I understand the entire concept of history class is so that we don't repeat the past, but what's the purpose of learning about who invented steel or whatever? Now that we have it, who cares?

Also, what's the point of other countries'

history? I don't live in Greece or England so how are their religion and government relevant to me?

Mr. Holstein only makes it worse. The sound of his voice makes me wonder which one of us is more bored.

"Psst, Alison..." I hear my name being called out and turn around to see a boy I hardly know. "This is for you," he holds out a folded paper.

I take it from him, no questions asked, and turn back around before Mr. Holstein notices.

I smile and feel my face heating up before I even open the letter "To Alison, from Ethan"written with hearts after our names. My breathing quickens in anticipation as I try to focus my mind enough to read.

"Hey, Ali, I know this seems immature, but I'm hoping you'll think it's cute enough to maybe go out with me sometime. Check 'yes' or 'no.' Love, Ethan."I giggle at the "Warning, this might break my heart" message by the box marked "no," before checking the one marked "yes." I jot down my number and address at the bottom of the page, along with a restaurant I like before handing the letter back to the boy behind me.

I want to watch Ethan get the letter back and take a mental picture of his reaction but I know that would just weird him out or get me in trouble. Instead, I sit patiently and pretend that the idea of him and I being together is new to me.

Somehow I've managed to master the skill of pretending I don't think about him all the time. It comes in handy when we're close. The only person I've ever told is Audrey...and I was silly to think she wouldn't tell anyone else. "What does it matter? Ethan doesn't know," she said.

Though, I want nothing more than for him to feel what I feel for him.

Heavy.

"There you are, Rylin? What took you so long?" Danny sighs when he sees me. I asked him to meet up with me after class, but class ended almost 5 minutes ago.

"Sorry, I had to make a few stops before I got here."

Truthfully, I was trying to convince Ms. Chang to give me extra credit work for physics. Turns out, if I don't pass first semester, they can recommend me for summer school at Chester High, 30 minutes away from here, and almost an hour away from home. I've been there a few times with Danny to pick up Zach, but that's only when we're already close. Chester is where the burnouts who didn't get into Addington went.

"Well, come on, we've been standing here long enough. I don't like the way these centrals keep looking at us." I watch as he glares at them.

We let the centrals have the interior courtyard because they were here first and always made a big fuss when we hung around too. There's plenty of space for all of us. I mean, it has benches, tables, and random decorative trees. It's close to the back halls so everyone makes it to class on time. It's a nice spot and it kinda sucked to give it up but sacrifices needed to be made.

"They probably wouldn't have noticed if you showed up alone like I asked." He brought a posse with him as if I called for backup or something.

"What are we doing? A ransom drop?" He says sarcastically. "What's with the secrets and hiding?"

"Well," I look behind me to make sure no one is listening, "It's probably nothing, but I heard Kendal is going out of his way to talk to Rayanne."

"That Jace kid?" Danny furrows his eyebrows. "Do you think they're fucking?"

"What? You think Rayanne would let him?"

"Yes?" Danny laughs. "She lets everyone."

"She let you?"

"Yeah, you too, right?"

"I mean...yeah, but still. Not Jace, he's with Heather," I shake my head.

"So? Our girls get dirty. I've been with a central chick, they're as boring as their personalities."

"I don't know...I think he was talking to her because of what happened...at the hotel," I say worriedly.

"...With Ryan?"

"Yeah..."

"Why would he care about that now? After all this time."

"Because I stole the tape he had with a copy of the footage from that night," I speak as if it's not a big deal.

Danny stops walking,"...There are copies?"

"Not anymore."

"There shouldn't have been a tape in the first place, fuck, you all are so stupid without me," Danny huffed.

He wasn't there the night Ryan was killed. We invited him to go out with us but he wasn't into the whole "working" with the centrals idea. He thought it was a bad idea, and we should've listened to him. Ryan wasn't even a central, he was from the Upper West Side but everyone still knew him.

"No one knew there were cameras."

"Obviously, if anyone knew, he wouldn't have died....there. We're lucky you made it out alive."

"I'm smarter than you think, Danny."

I ran out before things got too crazy. The hotel clerk was already calling the police by the time I got downstairs. Of course, Ryan was probably dead by then.

"I'll get someone to see what Rayanne is saying," Danny sighs, "Don't worry about it."

"AJ, I'm leaving now. I won't be back until the morning, are you going to come down to say goodbye?" My dad calls up the stairs.

AJ stands for Audrey Juliet, my middle name. My mother used to call me Audie, so now he refuses to do the same.

"No, but goodbye. Love you," I say quickly.

With his line of work, he's not home often. I give him a hug and a kiss goodbye every time he leaves, but today I can't...

I unzip my purse and pull out the small bag I shoved into it. Inside the bag is a box, and inside the box is something that determines how badly I messed up.

My breath hitches at the sound of knocking against my bedroom door.

"Audrey?"

It was the voice of a woman but it didn't sound like my step-mother. Katherine sounds like Beverly Hills trash because she is.

I rush into my bathroom and close the door, locking it behind me.

"Audrey, it's Alison." I hear her walk into my room.

"Just a second...I'll be right out." I try to sound calm as my shaky hands tear into the box containing the pregnancy test.

"Okay, I need to talk to you. It's kind of important," she says happily.

If it made you happy, it's probably the opposite of important. You're as easily entertained as a puppy.

"Can't you just talk through the door?"

I'm really not in the position to do a face-to-face with her and pretend to care that she found a nail polish that perfectly matches her lipstick.

"Okay...sure, I guess," Alison says questionably. "You're not going to believe me when I tell you, it's so incredible I'm half convinced I'm dreaming-"

"Get to it, would you?"

"During fourth period, Ethan passed me a note..."

I roll my eyes, "and?"

I flush the toilet and keep the test in hand. The results are supposed to show in 30 seconds, but I feel like it's been a year already.

Alison continues, "And he likes me. He wants to go on a date."

I can tell just from her voice that she is practically oozing right now. Ethan Carey is nice in more ways than one. However, he isn't worth being infatuated over for so long. Freshman year, Alison, you've loved him since freshman year. Boys don't just "start" liking you back, especially boys like Ethan.

"Fuck..." I whisper quietly.

"Did you hear me, Audrey?" She knocks on the bathroom door, "hello?"

I groan in frustration. Too many things are happening at once.

"Alison, don't do it. You can't go out with him. You're better than that."

Pregnant, goddamn pregnant. Of course, I am. It was a spur of the moment thing, no condom used. He pulled out though..why is this happening if he pulled out?

I hear her scoff from the outside, "Are you kidding me? You know how long I've wanted this. After all the mixed signals and time I've spent crying over him, I owe it to myself to find out if it was all for nothing."

I sigh, "I feel for you, hun, I really do...but, Ethan has already been with so many girls." I drop the test in the bin and proceed to wash my hands.

"How many of them has he taken on dates?"

I open the door and find Alison sitting on my bed. "You're right, Ali. He's never taken the girls on dates. Just to his bedroom, and you know why you shouldn't go there?"

"Audre-"

"Because I've already been, and there's no way you'll ever top me."

"Why couldn't you let the twerp take the bus home like usual?" Danny complains.

"I think some kids have been bullying him. He's a little small, that's not fair."

"Zach? Bullied?" He questions like it doesn't sound possible...and I guess it doesn't, Zach doesn't do anything to anybody. What fucking asshole picks with the kid who doesn't bother anyone?

"He was a little banged up last week, and when I asked he said he fell off of his skateboard."

"Why don't you believe him?"

"Because he left his skateboard in my closet." I respond. "Besides, I wanted to check the place out more."

"Chester? What's the point, it's basically Addington as a public school, just with bad cafeteria food."

"Yeah, but...anything is better than Addington."

Danny doesn't respond, but I know we have the same opinion. Sure, Addington High is hell, but it's a comfortable burn at this point.

"There he is." Danny points toward the doors of the school where Zach is walking out with another guy. I watch as he talks and laughs with his friend until they part ways. He doesn't seem to notice that we're waiting here, so I roll down my window and prepare to call his name.

Before I can shout for Zach, I see a group of boys a little older than him staring and laughing as he caught their eye. At first, I thought nothing of it. Gossiping like teenage girls only reflects badly on them, right?

But then they approached him.

I get out of the van as quickly as possible, and they are already shoving him around. He pushed back, that's what we're taught where we're from, if you're hit, hit back. Even if you're losing, you don't stop fighting.

"Whatcha gonna do faggot?"

"Hey!" I yelled as they grabbed him off of the ground by his shirt, "Let him go." They dropped him and he landed hard on his back.

"And who the hell are you?" The biggest one, a guy around my age, walked up to me.

"Why don't you try me and find out?"

"Yeah?" He smirks, clearly unfazed by my threat.

I hear the van door shut behind me, "Yeah," Danny says calmly.

I'm almost offended when they all run away immediately at the sight of Danny, but then I see the blade he brought with him.

"You didn't have to do that, I had them," Zach says lowly as I help him up.

"Sure you did, kid. Get in the van," I sigh and lead him to the curb, hanging back for a second to make sure he chose the seat that had a seatbelt.

"How often does that happen, Zach?" Danny asks.

"What do you mean?" Zach mumbles.

"How often are you thrown on the ground, kicked in the stomach, and called a fag?" Danny says angrily.

"Not that much..."

"For fuck's sake..." I huff. "You better tell me if it happens again, okay?"

"Okay," he nods.

"You swear?"

"Man, Leo...you guys showing up like that is only going to make things worse for me. They'll think I'm a narc."

"The fuck are they going to do about it, Zach?" I shout at him, and he puts his head down so he doesn't have to look at me.

The anger and hostility left a tense feeling in the van, so we drove in silence. I don't think anyone minded...I don't think anyone knew what to say.

The second year after we switched schools, I suggested getting Zach transferred to Addington somehow, but he didn't want to do it. Apparently, he has friends he doesn't want to leave behind, but I only ever see him with that one kid. And why can't he hang with him outside of school?

"Are you two hungry?" Danny interrupts the quiet.

I mutter a 'no,' and Zach shakes his head in response.

"Okay," Danny shrugs and his voice raises in pitch, "I'll take you home but you both live in the same building. You gotta kiss and make up sooner or later."

I roll my eyes at his comment and continue staring out of the window. He has a point, but I'm not even mad at Zach, I'm worried about him.

When Danny pulled up and parked in front of our building, Zach jumped out immediately. I asked Danny if he wanted to stay for a while but he declined saying we've given him enough bad energy today.

I didn't bother arguing, I just wanted to stall long enough for Zach to be gone by the time I made it inside, and he wasn't.

But he's standing with her, so I'm not your to complain...

"Peyton..." I breathed out.

She smiled, "it's my high school boyfriend." I wish you'd think of me like that. "How ya doing, Leo?"

"Fine," I push my hair back from my face, "You?"

"Never been better," she said casually before turning away, her curls taking wind and falling nicely onto her shoulders.

"Call me?"I ask like always, but she never fails to give the same response.

"I have a boyfriend, Leo," she playfully rolls her eyes at me.

"If that doesn't work out, you know where I'll be."

"Always the boy next door," Peyton smirks.

"Actually, the boy one floor down," I shrug and she blows me a kiss before walking back into her apartment.

Her real boyfriend is a joke, he hardly comes by to see her. How do you care about someone and not want to spend as much time as possible with them?

One of the most twisted things about life is loving someone who doesn't love you back.

If someone felt that strongly about me, I think I'd date them out of understanding.

I shake the sappy thoughts out of my head and take my house key out of my pocket. The cool air welcomes me in, and I know I'm about to have the best after school nap ever.

I mentally prepared myself all day to be engulfed by my bedsheets, but when I walked into my room, my bed was already occupied.

Cherry fucking Marshall.

"Hey, Leo," she smiles at me.

"What the hell, Cher?"

"Miss me?"

I sigh, "how'd you get into my house?"

"You showed me where you kept the spare key, remember?"

Correction: A drunken late-night hookup showed you where I kept the spare key.

"You can't just do this, what if my mom was home? What if I had company?"

"Like who? A girl?" Cherry raises an eyebrow. "As if anyone knows what gets you off better than I do." Her voice comes out seductively, and she grabs my hands to pull me toward her.

"Why are you doing this, Cher?" I say lowly as she unbuttons my jeans and kisses down my navel.

"I want you to want me, Leo..."

"Why like this? Why offer yourself like this?"

I don't want to be a hypocrite and go back on my word. Cherry is a perfect example of still loving when it's unrequited. I understand her, but it feels wrong letting her do this. She shouldn't want to be used.

But anything to get close, right?

"Stop talking," she quiets me and the feeling of guilt is replaced with pleasure when she starts to touch.

"Fuck, Cherry," I moan and let her hold onto my waist as her mouth wraps around me. "This is the last time, okay?"

"Mmm," she hummedand I cursed at the vibrations it sent threw my body.

The feeling of hesitance weighed me down, but I felt lighter the more her tongue swirled around my tip."Fuck it," I thought to myself before I tangled my fingers in her wavy locks and guided her head slowly.

She looked to be smirking at the fact that I'd finally given in...her mouth molding perfectly around me as she went further and further, her small hand warm and moving up and down my shaft, bringing pleasure to what wouldn't fit in her mouth.

Cherry's lips are slightly swollen and her cheeks are hollowed.Damn, I wish bad things didn't feel so good.My body began to tense up and my breathing became unsteady. I bit my bottom lip gently to hold back the moans as I looked down at her.

She peers up at me past her eyelashes, "Do you want me yet?" She asks though the answer is evident.

What an evil genius. How am I supposed to say no when I'm already so close?

"...get on the bed."