Chapter 1 I.

PART ONE Today is a normal day. Well, if you ignore the fact that today is my first day in the new high school and I'm almost shitting my pants because of the stress I'm under. I know that juniors are supposed to be pretty cool and relaxed but that just isn't how I am. To make matters worse, I don't know anybody at school because our family moved here only a week ago and during that week I rather stayed in the house and watched Netflix instead of going out and interacting with my new neighbours. I stretch my arms and legs, slowly coming to the realization that the summer is over. Grumpily, I push myself out of the bed and start dragging myself to the bathroom across the hall. My reflection almost scares me. Holy crap, I look horrible. Damn it, it will take me forever to look decent. I grab a brush and work my way through the dark nest on my head until it looks decently straight. Then I wash my face and apply mascara to make my blue eyes slightly pop and go to get dressed. By the time I'm done, I'm late. Quickly, I grab my lunch from the counter, put it in my bag and start running to school. Oh God, I hope I don't get lost. I have the general idea of where it is because my dad showed me the way on some map he found on Google, but with my sense of orientation I could easy end up at some deserted beach where I would get killed by some psycho, even if this is Montana. Thankfully, after good 5 minutes of running, an old building, which I recognise as my school, starts to show up in front of me. I pick up my pace and soon make it to the parking lot. When I see that there are no people outside I start panicking and quickly walk into the school, looking for the principal's office, where an elderly woman greets me with a big smile on her face. “Hello dear. How may I help you?”"Hi, my name is Sophia Watson and...""Oh, you're the new girl! Of course, come in!« she invites me in, making me smile with relief at her cheerful personality. “Here, this is the map and this it the paper on which you have to circle the courses you wish to take this semester. she tells me and I quickly check the options, deciding that I definitely prefer Biology to Physics. A few minutes later I'm back in the school hallway with my nose deep in the map, trying to find my math class. I groan to myself when I see that it's on the other side of the school and start to put the map back in my bag. And then I hit something hard. "What the fuck?" a deep male voice whispers from above me and I look up to see a pair of green eyes staring angrily down at me. "I'm sor-..." "Don't fucking apologize, just watch where you're going." he interrupts me. I furrow my brows. Who the hell does he think he i s? I might be new here, but I sure won't let people talk to me in that way. I give him a fake smile. "Well I was doing something and didn't see you. Maybe you should watch where you're going as well, considering you crashed into me just the same. I hope your ego isn't so big it's blocking your vision. Maybe you should go see a optician in that case. Or a psychologist." “What the fuck are you talking about? Who the hell are you?” he takes a step closer, narrowing his eyes. “I'm someone who won't let you talk to her like that, dick. Maybe if you met more people with a spine you might actually have turned out okay. Shame, really.” I push him further and his nostrils flare at my words. “Watch your words, little bitch. You're obviously new here but let me be kind enough to give you a tip.” he says lowly, slowly cornering me into a wall. “You really, really don't want to get on my bad side.” I lift my brow. “Or what?” He smirks the kind of smile that sends shivers down my spine. “Keep up this little attitude of yours and you'll find out.” His jaw clenches and his green eyes slowly seem to turn darker shade of green, almost so you could mistake them for black, and suddenly, I'm not as brave anymore. Who knows what an asshole like him could do to protect his pride? Lucky for me, I didn't have to find out because in that moment the bell rings. Oh, sweet mother of Jesus, thank you . He slowly backs away from me, rage burning in his eyes, but he knows that people will be swarming the halls any moment now. This is the first time I actually check him out. He is tall. That is my first observation. And he really is tall; probably a foot taller than me. On his head there is an unruly mop of brown locks and a piercing in his brow. His arms and neck are completely covered in tattoos and he looks dangerous; dangerous but hot as hell. I look into his eyes and see that they are still looking at me, observing me, judging me. "This isn't over yet." he says and a second later the pupils fill the hallways and take him with them.

Chapter 2 II.

"Hey, are you okay?" a kind voice brings me back to reality. I tear my eyes away from where the mysterious man left and look at the person speaking to me. He has short brown hair and is quite tall, but still shorter than the guy I just fought with. His brown eyes look a bit worried but they seem nice. "Yes, I just dozed off a bit." I reply. He smiles at me and nods. "I know the feeling yeah, it happens to me a lot." I smile back at him and outstretch my hand. "I'm Sophia, I'm new here." He takes my hand and shakes it a little. "Right, I've never seen you here before so I guess that makes sense. I'm Liam." I qucikly grab on the opportunity of making a new friend. "Hey, do you happen to know where English is? I already missed Math and I don't want to be late.""Yeah, sure. I have English now, too so you can just come with me." he says and I grin at him. "Okay." *** English turns out to be great, I sit next to Liam and throughout class we make jokes about the teacher. Beyond happy that I found someone to hang out with already on the first day, I walk with him to the cafeteria after the class  to have lunch together. “So how do you usually spend lunch here?” I ask him casually when I see his cheek grow slightly pink. “Um, I just eat. Nothing special.” he answers. “Yeah, but with who?” He shrugs. “Alone, usually.” I frown. “What? Why?” It seems odd to me that he doesn't have any friends. Hopefully, he's not a creep or a weirdo and that's why everyone's avoiding him. It seems unlikely, though. His personality is just too warm for him to be unaccepted in society. For a moment, his eyes glance in the direction of my only other aquaintance in this school. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!" I whisper to myself and Liam gives me a weird look. Of course he's pointing in the dick's direction. "Do you know him?" Liam asks me and I roll my eyes. "I met him in the hallway today. Well, actually crashed into him and he got all pissed off and stuff. He's a complete ass." I tell him, huffing. Liam smiles at me, but when I look at him across the diner, he's intensely staring at me, almost as if he heard me. I roll my eyes again, just to see if that would get a reaction from him and I almost miss it, but he clenches his yaw so hard I think his teeth might fall out. They don't, though and I pout to myself. It would be nice to see how his ego would have shrunk if he lost all his teeth. "Well, that guy right there is the reason for my social status." Liam brings me back again. "We got off on the wrong foot in the Freshman year and he bullied all my friends until nobody wanted to hang out with me again." he tells me and my disgust for the guy grows even more. "That's horrible." I say and look at Liam. "Well, don't worry about it, okay? I'm gonna keep hanging out with you no matter what the douche-bag thinks or does." I smile at him and he smiles back. "Thanks." The lunch break was over though and we had to return to classes, in my case Biology. As I walk towards the classroom I dont think much about how this class is going to go, but as soon as I step into it, it turns into my worst nightmare. There are 19 people in it; and 10 tables for 2. Only one person doesn't have a partner and in that moment, I would rather sit down next to the Devil himself, than next to him. But then again, I should have known they're basically the same person anyway. As soon as he sees me he groans and looks out the window. Unsure of what to do, I stand in the middle of the classroom for a couple of second before the teacher notices me. "Hello, miss...?" the he says and I look at him. "Watson." I reply. "Well, miss Watson, please take a sit next to mister Jarvis there. We are about to begin." So his surname was Jarvis. Cute. I nod and head to the desk, but even before I make it there, the Devil speaks up. "There's absolutely no fucking way I'm sitting next to this bitch." I gasp and expect the class to do the same, but nobody seems shocked at all; even more, half of them seem like they're about to fall asleep any second now. Professor, however, looks up at the asshole. "What did you say, young man?" he asks. "I said," he begins again,"that there's no fucking way that I'll sit, much less work with miss Watson, because she is a fucking bitch." he repeats, saying miss Watson mockingly, but with his entire body giving off a bored vibe. The teacher looks slightly mad, but I'm not, not really. I must admit that I am slightly hurt, though. "What do you have to say to that, miss?" the teacher asks me. I purse my lips and reply:"In that case, I'd also rather not work with the egoistic dick sitting behind this desk." I must be honest when speaking to the teacher, right? This time the poor old mad has had enough. "Both of you! To the principal's office immediately!" he yells, pointing his finger to the door. I scoff and leave the classroom, quickly walking to the principal's office in rage, when someone suddenly yanks me back by my arm. " Ow! That hurt!""You fucking bitch!" the Devil yells at me. "Look what you did! If I get another warning I can get expelled! If you even know what that means, you stupid-" he yells at me but I interrupt him, slapping him hard across his face. His head turns to the left, a look of pain on his face. "Who the fuck do you think you are to yell at me? It was your fault as well! If you didn't call me names we wouldn't be here in this mess, so don't even try to put the blame on me! Again!" I scream in his face. I have had enough with him acting like he is a God or something. He slowly turns to look at me, his eyes the complete opposite of that they looked like this morning. The expression on his face chills me to the bone, making me gulp. He stares at me for a few seconds, then roughly pushes me against the wall and comes so close to me, I honestly think he might kiss me. Instead, he brings his mouth to my ear, lightly brushing against the skin on my cheek, and whispers:"Don't ever hit me again sweetheart, or I will fucking destroy you." He removes his mouth from my ear, so that he can look at me. I didn't realize it before, but he's holding my hands up against the wall, so that I can barely move. He makes eye contact with me and keeps on pressing me like that to the wall, his hands cold like his soul and it at that second in time it seems to me like I'll never need to breathe again.

Chapter 3 III.

I break the eyecontact first. I can't stand staring into those cold eyes for a second longer. If I would, I would cry. I hate the way he's making me feel; like I'm worth less than him, like I'm a stupid, naive child. "Let me go." I whisper, looking at anything but him. He doesn't even budge, though I can still feel his eyes on me. "I said let me go!" I say with more force and push him off of me. Surprisingly, he steps away from me. I look him in the eyes for one last time and say:"You are a horrible person. I hate you." He only rolls his eyes in response and starts walking away from me. I wait for a few seconds so that he's some distance away before I follow the Devil to the principal's office and notice for the first time that he has tattos on the back of his neck as well. It makes me wonder how many tattoos he's hiding under his clothes. As soon as the principal sees him, he sighs and asks in a tired voice:"What did you do again, Axel?" ** "No, there's absolutely no fucking chance I am doing that!" Axel, as I've come to learn, yells at the headmaster while I want to disappear into the ground and never appear again. "She-she is crazy! Completely mental! I am not going to survive a week with her!" "Watch your language Axel, or I might prolong it to the entire school year, not just a week!" headmaster yells back at him and I don't even care that I have finally found out the Devil's name because the headmaster apparently has a new life goal which is to make me and Axel the Evil best friends. How? We are being forced to spend a week together; spend every class this week sitting together and even lunch time. "Sir, I think you are being irrational. We had to come to your office because we were supposed to spend one hour sitting together, and you want us to do that for a whole week?"I try to convince him but even I know that I have already lost this war. "It's either this or I'm giving you both a warning, and you know what that means for you, Axel." headmaster Mr. Howell replies and Axel gives him the look that says exactly what he thinks of his proposition; like he's going to sneak into his house at night and murder his entire family in front of him. I, on the other hand, probably look as if I'm going to cry. "So do we have a deal?" Mr. Howell presses. The Devil and I look at each other, both with pursed lips. He's so going to kill me sometime during this goddamned week. I slowly nod and quietly whisper "Yes", knowing there's no way out of this. The headmaster nods, satisfied. "Axel?" he asks him and Axel groans, stands up so quickly the chair falls backwards, and leaves the office wordlessly. I sigh and look at Mr. Howell. "The week starts now." he says with a fake smile. "Have fun." That bastard. I inwardly roll my eyes at that and give him a fake smile before leaving his office as well, hearing him say something that sound suspiciously like 'goddamned kids'. Surprisingly, Axel's leaning against the wall in the hallway when I come out, obviously waiting for me. "Which class do you have now?" he sighs, not looking at me. I stare at him for a few seconds, unable to proces that he actually spoke in a somewhat normal tone to me, before snapping out of it and opening my bag to take out my schedule. "I have... Uh, Geography." I reply. Axel rolls his eyes and says:"Fuck. I hate Geography." "Well, we can go to your class instead." I propose. The Devil glances at me and shakes his head:"Nah, I have History and I hate History even more than Geography. Plus I don't want you to know my schedule so we're going by yours this week, fine?" I frown. "Why shouldn't I know your schedule?" "Because I don't want you following me everywhere once this week finishes." He replies curtly and I start to laugh. "Why would I ever want to follow you?" "I don't know, you women always do." he bites back, scratching the back of his neck. I roll my eyes at him and his ego. "Trust me, my goal is to get away from the asshole you are, not to follow you." He glares at me:"Watch it." His deep, low, raspy voice spreads around the hallway, intimidating every living being in it, including me. "Wow, your attitude is back. Thank god, I thought something was wrong." I say and walk pass him down the hall. "Your smart mouth really gets on my fucking nerves, you know." he replies, catching up with me. "And your rudeness bothers me, but you don't see me complaining, do you?" I spit back at him, wanting to roll my eyes at him but refraining from it. On that note the cheerful week begins. ** "Give me a pen." a voice sounds next to me when I sit down in my Geography class and I turn and give Axel a weird look. "What?" He rolls his eyes. "Are you deaf? Give me a fucking pen." I glare at him and look away from him without a word. There's no way he's talking to me like this. "Are you fucking ignoring me?" he hisses at me and I stay silent. He waits for a few moments. "Answer me." I stay silent, liking the way I'm provoking him. "Sophia." he hisses. "Don't be a fucking idiot." I give no answer, refraining from smiling. "Fine, fuck. This is going to be the worst fucking week of my fucking life." he complains like a little girl and I almost chuckle to myself, when he reaches over and takes a pen by himself. "Hey! You can't just do that!" Who the hell does he think he is?! "Give it back!" I hiss and he gives me no answer. Oh, really? He's using my methods now? I roll my eyes. "Are you kidding me? Give me my pen back." Silence. I purse my lips and not waiting for the answer anymore and simply reaching towards my pen, attempting to pull it out of Axel's hand, but he doesn't let me. "What the fuck?" he asks. "Give me back my pen." I hiss at him. "No. I need a pen. I'm keeping it." he hisses back. "How can you come to school without a pen?""Simple. I don't take a fucking pen with you." he explains like I'm five years old and my nose flares. "You don't have to be such a dick." I narrow my eyes. "You don't have to be such a fucking bitch." he bites back. We're both still pulling on the poor pen and I realize we're going to break it if we don't stop soon, so I come up with a plan. "Fine. You can have it. Under one condition." He rolls his eyes. "What?""You have to ask for it. Nicely." I reply. He raises his brows. "What? Fuck no." I lift my brow and don't say anything else. We keep on pulling on it for a few more seconds when he rolls his eyes, giving in. "Can I have the fucking pen?" he growls. "Say please.""You're pushing it." he glares at me and I don't let go of the pen. He sighs in exasperation. "Fine. Can I please have the fucking pen, Ms. Bitchy?" I consider it for a second. Should I? Oh, to hell, he did say please. "Fine, I'll take it." I say and let go of the pen. He doesn't say anything else and I'm glad. The next two classes go by as calmly as I could only have hoped, considering Axel's new technique seems to be ignoring me. You don't see me complaining, I'm happy as long as he keeps his mouth shut. The pupils' expression when they see Axel and I sitting together is hillarious; obviously they are used to him sitting alone or at least sitting with one of the guys from his group. His group is only another problem for me. They are all big and muscular with a bunch of tattoos everywhere, just like the Devil, and I'm scared shitless of them. When they first see Axel and I walking down the hall together to my next class they look so surprised I'm actually offended. "Mate? We didn't know you have a girlfriend?" the one with dark hair and a stubble on his face says. "She doesn't seem your type.""Shut up, Theo. It was the genious idea of our idiotic headmaster that I have to follow her around. It's not like I would ever fuck that." he spits out and I look at the floor. That really hurt, in all honesty. I know I'm not pretty and all but saying it like that only lowers my confidence. "Well in that case; Hi! I'm Jax." the blonde one introduces himself with a big smile on his face and stretches out his hand. I carefully take it and shake it, offering him a small smile. "Keep it in your pants Jax! Hi, I'm Louis!" another guy says, slightly shorter than the rest of his friends but with gorgeous eyes. His smile is even bigger than Jax's. I start outstretching my hand, but instead Louis hugs me. That gesture really surprises me, but I hug him back sofly after a few moments anyway. The guy with black hair, Theo, chuckles. "I'm Theo." he says and smiles at me when Louis pulls away. Quickly, I come to realization that they are all really nice and only dress like assholes, except of course Axel who actually is one. "I'm Sophia." I smile at all of them. "Ooh, such pretty name." Jax says. "For a pretty girl." Louis adds, making me blush and look at my feet. Out the corner of my eye I see Axel roll his eyes and clench his jaw. He grabs my arm and starts pulling me away from his friends. "We gotta go. Bye faggots." I can hear them all laugh in the distance. "They're nice. Especially Jax and Louis." I said. Axel only glares at me in response.

Chapter 4 IV.

When Liam sees us in our last class, he almost doubles over in surprise. I sigh:"I'll explain later. I'm sorry we can't sit together this week." I apologize sincerely. I know he's probably as happy as me that he finally has a friend, if not even more. "Okay, I'll call you after class. Can you give me your number?" he requests and I quickly scribble it down on the corner of his notebook. He smiles:"Thanks.""Of course you would become best friend with the lamest kid in the entire school." Axel speaks next to me. "You're probably fucking him as well.""Oh, shut up, I've only been here one day, literally. And so what if I'm friendly with him? He's a much better person than you."I say back and he makes a grimace. "He's a much better person than you." he mocks my voice. I give Liam a look and slightly shake my head. How am I going to survive four more days of this? "Can you please quiet down? I don't want to go to the principal's office because of you again." I hiss at him and he raises his brows at me, giving me and offended look. "Because of me? Fuck no, don't even fucking try to put the guilt on my fucking shoulders. If you weren't so fucking annoying, I wouldn't have to sit next to your stinky fucking ugly ass for the entire week." he shoots back. I give him the hardest glare I can muster. "You're telling me that I stink. The irony." The look in his eyes turns icy. "Wow, how fucking grown up from you. Please just shut the fuck up leave me alone. I don't have the fucking nerves to deal with you right now." ** The rest of the week is pretty uneventful. I get used to Axel's constant rude and annoying remarks and the constant need to punch him in the face. In all fairness, his remarks are sometimes funny but otherwise he's still a complete dick to me. By Friday I find out that I have started to swear a bit and promise myself I would stop. After Friday I'm never going to speak another word to Axel anyway. At the end of the last class on Friday, the headmaster comes to get us and asks us how we're doing. "Oh, she's great! We're like best friends now, talking about period and making braids to each other!" Axel says and I mentally facepalm myself. There's no way Mr. Howell will fall for that. "Yeah, we get along well." I lie. "Well? What are you saying, Soph? You know we're soul sisters! Oh, I can't wait for our spa day tomorrow!" Axel exclaims and throws an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him, making me stiffen. "Aren't you, bff?" I give the headmaster a fake smile and nod:"Yeah, sure." "Spa day, huh?" he grins, obviously not buying it but evidently not wanting to deal with us anymore. "You did a good job. Have a nice weekend!" With those words he leaves us and Axel immediately removes his arm, as if he's disgusted of me. "What a fucking idiot." He doesn't say goodbye, like always and leaves to go wherever he's supposed to be, probably selling drugs or something. I sigh and slowly start to head home. I feel glad that the week with Axel is over, but somehow, a small piece of me feels slightly disappointed that it has ended already. No matter how rude or annoying he is, he somehow has an ability to stay on my mind and now that the week is over I probably won't ever talk to him again. As I realize what I'm thinking, I want to slap myself. Sophie! What the hell? You're happy you won't have to bother yourself with him anymore, remember? When I get home and start with my homework, I figure out that I can go by for only a minute or two before I hear a sarcastic remark in my head. I shake my head, forcing myself to concentrate on my school work, but unfortunately his remarks don't leave me. ** "Sophie! Can you please come downstairs sweetheart?" my mum yells and I put down the pen, following her order. "Hey mum, what do you need?" I ask and she hands me a small piece of paper. "We've run out of those things. Could you please go buy them?" I look at the list and see that there are some basic things like eggs and milk written on it. "Yeah, sure. I'll be right back okay?" I say and smile. "Thank you sweetie." she thanks me and gives me a hug. "You're the best." I chuckle and put on shoes and a jacket, since it is quite chilly at evening on a September night and leave the house. As I slowly walk, I take my time observing the trees and the birds around me. With slight fear I also notice it's getting darker and I pick up my pace, not wanting to be outside when it will be completely dark. I wouldn't want any bad people to find me alone in the dark. What, are you scared of the dark? Pussy. I hear Axel's voice in my head and I squeeze my eyes shut in annoyance. My wishes go down the drain with the long line in the store, though, and by the time I finally exit it, the night is pitch dark. I quietly curse and then curse again because I cursed. I zip up the jacket and quietly start to walk back to my house, when multiple angry voices in the shadows between two buildings stop me in my tracks. Oh dear. This doesn't sound good. I feel my heart beat speed up when my fears are confirmed. There's a fight going on. I'm not able to see much because of the darkness, but I can see that there are three against one, one who's already on the floor, his hands around his stomach, yet the other three men don't stop kicking him and he lets out a loud grunt of pain as a foot comes up to between his legs. I could recognize that deep voice everywhere. The person on the ground is Axel. Suddenly something overcomes me and I start to run towards them. "Hey! Leave him alone!" The men turn to look at me and I see that most of them are bloody around their mouths, showing that Axel got a few punches on them before falling to the ground. "Well, well, well, who do we have here? Is this one of your girlfriends, Jarvis?"One of them says, looking directly at me. "She's hot, guys. You think we could...?"another one says and I slowly inch away from them. "Leave her alone." Axel is now looking up at us through his swollen eyes. "Or else what, dick?!" The first guy takes a step toward Axel but instead I reply. "Or else I'll scream." All the men looked at me, before two of them start laughing, the third one keeping a straight face and I realize that he has yet to speak. "Oh you'll scream? I bet I could make you scream louder, baby." Guy number two says and caresses my cheek with his disgusting hand. I flinch away from him. "Come on guys, let's go before she actually does something. We taught Jarvis here his lesson and that was what we came to do." the third guy finally speaks up and I thank the gods that at least one of them is a little human. They stand there in silence for a minute before the first guy finally says:"Fine, fuck. Let's go." With those words he turns on his heels and starts walking into the shadows, the opposite direction of which I came. The third guy follows him. Suddenly I feel the same disgusting had on my cheek again and then a whisper in my ear:"Till next time, baby." He moves away a bit and theres not much I can see about him, but I will always remember those horrible black eyes staring down at me. I feel an intense need to spit in his face, but I'm thankfully able to hold it back and soon he disappears as well.

Chapter 5 V.

Tears start to form in my eyes at the thought of what just happened. Nobody has ever talked to me like that; especially not implied rape on me. I'm a virgin, I've never even had a boyfriend so to say that I'm shocked is an understatement. A silent grunt snaps me out of the transe I'm in and I immediately remember why I'm here. Axel. He looks horrible. There's a bruise starting to form around his right eye already, blood's oozing out of his nose and the corner of his mouth. The rest is covered with clothing but I know it can't be in a much better condition than his face. "Oh god Axel, we need to take you to the hospital." I breathe out and lean down to him. He quickly shakes his head. "No." cough "No hospital.""But..." I try to object but he interrupts me. "No hospital." he says with more force and winces, rolling on his back and putting his arm over his chest. "Just help me get up." I frown, not liking the way he completely dismissed my idea, but because I know that he's not going to the hospital I keep my mouth closed and offer him a hand. He takes it and slowly starts to push himself up, making horrible noises. I put my other hand on his back and a while later he's on his legs, leaning on me. It's actually surprising how I'm able to hold that much weight, I guess I'm too focused on helping him than on realizing how heavy he is. "Where do you want me to take you?" I ask him, slightly stumbling to the left. "Home." is the simple answer and I sigh. "I don't know where you live, Axel." He swallows. "I'll lead you. Go left." I make a short step and he limps with me, his breath panted showing that he is in great pain. "Axel I don't think...""Oh will you shut the fuck up." he says angrily. "I can make it." I purse my lips, suddenly wanting to start to cry again. "You know, if you're going to be mean you can walk alone." I spit at him. Seriously, I come to help him, stop the guys from hitting him, get him on his feet and he's going to act like this? It was stupid of me to even do all those things, on second thought. I don't know what I was thinking. "Go around the corner here." he says quietly and I oblige, panting under his weight. "Is it far?" I ask and he shakes his head. "Only about three more minutes." And he wasn't lying. Soon we come to a two story, old building. "Here we are." he says and coughs, pulling a key from the pocket of his tight black jeans. He unlocks the doors and we slowly make our way in. "Home sweet home." The place is surprisingly well kept. The hall is painted in white and there's a set of drawers on the right and a few pairs of shoes, all black, opposite the drawers, on the left. Above them are hangers. Down the hall there are two doorways opposite of each other and at the end there are stairs leading upstairs. "This is the kitchen." he says as we pass the doorways, pointing to the left. "And that is the living room." he points on the right. "But the bedroom is upstairs so let's go." I roll my eyes at his bossyness. "We need to clean those wounds first so how about you tell me where the bathroom is?" He glances at me. "Well it's also upstairs. Come."he says. We barely make it through the stairs, him being the heavy pig that he is I almost give up halfway, but thankfully his stubborness overcomes my lack of willpower and in ten minutes he's sitting on the toilet lid in his bathroom. It's very pretty; in fact all of it is and it makes me wonder what kind of job his parents have. They're probably doctors or something. "Why aren't your parents home?" I ask him while holding his hand under running water. He doesn't even make a sound so I assume he's used to this. The thought tastes bitter in my mouth. "None of your business." He replies and I purse my lips, stop washing his wounds and cross my arms over my chest. He looks up at me with the eye that is not swollen past ability to look and I can see from a mile that he's annoyed with me yet again. »I live alone. Fine?« he sighs. "How can you afford this place then?" I ask. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." he answers and I raise my brows. He chuckles. "Kidding. My parents left this to me after they died." I gasp before I can stop myself. "I'm sorry." I say and he frowns at me. "Stop that. I don't want your pity." With that he rips his hand from mine and starts wiping it. "It's not pity. It's offering support." I argue and he scoffs. "Well I don't want your support." I roll my eyes at him. "Whatever, Axel. I'm going to go now because you're being an ass." I say and stand up. He scoffs again."Rather be an ass than be as pathetic as you." I narrow my eyes. "Excuse me? This is the thanks I receive after saving and helping you? Wow, Axel aren't you just great.""Let me point out that I didn't ask you for anything tonight, it was completely your fault that you got messed with those guys. I knew you were going to be clingy and annoying if I ever spoke to you the second I saw you." I feel tears start to form in my eyes. "Go to hell, asshole." I seethe and storm out of that bathroom and that house. That night I cry myself to sleep.

Chapter 6 VI.

The weekend passes quickly and calmly but when Sunday evening comes around, my nerves get the best of me. I only sleep for about 2 hours and when I wake up, I look and feel like shit; there's no other way to put it. Right now, I'd rather be thrown to wolves and tigers than be in the same building as the Devil. Still, I have to go to school even if I dread seeing Axel. It's not like I can avoid him for the rest of my life. "Bye, honey and try to come home on time today." mum says as she gives me a kiss on the cheek before I leave and I sigh to myself. We had a fight on Friday because I came home two hours later that I should have, without the groceries. She was very upset and angry with me, screaming like there was no tomorrow, and I only calmed her down when I said that I ran into a friend. She seemed happy that I had a friend but still confused as to what happened to the stuff I was supossed to buy, and I quickly made up a lie that the money fell out of my jacket. Thatnkfully, she believed me but knowing her, she will be a little suspicious for a while. "Hey, Sophie!" Liam greets me as soon as I step into school. I smile and hug him, genuinely happy to see him. "Hey Liam! How are you?""Great, I slept really well. What about you? You look like you got hit by a bus." he laughs at me and I shake my head, unable to wait for his reaction to my story. "You won't believe me what happened." ** He sits there, opposite of me, with his mouth hanging wide open when I tell him everything. "You're kidding." "I wish I was." "Are you sure?" "Positive." "Maybe you accidentally took some drugs or had a very vivid dream or..." "Liam, I'm sure it was real." He lets out a breath. "Wow." The diner is completely packed with students, everybody minding their own business so we're able to talk freely. I have been scared ever since morning that I would run into Axel but I actually haven't seen him today yet and it's slowly starting to be more and more obvious that he's not in school. Thank you Mary, sweet mother of Jesus for saving me again and again. "I know, right?" Suddenly, he gulps and looks me in the eye. "Look, Sophie, you're a really great girl and I know you're not that stupid but you do realize that this guy is an asshole, right?" he says and I nod. "I'm very well aware of that fact, Liam." "And you do realize he is a sociopath?" he continues and I frown in confusion. "What are you trying to imply?" I ask, confused. "Look, here's the thing. He is a pretty attractive guy and I know women like 'bad boys' but..." "Omg! No! God! I don't like him!" I exclaim. "Why would you ever think of that?" He raises his brow. "Well, you like to talk about him and sometimes I catch you looking around the classroom for him and I thought you are maybe starting to like him, you know." I shake my head. "Don't worry. I could never like someone like him." I state, because it's the truth. "I'm glad because you honestly deserve someone much better. All he'd do is break your heart." "Don't worry, Liam, there is literally zero chance of me and Axel ever being together." I say with a confident voice. "Look, I gotta make a quick run to the library, see you in next class?" I say, standing up and picking up my bag. Liam nods and concentrates back on his food. I walk to the library quckly, my thoughts far away. For some reason, I don't have Axel on my mind for the first time in what seems like forever. I suddenly stop in my tracks, looking around. Where am I? I've never been in this part of school. "Hello!" I jump 3 feet in the air and whirl around to see where the high-pitched voice came from. She's a petite girl, almost as petite as me and her hair is styled in large wavy curls, reaching to the middle of her back. Her friendly green eyes seemed oddly familiar, but I can't place where I have last seen them. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! You dropped your phone and I wanted to give it to you." she grins at me and my heart falls to my stomach. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without a phone." "No problem. I was on my way to the library and I saw you drop it so I wanted to help." she says and I could swear that I have seen that smile somewhere before. I shake the thought off. My mind is surely playing tricks on me because I haven't gotten a lot of sleep last night. "I was just going to the library as well." I say. "I'm not completely sure where it is though, would you mind showing me?" "Of course! Come with me." she grins and starts prancing. I smile to myself at this girl's positive energy. "Are you new here?" she asks me and I nod. "Thought so. I knew I haven't seen you before." she says. "Oh, by the way, I'm Amber." she introduces herself and I chuckle. "Sophie." I grin. * The rest of the week is pretty uneventful. By Friday Amber somehow becomes me and Liam's friend so now we have a nice little group of friends we all enjoy being part of. On the other hand, Axel never appears in school and I am beginning to get worried. I quickly push the thought away when I remind myself of how much of an ass he is. The weekend comes quickly and along it comes constant begging from Amber to join her at some party. It's apparently a pretty big thing and we simply have to be there; "we" because she doesn't want to go alone. She wants Liam to go too, but he said he's got some plans and I'm still not sure if he was only saying it to get her off his back. I really wish I made something up too. "Oh come on it'll be fun!" she whines, jumping up and down all over my room. "Do you see how much make up I have brought with me? You simply have to go or else all that carrying was for nothing." I groan. "Amber, -" "Pleeeasee!" I roll my eyes:"Okay! Fine! I'll go! Happy?!" She looks at me like she has just won a magical unicorn which grants wishes, while I sit there, glaring at her. "Yay, you're the best!" My anger slowly dissolves as I watch her be as happy as ever. "If it sucks, however, I'm never going out with you again." I tell her. "It won't suck, I promise." she swears and grins at me. "Now, bathroom." she points to my door and starts pulling me with her. "Please don't make me look like a drag queen." I beg her. "Oh shush, I'm only going to apply a little makeup, you're already gorgeous as it is, I just want to make you even more gorgeous. Now sit." she points on the toilet lid. "You're not allowed to look into the mirror until we're finished, okay?" she asks and I nod, just wanting it to be over. "Okay." She hums, satisfied. Over the next few minutes she's guiding me through my makeup, asking me if I was fine with her putting on foundation, eyeliner and eyeshadow. The only thing she doesn't ask me is the colour of the lipstick, even though I still feel her apply it. "Oh, girl you look amazing!" she says when she's done and I smile. "Really?" "Absolutely! Time for the dress. Don't look in the mirror!" I roll my eyes at her bossyness, but oblige anyway. She leads me back to my bedroom and pulls something black and thin from the bag she has brought with herself. "What is that?" I ask, curious. "The dress?" she says in a tone that implies that she thought it was obvious and my eyes almost bulge out of my sockets. "That small thing is a dress!?" "No, this gorgeous thing is your dress. Now, get dressed and I'll be in the bathroom doing my makeup. Come show yourself when your're finished." With those words she leaves, leaving me speachless. Slowly and carefully I approach the dress laid out on the bed, almost afraid it would attack me. I pick it up with both hands and notice on closer inspection that it's actually really pretty. The material is completely back and elastic, meaning it would probably fit my body like a glove. There are small diamonds spread all over it, almost like glitter, and it gives the dress a shiny effect. What I really like about it, though, is that even though it's short (I don't think it will reach my knees) it has long lace sleeves. "Wow." I whisper. I quickly get out of my clothes and put the dress on carefully, not wanting to rip it. I smooth it out with my hands, getting rid of all the wrinkles and I slightly wince when I see that it barely reaches mid-thigh. God, I hope I don't look like a slut. "Are you done?" Amber comes back, looking like a model with make up on. "You look absolutely stunning." "Wow, you look great." We both say at the same time and laugh. "Come, you need to see how you look." she grabs my hand and pulls me with her across the hall, in front of the mirror. To be honest, I almost don't recognize myself. It I wouldn't know that I'm standing in front of a mirror and would only see this picture of myself, I'm sure that nobody would be able to convince me this is actually me, the lazy, un-popular, awkward, American Horror Story obsessed girl. I usually looked like an average person; not especially pretty but not particulary ugly either. But now, the woman standing before me looks confident and amazing. I'm wearing bright red lipstick which stands out from all the black on me; my hair and my dress. My hair is styled in relaxed waves down to the bottom of my back and my blue eyes practically shine because of the dark make-up around them. "You are a magician, Amber, I swear." I say, touching my face to convince myself that the woman in the mirror is really me. She quickly grabs my hand. "No touchy. We don't want to ruin that makeup. And yeah, I know. Now we have to go, we're already late." ** I stand there with my mouth wide open. "This is where the party is?" I ask, hoping to god the answer is no. "Yep. Is something wrong?" Amber asks, worry and curiosity in her voice while I want to cry. However, I only gulp and manage to control myself because I haven't told her about him yet and this was definitely not the right time to do that. 'Quit bitching and just get over it' his voice rings in my head and I swallow. "No, it's okay." It's not though, because the house we are standing in front of is the house I was in only a little less than a week ago. It's the house of the person I hate. It's Axel's house. I knew I shouldn't have gone to this party.

Chapter 7 VII.

I gulp and slowly start to move towards the house I have never wished to be in again. "Come on." Amber smiles at me and enters it and I follow behind her. Immediately when people see her, they cheer and pull her with them. I sigh and slowly look around to see if there is a particular person in this room. Thankfully, he isn't. Alcohol is, though and I quickly make my way towards it. I need to have at least something in my sistem if I want to survive tonight. I grab a glass for shots, fill it and drink it. It tastes horrible, but I repeat the action. I'm about to do the fourth shot, when a hand suddenly stops me. "Whoa, slow there tiger. You do not want to intake that much alcohol in such a short amount of time, don't you know that?" the voice says and it sounds quite familiar so I turn towards it. "Oh, hi Theo." I greet and burp. If Theo's here, does that mean that his dick of a tall, gorgeous friend is here, too? I kinda miss him. Goddamn it, Sophie. Not gorgeous. Definetly not gorgeous. This is why you shouldn't drink, it makes you have inappropriate thoughts. And you most certainly do not miss him, are you dumb? He chuckles. "What are you doing here?" His face is a bit blurry, even if I only had three shots. "Amber, my friend, brought me here." I reply and he nods, biting his lip. I want to ask him where Axel is, but I don't want to sound pathetic and as if I have came here because of him. "You want to go on a walk?" Theo suddenly asks me and my eyes widen. "You wanna go on a walk with me?" I ask and he starts to laugh. "Sure, why not? A bit of fresh air would feel good." he replies and I nod, agreeing with him. "Okay, let's go." I say and he grabs my hand, pulling me through the crowd. I follow him closely behind, ducking my head a bit and soon we make it through the crowd and outside. "It's really crowded in there. I didn't know Axel knew so many people." I comment. Theo raises his brow at me. "You know that's Axel's house?" he asks me. I nod, even though there is a small part of me persistently trying to tell me to keep these things to myself. I am too drunk to listen to it, so I ramble on. "Yeah, he brought me here on Sunday when he got his ass kicked and I had to help him walk." I chuckle. "Wait what? What happened?" Theo asks with alarmed voice while pulling a pocket of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Well I don't really know, I just walked past when I saw him laying on the ground and three guys kicking him. I'm a nice person, obviously, so I started running towards them and made them stop. One of them was really bad. I didn't know you smoked. Can I try?" I ask, already reaching for his now lit cigarette and putting it between my lips. I try to inhale, but as soon as I do something horrible comes into my lungs and I start coughing. Theo just stands there laughing at me and takes the cigarette from my hand. "You've never smoked before, have you? I coughed the first time too." I furrow my brows. "That tastes horrible, why would you do that every day?" He shrugs. "Because I'm addicted to it." I lift my brow, smiling."Fair enough." We walk for a while in silence after that. The air outside is chilly and I am a bit cold because I'm wearing that small dress. After a while Theo notices and asks:"Are you cold?" I shrug."A bit. I'll live." I smile and he shakes his head. "No there's no need for you to be cold. Here, have my jacket." he says, already taking it off. "But then you'll be cold." I argue. "Don't worry about me, love. I got thick skin." he grins and I blush. "Okay." I say softly and put in his jacket. "This is very sweet of you.""Sweet is my middle name." he replies and shrugged his shoulders. "Such a gentleman." I stick out my tongue and poke his nose. His eyes widen and he looks at me with a surprised look. "Alcohol is not good for you." I laugh and make a grimace, making him laugh and shake his head at me. "So do you know who the guys who beat Axel up were?""No, not really, because it was so dark, but they were very mean and creepy and horrible and I didn't like them. One of them had very dark eyes though, I remember that." I reply and wrinkle my nose, reviving the memory. Theo seems to be thinking about it for a second, but then he shakes his head and turns to me. "Come, let's go back. People will be wondering where we are." We come back about ten minutes later and I give him back his jacket. The party only seemed to have gotten more crowded. "Wow, there's so many people here." I say in awe and turn towards Theo. He nods and then brings his hand to my face. I raise my brows:"What are you-?""There's a strand of hair on your face." he says and puts the hair behind my ear. And then everything stops. I feel him before I see him, or maybe I smell him, I don't know, but I know he is there, right behind me. "So what, you're fucking him now?" he suddenly says, very harshly. I whip towards him, about to tell him off but as soon as I see him, I can't get a single word of my mouth. His eye is completely purple and there are bruises and damaged skin all over his face and his arms. He's wearing a plaid back shirt and black tight jeans, but he still looks so hot. I become angry with myself at that thought again. That alcohol really must've gotten deep in my sistem. "I got nothing against it dude, you can keep fucking her as much as you want, I don't care." Axel bites at Theo. "I gotta admit that I thought you had higher standards, though." I gulp and glare at him. Why does he hate me so much? What did I ever do to him? "Why the hell do you even care? It's not my fault that you've gotten so bored with your boring life that you need to get on people's nerves to make it slightly more interesting." Theo glares at his so called friend and says at the same time:"What the fuck, dude?" Axel decides to ignore his friend and narrows his eyes at me. "Will you stop trying to fucking put me down? Are you a fucking idiot or what to not know not to fuck with me? Oh, what am I asking. Of fucking course you are. You're the biggest fucking idiot I've ever met.""Well you are the biggest asshole I have ever met." I spit at him and turn on my heels, running through the crowd away from him. I run for about a minute before realizing there are tears on my face and that I dont't know where I'm going. I angrily wipe my tears away. Why am I crying because of him again? I want to go hom e. Gulping, I start searching for Amber but I can't find her anywhere; it's like she has disappeared. Devastated and feeling slightly depressed I make my way back to where the alcohol is and start drinking again. I take one shot, two shots before just drinking from the bottle. That's a stupid thing to do and I know it, but I just don't care – I only want the pain to go away. And then a hand rips the bottle from me. "Nooo..." I moan, reaching for it. "You. You need to stop drinking right now. I don't want ambulance at my house." Axel says and I get mad. Really mad. "You." I growl and point a finger in his face. "First you take away my dignity and now alcohol? Fuck. You." I say and then spit at him. I literally spit in his face. He closes his eyes but opens his mouth in shock as my saliva drips down his face. Then he wipes it away with his hand and glares at me. "Oh, you're dead." Quickly, I turn on my heels, almost losing balance and am about to run through the crowd again but he harshly yanks my arm back towards him and starts pulling me upstairs. I open my mouth in pain and whine but he doesn't hear me. Or maybe he simply doesn't care and has decided to ignore me. I have no idea how we make it up the stairs but when we do, he pushes me in his bedroom and closes the door behind him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I suddenly scream in his face. "You do not act like that towards women! Especially not me! I helped you when nobody else did and now you're acting like this?!""I never asked you to help me so stop saying that! I never needed your help! You were just being stupid by doing that and not doing anyone a favour!" he screams back, pushing me against the wall. He is livid, the vein in his neck poping out. His eyes seem to turn a darker shade and if I wasn't overwhelmed with my emotions at the moment, I would hiss at the pain from how much pressure he has put into the grip on my wrists. I take a deep breath, forcing back the tears. "What is so wrong with me helping you?! Why are acting like this towards me?! What have I ever done to you?!" I scream back in his face which is only inches away. He slams the wall above my head and looks straight into my eyes. And then he whispers the words I have never thought I would hear, especially not from his mouth. "I'm acting like a complete dick because you are making me want to not hate you and I have a strong urge to hate everybody I meet.« I stare at him in awe, wondering if I have heard him correctly or if alcohol had such effects on me, but deep down I know I have heard him correctly. He is still looking down at me, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, his mouth open, deep breaths coming out of it. He really is here and he really has said that. And then, just like that, I kiss him.

Chapter 8 VIII.

My hands tangle into his dark curls as I lay my lips onto his incredibly soft ones. I take my time to enjoy the way they feel, the way they taste and along them I could taste my salty tears. Axel stays completely still, as if he doesn't realize what is happening. Just as I begin to worry that he doesn't like this as much as I do and pull back slightly, he kisses me. He pushes harshly against me, his hands now tightly on my sides and pries my mouth open. It feels like heaven; like everything I didn't know I was missing. I can feel my heart beating fast and our tongues dancing with each other, exploring each other's mouth. Butterflies are going crazy in my stumach and then he suddenly lifts me up and lays me down on his bed, his rings digging into my skin. In my subconciousness I know that this is wrong, but it feels so right that I can't help my actions. His mouth is warm and fresh; it tastes like mint and in that moment mint is my favourite flavour. My hands pull at his hair and then I accidentally bite his lip. He growls like a wild animal and climbs on top of me, catching my hands in his and keeping them hostage above my head, his other hand coming around my neck to pull my mouth closer to his. I lift my pelvis to his, creating friction that was so tempting, but so wrong and in that moment his phone rings in his pocket. He hesitantly removes his mouth from mine and releases my hands. "Fuck." he silently curses and I start panicing, eyes wide open as I slowly realize what I just did. He lifts himself off of me and in the next moment I'm on my feet, grabbing my hair and heading straight for the door. "This- this was a mistake." I say quietly and give one last look over my shoulder at Axel. His phone is still ringing in his pocket but he pays no attention to it; his hair is a mess on top of his head and his lips, his delicious lips are red and swollen. He doesn't say anything, but his eyes drop a little, the fire that was burning only moments ago extinguished. He runs his hand through his hair roughly and I rip my eyes away. I force myself to run downstairs, my make-up probably completely smudged because of the tears which are still running down my cheeks. I head straight for the exist, but before I can make it, a hand on my shoulder stops me. "Hey, Soph, are you okay?" Theo asks me, worry in his brown eyes. I nod. "Yeah, I just- I just need to get home." I reply. "Come, I'll take you." he offers and I really want to argue, but I stop myself. What's the point? I'm drunk and I don't feel like walking for half an hour anyway. "Okay." I smile and let him lead me outside by my hand. "This is my car." he says and points to a dark Toyota. "Cool." I reply. "Not really." he chuckles. "But it does the job." We sit in the car and Theo asks:"Where do you live?" I give him the address and then relax in the seat, looking outside the window. The car's a bit messy, but he's a high school student so it's understandable. "So what happened?" he asks the inevitable question and looks towards me. I sigh. "Nothing much, we just fought." I lie. I feel a little bad about lying, but the kiss just seems... private and I want to keep it to myself. "Was he being a huge dick?" he asks. "Well, he was like he usually is." I reply and Theo gives me a questionable look. "Yes, he was being a dick." I explain. He shakes his head. "I don't know what's been up his ass lately. He was never suck an asshole." I shrug. "Maybe he's on his period." Theo starts laughing, and I do, too, as I watch him. Soon, we make it outside my house and I turn to Theo. "Thank you for the ride, it would really suck if I had to walk home." He smiles. "It's no problem. I had fun with you tonight.""Me too." I reply. "Look," Theo suddenly says, "is there anything going on between you and Jarvis? I could swear you two hated each other, but sometimes I get this weird vibe and catch him looking at you and stuff..." he rambles and I wonder what to say. We kissed, does that count as "having something going on"? I don't know what to reply so I go with the safe answer. "No, not really." I say and Theo nods. "That's cool. He doesn't really seem good for you." Yep, heard that one before. "I guess. Well, thanks again for the ride, but I have to go. My parents will start to worry." I say and open the car door, sliding out. "Okay, goodnight Sophie." Theo smiles. "Goodnight, Theo." With those words I shut the door and in twenty minutes I'm fast asleep, dreaming of dark green eyes and soft lips. *** I wake up next day with the worst hangover in the history of mankind. Groaning, I get up from the bed and see that I still have on clothes from yesterday and I change into sweatpants and a top. I make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair and when I'm done, I go downstairs to get something to eat. Halfway down the stairs I smell pancakes and pick up my pace, realizing just how hungry I actually am. "Hey mom what are you-?" Holy shit. My mum turns to look at me with a huge smile on her face. "Hi sweetie, look who has come for a visit." Sitting there, grinning, is the Devil himself. The Devil who I grinded on last night. "Hi, Sophia. You left without a goodbye last night so I have come to check up on you." he fake-smiles and I know he is mad that I ran off from the look in his eyes. But honestly, what else was I about to do? Let him go all the way? Even the kiss was a mistake. Then why don't you regret it? I push the thought into the back of my mind and focus on the situation before me. Suddenly, I have an idea on how to piss him off since I like doing it so much. "Sorry Axel but Theo was so nice to offer to take me home so I couldn't stay there and make him wait for me." I give him my best fake smile. "How nice of him." he says with pursed lips. "Oh, I'm so happy that you have so many friends, darling. I have to meet this Theo, he sounds great!" my mother beams at me and sets a plate with pancakes down at the table opposite of Axel. "Oh, he's very nice, mum. I really like him, you will too." I say and sit down. Axel looks at me with expresionless face and I quickly look down at pancakes. "Hey Sophie, do you mind showing me where the toilet is?" he suddenly asks and I look at him. He raises his brow and gives me a fake smile, making me gulp, but since my mum is there there's really not much I can do. "Sure. Come on." I say and stand up. "It's just behind the corner-""Oh, I'm really bad with directions, sorry. Can you come show me?" he says and not really waiting for the answer, grabs my hand, pulling me with him. As soon as we make it around the corner, he pulls me into the first room he finds, coincidentally being the bathroom, and closes the door behind him. "So Theo, huh? Do you like him?« he asks in a low voice and immediately makes me mad. "I believe that is none of your business." I hiss at him. »What the hell are you doing at my house? How did you even know where I live?« Of course me and Theo are just friends, but I decide that he doesn't need to know that at the moment. He has angered me so many times already, now it's my turn. "I guess it's not.” he raises a brow pushing me against the wall with his fingers brushing the side of my neck, “but I think it would be better for you if you told me. You see, I don't want the whole school thinking you banged a dude after only two weeks in a new town. You'd be turned into the school slut.” he looks at me with a fake smile, brushing his fingers slowly against my skin as his calm voice enters my head. “Are you threatening me?” I whisper, conflicted between slapping him and kissing him. “I'm trying to help you.” he replies and I purse my lips, giving him a look of complete disgust. “I don't like Theo.”“You sure?”“Yes. What the hell does that matter to you anyway?” He shrugs. “He's a dear friend. It matters. Oh, and don't worry about not having time because you are coming with me after breakfast. I already arranged it with your mum so don't even fucking try to argue. You and I got some things to talk about. Now go before your mother thinks I'm fucking your brains out in her bathroom." He orders, letting go of my neck and grins while I stand there in horror and slowly turn to leave. He is right, though. We have so much to talk about.

Chapter 9 IX.

I sit behind the table, barely containing my anger and waiting for Axel to emerge from the bathroom. A lot of things confuse me; how does he know where I live? What did he tell my mother? Where are we going? Why would he want to spend time with me? What the hell does he think he's doing, threatening me? What is he even capable of? Would he care if I liked Theo? I thought he hated me. Is it true what he said last night? And, if it is, do I feel the same? I groan to myself, needing answers. "You should eat, you know. We might come back late." Axel's voice suddenly says, startling me. "And by eat, I don't mean your nails." I give him the most hateful look I can muster and watch him sit down, chuckling. "Don't tell me what to do. You're not my dad." He shrugs. "True, but I can still be your daddy." he whispers and continues to eat his pancakes like he didn't just say something extremely inappropriate. I stare at him open mouthed. He did not just say that. "Where is your mum, anyway?" he asks me. "She had to go do something." I reply, deciding not to comment on his previous statement. "Oh, okay." We finish the pancakes in five minutes because they are completely delicious. "Shall we go?" Axel asks and I shake my head. "No, I have to change. I can't go out like this." I also need to hide from you in my bedroom. He frowns. "What's wrong with what you're wearing?" I raise my brows. "Isn't it obvious? I'm wearing an old tracksuit, Axel." He shrugs. "It looks fine to me." Shaking my head, I start to head upstairs. "I'm not going out like this." When I come into my room, I see that Axel has come up with me. Well, there goes my plan. "You know, I need to change." I say and he shrugs, entering my room and sitting down on my bed. "So?" I purse my lips. How can't he understand? "I need privacy.""I won't look.""Yes, you will.""I won't look and even if I would, I've seen plenty of boobs before-." he tries to defend himself. "Out." I say, pointing my finger towards the door. "Oh come on.""Out, Axel.""Fine." he snaps and leaves the door, slamming the doors. I roll my eyes at his childish behaviour and walk towards the closet, but soon realize that I don't know what to wear because I don't know where we are going. "Hey, Axel?" I shout. "What?" he shouts back from the other side of the door. "Where are we going?" I hear shuffling and a thud, meaning he probably sat on the floor. "Somewhere you've never been before." he replies and I unconsciously smile. "And what should I wear?" I ask. He is quiet for a few moments before replying: "A dress." I raise my brows in surprise at his answer, but start digging through the wardrobe anyway. Normally, I never wear dresses except if I really have to and even then I usually borrow it from someone who has better collection of dresses than me. I still remembered owning a dress, though. I think I bought it last year and have never worn it, I just thought it was pretty. Biting my lip, I continue to search for it and moments later, I find it. Bingo. "Are you done?" Axel asks. "No, not yet." I reply and start undressing. I cringe at the underwear I'm wearing, a plaid white bra and Hello Kitty panties, but I decide that nobody will see them anyway so I let them be. I pull the dress over my head and tug it down. Thankfully, it still fits okay and I smile to myself in triumph. The beige silky material leaves a nice feeling against my skin and it contrasts beautifully. It reaches a little above my knee and it's tight around my waist, but loose around my knees; I really love it. "Are you done now?" Axel asks again, impatient. I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I just need to zip it." Reaching behind my back I try to reach the zipper but unsuccessful. "Here, let me do that for you." Axel says, already in my room. I want to argue, but decide against it since I can't zip it up myself anyway. He comes up from behind me, very close and gathers my long hair in his hand, removing it from my back and letting it flow down against my neck. Then he slowly starts zipping the dress up, his finger leaving a trail the entire way up my back. The feeling is spectacular and sends shivers down my spine, and suddenly Axel's mouth is against my ear. "You look beautiful." I blush and take a step away from him, but his hand catches my arm and he pulls me back against his chest. I look up at him, eyes wide. "Axel, I-" And then his mouth is on mine. He pries my mouth open with his and slides his tongue in, enveloping me in warmth, possesing me entirely. His hand reaches behind my neck and pulls me closer to him and I put my hands in his curls, pulling on them. He growles and presses me closer to him, and in that moment I snap out of it. I push him away from me and wrap my arms around myself, turning away from him. "You can't do stuff like this, what is wrong with you?" I say, my voice trembling slightly. "You can't be rude and mean to me one day, and then the next day telling me that I look beautiful and kissing me like that. I am a human, I have emotions and all you do is play with them." He sighs behind my back and I can hear his hand going through his hair. "I don't mean to do that, Sophie, I didn't realize you feel that way." I turn to look at him. "How could you not realize I feel that way? On one hand you are so cruel and horrible, you threaten to ruin me and on the other hand you are so fucking hot that my hormones are killing me and-" I quickly put my hand on my mouth. I did not just say that. Sophie, you did not just say that out loud. However, a smirk on his face tells me otherwise. "You think I'm hot?" he asks, raising his brow. I groan and cover my face with my hand. "There's no need to be embarassed, I mean it's pretty obvious that I don't look bad. However, hot... I didn't expect you to say that." I hit his chest and he starts to laugh. "Come, let's go." he says, smiling down at me and taking my hand in his, leading me out of my room and down the stairs. Downstairs, my mother is cleaning the dishes and turns to look at us as we pass by, my hand still in Axel's. Her eyes widen and I quickly let go of his hand, but mum just smiles and sends me a wink. "You two have fun.""Thank you, ma'am, we will." Axel replies and we exit the house. We walk to a black pick-up truck, parked outside our house and I smile. I love pick-up trucks. "This is yours?" I ask and he nods. "It's a bit old, but still working." he shrugs. "It's great." I grin and he looks at me surprised. "You think?" I nod. "Yeah, I've always wanted one. I dreamt about filling it with a bunch of pillows and blankets and driving out of the city to look at the stars at night." Why the hell am I telling him this? He smiles. "That's not a bad idea. We could do that sometime." I glare at him. »Yeah, right. Maybe you should stop being a dick first.« He rolls his eyes, going to the driver's side. I open the door for me and I climb in, having a bit of trouble because it's a little high and I'm wearing a dress.  I consider running away from him for a second, but I've never been a runner and I have to admit that I'm curious as to what he has to say. I don't doubt the majority is going to be horrible, but I cannot kill the hope that a small portion might be nice. The interior of the car is clean, just like his house. It is noticeable that it is a bit old, because there are scratches here and there, but overall it's a great car. He looks at me. "Off we go." and turns on the engine.