-CeCe's POV-

Joe's entire first block, Matt and I included, stood out in the hall waiting for the meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Chase to end. Suddenly the door opened and Dr. Chase stormed out practically knocking me down in the process.

"YOU!" she barked as she came almost nose to nose with me.

"Me?" I questioned.

"Yes, YOU," she said jutting her finger toward my chest. "You may have your brothers here at Chilton to cover up your bad behavior but they have no ground to stand on if we decide to take legal action."

Cover up for my bad behavior? What the frick was this woman talking about?

"There won't be need for that," Joe said walking out into the hall behind Dr. Chase. "Like we said, CeCelia never touched Samantha. Now I think you have monopolized enough of our class time, everyone take your seats." I stood there frozen in my spot still almost nose to nose with Dr. Chase, confused and quite worried I was going to jail for assault. "CeCelia, take your seat," instructed Joe again, I promptly did a side step out of Dr. Chase's path, walked into the classroom and took a seat. Joe turned his glare back to Dr. Chase. "I see now why Samantha thinks it's so acceptable to go around bullying other kids," Joe said taking a step toward Dr. Chase. "Don't ever threaten my sister, or any other student again."

"Or what?" Dr. Chase challenged.

"Or you can kiss Samantha's chances of ever making it into an Ivy League medical program goodbye," Joe spat only loud enough for Dr. Chase to hear.

"Now who is threatening who?" Dr. Chase questioned, her voice sounding defeated.

"Oh I'm not threatening," Joe said his tone sharp. "You threaten another student and I PROMISE you no decent college will touch her."

"Don't worry," Mr. Chase said, speaking for the first time all morning as he took hold of his wife's arm. "My wife and daughter won't be threatening anyone anymore."

Joe nodded to Mr. Chase. "Samantha is waiting in the office, you can pick her up there on your way out," He said turning back to the classroom as Mr. Chase turned and led his wife down the hallway toward the office.

***

The bell rang dismissing second block for lunch and I quickly made my way to my locker where I found Matt waiting. "Hey you," I said smiling.

"Hello beautiful girl," Matt said stepping aside so I could get into my locker. "Want to go on a walk with me?"

"Right now?" I questioned shoving my books into my locker. "What kind of walk?"

Matt cocked a brow "I dunno...medium speed?" he said his tone sarcastic. "Just a walk, one foot in front of the other, that sort of thing."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Don't you want to eat?" I questioned shutting my locker.

"I'm not really hungry," he said walking backwards down the hall as he talked to me. "Just thought we could spend lunch together and talk."

I stopped in my tracks, my shoes squeaking against the marble floor as I came to a halt. "Talk?" I questioned nervously.

Matt stopped walking and chuckled. "Why are you acting so weird?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't know if "go on a walk" was some code that I was unaware of and usually when someone says they want to talk it doesn't end well for me so..."

Matt smiled and grabbed my hand threading his fingers through mine. "My intentions are to go on a walk, an actual walk, that's not code for anything and I don't care what we talk about. I just don't want to be that guy who you make out with but who doesn't know what is going on in your life."

I smiled. "Yea, ok" I said unplanting my feet and allowing Matt to lead me through the large archway into the front courtyard. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Matt shrugged. "You said you have had a hard time lately with your parents being gone, is it the Samantha thing or just life in general?" he questioned.

"No, not because of Sam...mostly because of you I guess," I said as we passed through a large stone breezeway.

Matt stopped walking and cocked a brow. "Me?" he questioned sounding hurt.

I nodded. "Not in a bad way," I amended. "It's just, you are my first boyfriend, well...a lot of my firsts actually, and that's the sort of thing a girl talks with her mom about, sometimes it just makes me sad and angry."

"I feel bad that I didn't notice," Matt said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't feel bad," I said giving his hand a squeeze. "There is no reason you would have noticed, I don't feel that way when I am around you."

Matt smiled "So I am a lot of your firsts huh?" he said with a smirk.

I nodded and pulled him to start walking again. "First crush, first kiss, first boyfriend..."

Matt looked over at me in disbelief. "I was not your first kiss," he said confidently.

"Yes you were," I countered. "Well, I mean unless you count the time in first grade when Bobby Taylor kissed me on the playground, which I don't seeing as how he pushed me down afterward and told me that I had cooties."

Matt chuckled. "Stupid boy," he said stopping to pull me close.

"I don't take it personally, we were six and he just wasn't ready for a serious relationship," I said with a smirk. "I'm not his type anyway."

"And just what is his type?" he questioned.

"Last I heard...male," I said with a shrug.

Matt busted out laughing. "I bet you were so cute when you were six, I would have definitely kissed you," he said leaning down to kiss me softly before starting to walk again. "So, what else has been on that beautiful brain of yours lately?"

I smiled feeling my cheeks blush. "Nick mostly," I confessed. "He and I are really close, sometimes I feel guilty that he is stuck raising me instead of chasing his dream."

"Music, right?" Matt said remembering our conversation from the party.

I nodded. "He is really good, you will have to hear him sometime, you would be surprised."

Matt chuckled. "I'm sure I would, like I said, I have a hard time seeing your brothers doing anything cool."

"You still want to learn how to play guitar?" I questioned.

"Very much so," he said "You still going to teach me?"

I shook my head. "Nope, I have a better plan," I said with a smile. Matt cocked a brow. I think I just found a way to get Nicky playing again...two birds, one stone.