I was hanging up my jacket in my locker when something warm radiated over to me. With a frown, the squeal of the locker hit my ears as I peered around it. To my surprise, Joshua was leaning against the lockers, facing me. "What are you doing here?"

Joshua laughed, his dark eyes shining. "I'm here to show you your new locker neighbor."

"Are you serious?" The hallway where my locker was located only had three in it. It was a dead end hallway with an emergency exit at the end. I had always had one locker neighbor and it was Finlay.

"I'm very serious, Grace," Joshua said, the smile dropping off his face. Yet his eyes still shone as if they knew something I didn't. "Meet Drew Walker."

The new guy stepped out from behind the tall frame of Joshua and offered me his hand. I frowned at it, and he dropped his arm to his side as he said, "Hello."

I stared at it, confused. Why in the world would he do that? His hand dropped into his pocket. "Why are there only three lockers here?" Drew asked, glancing around.

"As you can see, this hallway is very short," I said slowly, as if he was a young child. "It can barely hold the classroom and three lockers it has."

Drew shook his head, a lazy smile on his chiseled face. His sharp features contrasted entirely with Joshua. It was different looking into his eyes; it was almost dazzling, like there were stars surrounding him. "I can see that, Match Stick."

"Match Stick?"

"Yeah. Your hair is red and you're fiery," Drew said to me. "I don't know your name. Besides, I give everyone nicknames. This guy right here is Pretty Boy." He gestured to Joshua with a jerk of his hand.

"That one sucked."

"Short notice, Match Stick. Short notice. Give me time and I'll come up with a better one."

I shook my head. "I don't think I'd enjoy that."

"I think you would enjoy it," he said, running a hand through his blonde hair as if to fix the perfect locks. "Like you would enjoy yourself if we went out this weekend."

"No."

"No?"

"A definite no."

Drew stared at me with an unreadable expression before saying, "That hurt, you know?"

"Why?" I didn't mean to say that aloud. I shook my head and said, "I mean, you don't even know me. Besides, I only have time for - "

"She only has time for me."

An arm slung around my shoulders, and I turned my head to see Finlay next to me.

"Who are you? Her girlfriend?" Drew asked Finlay, looking sort of offended.

"No," Finlay said, shaking her head. "I'm her best friend who needs her right now. Come on, Grace."

Finlay steered me away from the two boys to a different hall with many people crowded around. "What was that for?" I asked her, stopping next to a classroom.

"I need to talk to you," Finlay said as if that was the only correct answer. "Duh."

I rolled my eyes. "About?"

"Dad actually kept his mouth shut about my grades! And that is very surprising because I failed a test recently."

I smiled when Finlay's face lit up. She looked well-rested for once, and she actually looked happy. "That's awesome, Fin."

"Right?"

I wrapped Finlay up in a hug and whispered, "I'm glad. You need to be the happy-go-lucky girl that I love."

Finlay pulled away from me with a small smile on her face. "I want her back too."

I nodded, brushing my red hair out of my face. "That's good."

I started walking away again because I needed to get to class, and Finlay ran to catch up. "So, what was going on with that really cute guy at our lockers?"

I groaned. "He's new. His locker is the one in between ours."

"No way!" Finlay faced me, disbelief racing through her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Completely serious."

"That's crazy!" Finlay threw her hands up into the air, almost hitting a girl in the face. I apologized quickly as she continued her spiel. "Why would they do that to us when it's our senior year?"

"No clue." I shrugged. "But he was flirting with me. He even had the audacity to ask me out on a date."

"What?"

A few heads turned to look at the girl who screeched. Finlay just sent glares in their direction before she continued. "What did you say to him?"

"No. What else could I say? He doesn't even know my name! He called me Match Stick!"

Finlay laughed and I smacked her arm. "Finlay Jane Peterson! That is not funny!"

"Nope." Finlay tried to keep her laughs in but just couldn't. Her shoulders shook as she slapped her hands over her mouth. "Not funny at all."

"I think you girls should keep it down," a teacher said, approaching us.

I pulled Finlay to our lockers, praying that Drew and Joshua still weren't there. Thankfully for me, they weren't.

"Why are we back here?" Finlay asked me.

"Because I have something else to tell you," I told her. "Now you gotta promise to be quiet."

"I promise."

I looked around before saying, "So, when I went to Joshua's house to ask him to stay with you, he was shirtless when I got there."

"Oh my gosh!"

I clapped a hand over Finlay's mouth. "You promised you would be quiet, Fin."

I dropped my hand and Finlay shrugged sheepishly. "You didn't tell me that! Why?"

"I just forgot about it." I didn't mention that seeing her sleeping with her head on his shoulder had completely thrown me off that night. I didn't want to show just how jealous I got, especially after our fight about it.

"Man, Grace," Finlay said, smiling. "Two boys going after you."

"We don't know for sure about one of them," I informed her.

"Hey, at least you talked to him," Finlay said, nodding. "Now he can see what I see."

"And what do you see?"

"A beautiful girl who doesn't know how good she is. Too good for this world, you are."

I smiled, looking down at my feet. "Thanks, Fin."

"Of course." Finlay rolled up her sleeve and said, "Grace, it's almost time for class to start!"

I jumped and said, "Where in the world did the time go?"

"No time to wonder right now," Finlay said, grabbing my hand. She literally dragged me through the school. People gave us weird looks as we got to my first hour. "Oh goodness."

"What?" I asked, trying to peer around Finlay's shoulders. Curse me for being short.

"This class is gonna be fun for you."

"What is it, Fin?"

Finlay finally stepped out of the way to reveal Joshua sitting in his normal seat in the math classroom. And Drew was in another one. Joshua had people sitting next to him; Drew didn't. Joshua was popular; Drew wasn't since he was new.

"Oh, Lord help me get through this," I whispered. I turned to Finlay and said, "You better get to class, Fin."

Finlay nodded. "And you better tell me all what happens in there."

"Okay. Love you."

I walked into the math classroom and looked around. The seats had filled up since there was about a minute until class started. I groaned when I realized Drew sat in the seat behind my assigned one. I prayed that he wouldn't talk to me but -

"Hello, Match Stick."

I groaned again and turned around. "Hi, Drew."

"Now, I don't think it's fair that you get to know my name and I don't know yours," he said with a pouting look.

"I think I'd rather have Match Stick as my name than you knowing it."

"Ooh, fiery," he said, smirking. "I like fire."

"Man. Where's the fire department when you need them?"

He chuckled, a warm sound compared to his gravelly voice. "That was funny, Match Stick. Real funny."

"There's more where that came from."

I turned around to face the front after I heard the bell ring. Drew tapped my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. But I didn't turn around. I watched as the teacher strolled into the classroom and Drew whispered, "Don't ignore me, Match Stick."

I turned around and whispered, "I want to learn. Now be quiet."

I swiveled back around and saw everyone staring at me. The most surprising was Joshua who had a strange look on his face. He almost looked jealous. My face grew warm as the teacher said, "Rebecca? Would you care to share what you two are talking about?"

"Drew here is distracting me, ma'am," I told her, wishing she wouldn't use my first name.

"He's the new kid, correct?"

"Correct."

"There are rules, Drew," Mrs. Lilly said, crossing her arms. "Rule number one is don't disturb my best student."

A smile tugged on my face as Drew said, "I'm sorry but she is totally sidetracking me."

"How?"

"She's just so beautiful that I can't think about anything else."

"That's not my problem, Mr. Walker. Now, it's my time to teach, so quit talking to Rebecca."

Drew whispered, "So, Match Stick, your name is Rebecca."

I nodded, not bothering to turn around. There's a reason why I don't use my first name, and it didn't help that Drew knew it. I tried to focus on the math lesson being taught, but I couldn't because of Drew poking me in the back.

"Quit!" I hissed, glancing back at Drew.

His smile grew when he saw me but he stopped poking my back. That was good. Or at least, that was what I was trying to tell myself as my teacher droned on and on. I couldn't help but feel his eyes pierce my skull, the intensity making my neck burn. For some reason, my heart fluttered a litte, almost as if it liked the attention. It couldn't like the attention; I barely knew him. I stared forward and prayed that I could make it through the class.