Haven

"So, any news on the owner of the mysterious blue shoe from Friday?" Ari asked as we walked to the front office to pick up our schedules.

"Nope. I'm beginning to think I made it all up."

"What about your dad? Did he ever come back?"

"No, but I'm sure he'll turn up soon. Probably with a chainsaw," I added as an afterthought.

"I don't doubt it. But don't worry, maybe your savior will make another appearance," she comforted while patting my shoulder.

"Here you go, ladies," the lady at the office said, handing us our schedules.

"Thank you," Ari and I replied in unison. We smiled at her and walked away to compare each other's papers.

"We have calculus together. Oh my God! The teacher, Mr. Ryden, is supposed to be a real hottie," Ari shrieked while fanning herself with her schedule.

I chuckled. "He's probably older than your dad."

"Ew." Ari crinkled her nose at the thought. She stopped walking to scan the rest of her paper, and then added, "Sweet! We also have lunch and chemistry together. We can scope out the cuties while we eat!"

"Jeez, Tuna. You're always thinking about guys," I called over my shoulder.

"Of course. What else would I think about?"

I rolled my eyes at her shallow comment but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw five vile creatures walking our way. I was still debating whether or not I should run away when Ari bumped into me and made the both of us stumble.

"Girl, what'd you do that for?" she complained, rubbing her shoulder. She looked up from her paper and was instantly captured in the green, beady eyes of Priscilla Kale and her wanna-be Bratz Dolls posse.

Rather than displaying her usual side-swept bangs, Priscilla held them back with a red headband that stood out against her blonde hair. She had one strand of hot pink hair, and the clip from her extensions were placed in a way that it peeked out from her scalp. Her eyebrows were so thinly threaded that they were almost nonexistent, and her high cheekbones were tainted with an excessive amount of red blush.

To top it off, she wore an extremely revealing, all-yellow ensemble. The outfit included a low-cut ruffled blouse and skin-tight jeans paired with heels, and it looked like the sun had thrown up on her after seeing her clownish features.

When we first entered high school, Priscilla and her little minions had made it their life goals to make our lives hell.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here," Priscilla crooned. She drew out each syllable and spoke slowly, as if she was talking to three-year-olds. "No wonder you keep thinking about guys, Ari. The only time you'd ever get one is in your dreams."

"Go eat a bag of butts, Prissy," Ari hissed.

"No thanks. I already had some yesterday."

"Leave us alone," I warned while trying to steady Ari's shaking hand. Although her face didn't show it, I knew she was fuming inside.

"You girls are such prudes. Why would any guy at this school want to be with either of you when they could be with someone as beautiful as me?" Priscilla continued to taunt.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked at us as if we were nothing more than pesky insects she had smashed on the bottom of her heels. Meanwhile, her posse exchanged a round of high-fives.

"Please. I could remove 99% of your beauty with a tissue," Ari scoffed.

Priscilla glared at Ari and narrowed her eyes to slits. "You cow."

"I won't ask you again, Priscilla. Stay away from us," I said. Despite the anger I felt, I raised my tone and spoke in a clear voice. "And a word of advice? Your jeans are too tight. Why don't you slip into something a little more comfortable? I'm sure everyone would enjoy seeing you in it."

"Huh? Like what?" Priscilla asked. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Like a coma," Ari finished, linking her arm with mine and pulling me away.

We left Priscilla with her mouth wide open in disbelief.

"Close that jaw, honey. Flies are already too attracted to the bull crap that comes out of your mouth," Ari warned over her shoulder.

"Shake it off, Priscilla," her posse cooed. I felt them glaring at us as we walked away, but I didn't give them the satisfaction of looking back.

"Dang, Ari," I said as I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding through my teeth. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Don't worry. That'll never happen." She winked. "I'm proud of you, girl. You're starting to come out of your shell," she remarked with a grin.

"Ugh, I know. It's about time. I'm feeling extra sassy because it's -"

"Senior year," Ari finished.

"Yeah."

Ari tapped her perfect, manicured finger on her chin and asked, "Why do you think Prissy hates us so much? It's not like we ever did anything to her."

"I don't know," I admitted with a sigh. "I'm so sick of her attitude. She's been after us for the past 3 years! Enough is enough, and like you said, it's our senior year. I'm not going to let her get to me."

Ari laughed. "Preach, girlfriend."

Just then, the first bell rang, signaling that students had five minutes to find their classrooms.

"Come on, let's go! I want to sit in the front so I can get a good look at Mr. Ryden's sexy ass," Ari said as she giggled and tugged on my arm.

"You're such a freak. Go ahead, I have to stop by my locker first. Save me a seat?"

"Maybe," she joked. "If I feel like it."

"I'll be there soon, Tuna."

"I told you to call me Caviar."

"No."

Knowing I only had a few minutes before the second bell rang, I speed-walked to my locker from last year.

0, 22, 7... 0, 22, 7.

I repeated the numbers over in my head, praying the lock would open on the first try.

Success!

I thanked sweet baby Jesus for allowing my clumsy fingers to enter the lock combination correctly. I grabbed my notebook, slammed the locker shut, and ran straight into a rock.

A rock?

Dazed and flat on the floor, I lost my vision as the world went black.

Baby doves danced in circles above my head, and I squinted to focus on reality. I saw my notebook on the floor a few feet away. After checking to make sure all my limbs were still intact, I got to my knees and crawled to it.

As soon as I reached for it, a head bumped straight into mine, knocking me down even further onto the floor.

"Ouch!" I yelped, grabbing my head and squeezing it in hopes that the pain would magically disappear.

"Sorry, I was trying to help," a deep, husky voice said, presumably coming from the rock.

I blinked twice and willed my eyes to focus, and they did. On the letter "R" on the blue Converse in front of me.

What?

I looked up slowly, taking in each inch of his face. For a few seconds, I allowed my eyes to bathe in this unexpected piece of eye candy.

Before me was the most beautiful human being I had ever seen.

His jaw line was so prominent and sharp, he could have easily sliced a rock into half with it. His cheekbones were high and defined, and his slightly pink lips were pulled back to reveal impeccably perfect, white teeth. His brown hair was short, styled in a way that it casually rested on top of his eyes. And his eyes.

Oh, his eyes.

Those sexy, deep blue eyes.

It was so easy to fall straight into them - I felt like a lost ship out at sea. But at the same time, it was comforting, almost as if I was staring into the eyes of a long-lost friend.

He smiled, and his eyes crinkled in a way that made my knees weak. If I hadn't already been on the floor, I was sure I would've fallen.

Blue Eyes cleared his throat, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

What just happened?

I subtly wiped my lips, making sure no drool escaped from them. I was completely taken aback by my own reaction to this strange, beautiful man, and I didn't know what to do.

Despite Ari's continuous efforts to find me a boyfriend, I had never paid much attention to boys.

So what the hell was I doing right now?

"My fault," I quickly stammered, realizing I had been silent for the past few seconds. "I wasn't paying attention. Sorry."

"No problem." He smiled as he stood up and held out his hand to me.

His knuckles were a dark purple, as if they were bruised.

My gaze traveled up his arm, and I saw the outline of his muscles bulging out of the simple gray v-neck he wore. They seemed to be screaming and begging to be freed from their chambers.

Before I could stop myself, I found myself looking at his face again.

Oh, man.

He had dimples that were as deep as the craters that were etched onto the moon. I counted three - two dimples on both sides of his cheek and a tiny dimple that danced above his upper left lip.

To top it all off, he was tall.

Huh.

So my dream had been 50% correct. The mysterious stranger who saved me on Friday was tall and had a killer smile, but boy, had I been wrong about the green eyes and blond hair. He was also so much more handsome than I had ever imagined possible. And he was definitely better than a girl with steel fists.

Every feature on his face exuded confidence, charisma, and charm.

I grasped his hand and pulled myself up, dusting myself off and making sure my hair didn't resemble a bird's nest after my fall.

"Do I know you?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Blue Eyes laughed. It sounded like wedding bells chiming gracefully in a church.

Our wedding bells.

Snap out of it, Haven! What is happening to me?

"Do you?" he asked with a perfect grin and wink. His smile reached his eyes, crinkling them once again as they twinkled in amusement. His dimples reappeared and I felt my knees weakening once again at the sight of them.

Before I could ask him what he meant, the second bell rang, signaling that school had begun.

"Shoot!" I snapped back to reality and turned around to retrieve my notebook for a second time.

It's only the first day of school and I'm already late!

But I didn't care. I needed to know what he meant.

"Who are you?" I asked over my shoulder. I picked up my book and looked up to where Blue Eyes had been standing.

But he was gone.

A/N: Thank you, to ALL of you, for reading this story so far! Your comments and support mean so, so, SO much to me... And you guys always make me smile! :)

A big, big, BIG thank you to thiseffervescentlife for always helping me out with the things I struggle with and for being so supportive of this story. Another shout out to Riprish for helping to make sure the past few chapters were (hopefully) flawless! And last but DEFINITELY not least, thank you to you guys, the readers, for the love and support you give me every day <3 You guys are all amazing!

Check out this awesome cover that MehatKansha made for I Won't! Thanks a bunch, dear <3

P.S. The guy in the picture is NOT Reeve! Just a random dude with eyes that are bluer than the bluest of blue eyes :) Which is exactly what I imagined for Reeve! When I'm writing about him, I don't really have a person in mind... It's more of his personality that comes alive through the words. But please feel free to use your imagination for all of the characters! And let me know who you think would be a good fit for them :)