“Right, that’s the reason,” Tom replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes and laughing his ass off. I looked at him strangely; having no idea what was so funny about that statement.

Just then we reached the office and I went to collect my schedule. “Let’s have a look then,” Tom chirped, taking it out of my hand and looking it over with a smile. “Hey, we get first and fourth together. Clay has those too.”

“First and fourth? What are they?” I asked, taking my schedule back flicking my eyes over the writing.

1st - AP English

2nd - Science

3rd - History

LUNCH

4th - Gym

5th - French

6th - AP English literature

Hmm, that wasn’t too bad actually. “Great. Want to walk me to my locker?” I asked with a flirty smile. The more I looked at him, the more I found Tom cute. I was pretty sure that Clay wouldn’t like me to date one of his friends though. I averted my eyes and saw that everyone was staring at me again. “Do I have something on my face?” I whispered nervously, frowning.

He turned towards me, looking a little confused. “Er, no, why?”

Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me backwards into a hard chest, trapping my arms down by my sides, making me squeak a little.

“Hey, why did you leave? I would have walked you to get your schedule,” Clay growled in my ear.

I breathed a sigh of relief and elbowed him in the stomach lightly. “Clay, you jerk! You scared me,” I scolded as I spun and pushed him playfully. He just laughed and grabbed my hand with a happy smile. “I thought you were too busy with your new skank,” I continued, trying to give him a stern look but failing miserably. I never could get mad at Clay. We had only ever had one argument before in our thirteen year friendship, and even then we had made up within an hour.

He just laughed and pulled me into a hug. “Ooh, is someone jealous?” he teased, laughing.

“Oh yeah I’m so jealous!” I replied sarcastically. “I wish I could drape myself all over you, get used for sex a couple of times then dropped like yesterdays paper.” I rolled my eyes as I pushed him off of me and started to walk down the hallway towards where I assumed the lockers were.

“Well you could have just asked. I would have given you a go,” he said cockily, catching up with me and wrapping his arm back around my shoulder.

Given me a go? Wow, the cocky player is so overconfident! Hmm, let’s have a little fun; I know everyone’s staring at me already, so why not give them a show?

I stopped and pushed him against the lockers roughly, stepping right up to him, pressing my whole body against him, our faces inches apart. I put my hands on his thighs and dragged them up slowly, teasingly, across his hips, up his stomach to his chest.

“Oh please, Clay, won’t you give me a go right now? I want you so badly, please?” I begged in a breathy voice in his ear.

He made a little moan deep in his throat as his hands landed on my hips, his fingers digging in as he clutched me closer to him. “Er, Riley...” Every inch of my body was pressed against him, so I could feel the stirring that was beginning to happen in his jeans. The movement actually made me catch my breath before I remembered that I was supposed to be messing with him.

I laughed nervously, a little uncomfortable because of his body’s reaction. I stepped away quickly and noticed that everyone was staring and whispering. Clay was still standing there, looking a little dazed.

I felt the smile creep onto my face. Not so overconfident now, huh?

“Don’t mess with me, Clay Preston, you never win and you know it!” I joked, winking at him as I grabbed his hand, pulling him along again. “My locker’s two eleven. You know where that is?” I asked, looking around for it. He didn’t answer. “Hello, Clay? Two eleven, do you know where that is?” I repeated, waving my hand in front of his face.

He blushed slightly and then gave me his usual grin, pulling me around the corner. “Yeah, come on.”

I sat with Clay and Tom in English which was great because they kept a lot of the unwanted attention away from me, but I wasn’t with them again until after lunch. I took a deep breath as the bell rang signalling the end of lesson. I didn’t want to be on my own at all. Clay gave me a sympathetic smile. He knew I didn’t like making new friends and that this was going to be hard for me.

“Come on, Riley Bear, I’ll walk you to your science class.” He grabbed my hand and helped me up off of my chair. We walked to my class hand in hand, we didn’t speak. Our friendship was easy, honest and very affectionate. We were so comfortable being together, he’d been my best friend and my rock who kept me sane for so long now that I don’t know how I would have got through everything without him.

When we got to the door of my class he took my face in both of his hands and stepped forward until our foreheads were touching. I could hear gasps and whispers coming from the classroom so I closed my eyes and just enjoyed his closeness. My body was starting to tingle and my stomach felt all fluttery. I was suddenly aware of how good he smelt and how his breath tickled across my lips. I didn’t want to let go of him. I had no idea why I suddenly felt weird, but it must have just been nerves for my first solo class or something. I swallowed loudly and smiled, pretending I was fine even though he probably saw through that immediately.

“Be confident, you’ll be fine. I’ll meet you at lunch,” he whispered, kissing my forehead before walking away. I turned back to the class to see everyone staring at me again, even the teacher.

I walked to the only seat that was empty in the back row. As I passed a cute boy with reddish brown hair, he slapped my ass. I gritted my teeth and ignored it, sitting in my seat and laying my head down on my arms on the desk. I could feel all eyes on me so I just sat there not moving.

“Hi,” chirped a girl beside me. I lifted my head to look at her. She was pretty in a ‘not in your face’ kind of way, she had short black hair with some blue streaks which she had spiked out stylishly and big brown eyes. She was smiling a friendly smile.

“Hi,” I replied, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

“Are you dating Clay Preston?” she asked, her eyes wide, showing admiration. It was pretty obvious by her expression that she liked Clay.

I shook my head in response. Dating Clay, seriously? “No. He’s my best friend. I’ve known him forever.” I smiled. People always thought that Clay and I were together, our parents even thought we would get married one day and used to tease us about it.

“Oh, that’s a shame because he is so freaking hot!” she stated, fanning her face and sighing dreamily. I couldn’t help but laugh. Clay wasn’t just hot, he looked like a God he was so beautiful - even I could see that and I was his best friend. He had always been gorgeous but as he got older he just kept getting better and better looking. Honestly, no girl could resist his charm.

“Miss Kent, do you have anything to share with the class?” the teacher asked sarcastically. The girl flushed and shook her head, ending the conversation.

When the bell rang at the end of class she waited for me. “I’m Rachel by the way,” she chirped, smiling warmly as I picked up my bag. “So, where are you next?” she asked as we walked out of the classroom.

I pulled out my schedule, looking at it. “Er, I have history next.”

“No shit, me too!” she cried, linking her arm though mine. As we walked up the hallway, everyone was looking at me again. A few of the guys whistled or made some suggestive remarks but I just ignored them. “I can’t believe this is your first day and you have the whole of the football team after you already. I heard them all talking about you in my first period Calculus class. They’re all placing bets on who will sleep with you first,” Rachel stated, shaking her head in a disapproving manner.

I gasped. “You’re kidding me!”

She chuckled. “Nope, not kidding. You’re fresh meat, and you’re hot. The cheerleaders will probably approach you at lunchtime to join the squad. You’ll easily make the ‘it’ crowd,” she replied, turning up her nose distastefully.

“I don’t want to be a cheerleader.” I shook my head at the thought. I groaned. I didn’t want guys hitting on me all freaking day!

“Great, then we can be friends!” She grinned and tightened her arm on mine, leading me through the complicated hallways.

Rachel and I chatted whenever we could, whenever the teacher wasn’t looking and as we walked between classes. She was really nice and we actually had a lot in common. She told me all about the school and how it works, pointing out people of interest - hot guys. Or people to stay away from - clingy stalker types. She said that Clay and his three friends that I had met this morning were part of the football team and were the most popular and most sought-after boys in school. Apparently, Clay being the hottest was ‘alpha male’, but that they were all players who only stayed with a girl long enough to get into their pants. I just smiled as she told me that. I already knew this little titbit of information about Clay; he had been with lots of girls. We didn’t actually have any secrets from each other; he openly admitted that didn’t want a girlfriend. He always joked that I was the only girl for him and that the others he just used for some fun because I wasn’t interested.

After History class I walked with Rachel to lunch. As soon as I entered the cafeteria the room fell silent. I turned to Rachel with a grimace; she just linked her arm through mine and pulled me to the lunch line.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” I moaned, looking at the wide range of food they had available. I could hear people whispering behind me.

“Hey, Riley Bear. How was your morning?” Clay asked suddenly from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me backwards into his chest. I breathed a sigh of relief at the safeness that I felt when he was near me, and rested my head back on his shoulder.

“It was okay,” I mumbled, looking over at Rachel who was completely eye raping Clay, with her mouth slightly open. “Er, Clay, this is Rachel. Rachel, Clay.” I waved my hand around in introduction even though they probably knew who the other was, but then again maybe Clay didn’t know who she was, she was a junior the same as me and he was a senior so their paths had probably never crossed - unless it was a sexual path of course. That last thought made a little frown slip onto my face.