"Come on." I'm grabbed by arm away from my locker.

I can feel myself being dragged away from the locker, the letter is still in my hand yet my eyes and mind are focused on his name.

I'm knocked out of my trance when I realize that I'm moving further and further away from my locker. Before I can let myself be dragged all the way to an empty classroom, I try pull my arm back but he tightens his grip on me.

"Let go of me!" I shout.

I'm set free and I stumble back, till my back hits against a locker. He turns around to face me and hazel eyes meet my own.

Something is shoved in my face, before I can say anything. I lean my head back to take a good look at it.

He's holding up his own letter, with my own name written on the bottom.

"This doesn't mean anything to me." He says, pulling the paper away from my face.

I don't say anything, but just look at him.

" And it shouldn't matter to you, just like anything to do with me doesn't."

" Roman."

"That's why it'll be changed, I'm changing partners."

"But we cant." I try remind him.

" I don't wanna be your partner, why would I be tied with someone who doesn't want me around them, why waste my breath?"

"We can't change partners, it says so in the paper." I repeat, my voice having dropped low now.

He scoffs at that, tucking his hand in his leather jacket.

"You seem to forget who I am."

"That's the problem, I haven't." I mumble, my eyes dropped to my feet.

A moment of silence stretches out between us.

I gasp out loud with a jump, when his hand shoots out, slamming hard above my head on the locker.

"Don't you get it? - I can't be partners with someone I can't trust. No way." He shakes his head like the thought of me being his partner is the worst.

Something in me snaps , that I push at his chest so hard that he staggers back and gives me room to move away from the lockers. I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out, the adrenaline I'd felt vanishing as fast as it came.

Gosh, what would be the point of speaking or arguing with him. He's already made up his mind.

My eyes connect with his for a few seconds before I turn around and start walking away. I only stop in my tracks shortly when I remember why I wasn't speaking to Roman in the first place, why I wanted nothing to do with him.

"You know, trust is a very big word, it shouldn't be used lightly, especially by you!"  I say, before walking away.

The audacity of him preaching to me about trust when he doesn't even know the meaning of it.

The slamming of my books on the table knocks Sam from whatever nap he'd taken, where his head shoots up and he sits up straight.

"W-what's wrong?" He says, wiping at his face with the back of his hoodie.

I sigh, sitting down.

" Roman." We both say after looking at each other for a few seconds.

"He doesn't want to be my partner."

"But partners can't be changed." He states.

"Everyone knows that genius!" I roll my eyes, leaning back on my chair. "But because it's Roman, he's adamant on changing partners. He Claims that he can't be partners with someone he can't trust." I mumble the last part.

"Trust seems to be the one thing you two sing about lately." He mumbles, earning a pointed look from me.

He sighs before leaning back on his seat too. " I don't get you two, you guys fight like an old married couple and yet you haven't seen each other for years."

"And who's fault is that?!" I snap.

I sigh right after, mentally rolling my eyes at how quick I'm getting worked up by this. "I think I should just accept it, I won't have a partner."

"And let him win?" I look at him now.

" Hazel, in all your years you've known your temper filled friend, have you ever let him have his way easy?"

I let the word ' friend' slide just as I take his question into thought.

"Well he's always been demanding that's for sure." I mutter, now thinking back to all our kid arguments.

"Yeah sure, but who always had the last word?"

" Roman."

"No, you might have thought so but a few hours later or days, depending on how long you influence him. He was still able to change his mind and it would be you smiling at the end."

Him saying that has me thinking of a time when we were young and I wanted to watch a Disney movie, but of course Roman wanted to watch a wrestling match.

That day I was surely upset but found myself letting him have his way. Seeing him smile victoriously had me leaving him with his match and me heading to my room to read books. A few hours later, after I'd totally forgotten about what happened, I found him sneaking into my room with a DVD of the same movie I wanted to watch, this time with pop corn and a pack of jelly babies.

My lips twitch into a grin as I look at Sam.

"With that type of look, you must be cooking up something right now."'

You have no idea ....

                               ******

"What the hell is your problem?!" A shout is sent my way and I flinch, as my locker door is slammed shut.

I sigh turning around to face an upset or rather fuming Roman.

" I don't but you seem to." I mumble. " Hello Roman, what can I do for you?" I answer rather calmly.

"It's simple, stay out of my way and stop forcing on things. You ran behind my back to the bloody committee, claiming I'm not being a good partner." He scoffs at that.

"Running behind someone's back sounds more conniving and is almost similar to stabbing someone in the back, so I'll take no offence to that because I'm neither. And with me speaking to the committee, I wanted some clarification on how to deal with a difficult partner." I shrug.

" And yet I thought I was doing you a favour, by setting you free from me, since I'm such a nuisance in your life."

"Don't put words in my mouth." I quickly say, the calm phase having left me now.

"What, aren't I spot on?" A smirk takes over his face.

He steps closer whilst I remain frozen in my spot.

"It's easier to do things behind my back right, I mean surely it's a breeze to have your little influential squad in this school. You can have whatever you want, little miss perfect Hazel. Just because she has the perfect life, the perfect boyfriend, friends, going to a good school.

Everyone has to bend over for her and just because some of us are gums under her shoe, she wants to toss us aside as she's conformed to their ways."

My heart drops to my knees, even though I know those words aren't true and he's just looking for a way to hurt me, like I seem to have hurt him. I can't help but feel hurt from what he's throwing my way.

It's as if he's painting a picture of someone else and placing it on my face.

" Think whatever you want to think Roman, I don't care. All I care about is - "

"You, care?" He scoffs. " You don't care about anyone but yourself, you want what you want and you don't care who you - "

" Roman, it's just a two week challenge, nothing more. I don't know why you're making such a huge deal about this. "

" I wouldn't have to make a big deal out of this, if you weren't so - "

"So what, so what huh?" I step closer, until our chests are almost touching.

"So foolish. So crazy." With each step forward, I take one back until my back hits the locker. "And so easy."

Words get stuck in my throat, my mouth becomes dry and my mind is fails to grasp the fact that he just said that to me.

He's just claimed me as easy.

"How could you say that to me?" I say above a whisper, my watery eyes staring at his chest.

I feel my chin being tilted up, yet my eyes refuse to look at him." Don't. Don't do that. Don't go twisting my words and their meaning Hazel Grace, you're - ,"  I don't give him a chance to finish when I push his hand away, I quickly pick up my bag and rush away from there.

The bell rings and I'm grateful for that, I'm actually relieved by that, knowing that I can distract my thoughts with something else, something far different from what happened.

                          *******

Leaning against the book shelf, whilst checking out a book in the school library, I feel someone come my way, but I don't pay any mind to them.

I'm pretty sure they will walk pass.

The person, instead of walking past, gets into my view where I'm forced to sneek a look at them.

Oh it's just Ingrid.

I get back to what I was doing.

"Let's exchange partners." Ingrid tells me, standing in front of me. 

"What?" I finally look up at her.

"Let's exchange partners, you won't have to deal with him anymore and you get to be cuddled up with your boyfriend."

"Why?"

"Why what?" She asks.

"Why are you proposing this? - Surely you have no problem with your partner."

" I'm trying to make your life easier Hazel, I don't understand why you're questioning everything." She rolls her eyes, spinning on her heel and walking off, leaving me confused.

"She likes him." My head snaps to my side, where Hailey stands.

"Who?" I ask.

" Roman, she likes him." She says, coming to stand in front of me, just like Ingrid previously did.

I take a few seconds of just staring at her before I shake my head in amusement. " No, you must be mistaken. Those two don't exactly get along, there's history there and it's not that friendly."

She shrugs her shoulders." Ever since he's been here, she has been slightly different and I've seen it first hand."

I chuckle. " Well I haven't seen anything like that, not that I'd notice since I'm not around your crowd." I say with a shrug, feeling a little weird after saying that because we aren't friends anymore.

"Well either way, with a little observation, you might see what I've seen."

"O-kay" I trail off.

She nods, walking off but all too soon, she stops in her tracks and turns to face me.

" Hazel, I just. Look, I know it might not mean much to you because it's coming from me."

I open my mouth to speak but she continues.

"But don't block out the world too much, you just might see what you'd been missing all along." With that she turns and walks away, leaving me confused.

I try get back my focus on the book I'd been reading , but it's impossible, with my thoughts lingering on what Hailey just said to me.