"Hi, Maya."

"Hey Vicky, what's going on?" Maya's chirpy voice filled the other side of the phone.

Maya was Tyler's thirteen-year-old sister who was a bright student in school and enjoyed playing Volleyball. Like the rest of the Lockharts' Maya was also tall, with dark hair and expressive brown eyes, she had gotten her looks from their mother, save for the jawline which was a distinct feature similar to that of their father. You could look at the two siblings and tell that they were related. For a teen, Maya was really sweet, and often acted as a mediator between Tyler and me. She was one of the prettiest girls in school; I'd never seen Maya wear an outfit twice. There were rumors that her clothes were custom-made and imported from Italy. Even with all the wealth, I'd never seen her act like a snob; in fact she was more down to earth than any teenager I knew in Cold-Bay.

I liked Maya a lot.

"How's your studying going?" I asked, unable to come directly to the point.

"It's going okay." She responded.

"Did you have dinner?"

Kill me now!

I heard her giggle on the other end, "Yes, I did. You called to ask about Tyler, didn't you?" she asked point-blank.

"Um...yeah, actually I did. Is he home?"

"Yeah, he's in his room."

"Did you notice something?"

"Like what?" I imagined her sprawled on her large comfy bed, balancing the phone in one hand and flipping through a magazine with the other.

"His behavior," I said, not wanting to spill about the fight we had earlier that afternoon.

"Now that you mention it, he did sound a little grumpy when he came home." She confessed. "Skipped dinner too."

"What?"

"He didn't come downstairs for dinner tonight but we thought maybe he ate something with his friends. The maid kept a plate filled with food outside his door because he tells everyone to keep it there, and then I noticed some food missing from the plate so I thought he ate a little, but later when I went to the gaming room upstairs, I saw Diablo having a party with Tyler's food." Maya rambled on.

There were two types of teenagers, one that was going through a rebellious phase, they hated you, the world, the universe, and then there were others like Maya who were comfortable carrying on conversations and spilling information that was usually not allowed to be out in the open.

It made me anxious that Tyler hadn't eaten dinner. Why hadn't he eaten? Was it because of the fight he had with me? Did Harper visit him for the assignment? He'd said he'd let her do whatever she wanted with him.

"Maya, did Harper come over?" I inquired hesitantly.

If she said yes...

"Harper Woodly?" I could hear the disgust in her voice loud and clear.

"Yeah."

"Oh no, she didn't. If she was here, Tyler would have called the pest control."

I couldn't hold back a burst of laughter which was quite evil of me. "What? Why?"

"Duh because he hates her."

He hated Queen Harper?

"How do you figure that?"

"Because she keeps bothering him and he's tired, I can see how annoyed he gets. Whenever she calls him, he cringes, sometimes when Harper calls on the landline, he orders the maids to tell her that he's asleep even at eight p.m." Maya laughed. "Isn't that ridiculous? I mean who sleeps at eight pm, only a baby in a crib would. I'm confused why she hasn't taken a hint."

She hasn't taken a hint because Tyler was worth fighting over. Duh. I mean, who wouldn't want to date one of the richest boys in the country? She obviously thought of him as a catch.

Harper was beautiful with her chestnut brown hair and a figure that could put a runway model to shame. Her nails were always manicured, and she never came to school without a heavy coat of lipgloss and highlighter. I mean, there was literally nothing wrong with doing a manicure or applying makeup to school, but what was trashy was how she thought others were beneath her, and I probably topped her 'Beneath Harper's feet' list.

Apart from the trashy attitude, I didn't understand why Tyler would hate her. I thought every guy in Cold-Bay wanted nothing more than one taste of Harper Woodly and now Maya was giving me some shocking news.

"Oh wait, I heard the sound of his bedroom door opening." Maya declared suddenly.

"Can you check what he's doing?" I said softly. "And please don't tell him I called you."

"Of course I won't tell. Stay on the line." She said excitedly. I heard her bedroom door click open and then the distant voices of Maya and Tyler talking to each other.

"Isn't it way past your bedtime?" I heard Tyler ask.

"It's only twelve pm. Where are you going all dressed up?" I heard Maya ask.

"That's none of your business." He retorted coldly.

"You're not allowed to go out after twelve." Maya pointed out like a disciplined child.

"And who's going to stop me?"

"I will." She said bravely. "I know you're going to sneak out through the servant quarters back door. I'll tell mom."

"Go ahead, tell her. And I'm warning you, Maya. Stay out it." He warned her in an authoritative older brother voice.

"Fine, I'll tell Dad then."

"You little snitch!" I heard him bellow and the sound of a door banging shut. I wondered if some of the hinges had come loose.

"Well...that went really well." I heard Maya laugh and she spoke on the phone, "the dad threat always works. He's so scared of Dad, it's hilarious."

Yeah, indeed hilarious. I'd always suspected Tyler wasn't scared of anyone, turns out there was only one person who did scare the daylights out of him.

Jasper Lockhart.

"Why is he scared of your father?" I asked Maya out of curiosity.

I could hear Maya hesitate on the other end. "Dad can get a little strict and controlling, and it doesn't sit well with Tyler."

"I see."

"What's Archer doing?" I could hear the enthusiasm in her voice loud and clear.

"He's probably studying."

Everyone knew that Maya had a huge crush on my brother Archer, everyone knew that...well...except...

Archer.

I guessed it could be the fact that she was only thirteen and hence in that age, a lot of times, you do start to admire and like boys who were older especially when that boy happened to be a close friend of your brother. The two used to hang out a lot before, so naturally, she'd developed a liking to him. I'd heard word from others that girls found Archer really attractive, although I did not agree with that particular sentiment; I could sympathize with their thoughts. To a girl who wasn't any way related to Archer, yeah, he could probably be categorized handsome and hot and all those adjectives girls liked to describe good-looking boys with. With wheat blond hair and gray eyes like mine, he did get a lot of attention from the general female species.

When Tyler and Archer walked down the school hallway together, I swear I could see some girls literally swooning, melting on the floor like ice-cream on a hot day. The two friends were a deadly match. Tyler appeared beautiful in his dark, brooding glory, almost like a fallen angel, and Archer quite the opposite of that, he was like a Prince of some country. (I mean, I'm not making this up, that's what all the girls in our school said). Even the seniors had their eyes on the two.

"I just noticed he doesn't come over to hang out with Tyler anymore. They are still friends, right?" I could hear the agitation in her voice.

"Of course, Maya. They are still friends. I guess Archer is just busy studying hard this semester. His grades are slipping."

"Oh, I see." She said. "Is he..." hesitation and then, "...dating someone?"

I fake a cough to hide my laugh, "Don't think so."

Was that a giggle of relief I heard from her side?

I wondered if Tyler knew anything about his sister's obvious liking to Archer, and I was curious how he would react to it.

Truthfully, I felt a twinge of sympathy for Maya. If only she'd been born a year younger than the three of us, it would have been easier for her to date, even confess her feelings to Archer. With her being only thirteen, I knew Archer would only laugh and call her a silly kid.

She cleared her throat. "Vicky, I was wondering, would you like to hang out with me tomorrow evening?"

"I actually have to complete an English project. I don't know how I could..."

"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll study together. Archer will be at your house too, right?"

"I...guess so."

"I'll come at six p.m." she declared and before I could say another word, she said, "bye!"

What was with these Lockhart's doing whatever the heck they wanted?

My project with Noah wasn't turning out as great as we expected. Somehow our timings were clashing, and I was repeatedly making excuses to not see him alone at either my house or his which was causing a huge problem. This project was teamwork, and we were ending up writing our own side of notes and then matching them. The way we were going, Noah and I were surely going to be graded a D plus, if we were lucky, we'd probably manage to bag a C minus.

And my communication with Tyler was amazing so far. He and I barely saw each other, and practically just exchanged looks when we passed on the hallways. Yeah, amazing with a capital A. When I'd wanted to talk to him earlier, he'd been surrounded by the team of jocks and I had no intention of walking there and becoming the center of attention. During English, I was taking notes while Noah was talking to me continuously, and when I looked in the general direction of Tyler, our eyes met for a brief second before I looked away.

It was intense.

"Vicky, you haven't paid attention to anything I've said until now," Noah complained in the library that afternoon.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry. I just...I don't think this is working out."

Noah threw me a look that literally translated to 'Don't give me that bullshit'. "I know what's going on, okay?"

"What?"

"Lockhart's been fucking with your mind, for the lack of a better word."

Yeah, I would have liked him to fuck other parts of me that weren't my brain, but oh, well. Instead of speaking my mind, I said, "Stop it, Noah."

"If you don't want to do this project with me, all you have to do is tell me. I'm perfectly capable of handling it on my own." He said it without ill intent but I could hear the twinge of disappointment in his tone. "I won't even tell Mr. Brooks that you weren't involved."

"Of course I'm doing the project, don't be stupid," I said.

"Some kids in our class are already writing the final conclusion page, Victoria. We haven't even started the first goddamn page. How are we going to finish this in one week?"

"We'll figure it out somehow," I assured him.

Noah leaned on the table towards me. He had a citrus type of scent on him, kind of like oranges. His lovely green eyes pierced right through me. "Listen, Vicky. I'm just going to tell you this as a friend."

I nodded. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he was about to tell me.

"I know you like Tyler." He declared, keeping his voice down. "Mostly all the girls in our school do, I mean, what's not to like; movie star looks, knows how to work those charms on everyone, pretty damn sure he can charm a ninety-year-old woman and convince her to marry him."

The image Noah was putting in my mind wasn't really great, wasn't even funny anymore.

And where was he even going with this?

"And if that wasn't enough, he's also filthy rich, comes from an influential family. I can understand girls seem to think of him as a great catch; Future heir of a multi-billion dollar company and all."

"I don't like Tyler because of his money." That was the truth.

"But that is a contributing factor." He insisted, like he wanted me to admit that I was indeed a gold-digger; or the fact that no one would like Tyler if it wasn't for the power and the money that came with him.

"No, it's not, Noah. Don't put your words in my mouth. I like Tyler because...he's...Tyler." I said and when I saw the confusion on his face, I added some more, "I haven't told anyone this, but I like him because he makes me laugh. He's also caring, and although we bicker sometimes, I enjoy our friendly banter. I know it's going to sound crazy, but I find it quite attractive how he has a mystery surrounding him."

I watched a flicker of disappointment in Noah's eyes. "He's showing you what he wants you to see."

"Which is?"

Lowering his voice, even more, he continued. "I heard my parents talking the other day. They thought I couldn't overhear."

My heart accelerated. What were Noah's parents talking about?

"Did you know that Tyler's father, Jasper Lockhart is diagnosed with anti-personality disorder?"

"Yes, I know about it. Who doesn't?" I was kind of pissed by how Noah was behaving.

"Think about it, Vicky. Tyler went to a private school, one of those fancy ivy-leagues when we were kids and then suddenly they pull him out and homeschool him for a few years until he joins us in middle school. Don't you think that's a tad bit strange?"

"So what? I can name kids in our school who were homeschooled before joining Cold-Bay High." I glared at him. "And we can't judge Tyler because of his father. Do you think that's fair to him?"

I hated that we were even talking about Tyler like this as if he'd done some heinous crime. It felt so wrong. Why was Noah being so judgmental? This was my best friend he was talking about. My best friend; who'd done nothing but offered kindness all these years, if it weren't for Tyler, I would have been a loner.

"My uncle is a psychiatrist, and he says that psychopathy is mostly genetic. It's possible that Tyler inherited it from his father's genes." He pulled out his phone and began typing furiously and then pointed at the screen for me to look at. "Look, what it says here...the traits of a psychopath; superficial charm, pathological lying, extremely manipulative, and intelligent which is what Tyler is."

"You're sounding insane, do you know that?" I told him as I stuffed the books in my bag. I've heard enough of Noah's gibberish.

"He's a highly functioning psychopath, or is in the making at least." He went on without taking a hint. "He's doing a good job by manipulating you, Vicky. I'm warning you. You may think he's nice and sweet but it's all an act that he's trying to cover up his true nature. Stay away from him."

"No. You need to stay away from me." I snapped as I slung the bag-pack over my shoulders. "Tyler's my friend. And if you want us to remain, friends, stop talking about him to me." Lowering my voice even more, practically glaring at him, I said. "And please...please do not tell anyone what you told me, Noah. I'm begging you."

There was only so much space that my bag could handle so I ended up carrying the rest of it in my arms. It was heavy, I wasn't going to lie but I wouldn't sit here and have Noah talk like that about Tyler.

I could hear Noah call out to me but I kept walking and then suddenly walked right into a hard wall, but it wasn't a wall really. More like a very delicious set of ripped abs and a whole lot of muscle.

He steadied me with a firm grip on one arm, "You alright?"

The familiar scent of the perfume hit my nostrils. I didn't have to look up to know who that was. "I'm fine, Tyler."

His hand remained on my right shoulder, the warm touch making my insides turn into molten. He wore a Cold-Bay High Varsity jacket over a white t-shirt underneath; the jeans hugged his thighs deliciously. He should stop looking so GORGEOUS, maybe then I'd stop having filthy dreams about him at night, my dreams consisting of Tyler's naked body over mine as we made sweet sweet love. I might as well be salivating.

"Dirty..."

My heart was going to leap out of my chest. Had he read my thoughts? Had I said something loud?

"What?"

The corners of his mouth twitched upward and he looked at his shoes. "I said my shoes are making the floor dirty."

He'd surely seen the look in my eyes.

"Listen, Victoria. I'm sorry about the other day. I guess you could say I was out of my element for some reason." He acknowledged what had happened in his car the other day.

"Yeah. You were."

"Apology accepted?" he asked.

I wet my lips and his gaze went there before they moved to my eyes swiftly. "If you treat me to banana and chocolate waffles, I'll consider."

"Deal." He flashed his perfect white teeth at me as he took the books from my arms. "These are heavy. Let me help you get to your next class."

"Are you sure? Don't you have practice?" I looked across the hallway. Chip and Trent Hendricks, the evil twins of Cold-Bay high were looking at us and snickering. The two were typical jocks. When they were born, I wondered if their parents were like 'My boys are going to be jocks when they go to high school, let's google jock boy names'. I could totally see their parents doing that.

Tyler followed my gaze and then grinned at me. "I'm Captain of the team. I do whatever the heck I want."

We walked together and he was nice enough to even help me load books into my locker and carry the rest to my next class. I didn't miss the way girls looked at him like he was literal god, and passed me looks of envy.

Hold that look girls, he isn't even mine. Not yet.

He lingered around the table for a long minute. "Do you need something?"

Like maybe a hot kiss?

"I've been meaning to talk to you, Victoria."

"We're talking now."

He shook his head. "Not here. Uh, are you like free this evening?" He then held up one finger. "I totally understand if you have to complete the project with Noah."

"I have cheer practice at five and I'll be done by six-thirty. I don't have any plans after that."

He gave me a nod. "Cool. Let's go to that new Waffle place."

"Okay."

"See you." He walked backward slowly, his eyes not leaving mine, before he smiled, turned on his heels and left the room. I finally exhaled the breath I was holding in.

"He's totally going to ask you out." Kayla Andrews said from the seat behind mine. "And if I were you, I'd say a hell yes."

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