The light of a thousand suns blinded my eyes the next morning... Never mind, it was just the screen of my mobile as I turned the alarm off.

With a tired groan I looked at the time and groaned again when I saw that it was already half past seven. Seemed like I had accidentally hit snooze twice. Oops.

I suppressed the urge to just crawl back under the covers and miss the first day of school after the holidays when I remembered that I had promised Nate to pick him up on my way to school.

As much as I would've loved to skip a few classes, I couldn't leave my best friend hanging like that. So I rolled myself out of bed, quickly put on some clothes that were scattered across my room and slipped into my white vans.

Then I styled my hair and took a quick glance at the mirror. I thought of myself as pretty average looking: light brown, curly hair, blue eyes that sometimes tended to look green-ish, a light splatter of freckles that summer had left on my nose.

With a halfway satisfied smile at myself in the mirror I brushed my teeth and headed downstairs to the kitchen. My parents had already left for work and had taken my little sister Maya to the kindergarten, so there was no one there to scold me for eating a chocolate pudding for breakfast and putting three spoons of sugar in my coffee. After I had poured the coffee into my thermos cup, I swung my backpack and the duffel bag with sports clothes over my shoulder and left the house.

My car was parked at the curb right outside the door. It wasn't one of the expensive rides that some of these rich kids at my school had, but as long as it moved, I was cool with my little Peugeot 206. It was my mom's old car and for some reason she had bought it in this horrible green color, which was why I lovingly called it Froggy.

Ten minutes later I pulled up in front of Nate's house where I honked twice, sipping from my coffee. Mere seconds later Nate stumbled out, wearing one of his obligatory band t-shirts. He hadn't even laced his shoes yet, which was why he nearly fell a few times before he, cussing colorful words, opened the door and collapsed on the passenger seat, breathing heavily.

"Morning, dumbass," he greeted me, friendly as per usual, and bent down to lace his shoes.

I started the car but braked immediately afterwards, to make Froggy hop forward just a little, causing Nate to hit his head on the dashboard.

"And a good morning to you too, jerk," I said and smiled sweetly at him.

"Ouch, fuck you! I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."

I just rolled my eyes at his remark and started the car again, speeding down the streets because there were only five minutes left until class would start. When we stopped at a red light, I drank my coffee, feeling Nate's judging gaze on me.

"Dude, your caffeine addiction is going completely out of control," he said and took the cup out of my hand to drink a sip. "And how much sugar did you put in this? This is way too sweet."

"Nate, what the hell!" I complained when he handed it back to me and I realized he had finished the entire cup.

"I'm just trying to help you with your unhealthy addiction!" he exclaimed. "Don't worry, Coffee addicts anonymous is here for you."

"Remind me why I'm giving you a lift to school again?" I asked while we stopped in front of the building.

"Because you love me," Nate replied with a cheeky grin and got out of the car.

I followed suit. "Sorry, babe," I told him as I spotted Emily on the parking lot, "I'm afraid I'm already taken."

With that I ditched him and walked towards Emily, who was chatting with some friends next to her car.

"C'mon, honey, she doesn't have to know!" I heard Nate yelling after me. "We can still do it at my place, yeah? Remember our good times? The night with the whipped cream and the handcuffs? We can do it again..."

I lifted my middle finger without looking back at him, feeling the amused stares of the other students following me as I crossed the parking lot.

"Whipped cream and handcuffs, huh?" Emily asked after kissing me hello and tried to hold back her laughter. She failed. "I didn't know you were into that."

"Yeah, me neither," I said dryly and slung my arm around her shoulder, steering towards the school building.

+++

Two hours later, I met Nate after two horrible periods of Maths. As always, he was leaning against my locker with a bagel in his hand and a grin on his face.

"We survived the first two periods of this school year!" he cheered, as if it was some kind of great accomplishment.

I just sent him a blank stare and opened my locker to get my sports bag; the next two periods were sports class. "Great. Have you also counted how many there are left? I have a feeling that number is a little higher."

"Why the hell are you always so miserable? You get to spend the entire break with your hilarious and incredibly good looking best friend, isn't that reason enough to be happy?" he dramatically sighed.

I turned around to inform him that 1) I wasn't miserable, I was just really tired and 2) if there was one hilarious and incredibly good looking best friend among the two of us, it was me.

However, as I faced the corridor, all I could do was stare. Stare at the guy from yesterday, the one I had spilled my coffee over, who was suddenly walking down the corridor with two other guys, his green eyes twinkling with amusement as he laughed about something one of his friends said.

But the thing that hit me the most was the hoodie he was wearing. My hoodie. He wore it over a white shirt that peeked out of the collar. And damn, did he pull it off.

"Hold up a second," I mumbled to Nate and quickly went after the guy.

He had stopped at his locker a few feet away from mine, his friends still standing next to him. One of them had pale skin, brown hair and blue eyes and was apparently the one making the jokes.

Next to him there was a taller guy with blond hair who wore a leather jacket. He didn't smile like the others, his lips were merely curved into a slightly condescending smirk. I could tell how cool he was probably feeling, standing there with this smug expression and a jaw line that was sharp enough that it could probably cut through glass.

"Excuse me?" I said when I was close enough and immediately cursed myself for starting the conversation like that. Those guys all seemed like the kind that got into fist fights on the parking lot after school or like they spent their weekends getting wasted at house parties. Meanwhile I sounded like someone who always handed his homework in on time and was interested in knitting.

The guy with my hoodie spun around immediately. "Oh, would you look at that," he sneered. "If that isn't the jerk who ruined my shirt."

His friends immediately fell silent and turned to look at me, one with curious eyes, the other looking only vaguely interested.

"Yep, that'd be me..." I said and chewed on my lip, searching for the right words to say. "Sorry, but could I maybe get my hoodie back? I actually really like it."

He pretended to consider what I said for a moment before he said: "Sorry, but I think I'll keep it. I actually really dislike you."

Behind him I saw the brown haired guy snickering. "Hunter, you little bastard," he grinned and looked at me. "Sorry, bro, but I don't think you'll get it back. Hunter here is still pretty pissed about his shirt and that hoodie actually looks quite comfy, so..."

The guy, Hunter, only crossed his arms before his chest. "Did you want anything else or are we done here?"

I didn't know what to say and just stared at him, my mouth hanging open. He answered my gaze for a few seconds before he slammed the door of his locker shut and left, his friends following behind.

"What was that about?" Nate asked between two bites of his bagel, coming up behind me. "Since when are you talking to Hunter Adams?"

"Is that his name?" I asked, "How do you know him?"

Nate looked at me as if I was some kind of alien that had asked him out on a ride with his ufo. "Dude, everyone knows him!" He rolled his eyes as he saw my puzzled expression. "He's so popular around here, I can't believe you've never heard about him. He used to be on the football team, I think, and he literally gets all the girls... and the guys!"

"He's bisexual?"

Nate nodded impatiently. "Yes. You know, that's when someone is attracted to girls and boys and-"

"I know what that is, idiot," I interrupted him.

"Phew. I was already thinking about how I can teach your innocent ass about the thing with the birds and the bees next..."

"How sweet of you," I sarcastically said.

"Anyways, how do you know him?" Nate asked again.

I quickly explained the whole coffee-incident to him and that Hunter wouldn't give the hoodie back.

Nate's eyes widened during my explanation. "Dude, you can count yourself lucky he didn't beat you up right there yesterday! You wouldn't be the first one who got a black eye from him. Better stay out of his way and stop annoying him because of that stupid hoodie."

"But I love that hoodie!" I whined. "And I can't stand seeing him wear it like that."

"Like what?"

"Like it's his!"

"Dude, just give up. It is his now," Nate said in a dead serious voice. "You're just pissed because you know he looks better in it than you."

Before I could even lift my hand to slap him, he ran down the corridor, laughing like a 12-year old.

"Go to h-"

Right in that moment my Maths teacher waltzed around the corner and glared at me, so I quickly finished with:

"-ollister. Go to Hollister and see if they have sales discount at the moment!"

Nate's laughter got even more hysterical as he disappeared around a corner.

Smiling innocently at the teacher, I walked down the hallway and to the gym.

This year I was in an advanced course. Officially, because my gym teacher, Coach Martins, thought that I was excellent at running track. In-officially I had accidentally kicked a ball at his rather sensitive areas and he was probably scared I would make him impotent if he kept me in his class.

So this year I was stuck in the advanced gym course with all these jocks that had a body like the Hulk and a brain like Dora the Explorer. Hell, I didn't know a single one of them! Sighing, I pushed through the doors to the gym and accepted my fate.

Towards the end of the second period I saw everything crystal clear: this was Coach Martin's revenge for me because of the kicking-a-ball-at-his-balls incident.

I was panting, my t-shirt was soaked with sweat and my face probably as bright as a tomato. And the worst thing was that all the other jocks still looked like models in a sport commercial, not even a little out of breath.

"Hey princess, this is volleyball! You're supposed to hit the ball, not run away from it!" Hunter Adams shouted at me from across the hall.

Yeah, that jerk was in this class, too, and I disliked him more with every passing minute. He seemed to focus more on making cocky comments about my performance than playing and every time the volleyball came near him, he aimed it right at me.

When the coach blew the final whistle, it sounded like angel's singing to me and I was the first one to head to the locker room. I was done showering before all the others came in, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Just as I was almost ready to leave, my gaze landed on a bag that was laying on the floor. More specifically: Hunter's sports bag. And what peeked out of it was, of course, my grey hoodie.

I hesitated for a second. Should I risk it? If he caught me going through his stuff to get it, I'd probably be six feet under before I could even say "I wish I wouldn't have wasted my coffee on you".

But if I didn't, I'd never get it back. And it honestly was a really nice hoodie...

Taking one last deep breath, I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. I looked over at the door separating the showers from the locker room, still shut. Everyone was still inside, I could hear them laughing over the sound of running water. This was my chance, the only one I would get. So I darted towards the bag and reached for my hoodie.

I was pulled back and pushed against the wall before my fingertips could even graze it, feeling my back collide with the concrete.

Hunter's eyes bored into mine, as he leaned forward, his arms building a cage around me, making it impossible for me to get away. Trapped between him and the wall, all I could do was gasp and stare at him.

He had just finished showering and apparently hadn't bothered putting on a shirt yet; drops of water were still clinging to his hair and travelling down his naked torso. The scent of his shampoo was overwhelming.

"Wanna try that again?" he asked in a threateningly low voice.

He was so close that I could feel his warm breath tickling my skin, coaxing goosebumps to the surface.

I couldn't get a word out, which he obviously took as a no.

"Thought so."

He sent me one last glare before he backed away and demonstratively pulled my hoodie over his head.

Even when the door had fallen shut behind him I was still leaning against the wall, unable to move.

What the hell had just happened?