Nichole and I drove to school using Brandon's car today. I was the one driving and Nichole was riding shotgun.

     How did we get his car? Simple.

     Since both of them lost the bet last night, Nichole and I took custody of their rewards. I got Brandon's car, and Nichole got free lunch for a week from Leo.

       "This is why we're awesome," I said as I drove our way to school. The boys were sitting at the back, quiet as ever. I don't know if they were sulking or praying for their lives. I was a good driver.

    In my own way.

       "They can never say no to us," Nichole smugly added. I laughed. It was true. When we insisted that we deserved the rewards since they both screamed at the same time - thus a tie - they strongly disagreed. But when I showed them the picture I secretly took when Leo was changing Brandon's jeans, they gave in.

     I knew this precious picture would come in handy.

     When we arrived at school, Brandon opened his hand at me, probably asking for the keys. I smiled sweetly at him before shoving it in my pockets. "This is mine for a week. I'll return it then."

     His face paled. Leo and Nichole already went ahead - Leo was still on the process of convincing his girlfriend that he'd pay for just half the price of the lunch, not the whole thing. He was such a cheap bastard as always.

      As we made our way to our lockers, we bumped into a certain person. And when I say bumped, I meant I headbutted the other person with maximum force.

     I can proudly say my head was harder than his chest.

     And guess who it was?

     I was still rubbing my forehead (it didn't hurt. I just did it for effect) when I noticed who the person standing in front of me was. He had a blank expression on his face. Speechless, I think. I gave him my best grin upon waving my hand.

       "Samuel! I see your injuries are healed now," I noted. The black eye I gave him weeks ago already faded away, and his face was good as normal.

     Brandon stepped forward, studying the boy. Realization hit him and then he gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "You're Samuel Ink, one of her many poor victims. I sympathize with you."

     I stepped on his foot with my heel, causing him to wince and utter a short yelp, before I glanced at Samuel, expecting at least a reply from him.

     I may sound ridiculous but I don't hold grudges. I want to make peace with my victims after every (one-sided) fight.

       "Yeah, I'm alright now," he said. I almost sighed in relief when I noticed his tone had no hint of sarcasm, hatred or fear. It was normal. As if I didn't just beat him up before.

       "Good." I said, taking his hand and shaking it. "We'll be friends now right? But if you bother Nichole again - "

       "It was a misunderstanding," he interrupted. I blinked at him. He slowly took his hand back and slid it inside the pocket of his jacket. He looked down as he continued. "I didn't mean to hurt her. It's all just a misunderstanding. I'm sorry."

     I raised a brow. Now I was curious.

       "Then what really happened?"

     It took him half a minute to reply. And his reply was a sigh. Well, way to arouse our suspicion.

     He shook his head before he stared at me for a few seconds. I just noticed how green his eyes were. They were like emeralds. "Sorry. See ya."

     And then he left us hanging, just like that. He disappeared into the crowd of students and Brandon and I just stared at each other.

       "He's..." He said unsurely. "Nicer than I thought."

       "Yeah..." I replied, quite unsurely myself. What's his deal? Why'd he look so uncomfortable talking to me?

     On second thought, don't answer that.

     The bell rang and it was time to go to my first period class. Brandon had a different class, so this was where we part ways.

       "Take care of my baby's pacifier," he said. It took me a moment to get what he meant.

     He meant the damn keys to his car.

     I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. See you at lunch."

     Seriously. Guys and their cars. And car keys. Seriously. Dude.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

     Afternoon classes were cancelled because of a faculty meeting. For us students, it was a matter to be celebrated with.

     But this time, I decided to go home. Leo and Nichole were going out anyway, and I'm sure they wanted to be alone.

     On my way to Brandon's car (my car, for the time being), I saw Samuel walking my way. He didn't notice me yet, and I wanted to talk to him about earlier before he tries to escape again.

    As soon as he was about a few feet away from where I was standing, I walked up to him and blocked his path. When his eyes lit up with recognition, he halted in his steps and attempted to nonchalantly walk the other way, but I grabbed his shirt.

       "Hey," I said, slowly pulling him so he'd give me his attention. He was looking at everywhere but me. Was he afraid of me after all? "I need to talk to you."

     His eyes finally met mine. I didn't know how to read his expression. It was either fear, awe, disbelief or amazement - I don't know.

     He didn't hold his gaze any longer. I think he was looking at my nose, not my eyes. And he looked so uncomfortable.

     I let go of his shirt and crossed my arms against my chest. "This'll be quick I promise. You can go after you tell me what I want to know."

     He quietly nodded, still focusing his attention on my nose. Okay, so I was getting uncomfortable too. What if he was looking for blackheads and stuff?

     I cleared my throat and decided to just get this over with. We were blocking the hallways just standing there. "What did you mean when you said  it was just a misunderstanding? What did I misunderstand?"

     He lowered his head. His hand shot up to the back of his head and he began scratching it in a rather impatient matter. Typical behavior when someone gets irritated.

       "Trust me," he said, finally. The seriousness in his tone made me take a step back. Whoa. "You don't need to know. It doesn't matter."

     I stepped forward again, openly showing him I wasn't intimidated, even if I was for a bit. "If it concerns my best friend, of course it matters. What you did to her a few weeks ago - if you say that was just a misunderstanding, then please, enlighten me."

     He held his gaze longer this time, a hard yet dull gaze. "The reason isn't important. Just tell her I'm sorry for her wrists."

       "No," I pressed. I hated it when people apologize indirectly. It was so insincere. "You want to say sorry, tell it to her, not to me."

       "Fine." He deadpanned. Something in his expression told me that he really did want to apologize to Nichole, which relieved me a bit, but I was still suspicious.

     That probably marked the end of our conversation. I didn't press any further. It was between her and Nichole now.

     He retreated as soon as he noticed Brandon approaching. I didn't stop him this time. My gaze followed him until he disappeared into the crowd of students.

       "What's up?" Brandon asked, glancing at Samuel's back before looking at me. I shrugged my shoulders.

       "Nothing. Hey, I'm going home now. I'm taking your car. Have fun walking back to your apartment!"

     Before I could sprint towards the parking lot, he grabbed me by the elbow. "Stop."

       "What?" I whined. He raised his brows at me before his lips curled up into a grin.

       "Let's hang out at your place."

     I coughed voluntarily at the suggestion. "But why? I have nothing there to entertain you."

       "You're there." He smiled. I scoffed.

       "Wanna watch another movie?" I gave him a challenging yet teasing smirk. His smile vanished from his face.

     He pinched my cheek roughly, causing me to squirm and release an unlady-like yell. After I yanked his fingers away from my swollen cheek, I glared at him.

       "We'll figure out what to do when we get there. Now c'mon." Without warning, he grabbed me by the waist and dragged me to his car. "You're driving, as you wish."

     Damn it potato.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

     Brandon was making himself comfortable in my bed. Not the way you're probably hoping though. He had already claimed ownership of most of my pillows, including my blanket and stuffed animals.

     I was sitting on the other side of the bed, well, awkwardly. It was a bit chilly today and our heater was broken. And Brandon had my blanket.

     He sensed my intense stare, burning he back of his head despite the coolness of the room. He glanced at me and smiled innocently. "Wanna snuggle?"

     My face lit up with sarcastic amusement. "Taking advantage of the situation, now aren't we?"

     He smirked. "C'mon Mira, it's cozy. You know you want to do it."

     I didn't allow the heat to travel up my cheeks. I mean, I'm not sure. I tried. Maybe it worked though.

     Without another word, I kicked my shoes off and went under the blanket with Brandon right beside me. He shifted closer to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

     It felt so warm and comfortable.

       "See?" He said slowly. I could feel his breath fan my forehead as he spoke. "I told you it was cozy."

     I playfully smacked his chest.

     He hugged me.

       "Too close," I mumbled. "Stop violating the rules."

     His chest vibrated when he laughed, and it felt so foreign, but nice. "Violating the rules, or violating you?"

     I smacked him again, and he hugged me tighter.

       "If someone's doing the violating, it's going to be me." I said. Why the heck did I just say something so wrong?

     My competitive nature always gets me in trouble.

     He looked amused by my reply. "I knew you'd say that. That's just so like you."

     He meant it in a good way, perhaps. An idea struck my mind, and I was determined to do it to get things in my favor once again.

     I looked up at him and saw that he was already staring at me. Gulp. No, no, don't get distracted. I sent him my most mischievous smile ever and attacked his neck.

     Yup, you heard me damn right. I attacked his neck.

     I trailed butterfly kisses on his nape up to his jaw, then down again. His sharp intake of breath gave me the sign that I was doing something right.

       "Stop that," he breathed, but his tone told me he didn't mean it.

     I remembered what he did to me when we first met. And I decided to do the exact same thing to him.

     I found a specific spot on his neck that I liked, so I settled there and pressed my lips harder against his skin. He smelled nice.

     Judging by his expression, I was clearly winning. Ha!

     His hand shot up to my head and weakly pushed me away. It didn't work. He didn't want me to stop. And I didn't want to stop either.

     My hand travelled up to his warm chest and I pressed my leg on his thigh. I felt him shiver under the blanket we were both in and I was very pleased.

     He was so weak against this.

     I stopped what I was doing and proudly looked at the mark I just left on the side of his neck. But I wasn't done yet. I continued trailing kisses on his jaw. I always wanted to kiss this strong jaw of his. He was breathing heavily, and since my hand was on his chest, I felt how fast his heart beat inside it.

     I just realized my heart was doing the same thing.

       "Stop. Mira, stop," he said. I didn't. "Mira, if you don't cut that out I'll - "

     I cut his sentence short when I took my head off his neck and pecked his lips. He was petrified on the spot.

     When did I become so bold?

     To seal off my win, I gave him a smug grin as I brushed my thumb across the mark I made on his neck. "See? Told you I'd be the one doing the violating."

     That wasn't something to be proud of. At all. Scratch that. I just had the wrong choice of words.

     The surprised look on his face quickly changed into something more serious, more dangerous. His eyes narrowed at my lips as his hands cupped both my cheeks.

     I felt alarmed. Was he going to kiss me?

     Now that I think of it, I initiated my first kiss with him. Now he looks mad. Oh shit.

     Before I could pull away, he crushed his lips on mine, not giving me the slightest chance to retreat. I gasped when he brushed his fingers on the nape of my neck - I was cursed with having a ticklish spot there - when my lips parted for justba bit, he saw his chance and went deep.

     Everything in my mind went blank. All I could think about was this.

     Brandon was kissing me.

     And I was kissing him back.

     I didn't realize we were already pressed against each other until I felt our heartbeats in sync. My hands got buried on his soft, brown hair and unconsciously, I was pulling his face closer, in need of more contact.

     I didn't know if I was doing something right since it was the first time I was doing this with someone, but it felt so natural. And this someone just happened to be Brandon.

     He released his hand from my cheek and pulled the blanket up to cover us both.

     The excitement that was boiling up in my system was unexplainable. And unreal.

     He tilted his head to a certain angle to get better access and I shivered at how nice it felt. He tasted like mint. I was suddenly conscious of my own breath.

     I bet I tasted like chocolate since I just ate a bar of Snickers on the way here.

     I tried copying what he was doing so I wouldn't look like a lost idiot. I tilted my head to the opposite angle. Was I doing this right?

     He sighed in between kisses so I guess I was doing it right. When he started sucking on my lower lip, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and stopped myself from releasing unnecessary noises.

     His mouth had found its way down my neck. I panicked, knowing what he'll do. He breathed in my scent before trailing kisses on my tingling skin. I managed to pull him back up and kiss him again. Our lips were in sync.

     I tried saying his name but since his mouth was pressed against mine, it came out as an incoherent mumble.

     How long were we doing this? Why were we doing this? Mira!

     I quickly withdrew from his lips. It felt so cold all of a sudden, but I needed to control myself. What the hell just happened?

     I just made out with Brandon.

     His expression mirrored mine. A mixture of surprise and realization. Don't even get me started at how our hairstyles were like now.

     We were both out of breath, but we just kept staring at each other, wondering if that really happened.

       "Ten minutes," I breathed. He looked confused for a second until I continued. "We can't kiss for more than ten minutes a day."

     He opened his mouth as if he just remembered. And then a pout crossed his face as he looked back at me. "Was that ten minutes already?"

     Nope. But I was afraid of what would happen if we continued so I stopped it.

     I shrugged my shoulders, avoiding eye-contact. I feel so embarrassed. This is so awkward. We were still under the blanket as if we were playing hide and seek. Only, both of us were hiding.

     He chuckled slowly before flicking my forehead.

       "What was that for?!" I complained.

       "You made me do something weird to you. That's your penalty."

     I bit my lip to stop myself from talking back. He was right. I started this. I was so stupid. What had gotten in to me?

     And why wasn't I regretting it one bit?

     He held his neck for a while and looked at me quite smugly. "You left a mark didn't you?"

     I tried my best to sound human. "Yeah. Payback for what you did last time."

     His reaction was not what I was hoping for. "You can be so dense at times my potato babe."

     I buried my flustered face on his chest. We were still lying close next to each other so it was alright. He began caressing my hair. It was so in warm here. I had no idea why I felt so comfortable, relaxed.

     I know I lost. But why did I feel like I won?

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

A/N: Sorry my characters swear a lot. In real life I do too. It's like my second language. Well, third, because then there's my sarcasm.

Don't slap me. I'm actually really nice. And I can beat people up. But really, I'm a good person. I accidentally broke a boy's arm before. That was self defense though. Trust me please, I'm a good person.

Trivia: It's midterms-hell-week but I updated. You know what that means?

That's right. I updated because I love potatoes.