Chapter One:

"Ow, my face!" I growl out loud as I turned around the corner too quickly and plowed face first into a hard wall. I rubbed my nose gently with a scowl on my face. I've been through this hall about a thousand times and now they decide to change up the decor. My hand pressed firmly into the wall to keep my balance considering people continued to ram pass me, nearly knocking my small frame over.

Suddenly, my eyes widened at the feeling of soft fresh hair pressed gently into the palm of my had. I jerked back from the large male standing in front of me and stumbled,  my bobs nearly slipping on the smooth floor when I moved to suddenly.

Looking up, I found myself staring into a deep grey pair of eyes filled with amused laughter. I, myself, couldn't stop the soft embarrassing smile caressing my lips.

"Yeah, you're definitely not a wall." I concluded out loud once again, laughing internally at my own stupidity. "Well, not that being a wall isn't a bad thing. I mean, again you're not a wall! Or, I mean it's not bad being a man either. Not that I want to be a man, I like being a girl. I mean woman, yeah I just seriously insulted myself."

The large man smirked at my rambling and stared down on me with amusement. Maximus, as Jayden liked to call him. He was the one person in our school that everyone looked up to, not for bullying or money, but because he was genuinely kind to everyone. Well, he had the money too but that was besides the point.

"In a rush today I see?" I looked back into his grey luscious eyes in surprise, nobody usually talked to me other than my only two friends. Max, the bad boy. Cliche? Definitely. Vaguely I found myself thinking over the cliche's where the bad boy falls for the good girl. Internally, I scoffed at the absurd idea of ever really becoming friends with a bad boy such as Max The Great.

Even though he seemed generously kind to everyone, his bad boy personnel came from the trouble he constantly ran into. The law and him didn't necessarily get along, and his personal grudge seemed to lie in the sheriff, also known as my second uncle.

People like me didn't necessarily get along with people like Max The Great, we just didn't run with his league of people. I wasn't someone Max The Great would notice in school, unless of course I ran head first into him, them maybe. Otherwise I wasn'tsomeone that could compete with the others girls in my school, I was the silent nobody people kept clear of without even realizing it.

I could swear the girls that chased after Max The Great acted more like complete animals than everyday humans. I, however, was forced to grow up faster than most women my age so it was quite obvious I never had time for other men like these cannibalistic girls.

Max didn't attend any of the sports at our high school, which confused me at the sweet powerful odor illuminating from him. It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly what he was doing before I ran into him.

I laughed uneasily. "Yep, test today in biology. Just a bit nervous is all." I couldn't help but imagine how stupid I must look to the all powerful popular Max The Great. No doubt in my mind I sounded like a brainy nerd. Not all smart women or men in my school were looked down on as nerds, it agitated me that most cliche books gave off this idea.

"It's not all that bad," he reassured me surprisingly. "by the way, the bonus answer is lanthanum."

I couldn't stop from observing him at his reply. He seemed to genuinely mean no harm, and by now I would've expected him to turn away by now.

"Well, I'll se you around. I've got somewhere to be, I'm in a hurry too." Finally, at my nod of acceptance, he turned and walked down the now clearing halls. I wouldn't have pegged him as someone to continue conversation, much less help me out over a test.

I made my way to class in a daze, it wasn't a lie when the girls said he made you feel like prey. The way he stalked down the halls intimidated me in a small sense. I knew he wouldn't hurt me, if he wanted to he would've when he had the chance only moments ago. His intimidation merely leaked from his pores at the respect everyone held for him. The guys wanted to be like him and the girls wanted to be with him.

Everyone wished they could compare to his bad boy personnel, breaking the law and skipping school like nothing else in the world could compare.

I felt a small amount of agitation at the way everything simply fell into his hands without having to work for it, everything he wanted he got. Money and family, everything I didn't have.

As soon as the thought passed through the front of my mind, I grunted in annoyance at the self pity and sped up my pace. The ring of the bell echoed across the halls only to bounce back at me as if to mentally slap me in the face for my stupidity, I was never late for class.

I didn't notice I'd been simply staring at my class room door at nothing in particular, until the the bell rang again; echoing in my ears like a trumpet. I'd rather go with drums, they weren't as loud and annoying.

As soon as I barged through the door, I quickly sped to the back and sat down in my original seat. I kept my head down as a sign of invisibility, I knew nobody would care or even look my way but, as it seems, it was always the good to be safe.

The room didn't stop and stare at me like most cliches, also reminding me of the sudden thoughts I had about Max The Great being the perfect cliche bad boy.

I felt the need to slap myself in the face at the mention of Max The Great, his cliche personality just didn't want to leave my mind. It wasn't no doubt in my mind he was extremely attractive, but those kind of popular and attractive men just didn't work for me. I did perfectly fine by myself, at school anyways. At home however, it wouldn't hurt to have a protection barrier around me just to savor the shallow feeling that seemed to grow inside my heart everyday.

No matter how angry I got at myself, I couldn't stop myself from thinking of Max The Great and my encounter. I've always had a secret crush on his muscles that, even men and women would die for, held me captivated in those sort words exchanged. It was like a magnet forcing my thoughts directly on his strong jaw and large grey eyes. It was the eyes that captivated me the most, the eyes were, in fact, the windows to the soul.

With the shallow feeling always following me around, I had practice guarding my eyes well enough to keep others from asking questions. I didn't want my secrets out in the open hence the reason I only had two close friends.

I tried connecting the pieces why I couldn't get his deep grey and bright shinning eyes out of my head, maybe it was the happiness that surrounded him like an aura. Maybe, for once in my life, I'd gotten a glimps of true happiness. A sign perhaps, that someday I'll get my own happiness.

But, even though we'd both attended the same school our entire lives, I'd never witnessed him to be truly happy. With every girl that lay beneath his arms, practically the entire female population it seemed, even then he never was happy. When he was truly happy, he was goofing around with a few of his male friends, the women in our school only made his little friend down stairs happy, not Max The Great himself. I laughed aloud, earning a few glares, and thought about the famous name I'd given him since Middle school.

When he hit puberty everyone began to follow him around like some king, like puppy dogs. I made a soft note in my head; Max isn't like most preps.

Although he's popular now, he knows what it's like to be pushed around by the In Crowd. I've always been thankful for Max, even though he never intentionally did anything, he helped me out in school. I can't say he's fixed my terrible past, but he did make it easier to live through school. Before Max' major transformation, they'd push and pull, laugh and yell. But when he became Max The Great, I was forgotten, as if by miracle. I didn't suffer from the continuous bullying and constant names, I could live in my peaceful thoughts without being interrupted...

"Hanna!" A sharp voice suddenly sliced through my train of thought, forcing a startled cry from the bottom of my throat. Finally back down to earth, I noticed the teacher's worried face merely inches from my own. Shocked, I jumped out of my seat and looked at her strangely.

"Are you okay Teach?" I asked the elder woman, worried for her as well. "It's a little weird when I'm all good, just zoning in my own world, then bam; Someone's inches from my face." I remark cloyingly, finally sitting down in my desk.

The teacher's shoulders sag in relief after a few of my classmates snickered at my sarcastic remark. I knew it was my fault for zoning out, but sarcasm always throws people off. Finally realizing I wasn't going to the mental institution anytime soon, her face became stern and she slammed a test down on my desk. The dramatic affect didn't work so well when the light piece of paper slid off my desk and slid down onto the floor, flying all the way across the room.

"Wow, who knew. You made it fly faster than my paper airplane from yesterday! Props to you Teach!" I clap, suddenly making half of the classroom erupt into laughter at her now frowning face.

"Daniel, give me that piece of paper!" She shouted at the boy closest to the paper, startling him at the sound. He hoped over to the elder woman and laid down the piece of paper on my desk, gently this time.

"It's time to take a test, not day dream about some celebrity!" She scolds. I laugh out loud at her spot on idea and smirk up at her.

"Fine, I will later." The sarcasm apparently wasn't making her too happy, because with a shout of disbelief, she stormed back to her desk and typed into her computer.

"Who shat in your coffee?" I mutter under my breath, catching the attention of a girl in front of me. Everyone in biology snickered at the comment, but apparently the teacher didn't notice and continued on with her busy work. I placed all my papers and books on the seat next to me since nobody ever sat next to me. I was sarcastic, sure, and sometimes people would laugh, but nobody interacted with me during class. I was like some sort of plague or something.

With a scoff I finished the test and strutted to the front of the classroom, slamming it down on her desk with a grunt.

"Can I think of my celebrity now, or do I have to go to my next class?" I asked with a smirk, making her face turn bright red at my mock chide.

"Get out, go to your class." She yells, pointing at the door with a shaky finger. Either she had some shaking problems or she was really angry, well serves her right for interrupting my train of thought. It's going to take forever to get back on that stupid train, it was going too fast for me anyways.

I smirked down at her and grabbed my bag before walking casually down the halls of the silent school. I had French for my next class and since she didn't have a class this period, I was allowed in her classroom once I've already finished my work in Biology. I could only pray lanthanum was correct to the bonus question, if it wasn't then me and that big hunk of muscle would definitely have a talk.

Madam Elise was one of my favorite teachers. Being fairly young, she understood her students better and her kind attitude always pulled me in like a magnet. Madam moved from France a few years back, bringing some souvenirs with her to class along the way.

After a few minutes of silent sketching in the back of her classroom the bell rang its' screeching sounds across the large building. I was only thankful I wasn't in the hall to hear the terrible sounds, the sound could drive someone blind. Yes, I said blind. Not def, blind.

One by one students filed into the now chatter filled room. I never had to worry about moving my drawings or books from the seat next to me because, like I said before, I was like the plague.

Finishing up the touching finishes of my drawing, I begin to finish up the dark outline. The woman on the piece of paper looked up at me and deep into my eyes, the emotion in the clear eyes could draw anyone in. Though the jaw was too strong and the nose too small, the eyes was what captured my attention the most. I put everything I had into the eyes I looked into everyday, the eyes normally guarded with no emotion and no happiness.

Suddenly I became acutely aware of the hairs on the back of my neck prickling up, standing to attention. I shifted uncomfortably, not bothering to look up at the faces surrounding me, the drawing in front of me was enough to keep my attention.

Then like a chain reaction I caught his strange scent. It was the smell that could simply put me to sleep, the manliness and smell of rain surrounding the entire classroom. Heads shot up at the strange smell wafting over everyone's head. I peeked at the front of the class underneath my eyelashes and saw the familiar looking figure up at the front. I groaned in annoyance and bitter anger. Really? I just got that moron out of my head.

His large frame moved slightly as he handed Madam a piece of paper, I couldn't help but growl at the back of his head involuntarily. Max The Great looked at the class with a neutral face, like switching classes was someone out of the normal. As soon as his eyes skimmed over to my own dark brown eyes, a smirk slid across his face almost like a snake. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the look on my pale face.

Madam clapped her hands loudly, gathering everyone's attention. "Can I get everyone's attention please?"

The class didn't need to be told twice since everyone's eyes were already focused soley on the man up front. I shook my head and put all my focus back down on the girl in front of me. Every once in a while I'd stop what my pencil was doing just to stare at the emotionally broken eyes on the paper, it seemed almost too realistic.

"Everyone should know Max, he's been attending this school just as long as everyone else. He'll be in our class from now on just to earn the rest of his credits, so please show Max the ropes of my classroom. There are to be no profanities used in my class or any other classroom, while learning French their will be no abuse of this language."

I heard a few snickers and girly laughs illuminating from various parts of the class when she mentioned Max, but he simply ignored them and good-naturally waved at the class.

"Yep, you already know me." Well, that certainly was descriptive. People applauded anyways and disturbing comments where thrown around the room from both women and men. A few guys came up to him and slapped him on the back while some commented on the abuse of language.

I ignored the sounds around me and focused on fixing the jaw of the woman on the page, trying to no avail to fix the smudges on the filled up piece of paper. People shuffled around the room in an attempt to talk to him before the late bell rings. Suddenly it all seemed to stop when someone came to stand mere inches in front of my desk, it was quite nerving if I do say so myself. When someone tapped on the side of my desk my head snapped up to the front where the noise was coming from. His masculine scent entered my nose and I groaned, not even bothering to hide my annoyance of the stranger before me.

I glared at the eyes on the paper now looking up at me, almost teasingly.

As I finally let my eyes roam up the dark jeans of thick and muscle bound thighs, to the light grey t-shirt hiding the constricting muscles beneath. I continued to let my eyes roam the body of this man without shame, taking in every scar and ever detail into memory. He had the body of a fully grown man, hair on the arms and face, it all seemed so weird.

Finally letting my eyes land on his dark yet glowing face, like I'd imagined he had a smirk on his plump lips. It was amazing how someone so young could already have the dark thick hair around his lips, most would find it absolutely disgusting; but girls do chase him around like a small clique.

I smiled up at him almost in distaste, he was too good looking. He knew everywhere he went girls fell down at his feet and he couldn't have cared less.

"Yes?" I asked in a small voice. It wasn't that I was afraid of him, quite the opposite actually.

The whole room looked at the two of us like a real life cliche movie, some smiling and some looking shocked beyond belief. A small smile lit up my face when his strong hands ran through his thick and slick looking hair, it was a sign most men and women did when they were nervous.

"I'm sorry," I blurt out like a moron. My shoulders sagged in relief for apologizing for slamming into him in the halls. However, when his dark eyes melted over to mine questioningly, I suddenly felt the need to punch myself in the face. With a chair, repeatedly. That has a thousand spikes on the edges. How could I've been so retarded, of course he wouldn't care about that and perhaps he didn't even remember.

"No, that's fine. Uh, is it fine if I sit here?" He asked, pointing surely at the normally empty chair next to me. I was shocked into silence for a moment finally realizing he was being serious.

The entire room continued to stay silent, observing the exchange between the two of us.

I didn't know what to say, he'd never talked to me nor had he even acknowledged I ever existed. With an exaggerating sigh I gather my books from the desk and begin to move it onto my other side, It'd be rude if I said no for no reason.

"Sure," I start to say when I began to clumsily knock over a stack of binders in the process.

His hands stopped me. "It's fine, here I got it."

True to his words he swept down and picked up all my books and binders on one hand, perfectly balanced. I skeptically watched him closely, almost everyone he talked to as a family were so balanced and sure of themselves. Max The Great seemed to literally glide with a grace even an angel couldn't possess. Damn it, why'd he have to be so coordinated?

Noticing my clear and clean observation he quickly broke eye contact. Max plopped down in the now empty chair completely and oblivious to the stares around us, even his smile returned to everyone seemed strangely innocent.

I knew he was anything but innocent.

"Is there a reason you sat here instead of with your buddies?" I blurt out without meaning to. "I mean, I'm not trying to sound stupid, which isn't so hard, but with all those empty seats you sit here. It's just a little weird to sit by someone like me."

I wanted to slap myself again at my sudden blurting, I couldn't shut up when I was around him.

"I actually want to listen to class instead of talking to those idiots." A smirk fell on his thick lips again and, to avoid staring like a moron, I turned around and slid my notes over.

"If you want to listen like you say, you might wanna copy these down before going on. It'll be like going into the woods completely unprepared." I had a strange problem with comparing most things to the woods. I love the woods.

A small smile graced my face and his dark eyes lingered on me for a moment, I knew that look. He was like any other bad boy out there, but I couldn't help but be extremely attracted to his strong body and chiseled face.

"Thanks, and yeah I guess you're right." He smiled in return and quickly copied down the words on a separate sheet of paper.

I took my time looking over the faces still staring at only the two of us until my eyes landed on yet another cliche. Her heart shaped face was turned into a small frown of distaste and bitter anger, it wasn't a surprise since she'd been on and off with Max since middle school. They were what alot of people betting on and against, the one couple that had everyone's attention with a simple kiss of affection.

I stared straight at Ally's crystal blue eyes without breaking eye contact, if I broke eye contact I'd end up staring into Max The Great's eyes. I'd settle with hers.

When she finally had enough of staring at my pitiful face she turned around and spoke animatedly with a friend next to her. The boy next to her turned around to stare at me with a question in his eyes, I even stared back.

With an accepted smirk from the boy, he turned around and spoke a few words to Ally before cutting her out of the conversation once more.

Ally was the Queen Bee of the whole cliche movie, she had the blond hair and all. The only difference between an actually cliche movie was her beauty. She was naturally beautiful, with the light make-up and perfect bright green eyes. She didn't dye her hair or wear an overly dramatic amount of makeup, her personality was the only problem.

She didn't talk or exactly get along with people who didn't have money, money was the one thing in my school that almost everyone had. No money? No friends. No friends? Then, you'll animatedly become the emotionally verbal punching bag for the entire school.

I rolled my eyes when Ally turned around to stare back at me once more, putting as much distaste and rage behind the glare. Without having to worry about my actions, I stuck my middle finger up as high as I could with an innocent smile on my face. I didn't have to say or do anything to get the message.

Fuck off bitch.

With a childish scoff she turned around and gossiped with the boy once more, this time not turning around to stare at me with curiosity, the boy simply blew her off.

Joy, I've made a new friend. I internally laugh at the idea of Ally. Mommy would be so proud.

I scoff at myself and continue my endless drawings, finally fixing the strong jaw into something a little more smoothed out.

I didn't have to glance at Max to know he was the one that burst into an explosion fit of laughter, he pointed between Ally and me without words being said. He saw the entire exchange between us, which apparently seemed funny enough to laugh like a maniac at.

"You sound crazy," I mumbled in his direction. "finish your notes dude."

He smiled over to me and nodded once, accepting my insult strangely, before going back to his notes with a permanent smile.

For the entire class time I focused solely on Madame's lecture, or tried being a word I seemed to be close with lately. The little things Max did seemed to steal my attention without even trying, it seemed completely unnecessary how closely I paid attention to him. He slightly tapped his pencil on the desk when he didn't seem to get something Madame said, and his forehead at the meantime would wrinkle when he worked too hard to understand. More than once I had to literally shake myself from my thoughts a few times, trying to no avail to stop staring over at him like an idiot. I couldn't help but imagine what I'd do if he caught me staring at him like a creep.

To top it all off, his strange masculine scent wrapped around me in what seemed to be a perfect glove. The fact that we weren't more than a few millimeters apart didn't help the matters either. Although I tried to focus my attention on Madame, my attention would always forcefully shove me in his direction. I couldn't help but notice how his bicep muscles would flex every time he nervously shoved his hair back out of his confused eyes. I wasn't too surprised considering he'd just enrolled in French, it wasn't like he'd understand everything Madame said.

When I looked down at the paper he was supposed to be writing on along with the rest of the classroom, it was completely empty. I let my eyes flick back over to his bunched up eyebrows, he wasn't even paying attention to what she said. But, even though he wasn't paying attention to the class, he seemed to be in a small trance.

I definitely was in a trance, I couldn't focus on anything but his body so close to mine. Now I knew what all those other women felt when standing next to him.

The double desk seemed to be about four feet across in length and two and half feet in width, you'd think we'd have enough room to relax into the desk without touching each other.

The fact that I couldn't relax without touching his warm skin made me realize I didn't really notice how large he actually was, he took up three-fourths of the room. He wasn't fat in any way, nor was he too buff. On the right side of Max, he had about half a foot to move over but I never asked him to. I didn't want to be close, but I figured he'd be slightly insulted to have someone ask him to move further away.

So there I was, pressing myself against the table leg to get as far away from him as possible. Still, I only managed to put about two inches of space between us.

I spent almost the entire class time in that extremely uncomfortable position, which really didn't make my mood any better. When the end of class finally neared, I finally gave up my constant constriction of muscle and relaxed in my seat.

I had to admit that he was interesting to stare at, it was almost like I physically and mentally couldn't resist staring at him. His defined jaw ticking back and forth with every lap of his tongue, soaking his thick an luscious lips.

I wanted to mentally slap myself at my dirty thoughts, but unfortunately it was unintentional. Max The Great wasn't someone like me to mess with, he was after all the cliche bad boy that'd break my heart eventually, he's a player for God's sake. Who said he'd even noticed me in the first place!

His elbow bumped against my arm for only a second, but in that time a short laugh left my lips without intention when I felt a strange numbness run through my arms. Sparks fly by Taylor Swift swept around in the front of my thoughts almost savagely when I pulled away. Not daring to make eye contact with Max, I gathered my things in my hands quickly. I struggled to keep everything in one hand while I grabbed my book bag laying on the ground next to my seat, opposite of Max' chair.

Finally, the bell rang in my high pitched ears and, in a hurry to get away from him, my agenda fell down to the cold floor. Of course, I scoffed, now watch him pick it up.

"Here you go," Max chuckled, putting my agenda back on the pile of books stacked in my arms. I growled at how pathetic I must've looked and ignored the paper as I stuffed it into my full binder.

"Damn paper, seriously! I feel like the paper itself is giving me bad luck! I bet some stupid witch spelled it up, I'll have to talk to Ally about this shit." When I noticed Max still staring at me curiously I laughed, stuttering out my words quickly.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't supposed to be said out loud. I can't control what I say, it's like I'm cursed. But, anyways thanks for picking up the paper. I knew you'd do it anyways." I felt the need to choke myself at my last words, really?

He laughed at my suddenly paled expression and looked down on me with a smile.

"Oh really? How'd you know that?" People continued to shove by us in a frenzy to get to their next class, however some still felt the need to stare at the two of us.

"Well, you're the bad boy cliche dude that suddenly notices the poor pathetic sad girl and they fight. Then you end up with the whole I love you shit, and boom! Happy ever after!" I laughed, I just couldn't help it. I had to laugh at my ridiculous explanation.

His mouth opened wide in surprise, but before he could respond a voice echoed down the halls and rang encouragingly in my ears.

"Hanna, wait up!" My best friend, Jayden, yelled. His long lanky legs carrying him further and further down the halls toward Max and I. Shortly I found myself shocked, I never thought I'd ever say Max and I, even in my thoughts.

Jayden's grey and blue dull jacket spun around him wildly as his long legs carried him closer to me, and I myself found myself laughing at my goofy best friend.

I beamed. "Hey Jayden!" I waved, waiting for him to screech to a sudden stop. His smile automatically fell from his face when he noticed Max standing near me, almost by complete habit.

I looked over to Max realizing he looked slightly jealous. Shortly I found myself wondering if he actually was jealous of Jayden, or if they simply didn't like each other and I was reading the facial expression wrong.

Max' grey eyes seemed to darken at the sight of Jayden, his face automatically going absolutely blank. They shared a mutual look, one of acknowledge and Max spun around to the opposite direction down the hall. He didn't spare me a single look, he simply turned around and walked away without another word to me.

"C'mon Hanna, let's get some pizza. I seriously don't want to end up at the end of the line because you're swooning over Maximus." He laughed. I let my shoulders sag as I laughed with Jayden, letting the tension between Max and Jayden vanish as if it was never there.

Jayden always called Max Maximus, while I called him Max The Great. Apparently Max was extremely strong, he just didn't like to show out like half of the male population.

When we walked through the lunch room, I felt smaller than usual with the sudden rumors of Max and I in French class. Feeling enraged that everyone was suddenly paying attention to me because of someone else, I clenched my jaw and walked through the room and stood in line with a chattering Jayden. I figured everyone would grow out of their dramatic middle school faze, maybe even Ally someday.

Jayden patted my shoulder when he noticed the lack of conversation coming from me. "They're just rumors," He said, knowing exactly what I was thinking like the best friend he was. "it'll all blow over eventually."

I relaxed a bit but tensed up again when my gaze met with the man across the room. I felt my stomach sink and my hands shook slightly at my side, his gaze seemed so intent and sure. Those dark eyes looked as if they were baring down into my soul, like he knew what the hell I was thinking.

I blocked all emotion from my face, guarding my eyes so he couldn't see what I was thinking. He smiled gently when he snapped out of his sharp gaze, as if noticing he'd been staring at me for the past five minutes. I got an irrational urge just to walk up to him, like I've known him longer than the few hours of class I had to sit next to him.

I really needed to get a life. Turning my back on his tense yet soft gaze, I smile at Jayden's worried scowl and walked through the line to grab my daily lunch.

Chapter Two:

I couldn’t get her or her intoxicating scent out of my head. From the moment she slammed into my chest, I’d been keeping my beast at bay. I help him back and made it through the next class, no problem. And then I found my way to French after getting a schedule change,  just my luck that she sat next to the only vacant seat in class. I wanted to sit next to my guys, but with her sitting by herself in the back of the room, it seemed my feet didn’t give me a choice. I stared at her; the light yellow dress that hung a few inches above her knee literally drove me insane. Damn she looked adorable. Ha! I laughed internally. Girls aren’t ‘adorable’, there’s hot and fine. Hanna was too innocent to be either. But Even the simple idea that she couldn’t be innocent made me angry, nobody deserved Hanna’s innocence. Not even I.

I heard her heartbeat quicken and looked away; I didn’t want to scare her or anything. As my legs continued to head to the back of the room I became aware that her pencil froze like ice in her hand and her head shot up. Her perfect brown eyes came in contact with mine, analyzing me for a moment, putting me in an uncomfortable position. I’d noticed Hanna before, she’s very observant of the things around her. She wasn’t like most humans, which is why I told the pack to watch out for her.

I knew that everyone in the room, werewolves and humans alike, were staring  at us but I brushed it off with a roll of my eyes.

The slightest bit of pink tinged her small face and her heartbeat quickened in perfect rhythm as she murmured, “Sure,” and started clearing the table. My wolf howled, loving her reaction to us, it meant she felt an attraction to us as well.

Seriously? Don’t just let her do all the work, help her stupid! My wolf growled.

I almost growled at my own stupidity, I should’ve thought of that. “it’s cool, I got it,” I told her, swiping everything off the desk in one fluid motion and handing all of it to her. I could feel Ally’s gaze boring into my back and I bit back a sigh. That human girl just doesn’t know when to give up, I had a mate now for God’s sake, but then again, it wasn’t like she knew that.

I sat down and turned to Hanna who seemed like she was purposely ignoring my gaze. “Can I see your notes?”

She nodded slightly, not taking her eyes of her doodles, and passed me a few papers with neat handwriting on the lines.

“Thanks,” I said gratefully.

“No problem.” Her sweet voice held a certain gentleness, leadership and kindness. She had the ability to lead and to do so without causing riot.

A few minutes later, I caught sight of Hanna partially staring at me. I couldn’t help a small smile spread across my face when she shook her head from the daze. She seemed confused and scared, scared of what? I didn’t know. I guess that was normal, she didn’t know what to do about the attraction between us. But even as she tried to push herself away from me, pressing her thigh firmly against the leg of the desk, I felt hurt. She grimaced, trying to settle in a comfortable position but failing miserably.

I watched her discreetly for the rest of class. My wolf still beaming and howling at the sight of our mate. I, however, was feeling just the same as she was. I didn’t want to feel this attraction toward the beautiful blonde, I was into the sexy and seductive women clinging onto my arms at night. Oh God, the guys are going to give me hell about this. As kids, we were always joking about how none of us were ever going to find our mates. Although some of the guys wanted to find their mates, I liked being alone. I didn’t want to stand around and listen to some female gossip and yell about how this isn’t right and how wrong I am about my work like father’s made a point to prove. When Brandon met the new student who’d just transferred from some school in Canada, Juliette, and found out they were mates, all of the guys suddenly wanted to wait for their mates.

At first, we teased him about it, but we backed off after we saw how incredibly happy he was, it was remarkable. Brandon was always cheerful and joking about how mates were ‘lies’ until he met Juliette who literally punched him in the face when he said mates weren’t real. The guys didn’t know if it was the pride Brandon felt for Juliette for actually hitting a werewolf, or the fact that she was incredibly beautiful, but now he would literally lay his life on the line for someone he’s only known for three years.

Since they’ve been together we’ve accepted Juliette into our little group and became almost like a family, the rest of the guys loved her as a sister, and I’d also lay my life on the line to keep the brunette safe from other males like any older brother might.

Thinking of my friend and his mate brought my thoughts back to my own. Brandon got off easy with his mate when he broke the news that he was a werewolf to her because she told him she was the descendant of a werewolf, and she had just shifted for the first time a couple of months ago. That was kind of a rare occurrence since usually, the descendents lost the ability to shift if another werewolf wasn’t introduced into the family. They met a few months before that however and decided to tell each other what they were. However, Hanna was human and she doesn’t seem like the type of human to be too excited about discovering she’s lived with werewolves her entire life.

Even in my head, it sounded stupid. She’d probably think I was some sort of insane psychopath; then chuck on of her many binders at me. I wanted to bang my head against the desk in frustration.

I heard Hanna sigh wearily and watched her as she gave up on squishing herself as far away from me as possible and went back to her normal position. Our elbows touched for a millisecond and I shuddered. The sparks that ran along my skin were intensified since I had the strong end of the connection, Hanna must’ve only felt a slight tingle. However, with my werewolf genes it felt like I was gently electrocuted.

The sharp piercing noise of the bell pounded my eardrums, making me wince from the loud sounds. Having heightened senses wasn’t all what it was cracked up to be. I was a little late in getting up as Hanna rushed for the door. Her yellow agenda slid from the top of her stack and onto the floor with grace. Hanna wasn’t all too pleased with this and cursed a string of words, feeling the need to help I bent down and gave her agenda to her.

“Here you go,” I laughed a little. She couldn’t be more than five foot five or six, but she had this large stack of books in her arms that seemed nearly half her height. I put the agenda back on the top where it belonged.

Usually, I didn’t really mind it when a girl blushed, but as her face turned a darker shade of red I felt an urge to simply hold her.

“Damn paper, seriously. I feel like the paper itself is giving me bad luck!” She cursed, almost throwing her books into the floor and spun around surprised that I was still standing behind her. I watched her with spiked curiosity, she was interesting to watch, especially when she’s frustrated.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t supposed to be said out loud. Thank you for… Um, the paper.” She seemed to force out the words as she clung onto her books tighter, as if wishing she could disappear

“Hanna, wait up!” Someone called. I almost growled at the interruption of another male’s voice calling her name, but I held in the animalistic beast and clenched my fist, keeping my face void of emotion. My wolf howled in anger and rage at the thoughts running through Jayden’s head, he lowered his head in sign of submission and silently apologized with his eyes.  

Jayden was also part of the pack but unlike many of the other males, I didn’t take a kind liking to Jayden and his friends. Being part of the pack gave each and every one of us an ability, mine as the Alpha was to talk to the others both in human and beast form. The other pack members could talk through pack link in beasts form but human form wasn’t something the other omegas could perform.

I told him exactly what I needed to through the look in my eyes and spun on my heel, the guilt coursing through me rung against my aching head as I put more distance between Hanna and Jayden. I ignored all the seductive stares the women sent at me and made my way to the back table with my friends, everyone knew not to mess with me when I was with my pack guys. The humans of the school knew that I didn’t like to be bothered when with my guys at lunch.   

Brandon clapped me on the back. “Hey man, you feeling okay? No food today?” He laughed.

There was no joking in his voice, the others knew this as well. They could feel the guilt and anger coursing through me, but knew not to press the matter.

“No hungry.” I cut the conversation short and crossed my arms, ending the sudden interrogation. Juliette raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. Damn it. Juliette wouldn't let me off the hook with this, she’d bomb me with questions until I spilled.

As a certain scent entered my nostrils, I jerked my head up immediately. She was here. I located her at the front doors, standing side by side with Jayden. A spark of jealousy overwhelmed me and I growled threateningly, my canines almost extending. Everyone at my table look at me in alarm then look at the girl now looking around the cafeteria with anger permitted in her eyes.

“Dude, you have to rein that in, there are humans in this school too,” Jon warned me. “I don’t know what’s go your panties in a twist but you better keep that wolf of yours in check.” he said, giving me a level look.

Brandon snickered at the panties comment and I whacked him upside the head. Hey, it wasn’t my fault that my mate had the most appetizing and enticing smell ever. She smelled like fresh tropical rain and freshly grown strawberries. She had this way of radiating warmth and I felt it seep into my bones when I was around her. She strengthened me and I knew that the girl standing across from me in the cafeteria was the one my life would be centered around. Hanna.

She ignored the many human’s whispering about our earlier encounters and stalked proudly to the end of the line with Jayden following behind. I felt pride swell in my heart at the sight of our mate acting so brave to stand before all the humans in the school without batting a lash. I stood taller, realizing that almost the whole cafeteria was staring at her, including my guys.

I pictured her standing before my pack, laughing and smiling with when someone said anything remotely close to a joke. I imagined her standing strong before the pack as we came up with defense systems and offensive attack plans. I shot her a smile when I noticed her staring at me, her mouth hanging slightly open in shock and annoyance. I watched her scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion and she gave me one last look before walking to her table. I sighed, maybe she wasn’t quite ready for this mate thing yet...she was only human after all. But it didn’t matter to me. I’d wait until the ends of time for  my mate to run to me.

 

Chapter Three:

Breaking eye contact with Max, I followed Jayden to our table that we shared with Kassia, just the three of us. Kassia’s long flowing blond hair, normally braided off to the side, and light blue eyes that hid behind a pair of glasses gave her a small demeanor of a fairy. She was always so light and graceful, sometimes I’d rather be Kassia than anyone else. She could’ve easily fit into to the popular cliques at our school but chose instead to remain with Jayden and I. I was always thankful that Kassia chose to stay with us, we’ve always been a package deal. If you wanted one of us, you had to take the rest of us as well.

As soon as we reached the table, Kassia sprang up and took hold of my arm. For a fairy-like girl, she had the grip of a wrestler. “Come get lunch with me?” She asked, already pulling me towards the line that I’d just walked away from.

“Okay. Let’s go before the line gets too long.”

Jayden sat down and we walked to the continuously growing line. There was this one time the cafeteria was serving...buffalo wings I think, and the line literally stretched from one end of the cafeteria to the other. The guys of the school managed to grasp three plates of wings. Thankfully, both of us had decided to pack lunch that day.

When we finally reached the long tragedy of a line, Kassia turned and around, almost shouting, “Are the rumors true?”

“I haven’t heard what they’re talking about exactly… are they bad?”

She shook her head. “No, but pretty much everyone’s talking about it, you, how Max wanted to sit next to you instead of Ally.”

I groaned in annoyance and exasperation. Why couldn’t he have taken the seat next to Ally instead of me? We wouldn't be in this mess. “Well, yeah that’s true...but it’s not that big of a deal, right?”

Kassia stared at me for a moment, studying me. She must’ve found what she needed because a second later she’s throwing her hands in the air from exasperation. “How is that not a big deal? One of the most popular guys in the school wanted to sit next to you instead of the school bike,” She sneered at the mention of Ally. It was true, Ally was basically our school’s bike, there was almost no one she hadn’t been with. Including Kassia’s ex-boyfriend.

I shrugged uncomfortably. “Maybe he doesn’t like her?”

“Oh, come on, Hanna! I swear, you’re so oblivious sometimes, I bet Max likes you!” I almost choked on my own saliva at just the mention of Max possibly liking me more than a French partner.

I felt my eyebrows shoot up. “Me? Yeah, okay. Max The Great would seriously waste his time on a nob-.”

Before I could finish speaking, Kassia cut me off and told me in a stern tone, “Don’t you dare finish that sentence, you’re not a nobody, okay? Maybe you aren’t exactly popular and maybe you don’t hang out with those crowds of snobs, but you have your friends, you’re not a nobody.”

“I gave her a gun. She always knew what to say that was partially why I became friends with her in the first place, she was always nice and understand. I liked knowing I would never be quite alone with Kassia around. That still didn’t mean if someone were to mention my name some day and Kassia or Jayden might say, “Who’s that?”

Then she had to go and ruin our sisterly moment by saying, “And you’re definitely not a nobody to Max.”

I pulled away, “Kassia, you don’t even know for sure, maybe he just doesn’t like Ally, or maybe he didn’t see the seat next to her, or-” My breathing hitched when I saw him rise from the table and look straight at me. Kassia didn’t miss it either.

“Ooh, someone’s in love,” she teased. “See, Hanna? I heard you stop breathing when he simply looked at you. So cliche,” She laughed. I couldn’t disagree with that either, everything I’ve felt when simply thinking about him sounded cliche and strange.

I scoffed anyways. “Love’s a pretty strong word, and ugh, we aren’t even friends.”

“Sure, whatever floats your boat,” Kassia sang. She started, “Max and Hanna sittin’ in a tree. K-I-”

“OHMYGOD Kassia, shut up!” I hissed. She topped, but it got worse.

“Hmm….” An all-too familiar voice mused. “Were you girls talking about me?”

My heart stopped. Traitor.

 

 

I got up out of my seat to go get some food, I didn’t want my friends to worry about my appetite. When I stood up, Hanna’s breathing stopped for a second realizing I’d been staring at her. I heard the silent teasing her friend was torturing Hanna with and grinned to myself, it seemed her friends realized the attraction between us before even she did. I chuckled. My mate was so oblivious.

Quietly, I headed towards Hanna and her friend. Then heard my name being mentioned a few times throughout the conversation.

“Max and Hanna sittin’ in a tree, K-I-” I wanted to laugh at the irony of our situation. I’d been such a long time since I’d heard that small playground chant, not to mention the fact that wolves can’t climb trees.

Hanna yelled in fright at her friend, “OHMYGOD Kassia, shut up!” A light blush tinged her cheeks and I took this as my que.

I stood directly behind her and leaned down, “Hmm… were you girls talking about me?”

Her heart seemed to stop and she jumped slightly resulting in a tiny laughter bubbling from the blond next to her. “Maybe we were,” Kassia answered boldly.

Hanna was still panting and I became concerned. “You okay? I didn’t mean to scare you that much…”

“Mhm, I’m okay,” She said softly. Her voice like smooth, warm silk to my ears. I leaned forward waiting for her to say more. Seriously? You are so whipped. I scolded myself.

“Hanna, hurry up!” Kassia called impatiently.

I gave Hanna a gentle nudge in the back. She stiffened and turned around. I felt it too, the same sparks that ignited when we bumped elbows. Her chocolate brown eyes were sparkling with wonder. My wolf wanted to embrace her and never let her go, we were almost in the process of doing so when she abruptly walked to Kassia, to my dissapointment. Nevertheless, I followed her feeling the eyes of my pack on m.

She turned around warily, “What are you doing?”

I faked mock hurt. “So you don’t want me around?”

Her face softened. “Well… I never said that, I only asked what you were doing.” She replied cheekily.

“In that case, I’m stalking you,” I smirked.

Hanna raised and eyebrow. “Oh, are you?”

“Yep,” I nodded solemnly.

Kassia was watching the exchange still managing to fight the smile that was barely winning upon her soft features. At least one other person wanted us to be together. “Well, I’m going to go back to Jayden now, he probably thinks we ditched him.” She waved goodbye and walked away, leaving Hanna and I alone in the line. I felt jealousy once again consume me when she mentioned running back to Jayden.

Hanna suddenly ran out of the line and to the doors, weaving her way through the crowd.

“Where are you going?” I shouted after her. Wow, I really did sound like a stalker.

She turned around and smirked, something I wasn’t expecting. “If you wanna stalk me, you have to catch me first.” She took off again and all I saw was the Mane of her blonde hair whipping behind her.

I smiled, loving the challenge, and ran after her. Wolves were famous for chases, but this was different, if I got ahold of her I wasn’t going to let go.

 

 

I gathered all my courage and started running away from Max. Hmm… he wanted to stalk me, eh? I knew that he was joking, but that didn’t make me any less scared of him or my feelings.

“Where are you going?” Max yelled.

I stopped and smiled, “If you wanna stalk me, you have to catch me first,” I said in a teasing voice, trying to make myself sound confident and took off running through the doors without stopping. I might as well have some fun with this while it lasts.

I dashed through the now-empty hallways, looking for somewhere to hide. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? I was pretty sure that Max was a lot faster than I was; I needed a hiding place fast, I would never outrun him.

His voice rang out, “Hanna, come out, come out, wherever you are!” Max laughed.

Damn, I felt like I was in some sort of comedy horror movie. “Hanna!”

Damn, he sounded pretty close…

Looping around the block of classrooms, I found myself in front of a pair of doors. Of course! There were picnic tables outside, we ate lunch there sometimes. I shoved them open and ignored the stares, I ran straight for the trees. I went in about ten or so yards and picked out a sturdy looking oak tree and began to climb. Ever since I was young, about five or six years old, I climbed trees almost every day. You could say I was a pretty experienced climber.

I scurred up the thick trunk and swung myself onto a branch and kept going higher until I was at least twenty feet off the ground. I settled myself onto a branch, sitting precariously with my back against the trunk and my feet swinging below me. Hah. Bet Max wouldn’t find me up here….

 

 

I could smell Hanna’s scent and I followed it all the way to a grove of trees near the picnic tables. There were very few people standing outside staring into the woods with a startled expression, until there gazes rested upon me. Hmm, so she hid in the woods? I didn’t peg her as that sort of person when I first met her…Hanna seemed more like the type to stay indoors with her computer, content with reading a book and whatnot.

I tiptoed into the underbrush, using my wolf sense to listen for any movement. My wolf was telling me to turn right so I did and when I walked a few more yards, I became aware of another heartbeat in the trees. But it was above me, so I stopped and looked around confusedly. Damn it. Where’d she go?

Then I head the most marvelous voice singing, high and clear.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,

When hope was high and life worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die,

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Holy shit, Hanna was singing?

Then I was young and unafraid,

And dreams were made and used and wasted.

but there was no ransom to be paid,

No song unsung, no wine untasted.

My wolf howled at the sound of our mate’s incredible voice, she sounded like the angel from above. But where the hell was she? It sounded as if her voice could be heard from all direction. I wandered around aimlessly, but not far enough away to lose the song. Her scent was definitely here, where was she?

But the tigers come at night,

With their voice soft as thunder.

As they tear your hope apart,

As they turn your dream to shame.

Her light voice carried over me and suddenly I realized it, she was probably sitting up in a tree!

And still I dream he’ll come to me.

That we will live the years together.

But there are dreams that cannot be,

And there are storms we cannot weather,

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I’m living

So different now from what it seemed.

I spotted her yellow dress behind the green curtain of leave and grinned. Slowly making my way up, carefully but not before bending down to the ground to pluck something.

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

As soon as she sang the last not, I had already seated myself on a branch behind her and burst into applause. She stared, and turned around.

“Bravo!” I cheered, she jumped slightly but quickly recovered.

Hanna flushed pink. “You can stop now, I’m not that good a singer.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding? That was incredible!”

“Thank you,” She laughed, taking a fake bow. Or as much as the branch would allow.

I took this as the perfect opportunity to give her the purple wildflower I found growing at the base of the tree.

She held it gently in her hand as if it were made of glass, “It’s beautiful, Max.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” I told her smirking. God, that sounded so cliche, I nearly wanted to take it back and ask for an extra five minutes to come up with something more original one, but she smiled at the compliment.

Hanna suddenly dropped herself from the branch and all in that single moment it felt like my heart stopped when she fell to the one below, grabbing onto it with her hands. Her hands gripped tightly onto the branch and she swung, hoisting herself back up like she was an acrobat without messing with her beautiful yellow dress.

I put my hand over my heart, “Holy shit Hanna, don’t ever do that again!”

“Aww, were you worried about me?” She said teasingly, climbing onto my branch and sitting next to me.

The answer to that came out of my mouth by complete reflex also taking her by surprise. “Yes.”

She stared at me with wide eyes, then did something I never thought a girl would to to a guy like me.

Hanna pinched my cheeks and cooed, “You’re so sweet!” She giggled, making me ache to hear her laugh again. Argh, I’m so mushy, my mate was going to be the end of me.

“Sweet?” I asked skeptically.

“Yup,” She said popping the ‘p’. “Sweet and adorable.”

I groaned and she laughed once more, “You might as well stop with the whole bad boy persona, you’re too cute for that.”

Internally, my wolf was purring, happy that our mate was complimenting us. I had a reputation to keep up as a bad boy… and then Hanna ran into me and apparently, I’m not the opposite of a bad boy. Wonder that the guys’ll say about this…

“I’m not even a little badass?”

Hanna pursed her lips. I wanted to growl at her teasing, her lips looked so kissable and when concentrating hard enough she looked adorable enough to kidnap. Ah shit, I really am whipped.

“Well...I’ve never seen you do anything mean, I’ve heard stories though.”

This sounded interesting. “Like what?”

“Did you really break Josh’s nose?”

Oh, that story…

“Well, yeah, he was being a prick to my friends so…” I waited for her to response uncomfortably. Hanna seemed like such a gentle person, I didn’t, however, expect her to react to me breaking Josh’s nose.

“If someone was being a butt head to one of my friends, I would’ve done the same thing.” She said fiercely.

Wow, it seems lately that all she does is surprise me. It was kind of a turn on, thought, the fact that she’d willingly punch someone’s lights out for a few of her friends.

“What’s you favorite color?” I blurt out.

She looked at me strangely before laughing. “Wow, way to change the subject. I like pretty much all colors, can’t pick on. What’s yours?”

We went on like that, exchanging questions and answer, getting to know each other better. She seemed comfortable around me while we talking, my wolf growled in satisfaction. I could’ve stayed up that tree with her forever.

“Oh no!” Hanna cried.

“What? What is it?” I responded immediately. Was she hurt?

“We just basically ditched the rest of the day!” She fretted.

“It wasn’t even a full day, Hanna, it won’t hurt.” I soothed.

She looked up at me with her large brown eyes sparkling in worry. “You sure?” The trust in her eyes was wavering but we would get to that soon enough.

“Positive. C’mon, let’s go,” I tugged her arm.

Hanan grinned at me. “Let’s race.”

“Alright, but I’m warning you, I’m a pretty awesome climber,” I told her jokingly. In truth, I hadn’t climbed a tree in forever up until today.

“It’s on. Ready...set, GO!” She slid off the branch easily and fell five feet to the branch below her. Hanna swung herself over that branch and scampered down, jumping from this branch to that before I made it three feet down, she was already four feet from the ground. Damn. She was like a damn squirrel. Hanna lowered herself onto the ground.

“Beat ya!”

I huffed, “I let you win.”

She stuck out her tongue. “Then why is the end of your shirt speared on the end of that branch?”

And of course she was right, there was a gaping hole in my shirt when I made it down. “Fine, you won this fair and square, but don’t get used to it,” I teased.

“I think you’d better get used to losing, you know, for your own good.” Hanna laughed.

I shrugged. “What ever makes you happy.”

Taking her small feminine hand in mine, I led her back towards the school. She didn’t seem to mind, and the thought that ran through my head literally sent my wolf on a howling rage. Her hand fit like a perfect glove to my hand. She was skipping and singing some unknown song as we closed the distance between us and the school, she began to skip looking so bright and full of life. We reached the school and she separated our linked hands. I hated the cold wind that brushed my hand after she let go, realizing we’d been holding hands. I didn’t want to be anywhere without her next to me. Was I seriously already in love with her?

 

Chapter Four:

I slipped back into the school the bell had rung and everyone was packing up. I walked to my locker and piled my books into my warn backpack that I haven’t change since freshman year, considering I was now a senior. We never had the money to buy new things unless they were absolutely necessary.

“Hanna!” Kassia ran to me. “Where were you? Me and Jayden looked everywhere!”

I smiled sheepishly. “I kind of ditched for a while…”

Her eyes sparked. “And I’m assuming that a certain guy has to do with this?” When I didn’t respond, she squealed, “Oh my gosh, it was Max wasn’t it? You guys are so cute! Do you like him?”

The last question caught me off guard and my answer kind of just came out without any permission.  

“How much?”

I blushed, “Does that matter?”

Kassia pulled me behind her and dragged me through the halls. I just stumbled along behind her and tried not to get trampled by the student body. “Where’re we going?”

She stopped when we were outside the front doors of the school and sat down on a bench. “Just wait here for a sec.”

I watched a robin fly into the cherry tree nearby and land in its egg-filled next. I vaguely wondered what it would be like to live in a family like that.

“Hey Hanna,” A familiar voice greeted me.

What was he doing here?

Kassia smiled at him, “Max, would you mind taking her home for me? I gotta go...drama club’s meeting in five minutes, rehearsal maybe three to four hours, bye guys!” she said all this in a matter of seconds before quickly skipping back to the school, her blue knee length skirt swishing behind her and her blond hair tangled in the October wind. Gee, subtle much?

Max sat down on the bench, “So, do you wanna hang here for a little while or should I take you home?”

“Here,” I answered immediately. He couldn’t see where I lived, only Kassia knew why I never invited people over or gave my address.

“Okay,” he said. He reached into his backpack and emerged with one of the biggest lunchboxes I’d ever seen. “You want some? I figured you might be hungry, we did miss lunch. I’ve got,” he rummaged through the bag, “Apple juices, ham  sandwich, strawberries, celery, and potato chips. Pick whatever you want,” ge gestured to the food.

God, he was so nice and caring, my eyes went watery for a split second. No one had ever been so nice to me, besides my closest friends. I reached for the strawberries. “thank you.” I bit into one and its tart sweetness exploded across my tongue. “Mm.”

We sat in silence and ate our fill. Since there was only one bottle of apple juice, Max let me have it. I took and sip and put it in between us, daring to say, “You know, I don’t mind if we share it.”

He grinned before taking a swig. “We just indirectly kissed, you know that?”

We did? I blushed. My cheeks heated up way too easily and he laughed. The conversation came much more smoothly after that, I found out that he had two younger sister, he lived a bit far away from our school, like me, he loved being outdoors, etc. The more I got to know him, the stronger my attraction toward him became, I noticed that his afternoon. Oh gosh, I’ve only known the guy for a day and I think I might have a crush.

“So what’s your family like?” he asked, and my hand froze on the strawberry.

I swallowed. “Um...well, I’m an only child. I don’t know any of my other relatives.” I stopped there and he didn’t push me any further, sensing that the subject was uncomfortable.

The wind grew stronger and soon, I was shivering in my knee length dress and white cardigan. Max noticed and after he put his lunch bag on the ground, he scooted closer to me, taking off his jacket and  wrapping it around my small body.

I protested, “But you’ll be cold.” He was only in a black v-necked t-shirt.

Max shook his head. “I can handle it, you don’t have as much fat as I do.”

I grabbed the jacket and snuggled it closer to my body, scooting closer to Max so his large frame could block out the hush of the wind. Max noticed this and wrapped his arms around me, literally snapping me into his side, something about this made me feel protected. I felt warm and safe being around him, something that wasn’t very familiar with me. I reached up and tapped his nose.

“Hmm?”

“What are we? I mean..are we friends or..” I trailed off and looked down.

“What do you want?” he asked.

My heart continued to scream at me to tell him more than friends was fine, I liked him too much. But my head and common sense told me that the situation I was in… I couldn’t drag him into it, and once he found out, he’d surely leave me.

I forced my mouth to form the words, “Let’s be friends.” My heart ached when I saw his face fall slightly so I added, “For now.”

“I can live with that,” Max shot me a smile.

I think I must’ve fallen asleep or something because the next thing I knew, I was being carried. I peeked one eye open and saw that he was carrying me bridal style to what I assumed was his car and placed me in the backseat, making sure not to bump me into anything. I pretended to sleep and he pecked me on the forehead, causing tingles to erupt on my skin. To be honest I didn’t think I could react to that even if I wanted to because my body felt emotionally and physically exhausted.

“Kassia?” I heard him say. “What’s Hanna’s address?”

Silence. Oh he was talking on the phone! I felt my heart accelerate at the mention of my house, I already knew Kassia wouldn’t tell him where I lived. But still, just the mention of my house sent unwanted chills down my spine.

“Oh. Well, she fell asleep so where am I supposed t-”

More silence. “Do you think she’ll be okay with that? Uh..okay then..” He hung up.

He sat me upright and buckled my seatbelt before betting behind the wheel and backout out of the parking lot. I wondered what Kassia told him, I might end up going to my aunt’s house.

It felt like a long time before he stopped driving and unbuckled me. Max pulled me into his arms and I risked a quick glance at my surroundings and nearly blew my cover when I almost gasped. We were in front of the most ginormous house I’d ever seen. Scratch that, I was definitely not at my aunt’s house. All the windows had a glow from the inside and the rose bushes dotted the landscape. It looked so cozy. I closed my eyes when he opened the door. I could still see the bright light with my eyes closed so I turned my head and buried it in his chest, simply loving the sweet smell of his masculine scent.

“Is this another pass?” A deep voice asked curiously.

I  heard the pattering of small footsteps and a feminine voice, “She’s so pretty! Can we keep her?”

The voice from before scolded her gently. “Kiki! We don’t keep people like pets, okay? But she’s welcome to stay for the night, it’s too dark for her to go home alone.”

Max breathed a sigh of relief. A woman squealed. “Max! Is this her?”

Her? Who’s her? I knew I wasn’t the one Max wanted.

He made a hushed sound. “Mom! She’s sleeping. Chill, okay? I’ll tell you later.”

Wait, mom? My god, he brought me to his house? And his family was right there looking me, supposedly passed out in his arms. Good grief.

“Oh! Okay hon, I’ll let you get to it then,” His mom said.

I tried to stifle the yawn but it came out anyway. Ugh, might as well meet them all now. I blinked and looked at Max first. He smiled and I couldn’t resist the smile that stretched across my face my instinct. I heard his mom make a cooing sound and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nudge a larger man next to her as they smiled warmly at me. I must assume that was Max’ dad from the similar resemblance.

I felt a tug on a sleeve of Max’s jacket that i was still wearing and looked down to see an adorable little girl grinning up at me just as I smiled back. They all looked in a way similar to Max’ strong features. She had short blonde curls that seemed to dance around her angelic face, small dimples covered the corners of her bright smile but her green eyes were what caught me off guard. Max had bright grey/blue/green eyes while the little girl had complete emerald green glowing eyes. His sister.

I suddenly felt self-conscious; Max was still cradling me bridal style so I tapped his chest. “Put me down?” I asked.

“Oh yeah…” he set me on the ground and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly while his mom let out another giggle.

“Hi there,” I bent down so I was eye level with the girl. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Khione,” she told me, her voice like tinkling of silver bells in my ears; it was beautiful, just like her name. “What’s yours?”

“Hanna, you have a wonderful name Khione.”

“How old are you? How long are you staying here? Are you Max’ girlfriend?”

My mouth popped open in shock from the little girl’s last question just as Max choked on the air behind me. Needless to say, his parents certainly found our reactions funny. His mom was hiding her laughter behind a perfectly manicured hand while his dad grinned as if he’d just won the lottery.

“Umm…” I began uncomfortably.

“Alright Kiki, give the poor girl some space, let’s go get ready for dinner,” his dad said, ushering Kiki out into the hallways.

“I’ll let you show Hanna her room, meet us in three in the dining room when you’re done,” his mom followed her husband.

I turned to him. “That’s your family right?”

“Er...yeah, I’m sorry about Khione by the way…”

I laughed, “It’s alright, I liker her, she’s cute.”

Max grinned. “So how ‘bout I show you to your room my lady.” He mimicked in a terrible accent. Nonetheless I laughed and followed him down the hall.

The huge chandelier crystals three rainbows everywhere and I counted at least five floors in this monster of a house. There were hardwood floors throughout and the decor was simple but sophisticated, glass and wood. Max led me up a spiral staircase all the way to the third floor and pushed open a door.

“You can stay here,” he flicked the light switch and I gasped audibly.

A large, plush bed was against the far wall with purple sheets and the nightstands matched all the other furnishings. the french windows were slightly open and the sheer curtains floated in the breeze. The walls were painted a lavender color with white swirls connecting to each other. I was at a loss for words.

“We’ve got about an hour until dinner starts, do you want a tour?”

I nodded, “Your house is amazing!”

“Our family shares it with a bunch of other families so it doesn’t actually belong to us, I’ll explain later.” With that, he walked down the staircase.

I followed him to the living room where a young couple, not much older than us by a few years, watched two babies playing with toys on the rug. There was another child, a toddler, who came up to the couple and sat on the woman’s  lap and both of them shared a warm embrace. They were on happy family and a warm feeling Blossomed in my heart at the sight of them, only to be replaced with sadness. My childhood was anything by happy.

Chapter Six

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Anyway, it didn’t matter. As soon as I saved enough money, I was hightailing it out of my house, away from my parents. It’s not like they’d actually care; I once stayed at Kassia’s house for a week without asking their permission, and no, they didn’t even notice. I worked two jobs to pay for myself. My parents somehow had the money to pay the bills and pay for their stupid alcoholic ways, but me? I had to work to pay for my lunches at school, for school supplies, clothes, everything.

I worked as a singing instructor Saturday morning and I just went to my students’ houses to teach them there, not wanted them to go to my wreck of a house. The job paid a pretty decent amount; it was approximately forty five dollars per hour. At the local music store, they offer half hour lessons for thirty dollars so I suppose it made more sense to go to me. The rest of the time, I worked as a waitress at a small, homey diner after school from Tuesday to Thursday in order to do all my school work I came to school two hours before anyone else did, and I stayed after for an hour and  a half usually. Then I did what I could to finish it either at the library, where my parents wouldn’t bother me, or in the woods, where they also wouldn’t bother me. Hell, I’ve probably worked more in the past few years than my parents have in the whole of my life. The thought made my teeth grind together.

“Hann? Let’s go see more of the house before dinner starts,” Max said. “Unless you don’t want to..?”

“I’m coming,” I called. Tearing my eyes away from the family in front of me, I hurried after him.

I saw a game room, a theather, a fully furnished and heated basment, the massive kitchen, dining room one, the breakfast area, the deck, another living room, an office that belonged to Max’s dad, and a pool outside. He never told me he was rich, but then again...I’ve only known him for a day. It made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for him. I came from a family, if you could call it that, that had no interest in me whatsoever and left me to fend for myself. His family was obviously well off, and everyone here seemed so happy. My smile slowly started to slip.

Max seemed to know what I was thinking. “Don’t think that you’re not good enough because you are.”

Mind reader much? “But you guys are so-”Money doesn’t matter to me, hell, I wouldn’t care if you were some homeless lady living on the streets, as long as I got to see you and talk to you every day.”

By now, I was starting to come to the conclusion that Max was naturally sweet and stuff like that just came out of his mouth spontaneously. I wrapped him in a hug and whispered, “Thank you.” I wasn’t just thanking him for his words, I was thanking him for being there for me, for caring a heck of a lot more than my own parents would’ve, and for making me feel like I was wanted. His strong arms held me tight and I didn’t want to let him go. It felt like he was holding the pieces of me together.

A bell tolling interrupted us and the people that were just hanging around got up and began hurrying in random directions. He let go of me with a groan. “Okay, let’s get ready for dinner, we’ve got ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes? But...I haven’t got anything nice wear and’” I felt the top of my hair, or rather, bird’s nest. “I haven’t fixed my hair either.” I started to run up the stairs but Max swooped down on me and picked me up, running ot my room with somewhat unnatural speed, but I was too panicky to notice it too much.

After I finally untangled my hair, I asked, “Max, I don’t have any extra clothes with me.”

He took my hands and I couldn’t help flashing back to when he held it this afternoon. It felt nice. Dragging me in front of a walk-in closet, he said, “Pick whatever you want, I think this is pretty close to your size.”

I put my hand to my mouth. “Oh my…”

There were racks and racks of more clothes than I’d ever owned in my life. But it looked so new and clean, and besides, I didn’t know whose clothes these were.” Max, I-I can’t-”

He grabbed a deep purple dress off one of the racks that had sheer bell sleeves and went down past my knees. “I think you’d look great in this.”

“Max! I can’t just come into your home and wear random clothes that aren’t even mine, it makes me feel like I’m trespassing!”

He put the dress in my hands. “You’re always welcome in our home.”

Chapter Five:

Did he just say our? “But-”

“No buts, now, are you going to try it on? Dinner’s in…” He checked his non existent watch. “Four minutes.”

Letting out a sigh, I ran to the bathroom and  heard him chuckling. Not even thirty seconds later, I emerged wearing what he chose and I had to admit, the boy had style. It fit perfectly and almost by complete instinct I fell in love with the bright color.

“Hanna? You done?”

I stepped out and twirled one, the dress’ skirt floated around me with ease. “What do you think?”

I got a moment of satisfaction when he simply stared at me, a complete dumbfounded expression. His jaw lay slack against his normal joyous lips, I noticed the way his eyes trailed lazily up and down the dress as if addressing me for the first time. The small glint in his eyes sent a chill down my spine, joy, nobody has ever looked at me in such a way.

 

I smirked. “So it gets your approval?”

“Yeah, sure.” Max shrugged in indifference, I smiled anyways knowing he thought much more than a simply ‘sure’. He murmured a few words before skillfully pushing himself off of the bed frame and back inside the large closet. After a few seconds of awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, yet still admiring the dress on my body, he emerged from the closet with a pair of ballet flats.

“Will these go with the dress?” He asked trying to keep his eyes from traveling below my eyes. I admired his respect for me, but I also didn’t mind the small twinge in the pit of my stomach when he stared at me that way.

I slipped on the shoes and walked a few feet, steadying myself I gave him a dazzling smile, one in which he returned. “Yep, they’re perfect. Shall we go?” I grinned looping my arms through his masculine ones.

Max caught onto the act and bowed, holding the door open while saying. “My lady.”

I laughed in response and before long, we entered the dining room where just his family was waiting, there weren’t any other people there, which was a relief. HIs mom zeroes in on our linked hands and gave her husband ‘the look’. I took a seat between Khione and Max. There was an empty chair next to Max’ mom, I wondered who sat there. Directing my curiousity to Max I looked back and forth between the vacant chair and his grey lit eyes.

Max shook his head and whispered, “She’ll come later.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask who ‘she’ was because a joyous female came bounding into the room five seconds later. She looked a few years younger than me, maybe thirteen or fourteen years at the most. She looked completely opposite from Khione; being as the female had black hair, similar to the raven bird, and sapphire blue eyes that stood out like diamonds in the night sky. Her figure was petite and slender, her hair glided down the center of her back with a simple braid sticking out in random areas. I wondered how everyone in his family looked so cleaned up and good-looking? Guess I figured out where his genes came from…

“Sorry I’m late mum and dad, I was just out in the woods and I couldn’t figure o-” she stopped mid-sentence as her eyes zeroed in on me. “Who’s that?”

Max’s dad scolded her, “Be polite, Acacia, she’s our guest,” At the same time Khione said, “Max’ girlfriend.”

I felt my mouth pop open again at Khione’s assumptions, all the while the sound of Max choking, yet again, but on an ice cube, could be heard clearly next to me. I thumped him on his back and his cough abruptly stopped, turning into an embarrassed yet weak smile. “Sorry” he grinned sheepishly.

Acacia looked at us, confused. “What?”

I waved at her, laughing nervously. “Hey, my name’s Hanna… and I’m Max’ friend.”

She looked at Max teasingly. “Friend with benefits?”

The poor boy choked on his water. Yep, three choked in less than two hours.

“Acacia!” Max’ mom shouted sternly. “Don’t tease your brother!”

“Heh… sorry mum.” She didn’t look like she meant it at all, and instead shot a wink my way as a small gentle lit her perfectly white teeth. Acacia seemed pretty fun.

“Alright, let’s tuck in!” Max’ dad announced. I suddenly realized I had no idea what their last name was.

I nudged Max and mumbled, “I’m really embarrassed to be asking this, but what’s your last name?”

He laughed. “It’s Thomas. Now you made me curious, what’s yours?”

“Moor. Hanna Moore,” I grimaced. “I hate my name.”He made a sound of indignation. “Why? Your name’s great! It means goddess of life in Hebrew, did you know that?”“Really? Huh.. hey, how’d you know that? Do you just use your spare time to search up people’s names?” I teased.

Max had an innocent expression on his face that was contradictory to what he said next, “I wouldn’t be much of a stalker if I didn’t know that kind of stuff.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m already in your house, there’s no need to stalke me anymore.”

“Our house. From now on, you can come here whenever you want, it’s yours too.” Without giving me a chance to protest, he dug into his food.

I heaped some mashed potatoes, poultry gravy, green beans, a roll, and some steak onto my plate all whle pouring myself some apple juice. The food had to be the best I’ve ever had the chance of tasting, I had never had such a good meal in my entire seventeen years of existence. It wasn’t like my mother could cook in her usual drunken stupor.

When we finished, it was about eight thirty. I found it surprisingly easy to get along with the Thomas family, their incredible humor and caring personality gave me a small taste of what a family really was. A small smile graced my lips at the memory of what I would be returning to when I got home, I honestly didn’t want to leave.

Max pushed his chair back and held a hand out to me, “Wanna go?”

I stood up, latching my small hands into his large warm palms. “Go where?”

“Somewhere...it’s a surprise,” he winked.

Rolling my eyes, I push my chair beneath the table and follow him anyways. We headed up to the purple room and I changed out of my dress after looking around the closet, I let out a sound of dismay. Max knocked on the door immediately.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” I called back, “I don’t have anything else to wear, my yellow dress is…actually, I couldn’t find it, and everything in here’s too...fancy.”

“Hold on a sec.”

Not a minute later, he knocked again. “I’ve got some clothes for you, can I open the door?”

I twisted the knob open and he stood there with his arm outstretched with a pile of clothes in his hand. His other hand was courteously covering his eyes and his head was turned away. Aw, bless him.

“Thanks,” I took the bundle and slipped into the large T-shirt that went down to my knees. I frowned. Wouldn’t it give his parents the wrong impression if I walked around in their son’s shirt?

I opened the door and when he caught the sight of me, a grin spread across his face. “I like you wearing my clothes.””

I turned pink. “But what about your parents?”

“Eh, it’s okay, but I was wonder...wanna go swimming with me? That way, you have an excuse to wear my shirt over a bathing suit.”

“It’s October, the water will be freezing. You’re practically asking me to commit suicide.

“No, not swimming outside, the indoor pool,” he flicked my nose playfully.

Holy crap, they had an indoor pool too? They were really loaded. “I don’t have a-”

Max held out a handful of yellow fabric. “Here’s a bathing suit.”

Why was he always one step ahead of me? “But...fine, okay.” I sighed.

The first thing I noticed when I put the bikini on was the lack of coverage. I didn’t even own a bikini for God’s sake. The color suited me just fine, but the tiny thing was mostly made of string.

“Max!” I shouted, getting out of the closet.

“Hmm?” He was sitting on the bed with just his swimming trunks on and oh my God, he had a freaking six pack. I saw that while I was checking him out, he was doing the same to me.

I crossed my arms. “Did you choose the bathing suit? Actually, lack of bathing suit would be a better name for it.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “I swear, I didn’t, I justed asked Acacia if she had something that might fit you and she threw it at me so...I didn’t know it was like that… should I be concerned that my little sister owns something like this?”

I threw my hands up. “I don’t know, that’s up to you, but I might as well just go swimming naked! I mean, this barely covers anything!”

He smirked, “I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to go skinny-dipping.”

My cheeks heated up. “Er...I’ve never been skinny-dipping.” The lyrics of Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’ were bouncing around in my head.

“There’s a first time for everything,” he pulled me out of the room, but not before yanking his wonderful-smelling T-shirt back over my head. I looked at him curiously for a moment.

“I don’t want any other guys checking out my girl.” I could feel my insides turning with those simply words leavin his mouth, but then again I also felt a similar dread. I didn’t know if he’s ever taking anyone else to his house and introduced her to his family. And being almost one hundred percent positive, I was sure that he may have went skinny-dipping with plenty of more interesting girls than myself. Dread and hope continued to battle for who would come out on top. I clasped my small fingers into his hands and let him drag me down the stairs, smiling like a school girl. For today, hope was going to win.

Imprint

Text: Jordan Wadley
Images: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=n9mDPxk5RPVAKM&tbnid=jfK6KuN_S1Ge9M:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkelihasablog.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fpoetry%2F&ei=u8xVUqPZCIqqigKnn4GIBA&bvm=bv.53760139,d.cGE&psig=AFQjC
Editing: Rachelle Donaway
Translation: No translation needed
Publication Date: 10-09-2013

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