"Can I talk to you?" Drew asked, his expression unreadable. "You want to talk to me?" I scoffed, wondering if I was imagining things. "That's what I said, isn't it?" he sassed, disdain making his words come across harshly. I thought about entertaining whatever he had to say, but realized I didn't owe him anything. I apologized, and would rather eat my fries with my one good hand than hear his snide comments. "No thanks, I'm good," I shrugged, turning back around in my seat. I didn't expect Lauren to be shooting me daggers when I looked at her though, that's for sure. "What?" I asked her nonchalantly, already putting another fry in my mouth. "Talk to him! It would make everything easier for me and Riley if you two got along," she urged. I couldn't believe she was making me do this. Didn't she see that me and him just weren't meant to be friends? But, despite my better judgement, I caved in to Lauren's request and turned back to face the handsome ogre behind me. "Fine," I grumbled with a sigh. "What do you have to say?" "Not here. Follow me," he said, still unreadable. "Not here. Follow me," I mocked in a caveman voice. I heard the twins trying to keep their giggles quiet because of the impression I did, which made a smirk form on my lips. At least they were laughing, because Lauren was not amused. "Will you grow up and just follow me?!" "Pft, you expect me to abandon my lunch and follow you where? To my grave?!" I questioned, not interested in leaving the table. Unfortunately, Lauren still did not seem to find my antics amusing. "Okay, okay, I'm going," I said, which put a smile on her face. When I turned around, Drew was already walking toward the hallway. I quickly grabbed my sandwich before following after him. Once in the hall, I saw Drew standing by the front entrance, waiting. He didn't look very approachable, but he called me out here, so I walked up to him; and I took my sweet precious time doing it. "You couldn't stop eating for five minutes so I could talk to you?" he asked rudely. "I could, if it was for someone I liked," I mumbled, biting into my sandwich and looking at the bulletin board on the wall. I waited for him to say something next, but he didn't. Confused, I turn my attention back to him. He was bent over a bit, looking at my hand that held one side of my sandwich; the hand that I punched Jeremy with. "So the rumors are true," he commented once he finished examining it. "What is with this school and gossip? I feel like I can't do anything without the whole student body knowing," I complained. He stood straight up again, crossing his arms as he leaned back on the tile wall. "That's what happens when you get into fights." I could have sworn a small smile spread over his face, but in a blink of an eye it was gone; replaced with his blank expression again. "So, why'd you do it?" he questioned, and I could see in his eyes that he was dying of curiosity. "You know why," I said, bluntly. I looked away because his stare was getting too intense, but I could still feel it on me. It's like he was trying to read my mind. I distracted myself by finishing my food. "Why did you do it, Natalie?" he asked again. It was the first time he'd called me by my name. I don't know why, but I decided to just tell him. I could lie to him, but I knew Riley was going to ask me and I'd have to tell him the truth; I might as well be honest. I'm sure she would prefer that, too. "Okay, well, Jeremy came up to me to thank me for 'saving' him," I said, using air quotes to emphasize the "saving" part. "And then he started talking crap about you, which honestly, I didn't really care about. But the more he kept talking, the more I realized he didn't even feel guilty about hurting Leila. He even referred to himself as 'innocent'. Once he said that...I don't even know how I did it. I've never punched anyone like that before in my life," I admitted, looking down at my red hand. "I can tell. At least it doesn't look broken. But you have to ice it." "Oh," I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. He gave me one last look before walking away. So, he didn't think it was wrong to force a person to come talk to him and then just leave out of nowhere? It was very rude, if you asked me; but then again, he was rude. Well, hate to disappoint you Lauren and Riley, but I still loathe him. The rest of the day went by fine, except I learned that I actually had another class with Drew. At least I also had Riley, Jayden, and Kimi in the same class. I sat at a table with Kimi, and one other guy. I think his name was Jase or Jesse; something like that. He seemed nice, but he really just focused on his work. The boys sat at the table in front of us. Riley would turn around a lot to talk to us, which annoyed the life out of Mrs. Turner, our science teacher, but he kept doing it. I think she let him get away with it because of how charismatic he was. Since four people could sit at a table, Drew sat on the side that made him face my direction. Throughout class I caught him staring at me multiple times, but he didn't seem to care. It's like he was in deep thought. He didn't stare the whole time, and it wasn't a creepy "checking me out" kind of stare. He just twiddled his pencil in his fingers while looking at me. It was very distracting, but I eventually stopped noticing. Science was my last class of the day, so when the bell rung, a wave of relief rushed over me. But, then it all came crashing down because I remembered that I had detention. Thank you so much for that, Principal Estes. Yup, sarcasm has reared it's beautiful head once again. "Hey, Riley?" I called out, walking over to their table. All three boys were still packing up their stuff. "What can I do for you, HP?" he asked with a grin on his face. "HP? What's that mean?" Jayden wondered, making a confused face at Riley. I didn't know this was going to become a thing. I guess Riley thought it'd be cute to start calling me "HP" in memory of when he said I looked like Harry Potter. "Oh, that's something between me and Natalie, Jay. Don't worry about it," Riley teased, which just caused Jayden to shake his head back and forth with a smile. "Whatever, bro. I'll see you later," he said before saying bye to Drew and walking out. "Riley," I called again, getting his attention once more. "I need to ask you something." "Awe, I'm flattered. But I only see you as a friend," he joked. "You wish I saw you like that." "Ouch," he said, holding his hands to his chest like I just stabbed him in the heart. "Will you be serious for one second?!" I shouted through laughs. "Okay, sure. What do you need?" he inquired, now ready to listen. "What room is detention usually held?" "Natalie! You bad girl! You went and got yourself a detention so soon!?" A few people that were still in the room looked over at us, including Drew. "Will you just tell me where it is?!" I whisper-shouted at him. "Why would I know that? I'm a good boy," he said smugly, showing off his angelic smile. "I'm sure you are. But do you seriously not know?" I asked, almost whining now. "Sorry, HP. I don't have a clue. But I know who does," he stated with a smirk. He stretched out his long arm and pointed to the last person I wanted to ask for help.