I sat at the back of history class listening to the teacher waffle on about the 18th century, I knew most of what he was teaching because it had already been covered at my last school but I refrained from raising my hand in class because I didn't want to draw even more attention to myself. I just listened, trying not to fall asleep.

A small folded note landed on my desk and I turned to see where it came from. An all-American guy with golden blonde hair and a friendly smile nodded at me enthusiastically so I started unfolding the note.

'Hey princess. Mia, right? I'm Joel. Wanna hang out on Saturday? There's this thing on the port the whole school will be there.'

I picked up my pencil and started making marks on the paper furiously. I was getting really fed up of the new nickname that I had been allocated by everyone that I have ever spoken to here.

'Joel, I am busy Saturday night with my boyfriend.' I scrunched up the paper into a ball aggressively and threw it at him. His eyes widened at my response but he got to writing back immediately, then carefully he folded the paper and dropped it onto my desk.

'Just thought you would like to have at least one friend here.' I turned to him after reading over his words and he shrugged innocently.

Once the last bell rang he left straight away so I quickly grabbed my belongings and chased after him, feeling like a dick. I grabbed his arm and he turned to face me.

"Hey, I'm sorry. People have been giving me a hard time here. I just don't fit in, apparently and you called me princess so I thought you were another one out to get me."

He slung his arm around me in a friendly gesture and it took me a little by surprise. I'm not really a tactile person.

"Come on" he laughed. He walked with me to the courtyard and beeped his car open. "Get in." He shouted over to me. I obliged his wishes and climbed into his car. He fumbled with the radio and set the car into drive, I had no idea where we were going.

Until we ended up out front his house, I felt nervous. His house wasn't anything fantastic but it was a castle compared to the apartment I currently lived in. He fixed us drinks as I stood awkwardly in his kitchen, shifting from one foot to another.

"Let's go upstairs." He walked out and I followed behind him, not really wanting to go upstairs to a guys bedroom who I just met. Especially when his parents were not home. He got halfway up when he realized I wasn't following him and turned back to face me.

"Mia, you know I'm not into you. Right?" He laughed. I didn't know if I should feel comforted by that or insulted. He laughed harder, probably at my bewildered facial expression. I stormed past him up the stairs, hearing his laughter trailing behind me.

He led me to his bedroom and I looked around, it was mostly decorated with grey, black and white shades. He had boxing trophies and ribbons on display and I skimmed my hand over them, reading the plaques. He had a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling and I hit it a few times, making it sway ever so slightly.

I heard his belt buckle open and I turned to face him rapidly with wide eyes.

"Woah, what are you doing?" I asked frantically as he continued unhooking the button to his jeans and dropped them to the floor right before my eyes.

"Changing?" He questioned with amusement. I turned away focusing on the pictures gathered on a cork notice board.

One in particular caught my attention and I pulled it down for a closer look.

Two boys, shirtless on the dock. They looked happy, smiling into the camera with their arms around one another. One of them was Joel the other was Noah. They looked like a younger version of themselves but not by many years.

"You're friends with Noah?" I turned back to face him as he was slipping his T-shirt over his bare chest. Joel took the picture out of my hands and studied it, smiling down fondly.

"Was." He said simply. "I was friends with Noah." He added. "Best friends actually." Joel continued sadly.

"What happened?" I sat down on his bed, his mattress dipped in a lot beneath me, it was one of those memory foam mattresses that your body just sinks into. He placed the picture back up on his cork board and shrugged.

"Things happen. People change." He offered me for an answer. "So tell me about yourself Mia, what brought you to Bell View?" He sat down on his desk chair leisurely swiveling around on it from the left to right. His blue eyes peered into me like a calm sea, everything about him seemed to radiate kindness.

"My mom and dad split, the tuition wasn't cover-able anymore so I transferred to a public school. It's really not that deep." He nodded along, genuinely interested. "I hate it." I added a touch of honesty.

He laughed. "It's not that bad, you'll get used to it." I rolled my eyes.

"Everyone calls me princess and some girl made fun of my clothes." He looked my outfit up and down and then nodded in agreement. I tilted my head at him and gave him 'the stare.' "Noah called me a spoiled brat and said I was entitled." I complained.

His brow furrowed and his nose screwed up. "What do you mean? Noah doesn't talk anymore, to anyone." I stood up and paced to the window, gazing out at the passersby in his street. He watched me carefully, trying to understand the information I just relaid to him.

"So I have been told but what does that even mean? He is unable to speak, like physically or he chooses not to? Because I heard him loud and clear on the two separate occasions that he has spoken to me." I traced my hand over his drapes, feeling the ribbed material under my thumb.

"He just doesn't speak." Joel pointed out with added hand gestures for extra effect. I turned back to face him, eager for more information.

"Tell me what happened." I sat down beside Joel and poked him in the side, he moved away from the ticklish gesture.

"Stop!" he laughed.

"Tell me!" I poked again.

"Okay, fine." He breathlessly spoke, reining in his laughter. "A year ago Noah was a completely different person. He had friends, many friends and he used to party with us all of the time, not taking anything too seriously. Together we ditched school a lot, failed classes, dated girls. All the typical high school stuff. But then one night there was an accident and his parents died. After that Noah changed."

Well of course he did, his whole life changed. Joel surely can't hold that against him. Noah was grieving and may even still be.

"How?" I was fully intrigued by this story, I wanted to know more about the mystery that is Noah Scott.

"At the time he confided in his girlfriend that he was the one who killed them and she spread it around the whole school like wildfire. People became scared of him and automatically distanced themselves. His friends however, tried to reach him but when Noah and his little sister moved in with his uncle he pushed everybody away. 

We didn't stop though, his friends who were brave enough to ask him questions about the rumors induced nothing but a break out of fist fights and verbal abuse, so one by one we gave up on him. Until finally he just closed himself off completely. He stopped answering the questions. He stopped talking."

"So let me get this straight, he lost his parents, his whole world fell apart and his friends all turned their back on him when he was hurting the most?" Joel's face turned angrier, like I had struck a nerve.

"You don't know what he was like Mia. I didn't turn my back on him, he pushed me away. He said things to me that I can never forgive."

Joel's whole face changed, I studied it trying to interpret his emotions. Definitely a strong sense of hurt, betrayal and anger mixed in there somewhere.

I furrowed my brows, the guy I met was without a doubt rude but a murder was a little far fetched for me to believe. Plus, I've been burnt by rumors before and for that reason I point blank refuse to listen to them anymore unless they come from the horses mouth.

"Do you believe he caused the accident Joel?" He rubbed his forehead like his thoughts hurt his brain.

"He didn't have a great relationship with his parents." He said quietly. "The Noah I knew had a darkness inside of him that made him more than capable of committing such a crime." His blue eyes peered up at me deeply, like within them was his warning without needing to speak one out loud. "You don't know him like I do Mia." His concern for me seemed genuine and it made me want to believe him. "Please stay away from him." He spoke his warning anyway, just to strengthen his point.