I walked out of the school doors feeling like I was leaving a military training camp. The first week of senior year had been draining both physically and mentally. I had to deal with the pressure of my final year of highschool, the crush I had on Willow and its repercussions from my brother.

When Matthew cornered me in the hallway I had been going to the library to give Willow the poster she had requested I help her with. We didn't share any classes so it was the only place I could find her since she didn't eat lunch at the cafeteria.

I could have easily stood up to Matthew but that would have brought more problems than resolutions. He'd have ratted me out to our mom who would have made my life more of a living hell than it already was. Willow standing up for me had been sexy as hell and I appreciated it but she had honestly made things worse. My brother hated not getting his way and now that Willow had made it blatantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, he would do everything to make sure that since he couldn't have her, no one else could either.

Willow was beautiful, kind, sexy and feisty but was she worth the lashing out my brother would unleash on me? Was my crush on her really worth it?

"Look who finally showed, it's the freak. Where's your little bodyguard huh?"Matthew yelled at me just before I got to my car.

He was leaning on the driver's side of my jeep. I wanted to shove him off but I bit my tongue before I said something to make him angrier.

"She may have protected you earlier but she will not be around forever. Mark my words Matthias, you will regret the humiliation I suffered today in the hands of your little girlfriend."He sneered getting off my car.

"You're lucky I have practice otherwise you would be having a conversation with my fists. Make sure these are done by tomorrow."He demanded shoving his books into my stomach knocking the breath out of me.

He shoved past me, his shoulder hitting mine forcefully making me stumble backwards. I stabilized myself just in time before I fell on my ass. I quickly composed myself before unlocking my car and getting in. Matthew had always been a dick but Willow's threats had rubbed off him negatively which meant I would be on the receiving end of his wrath for a while.

When I got home instead of going to my room I made a detour for the home gym Matthew had my parents install for him. I didn't even bother with boxing gloves just went directly to the punching bag at the corner of the room. I had so much pent up anger and frustration that I needed to let out. After the first ten hits, I stopped counting and the pain in my knuckles stopped registering so I kept on and on. Faces appeared in my head and I kept imagining it was them I was beating up. My parents, Matthew, but one particular face had me stopping just in time before I could dismantle their beautiful face, Willow.

I dropped to the floor landing on my knees head clutched in my hands and that's when the pain registered. Not the one in my arms, I could care less about physical pain. No it was the one in my heart because everyday for the longest time, it had become apparent to me that I was completely alone yet for the first time in years Willow had made me feel different by defending me from my brother. I hadn't asked her to do that, I would have preferred if she didn't but the fact that she did without me even asking or us being friends touched something in me.

When she had asked me to help her design the poster and call a truce between us, I hadn't thought much of it. We were doing it for the sake of the arcade. But then at school she started greeting me and smiling at me whenever we passed each other which confused me even more. I didn't know that anyone had noticed but of course Matthew had. Willow was his girl after all, according to him anyway. I may have liked Willow, even had a slight crush on the melanin goddess but would I dare go up against my brother for her?

He had accosted me in the hallway to ask questions that I had no answers to. I had no idea why Willow was suddenly nice to me when I didn't acknowledge her. I didn't know why she did the things that she did, we weren't even friends to begin with, just people with a mutual interest for the same place, the arcade.

I picked myself off the floor, feeling no better than I had before I got home and made my way to my bedroom. I took a long shower before changing into a pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a hoodie. I didn't want to go to the arcade just yet because I knew Willow would be there and I wanted to avoid her as much as I could. I decided to get all the homework I had, done before going to the arcade later. It was a pain doing homework for two people but I tried to look at the brighter side which was that it just made me smarter. Matthew would peak in high school but college would crush him like pile of bricks because I would not be there to do his assignments for him. He would probably drop out within the first year, then live off our parents money. I would be long gone by then living my best life away from all of them.

Two hours later I decided to take a much needed break so I grabbed my car keys and some cash before leaving the house. I loved walking but I was too drained to make it all the way to the arcade on foot. When I got there Jack was behind the counter ringing up a comic book for a customer. Willow was nowhere in sight but she was around as I'd seen her truck parked outside and her brother was reading a comic book secluded alone in a corner. I'd never really interacted with Charlie but he seemed like a great kid with an amazing personality and a very overprotective big sister. It was good that he had her in his corner as the world could be very cruel sometimes.

I waved at Jack before making my way to one of the games making sure Willow was nowhere near it. I was going to avoid her for as long as I could. The high score was hers but I was going to beat it before I left the arcade. We had some sort of gaming war going on. It was kind of cute as we hadn't really discussed it and fun too. Willow was making it her priority to beat my high scores and I made it my mission to make sure she never actually beat me. It was nice being challenged which was rare as I was really good at gaming.

At some point I got so lost in thought I stopped paying attention to which game I was playing. I was so distracted I almost ran into Willow. Thankfully I heard her before I saw her so I stopped myself. She was explaining to some kid about how to play one of the games. Her back was turned to me and her attention on the kid so I took my time looking at her. She was wearing a white tank top tucked into blue ripped jeans and white adidas sneakers. She was so beautiful, with curves in all the right places, a petite but round ass and curvy hips. Her hair was in a unruly afro, looking so soft bringing up the urge in me to walk towards her and run my hair through it. I'd never been attracted to a black girl before, not that I had anything against dating black women, I had just never really looked or paid attention. Willow intrigued me and brought up feelings in me that I had no idea how to interpret.

"Staring is rude you know."A voice whispered behind me and my heart nearly leaped out of my chest.

I turned around, hand clasped over my chest with a murderous glare directed to Jack.

"I was not staring."I defended after calming down enough to form words.

"Oh yeah, then what were you doing?"Jack asked his arms crossed over his chest.

"Minding my own business like you should."I replied disappointing myself with my poor reply.

"You kids are weird. Why don't you both admit that you like each other and get on with it? When did dating become so complicated? "Jack inquired and I nearly choked on my spit.

"I do not like her. Willow and I are barely even friends."I denied feeling myself start to hyperventilate.

I didn't like Willow, there's no way. Sure I had a tiny crush on her but I was already working on getting over that. There's no way my feelings for her could grow yet we had barely said more than five sentences to each other. Most of our conversations had included her yelling at me or cussing me out while I listened. The longest conversation we'd had was at the hallway after she got my brother off my back but even that hadn't been a good conversation. But yeah, point was I didn't like Willow.

"Keep telling yourself that kid. She is one of the good ones though so if you decide to ask her out make sure you do right by her. Just don't come to me for any information of her like she did about you, I know nothing about her."He advised.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise after his last statement.

"Willow asked you about me?"I asked Jack.

Why would she be going around asking about me?

"Crap I should not have said that."Jack cussed.

"Too bad it's already out there. What did she want to know about me?"I inquired curiously.

Jack huffed in frustration probably torn between trying to keep the peace between Willow and I.

"I might as well tell you anyway but it was nothing much just how long I've known you and if you've always been quiet and weird. Not in those exact words but you get what I mean."He answered.

"And what did you tell her?"I asked curiously.

"You two should stop putting me in the middle of whatever dance you have going on. I didn't tell her anything but the truth, that you're a great kid who is reserved and quiet due to circumstances forced on you by your family. Willow is great too and as much as you like being alone she might be a good influence on you. Now if you will excuse me I will be going where I won't be hounded by two hormonal teens who just won't admit that they like each other and get it over with."Jack said before turning around and leaving me alone.

I had no idea that Willow was even remotely interested in me. She has declared her distaste for my twin clear as day so why would she be interested in me. I was probably overthinking it and putting too much importance into Jacks words. After all he did say that I liked her yet that was not true.

When I turned back around Willow was long gone which was actually great as I didn't have it in me to talk to her. Jacks words had unnerved me more than I wanted to admit because the possibility of Willow liking me had never crossed my mind. Whether Jack was right or wrong didn't matter, the thought had already been implanted and there was no stopping myself from overthinking. I didn't want Willow to like me because if she did then I would like her too and I didn't have time for relationships. I just wanted a stress free senior year but it was only one week in and hell was already breaking loose in my life. Why did she have to come into my life and complicate everything? It was already hard enough without adding girl drama to the mix.

Deciding that I needed a distraction, I found a game I hadn't played in ages and went ahead to loose myself in it for the next few hours. Jack was the one to call me out when he was ready to lock up.

"Before you leave Henry, I know you don't work for me or anything but Willow and I will be cleaning the arcade over the weekend, trying to spruce things up. I would really appreciate it if you could come in and help."Jack requested.

He was right, I didn't work for him but I loved the arcade and would do anything to keep it running.

"I'll be here."I promised him.

"Thanks kid. Goodnight."He said with a smile.

"Goodnight Jack."I replied as I left the arcade and got into my car.

I didn't want to go home just yet so I took the long way home and drove way under the speed limit. When I finally did get home I found a left over pizza in the fridge that I wolfed down with a glass of orange juice. As I made my way to my bedroom after eating the silence in the house was interrupted by the noise coming out of my brothers room. It was all grunts, shrieks and cusses so I didn't need to be told what was going on. I hurried to my room locking the door behind me.

Looks like my brother had moved on from Willow pretty fast. He had just wanted to bang her and leave her in the first place which was pretty disgusting if you asked me. A girl like Willow deserved the world and my brother was not capable of giving it to her. I wasn't either so I hoped that whoever won her over would treasure her like she deserved to.

Getting comfortable in the sanctuary of my bedroom I finished the rest of the homework I'd left undone before getting into coding. It wouldn't take long before the game was complete and ready for marketing. I needed a lot money to set me up for a comfortable life so I had to work really hard to make sure it was great.

When I got into bed later that night, I couldn't stop the thoughts of Willow from invading my mind. I feel asleep dreaming of her amber eyes, her charming smile and irresistible body. I was so screwed.