--Chapter Two--
--Stay Away From Him--
Valerie woke up the next morning, around six am. She went into the girls shower room to take a fifteen minute shower, then got dressed. All she wore was jeans and a t-shirt with her favorite black boots. She did her hair in a pony tail, fixed her make up, grabbed her backpack, and headed out the door to her car. She got in, plugged her phone in the charger, then drove to the school.
She met with Provost Higgins and he took over an hour to tell her about the school and to give her all of her information she'd need, along with ten school uniforms. After she changed her clothes and put her things into her locker, she walked to the door of her second hour class. She stood there with her eyes closed and counted to ten, while her stomach was constantly turning flips.
Valerie took a deep breath, then as she was about to open the door, she heard someone walking up behind her. "Excuse me?"
She turned around and saw a guy with long brown curly hair. "Hi." she said, softly.
"Are you headed in there?" he asked, staring her up and down.
"Yeah." she nodded. "I'm just building up the courage to walk in."
"So you're new?"
"Yeah, my first day." she held out her hand. "I'm Valerie."
He shook it. "And I am so fuckin' yours." she giggled. "I mean... I'm Aaron."
"Nice to meet you, Aaron." she smiled, letting go of his hand. "This is your class too?"
"Yeah." he said, opening the door. "Come on." she nodded and followed him inside.
"Well, well, Mr. Abbott, perhaps you can explain to me why you're late to my class, this time."
"I was told to escort the new student to class, Mr. Vaughn." he smirked.
The teacher glared at Aaron for a few seconds. "Get to your seat." then he turned his attention to the new girl. "What's your name?"
"Valerie Burke... I have a late slip." she said, handing him the paper.
He looked at it and nodded. "Well, I'm Mr. Vaughn... go ahead and have a seat by Mr. Abbott."
She nodded, then as she turned around, she stopped dead in her tracks with her eyes wide. "It's Reid." she thought to herself, then she was staring intently into his piercing blue eyes as he was death glaring her.
"Miss Burke?"
"Yeah?" she turned around to look at Mr. Vaughn.
"Have a seat."
She nodded. "Um... sorry." then she went to her seat without looking at Reid. "Yep, he still hates me." she thought, shaking her head. For the rest of that class, she could feel like Reid's eyes were glued to her, and there was nothing she could do about it, and she was sure that he was going to tell the guys about her.
When the bell rang, Reid made a bee line out the door. Valerie sighed, then Aaron tapped her on her arm. "What's your next class?"
"Biology."
He nodded. "I'll walk you over."
"Okay, thanks." she smiled.
----
Reid was sitting at his desk as Caleb, Sarah, Pogue, and Tyler walked into the classroom laughing. Once they saw the scowl on Reid's face the laughter died down.
"What's with you?" Tyler asked, sitting down.
"Nothing, Man... just leave it alone for now."
"All right." Tyler nodded as Reid put his head on the desk.
"Is everything okay, Reid?" asked Sarah.
"Yeah." he mumbled.
"Something must be really bugging you." Pogue pointed out.
"It's fine." Reid mumbled again.
"You sure, Buddy?"
Reid looked up at Tyler. "Yes... just let it go." he just nodded, as students and the teacher came pouring in.
----
After Valerie talked to her biology teacher, she sat down at the table, then everyone came walking in. "Miss Tunney?"
Valerie saw a dark haired girl turn around to the teacher. "Yes, Mrs. Marshall?"
"You have a new lab partner."
She briefly glanced at the person that will be sitting next to her, with dark hair and blue eyes. "Cool." she nodded, then sat down. She turned to the blue eyed girl. "I'm Kate Tunney."
"Valerie Burke."
"Where you from?"
"My last address was Orlando, Florida. I was born in New York, but I'm from here since I lived here longer."
"Oh." Kate nodded. "How often did you go to the beach?"
"A lot."
"How come you moved back here? I woulda stayed posted at the beach."
"Class." Mrs. Marshall started. "I'm going to step out for a moment." then she left the room.
Valerie turned her attention to Kate. "My dad moved us back here to get us away from my ex boyfriend."
"Can I ask why?"
Valerie sighed. "He was always strung out on drugs and alcohol." she paused. "He was always beating on me, for almost a year."
"Oh no." Kate said, with concern.
"Once my dad found out about it, he got a restraining order on Drew, then had him put in jail."
"That's horrible, he ain't a real man, if he's beating on a woman."
"I know. I mean, I have a black belt in karate and I could of easily fought him off."
"Why didn't you?"
"I don't know... I was under this spell or something. and I thought he'd stop." she paused. "I feel better knowing his there, away from me."
"Do you think he'll get out?"
"From what my lawyer told me... he's not."
"He should stay in there and rot." Kate started. "Because it's not right to hit any woman."
"I hope he does stay, because he told me in the court room, before the cops took him into his holding cell that he'll find out, where I'm at, and come after me."
"No way."
"So I'm glad, he's in there."
"Yeah." Kate nodded. "Hey do you wanna go to Nicky's tonight?"
"Nicky's? That bar is still standing?"
"Yep."
"And they let high school kids in? Because since it was a bar, no kids under the age of twenty one could go in there."
"Oh, I know. Nicky changed it a few years ago, making it family oriented. He added pool tables, a fooseball table, air hockey, a dance floor with a jukebox, and a few video games."
"Wow, that's cool and it's cool that Nicky still works there." Valerie nodded. "I might stop by and check it out."
A few minutes later, Mrs. Marshall walked back in and started teaching her class.
----
When that hour was over, Kate told Valerie 'bye' then walked out. As Valerie was walking to her locker, all of a sudden she was grabbed, and was pulled into a janitor's closet. She looked up and was face to face with Reid, who didn't look happy at all.
He glared at her for a minute, before he spoke. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She took a deep breath. "Um... my dad moved us back."
"Why?"
"He got a better offer at the hospital, here in Ipswich."
"Out of all the schools is the state of Massachusetts or the whole US even, why'd you pick this one?"
"I didn't have a choice." she paused. "And I missed you guys."
Reid scoffed. "Bullshit, that's a damn lie."
"No... it's true, Reid."
"So you break my best friends fragile heart, shattering it in a million pieces by cheating on him with the new guy, and you run like a coward with no explaination... leaving Tyler broken." her eyes started welling up with tears. "And now you're back, after almost four years and you show your cheating face in my school?"
She shook her head. "I'm s-sorry, Reid."
"Valerie, I'm not the one you should be saying 'sorry' to." he crossed his arms over his chest. "But it's not gonna make a difference anyway. He hates you, just like the rest of us." a few tears fell down her cheeks. "Are you back for good?" she just nodded. "Well, if you're smart, you'll stay the hell away from Tyler." he paused and got a few inches away from her face. "Or you will be sorry." and with that, Reid left her in there. She stayed in the janitors closet for another five minutes, then went into the girls bathroom to wash her tears away.
