He blushed slightly and then gave me his usual grin, pulling me around the corner. “Yeah, come on.”

I sat with Clay and Tom in English which was great because they kept a lot of the unwanted attention away from me, but I wasn’t with them again until after lunch. I took a deep breath as the bell rang signalling the end of lesson. I didn’t want to be on my own at all. Clay gave me a sympathetic smile. He knew I didn’t like making new friends and that this was going to be hard for me.

“Come on, Riley Bear, I’ll walk you to your science class.” He grabbed my hand and helped me up off of my chair. We walked to my class hand in hand, we didn’t speak. Our friendship was easy, honest and very affectionate. We were so comfortable being together, he’d been my best friend and my rock who kept me sane for so long now that I don’t know how I would have got through everything without him.

When we got to the door of my class he took my face in both of his hands and stepped forward until our foreheads were touching. I could hear gasps and whispers coming from the classroom so I closed my eyes and just enjoyed his closeness. My body was starting to tingle and my stomach felt all fluttery. I was suddenly aware of how good he smelt and how his breath tickled across my lips. I didn’t want to let go of him. I had no idea why I suddenly felt weird, but it must have just been nerves for my first solo class or something. I swallowed loudly and smiled, pretending I was fine even though he probably saw through that immediately.

“Be confident, you’ll be fine. I’ll meet you at lunch,” he whispered, kissing my forehead before walking away. I turned back to the class to see everyone staring at me again, even the teacher.

I walked to the only seat that was empty in the back row. As I passed a cute boy with reddish brown hair, he slapped my ass. I gritted my teeth and ignored it, sitting in my seat and laying my head down on my arms on the desk. I could feel all eyes on me so I just sat there not moving.

“Hi,” chirped a girl beside me. I lifted my head to look at her. She was pretty in a ‘not in your face’ kind of way, she had short black hair with some blue streaks which she had spiked out stylishly and big brown eyes. She was smiling a friendly smile.

“Hi,” I replied, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

“Are you dating Clay Preston?” she asked, her eyes wide, showing admiration. It was pretty obvious by her expression that she liked Clay.

I shook my head in response. Dating Clay, seriously? “No. He’s my best friend. I’ve known him forever.” I smiled. People always thought that Clay and I were together, our parents even thought we would get married one day and used to tease us about it.

“Oh, that’s a shame because he is so freaking hot!” she stated, fanning her face and sighing dreamily. I couldn’t help but laugh. Clay wasn’t just hot, he looked like a God he was so beautiful - even I could see that and I was his best friend. He had always been gorgeous but as he got older he just kept getting better and better looking. Honestly, no girl could resist his charm.

“Miss Kent, do you have anything to share with the class?” the teacher asked sarcastically. The girl flushed and shook her head, ending the conversation.

When the bell rang at the end of class she waited for me. “I’m Rachel by the way,” she chirped, smiling warmly as I picked up my bag. “So, where are you next?” she asked as we walked out of the classroom.

I pulled out my schedule, looking at it. “Er, I have history next.”

“No shit, me too!” she cried, linking her arm though mine. As we walked up the hallway, everyone was looking at me again. A few of the guys whistled or made some suggestive remarks but I just ignored them. “I can’t believe this is your first day and you have the whole of the football team after you already. I heard them all talking about you in my first period Calculus class. They’re all placing bets on who will sleep with you first,” Rachel stated, shaking her head in a disapproving manner.

I gasped. “You’re kidding me!”

She chuckled. “Nope, not kidding. You’re fresh meat, and you’re hot. The cheerleaders will probably approach you at lunchtime to join the squad. You’ll easily make the ‘it’ crowd,” she replied, turning up her nose distastefully.

“I don’t want to be a cheerleader.” I shook my head at the thought. I groaned. I didn’t want guys hitting on me all freaking day!

“Great, then we can be friends!” She grinned and tightened her arm on mine, leading me through the complicated hallways.

Rachel and I chatted whenever we could, whenever the teacher wasn’t looking and as we walked between classes. She was really nice and we actually had a lot in common. She told me all about the school and how it works, pointing out people of interest - hot guys. Or people to stay away from - clingy stalker types. She said that Clay and his three friends that I had met this morning were part of the football team and were the most popular and most sought-after boys in school. Apparently, Clay being the hottest was ‘alpha male’, but that they were all players who only stayed with a girl long enough to get into their pants. I just smiled as she told me that. I already knew this little titbit of information about Clay; he had been with lots of girls. We didn’t actually have any secrets from each other; he openly admitted that didn’t want a girlfriend. He always joked that I was the only girl for him and that the others he just used for some fun because I wasn’t interested.

After History class I walked with Rachel to lunch. As soon as I entered the cafeteria the room fell silent. I turned to Rachel with a grimace; she just linked her arm through mine and pulled me to the lunch line.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” I moaned, looking at the wide range of food they had available. I could hear people whispering behind me.

“Hey, Riley Bear. How was your morning?” Clay asked suddenly from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me backwards into his chest. I breathed a sigh of relief at the safeness that I felt when he was near me, and rested my head back on his shoulder.

“It was okay,” I mumbled, looking over at Rachel who was completely eye raping Clay, with her mouth slightly open. “Er, Clay, this is Rachel. Rachel, Clay.” I waved my hand around in introduction even though they probably knew who the other was, but then again maybe Clay didn’t know who she was, she was a junior the same as me and he was a senior so their paths had probably never crossed - unless it was a sexual path of course. That last thought made a little frown slip onto my face.

“Hey, Rachel. Been looking after my girl for me?” he asked politely with a smile. She just carried on staring at him as if he hadn’t spoken. “O…. Kay,” he mused, chuckling.

“You obviously have an effect on the girls at this school. They all seem to hate me,” I whispered to him.

“They don’t hate you. You’re being paranoid,” he replied, giving me a reassuring squeeze.

“Really? Paranoid, huh?” I answered, turning slightly and nodding my head around.

Clay looked around and took in all the girls giving me hateful and jealous looks, but all of them smiling at him as soon as his eyes went in their direction. “Oh! Okay, maybe I shouldn’t hug you anymore then,” he suggested, stepping away and grinning at me.

“Get your butt over here now!” I hissed, pointing at my side and smiling at him. He chuckled wickedly as he threw his arm around my shoulder before loading two plates of chilli fries onto my tray and pushing me up to the cash register. I reached into my schoolbag for my purse but he had already handed over the money and picked up the tray for me.

“So, Rachel, would you and Riley like to come sit with us?” he asked, nodding to the biggest table at the end of the cafeteria. It was filled with all the hottest people in the school, guys and girls alike.

“Sure,” Rachel replied, wide eyed. She looked so excited that she was probably fighting to urge to jump up and down.

Clay led us to the table. “Shift down, guys. Make room for my girl and her friend,” he ordered, waving his hand. Immediately, everyone moved up to make room for two extras.

Wow, he really was like alpha male, he says jump and everyone asks how high! I rolled my eyes at him, but he wasn’t one to abuse his power, he was too kind and sweet, but he liked to give off a macho image.

“Hey, Riley. I’m looking forward to next period,” one boy said, giving me a sly wink.

I chewed on the inside of my lip as I looked at him. He was hot again, brown hair sweeping over his forehead and dazzling blue eyes.

Jeez, did they put something in the water in this school? And why the hell hadn’t I seen any of these guys around? Oh yeah, probably because my mom insisted I go to a stupid private school three towns over. But that was okay, I was happy at that school, I had a lot of friends and everyone knew me. But no, Brian had convinced my mom that sending me to private school was a waste of money. Hence, I was now at the local public school and the money they would have spent on my education was invested ready for my twenty-first birthday. It wasn’t too bad; at least I would get to see Clay a lot more, which was definitely a good thing.

“What have you got next period?” Rachel asked.

I grimaced. “Gym,” I moaned, turning my nose up. Clay chuckled wickedly as he started munching on his fries. I was terrible at sports. The only thing I liked to do was running; I went for a run every morning with Clay before we went to school.

“Let’s see your schedule again,” Rachel said, holding out her hand expectantly for it. I dug it out of my bag and put it in her outstretched hand. She scanned it over. “Hey I have French and English Lit with you too!”

“Oh I have Gym next period too. Maybe we could be partners,” another boy suggested, waggling his eyebrows and giving me a smirk.

“Enough! Leave her alone. I’ve already told you guys!” Clay barked, looking at them all in turn with an angry expression.

I turned to look at Clay. Was he serious? He’d warned people to stay away from me? “Clay, what? I can look after myself you know,” I stated, frowning.

He looked at me and his face softened. “I’m just looking out for you, Riley Bear. You don’t want anything to do with these jackoffs,” he explained, waving his hand around the table at his friends.

“These jackoffs are your friends, Clay,” I countered, shaking my head at him.

“Exactly, I know how they think. So stay away,” he said venomously. Before I could stop myself I kicked him under the table, my foot connecting with his shin. “Ouch! What was that for?” he accused, leaning down and rubbing his leg, scowling at me.

“For being an ass. I can talk to whoever I want, okay? Please don’t start with this whole thing again,” I begged, giving him my puppy dog face that I knew he couldn’t resist.

He snorted and shook his head. “Fine! Talk to whoever you want. Date whoever you want. Just don’t come crying to me when it all goes wrong,” he snapped, shoving his plate of food away from him angrily and getting up from the table, stalking off in the direction of the exit.

Wait, he was angry with me? What the hell did I do? He was the one that was being all super possessive and protective!

I looked at his retreating back confused as to what had just happened. But I knew I couldn’t let him be mad at me, I loved that stupid boy with everything I had. Instinctively I jumped out of my chair and ran after him. When I got close enough I jumped on his back, wrapping my arms and legs tightly around him, catching him by surprise and almost knocking him over. I bent my head and kissed the side of his neck which made him laugh quietly. I smiled against his neck because I already knew that all was forgiven and forgotten. A wicked plan formed in my head as I opened my mouth and sucked hard on the soft skin of his neck, giving him a hickey.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be all ungrateful. I know you’re looking out for me,” I told him.

His body seemed to relax under mine. “No, I’m sorry, Riley Bear, I shouldn’t have done that. You can talk to whoever you want; I was just trying to look out for you, honestly. These guys here aren’t good enough for you,” he said, shaking his head a little sadly.

I sighed and kissed my hickey on his neck as my stomach growled hungrily. “Can we go back and finish lunch now?” I asked. He nodded and turned around, wrapping his arms around my thighs so I didn’t have to hold on as much. When we got back to the table, he plopped me back into my chair. Everyone was staring at us again. I rolled my eyes as Clay kissed the top of my head making the girls gasp and glare at me even more.

Clay sat back down opposite me and immediately Ben’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit! You let her brand you?” Ben shouted, pointing at Clay’s neck.

“Brand me?” Clay repeated, confused, rubbing his hand on his neck.

“Yeah she gave you a freaking hickey!” Ben stated, laughing.

Clay shot his eyes to me. “You didn’t!” he accused, with a smile.

I nodded in response, trying not to laugh again. He just rolled his eyes and pulled the collar of his shirt up to cover it. He was always doing that to me so this was payback. Since I was ten years old, when he first learnt how to do them, he’d pinned me down and given me a hickey almost every week. He always says that he’s marking his territory like a cat marks with scent.

“Paybacks a bitch, huh?” I teased, with a sly smile.

In Gym we were running track which was great for me. I loved to run and at least I wasn’t stuck in some stupid hall playing dodge ball or something. That would really suck. The only trouble was I didn’t have any gym kit yet because as I had been away for a month. Rachel had leant me her shorts, but because I was a lot taller than her, they were actually really short shorts. I didn’t even have a shirt to wear. I grabbed my cell phone and text Clay asking if he had a spare one. A couple of seconds later he text back that he would wait for me outside the girls locker room. Everyone was ready so they all made their way out. As I stepped tentatively out of the door in my red shirt, I saw Clay leaning there waiting for me.