Roman had been waiting for almost an hour at the school field for Demetri. When he walked him out of the party he refused to explain anything at that moment, and requested they meet here if Demetri wanted any answers. It killed Roman to know Demetri was with Alexia doing who knows what. He was taking long enough; who knew if he would even show. Roman was panicking; it had only been a week and he already felt like he had lost.

"You know you really shouldn't drink; haven't you learned that by now?" Demetri had finally shown up. "The same thing happens every time, yet you're still stupid enough to try it."

"I've learned a long time ago that nothing ever stays the same. You know I will always try whatever I can."

"Well, that didn't get you very far this time, did it? Sure helped me out a lot, though. You know what never changes?" Demetri smiled a cruel smile; even though it was dark outside, Roman could see it perfectly. "The way she kisses is always the same. After all these years, that's the one thing they have never changed about her..." Roman wanted to dive at him and strangle him. He hated being taunted, especially by Demetri. That's what got them into this mess so long ago.

"Are you going to tell me what happened back there or not?"

"If you really want to know, I can tell you." He smiled again and Roman had to fight back the urge to punch him. "Well, after you left, her and her friends danced a little bit for me. You know, that's another thing that never changes. She can always shake her..." Roman lunged at him but Demetri darted out of the way just before he caught him.

"You know what I meant. Tell me why I had to do that favor for you."

"Come on, don't be stupid. I know they told you."

"The Union never told me anything."

"Oh yeah, and they never told you this was the last game either. Like I believe that..."

"This is the last game?" Roman was frozen, unable to move, unable to think. How? How could they not say anything to him? Demetri had to be lying. Roman could feel his eyes going dark with anger. Soon he wouldn't be able to control himself and he would be taken over by rage, unable to stop it.

"Okay, now you are messing with me. There is no way they told me and didn't tell you. That's just sick, even for them."

"I'm not messing with you, Demetri. Tell me the truth, is this our last chance?" There was sadness in his eyes that told Demetri he really had no idea that this was it, their final round, their last chance.

"They really didn't tell you?" He paced around Roman. "This is it. It's going to be me or you. The game is almost over... and clearly they don't want you to win."

In a split second, Roman was at his throat, squeezing as hard as he could. His eyes went black as the night sky. "This was never a game to me. She has never been a game to me!" He released Demetri and started pacing to control his anger. "What other rules did they tell you?"

"Tell me what they told you and I'll tell you what they told me," Demetri responded after recovering from the choke.

"Nothing, they told me nothing at all; they sent me into this last round with no rules, no warnings nothing."

Demetri wolf whistled and laughed. "This is just mind-blowing right now. I have half the mind to not tell you a single thing." In a split second, he was nose to nose with Roman again. "But I want to do this right, with both of us knowing the same thing, the same rules, so I can win her fair and square"

"Then spit it out already. I can't stand to be around you much longer."

"Well, that's too bad for you, because there is a lot I have to tell you, Brother."

∞

Alexia woke up to a frantic phone call from Cheri the morning after Stacy's party demanding answers about why she had left her and Ellie there.

"Do you know how worried we were about you? I mean, you left with a guy you barely even know...without telling us, by the way! We were asking everybody who was still there, 'Where is Alexia? Where is she? Where is she?', and then finally we ask drunk ass Seth from French and he says you left with 'that new guy'. Did he stay over? Wait, is he still there? You slept with him, didn't you?! Oh, you're such a bad girl!"

"Cheri, chill out, he just walked me home, that's it."

"Lies. Liar. You're using your liar voice. I simply do not believe you!"

Alexia couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous her friend was being. "Please believe me. He walked me home; I was really drunk, and he took me home. I think I kissed him at the party, though."

"HA! That's old news, honey, everybody saw you two making out right in the middle of the kitchen."

"I was really wasted, Cheri."

"Tell me, what was it like?"

"It was really good. It sounds lame, but it was like his eyes were so beautiful I just couldn't help but to kiss him. It was strange."

"Does this mean you have decided that you want Demetri? Cause, to be honest with you, I was really hoping you would chop, chop on that little decision of yours."

Alexia sighed into the phone. "Please, I have too big of a headache to talk about that right now. I have to figure out what I am going to do at school on Monday. I don't know what he is going to expect."

"As far as that goes, I have no idea." Sometimes Cheri was the most helpful person you could ever ask for, but of course now that Alexia really needed help, Cheri had no words of wisdom. "I should probably go. Ellie is throwing up in my bathroom."

"Send her my love."

"Will do."

Alexia stayed in her room for the rest of the weekend thinking about what she would say to Demetri when she saw him next. She imagined him brushing off the kiss. He seemed to be the type that girls would make out with all the time. The best scenario would be that he had drunk too much and blacked out, not remembering at all, but this was unlikely considering he had be responsible enough to take Alexia home. Worst case scenario would be that he thought, because they kissed, they were now a 'thing'. It's not that she didn't want to have a 'thing' with him, it was that she didn't want a 'thing' with him before she even really knew him.

Then there was Roman, who was so sweet and never even had the chance to make an impression on her. She wanted to get to know him, as there was something about him that felt safe and familiar that she couldn't quite figure out. The only thing she really knew was that Monday was going to be a strange day. She just didn't know how strange it would be.

When Alexia arrived at school with Ellie on Monday morning, all eyes were on her. This was something Alexia would normally be used to if she had a new outfit on or had gotten her hair done. This time she knew it was because of what happened at Stacy's party. People seemed to be whispering all around her, which was extremely annoying, and a couple of times she wanted to yell and tell people to stop looking at her. What was the big deal, anyway? People hooked up all the time in this school. Sure, she had only known Demetri for five days, but she was drunk and barely even remembered it happening; that should count for something. It's not like she slept with him or anything.

"Hello, Alexia and Ellie." Stacy had just stepped out of the girls bathroom with a girl named Katy that Alexia didn't know very well.

"Hey, Stacy, great party this weekend."

"Well, we all know Alexia had a great after party of her own, didn't you Alexia?" The way Stacy was saying her name was really pissing Alexia off.

"What do you mean?"

"Please, everyone saw you leave with Demetri, and everyone knows what you did back at his place." She turned her nose up in the air and walked away with her friend following behind.

"Okay, what the hell was she talking about? I went home after that party and I didn't do shit with Demetri besides kiss him."

"It's just a stupid rumor. It's going to blow over."

"I want to know who the hell started it, and then I'm going to destroy them." Alexia marched off to find the one person she knew that heard every piece of gossip in the school.

"Cheri, I need answers now," Alexia demanded.

"Don't worry, I'm already digging. So, this is what I got: Stacy heard from Katy, who heard from Seth, who heard from some girl Nicole, who heard from her ex-boyfriend Tom, who heard from Peter, who says he overheard it from a group of girls talking about it outside the cafeteria." She was out of breath from talking so fast. "That's all I got. The trail ends there. Alexia. I'm so sorry."

So that was it? There was never a dead end on a rumor in this school, ever. Cheri was always able to figure out who started what and who told who; it was her gift. "I know you're having a bad day, but I think I should warn you that Demetri is coming this way... and he looks really hot." Of course, he had to be coming to his locker now...Alexia didn't want to look, but she couldn't resist.

Cheri was right, he did look really hot; his hair was up in that high fashion style of his. His clothes were clean and crisp as they always were, his jeans were a light wash today, his black shirt was tight to his body, emphasizing every muscle he had, and his skin seemed more tanned then it had been at the party. He looked amazing, and Alexia hated him for it. It was because of him and his beautiful green eyes that she had kissed him. It was because of his charm and the way he talked to her that she had let him walk her home, and it was because of him that there was an ugly rumor about her spreading like wildfire around the school.

Before she even knew what she was going to say, she marched over to him and stood before him with her mouth wide open, and no words came out.

"Good morning Alexia, you're looking very dashing this morning." He looked her up and down in that way that would usually creep her out, and she wished it had, because if it had she wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Not so good of a morning, to tell you the truth."

"What's wrong?" He popped the lock open on his locker and looked up at her face and realized she was very upset. "Did I do something?" He reached for her hand, but she moved it out of his reach.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but somebody is saying things that are really not true about me and you."

"Oh shit, I didn't think you were that drunk... you really don't remember kissing me?" He punched the locker beside his and a huge dent appeared, in the shape of his fist.

"No, I remember that just fine. That is not what I am talking about."

"Okay, so what are you talking about?"

He really hadn't heard yet? Maybe people were too scared to tell him because they really didn't know if it was true. "I ran into Stacy this morning and she said something along the lines of 'everyone saw you leaving with Demetri and everyone knows what you did back at his place'" Alexia was trying to hold back tears.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Do I look like I am kidding right now?" Alexia retorted in anger. "Clearly I am not making any jokes here!"

"Okay, calm down, I'm going to set the story straight and nobody is going to believe it, okay?" Alexia rolled her eyes in response and turned away from him. "Hey, look at me," Demetri continued, and he tilted her face to look up at him, to look right into his eyes. "I'm going to fix this, okay? I'm sorry that I caused you this problem, Alexia." She really wished he would get some colored contacts or something because it was extremely annoying how every time she looked him in the eye she had the urge to kiss him. She pulled her gaze away from his.

"I have to get to class."

"Let me walk with you. We're in the same first and second class, remember?"

"I think it's best if we don't show up together at this point. It's just going to make everyone believe the rumor more." Without saying goodbye, she walked away leaving Demetri standing there alone, anger pulsing through every vein in his body.

The rest of that day was a living hell forAlexia. Everywhere she went, people were staring and whispering, and one girleven had the nerve to throw a condom at her. It took Ellie and Cheri to holdher back from beating the snot out of the girl. Nothing like this had everhappened to her before. Everyone had always liked her. She didn't know how tohandle people being mean to her because nobody had ever been mean to her before,at least not to her face. The only good part about her day was that Romandidn't seem to have heard the nasty rumor. He had even invited her out to getice cream after school the next day. She smiled and thought it would be goodfor her to hang out with him and get to know him a bit better.