The following day, I entered the school, still on cloud nine from my date with William. He seriously impressed me with how perfectly he planned our date.

As I remember the previous night, I didn't realize that Tessa was right before me.

She stops suddenly, resulting in me bumping into her. Her books fly across the slick surface of the lobby's tiled floor.

She turns around and sees that I'm the culprit of the mishap with her books; her reddened face scowls at me. "Watch where the fuck you're going, dumb ass!"

"I'm so sorry," I say, shocked at her outburst.

I quickly get down to help gather her things.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" Tessa seethes while piling up her strewn books. "I don't need or want your help."

I stop helping and move from kneeling to sitting back on my legs. Clenching my jaw, I snap, "What the hell is your problem?"

Tessa's eyes grow larger with surprise as if I had offended her. "You're my problem," she said as she gathered her belongings.

Releasing an exasperated sigh, I place my hands on the floor to help myself up. Then, I see my name on an envelope amongst Tessa's things.

Her eyes follow mine down to the envelope, and we reach for it simultaneously. Fortunately, I was quicker and snatched it from the floor.

"Why do you have an envelope addressed to me?" I inquire as I examine it and realize my name is in William's handwriting.

Tessa tries to grab it from my hands, but I swiftly move it out of her reach.

"What's going on here?"

William's voice grabs our attention, and we look up to see him staring at us with his forehead creased in confusion.

I immediately stand, extend my arm, and show the envelope to William.

His handsome face transforms from confusion to recognition as his eyes light up.

"You found it!"

"I did," I say, then move my hand toward Tessa. "Tessa had it."

Fear crosses Tessa's face. She knows I caught her with William's note to me.

William frowned as he turned back to Tessa. "Tessa, why do you have Nicole's note?"

The color drains from her face as she stutters, "I... Um, I found it on the floor in the hallway yesterday and was going to give it to Nicole this morning. I had no idea that the note was from you, William." she lied.

William crosses his arms, unfazed by Tessa's attempt to explain away the note. "If that's true, why didn't you give it to her before homeroom yesterday when you saw her in the courtyard?"

With her books in hand, she stands up, giving herself time for a reasonable response. She fails. "I didn't see her."

William raises his brow. "Lies," he says.

I giggle, and William gives me a sideways glance and winks, which pisses off Tessa.

"I'm not lying," Tessa retorts as she stomps her foot like a defiant child. "I was going to give it to her in the courtyard this morning."

"Is that so?"

Tessa defiantly tilts up her chin before replying, "Yes."

Relaxing his stance, William asks, "Why were you in Nicole's hallway yesterday?"

"I had a meeting with Mr. Hanson," she replies cooly.

William smirks because he knows that he has caught Tessa in her lie. "Before school?"

Tessa rolls her eyes. " Of course, before school. When else would I do it?"

I fight to keep a straight face because I know where William is going with his inquiry.

"So you met with Mr. Hanson. Where did you go after that?" William interrogates.

Understanding where William's line of questioning is going, Tessa murmurs, "The courtyard."

"So, let me get this straight. You met with Mr. Hanson before school, found the note I wrote to Nicole, then went to the courtyard where Nicole was standing with me and did not give her the note you planned on giving her."

Tessa finally gives up. "Fine! I saw you put the note into her locker." She looks at me with utter hatred. "And I took it out."

William's head dropped in disappointment. "Why, Tessa?"

"You know why," was all Tessa said before huffing, turning around, and stomping away, leaving William and me dumbfounded.

"I'm so sorry," William says as he squeezes his eyes shut.

I grasp his hand. "This is not your fault."

His emerald eyes flutter open, meeting mine. "Tessa's cruel to you because she wants me."

"Do you think I don't know that? I knew she wanted you on the first day of school when she grabbed your arm possessively. I can't say that I blame her. You're quite the catch," I joke.

The corner of his eyes crinkled as he pulled me into his chest. "You're pretty damn incredible; you know that? I love you so much."

I pull back and stare into his all-consuming eyes. "I love you, too. I think Tessa and I need to talk."

William raises his brows in surprise. "Yeah? How do you think that's going to go?"

Sighing, I confess, "I don't know."

William hugs me tighter. "From experience, it's not going to be easy."

"I don't know what to do; she hates me," I say in exasperation.

"Nothing you do will change that; just leave it alone," William replies.

The homeroom bell rings. William gives me a sweet kiss, and we go our separate ways.

After school, I see Tessa and run to catch up with her.

"Hey, Tessa," I say and place my hand on her shoulder.

She glanced over her shoulder and gave me a dirty look before shoving my hand off her. "What the hell do you want?"

"Can we please talk like civilized human beings?" I plead.

She rolled her eyes heavenward before replying, "We have nothing to talk about."

As she walked away, I yelled, "I know about your dad."

Tessa stopped dead in her tracks, turned back towards me, and her face paled. "What did you just say?"

I gulped before responding barely above a whisper, "I said, I know about your father."

In a flash, Tessa was grabbing my arm and dragging me into the nearest girl's bathroom.

Her jaw clenched as she spits out, "What the hell do you think you know about my father?"

I feel the heat burn its way into my cheeks while I stammer, "I, um, I, I know that he, um, he hasn't been the best father."

Sadness clouded her face, and she released her grip on me. "William," she hissed.

Feeling the need to explain the situation, I explained why William told me about her dad.

"You read my note to him?" Tessa raised her brows in surprise.

I bowed my head in shame. "I did."

"And you thought it was about us hooking up?" she laughed.

"Not my finest moment," I admitted.

"That sounds like something I would do," she professed.

Raising my eyes to meet hers, I feel the need to apologize. "I'm sorry for reading your note to William and that he had to tell me about your dad."

"I don't care if you read my note, and my dad's an asshole."

Tessa brushes past me, but before leaving the bathroom, she turns back to me. "I honestly don't understand what William sees in you."

She flips her hair and disappears behind the door as I stand there with round eyes.

That didn't go well.

When I got home from school, my mom was rolling dough out on the counter.

I tossed my book bag onto the floor and sat on a stool, leaning my elbows on the island.

"Hi, Honey; how was school?" she asks without taking her eyes away from her task.

I sigh. "School was fine."

She stops what she's doing, turns around, and rests her back against the counter. "That doesn't sound convincing. What's going on, Nicole?"

"Tessa," I breathe out in frustration. "She hates my guts."

My mom's eyes soften. "Baby, girls like Tessa will come and go from your life. Don't let her know that her actions and words get to you. What matters is how you deal with her. If you let her affect you, it gives her more fuel to keep her fire of hatred burning."

"Mom, you don't understand. She took William's letter out of my locker," I groan.

Her forehead wrinkles, "Wait, the letter you told me about this morning?"

"Yes. Tessa's the reason I had no clue and was not ready for the date William planned," I grumbled.

"Why would she do that?"

My voice raises. "Because Tessa despises me. I took her spot on the senior squad, and she thinks I stole William away from her. They weren't even dating!"

My mom steps towards me and places her flour-covered hand on my arm. "Calm down, Honey."

I take a deep breath and cradle my head with my hands. "What do I do?"

Mom smiles. "Be kind."

My eyes darted toward my mom. "Be kind? Are you serious? Easier said than done."

Mom squeezes my arm. "If you have difficulty being kind, ignore her."

I gave my mom a half smile. "Again, easier said than done."

My phone rings, so I grab my backpack. After unzipping the front pocket, I pull my phone out and see William calling me.

"Hello, Babe," I answer with a lilt.

"What the hell happened with Tessa?" William snapped.

My joyful demeanor suddenly disappears. "What do you mean?" I inquire.

"She just came into the store crying and yelling at me for telling you about her dad. Why would you bring up her dad in conversation?" William barked.

"I was trying to talk to Tessa and work our shit out," I defended.

"I told you to let it alone."

"I didn't mean to mention Tessa's dad. I was trying to get her attention because she didn't want to talk and walked away," I explained.

"It was a low blow, Nicole. I thought you were better than that."

My heart sank at William's words, and tears prickled my eyes.

"I have to go," I murmured and hung up the phone.

I struggled to hold back my tears when I saw my mom's worried face.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"I'm fine," I weakly replied. "I have homework."

I hopped off my stool, grabbed my book bag, and left the kitchen for my room.

Thinking about William's remarks kept me from concentrating on my homework. He was right; I had no business bringing up Tessa's dad. It was a low blow. All I had accomplished was hurting Tessa, which made me no better than her, and pissing off William. He confided in me, and I broke that confidence.

I attempted to focus on my homework, but I could only replay William's comment. "I thought you were better than that."

A/N What do you think about William's reaction to Nicole after Tessa yelled at him for telling Nicole about her father? Justified or not?