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PS: 2016 now= About two years since I started this story, and let me just tell you... 220K + reads! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! So thank you so much to all of you old and new readers for supporting this story <3

...°...

"I'm sorry about tonight..." Brad says, turning around completely in his seat and watching my reaction carefully as I get out of the car without a word. "I'll see you on Monday at school though right?" I feel suddenly bad for being so cold to him when he's expressing real concern in his words. I let out a sigh and cast my eyes to him with what I hope is at least a bit of excitement.

"Yeah, I guess so... Thanks anyway..." I force out with barely audible breathing. I'm still not completely recovered from the attack at the party, and I don't think I ever will be. My mind is pounding with too many things. Questions are still buzzing around in my head and have been since we left the party: who was that guy? What does he want?

What does Jay have to do with any of this? Last time I checked, he was just an average college student. Okay maybe not 'average', since he's always brooding and seems to want to kill everyone at school with his dark and piercing eyes... But you get me!

With no answers, these heavy questions result in a painful head ache. I try to keep up a calm facade in front of Brad but when I escape the warmth of the inside of the car to join the biting frost outside, it becomes to much and I close the door without another word. I hurry up the porch steps and struggle to find my keys, rummaging through my bag until my fingers connect with cold metal. I pull them out and insert them into the lock, twisting the door knob and opening it up to a dark and soundless hall. I hurriedly walk inside and turn around, offering a half-hearted wave in Brad's direction. He waves back from the rolled-down window of his car, before driving off. I follow the car with my gaze until it's disappeared, fully engulfed in darkness. 

With a long sigh I drop my bag to the floor and take of my heels, feeling extremely grateful when my bare feet touch the wooden floor. I feel the ache in my muscles there but the relief is too big for me to care much about that. I walk through the entrance hall and pass the open dining and kitchen area, before walking through an archway to join the living room. This room is another one of the rare ones that have been fully decorated by Alice's amazing skills in interior design. Light and dark colours clash together with wooden and stone textures, as well as fluffy pillows, cozy lights and rustic artefacts. My favourite part of this room is the beautifully carved stone fireplace in the middle of the wall facing the archway that I've come in through, with a coffee table and a couch decorated with pillows and blankets in front of the crackling fire. Alice is seated comfortably in the unique armchair next to the fireplace, wrapped snuggly in a fluffy blanket. She's finally doing something other than texting.

She looks up from the book, which I recognise as The Fault in Our Stars, and her eyebrows crease with confusion at my disoriented face. I must look exhausted. 

"Already home?" She asks in a concerned tone when I glance at the clock and read 22:03. I nod faintly and offer a slight smile, and just as I'm about to go up the stairs, Alice's voice stops me: "By the way, I've got something to tell you..." I wait for her to keep going and she sighs, obviously nervous about telling me. "I was lying when I told you that I wasn't seeing anyone..." She begins, waiting for any explosive reaction from my part. I remain impassive. I was sure about that anyway, even though I'm quite disappointed that she'd chosen to hide that from me. 

More silence follows and she plays with the top of a page nervously, folding and refolding the corner in between her fingers. "I'd love for you to meet him someday Em... would that be okay?" At the sound of her hidden excitement and slight worry, I force a smile and nod. 

"Sure," I state with what I hope sounds like excitement, "I'd love to." She relaxes and nods happily, going back to her reading.

I head up the stairs, a bit shaken up, and when I reach the bedroom door, exhaustion finally takes its toll. With nothing else to think about my head stops functioning and I slide down the wall, drifting away into a world of blackness.

...°...

My eyelids flutter as a cool breeze hits my face, sending chills through my body. My eyes open slowly, and I feel sheets and softness underneath me. I sit up slowly, still driven by a half asleep trance. I look around me and sure enough, I'm laying in my bed, only in my short and silky night shorts and my favourite Lion King graphic tee. This teeshirt is the softest thing in the world. 

The weird thing is, I don't remember going to bed, and I certainly didn't change before falling asleep against the wall. That's exactly it: I remember sliding down the wall just outside my bedroom because I was too damn tired and stupid to actually get my legs moving and get onto my bed. I groan as an ache spreads in the soles in my feet underneath the duvet, and wiggle my toes. 

Oh yeah, the party. I'd nearly forgotten about that. 

But with those memories come the images of a dreadful attacker pinning me up against a stone-cold wall. I want to forget all of that. I turn around and to my surprise, the window is wide open, curtains fluttering in the chilly wind. My mind then goes into a full-fledged panic-mode. 

I practically tumble out of bed, ignoring the chill that the cold air on my bare limbs entice, and run over to the edge, looking down. This story is two freaking stories high. No human being could climb up here and they surely wouldn't have survived the fall. The cold wind hits me brusquely and I shut the window. 

There are no traces of someone having climbed up the side of the wall. 

Okay, so maybe it was Alice. Maybe she was the one who put me to bed... 

Of course Emma! That's it! 

I instantly relax at the comforting and completely rational though, but the same paranoid sensation in the pit of my stomach is still there. It stays there throughout the uneventful weekend of late mornings and dreamless nights. 

...°... 

"Bye!" I yell to my big sister who's making breakfast for herself in the kitchen. Brad has offered to come pick me up on the way to school to make up from the fail of a party last Friday night. Alice turns around and waves me over without any words. The scent of mouth-watering pancakes fill the air and my stomach growls in protest at the thought that I won't have time to eat them up before school. I grab an apple instead and bite into it, feeling slightly disappointed at the thought of eating this instead of pancakes. I join her and she takes out her earbuds, turning down the heating flames underneath the pans filled with pancake batter. She's literally got four pans cooking at the same time to get as many pancakes done as possible. I shake my head in amusement.

"I nearly forgot to tell you!" She exclaims, bubbling happily with a bright and gleaming face, "Chace is coming over today!" 

Excuse me wut?

"I'm sorry..." I begin, "but who are we talking about?"

-The guy I've been seeing...?" She answers with a little grin, completely puzzled at my lack of acknowledgement. 

Oh yeah - right. 

"Okay. Yeah, that's fine!" I answer quickly with fake-excitement, even though a little pool of dread has formed in my mind.

What if I don't like him? 

Oh my... what if I despise him and decide to kill him?

I force happiness into my eyes and she smiles, turning her back to me again and plucking her earbuds into her ears. She returns to her cooking again while humming along to a song that I don't know. That or she's extremely bad at singing. 

I choose the latter.

I walk over to the front door and open it up. The temperature that I'd grown accustomed to inside immediately drops. The clouds are tighter today than usual, indicating the early arrival of winter. Autumn is coming to an end, and winter always brings heavy snow. I love snow, but not when that means not being able to drive to school. I'll have to start walking to there soon then. My heart sinks, yearning for spring to come again.

'Oh there she is! - Look cool, man.'

Brad's thoughts makes me turn, and he is in fact waiting for me by his shiny car. His love for that car is unbelievable, and I haven't seen a single dirt spot on the outside or the inside of it. He tries to be cool by leaning back casually and swinging one arm on the window still. This makes the alarm go off.

I can't help but laugh loudly, watching him struggle to turn it off. When it is off, he turns to me with a wide grin on is face, proud of making me laugh. I kind of feel bad for him... It's obvious that he likes me but I'm just not that into him. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me because he's freaking hot, and super nice, and I've never had a guy's attention before in the previous schools except for some pervy thoughts directed my way. But then Jay's angular features and haunting black eyes pop into my mind. I shake my head with embarrassment and accept Brad's outstretched arms, hoping that the hug will chase that stupid mesmerising face away. It doesn't. 

I sigh and slump down on the leather seat and wait for the time to pass until we've reached the familiar school building, only half-listening to Brad's distant talking and nodding when I think it's appropriate. My eyes are focused on the road ahead the whole way.

...°...

"So..." Jay begins, tapping his fingers on the table impatiently. He's glaring at Mr Arwin again with something very close to disgust. I can't figure out why. I mean, it's not like he smells that bad. Even though, he has sent Jay to detention several times, so I suppose I would hold a bit of a grudge towards the man if it were me. "How are you doing?" He asks casually. 

I raise an eyebrow and slightly turn my head towards the completely transformed human being sitting next to me. Oh look at that, he's actually being nice today. 

"Shouldn't you be ignoring me or glaring at the side of my face for the rest of the class?" I ask him coldly, scribbling down some notes on my otherwise second piece of blank paper. He laughs quietly, yes - he laughs! Not some evil mischievous laugh though, it's an actual whole-hearted laugh. I'm ashamed for a moment to say that it sounds like a beautiful melody to my ears. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh. My mind wanders to the question that I've been dying to ask him since this morning concerning the party last Friday, but his dark eyes have always looked at me with a warning glare and I've bitten the words back in.

"Okay..." He says with defeat, "...and what's that supposed to mean?" I shake my head and laugh lowly with disbelief as he regards me curiously with a slightly tilted head. "What?" He presses. I think I can detect some amusement in his tone.

I can't believe it... we're actually having a proper conversation.

"What do you want now?" I test him again. He looks completely taken aback. That - or he's just a really good actor. 

-I have no idea what you mean." He shrugs casually and leans back in his seat, continuing the taunting process of tapping a rhythm with his fingers on the table. I don't believe him.

"Shouldn't you be asking me what I am or whatever?"

-If I did princess, would you answer me?" He suddenly replies cooly. Well... that was a change of mood. The way that he says the word 'princess' doesn't sit well with me, and I decide that I'm back to not liking him again. 

"Never mind..." I sigh, returning to my incomprehensible scribbles on the page of my maths notebook. Mr Arwin's voice teaching the lesson is barely an annoying background noise in my ears now. It feels weird, not having everyone else's thoughts coming streaming at me, but it's also nice, and a huge relief for my tired head. I don't have that same headache, and I'm sure that it's all because Jay is sitting next to me. I can't figure out why though. I can feel his gaze on me and to be honest it's beginning to make me slightly uncomfortable.

"What were you doing at the party last Friday?" I suddenly breathe, breaking the unbearable silence.

-I don't know what you mean." He replies, but I can clearly see that he's lying. His jaw kind of twitches when he lies. I've noticed that from the first week of being here. That and his perfect sculpted face, his tousled dark hair that falls effortlessly around his face even when its windy - in which days my own hair looks like a bird's nest and it's completely unfair - but most importantly, those endless dark eyes, the eyes that can hold my gaze in several hours, the -

Whoa... whoa! Calm yo tits lady.

"Oh come on. You just threw the creepy dude of me and disappeared right after and I didn't even have time to see you go!" I hiss more quietly, noticing that we've drawn some attention from fellow classmates. Most of the girls are just staring at him in awe, glancing at me with disgust from time to time. It feels absolutely lovely. 

Note the sarcasm.

He doesn't reply to my declaration. In fact, the bell rings suddenly and he's gone, sending the chair flying to the ground. 

Are you kidding me...? I stare after his tall form with disbelief and breathe out with annoyance, stuffing my things back into my bag. He's absolutely infuriating!

...°...

'Who the hell does she think she is!? - No one touches him besides me.' 

I spin around, half aware that Brad still has his arm slung around my shoulders. Angelina is standing two meters away, eyeing me with disgust among her group of girlfriends. 

Unbelievable... 

I turn to Brad and tap his hand to get his attention. He tilts his head down and looks at me with a goofy grin and a raised eyebrow. 

"I gotta go." I simply say, glancing at Angelina and her group. Brad looks at me questioningly but lets me go half-heartedly. I head over to where Angelina's standing and she immediately stiffens. Her friends take a step back, looking at each other with hesitant fear. Are you serious? What great friends she's got there.

'What's she doing? - If that slut gets near me I swear-'

"Listen up Angelina." I hiss, cutting off her train of thoughts as she freezes in front of me. She looks at me with cold and threateningly bitchy eyes, but that doesn't stop me from continuing. "I'm not with Brad and I never will be so stop eye-killing me every time you see me. Secondly, you can't call me a slut 'cause I know that you've slept with more guys than a prostitute." 

I can see that she's shocked, and I'm slightly surprised at my own train of words as well. Did I go a bit too far? Nah, by the look on her face, she deserved it. I see that we've attracted attention from onlookers around us, and that seems to piss her off even more. 

"I didn't say anything!" She screams and two of her fellow bimbos immediately come to stand by her side. Great... "And who the hell do you think you are, calling me a slut!?" She continues in that same annoying high-pitched voice. 

Testing my chances, I reach into her head voluntarily. It's not something that I enjoy doing, but I'm too pissed off now to care. She winces out of a slightly pinching pain, which is a side effect when I do it deliberately, but she remains standing firmly on the ground with her arms crossed over her chest defiantly, pretending like she doesn't feel a thing. 

She's a freak! - She'll pay! - How did she know?

"I'm not a freak!" I shout, drawing the attention from everyone near a one meter's radius. Shit!

"You're so weird!" She laughs, to which her fellow bimbo friends giggle along obnoxiously, "I really don't see what Brad sees in you, you ugly bitch!" 

I'm taken aback shortly and so is Brad, who's stopped talking with a guy some distance from us to turn to look at us with shock in his hazel eyes. She looks incredibly happy at her disgusting words and spins around, stalking off with her fellow girlfriend group that follows her around like a litter of puppies following their mother.

I feel the tears threatening to spill but I force myself to contain them. You don't cry Emma, remember? I take a steady breath and force all of my anger towards her up to the surface instead, to hide away that sadness. But it's true, I am a freak, I'll never be normal. 

I quickly make my way past everyone and barge through the front entrance double doors, lengthening the distance between me and everyone else. I ignore Brad's shouting from behind me and press myself to go faster. 

Suddenly someone grips my arm in an impossibly strong hold and I'm flung around brusquely. 

"Where are you going?" Jay hisses lowly, holding tightly onto my arm. I roll my eyes and try to wiggle free, feeling annoyance mixing in with that anger.

-That's none of your business!" I reply with a scary calmness. "Now let me go." 

To my surprise, he actually lets go of his grip of my arm and reaches into his pocket, fishing out his phone. I see him bring it to his ear and I turn away from him. As I begin to run away from the school I hear him mumble quietly, too low for anyone else to hear but me: "She's yours."

...°...

I yank the front door open to my house and run into Alice's open arms. She pats me gently on the back of my head. I can tell that she's surprised to see me, but she hugs me tightly to her nonetheless with the love and affection of a worried big sister.

"Back so soon?" She asks calmly, and when I nod she releases me with a sigh. "I suppose I should be mad and asking tons of questions like why you're skipping school, but right now that can wait." She leads me into the living room where a man is standing. His back is turned to us. "Emma, I want you to meet Chace, my boyfriend." 

At the sound of Alice's voice and our footsteps walking into the living room the man turns, and my heart immediately stops. I'm completely paralysed. I'm frozen all over, even as Alice touches me cautiously and looks at me with worry, her smile slowly fading. Chace tilts his head and smiles at me. "Hello Emma." 

Seconds pass before I finally let go of everything and scream.