Notes:

Additional Cast:

Frances Fisher as Abigail Fitzgerald

Nathan's POV

"That's it for today, ladies. You can now get your ass at the changing room and get a shower because you all sting." Coach dismisses us from practice. "You, pretty face, come here for a sec." he calls me and Dylan gives me a you-are-so-fucking-screwed look.

"Yeah, coach." I go near him.

"You know you missed two damn days of practice last week, right?" he checks this overused notebook he always carries around.

"It won't happen again, coach." I'll make sure I won't try to play the fucking knight under rain any time soon.

"Our team doctor informed me you almost got pneumonia, kid. And besides that, you showed up at practice last Wednesday. You should take care of yourself. I want my players to be healthy. I might bark a lot but I don't bite. If something like this happens again, take your time to recover completely, alright?" I was expecting him to give me hell, this comes out of the blue.

"Yes, coach." He points at the lockers' door so I get the hint to get out of here.

"And Parker. Don't tell the others about it. I have put the fear of God into them and this might destroy my image." He smirks.

"Your secret is safe with me, coach."

Coach Davis has built a hell of a reputation. He has been loyal to the college's team for almost 20 years and has won 12 championships. He is giving us a hard time but his methods are guaranteed. He is still fucking pissed the team did shit last year and he is doing his best to make sure this won't happen again. I don't blame him, I would do the same if I was in his shoes. I take a shower and get my things from my locker. The cheerleading team is just about to start practice when I leave.

"Hey, Nathan!" Brenda waves and approaches me.

"Hey, you." I give her a smirk.

"How are you?" She plays with her pompoms.

"Fucking tired really." I put my hand on my back. It's killing me really, coach didn't pity us today.

"What do you say if I come by your place later to give you a little massage? These hands are magical." She winks.

"That sounds good." I raise an eyebrow playfully.

"Brenda, are we going to wait for you for long?" the cheerleading captain tells her damn pissed. This girl needs a good fuck to relax a bit.

"Coming!" Brenda yells annoyed. "See you later, handsome!"

Great, now I have just the right night plans. A cheerleader in your bed can be the best company. I mean, the way they flex and open their legs. They are so damn supple. I don't know how they do it but I don't have a problem with it. Quite the opposite actually. John, our team captain drove me at practice but since I had the coach-talk, he didn't wait for me. I have parked my car at campus so I am walking over there. It's early evening and I guess most of classes are finished but there is still a bunch of people walking around or laying on the grass.

"Nathan! What's up dude?" I hear a familiar voice calling me.

"Hey, Joseph!" I go nearby. "All good, man. Just finished practice." He is laying on the grass with headphones in his ears looking completely carefree. This dude has style. I like that. As I like his taste in girls. Claire, the barwoman, was a hell of a way to end my night out last week. She did give me a blowjob at the back alley of the bar. Joseph fixed me up good that night. Let's see what happens today. He is sitting with a brunette girl in some glasses. She hasn't given me a single glance though, she is completely focused on a book she is holding in her hands which seems to weigh a ton and she's eating a vanilla ice cream.

"How did it go? What are our chances of winning the first game?" he asks me putting his headphones around his neck.

"Coach is making our lives a living hell for this to happen, so I would say a lot." I say nodding at the direction of his friend with a smirk. He doesn't seem like the guy who commits and sits with his girlfriend on the grass listening to fucking romantic movies soundtrack and studying together.

"Great! I can't wait to see it! So do you have any time to hang out with us?" his friend finally looks up only to give Joseph a death glare. This should be fun.

"Yeah, man. Sure." I sit across from them.

"Nathan, this is my best friend slash roommate, Sophie. Sophie, this is Nathan."

"Nice to meet you, best friend slash roommate, Sophie." I give her a smirk and stretch out my hand for a handshake. She looks at me from head to toe and then, she extends her hand as well.

"Sophie Lillian Ford, and when people introduce themselves, they do so, using their full name."

"You forgot to show him your id card and your credentials" Joseph raises an eyebrow at her and I try to hold my laugh. This chick is damn weird. Does Joseph mean friend with benefits as well when he says best friend? I mean, you can't be friends with a chick and don't fuck her. Or have never fucked her. She seems really intimidating though, even for me. I'd better keep my distance, for now at least. Besides, Brenda has me covered for the night.

"My apologies, Sophie Lillian Ford. I am Nathaniel Parker. Sorry, my parents didn't give a middle name."

"Poor child! How do you survive without a middle name?" Joseph jokes and moves his head to show compassion.

"I think Nathaniel sounds much better than Nathan. You should use it. Nice to meet you, I guess." She guesses? Woah, she already started studying again, while she keeps licking her ice cream like a 5-year-old. Obviously she doesn't think I am worth of her time so I turn off my flirt mood.

"So you guys know each other long?" I ask Joseph.

"Our whole lives. Sophie moved next door with her family when I was 7 and she was 5. One day her parents brought cookies to our house to meet the new neighbours and our parents left us alone to play. Well, I ended up in my room with her and Mrs. princess of Monaco here started taking all my toys, since she was an only child back then. Me on the other side, I tried to take them back, so we could play together but she didn't share anything. Such a spoiled brat! Then she started tossing my toys, because she got bored of them and you can't imagine what happened next. She broke my favourite toy car. It was a red Ferrari and she broke it" he high pitches his last sentence in that memory.

If that had been my favourite car, I would so pick a hell of a fight with her but it seems this story has another ending since they turned out to be best friends.

"This sounds pretty brutal, Joseph." I comment with a smirk.

"It was a trauma in my soul! I have not fully recovered yet!"he says like he is playing in an ancient greek tragedy. "So I ended up crying, as I was watching the corpse of my formerly shiny toy! Not my proudest moment, I confess" he adds.

"Are you done with this act of yours?" Sophie turns to Joss with her eyebrow raised and eyerolls "let me tell the saga of this story ok? Cause I think you are about to cry again. First of, your toys were not just boring, they were childish. Second of all, a car toy has no use. Thirdly, you had about 30 other cars so one wouldn't make a difference, and last, I had to ask my mother for money to buy you ice cream because you were crying like a child. I had to remove 10 dollars from my raccoon money box. It's was a dark moment for my savings." She manages to say all this in one breath actually.

"Woah, she is a hurricane." I observe.

"I was a fucking child" Joseph chimes in waving his hands all over the place.

" I was 5 and dealt with the situation much better than you. You should have been more mature about it, life goes on."

"That's why I would lock my gameboy and my car circuit every time you came home. But I have to admit, that ice cream was delicious!" he gives her a kiss on the cheek.

I am glad they can work things out between them so easily because I'm not in any case going to play the peacemaker.

"So Joseph are you coming to the gym tomorrow? I haven't see you this week and you know it's the best place to make new acquaintances." I decide to change the subject. This damn childhood flashback got me bored.

"Unfortunately no! I have to do this fucking errand at the library with the most annoying person I've ever met. Not to mention Lindsay, a girl I've been texting with, will go to the gym tomorrow and I was so eager to see her doing her butt exercises." he exasperates.

"Oh, man I pity you! I have a cheerleader coming by later." I smirk.

"Please mind the fact that you have a lady in your presence, who does not need to hear about your gross habits." Sophie interrupts.

"Shut up Soph! Go back to your boring book!"

"Just remember I know where the scissors are" she says seriously before she returns to her book and Joseph rolls his eyes.

"Nathan, don't tell me those things, because I am this close to committing murder. I am sure that stupid girl will blurt something irritating again and I will cross the line." he raises his voice.

"Is she hot? In that case, you can bare it." Sophie turns and gives me a death glare. Woah. "I mean, it can't be that bad."

"It is that bad. She has an opinion on anything, she thinks she can criticize me and also she acts like she's the centre of the world." he counts with his fingers.

"I swear you guys sound worse than girls when they gossip. It's interesting, keep talking." Sophie says in disapproval.

"That would be fun and enlightening for you, Sophie but I've got to go, guys. See you around. Joseph, good luck on this chore thing." I stand up. "Oh! And it was nice meeting you, Sophie Lillian."

"You too Nathaniel -no middle name-Parker." she smiles but I think it's fake.

I head to my car as Joseph waves goodbye at me.

Alice's POV

I just arrived at the library for my first day in Hell. It's 7.55 pm, which means I came 5 minutes earlier for my enforced labour. It's killing me that I have to be here and do chores, instead of being in my bed with a chocolate bar and watching a movie with Vanessa. The worst part is that I won't be doing these chores alone, which I'd prefer to since Joseph will be with me too. Who, by the way, is nowhere to be found. I hope he didn't ditch me, because I'll find him and I'll crack his head. He was punished as well, so he'd better show up.

I enter the library room and I found Ms. Fitzgerald sitting at the reception desk. Her hair always in a bun, and her eyes look strictly at me through her glasses. That happens to me very rarely, but her glance makes my blood freeze.

"Good evening Ms. Fitzgerald" I say in my sweetest and politest tone.

"Good evening Ms. Reynolds. Good to see that you are punctual." she answers in a cold voice. "Where is your comrade?" she asks.

I look around and I don't find Joseph. Damn! He did ditch me! I will definitely set a bomb in his house.

"Truly I have no idea. And we are not comrades." I reply with a straight voice and try not to blink. I can't let her intimidate me, but she's doing it so well. I should recommend her to my dad for the interrogator's position.

"Well, that's your business and I don't care." she says in a deadpan voice. "If he doesn't show up, you will have to do all the job by yourself and I will deal with him."

At least I am free of charges for his absence. Really strange, but it works for me.

"Now, go and pick up the books from the tables and put them on the right selves. Check the search engine to see what goes where." she continues in the same mode. "I hope you don't destroy that as well" she adds with a sharp look.

Ouch! That was a stub in the back. I would normally answer back at her, but this is one of the few times that logic takes the wheel and tells me it's not a good idea.

I leave my bag on a table and I start picking up the books. After a few moments, I hear the creak of the door. I look up and I see Joseph gets in leisurely, like he's the Queen of England. He only needs a servant to open the door for him. That guy is unbelievable and the thought makes me sigh in exasperation. He wears blue jeans and a white T shirt. His light brown bangs are a bit messy, but they look really good on him. Actually I kind of like them on him.

Suddenly I realize that I have stopped doing anything and just stare at him. What am I doing? I can't stare at him. He's hideous and I hate him. Alice, he's making your life a living hell and he's the typical womanizer guy, so stop staring at him. I snap out of it and keep doing my job, but my curiosity gets the best of me and I keep looking with the corner of my eye.

I see him talking to Ms. Fitzgerald, she is probably scolding him, but judging by the boring look on his face, he doesn't actually give a fuck. After they are done, he comes towards my direction as Ms. Fitzgerald goes out of the room. Then without even looking at me he starts picking up books.

So he's giving me the cold shoulder, but I won't let him affect me. We agreed to be mature about this matter, but he is too damn proud to leave his ego behind. So I decide to enter the nuclear zone.

"Hi!" I say with a steady voice.

No reaction. He's so stubborn, but I don't give up.

"Hi!" I say a bit louder, but he keeps ignoring me utterly and provocatively.

I guess my tolerance is up!

"I said hi! Did you not hear me?" I say again trying to keep my voice steady.

"Of course I heard you!" he replies in an emotionless voice and he doesn't even turn his head to look at me.

"Then why don't you answer?" We take the books and we are moving to the search engine.

"Because I didn't want to." He says, like it's so obvious and natural. He starts typing his books' titles by touching the screen.

"That's childish! You agreed to cooperate with me for these two damn days." I hiss, because he's getting on my nerves with his whole "I pretend you don't exist" attitude.

"Like you said, I agreed on cooperating with you. The deal didn't include us talking." he answers back and for the first time, since the moment he got here, he looks at me.

"Sorry for making an effort to civilise a Tarzan." I fake apologise with a smirk. "Actually Tarzan had the basic politeness knowledge levels and he was raised by gorillas." I add putting emphasis on the gorillas.

"It's not going to work this time!"

I look at him with confusion. "What?"

"You, trying to make me answer you back. I used to find it amusing, but now I am sick of it!" he exhales and he looks back at the screen again.

"I don't try to do anything like that. The words just slip out of my mouth, just by seeing your fucking presence." I shout the last words. "I know it's my fucking fault that we ended up here and I said I was fucking sorry. I can't do anything else. Just bear with me as I bear with you, and in a couple of fucking hours you will be free to do what you fucking want." I bawl at him, because he's acting really stupid and I don't like his new attitude at all.

"Watch your language, Alice" he scolds me.

I am astonished for a second. "What?"

"You used the F word too many times. Do you want Ms. Evil Witch to hear you talking like that?"

"She's not even here." I make a point.

"Yeah, but I think she has supernatural hearing despite her millennium years, and also she emerges out of nowhere. I don't know how she does that." he says to me with a serious voice.

"Maybe she's passing through the walls"

"She's not a ghost!"

"Are you sure about that? She can freeze your blood with a single glare and it's always cold around her. Not to mention the vengeful attitude. Ghosts are restless, so they lash out against anyone who's on their way. I bet a student irritated her by writing too loud or something, when she was alive and that's why she's lashing on students now" I theorize.

Then the unexpected happens. Joseph starts to chuckle. I have to admit his laughter is very cheerful.

"That is the worst and the most aberrant theory I've ever heard about Ms. Fitz in all my years here." he utters between his chortles.

"Do you have a better one?" I ask him with a lingering glance.

"Of course I do!"

"Ok bring it and let me be the judge of that!" I eye him intensely.

"She's 1000 years old evil witch preserving herself by draining students energy. She has the basic characteristics. The hooked nose, the wrinkled skin and the heinous stare." he says while counting the characteristics with his fingers. When he finishes I can't help it but burst out laughing.

"A-a-are you serious?" I mumble between my cackles. "This is absurd!" I continue laughing more hysterically. He stands there trying to look offended, but with a playful look on his face.

"Of course I am serious. There are facts you can't ignore." he states like he's talking about scientific discoveries.

"Then why she's old and not young and beautiful?" I observe trying to find a hole in his theory.

"Are you not paying attention? I've never said she's becoming young and beautiful again. I don't think that's even possible. Dark magic has its limits. I said she just preserves herself, staying immortal and wonders here scaring the students." he tells me in a very serious tone, but in the same time there's is something childish and cute in the way he supports his opinion.

"You just say what's in your best interest. The ghost theory has more facts than yours" I argue and I am turning my back to go to the Economics department to leave the books I am holding.

"You just can't stand that I am right, that's why you're retreating" he shouts as I am going away from him and a smile flashes my face. Thank God he can't see it, since I have my back turned to him.

"You are not right and this is not a retreat! I just want to finish this stupid errand and go home." I say loudly without turning my face to him.

"Tired of me already? And I thought we shared a moment here!" he exclaims and I am stunned. Here he is, the Joseph that I know. I am sure he has that smirk that I hate, but I put a big effort not to look at him and show any kind of defeat.

"You can remove that from your wish list now." I quip from a distance and I disappear among the bookcases.

After I am done, putting the Economics books on the right shelves, I go back to pick more books, but as I am turning around I see Joseph blocking my way between the bookcases. He stands there with his left hand supporting him against the shelf with a bright grin.

I roll my eyes in exasperation and hiss. "Move!"

He looks down on me and I repeat. "Move, you moron! You're blocking my way!"

"Why can't you ask something nicely? Try to say the magic word and maybe I'll consider letting you pass."he raises his eyebrow.

"A) Because you wouldn't understand even if I used the gentlest words and Β) my BDSM knowledge is not that wide to know what your magic word is, and it's better not to know. I don't want to have nightmares." I grimace on the thought and he chuckles.

"If it's me that you're dreaming, that can't be a nightmare at all. I just hope you don't wake up Vanessa with the moans you make screaming my name in your sleep." He steps closer and giving me a seductive look with a wide smile on his face showing his perfect teeth. I step back trying to get my distance, but suddenly I am stuck between him and the tall bookcase with no exit. His hazel eyes inches from mine. I try not to gasp heavily.

Why does he have to do that every time? We got along before, but it was too good to be true. We managed to made a 5 minutes conversation like normal people, but he couldn't restrain himself from taunting me again. He said he got tired of quipping back, but he's not sick of it at all. Maybe he was a bit angry about this whole chore-thing, but I guess he found a way to make it enjoyable. Well it is not for me, when he blurts his bagging quips. Or it is? I couldn't stand it when he didn't talk to me before and I was subconsciously longing to hear his tease, so I can answer back. What is happening to me?

I look straight into his eyes,not avoiding eye contact since I don't want to show him that he intimidates me.

"The only dreams I have about you is that I am setting you on fire, and not in the way you would wish." I pause briefly for a gasp and he doesn't unlock our eye contact. "Seriously why are you doing this?"

"I thought you were the one who badgered me into talking to you" he answers right back.

"Talking like normal people"

"Is there anything normal with us?"

I suddenly stop, without knowing what to say. I have to admit he's right.

"Have you ever tried to act normal around me?"

"No, because normal doesn't suit you" he says and then he turns his back to leave away from me.

I run behind him to ask him what does he mean by that, but out of the sudden Ms. Fitzgerald/Ghost/Evil Witch enters the room and starts yelling at us.

"What have you been doing this whole time? You haven't even finished half the job. It is like I am dealing with toddlers. I will stay here until you're done, supervising you closely!"

Not having any other choice, we buckle down and finish the errand, without exchanging a word. I still throw glances at him whenever I can, but he doesn't notice me.

After we are done I am catching up on him on the stairs.

"What did you mean by that?" I demand for his answer.

He looked at me with a casual glance. "By what?"

"About normal doesn't suit me"

"Do my words have such a huge impact on you?"

"No, but you can't just blurt things like that and then go away." I spit.

"I think you're lying and it does bother you. And yes, I can do that. Goodnight Alice." he waves at me,before he leaves.

I am about to go catch up on him again, but it wouldn't do any good for me. How can things escalate so quickly between us. One moment we laugh and the other we argue. And what did he mean by this last thing? Alice, just forget it. He's saying things to get into your head and you let him. You should know better than that. 

A/N: Thanks for reading. Any feedback is welcome. :)