I woke up to a wetness covering my face. No, it wasn't Justin pouring water on me. No, it wasn't a leak in the roof. It was Ryder, licking my face like it's a plate of peanut butter.

Having a dog meant I no longer needed an alarm clock. He always managed to wake me up right before my phone did. I guess his bladder was programmed to be full right when I needed to wake up.

I giggled as I grabbed his face. His entire body wiggled in excitement. We both jumped off the bed at the same time. He raced out of my room and patiently waited for me to open the back door. I slowly trudged down the stairs and finally caught up with him, sliding open the door.

"Hey sweetie," my mom called from behind me. I turned around to see her bent over the stove, cooking some breakfast. I nodded, covering my yawn. She continued to cook and I went back upstairs to get ready.

By the time I was done, breakfast was ready. I appreciatively grabbed the smaller portion and sat at the counter. Justin came down minutes later, copying my actions.

"I'm gonna grab Starbucks before class if you wanna come," I told him. Last year, I forced my brother to ride the bus as much as possible. Now, I felt like it was a waste for him to do that instead of carpooling. He still enjoyed riding the bus, but obviously being in a car was way better.

He looked like he was about to protest, but then shut his mouth and nodded. I let him know we'd leave soon so he had to hurry.

After finishing up, I kissed my mom goodbye and made it to my car.

"Good morning, Bella," Drew yelled from his driveway. We both usually left around the same time, so we'd greet each other every morning. It became our little ritual.

"Morning, Drew," I waved with my key in my hand. "You're leaving early."

"Yeah, I'm giving a ride to some friends. You?"

"Coffee run. You want any?"

He grinned and recited his order. I quickly typed it on my phone and got in the car before we were late. I turned on my car, and at the same time, Drew's sport's car rumbled to life. Every time I heard that in the morning, I took it as my signal to leave.

The line at Starbucks was disgustingly long. I annoyedly began drumming on the steering wheel while Justin plugged his headphones in. Right then, my phone began ringing. I was annoyed that my music cut off, but picked up anyway.

"Bella, where are you?" Dylan's voice asked through the speakerphone.

"Coffee run. Do you guys want anything?"

Jaz and Dylan barked their orders through the phone and I added it to my list. We stayed on the line and talked as I waited. I finally reached the speaker and placed my orders.

My eyes widened as I glanced in the review mirror. In the car behind me was the same kid from yesterday. He was bopping his head to his music. He looked more relaxed today, which was a huge contrast to yesterday. But, then again, I couldn't blame him.

"Oh my gosh, the dude from yesterday is right behind me in line!" I told my friends. Justin overheard and craned his neck to get a better view of this mystery boy.

"Bella, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't," Dylan warned through the phone.

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "Relax, I'm just going to pay for his order. It's the least I could do, right?"

"Great idea," Jaz chimed in.

"This is going to backfire," Dylan mumbled.

"You're crazy. There's no way this could go wrong," I huffed, pulling up to the window. I handed the cashier my card. "I'd like to pay for the car behind me, too. Is there any way you could write 'sorry' on the cup?"

She looked up at me with a wary smile. "Ma'am, his total is twenty-five dollars."

My friends snickered from the phone. I ignored the feeling of my gut-wrenching. I'd be spending a total of fifty dollars at Starbucks. How would I explain this to my parents? "Yeah, that's fine," I said through clenched teeth. Even Justin looked surprised at my stupidity.

She grinned and handed me my card back, along with two drink carries. "You're very generous. I hope he forgives you."

"Thanks!" Me too.

I drove away from the scene, ignoring the bad feeling in my stomach. We quickly pulled into school with barely any time to spare. Hopefully, I could bring everyone's drink to them on time. Justin grabbed his drink and ran out of the door before I could rope him in to helping me.

With an annoyed huff, I put my backpack on, then carried the drinks inside. Luckily, the three were together so I didn't have to search around the school for anyone.

"I bear coffee," I grinned, holding up the cups. "Coffee for Dylan, frap for Jaz, and a latte for Drew." They all thanked me and grabbed their respective cups. I grabbed my iced coffee and tossed the carrier in the nearest trashcan. "I hope that kid forgives me."

"Uh, Bella? I hate to burst your bubble, but how is he supposed to know it's you who paid?" Dylan asked, raising a brow.

Damn it!

Andrew looked totally confused so Dylan went on to explain the whole situation while I stood there, dumbfounded. Now I was still hated and out twenty-five bucks!

"Come on Bella, I thought you were smarter than that," Andrew teased, playfully nudging me. I responded with a tight smile, secretly hating myself. "Aw, don't be bummed. You did a good deed."

"I guess," I grumbled.

We all separated, going to class. I couldn't help but sulk as Dylan mercilessly teased me the entire way there.

~~~

"I'm here!" I dramatically swung open the door to Mr. Cullen's class. A bunch of innocent eyes stared back at me. I awkwardly dropped my arms and turned a slight shade of red. I totally didn't realize he'd have a class right now.

A familiar chuckle came from the front of the room. "Class, this is Bella. She's going to be my student assistant for this class so warm up to her. She was one of my top students," he winked at the speechless class before turning to me. "Bella, disruptive as usual," he teased.

I composed myself to look cool and stood next to him, grimacing. When I turned to the students gawking at me, I forced on a smile. "Hey! I'm Bella, a senior. I'd like to say I've gotten Mr. Cullen's methods down to a science, so come to me if you need help," I winked.

All of them smiled back and I internally sighed with relief. I wasn't aware that he'd actually be teaching a class this period and now I had the pressure of getting twenty students to like me.

"Thanks, Ms. Wilks. I'm just going to assign them some work and I'll meet you in the closet for your first task."

I nodded and made my way to the familiar room, ignoring the eyes on me. Usually, I hated attention, but this kind was different. It was more like a mentor/mentee hierarchy and I knew these kids would have to respect me during class. In a way, I felt powerful.

When I stepped into the storage room, I froze in my tracks. I abruptly turned around to see Mr. Cullen nervously looking at me before redirecting his attention to his class. He knew. He freaking knew.

I stepped further in and resisted the urge to scream. These kids didn't know me yet and I didn't want to scare them away.

A few minutes later, he joined me at the threshold. "Uh, yeah, so I had to pack up my closet at the end of the year so..."

"Please tell me you organized the boxes for once..." But the look on his face only told me he didn't.

Last year, Mr. Cullen and I worked in this very storage room. He had a bunch of books that he needed to organize. I happily took on the task. Then, one day, the shelves broke and we had to start from square one. I nearly had a heart attack when that happened. Now, we had to start all over again.

His hands gripped my shoulders from behind. "Breathe, Bella. Breathe. You don't have to start today if you don't want to."

I shook my head and mumbled some curse words under my breath before relaxing under his touch. "It's fine." It was something to get my mind off of things. I actually enjoyed organizing, which is why I committed to it last year. It was just frustrating to repeat the same task over and over again.

He reassuringly patted my shoulders. "Great. Thanks." With that, he left me alone with all the books. I sighed and pulled out a random box. Like he said, it was disorganized.

After fifty minutes of separating books, the bell rang. All the students shuffled out of class. I waited for them to leave before talking to the teacher.

"So, how's it going?" I asked.

He gave me a stressed smile. "Don't you have class?"

My eyes widened in realization. For a minute, I forgot this wasn't like our previous hangouts, which were after school. "Shoot."

"After school?" He suggested, like he knew we'd have a lot to catch up on.

"Yeah!" I grinned, getting ready to leave. Then I abruptly stopped. "Wait, just the two of us, right?" Mr. Cullen and Dean were brothers and I didn't wanna risk seeing the former of the two.

He furrowed his brows in confusion. "Yes?"

Before he could ask any questions, I decided it was time to leave. "Cool, see ya!" I called as I left his class. I powerwalked to my next class, hoping I wouldn't be late.

I made it just in time. Emma was already at her desk and she had a bag in the seat next to her. When she noticed my presence, she quickly moved it so I could sit there. I sent her a thankful smile.

"Where were you this morning?" I whispered across the aisle.

Her face turned a slight shade of pink. "I was with someone." The teacher cleared their throat and she faced forward, but I couldn't help but stare at her flustered reaction. She was being too vague to be hanging out with a friend. She would have mentioned them by name if she was. Then I realized I didn't see Will there either.

No, she couldn't... could she?

I'd have to share this theory with Dylan and Jaz later, but now I had to focus on statistics.

By the time lunch rolled around, Emma and I were nervous to go to the cafeteria. We didn't want a repeat of last time when Dylan acted like a complete sociopath.

Okay, maybe not a sociopath, but a douchebag. We didn't want his poor teammates to get kicked off the table.

"Oh, if you see Dean, please help me avoid him," I casually told Emma before pulling her into the cafeteria so she wouldn't ask questions. We neared our table and saw the same set up as before, except there were open spaces for us this time.

We both shared relieved looks before sitting down. Even if he kicked out some people, he didn't do it in front of us. Maybe they just coincidentally didn't want to sit at this table today.

Okay, he probably kicked them out.

"Ladies," Dylan gave us an acknowledging nod before resuming his conversation with a fellow teammate.

Jaz and Will joined us shortly after and we struck up our own conversation. Throughout then, I managed to keep a close eye on Will and Emma. Although the blond seemed to be acting more jittery, Will wasn't asking strange at all. Either he was really good at acting natural, or he wasn't a part of Emma's shenanigans.

Dylan looked up behind me, then at the jock sitting next to me. "Kid, beat it," he ordered in a strict tone. The door kid nodded and rushed to another table.

"Dylan!" Jaz, Emma, and I scolded.

A new body replaced the jock and I turned over to see Andrew. "Hey guys!" His smile sparkled. We all mumbled our greetings and then continued our conversation.

A few minutes later, Jaz looked up at me with panicked eyes. "Bella, we should make a move."

"Why?"

My question was soon answered when Dylan kicked out another kid. This time, Dean filled the empty space next to Jasmine. Emma and I both tensed. Even Andrew realized that something was wrong.

Dean exaggerated a whistle. "Wow, I haven't seen you guys in months. Everyone looks so different."

Andrew cleared his throat. Dean must have not noticed his presence until then, because his brows quirked in surprise before returning to a neutral expression. "Bella, didn't you say the librarian was looking for you?" Andrew asked, giving me a knowing look.

I furrowed my brows in confusion but quickly realized what he was doing. "Oh, yes!" I looked over at my confused friends. "She claims I haven't returned a textbook when I clearly did. I should go figure it out." I stood up and hitched my bag up my shoulder. "See y'all in study hall."

When I left the cafeteria, I let out a breath of relief. Andrew really saved my ass out there. I was debating where to go when a familiar sliver of golden hair came into view. I immediately followed the person down the hall.

"Reece," I hissed, getting his attention.

He turned around with an amused gleam in his eyes. "Hello to you too, Bella."

"What're you doing here?" I asked as I came closer.

I noticed a red Gatorade in his hand and figured that he was making a stop at the vending machines. He didn't bother answering my question, but instead asked his own. "Why aren't you in the cafeteria?"

I pursed my lips. "Avoiding my problems."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Don't tell me you're avoiding Dean." I flashed him a sheepish smile and watched as he disapprovingly shook his head at me. "Why?"

"You saw how weird he got yesterday after you showed up!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in wild gestures.

He shook his head again. "No, this is about something else. You're being a chicken."

"Huh?"

"You're avoiding him because you're scared that your relationship isn't going to be the same now that he's back."

Damn, he knew me too well.

"Talk to him, Bella."

"I don't wanna," I whined like a child. He looked amused. "What if it isn't the same? What if all this waiting was all for nothing?"

His eyes flickered to something behind me. "Well, he's definitely out there looking for you... and now he's spotted us... and now he's coming closer."

"Shit, shit, shit. I have to go," I panicked. He rolled his eyes but realized I was completely serious. With a last pleading look, he sighed and grabbed my arm. I complied as he pulled me around the hall and into the gym.

"I think we lost him, but you have to talk to him," he sighed.

I groaned. "I know, but not yet." He knew it was pointless to argue with me, so he didn't.

I hung out with him in the gym for a little before sneaking to my locker. Will and Jaz were both heading to class and I quickly caught up with them.

Will acted like nothing happened, while Jaz gave me a suspicious look. I acted as innocent as possible. I knew she'd disapprove of me running away, so I wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

My eyes lit up when I saw Mystery Boy already settled in the same seat as yesterday. I was expecting him to carry his coffee cup, showing it to everyone and demanding who did it. Instead, he sat there, coffee-less. Of course, he probably threw the cup away after he finished, like a normal person.

"Do you think he knows?" Jaz asked as we settled into the desks in the back.

I disappointedly shook my head. "No, probably not. Something tells me he isn't smart enough to put two and two together."

She scoffed. "For someone who was awful to him, you sure are mean. You sure you really want his forgiveness?"

"Of course," I harshly snapped. She didn't flinch as she was very used to my moodiness by now. Instead, she dropped the topic completely.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. At first, I thought it was in response to me, but her gaze was focused on something else. I looked up to see the last person I wanted to see.

Dean stood at the teacher's desk, showing him his schedule. He must have been transferred into this class. He didn't notice me yet so I slumped down in my chair. Luckily, there were no free desks nearby.

Then, much to my horror, Will asked the kid in front of him if he was willing to switch to another seat. "Yo Cullen, over here!"

Jaz gave me a sympathetic smile as I went even lower. Dean gave a thumbs up to Will before glancing around, catching my eyes. I looked away and focused on my chipped desk. It had some pencil drawings from previous students. One was an alphabetical sequence, the answer key to a test I'm assuming.

Will was never the observant type, so I could hardly blame him. All I knew was that I had to get out of this class as soon as possible.

I felt someone staring and I looked up to see mystery boy glaring at me. I nudged Jaz and she caught on quick. "Shit, you'd think he'd be grateful."

I mumbled my agreement. Then, an idea struck. The teacher began teaching but I hardly paid any attention. Instead, I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook and scribbled a message.

Why are you looking at me like I killed your dog?

Satisfied, I crumpled it up and waited for the teacher to be completely engrossed in his lesson. Then I threw the paper at the kid's head.

He whipped his head around and glared at me. I pointed to the paper, hoping he'd take the hint. Instead, he rolled his eyes and faced forward.

I gave Jaz an exasperated look and all she did was giggle. "You know, you could try passing the note instead of throwing it at him."

Right.

So I did just that, but I stopped when I realized I had no idea what the kid's name was. So, I just asked the students to pass it to the kid in the black hoodie.

When the paper flopped on to his desk, he turned around to check if I was the writer. When I nodded my head, he nodded back and ripped the paper to shreds.

My jaw dropped in disbelief as I looked at Jaz again. She was silently snickering at my misery. "What the hell?" I hissed so only she could hear.

"Man, he hates your guts," she pointed out. I gave her a flat look before looking at the boy again. He was tapping his pencil on his desk. His eyes looked distant, like he wasn't paying attention at all.

Okay, we have one thing in common.

Then his eyes snapped back to me and the glare returned. I rolled my eyes and considered giving him the finger, but stopped myself. Jaz was right. I needed to be nice if I wanted his forgiveness.

And I wasn't going to stop before I got it.

~~~

The rest of the day went on without a hitch. I successfully avoided Dean and had no more accidents with the kid.

Now I was going into Mr. Cullen's class to have our catch-up session. Before making an idiot of myself, I checked the inside to make sure it was empty.

Much to my surprise, a girl was in there with him. I watched for a second. He was sitting at his desk, like usual. The girl was sitting on top of it, swinging her legs, exactly how I sat. The difference was that her arm was perched on his bicep.

Her face radiated a flirty attitude. She not-so-subtly leaned into him, practically shoving her chest toward him. He awkwardly chuckled and scooted back, continuing their conversation. He looked uncomfortable.

I decided it was the perfect time to interrupt.

"Hey Mr. C, I was just coming to ask about my assignment... Oh, hi!" I chirped, pretending to be happy.

The girl didn't hide her annoyance. "Sorry, Mr. Cullen's busy right now," she snapped, not even caring to change her position. I made sure to stare directly at where she was touching him. As soon as she noticed, she dropped it.

"Actually, I have important business to discuss with Ms. Wilks," Mr. Cullen said.

The girl pouted – yes, pouted – and scooted away from him. "O-okay. I guess we'll have to talk another time." I expected her to put more of a fight. She grabbed her bag and gave him one last flirty smile. "Bye." She glared at me as she walked past, and I flashed her the sweetest smile I could muster, dropping it as soon as she left.

"Bella, I swear it's not what it looked like," he urgently explained as soon as she was gone.

I dismissively waved my hand. "Don't worry, I know." I looked at the spot where the girl was just sitting with disgust. That was my spot. "Do you have any Clorox wipes?"

"What? Why?"

I was gonna mumble something about not wanting to catch her STDs, but I knew he'd scold me about it. Instead, I dragged a desk over. "You looked very uncomfortable with her presence."

He groaned and put his head down. "She told me she wanted to talk about something personal. I thought it would be about family issues, not flirting. I feel like a pedophile."

"Well, maybe you should have a rule about students not being alone with you."

He scoffed like it was the most ridiculous idea he's ever heard. "Then I'd be a hypocrite." I realized he was referring to the current situation and formed an 'o' with my mouth. "Besides, I felt bad! I want to be there for my students but I also don't want to catch a case."

I hummed in response, unsure what advice to give. "What, you don't think I'm a handful as is?" I teased, hoping to change the tone of the conversation.

He playfully rolled his eyes with an amused smile on his lips. "I didn't expect you to make such a grand entrance today."

"Yeah, for some reason I didn't realize you'd have a class."

"Ah, I see your intelligence level is still the same," he teased, earning a glare.

I caught him up on my summer, carefully avoiding the subject of Dean. Ever since I learned they were related, I felt weird talking about him. I knew he wouldn't, but I felt like he'd relay everything I said to his younger brother. So, I just left him out of this entire recap.

"How about you? How was yours?" I finally asked after my rant.

He sheepishly smiled. "Ah, this is weird to talk about, but I consider you a friend so I'll tell you. I had a summer fling."

"Oh wow! Look at you!" I excitedly chirped. He did not seem the time to have a steamy summer romance.

His cheeks tinted a light shade of pink. "Yeah, it was fun, but it's over. I think I'm at the age where I need to settle down. I mean Natalie is already married for God's sake." Natalie was their older sister who worked at their parent's diner. We grew quite close over the past year.

"Hm, I think a beard would shout 'husband material'," I grinned. He replied with a flat look. I've been trying to convince him to grow out his facial hair since last year. He always put it off, but I genuinely think it would make him look even better.

"Man I'm starting to think you have a beard kink," he teased. If we weren't so close, it would be so weird for him to say that. Instead, I laughed and nodded in agreement, even though that wasn't the case.

We chatted for a little longer and he made me promise to not draw any more attention during my SA shift and I reluctantly agreed, even though I was determined to make the juniors like me.

"Oh, did you know Reece works here now?" I asked. Reece and Mr. Cullen knew each other through Dean. When all their gang stuff was going on, they often met up. So, his whole family knew about him. Some liked him more than others.

Surprise took over his expression, proving he had no clue. "No way, really? I thought he was going back to Illinois."

I shook my head. "Nope. Apparently he decided to stay here and work as Coach's teaching assistant. I'm not really sure why, but I'm not complaining."

"Huh," he replied with suspicion in his tone. I wanted to ask him why he sounded wary, but his classroom door flung open.

In came his little brother. Dean's hair was tousled like he ran his hand through it a lot. He wore a tired expression. "Are you ready?" He hadn't even noticed me yet.

Panic filled me as I looked away from him. Mr. Cullen looked confused, his eyes flickering between the both of us. He probably expected us to be a happy couple, but I was obviously not reacting the way he wanted.

"Arabella?" Dean finally noticed. I didn't look at his face.

"Uh, I just remembered that Justin is waiting for me. Shit, he's going to be so mad," I lied. His practice didn't end for another half-hour, and he was supposed to get a ride from a teammate.

Mr. C narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded, obviously not believing me. "Uh-huh. Alright. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I put on a smile. "Yup. Try to stay out of jail until then," I teased, hoping he'd think I was okay.

He rolled his eyes, forgetting about his suspicions. "God, hopefully. I'll need you to testify for me."

"Against you, more like."

"You suck," he grumbled.

"I know," I laughed as I grabbed my things and dragged the desk back to its original spot. "But you still love me. Do me a favor and bleach your desk tomorrow."

He raised a questioning brow but I walked away, right passed Dean. I avoided his intense gaze even though it burnt a hole in my skull.

In the hall, right when I thought I made it out safely, a voice called out to me. "Arabella, are you avoiding me?"

I turned back and gave him a small smile. "No, I just need to get Justin before he kills me," I lied and faced forward before he could stare me down. It was only when I was outside that I breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I headed to the field.

Last year, Coach and I agreed that I was the one exception to his 'no watching football practice' rule. It was mainly because of my dad's alumni connections, but my relationships with Dylan and Justin helped.

However, even sweaty football jocks couldn't distract me today.