"You?" Salem's scowl gets replaced with a surprised expression, "It's you?"

"I'm sorry, huh?" I raise a brow at him in confusion.

"Nevermind," He shakes his head and sighs, "Come inside before I slam the door in your face."

I sigh and go to go inside, but he moves and blocks my path.

"Um, can you please get out of my way?" I ask.

"Well, you see," Salem looks off to the side and smirks before looking back at me, "I really should let you in, but I just don't want to."

I glare at him and manage to find a spot to stand directly in front of him, although it doesn't make much of a difference.

"Salem? Is everything okay over there?" His mom calls from the other room.

"Oh yeah," Salem calls back and moves out of the way right when I try to push him aside, which causes me to fall face first onto the floor, "Everything's going great!"

I sigh in frustration while he stands there smirking at me before I stand up. I brush my clothes off and he closes the front door.

"Thanks..." I mutter sarcastically.

I walk down the hallway and enter the dining room and find a red haired woman with Salem's hazel eyes busily trying to get everything together for her work day.

"Oh hello," She smiles at me and her eyes sparkle, "You must be Aella! I'm Desdemona."

"Hello," I smile and greet her.

"It's nice to meet you, all of your paper work is in order so you can go to school today. I know you've already met my son, Salem. He's in the same grade as you so hopefully he can show you around, although he tends to be a bit grumpy," She giggles as she says the last part.

"I'm looking forward to attending school here," I say.

"I'm glad! Oh, and I packed your lunch since I'm not sure if you'll like what's on the menu for today, I figured after today you'll know what's on the menu and you can pack what you want after that and when you want," Desdemona says.

"Thank you," I smile at her and take the lunch bag after she slides it towards me.

"Alright," She puts her hands on her hips, "Well, you should be set. Have a nice day!"

"Are you ready?" Salem calls.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I say and start walking towards him.

We leave his house and start walking towards the bus stop, which is about half a block from his house.

"So..." I try to strike a conversation with him.

"Look," He looks at me pointedly, "Just because you're living with me now doesn't mean that we're friends. In fact, I can't stand your presence, so just stay away from me and we won't have a problem, got it? I'll show you around school and that's it."

"Fine," I say as I stare into his smoldering eyes, "It isn't like you're the best company anyways."

He snorts and turns away from me and I roll my eyes. The bus slowly creeps around the corner and comes to a halt in front of us. I go to walk towards the stairs, but Salem cuts me off and gets on before me. I sigh and walk up the stairs after him and look around at all of the unfamiliar faces. I slowly walk down the isle and the bus lurches forwards, almost making me fall.

"Hey!" Someone calls and I glance in the direction of a girl with blond hair and a pink streak running down through the front, "You can come sit with me."

I smile at her gratefully and make my way over to her before sitting beside her.

"Hi, I'm Aella," I say.

"Aella, huh? I like that name, it's pretty uncommon. It almost sounds angelic," The girl nods.

"Uh," I smile sheepishly at the irony, "Thanks."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Cherise. You must be new here."

"Yeah, today's my first day."

"Cool," She beams at me, "I think you'll like it here. I noticed you must've already met Salem."

"Yeah," I sigh, "Sadly I'll be seeing him far too often."

"What do you mean by that?" Cherise raises a brow at me curiously.

"I'm living with his family for now since mine couldn't come all the way out here. My parents promised to pay for everything I needed as long as someone could care for me, and Salem's mom decided to take my parents up on that offer."

"Oh wow," She gasps and throws her hands up in the air, showing off her neon pink fishnet gloves, "That means you'll be living with the school's badboy heartthrob."

"Heartthrob?" I snort.

"Yeah, well," Cherise rolls her eyes, "I don't consider him a heartthrob, although he is pretty cute. It's just the girls that wear really short skirts that flock around him, or the ones that just simply think he's perfect."

I glance back a few seats at Salem and notice the permanent look that always seems to be on his fact, which screams: "I'll beat you until you can't move anymore if you so much as even look at me". He glances down at his phone and turns it off before taking out his headphones as the bus comes to a halt. I turn back to Cherise and she smiles at me. We all file out of the bus and by the time my feet hit the ground Cherise already has my arm in her grasp and is dragging me through the school grounds.

"Come on," She says, "I'll give you a tour of the place."

"But--" I go to speak but my words get drowned out by all the noise around me.

Oh well, less time to spend with Salem then. Not like he'd mind...right?