As I walked through the school corridors, I couldn’t help but think:

Wow, news travels fast at Prescott Private.

Every single person was talking about the punch on afterschool.

Hell, people were placing bets on who they’d reckon would win.

“You’re not in my Math class anymore? Aww that sucks!” Gabby brought me out of my reveries. My lips formed into a smirk.

“More like YAAY FREEDOM!” I chuckled.

She slapped me.

“Geez. I’m joking!”

“Naww Chloe, I’m so proud of you little Nerd.” Charlie messed up my hair before I could shoo him away.

I looked across from Gabby to Charlie and back again. “You two are bullies.”

They just laughed at me. See? Emotional abuse right there!

“Yeah but you love us.” Charlie punched me softly. See?! Physical abuse!

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, totes.”

“Oh my God guys, have you heard about the fight that’s on afterschool today?” Allie gushed out as she rushed to our table.

“Everyone has, Allie.” Charlie commented.

“A bit slow there, don’t you think?” Gabby added.

“Shut up.” Allie mumbled, looking embarrassed. “Why are they fighting anyway?”

This caught my attention.

“Not sure, but I’ve got a feeling Tyler’s the one who started this. I don’t know this Reece guy too well, but as far as I know – he doesn’t really give a shit about anyone, nor does he take shit from anyone.”

I finished my orange juice and stood up to throw it in the bin, on my way there, I passed a group of boys – Tyler was among them, looking very, very smug.

~*~

I was feeling extremely nervous.

Why?

Because I was standing outside my last class for the day: Year 12 Specialist Math.

I was going to be the only Year 11 there and I don’t even know that many Year 12’s!

Yay life.

The corridors were becoming empty – I said one last prayer to the Lord and opened the door.

“Ah, you must be Chloe,” The teacher was a middle aged man, nothing too out of the ordinary. He had a tall nose where his thin-framed glasses rested on and his broad smile was very welcoming.

“Yeah,” I said shyly when the entire class looked at me.

“Great, great. I’m Mr. Collins, I’ve heard a lot about you. We’ve never had a Year 11 in a Year 12 Specialist class…” he turned towards his students, “So class, make sure you Chloe feels very welcome.”

I just blushed and looked at my shoes.

“Okay, find a seat – wherever you like, and here,” he handed me a worksheet. “Try these, if you have any problems just give me a shout.”

“Thanks.” I looked around properly for the first time and tried my hardest to avoid everyone’s stares. I didn’t care whether they were friendly smiles or not – I didn’t like being the center of attention in awkward situations.

There were basically four rows of seats.

The first row was packed with the typical – stereotypical Nerds: Braces, glasses…pimples - you get the drift.

The second row consisted of the stuck up Nerds. You know, the ones that might think you’re mentally challenged if you don’t know the square root of pie to 27 decimal places.

The third row would be where I would prefer to sit – if they weren’t all occupied. The third row involved of Smart people…with a life.

I guess, I was left with only one choice.

The fourth row: Reserved for Reece Carter.

My mind was not registering properly as I sat down in the seat beside him.

Reece Carter?!

He…was in…Specialist Math?

Really?

“You’re in Specialist Math?” I finally whisper yelled. His eyebrows formed into a playful frown.

“I bet that’s really hard to believe, right Chloe?” He might have meant it as a joke, but a part of me knew he was hurt by my question.

“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t…mean it like…that.” I turned scarlet red, I had offended him and it was actually killing me inside.

We didn’t say much after that. I quickly completed all the questions and hesitantly peered through my lashes to catch a glance at Reece. He had his feet on the desk and his arms were crossed behind the back of his head.

Had he already finished? No way. I looked up to see everyone else’s heads down as they scurried to finish the Math problems before the bell. Was Reece really that fast?

“Are you stuck on a problem Chloe?” Mr. Collins asked beside me. I jumped, not expecting him to be so close.

“Er...no. Um…I finished.”

His left eyebrow shot up, “Oh? Great! I’ll mark it now.” He took out his red pen from the front pocket of his shirt and I watched as he put a tick next to all my answers.

A minute later, the bell rang. Everyone packed up their own things and left. Reece shut his folder and made an attempt to leave but I stood in his way.

“We need to talk.”

He didn’t even bother looking at me – which only made my heart sink deep into my chest, “Later.”

“No, right now.”

“Chloe?” Mr. Collin’s friendly voice called me. I turned around to look at him, feeling very annoyed.

“Yes Sir?”

“Can I speak to you for a moment?”

I looked back to tell Reece to wait for me and scowled when no one was in view.

The jerk had already left.

I unwillingly brought myself to Mr. Collin’s desk, “Is there something wrong?”

“Wrong? No, no…everything’s perfect, you got a hundred percent! I’m impressed. Seems like Reece has a rival.” Mr. Collins chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

He let out a small laugh again, “Reece is usually the only person who gets full marks in this class.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “What?!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Because…I don’t know…his personality…”

I’ve never seen him study, or read a book, or do something that shows that he cares about his future. He’s always reckless and carefree, rude and impatient, mean and wild… that, and absolutely amazing.

Mr. Collins laughed again, “I know exactly what you mean Chloe,” he let out a sigh, “Ahh, but there’s more than what meets the eye.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, he ranks first in not only Year 12, but the entire school.”

I stood there, dumbfounded and absolutely speechless.

Mr. Collins noticed my expression and gave me a toothy grin. “You should see your face right now.”

“Reece really ranks… first?”

“Sure does. He’s a bright kid Chloe; Prescott is privileged to have him. The school is lucky he accepted our offer."

This teacher was currently confusing the crap out of me.

“What offer?”

“Well,” Mr. Collins ran his hand through his hair. “Reece is not like other students…Reece is here on a scholarship.”

~*~

Everything was finally making some sense to me. It was all adding up.

When I was at Reece’s house, I noticed that there weren’t any pictures of his father. Aurora must be a single mother.

Reece is smart. Hell, he’s a firkin genius for being ranked number one in the entire school. Two nights ago, Jayden and Jake mentioned that Reece fought in Championships for money – money he probably needed for school and a normal lifestyle.

And last but not least – yesterday, the Headmaster had said that she knew who broke into the school. Of course! She found out it was Reece, but she couldn’t expel him – Prescott Private needs Reece.

Wow. Just wow.

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” Voices of a cheering crowd brought me back to reality. I looked up, only to find my breath caught up in my throat.

A relatively large audience had gathered around Reece and Tyler, encouraging one another to throw a punch.

I felt like throwing up.

Running as fast as I could manage in my school shoes, I tried to get through the crowd. After pushing and shoving some people and apologizing over a billion times, I finally came to a view.

Tyler had his guard up – he was in full battle mode with his stern, intimidating expression on his face and the way he had his fists up for a punch.

Reece on the other hand, stood there casually with an amused, playful smile.

“Well? Are you going to hurry up already? I have places to go…people to see…things to destroy…” Reece’s calm voice surprised me; did he not realize the dangerous situation he was in?

“Sure, right after I destroy your pretty face.” Tyler sneered. His friends on the swim team were cheering him on, I noticed Charlie standing in the crowd shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair. Charlie was like me; we both weren’t fond of fighting.

Reece’s eyes glistened as he smiled an adorable crooked smile, “So you think my face is pretty?”

“Yeah, pretty shit.”

With that, he aimed his fist directly to Reece’s face.

The crowd gasped and I closed my eyes, waiting for Reece to groan in pain.

But it never happened. Hesitantly, I fluttered my eyes open only to see Reece have Tyler’s fist in his grip, just like he had mine two night’s ago at Cyrus.

“Was that really all you have? Let me teach you how the big boys play.”

The next thing I knew, Tyler was on the ground, gasping for breath.

Valentino’s laugh was able to be heard over the crowd’s cheers, “Oi Reece, try not to kill the kid, yeah?”

Reece smirked, “I’ll try, no promises though.” He casually walked over to where Tyler was attempting to get up – and failing miserably – and pulled him up with his collar.

“C’mon kid, don’t tell me you’ve had enough already?”

Tyler’s bright blue eyes were filled with hatred, anger and a hint of embarrassment. He tried to serve another punch but again, Reece caught it, twisted his arm around his back and kneed him in the face, before kicking him into the dirt. Once again, he was on the ground.

Blood began to run down Tyler’s nose – before I knew what I was doing, I pushed more people aside – forgetting to apologize in the process – and stood in front of Reece with my back against Tyler in defence mode.

It was like Reece had just noticed I was there the entire time. His eyes softened a little before they turned cold with rage.

“You’re…protecting…him?” he asked with pure disgust.

My hands were shaking uncontrollably, the whole crowd had silenced and the only sound audible was Tyler’s groans of pain.

“Well, Mr. Championship Fighter, it doesn’t look like you’re the one that needs protecting right now.” I said bitterly. More bitterly than I had actually expected.

“Chloe, leave.” Reece’s jaw was locked and it was obvious he was pissed off…and boy did he look sexy when he was pissed off.

“No.” I said quietly.

“You’re testing my patience, Princess.”

“Ooh, seems like Reece has a little soft spot for Chloe, eyy guys?” Tyler managed to choke out in his state.

I looked at him, “Tyler, I would shut up if I were you. Unless you actually have a death wish.”

He put his hands up in surrender; he wiped off some of the blood running down his face with his sleeve and looked at it. “This isn’t over Reece.”

“I don’t have anymore time for you, you little shit, so lets get this over and fucking done with, pussy.” Reece snapped.

“No!” I yelled as I got in between them once again. “Stop this! Stop fighting!”

“Chloe, get out of the way.” Reece growled at me. The intensity in his eyes was hard to look away from. We stared at each other – daring one another to blink.

The atmosphere was tense. Too tense.

I tore my eyes away from Reece’s and looked directly into Tyler’s. “Leave.”

Tyler scoffed. “What?”

“I said ‘leave’. Are you deaf?” I snapped. I glanced at the audience watching in silence, “Shows over guys. Get on with your lives.”

People began to awkwardly move around and give curious looks to each other; I stood my ground and even shocked myself at how demanding my voice came out. “Do I need to repeat myself? I said leave! Or so God help me, I will report each and every one of you to our Headmaster.” I said in my most venomous tone I could manage.

People began to scurry away; Tyler’s friends were as hesitant to leave as Reece’s friends were. Valentino muttered something to Jake, Jayden and Dennis and they gave me a look. I gave the exact same look to Charlie who said something to his friends. A minute later, the entire schoolyard was empty, except for me, Reece and Tyler.

A warm breeze made the tip of my dress go up and I vigorously pulled it down. I let out a sigh of frustration. “Tyler!”

“What?” he asked, annoyed and more aggravated than before.

“Ever heard of make love – not war?”

He gave me a disgusted look, “You want me and Reece to make love?”

“Yes! What? NO!” I cried, feeling my cheeks blush. I spoke again when I gained my composure. “Tyler, please leave and let this go.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I came here to fight.” Oh God. Why are men so darn stubborn? I looked back at Reece who was sitting down on the bench, waiting impatiently to know whether or not he’s going to fight.

“No Tyler, you came here to die.”

Somehow, I knew my comment would make Reece happy – well, I hoped it would anyway.

Tyler’s eyes averted mine, dry blood covered his face and I searched my pockets for a tissue. Instead, I found antibacterial wipes.

What? I like being clean, okay?

“Here, wipe the blood off your face with this.” I handed it to him and watched as he cleaned the area. I took out another antibacterial wipe and swiped it on his forehead, which was also bleeding. He winced in pain.

“Sorry.” I whispered quietly.

“It’s okay... and…umm thanks for…umm…” Men were so stubborn to even apologize for when they were wrong.

I chuckled, “It’s okay.”

“I don’t think your boyfriend is too happy about you helping me out.” Tyler nodded his head towards something behind me; I turned around to see Reece walking away down the road.

“Uggh, he’s not my boyfriend, he’s just a jerk with an ego that’s the size of Texas. I have to go – Stop starting fights okay!” With that I ran as fast as I could, to catch up with Reece.

God dammit, how did he get that far that fast, he was just walking. I on the other hand, probably looked like someone who was physically retarded while I ran in my school shoes and kept holding my dress down so no one would get a nice show.

“Reece!”

No answer.

“Reece!” I was right beside him now, and I hit him on the arm to get his attention.

He just ignored me.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold on a second, why aren’t you talking to me?”

Again, no answer.

I stepped in front of him and held my arms out to his chest, ignoring the pleasant sparks from his warm, hard body and focused.

“Move Chloe.” I ignored his order and gave him a slight push – not like it affected him or anything, he was as firm as a brick wall.

“Are you angry at me?” I asked, my chest tightening – and it wasn’t because I was out of breath.

“Yes, now move.” He tried to step to his left but I quickly stepped to my right.

“Why are you angry at me?”

His eyes narrowed and his jaw was locked again – he looked really pissed.

I gave him another shove – harder this time.

“Why are you angry at me?” I asked for the third time.

“Why did you step into our fight?” he yelled.

“Oh, you can’t seriously be mad at me because I was trying to keep the peace.”

“I can and I will, now go back and continue flirting with that pussy who cant even take a punch.” He said bitterly, I flinched.

“Flirting? Are you insane? I was helping him rub off the blood dripping off his face – thanks to you!” I screamed.

“Chloe, move out of my fucking way.” His voice had power and authority dripping off it. For a moment, I was too shocked to react and to be honest; I was a bit scared of him too. But I refused to show him my fear.

“I’m not afraid of you, Reece Carter.” I gave him another shove. “And don’t you dare speak to me like that ever again.”

I looked at him straight in the eyes; I saw almost every negative emotion possible.

Hurt… Rage… Confusion…Frustration and…Hate.

My heart began to pound hysterically.

“Then don’t speak to me ever again. From now on, you live your life and I’ll live mine, okay? Now – Would you kindly move aside, Princess?”

Frozen in shock, I gently stepped to my left and closed my eyes as I felt him walk past me.

I felt like I had just lost Reece Carter, even if he was never mine to begin with.

~*~

A/N

Dont hate me!

Thanks for reading everyone! hastiheartsyou :) xx