Trust Me...Again?

"If only I could kiss you through my phone, my life would be a lot easier." I can't help but break into a shy smile, warmth creeping up my cheeks, as I pull away just enough to stare at Matthew's swirling, clear blue eyes, the sight I want to wake up to every morning.

"If only you would have taken my word 'one text away' seriously, we could have done a lot more than just kiss." He pulls me in again as his soft lips mould into mine, a gentle press of skins, making me black out on everything else other than his body pressed against mine, the warmth seeping from his pale skin and into mine. I can feel the sparks running down me, the rush of blood in my ears, the thumping of my heart as if it is going to race out of my chest any minute.

I still don't get how, even after the countless times that he has kissed me, every kiss still feels new. Every touch of his skin against mine makes me go weak in the knees, makes me fall in love with him all over again.

I wish time could just stop when I am in his arms because it's the best feeling ever.

Matthew's hand loosens from behind me, coming to a stop on my waist. His face holds a hint of a smile crinkling the freckles around his nose and cheeks.

"Are those butterflies that I feel?" He gently strokes the side of my stomach with his right thumb raising goosebumps all over me.

"Butterflies?" I almost scoff. "Forget the butterflies, I feel the whole zoo when I am with you." I loop my hands tightly around his neck, pulling him closer if that is even possible.

He heartily chuckles, tilting his head to look at me, clearly amused. I have to almost look away to avoid overdosing on his smile.

"God Matt, this sucks but I love you. I love you, Matthew Wilson."

Without another word, he draws me towards him, kissing me hard but it doesn't last as long as I would have liked it to.

"And this sucks too but being a high-schooler calls for some duties. Especially when you are in the hellhole itself." Matthew lets go of me, stepping back and shoving his hand into his pocket. For a split second I think he is trying to avoid my eyes but I shake the feeling off almost immediately as me being paranoid what with me breathing, eating and sleeping caffeine these past few days. His hair stands a little to one side from where my hands were tangled into them but Matthew doesn't seem to notice.

My brows crease in confusion suddenly but I dismiss the thought soon enough thinking that I have probably got it wrong.

"Since when does Matthew Wilson care to attend classes?"

"Since his girlfriend is clearing every class with straight A's and he feels like an idiot around her. You can't blame a guy for wanting to stand up to his girl's expectations." I am amused to say the least. I never ask for it but every time he calls me his girlfriend, my heart skips a beat. But I raise my eyebrow in question instead.

"Yeah okay, not even two months into senior year and I am already failing two classes and my mom just got called in yesterday." He finally confesses with an embarrassed smile.

"And I am assuming that what really is making a difference is that you don't get to play in the lacrosse team this season if you don't pass all classes?"

"What a shame it would be to lose the best team captain now, wouldn't it?"

I laugh. "You'll play and you'll win. Tienes mis bendiciones."

Are you wondering how I had managed to land the school's lacrosse team's captain and star athlete's eyes on me? Believe me, I have been asking myself the same question for the last two years.

And maybe if not for us living on the same street or me stealing his lollipop in third grade, he wouldn't even know my name.

Yes, I stole a lollipop from a kid's mouth. Yes, I ate it whole. No, I did not confess to stealing anyone's lollipop to the PE teacher when asked later.

"If you say so, ma'am." Matthew chuckles before pecking my cheek and turning to leave. "I'll catch you during lunch?"

"You bet."

"Excuse me. Can you empty your pockets? I believe you have officially stolen my heart."

"Kaitlyn!" My attention was so fixated on Matt that I hadn't even noticed Kaitlyn Rogers standing behind me, head tilted, her face all but heart eyes.

I met Kaitlyn Rogers two summers back in one of Matt's parties who was introduced to me as Matt's longest friend, almost a sister as she was a year older than him and used to babysit him as recent as a few years back but whom I later caught to be Jordan's, Matt's older brother's, girlfriend. To say the least, it felt like the term "couple goals" was coined after them.

"Well, aren't you guys just the jammiest bit of jams! You should get married already. And hey! I better be the maid of honor." She comes up to us smirking and slings her arm around Matt.

I just give her the big, blank eyes before breaking out into the biggest of smiles.

"All you can be is a creepy stalker. How many times have I told you not to creep up on my love life." Kaitlyn raises her brows in a peculiar manner.

"Hey, I need to give my approval of my lil' brother's girlfriends!" Kaitlyn wiggles her brows to which she gets a shove from Matt.

"How is school Kate?" I shake my head with a small smile and turn to Kaitlyn.

Though Kaitlyn is a year older to me and Matt, she is in the same year as us. Between shifting countries and homeschooling, Kaitlyn joined Gradient High this year as a senior.

"Oh, am I really supposed to give an answer to that in--" She looks at her phone. "--in the span of two minutes?"

I laugh at her pointy look. "Actually never mind. I get it."

"God Kate, can anyone ever get a straight answer from you?" Matt scowls at her, making her roll her eyes.

"Straight is overrated." Kaitlyn removes her hand from around Matt to pull her fair hair into a messy ponytail. "Also what's the fun in being mainstream?" She wiggles her brows at me, her voice dramatically low.

From being the epitome of perfect girlfriend to the badass friend, Kaitlyn Rogers is a dynamic package of a person. She always carries this chilled out and bubbly nature around and with being her hot, cryptic self, it is very hard for someone to not like her. Needless to say, her dreamy smile and sparkling green eyes just adds the cherry on top of the cake.

Talking of which, one thing you should remember is that Kaitlyn hates cherries.

"So before we go insane trying to decipher Kate's ways of living, how about we get to our classes instead? I'm sure Leah here would rather attend a History class than listen to you being...well you." Matt gives Kaitlyn an all too sweet smile before giving my hand a quick, reassuring squeeze which does a lot to submerge the reappearing feeling that something wasn't fitting.

But Kaitlyn's straight face of pure disapproval towards Matt takes my mind off it. You see, not everyone can be standing intact after insulting Kaitlyn Rogers. Much less over and over again.

"Is remembering each other's timetable you guys' way of showing your love too? Is that, like, your thing?" Kaitlyn raises her brow incredulously at Matt before scoffing and turning to leave. "Catch you later Leahkins. You coming Lover Boy?" With the most careless attitude ever, she takes out her phone and starts strolling away.

Matt just directs her a weird look before giving me a quick sideways hug and turning to follow after Kaitlyn. I'm assuming they have the same class.

Before he leaves though, he turns to me one last time with the cheekiest grin ever which I've grown to learn indicates mischief, the black t-shirt taut on his muscles complimenting his light eyes and just when I am going to interrupt him from whatever nonsense he was planning to sprout, he says, "I thought I could count on those protections but looks like I was wrong. You already have animals running around inside of you."

Without waiting for an answer he turns around and trudges away and even though his back is to me, I know he is smirking. He turns the corner without another look behind, leaving me breathless and baffled, my jaw hanging.

"Sly smile, blushing cheeks and a mind full of thoughts. I wonder what those pretty brown eyes are fantasizing." I look up and am immediately flooded with a sense of belonging as Sam's grey blue eyes and an almost always raised eyebrow greets me.

"What, a girl can't smile just because she wants to?"

"Surprise me. Tell me you weren't just with Mr. Boyfriend. Heads up, I might even suffer a minor cardiac arrest." Sam tilts her head in amusement as she turns the combination on her locker.

"It's because of your charm Sammy. I am just happy to see you." Her know-it-all persona doesn't fail to fluster me but I resist nonetheless.

"And tell me you're sausage wallet is crying because of my charm too." Even though Sam is not looking at me, she knows well enough that her words did the work as a full-fledged smirk grows on her face.

"Oh my god, you did not. I hate you so much." I look away, my cheeks now flaring so bright that I'm sure a thermometer placed on them would show a reading.

"At least Boyfriend wouldn't have to worry about you cheating on him with me then."

"He sure is considering that as a possibility. And for the thousandth time, quit calling him 'Boyfriend' please. It makes him sound like a possession." I shake my head at her improper choice of words. She has been calling Matthew 'Mr. Boyfriend' ever since I started dating him and hasn't quit even after almost two years now.

"I wouldn't blame him. It's hard to be around the human Aphrodite and not fall for her allure." She flicks her wavy golden blonde locks, smiling smugly.

"You are probably the only human who uses Greek mythology in a praise." I scoff.

"Says the one who uses Shakespearean insults."

"Thou fresh piece of excellent witchcraft." Sam looks away from her locker, an 'are you serious' look on her face as she stares at me but it's not long before we both crack up laughing.

"What's that?" I notice Sam holding up a sheet of paper that she found in her locker, her face contorting from laughter to disgust real quick.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." She shakes her head, crumpling the paper and throwing it in her locker.

"Is it one of those 'your lips look lonely; would they like to meet mine' notes from Jake?" I laugh.

"The very same creep to the bone marrow." Sam practically gags, now evoking the sadist in me.

"I don't blame him. It's probably hard to be around the human Aphrodite and not fall for her allure." I smile smugly, mimicking Sam, as I quote her words back to her.

"Don't even try that Amy. I'm not quite out of stock with my subtle jokes yet." I scrunch my nose, wondering how I even ended up being friends with a girl like Sam.

To say the least, Samara Tate was in every way not how I am.

"Jake Standall is kind of cute though."

"Yeah, until he picks up his second pair of eyes and focuses it on girls' ass." Sam shuts the locker door behind her after having dropped all her books.

Jake Standall is the student body photographer of Gradient High with a DSLR hanging around his neck always (literally) which is rightly said to be used more than his own eyes and a bag full of all sorts of lenses dangling from his side which, again, is rightly said to be used to focus on all unnecessary stuff. Probably the only thing he lacks to sum up his look is the 'creep' tattoo on his forehead.

And this very Jake Standall also happens to be the guy with a fleeting 'once in a while' crush on my best friend.

"Where is El again?" I ask Sam as we start walking away from the lockers, towards nowhere in particular.

"Chemistry. Mr. Jones wants to do a run through before next week's pop quiz."

"Hold on. Firstly, I thought run through was for, like, band practice or something and secondly, how does a pop quiz remain a pop quiz if you are informed about it a week before?" I say, quite incredulously.

"Ta da! That's Mr. Jones for you." Sam half laughs before her eyes suddenly bulge out, her expression morphing into horror as if she just realised something.

"History. Mr. Williams. Holy shit! There's a history project that was due last Friday." She blabbers hurriedly, looking around everywhere, her eyebrows crunched in an expression that I recognise instantly: she is coming up with something stupid, and most certainly trouble-calling, to get out of the situation.

"Sammy, stop. You're not going to do anything now. What you will do is go home and finish the project today and submit it tomorrow." I try to draw Sam's attention to me but she is looking everywhere but at me.

"What, are you thinking that I am going to go tell Williams that my dog ate my project so I couldn't submit it?" Sam gives me a blank look.

"Well you said that the last time, so even if you were thinking of it, you can't give that excuse again. Your dog is not project-addicted. And besides the point, you don't even have a dog."

"I did my project and it's very much away from dogs this time." She rolls her eyes, spinning around hurriedly before coming to a stop all of sudden, her face contorted in concentration.

"Sam. Then you did get your project to school today, right?"

"Jesus, what kind of an idiot do you take me for? Of course I did. Come on, it's in my locker." With that said, she scurries away leaving me as confused as ever.

"I was supposed to submit this the first thing today morning. God, Mr. Williams is so going to eat me alive." Sam bangs the locker door shut behind her for the second time before turning to face me with a file in her hand.

"He's vegan." I joke but as soon as the words are out of my mouth, I wish I had never said anything at all. Next, I hastily try to cover it up. "Well you can go give it to him right away. What else are free periods for, right?" I say pointedly.

"Okay and since your boyfriend dude is nowhere in sight, you are coming with me." Sam starts walking again making me shake my head.

"Not that it matters but I would have come with you either ways." I point out as a matter of fact but she just scoffs.

How very typical.

"I never thought I was going to regret laughing at that prank Petrillo and Santiago pulled. I mean it was brilliant up until right now that we have to walk all the way around the school to reach the freaking History department's staff room." Sam sighs in annoyance.

"Putting up posters of all the dead people saying 'the dead has risen' in the history room? I mean, what are they, ten?" I shake my head disbelievingly.

Like who even does that in senior year?

"I think the best part was the pictures of the teachers saying 'about time they became history'." Sam laughs, remembering the second week since we got back for our senior year.

"They got a week long suspension for that."

"I wonder if that was the sole purpose of them doing it in the first place." Sam looks at me with drawn eyebrows. "Why don't I think of such stuff?" She actually looks disappointed.

Second week into senior year and the certified pranksters of Gradient High had already gotten into action. Lucas Petrillo and Brent Santiago, oops, 'Luke' and 'Ben' have never failed to amuse everyone, teachers alike, with the stupidest of tricks they come up with every year, irrespective of suspension following it or not.

"Hey, what say we try something fun like that sometime soon?" Sam wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, a sly smile on her lips.

"Vandalize a staff room to end up with suspension in the very first month of the year plastered in bold red on our student profile? Jeez Sammy you're such a good influence but no thanks." I smile sarcastically at Sam.

"God you're such a buzzkill." She drawls.

"The last thing I need is to have a best friend like the Gruesome Threesome."

"Be careful there, Amy. No one better hear you call the Holy Trio that." Sam half-chuckles.

"Or I might just as well be dead meat. Point noted ma'am." I join Sam as we laugh, heading towards the other side of the building from where we are supposed to go around to the Art and Craft department where the history teachers' staff room is temporarily housed, all thanks to Petrillo and Santiago for practically bringing down the whitewash off the walls of the old history room.

Shaking my head, as we turn the corner, I almost get a concussion as I walk head on into, I think, a misplaced pole until I look up, cursing, and meet the eyes of Gradient High's very own heart throb, ultimate Greek god, Calvin Klein's poster boy yada yada yada but our personal favourite, head (brainless) of the gruesome threesome.

"I pity even the air that hits you when you walk by." I wince, rubbing my forehead. "You have the built of a concrete floor."

Adrian Ackard rolls his eyes before his signature smirk blooms out and he looks down, literally and figuratively, at me. "Don't act like you're not impressed."

"Yeah well the concrete floor of a public toilet." I deadpan.

"You do know who you are talking to, right?" Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but he looks kind of amused.

"Besides the fact that knowing you would mean I care which I don't, half of California's children come to this school, so no, I do not know who you are. And spare me because I don't want to either." I raise my brow waiting for his bottling up spite to spill but instead, he just tilts his head, smirking.

"Ms. Tempest, how have I never gotten the chance to know you personally? You seem like an interesting one."

"Well that was pretty self explanatory now, wasn't it? "Tempest", "interesting one" ." I shake my head, air quoting, before I turn to pull Sam and go ahead, but instead I get a backward tug demanding me to stay.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Mr. Williams is now, would you?" Sam moves to stand in front of Ackard, her face lighting up in an all-too-sweet smile as she looks up at him questioningly. There goes Ms. I-wanna-mess-with-anyone-and-everyone-for-no-reason-at-all.

"You might be cute but that smile doesn't work with me. What makes you think that I would know the whereabouts of an old hag?"

James inches a tad bit closer to Sam, his figure towering over her. As always, clueless to the scenario, I look back and forth between them catching no sense of what is going on whatsoever.

"You know if I were you, I'd be a little more careful considering your reputation among teachers." Sam casually curls her hair around her fingers, all her hurry of reaching Mr. Williams vanished into thin air.

James just raises his eyebrow as he looks at Sam weirdly and I couldn't relate more to his expression.

Seeing that that is all the reaction she is going to get out of him, Sam sighs and continues. "Which staff room was it this time? Or do you just carry spray paints around in your pocket all the time?"

Realisation strikes Ackard as he looks down at his pant pockets and hurriedly shoves the two clearly poking our heads of the paints.

"So, do you wanna cooperate 'cause I am in a hurry or would you like it some other way?" Sam innocently smirks. "I am fine either ways."

Why does this girl like to make a scene out of everything?

"Oh, you wouldn't." Ackard scoffs unbelievingly.

"Oh, but I would. What's the fun in letting you go just like everyone else does." Sam wiggles her eyebrows.

That's when the realisation finally sinks in me.

Was Samara Tate really trying to blackmail Adrian Ackard?

Was anyone even blackmailing Ackard.

So let's start by saying I dislike him, the word 'dislike' being a huge understatement. Everyone loves him. The entire student body (and not to mention, most of the faculty as well) adores him. Probably the whole damn world cherishes him.

Adrian Ackard is amazingly handsome, intelligent and capable of solving, analyzing and fixing any problem presented to him. Too bad he couldn't fix that attitude of his.

That boy is also painfully talented and charismatic. Give him a sport and he will make you stand speechless. Hand him an instrument and One Direction would be red with shame. Now combine that with the absurdly good looks and physique. James is every dream made into reality. And before you jump to conclusions, let me get this straight, that's what others think of him--not me.

You might be thinking, "way to be clichè girl". But believe me (or not), every high school has one of those.

"You do know that I don't get my hands dirty so you're little accusation is ultimately false?" James scoffs at Sam, not a flicker of indifference in his features.

"Actually you'd be surprised by how much I know." This causes James' brow to lift up almost reflexively.

"Let me spell it out to you," Sam continues. "Petrillo and Santiago mean everything to you. Ergo, you'll do anything to cover their tracks."

"You are a little bitch." James says after letting it sink, having nothing more than pure amusement in his voice.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Sam flashes him a bright smile.

Shaking his head, James says, "I just saw Argus go towards the staff room a few minutes back."

"Though we were headed there anyways, a certainty is definitely better. Thanks Adrian Ackard. I'll remember your generous help."

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it help. You threatened to get Luke and Ben suspended."

"Wouldn't have been fair but they at least deserve to pay something for making us walk all the way around the school for a stupid project because of the little stunt they pulled."

Having had enough with the contagiously unfriendly conversation, I turn to Sam.

"You can finish your negotiations later on. Let's get done with this already. I don't wanna spend my whole free period hunting down a history teacher."

"You're welcome sober one. And yeah, since I'm oozing charity feelings today, you don't really have to walk around the whole school if you know around here well enough. Theatre, backstage, abandoned janitor's closet, coming out in front of the art department." Ackard recites indifferently as if knowing secret passages in school isn't just the creepiest thing ever.

"By the angel, why would you happen to know that?" Sam's eyes narrow in curiosity.

"Given my reputation among teachers, I should know a few slip aways when I see an unexpected one approaching now, shouldn't I?" He winks at Sam complacently before, without waiting any longer, he sidesteps us and casually strolls away, running his hands through his messy brown locks.

"And I thought I just threatened him." Sam exclaims turning to me, a clear victory smile on her face. "I guess it's our lucky day."

I almost scoff at that as I turn back to look at the hallway from which Ackard just disappeared. "I do not believe that. Using Adrian Ackard and luck in the same sentence is almost unheard of."

"Luck or not, we got to check this secret closet out. If people can come out in Narnia, we can surely manage to get to the other side of this building."

"Unless of course, no such door even exists."

"Aren't you just a big, shining ball of gaping, black, pessimism?"

"Hmm charming Sammy, thank you for noticing." I shake my head, giving Sam a pointed look but she just strides away without a single glance behind.

To say that we hadn't thought about this would be an understatement.

"I didn't know they lock these doors." I look at Sam incredulously, never having thought of this possibility, waiting for her to look at me disappointedly but even if she does, the theatre without the lights on is too dark for me to see Sam's reaction.

"What treasure do they think they are trying to keep safe in there?" She seems exasperated in the least.

"Lady Macbeth's corset, Caliban's brown blend poncho and Cleopatra's wig with the headpiece?" I sigh tiredly.

"Ooh they have Cleo's accessories? I could use some of those for my Halloween costume." Sam says suggestively.

"Sam. Focus." Another thing Sam is extraordinarily talented at is to stray off the topic at hand no matter what the situation is.

"Yeah whatever. We'll have to go the long way itself. Now the extra distance of in and out the theatre added." Sam grumbles in vexation before strutting away towards the stairs that leads back up to the stage. Not having a choice, I shake my head and follow.

"By the way, I forgive you. You don't need to say that I was right." I draw my lips into a thin line, as I look sideways at Sam.

"I wasn't going to apologi--ow! Why didn't we think of switching on the lights again?" Sam suddenly grunts on her way up the narrow stairs, probably having banged her head against the low ceiling.

I roll my eyes for more reasons than one.

"Because we didn't want to scream unnecessary entry into authorised areas?" I say raising my brow but Sam barely even hears me before-

"Hey shush. Listen."

And sure enough I could hear indistinct voices coming from below the stage, somewhere along the numerous rows of seats.

"Here. Follow me." Sam taps my hand lightly, indicating for me to follow her as she tip toes from the stairs and swiftly ducks behind the curtains at the side of the stage. As instructed, I pursue her lead.

By now one thing was clear, it wasn't any teacher. Peeking from behind the curtain, I could see the silhouette of two people, a boy and a girl, in the minimal light entering from the entrance of the school theatre. The girl was giggling coyly as the boy whispered something to her, snuggling her close to his body in the process as the two stumbled their way to the rows of seats.

"What are we doing?" I look to my side at Sam who is attentively staring at the, by now, clearly making out couple.

"Buying hairspray for Trump. What does it look like we are doing?" My eyes instantly roll back in my head, making me regret even having bothered to have asked her in the first place.

"As far as I can say, that poor couple came here for some privacy. Can we, at least, not give them that?" I look away from the heated scene behind the curtain and instead at Sam, trying to convince her to stop raking the two people with her intense gaze.

"And what's the fun in that? Besides it's the best plan ever to just burst out of nowhere and walk out that door, isn't it? Maybe even exchange a warm greeting with the happy-couple-wanting-privacy on our way out?"

"And of course we don't have any other way out. I thought you said Mr. Williams was going to eat you alive if you didn't submit that project right away?" I grunt in annoyance.

"Okay, they are making way too much noise now. They could just as well be calling out for help at this point." Sam pays absolutely no heed to my words as she looks at the couple with a concerned look on her face as if she is more worried that they'll get caught than they themselves, their sounds of pleasure growing constantly.

As if that isn't enough, I hear the boy suddenly curse out loud, adding onto the girl's suppressed giggles.

"Who are they anyways?" Sam dares to peek even further but I pull her back instantly.

"Sam! They'll see you."

"Last I checked, I am not the one tongue tangoing here." Sam pulls her hand away from me, raising her brows at me, smirking. "Do I know them though? Is it gossip worthy?"

As if to answer her question, the soft, moaning voice of the boy speaks up.

"Kate. Kate, stop." The girl chuckles bashfully before the sound of strong kisses fill the air.

A sudden wave of nausea hits me head-first as a dreadful recognition surfaces in my head.

Certain that I must have hallucinated it, I turn to Sam but the look on her face does anything but to reassure me.

"It can't be..." With every thought of staying hidden lost in thin air, I burst from behind the curtain just as Sam tries to stop me, "Leah, no-"

With my heart hammering against my chest, I squint through the faint light to focus on the vigorously making out couple and what I see next makes me wish that I had never stepped foot into this theatre at all but it was too late now.

Matthew Wilson and Kaitlyn Rogers.

A/N Just to be clear, I have absolutely nothing against One Direction. In fact, I love them with every single fibre in my body.