"Miss King, meet me in my office after the school." Mr. Walter said when the bell rang.

"Y.. Yes sir." I stuttered, thinking about my inevitable doom. It was my fourth day in Redwood High and he has already caught me dozing off three times in the class.

I felt a set of eyes on my back. Angling my neck, I looked behind me. My eyes fell on that Adam guy. He was sitting on the last desk, the upper half of his face still covered with the hood of his jacket.

After Mr. Walter shifted his attention back to the papers, I excused myself and made my way towards the library. Emily hadn't attended Biology lecture today and I was feeling a little worried for her. She didn't look like the type to bunk classes.

As I was on my way to the library , I heard some cheering from the cafe. Curiosity peaked inside my mind and I turned my feet towards the cafe. Inside, all the students were hooting and making noise. I looked towards the source of their entertainment and gasped when my eyes landed on Emily.

She was standing against the wall and Justin was towering over her, his both arms caging her against the wall. She had tears in her eyes and she looked so desperate to get away from him.

I stood there gaping as Noah passed him a glass of coke which he emptied on her head. She shivered as the coke trailed down her white shirt, leaving wet, brown splotches all the way down to her pink pants.

What the fucking hell!

Her whimper brought me out of the trance and I rushed towards her. They hadn't noticed me yet so when I pushed Justin away using all my strength, it caught him off guard and he landed right on the floor.

"Ow." he groaned. Picking another glass of coke from the same table, I emptied the liquid all over him. Few gasps emerged from the crowd, one was from Emily herself.

"Run." I heard Emily mutter from my side. I looked towards her and found her casting a horrified glance at me.

Run? Why should I run?

I got my answer when I heard a loud growl from Justin mouth. My eyes flicked at him and his threatening gaze caused a chill down my spine. He looked murderous, as if he was ready to split my neck in two.

"Run." this time, it was Noah who had spoken. "Run if you love your life."

I didn't have to think twice because the next thing I know, I was dashing out of the cafe in a rapid speed. I heard sound of boot following me but thanks to the adrenaline rush, I managed to outrun him. If only I had run this fast in my P.E class!

"Fuck." I cried when the noise of footsteps reached my ears again. All the students were watching me run frantically as if it was nothing unusual in this school.

And where the heck are all the teachers?

The footsteps were coming closer, and closer, and closer and-

Bam.

I collided with a hard chest. A pair of arms prevented me from falling backwards after I recoiled. When I was balanced enough, I opened my eyes which had closed because of the sudden impact. A familiar sharp jaw blocked my vision. Adam? Lifting my head, I looked into his eyes, his cold yet astonishingly beautiful grey eyes which were always covered behind the hood of his jacket.

"Finally." Justin spoke from behind me and gripped my arm. But before he could pull me towards himself, Adam stepped in front of me, blocking me from Justin.

"Leave her alone." Adam said in a cold, distant voice.

"This has nothing to do with you Adam so stop interfering." Justin argued.

"I said leave her alone." Adam's smooth voice roared which was followed by a frustrated sigh from Justin. After a moment, he turned around and left the hallway.

Adam turned around and looked into my eyes again. And one more time, I felt myself losing in them again. To be honest, I was never attracted to someone's eyes until now. Not because of the color but the mystery and coldness inside them. As if he had turned his emotions off like they used to do in The vampire diaries.

His gaze held me static. I felt warm and fuzzy and wet. Wait what? Wet?

That's when I realized that a cold liquid was trailing down my forehead into my eyes. After a moment of confusion, it finally dawned upon me what just happened.

"I hope this will teach you the concept of personal space." he muttered in a low, angry voice and threw the empty juice packet on the floor. He walked away from me without casting another glance and I just stood there, with my mouth hanging open.

...

"Why didn't you tell me before that you were getting bullied?" I shouted as I slipped into my spare T-shirt.

"I.. I thought you would leave me." Emily's small voice emitted from inside the changing room. "All my friends have left me too."

"Well, my apologies but if your old friends were too afraid to stand up for you, they were not worthy of your time." I cleared as she came out of the changing room. I passed her the hairbrush and she ran it through her wet hair.

"I am sorry Alicia. I dragged you in my mess." she lowered her head and whispered in a low tone.

"Don't be stupid Emily. You are my friend and that's what friends do. They stand up for you." I defended again.

A soft smile appeared on her lips and she muttered a small thank you. We picked up our bags and made our way towards our next class. Fortunately, neither Justin nor Chloe attended US history today.

"Emily?" I leaned towards her desk when the teacher was not looking. "Do you know this Adam guy?" I asked.

"He is bad news Ali. Stay away from him." she said in a low voice.

"Huh?"

"All the students avoid him because there was a rumor back then. I don't know if it is true but I have heard that he is involved in some street fighting and gang shit. He is often seen around those forbidden streets." she informed me in detail.

Gang?

"But he attends every class and answers every question. These are not a badboy's trait." I objected.

"I don't know what to believe Alicia. But there is always a little truth behind these rumors. I-"

"Miss King. Miss Parker. Can you please stop your chitchat?" Mrs. Miller called our names and we both straightened in our seats.

...

"Why? Why God? Why did I chose AP calculus?" I lamented. From the last hour, I was trying to solve the homework Miss. Fins gave us. That explains why I was about to bang my head against the wall.

"Your mother loved Maths." Dad called from the kitchen. "I on the other hand, never scored higher than B during my high school."

"But dad, I don't want to settle for B." I pouted, closing the notebook and keeping it aside.

"Always so competitive." Dad teased.

"Like father, like daughter." I smiled proudly and made my way towards the kitchen.

"Why don't you ask your teacher for extra classes?" he suggested, putting the lasagna inside the oven.

"That's the issue. The teacher sucks." I rolled my eyes.

"Language Alicia." He warned.

"Oops." I grinned.

After the dinner, I picked my notebook up and trudged back towards my room. Entering inside, I picked up my guitar and started playing the new tune I was working on.

Same old crap!

Placing the guitar back in its place, I flopped down on my bed and hugged my knees. The events of today came rushing inside my mind. Adam's face flashed in front of my eyes and I heaved a sigh. There was something strangely captivating about the way his hooded eyes pierced into mine. And his hair, his silky soft hair. How would they feel under my touch?

Ugh. Stop glorifying him. He insulted me in front of the entire school just because I collided with him, not to mention by mistake. He is crazy. I should stay as far away from him as possible.

I was about to pull the covers over me when a loud thumping sound pierced my ears. I hopped out of the bed and opened the window of my room. The voice had come from outside. I looked towards that room but the lights were off.

When I looked down towards the ground, my eyes met with a masculine figure lying on the ground in front of that maroon house. It looked as if someone had just jumped from this window facing mine. The figure stood up, dusted the dirt off his hoodie, looked around to see if someone was watching and then ran towards the other side of the street.

Who in the God's name was that?

"Alicia." Dad called and I jumped in surprise. "What happened?" he walked towards me and passed me a cup of milk.

"Someone just... Umm.. Nothing important." I shook my head and sat down on the bed again.

"Oh. Well, are you free this Sunday?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged and gulped down the milk in three big sips.

"Great. I have invited the neighbors for dinner. I thought it would be better if we get to know each other." he told me and closed the windows.

"Sure Dad." I smiled. He patted my head and turned the lights off.

Wait. Dinner with neighbors? That means I'll meet that hot guy I have been stalking, I mean err accidentally watching.

Great.

___________________________