Chapter One

Halden

Present

I broke myself away from my daze because I had realized I was staring at Levi, and that was incredibly creepy. My best friend pointed this out as well via a small note tucked into my hood like a little mailbox. How resourceful, I said to myself. 

You're being creepy.

It read with her nice, sophisticated handwriting. I turned in my chair a little to glare at her but her attention was focused on her notes, like mine should have been for the past twenty minutes. I dug around in my back pack for a pencil that was sharpened or a pen that ink, however by the time I could find one the bell wrung. I let out an uneasy breath. 

"Thing's are never going to be resolved until you get it off of your chest, you know," Kaia whispered, nudging my arm.

I nudged her back, nodding, "Yeah, Yeah, I know." I grumbled, slamming my unfinished notes into my back pack. There were exactly three months and two days from prom and Kaia had a date already. It wasn't fair, the boy she liked had reciprocated her feelings and she didn't even need to tell him. Ridiculous. My eyes wandered from the shabby classroom desk to Levi's faded blue jeans, and then up to his football jersey, and then to his chiseled face which was obviously made by some Greek God. He glanced over at us before swaggering out of the classroom, really putting on a show for the cheerleader girls who were already crowded around the door, their skirts pulled and tugged and then folded at the top to show even more leg than necessarily. 

"Gross, stop biting your lip. He's not a porno." My friend said, unsophisticated, unlike her handwriting. i kicked her ankle. "Come on, pervert, let's go get lunch."

"I sure hope you're driving," I started before she started pulling on my arm, I followed kind of unwillingly, my legs knocking on desks. We stopped by her locker so she could get her wallet and car keys. Sometimes I envied her for having the necessities of being a teenager; these necessities being a job, money and a car. 

I lived with my grandmother, so I had one person providing for me. Things were good between us and we could afford a roof over our heads and food on our tables, but when it came to buying unnecessary things, such as a cool new touch phone or a car, I was out of luck. 

Leaning my head against a locker next to hers as she dug around, I didn't notice a new presence until he spoke.

"Slouching like that will never get you what you want." A smooth voice said, incredibly loud. I lifted my head from my locker, looking around to see if the voice was directed at me. Levi's best friend was looking directly at me, his dark brown eyes glaring at me.

I cocked my head, "What?"

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Or are you deaf as well as stupid?" Hadden said, again extremely loud. 

My eyes narrowed and I stepped closer to him, Kaia had already turned around from her locker and her hands were on her hips, her eyes narrowed as well. "Don't do anything."

Before i could say anything else, Hadden cut through the tension, "I have a proposition for you."

"Yeah? You expect me to help you after you insulted me? Good luck with that one, buddy."

"First off, don't call me buddy, she," He indicated Kaia with a flick of his finger, "Is your buddy. I, however, am a business partner."

"What are you even talking about, Hadden?" I growled, stepping even closer, there was now a good foot or two between us, I could see the tan lines on his already tan skin. Hadden was one of the few Indian boys at our school. His last name was something different, I remembered, Kati? Koti? Khattri! That was it, Khattri!

"What if I told you i could help you get something you really wanted?" He asked, taking another step closer. He was taller than i thought, I had always seen him from a distance, but I hardly paid attention to him, he was Levi's best friend, after all, so they were always together. But it was hard not to notice that he was attractive when we were this close together. 

"How do you know what I want? Do you even know what my name is/" I scoffed, rolling my eyes and tugging on Kaia's arm, but she stayed in place, obviously waiting to see his offer.

"It's Becca Gardner. Anyway's you happen to want my best friend. I happen to know him pretty well, hence the best friend bit, and I also happen to need some help in a subject that you happen to be good at." Hadden said. My jaw had dropped when he said my name. Not just my first name. My WHOLE name, without any hesitation. 

"I don't even like Levi." I said, my face as straight as possible, a sly grin appearing on my face. Hah, Got you.

"That's where you're wrong, because, I never said the name of any one of my many best friends, and by you jumping to the conclusion that it was Levi, proves to me that you do like him."

The grin disappeared almost instantly. "What happens if I don't agree to help you? if I don't want your help/" I asked, deflated, my eyes were on his sneakers, shiny and clean.

"Well, IF that happens, I have pictures of you staring at my best friend. it would be totally awkward if these ended up on Facebook or something." My head shot up. "So, I recommend you take this opportunity."

If my glare could burn holes in people, it would have now. "Fine." I seethed, taking a step back away from him. 

"Great, I'll see you after school tomorrow, my truck will be in the back by the gym. It's red, you can't miss it. Kind of like your hair." He grinned, reached out and patted my hair, like a dog, spun on his heel and left me trying to wipe the feel of his hand on my head.