I turned lazily and accidentally kicked the alarm clock off the bedside table. The shattering sound it produced was enough to wake me up fully knowing that I had gotten myself in trouble. My dad had definitely heard that which meant that was another item added to the list of the things I was yet to pay for, all I had broken because of my clumsiness. I held my breath with my eyes closed waiting for his voice from downstairs but after two minutes, it didn't come. I frowned. Where was he? That was so unusual but maybe it was my lucky day. Maybe I was going to have a great start of my junior year but that would only happen if I got out of that bed and got ready. I was already running late as it was and my best friend Ava would be up my ass again. My phone rang. *Talk of the devil.* I thought as I flipped it to see the caller ID. "Hey bitch!" Ava greeted as soon as her face appeared on the screen. "You are not dressed yet?" she gasped.I lowered the camera trying to hide my pyjamas but i

Playing football with the school team in my new school had been the highlight of my first day in the new town and just like my appearance had caused a stir the whole day in all my classes, the football field was no exception. I never cared about my looks like everyone else who wasn't me did. I never wanted to come off as obnoxious but the situations around me forced me to be using that as the only way to push people away from knowing who I really was. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Those were the moments I had to embrace and fit in but it was only because of my mother. Everything I did was for her otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to move states leaving behind the life I had known for eighteen years to start over in a new school in my senior year.I had just changed back into my regular clothes when a message popped up on my screen. It was my mother reminding me of the meeting we had with her new boyfriend. I loved her and it always made me happy to see her smiling especia

Meeting Tess Prescott had been surprising but within minutes of knowing her, I knew that if I focused more on making her an ally she could be my ticket out of the marriage my mother had saddled me into. Well, it was her marriage but being still in high school, I was forced to live with them which made it feel like a marriage to me too. I had never had to move in permanently with any of her boyfriends. Now we were moving across states and I was not ready to start a new life, even for her especially after I had found out that she had kept a secret from me.As she drove me across the town heading to my aunt's house where we had been staying before that day, I took some time to observe her. Her focus was on the road gripping the steering wheel with too much intensity that made it seem like she was hurting. Tess was obviously younger than me and I had already observed that she was shy. Attempting to make conversation with her always resulted in either being ignored or answered vaguely. I wa

I walked into the room I was supposed to attend an advanced math class in but stopped at the door the moment I saw her. She was seated alone reading a book I couldn't see, her curly hair covering her face. I watched her for a while knowing that she couldn't see me. Tess was wary of me in a way that I couldn't explain but it was fascinating which bothered me. In a whole school with over thirty girls in each class, cheerleaders and other cool girls who would fit the perfect definition of the cutest high school couple, with my looks and with a hoard of girls all over me but still, none of them had moved me like Tess had. I was obnoxious, sure but I was whenever I needed to be. I figured that maybe if I tried to show her the version of me that she hadn't seen, maybe she would stop treating me like the enemy. I needed her in my corner. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. Who was I kidding? It was no longer about breaking up our parents. I wasn't a kid anymore to do that stuff. Why couldn't

JASON'S POV I stood there a little longer. She was not driving away even though she tried to show that she didn't want anything to do with me. All I could think about that afternoon was the kiss in the Janitor's closet. I had crossed that line knowing that I couldn't come back from it but I didn't regret it. Her lips were sweet and soft, timid and innocent like she hadn't done it before. Kissing her had livened my entire body, every muscle pulsating with an urge to have more of her. I never got hard as easily as I had in that closet with Tess's body, small but mature in all the right places against me. She was right. I had raging hormones but they weren't leading me to any other person. She was growing to be my weakness so easily. After the kiss, I had remained there longer to cool myself off and I wasn't even sure she had realized what she had done to me. The best worst thing was that she hadn't pushed me away. I had felt her respond to me, her lips parting slightly to let me in. S