RECAP: "I like him...I like him a lot...but I can't let myself get hurt by another Juvie...not again." I whispered to myself as I kept running down the hall.
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*IN THE CAFETERIA*

I sat at my usual table in the cafeteria…the one in the back of the room, closest to the darkest corner I could find so nobody noticed me. I heard a few other students talking about Duncan and Aaron’s fight and how the original tough guy of the school was a mess in the end of it all; a couple of girls squealed over it, saying how hot they thought he was (even though some of them were already Duncan’s fan-girls anyway while some were just followers who fell for every tough guy that came to this school), some guys were saying how they bet he wasn’t as tough as everybody thinks (jealous, much?), and the rest of the guys were talking about how they figured he must be pretty cool if he managed to beat somebody like Aaron. Of course, nobody said anything about me; I usually went unnoticed around here… Still, I prefer it this way; I hated it when I was the center of attention, and I made sure I wasn’t every chance I got. Even though I think it would be nice to have the spotlight to myself at least once, I’ve decided to wait for my chance…I get bad stage fright, which is mainly why I try not to attract too much unnecessary attention to myself, but I knew one of these days, I’d get a chance to be in the limelight…the right chance…the chance that would make me finally come out of my shell… So, like I said, I’d just keep going the way I’ve always been until I found the right way to bring myself out of my shyness…it would just take some time.

Just then, 4 girls came into the cafeteria. I knew all of them well, and so did everyone else, for they were 4 of the most popular girls in this entire school. The first to step into the room, wearing a link with her uniform was Aubry Truesdale. The next one was Andrea Hawkins who was wearing a link with her ensemble. Jordin Tyler had her uniform glammed up with a link, a link, and a link that were all absolutely to die for. The only girl who seemed at all out of place in the group of popular girls was Clementine Jones who shyly stood by the door, looking cute in her link and matching link.

I rolled my eyes at the 4...well, accept Clementine, who I didn’t think was too bad. I never liked to see all of them at the same time because they were the 4 followers of the girl I hated the most in my entire school, and the one person I’d probably hate more than anybody I’d ever meet in my life. Aubry gave a sharp whistle, and everyone in the room (including Duncan who was surrounded by squealing fan-girls already) turned to her, Andrea, Jordin and Clementine’s direction. She smiled; “Well, everybody, even with all that’s been going on today, what with us getting a TV star here and everything...it’s good that you all haven’t forgotten who’s really the boss around here.” she said. She turned to the door and called out; “Melody, they’re all yours.” I groaned as a girl with sky blue eyes, long, bleached-blonde hair, and a link with her uniform walked into the room; she was the most popular girl in the school and my worst enemy in the entire world, Melody McKnight.

I groaned as everyone in the room turned their attention away from Duncan (who was in the middle of the room, soaking up all of the attention he had been getting from his group of fan-girls), and went over to surround the Queen Bee and her mindless little drones. I really thought it was messed up how a girl like Melody could be so popular with everyone...mainly because she was my worst enemy since about 1st grade. I remembered exactly how the rivalry between Melody and I got started; I remembered how she came into my classroom, telling my teacher that the principle needed to talk to me, or some stupid crap I didn’t buy for even a second. I went with her to the girls’ bathroom, and she held up my tiny pink teddy bear that I thought I lost. She heartlessly dropped it in one of the toilets in there, and flushed it, sending my poor little bear down along with the nasty, dirty water in there...

I was so devastated at that moment that I just totally broke down and cried right then and there, barely aware of the smile on Melody’s face as I collapsed on the floor and bawled my eyes out. She took some sick satisfaction out of making me miserable since that day, but I always found a way to get my payback on her no matter what. She and I went back and forth with one another since that day, and it was still going on now. I wasn’t the only one who utterly despised Melody, though… actually, she had had some kind of fight of argument with everyone at the school so far (accept Duncan…for now), and for every one person she didn’t like, that same person probably didn’t like her…though, they most likely wouldn’t admit it. The people who didn’t admit their hatred of Melody (which is almost everyone) usually had one of two reasons for doing so; the 1st was that of her little clique who wanted to stay friends with her because being her friend meant you were popular along with her, and the 2nd was probably just because she scares the living hell out of them. Nobody ever talked back to Melody McKnight no matter what…unless you were like Alexa who would gladly tell off the blonde to her face since she knew she could beat her up, you didn’t talk back to her; there was just a certain air about her that made most people too scared to try.

As I watched people gathered around that evil, slut of a blonde, I didn’t notice Duncan coming over to me. I finally noticed him when he leaned on the table I was sitting at, standing a little too close to me; “So, what’s the deal with them?” he asked, obviously curious...which is natural since he’s new to the school. I blushed slightly, but looked away, my rage towards Melody keeping me from getting nervous; “Those girls are the popular chicks around here…see the blonde one? That’s Melody. She’s pretty much another Heather...only sluttier...” I said. Duncan groaned; “Great; as if I didn’t have to put up with a whore like that enough already.” he said, sounding really frustrated. He looked at Aubry; “What about the green-eyed one?” “That’s Aubry; she’s not as mean as Melody, but she likes having power and control...she’s also really rich, and she’s known Melody forever, which is why she’s her right hand girl.” I replied.

Duncan nodded; “Right, ok...oh, that one with the black hair looks like you a little bit.” he pointed out. I nodded; “I know... Her name’s Andrea; she’s the girl who knows everything about everyone, and always has info before anyone else. Melody mainly let her in the group ‘cause she’s good at finding out stuff she wants figured out; she's the perfect little spy.” I said. Duncan nodded again, and turned his attention to the other red-head; “What about that one with the gray ribbon in her hair?” “Jordin Tyler; she’s the peace maker and major fashion dynamo in the group...she’s always giving people advice on trends and stuff, but I don’t care too much about that crap anyway, so I never listen.” I said. “Alright...and the brown-haired one with the glasses?” Duncan asked. I looked at Clementine sadly, as she looked like a sore thumb among the other girls in the group she was in; “Her name’s Clementine; she’s the brainy one...she seems kind of out of place there with them, but it’s no shock that she’s with them since she’s always helping the girls with homework and stuff…” I said.

Duncan looked at me with a slight smile; “…and by ‘helping them with homework’, I bet you mean doing their homework for them.” I smiled with a slight nod; “Yeah, that’s pretty much it…” “Yeah, I thought so…” Duncan said, still smiling. He looked at all of the girls in just as much disgust as I was; “So, I’m guessing with a bitchy leader like Melody, almost all of those girls are bitches, too.” “Her, Aubrey and Andrea are the biggest bitches; Jordin’s not all that bad and Clementine’s actually extremely nice…Clementine’s just there off of a deal with Melody, and I think Jordin was…well, ‘recommended’ by one of the girls since she’s related to one of them…” I said. “Oh, alright; so they’re not all two-faced sluts; good…” Duncan said.

I shrugged; “Melody’s pretty much the only major slut out of all of them...and Jordin and Clementine are the only ones who are virgins in the group...” I said, not really caring about the clique of popular girls anymore. Duncan rolled his eyes; “Whores…” he said under his breath. He looked at me, a little smile on his face; “So, what about you?” I looked at him; “What about me…?” I asked nervously. Duncan leaned in really close to me; “Are you a virgin…?” he whispered in my ear. My whole face went red, and I turned away from him; “D-Duncan…c-come on…y-you can’t just ask somebody something like that…I-I mean, n-not unless you know them really well or something…” I said with slight fear in my voice.

I felt the Juvie boy lean really close to me and put his hands on my shoulders, gently rubbing them to calm me down; “If it makes you feel any better, I am.” he whispered into my ear again. A little shocked, I turned around to face him; “Yeah...? You are?” He nodded; “I am. I know it’s kind of cheesy or whatever, but I don’t want to go that far with a girl unless I... Well, unless I know I love her…” he said with a slight blush on his face. I blushed again myself, but smiled slightly; “…I think that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard a guy say…” Duncan smiled at me sweetly; “Seriously?” I nodded; “Yeah…and you have no idea how happy it makes me to actually hear a guy from this school say something like that. I mean, seriously, most of the guys around here are complete man-whores; it makes me so sick…” I said in slight annoyance.

Duncan nodded; “Yeah, I hear ya…I mean, yeah, I can be a real perv sometimes, but I have a limit to how far I’ll go with a girl I know I don’t love as much as I thought. I don’t think people should do everything I think is right or whatever, but I know a lot of guys who'll have sex with just any girl they can get, and they just annoy the living hell out of me…” he said. I groaned; “I know…any kind of a whore annoys me, honestly; it almost makes me barf that someone can actually be like that…” I said while crossing my arms. Duncan looked to me and smiled; “Well…we already have something in common; that’s pretty impressive…” he said with a slight sly tone in his voice. I blushed a bit, but turned away quickly; “I-I-I-I guess…” I said nervously in hopes that he didn’t see me blush. I felt him walk up behind me, putting his hands on my hips; “You know, you still never answered my question…” he whispered to me. I felt my heart pounding; “W-what question…?” I asked as if I didn’t already know what he meant.

I could just see Duncan grinning at me deviously again in my own mind as I felt his muscular arms wrap themselves around my waist, which caused my heart to pound and made me blush even more; “Are you a virgin…?” he asked me again. My muscles tensed up, and I got really flustered and nervous; “D-D-Duncan, I really don’t want to talk about that right now…I mean, I would, but I don’t feel right talking about that kind of thing with someone I don’t know too well…no offense, though…” I said, still a little scared. Duncan leaned on me a little; “It’s alright…just let me know when you think you’re ready, ok?” I nodded; “Sure…when I’m ready…” I said quietly to myself. “Promise me…when you’re ready to tell me, you’ll let me know somehow…you promise?” Duncan whispered. I closed my eyes, and took his arms from around me (easily since he didn’t resist) before turning to him, looking at him sweetly; “I promise…” I whispered back.

Duncan smiled at me; “Good girl…” he whispered. He leaned in close to me, and I backed away nervously, knowing he wanted to kiss me; “Uh…listen Duncan, I…need to go…find Alexa; she said she wanted to meet me somewhere.” I lied. Duncan, shrugged, obviously not catching it; “Alright…can I come with?” he said with a sneaky tone in his voice; “Actually, no…it’s our secret spot in the school; we usually don’t invite anyone we’ve known less than…3 months to come there.” I lied again. Of course, Duncan believed me…I could tell by the disappointment in his amazing, blue-green eyes; “Oh…alright…” he said. He turned to leave, but looked over his shoulder and smiled at me; “I’ll miss you, though…I don’t like being away from you, ya know…” he said with a wink at me before he left. I just stood there in slight shock, my entire face going red. I shook it off, and walked out of the cafeteria.

*FRIDAY NIGHT AT DANIELS CLAN MANOR*

I walked into my room with a deep sigh; I just got back upstairs from watching TV (there was a TDI marathon, and I just finished watching it with Melisa), and now, I was really sleepy. I looked through my night clothes for a while until I found link. Smiling a bit, I placed the pajamas I picked out on my big, canopy bed, and started taking off my clothes as thoughts of the whole week came into my mind. Duncan, Alexa and I had all of our classes together, so our week went pretty much the same way. During every class, we would sit together (usually, Duncan would sit beside me and Alexa would sit ahead of us both), and Alexa would try and get Duncan talking to me by bringing up something about either me or my obsession with him. It embarrassed me a lot when she started talking about my obsession with him, but he didn’t seem to mind at all; actually, I think he kind of liked knowing how crazy I was over him. Then again, I could just be making that up; when I like a guy as much as I like Duncan, I usually start thinking things like that because I know I want them to happen.

Well, anyway, we also had a study hall period and our lunch at the same time, but during those times, either Alexa wouldn’t be there or she and Duncan would be doing something together...most likely vandalizing some part of the school and framing someone for it. In the event that Alexa and Duncan were hanging out together, I just relaxed the whole time, taking in whatever peace I could before they came back and Duncan started flirting with me again. However, in the event that it was me and Duncan alone without Alexa there, I just tried to avoid him at every chance I got; I’d hide somewhere, I’d turn his attention somewhere else and then run away, I’d go to the girls’ bathroom and stay in there until it was time for the next class...everything I could think of just to keep away from him. It was tough (especially since Duncan caught me sometimes), but I knew I’d have to keep it up unless I wanted my heart broken…again… I shuddered to myself as I remembered what happened between me and my last bad-ass boyfriend; I swore I’d never let that happen again, and I keep my promises...even if I regret them, I always kept my promises. I stood up after I got my uniform top and skirt all the way off, and leaned against my bed as I looked at my self in the link, and the link I was still wearing, sighing deeply to myself; “Never again…not if I can help it…” I thought as I held myself sadly.

Just then, I heard three knocks on the French window/door that lead to the balcony just outside of my room. I raised an eyebrow; “That’s weird…Alexa hasn’t been arrested lately; I’d know if she has…” I said to myself suspiciously. I turned my head to my left with suspicion in my eyes, but it turned to shock in an instant, and I turned all the way around when I saw who it was; “Duncan…”

TO BE CONTINUED…