes me," I told her with a shrug, following her out the door and trailing down the hall behind her. "It's possible, isn't it?"

"Possible, but not likely."

I glared at her backpack, not wanting to talk about the subject anymore. There was a chance that Jack liked me for me... He didn't seem like a jerk at all. But weren't all womanizers like that? They seemed to sweet, but then they really turned out to be jerks who just used girls?

My stomach turned. I really didn't want to think of Jack like that... He was way too nice of a guy to be like that. Now maybe Eli was like that, but I highly doubted Jack was.

I was glad that I had only told Chloe that Jack and I had kissed and not that we had made out, because I had a feeling that she would have flipped out if she learned that. Because after kissing him for fifteen minutes outside his car in the parking lot, we had gotten in his car after that and made out for an hour as he sat in the driver's seat and I straddled his waist.

When we got into first period, I was glad to see that we weren't late. Courtney and her friends weren't there yet, so I had a some more time away from them, which was definitely good.

When the bell rang, I let out a groan, because I knew Courtney was coming.

"That scarf is so ugly," she said to me once she sat down. "How could you walk around with something as ugly as that around your neck?"

I would have loved to wrap it around her neck and strangle her, but I knew that that was out of the question. Unless I wanted to go to military school (and possibly jail), I was going to have to sit tight and learn to live with her.

And I knew that that wasn't going to be easy.

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