I made it to school fifteen minutes late. I made good time considering I woke up thirty minutes later than usual and had to run all the way to school because I'd missed the bus.

It wasn't until I actually arrived at school that I realized that Gaige wasn't right behind me like I'd expected. In fact, I didn't see him around at all. He was no where to be seen... Hm. Maybe he decided not to come. I let out a heavy sigh. That sure would make things easier on me... I KNEW my best friend Grace, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if she decided to mock me because a random cute boy started following me. I'd never been the boy-crazy type (unlike her) so if I even LOOKED at a boy for too long, she'd try and hook us up. She'd always failed, of course. But with Gaige's flirtatious ways, this was bound to turn out for the worst. Shaking it off, I went over to my desk, which was beside Grace's. "Hey, Grace." I greeted simply, sitting beside her. She smiled. "Sup?"

I wasn't in the mood to tell her anything about what happened. And besides that, Gaige had already cleared up that I wasn't allowed to blow his cover by saying anything about him being my bodyguard. That, of course, had made me blush furiously. How embarrassing to have some strange guy follow you around without an explanation!!

"Not much." I answered Grace's question simply. "You?"

"My aunt came over this weekend; ya know, the crazy one."

"Ah."

I looked up when the teacher called out to me. "Sterling? Might I ask why you're late?"

"Um, sorry, my alarm didn't go off."

"Hm. Well, just don't let it happen again."

"Yes, ma'am."

Without any further interruption, Ms. Belle started class. It had gone on for about ten minutes when, can ya guess who, decided to show up.

Just like I'd expected, all the girls in the classroom looked up and their eyes nearly popped out of their heads. I face palmed. Why couldn't he be at least a little bit less attractive?!

It seemed even MS. BELLE was mesmerized by his beauty as she turned and asked, "U-uh, might I ask who you are...?"

Gaige answered, flashing a perfect smile, "Gaige Knight, ma'am. I'm a new student."

I heard a few girls sigh at the sound of his voice dreamily and I lowered my head, hoping Gaige wouldn't see me and ask to sit beside me.

"Oh," Ms. Belle nodded, blushing like a love struck little girl, "O-of course... P-please, take a seat. There's an empty one in the far corner."

Once Ms. Belle pointed out among the crowd of students, it took about a millisecond for Gaige to spot me and flash me a playful grin before looking to the teacher, "Excuse me, but I'd like to be as close to her as possible."

He jabbed a finger at me and my face grew hot as dozens of jealous eyes turned to glare at me. I gulped and tried to look completely surprised as if I'd never seen him before in my life.

Ms. Belle blinked, just as surprised as everyone else in the room, and I struggled to hide my face from Grace who was looking at me with a million different emotions.

"Uh," Ms. Belle stammered. "A-Absolutely." She turned to the brunette beside me, Talia. "Talia, would you mind moving for Mr. Knight...?"

Talia, (the sweet bookworm type) who was blushing to an extreme, at a loss for words only nodded and gathered her things, quickly moving to the open seat at the back of the room.

I bit my lip and tried to keep my eyes pinned to the desk to avoid burning stares from jealous girls, Ms. Belle, Grace, and Gaige.

This was so embarrassing...!

I felt Gaige nudge me with his elbow. Reluctantly, I raised my gaze and glared at him, but he was wearing his usual grin. "Hey."

"Shut up."

"Awwwww," Gaige whined. "But Sterliiiiiing----"

"Be quiet! You're embarrassing me...!"

He crossed his arms and pouted like a little boy who couldn't get his way; and as much as I hated to admit it, he looked absolutely adorable.

"Sterliiiing, you're so mean~"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the worst, now please be quiet...!"

"... Well, since you said please."

With a smug grin, he stopped talking and looked to Ms. Belle, waiting for class to continue.

Ms. Belle blinked a couple times, then went on with the lesson.

My face still burned even after it was over. Stupid Gaige...!