CHAPTER ONE
JESS' POV
It had been a long day at work; starting a new teaching job was always hard. The kids were new, the rules were new, the staff members were new. It was a lot of new for one day. Jess threw down her keys on the stand by the door as she entered the loft, hands full of books and papers to mark. Work already, boy these kids really are behind. I guess making a difference isn't always easy; at least it's worth it. She didn't have the time or patience for any of the guys tonight, the students in her newly assigned class had taken it out of her, and her patience had suffered greatly because of it. Stomping slightly she headed towards her room without even glancing to see where her roommates were, Jess was not the type of person to get angry easily but she could not promise herself she wouldn't snap tonight.
"Hey Jess, have you seen my-"Schmidt was cut off by the slamming of her bedroom door.
"Sorry Schmidt" she mumbled to herself as she emptied the contents of her hand onto her brightly painted work desk, and kicked off her ballet flats. "Not today."
Usually she loved her job; it was very rewarding to help the younger generation bloom into flowers. Children are the future! We need to make sure they don't all turn out crazy. Her words echoed around her mind. Today was different, her morning was rushed because Winston had taken the batteries out of her alarm for his camping lantern and hadn't told her. Everyone had figured out he was afraid of the dark but he was too proud to admit it, so instead of all chipping in to buy him a new bedside lamp after his had been broken in a very frivolous game of True American, they taunted him about it instead. Jess had paid the price and had arrived to her new job late and un-showered. Not a good start.
Jess collapsed onto her bed and burrowed under the flower patterned duvet. "Pull yourself together Jessica Day, this is not you." Of course Winston's antics weren't the only thing that had soured her milk, things with Nick had been strange recently and she couldn't get her head around it. Everything he did seemed to entice her, especially the way her gargled his beer, and she notice herself staring at him a little longer than normal and thinking about him more often too. "Nick is my friend, I'm not going to ruin things. I don't like him. I do not like Nickolas Miller, not one bit." As much as she told herself this, she knew it wasn't true. She would have stayed under her cover all night if it wasn't for a knock on her bedroom door. Not just any knock, the familiar knock of Nick. Damn it Jess, you even recognize his knock. Cut it out all ready. With a sigh she rolled out of her bed, curls out of place from the weight of the duvet, and today's choice of a red dress slightly skew-if. "Just a minute" she called adjusting her image, then reaching out she braced herself for the figure stood on the other side of the door.