"You like him!" Jasmine squealed.

"No I don't!" I denied as we walked down the hall to Science.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"What's up?" Chase asked as he walked up with Wes and Zoey. Jasmine and I were still arguing and then we started mocking each other and just quit at the same time and crossed our arms.

"You do..." Jasmine mumbled.

"I do not!" I yelled.

"Do not what?" Chase asked.

"She has a crush on—"

"No one!" I finished.

"Look at her blush," Zoey teased.

"You must be mistaken with my anger," I retorted. Wes threw an arm over my shoulder.

"Babe, it's okay. Just tell them that you like me and we're going out," Wes said. I rolled my eyes and tried to shrug his arm off, but I failed.

"You're going out?!" Jasmine and Zoey asked, shocked.

"No," I answered.

"Why is your arm around my girl?" I heard a voice ask. I turned to see Riley. His silver eyes were piercing through Wes, but he didn't back down.

"Your girl?" Chase and Wes asked at the same time.

"Correct. My girl," Riley clarified, grabbing me and pulling me away from Wes. Riley's hands went around my waist as he stood behind me, and even though I wasn't really "his girl," it was enough to get away from Wes.

"As of when?" Wes asked.

"As of always," Riley replied. I playfully rolled my eyes as the boys got extremely pissed for some reason.

"He's kidding," I informed.

"Or am I?" Riley whispered by my ear before he kissed my cheek. His cool lips made a shiver run through my body. Wes and Chase's eyes got extremely dark. Riley turned my waist so I faced him and then smirked as his face was close to mine. Then suddenly, he turned and grabbed my hand to walk me to our shared science class. I definitely noticed how pissed Chase and Wes looked while talking to each other during that same class.

***

Riley and I were at McDonald's talking and laughing as we waited for our food. Our laughs and conversation was cut short when I noticed my English teacher walk in the front door. Immediately I grabbed a stray tray and held it up to block my and Riley's face. Riley totally didn't have a pass to be out for lunch...so if we were caught, we were screwed.

"What?" he whispered.

"English teacher just walked in," I informed. Riley didn't respond. Even though he wore sunglasses, I could see as his eyes looked from my eyes to my lips back and forth. Then he smirked.

"You're cute up close," Riley commented. I smiled and looked down.

"Ah, Mr. Knight, what brings you here?" Teacher-man's voice said. Wes?! I looked up from the tray. I saw Wes look over to me and I put the tray down and stood up, trying to hide as Riley added his hood on his head.

"I was just here with Alicia," Wes lied. I awkwardly walked over to him. Our teacher looked between us. Ugh. "I decided to take her out for lunch since the school's is, uh..."

"I think 'crap' is the word you were looking for," our teacher smiled.

"Sure. Something like that," Wes shrugged with a straight face.

"Well I hope you two have a pass," he said.

"Yep," Wes said, nodding. I nodded myself. The lady called mine and Riley's food order, but considering that Riley was undercover, I grabbed it awkwardly and stood there with Wes instead. Our teacher started to leave so he could order, but I kept him there, just in case if he was in view of Riley.

"Oh! I just wanted to thank you for...for bringing our English group together," I said. In a way, I sort of meant it...for some of the group anyway.

"Yeah. You've really brought people closer," Wes agreed, throwing an arm around me. Just to play along, I hid my scowl and then our teacher nodded.

"I'm glad. That's the whole reason to the assignment. High school should be more about connections and networking—why wait until college," he replied with a smile. I looked with my peripheral vision to see that Riley had left.

"So I guess we should be getting back to school now, huh?" I asked Wes. He smirked.

"Sure. Let's go," he replied and then looked to our teacher. "See you in seventh period."

As soon as our teacher said goodbye and turned his back, I dropped Wes' arm and started to walk to his car. He smirked but the entire ride I ignored him as I listened to my iPod.

***

I ate my McDonald's for the remainder of lunch with a combined company of my table and the Group's. Towards the end, I was just wondering why Riley hadn't made it back, but suddenly Wes smacked the table.

"Go out with me," Wes said to me.

"Excuse me?" I asked, looking at him like he was crazy. And I wasn't the only one. Even Chase and Zoey—who had been in their own conversation most of this time—had turned their head at the outburst.

"Go on a date with me," Wes demanded in a clarification.

"Dude. Just because you're the only one without a girl and Alicia's single doesn't mean you choose her," Mason said. Ouch?

"Hurtful," I mumbled. He flashed me a brief apologetic look.

"That's not why," Wes informed. He looked to me again. His eyes were a bit lighter. "Go out with me. Please."

What about Riley? Was the first thing to run through my mind. The second thing was why me?

The bell rang and immediately, Chase stomped off without a word...or Zoey. She gave us a worried look before following him. I just sat, looking at the table. One by one the couples (and Mason) left me and Wes at the table. Did Wes seriously ask me out? No. He demanded. I thought I made it clear that we hated each other. But apparently it wasn't returned on his end. I didn't understand when or why he had shifted into altered motives for acting like an ass to me. Not to mention why would I go out with the biggest jerk I know?