As soon as I walk into the front doors of the school, everything goes silent. Almost everyone is staring at me. I feel immediately uncomfortable and shift back a little.

Hatred is evident on some faces, envy on others, some look curious, and some look like they're planning my murder.

"Um..." I say, looking at all the faces. "What.... What's going on?"

I hear whispers but I can't make out what's being said. I don't understand what's happening right now. Why is everyone staring at me like that?

Shelby walks out of the crowd, storming towards me in her four inch high heels. I step back a bit, eyes wide with surprise. She get too close, grabbing the collar of my shirt and shoving me against the lockers. I let out a gasp.

"Who do you think you are?" She hisses at me.

"What... What are you talking about?" I ask, trying to push her off of me.

"I thought you'd know by now that you should stay out of mine and everyone else's lives," she says, eyes narrowed. "Why are you dating Brendan Marks?"

"Is that what this is about?" I ask, suddenly amused. "First of all, why do you even care? They aren't your friends anymore. Second of all, this is my life, not yours."

She slams me against the lockers, harder this time. My head aches.

"I am warning you now, stay away from Brendan," she says slowly. "You don't want to know what I can do."

"Why are you so shocked by this? You think you have a chance with him?" I ask, eyebrows raised. I try to push her away again, but we grip is strong, fingernails digging into my skin.

"Lili?" Brendan's voice comes from behind Shelby. He rushes over to us, yanking Shelby off of me. He pushes her away, then looks back at me. "Are you okay?"

"In fine," I assure him. "Thanks."

"Shelby, leave her alone," Brendan says.

Instead of replying, she just smirks, turns around slowly, and walks away.

"What was that all about?" He asks me, walking beside me towards our class.

"Usual threats," I shrug. "She's all riled up about us dating."

"Of course she is," he sighs, looking bothered all of a sudden.

"Should I... Should I be worried?" I ask.

"Why would you be worried?" He asks.

"She threatened me to stay away from you..."

"No, don't worry about it," he says.

"Are you sure? Don't you remember what happened last time she threatened me?" I ask, feeling anxiety bubble inside me.

"Don't get yourself too worked up about her," is his only answer.

"Do you guys... Have a past or something? She seems awfully possessive of you," I point out to him.

His jaw clenches and he looks the opposite way. "Why don't we talk about that later."

"Alright," I decide to drop the subject for now.

"You can come over tonight," he says, as we enter the classroom and everyone stares at us in shock as we enter hand in hand.

*•*•*

'Hey, I'm on my way.'

'Alright.... wait, are you walking?' -Brendan

'Maybe.'

'Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up.' -Brendan

'No. I'm fine.'

'I'm already in the car.' -Brendan

'Have fun wandering around.'

'Lili, it's not very hard to track you down when there's literally three roads you turn on to get to my house.' -Brendan

'I'll take a scenic route.'

I put my phone in my pocket and walk down a new street. I can't help myself from thinking of Shelby's threat to me. Yeah, I shouldn't worry about it. But last time she threatened me, that video was posted everywhere.

The other thing I'm curious about is Brendan's past with Shelby. I want to know right now. It's been bothering me all day long.

I don't know how long I walk, but I keep going further and further down these streets and further and further lost.

I take a new turn down some road I've actually never been on. It's only now that I realize I've wandered pretty far off. I have no idea where I am and I can't even remember why I decided in the first place to steer off course. I stop in the middle of the road, looking around with a sigh.

There's no way I'll be getting to Brendan's anytime soon now. Wow, I'm stupid.

I pull out my phone, embarrassed that it's come to this. I dial Brendan's phone number.

"Where are you?" He asks.

"Umm... I'm sort of lost," I say slowly, twirling my hair around my fingers.

He laughs. "Of course you are."

"Hey, it's not funny!" I say, but my cheeks still go red.

"It actually is," he replies. "I'm on my way to rescue you. Can you read the street sign?"

I walk further down the road until I can see what road I'm on.

"It's called Teresa Lane..."

"Wow. You actually got pretty far," Brendan says. "Stay where you are, I'm coming."

I wait patiently for about five minutes, leaning against the stop sign. Eventually I sit down in the grass. Nobody comes out of their houses to question me and I'm glad.

Brendan's car drives up and I stand up, waiting. He rolls down his window and grins at me.

"Get in the car," he says.

I pull open the door and slump into the passenger seat of the car. Brendan starts driving and I cross my arms, preparing myself to hear his opinion.

"So," he says, and I can see him trying not to smile. "Your plan didn't exactly work out for you did it?"

"Maybe my plan was for you to have to drive really far to get me," I say, but I realize it's a long shot.

"Yeah, right. That was your brilliant plan," he says.

"Yeah."

"Well, let's just skip the whole 'No you can't pick me up I'm going to walk and get myself lost' and just let me come get you next time," Brendan says with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I roll my eyes.

"I don't appreciate your sass. You should be thanking me for saving your life right now," he says.

"Not gonna happen."

*•*•*

We get to his house and sit side by side in the living room. He takes my hand in his. I watch him curiously as he lets his eyes fall closed.

"Your hair looks good like that," he says, eyes still closed.

My eyebrows raise in surprise. I look down at my straight golden hair. "Thank you."

"I thought you should know."

There's another silence, only filled with our breathing. I watch him. His eyes are closed gently. I can't seem to pull my eyes away from him. He's so gorgeous. I've never really looked at him so closely, but now that I do I realize that there is literally no imperfection about him.

"I can sense you checking me out," he says.

My cheeks go red. I open my mouth to defend myself but no words come out.

He opens his eyes and looks at me with a grin.

"I don't mind," he laughs.

I slap his shoulder, my cheeks going even more red, if that's possible.

"As much as I love talking about this," I say, letting out a breath, "I really want to know your past with Shelby."

Brendan's grip tightens on my hand and he just nods. He lets out a long breath. Then he begins.

"Okay. Well, our parents worked in the same industry. They've been friends since Shelby and I were each about three years old, so naturally we grew up friends. We went through elementary school practically inseparable. Then came middle school and we started dating," he sighs. "She was nice at first. More polite than usual. Then we got to know each other better and were more comfortable with each other. She got super demanding and bratty and started embarrassing other girls for her amusement. I told her we needed to end it and I was done being her boyfriend. Being the girl she was, and is, she told her parents and started bawling. Her parents were so mad that they fired my dad from his job which really threw my family for a loop for a few months until my mom got the job editing for Cleare Magazine," Brendan says. "So pretty much, she isn't a favorite to me or my parents."

"Wow," I say quietly. I wouldn't have expected to hear that.

"Yeah, well, it's over now and I'm glad it is," Brendan says, giving me a small smile.

"But she's still attached?" I ask, eyebrows raised.

"Very much so," he sighs.

"That must be frustrating," I say, shaking my head. Shelby really is like a little puppy dog, following him everywhere, smiling and giggling and flipping her hair and crap.

"Yeah, it sure is," Brendan says.

We stay quiet for a little longer. Then he turns to me suddenly, eyebrows furrowed.

"You have that one friend... Caleb, right?" He asks.

"Yeah," I nod. Caleb who isn't actually my friend anymore, so he claims.

"Has he ever tried to make a move on you?" He asks curiously.

I almost laugh. "No. Not that I know of, at least. We've been best friends since fourth grade when he moved here from Maine."

"Oh," he says, nodding his head. For some reason, he looks relieved.

"Yeah, we've gone to some middle school dances together because neither of us really had anyone else to go with but other than that nothing exciting happened between us," I shrug.

"I'm surprised there weren't boys lined up at your door, waiting to ask you," Brendan smiles at me.

"Yeah right," I roll my eyes.

"I guess it's better for me, though," he says. "Less competition."

"Competition? You think you actually have competition?" I say. My cheeks immediately go red.

He looks amused. "I sure hope not."

"Do you ever go to school dances or are those too lame for you?" I ask.

"No, I'd for sure go to one," Brendan says. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," I shrug, but I can feel a small smile creep onto my face.

"Does this have something to do with the Valentine Masquerade Dance coming up in a month?" He asks.

"Absolutely not." Yes. Maybe. You'll see.