01

Chloe Saunders had never been one to get in trouble.

No, she was very, very a good girl; she did her homework and class work well, did her chores, and stayed out trouble.

She was a nice girl with flat strawberry blonde hair, eyes the same shade of a clear summer sky, and skin the color of porcelain with a splash of freckles that show up if she sat in the sun for more then ten minutes. She was tiny, with little to no curves to speak of, barely ninety pounds soaking wet.

So, with all that going for her, how on earth was Chloe sitting in detention with the number one asshole Royce Banks?

He kept sending her sly glances, making her skin prickle uncomfortably as she worked on her algebra homework.

The only sound in the room the teacher's heavy mouth breathing, the scratching of her pencil and the eraser tearing the corner of her math paper.

"You know," said Royce and she looked at him.

He was about medium height, with a lanky build and slight muscles. His long, wavy brown hair curled around his face, reminding her of an evil Cherub with dark brown eyes that stared at her chest the entire time he's talking to her, and bronze skin. He wore a smarmy smile that said he thought he was hot and could get anything he had his eye on. Apparently, he had his eye on her.

Chloe took a deep breath, shoved down the erratic panic and the clock ticked away, lulling her into calmness.

"You're really pretty," he drawled, his eyes languidly rolling over her. "Big blue eyes, pretty blonde hair, plump pink lips."

The way he talked made her skin crawl.

"How 'bout you and I get to know each other?"

Not trusting her voice, she shook her head furiously and then returned to the last algebra problem. She added a negative two to each side of the lower equation and began to use elimination to find the x value.

Royce leaned in closer, the sharp smell of rum and cigar smoke burning Chloe's eyes.

"No thanks." Her voice, surprisingly, was calm and strong as she rejected him.

His face twisted unpleasantly. "No?" His voice was laced with anger. "Nobody says no to me."

"She just did, Banks, now back off," calmly replied a new voice that made her relax and she turned to look at the other boy. He was absolutely massive, dwarfing the chair easily, but he looked as menacing as he did when he's walking. His frame was large and muscular, the linebacker type that she admired from afar. His hair was a shock of black that fell lank into his green eyes and his skin was the color of ivory, aside from the flushed acne on his cheeks.

Despite how huge this guy was, she felt far safer with him than Royce, who was gripping her wrist tightly.

She squeaked in pain.

"Let me go!" she whispered furiously, her heart crashing against her chest.

"No, Blondie," Royce hissed in a deadly voice.

Without thinking, she dug her nails into his wrist and he snarled, retreating.

"Kitten's for claws, which I like, but you'll have to pay for hurting me," he whispered, eyes burning with hate.

"Not before you go through me," said the green-eyed boy.

She glanced at his muscles and compared the two; Royce was leaner than him and less muscular and the green-eyed boy could definitely take him on with just strength alone.

"You may go," the mouth-breathing teacher announced sleepily from the desk and Chloe kept her eyes on the black-haired boy.

"Thank you," she said softly, mouth going dry when he looked at her.

"Royce won't stop until he has you," the boy answered with a shrug.

"I'm, um, Chloe." Her mind was racing when calm and exotic eyes met hers.

"Derek." His voice was a low, throaty rumble that made her shiver.

"Guys!" squealed a voice and she was hugged hard from the side.

"Simon," sighed Derek, looking a bit annoyed.

The blonde boy pulled back, looked between them and grinned. "It's the happy couple!"

Chloe squeaked quietly; Derek grunted, as the tips of his ears turn red; and Simon giggled (yes, the captain of the basketball team giggled).

"Simon!" Liz, a bundle of blonde hair and Gap jeans, ran in, hand-in-hand with Tori, the complete opposite with spiky black hair and chunky black boots.

"So you've met Derek," mused the Goth girl with a smirk, crossing her arms over her large breasts.

"Do you guys know him?" Chloe asked, confused, as Simon giggled even louder.

"He's my brother, have I never talked about him to you?"

She looked between Derek, tall, dark, brooding, and Simon, tall, light and bubbly, trying to make the connection.

"Twins," muttered Derek and a laugh escaped her mouth. His full, pink lips twist into a ghost of a smile.

Simon gasped. "You made him smile!" he shrieked as they made their way out of the detention room.

Someone purposefully bumped into her, making her stumble and hit the lockers.

"Just wait 'til I get you alone," hissed a voice and then Royce's lean body was pressed against her back, making her whimper.

"Royce," said a curt voice, cold and cruel and she looked up, trembling to the point of her stomach aching, into Derek's blazing eyes.

Simon looked ready to beat Royce to bloody pulp and Tori was eyeballing her nails as if trying to decide if they'll tear into his skin cleanly or raggedly.

"Next time, bitch," snarled Royce and he shoved Chloe hard into the lockers.

Before she could so much as blink, Derek had Royce by the shirt collar and is pressing him into the lockers. Their eyes met, Derek's burning with fury, Royce's wide with fear; Chloe could feel Derek radiating heat.

Tentatively, she laid a hand on Derek's elbow and he blinked several times. He dropped Royce unceremoniously on the floor, turned on his heel and his head dipped down so his eyes could stare into hers.

Someone made a catcall.

"You ass," she muttered as she saw Nate's flaming hair and grinning face. His chubby cheeks looked flushed.

"I always get what I want," Royce drawled from the floor.

Chloe scowled. "You can't have me," she snapped, surprised with her boldness.

His smile was greasy and oily and scared her as he got up. He suddenly pinned her, her head hitting the lockers loud enough to ring, and his smile was too close.

She panicked, clawing at him and her nails raked down the side of his face.

With a curse, he pulled away, hand cupping the bleeding lines.

Chloe managed to stumble away before his fist connected with the lockers loudly.

She trembled.

"You're going to be sorry, you skinny bitch!" he snarled and she blinked back hot tears.

"Your fight is with me, not her, Banks," Derek growled coldly, his eyes glowering out from behind his thick bangs.

"The little bitch scratched me, Souza! She'll get what's coming for turning down Royce Banks." The skinny boy stomped away and disappeared around the corner.

Silence wove delicately.

Chloe wrapped her arms around herself, sucked in a shaky breath. She couldn't get enough air and she feels faint; her breathing was short and choppy. A ragged rattling crawled out of her mouth that barely passed as a breath as sweat broke out over her skin, making her feel colder than she already was.

"Chloe?"

She swayed dangerously, her legs weak, her heart pounding in hyper drive.

Derek's melodic voice was far away, fading into nothingness as tears stung her face.

They carved hot trails into her cheeks as she trembled and hyperventilated. She could barely feel the hands gripping her elbow tightly, let alone see the boy holding her; all she could feel was the icy cold closing in on her. It seeped into her lungs, froze them and slowly turned her into an icicle. Her blood turned to ice water, her lungs frost, her skin frozen crystals of frosty sweat. "Ch…" She swayed again, a snowflake dancing in the bitter breeze and drifted into the sky.

The sky felt like hard tiles.