TYLER

"I'm going out!" I grab my water bottle and head to the door, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

"You done your homework?" dad peeks his head out from the kitchen.

I roll my eyes. He and his obsession with my school work. "Duh."

"Just making sure," he scowls. "You can drop the attitude."

I sigh, already regretting my tone. "Sorry."

He nods, "It's alright. Be back in two hours. I have a night shift."

"Sure thing," I wave before stepping outside. I love Bells but some days I wish I didn't have the responsibility of raising her when dad's working all the time. I know he does it for us but it's just annoying at times. I can barely keep my own head above water and I'm supposed to take care of a kid? Figures.

I shake off the gloomy thoughts and start jogging. It's four miles to the track and when I get there I notice I'm not alone, despite the late timing.

Nora's doing four hundred meter sprints on the otherwise empty track, her curly hair swinging from side to side in the high ponytail she's tied it to. She's wearing tight black shorts and a yellow sports bra, her darker skin glistering with sweat. The muscles in her legs and abdomen are visible when she runs, her face determined.

I realize I'm staring when she stops at the line and turns to raise a brow at me. I quickly look away and casually lay my water bottle down on the ground when she starts walking toward me.

"I know I'm sexy when I'm sweaty but..." she stops in front of me and grins wickedly.

I roll my eyes, pretending I'm not affected by the sight of her bare skin. "Don't flatter yourself."

"I don't need to," she smiles. Goddamn that smile. "Your roaming eyes do it for me."

"You're delusional," I try not to look at her body. I see it everyday in practice, I don't know why this time is different.

"Sure, whatever you say," she hums and starts walking back to the white line with a bounce in her step. I can't help but stare at her ass. "Wanna try a four hundred with me? I mean, if you think you can keep up," she winks at me over her shoulder and my eyes immediately fly back up so she doesn't catch me looking.

I snort and follow her. "I'm going to destroy you."

"We'll see about that," she grins confidently.

Got to admire her confidence. We both know she's good, better than good, but I'm a guy. We're faster, stronger. It's just biology. Nothing you can do about it.

"You ready?" she gets into starting position and I mimic her.

"Yup."

"Ready. Set. Go—" she says and we set off.

I don't know how long she'd been running before I got here, but she's not showing any fatigue as she tries to keep up. I'm faster at the hundred and she knows it. Even if she was a guy I'd probably decimate her. I'm just that good.

When we reach the halfway mark, the gap between us starts to get smaller. I'm still ahead of her by meters but this is not my event. I haven't gotten the strategy of running the four hundred down like she has. I've never cared to, so I just run it like I do the hundred: sprinting as fast as I can.

At the three hundred meter mark my legs are filling with lactic acid and I feel terrible. I don't know how she puts herself through this torture every single day. She must be crazy. Crazy sexy, my subconscious whispers.

I can hear her steps behind me as she closes in. I shake my head to clear it off the distracting thoughts and try to focus on the race. I speed up and hear her doing the same. She's still multiple steps behind me.

I finally cross the finish line and she follows seconds later, annoyance coating her face. We both catch our breath and I have to lean my hands to my knees. Torture, absolute torture.

"Come on, baby," I joke as I recover "you knew how that would turn out. You didn't really think you'd beat me?"

She scowls. It's actually kind of adorable. "Don't call me that. And a girl can always dream."

I smile, amused by the grumpy look on her face.

"We could go again?" her eyes light up and she takes a sip of her water.

I raise my hands in front of me defensively. "No way in hell. One time was awful enough."

"You're such a pussy," she shakes her head at me, biting her lip to keep from smiling. "Can't take the pain?

I huff and cross my arms. I know what she's doing. And it's working. "Okay, let's do it. Your funeral."

"Mhmm," she hums and gets set, looking over at me. "You count down this time."

"My pleasure," I smirk at her and get ready.

We run the four hundred ten times with little breaks in between, which we spend joking around. It's weird, being this way with her. I'm so used to us bickering that I'd forgotten how much fun she's to be around.

With the last race, we step over the finish line at the same time. I'm exhausted, not used to sprinting this distance, whereas she's in her element, her body used to it. Whereas my time goes down with every repeat, hers stays the same.

She seems very pleased and I can't help but smile at the proud look on her face. If Evan was here, they could run hundred times and she still would lose, but I'm not Evan. I don't have his speed endurance.

"You happy now?" I nudge her shoulder with mine.

"Extremely," she smiles widely and goes to retrieve her now empty water bottle from the side. I avert my eyes when she bends over. "You want a ride home?"

I look at my watch and realize I'm almost late. Shit. "Sure," I accept gratefully.

She hands me a towel to lay on the seat so that I don't smear sweat all over it and does the same to hers before sitting down and starting the car.

I watch her from the corner of my eye as she drives. She's so beautiful, even without any make-up and being all sweaty and dressed in running clothes. A few times I catch her peeking at me, probably feeling my eyes on her.

"What?" she finally asks, clearly self-conscious of my staring. "Is there something on my face?"

I shake my head, smiling. Why can't I stop smiling? I must look like an idiot. I turn my head away, looking out the window at the passing streets.

"What is it, then?" She dares to look from the road for a second, shooting a curious glance at me.

"Nothing," I raise my hands in defense. No way in hell am I telling her what I'm thinking.

"Why are you smiling like that?" she looks amused now.

"I'm not," I scowl and she rolls her eyes at me. She does that a lot.

"Well, not anymore you're not," she says wryly and fixes her eyes back on the road. We're almost at my place.

I turn my face away from her and grin. I can't help it. It's like there's invisible hooks at the corners of my mouth that keep pulling my lips up. What the hell is wrong with me?

"There it is again!" she exclaims, reaching out with her right hand and poking me in the cheek with her index finger.

"Stop that!" I swat her hand away, feeling heat climb up my neck.

"You're weird," she states as she slows down and stops in front of my house.

"No, I'm not. You are," I automatically respond, so used to disagreeing with her.

She huffs.

"Thanks for the ride," I open the door.

"You're welcome," she gives me a small smile. It's so odd to see her smile directed to me. Usually I get the scowls and narrowed eyes but today has been different. We've been different.

I'm almost out of the car when I hesitate. I turn back to her, "I had fun."

She looks a little shocked and surprised by my confession, but then her lips spread into a bright genuine smile. "Me too."

I almost lean in to kiss her then, her smile pulling at me like honey draws in bees, but stop myself before I can make a fool of myself. I clear my throat, "See you at school tomorrow."

"See you," I hear her answer before I close the car door and hurry inside. Dad is already waiting for me inside, dressed in his work clothes and shushing me to be quiet as Bells is already asleep.

---

NORA

The next day at school Tyler and I are civil toward each other, causing Evan to raise his brows at us.

It's weird, being friendly with Tyler after all these years. For all our high school years we've been in turn bickering and ignoring each other. And now... now we have a sex deal and I actually enjoy hanging out with him. I never in a million years would've thought we'd be here when senior year is coming to a close. And the scary thing is... I like it.

The whole cafeteria practically quiets down when Evan and Tyler join us for lunch. Everybody knows about my feud with Tyler, so it must be shocking to see him smiling at me like that.

I almost laugh at the dumbfounded faces of my friends. Lexie almost drops her fork and Brandon chuckles at her, and Michelle's eyes go wide as saucers. Audrey looks up from her conversation with Connor, more confused than ever, probably wondering if I'm going to say anything. Lindsey, Antonio and Jordyn share a look and Zoe and Hayley frown, clearly wondering what is happening.

Only Olive manages to keep a straight face, though I can see her inner voice squealing and know that she's going to demand me to tell her everything after lunch.

"Hey guys," I stifle a chuckle and scoot toward Olive to make space for them.

Tyler sits down next to me, his arm brushing mine as he opens his container of pesto chicken. Evan seats himself next to him, sending a flirty smirk to Hayley, who's on his other side. She blushes and looks down at her food to try to hide it.

"So..." Evan breaks the awkward silence that has followed their arrival. "This is weird, huh?"

"Yeah," Lindsey bluntly states, her eyes flicking between Tyler and me, "it is."

I send her an inconspicuous look saying "act cool," and thankfully she seems to understand. She spears a baby carrot and waves it toward Evan and I. "How's the song coming along?"

"It's coming," I answer her, relieved when the others go back to the conversations they were having before the interruption. "We're almost done. Just some small tweaking left."

Evan nods along, his mouth full. "We're so talented. Well, at least I am," he grins jokingly at me. "At everything I do," he directs the last part to Olive with a very suggestive smirk.

Olive almost chokes on the juice she's drinking and I clap her back while shooting Evan a glare. He chuckles and shrugs his wide shoulders.

Olive finally recovers, her face firetruck red. "Uh, right," she mumbles, avoiding his eyes.

I share an amused look with Lindsey, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. I turn to Evan. "You forgetting I came up with the melody?"

"But I made it better," he says cockily and I huff. He did, though.  He added a guitar part as well as made suggestions to what I'd already written. I hate to admit it but the piece is better now than before. He has quite the ear for music

"Whatever," I refuse to admit it to him. He's already cocky enough.

"So are you keeping it instrumental?" Lindsey asks. I've talked — more like whined — about the project enough for all my friends to know our biggest dilemma.

I sigh in defeat. "I guess so. We have to."

"Why?" Tyler asks curiously, turning to look at me. His lips are so close. I can almost taste the pesto in his breath. If I just leaned forward a little...

"Because we suck" Evan's voice brings me out of my inappropriate thoughts. I blink and scoot back, ignoring the knowing smirk playing on Tyler's lips.

"Yeah," I say with a shaky voice.

"I don't believe that" Tyler's eyes fix on mine.

"I, uh..." I'm having a hard time stringing words together, lost in the depths of his brown eyes. What is he doing to me?

"Trust me, we suck as song writers." Evan saves me. "We're awful. Terrible. Disastrous."

Lindsey look at me weirdly, like she's wondering what's wrong with me. I shake my head at her and try to concentrate on my food. I'm way too sensitive to the fact that Tyler's knee is brushing mine every now and then when he moves. 

"I thought you're good at everything you do?" Olive smirks at Evan, who stops and blinks.

"Uh," he messes up his hair, momentarily at a loss for words. "Well, everything else except song writing," he grins at her and I can almost see her melting. "I've got to have one flaw, don't I? It would be unfair to all the other guys if I was perfect."

Tyler and I scoff at the same time. We share a glance and have to look away from each other to not burst out laughing.

Evan narrows his eyes on us but says nothing, too distracted by Olive's big gray eyes on him. I feel like kicking her under the table but restrain myself. I'm no one to talk when I'm acting like a fool with Tyler, myself.

"Lunch break is almost over," Hailey and Zoe stand up, looking at us weirdly. Jordyn takes a last sip of her drink and follows them as they go drop their trash into the can by the doors. The rest of us scarf down our remaining food before getting up.

"See you in physics," I smile at Connor, my physics buddy, and feel Tyler's eyes on me. Connor smiles at me before dispersing to his next class with Brandon and Antonio.

"You have a crush on him or something?" Tyler leans down low and whispers in my ear as I pick up my trash. The others are almost out the door already.

"What?" I turn to look at him, thinking I must have heard him wrong. The idea of me having a crush on Connor is just so ridiculous.

"You heard me," he grits his teeth. Umm... what?

"You know he's dating Audrey, right?" I look at him incredulously. Is he... jealous? He can't be, right? There's no way.

His eyes go to the blonde twin and his eyes soften a little. "Oh."

I chuckle at the embarrassed look on his face. "You really didn't know?"

He rolls his eyes at me, clearly embarrassed. "Why would I?"

"Umm," I stifle another chuckle when his eyes narrow at me, "maybe because they've been together for three years and are almost always together? They're like the picture perfect couple everybody wants to be. Everybody knows they're together."

"Well, obviously not everybody," he tells me wryly and follows me out of the cafeteria. 

"Why would you even care?" I head for the stairs. I have no idea what class he has next but he starts climbing the stairs with me.

"What?" the question seems to take him off guard.

"Why would you care if I had a crush on him?"

"I don't," he's quick to say.

"Mhhm," I turn my head so he doesn't see the laughter in my eyes. Messing with him is way too much fun.

"I don't," he repeats, sounding a bit offended, or maybe annoyed.

"Sure," I smirk. I know he probably wouldn't care either way, but it sure is fun teasing him.

"Fine, okay," he growls, his eyebrows burrowed together. "I was just making sure you remember the rules."

"The rules?" Giggle. Who even am I?

"Of the deal," he says in a tone indicating I'm an idiot. At the this moment I can't help but agree with him.

"Wait, you actually thought I want to jump Connor's bones?" I press my lips tight together so that I won't laugh in his face. I don't think he'd respond well to that. "That I'd break the one rule I wanted?"

"No. Maybe. Whatever," he steps ahead of me so that I can't see his face but I don't miss the way his neck is turning pink. No doubt he's feeling foolish right about now.

"It hasn't even been a week," I remind him. "I think I can manage only one sex partner."

"You think?" his face falls flat, disbelief coloring his eyes. 

"I know," I correct myself. "Besides, it's you who we should be worried about, not the other way around."

He huffs. "You don't think I can keep it in my pants, do you?"

I shrug, trying to act nonchalant, like I don't care either way. "You sleep around like you're trying to collect the whole set of STDs so... I have my doubts."

He stops abruptly and turns around to face me, a frown on his face. "I do not."

I raise a brow skeptically. He isn't really claiming he doesn't have a different girl for every week, is he? Because we both now that would be a lie.

"I don't sleep around that much," he mumbles, his tone serious.

I don't say anything, knowing arguing with him is useless. We stand in the hallway in a silent stare-off until someone steps into the hallway behind him. Zane. My blood runs cold at the disbelieving look on his face as his eyes dart between Tyler and me.

"I..." I look at Zane over Tyler's shoulder, my brains going to mush. How much did he hear? The tardy bell rings and I'm jolted out of my thoughts. "I have to go, see you later," I hurry past a surprised Tyler toward the room I have yearbook in.

I turn at the door, looking back at where I left him. He has turned around and noticed Zane, the muscles in his arms flexing as they exchange murmured words. Zane doesn't look happy but then neither does Tyler.

"Nora?" Audrey's voice drifts from inside the class. "You coming?"

I cast a last worried glance at the two guys before retreating to the classroom, worry nagging at my insides. This can't be good.

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