“I'd appreciate it if you controlled your girlfriend,” a feminine voice said firmly.

 I froze before letting out an incredulous laugh, then slammed my locker shut and turned to see a red faced Candace glaring at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

 I eyed her, “And you came into the guys locker room to tell me this?”

 In response, she just tilted her head and gave me a look. Sighing heavily, I crossed my arms as well then leaned against the lockers, “And who is this girlfriend of mine?” I tilted my head.

 It was almost the end of the day. My last class was gym and I was looking to hit the showers since I was sweating like a pig, but Candace seems to have another thing in mind. I had no idea what she was going on about now, but I wasn't in a hurry since I didn't really have anywhere to go until the next hour or two, so I figured I'd humor her.

 She got ready to say something but stopped, her body tensing and her arm tightening across her chest. I was confused for a second before a guy walked by me and I turned a little to see that he only had a towel wrapped around his waist and was eyeing Candace like she was fresh meat. Which she kinda is. She is in the guys locker room.

 “What are you looking at!” she snapped in a hiss and he smirked, raising his hands in a surrender motion.

 My lips twitched up into a smile and I looked down at the floor, then back up at her.

 Her jaw was clenched tightly as she gritted out, “It's not funny.”

 “This is the boys locker room, Candace,” I reminded her, “What did you expect?”

 She takes in a deep breath and dropped her arms from her chest. She sets one on her hip sassily and flicks her hair over her shoulder with the next.

 “Who the hell does she think she is?” She asked.

 I shrugged, “Who knows.”

 “I'm being serious, Adrian,” she said hardly.

 My eyebrows creased, “Am I supposed to know what you're trying to say or…” I tried off and she narrowed her eyes at me, “Should I wait until you tell me…”

 “So you're just gonna let her have her way?” She snaps.

 I leaned forward a little, “What the hell are you saying?” I asked slowly.

 “She assaulted Toby and you just sat there!” She blew up and then I got it, “All of you just sat there and didn't do anything!”

 “Toby's fine,” I told her with shrug, “I know you don't really care but we can just pretend that you do. How do you even know what happened anyway?” I asked since she's not in our first period.

 “There's this wonderful thing called the internet, you should probably check it sometime,” she said sarcastically.

 I did a dramatic doubletake, “Oh I'm sorry, I just have better things to do with my life.”

 Her jaw clenched and she crossed her arms over her chest again, causing her boobs to bulge over the top of her v-neck that rode down a bit. My eyes immediately went down to the movement, then back up at her face. I knew she noticed, but ignored it.

 “What exactly do you want me to do?” I questioned, staring at her boredly.

 Her eyes went to the ceiling as she pretended to think about it, “Oh, I don't know, defend your friend maybe?”

 I made a face, “For what? He knew what he was doing. He wanted that to happen. He'd probably get off on her breaking his neck or some shit.”

 She cringed and I smirked, “You people are disgusting,” she muttered and shuddered.

 “Let's just face it,” I said and she looked up at me, “You hate the thought of having competition-” she cuts me off by scoffing. My eyebrows raised, “Am I wrong?”

 She took a step toward me, her stare unwavering as she held my gaze, “I don't care how hot she thinks she is-”

 “Which she is,” I cut her off and her eyes narrowed into slits and I smirked teasingly at her.

 “I don't compete,” she spat out the word like it was acid in her mouth, “I don't need to. Just tell her to stay out of my way.”

 I leaned down to level my gaze with hers, “Tell her yourself.”

 Her face gradually started to get redder by the second and she gritted out, “Fine.” Then spun around on her heels.

 “Y’know, this is why Andrew doesn't like you,” I said to her back as she took the first step.

 She stopped, freezing on the spot. After a couple seconds, she slowly turned to face me and tried to seem nonchalant but failed.

 Her hands rested on her hips and she flipped her hair over her shoulder in one swift motion, “What?” She asked lowly.

 I took in the way her body was tense and her fingers almost digging into her hips. I gave her a look and a small shrug in response to say ‘You heard what I said’.

 “He-” she stopped as if hesitating to finish the sentence, but then she did, “Doesn't like me?”

 I knew I shouldn't have said anything, with the way she was fighting to keep herself together, but I couldn't bring myself to regret it. I knew she liked him, but I never knew it was this bad. But she needed to hear it anyway.

 “Not very much,” I shook my head. Her head bowed a little and her eyes went to the floor.

 After a moment, she looks back up with her shoulders squared and her lips pursed, “It's a good thing I don't care, because he never will.” She said, then her back was turned toward me again and she was walking away.

 I shook my head, looking down at the ground and rolling my lips into my mouth briefly. Suddenly there were wolf whistles and catcalls throughout the locker room.

 Shaking my head again, I took my towel and threw it over my shoulder, getting ready to hit the shower.

•°•°•°•

 It was almost four when I got out of the locker room and the school was next to isolated. There were one or two kids in the halls, probably leaving from an after school club or something.

 With my duffle bag hanging across my body, I made my way down the hall to find my locker that was on the opposite side of the school. I had to get my book bag and coat from there, then I had to head to work.

 As I'm walking the quietness of the school started to get to my head and my jaw clenched as I willed myself not to think. Not about her.

 But my mind defied me and the memory invaded my thoughts.

 “Adrian.”

 I looked down, watching two small hands slip around my waist slowly. She pressed herself into my back gently and my eyes closed at the feeling of her lips brushing against my shoulder.

 “You okay?” She asked lowly and something stirred in the pit of my stomach at the sound of her voice. It was the most beautiful thing to me and at the time I never believed that I'd ever think any different.

 I nodded, letting out a breath and tilting my head slightly as she kissed behind my ear. Her hands ran along my chest, something she'd always do to calm me down. It was weirdly comforting and always did the job, which is why the tension slowly eased from my body and my shoulders fell forward.

 “You're gonna be fine,” she whispered against the back of my neck then placed a kiss there, “I promise.”

 She continued to place a trail of gentle kisses along my shoulder and back until I was struggling to keep myself upright. My heart was pounding a mile a second and my throat was closing up. Because she knew I wasn't fine and I didn't have to say it for her to know, because she knows me better than anyone. She always has.

 She held onto me tightly, holding me together as I threatened to fall apart. And with her lips pressed against my shoulder she whispered, “I love you.”

 I stopped in the middle of the hallway, taking deep breaths to calm myself. My hands clenching and unclenching at my sides.

 “No you didn't,” I gritted, “You never did.”

 Suddenly my chest started to constrict and I focused on my breathing, while erasing any memory of her that surfaced. The only girl I ever gave my heart to, only for her to rip it out.

 Making my way over to the wall, I slipped the bag over my head and dropped it to the floor, then leaned back against the lockers and slid down until I was sitting on the ground.

 I run my shaking fingers through my wet hair and pulled harshly. I couldn't stop thinking about her. Her smile, her kiss, how beautiful she was-

 In one swift motion, my head snapped back and hit the lockers with a loud bang and I grunted, reaching up to run my hands down my face.

 “Are you trying to give yourself a concussion?” An accented voice said and it was clear as day who that could be. It was the only one in school who belonged to one person. The new girl.

 With my head still leaning against the lockers, I slowly opened my eyes and she was there. She was standing a couple feet away with her Gucci bag hanging from her arm.

 “Because I can help you if you want,” she added, “It's surprisingly very easy.”

 It was funny because I didn't doubt that she could. But instead of a laugh coming out, it was an amused breath through my nose, “No thanks. I'm fine on my own.”

 Her head tilted a little, “Are you sure?” I didn't respond, so she said, “You have a tear,” she emphasized that by running a finger from the bottom of her left eye, down her cheek.

 I ignored that and instead asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

 Even if she already wasn't moving, I saw the way her body went still. The question seemed to catch her off guard because all she did was stare at me for while.

 “I wouldn't know the feeling,” she said finally.

 I pulled myself up from the floor and reached down for the strap of my duffle bag, slinging it over my shoulder. I looked back at her and she was still staring at me, “Good. Because it's bullshit.” I adjusted my bag then turned away and started down the hall.

 It took a couple steps before I froze and back tracked before turning back around. I pointed at her, “I have a message for you,” I said and she was still standing there. I kinda expected her disappear into thin air or something like in movies.

 She turns her blank gaze away from the lockers and toward me. There was something in her eyes in that moment and I would pay to know what was going through her mind.

 “Candace said to stay out of her way.” Initially, I wasn't planning on telling her. But I wanted to see her response to it.

 Her expression turned to confusion, “What is a… Candace?”

 I pressed my lips together against a laugh, by chin dropping to my chest. No matter how hard I tried to hold back my laugh though, it came out anyway.

 “Y’know, the girl that sat with us at lunch on your first day?” I hinted, amused by the genuine confusion on her face. She was cute.

 The lines on her forehead smoothed and her face went back to neutral, “That might be a problem, seeing as she's the one who's always approaching me.”

 “Yeah,” I nodded, “She doesn't really know what she wants ninety percent of the time.”

 “Ah,” she nodded once, turning her body so that she was facing me— giving me her full attention, “She might want to figure that out soon. Not a lot of people know this, but I'm not a very patient person.”

 I couldn't help grinning at that, “I definitely wouldn't have known.” I humored her. And all through this, she never cracked a smile, but that didn't bother me.

 “I'll try my best to…” She trails off, thinking, then continued, “‘Stay out of her way’.” She quoted, “Desperation and attention seeking is not really my thing.”

 I smirked, “It's not?” I teased.

 Her eyes narrowed slightly and she eyed me slowly—from head to toe, “It's embarrassing.”

 “You know,” I said, taking a couple steps toward her, but not getting too close, “This school could use a couple more girls like you.”

 Her eyebrows raised quickly, “Oh trust me, you would not like that.”

 It was my time to raise my eyebrows as I eyed her, taking in every curve of her body, “I wouldn't be one complaining,” I met her eyes again.

 She hummed in response, tilting her chin slowly while keeping her eyes on mine.

 Then something else came to my attention, so I brought it up, “About this morning,” I started, taking in her reaction but she didn't show a thing even if she felt some type of way about it, “I'm sorry about… Toby and everything.”

 Again, confusion breaks across her face, “Toby…” she trails off in confusion.

 I looked away with a grin, then back at her, “My friend. You almost broke his face for going through your stuff.”

 “Oh,” she nodded then shook her head, “You shouldn't be apologizing for him.”

 I took another step toward her, “But I am. He was just being his usual self and wanted to piss someone off,” I told her, then extended my hand to her in a gesture, “And you were his target for the day.”

 She nodded then looked down at the floor, “I see,” she looks back up at me, “Now that you've made me aware that this is a game to him, I won't be so forgiving next time.”

 “Trust me, no one expected you to be the first time,” I retorted, “But let me make it up to you,” her eyebrows raised a little, “Let me take you out to lunch tomorrow.”

 Her eyebrows pulled together and I added, “It's not a date or anything,” reassuringly, “Just an apology lunch.”

 “They have those now?” She retorted.

 I gave her a small grin before reply humorously, “I made it up.”

 She just stared at me for a moment. I wasn't so desperate for a yes. If she said no, I wasn't gonna push her. It's her call.

 But instead of answering or giving any kind of answer—whether it be verbal or physical—she spun on her heels slowly and started walking away.

 And weirdly enough, it didn't feel like a rejection. I feel like, if she wanted to say no, she would have. Plain and blunt, for me to get that she's definitely not into the idea. She didn't say no, but she had too much pride to say yes.

 My lips pulled up at the sides, but I wasn't gonna get too smug, since I wasn't really sure what that meant. So I called after her, “Meet me in the parking lot tomorrow at lunch!”

 She kept walking and I grinned, taking a couple steps backward and my eyes strayed down to her ass.

 “We really need more girls like you here,” I muttered, waiting until she turned around a corner—out of sight—before pivoting and making my way down the hall.