SEPTEMBER

"Grayson?"

I looked up from my phone, frowning at Alex who was rummaging through his locker. He stopped though, brows raised and now nodding over my shoulder. When I turned, I grinned at my cutie sophomore standing there. She had her notebooks hugged to her chest and glanced at Alex before looking at me again.

Facing her to lean my shoulder against the locker next to me, I crossed my arms and gave her my best grin. It was part of my routine that charmed other girls. I'm sure Shella wouldn't be any different.

"You realize I said after school, right?" I raised a brow, grinning a bit more then pointing out that for a girl who liked to read so much, I'd thought she'd be able to figure out a simple note.

The girl's brows rose, staring at me for a second then her eyes squinted and her nose scrunched. "Charming." She blinked hard, digging around in her notebooks as I frowned, looking over my shoulder at Alex. He just shrugged.

I faced Shella again and she was already looking at me, holding out my note. Raising a brow, I looked up from the note she held out.

Shella nodded, shaking the note at me. "Here. I don't want this."

"What...?" I'm sorry. I must have heard wrong.

Shella sighed, looking upward. "I said..." she frowned, giving me a look as she explained that if there was something I needed to ask her that I could ask her now. That she was not allowed to go anywhere after school with anyone because of the schedule her brother was on. The mention of her brother already bristled my skin.

Shella asked again, "So what did you want to ask?"

Was she serious?

I blinked, looking at Alex fighting a grin so he quickly turned toward his locker to hide it. I sneered at him, turning to Shella again and chuckled a bit. "Well... I didn't want to ask in front of my friend here..."

"Why not?" Shella's brows rose, scrunching her nose as she added, "Is it something dirty?"

I couldn't tell if she was being serious or if she was mocking me. I'll take the first one.

I grinned, leaning forward as she frowned, leaning back. "If you want it to be," I suggested.

Shella rolled her eyes, placing her hand on my face to shove me back from her. I grunted, stumbling back and blinked a few times while the sophomore sighed, holding her notebooks to her chest again.

With a no-nonsense tone, Shella stated, "I just thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and see if maybe you needed to talk to me about something that wasn't degrading, stupid, or sexual but I guess not." She tilted her head, her tone doing that mocking thing again. "For a self-proclaimed ladies man," Shella raised a brow. "I would think you'd know part of charming a girl means getting her name right—spelling included."

I frowned, glancing down at the note when she gave a quick point at it, informing me that I spelled her name wrong before she looked at Alex with a pointed look then gave the same to me.

We stared after Shella making her way down the hall and I heard Alex mutter under his breath, "Daaaaaamn. I know that was a kick to your fucking ego, Gray, but that was kinda fucking hot."

I elbowed Alex, grumbling for him to hurry the hell up which he chuckled to as he turned back to his locker. I just kept looking in the direction the sophomore disappeared, frowning as I crushed the note in my hand.

"Dammit," I muttered, shaking my head.

This was not going the way I thought it was. Turns out Shella Ruiz was not like other girls.

დ

What kind of game is she playing? Who—who fucks with people's minds the way she does?

My interaction with Shella that morning has been bothering me all day. I think I've been called on a few times in class and given shitty looks by my teachers because I reply with "What?" the whole time. Not that I care.

I cared about trying to get closer to Shella by getting her away from A-Hole Ruiz. I thought maybe it was just her brother who was blocking any interaction with her but no. Shella didn't need her brother. She could steer boys away all on her own.

Frowning with my mouth pursed to the side, I glanced at the clock. Lunch was going to be happening soon and I needed to figure out how to let Shella know that I didn't have underlying intentions... although I did. I glanced to the side where Falene was taking notes. She was so into school even though she'd deny it when Alex and I made fun of her.

My mind reeled to that afternoon when I got into it with Golden Boy Ruiz and I went over to Falene's house. It was just her and I like she said. Her sister wasn't home which was a bummer because I usually liked catching sight of the senior girl in her tiny shorts as she wandered around the house. Unfortunately, Daisy wasn't home.

Falene said something about her sister going to the smoothie joint with some of the guys from the football team. Of course.

We did end up watching a neat documentary on Netflix though. It was pretty interesting and a five episode piece on a serial killer. I think we were on the beginning of the third episode when Falene distracted me. As I was watching the show, I felt her sitting closer which was whatever at the time until I felt her kissing my neck. That got my attention.

Needless to say, I made out with Falene on her couch. I could feel her fingers tugging at my clothes which meant making out was not all she wanted. I decided against actually sleeping with her. Not when there was a chance her parents showed up out of the blue. Falene is a bit loud when having sex and I didn't feel like having Mr. Fairhaven murdering me. So instead, I took Falene's hands and raised them above her head to keep them there while I kissed her again, working my way down to raise her skirt.

Glancing up at her, I had to remind her that this was just for fun and no attachments. Falene nodded quickly, swallowing hard. Luckily, her parents didn't come home until an hour later and by then Falene and I had had our fun.

I narrowed my eyes at Falene a bit, wondering if her sister knew Shella at all. I knew from Falene going on and on about it that Daisy had the hots for Golden Boy Ruiz. I internally upchuck every time I hear that. Apparently, there wasn't a girl who didn't want to stick her tongue down Ruiz's throat.

Leaning forward, I tried to catch Falene's attention. "Pst!"

I checked to make sure the fat ass teacher at the front was still writing on the board while talking. Falene wasn't paying attention though. She just kept writing away.

"Pst! Falene!"

She still wasn't paying attention. I rolled my eyes, deciding on using my pencil to chuck at her head.

Falene gasped, sitting up as my pencil fell on her desk after it hit her temple. She frowned at me, shaking her head and mouthed, "What?"

I checked on the teacher again before leaning over and asking Falene if she knew who Shella Ruiz was. Her nose scrunched, squinting before shaking her head. Well, there goes that hope.

"Why?" she whispered and looked towards the front and then back to me.

I sighed, frowning and explained that Shella was Zade Ruiz's little sister. She was the sophomore who was my goal for the year. Falene was looking at me weird and I rolled my eyes, telling her to back off on her lectures today. That I already knew she hated what game Alex and I played but that because Falene was our best friend we didn't tell her shit about it.

Falene bit her lip then sighed, "Do you really need to do this? I mean... if she's Zade Ruiz's little sister... do you really want to go down that road when and if you are successful?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I scrunched my nose.

Falene checked up front again before whispering to me that I was playing a dangerous game. Stupid, but very dangerous game if I was planning on going after the sister to the most popular boy in school.

"You are asking for our peers to hate you, Gray. Zade is a really nice guy and is friendly with everyone. Even people who claimed they didn't like him, have later talked to him and realized how wrong they were."

My eyelids lowered half-mast. "What's your fucking point?"

My friend frowned. "My point, Gray, is maybe you should just leave her alone. Find a new goal or target or whatever stupid pig-headed name you call these girls."

I knew I shouldn't have told her anything. I rolled my eyes, sitting back up and faced forward, deciding to ignore her.

Just because Shella was playing hard to get didn't mean I couldn't get her. Despite her asshole brother and her Miss Independent attitude, I was determined to break through her walls. I just figured I'd need something to my advantage. I needed to figure out if maybe Shella was in a stupid club or something that I could suddenly appear in. My excuse being that I wanted to "expand my horizons" or whatever the hell.

As soon as the bell rang, I couldn't get out of the classroom fast enough. I knew if I wanted to catch Shella I was going to need to get to Alex's locker because she had to pass by there to get to the cafeteria.

When I got to his locker, Alex wasn't there yet so I just stood there, leaning against the locker next to his. My attention kept moving from one side of the hall to the other and back again. I perked up when I saw Shella's two friends heading down my way. They were in conversation with one another so they didn't realize I was there until one of them looked my way.

"Hi, Grayson!" she beamed, shouldering past her friend to come over to where I was. What was her name again? Sara? Serena? Something with an 'S,' I know that much. Her other friend remained back, standing awkwardly at a distance.

"Hey there..." I squinted, hoping she'd supply her name. The girl's smile faltered, pouting as she says, "Sydney..."

"Sydney, right." I nodded, looking at her other friend appeared a little closer now. "So, uh, where's Shella?"

Sydney scoffed as she rolled her eyes. She shrugged that they didn't know. That as of this morning, Shella was no longer part of their friend circle. My brows dipped the longer she went on about how now there was no worries of the girls sitting with Alex and me.

I cut her off, waving my hand, "Whoa, whoa, whoa..." then clarified if they really weren't friends with Shella anymore, and Sydney rolled her eyes that she wouldn't say they were her friends to begin with but that Sydney decided Shella needed to find somewhere else to hang out during lunch.

Fuck. Now what?

I sighed, nodding, "Thanks," before turning away to wait for Alex. He should be here in a few. But then I felt someone nearby and glanced to the side to see Sydney and her friend still there. Frowning, I snapped, "What are you two staring at?"

Sydney shrugged, blushing as she said that she thought they'd wait with me for Alex before we all went to the cafeteria together. I asked her why we would do that and her face fell a little.

"I just thought..." Sydney looked at her silent friend who shrugged a shoulder.

I realized why she was standing there and decided to clear things up a bit. "Listen Serena—"

"Sydney."

"I think—whatever—I don't think you hanging around us is going to pan out. We already have a girl in our group, and she's pretty territorial of Alex and me. We look out for one another, you know?"

"But—"

Holding up a hand, brows raised, I cut her off. "Maybe you didn't hear me..." I craned my neck forward, stressing, "Get. Lost."

I made sure the girls knew that the only reason Alex and I spoke to them was because of my interest in Shella who was no longer friends with the girls, ergo, there was no need to talk to them anymore.

"Sup, Gray," Alex greeted, relieving me of having to deal with the Needy Nelly here. He high fived me and frowned when he saw the girls there. "We're not eating with her again, are we?" he nodded in Sydney's direction while looking at me.

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Hell no," and led the way to the cafeteria.

Alex asked if I had any luck in asking around about Shella and I scoffed, informing him that she was no longer friends with the sophomore girls so I was back to square one of figuring out how to get quality time with that damn girl.

"Damn, dude," Alex shook his head. He grinned. "You are going to end up liking this girl."

"I already like her, dumb ass."

"No, Fuckface," Alex snapped back. "I'm talking about you actually ending up liking this girl! You are going to go through all this hell to get her to sleep with you, and then in the end, you either A) won't sleep with her because you fell in love with her—"

"Now I'm going to be in love with her? Are you on crack?" I frowned, eyes wide under furrowed brows.

"—or B) you sleep with her and decide that you like her that much to ask her to be your girlfriend."

I socked his arm, making Alex yelp and he socked my arm back. He missed because I jumped out of the way. I laughed at him then told Alex to shut up about me being in love with Shella. Being in high school meant "falling in love" with someone was total crap. Period.

"Whatever, man," Alex grumbled. He looked around and asked if Falene was already at the cafeteria.

"How the fuck should I know? I was busy."

Alex frowned but shrugged off my reply. We headed down the route to the lunch room when I did a double take as I caught sight of Shella some ways down the side hall.

"Hold up!" I made a blind grab for Alex's arm. He wiggled his arm away and frowned, asking what I was doing. I pointed out what—or who—got my attention and my best friend rolled his eyes. He grumbled that he was hungry and no girl was coming between him and his food.

"C'mon, Gray! There's only so much jell-o the lunch ladies give!" Alex whined.

"So go! I'll catch up!"

Alex cursed under his breath, deciding to stay and wait as I was stretching onto my toes to see what Shella was doing.

She was at the far end of the hallway and was talking to a teacher. She tucked her hair over her ear like she always did and then this tall student with blond hair happened to walk by which made Shella stop talking to the teacher. Instead, her head turned, following where the guy was heading— totally blocking out whatever the teacher was saying. The blond guy—I couldn't really see his face— looked over his shoulder to grin and give a short nod at her before disappearing.

Shella kept staring before turning to the teacher and tucked her hair behind her ear again, nodding as she replied something then scurried off in the direction the guy disappeared.

What... the fuck?

Alex saw the whole thing and started laughing as he nudged me that I had some competition. I shoved him away, growling for him to shut up then glared down the hall, wondering who the fuck was that guy?