Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes, it was already morning. It was an almost dreamless night, which made me relieved, especially since it was so eventful yesterday. Walking briskly to the kitchen, Liz was there preparing pancakes. Did I mention that pancakes have been a favorite of mine?

"Thanks, Liz, " I said, giving her a smile. "You're welcome, dear.'' She beamed back at me. Liz knew me best. She has been my caregiver ever since my mom passed away in an accident just two years after I was born. I was grateful to Liz to have taken care of me ever since.

After having my scrumptious breakfast of pancakes and orange juice, I glanced down at my watch.

6:40. I still have plenty of time.

Yawning, I debated whether to go back to sleep or not.

Deciding on the former, I quickly jumped back into bed and covered my head into the sheets. In the peace and serenity of my bedroom, sleep hit me quickly and I drifted off into a peaceful and serene sleep.

I didn't know what time I slept until, but suddenly my eyes flew open on their own accord.

Holy shit.

It's 8:30 now. My school starts at 8:45.

Quickly, I jumped out of bed. Call me a nerd, but I don't want to be late for school for the first time this year.

Hurriedly pulling on a pair of skinny jeans and a white blouse, I combed my hair to make it stay in place. Ugh, I knew it would be a bad idea to go back to bed. Hurriedly, I put some mascara and blush, just to look a little more awake.

When I looked half-decent, I grabbed my backpack, praying that I had all the essentials for school.

Bidding farewell to Liz briefly, I went to wear my favorite Converse sneakers. There was a crack of thunder and worriedly, I looked out the window and noticed tiny raindrops falling on the windowpane. No doubt, it was going to rain heavily. How am I going to get to school in time now?

I grumbled to myself. My beat-up Toyota would not make it through the pouring rain, with its smooth tiers and cranky engine. If I got any unluckier, it may just come apart. The bus stop was also quite a distance away and I was not looking forward to scrambling around in the pouring rain.

Just then, a loud screeching sound interrupted my scattered thoughts.

Looking out of my window, a silver car was on my porch. Squinting, I could just about make out the silhouette of someone tall, with dirty blond hair and chewing on a cigarette. Oh no.

My eyes scanned my watch. I was running late.

Sighing, deciding to take the chance, I hurried through the rain towards Vince's car. The rain was getting heavier at this point, and I was lazy to take out my umbrella for a short walk. When Vince saw me, he smirked, then raked his eyes over my drenched shirt, which was unfortunately white. I scowled at him irritably. Thankfully, the rain obscured my blushing face, but I still cursed him internally for checking me out.

Vince looked amused, his cigarette still hanging from his lips and he took a final whiff before putting it down.

Opening the car door, I stumbled in, effectively making a mess of his car. That's for checking me out, I thought smugly in retrospect.

"You know, you just made a mess of my car," Vince said disapprovingly, his brows crinkling together and shaking his head. He was wearing a fitted tank today that showed off his biceps and he looked pretty good as always.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" I challenged, feeling braver today.

"Well, I could think of a number of options." Vince waggled his eyebrows suggestively and raking his eyes down my body. Rolling my eyes, I glanced out of my window. Luckily, I brought a jacket with me and took it out to cover my soaked blouse.

It was still raining heavily. Only vague grey figures could be seen outside my window, hurrying around in their umbrellas.

"How did you know I needed a ride?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Liz messaged me, as she asked for my contact yesterday during dinner," Vince said matter-of-factly. I sighed in resignation. How did he manage to get on her good side again?

To my surprise, Vince drove at a moderate speed, none of the crazy-ass driving I was expecting from him. However, we were late for school. "You're welcome," Vince retorted, climbing out of the car and taking the umbrella with him.

Before I could get out of the car, he was at my side, opening the car door for me with an umbrella. That was a gentlemanly thing to do, and my heartbeat started to pick up for no good reason.

"Thanks, Ryker," I said, climbing out of the car as well. Hurrying off to class with Vince trailing behind me, we finally made it to the chemistry lab for our first class which unfortunately Vince was in it too.

When we entered, the class had already commenced with their experiments and they stared at us both in disbelief. I felt my face heat up. Finally, a loud voice rang out. "Care to explain why you both are late?" Mr. Roger demanded, crossing his arms. "We ran into a squirrel?" I lied weakly. My brain was probably on mind freeze at the moment. I felt Vince chuckle beside me.

"Very amusing, Ms. Summers. You both will serve detention tomorrow," Mr. Roger said in a monotonous tone. Vince and I groaned in unison. He was about to say more when the bell rang. Saved by the bell, I thought, smirking.

"All right, end of class." Mr Roger grunted. "Those working on your experiments, you have five minutes to wrap up."

"I need to go for my next class. Laters, kitten." Vince whispered, his breath close to my ear. I felt my neck tingle slightly from the contact.

"It's Amanda for heaven's sake," I whispered back.

"Sure, kitten. See you later." Vince winked then took off in another direction.

Layla, after completing her experiment, came over to join me.

"You definitely have some explaining to do," Layla demanded in a hissing voice with a perfectly arched eyebrow. She was wearing a cute sundress and some black leather boots. She had great taste in outfits and I could learn much from her.

Oops... She was sitting in class enjoying the show just like everybody else in chem. Quickly filling her in with all the events starting yesterday night, her eyes widened.

"Ryker is your tutor? That's some luck." She commented in surprise. "Bad luck," I added. "I'm surprised he sent you to school... he never did that before. He is usually too busy banging some other chick." Layla said in disgust, wrinkling her nose.

"Well, I have no idea why he did that," I said truthfully.

We said goodbye and went for our respective classes. My next few classes were French, calculus and Biology, which passed by without much incident, except for the occasional stares and whispers in my direction. No doubt my entrance with Vince today created much of a stir.

Speak of the devil. At lunchtime, Vince swaggered into the cafeteria with Andrea, the head cheerleader on his arm. Nobody really paid them much attention, considering that there were rumors about them having a fling together but nothing serious.

Andrea and Vince took a table near the center of the cafeteria, but I could see them in plain sight. Vince also noticed me too but made no move to approach or acknowledge me. Not that I cared, I thought.

She was wearing pretty much like a cheerleader, with a crop top and a cute mini skirt. And true to her slutty appearance, she was pressing her chest against his arm, and casually rubbing her ass against his whenever the opportunity arose.

She fluttered her fake lashes at him and giggled like an idiot at some comment that Vince made. That b*tch. He smirked then kissed her on the lips.

She deepened the kiss and moaned loudly when he put his hand on her butt. Big believers in PDA, I shuddered. While he was making out with Andrea, he looked in my direction and winked. I almost puked on the floor. This was making me feel really uncomfortable.

How could he be so nice this morning but such a jerk now? "I gotta go." I said abruptly and left the table, at which Alex and Layla were sitting.

Inside the bathroom, I met Chloe, my friend from history class. I greeted her and then shut myself up into a cubicle and sat on the toilet bowl.

Why did I even care about Vince? He was a bad boy and that will never change, I thought to myself grimly. Besides, he could be with whoever he wanted and there was nothing I could do about it.

Getting out of the cubicle, I splashed ice-cold water on my face and tried to pull myself together. Don't let this affect you so much, Amanda.

When I went back, the whole table of people was already gone except for Layla.

She was looking at me, concern etched in her face.

"Where did you go? I was almost going to find you." She scolded.

"To the bathroom," I replied nonchalantly, shrugging my shoulders.

"Geez... Don't just walk off like that. Let's get ready for the gym." Layla said as she hooked her arms around mine.

Ugh... Don't remind me. I was not too coordinated and physical education was always an embarrassing activity for me.

Slowly, we changed into our gym clothes and made our way into the gymnasium. Today, we were going to play netball.

"That's right, Amanda!" Our gym teacher yelled at me when I managed to catch the ball.

Surprisingly, I was okay at netball. That is, I won't get hit by the ball. Famous last words.

It was beginner's luck only. I couldn't do sports for shit.

I was getting more confident in the lesson and slowly began to relax and attempt more difficult moves. This was until it happened.

"Look out!" Someone screamed. Too late. A giant netball slapped me on my face hard.

The next thing I knew, my head hit the concrete floor like a grenade at top speed.

Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground. Haha.

Not funny? Okay. My mind was kind of at the edge of hysteria. I couldn't move my head. Had my neck broke? I was too scared to move or do anything and I wanted to lie on the floor forever.

Someone must be shouting because my ears were ringing. It felt numb but hot at the same time.

Suddenly, I was lifted into someone's arms.

Wait, no. It was a stretcher. My thoughts and sensations were getting all mixed up. My knees were weak and they were off the ground.

That was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out for real.