After one day at the new school, I knew that I had a lot of catching up to do. I might be one of the poorest students around, but my father raised me to be competitive. I wasn't going to be the dumbest around too. So once the classes had finished, I headed for the library. I had seen pictures of it in the "Guide to Highridge" and couldn't wait to explore it.

My mother had been a librarian at the local public library in town. And I had spent a lot of time there while growing up. The smell of books had always reminded me of her. In my old school, the library was small and hardly worth a visit. People usually went there to hang out, not study.

But I had high hopes for the Highridge library and I was not disappointed. As soon as I stepped in, I knew this would become one of my favorite places on the school grounds. It was an old library, the wooden panels perfectly preserved. And there were very few people when I arrived. Most preferred to google things these days, rather than read an actual book.

It was fine with me.

An elderly lady sat by the entrance and lifted her head as soon as I walked in. The sign on her desk read "Mrs. Parkins."

I greeted her cheerfully. She greeted me back, rather drily. I'd need to try harder with that one, I concluded, since I was planning on spending a lot of time on these premises.

I made my way between rows and rows of books and pulled out a few. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the floor completely lost in the reading. I didn't know how much time had passed when I heard footsteps. Someone running. And then a muffled scream.

I lifted my head and listened. It was strangely quiet. I looked at my watch. It was past 6 pm. I better go now, I thought.

Then again, I heard a scream and it sounded like "Help." I jumped to my feet and hurried in the direction the cry had come from. I passed rows of books and then finally I saw them. There was the boy I remembered from my first class today. The scarred rabbit.

He was on the floor pressed against the bookshelf. In his arms he held his school bag, protecting himself with it. Two older guys towered over him with menace, one of them kicked the bag hard and the boy on the ground cried in pain.

"Stop!" I shouted and moved in their direction. The two guys turned to look at whoever had dared to interrupt them. There was a hint of surprise on their faces.

It took me only a second to assign each face a name and the realization made me stop in my tracks. One of them was Josh Randall, red-haired and skinny, and the other was Frank Jenkins, with long black hair and the face of a spoilt brat. Faces I well remembered from the tabloids.

Oh no! This could only mean one thing!

I took a step back and bumped into someone else standing behind me. I turned to look and my heart skipped a beat. I was looking directly into the eyes of Liam freaking McKinnon. A shiver ran down my spine. His blue eyes studied my face with curiosity. He was a head taller than me. His blond curly hair endowed him with almost angelic beauty, which I so well remembered.

"I suggest you run," he said with a rueful smile. His voice didn't sound at all like the voice of the boy I once knew. What did I expect? I've changed, he's changed. Did I think I would see Liam at Highridge? Of course, I did. I hoped to see him from afar. But I would have never expected to get this close to him and for him to ever speak to me.

I opened my mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

He lifted his eyes off of mine and looked behind me where the others stood. His expression changed and I knew something really bad was awaiting me.

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! My mind screamed inside my head.

I slowly turned back and I saw him... Blake Shields! As if in slow-motion, I watched him emerge from behind the shelves.

He pushed a strand of black hair away and looked at me through his dark eyes. Was there anger? Annoyance? He seemed calm enough, but given everything I knew about him, I readied myself for the worst.

If I had any suspicion of whom I'd get to deal with, I'd never gotten involved myself in this situation in the first place. Not with these devils!

But now I had Blake Shields looking straight at me. This was bad, really bad. Just like others, he was wearing his school uniform - black pants and a white shirt, the blazer thrown over his right shoulder. The tie and the first two buttons loosened. It is funny how one remembers mostly useless details during an adrenalin rush.

I began backing off.

"Too late," Liam whispered in my ear. His breath tickled the hair around my right ear. "You should have run when you had the chance."

The hair on my skin stood up. I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I was not a coward. Far from it. That's why I was at this damn school in the first place.

"You lost, girl?" Frank asked, his attention now fully on me, his lips twisted into a smile. So many things were crossing my mind at that moment.

Blake's eyes continued to study me coldly though. The boy at their feet looked at me as if I was his last hope at heaven.

"Let him go!" I finally spoke.

"Or else?" It was the first time Blake spoke. He just stood there, not making any move, still studying me with a half-bored expression.

"Or I will break a few bones," I replied raising my head higher.

"Ahh, you must be the cop's daughter everyone has been talking about. Fucking newbie," said Josh making a move in my direction. Frank did the same. They were now getting dangerously close.

"Maybe we should teach her how not to get involved in matters that don't concern her?" And something about the way Blake said it and then stood there looking at me like I was just some annoying fly, finally slapped me into action.

I knew my only advantage was the moment of surprise.

I hated to do this to a book, but it had to be done. I grabbed the first I could get my hands on and in the next moment, the book was already flying into Blake's face.

That idiot deserved it.

And I was pleased to see that it had found its target, even though he managed to duck in the last moment and it only brushed his cheek slightly.

In the next moment, I was already kicking Josh into his gut and planting my fist in Frank's right eye. With my fists still raised, I turned to see if I needed to fight Liam too, but he was leaning against one of the shelves, arms folded on his chest, looking more amused than anything else.

He was clearly enjoying this.

I eyed him with suspicion. But I had no time to lose. Blake rubbed his cheek with pure murder in his eyes now, but I wasn't gonna wait for his move.

"Run!" I shouted. The boy they had cornered, scrambled to his feet and together we made our escape. There was barely time to grab my bag where I had left it.

"What have you done!" screamed the boy as soon as we were outside.

"A "thank you" would do," I told him through my heavy breathing.

"A "thank you"? I am dead now. Do you understand? It is their school. There is no escaping from them, you hear. They will find me. And they will bury me alive. Congratulations! Now you are just as screwed as me."

"First they'd need to catch us."

"Oh, and they will enjoy the chase. Do you even know whom you messed with? I suggest you better go back to wherever the hell you came from." And with that, the boy turned around and took off.

"Ungrateful brat," I mumbled as I hurried to my car, rubbing my knuckles.

I know making Blake Shields and his friends my nemesis on my very first day of school is the complete opposite of "keeping my head down." I needed to rethink my plan.

"Shall we go after them?" Frank asked, waiting for my decision. He rubbed his eye. It was beginning to bruise. I would have laughed if my cheek wasn't burning slightly. Unbelievable!

"Let them. For now," I replied containing my anger. "She just dug her own grave."

The first time I had seen this girl at the hospital a few weeks ago, she was a sobbing mess in the arms of her father. But given who he was, I should have expected him to have taught her a trick or two. Damn it! It was all the same though. This was our school and we ruled here. Who did she think she was?

"She'll be begging us for mercy by the end of the week," I added.

"I won't be so sure. Not after what I've just witnessed," said Liam, adding fuel to the fire. "I bet she'll last longer."

"She messed with the wrong crowd. I agree with Blake, she'll be a goner in a week. Even if I have to bury her alive," said Frank, and there was dangerous glitter in his eyes.

"I'll give her three weeks," Liam said eyeing us with a smile.

"Then I'll give her two weeks. Shall we bet the usual fifteen?" asked Josh.

"Agreed."

"Really?" I said looking at them with annoyance. "You wanna run a bet on her?"

"What's your problem? You want her gone, don't you? This would make it all so much more fun," said Liam. I gave Liam a warning look. He more than anyone else here knew what was at stake. He just smiled back. Was he even taking it seriously?

"This should be fun," said Frank and the look on his face made me almost feel sorry for the girl. If they wanted to bet on this, let them then. So long as the result was that she was gone. The last thing we need is a cop's daughter anywhere near us at school.

"Ok. I wanna know what car she drives, what combination her locker has, and what high hopes she has for this school," I told the others.

"I'll happily make the calls," Frank said. "I have a bet to win."

"Let the game begin then," I replied. I must admit, the girl impressed me and I don't get that easily impressed. Even I was curious how long she'd last.

Damn her!