I shout, attempting to push past him but it's no use, "you can't just drag me out of class whenever you feel like it!" He stands in front of the door, blocking me from leaving, with his hands clutched in front of him. I give up and stand at the other side of the room, relying on the desks in between us to protect me.

"What are you doing?" He starts towards me. I try to ignore the racing of my heart in my chest.

"Compromising. You're not going to let me out of this room so I'm not going to let you come near me." I state plainly. He raises his eyebrows in disbelief, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

My chest fills with pride, I've rendered him speechless.

"Fine," he huffs, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the door. His biceps bulge under his signature black t-shirt making it harder for me to stay away. I keep my gaze glued to his face. "We need to talk."

"We are talking."

"This isn't a joke, Madison. I'm serious." His eyes pour into mine.

My jaw tenses and I no longer care about the distance between us. I want to be close enough to punch him, that's what I want most right now. "You're serious? What about me? I came to talk to you, but you didn't listen. You told me to forget about it," saying these words aloud causes a lump to form in my throat, I swallow it. "What makes you think I should listen to what you have to say?"

We are only centimetres apart now. I hate the way my body reacts to our proximity. I should do as he said and forget about the kiss. My body has a mind of its own though. My mouth feels dry, and I gulp. "No," I say more to myself than to him as I stumble backwards.

"I've seen you with other girls, Archer. You use them for your entertainment and then kick them to the curb when you're bored. I don't know if I didn't make it clear enough yesterday, but I don't want to see you again." Hurt flashed in his eyes but I know that it hurts me to say those words more than it does him. "I'm not going to be one of your booty calls."

I push past him, this time successfully, and my hand hovers over the lock. "I made a mistake." He sighs deeply. His voice is pleading, begging me to stay and hear him out. Part of me wants to but another wants to run as far away as possible.

"I know," is the last thing I say before I turn the lock and open the door. I'm not going back to class. I could probably tell the nurse that I have a headache and leave. That's what I want to do right now, I want to be curled up in my bed with a tub of ice cream.

I don't make it out of the door though. His hand intertwines with mine and electricity shoots up my arm from the contact. I shiver involuntarily. He spins me around, so I'm facing him. His eyes are pouring into mine, stealing all of my air. Focus, Madison. I stand my ground and attempt to ignore my body's reaction.

"I made a mistake letting you leave yesterday."

"Archer," I breathe. "I can't hear this right now." I snatch my hands out of his grasp no matter what my body is telling me. I feel cold from the loss of contact, but I ignore it. My feet move hurriedly against the tiles as I try to calm my racing heart. Once again, I don't make it far.

"Listen to me, Madison." His pained voice causes my steps to falter. I squeeze my eyes shut; I shouldn't turn around. I should carry on walking until I'm far away from him and his hypnotising eyes.

Melissa's words ring in my head, do what you want. So, I do, I turn around.

His eyebrows raise. I tap my foot against the floor impatiently. He notices and breathes deeply. "I can't get you out of my head," he inches closer to me. "I wanted to be selfless for once. I wanted to do what I knew was right, so I told you that night at the party meant nothing. I saw how it made you feel but I knew that it was a small price to pay. You shouldn't be around me."

"That's not your decision to make." A locker closes behind us, but we don't look away from each other. At this moment, we don't care if people hear what we're saying. He has determination written all over his face. I doubt he cares what other people think.

"I know and I can't," his words falter. He drags his hands down his face. "I can't stay away from you. I've been beating myself up about what I said all night. I couldn't let you think of me like that, I should but I can't."

I can't string together a sentence. I try to process his words. He can't stay away from me. Him changing his mind all of a sudden nearly gives me whiplash. Penny warned me about him. Melissa warned me too, she said that boys are confusing, and I should just forget about him. They know more about boys than I do.

"I don't believe you," I whisper, dropping my gaze to the floor. Tears prick my eyes once again and I blink them back.

His footsteps grow closer and, before I know it, his fingers are gently gripping my chin. He tilts my head up so I'm looking at him. The sheer emotion behind his brown eyes hits me like a brick. "I wouldn't believe me either which is why you don't need you to say anything right now. I just need you to know that you were right, I care about you, Mads. I don't like it, but I do."

His gaze drops to my lips, completely contrasting the part where he just said he doesn't want to care, as mine does to his out of instinct. His breath fans my face and I close my eyes, melting into the feeling of him being so close. When I finally open them again, he's no longer standing in front of me. I watch his retreating form as he walks into the distance until he's left my line of sight.

I wrap my arms around myself for comfort and stay rooted to the spot in the middle of the corridor. Students disperse out of their classrooms when the bell rings seconds later, but I don't move. What am I going to do?

*

"You should have seen her face." Penny throws her head back in laughter as we step out of her car and head towards the house. The face she's talking about belongs to Natasha O'Brien. She was making fun of their teacher, Mr Carl, for not knowing how to open the spreadsheet they needed. Long story short, Mr Carl caught her in the act.

"She was mortified."

"Wait, so he actually made her teach the rest of the lesson?" I gasp in disbelief.

"Yeah," tears are coming out of her eyes now. She's clutching her stomach. "The worse part was that she couldn't open the spreadsheet either."

We burst through the door, giggling like freshmen around a group of boys. I drop my bag onto the floor next to me. Instead of seeing no one like we usually do when we get home, Sophie and Henry are rushing around in front of us.

We exchange confused glances, both unaware that they were going to be home. Anyone with eyes can see that they're workaholics. They spend most of their time at work so it's rare to see them here like this.

"Mom?"

Sophie's head snaps towards us and a smile takes over her face. "You're finally here!" She puts in a pair of silver earrings to go with the belt on her dress. She's wearing a black V-neck dress. It flows down to the floor with a slit on her right leg, ending at the top of her thigh. It hugs her curves perfectly. She looks beautiful.

"We are..." Penny trails off. "And so are you. What are you doing here?"

She rolls her eyes playfully. Henry's spraying some expensive-looking cologne onto his crisp black suit. "What do you mean? Your father told you what we're doing." He finally tunes into the conversation when he's mentioned.

"Did he?" He looks like a deer caught in headlights as his face pales.

"You didn't tell them?"

He fumbles with his tie, trying to put it on but failing miserably. "I-I must..." Sophie taps her silver heel against the floor impatiently causing his muttering to stop. "I'm sorry, darling. It must have slipped my mind." He gives her an apologetic smile.

She does his tie for him, a little too tight if you ask me, and runs her fingers through his hair. "This is why I never ask you to do anything for me, honey." She teases, pecking his lips lightly. Penny cringes in disdain and I stifle a laugh.

"Can someone please explain to us what's going on?" This gets their attention.

"Your father and I are going on a business trip to Seattle for a few days. We should be back by Sunday." Why do I feel like there's a but coming? "But we need you to make sure your brother's staying out of trouble for us." She finishes.

Penny's face drops but not as much as mine does. Archer has told me that he can't stay away from me no matter how hard he tried. I thought I at least had the option to stay away from him, at least until I figured out what to do. Keeping an eye on him would mean that I can't stay away. Unless, of course, I made Penny do all the work. That would be unfair though, right?

"You're going to make us babysit Archer?" She practically screams, her voice ripping through the air. Her right brow is twitching ever so slightly in anger. She's not very fond of the idea.

Henry pushes his arms into the sleeves of his blazer. "Don't think of it as babysitting, think of it as keeping an eye on him."

"Dad, I'm pretty sure that's the same thing." She rolls her eyes.

Sophie shushes her and wraps her arms around Penny's slender frame. She doesn't reciprocate the gesture, instead choosing to stand pin straight. "Just make sure he's behaving." She states simply. As if it's that simple.

Sophie holds her at arm's length. "That's impossible," she says with a scoff.

You'd think I'd get used to seeing mothers with their children. In some respect, I have. I no longer burst into tears at the sight of them in the streets. Instead, a dull ache just remains at the centre of my chest. It's not jealousy, it's more like desire, desire for the life that I could have had if my mum were still in it.

Sophie turns to me before pulling me into a hug. The feeling is strange but comforting. She didn't have to hug me as she did with her daughter, but she did.

"You'll keep an eye on him for us, won't you?"

I don't want to, but I can't say no. "Of course," I beam. She gives me a grateful smile.

They leave less than two minutes later, their suitcases dragging behind them. Barely a second after the sound of the door clicking shut fills the air Penny narrows her eyes at me.

"What?" I ask, completely oblivious.

"You're such a suck-up."

"What did you expect me to say?" I stifle a laugh at her frustration. Who knew that twins could hate being around each other so much?

"Anything other than of course." She groans.