Charlie nearly jumped at the jab of the pencil her back. She waited until Mrs. Norton had her back turned before reaching for the note that was wedged between her chair back adn the metal pole.

It was from Danny of course. Her twin wanted to know if she was really going to meet Miles Matheson down by the football field. Charlie rolled her eyes. Duh, she wrote back

Danny scowled at her before scrawling on the paper. I can't keep covering for you, you know.

Charlie turned and scowled at him. They both knew she'd be in deep trouble if their father found out she was secretly dating Miles Matheson behind his back.

Not only was Miles 18 and a senior, compared to her 14 year old freshman status, he was also the head of a less than savory crowd. He was known to slip into a girl's pants then dump her as soon as the deed was done. But he had always been respectful to her. Maybe it was the motorcycle. She could see that intimidating people

Danny stuck his tongue in response to her glare. "Mr. and Ms. Foster, do you have something to share with the class?" Mrs. Norton called.

"No ma'am," the twins answered.

"Very well then, perhaps one of you can give the answer to the question on the board."

The twins stared at the complicated equation on the board. "42?" Charlie guessed. She just wanted to be out of here already.

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"42," Danny answered in a confident, if bored voice.

"Correct," the teacher admitted grudgingly

Charlie groaned as she waited for class to end.

Soon enough the bell rang and Charlie darted out of hte room with Danny on her heels. "Charlie stop," Danny begged as they neared their lockers.

"Make it quick," Charlie said. "I have to meet Miles."

"I don't think you should."

"Why not?"

"Why not? He's a bad guy Charlie."

"He's nice to me. And just because he rides a motorcycle and has a few tattoos doesn't make him a bad guy."

"He collects swords."

"That just makes him a weapons nerd."

"Charlie!"

Charlie slammed her locker shut. "If you're going to whine, do it on the way to the football field."

Danny did as she asked. He whined the entire way to the football field, listing various reasons why Miles Matheson was not a viable choice for boyfriend. Charlie blithely tuned him out. It got easier the closer they came.

Miles was by the bleachers leaning against his beautiful black Harley. Sebastian Monroe and Jeremy Baker, Miles' best friends were there too along with their girlfriends. Nora Clayton used to be with Miles but they had some sort of argument and broke it off. Bass didn't mind having Miles' ex and neither did Miles. No one was quite sure what Nora thought about it. Maggie was an exchange student from England who had latched onto Jeremy pretty quickly. No one was sure why but the two made an interesting couple.

Tom Neville was there too. He always seemed to be on the outside of the group with his best friend Kip. Tom's brother Jason used to flirt with Charlie until Miles had slammed him into a set of lockers and told him to back off. Charlie thought it was pretty cool how Miles stood up for her like that.

"Finally, someone worth my time," Miles greeted loudly as Charlie drew up to the group. He pulled her into his arms. "How was your day baby?"

Charlie couldn't answer right away because Miles was kissing her. "Better now," she smiled.

"Glad to hear that," he grinned. Miles glanced over her shoulder. "It's Danny, right?'

"Yeah."

"You wanna join us Danny?"

Danny looked at the group. "No, thanks. I've got to get home." He looked at his sister. "Get home before six. I can't cover for you after that."

"Whatever," Charlie huffed. Danny was embarrassing her in front of Miles' gang. Hell, Danny was embarrassing her in front of MILES.

"See you at home," Danny mumbled.

"See you," Charlie replied, looking at Miles' chest.

"Bit protective," Bass snorted as Danny left.

"He wants to look after his sister," Tom objected. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Tom's right," Miles agreed, finally turning back to teh group. "You should know better than anyone how important family is, Bass." Bass' family had taken Miles in when Miles' parents had died in a car accident when he was three.

"Didn't mean anything," Bass muttered.

Miles flashed his oldest friend a grin. "Course you didn't. But let's try this thing called thinking before you speak next time."

Maggie snorted. "Bass, thinking? It'd be the bloody end of the world at that point."

Everyone chuckled and the tension slipped away. "Hey, Charlie, are you coming on Saturday?" Tom asked.

"Saturday?" Charlie repeated. She looked at Miles. "What's going on Saturday?"

Miles gave a careless shrug. "A bunch of us were planning to have a little bonfire over at Tom's place. It's usually pretty fun. But you don't have to come of course."

Charlie looked aroudn the group quickly before smiling shyly at Miles. "I'd love to come," she said quickly. "It sounds like a really great time. Do you mind if I bring Danny along?"

"YOu want bring your twin to this?" Jeremy asked with a disbelieving snort.

Miles arched an eyebrow and the other boy fell silent. "It's a good idea," he declared, with just a hint of edge like he was daring someone to contradict him. No one did. "He can help cover for you. Plus some new girls will be there."

"Maybe we can get Danny some tail," Bass joked.

"Can't hurt the kid," Miles agreed with a smile.

Charlie felt warmth flood her as Miles settled an arm around her shoulders. She had said the right thing. Miles still liked her. The group still accepted her. Everything was okay.

Eventually Miles had to take her home. Charlie loved racing down back streets clutching tight to Miles' rock hard abs. He dropped her off a block from her house as usual. "So I'll see you Saturday, right?"

"Right," she nodded. "Danny and I will be there around seven."

Miles leaned over to kiss her. "Better get to your house before Daddy comes at me with a shotgun."

"That would suck," Charlie agreed, not pulling away.

"Seriously, Charlotte."

Regretfully, she tore herself away from him. It felt like the temperature dropped ten degrees outside his arms. "See you," she murmured.

(Now I want to write a full high school AU)