A Week After:

Blake ran along the beach early morning in hopes of clearing the fog from his head. She's absolutely amazing. He thought. But dude you played each other. His other side told himself. You never know maybe things will change. He argued back.

As he continued to jog along the cool foggy beach he noticed a petite blonde running up ahead of him. No way. He thought. He ran a little faster to catch up. He got close enough that he could see the small tattoo on her lower back when her shirt rose and fell with the curve of the way her body moved when she ran.

She didn't seem to notice him, nor care that she might be followed. Tori wore headphones in her ear and an MP3 player on her hip. Blake watched the sway of her body as she continued to jog along the sandy beach. When she finally came to a stop she walked up to a small beach cottage and onto the stairs turning around to look at the water she finally seemed to notice him.

"Fancy the cold weather?" She remarked sarcastically.

Blake shook his head. "No better place to run in silence then along the beach."

"You work out?" She stretched as they talked. He was still on the beach though, not being presumptuous and just walking onto her property.

Blake huffed lightly. "Like it's a surprise."

"Could have fooled me." Tori remarked with a devious smirk.

Blake pointed at her with a sly grin. "That was low."

"Hey you weren't doing me any favors." Tori retorted. Tori removed her headphones and set the player down in a chair next to her. "So, why are you still here?"

Blake put a hand over his heart and feigned an ache. "Ouch. Actually I was just out for a light jog and saw you running. Coincidence that I stopped next to your place."

"Right…" She drawled. "I'll believe that when pigs fly."

"Fine don't believe me."

"Look like you said just cause we slept together doesn't mean we're together. Or that we're friends." Tori said.

"But you said I was good." He said with a scheming grin.

Tori rolled her eyes and stepped down the stares to the sand to face Blake. "You miss understood. I said 'I found myself thinking the same about you' as in your techniques. I've never heard anyone say motivation before." She said sardonically. "And I've done the tutor bit a couple times."

"What made you so bitter?" Blake asked out of the blue.

"Bitter?" Tori asked.

"Yeah, bitter? Why do you do this? Is it fun or is there some hidden meaning behind it for you? Or do you just get your kicks sleeping around?" Blake asked with a harshness Tori wasn't certain went with his nature.

Tori refrained greatly from punching him right in the face. He had no business saying those things to her, then again he was stronger then the others for staying. Tori had to give him credit for that. "There's no hidden meaning. And I don't just sleep around." She said with a hint of denial in her voice.

"Then why can't you look me in the eye and say that?" Blake asked noticing her eyes diverted to the ocean when she spoke.

Tori looked and him and gave a frustrated sigh. "What does it matter, why I do it? I just do."

"Tori…" Blake paused seeing a faint tear role down Tori's cheek. Tori must have felt it because she quickly wiped it away.

"Look I do it because guys deserve to know what it feels like to be used." Tori said controlling her tears.

Blake wanted to say something to that, but couldn't bring himself to say it. "What about the guys with girlfriends? "

Tori shrugged. "I don't do that. It hurts the girl in the relationship, not specifically the guy. That's my whole purpose, hurting guys. I'm good at it." She said pointedly. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Look I have to get ready for school, feel free to stand her, but when I let my dog out be for warned she's not gentle." Tori quickly went up the stairs into her little cottage. Tori let her dog out the back door just in time to see Blake head off down the beach.

Tori inwardly swore to herself when she realized he had already crossed the invisible barriers that were set to keep Rox in the perimeter of her property.

School:

Mr. Kline was walking into the classroom carrying a dissecting pan and a scalpel. "Class today I will pair with you a partner and we will begin our dissection portion of the class." Mr. Kline went down the list of students. "Finally Ms. Hanson and Mr. Blake Bradley." Tori looked up from her sketching and sat in stunned silence.

"Mr. Kline I can't work with him." Tori protested.

"Why not?" Mr. Kline asked. Tori scrapped her brain clean for any kind of excuse. She had already used the 'I'm contagious' excuse twice that month and that she was feeling ill. "Well?"

Tori shook her head. "Never mind." She said taking a deep breath and looking across the room at the successful smirk appearing on Blake's face. I don't need this. Not today. Tori thought to herself as she turned back to the front.

Mr. Kline instructed his students to get into their pairs and retrieve a dissecting tray from the front. Tori refused to do anything so Blake did. Mr. Kline demonstrated what needed to be done and then began to wander around the room looking over students' shoulders to make sure they were doing it properly.

"So you gonna help or what?" Blake asked.

Tori shook her head. "Nope!" She said casually.

"Ok…so do you wanna talk about what's bothering you? Is it me and the fact that you can't escape me now and what we did?" Blake asked.

Tori turned a frustrated eye on him. "Not now!" She demanded in low snarl.

"Ms. Hanson I trust everything is going well? You and Mr. Bradley aren't having any problems, right?" Mr. Kline asked looking at their dissecting tray.

Tori put on a fact smile. "No Mr. Kline everything is a bed of roses. Peachy keen." She said sarcastically.

Mr. Kline smiled off her sarcasm and walked away to look over Shane and Dustin's tray and then coming next to Eric and Hunter.

"Tori what is the matter with you? We can't even talk?" Blake asked.

Tori took a couple of calming breaths before speaking. "I'm not in the mood for this bullshit ok. So please just dissect the god damn frog and leave me alone." She groaned unhappily and returned to her sketching.

Blake began to say something else but before he had a chance Tori grabbed her stuff and just walked out of class. "That's it!" She yelled.

Mr. Kline looked up. "Ms. Hanson where do you think you're going?" He went after her.

Dustin came over and gave Blake the evil eye. "What the hell did you say to her?"

Blake looked at him completely baffled. "I didn't say anything." Shane came over next.

"Dude, Dustin did you look at a calendar today?" Shane asked. Dustin shook his head. "It's that day again."

Dustin nodded. "Leave her be. And you…" He turned to Blake. "Don't talk to her, touch her, go anywhere near her. You got it?" He said pointing a finger aggressively towards him. Blake nodded, but didn't intend to stick to that. He went to the front and grabbed the bathroom pass and headed off in search of Tori. He found her talking with Mr. Kline at the end of the hallway by the double doors leading to the student parking lot.

The Talk And Reasons:

"Mr. Kline?" Blake called as he walked over. Tori looked up at him and groaned.

"Oh great!" She muttered.

"Mr. Kline I'll talk to Tori." He said handing him the scalpel. Mr. Kline nodded and took off bound for his class.

"No you wont. I'm leaving." Tori growled and started for the parking lot.

"Why do you loath my existence?"

"This has nothing to do with you." Tori said angrily.

"I'm trying to be your friend. I figured after what we mutually did maybe we could find something in common." Blake offered.

Tori turned back towards him. "Look I have the friends I need. They stay and they don't leave me. Ok that's all I need so just leave me alone!" She yelled. Blake ran after the now running Tori. He caught up to her as she was reaching her metallic blue mustang. He quickly reached for the passenger door when she unlocked it. He climbed in as she did. "Did I say you could get in my car?" She asked angrily.

"No, but I figure this is the only way you're going to talk to me. If I force myself into your little bubble." Blake said.

"Get out!" Tori ordered irritably.

"No!"

"Get out!" Tori yelled. Blake looked at her and shook his head. As he turned his head slightly he saw something, a photo on the dash, he carefully reached for it. Tori's eye's seemed to water and droop, but she made no effort to take the picture away from him.

"This your boyfriend?" Blake asked looking over at Tori's sad face. She shook her head and remained silent. Blake didn't say anything he wanted her to say something

Tori sighed sullenly. "He was, but he's not anymore." She said softly.

Blake looked at the picture careful. It was a photo booth snap shot. Tori and whoever the guy was were smiling brightly with bunny ears behind their heads and silly faces. Suddenly it all became clear. "He's the reason."

"Reason for what?" Tori gasped wiping her tears away.

"He's the reason you do what you do. Isn't he?"

Tori looked away and started her car. "If you don't want detention I suggest you get out." She said. Blake didn't make any effort to exit the car but he did buckle up. Tori shrugged. "Your choice." She backed out of her parking spot and just left the campus without a word to the front office.

"You didn't answer my question. Is he the reason?" Blake asked. Tori still didn't say anything. For a while Blake thought she was going to just break down and lose it. "Was this a con?" He asked holding up the picture.

That got Tori's attention she huffed hotly and turned an eye on him, while still looking at the road ahead of her. "If it was it was the longest con in history. His names Nathan we dated for two years and then one day he just up and disappeared. Parents said he ran away. No note, no call, and then a year ago I finally got a letter." Tori shed a few tears. "It was a dear john letter. Don't take this the wrong way…I do love you, but I met someone else and she's smart and funny and everything I'm looking for…there will always be a place for you in my heart…love you always Nate." When she spoke of the letter it obviously disgusted her.

"You loved him?" Blake said.

Tori shrugged absent-mindedly. "I thought I did. I thought he did, but I was wrong, so I'm wrong about a lot of things."

"So it's payback?"

"At some point in a man's life he always hurts someone. Whether it be a girl or a close friend it's always someone, so I do what I do as sort of a payback I guess you could say."

"But you do it for money." Blake said.

Tori shook her head. "I don't keep the money…I put into different charities. St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Breast Cancer foundation…and so on. I don't benefit from it."

"I never hurt anyone." He said. "So why'd you pick me?"

"At some point in your measly little life you're gonna hurt someone and when you do, quite possibly you'll remember how it felt to be used and discarded of like a tissue. And besides had I actually been that Tori you probably would've hurt me, had I not been doing what I was doing."

"So Shane and Dustin go along with this?"

"Shane and Dustin are always with me, not matter what. I could say let's crush the male population and they would say sure. Besides they don't know the real reason I do it, if they did they'd feel sorry for me and tell me not to do it anymore. As long as they believe I do it for fun, it's all good."

"But you don't. You're right guys shouldn't do what it is they do, but your little lessons aren't gonna change anything, it's not like you can change the entire male population in the world."

Tori sniffled. "Yeah well I can sure as hell try. Why does any of this matter to you anyway? It's my body I do what I want with it."

"It matters because for the first time in my life I felt what I was like to be used and I didn't like it. And it sucks, but you've proven that not only can guys do it, but girls can too. So those guys that you've tricked are just gonna turn it right back on you and use that as their excuse."

"It's not an excuse."

"No it's a way to satisfy yourself and walk away no attachments. You're exactly that guy that you're paying back. It's a vicious cycle and it's just gonna come back to bite you in the ass." Blake said frustrated.

Tori gave a disgusted sigh. "Don't analyze me. Don't pretend like you know me or truly understand why I do this. You know shit all about me."

"I wanna know you."

Tori snorted back peals of laughter. "Yeah now that I'm blonde, blue eyed and babalicious."

"Ok so I find you more attractive now, but that doesn't mean that we can't find common ground. No one's ever beat me at my game, and it totally fascinates me that you did. That's a start right?"

"Blake I don't know how to get this through your head…It was just sex!" Tori practically screamed. "And after you made me feel like a dirty towel that you could just discard."

Blake sighed. "Look I'll admit I'm a sleaze ball if you'll just give me one chance to make it up to you." Blake proposed. "You fascinate me."

Tori shook her head idly. "Can't you just accept that it was just sex!" Tori said quietly.

"No cause it was the best sex I've ever had." Blake admitted. Tori chuckled loathingly.

Tori liked her gums with a disgusted grunted. "Oh you're good…I almost fell for that, 'I wanna get to know you' bullshit."

"It's not bullshit." Blake claimed.

"What's the bet up too?" Tori asked angrily.

Blake shook his head. "There is no bet."

"There has to be, cause there is no way this isn't payback for what I did to you." Tori said. "So how much?"

"Tori there is no bet. You're just looking for an excuse to say no." Blake said looking at her intently.

Tori glanced over at Blake quickly and saw sincerity in his eyes. "You swear there's no bet?"

"I swear on my brother life there's no bet." Blake told her.

Tori sighed. "Fine. If it'll get you to leave me alone."

Blake smiled. "Wanna go to dinner with me tonight?"

"Not tonight. I have to stay home and wallow in self-pity." Tori said sarcastically.

"Because?"

"It's two years to this day that Nate left without a word." Tori explained.

"So celebrate, don't wallow. Celebrate that, that jackass is gone." Blake said grinning at her.

Tori bit her lip. "I loved that jackass." She said as tears started to rain down her cheeks. Tori wasn't sure why but she'd only ever admitted that to Nathan and Blake. No one else needed to know.

Blake closed his eyes feeling her pain. He too had felt the pain she was feeling long ago. His girlfriend in the tenth grade had dumped him like a brick in shallow waters. He thought they would be together for ever. Ever since then it was meaningless bets and sleeping with random girls. Tori and Blake we're a pair somewhat.

Tori pulled her car off at the beach parking and got out of the car. Rain started to come down but she didn't care, she just wanted to stand near the ocean. It was so calming for her, so relaxing. Blake got out of the car and watched as Tori walked close to the waters edge and just stood there. He heard the thunder rumble overhead and suddenly felt at peace. He loved thunderstorms, sometimes when they would roll into his old town Blake would find himself out at this clearing just laying on the ground watching the flashes of lightning and listening to the thunder boom overhead.

After ten minutes of standing in the rain Tori returned to the car. "Need a lift home?" Tori asked.

Blake looked at his watch. "Uh if I show up without Hunter my parents are gonna flip."

"Right you skipped school. They are gonna find out eventually." Tori said her and Blake got back in the car and shut the door. Tori looked at Blake and felt bad. "You can come hang at my place till school lets out. Leave Hunter a text I'll pick him up."

"No it's ok. I'm afraid if I spend too much time with you, your gonna cancel." Blake said.

Tori shook her head. "No I wont. If I say I'm going to do something I do it. I don't back out."

"Well in that case…sure, but wont your parents care that you're home in the middle of the day?"

Tori chuckled. "I don't live with my parents anymore. My dad and mom got sort of frustrated with me and got me my own place. It was a 'we trust you this much' attempt on their behalf."

"So we'd be there all alone?" He asked looking her over, but Tori didn't notice.

Tori gave a grunt of disgust. "Trust me nothing will happen. Been there done that." Tori remarked.

"Ok that hurt." Blake said refraining from chuckling at her. "Are sarcastic comment you're way of putting up walls?"

"I'm good at hurting guys remember. The only ones I can the sarcasm for are Eric, Dustin, and Shane."

"So I don't rank high enough for you to can the sarcasm?"

"Not yet." Tori remarked…