It turned out that no matter how hard I tried, I found it hard seeing Mr. Joey the same way.

No matter what he said about the contest and how he had to increase the amount of time we spent after school, all I saw was him in Libby's backyard on Friday night, begging her to release him like he was a caged animal. It was just so hard to forget.

When he declared the meeting over, I slowly made my way to my feet, unlike the other students that almost flew out the door, and beside me, West took his jacket from the back of his chair where he'd hung it.

"That was torture," he whispered close to my ear as we made our way to the door.

"I heard that, Westley," Mr. Joey said from his table, giving the both of us a smile that had my blood curdling, and West smiled back, holding the door open for me.

He was being weird today, but not a very weird weird. Honestly, I kind of liked this side of him.

"I seriously can't get Friday out of my mind," I said to him once we were outside the classroom, keeping my voice low so I wouldn't attract eavesdroppers. I knew they were everywhere, with the current situation of things, and I knew how alert their ears were now.

"I can't, either. I could see past his nice teacher face." He looked over his shoulder. "Honestly, it was creeping me out."

We walked past two girls talking, and they gave me cold looks that had me looking away and gripping the strap of my backpack. A part of me wondered if they knew I was behind Smooches, but I soon realized how ridiculous I was being, subconsciously moving closer to West. He surprised me by placing an arm around my shoulders, and a strange emotion ran down my spine at the contact. I had to fight the urge to look at his hand on my arm.

"Just ignore them, okay?" he mumbled, and I nodded, reminding myself to continue breathing.

He let go of me immediately we got outside, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked into the screen.

His eyebrows furrowed and his steps slowed. "Um," he began, glancing up at me, "I . . . have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Without allowing me to respond, he started rushing down the front stairs, and I got the feeling that something wasn't all right.

"West."

He stopped, then turned to look at me with his eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

In response, I walked to him, stopping on the same step as him. "What's up? Is everything fine?"

He scratched the back of his head, his eyes leaving mine to study the few students around. "Not exactly, but I'm good. I just have to . . ."

I waited for him to continue, trying to meet his eyes, but he didn't, so I followed his line of sight. Nothing prepared me for the instant chill I felt.

All this while, I was too occupied with the situation of things to notice that not all of my targets were in the spotlight; not all of them were even at the show. So when I saw Dray Fox leaning on the lamppost closest to the school's exit with a dark-haired girl fussing with the strings of his hoodie, I was surprised.

Not only because the girl standing in front of him was not my sister, but also because he was looking in our direction. I'd completely forgotten he attended the same high school as me, with him being in the shadows all the time.

When I looked back at West, I saw that his eyes were still fixed on Dray, and a glance in the latter's direction revealed that he wasn't staring at me.

Of all the expressions I'd seen on West's face, this was the most confusing. I couldn't read it at all. A muscle in his jaw was ticking, that was obvious, and his eyes spilled an emotion I'd never seen on him before, but I still couldn't tell if he was angry or shocked or something else entirely.

"Hey, West," I called, hoping to grab his attention, but he didn't respond until I placed a hand on his arm. "What's wrong?"

That question seemed to bring him back to the present, and he stood straighter, causing my hand to fall.

"I need to leave, Kim. Bye."

And before I could blink, he had rushed past me, down the stairs, and was heading in the direction of the parking lot. I was a little shocked by what just happened, so I remained where I was, trying to process it. As West disappeared from my sight, I recalled that day he caught me in the library—the conversation we had after he told me to let him help me.

I'd asked him what they did to him, but he never told me. He was quick to back off afterwards, like he didn't want to talk about it.

I looked back at Dray, only to realize that his eyes were now on me. The look he was giving me made my skin crawl, and I didn't get the chance to look away before he pulled the girl standing in front of him closer by the waist and kissed her, knowing fully well that I was watching.

Disgusted didn't describe how I felt. I felt like I could pour something concentrated from the chemistry laboratory down his back and happily watch him writhe around in pain. Dray was a monster for what he was doing, and I knew he was daring me to do something about it. The look he gave me after he pulled away from his seemingly oblivious girlfriend said a lot, and so did his body language.

I absolutely couldn't let my sister remain with a person like him.

Half of my attention was on my phone, and the other half was on the homework in front of me later that evening. The sky was already darkening, and the breeze coming in through the window was cool, but I was anything but cool. I kept biting my thumb, feeling extremely tempted to call West and ask if he was okay instead of giving him space.

It was so unnatural of him to leave the way he did today, and I admit it bothered me alot. I couldn't concentrate and my stomach was still in knots from what I saw, so I knew I had to do something about it.

Silencing the voice telling me not to worry, I took my phone and called him. My teeth went deeper into my thumb as I waited for him to pick up, and I held my breath. The thought of talking to him on the phone made me strangely nervous.

The line rang, but he didn't pick up, and I felt more than disappointed.

I stared into my phone like that would change things, half-expecting it to ring and display West's name, but before I could will it to happen, something came flying in through my window.

It startled me a little, and I froze, my breath hitching. I waited for a few seconds to see if it would happen again, and it did, but this time, whatever was being thrown hit my window. When I took a good look at it, I saw that it was a pebble, and I literally jumped out of bed, thinking it was West outside.

But as I got closer to the window, a small voice in my head suggested that it was Dray, and it had me freezing.

What if he thought we had some unfinished business? What if he came to threaten me or something?

Just as I was about looking out to confirm who it was, another pebble came flying past my face, making me duck instinctively. Whoever it was outside laughed quietly, loud enough to reach my ears, but not enough to draw attention, and the familiarity of the sound had me looking out the window as quickly as I could.

The boy waved sheepishly at me, then followed it with a, "Hi."

But I could only stare, a strange feeling of shock washing over me, because outside my window stood Axel Denvers. And boy, did he look mesmerizing.

Words escaped me, and I continued to stare at Axel, not sure if I was shocked the good way or the bad way. After a while of nothing from me, he laughed again, then quietly asked, "I didn't hit you, did I?"

"You know where I live?"

The suddenness of my question made him laugh yet again. "Yeah. Turns out I do know who you are. You're Kairi Sato's sister."

I was sure he didn't mean it as a question, but I felt the need to reply. "Yeah."

"I used to see you around. Had a lot of time to think about why you looked so familiar since I'm suspended from school."

I could tell he was happy when I smiled, because his eyes lit up with something—something happy.

"Can we talk?" he asked, and the knots in my stomach tightened immediately.

I had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about, but something told me I wasn't going to like it. "I'll be down in a minute," I told him, and he whispered an okay.

Before I went out of my room, I quickly took off my T-shirt and put on a bra in an effort to look more presentable, then tied my hair up in a ponytail. I was quiet when going downstairs so I wouldn't draw attention to myself, and when I reached the back door, I stopped and took a breath, before unlocking the door and pulling it open.

Axel was leaning on the trunk of the tree outside my window when I saw him, his head leaned back, and I studied him as I quietly approached, drinking in every feature of his I could. I wasn't sure which feature was really his and which appeared as a result of the steroids, but the look in his eyes prevented me from thinking about it any further.

He looked haunted now that I was closer to him, and his eyes stared into the distance, right through my house. It made my stomach clench, and instead of the usual guilt coursing through my veins, I felt weak for him.

"Hey," I said to gain his attention, and he turned to me, a smile immediately lighting up his face.

"Hey."

"So . . . you want to talk?" I asked as he pushed himself away from the tree and stepped closer to me.

At first, he was quiet, as if thinking about what to say, then he took another step closer to me. "I'm curious."

My smile returned. "About?"

"Are you always this nice?"

I laughed, seeing the direction he was coming from. "Not always, but I think when I need to be, I am."

"I had to ask, because a guy you barely know throws pebbles at your window and asks to talk, and you're not freaking out."

"I have quite a lot of super powers, Axel."

He laughed along with me, then, staring at me with a smile on his face after he'd calmed a little, he asked, "Do you . . . think we could maybe hang out sometime?"

My humor slowly died when I heard his question, but because I wasn't expecting it, and not because it made my heart beat faster. His eyes didn't leave mine for a second, and the look in them excited me.

Axel wanted to hang out with me?

"Why do you want that?" I asked, smiling so I wouldn't seem rude, and he laughed again. "What?"

He shook his head, glancing down at his feet. "It's sort of a long story."

"I can take the important details," I urged.

He looked up at the sky, then let out a sigh that made me want to laugh. "Okay," he said, looking at me. "As you probably know, I was suspended." I nodded, a sign for him to go on. "My parents were giving me a really hard time, and I had to get out of the house. Strangely, you were the first person that came to my mind when I convinced myself to go out, so here I am."

I didn't know what was wrong with me, but finding out that Axel thought about me made me feel more special than I'd ever felt—perhaps even more than my mom had ever made me feel. My smile widened, and I could feel a laugh boiling somewhere in my stomach. This boy was slowly turning me into an idiot, I was sure, or else I wouldn't have felt this way.

"Okay," I finally said. "Um, I'll let you know if I'm free. I'm kinda busy lately."

"Cool. I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Me, too."

"So, I should probably get your number. I'll text you later so you can save mine."

"Sure."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, then unlocked it and gave it to me. His eyes stayed on me as I typed my number into his phone—which was warm and had me wondering what it would feel like to hold his hand.

I was just about giving his phone back to him when a voice came from my house.

"Kimie! Are you out there?"

I turned in the direction of the house, my heart suddenly beating faster. For some reason, I didn't want Kairi to see Axel here. I couldn't tell why, but I didn't want them to meet.

When I turned back to face Axel, I saw how pale he looked, and I figured he also wasn't in the mood to see her. Before I could suggest him leaving, though, the back door opened, and Kairi walked out.

Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but she froze with her hand on the door handle when she saw Axel.

Almost immediately, a strong anger filled her eyes.