I walk to my next class, ready to rock this shit out and get the day moving. That is, until I enter English and see Liv perched on a desk near the front of the class, legs crossed, palms face down on the desk.

The second she notices me, her face shifts from flirty to ‘fuck you’ quicker than the D-line at the recognition of a trick play.

Then, the funniest shit I’ve ever seen happens.

She stands, juts her jean skirt-clad hip out, and crosses her arms over her chest, as two other blondes flank her, mocking her position. It’s quite comical, to be honest.

They’re cute, not nearly as attractive as Liv is, but that’s usually how it goes. The Countess never wants her followers to stand out over her.

When I grin, she stands taller, her eyes narrowing.

She gets all up in my personal space. “You’re new here.”

I’m not sure if she wanted a response or not, but when I don’t give her one, she opens her mouth again. “Mia may be your cousin, but don’t think that brings you to my level.” Her eyes narrow even further, her body shifting to a more aggressive stature. “Stay away from him.”

I laugh. Loudly. This girl’s hilarious.

As I catch my bearings, I look up at her and I freeze, mid-fun.

She’s not…surely, she not serious?

“Wait.” I put my hand out in front of me, my head drawing back a notch. “Are you for real right now?”

“Do I look like I’m joking to you?” she sneers.

Oh, hell to the no…

I take a step forward, forcing her to step back. “What’s the matter, Liv?” I goad her, knowing damn well who the him is she’s referring to. “Afraid you won’t get round three?” Her eyes widen just the slightest, but I was waiting, so I caught it.

Yeah, Bitch. I know you’ve only had him twice.

“You little-” She’s cut off as the teacher enters. She looks back at me briefly, before taking her seat at the front.

Once everyone is seated, I go through the whole new student ordeal for the fifth time today and walk to the back of the class, where there are several open desks, and take a seat.

Just as the teacher is about to start, she stops, a frown forming on her round face. Crossing her arms, she leans back against the white board, and waits.

Nothing happens for a good three minutes. She just continues to stand there, and I’m starting to wonder if she’s all there. Right when I’m about to pull her crazy card, the classroom door opens and the room shifts.

The pheromone levels rise as a handful of Alrick High’s finest walk – no, stalk - through the door.

The guys in the class look away, as the females maneuver themselves into position, pushing their tits out and twirling their hair.

Idiots.

The first through the door is the manwhore himself.

Nate commands attention when he walks. All tall and broad, and far too alluring for his own good. It’s hard to explain, but you can’t really take your eyes off him. His robust shoulders in that tight gray t-shirt and dark jeans don’t exactly hurt, either. If he wasn’t such a self-proclaimed sleaze, I may or may not let him play a part in my dirty fantasies.

Once he’s completely through the door, I zone in on the treat right behind him. It’s the guy from my government class I was telling Mia about earlier. He has that silky blond hair you want to pull on, with green eyes, and a perma-smirk on his lips. His hair is spiked slightly, but free of products. He’s about five-eleven; solid, but not massive. I’m guessing his contribution to the team is speed.

The cornerback, maybe?

He’s delicious.

“Kalani?”

My attention snaps to the front of the classroom and giggles erupt around me.

“Honey,” the teacher gestures with her head. “Would you mind moving a seat back so the boys can sit?”

I look to my left then, and see Austin, Nate, and two monstrous guys – definitely linemen - smirking at me.

Wait, where’s…

I look to my right.

There he is. Sexy government guy is sitting directly next to me.

When I smile, he winks.

“Is there assigned seating in this class, Ms. Arella?” I ask, not taking my eyes off government boy.

“Well,” she pauses. “Technically, no, there’s not, bu-”

“Then I’m good,” I say, before turning back to her.

“Oh.” She seems like she’s not sure what to say. “Oh, well, yes, of course.”

She then faces the guys, as do I. Nate is the only one still standing. He’s scowling at me, so I give him my biggest, brightest, sweetest smile. Teeth and everything.

He keeps his scowl in place, but can’t hide the small smile creases at the corners of his eyes. I think I hear him take the open seat directly behind me, but I don’t look to confirm.

“Ms. Arella!” Liv shrieks from the front of the room. “You can’t just let her take his seat like that!”

“Olivia, please,” she says on a sigh. “Let’s get class started, shall we?”

Liv or ‘Olivia’ whips around in her seat and tries to burn me with her gaze. I, being the sweet girl I am, blow her a kiss, making sure the smooch sound is nice and audible. She narrows her eyes a little more before swiveling back around, huffing and puffing. I do my best to cover the laugh that makes its way up my throat.

As expected, the class is boring and uneventful, and forty something minutes later, we’re dismissed.

Right as I stuff my notebook into my bag, the guy from my government class kneels next to my desk.

I clasp my hands under my chin and lean on my elbows. “Hi there.”

He smiles. “I’m Jarrod.”

“What can I do for you, Angel Face?”

Lick you? Bite you? Both?

“Come by Wicker tonight,” he says, looking at me like he wants to eat me.

If he plays his cards right, I just might let him.

Just as I’m about to say ‘abso-fucking-lutely’, Nate pipes in.

“Sorry man, she’s busy.”

My head snaps toward him. “No. No, I’m not.” I stand, crossing my arms over my chest, glaring at this delusional dumbass.

“Yes. You are,” he says in a stony voice, his eyes hard and focused on me, as if I’m supposed to care.

Jarrod chuckles from beside me. “I’ll talk to you later, Lolli,” he tells me as he walks out of the classroom.

I turn back to scowl at Nate just in time to watch Liv slither her way next to him.

His jaw ticks in annoyance, but his eyes are still trained on me, so I give him a ‘karma’s a bitch’ smirk.

“What, Olivia?” he snaps, reluctantly turning toward her.

I take the opportunity to make a clean getaway and head to my final class of the day, PE.

Mr. Prescott greets me with a frown, thrusting a lock and locker number into my hands, and waves me off to get changed, telling me to meet him on the field.

I make it a point to rush my ass and am exiting the locker room in less than three minutes.

As I step around the corner of the gymnasium to get to the track field, I see nothing but a shit-ton of muscles. The big, buff, sweaty, sexy kind. And for some godforsaken reason, my eyes find Nate.

His shirt, much like everyone else’s, is sleeveless and ripped from the armpit to the waist, and his black track pants lie perfectly against his trim hips.

They fit him real good.

All the guys seem to be following his lead as they begin to stretch. He’s definitely the Alpha of this group. That thought reminds me of the stunt he pulled in English. Not that I wanted to jump on and ride the Jarrod train the first chance I got, but from what the curly-haired girl in government - okay, apparently, I did listen to a bit of her rambling - said, he actually dates, unlike the other players on the team. Ha! Players.

Speaking of Jarrod...

“Hi, Lolli,” he purrs with a sly smile as I approach.

Yeah… I’d ride it.

When I don’t respond, just gawk at him, he turns his grin to the group behind him then back to me. “You do realize seventh period PE is for the football team, right?”

“It was either this or first with the freshman class.” I peek around him. “Yeah, clearly made the right decision.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him.

With a chuckle, he moseys on over to the Magic Mike crew-in-training.

There really should be some kind of limit; only so much steaminess allowed in one place. Like a max capacity of muscle mass.

I sigh. “I’m gonna go to jail.”

“Jail, huh?”

I look over to find Parker walking up next to me. “Oh, yeah,” I tell him, watching as the guys start stretching their legs, tilting my head to follow their actions. “Definitely.”

He throws his arm over my shoulder, dragging me toward Mr. Prescott, who is now beckoning me with his finger.

“I’ll bail you out,” he says playfully, nudging me. “So, you’re ripe then, huh?”

“More like rancid.”

“Rancid?”

“Yeah, you know, stale, overripe, fucking shriveled.” The last word leaves me on a pout and Parker bends over laughing. I roll my eyes and shrug his arm off my shoulder before making my way over to the teacher.

“Ms. Embers.” He gives a little jerk of his chin. “Have any trouble in the locker room?”

“No sir, I undressed and redressed myself just fine.”

He blinks.

“Ms. Embers, I can handle your wit, but try to remember you’re in a class full of,” he pauses to find the right words, “overly-stimulated young men.” He pulls his brows in. “You might want to refrain from any words that relate to... well, basically anything female-related.”

“Uh...”

“I think that might be a problem, Coach,” Parker says, a teasing edge to his voice. Placing his hands on his hips, he continues, “Lolli here is worse than half these boys.”

Mr. Prescott sighs, pulling his Oakley’s from his salt and pepper hair. “Just keep to the track or the weight room and you’ll be fine.”

“I can do that,” I tell him eagerly.

He looks from me and Parker, to the group of guys behind us, and back to me. Putting his sunglasses on, he turns to leave, mumbling, “This should be interesting.”

I would have to agree.

As soon as he’s out of earshot, I turn and narrow my eyes on the shithead next to me.

“Aww... don’t be mad at me, Lolli Bear. You’re my new favorite person,” he says, as he makes a show of slowly approaching me, as if I’ll pounce, then envelops me in a hug.

“Yeah, well,” I begin with zero enthusiasm, “you’re not so bad yourself.”

I laugh when he playfully gasps in mock appreciation, and hug him back briefly.

“So, how old are you?”

“Eighteen. Nineteen in April.”

Parker’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline. “Shit, I better start saving,” he says seriously.

“Saving?”

“Yup.” He motions to all the hotness surrounding me. “Look around, Lolli. A body like yours surrounded by all these assholes. You’re definitely going to jail.” He barely gets the last word out before he’s bellowed over in laughter at his own dig.

Before I can stop him, he’s calling out, “Hey, dickheads!”

“Is this necessary?” I yell-whisper through my teeth.

He laughs harder.

Dick.

“Raise your beater meter if you’re officially primetime, boys. We’ve got a full-grown, wild-woman on our hands.” He chuckles and I can’t help but laugh, too.

I watch, amazed these guys understood Parker’s bullshit, as a hand goes up here and there, taking note of whose hands are raised, because, well, it’s good to know, right?

Jarrod’s hand is one of the first to rise. He shoots me a wink when I catch his eye. A few other guys I’ve seen throughout the day raise their hands as well.

“Does this mean I’m outta the race for your heart, Lolli?”

I turn to Austin, who has both hands down.

I tilt my head playfully. “Still need mommy to sign your progress reports?”

“Eighteen in May.” He spreads both arms out. “I’m the baby.”

Next, Nate catches my eye. I look down at his hands, then back at his face, raising an eyebrow.

He smirks and takes off down the track. And the fun is over, because as expected, his boys follow.

I squeal when Parker smacks my ass and takes off. Spinning around, he starts with a backward jog. “It’s okay, Lolli Bear.” He smiles wide. “That party you cut out on this weekend…” I nod my head, my eyes narrowing slightly. “That was my birthday party.” Laughing, he turns and takes off full sprint to catch up to the group.

I laugh and drop down to finish the last of my stretches.

I take a minute to watch the team, observing how well disciplined they are, even in something as simple as group laps.

Four lines, single file, even speeds. All hanging back, running in place when someone falls behind; a pat on the shoulder or a gentle push in the back where encouragements needed.

It’s a beautiful thing to watch, the camaraderie.

A true smile hints at my lips for the briefest of moments before it’s gone.

I breathe in and out before taking off, entering the land of free winds and piercing silence. A place free of judgment and expectation and…emotion. Stone cold numbness. It’s all right foot, left foot, back straight, eyes forward. Distance. Point A to point B.

Pure nothingness.

Perfection.