You+Me

Chapter 1

I knew he was bad news. Ever since he started at Hartfield he was already stirring up trouble.

There were whispers all around the school about him.

Troublemaker.

Arrogant.

Fighter.

These were all words that could describe him and after I got to know him, I knew that they were all true.

I also knew that I had to steer the hell away from him.

~°°°°°~

I kept my head down and reread my favorite book series, Harry Potter, for the umpteenth time this year. All that talk about Wizards and Witches, wands, and magic just had my mind reeling out of control.

Books were my guilty pleasure. The best part was that I could lose myself in a good book and delve deep into whatever thriller, horror, adventure, or romance book that I had immersed myself in. They say time flies when you're having fun. I say time flies when you're reading books.

Someone tapped me from behind, "Again Aria?"

I turned to the melodious voice behind me and saw my best friend, Simone.

I smiled at her, "So what?"

Her brows scrunched together in mock concern, "So, you've been reading that series forever. I'm beginning to think you have short term amnesia!"

"Haha. Don't diss Harry Potter just because you have a vendata against books."

She punched my arm a little too hard.

"Ow! Simone!"

She grinned at me, "I'll catch up to you later okay? I have choir practice."

I waved goodbye. Simone was always at choir practice. And by practice I meant for her church. Her dad was the priest and expected Simone to be the most graceful, angelic, perfect daughter ever created by God. She was supposed to be his shining star.

Unfortunately for Simone, that meant that he was strict and a little too forceful with her obedience. Simone wasn't like that. She was a free bird for as long as I'd known her for and that was a considerably long time. We'd grown up together as babies still in little, white, Huggies Diapers.

Both our parents were active church-goers and heavy believers in faith and The Lord. I was a little less enthusiastic about it but that didn't mean that I didn't believe.

I returned back to the book at hand. The book club was supposed to be reading things like Paper Towns, The Divinci Code, Twilight, Kites, Catcher in the Rye, and many others.

I finally joined senior year after being coaxed into doing so by Simone who told me that it would help me make new friends. I didn't want new friends. I didn't want change. I had Simone. But she knew that putting myself out there would help my antisocial nature. That and the fact that I used to spy on the book club meetings from afar. Secretly, I had wanted to join and was glad when Simone dragged me over one day, announced that I was joining (whether they liked it or not), and then dumped me there to fend for myself.

Even after four meetings though, my anxiety hadn't disappeared. And the club was such a disappointment to me, none of the books seemed to be calling out to me. The others in the group were only forced to be there by students trying to get extra credit or others who were serving detention for the year.

Since no one else really had their nose in a book at all times like I did, I was named the President of the club when I first joined. Even weeks later, my initial shock hadn't worn off yet. So everytime I had to go to another meeting I made sure to keep my head down, do my readings, and say as little as possible. Most of the time, it worked, until today.

The sound of white, aging knuckles against the cheap, plastic tables had me jolting out of my seat. Like a catapult, I sprung from the seat and dropped my ammo, my book, halfway across the room.

Wide-eyed and afraid, I gazed into the face of our new principal, Mr. Marks. He seemed equally stunned at my reaction.

Curse you anxiety.

Behind him was a boy, around my age, who stared me down like I was some kind of lunatic. On his lips was an amused smile.

Great, now I felt like an even bigger loser than before.

"What is your name?" Mr. Marks asked.

I quivered under his stern gaze. Was I in trouble or something?

There were lines along his mouth from frowning too much and another line between his brows that constantly made him look angry, and therefore scary. He seemed to read my thoughts perfectly and offered a tight smile.

"Don't worry you're not in trouble," He said, his voice still gruff.

"A-aria Sinclair Sir," I mumbled, barely getting the words out of my mouth.

Mr. Marks tried another smile in an attempt to be friendly, "That's a nice name. Who is the President of the book club?"

I could feel the eyes of the rest of the students in the room. I could feel my armpits dampen with sweat under the heat of all their gazes.

"I-I am, Sir."

He broke out into a small chuckle, "No need to be so formal Aria, Mr. Marks is just fine."

I wiped my sweating hands on the fabric of my rough, ripped jeans, hating that the attention was on me.

"Sorry S-, I mean, Mr. Marks."

He tried another smile to soothe my wildly beating heart but to no avail, "Aria, I'd like you to meet Nate, my son, he'll be joining your book club from today onwards."

Nate stepped forward from behind Mr. Marks. His fawn colored hair was tousled effortlessly in a beautiful disarray on top of his head. His blue-grey eyes sparked with interest and a hint of curiousity as he peered at me. He wore a fitting leather jacket, stylish jeans that were fraying at the ends, and loafers.

I immediately averted my gaze and stared down at my scuffed up red Converse shoes. Nate grinned, amused by my nervous behavior and I mentally cursed myself again.

"I'd like you to look after him every Wednesday and Thursday afterschool, during your meetings, and get him up to date on the reading material. He needs to work off his detention," Mr. Marks informed me.

Nate scowled, "Come on Dad, it was just one little fight. And the guy was practically asking him for it-"

"No butts Nate. I'm your father and more importantly your principal, I've got a reputation to uphold that will most certainly be damaged by your recent outburst," Our principal turned to me, "I trust you to inform me if he does not live up to your expectations, gets into trouble, or skips. Good luck Aria Sinclair, I'm entrusting my son to you."

With that he turned on his heel and walked away in a few quick, long strides.

Nate kissed his teeth and slumped into a blue, plastic chair. I did the same, making sure to sit as far away from him as possible. The rest of the club members returned their gazes to their tasks at hand and I was relieved to be out from under the spotlight.

Well, almost.

Nate stared at me, intrigued. I kept my eyes down and tried to immerse myself back into Harry Potter rather unsuccessfully. Suddenly, Nate grabbed my hand and enveloped it over his, the heat sending a current right through me. I gasped and gazed into his blue-grey eyes that seemed to cast a spell on me.

He grinned mischievously, "Want to get out of here and bang?"