"A bit early for you, isn't it, darling?" My dad asks as I come down the stairs.

"Only by a little," I shrug. I didn't sleep much, and then I woke up before my alarm.

"I'm quite surprised, considering that boy didn't leave until almost 3 A.M," he says in disdain, and I ignore him, heading toward the kitchen instead of responding.

"I'm assuming your grades this semester will be unmatched with that amount of late-night studying."

I roll my eyes and then turn to face him, "we're friends, dad. You know he wasn't here to be tutored."

"What was he here for?" My dad crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at me.

"God forbid Leo is around me without an ulterior motive," I say sarcastically, "dare there ever be a possibility that he actually likes me."

"Let's hope not, that would be unfortunate."

I sigh, "I'm going to go to school now."

"I'll see you when you get home," he nods.

"I thought you were flying out to Berlin this afternoon," I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"I've rescheduled my trip for after your mother returns from Paris. I don't feel comfortable leaving you here alone anymore. Not after last night."

I scoff in response, "You know Jace used to stay overnight, right?"

"I am familiar with him and his family, Heather. I know Jace Kendal personally and the sort of young man he is," he tries to justify his unreasonableness.

I almost laugh, "If that were true then you'd prefer for Leo to stay over instead."

He gives me a stern expression, and I reciprocate it before walking away to get a jacket out of the coat closet.

"Heather," he calls out as he follows behind me.

"Yes, father," I say in annoyance, quickly hitting the elevator button in hope of cutting this conversation short.

"What do you plan to do with this boy?"

"What do you mean?" I shake my head in confusion and step into the elevator.

He narrows his eyes, "You have feelings for him, don't you?"

"Yes."

The elevator doors close.

"Are you crazy? People were turned into red mist!" Charlie Keaton argued.

"So what? Robocop is not better than Blade Runner!"

"You'd rather be a stupid blade runner than a kick-ass, crime-fighting cyborg?" He asks in disbelief.

"No," I admit, "I'd rather be the Terminator."

"What— you didn't say we could pick him," Charlie complains.

"You didn't ask," I shrug and smirk at my victory.

He shoots me a glare but doesn't fight me on it. "Do you want to get in line?" He points to the long line of students waiting for food.

"Uh-" I glance at the kids, and then over to the table I usually sit at. It's empty, but I see Evan standing around. "No, I'm going to wait until it gets shorter."

"Okay, save me a seat?" He says as if our table is in popular demand. I had the same lunch period as Matt when I first got here, but after adjusting my classes, I got stuck with third-period lunch and had to make at least one new friend. Hence Charlie, though he's not so bad.

"Are you good, Andrews?" I hear one of Evan's 'other' friends saying as I walk toward the table, sitting at the end furthest away from them. "You look like you're still hungover."

"I'm not, shut up," he tries to shush him.

"Rylie said Aimee is-"

"I don't want to talk about this," Evan interrupts him mid-sentence, "I'm starving, we should ditch and go get some real food. None of this cafeteria bullshit."

"I'm down," his friend says in agreement.

"Mackett will bitch if we don't invite him. Can you get him out of class, and I'll meet you guys in the back hallway?"

"Alright," he shrugged indifferently, though I could tell he was wondering why Evan didn't just go along with him.

He waited until the guy was completely out of the lunchroom before finally coming over to me. His friends don't mess with me, they don't acknowledge me at all...so it's kind of funny that he takes these precautions. Especially considering that guys who do bother me, Drew, for example, are right there in line.

"Hey," Evan smirked as he slid in next to me.

"Andrews, what's up, man?" I imitate all the baseball, football, jocks.

"Andrews," he shakes his head and laughs lightly.

"That's what everyone calls you, right?"

"Everyone," he nods, "but you don't call me that."

"No," I admit as I feel his hand subtly move over mine under the table, "Andrews doesn't do this," I gaze down at where his fingers completely cover mine.

"He wants to," Evan says empathetically, and I smile a bit in understanding.

"So, you had fun this weekend then?" I change the subject.

"Huh?" His face flushes.

"...the hangover? I overheard..." I shrug.

"Oh...that," He sighs, "no...no fun, just drinking with the guys to pretend I was having fun."

I laugh, "Yeah? That's what you get for hanging with them instead of me. You could have come over, had some pizza, watched The Simpsons..."

"That's what you did without me?" Evan said in amusement.

"I wasn't alone," I say in defense, "It was Matt's idea, I think we're all together too much or something..."

He shakes his head and smiles at me, "I like you."

"Thanks," I say casually, "I get that a lot."

"Do you?" He chuckles.

"Pretty much," I say smugly, my eyes shifting down to his lips that are in a sly smile...

Evan notices and circles his thumb over my hand softly, "...I can't kiss you."

"Yeah," I look away from him, "I know, Andrews."

"Coffee?" Lisa offers me one from her cup carrier.

"No, thank you," I sigh and go back to looking where Audrey is standing with Trevor by his limo. They arrive together now.

I know she's only with him because of something that happened with her dad, but how unfair is it that she got to stay? I went home.

Trevor catches my gaze and smirks at me.

"Oh, God," I say lowly to myself and look away in embarrassment, only glancing up to see if he was still watching me.

"Good morning, Alison," Trevor says slyly as they both walk over to where I am sitting with Lisa.

"Where is my coffee?" Audrey asks impolitely, but Lisa jumps up to give her it anyway.

"It's just how you wanted it," Lisa says proudly as Audrey takes a sip.

"Ugh!" She spits it out immediately, "this is a caramel macchiato, Lisa. I asked for a tall, half-caff, no foam, soy latte."

"I know, I know," Lisa says hurriedly as she tries to calm her, "I'm sorry, that one is Heather's," she takes the cup and hands her the last one in the carrier.

"You brought her one?" Audrey snickers before drinking her new coffee.

"Yes...of course?" Lisa says in confusion.

"Then pour it out, because she's not coming," Audrey sat with her legs crossed.

"She went to class early," I explained to Lisa.

I hope I don't sound like a bad friend, but I'm glad that I'm no longer the one everyone is whispering about.

"I suppose staring at a chalkboard is better than watching Jace shove his tongue down Evie's throat," Trevor said smugly, and I rolled my eyes at his comment.

Despite what Heather is letting everyone think...she couldn't care less about Jace's relationship.

But since she won't admit who her affections are truly for...

The entire lacrosse team now makes kissy faces at her when she passes by in the hall.

"What was she thinking?" Audrey shakes her head in disappointment, "that poem was so pathetic I could gag."

"I thought it was sweet," Trevor smirks, "it certainly made Jace more popular...being portrayed as romantic, lover boy Romeo."

"He's such an asshole," I narrow my eyes. Jace has been telling everyone the story of how hard it was to let Heather down easy when she cried and begged him to give her another chance.

"Maybe," Trevor shrugged, "but that's not what Heather said," He quoted, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."

"I saw Heather finish that poem minutes before telling me how she pictured herself with someone other than Jace," I argued.

"Well, that's absurd, It's not like she's been close with anyone since him," Audrey opposed. "I'm assuming that's difficult for you to comprehend, easy Alison, seeing as you've been with a dozen guys in the past month."

"Easy Alison?" I scowl at her, "you're so clever, Audrey, but you should probably take notes. You might find it easier to attract even just one guy if you were a little more like me and a lot less like you."

"Ladies," Trevor interjects, "play nice, won't you? We're all friends here..." he says, his voice laced with amusement.

"Whatever," I say in annoyance to keep from saying 'you two deserve each other.'

"Alison-" Trevor starts to speak, but I walk off toward the doors. "Hey— slow down," he chuckles when he catches up to me, putting his hands on either of my arms to keep me in one place. "You're not angry with me, are you? I thought we were just starting to like each other."

"I don't like that people are talking behind Heather's back, that doesn't feel good, I would know," I say sternly.

"I'll see what I can do," he says simply.

"...and I don't like that she lives with you now."

Trevor throws his head back in quiet frustration, "she needs my help, Ali...you can stay with me too. In my room, preferably."

"Why, because I'm easy Alison? "

"No," he shakes his head, "It's because I'm easy," he says playfully. "But— if that's too much...then how about dinner? We can be as far away from Audrey as you want...Italy? Japan? Your choice."

I try to hide my smile of contentment, "that might work..." I shrug and start walking with him.

"Will it work at seven on Friday?" He raises an eyebrow.

"We'll see," I say slyly.

"I'll give you a call then," he smirks, "and as for your friend troubles...if Heather isn't heels over head for Evie's new toy...then do you have any idea who is her picturesque muse?"

"I don't know," I sigh and begin to ponder, "she's being really secretive, and I hate secrets like this."

"You're speaking from experience, I presume."

I roll my eyes, though he's right.

My father's secret is that he'd like my mother better if she were a 20-something-year-old boy.

Audrey's secret was that she was sleeping with Ethan while I laid in my bed dreaming about him.

Trevor's secret is that he isn't as emotionally detached as he wants everyone to believe...

"Someone always ends up hurt in these situations..." I say sadly before my attention drifts to who is heading toward my class...someone we never considered Heather to have gotten close to...

"Excuse me," he says to me as another boy stands with him.

"Yes?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"...You're blocking the door."

"Oh," I gasp, "...sorry."

He nodded as they both passed me by.

"Don't apologize to that burnout," Trevor said in disgust, "Goddamned Leonardo Rylin."

My eyes follow him to where he sits in the back of the class.

Someone always ends up hurt...

"Always."

"Mr. Rylin!" A textbook slams down onto the floor in front of my desk and I jolt up. "Oh, great, you're awake," Mr. Holstein says in his much calmer, agonizingly monotone voice. "Please, sleep on your own time, and until then, turn to page 149," he picks up the textbook and slides it onto my desk, "Massacre in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan."

"Teno— what?" I narrow my eyes and sigh.

"The Spanish people locked the Aztecs in their temple and then killed them all while they were partying...heads rolling and everything," Jordan said in shock.

"You're paying attention?" I said with greater surprise.

He shrugged, "he took my Walkman."

I shook my head and laughed, "What time is it?" I asked as I looked over at the clock, and then groaned when I saw we had thirty more minutes in here.

"Did you sleep last night?" Jordan questioned my tired state.

"Mhm," I nod, "some."

"Are you doing uppers?" he says lowly.

"No," I furrowed my eyebrows at the assumption, "Heather."

"You're doing Heather?" His eyes practically fall out of his head.

"No," I stress, "we were just talking and stuff."

"and stuff," He smirks as he leans back in his chair.

"Cut it out, Morano," I sigh, "it's not like that."

"Yet," he said with a sly smile, and I jokingly rolled my eyes as I tried to ignore him. "You know I'm right," he added, "I give it a week before she's bent over your dresser."

My jaw drops but I quickly regather my composure, "The fact that you can talk about her like that..." I chuckle.

"I mean— yeah, central or not...I can say that about any girl. Fuck the pedestal. I know you want to do that to her."

"Well—" I attempt to gather my thoughts and somehow pretend he's wrong, but I can't, "of course I want to do that...I would've done it even before I liked her...but now I really like her...and I really want to-" I shake my head, "doesn't matter."

"You're such a pussy," Jordan snickers.

"Fuck you," I scowl at him.

He continues laughing, "you're so scared of her. What can she do to you?"

"Say no."