Alice POV 

It's time to wake up, wake up, wake up...

My friend Skyler's terrible singing woke me up.

And then for some make up, make up, make up...

The recording went on.

I would usually say to make out, make out, make out...

I know it was a dumb alarm tone but he wasn't exactly sober when he recorded it.

But then you're gonna slap my mouth, my mouth, my mouth!

"I want to slap your mouth right now!" I groaned but of course he couldn't here me. He was all the way back in my home city.

I felt a bit nostalgic at the thought of that. That was until the annoying ringtone started playing again.

It's time to wake up, wake up, wake up...

I got up and turned my alarm off. It was time for my first day at the new school.

*****

I hated being the new girl! Thanks to Elanor's three marriages and two engagements that never even made it to marriage we had moved around a lot. So I had been the new girl quite a few times. 

I sighed.

Well, time to face the music!

With that thought in mind I opened the classroom door and entered Homeroom.

"Hello, I'm Alissa Green," I introduced myself. Green was my mother's family name.

"Hello, Alissa Green! I'm your Homeroom teacher – Mrs. Allen. Please, take a seat!"

I did as I was told. I went to the back of the classroom. Yes, that meant that I had to move between the rows with my new classmates watching my every move but at least sitting there would make it harder for them to stare at me during the class itself.

Mrs. Allen furrowed her eyebrows slightly.

"Ms. Green, wouldn't you prefer a seat somewhere closer to the whiteboard?" She suggested.

"No, thank you! I'm fine here."

"Very well!" She answered a bit nervously.

What was she so worried about?

I didn't have time to ponder on it because the door opened and in came three extremely good-looking boys. The one that entered first I had seen before. It was Caden, the guy I'd met at the music store on Saturday.

Oh-oh! The guy I made a fool of myself in front of on Saturday!

Yep, just my luck!

And to make things even "better" they headed my way.

Caden sat to my left, the boy with the reddish-brown hair and green eyes behind me and the blond one with the brown eyes (who was the only one that greeted the teacher when they entered) sat to my right.

I noticed Mrs. Allen sneak anxious glances our way.

So that was it: I had sat down at the bad boys' area.

"Hello there, little Alice!" I heard a silken voice to my left.

"I told you I was older than you thought!"

"That you did." He chuckled quietly.

"Cade, you know her?" The blond asked from my right.

"We've met." Caden explained briefly.

"Damn! This is her first day here and you've already nailed her!" The brunet piped up from behind me.

"Just because he knows her it doesn't mean he nailed her," the blond sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, right, Asher!" The brunet snorted. "As if our Caden would pass up on a cutie like that!"

"Believe it or not, Keegan, all we did was... talk." Caden turned to the boy behind me.

Mr. Brunet snorted in disbelief and muttered something I couldn't make out.

" And even if we had fucked it wouldn't be any of your business!" I tried to keep my voice even.

Oh-oh! Why did I open my mouth? They had left me a silent bystander of their conversation but now I had the full attention of all three of them.

Oops!

"Unless of course, you do it only to score and to brag about it later," I went on.

Caden raised his eyebrows at me. Maybe I should just keep quiet?

"Do I look like that type of guy, kid?"

"Enough with the "kid" already!" I hissed irritated.

"Why are you calling her that?" Blondie asked.

"She just seems childish, Ash." Caden shrugged.

"Kids don't have curves like hers!" Keegan remarked.

What was he talking about? My body was pretty average.

We heard someone clear their throat.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Allen addressed the four of us.

"No, we were just getting to know each other." I smiled at her. "We probably should continue later though. I'm sorry if we disturbed your class."

She went on with her work and I sneaked a glance at Caden. He seemed amused again.

"Speaking of getting to know each other... I'm Asher." Blondie gave me a nod.

"And I'm Keegan." The brunet leaned towards me. "And I would just love to get to know you better! " He added checking me out.

That was when the bell rang and the boys stood up to leave. Caden was the first out that door followed by Keegan and then Asher who gave me a little wave goodbye.

"Ms. Green, could I speak to you for a moment?" Mrs. Allen summoned me.

"Sure!" I answered with a nod when all I actually wanted to do was bolt out the door.

"I was thinking that maybe you would like to change your seat now?"

"No, as I told you, I'm fine with it."

"But that was before they came... I mean..." She seemed uneasy. "The boys that sat around you can sometimes be... well, most of the time they are... somewhat problematic. And as the new girl you will be the center of attention for a while. If they bother you make sure to tell me or someone else from the staff."

"Of course!" I smiled at her. "Was that all?"

She dismissed me with a nod and I exited the room.

Tell her, my ass! I would deal with my problems myself!

*****

I was the center of attention alright! Up until now (lunchtime) everywhere I went people would stare, glare, flirt and whatnot.

I sighed tiredly.

"At least it is quiet now here at the back of the school," I tried to cheer myself up.

"Tough first few classes, kid?" A familiar amused voice asked and turning my head in its direction I groaned in response.

Why them?!

"What? Not happy to see us?" Keegan added just as playfully as his friend.

"I was hoping to spend some quality time with myself," I remarked.

"No can do! We were supposed to get to know each other, remember?" Caden spoke again.

"Huh?"

Oh, you sounded really intelligent there, Alice!

"At Homeroom you said that we should continue with the introductions later, remember?" Ash finally joined the conversation.

"Well, yeah, but..." I started but Caden cut off my protest.

"Then come with us and I promise you no nosy classmates besides the three of us will be around."

I honestly didn't know if I should be relieved or worried about that.

"Cade..." Keegan gave him a meaningful look. "I thought we were going to..." He cleared his throat "...get some fresh air?"

Caden took me in as if trying to make a decision.

"She won't tell!" He said after a few seconds of examining me. "Come on!"

*****

"That was what you meant by "fresh air"?" I asked the three boys who were just lighting up their smokes.

We were currently on the roof of the school building. Why wasn't the door to it locked you ask?

Well, it was locked. With a padlock in fact. But Caden took some metal thingy out of his pocket and in a few seconds we heard a "click" and said door was no longer locked.

"Yeah, you want one?" He offered me the packet.

"I don't think so!"

He just shrugged at my answer. I watched as he separated from the other boys going to the wire fence that surrounded the flat rooftop and placed his smoke free hand on it. His RIGHT smoke free hand.

"Are you left-handed?" I asked following him and leaning my back on the fence so that he was to my right.

"Sometimes."

"How can you be left-handed only sometimes?" I asked puzzled.

He chuckled.

"I was born left-handed but was urged to use my right one instead."

"Well, that's pointless!" I muttered.

"I think so too!" He agreed quietly.

"Then why do you use your right one sometimes instead of the left?"

"Childhood habits," he shrugged.

"What are you two cooing about?" Keegan asked approaching us with Asher in tow.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I winked at him.

"Tease!" He muttered and stood to my left leaving Asher in front of me.

"You guys really like to surround me don't you?" I asked remembering Homeroom.

"You shouldn't allow guys to do that," Caden remarked seriously.

"Because it will make it easier for them to hurt me?" I asked and he nodded. Then he turned to me.

"Are you scared of us?" He asked with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well, I was warned to keep my distance from you three."

"Teachers?" Keegan snorted.

"Yep." I nodded. "So should I?"

"If we really are so dangerous and untrustworthy..." Ash joined in grimly, "then our answer really wouldn't matter."

"I'm usually good at guessing when people are lying to me. Although..." I looked at each of their faces. "My instincts tell me you three are pretty good at hiding the truth."

"Nice instincts!" Caden smirked and looked down through the fence again.

I sneaked a glance myself but quickly averted my eyes.

"Oh, is someone scared of heights?" He teased finishing his smoke.

"Maybe just a little." I responded nonchalantly. By the skeptical look on his face I could tell he wasn't buying my lie. "Okay! Maybe more than just a little!" I admitted with an eye roll and his smirk grew.

Next thing I knew he took off his shirt and threw it on the floor.

Damn! Those abs will have me drooling!

But he left me no time to admire them as he climbed up the fence. It had a metal frame so it didn't crumble because of his weight. It still got me wide-eyed with terror as I watched him swing one of his legs over it.

"Caden..." I tried to keep myself calm. " What are you doing?"

"Not sure, I am just bored." He swung his other leg as well so that now he was on the other side of the fence.

"Don't you think you should get back here?" I turned to the other two boys hoping they would help me convince him to do just that but they seemed pretty bored by the whole spectacle.

Didn't they care their friend could kill himself?!

Speaking of Caden... He moved to his left so that now he was directly above me.

"What's with that face? Are you afraid I might fall?" He asked watching me with amusement.

"Well, duh! You could loose your grip any moment now!"

"You mean like this?" He asked letting go of the fence.

I barely had time to scream when he got a hold of it again. He had fallen just a few feet and was now almost at eye level with me.

"Are you out of you mind?" I asked in a small squeaky voice and all of the boys chuckled.

"Relax, girl! He's only playing!" Keegan assured me.

"I don't care!" I was shouting now. "Caden, get your ass here right now!"

"Oh-oh!" Keegan exclaimed.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Asher added.

"Done what?" I turned to them confused.

I heard noises behind me so I turned back to Caden. But he wasn't there. I swirled one-eighty once more and held back a shriek of surprise as Caden was now next to Ash. When did he get there?

He took a few steps in my direction, placing his hands on either side of me, trapping my body between his and the wire fence.

"They were talking about shouting and giving me orders," he explained quietly, narrowing his eyes. "I don't take well either of those."

"And I don't take well being threatened!" I shot back and thrust my chin forward in defiance.

"You've got spunk, kid, but it's not going to help you in this situation!" He continued in the same low tone.

"Come on, Cade..." Ash intervened trying to calm him down. "She couldn't have known!"

"That is why I'm just giving her a warning." Caden turned his head in his friend's direction but his eyes were still on me. "Just to make sure she won't do it again."

"I will if you're dumb enough to repeat something like that!" I knew I shouldn't be saying this but I couldn't help myself. I was pissed off. "Do you realize you put your life in danger simply because you were bored?"

"It's my life. I'll do whatever the hell I want with it!"

"Then you really are an idiot."

"Do you have a death wish, kid?" He leaned so close his body was now touching mine.

"Just turn to your right!" Was my response.

"What?" He seemed puzzled by my comment but looked to his right where Keegan and Asher were.

"Your friends are two good reasons for you to want to live." I nodded in their direction.

He turned to me and laughed, all signs of anger gone.

"That was a pretty sappy line, kid!"

"That doesn't mean it's not true," I defended.

He stared at my eyes for a while before pushing himself off the fence.

"The bell will ring any moment now. You should get to class, little Alice!"

"Aren't you guys coming?" I asked them.

"The teachers around here actually prefer it if we are late." Asher shrugged. "I guess they figured the less time we spent with them the less likely we are to disturb their classes."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "See you around then."

Giving them a little wave I left those three on the roof.

*****

Caden POV

"So... What do you think?" I asked the other two.

"I still don't get it!" Keegan exclaimed. "If you want to fuck her just do it! Why hang around with her? That only complicates things."

"I'm not planning on fucking her," I explained irritated. Couldn't he think about anything else when girls were involved? "She's not my type."

"Then why keep her around?" He shot back.

And that was the answer to my unspoken question: apparently he couldn't.

"Maybe because she seems fun," Asher answered instead of me.

"I'm also thinking that she might be fun... in my bed." Keegan added smirking.

"You're a pig!"  My other friend remarked.

"And you sound gay!" The brunet shot back.

"Here we go again!" I thought.

This "discussion" of theirs happened a lot. That was because they had completely different opinions on the matter. Keegan was kind of like me – he fooled around and then dumped the girls. Asher was a gentleman – he was always more polite and patient with them and wasn't a player. Having heard similar arguments before, I knew I'd better cut them off at the beginning.

"So, what about Alice?"

"Let her hang around if you want, just keep her away from our affairs." Keegan answered. "Oh, and if you aren't screwing her, then I will."

"She's too smart for you!" Asher remarked and I nodded in agreement.

"Just watch me play, boys!" Keegan smirked. "Just watch me play!"