Bee Hastings wasn't usually an optimist, hence why she didn't have much expectations about what returning to her hometown would be like.

She'd left over two years ago so there wasn't any reason to think anyone would welcome her with open arms.  Specially not after refusing to keep contact with anyone.

"Where had you been?" Rue asked her as they paced side by side to class. "There were a bunch of rumors, none of them realistic of course."

Bee shrugged her shoulders lightly. "New York." She said and changed the subject. "But for some nonsensical reason my dad thought it might be good for me to return to East Highland for my senior year."

"Oh yes," Rue added sarcastically. "Old people and their misconceptions about small towns."

"No drugs." Bee said dragging on the last syllable.

"No parties." Rue continued.

"No sex." Bee added and giggled. "What had you been up to?"

"Not much, mom just picked me up from rehab a week ago and now here we are." Bee turned to look at her, although there was something in her tone that made her think it might be true, it was just too in line with their small town jokes to actually believe it.

"You're still funny." Bee stated and rolled her eyes as they stopped on front of Rue's locker. "So not much has changed then."

"I can guarantee that." Bee leaned against the locker wall and gazed at the flow of people walking down the corridor, not distinguishing anyone in the mass of people. Being back at East Highland felt pretty much like a nightmare after knowing what big cities actually looked like.

"Nate!" She heard a male voice down the corridor, near the entrance. Her head turned almost instinctively in its direction and her eyes landed on Nate Jacobs, her former best friend.

It was easy to spot him a he stood out from the people around him by almost an entire foot in height. Although his face looked nearly the same as she remembered, there was something about his demeanour that seemed unfamiliar to her.

The lines in his body and his face were sharper, leaner but also stronger. He covered the length of the corridor with long strides, walking in a straight line as people in front of him seemed to clear his way.

She almost thought he'd walk past her without even noticing her, as his gaze was mainly focused straight ahead. But as he got closer his face turned in her direction, his stare lingering over hers for a few seconds.

It was impossible to tell if he'd recognised her or not behind the mask of boredom and superiority in his face.

She turned back to Rue, her whole body facing her friend as if she was trying to hide from his presence, ignore it altogether.

"Shit." Rue said, examining her expression and then glancing at Nate's back. "No longer besties?"

"What do you think?" Bee asked ironically, feeling somewhat unsettled even though she couldn't tell why.

"Good for you." She said. "He gives me the fucking creeps."

"I mean," Bee raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess."

"You look miserable." She said. "Let's go somewhere after school and I'll introduce you to someone who knows how to have a good time in East High."

Bee headed over to class but she couldn't take Nate's image from her mind. His strong jaw and icy stare, like he owned the place. But there was something else, it wasn't just arrogance, there was something else. Something that both scared her and intrigued her.

-

Later that week Bee found herself half drunk at a party hosted by one of the football players. Somehow she'd managed to lose Rue and her friends amongst the ever growing crowd. She felt dizzy and wanted to pee. She'd tried going to the bathroom downstairs but the floor was covered in vomit. She opened door after door in the hallway of the second floor until one of them revealed a bathroom. She sighed in relief but as soon as she opened the door someone stopped it from behind her. She turned around to find a shirtless Nate looking down at her. He wasn't smiling, neither did he seem happy to see her. He looked drunk and entitled.

"So are you just going to stand there?" She asked.

He smiled cynically. "You know— When I saw you I first thought I was imagining it." His face was so close to hers she could feel the alcohol in his breath. But she didn't step back. "But you're actually here. And I had to hear it from other people first."

"Nate, I understand if you're upset." She said. The last she'd heard, or read, about him were the messages he'd sent her after she left. Long paragraphs that kept coming on for weeks until they stopped. None of which she answered. Because the way she'd left had been so sudden that her only way of processing it was by cutting ties with everyone who stayed. Except she didn't know that at the time, because she was fifteen years old.

"I'm not upset." He said, in a serious tone. His stare was so condescending it sent a shiver down her spine. "Why would I? I barely remember you." He took a sip of his drink and stepped back. "Oh, wait. No. Your mom used to clean our house, didn't she?"

The single mention of her mom made her snap out of her state of shock. She wouldn't just stand there and hear shit from some asshole she thought she knew.

"Listen, fine." She said. "If this is your twisted way of telling me to keep my distance that's just great. But don't ever talk about my mom like that again, you hear me? Fucking asshole. Or I will tell everyone what I know, okay?"

She dashed him and tried to walk away but he grabbed her wrist making her turn around.

"You wouldn't do that, would you? You're not that stupid."

"Try me." She yanked her arm from his grip and practically ran downstairs.