Mal POV

The first thing I noticed when my dreamworld warped and sent me flying back to the reality of morning, was that my bed was unusually warm today.  And, instead of being fully sprawled out across my bed, free to move, I was pinned down by a feather light weight on my chest.  And my nose was being tickled.

I groaned in annoyance, slowing opening one eye, and peaking down at the head that was resting on my chest.  Her pile of messy blonde hair was sprawled out like a blanket, draped over me, and really irritating my nose.

I batted it away as gentley as I could, worried about waking the girl who was curled against me.  I didn't want to face a fresh round of tears.

Yesterday had been tense, to say the least, with me restraining myself from completely going ballistic on the girls, in fear that I'd hurt someone.  No, I wasn't that incredibly pissed about the alcohol, it was deserved, it was just the added pressure of the case, and the upcoming trip to see the family, and the whole party scene that was building up inside me, and as much as I strongly disliked Analee, she didn't deserve to have to face me like that.  I was a force to be reckoned with when I was angry.

Which was exactly how I was feeling once everything from last night came flowing back to me.  Aiden had cheated on her.  That good for nothing bastard.  No, I wasn't exactly friends, to say the least, with Analee, but no girl deserved to have her heart ripped out like that.  From what I could tell by her appearance on the front stoop, she had walked home.  She had walked, over two blocks, alone, at night, with no cell phone.  Not only was that stupid, but that was extremely careless of Aiden.  Not that she would've let him drive her home, but if he had any brains inside that too-big-to-be-real head of his, he would've called someone at the house to let them know she was on her way. 

But he didn't.

Which lead me to the conclusion that he really didn't have any brains.

I was alright with that.

I sighed heavily when I realized that I would have to move eventually.  Marc was expecting me in the office at twelve, seeing as the office was closed for cleaning earlier in the day, and it was ten already.  I still needed to shower, and grab some breakfast. 

But I couldn't bring myself to wake her.

I'd be lying if I said that wasn't the first time I'd ever woken up in bed with a girl.  Or even spent the night with one.  If it was a one night stand, I typically waited for the girl to pass out before grabbing my clothes and sneaking out.  It was weird to realize that this was actually... nice.

I guess seeing Analee broken like this, kind of put things into perspective for me.  She wasn't really that big of a bitch.  Actually, from what I had heard from her brothers, she was a pretty cool chick.  She just had a backbone, which was something that I wasn't used to.  And she didn't like me, which was something way out of my league alone.  No girl had ever resisted me before.  Well, excluding family, obviously, because that's just gross.  And no, I wasn't going to pull the whole cliche player move and go after her.  She did intrigue me, but she wasn't someone I wanted to be on bad terms with anymore -I realized that now- and hitting on her would do just that.

I wanted to be friends.

Friends.

With a girl. Without fucking her, like, ever.

Weird.

"I can feel you staring at me."  I felt her lips move against the skin on my bare chest, and suppressed the shiver it sent flying through my senses.

"I wasn't staring," I defended stubbornly, glaring at the top of her blonde head.  She propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at me.  I'd be lying if I said she didn't look beautiful, she did, but I was still waiting for the inevitable beat down I'd get once she really woke up and realized she had slept in my room.  I wasn't sure if she remembered that she had practically begged to stay here with me.

"Thank you," she whispered, not meeting my eyes.  Her cheeks were flushed an adorable pink in what I guessed was embarrassment. 

"It was no problem.  Just next time, call someone to pick you up first."  Analee nodded quietly, biting her lip, and still avoiding my gaze.

"I want to be friends," she blurted out suddenly.  My head whipped up to stare at her incredulously as she stammered to find the right words to say.  "I mean, you helped me, and you're obviously not leaving no matter how hard I try to get you to leave..."  I rolled my eyes at that one.  I had been given the best job in the world, there was no way in hell she could make me move.  "..And you're really not that bad when you don't talk," she smirked, regaining her composure.  "And I don't feel up to the fighting right now, not after... after last night."  She suddenly looked so weak, and un-Analee like, that I had a flashback of last night. 

"I'm not going to sit around and talk about boys with you," I sneered, narrowing my eyes.  She held my gaze, and luckily, I was happy to see that she still had that arguementative spark in her eyes.

"Well I'm not going to sit around and talk about this weeks newest conquests," she retorted.  "I just mean, well, no more fighting.  I barely remember why I hate you in the first place," she stated, scrunching her nose in confusion.  Analee shook her head and sighed.  "Oh well, it doesn't matter."

"You're not going soft and sweet on me, are you Analee?"

"No chance in hell," she glared.  "I just want to enjoy my summer."

"Agreed," I nodded. "But we're not friends."

"Not friends, and not enemies..." she mused, biting her lip. "Frenemies."  Her hand shot out in a gesture to shake mine, and I stared at it for a moment, before meeting her steady, steely gaze.  This was nothing like the tearful girl I had carried off the front porch.  Analee was back again, and as irritating as usual.

"Frenemies," I murmured, testing the word out.  I stuck my hand out and clasped hers, giving it a firm shake. "Deal."

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Analee POV

Things had definitely changed since we made that deal three nights ago.  We no longer tired to kill eachother with our glares, nor did we go out of our way to ruin one anothers lives.  He did his thing, and I did my thing.  This frenemies thing was working out quite nicely.

However, just because we were on steady ground with one another, didn't mean the pranks stopped.  Actually, they got a lot more creative.  After the alcohol incident, it was officially an all out girls vs. boys prank war, and we were most definitely kicking their butts.  Yes, Victoria heard me swear once a few days ago, and insisted I try again.  I think she just enjoyed torturing me.  I know Samantha did.  She went out of her way to tease Mal and I about spending the night in his bed after the moment uncerimoniously dubbed 'The Aiden Incident'.  Appearantly, somehow it got found out that, that night was the first night he had ever slept with a girl.  (Slept being the operative word here!) But she was continuously houdning us about it, to the point where Mal and I actually agreed on something, worked together, and cut apart her Louis Vuitton bag.

You'd think it was a big deal by the way she went screaming off the walls.  It wasn't like I didn't know she had a closet full of better bags than that one.  In fact, I remember her saying, and I quote, "This bag is horrible to try to match to an outfit.  I should just get rid of it."

I figure we did her a favor.

Anyways, the score, as totalled by both teams, was Girls:5 Boys:3.  Their pranks were... clever, sneaky and decietful, but ours... Oh, ours were just evil.  They involved alarm clocks, feathers, syrup, itching powder, and a camera.  Do the math.

Just gonna say, 'Prank War 101-Don't Mess With Us Girls' was a youtube sensation.

This was the reason why we were currently (we being Sam, Vic and I) huddled in my room, awaiting the boys master plan.  They were two points behind, and knowing them, they weren't going to just play random pranks on us.  No, this was going to be huge.  And they were going to bide their time.  How did we know this?  Because we had a counter attack all planned out.  We're girls.  We always plan ahead.

I excused myself from their huddle to make my way down to the kitchen.  I was beyond thirsty, and the container of juice that I knew was in the fridge was calling my name.

I rounded the corner, however, to see my currently worst nightmare ever.  It was Mal.  At the table.  Smirking.  Oh no.

"Hey Ana," he greeted, meeting my gaze with a challenging one of his own.  I nodded my own greeting, before grabbing a clean glass from the cupboard and rinsing in out under the tap.  I didn't think the boys would tamper with anything that our parents would find, but I wasn't taking any chances.

"How're you holding up?" he asked softly.  I could feel his eyes trained on my back, but I chose to ignore them, and grabbed the juice container from the fridge, pooring it into my glass.

"I'm fine, I'm surprisingly not that sad about it anymore.  I think I cried it all out... before," I finished lamely, turning to face him.  Mal nodded thoughtfully, keeping his gaze on my face.

"Aiden is a douche," he stated, before sliding from his spot on the stool.  "I'm going back to work."  I watched his tall frame walk from the room.  "Oh, and Ana?" He called from down the hallway, a few moments later.  I didn't answer, but I knew he knew I heard him.  "I wouldn't drink that juice." 

I immediatly slammed the glass down onto the counter, just barely avoiding sloshing in everywhere.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT? MAL!"  

"On second thought, go ahead and drink it," he said, poking his head around the kitchen entrance, and winking at me. 

Oh, he was using reverse psychology on me.

And as he headed back down the hall, whistling an upbeat tune, I glared at my glass in realization.

It was working too.