The weekend flew by. Mom still hasn't allowed Maya to come over, however, I was still allowed to let her drive me to school. So when she pulled up in front of my house, I rushed out of the front door and sprung into her car.

     "Hey," I said, twirling to throw my bag onto the backseat. However, the sight there greeted me caused me to flinch in my seat.

     On the backseat sat Jacob. He wore a large hoodie and a pair of cargo pants. He had tied his hair behind his head. He kept his bag close into his chest.

     "Hi," he said, supplying me a little wave.

     I lifted an eyebrow, urging my bag onto the seat next to him. "Hi."

     I spun back and faced Maya. She gave me a striking smile and pulled out from my driveway and sped towards the school.

     I didn't question her in the car but trust me when I got her alone, we had something to discuss.

     The ride was silent except the bad country music blasting from the speakers. Inside the school, I pulled Maya with me into the bathroom after having said our goodbyes to Jacob.

     Inside the bathroom, I kicked every stall door, checking if we were alone or not. We where.

     "What are you doing?" Maya tugged at my sleeve. I turned to face her, my face a clear indicator that I was not pleased.

     "What the hell are you doing?" I pointed an accusing finger at her while settling my bag on the sink.

     "What do you mean?"

     "Friday you're chatting with Daniel, the apparent love of your life, and Monday you're driving Jacob to school. Don't tell me you're involved with both!"

     Maya stretched her eyes, mouth unlatched. I rested a hand on the sink, allowing it to hold my weight. I hoisted an eyebrow, indicating that she was supposed to answer.

     "I'm not involved with any of them," she said, letting out a sigh. "I'm just." She halted, glancing at herself in the mirror. "I'm just confused."

"Confused?"

"Yeah." She pulled at her hair. "Daniel is this perfect boy. Tall and handsome, but he's so shallow. I can hardly have a single conversation with him, but it still feels like he's interested. And Jacob, I know he's interested. He's not that good at hiding it. And he's sweet and all and I enjoy talking to him and visiting the bakery, but he's the boring choice. The easy route."

Her hands seized the sink as she hunched over it. Her hair sheltered her face.

I placed a soothing hand on her back. "Maybe you should dump both. You know, give them the cold shoulder the rest of the year."

She lifted her gaze to send me an evil glare. "That's mean," she said. "And it wouldn't help."

"You know," I said, my pocket buzzing as I did. "It's not often we have trouble with guys." I slid my phone up from my pocket. Mike had sent me a message.

Maya chuckled, lifting herself. "Yeah, maybe we should drop them altogether."

I nodded my head, slipping the phone back into my pocket. "Or at least forget about them for some time." I smiled, pulling out a bag of sour candy. Her eyes lit up as I put it in her hands.

"Yeah, maybe I should screw Daniel, win the bet and then see who I like the most."

I rolled my eyes, watching as she opened the bag of candy at eight in the morning.

"Or maybe you should find out what you want and make sure no one gets hurt."

"Yeah, that's a good plan too." She stuffed her face with the candy and strolled towards the exit. I didn't stop her but followed her out as we made our way to class.

In the last period I had the dreaded subject math and to top it off, Mike was in this class as well. He usually sat in the back, too superior to even answer the teacher's "easy" questions.

Hamilton and I found a spot near the window. We hadn't been talking since the party and when I stumbled upon him in the hallway, he didn't say anything about the incident. We acted like it didn't even happen.

But it did.

"Are you friends with Mike?" Hamilton had drifted close to whisper the questions in my ear.

I drew my eyebrows down, my eyes finding his. Nothing but curiosity sparkled within them, he wasn't playing.

"Why would you ask that?"

"He's staring at you." Hamilton tapped his head in the direction of Mike. I followed his lead and caught the dark eyes of Mike.

He had joined his arms over his chest, leaned back and rotated his eyes to stare at me instead of the teacher. He didn't smile or anything. He looked quite bored and... annoyed?

The ride home had been a nightmare. None of us had said anything and I'd urged myself so close to the door that I was sure he thought I was crazy. I couldn't blame him. I did straddle him... in a library.

Oh god.

I turned away, burying my head in my hands.

"Hey." Hamilton put a warm hand on my back. "You're turning red." I peeped from my hiding spot. Hamilton had a smirk plastered on his lips. He wiggled his eyebrows.

Idiot.

"You should listen to the teacher instead. I'm not sure if Mike and I are friends. He doesn't seem like the type you're friends with."

Hamilton shrugged and leaned back into his seat. He picked up a pen and rotated it between his fingers. "I guess you're right."

"As always." The little addition made Hamilton smile as he returned his attention to the teacher.

It didn't take long for the teacher to start her questioning. And to my surprise, when it was my turn, I was actually able to answer. Even the teacher seemed surprised as I spit the correct answer out.

A wide smirk spread over my features as the teacher nodded her head. "Amazing work, miss Collins. Keep this up."

I couldn't stop myself in taking a peep at Mike. He sent me one of his rare smiles, approvingly nodding his head.

An unfamiliar warmth spread through me as I turned away again. I rolled back in my seat, more confident than I needed floating in my system. Maybe this wasn't that bad. Not bad at all.

After school, I found myself being ambushed by Daniel. He jumped out from behind a corner. "Debbie."

I halted, my books gliding from my clutch. "What the actual fuck." I spit out the yell before even having fully seen what the hell was happing. "Why the fuck are you lurking behind corners?"

"I didn't lurk," Daniel said, as he threw his hands up in surrender. "I need to talk to you."

I picked up my books, rolling my eyes. "Well, I don't want to talk to you."

With my books back in my clutch, I pushed him aside to continue out of this damn place.

He stopped me by putting a strong hand on my shoulder. "You can't always be the boss."

"Watch me." I shoved his hands off me but kept he me in place.

I glanced up at him as he advanced to run a hand through his hair. He glimpsed down the hallway before his eyes lodged on me. "I'm going to ask Maya out," he said, a dashing smile spreading over his features.

"No."

It was as simple as that. I wasn't going to let that fucker get in the way of Maya's feature. Soon enough we would be out of here and Daniel wouldn't be popular anymore. Maya would begin to see him as the douchebag that I did.

Daniel rolled his eyes and clasped both hands down on my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow at him. It was clear that it was a warning. A warning not to take this too far.

"You can't decide that."

"Then why are you discussing this with me? If you're going to take her out no matter what, then I rather have you do it far away from me." Once again, I tried to shove his hands off, but it didn't work this time. He had an iron grip on me.

"Tell me where to take her and I'll forever be in your debt." He leaned closer. So close that I had to take an uneasy step back. What was this dude doing? Couldn't he see that I wasn't in the mood right now?

And my mom would slaughter me if I wasn't home before my absurd curfew.

"Ask her yourself. I don't have time for this." I tried to shake him off me again, but he didn't bulge. No, he even tightened his grip. "Let me go, Daniel."

He shook his head. "No."

"I said let me fucking go." Once again, I slapped his arms, but he had a strong grip. I pressed my lips into a thin line. As I was about to chop him down, someone else beat me to it.

A tall figure hurled both hands into Daniel's side and drove him away. The force of the push drew Daniel a few steps back as he tried to stay on his feet.

"She said to let go." I shifted my startled gaze to Mike. He stood right beside me, his usual bored appearance still carved onto his features. He didn't look at me. No. His eyes were centered on Daniel as he clenched his hands into fists.

Daniel's gaze shifted to Mike. He didn't hold back the astonished look in his eyes. "What the hell, man." Daniel collected himself and composed his expensive jacket. Daniel halted for a second when he recognized his ambusher as Mike Everson. Then an arrogant smirk graced his lips.

"Mike Everson," Daniel said, taking a step back. With one look at Mike, I knew Daniel was going to regret this later.

I took a step back as I watched the exchange.

"What a surprise." Daniel continued with growing his smirk. "Didn't know you were a hero in disguise. Or maybe you're into Debbie?"

Mike didn't say anything. He stayed still in his place beside me. His eyes strayed from Daniel for a moment to look at me. And what I saw in them was terrifying.

It was actually emotions. Genuine and raw emotions.

"You should go." I turned towards Daniel, trying to usher him away before anything bad happened.

"No, I want to hear his answer." Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. He lifted an eyebrow. "So, Mike, do you have a crush on Debbie? Are you too scared to admit it? I'll admit she's pretty, but I never thought that you-"

Daniel didn't get to finish his sentence. Mike's eyes flash to mine for a minute before he sprung into action. His fist crashed with Daniel's jaw and sent him tottering back.

I stepped back, my hands moving up to cover my mouth as I watched the fight begin.

Mike was swift to throw another punch. It collided with Daniel's chest. The surprise had finally settled in Daniel's mind. He threw a punch towards Mike as well, but bearly hit his shoulder. But Daniel was strong and the punch managed to make Mike grimace. However, it wasn't enough to stop the next assault to Daniel's chin. Daniel staggered for a fraction of a second before he toppled down on the ground.

Mike jumped at this chance. He clutched around the collar of Daniel's shirt and thrusted him against the floor as he straddled him.

I hurried into motion when Mike hoisted his arm to throw another punch. "Mike! Stop this." I stretched out my hands and held them around his arm. He tensed under my touch but refused to meet my gaze. "This is fucking stupid."

Mike shook me off him and drew away from Daniel. He didn't turn to look at me as he retreated down the hall.

I was left with a hollow feeling in my chest and a wounded Daniel.