Chapter Two

I remember crying my eyes out, thinking that my minor incarceration was the end of the world, and would end up printed on my permanent record. James and Flora comforted me, obviously not being as distressed as I was.

Ever since then, we were inseparable, like the three musketeers.

I laughed, hugging her back with her arms still tightly wrapped around my body, enough to suffocate me if she held me any longer. "Gabby, I have huge news!" She shouted, turning my body to face her.

"There is a new boy in our grade," I nodded at her, wondering what this had to do with me, "he's really hot," I still listened and lifted my eyebrows, without James being able to see my expression.

James let out a long sigh as he stuffed books into his locker, "and guess what?" She automatically grinned wider and made sure that James was listening as well. "He's been in juvenile prison!" she finally shouted, waiting patiently for my reaction.

"Why would you want to go for someone who's in Juvenile prison?" I questioned her, seeming less enthusiastic than she was. Her face faltered slightly before smiling again.

"No, he's not in it anymore," She told me, bouncing up and down like a child. I laughed at her excitement and closed my locker, having had already picked out the books I needed this morning.

Flora waved her hand and continued speaking, "anyway, I'll see you later, I need to find out more about him," she scurried off, leaving James and I, plus a few other students roaming the hallway.

As soon as Flora scurried away, I felt two hands on my waist, which spun me around to face James. He softly kissed my nose, making it scrunch up. He knew I hated it. "I've missed you," he said as he leaned in and kissed me, this time on the lips.

"We saw each other yesterday," I replied as he chuckled lightly and kissed me again. The same butterflies that I encountered the first time I started to like James were still heavily present in my stomach.

Slipping my hands through his hair, I continued to kiss him until the slight mumbling that had been engulfing the hallways came to a quiet hush, yet there were still enough people crowding the hall.

We soon noticed the cause for the silence, and it was a rather muscular boy, walking through the hallway with two cops holding his arms back with handcuffs. His arms were straining as he tugged at the handcuffs on his back, revealing popping veins across his skin.

He was wearing some ripped, black jeans, paired with a white shirt, which hugged the muscles around his upper body, revealing his distinctive shape. Leading up to his face, his face was stern, not faltering from staring heavily at the ground below him.

Every so often, he would flip his messy brown hair from his eyes, and look up to his surroundings, before looking straight back down again.

As he edged closer to us, he shot his head up and his eyes caught mine. James tightened his grip on my waist, noticing the way my body tensed up under his gaze.

Just as I was about to turn away, he winked at me and carried on walking. It didn't stop me from noticing the smirk that crept onto his face.

Once he was out of our way, I fell out of the trance I had been trapped in, and looked back at James. He was grimacing at the back of the boy who had just strolled past us.

Despite being with James, I couldn't deny that the boy was incredibly good looking. His jawline was sharp, uncovering the light stubble on the lower half of his face. I could now see why silence had drawn in on the hall, and why many heads had turned.

"That's probably the boy Flora was talking about," I said to him, shrugging off any look that James definitely wouldn't approve of. James just scoffed and looked back to me, his eyes now locked onto mine.

"Yeah probably," he replied, "imagine coming to school with two cops," He said as he laughed uncomfortably, holding tight onto the door of his locker. He hugged me timidly before closing the door and walking to homeroom, which we unfortunately didn't have together.

I stared down at the floor, looking at the exact tiles that the boy had been walking on, just minutes before. Swallowing hard, I felt doubt in the pit of my stomach as I made my way to my own homeroom, holding tighter onto the books crowding my arms.