“I don’t get a break, do I?” I groaned, watching as Rian marched to the back of the Spanish classroom, dropping into a seat next to me.

            “Hey,” Rian responded, insulted. “Girls would kill to be in your spot. Why don’t you consider yourself lucky?”

            “Because I’m not one of those girls,” I pointed out.

            Rian shrugged. “Whatever. At least I’m happy I get to sit near you.”

            His response threw me off guard. “You are…?”

            “Yeah, it beats having to deal with all the talkative girls that don’t leave me alone,” he told me. “Not that I mind having girls hanging all over me; I just don’t like when they’re clingy.”

            I pursed my lips. “I’m going to guess Noah wasn’t joking when he said you were a playboy?”

            “I wouldn’t consider myself a playboy,” Rian mused. “But I’m not going to lie and say I don’t like girls fawning over me.”

            Rolling my eyes, I went to my backpack to fetch the Spanish essay we’d had to write over the vacation. The Spanish teacher, and one of our class advisors, Ms. Walker walked around the room collecting them. She paused in front of Rian’s desk, staring at him curiously.

            “Tienes la tarea?”

            “En Ingles, por favor,” Rian responded with a smile.

            I stared at him in disbelief. He needed that to be translated? This was supposed to be an honor’s class!

            “Do you have the homework?” Ms. Walker asked in English, giving the same look to Rian as I was.

            “I just transferred here,” Rian pointed out, looking smug. “Una estudiante nuevo.”

            I hid a smirk and Ms. Walker raised an eyebrow at his mistake. “Un estudiante?”

            Rian looked confused for a second, and then nodded, gaining his confident aura again. “Er, yeah. That’s what I meant.”

            Ms. Walker smiled slightly, and moved on. I turned to grin at Rian, who was frowning. “You do know this is an honor’s class, don’t you?” I asked him. “Tenemos que hablar en español.”

            “I know,” he snapped. “Turn around.”

            Smirking, I turned in my seat. “Yes, sir.”

            Spanish flew by quickly, and when the class ended I stood up from my seat, hitching my backpack over my shoulder. Just as I took a step forward, I felt someone yank me backward again. I stumbled, throwing my arms out to steady myself. When I regained my balance I turned to give Rian an irritated look. “You’re supposed to walk me to art class,” he reminded me, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

            “I’m sure—”

            “Rian?”

            I turned to see who had cut me off and saw my friend Shelbie looking eagerly at Rian. Rian’s gaze slid over to her, and he put on a polite smile. “That’s my name,” he told her.

            She looked like she was going to faint. “Whoa, it’s so awesome to meet you! You’re like, my idol.”

            Rian laughed. “Well, thanks, I guess.”

            Shelbie began talking again, but I tuned her out, hoping to escape from Rian. More girls were coming towards the back of the classroom to talk to him. Ms. Walker pursed her lips at the group, tapping her foot impatiently. “Rian es famoso,” I told her as I walked by.

            She sighed, shaking her head at the group. “Perfecto.”

            Glancing back I saw Rian giving me a hard look. I shrugged at him, stepping out into the hall. Instead of heading to my next class, I leaned against the wall next to the Spanish room. I didn’t really mind bringing Rian to his next class— in fact I was a little pleased to do it. I liked being relied on. A few moments later Rian finally emerged from the classroom, looking irritated. When he noticed me, his sour expression was replaced with relief.

            “You ready?” I asked him as he came up to me.

            “How come you aren’t like them?” Rian demanded, nodding his head to a group of girls coming out of the Spanish room, stealing glances at him.

            I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean?”

            “You know. Clingy. Wanting to know everything about me. Asking me if I’m single, asking me how my music is going,” he told me. “Aren’t you a fan?”

            “I said I was a fan, not an obsessive one,” I responded, shaking my head. “Gold isn’t my favorite band, you know.”

            For some reason, Rian looked a little thrown off guard. “It isn’t?”

            “No…”

            “What is?”

            I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know?”

            “I’m curious,” he told me.

            “Oh well,” I responded with a shrug, turning and starting down the hall. “Hurry up, otherwise we’ll be late.”

            Rian tugged on my backpack, pulling me to a halt. “Seriously.”

            “We’re seriously going to be late,” I told him, giving him an irritated look. “Let go of my backpack.”

            “Tell me what your favorite band is.”

            “No!”

            “Then I won’t let go.”

            “Why do you care so much?” I demanded angrily.

            Rian shrugged. “I’m just wondering.”

            “Well too bad!”

            “Tell me!”

            “No!”

            Rian scowled and I glowered back. Why did he want to know so badly? Was he upset that Gold wasn’t my favorite band? The thought made me smile wryly. How conceited could he be? It wasn’t like Gold was the best band in the world. They were up there, but definitely not the best.

            “Come on,” Rian urged. “I bet you’re just embarrassed to admit that it is Gold.”

            “Don’t act like you know me,” I snapped at him.

            Rian looked at me in surprise. It took me a second to realize how harsh my words sounded. I gave Rian a guilty look. “Sorry, that came out wrong,” I apologized.

            To my surprise, Rian started chuckling.

            “What?”

            “I say that all the time to people in the music industry,” he told me, grinning. “Just like how you said it just now. It’s really amusing to see it coming from a different person’s mouth.”

            “Oh, okay,” I responded, giving him a funny look.

            “Now tell me who your favorite band is.”

            A sigh escaped my lips. “Will you just let it drop? We really need to go otherwise we’ll be—” The bell suddenly cut me off. “Late,” I muttered.

            Rian smirked at me, finally letting go of my backpack. “Uh-oh. Ms. Prez is late for a class. How unreliable.”

            I ignored him, hastening down the hallway. Footsteps behind me signaled that he was following me. We made it to the art room and entered quickly, getting weird looks from all the students. Mr. Smith, the art teacher, raised an eyebrow. When he noticed Rian, understanding crossed his face. “Welcome,” he greeted, holding his hand out for Rian to shake. “Mr. Drew, right? My daughter is a big fan.”

            I rolled my eyes as Rian greeted Mr. Smith. Chloe was sitting at our usual table, along with Noah and Luke. The boys grinned at me as I made my way over. “You never said this class was full of freshman,” Noah accused when I took a seat next to him. “They’re so tiny!”

            “This is more of a freshman or sophomore class,” I told him. “I just decided to wait until my senior year to take it… apparently so did you.”

            He grinned at me and shrugged. “I took it this year because Luke wanted me to, so he wouldn’t be alone.”

            Rian suddenly appeared at the table, sitting next to me. He immediately turned to Chloe and threw her a dazzling smile. I raised my eyebrow at his antic. “So, Chloe, what’s your favorite band?” he asked her.

            “Gold,” Chloe responded instantly.

            Rian cocked his head to the side. “Are you just saying that because Gold is sitting in front of you right now?”

            Chloe shook her head vigorously. “No, you guys are honestly my favorite band.”

            “I can vouch for that,” I interjected. “She’s telling the truth.” She was most definitely obsessive over them, too.

            “Do you know Class Prez’s favorite band?” Rian asked, hooking a thumb at me. “She won’t tell me.”

            Chloe hesitated, stealing a glance at me. I subtly shook my head. Chloe turned back to Rian and shrugged. “No idea.”

            Rian scowled.

            “Why do you want to know?” Noah pitched in. “I’m going to take a wild guess it isn’t Gold?” he added, turning to look at me.

            “No, sorry,” I responded with a sheepish smile. “I like Gold though.”

            Noah shrugged. “Hey, we can’t be everyone’s favorite band.”

            “But it’d be nice,” Luke threw in, winking at me.

            I laughed. “Sorry, Luke.”

            “Alright class,” Mr. Smith started, clapping his hands together. “Today we’ll be starting on non-objective paintings.”

            Noah nodded. “I like the sound of that.”

            “Easy A,” Luke whispered.

            I tried my best to hide my grin. They had no idea how tough of a grader Mr. Smith was. Easy A was a phrase that did not exist in Mr. Smith’s vocabulary.

            “What do you think I should paint?” Noah asked when we were done gathering all the supplies we needed for the painting.

            I played with my piece of blank paper in front of me. “Well, it’s non-objective, so I don’t think you should choose something to paint…”

            “Then how do I get started?”

            “Like this,” I said, dipping my paintbrush in a royal-blue color, and proceeding to make a long streak of it on Noah’s blank paper.

            He stared at my hand aghast. “Hey!”

            “Hey what?”

            “I…” he trailed off, snatching up his paintbrush. Before I could protest he dipped it in the red and made a short, fat mark on my paper.

            I narrowed my eyes at him. “I wasn’t going to use red!”

            “Who said I was going to use blue!” he shot back.

            I puffed out my chest. “Well, I can work with red. I’m not helpless.”

            “Neither am I,” Noah responded defiantly.

            Luke chuckled, dipping his paintbrush into the green. “This is definitely going to be a fun class.”

            Chloe nudged me in the side with her elbow. “Can you dip my paintbrush in the blue? I can’t reach.”

            I nodded, reaching my hand out to grab Chloe’s paintbrush, but a different hand grabbed in from her. Surprised, I turned to Rian, who grinned at Chloe, taking her brush and dipping it into the paint. I turned back to Chloe, who looked extremely pleased by his actions. A few seconds later I felt something cool and wet touch my face.

            “Sorry,” Rian apologized, pulling the brush away from his face. “Accident.”

            Using the back of my hand, I wiped off my face, looking down to see blue paint covering it. I turned to give Rian an annoyed look. “Accident? Yeah right,” I snorted. “Are you really that conceited to be upset over Gold not being my favorite band?” I was beginning to have different opinions about Rian now.

            “I’m not conceited,” Rian retorted defensively. “I’m just merely curious.”

            I heaved a sigh. “We haven’t even known each other for a day. I see no reason why I have to tell you what kind of music I like.”

            “You’ve known me for longer than that,” he said confidently.

            “But you haven’t known me,” I pointed out.

            Rian scowled. “Why don’t you want to tell me?”

            “Why does it matter?”

            “Because you’re being so secretive about it! It’s making me even more curious!”

            I shrugged. “Curiosity killed the cat.”

            Now it was Rian’s turn to sigh. “Maybe I’d like it better if you actually were like our other fans.”

            “Rian,” Luke started, giving him a disapproving look. “Not everyone wants to tell you their whole life story when they meet you.”

            Rian frowned at Luke. “I know, but…”

            Noah shook his head. “Just drop it. She’ll tell you when she wants to.”

            “Which will be never,” I muttered. Noah caught it and smirked at me.

            “Whatever,” Rian said grumpily. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

            Rian pushed himself away from the table and headed for the front of the room to tell the teacher he was leaving. Noah watched him as he left, a frown on his face.

            “Does he even know where the bathroom is?” Luke commented as Rian exited the room.

            Noah shook his head, grinning again. “No, I don’t think so.”

            “So do you guys have the hang of your schedule? Or will it take a few days to adjust?” I asked, deciding to change the topic.

            Noah and Luke both shrugged.

            “It’d be easy if you had your classes all in one hall way,” Luke commented. “I go from the third floor, to the first, to the second, to the science wing, to the first, and so on,” he explained. “It’s a good work out.”

            I laughed. “That happens.”

            “Do you have a student council meeting during lunch tomorrow?” Noah asked, dipping his paintbrush into the green. “Let’s eat lunch again.”

            I shook my head. “I only have meetings on Mondays. We can eat lunch together. Oh, and we have second lunch.”

            Noah and Luke gave me a confused look.

            Chloe giggled at their expressions. “Every day we switch first and second lunch,” she explained. “More people are in second lunch. I’ll introduce you to some of them.”

            “We’ll introduce you to our special friend.”

            “Special friend?” Luke and Noah repeated.

            I nodded. “He’s Asian.”

            Noah cracked a grin. “I love Asians, though I like Asian women more than the men.”

            “Sorry, he’s a guy,” I told Noah, shaking my head. “I think you and him will get along great.”

            “Really?”

            “What about me?” Luke interjected, staring at me with wide eyes. “I need some guy friends too!”

            Chloe snickered, ducking her head. I shot her an amused look before turning to Luke. “I’ll introduce you guys to a few of my guy friends,” I promised. “Though, I’m positive you both will do well on your own.”

            “You have pretty eyes, so I want to stay friends with you,” Noah told me, a silly grin spreading across his face.

            I blushed a little, ducking my head. “Thanks, Noah.”

            “Dude!” Luke suddenly cried, making me jump. “You can’t mix purple and red!”

            Chloe looked up from her painting, startled. “Huh?”

            Luke grabbed Chloe’s brush from her hand, shaking his head. “No, no, no! Red and purple look horrible together! You’re going to create an ugly color.”

            “Um,” Chloe hesitated, sending a bewildered look towards me. “But—”

            “Use red, orange, and yellow,” Luke told her, giving her his brush, which was covered in orange. “Okay?”

            Chloe nodded meekly, taking the brush. “Alright…”

            I raised an eyebrow at Luke. “You take art seriously, huh?”

            “I want to go to art school,” he informed me, shrugging once. “Being a famous bassist is fun and all, but I really like art. Sounds lame, huh?”

            I shook my head vigorously. “No! Art is awesome. I think that’s pretty cool.”

            Luke grinned at me. “I know, right?”

            Before I could respond, Mr. Smith called my name. Chloe glanced at me for a second, and I shared a confused look with her, before going to the front of the room. Mr. Smith gestured towards the door with his head. “Will you go track down Rian? I think he might have gotten lost.”

            “I’ll do it!” one of the freshmen chirped before I could answer.

            Mr. Smith looked at her and shook his head. “No, Iris can do it.”

            “Sure,” I told him, knowing I couldn’t refuse. “I’ll be right back then.”

            The art hallway was empty as I trudged down it, keeping my eyes peeled for Rian. The bathroom was just around the corner— it wasn’t that hard to miss. I hesitated by the bathroom door, knowing I couldn’t go in and check if he was there. But if he was in there and I went to go search somewhere else while he went back to the classroom, it would be a problem. After another brief moment of hesitation I quickly checked to make sure the hallway was still empty before ducking inside the men’s room. I stayed close to the door, listening for any noises. “Rian?”

            Nothing.

            “You there?”

            Still nothing. I frowned.

            Suddenly there was a pair of hands on my shoulders. I jumped violently and turned around to see Rian smirking at me. “What are you doing in the boy’s room?”

            “Looking for you,” I snapped, glancing at the door. “How’d you get in here without me hearing you?”

            “Secret,” he told me with a wink.

            I rolled my eyes at him. “Okay. Come on, Mr. Smith’s worried about you.”

            “Aw shucks!”

            Ignoring Rian’s smirk, I pushed open the door to the hall. Just as I stepped out, someone ran into me, nearly knocking me off my feet. When I regained my balance and looked up at the person, I found Ms. Tracy, the environmental science teacher, frowning in disapproval at me. Her eyes then flickered to Rian behind me.

            “Ms. Carter, what were you doing in the men’s room?” she asked accusingly, crossing her arms.

            “Making out with me,” Rian answered before I could.

            “I did not!”

            Ms. Tracy shot Rian a dirty look. “Care to explain then?” she inquired, her eyes returning to me.

            “I was looking for him,” I explained, trying my best not to glare at her. So I was in the men’s bathroom. Big deal. “He’s new here, and Mr. Smith thought he was lost, so I went to find him.”

            “That doesn’t explain why you were in the bathroom.”

            “She was checking if I was in there, obviously,” Rian snapped, rolling his eyes at Ms. Tracy.”

            I glanced over at Rian to send him a warning look. You did not mess with Ms. Tracy. She was one of the nastiest teacher’s in the school. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Who are you?”

            “Don’t know,” Rian responded with a shrug. Before she could say anything else, he grabbed my arm, and started tugging me back towards the art room.

            I threw Ms. Tracy an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

            She scowled after me, shaking her head. Then she turned her back and started continuing down the hall in the opposite direction.

            “What a bitch,” Rian groaned. “I’m glad she’s not my science teacher.”

            I shot him a dirty look. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

            “So?”

            “I’m class president!”

            He raised an eyebrow. “Class Prez can’t get in trouble?”

            “I don’t want to get in trouble,”