My first instinct was to leave the room, but Aaron quickly figured out my motive and stepped in front of me, easily pushing me back towards the desk I’d been standing by. I stumbled over my feet, unaccustomed to the fuzzy feeling in my head and the shakiness of my feet. Before I knew it he had me pinned, his arms on either side of me, and his knee between my legs so I couldn’t move.

“You said it was pink lemonade,” I accused.

He smirked. “Yeah. Mike’s Hard Pink Lemonade. Although, I’m a bit worried for you, Holly. No one gets buzzed after two bottles.”

I shook my head, trying to push him away from me. My hands grappled at his chest uselessly, too weak to have any affect on him. “Move.”

“I’m pretty comfortable right here.”

“Move.”

“I just want to talk,” he said coaxingly.

A wave of dizziness washed over me and I put my hands on Aaron’s shoulder to steady myself. “About what?”

He smiled. “Your relationship with our teacher.”

“It’s none of your business!”

“Maybe not, but I know about it so I can use it to my advantage.”

I set my jaw. “I thought you wanted to be a cop?”

He snorted. “You actually believed that cock and bull story? Well actually, I’m a pretty convincing actor.”

“Then why…?”

Aaron gave me an impatient look. “There doesn’t need to be a reason for everything, Holly. I tried helping you, but you won’t listen. You’re dating our gym teacher, your best friend has a crush on my slut of a sister, who has a crush on him, your boyfriend and your boyfriend’s best friend, who has a crush on you.”

It took a few seconds for my impaired mind to catch up with what he just said. “Mr. Heywood doesn’t have a crush on me…”

“Yes he does,” Aaron snorted. “That’s why he got so offensive when I threatened to tell the school about you and Mr. Ross.”

“Leave him out of it,” I snapped, feeling hotter and hotter by the second. “He’s got nothing to do with my relationship with Jeremy. Now move.”

Aaron shook his head. “I’m not done.”

“I am,” I stated forcefully, pushing on his shoulder again, but this time more forcefully. “Move.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“I mean it, Aaron.”

Narrowing his eyes, he gave me a mocking expression. “I mean it too, Holly.”

He leaned closer to me, making me bend over backwards on the desk, the edge digging into my lower back painfully. My breath cut short at his proximity. A low chuckle left his lips.

“You look scared,” he commented.

I turned my head away from him. “I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“What do you want?” I demanded.

He smiled viciously, moving a hand to my cheek and turning it so I faced him. “Look at me when you talk to me.”

For a second I stared at him, my vision showing me two Aaron’s instead of one. I blinked rapidly, feeling panic build up in me. I couldn’t be that buzzed, I’d barely drank anything! But I couldn’t even build the effort to push his hand away from my face. In a way it was soothing— the cool, clammy feeling of his palm against my hot, sweaty cheek.

“I told you not to tell anyone I knew about you and Mr. Ross before,” he started in a quiet voice. “And what did you do? You told Mr. Heywood, and it’s pretty obvious you told Mr. Ross too.”

“I didn’t—”

Aaron pressed his free hand to my mouth, cutting off my reply. “I’ll let it slide this time because I also told Mr. Heywood not to tell you he knows and he told you too.”

My eyes widened. How did Aaron know this? I tried to speak, but my voice was muffled and incoherent under his hand.

“Now here’s the plan. It just so happens biology is my worst subject and I hate running the lap in gym class…” He removed his hand, looking smug.

I knew where he was going with this before he even said it. “I won’t,” I declared flat out. “I’m not making them give you good grades. Are you really going to try something like that? You’ve been watching way too much T.V.”

“I see you still have your snippy attitude. Maybe you could use more to drink.”

“No!”

He smirked. “Okay. Then tell me I don’t have to worry about failing biology or gym class.”

I glowered at him. “Okay, you won’t. As long as you study, do your homework, and go to gym class.”

“Not good enough,” he responded in a singsong voice. He abruptly stepped away from me, feigning a yawn. “I just need a straight, affirmative answer, Holly. Then you can leave.”

Without a second’s hesitation, I bolted for the door. However, my mind worked faster than my feet, so I ended up stumbling over them. Aaron wrapped an arm around me before I could protest, hauling me backwards. I groaned angrily, shutting my eyes as the world spun frantically. Suddenly my feet left the ground and my eyes shot open again in surprise as I landed on the floor roughly. Aaron kneeled down next to me, holding me down by the shoulders, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to drop you on the floor.”

“I’m not doing it,” I murmured, staring up at him, ignoring the throbbing in the head. “I’m not blackmailing them.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t be blackmailing them. You don’t have dirt on them. It’s just asking for a favor.”

“But you’re blackmailing me!”

“You wouldn’t want to see both of them get fired, would you?”

My head felt light and I turned it to the side, unable to bare the glare of the light on the ceiling. There was no way I could ask Chris to give him good grades— he’d probably hunt Aaron down and strangle him once he found out Aaron was blackmailing me. But…

“How am I supposed to make them do that if they can’t know you know about us?” I inquired.

“Well obviously they know that I know about you and Mr. Ross,” Aaron said in an annoyed voice. “I went right up to them. What they don’t know is that I just want good grades. I said I’d tell the principal if they told you they knew I knew about you guys. It works out fine.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “They’ll definitely guess what’s up.”

He clicked his tongue. “All you need to do is say you’ll try. I’m sure it will work out.”

Could he be any stupider? “No, it won’t. They’ll probably just fail you for thinking you could get away with it.”

“Shall I try a different way of persuade you?” he asked, bringing his head closer to mine. “I’ve got a few ideas… You might need more to drink though.”

I struggled to sit up, but it was becoming more and more harder to push him away. “Leave me alone, Aaron!” I slurred, feeling out of breath now. It really was hot.

“Leave me alone!” he mimicked in a girly voice. “Come on. It’s a party. Let’s have some fun.”

“No!”

“At least take off your jacket. You’ll feel better,” he cajoled.

My feelings of frustration and helplessness were making my eyes start to water. Or maybe it was the alcohol, I didn’t know. I’d never consumed alcohol before. Aaron tried to pull my jacket off, but I kept my shoulder rigid. After a moment he finally managed to unzip the front.

“Come on,” he wheedled, trying to tug it off my arms. “You look hot.”

“Stop it, please,” I begged him. “Look, I just want to…” I trailed off, momentarily forgetting what I wanted to say. “I just want to go home.”

“So you’ll fix my grades?” he pried.

“No!”

He shook his head. “Then you can stay for awhile longer.”

“Get away from me!” I finally shouted, anger washing over me.

He finally managed to pull the jacket off me. Not that I was going to admit it, but having my jacket off actually did make me feel better. He stared at me for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows together. I gazed back at him, studying his face. He actually wasn’t all that bad looking. In a way he reminded me off Chris. They both shared an unusual eye color.

“Falling for my good looks?” Aaron joked.

The phrase sent a jolt through me. Don’t go falling for my good looks already. Chris had said almost the exact same thing to me when I first met him. My now boyfriend. And here I was, checking out the guy who was trying to blackmail me. The situation was so familiar. And I knew what was going to happen next.

Before I could protest, Aaron’s lips were pressed to mine. Immediately I began to squirm, trying to turn my head away. He quickly moved his hands to my face, holding it in place. I clenched my teeth together, refusing to kiss him back. After a few more moments he pulled away.

“Aw, you break my heart,” he joshed, putting a hand over his chest. “You could at least kiss back.”

“I have a boyfriend,” I shot back.

“I’ll kiss you again if you don’t agree to help me.”

I glared at him, more frustrated than before. “You’re such a pervert! I’m not helping you! How stupid are you? Once Chris and Jeremy realized what you’re doing they’ll figure out a way to get you expelled!”

“Not if I get them fired first. Pucker up.”

As he brought his head closer to me again, I did the only thing I could think of— blow a raspberry in his face. Unfortunately that just made him grin before he kissed me again. Tears of exasperation sprung to my eyes. This was basically cheating on Chris.

Suddenly I heard the door burst open. Aaron pulled away from me abruptly, a scowl crossing his face. “Can’t you see I’m…” he trailed off, staring at the door. It took me a moment to turn my head to look, but when I did, relief flooded through me. Jeremy was standing there, staring down at us with a blank expression.

“Your night and shining armor, huh?” Aaron commented in a bored tone.

“Jeremy, help me,” I cried, striving to push myself off the ground. My head spun and I dropped back down, unable to find my balance.

Jeremy appeared over me momentarily, looking worried. “Holly, what’s wrong? What do you think you’re doing?” His tone changed from worried to pissed off as he turned to Aaron.

Aaron held up his hands innocently. “Your girlfriend was coming on to me. She had too much to drink, I guess.”

“Holly wouldn’t drink,” Jeremy stated, narrowing his eyes.

“Doesn’t she look buzzed to you?” Aaron questioned.

Jeremy’s eyes shifted to me, his look softening. “Holly, did you drink alcohol?”

Was he going to believe Aaron? That wasn’t fair! He didn’t even hear my side of the story! New moistness sprung to my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy demanded.

“Aaron spiked my drink. He said it was pink lemonade. I drank two…” I trailed off, realizing how slurred my voice sounded.

Jeremy’s head turned so fast to Aaron I was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “You what?”

Aaron smiled innocently. “I just wanted her to loosen up.”

“You brat,” Jeremy growled, taking a step closer to him. “What were you planning on doing?”

“With your girlfriend? Not much. A little bit of this, a little bit of that.”

Without warning Aaron stumbled away from me, stepping on my hand as he did so. A low groan of pain escaped my lips as I turned my head to glare at him. To my surprise, he was holding his face, blood dripping down his chin. I blinked, totally confused. Then Jeremy made another swing.

“Jeremy!” I cried in panic, trying to reach his leg. “Don’t hit him!”

He froze, glancing down at me. A scowl of irritation crossed his face. “Damn it,” he cursed, bending down to help me off the floor. “We’re leaving.”

“Holly!” Aaron started, gaining my attention. He pointed to his nose. “I think I just gained the upper advantage even more. I can’t wait to get my progress report.”

“Screw you,” I shot back, noticing how garbled it sounded. He just smirked.

Jeremy led me out of the room, keeping one arm around my waist to support me. I staggered, leaning into him heavily. Walking was proving to be a difficult task. When we made it to the stairs, I thought I was going to die.

“You shouldn’t have punched him,” I told Jeremy.

He glanced at me. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying. How much did you drink?”

I held up two fingers.

“Five?” Jeremy exclaimed in shock. “Holly, I knew you were stupid, but that’s taking it to a whole different level. You don’t accept drinks at parties if you don’t want to drink. Especially from people like Aaron. But to accept five?”

I shook my head. “No, two.”

Jeremy now looked confused. “You only drank two things and you’re this out of it… It’s a good thing you didn’t drink more. You might be dead.”

It was nice he could joke in a situation like this. “I want to go home,” I whispered wearily.

He nodded. “I’m going to call Chris now.”

My eyes shot open. “No!”

“Yes, Holly.”

“No! No, no, no! I promised him I wouldn’t drink.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

I attempted to pull away from Jeremy. “Let go. I’m not leaving.”

“Yes you are,” he responded forcefully, dragging me to the front door. “And you’re sitting outside because you’re sweating bullets.”

“I forgot my jacket,” I gasped in realization. “It has my LG!”

Jeremy pressed his lips together tightly. “Holly, I can barely understand you…”

“Jacket!” I shouted at him, waving my arms frantically.

“Ohh,” he replied, nodding his head. “I’ll get it for you.”

Nodding, I dropped my arms back to my sides. However, they seemed to have a mind of their own. As Jeremy pulled out his phone to call Chris, my arms grew so light they started to rise. Panic filled me as they kept going higher and higher. Soon I had to stand to keep them from pulling me up.

“Jeremy!” I cried, now standing on my tiptoes. “Jeremy! My arms are floating away!”

He glanced at me, narrowing his eyes. “No they’re not, Holly. No, Chris. She’s fine. Apparently her arms are floating away— Hey! Don’t yell at me, it’s not my fault.”

“Jeremy! Help me!” I climbed a few stairs on the perch, trying to keep up with my truant arms. “Please!”

He chuckled, coming up to me and pulling my arms back down to their sides. “I’ve got her under control, Chris. I also took care of Aaron… Er, I’ll let Holly explain. Yeah, yeah. Fine. See you soon.”

Now that my arms were fine at my side again, I was beginning to feel refreshed. I didn’t have to deal with Aaron anymore, and with Jeremy here I felt ten times better. I hummed quietly to myself, grabbing Jeremy’s hand into my own and swinging it. He gave me a curious look.

“Thanks for saving me,” I told him, grinning widely at him.

“It’s no problem,” he responded slowly, obviously amused by my state. “Maybe you should sit down…”

I shook my head. “I want to dance. Can we go back in?”

Jeremy made a face. “No. You’re staying out here.”

“Then we’ll dance out here,” I responded, placing my hands on his hips. “Come on.”

“You do know your arms are supposed to be around my neck right?” he questioned.

“We’ll trade places.”

He chuckled, putting his arms around my shoulders. “I think I might take you out drinking one day. If you’re like this after two weak drinks, I’d love to see you completely wasted.”

I ignored his statement, swaying to my own imaginary music, leaning my head against his chest. He felt so comfortable. “Why don’t you drive me home?” I asked him.

He pulled me away from him for a moment, sending me a cheesy grin. “I’m not supposed to drive under the influence.”

“You’re drunk?”

“Not completely,” he told me. “But enough that I’d get in trouble if I tried to drive.”

“You’re underage,” I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes. “Barely. Anyway, you should be the one to talk.”

“Shut up and dance,” I demanded, wrapping my arms around him tighter.

He laughed, the sound reverberating through his chest. “Okay, Holly. Chris will be here any second though.”

“Mmm...”

Contrary to Jeremy’s words, Chris didn’t arrive for another fifteen minutes. By that time I was trying to convince Jeremy to play leapfrog with me. As soon as Jeremy’s eyes landed on Chris, his shoulders sagged in relief.

“Thank god you’re here,” he sighed, immediately pushing me over. “She’s such a handful.”

Chris gave me a disappointed look. “I told you not to drink, Holly.”

I stared back at him, unable to stop the uncomfortable compressing feeling in my chest. The memories of early came rushing back to me and I fought the urge to cry. “You don’t understand.”

“What is she saying?” he asked, turning to Jeremy.

“She’s not the one who drank,” Jeremy clarified for me. “Aaron spiked her drink.”

“He what?”

Jeremy smiled. “That was my reaction too!”

Chris pushed me aside, heading up the porch. “Where is he?”

“Wait!” I demanded, yanking on the back of his coat. “No!”

He looked back at me angrily. “What do you mean no? He obviously had something planned.”

“I just want to go home,” I told him, trying to keep my words coherent. “Please, Chris.”

He stared at me for a moment, his eyes smoldering with anger, but then he sighed. “Fine.”

“Don’t worry. I punched him already,” Jeremy offered.

Chris pursed his lips. “That wasn’t a wise move, Jeremy. He’s a student. You’re a legal adult. That’s assault.”

Jeremy scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, but he was… Actually, I’ll let Holly tell you that…”

“Tell me what?”

I dropped my gaze. How could I tell him I kissed Aaron?

______________________________________________________

So if you haven't read any of the messages I sent, you don't know my laptop crashed on me on… Friday, I think. I lost everything on my old computer, including all my documents. And the new story I started that had 100 pages. And all the new chapters to my story since I decided to be an overachiever and write two each. Butno, my laptop crashed and blah. So I bought a new one Saturday. I spent every bit of money I owned on a new Mac (which is pretty cool) so I decided to just rewrite this chapter since I was bored today. If I am able to recover my hard drive, this chapter will change because I had something else planned out but I forgot, so yeah. It won't be too drastic, but it will be different… So yeah, haha. Here ya goo.

Today's song will be... Heart Heart Heartbreak by Boys Like Girls. It kinda sounds like that song by Bon Jovi... It's My Life.... or Shot Through the Heart. One of them, haha.

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