When I woke up the next morning, the first mistake I made was to prop myself up on my right hand.

With a muffled screech, I fell back into my pillows, hoping that I hadn't ripped the scratches open again. Knowing better this time, I swung my legs out of the bed and got up without putting too much pressure on my hands.

Then I quickly got ready and ran down to have breakfast, which was my second mistake.

My parents and my sister were still there and of course, the first thing my mom noticed, were the bandages around my hands.

"Jules, what did you do?" she exclaimed in a high-pitched, alarmed voice.

That was my mom, always assuming the worst. When I was younger I used to sleep-walk at night, crying and talking incomprehensible stuff, and for over half a year she had been convinced I was possessed. Hell, if my dad wouldn't have stopped her she probably would've brought me to a priest for an exorcism.

"It's nothing, mom," I sighed, pouring milk over my cornflakes. "I just cut myself on some shards at work yesterday."

She was still watching me suspiciously while I started eating. "Julian, you know that you can always talk to us, right?"

I tried hard not to roll my eyes.

Luckily it was then that my dad took her hand and said: "Honey, relax. He knows."

"Does it hurt?" my little sister Maya asked, her eyes wide and her mouth in an o-shape.

With one of her little hands she carefully touched the bandage. For a four year-old little girl something that was covered with a band-aid was the worst thing that could possibly happen. Little did she know that real pain was felt on the inside most of the time.

I smiled at her. "It's okay, Maya. It's nothing bad."

She frowned and pushed a strand of her strawberry blond curls out of her face. "Do you want a syringe?" she asked, her voice dead serious and pointed at her kid's doctor kit that she had gotten for her birthday.

I wrinkled my nose in faked concern. "Will it hurt?"

Maya nodded with a sorrowful expression.

"Okay," I said and squeezed my eyes shut as she pulled out the toy syringe and pressed it against my shoulder. "Bring it on, doctor."

With an ecstatic laugh she watched as I playfully groaned in pain.

I ruffled her hair with a grin and got up. "I'm leaving for school. Bye then."

"Juley, do you have your lunchbox? Oh, and your water bottle?"

"Yes, mom," I answered firmly. "I'm not ten."

She shut her mouth and turned to my father for help. I knew that look. It said Andrew, how do I handle a teenage boy? Andrew, why is he always like that?

Without turning around again, I practically stormed out of the kitchen and left the house, my car keys dangling from my fingers and my bag over my shoulder. I had kind of a hard time driving to school, since the palms of my hands still hurt pretty bad, so I was happy when I finally rolled onto the parking lot.

It was still pretty much deserted (I had actually managed to come on time for once) and I couldn't see Nate or Emily anywhere yet. I didn't really have any other friends, so, as pathetic as it was, I sat down on the stairs to the building and pulled out my sketchbook to just doodle a bit.

Holding the pencil with my bandaged hand was a bit of a struggle, but somehow I managed. I didn't even really focus on what I was drawing, just on the feeling of the pencil scratching over the paper and the way it instantly put my mind at ease. Lost in thought I didn't notice Hunter approaching until he bended down and snatched the sketchbook from me.

I immediately leaped to my feet and tried to take it away from him, but he immediately held it where I couldn't reach it. I hated when people looked at my drawings. It felt too intimate, like I was exposing myself in a way.

"Look at that, baby is painting!" he said and looked at my drawing, one eyebrow raised.

"Drawing," I corrected him.

"Huh?"

"I was drawing. Painting is when you- You know what, never mind. Just give it back already," I groaned and made another attempt at getting it back.

But Hunter just laughed and pulled it out of my reach. "What's this?" he asked, his voice curious rather than judging, and held it up for me to see.

It showed a boy looking down at his bleeding hands. I had just lightly sketched it and the facial features were basically non-existent, and yet the guy somehow resembled me. His shoulders were bent in a hopeless looking way and something about the drawing looked incredibly sad.

"The Idiot Who Grabbed The Shards Of The Bottle His Boss Threw At Him?" Hunter mocked.

"Pretty detailed title," I commented. "How'd you come up with it?"

A faint smile danced around the corners of his mouth. "Oh, I don't know...just my vivid imagination, probably."

"Hm, I'm sure you have a pretty detailed imagination about lots of things," I said drily.

Hunter just smirked. "With you or in general?" He waited for my reaction before he added: "The answer is both."

"What- Oh my god," I murmured, immediately feeling my cheeks heating up.

Hunter laughed, his eyes shining wickedly. "I know you're thinking the same right now, don't deny it."

I turned even redder. "No, I would never! I-I have a girlfriend!"

"I know, I know. Chill out," he chuckled and slumped down on the stairs next to where I was sitting before he came.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a frown.

He just grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to sit next to him. "Taking this amazing opportunity to annoy you," he said sweetly.

"Mission accomplished," I growled.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. I know you enjoy my presence. Who wouldn't?"

I just sent him a blank stare and decided not to answer that question.

"So, did you quit your job?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah. Right after you left, actually."

"Why were you even working there? You didn't fit in there. Like, at all."

I hesitated for a moment. "I wanted the money to be able to buy a new camera. I guess I can forget about that now." After a moment of silence I asked: "Why didn't I fit in there?"

He just looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Are you serious, Jules? That was a bar with such sketchy people hanging around and you... You're a goody two-shoes. You'd never do something out of your comfort zone. You're always scared of consequences. I know guys like you," Hunter stated.

Something about the way he labelled me and the fact he was right with the things he said made anger boil inside me.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot I'm talking to an expert. You probably had sex with fifty percent of this entire school, so of course you know everything about guys like me."

"More like sixty percent," he smirked, clearly enjoying himself. "You know, it's actually kind of fun to mess around with you. You blush so easily, it's adorable."

I just scowled at him and reached over to finally get my sketch book back, only for Hunter to catch me completely off-guard as he pulled on my outstretched arm, making me fall onto him.

Suddenly my face was just inches away from his and my chest was pressed against his torso. My heart started racing almost immediately.

"Damn, you knew me for two days and already you are all over me," Hunter said smugly.

Before I could respond or even get off him, a familiar voice cut in. "Boys! What on earth are you doing?"

I scrambled to my feet immediately and looked up to see my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Charleston, standing on the stairs, glaring at us. Her expression showed a mix of horror, anger and the wish to quit her job at this school right this second.

"What did it look like?" Hunter asked, smiling innocently.

Meanwhile I just wanted to leave this country and live on Pukapuka with a new identity.

Mrs. Charleston gasped and pointed a finger at us. "You two, detention after school! You are not at this school to perform these... these actions in public!"

"Ma'am, I wasn't...I'm not...I'm not even into guys!" I stammered, horrified.

Next to me Hunter was shaking with laughter. "I am," he said, helpful as ever.

I shot him a glare and turned back to the teacher. "Please, I did nothing wrong, I was just trying-"

"Oh, he was totally trying to get into my pants right there," Hunter cut me off with a grin.

Mrs. Charleston looked like she was close to having a heart attack. "In the detention room after school, both of you! And keep your hands to yourself!" she yelled and stormed back into the school.

"How could you just say that?" I hissed, turning to look at Hunter. "Now I have to go to detention because you made it look like we were making out, even though I would never-"

Hunter, who had finally gotten his laughter under control, just grinned cheekily. "C'mon, sugarpie, I know you want some of this." He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Just give the sketchbook back and leave me alone," I said, glaring at him.

"Fine...buzzkill," Hunter said and tossed it back at me.

I caught it and turned around without so much as looking at him, angrily stomping into the opposite direction.

"Don't worry, sooner or later you won't be able to resist anymore!" I heard Hunter shouting after me.

I just flipped him off. Something about this boy annoyed me more than anyone ever had. Everything about the way he talked so confidently and always made fun of me made me want to scream. I couldn't stand him.

And after school I would be stuck with him in detention for something I didn't even do. Just great.

In lack of a better place to wait for my friends, I walked back to my car and leaned against it, scanning the parking lot for them. Fortunately it only took about three minutes until I saw Nate coming towards me on his bike.

"Hey bro," he panted as he stopped in front of me.

I looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "Nate, the school is literally only ten minutes away from your house. How are you this out of breath?"

"I think I'm going to faint," he announced dramatically and got off his bike to slump down next to my car, his head resting against the front door.

I shook my head and sat down next to him, my legs stretched out in front of me. Nate stared at me from the side.

"Hey, why the grumpy face?"

"I'm not grumpy," I grumpily said.

"Yeah, right," Nate laughed. "What's up with your hands, anyway?"

"Had a fight with Ricky at the bar. He threw a bottle at me and I cut myself on the shards. Hunter and his friends were there though, so they helped me."

"Hunter as in Hunter Adams, the guy who looked like he wanted to kill you yesterday?" Nate asked, of course only focusing on that part of the story.

"More like Hunter Adams, the guy who is still trying to. I have to go to detention with him today after school," I groaned and bumped my head against Froggy.

Nate frowned incredulously. "What? Jules Hatcher, who never does anything forbidden and already feels bad if he doesn't greet someone in the hallway needs to go to detention? Jules Hatcher who never fails an exam? Jules Hatcher who-"

"Yes, me, Jules Hatcher!" I interrupted him before he could go on.

Nate just laughed. "So, spill the beans. What did you do?"

I bit my lip as the embarrassment returned. "Mrs. Charleston thought I made out with Hunter," I mumbled.

"Excuse me, what was that?" Nate teased, looking like he was going to burst with laughter. "I didn't quite catch that."

"It looked like I was making out with Hunter, okay?" I nearly shouted and buried my face in my hands so I didn't have to see the stupid grin on Nate's face.

"Bro, what the hell," Nate squealed. "Tell me everything."

As if to make everything even more embarrassing, Emily decided to join us in this exact moment. "What's so funny?" she asked and sat down on my other side, leaning her head against my shoulder.

"Nothing," I said, just as Nate said: "He got detention for supposedly making out with Hunter Adams."

I glared at him while Emily looked at me. She didn't seem to know whether to laugh or frown. "What? You made out with Hunter Adams?"

"No, I didn't! The emphasis is on the word supposedly, okay?" I mumbled. "It just looked like it when Mrs. Charleston saw us, and she didn't seem to like what she saw."

Now Emily was laughing, I could feel her body shaking next to me. "I already started to worry," she grinned and playfully swatted my arm.

"Guys, we should probably go inside. Class is starting in ten minutes," Nate said and got up.

We followed suit and made our way up the stairs and to our class room.

In the corridor Emily said goodbye to us. "Bye then! Jules, do you wanna hang out at my place later today?"

I nodded. "Sure. I'll come around after detention."

"Okay," she smiled. "Have fun with Hunter."

Before I could reply to her sarcastic comment, she was already gone.

"Are you coming?" Nate asked, bumping me with his shoulder. "Don't wanna get even more detention for being late, do you?"

I followed him with a scowl. This was going to be a long day.