Chapter 2

Jake, Sophia, and I find three desks right next to each other in the middle, so we sit down.

"Let's just hope we don't have to read anything this year." Jake mumbles as he takes out a pen and his notebook.

"Jake, it's English literature." Sophia says and shakes her head.

"Why are you against me today? Honestly, first the Kyle and Louis thing, now this?"

Sophia and I exchange annoying glances, because Jake's always been way too dramatic than needed.

I'm about to tell them to stop arguing, when I see Niall Harrison walk through the door, followed by Louis. My nose twitches and I feel like I'm about to throw up.

"Oh God." I whisper, looking at Jake. "What is he doing here?"

"He's in our grade, Nicki." Jake whispers back.

"Didn't he like...fail a class? Or three? So he had to repeat last year?"

Jake shakes his head. "He went to summer school. But come on, he's fit."

"No he's not. I feel like I'm about to throw up in my mouth every time I see him."

I've never liked Niall Harrison. Never have, never will. It started back in ninth grade, when I transferred to this school. It happened during lunch on my first day. I was in line to get some water from the cafeteria (I didn't know that the food wasn't safe back then) but I asked for a straw and opened the bottle because I had a new Mac lipstick that day and didn't want to ruin it – everyone can understand that.

So I placed the opened bottle on the tray and turned around to walk towards a table, when Niall Harrison bumped into me and spilled everything on himself. Then he started yelling at me, like it was my fault that he's got two left chicken legs and doesn't look where he's going. He complained about the cold water and the yoghurt that I spilled and basically made a scene out of nothing, like the little brat he is. Then he called me spoiled and a 'rich bitch', which just did it for me. I've never really crossed paths with him after that incident (except during classes or occasionally at parties-we're not in the same 'group'), and I'm thankful for that every day.

I watch him as he sits down a row behind me, right across the room, and then I make eye contact with Louis, so I smile and wave. I'm really good friends with him because he used to come to dance class with Sophia and I until a few months ago, when Danielle (our dancing coach) told us that we'll be an official dance group, and everyone who can't commit should leave. And because Louis wanted to pursue football instead of dancing, he quit.

"Wait a minute." Jake says and look at Louis, then back at me. "Is he gay?"

I frown. "Uh, I don't know. I've never seen him with someone, why?" I ask.

"Do you know Chris?"

I nod. "Vaguely. Isn't he the tall guy with the weird hair that takes care of our school magazine?"

"That's him. He's always had a crush on Louis but it's sort of an unrequited love situation."

"So?" I ask, unsure of where he's going with this.

"Sooo...if you know Louis, and if he's gay, we should set them up."

"Jake." I sigh. "Just because two people are gay doesn't mean they have to get together. Also, I really don't know if he swings that way."

"Well, I'm getting a gay vibe from him right now."

"That's a bit homophobic, not to mention stereo-"

Jake stops me. "I know my shit Nicki. Find out. You have sources."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. I will. But I swear to God, if you want to do this for yourself-"

"Louis' not my type. Chris is."

"So you are doing this for yourself." I say.

"Not...really. Why are you judging me? I didn't judge you when you made out with Niall two years ago!"

Oh. Right. I also made out with Niall in tenth grade at Louis' birthday party. In my defense, I was incredibly drunk and he smelled really good. But I couldn't really remember anything and neither did he, until our friends told us the next day and I had to bleach my tongue for two weeks after that.

"We shall never speak of that." I whisper.

"Bitch please, I will bring it up at your wedding, and at your funeral."

"Shut up." I warn, and give him my deadliest stare. It's the stare that I give my mother every time she wants to 'hang out' with me and spend quality time, to make up for the time she lost while she was filming a movie.

And Jake listens, but not because of my death stare (he's the queen of death stares actually), but because Mr. Andrews enters the room with a look on his face that just says he's as done as we are with school, and it hasn't even started.

"Good morning everyone. Or should I just say morning because judging by everyone's face it's not good at all." Mr. Andrews says and claps his hands together. "Well then. You all know me by now; I'm Mr. Andrews, and I'll be your English teacher this dreadful year. I will not tolerate you ditching homework because of other activities unless it's justified, and this year we will work in pairs for each assignment, because, to be honest with you, I'm done with reading twenty-something essays, so I'll be cutting that number in half."

I look over at Jake, who's already texting someone on his phone. Great, no annoyed-glances-exchange then.

"This year, we'll be reading and analyzing Dickens' "Great Expectations". Does anyone have any idea what the book is about?"

Sophia, surprisingly, raises her hand. Mr. Andrews points at her.

"It's about a poor boy who falls for a rich girl."

"Yes, Ms. Sawyer. That's right. Now, I'll be randomly drawing names out of a hat, and I'll pair you up with someone. We'll be reading a chapter in each class, and as we reach the end of the book, you and your partner will have to write a three page essay about the book and what it symbolizes, and what it meant to you based on real life experiences maybe."

Everyone groans. It's the first period, and we're already assigned to do work. Isn't this school system at its finest?

"Now, if anyone would do me the honor of giving me their cap?" Mr. Andrews asks and looks at Louis, who takes off his snapback and hands it over.

Mr. Andrews empties a small cup of paper cutouts in the hat, before he picks out a small piece. "Nicole Palmer. With..."

I bite my lip, praying to the Gods that he won't pick Niall.

"Louis Jeffries."

I sigh, relieved. And I swear I also see Niall smiling and his shoulder relax. Fucking idiot.

"Jake Kennedy and...Niall Harrison. Oh this should be good." Mr. Andrews mutters as he keeps digging through the hat.

My heart aches for Jake.

"RIP." I whisper and he rolls his eyes.

"Zayn Kennedy with...Jade Palmer." Mr. Andrews looks through the classroom. "Apparently, neither decided to come to school today. I bet their essay will be just delightful to read." He sarcastically adds.

I look around, just to notice that my cousin is indeed not here. Then I remember that she's still on holiday in Germany with my aunt.

He pairs up the rest of people in the classroom I really don't care about, before he tells us to each buy a copy and maybe watch the movie that was made in the 90s, just to get an idea on what the book is about.

The bell rings ten minutes later, and it's like a breath of fresh air. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I check it to see a message from my brother.

Jase: cig in the parking lot?

Nicki: sure, give me 3 mins

I turn to Jake and Sophia. "I'm going outside for a cigarette with me brother."

They follow me outside, and I see Jason leaning against my car, looking like he could punch someone.

"What's wrong? That bad huh?" I say as I pull out my cigarette pack from my bag and light it up.

"There's this girl." He starts as he blows out smoke.

"Oh shit." Jake says and crosses his arms.

"So there's this blonde girl in my class who started making fun of my shirt. I forgot her name when we introduced ourselves, but honestly, what's wrong with my polo?" he asks, looking down at it. "Nothing. But she called me a rich prick just because I was on my phone during class-which, by the way, just got me detention today so if you could pick me up at five, that would be amazing. Anyway, I asked what her problem was and she said that she just hates rich guys who think they're better than everyone, and I literally didn't even say anything!"

I nod. "Well, she's a bitch. Just point her out to me when you see her."

"I see her right now. Look." He says and nods towards a girl with blonde hair dressed in black, whose headed behind the school where the usual smokers hang out.

"Don't know her, sorry. But I'll find out who she is and she won't hear the end of it, I promise."

"No, don't. The last thing I need is people saying that my big sister has to fight my battles for me. I can handle it. I'll just make her fall in love with me and then break her heart." He jokes, before he dumps the cigarette on the ground and steps on it.

"You do that." I smile, and then pull him in for a kiss on the cheek. He squirms of course, and pulls away in disgust.

"Jesus Nicki, no PDA."

I roll my eyes and drop my cigarette as well, before we head back inside. I have two more periods before the one-hour lunch, and if I get out of it alive, I will definitely eat everything Rosa made us for lunch.

***

Louis sits down next to me at lunch. Sophia, Jake, and I are sitting at our usual table, chatting about Jake's tryout tomorrow after school.

"Hey partner." Louis smiles and puts an arm around my shoulder.

Jake pulls his phone out and I know he's texting Chris, telling him to move his ass over here.

"Hi Louis." I say and he looks at the bag next to me.

"Is that the limited edition Hermès bag?" he asks, his eyes going wide.

I try to ignore Jake's obvious, insistent glances. "Yeah. My mother sent it over from Italy last week."

"My sister keeps bugging me mum about it but it's like, fifteen thousand pounds and my mum barely makes that in a year. She'll faint if she sees it." he smiles. "Anyway. About that project. How do you want to do it?"

I shrug. "I think we should start working on it after the third chapter or so. My place, if you want."

"Sure." He nods. "Where do you live?"

"Kensington in W8. I'll drive us one day after school." I say, and try to ignore his raised brows. I always get this reaction when I tell people where I live. Just because it's apparently the most expensive neighborhood in Great Britain, that doesn't mean people can judge me based on that.

"Alright then. I'll get back to my table. You've got my number, right?"

I nod and she smiles, before he stands up and leaves, just to bump into a very clumsy Chris, who goes red.

"Sorry." He mutters and Louis waves it off, before he keeps walking towards his table. He's sitting with Kyle, Niall, and Poppy Edwards (a good friend of mine who's also on my dance and cheerleading team).

Chris sits down and looks at Jake. "Came too late."

"Well, better than coming early, isn't it?" Jake asks and Chris bursts out laughing. And for the hundredth time today, I roll my eyes. Because I was right; Jake is trying to make a move on Chris.

Jason slams his phone on the table as he sits down next to me. "I am so done."

"Jesus, what happened now?" I ask and scoot over so he can fit in next to me.

"That girl just spilled her coke on my shirt. On purpose." He says, and points to his stained shirt.

"Are you serious?" I frown. "Where is she right now?"

He points towards a girl sitting with a bunch of other girls, one of them being Louis' sister Lottie, who I remember from that one time she came with Louis to dance class.

"Hold on a minute." I tell Jason, before I stand up and walk over.

"Excuse me." I start, placing a hand on my hip as I look down at her. "I hear you're being rude to my brother, and I don't appreciate it."

The girl looks up at me with her blue eyes, and okay, she's really pretty. Too bad she has an attitude problem.

"So what's the problem?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice is raspy, and one of her brows is raised. How can a freshman be so rude? Honestly.

"Do you have a weird crush on my brother or something? Just leave him alone."

She snorts. "First of all, your brother is the furthest thing from being attractive, and second of all, who are you, his keeper?"

"Is there a problem?"

I feel every single hair on the back of my neck standing up as I turn my head in disgust, to face Niall. I look up at him. "Who called you here?"

"It seems like you have a problem with my little sister." He says.

Oh.

OH.

"Well, now it all makes sense." I say.

Niall looks at his sister. "Leah, what's going on?"

"I made fun of her little brother and she's really cute trying to defend him." Leah laughs. "It's nothing."

"Are you serious?" Niall snorts. "Can't your brother stand up for himself? Should've figured. You should call your daddy and ask him to come pick him up before he starts crying."

I want to slap him, but I refrain myself. "Listen. I'm not going to argue with two people who have two neurons put together, okay? Just keep your smartass comments to yourselves and stop picking on my brother for no reason, or we're going to have a problem. And trust me, you don't want to have a problem with me."

Niall laughs at that, and his sister looks a bit terrified to be honest, so my job is done.

I shoot her a fake smile, before I turn around and walk back to my table.

"What happened? What did you say?" Jason asks.

"Nothing important. But the problem is, there's not just one horrible, immature, self-centered brat in this school. There are two now."