My eyes bugged out of my head as I read off the long list of things we couldn't wear to school in the student handbook; no ripped jeans, jeans with holes, chains or spikes, no hats (beanies are exceptional); nothing shorter than your knees, no tank tops, no shoulders can show, no belly shirts, no shorts, and no flip flops.

"Nobody actually listens to those you know," Lizzie said before she took a giant bite out of her crispy chicken wrap. We made it to lunch, I was halfway through the school day.

"Occasionally we have the unlucky ones who get caught though," Rose pointed out with her fork. My teachers seemed alright, no one too strict. Most of the students here were welcoming and others not so welcoming.

"Should I buy some turtlenecks?" I half joked.

"I would consider." Rose smile watching the lunchroom doors impatiently for her boyfriend. She was wearing a striped sweater with one arm over an empty seat next to her.

On one side of me was Rose, the other side was Lizzie. The people across from me, well I didn't exactly know who they were.

"Do you like it here so far?" Rose asked.

"It's much different from what I expected," I answered honestly.

"Well, what did you expect?" Lizzie asked sipping her juice.

"I don't know the usual high school cliques; the players, the cheerleaders, the bad boys, the jocks who know it all, the nerds and the inbetweeners."

"We have the cliques, they are just less noticeable. The player in our grade is Camden Taylor, and our bad boys all graduated last year. And were the inbetweeners." she chuckled waving her hand at her whole table of girls. At my old school I was with the band geeks and mathletes. Being popular wasn't ever high on my priority list.

I knew it was too good to be true. What's high school without a little drama? The lunchroom was noisy from all the conversations going on, the lunch line was at its end.

A familiar tall guy strutted to the other side of the lunchroom with his tray in his hands. He caught me looking, a smug look was planted on his face and I couldn't help but stare at his rugged good looks. I had only seen his collarbone and up until now.

He waved at me and I waved back. He winked walking over to his table to sit with his back facing me. Rose and Lizzie stared at me like I had five heads, did I do something wrong?

"What?" I asked innocently.

"What are you doing talking to Camden Taylor?!" Lizzie whisper yelled. Camden? As in the player she was just talking about? At least now I know his name instead of referring to him as 'The Fireman'.

"That explains all the pick up lines." I thought out loud. She smacked my arm.

"You don't like him right, please tell me you don't like him," she practically begged.

"We're just friends," I cleared up.

She sighed in relief, "He is no good for the girl population."

"She's just mad because he got her at one point," Rose spat out. Lizzie glared at her and she looked at me for help.

"Anyways, those pick up lines you were talking about, yeah he's famous for those, dont go thinking you're the only one he says them to." she rolled her eyes like it truly bothered her. Lizzies long brown hair was in waves today and light blue eyes looked more green today. She was tall standing five feet and seven inches tall. But, she didn't strike me as the kind of girl who falls for players.

"He's so hot though," Rose practically drooled over his attractiveness. She was wearing her dark blue beanie that matched his striped shirt.

"Who's hot?" A boy asked with long blonde hair. He had the whole surfer look going on, kinda strange to see in the city. Rose smiled brightly up at him inviting him over to sit down.

"You of course," Rose saved herself.

"Max this is Violet, Violet this is Max, my boyfriend," She said excitedly. I smiled at him.

"I've heard a lot about you Max, we should all hang out soon." I said. For a second my life felt almost normal.

Lunch ended soon enough, we all exchanged numbers since my remaining classes consisted of only Max. It was awkward at first but he's actually a pretty funny guy. He was leading me to my next class, biology.

"The biology teacher sucks, prepare to fail this class," He groaned slipping through the doorway of a darkly lit lab. I laughed remembering Lizzie claiming all the teachers here sucked just earlier today.

We sat at a table in the back waiting for class to begin. I felt the need to get to know my long-time best friends boyfriend.

"So how long have you guys been dating?" I asked figuring I'd save myself some catching up to do with Rose later.

"Um, I think three months," He thought about it. He smiled cheekily but then his eyes slightly widened staring at something behind me.

"Excuse me. I'm from the FBI, the Fine Body Investigators, and I'm going to have to ask you to assume the position." I instantly recognized him from his cheesy pick up lines. How did he remember all of these?

I turned around giving him a knowing look, my cheeks slightly burning. "I have a boyfriend," I lied remembering Lizzie's warning.

"And I have four fish," He shrugged. What does fish have to do with this?

"What?" I asked my words dripping in confusion.

"I thought we were listing off things that didn't matter," He chuckled teasingly. I slapped his arm lightly but enough to draw attention of those around us. I just met this kid and he's already pulled nearly ten pick up lines.

"You know you still haven't told me your name," I asked. However I already knew his name, but I didn't want to let him know I found it out by talking about him, that would only boost his already large ego.

"My name is Camden, but you can call me tonight." He winked one of his hazel eyes. He then turned on his heels sitting in a stool across the room. I turned back to Max who looked completely stunned.

Today at the salon Aunt Cherry was raising money for homeless animals by offering face painting at the shop. Kids were running around everywhere and I could barely take it anymore.

I had painted hundreds of hearts, flowers, ladybugs, butterflies, spiders, and even a few cows. For the first day of school, all went well. I guess Aunt Cherry had been right, after all, she had it all figured out. The bus ride home was boring, Camden wasn't there. I didn't have a distraction from reality so I listened to music instead.

"Can I paint your face?" A little girl asked sweetly. Her eyes were green and her hair was in pigtails. She looked to be six or seven.

"No, im supposed to paint your face silly" I answered waiting with her for her mom to get out of the bathroom. Her mother asked me to keep an eye on her while she went to the ladies room.

"Please please please, with a cherry on top!" She pleaded as she tugged on my right leg. The donations came from painting their faces, not the other way around.

"I guess, but really quickly, I have to get back to work," I gave in to the child. I am a pushover, your neighborhood doormat might I say.

"Yay!" She squeaked picking up the paintbrush that was sitting in a cup of water on a small foldable table. She smudged the paintbrush around in the black color and I silently watched as I dreaded saying yes.

"Close your eyes," She huffed. I snapped them shut feeling a small, cold brush hit against my cheek. It slid in three different directions, they seemed like only lines. The brush faintly touched my nose as she drew something there also.

"All done!" She said. I opened my eyes seeing her mother standing there.

"Thank you, we should get going now," She said politely taking her daughter out of the salon.

"And what would you like?" I asked the adorable little boy who sat on the stool.

"I want a dinosaur!" He exclaimed excitingly.

The salon doors bell dinged once more as I was giving my customer his receipt. The old man was carrying his miniature poodle waiting patiently to be checked out. All the children were gone thankfully, it was nearing six o'clock, the shop closed at eight. However, Lizzie's closing today so I can leave whenever she gets here.

Lizzie was always late, I, unfortunately, had to learn that the hard way. Luckily for me, I was getting the hang of things.

"Have a nice day!" I said politely, I turned back to the register to close it. I walked over to the desk for the salon side ready to help the next customer.

"Hi, can I interest you in any grooming packages today?" I asked looking up at the next customer. My jaw dropped as soon as I laid my eyes on him. It was the boy from the car garage. I recognized his arm tattoos, I couldn't quite determine what they were though. This time he was wearing a grey shirt with his shops' logo on it, on his left side, there was a stitched name tag. Austin, it read.

In his hand was a long red leash attached to a bulky dog. He looked to be a rottweiler mix, beautiful coat if you asked me. He had a black collar with silver spikes.

"Yeah, can I just get him a bath, he rolled around oil at my shop." He said not having made any eye contact with me yet. His eyes had finally met mine, but his brain was not clicking. He gave me a weird look, the corners of his lips moving slightly upward.

Did he not recognize me from the shop? It was only two days ago.

"That's funny I don't remember asking," I quickly thought of the last time I saw him and he said those same exact words. He looked at me blankly slowly recognizing who I was. I could almost visually picture the gears turning in his head.

"Actually you did," He chuckled. I frowned feeling stupid for trying to mimic the guy who clearly thought he was better than everyone else

"I thought dogs weren't allowed in the shop?" I asked.

"This would be why dogs arent allowed in the shop." He smiled cheekily, "nice whiskers by the way. Is there a cat special today or something?"

"Whiskers?" I raised an eyebrow quizzically at him. My eyes were captured in a hold by his and I couldn't get myself to look away.

His eyes left my mine and landed on my cheeks. Whiskers? What whiskers? Confused, I walked up to the nearest mirror nearly shrieking at my three drawn on whiskers. I had almost completely forgotten about the little girls painting.

My face grew red and I felt the need to explain my cat face.

I wet some paper towels in the bathroom sink and scrubbed the black paint off my face leaving harsh red lines on my sensitive skin.

"Kids, got to love them right." I awkwardly carried on the conversation.

"That'll be forty dollars please," I said when he didn't respond. He handed me fifty dollars worth of cash telling me to keep the change. He was rather quiet today.

I thanked him for the tip and he responded with a smirk. He probably knew just how good that looked on him. Eyes off Violet, you are not here to gawk at boys.

The golden paw package consisted of everything we offered, unfortunately, I couldn't do most of those things.

"Alright, hand him over," I said holding out my hand for the red leash he held tightly. His knuckles were tattooed with a word, I couldn't read it as he moved his hand rather quickly.

"Just a pre-warning for you, Spike hates baths." He said.

"Thanks for the warning but we're trained to deal with these situations" I gave the automated response that I had already memorized. I held out my hand again for the leash.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," He warned putting the leash in my hands. Our fingers touched for just a second. He sat comfortably in the waiting room.

He was just a little pup, he couldn't cause too much harm right? Wrong. Knowing his owner was sitting there looking smug watching my every move made me much more nervous.

I led the pup into the backroom nervously, Austin sat there amused with his hands behind his head. Instead of making a fool out of myself by trying to get him up on the station, I had him sit on the rug. He seemed to know the simple commands, like sit, stay and lay down.

I picked up the curry brush for Spikes' short fur and began brushing him by starting at his neck. He seemed to like to be groomed, what was Austin talking about he was a good boy.

His long pink tongue hung out from the side as he licked my hand a few times. After brushing his fur I handed him a cookie. I dropped it mid-air and he caught it.

"Who's a good boy? Spikes a good boy," I pat his head talking to him in the voice you talk to babies in. I lead Spike over to the bathtub.

He jumped in the tub obediently, I checked the shampoos making sure they had enough in them. When I found that they did I turned on the water taking Spikes spiked collar off. I placed it on the counter for safekeeping.

"Alright, Spike are you ready?" I asked him. His head turned with each word and his ears perked up. I took the hose out gently hosing down his body in warm water.

He walked around the tub uncomfortably, he clearly didn't like baths. I put back the hose and poured shampoo down his back. I rubbed the shampoo in extra good, once I was sure he was clean I reached for the hose.

But Spike had other plans, he jumped out of the tub with water and soap dripping off him and onto the floor.

"No Spike, come back!" I turned off the water chasing after the dog who was making a huge mess. He shook his fur crazily splatting soap everywhere. He ran around the back room and I made a step to catch him.

I slipped on some water he left behind landing on my back. "Oww," I whined. My clothes were soaked and Austin was cracking up laughing in the waiting room. Before I knew it there were soap suds and water in every crevice.

"Oh no," I said to myself.

The door to the back room opened and I expected Aunt Cherry to walk in pissed at what happened.

But it wasn't her, instead, it was the dogs' owner. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed looking amused.

"I tried to warn you." He gleamed with a cocky tone. I gave him the best dirty look I could muster up while sitting in a puddle of soap and bubbles. At least I could wash my whiskers off finally.

"Customers aren't allowed back here." I pointed to the sign that said employees only.

"And dogs aren't allowed in my garage, I guess this makes us even," He shrugged.

"Whatever," I scoffed. I stood up from the slippery floor clutching onto the table for support. I take back what I said, he is no longer hot nor attractive. Now he is just plain rude.

"Do you want help or not?" He bargained. I rolled my eyes but threw a towel at him anyway

"I told you you couldn't handle him," He chuckled. I ignored him grabbing my own towel to clean up the floors, luckily we had drains. I slid the towel around and it sucked most of the puddles.

"I'll help you bathe him," He offered. I rolled my eyes at him, now he wants to help. Is this even allowed?

"I've got it under control." I lied.

"Do you?" He gave me a pointed look and I looked around at the mess. Here I go thinking I have the best comebacks only to be shut down every time.

"Spike come," He spoke loudly to the dog. He listened as he jumped back into the tub as his owner ordered. The tub was kind of useless now. He turned on the water rinsing Spikes strong body.

Spike obeyed and I watched as Austin rinsed him off.

"How old is this cutie?" I asked.

"Nineteen" he smirked, "two if you meant the dog." I nodded processing his age and his dogs age.

"I rescued him from a kill shelter when he was a year old." He said rinsing off the remaining oil.

"He trusts you." I responded. Austin suddenly became more attractive.

After finding myself staring I decided to do something. I had grabbed a squeegee and moved the water to the drain. Austin had finally gone back to the waiting room to let me finish drying Spike by myself.

I brought the new and improved Spike out of the back room.

"You were right, he really doesn't like baths." I pointed out although I had a feeling he already knew.

"I put an extra tip in the jar."

"Thanks." I replied. I hadnt wanted the conversation to end but I couldnt come up with a reason to make him stay.

"Hows your aunts car doing?" He asked.

"Much better, I wouldn't expect to see Penelope back for at least a few weeks." I chuckled. My aunt and her car problems were two peas in a pod.

"Sometimes I think she's the one giving me my paychecks." He said. He glanced down at Spike.

His mouth was opened flashing his pearly whites, his tail wagging. He held out his hand this time for me to hand the leash over. His rough hands lightly scraped against mine.

"See ya later, kitten," He smirked leaving the salon with his dog by his side. I watched him leave in a sleek black car when finally Lizzie strolled in.

"Sorry I'm late, woah what did I miss?" She gasped looking through the window at the soap-filled grooming area.

"Just had a dog who hates baths and his attractive owner," I said unsticking my shirt from my body.

"I have an extra shirt in my car if you want to grab it." She offered with a smile.