"You may go," Mrs. Hayes permitted after detention. I, Mickie, and the others immediately exited, but I noticed that she was the only one that had someone waiting for her against the room's doorway; of course it was Dastan.

"Wasted time of my life," Mickie complained.

"I could say the same, but..." Dastan trailed off. Still somewhat maddened that I had received detention, I quickly walked past them, hugging my binder to my chest. "Warden! There's a pep rally tomorrow morning. You better be there."

Yeah, freaking, right.

I continued walking down the hallway and someone caught my arm slightly before I found the dark-haired friend of Dastan's jumping in front of me. Only, today his eyes were clear and his hair wasn't spiked up.

"Hey," he greeted. "I didn't take you for the girl to have detention; especially on your second day."

"That's because I'm not," I grumbled, walking past him. I wasn't in the mood to talk, seeing as my perfect disciplinary record was ruined by some jerk and his tramp.

"Hayden!" someone yelled. I'm guessing that was the guy that stopped me, because I recognized the voice to be Mickie's. Well at least he was off my back...so I thought.

"Wait!" Hayden called to me, jumping back in front of me. This time, I had to stop walking. I looked up to him. "Can I give you a ride home?"

"What makes you think my brother doesn't have that covered?" I asked. And what makes you think I trust you so easily? He searched my eyes.

"Because we both know that you didn't confess about your detention," he spoke.

"I could call him now," I lied.

"We both also know you don't have a phone," he whispered. Hayden was being...odd. In school, he was just like Dastan—only his composure was mean and worse. And where Dastan was a jerk to everyone excluding his friends and teachers, Hayden was a jerk to...well, everyone. Except for me apparently? I was surprised his and Dastan's bad attitudes didn't clash with each other. But with a smile like his beaming up at me, it was hard to believe that he could seemingly hate so many people in the first place. "Come on. It's just a ride home."

"I'll be fine walking; it's only a mile or so," I said, humbly.

"I don't think so," a new voice said. Dastan.

"Calm down," Hayden told him. "I'm giving her a ride home."

"No you're not," Dastan ordered with Mickie a few feet behind.

"He can if he wants—"

"Don't you have a boyfriend to drive you places or something?" Dastan snapped at me. I scoffed at them both.

"Speaking of which..." Mickie muttered, pulling on Dastan's arm again. He silenced her while still looking at me and Hayden.

"Look. It's a twenty minute walk and I don't mind walking so..."

"I'll walk with you, then," Hayden offered. Was he serious? Had he not seen the anger in Dastan's eyes when he offered to drive me home?

Hayden reached out to touch the small of my back, but I surprisingly didn't flinch back from him. No matter how scary he was to the student body and everyone else, I didn't really cower away from him.

Before he actually touched me, Dastan caught his hand and they stared back at each other. Dastan's eyes drew to be even darker, but then again, so did Hayden's. They were fighting a battle that no one but them had control over.

"Stop it," Mickie ordered and then Dastan released his grip. Although these two seemed to  be best friends despite everything, they seemed to act like they despised each other right now. "Let's go."

"Yeah..." Hayden said, shaking out of the glare. He looked over to me with pleading eyes. "Let's go."

Afraid of what Dastan could actually do to me alone or somehow get offended that I "rejected his best friend," I obliged to Hayden's request and he escorted me out of the school, shaking off the run-in with Dastan.

"So, a boyfriend?" Hayden asked, nervously as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah?"

"Vega mentioned you had a boyfriend...that doesn't seem able to pick you up..." he clarified.

"That's because he's not around," I admitted.

"Oh?" Hayden figured. "So you're fair game?"

"Definitely not," I breathed, blushing. He nudged hips with mine as we walked and I didn't have to look up at him to know that he was laughing at me.

"Don't be embarrassed," he said. "It's cute that you care about him."

I looked up at him, not taking him for the kind of guy that would ever say that. I think he realized that and immediately stopped walking to steer me against the wall. I knew it; he was gonna kill me for insulting him visually.

"But I hope you know that with him not here, you're considered fair game," he whispered, making me feel more attracted to his voice than repulsed. My face heated up. He looked from my eyes to my lips and then smirked, stepping back. "Well, for me anyways."

"That's gonna be a problem," I said.

"And why's that? Kenneth doesn't like competition?" he asked, sending me an attempted eyebrow raise. Dastan really did talk to Hayden about me if he knew Kenneth's name.

"Well I mean, doesn't fair game require you to get me to like you?" I asked, only being humorous. His face fell for a second before he started to smile.

"I like you," he pointed out. Well that's better than hating me... However, I felt awkward, having some popular, cynical guy telling me all of this, and I'm sure he could sense that. "I'm serious, you know."

"About...?"

"Winning you over," he said.

"Why's that?" I asked. His best friend hated me—as well as his entire clique, and I'm sure that Nik wouldn't approve (even though he wasn't at school today), not to mention my heart was set on Kenneth—even though he told me to live my life here.

"You're different," he said, stereotypically.

"I'm taken," I reminded slowly.

"Not for long," he said, smiling away from me. Only because Kenneth was recently in an accident, was the only reason why Hayden's words scared me. It sounded threatening.

We continued walking—him trying to charm me and me trying not to get charmed in return—and I stopped when we reached my building, sooner than I thought because Hayden walked super fast.

"Now is about the time I'd ask you for your number," he smirked. I opened my mouth, but he cut me off. "But I know that you don't have a phone anymore. Sorry again for that."

"Forget about it," I tried to erase. My head turned to the alley beside my house when a loud noise thudded to the ground. "I guess that's my cue."

"Goodbye, Angela," Hayden said, turning back to the direction of the school. I quickly walked down the alley and saw a garage with a dusty, classical car with the hood up.

"You actually hauled this thing up here?" I asked Sebastian who's torso was under the car. He rolled out and threw his tools down to wipe his hands on the oil-covered rag. Not to mention the oil stains on his bare chest.

"You actually found Kenneth's replacement in two days?" he retorted. I paused and then the back door opened to reveal Nik with a beanie and lounge clothes, tainted with just as much oil as Sebastian. I didn't greet him though.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked Sebastian, offended.

"Where were you just now?" Sebastian asked, looking up at me with tossed hair in his face. Great. Now I had to tell him.

"I had detention," I confessed.

"Really?" Nik asked, surprised. I glanced over to him, but then focused on what Sebastian would say.

"I already know you had detention; but how did you get home so fast? Who gave you a ride? Because Cheyenne's been at home and dad's still at work," Sebastian said. How did he know I had detention? Only Dastan and Mickie were there and them talking about me? Pssh, yeah right.

"No one gave me a ride," I denied. Only because I opposed. "I walked home."

I didn't tell Sebastian with who, but suddenly he reached over to the table and grabbed something only to throw it and hope that I caught it. Thankfully, I did because it was the new iPhone that some stranger delivered.

"You need to have a phone with you," he said, protectively.

"No I don't," I said, realizing that I may be the only teenager in a 1,000 mile radius that would ever say that.

"Just take it," was all Sebastian needed to say before I slid the phone into my pocket. I looked over to Sebastian to see if something was wrong, but like every other time since we've been here, he shut me out-only this time he put a car between us.