Somehow I managed to survive the day without any other major incidents. The school ended. I considered going back to the library. Yesterday, I didn't get to borrow the books I wanted, but in the end, I preferred to just hurry back to my car, which I found with all four tires flat.

"Dammit!"

I loved that car and it pained me to see that it was now also paying the price for my foolishness.

I looked around. There was no sight of Blake and his goonies. That was a relief.

I pulled out my phone thinking about whom I could call. Jackie crossed my mind. She would come if she wasn't in a hospital bed right now fighting for her life. I couldn't call my father nor Jorah. That would make matters only worse. They's want to know what had happened and if they knew, they would drag me all the way to my old school. But not before making a bigger mess out of things.

Jake, my ex? If he is seen here, that would not end well either.

Other kids were beginning to spill out of the school, it was just a matter of time until Blake and others found me here. I thought of running away crossed my mind. They wouldn't dare doing anything to me in front of all the others, would they?

I heard a car engine and turned to look, expecting the worst. It was a white convertible and Liam was at the wheel. Again, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

His car came to a screeching halt right beside me.

"Need a ride?" he asked simply. He wore dark sunglasses and he was smiling at me in a way that made me feel hot flashes all over my body.

"I don't need one from you," I said and continued scrolling through my phone thinking who else I could call, all too aware that Liam was still looking at me.

"I know for a fact that Blake and the others will be here in about three minutes. Are you sure you don't need a ride?"

I looked up again.

"Why would you wanna help me?"

"Let's just say, I like it when Blake doesn't get things his way," he admitted sheepishly. Nothing in his smile indicated any hint that this could be a trap.

"I thought you two are friends."

"We are. Are you getting in or what?"

I looked at the flat tires of my car and then at the school. What choice did I have? There wasn't anyone I knew who could materialise right here in the next three minutes. Besides, hadn't I dreamed of talking to Liam for years? And now, I'd even get to sit next to him. My palms were getting sweaty just from thinking about that. I opened the car door and got in. In the next moment, we were already driving away from the school's parking lot with a screeching sound.

"So tell me, what is the police officer's daughter doing at Highridge?"

"Does it matter?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The real question I wanted to ask was whether he remembered who I am. Something in me wanted so much for him to recognize me.

"Some find it worrying..." He gave me a side glance that could have meant anything.

"I'm not my father," I said watching his long fingers hold the wheel. I know he played piano as a kid and I wondered if he still did.

"Your father had to pull a few strings to get you in," he said matter-of-factly, peeking sideways at me again.

"Thought that information was confidential..."

"Nothing is too confidential at this school. So why are you here?" Suddenly this conversation was feeling more like an interrogation. And I wondered if he had been put up to this.

"I asked my father to get transferred."

"Why?"

"You are asking too many questions..."

"Just curiosity. The only thing that is stopping Blake from unleashing a full-blown war on you is your father. You should have seen him rage."

"That bad, ha?"

"Blake... is complicated."

"It is not an excuse for being a nasty piece of shit. He deserved to get that book in his face."

"I agree."

"You do?" I asked with a hopeful expression. Both of us laughed and it relaxed the atmosphere between us. It felt nice. We looked at each other and it felt like we had a bond. A bond that I felt all those years ago as well.

"I liked how you challenged him today. You are brave." Did Liam just compliment me?

"Some would say "stupid"..." I replied.

"No, you are not stupid. Nobody at the school has ever stood up to him. This is a historical day. It was time someone did..." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. And I could have sworn that he grasped the wheel more firmly. Maybe things were not as rosy between the two as they seemed. That gave me hope.

"What did he do to you?" I asked, studying his face.

"Well, let's just say a woman was involved." My heart sank. Jessica's image flashed before my eyes. Pictures of Jessica and Blake, Jessica and Liam. Jessica and Blake and Liam.

"What happened?" Now it was my turn to get some answers.

"She is gone now. I guess none of us got her in the end." There was sadness about him. He was still looking ahead, battling some of his own inner battles. With the sun in the background, his blond hair looked like a golden halo. I wanted to reach out to him and touch his face. Instead, I clasped my hands more firmly around my bag and looked ahead, too.

"Is that why you are saving me now?"

"I didn't think you are a girl that needs saving, Hope," he said, giving me a side look again. My heart skipped a beat again when I heard him say my name. Did he remember me now? There was still no hint of recognition.

"You are right. I'm a survivor," I replied.

"I am sure you are. Where do you want me to drop you off?"

"At the main town square if that's not too much to ask."

"Is that where you live?"

"No, that's where I train."

"Train as in...?

"Martial arts."

"Ah, now I see. I must say I was impressed with the way you fought your way out yesterday. Quite a show."

"My father wanted me to learn how to defend myself. West Side is not a very safe place."

"I'll make sure to always be on your good side then," he said holding his right pinky finger out to me. "Friends?" He asked. And again my heart skipped a bit. He used to do that back then too. To hold out his pinky finger to me and ask to be friends.

An electric current shot through my entire being when my pinky finger touched his.

"Friends," I replied and we smiled. And everything inside of me screamed the question "Do you remember me now?"

"As your friend, I suggest you don't come to school tomorrow," he advised. "Today, that with your car was just the beginning. I can't promise I'll always be able to be there for you. At least not on time, like today."

"I won't be hiding from them," I mumbled looking out the window. I didn't have any survival plan at all. And I was already dreading tomorrow. That is why I was all too keen to go to the training today, blow off some steam, and plan my defense and maybe even attack strategy.

"Blake is not the forgiving type. The harder you punch him, the harder he punches back. Know this. I doubt even your father will be able to help you in the long run. If I were you, I'd go back to the school you came from. Forget you ever set your foot into Highridge."

"I won't," I replied, shaking my head. "I'm not afraid of him."

"Well, you should be. Trust me. There is no way they will let you stay at Highridge. I know this for sure, but you don't. Take it as advice from a friend. Spare yourself the pain."

"Why do you care? You don't even know me." The last comment sounded more hurt than I intended it to be.

"You look like a nice girl. And they will destroy you. I have seen in happening often enough."

"Why are you friends with them then? You seem to be different from them."

He looked away at that.

"Different... but not that different."

He stopped the car at the main town square.

"Give me your phone." I did. He punched a few numbers into it and called the number. His phone vibrated. "This is my number if you need anything and I now have yours," he said handing me my phone back.

I nodded and got out of the car. I stared after him as he drove away. Maybe he was right. He knew Blake and the others and what they were capable of, he was friends with them after all.

I looked at the number on the phone and saved it under "Liam McKinnon".

At the martial arts school, I trained harder than I ever did. Yet it didn't solve my problem or get me any closer to the solution. Jake didn't turn up, so I hadn't had the chance to tell him about my run into Blake and his friends yet.

Ramsey, my martial arts trainer, helped me get my car towed from the parking lot and replace the tires. Of course, they could slit them up again but what choice did I have?

Ramsey promised to keep this incident from my father. They'd been friends for years and he loved me like a daughter. But he was also someone who'd let me solve my own problems, as opposed to my father. And I valued that about him.

It was late when I got home, but as tired as I was, I couldn't sleep. Instead, I spent many hours researching my enemies. Before, Blake, Josh, and Frank were just faces among all the other potential suspects. Now, they were my nemesis. And I need to learn as much as I can about them if I want at least one chance at somehow winning this war. And there was plenty of information available on them.

All three had been friends since childhood.

Frank was mostly in the news for all kinds of trouble he was causing. It sounded like he was a pain in the neck for his parents. There must be an army of lawyers on their payroll just to get him out. He had two other brothers who looked like perfect poster boys of achievement and success. He was clearly the black sheep in the family. Where alcohol and drugs were freely flowing, he was there. His last words to me still made me shiver. I'd be better off watching out with that one.

Josh looked more like the quiet type. He was often seen in fancy restaurants and bars spending his old folks' money. He had a pretty girlfriend named Julia, who probably liked more his money than him. Her social media made was full of pictures of him presenting yet another gift to her. Handbags, gold rings, expensive trips. It looked like he was completely and fully besotted with her. Always well dressed and smiling. I understood now why he was so annoyed when Frank's drink got spilled all over his shirt.

Blake was a Shields through and through. He looked like a younger version of his father and was tall and dark-haired like the other Shields. The Shields were an old clan and had been in Ocean Shore for centuries. His family ran many businesses in town. Many of the newspapers belonged to them too, so there was no surprise that if there was coverage of him, it was mostly at some fancy parties or opening ceremonies besides his father. Blake was his father's only son and heir to his fortune. There were plenty of pictures of him at parties with all kinds of girls. And I heard about him in the underworld for years. Rileys and the Shields often organised illegal car races as a way to blow off steam between them.

One would think he'd know it better. His mother died in a car accident when he was just a baby. It is rumoured that the Rileys had something to do with it in revenge for the death of Christian Riley, son of Brad Riley, the current patriarch of the Riley family. Christian died in a car crash a few months prior. It was after that that the Shields and the Riley truce was established, to prevent any more bloodshed.

When I finally headed to bed, it felt like I understood better what I was up against. They might be just three guys, but there was money and power behind them. And I feared that even my father wouldn't be able to help me much this time. I was in their world. And suddenly I felt like a trespasser. I felt angry at myself. I could be out even before I had begun finding out the truth about Jackie.

I dreaded the next day.

"What da fuck, Liam!" That was the first thing I told Liam when he answered his phone.

"Relax, it's all part of my plan."

"I told you no moves without my knowing. It was also meant for you. Is anybody even listening to what I am saying?"

"The game is on. Let us have some fun, Blake."

"We can't mess this up. You of all people should know," I insisted.

"This girl is not gonna give up easily. You can try it your way, and I will try my way."

"How am I supposed to try it my way if you are double-crossing me?"

"How else was I gonna gain her confidence? Besides, I am pretty sure she is into me."

"And when did you figure that out, genius?"

"Just a feeling. She got into my car, didn't she?"

I couldn't shake the feeling that whatever he was trying to pull off with the cop's daughter was just to thwart me because of Jessica.

"Make sure she's left school at the end of it. I'm being serious."

"Of course. Don't worry. I've got it."

"That's exactly why I'm worried." I hang up.

First Frank and his stupid ideas now Liam. I threw my phone on the bed and approached the desk. On it was the grey folder with "Hope Christine Collins" written on the side. I opened it and began leafing through the pages.

There was personal information about her family background, her phone number, her email address, and a page with her grades from the previous school. She was a good student. There was a letter written in her handwriting about her future aspirations. She said she dreamt of studying literature because her mother had been a librarian and she grew up around books.

I went back to look at the sheet with her schedule for this year. I was a grade ahead of her, so I had no classes with her in common. But it could easily be remedied...