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***

I felt as light as a feather.

Free as a bird.

Strong as a lion.

"Come on sweetheart, faster!" The woman's angelic voice sounded like music to my ears. The warmth of the sun was soaking onto my face. My white dress and brown curls were being blown behind me by the wind and I found my legs running faster and faster.

"MARA!" I halted at the sound of my name and turned around but nobody was there. Everything went black.

I liked the field.

Why wasn't I in the field anymore?

I felt a jolt from behind. It felt like a pair of hands and I started to fall.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. Falling further and further. I was spinning out of control. I couldn't breathe. Why couldn't I breathe? This was it, I was going to die.

BANG.

"Mara! Miss Ellsworth!" I woke up to a loud bang next to my right ear. Feeling groggy, I turned my head where an intimidatingly large textbook filled my vision. What the hell?

I made the mistake of looking up and being faced with my History teacher's murderous glare. Or was he constipated?

The grogginess was really starting to get to me, but I decided that the most logical answer was the fact that he was indeed glaring at me. So I made the bold decision to smile sheepishly. To my surprise he smiled warmly back at me which made me come to the conclusion that Mr Midgely was bipolar.

I mean, it would explain a hell of a lot.

I sat up straight, still confused. After looking around, it was now that I realised the whole class were staring at me with either amused or appalled expressions. Like an automatic reaction I felt my cheeks getting warmer from embarrassment. From the corner of my eye I saw my 'supposed' best friends Isabelle and Kayla trying to hold in their laughter. Even dorky Dan was trying really hard not to laugh.

So I fell asleep and sort of had a nightmare in my worst lesson of the week... Boo hoo. It's not like I did a strip tease in the middle of the cafeteria like slutty Stacey did last year.

Just the mention of her name makes my skin boil. You don't want me to get started on slutty Stacey. Also known as my brother's girlfriend, the whiniest bitch on earth and my arch nemesis who was hell bent on making my life crap. There was not one single person on this entire planet who I hated more. Okay, maybe Donald Trump. On second thought no, not even him.

At least his blonde hair was real.

"Sorry to bother you Mara, but I came over to ask if you needed anything. A pillow maybe? Maybe a blanket? I know how cold my classroom can get,"

I was just about to agree and show my gratitude to his kindness, but about ten seconds later I registered that Mr Midgely was being sarcastic. You'd think that the Queen of sarcasm would automatically recognise it anywhere but hey, the Queen just woke up.

"No that's alright Sir," I smiled meekly at him, praying internally that he doesn't give me a detention.

I've never had a detention before in all my years of being in the education system. Part of me wanted one just for the experience but I have a good girl reputation to maintain. Plus, my brother would kill me. In my defense, I am acing his class so the least he could do was let me sleep from time to time.

Today especially.

I was super exhausted from yesterday, all thanks to my stupid brothers.

They forced me to help them in the garden for hours. My Dad was pretty much a neat freak and he liked everything to be impeccable, his garden included. I was in charge of pulling any weeds out and emptying the lawn mower and my hands were still a little green. Like the Hulk, but cuter.

Getting distracted from my thoughts, I jumped in surprise when all of a sudden Mr Midgely came super close. So close that I could smell his coffee breath and old people smell. Talk about personal space.

"I don't appreciate sleepers in my classroom. See me after class Miss Ellsworth. Clearly you need a reminder about the rules,"

And you need a reminder about personal space and hygiene.

It was then that there was laughter and giggles that scattered across the classroom. I looked towards my friends in confusion.

"Excuse me?!"

Oh sweet potatoes, did I say that out loud?

****

"And there's our best friend the rebel!" I narrowed my eyes at Kayla who was stood with Isabelle by the lockers.

"Shut up guys, that was totally not my fault. I now have my first ever detention this Friday thanks to Aiden and Jake,"

"How has it got anything to do with your sexy, God-like brothers?" Izzy swooned, dramatically putting her hand over her heart.

I looked at her with disgust. "Okay first of all, Jacob is twenty-two which is five years older than you and Aiden is taken. By a slut, but nonetheless still taken. And secondly, the two ugly devil-like imbeciles dragged me into four hours of garden duty yesterday. That's how,"

"Is that it? You slept in class over that? Mara it's your own fault that you're stupidly lazy," If that wasn't the absolute truth, I'd take Kayla's comment as offensive so I shrugged in response.

We started walking down the bustling hall, making our way to the cafeteria which was known to be my favourite place in this entire school. As well as being a self proclaimed lazy couch potato, I was always hungry. And by that I mean always.

Boys didn't make me swoon like they did Izzy, instead food did. Just thinking about greasy pizza and big fat messy burgers made my mouth water.

Sighing deeply and lost in thought, the unexpected happened.

"What the fuck? Can you not watch where you walk asshat?"

I stumbled back from what felt like a brick wall. What the chocolate fudge? There's no wall in the middle of the school hall. Perplexed, my first instinct was to look over to Izzy who looked like she had just seen her worst nightmare. Did she have a phobia of walls? I turned my head ahead of me to see none other than the most feared person in school.

Nixon Ford.

Coral Springs High School's very own bad boy. He almost wore that title as a badge. Rumours say he's killed more times than he changes underwear.

I guess with being part of such rumours and ever rarely being seen you'd expect that. I'm one of the few students here who can proudly admit to not being scared of this douche. I mean, just because he's wearing a black leather jacket with rolled up sleeves that show off his muscular arm, doesn't make the guy scary. Nor does him calling me an 'asshat'.

What type of bad boy uses the word 'asshat' anyway?

"Hey listen chicken nugget, I could say the same to you! Weren't you watching?" I heard whispers and gasps, with some people stopping. Izzy put her arm on mine and gave me the expression which could only be interpreted as 'Are you a psycho?'. From the corner of my eye I could see that even Kayla was shaking her head. I then heard a deep chuckle. It actually almost sounded hot...

In one swift move I was pulled by the forearm with something warm, that also sent tingles through me and pushed against the wall. My whole back was touching the cold flat wall and I didn't realise that I had stopped breathing.

Okay, now I was scared.

My eyes were being glared at by a light chocolate brown which reminded me of Nutella. They suddenly disappeared as he bent his head low to the side of my ear, his hair touching my face making me tickle. The proximity made my nostrils swarm with his scent. A strong musk, with a hint of citrus and leather. I felt intoxicated and a little woozy.

"I have to admit 'nugget' you have balls. But don't underestimate me. One phone call and I could make you disappear forever," His whisper had a sound of danger and warning which sent chills down my spine. His tone was deadly.

In two seconds flat I was left alone standing against a wall, feeling dazed.

What the actual fudge just happened?

I kept replaying the scene of what happened earlier over and over. The girls and I didn't talk about it whilst we ate and I never stopped thinking about it for the rest of the day. And unfortunately, it never got better.

I have never felt so much shock and embarrassment when he left. Mainly shock which still hasn't worn off yet. It's not everyday that someone talks back to the bad boy. Or ever for that matter. It didn't help that we had many witnesses. If word reached my brother, all hell would break loose.

Aiden has a massive hatred for Nixon. And by massive I mean huge.

Pairing that with being the definition of the ultimate over protective brother, creates an apocalypse. The reasons of the hatred are unknown to everyone, including me. Whenever I touch the subject, Aiden goes all crazy on me, tells me to leave it alone and that it's none of my business.

The curiosity kills me and I swear to the all mighty God of chicken nuggets that one day I, Mara Ellsworth, will get the answers from my big brother.

Aiden was a year older than me. And I guess Nixon too. He's eighteen and in his senior year, whilst I still have one more year after this. I'll actually miss him when he leaves, we're pretty close him and I. Granted, sometimes he acts like my dad and goes into crazy overprotective mode but I still love him to bits. But I never tell him that, his ego doesn't need to get bigger than it already is.

We're the total opposites, yet so similar at the same time.

Physically, we don't look alike. He's the only Ellsworth child who didn't inherit our dad's brown eyes and instead has blue. They're mesmerising, but remind me of our mom. We shared the same hair colour though, a light brown.

Socially, I was at the bottom with only two friends, but Aiden was considered the most popular guy at school. I mean of course he would, he's your typical cliche. Quarterback of the football team, he's dating the most popular girl also known as slutty Stacey (I really don't see why), has this charm that seems to win everyone over and some consider him to be 'hot'. Except me of course.

Aiden also has a tattoo, one on his right upper arm. It was from what I like to call his 'dark phase'. He went rebellious for several months and one day came back with a small tribal tattoo. Even I have to admit it's beautiful.

I don't tell him that either.

Making my way to the school parking lot I see him and roll my eyes. "Hurry up please Mar I have things to do, people to see," Aiden was sticking his head out of his car window like a dog.

It was a blue Nissan GTR or as he likes to call it, his baby. I was pretty sure that he was unaware of my run in with Nixon or he would have said something by now. I internally took a deep breath out of relief. I opened the passenger seat and sat down on the leather seat. Aiden barely gave me the chance to put my belt on and put his foot down, driving like the maniac that he is. We were only a few minutes into the journey and I couldn't take it anymore.

"For the love of God Aiden, could you slow down?" I yelled whilst the car caused me my whole body to slam against the door. I was going to end up with a serious concussion one day.

"Like I said Mar, things to do people to see," He replied nonchalantly. Of course he did.

"Will you be home for dinner? Jake said Dad's making his Enchiladas," My mouth was starting to water just thinking about them.

"What type of question is that? Of course I wouldn't miss the Enchiladas," He looked at me like I had grown two heads. It was moments like these where I felt pride for being his sister. "Stacey says hi by the way,"

And there goes the pride out of the window.

"Whatever," My face scowls like an automatic reaction.

"She's nothing but nice to you Mar, don't be a brat,"

Oh how the naive live. Looking out the window in silence I realised ten minutes later we were parked outside the gate of our driveway.

"I'm not being a brat I just don't like Slutty Stacey,"

"Mara, if you call her that one more time I swear I'll cut Pip's head off,"

Just the mere thought of anyone touching my childhood teddy bear brought me to tears.

It was enough motivation for me to stomp out of the car and to see Aiden's smirk before he zoomed off.