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The first class of that day was science.

Sky rushed into the classroom - why the fuck am I always late? - only seconds before the door would've been shut, earning a disapproving glance and a raised eyebrow from the teacher, Mr. Poles. She walked in, trying to catch her breath as she noticed that Hawk and Demetri were already there at their table, and immediately Sky's heart skipped a dozen or so beats as she locked gazes with Hawk.

In his sporty clothes - a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants - the blue mohawk standing sharp and wild on top of his head, he was so fucking hot that it blew Sky's mind and for a moment she had serious trouble thinking about anything else. The memory of last night was again on her, and her cheeks blushed as she started walking toward their table.

And Hawk's eyes—

Well, he seemed to appreciate the short skirt and the high heels she had chosen for the day, for Sky saw how his throat bobbed as his glance glided on the bare skin of her legs.

For the love of God, why does that dude make me so horny? I've got to think about something else, anything else–

"Hi, Sky," said Demetri, and Sky snapped out of her heated daydreams. "Long time no see."

"Demetri!" She flashed him a delighted smile and took a seat. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed you."

After all, she hadn't seen him since the fight in school, since the moment they had dragged her into the principal's office and she'd noticed him there with Eli and Miguel, ogling at her wide-eyed and his jaw hanging.

She had feared that maybe now he too would resent her, and think that she was a crazy slut, but apparently, that wasn't the case and Sky felt so relieved she could barely hide it.

"I must admit that this table didn't feel the same while you were gone," Demetri noted. "We started a group project last week, and we could totally use your brainpower–"

"Sky," Hawk interrupted his friend mid-sentence as if he hadn't even realized that Demetri was speaking. "You look awesome!"

Everything Demetri had been saying was erased from Sky's mind as her eyes met with Hawk's. A flash of heat rushed through her core and she had to swallow to clear her throat, her ears started ringing.

"You don't look that bad either," she managed.

Hawk leaned closer, his eyes were big and wide, and Sky was falling in them, falling like an asteroid that's about to hit the Earth.

"Are you okay?" Hawk asked with that throaty voice of his. "I mean, after yesterday—"

Yesterday - as in the night I had you in my bed and you kissed me so that I lost my fucking mind.

Sky's cheeks heated. "What do you mean?"

"The dojo!" suddenly he was blushing too, his voice broke mid-sentence. "I meant what happened at the dojo—"

"Oh!" Sky breathed. "Yeah, I'm fine! I thought you meant after—"

"No, sorry—" there were bright, red spots burning on his high cheekbones. "The after was... awesome."

"What, the part where I was bawling my eyes out?" She teased.

"No, the... you know." His throat bobbed, the sharp Adam's apple dipped down and back up. "After. When you weren't crying anymore."

You mean when you were on top of me, between my legs and I was ripping off your shirt?

Sky felt her blush deepening, especially when she realized Demetri had been watching their exchange of words the same way someone watches a match of tennis.

"Okay, what did I miss?" He said, spreading his hands. "Does someone want to explain what's going on here?"

"No!" Sky and Hawk replied as one.

"Absolutely not." Sky said giggling.

"Forget about it, man." Hawk said and tapped Demetri on the shoulder.

By the look on his face, Demetri was about to comment further but didn't get a chance as Mr. Poles started the lesson, and Sky had never been that grateful for the teacher's intervention in her life!

She was only partially present, though, when Mr. Poles started explaining the subject of today's lesson. Even if Sky honestly loved chemistry, today she had huge difficulties concentrating. She felt Hawk's presence like electricity in the air, and everything in her was restless, hot, shivering. Demetri was sitting between them, as usual, but even that didn't help. Sky couldn't stop thinking about last night - how she had told Hawk her horrible secrets and turned into a crying nutjob, and still he hadn't walked away. No, instead he had held her in his arms, had told her she was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and—

— and pushed me down on the bed, rubbing his cock on me so that I almost fucking came.

That last thought made Sky's cheeks burn, her head spin. She had never wanted a boy this badly. She had been so close to losing all control and sense, she had almost let him fuck her right there and then, even without a condom, even knowing that dad was home.

It was insanity.

Fucking insanity!

But at this point, Sky was way past caring. If this was how losing her mind felt, she never wanted to be sane again.

She glanced at Hawk, and their eyes met. He flashed her that crooked smile that went straight to her gut, and then ripped a piece of paper from his notebook. Sky watched how he gripped a pen with those graceful, long fingers and wrote something on that small piece of paper.

He passed the note to her with a wink.

"you wanna go out with me?" the ink on the paper said and Sky's heart skipped a beat.

"like on a date?" She scribbled her reply with her neon pink gel pen and pushed the paper back to Hawk, who took it, read the message, and in turn wrote something under her reply. He then slid the note back to Sky - again over Demetri's notebook.

Demetri, who was trying to write some actual notes from the board, gave him an annoyed glance and a sigh.

"yeah, tonight?" said the writing.

Sky glanced at Hawk, and couldn't help a grin.

"sure" She wrote her reply and was just about to slide the paper back to Hawk, when Demetri snatched it from her fingers, clearly annoyed.

He held it up like it was evidence of a crime.

"Seriously?" he said in a low voice. "You're passing each other notes? Over my notebook? Can't you do this on your phone like normal people?"

"We could," said Hawk. "But that wouldn't be as much fun."

"Yeah," said Sky. "This is much more Kitty and Levin."

Demetri furrowed his brows. "Should I know that reference?"

Sky rolled her eyes and was just about to say something about her humor being wasted on the ignorant when Mr. Poles gave them a stern look, which made all three of them shut up.

That only lasted for a few minutes though. It didn't take long until Sky and Hawk were making eyes at each other again, and this time behind Demetri's back or over his head as he almost lay on the table while making his notes.

"What do you wanna do?" Hawk said in a low voice, giving Sky a cocky grin. "On our date."

"I could definitely have some tacos." Sky replied. "I love tacos."

"Yeah? I know this cool place—"

"Oh, please!" Demetri exclaimed and slammed his book. "Is it really impossible for the two of you to make these arrangements by phone? Or at least after the lesson? Someone is actually trying to study here—"

"Demetri," Mr. Poles said with such a stern voice that Demetri immediately stopped talking. "You're disrupting my lecture! What's all this about?"

"I'm disrupting the lecture?" Demetri exclaimed, incredulous. "But these two–" he glanced at Hawk and Sky, and then gave a resigned sigh. "Nothing, I'm sorry Mr. Poles. We are just re-evaluating our sitting arrangements—"

And with that, he gave Sky a rather venomous look and stood up gathering his things. " Let's change seats. That way I get to study undisturbed and you get to sit next to your boyfriend."

"Demetri—" Sky started, but Demetri rolled his eyes and interrupted her sentence.

"Yeah, I don't really care."

"Hey!" That was Hawk, who stood up with one, swift motion. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"Seriously—?" Demetri began, but Sky was already on her feet too and stood between the boys, one hand on Hawk's heaving chest.

"Stop it, guys!" She exclaimed, glancing angrily from Hawk to Demetri. "The both of you! Just... stop it! Demetri is right, we should concentrate on chemistry."

"Good," said Mr. Poles. "I suggest you do that, or else I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave."

Hawk swallowed, his jaw clenched tight as did his fists by his sides, but Sky kept her hand on his chest and held his gaze. After an eternity that only lasted for a couple of seconds, Hawk finally sat back down, flashing Demetri one last wrathful glance.

Silently Sky moved her things - her notebook and her Hello Kitty pencil case - to the spot that was now hers, and took a seat on the chair that had been Demetri's, as Demetri in turn took her former seat without as much as looking at her, his shoulders stiff and tense.

Sky glanced around in the classroom - Mr. Poles (for whom Sky had great respect, and had hoped for it to be mutual) was still staring at her under his formidable furrowed brows, and Sky knew he was disappointed in her. But what was even worse, was that all around Sky people were snickering and laughing and pointing fingers, and suddenly Sky longed for a personal highway to Hell again. In Inferno, she might be flayed alive, but it wasn't much better to be here. She was still the crazy slut, nothing had changed and now even Demetri, who had been her friend, seemed to have turned his back on her.

Sky lowered her gaze to her papers, turned the pen around in her restless fingers once, twice. Suddenly all her joy about the coming date was gone, replaced by the feeling of being the loser, the slut, the outcast.

For the rest of the lesson, she didn't speak up, didn't even glance at Hawk - no matter how much he tried to get her attention.

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"Demetri, can I have a word?" Sky grabbed Demetri's sleeve as soon as they had exited the classroom for recession and entered the hallway that was full of kids as always.

"I'm actually—" Demetri muttered, trying to slip away from her, but Sky's grip on his sleeve held.

"We need to talk," She said sternly. "Like, right now."

Demetri stopped resisting, but his unease was clearly visible by the tense posture of his shoulders. "I'm kinda busy, but fine - what do you want?"

But at that moment Hawk (whom Sky had tried to leave behind) stepped out of the classroom, and as he took a look at Demetri, his blue eyes narrowed, his lips turned into a crooked, fake smile that Sky didn't like a bit. With deliberate steps, he walked closer to Sky, threw an arm around her shoulders in a very possessive way, and tilted his chin up to give Demetri an icy stare.

"I told you not to talk to her like that."

"Hello?" Demetri arched his brows. "She's the one talking to me!"

Hawk glanced at Sky, and then back at Demetri, the muscles on his sharp jawline working. His eyes were cold and sharp, like frozen water. "Yeah? Well, I don't care. If you insult her again, I swear–"

And suddenly Sky just couldn't take it, she couldn't take this pointless macho aggression that threatened to destroy all her good intentions and hopes.

"Stop it!" She cried and shrugged Hawk's arm off her shoulder. "Just... Hawk, just please, go now. I'll see you at lunch."

Hurt flashed in Hawk's deep blue eyes, and he took a step back. His throat bobbed, the tendons on his wiry forearms and hands stood out as he clenched his fists on his sides.

"Fine," he said, tilting up his chin. "—whatever."

He walked away with long strides, his shoulders stiff and angry and suddenly Sky felt annoyed at him too. Wasn't it enough that Demetri was acting like he was a preschooler - did Hawk need to be an alpha asshole?

Sky rubbed her temples, and let out a sigh. She really didn't want to deal with that right now, so she let Hawk walk away, even if it hurt so that she tasted tears in the back of her throat.

I'll deal with Demetri first.

After that, I'll apologize to Eli and it's all gonna be okay.

"Look," She said, collecting herself and turning to face Demetri again. "I just want to set things straight between us."

"What things?" Demetri replied, but he was still sulking, leaning on the wall, his long disproportionate arms crossed over his chest.

"You know what I'm talking about," Sky snapped. "The fact that you were acting like a jerk, and just because you're jealous of Eli."

"I'm not jealous—"

"You call it what you want.," Sky shrugged. "But you need to know that I'm not gonna steal him from you. He's your friend! You're his fucking Binary Brother—"

Demetri's eyes widened. "Wait, he told you about that?"

"Yes! And that's how I know he loves you, you dumbass." Sky replied with an exasperated eye roll. "You've been friends since, what, kindergarten? You really think I want to break that?"

Demetri sighed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He didn't look annoyed anymore, just sad, and his shoulders were sagging.

"Well, lately I feel like I don't even know who he is anymore. He shaved half of his hair and joined a karate dojo—"

"And you blame me for that?"

Demetri let out a dry, sarcastic laugh.

"Well it happened right after he met you."

"Well, it's not because of me," Sky said, meeting Demetri's dark eyes. "I liked him already when he still had his old hair and ugly as fuck sweaters. Have you thought that maybe Eli is changing because he needs to do that, for himself? And the fact that he cuts his hair or starts dating me doesn't have to mean the two of you can't stay friends."

Demetri was silent for a couple of heartbeats - something that didn't happen that often. There were people walking past them, someone almost bumped into Sky and she was forced to take a step closer - close enough to have to seriously tilt up her face to be able to look Demetri in the eye.

"Are you deliberately trying to make me feel like a bad friend?" Demetri asked, and something seemed to have softened in him, like the tense irritation that had covered him from head to toe just moments ago, had suddenly melted away.

"Maybe?" Sky shrugged. "Is it working?"

"I hate to admit it, but yes."

"Good," Sky replied, with a half-smile. "Cause, Demetri—"

"What?"

"I had a friend like that too, a best friend who was practically my sister."

Demetri arched his brows. His fingers gripped the strap of his backpack that was thrown over one shoulder. "The girl in the capoeira video?"

"Yeah, Kat," Sky had to stop and take a breath, to gather courage. Talking about Kat still felt like a fucking knife in her windpipe, but she needed to get the words out. She needed to make Demetri understand why she would not watch him and Eli destroy their friendship. "She died, and... and not a day goes by without me wishing that I told her that. I mean, of course, I did tell her, but still... I should've told her more, every day, all the time. That she was the other half of my soul."

Demetri's eyes were huge and dark, and by the shocked look on his pale face Sky realized that Hawk had really kept her secret, he hadn't told Demetri anything about her past.

"I... I'm sorry—" Demetri stammered, but Sky held up her hand and shook her head.

"I don't want your pity. The only reason I'm telling you this, is because first - I need you to stop being an ass about Eli and me and start being a better friend for him, and second - since that stupid fight, I have fucking lost all the friends I had here, and I'd hate to lose the one I still have left."

Demetri's eyes widened.

"I meant you," Sky clarified. "If you didn't get it."

"I got it," Demetri replied, and his lips were drawn into a smile. "So, we're still friends?"

He had one of those catchy smiles that were easy to answer. Before she knew it, Sky was grinning. She really had missed Demetri and his quirky smiles, and even if it wasn't technically true that she'd lost all her friends - there was still Sam - she really liked Demetri's nerdy humor and sense of sarcasm.

"The spot for my best friend is open, you know." She said, "First I thought Eli would take that, but I guess he's gonna be my boyfriend instead, so—"

She blushed, that thought again bringing back the memory of Hawk on top of her in her bed, the way he had shivered when she had laid her hands on the bare skin of his back, felt the sharp edges of his shoulder blades, the lean muscle under the warm, smooth skin—

Demetri seemed to notice her blushing, for his brows arched high on his pale forehead. "Right," he replied, running his fingers through his dark ebony hair - his coloring really was like Snow White's. "Friends. I can do that. You wanna hang out sometimes, or—?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Sky grinned. " Let's watch a Marvel movie or something, but now—"

"Fine, go after him," Demetri replied with a sigh, understanding her meaning. "Eli has English next, you'll catch him before that if you hurry—"

But just then the school bell rang and Sky let out a rather un lady-like curse.

She had math next, which was in the exact opposite direction of the English classrooms. There was no way she'd have time to find Hawk and talk to him before her lesson - and since this was only her second day of school after the two-week absence, she couldn't afford to be late or skip it.

"Shoot," she rolled her eyes. "Gotta go, but Demetri—"

"Yeah?"

She tiptoed to give him a hug, just a short and light one, but nevertheless, he stiffened and drew in a surprised breath that made Sky think that he probably didn't get that many hugs from girls - which was a shame, really. He was a nice guy, and Sky honestly liked him.

"I'm really glad we're friends." she said and broke their contact. "Let's not fuck this up. See you at lunch?"

"Yeah, sure!" Demetri replied, giving her an awkward wave as Sky hurried away to catch her next lesson.

Neither one of them noticed Hawk, who stood in the crowd nearby. They didn't see how his throat bobbed, how his shoulders stiffened as he watched how Sky wrapped her arms around Demetri's neck and pressed her body against his lean and lanky frame, her small face against his flannel covered shoulder.