Sure he was hot, but he had nothing on my Liam. “He’s cute,” I confirmed, nodding in agreement.

“Johnny, tell us a little about yourself,” Mrs Stewart suggested.

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he looked around the class nervously. “Er….. well, I’ve just moved to Timberfield with my mom and stepfather. I have a little brother who’s one. And I like to skate?” he said, making it sound more like a question.

“OK, well I’m sure you’ll be very happy here. How about I pair you with someone for my class then they can show you to your next class after?” Mrs Stewart offered. I groaned. There was no way she would pick me, that’s the kind of thing that just happens in cheesy stories. I sank down in my seat, looking at my book, praying for a break. “Jessica, are you volunteering?” Mrs Stewart asked. My head snapped up and I breathed a sigh of relief. Kate cursed under her breath and put her hand back down, she was obviously volunteering too.

Johnny made his way across the class to sit next to Jessica, who was busy undoing another button on her already slutty shirt. He smiled at me as he walked past my desk. “Hi, Amber,” he said quietly.

“Hi, Johnny,” I replied, a little shocked. How the hell did he know my name? I watched him sit next to Jessica, she immediately starting flirting her ass off with him, while he just seemed to be nodding politely, looking uncomfortable.

Kate looked at me with wide eyes. “I thought you didn’t know him,” she whispered, frowning at me, looking a little confused.

I shook my head. “I don’t. How the hell did he know who I was? I’ve never seen him before,” I replied.

The teacher cleared her throat. “Right then, if we’re all done talking, how about we start the lesson?” she asked sarcastically. I grabbed my book and sunk further into my seat, trying not to look in his direction.

As soon as the bell rang I jumped out of my seat and practically ran from the room, not wanting to chance another meeting. I silently prayed over and over in my head that he wasn’t in anymore of my classes. Thankfully, the rest of the morning went past with no more run-ins with my new stepbrother.

People were talking to me a lot today; everyone was asking if Liam and I were an item, they wanted to know how long we’d been together. Blah, blah, blah, it was the same thing over and over and I was already bored of it.

“Hey, Angel,” Liam purred, grabbing me from behind as I stood in the lunch line with Kate and Sean.

“Hi.” I smiled, feeling instantly happier now that he was near me.

“How’s your day been?” he asked, kissing my neck, making me squirm.

I sighed. “Well, I’ve been answering the same questions over and over. It was so bad that I’m actually considering getting: ‘Yes, I am dating Liam. Yes, I have won the bet. Yes, he is a good boyfriend. No, my brother didn’t go crazy,’ tattooed across my forehead so I don’t need to keep repeating myself,” I joked, shrugging. He laughed and held me tighter. “Aside from the repeating myself, I had a class with my stepbrother. He knew who I was. And oh yeah, he’s walking in right now with that skank Jessica, who by the way, looks like she wants to kill me. So my day’s not going too good, boyfriend,” I stated, discreetly nodding towards Johnny.

“He knew who you were?” Liam asked, turning me slightly so he was hiding me from Johnny’s view.

“Yeah. He said hello to me as he walked past,” I replied, frowning, still not understanding how he recognised me.

Liam laughed and looked at me as if I said something stupid. “He probably didn’t know who you were, Angel, he probably thought you were hot. Can’t blame him there,” he purred, grinning at me as his hand moved down to cup my ass.

I rolled my eyes. “Liam, he walked past and said ‘hi, Amber’ so I think he knew who I was,” I stated sarcastically.

He frowned and looked over his shoulder before chuckling wickedly. “He doesn’t look too comfortable with Jessica.”

“Well who the hell would look comfortable near Jessica? Oh yeah, you didn’t look too stressed when you were hanging all over her,” I teased, smirking at him.

He turned his nose up, faking a shudder. “Don’t remind me about my former life without you, Angel. I’ll have nightmares,” he said with mock horror, making me laugh.

I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks. Liam insisted on paying and carrying the tray as usual. I headed over to his table and sat down next to him. Jake was already there with some of his boys from the team, my friends all sat down too, taking the last seats. I ripped open my sandwich and was just about to take a bite when a shadow fell over me.

“Hi,” Johnny said smiling, he was blushing slightly.

I gulped, feeling my stomach sink a little. “Er, hi.”

“You mind if I sit with you?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

I saw Jake tense from the corner of my eye. I looked around at the full table. “Um….” I trailed off, biting my lip.

“Never mind, don’t worry. I just thought I should introduce myself.” He shrugged, blushing harder, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

Kate kicked me under the table. “Ouch! What the hell was that for?” I asked, rubbing my leg. She glared at me. I knew exactly what it was for, I had to ask him to sit with us for her sake or I wouldn’t hear the end of it this afternoon. Oh God, kill me now! “It’s fine, Johnny. Grab a chair, you can sit on the end here,” I suggested, moving my tray over so he could put down his plate and drink.

He grinned and relaxed. “Thanks, Amber,” he said, smiling gratefully as he walked off to get a chair from a couple of tables away.

I turned to Kate, frowning. “That freaking hurt, Kate! Seriously, he’s not that hot!” I whisper yelled at her.

“Yeah he is.” She nodded enthusiastically, laughing and I ended up laughing along with her. Damn slutty girl.

Johnny sat down on the end of the table. “So, this is weird, huh?” he stated, grinning sheepishly.

I laughed uncomfortably. “Wow, that’s an understatement and a half. You think it’s weird, try unnerving and awkward,” I joked, making him laugh.

“I’m not that bad,” he whined, faking hurt.

I decided to just get it out there and ask what had been bothering me all morning. “How do you know who I am?” I asked quietly.

He smiled. “Stephen showed me a photo of you. I haven’t seen one of your brother though, so I have no idea who he is,” he explained, shrugging.

My dad had a photo of me? I wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. Why the hell would he have a photo of me, and not Jake? I didn’t even want to think about that question too much in case I came up with an answer I didn’t like.

I pointed at Jake. “He’s right there. Jake, Johnny. Johnny, Jake,” I said, waving a hand between them in introduction.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Jake growled, his face was hard and not at all friendly. Johnny squirmed in his seat a little - Jake could be quite intimidating if he wanted to be.

“Yeah, good thanks. It’s good to meet you,” he replied nervously.

Kate kicked me again under the table in the exact same spot as before, making me wince. I glared at her warningly; she obviously wanted an introduction too. “Johnny, these are my friends, Sean, Sarah and Kate. This is my boyfriend, Liam,” I stated, introducing everyone that was at our end of the table.

Johnny smiled warmly. “Hey, sorry, I’m bad with names. I’ll probably forget in like half an hour,” he admitted, wincing slightly.

Kate turned on her flirt mode, tossing her hair over her shoulder, smiling seductively. “I’m terrible with names too. We have something in common,” she purred, looking him over slowly. He laughed, looking uncomfortable. It didn’t look like he was used to female attention at all.

“So, what school did you go to before here?” I asked, trying to help him out slightly.

He smiled at me gratefully. “I actually went to an all-boys school in Mersey,” he answered, shrugging. OK, that explains the blushing and being uncomfortable. I could almost see Kate’s brain ticking over thinking about teaching him new tricks and breaking him in. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor boy.

“An all-boys school? Well that’s no fun,” Kate smiled, eating a potato chip, obviously trying to look sexy.

Liam burst out laughing next to me. “Kate, leave the poor guy alone, it’s his first day,” he teased.

Jake looked at Kate with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. It suddenly dawned on me what was happening. Jake was totally crushing on Kate! “I saw that, Jake,” I stated, grinning at him knowingly. He flinched and tried to look innocent. Yep, totally jealous! “So, what classes do you have this afternoon?” I asked, turning back to Johnny, trying to keep the conversation going. I felt a little sorry for him; he was obviously like a fish out of water here. He pulled out his schedule and handed it to me. I glanced over it and almost choked on my sandwich - he had every single afternoon class with me. “I have the same ones,” I said quietly, handing it back. Liam rubbed his hand on my leg gently and I leant against him for support. Johnny seemed like a nice guy but I didn’t want him near me all the time. The occasional conversation I could probably deal with, but what if he went home and my father asked about me? He would know way too much stuff about me for my liking.

“Yeah? Awesome! You think you could show me the way and stuff?” he asked hopefully. I nodded slowly, I couldn’t exactly say no.

Jessica came strutting over; she now had only two buttons done up on her shirt. “Hey, Johnny. Want to come and sit with me?” she asked, twirling her hair around her finger.

“Jessica, you missed a few buttons there, sweetie,” I said innocently.

She glared at me. “It’s supposed to look like this, Emo freak,” she spat nastily.

“Actually, yeah I think you’re right. I saw that shirt worn exactly like that on the hooker on the corner last night,” I replied, smiling kindly.

“You hang out on street corners?” she asked, grinning, obviously thinking she had won.

“When I’m meeting with your mom I do.” I shrugged.

Liam and Johnny burst out laughing. “Bitch,” she mumbled as she stormed off. Kate and Sarah slapped a high five, giggling like mad girls on crack.

“You’re funny,” Johnny said, grinning at me.

“Yeah, I think maybe I just ruined your chances of nailing her today. She’ll give you another chance tomorrow though so don’t worry,” I teased as I started eating again.

He turned his nose up. “She’s been driving me crazy all morning; she’s bitching about some girl who stole her boyfriend. What kind of guy would go out with someone like her anyway? He must be a right ass,” he scoffed, shrugging.

The whole table, apart from Liam, burst out laughing. “Er, that ass would be me. But we weren’t going out,” Liam stated, shaking his head.

Johnny blushed like crazy. “Oh sorry,” he mumbled, wincing slightly.

I wrapped my arm around Liam. “Don’t worry, lover boy, your taste has improved since then,” I cooed, pulling him closer to me.

“Angel, my taste has always been the same. Forbidden fruit.” He leant in quickly, biting my neck, making me giggle. Jake cleared his throat and Liam pulled away with a sigh and rolled his eyes. I let Kate talk to Johnny for the rest of lunch, adding in the occasional question or answer when I needed to. He was actually a nice guy. It would have been easier if he was an jerk, then that way I would be able to brush him off and not feel like a piece of crap about it after. I showed him to his classes and he sat next to me when he could. When the bell rang for the end of the day I breathed a sigh of relief.

“So are you headed straight home?” Johnny asked, smiling, as we walked to my locker.

I shook my head. “No. I need to wait for Jake and Liam to be finished with their practice.”

“Yeah, what does Jake play?” he asked curiously.

“Ice hockey.”

“Cool. You know, I could give you a ride if you want,” he offered. “My mom and Stephen bought me a wicked car for my birthday,” he added, smiling broadly. I felt my heart sink at the sound of his name again, the way he used it in casual conversation scared the crap out of me.

“Um, thanks for the offer, but I’ll wait for them. Liam usually comes over after because Jake goes to work,” I said quickly.

“Where does Jake work?” he asked, leaning against the lockers.

“Benny’s gym.” I rammed my books into my bag with way too much force bending all the pages, because I was getting uncomfortable.

“Jake doesn’t seem to like me much,” Johnny muttered, looking a little sad.

I smiled reassuringly. “He doesn’t know you. It’s just weird for us that’s all. We haven’t seen our father in three years, then all of a sudden he turns up here and bang, we have another brother and a stepbrother. Jake doesn’t like change,” I explained, trying to skirt around the issue a little.

He nodded, looking thoughtful. “Yeah, I guess it’s hard. So, do you think maybe I could wait with you until their practice ends and we could get to know each other a bit more? I mean, I don’t want this to carry on being awkward for either of us, I’m here now so I think we need to make the best of it,” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

Holy shit buckets! I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing, I nodded and shut my locker.

“You want to sit out front? I usually sit under the tree and wait,” I said as we walked out of the building.