(Tyler ^ )

I slip into the music room ten minutes late, accidentally interrupting Mr. Tanner's speech, and I give him an apologetic smile before plopping down on one of the chairs. There's only eight students in this class, mostly because most of the musically talented kids of our school are in the marching band. Don't get me wrong, I respect the band geeks and what they do, I just can't imagine myself wearing those horrid uniforms, or marching. Yeah, definitely not my thing.

"As I was saying before Miss Sanders interrupted," Mr. Tanner gives me a pointed look, "we're starting a new project, one that you will be working on for the next few months alongside other smaller projects. You're going to be working in pairs—" everybody cheers, "which I have already decided." The cheers immediately turn into scowls.

I hate it when teacher think that just because you're friends with someone, you can't work with them. I personally think I work better with someone I actually enjoy spending time with, not with someone I either can't stand or get bored with.

"You're all—" he stops mid-sentence when the door flies open and Evan Perkins walks in.

Evan is known as one of the bad boys of the school, popular, a player and a troublemaker. His tall, broad, muscled body attracts girls like flies and so does his handsome face set with light blue eyes. His short dark blond hair is always messy, right now covered under a black hood. Even I can't deny his hotness, even though I in a way known him and what he's like. Like me, he's in the varsity track team, doing the same events, none the less, meaning we've been in a lot of practices and meets together, including the bus rides. We've never really been friends though, as he hangs out mostly with people I can't stand — including himself.

"Ah, Mr. Perkins" Mr. Tanner looks at him down his nose. "Glad you could join us. Next time though, come in time or don't bother coming at all."

"Sure thing" Evan smirks and sits down up front. He flexes his hands behind his head, showing off his tan, muscled arms. I can almost see the drool that flows down the other girls' jaws. Oh dear lord.

Mr. Tanner clears his throat, trying to get everyone's attention. "With the pairs I've assigned to you, you are going to compose your own piece of music. I'm going to give you Tuesdays and Thursdays to work on it in class, but you need to work on it in your free time, as well. I am giving you free hands with this. The piece can be of any genre, have lyrics if you so wish, and include any instruments you want. Since there's only two of you, you can have playback or ask other students to play instruments, as long as you're the ones who compose it. The only requirements are that it has to be at least two minutes long, and must be completely made by the two of you equally, no plagiarism. I'm expecting a report of your progress every Monday."

"Are we going to perform it somewhere?" someone asks.

"Yes, you will all perform your pieces in front of the whole school in the annual concert in spring. You're — as a class — also going to perform an a capella cover of a song of your choosing. We're going to dedicate Wednesdays to that."

My eyes light up. Yay, performing. I'm good at that, so I'm not at all nervous about it, unlike some of my classmates seem to be, at least by judging from the expressions of horror on their faces.

"If you'll listen to me, I'm going to tell you your lucky partners so you can get to work," the teacher's voice cuts through my thoughts. "Cory and Helen. Anna and Matt. Lorraine and Julie, Nora and..." my face falls when I realize who the only person left is, "...Evan."

Evan turns in his chair to look back at me and smiles widely when he sees my unhappy face, then gets up and sits down on the chair next to me. "Nora Sanders," he stretches out my name. "Would you look at this. I guess we'll be spending a lot of time together," he grins.

I roll my eyes, my voice bland and sarcastic when I reply, "Lucky me."

He just smirks, obviously not bothered by my less-than-happy reaction to our new partnership. "You're going to have fun with me, all girls do. Trust me," he winks suggestively.

I raise a brow, "Not even in your dreams, Perkins."

He continues to smirk, looking rather confident in himself. And why wouldn't he be? He gets almost every girl he wants. "So, your place or mine?"

"Excuse me?" If he thinks he's going to get some from me, he's wrong. I may not be Virgin Mary but I'm sure not that easy either. Not to mention he's friends with Zane.

"Don't sound so exited," he jokes. "What I meant was, are we going to meet at your house or mine, for the project?"

"The library?" I suggest weakly, not really warming up to either suggestion.

Now he raises his brows. "The library? No way, you can't even talk there."

A sweet smile spreads across my face, "That's the point."

He rolls his eyes toward the ceiling, muttering profanities under his breath. I guess he's not used to girls being difficult. Well, there's a first time for everything.

"I promise I'll behave," he finally amends, meeting my eyes.

I can't help but scoff, not believing for a second that he'll stop with the flirting. It's like second nature to him. But I do want to get a high grade on this project, so I guess I don't have a choice but to endure his company. "Fine. We'll go to yours."

He grins, most likely thinking of ways to show me his bedroom. "Today after school?"

"Sure." I couldn't be more ecstatic.

"Great," he grins satisfied.

When the bell rings to indicate the end of class, I snatch my bag and quickly exit the room, not wanting to endure Evan's continuous flirting and suggestions any longer than necessary. Today is just one of those days that everything irritates me. I blame it on Zane.

I have to slow down my pace when I make it to the second floor, the halls filled with students lounging along with their friends. Yet again I feel like a zoo animal.

I send daggers to everyone who dares to stare at me for too long, quickly parting the crowd.

I'll need to catch up with my friends at lunch to find out how close to the truth the rumors are. I made Zane swear he won't tell anybody about him cheating since I don't want to seem like that naive girl who was oblivious to her boyfriend, the captain of the football team, none the less, sleeping around, but one of his sluts could've easily spread it around. I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm so zoned out in my thoughts that I don't see the person standing in front of my AP history classroom before I walk smack into their hard chest. "Sor—" I start to apologize but stop when I see who exactly I just bumped into.

"Oh, it's you." I don't even bother to hide the distaste in my voice as I look up into the face of Tyler Chambers; Evan's best friend, varsity track star, and the school's heartless player number one. His dark tousled hair, gorgeous hazel eyes, and perfectly chiseled face make it hard not to look twice, and his toned, muscled body just adds to his hotness. His gray jeans sit on his hips like they were made for him, and his white t-shirt shows off his muscled abdomen. He's topped the look with a black leather jacket and his signature smirk.

"Well, hello to you too, darling."

I roll my eyes and try to step past him, but he blocks my way. "Where are you going?"

"To class," I say slowly, raising my brows and nodding my head toward the class as if he's a bit on the side of stupid.

"You think you can just brush me off after you ran into me?" He looks both amused and irritated as he says it. The people around us turn to stare, no doubt waiting to hear my response.

Tyler is one of the many people I can't stand, being the worst of the cocky, self-centered manwhores. He's known to sleep around a lot, never twice with the same girl. He also likes playing games and messing with people. It's a well-known fact that we hate each other.

The funny thing is, we used to be friends as kids. We were actually best friends since we met at daycare up until the end of eight grade. But then something happened, I made a mistake, and he cut me out. Just like that. I still don't know exactly what happened.

"I don't think anything," I answer coolly. "I'm not one of your pathetic little sluts you can melt into a puddle just by flashing a smile. Neither am I the least bit intimidated by you. "

"Really?" his eyes glare at me dangerously. I'm just about to open my mouth to reply when a heavy arm is slung over my shoulders.

"Stop picking on my girl, bro" Evan's voice comes from my side. I turn my head to see him flashing me a cheeky grin, clearly enjoying the situation. He pulls me against his side, cocking an eyebrow.

"If you value having your balls intact, you'll lift your arm off me," I smile sweetly with a sugary voice. His eyes widen and dart to Tyler in horror, and he lets go of me slowly. I hear a few girls  gasp, probably shocked that I'd push him away.

"Smart boy," I coo, tapping his cheek lightly, his short stubble rough under my palm. I bite back an amused grin when he looks at me clearly taken aback, and can't help but notice even Tyler smirking at his friend's discomfort.

I flare a fake smile at the two boys just as the bell rings, "Well, I'd love to stay and chitchat, but I have a class to attend." I push past Tyler and take my seat in the second-back row. Soon after the boys enter the room, smirking at me as they pass my desk and make themselves comfortable behind me.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer" Tyler winks cockily when he catches me staring. I flip him off and turn back to face the front where Mr. Samuel has just started his lecture on the Cold War.

For the whole lesson Tyler and Evan keep talking and laughing behind me quietly so that the teacher won't throw them out, but loud enough to bother me. I can't concentrate on Mr. Samuel's low voice, and get more irritated every passing minute. Thirty minutes into the class I feel fingers poking me in the back continuously. What are they, children?

"What?" I snap as I turn around, my patience gone. I'm greeted with the grinning faces of the two guys.

"Nothing" Evan says innocently as if he doesn't know what I'm talking about.

"Are you fucking with me right now?" I hiss, shooting them both an annoyed look.

"No, but I'm sure you'd like me to" Tyler gives me one of his infamous winks many girls have fallen for. I facepalm myself, having walked straight into it.

"Just stop harassing me," I groan before turning back around. Five minutes later a finger is jabbing me in the side again. I try to ignore it but it's actually kind of hurting. I'm probably going to get bruises because of these two idiots.

"Stop that!" This time I turn around fast enough to catch Evan's forefinger into my strong grip before he has a chance to pull it away. "Now, stop irritating me or I'll snap your finger like a twig, got it?"

They exchange surprised glances, probably not having thought of me as the violent type. Evan lifts his free hand up in mock surrender, "Calm down girl, no need to get violent."

I narrow my eyes but free his finger. "Did you actually have something to say or were you just passing time?"

Tyler chuckles at his friend, ignoring my question, "You just poked the bear, bro."

I turn my glare at him, but he just seems amused by it.

"If you're that bored, go fuck each other," I smile cheekily, "I'm sure you're both pros at it by now." I wink before yet again turning my back on them. I hear an angry growl but ignore it.

They don't bother me again, and when the lesson ends, I'm able to skip out of the room before either of them can even get up. I navigate the halls down to pre-calc, and am yet again shocked when Tyler prances in right after the bell rings, giving me a wink before heading to the back of the class. Since when has he been in pre-calc? I don't have time to wonder about it though, because I have to put my focus on our teacher who starts explaining inverse functions.

---

"So, what do the great people of Wellcrest High say happened?" I ask as I lay my lunch tray down on the table in the middle of the cafeteria my friends are already sitting at. I open the lid of my chicken pasta salad container and stab my fork into lettuce, raising my eyes expectantly.

"Well, there's a few different ones" Michelle, my track buddy with chestnut hair and gray eyes, says from my right.

"I heard someone say that you and Zane were fighting all the time and ended it in mutual agreement" Connor takes a sip of milk as he looks at me from across the table.

I nod, the first part of that is actually true, though the rest is utter bullshit.

"I was told he was drunk and hit you" Lindsey shudders, holding a large cup of coffee in her hands. She looks a little better than in the morning, but is still sporting the dark bags under her eyes and a pale, slightly puffy face.

I arch my brows in surprise. "What? Are you serious?" Zane might not be the gentlest, sweetest boyfriend, but he wasn't physically abusive either. I wonder who started that piece of gossip.

"As serious as a heart attack."

"That's just messed up" Olive shakes her head and snatches a piece of my salad cheese before I can stop her. I purse my lips but she acts like she doesn't even notice.

"At least you didn't hear that Nora was constantly beating him" Lexie Sanchez, another one of my track and field teammates, pulls a face. "I had to put those idiots spreading that one in their place."

"What did you do?" Audrey asks, looking at her with suspicion. Lexie is known to be bold and mischievous, always up to no good.

"Wouldn't you like to know" Lexie smirks, her brown eyes sparkling as she's braiding her black hair onto a loose side braid.

"Lexie..." I stretch her name, giving her a long look.

"Oh stop worrying," she waves me off, "I didn't do anything bad."

"Yeah, sure" Brandon snorts. "Outch!" He rubs his shoulder where she just slapped him. I swear, those two are going to end up together eventually, no matter how much they bicker and claim to be annoyed by each other.

"Well, I actually heard you cheated on him" Michelle looks at me sympathetically while biting her lip.

"By whom?" I grit my teeth together, the fork bending slightly in my tight fist. "If Zane—"

"No, it wasn't him," she interrupts me quickly.

"I bet I know who it was" Lindsey says with a glare she only reserves for the people whose hair she'd like to rip out.

"Brianna" Brandon states flatly, saying out loud what we're all thinking.

"That bitch," I can't help but spit out. As far as I'm concerned, our friendship — if you could call it that — was over the moment she laid her sticky hands on my boyfriend.

Michelle nods, "Yeah. She's really gone off the wagon this time. I mean, she was never the nicest person, but having sex with your boyfriend and then telling everyone it was you who slept around..."

"That's a class A bitch move" Olive fills in, her face scrunching up even at the thought of Brianna. Let's just say the two have never like each other the least bit.

"She's trying to make me look bad while simultaneously making herself seem blameless" I spear a piece of chicken and glower at it. Brianna has been hateful to me ever since we liked the same guy in eight grade and he chose me.  I should've known she'd go after my boyfriend, if just to spite me.

"Sounds about right" Antonio agrees, pulling a hand through his dark waves. "She's always been jealous of you."

"Enough to stab a friend in the back and then twist it?" Audrey asks, always thinking the best of everyone. Understandable in this case, as Brianna is the twins' cheer captain, so they spend a lot of time together.

"Yes," we all answer in unison.

"Jinx!" everyone in the table yells. I look at my friends' faces and we all burst out laughing.

"You're all dorks" Brandon shakes his head amused.

"Speak for yourself," I nudge his shoulder with mine. We are a group of dorks though, and I kind of like it.