Chapter 2

Rose POV

"Oh my goodness this day is finally over! I hate being the new girl and everyone just staring at me."

Sophie just looked at me with a wide grin and said, "girl they were staring at you because you're freaking hot!"

I felt my face redden at her exclamation and squeaked out, "what? I think you're mistaken."

"Hell no I'm not mistaken, you're hot and we need to embrace the hotness and have all the guys panting at your feet for the rest of the school year. By the way when do you turn 18?" Sophie said.

"Actually tomorrow is my birthday but I haven't been in town long enough to do anything with anyone."

"WHAT?! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU NOT TELL ME?" Sophie shrieked right in my ear. I think I'm going to suffer from hearing loss. Sophie continued on, "we need to go clothes shopping asap!"

"Oh no it's really fine, I'm not going to have a party or anything, I was just going to hang out at the house with my parents and maybe watch some crime tv."

Sophie glared at me with her mouth open so wide I could've thrown a softball into it. "Rose, don't worry poor thing. I'm going to make a party for you and it will be the greatest shindig ever!"

"Who the hell calls a party a shindig?"

"I DO ROSE! IT'S CALLED HAVING A FUN VOCABULARY!"

"Damn Sophie you're hurting my ears." Mr. Star said as he walked out the front doors.

I felt my body shudder at the sound of his voice. His voice sounded like smoke and violence. I tried to speak but all of a sudden my throat felt dry and nothing would come out except an embarrassing squeak. Kill me now. Why am I freezing up in front of ANOTHER hot guy. His dirty blonde hair curled around his ears and the front nearly reached his eyebrows. I had the sudden urge to run my fingers through his fringe. What the hell is wrong with me? He's a teacher Rose!

"Hello earth to Rose?!" Sophie spoke right into my ear. Apparently I've been staring into her brother's hazel eyes a little too long. Embarrassment flooded my veins and once again I felt my face heat up being caught staring.

"Yeah, sorry I completely dazed out. If you want to throw a party I guess you can. But I don't know many people and have no idea who to invite."

"Don't worry I got you bitch! Just trust me and we will have to party at my house tomorrow night, thank God today is Friday! Now let's get your cute butt moving and go get you a dress for tomorrow. Bye Colten!" She shouted the last part to her brother while dragging me away.

Colten POV

"See you later Sophie and bye Miss Canto." I watched my sister and my new student strut away from me. I tried not to check out Rose. She had long, silky red hair I could run my fingers through. What is wrong with me? Maybe I need to go on a run to get my mind off the new girl with the deepest green eyes I've ever seen.

I took off with a frustrated growl and climbed into my truck to head home.

After about 10 minutes I pulled into the driveway and saw a blue Lamborghini parked there. With a jingle of my keys, I unlocked the front door and was greeted by Joel Dean, pain in my ass.

"What's up dumbass? I used my spare key to get in and wait for your punk ass to show up. What took you so long?"

"Why are you here Joel?"

"Damn can't a guy just visit? What kind of greeting is this?" Joel whined.

Ugh go away.

Joel continued, "anyway I wanted to see if you want to go to the club tonight, it's been awhile since I've had my wingman and I'm starting to feel a little lonely, know what I'm saying? I've missed you bud."

"What time?" I may as well humor him.

"We leave at 9! Damn dude I'm so excited, it's been a minute since we've gone out together."

"Ok." I could use a random woman to get my mind off of Rose.

Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong

"What the hell I'm coming! Stop ringing the damn doorbell!"

Speak of the devil. I open up to find my sister and Rose on the front steps. "Sophie where is your damn key?" I asked.

"I have it on me, I was just too lazy to pull it out." She shoots me a mischievous smile which at once annoyed me.

"Find whatever, just get inside, by the way Joel is here."

"OMG JOEL! I MISSED YOU!" Sophie flings herself onto her cousin and squeals right into his ear. Rose just stands awkwardly in the doorway unsure of what to do. Joel all of a sudden stiffens and stares right at her. I see the color rush right out of Rose's face as she decides to run back out and into the woods. This isn't good, what's going on?

"Sophie go get your friend and find out what's wrong!" I hollered.

Sophie took off right after Rose and I turned to look Joel in the eyes. "What the hell was that dude? Do you two know each other?"

"Um she's kind of my ex-girlfriend." He looked sheepish as he whispered to me.

"She just moved here how the hell do you know each other? Was this when you were gone all summer? I thought you had a retreat or some bull for work."

"Yea I did but there was a lot of downtime and then one night I met her at a dance hall and we sorta hit it off. She was there in a tight blue dress and I felt a connection."

"You felt a connection? If things were so great then what happened?" I said.

"Well unfortunately one night I got a little too cocky and decided to hit on this one brunette at the club and we started to make out. Right when things started to heat up then Rose shows up and dumps soda all over me and her. That was the last time we talked. I tried to reach out to her to admit I messed up but she wouldn't listen to me. Then the retreat ended and there was no point continuing to try because it was time to return. I never expected to see her here in this small town! God she looks so good."

I just stood there staring at my cousin who looked as if he had hearts in his eyes.

"Does she know?" I asked, knowing he knew what I meant.

"No."