It had been two days since that little fight in science and Colt hadn’t said a word to me since; thank god, he was finally getting the point that I didn’t like him. I was just pulling my books out of my locker for the last class of the day when someone tapped my shoulder from behind; I turned around to see Sam standing behind me. Sam had dated Mandy for a few months over the summer and even though they broke up they still stayed good friends; just seeing him again made me think of Mandy and I tried not to show how sad it made me.

“Hey Sam.” I said forcing a small smile onto my face to hopefully hide the emotions that seeing him brought up,

“Hey Haley, umm, you got a minute?” He asked rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” I asked.

“Well, umm, I was just wondering… Umm, do you have a date for the homecoming dance?” It was weird seeing Sam nervous, he always seemed so confident when he was around Mandy.

“I don’t think that I’m going this year.” I replied; Mandy and I had always gone to all the dances together but now that she was gone I just didn’t know if I really wanted to go; it would just bring back too many memories and I didn’t know if I was ready for that yet.

“Oh ok, I just thought that, well, you and…” His voice trailed off as he looked up to see the pictures of Mandy and I hanging on my locker door; the pain was clear in his face, I could tell that he missed her too. I turned and closed the locker, neither one of us needed to think about that right now.

“Sam?” I asked when I realized he wasn’t going to say any more.

“Never mind, it was a stupid of me to think that you would want to go.” He said before turning and walking down the hallway. I rocked back on my heels a few times as I thought about how Sam had tagged along with us to the last dance we went to; it only took me a few minutes to make up my mind on what I knew I needed to do.

“Hey Sam wait!” I called down the hall; he turned around when he heard me.

“Ask me.” I said once I caught up with him.

“What?” He replied seeming a little confused.

“Do you want to ask me to the dance, or are you going to make me ask you?” I said placing a hand on my hip; his face lit up in a bright smile.

“Would you like to go to the dance with me Haley?” He asked, the smile never leaving his lips.

“I would love to Sam.” I replied returning a smile of my own; the first real genuine smile I had put on for what seemed like a long time.

“Great! So, umm, what color dress are you wearing? I, umm, only need to know so that I can match my tie and stuff.” He said kicking at some invisible dirt on the floor.

“Sam you just asked me I haven’t got a dress yet.” I smacked his arm playfully; I could see why Mandy was friends with this guy, he seemed really nice.

“Oh, yeah, right.” He said smacking himself in the head with his palm. “So will you let me know when you have one picked out?’

“Sure thing Sammy, see you around.” I replied as the bell rang and I hurried off to class.

          Sam and I started talking a little more between classes; I could see us becoming friends but I doubted that we would hang out outside of school, other than at the dance. Both of us knew that friends was all it would ever be; for one we were nothing alike and dating would never work between us, and for two he did date my best friend, and ex-boyfriends of friends, even if they were no longer with us, was just off limits to me. Life was starting to look up for me again; it was nice to have a break from all the drama.

          Colt had basically ignored me the rest of the week; we only talked when necessary and it only consisted of school work in the science room. On the weekend I went shopping and bought a light blue dress that matched my eyes perfectly; it had two thin straps at the top and the front hung down in layers to just above my knees, while the back fell down in longer layers to right above my ankles. I made sure to stop and get a tie for Sam that matched the exact color of the dress; there were so many different shades of blue that I figured just buying him a matching tie would be the easiest thing to do. I got a pair of white and rhinestone heels to go with it and just to top off the look I bought myself a new necklace with a heart shaped diamond pendant; I loved events that gave me an excuse to buy new jewelry.

          I woke up Monday thinking that it was going to be a great day; I took off for school early so that I had time to stop and run my baby through the car wash so she was nice and shiny to match my mood. I wrapped the tie around my hand before grabbing my books and made my way into school; I stopped at my locker quick to change out some books and then I would be off to find Sam. I had just shut my locker when I heard Sam call my name from behind me.

“Hey Haley, you pick a dress yet?” He asked walking up to me.

“Yep, and I got you this.” I said holding out the tie.

“You didn’t have to buy me a tie, I could have done that.” I didn’t miss the light blush that crossed his cheeks as I handed it to him.

“Well that one matches perfectly, it’s no big deal.”

“Thanks Hal.” My smile fell a little at the use of my nickname, it hadn’t really been used since Mandy passed; I recovered my smile quickly pushing the thoughts of Mandy to the back of my mind and returned my attention to Sam.

“You’re welcome. Walk me to class?” I asked holing out my folded arm; he slid his arm in mine and walked me to class before parting we made plans for him to pick me up on Friday night for the dance.

          I was half way through second period when I got called to the principals’ office; I searched my mind trying to think of what I could have done wrong to get called in but couldn’t think of anything. I dropped my books off at my locker hoping that whatever the meeting was about it would last long enough that I wouldn’t have to go back to class and made my way to his office; after a short wait in the reception area his door opened and he called me in. I took a seat across from his desk folding my hands in my lap; I can’t lie I was a little nervous, I still couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong.

“Ms. Stevens how are you doing today?” He asked; his grey hair looked slightly out of place like he had been running his hands through it numerous times already.

“Just fine, and how are you Mr. Fields?” I asked rubbing the hem of my shirt between my fingers; I wish that he would just tell me why I’m here already, not knowing was driving me crazy.

“Just fine as well, thank you Ms. Stevens. I suppose you would like to know why you’re here.” He said looking over a few papers on his desk; well yeah, duh!

“Yeah, I don’t recall doing anything wrong.”       I replied; no one ever went to the principals’ office for not doing anything wrong, did they?

“It’s not that you did anything wrong Ms. Stevens, it just that a few of the teachers are worried about you. Worried about your grades that is.” He quickly corrected himself. Crap, had my grades really fallen that badly since Mandy passed away? I guess I really was out of it for a while but was it really long enough to make my grades drop?

“I’m sorry Mr. Fields; the whole thing with Mandy just really had me distracted, I will do my best to get them back up.” I said going to stand up hoping my promise to do better was enough for him.

“Well I’m sure that you will do that Ms. Stevens but I wanted to get you a little extra help so I’m going to get a tutor for you, at least until you are showing substantial improvement.” I sat back down, clearly this conversation wasn’t over.

“A tutor?” I asked, really a tutor? I didn’t need a tutor, I was smart I just wasn’t applying myself for the last few weeks and I had a good reason not to. “Mr. Fields I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“I understand that you don’t feel that you need a tutor Ms. Stevens, a lot of students don’t feel that they need one but once they start the sessions they realize just how helpful they are. Now I have a few people in mind but I haven’t made a final decision yet, I was hoping that Monday through Thursday from 7 - 9 would be good, would that work for you?” He asked; well I guess this means that I don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s not like I had a life outside of school anyways so why the hell not?

“Yeah that’s fine. Where do I need to go?” I replied leaning back in my chair feeling slightly defeated; I know I didn’t put up a fight but the way he was talking it was clear he already had his mind made up.

“Well usually the sessions are held at either the student or the tutors’ house, the choice would really be up to you and the tutor to figure out but since I don’t have one picked out yet do you have a preference?” He asked. Seeing that my house is empty ninety percent of the time I figured that would be the easiest option, plus it would save me from having to drive anywhere.

“My house would be fine.”

“Great, just write down your address and number on this sheet here.” He said passing me a piece of paper. “I will have someone picked out for you by the end of the day so you can expect them to be at your house by seven tonight.” He continued taking the sheet that I wrote down my information on back from me.

“Tonight?” Wow, nothing like giving me some time to get used to the idea.

“Your education is important Ms. Stevens, no use putting it on hold.” He replied with a smile.

“All right then, is that all?” I asked once again standing from the chair.

“That’s all, have a great rest of your day Ms. Stevens.”

“You too Mr. Fields.” I said before walking out the door; geez, maybe getting in trouble for something would have been better than what I got walking in there.

          My mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that I was getting a tutor; I really didn’t need one, it was pointless. I really am smart and if it wasn’t for being so distracted over the last few weeks then my grades would all still be A’s and B’s; dang, I wonder how low they dropped for it to come to this? My cheery mood was slowly falling after that meeting and the rest of the day seemed to go by slow; by the time the final bell rang I was ready to get out of there although my feet seemed to be moving me extra slow through the halls.

          I grabbed the books out of my locker I would need for my homework and slowly made my way through the sea of students out towards the parking lot; my mind was lost in thought until I seen the scene unfolding in the parking lot. There was a small group of guys getting into an argument next to my car, I recognized one of them as Colt right away; the world around me went into slow motion, what happened next was like watching a matrix movie. The guy that Colt was arguing with decided he had enough, go figure, and next thing I know he punched him in the face sending him flying backwards and he landed on… Brace yourself; he landed on the trunk of my baby.

          My fists clenched around the books in my hands as I ran at full speed towards the man that punched Colt; I could give a shit less about Colt, but that bastard just caused him to fall on my baby, and I was pissed! Once I got up to them I threw my books to the ground and walked right up to the guy punching him square in the jaw; I followed up with a knee to the groin and another punch in the gut before he fell to the ground crying out in pain as he held his balls.

“You stupid son of a bitch!” I screamed giving him another kick to the ribs. “That’s my fucking car you asshole.” Another kick.

He let out a muffled, “You crazy bitch!” as he rolled to his side, hands still holding his precious jewels.

“I swear to fucking god if there is one fucking scratch on her I will personally cut off your balls and shove them down your throat!” I went to kick him again but before I got the chance someone lifted me up by my waist from behind and pulled me back a few feet.

“Let go of me, I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!” I screamed as I tried to pull the hands off my waist.

“Haley, calm down.” The voice holding me said; I didn’t have time to focus on who it was, my whole mission in life at that point in time was to make that guy paid for whatever damage he might have inflicted on my car.

“Let me go, I need to look at my trunk.” I yelled again somewhat calmer this time as I started to think about what damage could have been done.

“Are you going to be calm and not try to kill him?” The voice whispered in my ear; I was almost calm at that point as my eyes traveled over the trunk lid and no immediate damage could be seen. Almost calm, that was until I realized that it was Colt who was talking to and holding me back.

“Let me go, I’m calm.” I gritted out between clenched teeth; he slowly lowered me to the ground before letting me go. I walked to the back of my car giving the guy on the ground a death glare on the way there; looking over the paint I didn’t see any scratches or dents that popped out at me right away.

“Let me look at your hand.” Colt said walking up next to me with my books in his hands; the other guy was being helped to his feet by a few of his buddies.

“My hand is fine!” I said ripping the books from his hands; it was a lie, my hand hurt like hell.

“You!” I said turning to the guy who I could now see had a bloody lip and was still hunched over like he was in pain. “If I ever see you within five feet of this car again I promise you that you will never be able to create children.” I gave him a hard stare and didn’t look away until he turned around and started walking off; I didn’t miss the ‘crazy bitch’ comment he made either. Good, I hope he does think I’m crazy, maybe that will make him think twice before he throws someone into someone else’s car again.

“Haley are you sure…” Colt started to say something but I quickly cut him off.

“Fuck off Colt; you’re lucky that you didn’t get the same treatment as he did!”

          I turned around and jumped in my car; the engine roared to life at the turn of the key and I had my foot on the gas as I shifted into reverse. The tires smoked and squealed as they tried to find traction on the pavement; the people gathered to the side of the car jumping back as the tires caught and the car flew backwards. I shifted into drive before it even stopped moving and left a trail of rubber and smoke behind me as I left the parking lot.