A/N--For anyone who's interested in the cast, I changed who I thought Drew should be.  I saw a pic of this guy and just instantly thought of Drew.  So that's who the guy is on the side :) 

Hope you like this chapter, I feel like it's much better written than the last one.  Please comment and vote!

When I walk into school Monday morning, I make sure to keep an eye out for Lucas so that I can avoid him. I'm humiliated and upset about our huge fight on Saturday night-I'd been hoping not to admit that his leaving my life did, in fact, ruin me-and I honestly don't know if I'm going to be able to face him.  

So with my hair falling like a curtain over my face, I tighten my grasp on my book sack and then head on down the hallway and to my locker, keeping my eyes peeled for a certain blonde football player.  

I feel slightly relieved when I reach my locker and put in the combination, opening it so that I can slide my things in that I won't need until later in the day. But when I hear footsteps get close to me and then the faint sound of someone's breathing, my heart leaps inside of my chest. It's got to be Lucas and he's got to be here to point out how upset I was over how he left me two years ago. He's going to hold it over my head and it's going to drive me insane. 

I don't turn around, wanting to ignore him so that he'll just go away, but then I hear a different voice speak. "Hey, Naomi," a voice completely different from Lucas' greets, and when I turn around I see Drew standing there instead, his brown eyes smiling happily. 

Feeling so happy that I don't have to deal with Lucas, a bright smile lights up my face and I say, "Hey." 

Obviously excited that I'm not yelling at him like the previous time he greeted me at my locker, he leans his shoulder against the locker next to mine and asks, "We're okay now, right? Like you're not mad at me anymore?" 

A bit confused as to what he's getting at, I shake my head as I slip my math book out and place it into my arms. I say, "No, why?" 

Relief clear as a bell on his cute face, he audibly swallows and then asks me "Are you doing anything Friday night?" 

Finally it all clicks in my head. He's about to ask me out. Drew Price, one of the most friendly and popular guys at the school, is about to ask me out. Is he having a brain fart or something? Did he smoke something bad this morning? He has to know that going on a date with me would be, like, social suicide or something.  

But even though this may be true, this may also be my only chance to do something worth telling my kids about in the future. I've spent all of my high school life living on the sidelines, watching as Lucas makes field goals on and off the field. I haven't done anything worth mentioning, not one exciting thing that someone would want to hear about. 

Am I head over heels for Drew? Do I find him as attractive and amazing as I used to find Lucas? Of course not. But then again, I've only talked to him for a week now and I know for a fact that he makes me laugh. There might be something here and I, for once, am not going to let it slip by. I have to do this, no matter how uncertain it may make my stomach feel. 

So I shake my head and say, "No, why?" 

Looking a bit relieved that I haven't turned him down yet, he grins and says, "Well...you know...I have a hot date and I was wondering if you'd watch my dog. He has heartworms." 

Knowing that he's joking, I go along with him and say sarcastically, "Well...as appealing as that may sound, I'm going to have to pass." 

He gives me a dramatic pout, "Are you sure? He's an awesome cuddle-buddy." 

Deciding to tease him, I motion over my shoulder with my head, and ask, "Is this conversation going to be over soon? I have to be somewhere else." 

Obviously noting the playfulness in my voice and that I'm not turning him down immediately, he gives me an attractive grin before taking a step closer to me. His voice suddenly turning serious, he asks me, "Naomi, will you go out with me on Friday?" 

I bite down on my bottom lip, figuring that it'll be more entertaining if I don't jump at the chance to say yes, and make sure to hesitate before I give him my answer. It works too, because I notice that with every passing second his happy face starts to fall just a little bit more. Not wanting him to get too nervous, I just nod and say, "Sure. What we going to do?" 

"Naomi, can I talk to you?" another voice breaks through, making Drew and I's conversation cease immediately. Instantly recognizing the tone of voice, I feel my excitement slip right through my fingers. Of course he's going to sneak up when I'm too busy to keep an eye out for him. Of course he's going to think he has the right to break up a conversation between Drew and I. 

He's such an ass. 

Drew's eyes widen as he slowly turns his head from mine and looks at his best friend who is now standing next to us. He looks mouthwatering as per usual, I see with an unpleasant feeling in my chest. He's wearing a plain black shirt, one that's not too tight but fits his muscles just right, and some dark-washed jeans that make him look just a bit naughtier than I know him to be. He looks almost like a rebel, a look I've always loved on him. It contradicts with his golden looks perfectly. 

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Drew says to Lucas just a bit harshly, "We were talking." 

Lucas doesn't even spare Drew a second glance, choosing to just ignore him and make unwelcome eye contact with me. I try to turn away and ignore him like he's doing to Drew, but something about his gaze just keeps mine rooted firmly with his. Lucas says to me softly, "Naomi, you know we need to talk." 

"Yeah?" Drew's voice asks him, all of the happiness that had been there seconds ago completely faded into the air. "What about?" 

Lucas, still without turning to face him, answers him by saying, "Nothing that concerns you, alright?" 

"Lucas," I break through the tension by saying, "Just leave. I'll talk to you later." 

But I know that he's smart enough to know that if we're going to talk later, it's not going to be my choice. My first and foremost choice now is to just ignore him. What he did, what he said, Saturday afternoon still runs races through my mind. Hell, I was up all Saturday night wondering if what my dad does can even be called abuse. Lucas has been the cause of far too many sleepless nights for me and I'm sick of it. 

He looks completely taken aback that I'm not itching at the chance to settle this, his face looking fallen. "Come on, just two minutes." 

Drew then takes a step forward, blocking my view of Lucas, before he tells him, "Come on, man. Don't mess this up." 

I hear Lucas give a heady sigh before he utters the word, "Fine." 

Feeling a huge weight lift off of my chest when I realize that all of this awkwardness is over, I watch as Lucas grasps tightly at the back of his book sack and then heads on down the hallway. Just before he turns the corner, though, he turns his head to face me and gives me a questioning look, as if he's wondering what the hell I'm doing by talking to Drew. 

I just ignore the look and the feeling it gives me in the pit of my stomach before it turn back to Drew. The tension has been smoothed off of his face, looking like it was never even there, making me feel just a bit more relaxed. He looks down at me, being just a bit closer than he was previously, before he asks, "You okay?" 

"I'm fine," I tell him reassuringly; though with the way my adrenaline is pumping I know that this isn't the exact truth. I'm a bit shaken by how unhappy Lucas looked when I told him to leave even though I know it was the right thing to do. His feelings still cause a stir in me, even after two years. It's instinct now and there's nothing I can do to fix it. 

He smiles, "Walk you to class?" before reaching his hands out so that he can take my books. 

"Sure," I say back cheerily, glad that he's not letting this whole episode with Lucas ruin the good thing we had going just a few seconds ago. I hand him my books and, even though I don't feel the spark in my fingertips like I do when my skin brushes Lucas', I still light butterflies start to swarm around my stomach. 

Maybe this won't be too hard after all. 

OoOoO 

"Do you want a ride?" Drew asks me as we walk outside of the school later on into the afternoon. He's been attached to my side like super glue all day, walking me to and from practically all of my classes, sitting with me in the cafeteria, and now rushing me out the back door so that he can give me a ride home. 

Honestly, at first, the attention was nice and it made me feel special, but now it's just downright aggravating. Though talking to someone is nice, I'm still too used to being alone all of the time. I'm not used to having to constantly please someone through conversation, to say something interesting all of the time. If he knew me, then he'd know that I'm not exactly the biggest talker in the world. Sure I like joking around and getting to know someone better, but I could honestly care less about all of the gossip he's been talking about. 

In the hours I've spent talking to him, I've learned so many things about the students at this school that I honestly did not want to know. I don't want to know how the student body president is sleeping with some drug head even though she's dating the principal's son. I don't care that Johnny Leonard, another popular guy at the school, is thought to be gay. 

I don't give a rat's ass about any of those things. I'm just not that kind of girl.  

And honestly Drew just doesn't understand that. 

But he has been so sweet to me, so caring, that I feel awful when it comes to thinking about turning him down. I don't want to hurt his feelings, I really don't, and even though our date on Friday night is starting to sound worse and worse to me, I just can't back out. Not when he smiles at me like that or when he opens doors for me and carries my books. I can't hurt him. 

So I just smile even though I'm cringing on the inside and say, "Sure." 

"Awesome," he says, bumping his hip into mine and then leading me out to the student parking lot. I follow him throughout the maze of cars until we reach a sleek black Range Rover. I almost have to take a step back when I look at it, it's so fancy and so unlike a usual teenager's car.  

I totally understand that Drew's trying to look cool and that his parents are so rich that they're just throwing money away, but who on God's green earth would buy a teenage guy a car that probably cost as much as my house? Are they stupid? Do they honestly believe that he's not going to wreck it by showing it off to his friends? 

But even though all of these thoughts are running through my mind, all that comes out of my mouth is, "Nice car." 

While he's taking my books out of my hands yet again and then sliding them into the back seat, he says, "Thanks. This is my second one actually. I totaled the first one my parents got me." 

Sometimes it can be scary how head-on my thoughts are. 

"How?" I ask, a word I learned today is like magic. When I don't want to talk, I can always ask him "how?" or "why?" and it'll save me about five minutes of mindless chatter. Drew is an excellent talker, something else I learned today, and if you give him a chance to explain something that'll make him look cool, he'll jump at it. 

He swings the back door shut and then opens the passenger door for me, something I hadn't even thought of doing myself. I get that he's trying to be a gentleman and everything, but this is just getting ridiculous. I am a perfectly able body; I can do things for myself. 

Once I'm good and secure in my seat, he hops in on the opposite side and starts the car by pressing a button on the dashboard. Oh Good Lord. What has happened to the simplicity of keys? While he's backing out of his spot he explains to me, "This ass hole from the lacrosse team in Brookstone was getting onto me about how his car could beat mine. I won the race but I lost the car. I slammed it into a pole at the end of the road we were racing on. I still hate the guy for it." 

I want to point out that he could have just taken the higher road and not raced him, but I keep myself quiet and just go to staring out of the window. I've had enough arguments this past weekend to last a while; I'm not looking to start a new one.  

But looking out of the window seems to be a mistake because as we drive by where all of the football players are lining up to go practice on the field, I spot Lucas and he doesn't look happy. His mouth is pressed into a thin, tight line and he's not even paying attention to the guy standing behind him who is having a completely one-sided conversation with Lucas.  

I go to look away from him, not at all happy that I still feel a jump in my chest when I see his face, but then his eyes meet mine through the window. His blue eyes seem to pierce through mine even though there's a thick layer of semi-tinted glass between them and it makes me feel very unsettled. 

But as quickly as it started, it ends. He turns away from me and then finally goes to say something to the guy who's been awaiting his reply. I turn away from the glass and face Drew's radio. 

It's funny how Lucas is always the one to turn away first. 

OoOoO 

"Wait, wait, wait..." Drew says as we pull in front of the book store. I look over at him, eyebrows pursed, wondering what he possibly has to say now. He hasn't talked enough on the way here? He continues with a question, "You work here? Lucas works here." 

I nod, "Yeah, I've worked here forever. Lucas just started." 

And has completely ruined the job since, I think to myself.  

Something seems to click inside of his head because he seems a bit more energized when he asks me, "So is that what this morning was about? A work thing?" 

Not wanting to tell him that it was probably about our huge fight Saturday night, I just nod and say, "Probably." 

He's silent for a moment, making me think that it's okay to get out of the car and go to work since I'm already a minute or two late, but then he asks me curiously, "What happened between you two? I remember you being best friends but then sophomore year you didn't even talk anymore." 

A bit surprised that Lucas didn't go around laughing about me to all of his friends-now I guess the pity looks are just based on me alone-I say, "It's nothing, really. Friends break up all the time." 

Drew says, "Yeah, but...you two were, like, inseparable. He would ditch us so many times because he was hanging out with you or something." 

I go to say something, but then I remember back to last week when he stopped in at the shop to talk to Lucas. 

"You know her?" Drew's now familiar voice asks him. 

Lucas chuckles, but it's that mischievous one that I used to know so well. He's hiding something. Lucas answers him, "I've seen her around school." 

"She's effin hot, right? Like how did I even miss that?" 

Is he talking about me? He can't be. He said hot. There's no way that I'm any popular guy's definition of hot. I have this unruly hair and stubby eyelashes and arms that seriously need some toning. There's no way that Drew Price can remotely find me attractive. He must be talking about someone else. 

Lucas says, "Is that all you're here for? To gloat about your newest chick?" 

Drew sighs dramatically, "I wish. She's different and it's really irritating as well as, like, hot or whatever. She doesn't put up with any shit, you know?" 

In what can almost be classified as a wistful tone, Lucas says, "Trust me man, I know." 

Drew obviously knows about Lucas' and I's history because he's questioning me about it now, so who was he talking about in the book store? He asked Lucas if he knew her. Obviously he knows that Lucas knows me so it couldn't have been me that he'd been asking about. 

So was he asking about another girl? Does he have another girl that he's going out with? Sure the two of us aren't exactly going out, we're just going on one measly date, but I also don't want to be a second choice. Though I'm not exactly crushing hard on the boy, it still hurts a little that he's thinking about another girl while he's out with me. 

I have to ask him. I don't even want to try to do this if he doesn't like me like I thought he does. Sure, I know that he's not crushing that hard on me or anything, but it does seem like he cares by all of the things he's been doing for me. 

"Hey, Drew?" 

"Yeah?" he asks, smiling just a bit because I'm actually going to make the first attempt at a conversation. 

I ask him, "Who were you talking about in the store with Lucas?" I really don't want to sound jealous or petty, but I just have to know. I'm not going to be one of two girls. I have just a bit more dignity than that. 

His cheeks flush a little. "You heard that, huh?" 

I nod, wondering if that blush is because he's been caught two-timing his girlfriend with me. Although I've never seen him with anyone on school, he can still be dating someone from somewhere else. It'd be awfully convenient for him. "Yeah, sorry for eavesdropping...I just...you're not...seeing someone else, are you?" 

He then puts the car into park, as if he plans on staying out here with me for a while, and then leans a bit close to me. It makes me feel just a bit uneasy, not like how it used to be when I was in love with Lucas and he'd get close to me, but I try not to lean back at all. Besides, Drew does smell really good. I'm not going to lie about that. 

He says, "No. Of course not. I was talking about you in there." 

Confused then, by their conversation, I say, "But you asked him if he knew her. If you know now about how we used to be friends than..." 

Even though he chuckles easily, I still see his cheeks flush a bit deeper when I point this out. It's a bit humbling to see Mr. Popularity blush about me. I never thought that something like this would ever happen to me. I kind of like it. He admits, "Well...I did my research. I asked about you to the guys on the team and they told me about you and Lucas." 

"Oh," I say softly, not sure on if I like it or not that he's been asking around about me.  

He leans forward and then boldly reaches out to touch a stray curl that escaped the ponytail I put in earlier on into the day. He says, "I hope that doesn't make me seem like a stalker or anything...I was just curious." 

Feeling totally uncomfortable at how fast this is going, at how he's already leaning in so close that I can feel his breath on my cheek and how he's touching my hair as if he's always done it, I lean away from him and say quietly, "I need to go in there...I'm already late." 

Looking a bit miffed that I didn't flirt right on back like I'm sure all of the other girls do, he nods slowly and then leans away from me and back into his seat. "Sure...sorry that I kept you." 

Not at all liking that his feelings seem a bit bruised, I give him a reassuring smile and tell him, "Not a big deal, Zara's like a sister. I'll see you tomorrow?" 

Immediately looking cheerful like I'm used to, he says happily, "Sure. See you tomorrow, Naomi." 

"Bye," I tell him and then hop out of the car and into the heat of the afternoon. I reach in the back seat to get my things and then after giving Drew a final wave I head on into the store. 

As soon as I'm inside of the air-conditioned room, though, I see Zara standing at the beginning of one of the book shelves, her olive-skinned arms crossed across her chest and a very amused expression on her face. I know immediately that she's been looking out of the window, at Drew and I in his Range Rover, and feel my cheeks start to burn.  

This is so embarrassing. 

I don't say anything in fear of having her laugh at me or tease me about Drew, so instead I just walk over to the cash register and then place my things there. I'll move them into the back of the store later, when Zara isn't standing there and looking like she's about to tease the hell out of me. 

After about two minutes of utter silence, Zara emerges from the stacks and comes to stand at the front counter. She crosses her arms and places them on the counter, leaning in a bit so that it supports her. "So," she says, her loud voice startling the silence of the store, "Who's the guy?" 

"What guy?" I ask quickly, stupidly. 

She lifts one of her arms to point at the window that I know Drew parked right in front of. Damn it. She'd seen the whole thing. She says, "Flirty man...in that shiny Range Rover. What's his name?" 

Really not wanting to discuss this right now, I've just gotten away from Drew and into my comfort zone, I say, "It's not important, I promise. He just gave me a ride home." 

"He looked awfully close to you," she points out, making butterflies appear in my stomach at the mention of how close Drew did get to me. For a second there, I'd almost thought that he was going to kiss me or something. Thank God he's not that bold. 

I sigh, knowing that this isn't going to go away. I say, "He asked me out, I said yes, and now he's just getting on my nerves. That's all." 

"So you and him are going on a date then? You didn't cancel?" 

Why is she pushing this? Zara is usually a live and let live kind of girl. She's never been nosing in on my business before so why is she doing it now? I'm not used to this girl. I'm used to the calm and collected Zara who'd rather sip her tea and read a book than hear anything about my life. I say slowly and unsurely, "No, I didn't cancel." 

With the oddest expression on her face, she shakes her head and says, "Mm. Lucas won't like that."