Did he actually see anything?

Of course he did. What else would explain that strange noise and sudden closing of window?

How embarrassing!

Were my legs shaved?

Focus Alicia! Focus on the bigger issue. Adam McArdle just saw me in a teeny tiny towel.

I was busy in my thoughts when something hard hit my arse and I yelped. Turning around, my eyes zoomed in on Noah and Justin. Noah had his signature smirk on while Justin stood there, with an uninterested expression on his face.

"Pass the ball, babe." Noah said, leaning against his locker.

"Get it yourself." I answered and turned to open my locker.

After a moment, I felt his presence behind me and his masculine cologne reached my nostrils. He was invading my personal space, making me feel a bit suffocated.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I faced him and asked. Adding fuel to my anger, he placed his hands on my both sides, caging me in.

"You know what, any other would die to be trapped between my arms." he leaned down towards my face and whispered.

"I'd prefer inhaling Hydrogen Sulphide fumes than getting trapped between your arms." I retorted, angling my neck to create some distance between us.

A redhead boy laughed at my comment and earned a deadly glare from Noah the next second.

"You have such a big mouth Ali. I wonder what else it can do." he winked and I felt my blood boil at his comment.

"Chop your dick off. But I don't think we need a big mouth for that." I retorted.

His eyes widened for a moment. He leaned closer so that his breath was fanning the side of my face. "Ask these girls Ali. They will tell you that there is nothing small about my junk." he smirked. "The list of my conquests is longer than your height."

"Such a big ego Noah. What is it compensating for? Any particular dysfunction?" I spat.

His jaw clenched at my words. "Fuck me." he cursed loudly and glared at me with his ocean blue eyes.

"I think I'll pass." I gritted and shoved him away. This time he didn't stop me, partly because he was still surprised because of my reaction and partly because I didn't give him enough time to.

I only stopped when I reached the Literature class. Many set of eyes landed on me when I entered the class in my flustered state, but the one I particularly noticed was Adam's. His stare was strange, as if he was trying to look into my mind.

"You are late, Miss. King." the teacher pointed out and I muttered an apology.

"Fine. Go and sit beside Adam." she said and I nodded.

Slumping on the chair, I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head. Coincidentally, it was exactly the same design as the one Adam was wearing. The only difference was the color. Mine was light blue as compared to his black one.

My eyes flicked to him and I found him scribbling something on his notebook. I narrowed my eyes to get a clearer view. He was writing the character analysis that he had to submit by Friday. I didn't have stamina to deal with his resting bitch mood so I averted my eyes from him before he coukd notice. Pulling out my notebook, I started jotting down whatever Mrs. Cooper was speaking. After a moment, I observed Adam tear the page from his notebook and throw it on the floor.

When the class ended, I was the last one to leave the classroom. As I was picking up my notebook and bag, my eyes zoomed in on the crumpled piece of paped. Picking it up, I straightened it and read the lines he had written down.

As much as I admired his Calculus skills, his vocabulary and sentence forming was plain zero, judging by his title sentence which was 'Fitzwilliam Darcy was a rich fool.' The rest of the paragraph was just as bad. His choice of words was crude and the length of the lines was not satisfactory either. I sighed when I read the last line which was 'He sucks.'

"Come on Ali." Emily patted my shoulder and I quickly hid the paper in my bag.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Nothing." I said and started walking out of the room.

"Did something happen? You look tensed when you entered the classroom." she interrogated.

"Noah happened." I exasperated.

"It's all because of me." she whispered sadly. "They are torturing you because of me. It's all my fault."

"Don't be stupid Em. None of this is your fault. It's Chloe who is wrong. She is punishing you for a mistake you didn't even commit." I consoled her but her face didn't lit up.

...

"Yes. Come in, Miss King." Mr. Brown responded when I knocked the door.

"Sit down." he said and I obliged.

Mrs. Dale had told me that Principal Brown wanted to meet me after the school. A smart noise in my head was telling me that this had something to do with Noah Brown.

"Alicia." he called me by my first name in a serious voice. "Do you know why I asked you to meet me?"

"I know sir. And I admit that what I did was wrong. But you should know that it was not entirely my mistake." I spoke confidently. "Just because he is your son, he can't dump his doings on me."

"What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion.

"Umm.. Noah?" I trailed off. "You wanted to confront me about him. Right?"

"No." he cleared. "But is he bullying you?"

I wanted to tell him about Noah's behavior but stayed quite. "Nothing serious. Just some childish pranks."

"I will talk to him." he assured. "Well, this isn't why I called you."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I prepared myself for whatever he was going to say next.

"As you know, your father asked me to keep an eye on your grades." he said, pulling a paper out of his drawer.

"You are doing great in every subject. Mrs. Coooer informed me about your excellent writing skills. Your other teachers are also delighted with your performance." he said and I nodded.

"But Mrs. Dale told me that you are having some difficulties in Calculus." he passed me my test paper and I gasped when I found out that I got a 'D'.

"But.. I... I tried my best." I replied in a small voice.

"Are you having any difficulties in understanding this subject." he asked.

"Actually, I joined late so I missed the lectures about the basics." I answered and he nodded in understanding.

"Well, there is a way. If you want to improve your grades, why don't you ask Adam to tutor you." he proposed.

"Adam?"

"Yeah. He is one of our best students." he said.

"Adam as in Adam McArdle?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I understand your confusion. He can be a little.. Umm... Rude sometimes. But still, he is in four AP classes and he didn't score a single B last year. Plus, he is like a human calculator. His Mathematics skills are exceptionally great." Mr. Brown said and my eyes widened.

"But-"

"You need to improve your scores Miss. King. And Adam is the only person who can help you." he cut my sentence.

"Ok sir." I exhaled and stood up to leave. "I'll try my best to improve my grade."

...

Four Advanced placement classes.

Straight A's.

A human calculator.

Dangerous.

Rumored to be involved with street fighting and gang shit.

"What are you Adam McArdle?" I mumbled, looking towards the ceiling of my room.

How can I ask him to tutor me when he couldn't bear the sight of me?

Sighing, I got up and trudged towards my window. Sliding the curtain to one side, I opened the window and looked towards Adam's room where he was busy doing some weight lifting.

I turned the lights off so that he couldn't watch me observing him. In the moonlight, only the side of his face was visible. He was wearing a light color tanktop, his muscular arms were on full display for my lucky eyes. With every lift of that heavy looking dumbell, his muscles would clench in a sexy manner. My throat suddenly felt parched and I felt my heart racing inside my chest cavity.

"Darn it. What the hell am I doing?" I scolded myself and shut the window close.

Pulling my Pajamas out of the cupboard, I hopped into the shower and took about half an hour scrubbing the dirt and impurities off my body. I didn't take the risk of exiting the bathroom in a towel after what happened last night.

After I was done with my night routine, I picked my guitar up. But before I could reach the bed, a small thumping sound penetrated my ears. I peeked through my window and found a familiar scene playing in front of my eyes.

Adam was slouched on the ground, dressed in his signature hoodie. After looking around, he straightened himself and then marched towards the other side of the street. Within a moment, he was out of my sight, leaving behind just a trail of darkness.

_____________________________

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