Bright rays of sunlight pierced my eyes and I let out a loud yawn. Stretching my arms, I rolled on the bed and before I could realize that it was not a gigantic bed like the one in my room, I was on the floor. But for some weird reason, I never landed on the cold, hard tiles. Instead, I found myself enveloped in warm arms and masculine scent. I was too embarrassed to open my eyes because I could already feel Adam's gaze on my face. He was warm. So comfortably warm. Like a huge teddy bear. My brain urged me to stay engulfed in his arms but I knew better. Opening my eyes to narrow slits, I looked at his face. His brows were furrowed and the startled expressions on his face clearly indicated that he didn't appreciate my presence much, particularly on top of him. Ignoring his hard glare, I took the time to observe his rugged beauty. And his hair. His oh-so-gorgeous hair. They were arranged messily on his head. The "bed-time" kind of messy, not his usual "took-an-hour-to-set" kind of messy. Both were amazing though. "Alicia..." he said groggily. But there was something about his morning voice that made my mouth dry. Weird! "Adam." I mimicked his tone, still caged in his arms. "Alicia." he whispered again, this time his hands trailed over my torso a little and I shivered, partly because of the cold and partly because of how good his hands felt. "ADAM." This time, it wasn't me who shouted. It took Adam few seconds to understand this and when he did, he rotated me and then pushed me under the bed. Ouch. "Adam.." Tiffany called again and her voice was followed by a knock on the door. "No. Don't come inside." Adam shouted back, looking a little uneasy. I was still under the bed, watching his feet rushing towards the door. "What?" he said when he opened the door slightly. "Is there some girl inside?" Tiffany asked, trying to peek inside but Adam blocked her way. "N.. No." Adam stuttered, his voice quivered. "No? And I thought my nephew finally lost his virtue." she chuckled and I heard Adam choke. He coughed a little and I bit my lips to stop myself from laughing out loud. Wait. Does that mean..? After Adam finally pushed the door close, he kneeled down on the floor and pulled out his hands for me. I held both of his hands and he pulled me forwards. Inhaling deeply, I straightened up and looked around, avoiding his stare. The clock showed 7:00 am which meant Dad would be out for his morning walk. Perfect time to sneak back inside. I would just tell him that I returned last night, after my failed attempts at sleeping in Emily's room. "Can you help me sneak out without being noticed by Tiffany?" I asked Adam and he agreed. I picked up my dress and purse in my hands and put on the heels. He opened the door to his room and peeked through the stairs. When the coast was clear, he laced his fingers with mine and led me down. During the whole time, my heart was hammering inside my chest cavity because of the way he was holding me. There was a certain warmth in his grip and it just melted my heart. He might not felt it but I did. The way our hands fitted together, it was comforting. We parted when we reached the main door. I felt his eyes on my back the whole time I was shuffling with the emergency keys. When I finally got it right, he returned inside his house and shut the door behind him. Dad was still not back home so I tiptoed towards my room and collapsed on my bed. My eyes were zoomed in on the ceiling but I couldn't care less about the fan or the pattern on it. Instead, I was thinking about the guy who didn't like me apparently but went out of his way to help me last night. Maybe he didn't hated me at all. ... "So students, have you submitted your projects in my office?" Mr. Walter asked and my eyes widened with fear and surprise. Project? Holy pringles. I completely forgot about it. My eyes wandered to Adam who was tapping his ballpoint on the desk lazily. As if sensing my gaze on him, he lifted his head and caught me staring at him. He was sitting one student away from me so I tore a chit from the notebook and wrote on it, "WHAT ABOUT THE PROJECT?". After folding it, I chucked it towards him. Mr. Walter was too busy in his "efficient teaching" to notice us. Adam read the note and then tore one from his own notebook. "YOU WERE PRETTY UPSET SO I DID THE WORK MYSELF." I read the text and then smiled. I mouthed Thank you to him and he nodded. After few moments, another ball of paper hit me slowly. "I DIDN'T WANT YOUR MOOD TO RUIN MY GRADES. NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU." I rolled my eyes when I read it and stuck my tongue out at him. He just shook his head disappointingly and turned his head back to Mr. Walter's boring lecture. When the bell rang, I dashed out of the class first. Sophia had her cheerleading practice and she texted me to meet Emily and her in the ground. But when I reached there, she hadn't arrived yet. I was about to turn back when someone called my name and my jaw clenched when I recognized the voice. My insides burned with so much anger that I had to count till ten before turning to him. "Don't you dare say my name from this filthy tongue of yours." I half-growled, half whispered. "I am sorry for Saturday night." he lowered his head and whispered. Sorry? SORRY? "Do you really think I need your fucking sorry?" I spat loudly. "I swear I would never do anything to you intentionally. Hell, I don't even remember half of that night. I just know that I.. I tried to.." And then, there was silence. "Rape me? Assault me? Tried to ruin me?" I completed his sentence for him. "I am sorry." he whispered again. I was about to walk away when he started again, "I was not in my right state of mind." "And that was my concern because?" I challenged. "I swear I never drink more than I can handle. I swear I just had one beer that night." he explained, looking at me with his huge eyes. "That drink was probably spiked. The one that you were going to drink." My eyes widened when I replayed the scene in my head. When Noah chugged down the drink that was meant for me. So that means he got spiked because of me? "My dad would kill me if I ever touch any drug Alicia. And I fear him enough to not to pull a stunt like that." he added further and I softened a little. Just a little. "This doesn't change what you did." I mumbled in a soft yet strong voice. "And I can't forgive you for that." His eyes sparkled with hurt for a brief moment. "I can live with that." He paused and then continued after a moment. "I just want you to know that I would never touch a girl without her permission. I might seem like a jerk but I am not that disgusting. I can't change what happened but I would try my best to earn your forgiveness." I would have responded with words but before I could speak, someone punched on his jaw and he fell down on the ground because of the force. And then, that certain someone looked at me with rage-filled eyes. It was Adam, looking dangerously angry with his balled fists and clenched jaw. "Was he the one?" he didn't need my answer because the way I gulped answered his query. "Listen man-" Noah tried to reason but another kick on his stomach and he was bawling in pain. With widened eyes, I watched as Adam beat Noah to pulp. I even tried to interfere but his senses were stronger than mine and he was more powerful than me. I expected Noah to retaliate but even he was getting beaten without any effort of fighting back. It looked like he was actually guilty of what he did and he felt like he had earned this punishment. He just stayed still, receiving blows on his face while Adam was in no mood of stopping. A crowd was gathering around us. Some tried to interfere and some were too busy clicking the pictures. But Adam didn't stop until Noah's face was bleeding profusely and there were large cuts and gashes on his face. I hadn't realized that I was crying until I rubbed my cheeks and found tears trailing downwards. When Adam finally stopped, his knuckles were cut open and there was blood on them. While Noah was lying on the ground and breathing hard. I stooped down to assess his condition and sighed in relief when I found him smile weakly. "I am fine." he whispered and closed his eyes. I thanked to God internally that Adam had not killed him. "What in God's name is going on here?" a loud voice boomed. And when I looked at the source of the voice, it was none other than Principal Brown. Shit. ________________________