"So you're back?" Zak grinned at me, leaning halfway across the table towards me. "Like for good?"

"As long as Arden's grandma doesn't hate me."

Melissa cocked her head to the side. "Haven't you met her yet?"

"I guess she over slept, so she's heading in now..."

Tucker snorted. "They sure hired someone more responsible than you, Ms. Allen. You've never been late."

I smiled slightly. "You can call me Harley now."

"I like Ms. Allen," Zak interjected, shrugging his shoulders. "It's going to be kind of hard to switch over."

"You'll get used to it."

He gave me a wry smile. "Come to think of it, since you're not the teacher anymore, you don't have to be polite to us?"

"She might tell us to shut up— oh wait, she has before," Tucker added, a smug smirk slipping onto his face.

I blushed, waving them off. "I still have to be polite. I'm an assistant teacher."

"Assistant to the teacher," Tucker corrected me. "You have to have a degree to be assistant teacher."

"Same thing," I snapped.

Melissa frowned. "If you didn't have a degree in the first place, how did you manage to get the job when you were pretending to be twenty-one?"

"My uncle," I responded truthfully. "He kind of bent the rules. That's why it was such a problem when everyone found out."

"And that's why you were fired, right?"

"Right," I responded, picking up my water bottle. I took a long drink, enjoying the feeling of the cool liquid going down my throat.

"I heard you and Oliver hooked up," Tucker suddenly mentioned, giving me an interested look.

I nearly choked on my water. "Who told you that?" I finally demanded after successfully swallowing the rest of my drink.

Tucker hooked his thumb at Melissa. "Her."

Melissa flushed. "Way to rat me out."

"Anytime."

I turned to Melissa with a frown. "Then who told you?"

"Oliver did."

"He did?"

She nodded. "He really threw me a ball. He kept his feelings hidden well all this time."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, shaking my head. "I would have never guessed he liked me."

"I kind of figured you liked him though," Zak interjected in a thoughtful tone. "Not really by your words, but whenever he was around you kind of held yourself differently. And you always got really flustered."

"I was not!" I denied quickly.

"You still are I bet too."

"No I'm not!"

Tucker tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Come to think about it, you're kinda like that around Arden too. Just not as... girly."

Melissa grinned. "Oliver also told me you liked Arden."

Now it was my turn to flush. I turned my attention to my lunch, picking up a baby carrot, and quickly jamming it into my mouth so I wouldn't have to reply. What was up with everyone telling me I liked Arden? They weren't me. How could they know my feelings when I didn't even know them myself?

"I like Ms. Allen too," Zak insisted, frowning deeply. "That's no fair, Oliver has an advantage."

Melissa gave Zak an amused look. "He does?"

"His accent."

"You like him because of his accent, Harley?" Melissa questioned, turning back to me.

"No!" I answered immediately. "That's not why I like him."

"Then why do you like him?"

I hesitated a moment. "Well he's nice... and he's good with Elliot... and we have a lot in common. We've been through the same stuff. And even though he's a jerk, he's always there when I need him to be... And why am I telling you this?"

Melissa gave me a cheeky grin. "Just wondering."

Before I could say more, the door to the classroom suddenly opened. Zak, Tucker, Melissa, and I all turned towards it, watching as an old woman clothed in a very old-fashioned dress entered. Her surprised gaze met mine straight away. I pushed myself up from my chair, nearly tripping over it in a rush to meet her.

"Hi, you must be Barbara—"

"Hi Harley!"

My eyes flew open in surprise when Arden suddenly bounded out from behind the old lady, catching me in a surprise hug. He squeezed me for a moment, nearly knocking the wind out of me. Arden abruptly let out a cry of surprise as the woman behind him hit him with her purse. My mouth opened slightly at her actions as Arden let go of me.

"Arden, you're going to kill someone if you keep doing that. Leave the poor girl alone."

Arden frowned slightly. "Sorry, grandma. Harley, this is Barbara, my grandma from my mom's side."

I hesitantly held out my hand, a little scared that Barbara might attack me with her purse. "Nice to meet you."

Barbara smiled at me, taking my hand into her small, withered one. "Nice to meet you too, Harley. You're a lot cuter in person."

"In person...?"

"Arden's shown me some pictures—"

Arden laughed loudly, cutting off Barbara. "Okay, grandma. That's enough. I've shown you where the classroom is, so I'm going to go back to lunch..." He paused, his eyes focusing on the desk where Zak, Tucker, and Melissa were still sitting. "Huh. Seems like there was a party here I wasn't invited to."

"I wonder why," Barbara muttered, rolling her eyes at me.

I laughed, but quickly stopped when Arden sent me a hard look. "Um, sorry..."

Arden shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was invited, but it looks like Oli boy wasn't either."

I grimaced. I wasn't apologizing for that.

"Well, see you later," Arden said, putting up a hand in a short wave. "Bye-bye, Harley."

As soon as Arden left the classroom, his grandma heaved a heavy sigh. "That boy never shuts up."

I smiled, unsure whether to laugh or not. "He is a talker."

Barbara raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright. So are you going to show me how to run this place or stand there like a lump? You know, I only took this job because Arden wouldn't stop pestering me, and he told me how much you needed it. I even got him to drop to his knees and beg."

I stared at her in surprise for a moment, my mouth falling open. She made Arden beg on his knees?

Barbara laughed. "Kidding."

I forced out a nervous laugh. "Oh."

"So where's the planner?" she asked, walking over to the desk, where Zak, Melissa, and Tucker were all sitting, watching the old woman cautiously. "What are you guys doing here?" she demanded, seeming to finally notice them.

Zak quickly stuffed the rest of his peanut butter and fluff sandwich into his mouth. "Just leaving," he choked out.

Melissa and Tucker nodded, quickly following Zak's pursuit. I stretched out a hand towards Melissa as she passed, but she only grinned at me, brushing by. She was leaving me to deal with this strange person by myself.

"So what's the deal? How does this usually work?" Barbara questioned, sitting at the desk, and pulling the planner book to her. "Chili? We're making chili?"

"If that's what the book says..."

"Chili gives me gas." She made a face, flipping the page of the planner. Making an tsking noise, she shook her head. "That does too."

I gawked at her, not knowing how to respond. This lady was not exactly how I imagined her to be. She caught me looking and frowned.

"What?"

"Nothing," I responded quickly, turning away from her.

"Ravioli? How amateur."

Grimacing, I bit my tongue so I wouldn't make any remarks. This was going to be an interesting day.

When seventh period finally approached, I was already worn out. Arden's grandma was like a slave driver. It wasn't like I was a teacher's assistant at all! It was more like I did everything while she supervised, making comments about some sophomore named Scott's too long hair and Jenny's too short skirt. However, she did scold one kid when he had given me a scorning look. But other than that, no one had said anything to me.

"So Arden's in this class?" Barbara mused, her eyes narrowing at Luke as he walked in. "Boy, what happened to your head?"

Luke paused, looking up at her with a confused expression. His gaze changed from her to me, and his eyes widened slightly. "Ms. Allen, you're back?"

"I'm back," I responded, suddenly feeling shy.

He grinned. "Glad to see you."

"What happened to your hair?" Barbara repeated. "It looks like a coon is strapped to your head!"

Luke returned his focus to Barbara, an insulted look appearing on his face. "I dyed it."

"The coon?"

Luke grimaced, shaking his head at her. "Never mind." With that, he wandered off to his desk.

Barbara furrowed her eyebrows. "I didn't know boys his age wore coons on their heads... Weird kid."

I chuckled quietly, trying not to laugh too hard at Barbara's expression. When my eyes landed on the next person to walk in the room, I caught my breath, my mouth suddenly feeling dry.

Tyler was skulking into the room, his gaze on the ground. When he looked up, or gazes instantly met. My eyes widened slightly and he set his eyes downcast. I frowned slightly, taking a few steps towards him.

"Hey," I greeted, moving in his way.

Tyler stopped, glancing at me briefly. He looked uncomfortable. "Good afternoon, Ms. Allen."

"You can um, call me Harley."

Surprise flickered across his face. "Uh, sure..." There was an awkward silence for a moment. "Listen, Ms. Allen, I'm sorry about what I said before—"

"Don't worry about it," I cut him off quickly, shaking my head. "I'm staring over, so that means we can do. I'll forget everything you said to me if you can forget that I lied to you, okay?"

Tyler frowned. "What I said was really mean."

"And I lied, so it's fine."

"But—"

I thrust my hand into his face. He took a step back warily, but I just moved it closer. "Come on, shake. I'm Harley Allen, it's nice to meet you...?"

Tyler slowly took my hand in his. "Tyler Griffin, nice to meet you too. Say Harley, if you ever see Ms. Allen, let her know Tyler, the jerk, is still sorry."

I smiled at him. "I'm sure she'll forgive you... If you suck up a little bit."

Tyler stared at me for a moment before letting out a short laugh. "Alright."

I let go of his hand and Tyler gave me a sheepish look before returned to his desk. A satisfied smile crept onto my face as I watched him take a seat next to Alex, who gave me a quick smile. It looked like everything was going to be okay. Whatever anger the boys had before was gone now.

"Making amends?"

Starting, I snapped my head around to see Oliver smirking at me. A blush spread across my face. "W-what are you doing here?'

He cocked an eyebrow. "I'm in this class, remember?"

My face darkened. "Oh, um, right..."

Oliver shook his head at me. "Good to have you back, Ms. Allen."

"You can call me Harley in class now," I told him, trying to stop staring at him. I wondered briefly if I had always stared at Oliver like this whenever I talked to him and just didn't notice it until now. I grimaced at the thought. It must have seemed really creepy.

"I think I'll call you Ms. Allen," Oliver responded, purposely knocking into me as he went by. "It's more fitting, I think."

"But—"

Oliver paused, turning back to look at me. A smirk played at his lips. "I could also call you Pig, if you'd like."

I glowered at him. "No!"

He chuckled, turning his back to me again. "Alright, Ms. Allen."

I scowled at his back for a few seconds, watching as he went to his assigned seat. Oliver was definitely still the jerk I remembered— but now I could say he was my jerk. Which made things a little bit better.

"Harley!"

This time I was ready. I quickly sidestepped, making Arden topple forwards as he tried to cling onto me. Fortunately for him he managed to catch himself before he fell flat on his face. He turned to me, frowning. "Why'd you move?"

"No PDAs in school."

Arden smiled slightly. "So it's okay out of school?"

"I—I have a boyfriend now," I stuttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed by Arden. Having him this close to me really made me nervous. I threw a "help me" look at Oliver.

He caught it and raised an eyebrow. After a moment he shrugged. "Do it yourself," he mouthed to me.

"But that can change," Arden interjected, regaining my attention. "You never know. You might fall for my charm."

I raised an eyebrow. "Your charm?"

Arden grinned. "That or I could lure you in with a promise of smoothies and chocolate cake."

"Those were good smoothies..."

"Yep," Arden responded, looking eager. "So you want to go get some?"

"As friends," I told him.

Arden's shoulders sagged. "That's no fun."

"Yes it is. I wanted to be friends, Arden," I told him.

"But I like you," he responded, giving me a serious look. "As more than a friend."

For a moment I was thrown off guard by his direct confession, even though I already knew he liked me. He grinned, taking my hesitation as a good sign. I took a wary step back from him. "Friends, Arden."

"We'll see," he responded in a singsong voice. "Oliver's my friend, so right now I'll let you be, but—"

"What?"

Arden narrowed his eyes at me. "What what?"

"Did you just say Oliver was your friend?"

"Um, kind of," Arden responded, now looking embarrassed. "I mean, I consider him one—"

I turned to Oliver, pointing at Arden excitedly. "Oliver, did you hear that? Arden considers you his friend!"

Oliver's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but he immediately regained his composed posture. "A friend, huh? I guess that's all Arden will ever be..."

"Nice try," Arden responded, heading towards his spot next to Oliver. "But you can't see the future."

"Neither can you," Oliver shot back.

Arden smirked. "I know. I'm not going to give up, Harley."

I stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond. Even though I definitely liked Oliver, I couldn't shoot Arden down completely. Maybe Oliver was right— maybe I did have feelings for Arden. But I wasn't exactly sure of them, and I didn't have to deal with them right now anyway.

"Let's just focus on class," I suggested, throwing a smile at Joey, who was sitting behind Oliver. "Okay? I don't want to deal with any... stunts, Arden."

Arden grinned. "I won't do anything... for now."

I rolled my eyes as Oliver scowled at Arden. "Stop making innuendos," Oliver snapped.

"Does it make you uncomfortable, Oli?"

"It's annoying me, Ardy."

"Insecure?"

"Not the slightest."

"Sounds it to me."

I watched for a few more moments as the two pair of men bickered with each other. My attention was only drawn away because of a loud banging sound from the front of the room. I turned to see Barbara slamming the stapler down on the desk. She caught my eye and gestured for me to come to the front of the room.

I quickly looked back at Oliver. He gave me one of his small, genuine smiles. "Do your best," he mouthed.

I smiled back at him, returning back to Barbara's desk. She glanced at me quickly before turning to the class. "Good evening, ladies and... Wait. Where are all the girls? Is this school sexist?"

"Um, there's just no girls in this class," I told her quietly; looking around as a few boys chuckled.

"So you've been teaching this class of senior boys all year long by yourself?"

"Yes..."

Barbara looked impressed. "That's a lot of work. But anyway," she continued, turning to the class again, "my name is Barbara Vachelli, and starting today I'm your new home economics teacher. Or more like, I'll be watching while Harley does all the work. Does anyone have any problems with this?"

The room stayed silent. Joel and Joey exchanged secretive smiles, making me raise an eyebrow. Joey stood up and came to the front of the classroom, hiding something behind his back. When he was close enough to me, he held it out.

My eyes landed on a rather large, colorful card. I slowly took it from him, looking at the cover. In messy scrawl were the words "Welcome back." Joey grinned at me when I returned my attention to him.

"This is from the whole class," Joey informed me. "We've missed you. Although it may seem like not much, the past few days you were gone we realized just how much this class sucked without you."

A lump appeared in my throat and I swallowed a few times, trying to keep it away. "Really?"

Joey nodded. "As they say, age is but a number. You're my favorite teacher, Harley."

"Mine too," Joel admitted. "You're really gullible."

"I like you too, Ms. Allen."

"You're definitely one of the nicest teachers here."

"You panic easily, it's funny."

The whole class all spoke up at once. Overwhelmed, I could feel my eyes starting to water as I clutched the card in my hand, trying not to cry. Here I was thinking after the other day, everyone would hate me, and they wouldn't accept me back. But now it was the complete opposite. They wanted me back— they liked me. I belonged here.

"Open the card," Joey ordered.

Without needing to be told twice, I opened it. Signatures and small messages from everyone in the class filled the entire inside. My mouth went dry and I had to fight the urge to bawl again. This time I didn't really succeed. Zak had drawn a picture of a bear in the corner, reminding me that I still had the passes and had to go back to the store again. Tucker had only written four words: Thank you for everything. I could just imagine how embarrassed he must have been while he wrote that. On the bottom of the card there was a drawing of a pig. Underneath it in neat, elegant lettering was Oliver's name. However, it had been scratched out and replaced with Arden's. I smiled, shaking my head.

Barbara suddenly cleared her throat, making me jump. "I know you'll all excited you got your precious teacher back, but we're supposed to be making chili."

"Chili?" Arden repeated. "I hate chili—"

"Raise your hand if you want to speak, Mr. Bring," his grandma responded.

Arden looked offended. "Grandma—"

"Ms. Vachelli."

Grimacing, Arden turned his attention away from his grandma. I caught Oliver's eye and grinned. He returned my grin with a small smile of his own.

"Hey, Harley and Oliver, no making googly eyes in class."

Oliver abruptly looked away from me, tensing his shoulders. My face heated up quickly and I turned away from him too, turning to Arden's grandma to give her a disapproving look. She raised an eyebrow at me, pursing her lips.

"I wasn't giving him the googly eye!" I protested. There were a few chuckled through the classroom.

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm watching you two."

"That's the spirit, grandma!" Arden chirped, looking pleased.

"Raise your hand, Arden."

Arden sunk back in his seat, pouting. "Old bat," he muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Good."

"I heard that too!"

Arden gave me an exasperated look. I couldn't help but to laugh at him. He quickly grinned at me, looking excited that he made me laugh. After a moment I realized Oliver was staring at me intensely. Slowly I turned my attention to him. He pointed at me and then to himself. I cocked my head to the side. He rolled his eyes, this time pointing at me, making a heart with his hands, and pointing at himself. This time I blushed.