"Did you take your meds today?"

"Mhm." I mumbled around the blueberry muffin stuffed into my mouth, the straps of my bag clutched tightly in my hands as I tried to hurriedly chew.

"You wouldn't be lying, would you?"

I shook my head viciously before going back to chomping down on the soft, sugary goodness. I forget to take them one day and it turns into a giant problem. It's not like I purposely skipped.

Tate raised an eyebrow at me, his lips pulling into an amused smile. "Don't let your sister see you eating like that." He chuckled as the car pulled to a stop in front of the school, its red brick exterior as intimidating as the people inside. "You know how she is with that kind of stuff."

I finished the rest of the muffin on a hard swallow and shot him a smile before opening the truck door. "Good thing she's in classes all day." I stuck my tongue out at him as I stepped onto the sidewalk, his eyes rolling as I did.

"Thanks for the ride Tate! I'll see you after school!" I called hastily as the warning bell for first period rang, and slammed the door shut before hurrying inside. I let out a long sigh as the school doors swung shut behind me.

A new day. A new day. A new day.

It was a mantra I forced into my mind every single morning, one I had to repeat constantly. A new day. Everything is always better on a new day, and you never know what to expect.

The halls were filled with hurrying students, a few I recognized but none who knew me. It had always been like that, ever since dad brought me back. Rosalyn Summers didn't exist, and that wasn't exactly a bad thing. New people... scared me. Even though they weren't exactly new. I've been back for two years.

I shrugged off the thought, put a bright smile on my face, and hurried to my locker. A new day. A new day. A new day.

I saw them the second I turned the corner, it was nearly impossible not to notice them. My steps immediately faltered, the blood leaving my face. It was hard not having some kind of reaction when walking by the Big Four. They stood against the hall's glass windows, watching something outside. Whatever it was had all four of their attention.

They were all just so—dark. Dark in that extremely attractive kind of way. They never talked to anyone outside of their own group, yet they managed to rule the school in their own manner. It was amazing to watch. From a distance.

I clutched my backpack's straps tighter and hurried behind them. No one made the mistake of interrupting their little huddles, it never ended well for the one who did. Even if it was an accidental bump on the shoulder.

I tried not to make it obvious I was practically glued to the opposite wall as I passed them, with more than a handful of students between us. I tried to keep my sigh of relief quiet when I finally reached the safety of my locker. I quickly threw everything I didn't need for the first half of the day inside, including my phone.

Which, in retrospect, was the best mistake of my life.

I glanced at the clock, waited an hour, then glanced again. "Ugh!" I hissed under my breath. Only a minute had passed. I resisted the urge to slam my head against the hard desk top repeatedly.

I hate this place. I hate this place. I hate this place. So easy to burn-

"Ms. Summers? Care to answer my question?" Mrs. Crone's—yes, that was her real name—voice interrupted the dark spiral my bored mind had tumbled into.

My eyes snapped to the front of the room, student's snickering quietly at the embarrassed blush rising to my face. The teacher raised and eyebrow at my silence, her impatience clear on her wrinkling face. "Uh, four?" Mrs. Crone's eyes immediately narrowed, angry flashing in their beady depths.

"This is history, Ms. Summers. Not math." Her tone was hard, clipped as she turned to glance at the now-louder snickering class. "Can anyone else answer the question? Someone who bothers to pay attention?"

Heat crept up the back of my neck and stained my cheeks as almost twenty pairs of eyes stared at me in blatant amusement. I couldn't stand having attention on me, especially in a school that seemed to squander my existence. I felt that familiar uneasy panic start to crush around my lungs.

"Hammurabi's Code is credited as the first known laws, even though the Ur-Nammu's law code was written three-hundred years earlier."

And just like that, the entire class's attention shifted to the back of the room—the very way back. All the way to the one desk by the window surrounding by empty seats that no student dare try and occupy. Rex Turner had just saved my butt from complete humiliation.

The Rex Turner. The undoubted leader of the Big Four. Besides being the most beautiful boy I had ever seen, his name alone caused chills to run down people's spine—and not in the good way. Rex was bad. As in, 'I just got out of juvey for a murder conspiracy and they're most likely holding a spot in prison for me in case of future illegal crimes' bad.

At least he hasn't been in juvey in almost a year.

No one dared approach the Big Four as a group, individually you might get away with it—unless it's Rex you wanted to speak with. He didn't talk, not in class, not to other students, barely even to his friends, or so I heard. He definitely didn't answer teacher's question. That I knew for sure. And the rest of the students, even the teacher, seemed as shocked as I.

"That's, uh, correct. Good job, Mr. Turner." Mrs. Crone seemed hesitant, as if she had no idea what to do. Honestly, no one seemed to really know what was going on.

I turned my head over my shoulder just enough to glance at the back corner of the room, but Rex's complete attention was focused outside the window, that impressively perfect jaw working over a piece of gum. My heart practically lurched at the sight. I don't care what they say about him, that boy was gorgeous.

And he was smart.

I don't know what it was about him that drew my attention like a magnet. Maybe it was the way he walked, or those dark eyes, or even his 'I don't give a fudge attitude'. Or, maybe I just really liked looking at him.

I wasn't a big fan of danger, in any way, but I couldn't help spending more than a few minutes daydreaming over him. After all, they were just dreams. Nothing truly stressful about those. I forced my attention back to the front of the classroom, my throat tight.

He knew the answer, that was all. He didn't do it to take the attention off me. It was crazy to think so, even if I was thankful. All those eyes watching me made my stress level go through the roof. And if there was anything I didn't deal well with, it was stress.

The rest of the period passed quickly after that—thank God—and I was hurrying away from the awkward tension in the room as soon as the bell rang. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. I sat by myself, like always, at the back of the lunchroom, pretended that I knew what my teachers were talking about in class, and thought about a certain person's perfect jaw line more than I should have.

When the final bell rang to end the day, I couldn't have been more relieved. All I needed was a hot bath and a movie date with Netflix and my bed. The stress sitting on my shoulders would fade away and I might be able to sleep that night.

Those were the calming thoughts strolling through my mind as I eased into blissful ignorance towards my locker. Not paying attention whatsoever, even when I ran smack into a stone wall.

"Oi!" The stone wall grunted as the force of my body smacking into his pushed him forward in surprise. And I say 'in surprise' because that was the only way someone of my size could budge the hulk of the man/boy that was Trey Maguire.

That blissful ignorance that I had fallen into completely disappeared, as well as all hope that I would be able to sleep that night. My eyes widened to the tenth-degree, my arms almost visibly shaking around the binders I had clutched to my chest as he turned towards me, a brow raised in question.

"Whatcha' do that for?" The man/boy asked with a scowl as the entirety of the Big Four turned their attention on me—in front of my locker. Well, almost all of them. Rex Turner spared me the tiniest glance before going back to glaring at whoever walked by.

"Uh, I-I..." I stammered like a half-brained fool as Trey turned to face me, his eyebrow still raised in question though there was no mistaking the amusement flashing in his bright green eyes.

There was no doubt Trey Maguire was gorgeous, maybe not so much as his so-claimed best friend, but with his impressive height, entrapping eyes, and muscles bigger than my head—he left more than a few girls swooning.

That scowl that had originally crossed his lips slowly slipped into a half smirk, one that didn't settle well with me. "Cat caught your tongue there, Princess?" His voice seemed to almost snicker as I stared up at him with the beyond frightened eyes of a deer caught in the head lights.

What did he just call me?

But I couldn't voice that thought out loud, my tongue felt like wet fur in my mouth and refused to move. My throat felt like it was caving in on itself and it was honestly a little hard to breathe. That's when the identical pair of bright blue eyes caught my attention, the eyes of the two biggest star-jocks in the school: the Dimajio twins.

They were on almost every school team, from football to soccer—and they were perfect at each and every sport they played. College recruiters were literally lining up at their front door in the hopes of talking with them.

Three of the Big Four were watching me expectantly, waiting to see what great calamity must have happened for some girl to run into one of their own. I took a very shaky step back.

"You got a voice Buttercup, or what?" Blue eyes reflected the light of the hall in a flash, dark hair standing in short spikes on his handsome head. Denton Dimajio, the younger of the twins by mere minutes was now raising an eyebrow the same as Trey. And he called me Buttercup? What was with these boys and their names?

"L-Locker..." Was all the thickness of my tongue would allow past my lips. I knew what happened to those who interrupted their huddles, seen it first-hand. It wasn't pretty, even for the girls, though they have never physically hurt one.

Trey glanced behind him at the locker Rex was leaning against. "Awe, we're in your way? Why didn't you just say so? No need to shove." His voice was teasing, his bright eyes alight in amusement, though that did nothing to ease my urge to vomit from fear.

He took a step forward, and all color immediately drained from my face. I took a hurried step back. "You two are terrifying the poor kid, back off." Brett Dimajio practically growled from the other side of Trey the Mountain, his looks nearly identical to his brothers, though his dark hair fell in soft curls against his forehead, and he did pack on a little more muscle.

"Terrifying? Oh no, we were just having a conversation. Weren't we?" Trey turned his attention back to me, that smirk from before plastered on his face. All I could do was nod my head. "See? Not scaring, only talking. Maybe you shouldn't jump to conclusions so much, Brett." He scolded, though there was only amusement in his voice. Brett shot him a glare, his jaw ticking as those bright eyes grew murderous. Trey completely ignored him.

"You're cute, Princess. Got a name?"

My face automatically flamed in embarrassment, my eyes dropping down to my sneakered feet. Trey Maguire just called me cute, and a princess. I wasn't sure how to take that. I still couldn't make my tongue work, but at least the urge to run away as fast as I could was slowly starting to fade. They were actually being—nice, for lack of a better word. The Big Four were being nice-

"Leave the girl alone Trey and let her get to her fucking locker."

Just like hours earlier in third period, all attention immediately left me to focus on the leader of the little group. Rex Turner looked as brooding as ever, leaning against my locker and smacking his gum almost viciously. I've never even seem them on this end of the hall before.

My stomach suddenly wanted to fly away with the butterflies inside of it as I watched him run a heavy hand through his dark tousled hair and step away from the metal wall of lockers. "I'm leaving with or without you fuckers." He snapped at his 'friends' before shoving past a pouting Denton and stalking off down the hall.

He didn't look back once, and he acknowledge me even less. I ignored the unpleasant jab in my stomach his obliviousness caused. It was what I wanted, to stay away from trouble and everything that went with it. Then why did my chest ache?

Trey, who had watched his friend storm angrily away, turned back to me with a small pout—but that humor dancing in his eyes ruined the puppy dog look. "Just when we were starting to have fun." He exasperated on a heavy sigh, one of the twins snickering behind him. "But don't you worry, Princess. I'm sure we'll see you around soon."

I gulped around the thickness that was my tongue. I wasn't sure if I should have taken those words as a threat or promise. I stood frozen in my spot as the three turned from me, and my locker, to follow after their always-angry—but deadly gorgeous—friend.

"Catch you around, Buttercup!" Denton turned and waved like a crazy person half-way down the hall. My cheeks flamed in that blush again, but I found my own hand reaching up to return his wave with a small one of my own. I even laughed when Brett reached up and smacked his brother on the back of his head.

That was... not as bad as it could have been, even though Rex completely ignored my existence. I should have known better. After all, I was nothing, and he was the Rex Turner. At least I didn't die.