ATTN: Re-readers, please don't post spoiler comments!

...

The next morning I trudged into the principal's office, still tired from the day before. It'd taken close to an hour to wash all the yolk and flour from my hair. And I was pretty sure Will snapped a few photos when I'd first entered his apartment to get Elliot. Somehow, I managed a smile. "Morning, Collin."

"Harley," he responded, staring at me like I was a ghost.

I frowned. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just surprised to see you here. I thought you might not want to come back after yesterday," he responded, seemingly impressed. "I'm glad you decided to though."

"I'm not going to give up that easily," I told him stubbornly.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with Oliver and Arden in class together, but I can't transfer them out because they need to take that class in order to graduate. But I gave them both a severe scolding yesterday, so hopefully they won't be a problem anymore."

"Hopefully," I agreed.

He smiled encouragingly. "Today will be better. All new teachers get trouble from the students on their first day."

"Seems like these kids watch too many movies," I sighed.

He laughed. "Maybe."

"Although I was being kind of mean yesterday, so maybe I deserve it a little," I said, frowning. "Maybe if I'm nicer to them, they'll be nicer to me. I just have to keep calm."

"That's right. If you respect them, they'll respect you, Harley," Collin agreed. "But before I forget to tell you, for Oliver and Arden's punishment, I told them they have to help you prep for your classes, when they'd usually have a free period. Arden will help you first period and Oliver will help you sixth for a month."

I stared at him in horror. "What? Why?"

"For punishment," he told me, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "I had to punish them somehow and I thought you'd like the help."

"But they were the ones who started the food fight in the first place!" He was going to make me be in a room alone with them for a month? I was going to be killed! Or beat up! Or something!

"That won't happen again," he assured me, smiling slightly. "Trust me. The bell's going to ring soon, so you should head to your classroom."

Sighing in defeat, I nodded, and made my way to the exit. So much for having to only deal with them . The hallways were empty as I made my way toward my classroom; the students hadn't arrived yet. When I reached the room I tried the door handle and, to my surprise, it was unlocked. I frowned, slowly starting to open it. Suddenly it was whipped the rest of the way open and I fell forward, being tugged along with the door.

A strong pair of hands steadied me and I looked up to see Tucker standing in front of me with a scowl on his face. "Move," he demanded, shoving me to the side.

I stumbled a few steps, but didn't fall. It was a smart idea not to wear high heels today. Tucker attempted to walk away, but I grabbed his arm before he was out of reach. "Wait!"

He stopped and turned to me with a scowl. "What?"

"What do you mean what? What were you doing in my room?" I snapped, irritated by his rudeness.

"None of your business!"

"It is my business!"

"Let go," he ordered, ripping his arm away from my grasp. "Stupid girl."

"Hey!"

He ignored me and started walking briskly down the hallway and away from me. For a minute I glared after him, but he never looked back. Not having the effort to chase after him, I cautiously entered my classroom. Who knew what he was doing in here...

Keeping vigilant, I made my way around the classroom to look for anything out of place. It was kind of hard to do since I didn't really remember where anything was supposed to be since I'd only been here for one day, but I did my best. Nothing suspicious came up, but I was still curious as to what he was doing in my room. I made my way to my desk and suddenly my foot slipped out from under me. My eyes flew open in shock as I fell to the ground. When my hands touched the floor I nearly yanked them back. It was wet! I groaned in annoyance as I felt the water soak into my slacks.

"You have a habit of falling, don't you?" an amused voice commented from above me.

My heart leapt into my throat and I quickly looked up to see Arden grinning at me. He held out his hand, but I ignored it, managing to push myself to my feet. "Someone thought it'd be a great idea to make the floor wet," I muttered, knowing exactly who it was.

He laughed. "What a simple prank. I could have done much better."

I sighed, running my hands over my pants to see how wet they were. They weren't that bad, only a little damp. I carefully maneuvered myself to the supply room where the paper towels were stored. Arden followed me and I tossed a roll to him. "First task, dry off the floor. I don't want anyone falling," I told him.

"Yes ma'am," Arden responded, mock saluting me.

I stared at him in surprise. He was going to listen to me just like that? But yesterday he didn't want to listen to me! Was the principal really that imposing? Thinking about it, I'd never seen him so angry before... Maybe he was one of those types of people who could snap cement blocks when angry.

"I've decided I like you, Harley," Arden announced, breaking me out of my thoughts.

Taken aback, I froze. "You have to call me Ms. Allen," I said after a moment.

"Nope, I like Harley," he responded simply, walking out of the supply room. "If I were you I wouldn't be worrying about what I call you, I'd be glad that I've decided not to cause trouble for you."

"Why the sudden change though?"

"You looked so pitiful yesterday, I couldn't let it happen again," he sighed dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. "Just like an abandoned puppy. I can't just leave you alone."

While I didn't like being compared to an abandoned puppy, I wasn't going to try to fight his change of heart.

"Move," Arden ordered, shoving me aside.

"What's with everyone pushing me?" I demanded, steadying myself. "You know asking works just as well!"

"Whatever." Despite his harsh demeanor, he was grinning. "What else do you need me to do?"

Shaking my head, I walked over to my desk where the planner was. I quickly scanned it for the recipe and frowned. "Forbidden chocolate cookies?"

"Is that what we're making too?" he inquired, sounding excited.

"No, we won't be cooking today," I told him, a smile forming on my mouth. "I have other plans."

"That's no fun," he complained, walking over to me and looking at the schedule. "Hey! It says right there we're making that—"

"I'm the teacher, I can change plans," I responded, turning up to look at him.

He was surprisingly close. I quickly took a step back to put space between us. A look of surprise appeared on his face and he brought his head closer to mine again, narrowing his eyes. Uncomfortably, I continued to back away, making sure not to let him come too close.

"Take off your glasses," he demanded.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

"No!"

"Don't make me make you," he warned, coming even closer. "Just take them off for a second."

"No!" I reiterated, bringing my hand to my glasses to hold them in place. "Why?"

"I just want to see your face without them on," he said casually, frowning. "You look really young."

I cleared my throat, feeling anxious. There was no reason to feel that way though. It wasn't like he could find out by just thinking I looked young. "Thanks for the compliment, but I am still young. Twenty-one isn't that old."

He stared at me for a minute with an unreadable expression and then he laughed. "Actually I was going to say you looked like a middle schooler or something."

"What?" I responded, feeling offended. "I don't look that young!"

"Is that why you wear glasses? To hide your baby face?" he teased.

"I don't have a baby face!"

"Sure you don't."

"Don't sass a teacher," I warned.

He suddenly burst out laughing and I watched with a frown on my face. When he was done laughing he looked at me with a grin, shaking his head. "You're funny."

"Okay..."

"Should we start putting the ingredients out then?" he suggested. "The homeroom bell already rang about fifteen minutes ago. I'll need you to call the office for me to let them know I'm here."

"Eh?" I responded in surprise, glancing at the clock. That much time had passed already? I looked back at him. He was waiting, looking at me expectantly. "Um, sure. Let's get started."

"Right away, Harley!"

"Don't call me that," I scolded immediately. "You can't call a teacher by their first name."

"I'll do what I want," he responded, rolling his eyes.

I pursed my lips. Nice teacher, think nice teacher, I thought to myself. "Okay, you can call me Harley, but only when people aren't around."

He thought about it for a minute before nodding. "Aright, deal."

When the period ended, Arden took his leave, and I stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for my first class of the day. People slowly began to fill the room, gazing at me curiously. To say the least, I was surprised at the people who entered. I knew they were sophomores, but they looked so young! Maybe that was why Arden thought I looked so young.

Agirl with bleach blonde hair entered my vision and I looked over to see Melissasmiling at me. "Morning, Ms. Allen," she greeted, taking a seat front and center. "I heard about your classroom fiasco yesterday."

"Yeah, fiasco," I responded, grimacing. "I'm hoping it won't happen with this class."

"Don't worry, we'll behave," she assured me with another smile.

Fortunately, Melissa was right. The sophomore class was very well behaved compared to the seniors. Well, as well-behaved as delinquents were. There was a lot of texting in the class, but I'd take that over food fights any day. Maybe Collin had lectured all the students about starting a food fight today. Or maybe I was just catching a break.

The junior class on the other hand, was full of snooty girls. There were a lot of horrible words being slung around, some directed at myself. Half of them didn't do their work, either. They just chatted and ignored me. I couldn't decide if I liked the juniors or seniors less.

When fifth period ended, I sat down at my desk, resting my head on the top of it. It had been an okay day so far, but now came the change. Oliver was supposed to help me prepare this period. I was not looking forward to dealing with his anti-social personality. Just as I had that thought, the man himself came through the door. I grimaced, bracing myself for the worst.

What I wasn't expecting though, was for him to ignore me completely. He walked to the back of the classroom and dropped his bag onto the floor before taking a seat in one of the empty desks.

"Um, good afternoon," I greeted hesitantly.

Oliver either ignored me, or didn't hear me, because he didn't make any sign of a response. He pulled out a big black binder from his backpack and put on his desk, opening it, and flipping through it.

"I said good afternoon," I repeated, louder this time.

Still no answer. He leaned back over to his backpack and pulled out a pen, opening it, and starting to write in what looked like a notebook. Narrowing my eyes, I made my way over to his desk. Didn't he know ignoring people was rude? I cleared my throat when I reached the front of his desk, and he still didn't look up. "Excuse me!"

This time he looked up, his expression irritated. A hand went to his ear and I watched as he pulled out an ear bud. Immediately I felt like an idiot. "Listening to music devices during the school day is against the rules," I told him with a disapproving look.

"I could care less," he responded simply before putting the ear bud back into his ear.

"Hey!"

With a sigh, he removed the ear bud again. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" I repeated in disbelief.

"That's what I asked."

Who did this dude think he was? I opened my mouth to ream him out, but immediately closed it. I was a teacher. I couldn't ream him out. I had to be mature about this. Taking a deep breath, I counted to ten before letting it out slowly. He gave me an impatient look. "Um, I could use some help setting up for today..."

"I think you can handle it," he said.

"But you're supposed to help—"

He stuck his ear bud back into his ear, returning his attention back to his notebook and completely ignoring me. For a full minute I stared at him incredulously. It took all I had not to rip the headphones from his ears and smack him upside the head. If there could be a human definition of rebel, it would be this guy.

"Oliver," I snapped.

No response.

"Well you're lucky I don't have to set anything up today."

Still no response.

Grinding my teeth, I marched away from his desk and back to mine. I might not have been in regular school for almost a year, but I knew that even the most troublesome students weren't like this. Students didn't flat out ignore teachers! But then again, these were delinquents. I didn't expect them to care about much. Especially not this one, apparently...

My eyes landed on the attendance list. A small, yellow sticky note was placed on it with something written on it. I picked it up curiously and quickly scanned it.

Harley,

Forgot to tell you yesterday, but make sure you take attendance today. Skipping is very habitual for students here, so we have to take attendance seriously.

Collin.

Well, habitual skipping wasn't a surprise. I scanned over my attendance list and realized that the sum of students in my class was ten. Ten senior males I had to deal with for an entire year. I found Oliver's name on the attendance list and glanced at his last name. Fox. How fitting. Grabbing a pen, I put a check mark by his name so I didn't have to do it later. Next I searched for Arden's name and put a check by it. His last name was Bring. I repeated his name in my head a few times. Arden Bring. It had a nice ring.

"Hey."

My head snapped in the direction of Oliver, who was staring at me. I looked around the room and realized that it was still only the two of us. It couldn't be that he was talking to me, could it?

"If you are wondering if I'm talking to you, obviously I am since there is no one else in here," he informed me in a mocking voice.

"It's Ms. Allen," I told him, doing my best to keep my tone polite.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Are you serious right now?" There had to be some limit as to how insolent someone could be.

"Do I look serious?" he demanded, giving me a deadpan stare.

"You little—"

"Ah, ah," he interjected, shaking a finger at me. "You're a teacher aren't you? You can't talk back to me."

"And you can't talk to me like that!" I argued. "Don't you know the saying respect your elders?"

"I highly doubt you're my elder."

"Yeah, how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

Well, in truth he was older than me, but I was pretending I was twenty-one, so technically he wasn't. "I'm twenty-one, in other words, older than you. And your teacher, so be a little more polite."

"Whatever.

I clenched my jaw. He was riling me up for no good reason. "What do you want?" I asked changing my tone back into something more civil.

"I have to go take a quiz for Ms. Rose and I need you to sign my pass," he told me, walking up to me and handing me a blue card. "I'll be there for the rest of class, so don't expect me back."

"Shouldn't you use a study hall for something like this?"

"This is my study hall," he pointed out; narrowing his eyes slightly. "So instead of doing the work I won't do at home, I have to help someone like you out."

"What do you mean 'someone like me'?" I responded, mimicking his look. "Remember—"

"You're a teacher, yeah, I got it. Just sign my pass."

With an indignant huff of air, I grabbed the card out of his hand and initialed it quickly. He took it without thanking me and left the room. Sighing, I made my way to the supply room to double check that everything was put away. My eyes zeroed in on a plate and knife by the microwave. I walked over to them with a frown on my face, picking up the dirty dishes. Had someone came in here to cook lunch while I was away? Maybe it was another teacher? I shrugged, putting the plates in the dishwasher.

A pile of cookbooks on one of the tables in the supply room caught my attention and I walked over to them, grabbing the first one I touched. Perhaps I could find something new to cook for Will and Elliot while I was waiting for my next class...

Twenty minutes later the bell signaling the ending of sixth period rang, nearly making me fall off the stool I was now seated on in surprise. I quickly looked around the room to see if I could find anything suitable enough for a bookmark. Some of the meal ideas in this book were great and I didn't want to lose them. The sound of students entering the room forced me to grab the closest thing to me to use. I stuffed it into the cookbook and shut it, sliding it closer to the table before making my way out of the supply room.

My eyes surveyed the classroom and I found Zak, sitting at front and center with his hands clasped on the desk in front of him, waiting patiently. He smiled at me and I couldn't help but respond to it with a more sincere one of mine. The second bell rang, but no one took his seat. Not like I expected them to.

My eye scanned the classroom again and I realized that I didn't see Oliver. Or Arden for that matter. I knew they were both here... Were they skipping? For a moment, I actually felt disappointed. I was so bad that they felt the need to skip class?

Suddenly the door opened and Tucker walked in without sparing me a glance. Instead of being annoyed, I quickly raced through my thoughts. Which boy was Tucker friends with? Oliver or Arden?

"Tucker!" I called, gaining his attention.

"What?" he snapped.

For a moment I was taken aback by his rude response, but I shook it off. "Have you seen Arden?"

"Maybe," Tucker responded vaguely.

"I'm right here," a new voice interjected, sounding amused. "I had to hunt down these two, so sorry I'm late."

I turned to see Arden standing with... I blinked my eyes in confusion for a moment. Was I seeing double? It looked like Arden was standing with two, identical, young men with blonde hair. Both were very tall and slender. My eyes widened when I realized they were twins. I hadn't realized there were twins in my class yesterday.

"Class is starting, everyone sit down," Arden suddenly snapped, gaining the attention of the boys. "Remember what Mr. Andrews said."

There were a couple of mumbles exchanged, but finally everyone took their seat. Their expressions told me that they were annoyed, but I guess the principal had threatened them enough to make them listen.

"Where's Oli?" Arden asked, looking around.

"The last time I saw him was in Ms. Rose's classroom," Tucker responded.

"Well, we can start without him, no big deal," Arden responded, turning back to me. "Right, Ms. Allen?"

"How about we don't start at all?" one of the twins commented.

The other twin turned to give his brother a dirty look. "Wow, aren't you the comedian, Joey."

"Why don't you shut up, Joel?"

"Why don't you both shut up?" Luke, the black-haired boy, said.

Both twins turned on him. "Make us."

"Maybe I will."

"You looking for a fight?"

"Maybe," Luke responded innocently.

The first twin stood up. "Then bring it!"

"Guys!" I said warningly, but it was too late.

A shouting match suddenly sprung up. I could barely understand the words being slung across the room. Zak sat at his desk, smiling at me calmly as though the fight that was going on behind him didn't exist. Clenching my teeth and shutting my eyes, I forced myself to count to ten. Don't let them get to you, don't let them get to you, I chanted to myself.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Zak cried, holding my glasses out of my reach.

"Zak!" I gasped. When had he gotten up? "You traitor! Give those back!"

He laughed at me. "Not right now."

The shouting ceased and I soon found all eyes on me. I blushed, reaching for my glasses again, but Zak held them higher. "Take a look at her face," he said, addressing all the students.

"Guys, sit," I heard Arden say and half the class went back to sitting.

"Now, don't you feel bad? You're making this poor girl pull out her hair in frustration," Zak started. "After yesterday, shouldn't we give her a break? Remember what Mr. Andrews said?"

"We have detention, I think we're equal," Joel (or was it the other twin?) responded gruffly.

"Um, well I—" I was suddenly cut off by the sound of a voice on the intercom.

"Sorry for the interruption, but the bus for the soccer game in Greenfield is leaving in fifteen minutes. All men's soccer players report to the locker rooms to prepare to load the bus."

A few groans swept through the classroom. I waited for people to get up, but no one did.

"Um, is anyone in here on the soccer team?" I asked and four people raised their hands, including Luke. "Well, why aren't you leaving?"

"Because since we have detention, we can't go to the game," Luke explained.

"And because of that, we're going to lose the game since a third of our team is in this class," another boy added, brushing his dark bangs out of his face to glare at me.

That didn't seem very fair to me. Why would the school put punishment on the whole team for only a few peoples' problem? I didn't think detention and soccer should be related... Suddenly an idea hit me and I couldn't help but smile a little. "If you guys will listen without talking for a few moments, I'll make a deal," I said slowly and clearly. "I think you'll like it. So if you would, please take a seat."

The standing boys gave each other quick looks, but then slowly began walking to their seats. The smile on my face grew wider. I was actually getting somewhere.

"Okay, here's the deal," I said as soon as they were seated. "I'll let you off detention, all of you, whether you play soccer or not, if you promise to behave at least a little in my class. Fun is one thing, but destroying my classroom is another. It's not fun for me or you afterward."

The classroom stayed silent and I held my breath as I waited for their response. Finally Luke smiled at me. "Well, I'm glad you kept true to your word from yesterday. I'm going to have to take this deal."

Relief flooded through me. "Really? Thank you!"

"I accept too," the dark-haired one grumbled. "Coach will kill me if I miss more than just this game."

"Same," Mason said with a grimace.

"What about the people that don't play soccer? Is there any kind of deal I could interest you in?" I asked, my eyes searching around the room. "Or is letting you off detention enough?"

"I think it's enough," Arden said. "Fair is fair is fair, right?"

I felt a clap on my back and I jumped slightly, turning to Zak. I'd forgotten he was standing beside me. He grinned down at me, placing my glasses back on my face. My eyes widened in surprise when I realized I hadn't had them on. Embarrassed, I fixed them, giving him a warning look. "My glasses stay on my face," I warned him.

"Good job," he responded. "Bribery is always a good tactic."

"What? No, no, it's not bribery," I denied. "It's deal making."

"Sure," he said skeptically with another grin. "Whatever you say."

"Zak!"

"It's bribery," another voice agreed and I turned my head to see Arden by my side now too.

"No it's not!"

"Well, Ms. Allen, since we don't get to bake those delicious cookies, what are we doing for the rest of class?" he asked, changing the topic.

The class now refocused its' attention on me. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Well... I actually thought it was going to take longer for me to convince you guys about the deal— which if you guys break your end, you can expect detention again," I added, eying everyone individually. "Understood?"

"Understood," they echoed with the exception of one. Tucker just rolled his eyes.

I nodded to myself. "Good. Well, because we're missing quite a bit of the class now, it'd be pointless to do anything. Why don't you use it as a study hall?" I suggested. "Tomorrow we'll start baking again... and I swear, if there's a food fight—"

"There won't be," Arden assured me. "I'll make sure of that."

I turned to him now as the class began chatting amongst themselves. "Um... thanks."

"No problem, Harley."

"I told you not to—"

"Relax," Arden said with a small laugh. "No one else is listening."

I sighed again. Well, he was right. I glanced at the door again, frowning. Oliver probably wasn't going to show up. Was he really skipping? The thought made me irritated. If he thought he could get away with skipping my class, he'd definitely thought wrong.