I'm sitting on a bench in the locker room, changing into my gym uniform when a T.A. rounds the corner to hand me a yellow note from the main office. I glance down to check who summoned me and then pop my head up.

"Well ladies, looks like I won't be running today after all," I brag. "For once, I have a valid excuse to miss it. See y'all later." I don't miss the annoyed eye roll Harper gives Lily as I swing my locker door shut and trot out of the locker room.

Not bothering to change back into my school clothes, I head down to the office and then wave to the office secretary. She directs me to the principal's office and doesn't notice the flicker of confusion on my face. I knock on Mr. Anderson's door and then peek around the corner. When Mr. Anderson spots me, he stands and motions to the student sitting in the brown leather chair across from his desk. The guy turns around to face me and I catch his ocean-colored eyes widen when he takes me in. His expression could either be confused or awestruck and all of a sudden, I am extremely self-conscious- an emotion I haven't felt in years. I am standing there in my navy and yellow gym uniform with white socks that reach my knees and a silly sideways ponytail while this gorgeous stranger stares back at me.

"Ellie, this is Liam Greysor, he just transferred here from Houston and as part of your Class Presidential duties, you will be showing him around and taking him to his classes," he looks from me to the new kid, "Have fun and Liam, welcome to Highland Park High." Mr. Anderson musters up a grin and gestures toward his door. I watch as Liam plucks his backpack off the floor and he smirks as I lead him out of the office. I take the schedule the secretary just freshly printed for him and quickly review his classes.

I try not to stare at anything other than the paper, but I'm having a hard time focusing on his schedule. Liam is breathtakingly gorgeous and I already feel oddly nervous around him. He is fashionable for a high school student, wearing nice dark blue jeans with a cotton black V-neck t-shirt. His hair is messy but it's more hair gel than effortless and his mischievous dark blue almond-shaped eyes make me nervous. He's clean-cut with a touch of rebellion. He is so well put together that I have to wonder if he's gay.

"I'm totally straight," Liam blurts out and my mouth drops open. Was I that obvious with my facial expressions? He is quiet for a moment like he's waiting for me to say something obvious but I just stare at him, completely clueless. He quickly back peddles, "Sorry it's just the way you were checking me out. I mean, I happened to notice you were staring me down and your facial expression just-"

"I wasn't checking you out," I cut him off, but we both know I'm lying.

"Well if you were to check me out, I'm very much straight and very much single." He bounces his eyebrows up and down and a wicked smile sprawls out across his face. My stomach clenches when I realize it's the kind of smile that makes girls do stupid things. The desire to be the recipient of a flash of those pearly whites will cause chaos in this school. I frown in response, now knowing he's cocky and fully aware of how good-looking he is.

"Well, fortunately, I'm taken and very busy, so let's get this tour over with shall we?" I shove my embarrassed feelings aside and quickly regroup. I quickly lead him to the common area that sits right in the middle of our school and show him how it connects all the different hallways. I point down the different halls in a flight attendant fashion as he nods his head at my directions. I watch as he glances around the common area and I inform him that it's the same as our cafeteria come lunchtime. Before and after lunch period, it's arranged with long wooden tables with plastic chairs that students can filter through throughout the day. Since class has already started, the cafeteria/common area is quiet and there are only a few students studying at the tables.

I catch Liam looking at my confident smile in the cheerleading portrait that's proudly displayed on our athletics wall. We pass the Varsity portraits as we continue to the gym and he grins to me before flicking his head to the opposite wall. A hand-painted mural of our mascot stretches from one side of the wall to the other. Traditionally, all the seniors get to sign this mural to leave our footprint here in the school at the end of the year.

"Pretty big school for a smaller town. I'm impressed," he says as his eyes run over the wall. "I figured it would be fancy considering the town, but I hadn't expected it to be so big." He stops looking at the mural and looks back to me, "So besides the obvious, what other classes are you in?"

"You mean besides gym?" I answer while pointing to my navy and yellow HPH gym shirt. "I'm in Biology, English, French, and Trig," I answer while using my fingers to count my classes. "I have a shortened schedule since I took so many honors classes during my freshman and sophomore years." He looks smug at my proud tone.

"Well look at you, smart and beautiful." I groan loudly while dramatically rolling my eyes hoping he'll take the hint, but it only makes him laugh. I lead him down the science hallway in silence but I feel his eyes dart back to me every few steps. I glance at his schedule taking note of his full name as I point to room 1203.

"Well that's you Mr. Liam Christopher Greysor, looks like we are in the same bio class," I scan down the rest of his schedule, "And English and the same lunch period." Looks like I will be seeing a lot of his cocky beautiful face around school. I can't decide if I am excited or nervous. "I'll show you to our English class and your Spanish class and by then, second period will almost be over," I say as I whip around to start back down the hall.

We walk into the English hall where a section of the gray-colored wall has been dedicated to honor student's pictures. He slowly stops walking as his eyes run over the wall and I watch as he points to a specific picture. Liam's eyes narrow as he inspects the photograph of a dark, curly-haired kid, with hollow brown eyes that sit behind thick-rimmed black square glasses and pursed lips. He definitely doesn't look proud to be on the wall with these other beaming students.

"This kid looks familiar. Do you know him?" Liam asks. I shake my head.

"Not really, I've seen him in my classes but that's kinda it."

"What class?"

"Well, your class too. He's in our biology class. I think he's kind of a weirdo." Liam's eyes dart back to the photo before saying, "Hmm, I swear I know him from somewhere." He takes a step back but his eyes linger on the picture. I turn around and keep walking down the hall, passing lockers and students sitting on the ground reading their English assignments.

"So, how does this compare to your school in Houston?" I ask to make small talk. Fill the void.

"My last school was small. Everyone knew everyone," he replies while glancing to the long wall of navy lockers. We stop in front of his locker and I start the combination.

"Did you play any sports?" I ask as I click the lock up and the door swings open.

"Yeah, football and lacrosse. Football tryouts have obviously passed, so looks like I'll have to wait until the spring to do anything." I hand him the paper with his locker info as he closes the door and snaps down the lock. "You know my locker combo now, should I be worried?" He jokingly asks. He's obviously flirting but I'm trying not to take the bait. I'm sure he has girls fall over him and I refuse to be one of them.

"The only thing you should be worried about is the bands you advertise on your notebooks," I tease as I point to the sticker-covered notebook he holds in his hands. A large white sticker with red writing pops against the others. I point to it and scoff, "The Hives have been lame since their second album. Everyone knows that." He lets out a burst of a laugh as I pull his schedule in front of me and I scan down the list of classes.

"Back to business, last stop is Spanish-" the ringing bell cuts me off and students quickly pour into the hallway. It only takes a few seconds before the stares begin. I notice how many girls do a double-take of the fresh meat as they pass by. He grins to a couple of cute sophomores that pass by and I'm fearful they might pass out from the attention. I stand a little closer to him while he watches everyone walk by.

"Wanna do lunch after class?" he asks. "I mean since we have the same lunch and you are the only person I know besides Mr. Anderson. I think having lunch with the principal is more lame than the Hives right?" He says with a smirk.

"You are catching on quickly," I reply as I tug my hair free from my ponytail. "I guess I can introduce you to some people at lunch, but just to let you know, it will be my boyfriend Derek and his group of friends. We'll probably just go to his house and hang out." Liam casually shrugs in agreement and we start back down the hall. I realize all of my stuff is still in my gym locker and I'm still wearing my gym attire. "I have to stop back by the locker rooms before I can show you where English is," I tell him as I start to push into the traffic.

"That's fine, just lead the way," he says as he stays close to me. I know we only have a couple of minutes left of the passing period, so I try hurrying down the hall. When we reach the locker room, I dart inside and notice Lily and Harper have already left. I'm secretly glad they have because if they saw the tall drink of water waiting in the hall right now, an immediate game of tug of war would begin. I throw my school clothes back on, smooth my hair down, and grab my book bag. I'm quickly freshening up my make-up when I hear the tardy bell. I'm forced to accept my current appearance as is, so I swiftly make my way back to Liam. I find him leaning one shoulder against the wall and his arms sit folded across his chest. I take him in and my stomach unexpectedly flips. I can't even deny he's good-looking. He must spot me from the corner of his eye because he quickly looks toward me and I watch him run his eyes over me- not in a sexual way, but more like he's looking for something.

"I thought you had a boyfriend?" He unexpectedly asks.

"I do have a boyfriend. His name is Derek I told you that."

"So your boyfriend is fine with you wearing clothes like that? Ones that clearly make other guys want to look at you?" He asks while pointing at my mini skirt and crop top. I suddenly tug at the bottom of my skirt attempting to cover more of my long legs while I feel my face become flushed at his forwardness.

"Men don't dictate my style. I do." I say defensively, "And at least I'm attracting guys whereas your outfit can attract both girls and guys."

"And here I was assuming you'd know guys with style," he jokes. "Clearly your boyfriend doesn't know you aren't supposed to wear a brown belt with black shoes because if he did, you wouldn't be wondering about my sexual preferences." I blush at the word "sexual" and wonder how this conversation got so out of hand. He pushes himself off the wall as he says, "And if you were my girlfriend, I would want you to wear a robe everywhere. I wouldn't want to share all that with anyone else." He smirks while he starts off down the hall, leaving me gobsmacked in the middle of the hallway. He doesn't give me a chance to respond, which I'm fine with because I couldn't think of a witty remark fast enough.

We casually stroll down to the English hall even though class has already started. I yank the door open and Liam follows me inside. Everyone's eyes have now shifted over to us as I hand our English teacher, Mrs. Nelson Liam's schedule.

"Mrs. Nelson this is Liam Greysor. He just transferred here and I had to show him where his classes were." She nods and I quickly take my seat. She puts Liam across the room in an empty desk against the wall. I watch a couple of girls eye him as he takes his seat and I'm annoyed at the attention he's already receiving. He's a toxic, filter-less douchebag who is bound to anger a few people with his mouth. I'm sure girls will be eye-rolling his presence here in a few days. Or they'll be so obsessed with him because he is a blunt asshat. I already can't decide if I want to slug him or find an empty closet to shove him into while kissing him. I'm flushed from the thought and refuse to think any more about his and my lips together in a dark room. Thank god he can't hear my thoughts.

Because Mrs. Nelson is talking, I have a hard time concentrating on the thoughts going on around me. I try and pick up Liam's but I can only hear a few about him. I pinch my nose when I become overwhelmed and decide to concentrate on the assignment just handed to us. I look up just in time to catch Liam's eye and he smiles. My stomach unexpectedly flips again and I now know he's going to be bad news.

When the bell rings, I practically shove him into his Spanish class before heading to my French class which sits a door away. I swing back around to tell him to meet me after class in front of the doors and he gives me one last look and a quick wink before disappearing through the doorway.