"You can't possibly be as straightlaced as you seem, Hawthorne." Jo stated without looking up from her careful etching on the desk with her pocketknife. Gale looked confused.

"What do you mean? You think I have some kind of dark past?"

"Yeah, what, you murder anyone or embezzle funds from rich daddy's bank account?" Jo pressed, tossing grapes up into the air and catching them in her mouth. Gale grabbed one midair and ate it himself, making Jo smirk.

"No, I'm a boring, straight A student who doesn't curse and never gets into trouble." He reminded her.

"Oh shit, you really are awful. I'm gonna corrupt you." Jo groaned.

"You can try, but I survived middle school unscathed so." Gale shrugged.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm 300 times worse than middle school. You have no idea." She grinned at him. Gale tried to not let his nervousness show through.

"Do your worst." He challenged. Raising an eyebrow, Jo nodded slowly.

"Oh, I will. I will, nerd." She threw her backpack over her shoulder and sauntered off, knowing Gale would follow.

Gale will always follow.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Jo, you know you're not supposed to deface the uniform." Gale hissed at Jo, trying to not be heard by the students surrounding him.

Jo spun on her heel, facing him and grabbing him by his tie.

"Look, you can have your perfect tie, Windsor knot laying straight down the front of your perfect shirt tucked into your perfect slacks. But that's your choice, not mine." She unbuttoned one more button on her blouse, drawing his attention there.

"This is more my speed." She grinned, turning around again, the pleats of her skirt swinging outward, standing in contrast with her black combat boots. Gale frowned. This girl will get herself in trouble. Lots of it.

Gale muttered under his breath as he hurriedly walked to class. Jo will be the death of him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Jo, where did you get that?" Gale asked, concerned. They were in Jo's room, mostly because Gale didn't particularly want to bring Jo home to mom and dad.

"I don't know." She answered, shrugging. She continued to drink from a plain black travel mug she'd commandeered.

"Johanna Mason, you can't just steal stuff from your teachers, I recognize that mug."

"I'm not a thief, I'm just really good at acquiring things that aren't mine." She protested, her eyes telling a different story.

"Right. You're gonna be arrested someday."

"Hah, jokes on you, I already have been arrested. I grew up in juvie, princess."

"Don't call me princess." Gale grumbled.

"Why, does it hurt your manliness?" Jo taunted. Gale rolled his eyes.

"No, I just don't like it." Jo took a long drink from the stolen mug.

"What are you gonna do to stop me?"

"Let's actually study for this exam, please." Gale was beginning to lose his patience. Why did he agree to this again?

"Why are you so boring?" Jo made herself comfortable on her bed, the sides of her tshirt riding up. Gale looked away. He is NOT attracted to Jo. Not at all.

"I want to spend as little time as possible in this phase of life, and if I fail everything, I'll have to retake stuff."

"So? I'm retaking my senior year, I'm 19."

"Yeah, and do you really wanna be in school in your thirties?"

"I won't be, if I don't graduate this year, my parents are kicking me out and I'll become a stripper." She grinned. Gale looked horrified.

"Why are you so happy about that?"

"I'm not, but of all the jobs, at least I'll get to torment men until they're uncontrollably horny and get paid for it while looking like a badass bitch." She shrugged.

"I mean... I guess?" Gale frowned, thinking this over. He would probably never get it.

"You wanna make studying more interesting?" She suggested with a smirk. Gale rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, strip flashcards or something, right?"

"Well, I was gonna suggest gummy bear incentives," She definitely was NOT going to suggest that. "But now that you bring that up..." She taunted, her eyebrow twitching.

"Well I'm gonna say no. I am not remotely interested in pursuing you romantically, so I have absolutely no desire to see you naked. Which you would be because you know none of these flashcards."

"Oh, I don't know. How about this, for every three I get right, you take off something, for every one I get wrong, I take off something." She suggested.

"Why do you want to be naked so much?"

"I hate wearing clothes and this gives me a good reason to make you let loose a little." She shrugs. Gale scowled.

"You are very weird."

"Yeah I don't care. So are you in? It's not like it'll affect you that much, I mean think about how many I've gotten wrong so far."

"Yeah, you're terrible at this." Gale agreed.

"I'm gonna be honest, I feel like you don't like me." Johanna pouted, watching Gale roll his eyes.

"I've told you multiple times that I don't. I know your game and I don't want to play it."

"Well, why don't you just let me play it then."

"Fine! If you're so intent on taking your clothes off, whatever. Three right, I take something off. One wrong, you take something off." Jo smiled at him, and if that didn't scare him out of his mind, nothing would.

"Alright, go ahead and ask me something."

"Who was Sargon the Great?"

"Akkadian dude, he killed people and made the nation of Akkad huge." She answered, one eyebrow raised. Both of Gale's shot up.

"Do you actually know this material?" He asked incredulously.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"My motivation."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thirteen questions and several items of clothing later, Jo sat in her black boy shorts and nothing else (she hadn't been wearing a bra, so she'd only taken off two articles) and Gale sat in his boxers, looking mystified.

"When did you get intelligent?" He mumbled.

"Never wasn't intelligent, I just didn't care."

"And nudity is your motivation?"

"Isn't it everyone's?" She smirked, taking a good look at Gale's well-built chest. "You know, you're not as skinny as you look."

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"You're welcome."

"That's the best you can do, you're not as skinny as you look?"

"You do better?" She challenged. Gale was clearly in uncharted territory, while Johanna was a master navigator.

"Of course I could do better, if I wanted to."

"You're just saying that, you can't actually come up with a good compliment for me." She shrugged.

"Yes, I could."

"Then go ahead." Jo twisted her torso to crack her stiff back, giving off a great view of her chest. Gale's mouth went dry. Jo stretched her arms up above her head, Gale felt himself getting warm. Jo leaned forward to reach for a pen, brushing Gale's thigh and arching her back so he could either take a look at her ass or her boobs. Gale closed his eyes.

"Congratulations, you've found my weakness." He said hoarsely.

"And that is?"

"You."