Valentine's POV

"Did everyone have a good break? Mine was filled with my mother-in-law and her various opinions that I don't care about," he said while grinning from ear-to-ear, obviously trying not to think about it. Today is my first day and I've been standing outside the open classroom door for a few minutes so he could speak to the class before he introduced me. "But, moving on, we have a new student today and I'd like all of you to treat her nicely. Please come in."

I walked in the room clutching my bag strap as their eyes stared intently at me. I glanced at them from underneath my black bangs and looked back at the teacher. He smiled encouragingly at me and motioned me toward him. I continued to make my way over to him and stood beside him, waiting for him to say something.

"This," he motioned to me, "is Valentine Reynolds. I expect for her to be treated with respect. Now, Miss Reynolds, would you mind sharing a few facts about yourself to the class?"

I nodded and turned to look at everyone. "Hey, I'm Valentine, but you can call me Val if you want. I like basketball, piano, and sketching. I'm pretty laid back, so if you want to talk then I'd be more than happy to," I said while smiling slightly. The teacher, whose name I learned was Mr. Craws, told me I could sit in any empty seat and went over to the white board. I looked and saw there was only one seat available, so I made my way down the first isle to the very back seat that was pressed up against the wall. I felt someone staring at me and looked to my left, turquoise meeting blue as I stared at the persons ocean blue orbs. His eyes widened and he looked away hurriedly, sinking down in his seat and crossing his arms. I raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't say anything.

"We'll be having a partner assignment," Mr. Craws started, making the class groan. "I'll be picking your partners and I want everyone to give me a point in history they liked so I can put it on a scrap of paper and put it in this bowl. One of you will come up and pull one out and that will be what your project will be about. I want you to make a poster board and a 2 page paper each. The board has to be colorful, have pictures, and the websites need to be listed on it as well. Facts about the topic are also mandatory."

He handed small pieces of paper out to everyone and I was the first one done. I already knew a time period that I thought was interesting and enjoyed learning about. When everyone was done we put our papers in the bowl he passed around and he started pairing us up. I ignored him until I heard my name.

"Valentine Reynolds and Dallas Mitchel."

I looked around and saw brown eyes staring back at me. He smiled and waved at me and I returned the gesture. We walked up and picked one of the pieces of paper out of the bowl and I almost screamed. It was the one I wrote! We get to do our project on The Black Death.

After class was over he walked to me and I had to look up at him because of his height. I was only 5"1 so it's not that surprising that I have to look up at everyone.

"Hey, I'm Dallas. It's nice to meet you Valentine," he said, clasping my hand in his and bringing it to his lips to press them against the back of my hand. I blushed and smiled shyly.

"H-Hi Dallas," I said quietly. He smirked and put his hand on my head to ruffle my long black hair.

"Would you like to work on the project after school? We can do it at my house if you want."

I smiled up at him. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Michael's POV

I looked at her from behind my locker door and growled when I saw him with her. She's mine, not his. I've already claimed her as mine, so I guess I'll have to convince him not to come around anymore. I start making my plan as they walk past me. Sorry love, but Dallas won't be showing up after school.