--Chapter Four--
--Not Sure What to Say or Do--

"She's here." Kate whispered as they slowly walked in.

Pogue looked in her direction. "Wow... she's." he paused as Kate was glaring at him. "Um... grown up."

Valerie felt like she was being watched and she slowly lifted up her head. She saw Caleb, Pogue, Kate, a blonde girl, and Tyler staring at her. She froze, looking at Tyler and not knowing what to do.

Seconds later, Reid walked in. Valerie quickly looked away as Aaron approached her. "Is this seat taken?"

She smiled. "No, it's not." he nodded and sat down next to her.

"Great." Tyler frowned. "Abbott's got her under his spell."

"Let him have her... all cheaters belong together."

"Reid, that may be true." Caleb started. "But you and I both know how much slime Aaron is."

"The more reason to let him have her." he smirked, then he sat in a seat far away from Valerie.

"I guess that is a sensitive subject." said Sarah.

Caleb nodded. "Let's go sit down." they all sat in their seats, but Tyler sat far away from Valerie, but close enough to hear her conversation with Aaron.

"So, where are you from?" Aaron asked.

"I was born in New York, then came here when I was five. Something bad happened after I turned fourteen and my dad moved us to Florida."

"What was so bad that you had to move away?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"That bad?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I ended up losing my best friends over something that was out of my control."

"What is she talking about?" Tyler thought.

"That's sad." he placed his hand over hers. "They weren't real best friends then."

"It's little more complicated then that. I didn't even get to explain myself, they just thought the worst of me, and that's one of the reasons why I left."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"You're full of shit, Abbott." Tyler thought, rolling his eyes.

"It's okay... I mean, I'm back home. I just want to graduate, go to college, and get a good job."

"Well, if you need any help with that... I'll be glad to help you." he smirked.

"Yeah, sure." she nodded.

Five minutes later, the teacher walked in, and said "Okay, class... tomorrow, I'm going to randomly pair two of you together..."

"For what, Mr. Wallace?"

"Mr. Garwin... if you'd let me finish my sentence, you'd know why."

Reid nodded. "As you were." he smirked.

Mr. Wallace frowned at him for a few seconds, then spoke. "I'm going to pair you up, because you'll be making a geometrical shape using cardboard, that you'll be cutting out and rubber bands." he walked over to his closet and pulled out a spherical looking shaped ball. "Some of yours, if you do it right, will look like this... more or less."

"Can we pick our own partners?"

"No, Mr. Garwin." Mr. Wallace said, putting the sphere on his desk. "You'll find out who your partner will be tomorrow."

"Wonderful." Reid said, rolling his eyes, then slammed his head on the desk.

Mr. Wallace looked at his notes on his desk, then looked up at the class. "We have a new student in class. Miss Valerie Burke, stand up." she did as she was told. "Hello, Miss Burke."

"Hi." she waved.

"I have an idea." Mr. Wallace paused to think. "You, Miss Burke, can partner up with Mr. Garwin for your project."

Reid snapped his head up, then him and Valerie yelled. "What?!" in unison, then they glared at each other.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Wallace asked, as Valerie sat back down.

Reid raised his hand. "Yes... I demand a recount."

Mr. Wallace shook his head. "No, Mr. Garwin, you and Miss Burke will partner up for this project. If you don't, I'll fail both of you, and you'll get an incomplete."

Valerie groaned. "Okay." she said, nodding.

"Fine... but I'm not going to enjoy it." Reid retorted.

"I sure would enjoy every moment of it." Aaron smirked.

Tyler glared at him. "You better shut the fuck up, Abbott."

Valerie looked at Tyler in shock, then Aaron said "Or what, Simms? You'll sick your bodyguard on me because you can fight your own battles?"

"I am damn sure, I won't need Reid for this one."

"Yeah, right." Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Gentlemen... would you like to discuss this matter in the Provost's office?"

"No." Tyler shook his head.

"No, Mr. Wallace." Aaron said, sinking in his seat.

"Good." then Mr. Wallace went on with his lesson.

Tyler sat there thinking if he should ask Valerie what she was talking about to Aaron, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to her yet. Tyler Simms stuck between a rock and a hard place.

When class was over, Aaron looked over at Valerie. "What's your next class?"

"P.E."

He nodded. "I'll walk you... I have swim practice."

"Okay." Valerie said, grabbing her things, then both of them walked out.

Sarah and Tyler were the last to leave, she went up to him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I just." he groaned. "I don't know."

"Regardless what Valerie has done... her or no girl should be in Aaron's clutches." she paused. "Except for Kira, she's too stupid to see that he's scum."

"Yeah... I just need some time to figure everything out."

"Come on, I have P.E. and you have swimming."she smiled, then they walked out of the classroom.

----

As Tyler walked into the boys locker room, he overheard Aaron talking to his friends, Ryan and Bordy about Valerie. "Damn, she's so hot and she smells so good."

"So when you gonna hit that? " Bordy asked.

Then all of a sudden, Tyler slammed Aaron into the locker. "What the fuck, Simms!?" he yelled.

Tyler pointed his finger in his face as Caleb, Pogue, and Reid came up to see what was happening. "You better stay the fuck away from her, if you know what's good for you."

"What?" Aaron started. "You want a piece first? We'll take turns, but she looks woman enough to take us both on."

Seconds later, Tyler punched Aaron in his jaw, knocking him to the ground, and he was pounding him. It took Caleb, Pogue, and Reid to pry Tyler off of him, while Bordy and Ryan was pulling Aaron away.

"You stay the fuck away from her." Tyler repeated.

Aaron stood to his feet and laughed as blood was dripping from his mouth. "Okay, fine." he raised his hands in defeat. "But there's no guarentee that she'll stay away from me." he smirked, then Tyler tried to lunge at him as they were walking away.

Caleb pushed Tyler into the wall."What is your problem?" Tyler stood there with a scowl on his face. "Do you want to get expelled?" both Reid and Pogue stood there in shock, with their jaws dropped. "Look, we all know that Aaron is a prick, but fighting with him, will either get you kicked out or you'll be suspended."

Tyler glared at him for a few seconds. "Fine." he replied, walking away.

"Where you going?" asked Pogue.

"The dorms!" he yelled back, then walked out of the locker room.

"Wow." Pogue started. "As long as we've known Ty, I've never seen him do something like that before."

Caleb rubbed his hand down his face, then nodded. "You're right, he never got pissed off over... well." he paused. "Anything, but Aaron talking about Valerie is what set him off." he looked right at Reid. "Just like you talked about her this morning."

Reid shook his head. "Well, I didn't go to the extreme about her, like that stupid ass did."

"Do you think she'll come to Nicky's tonight?" asked Pogue.

"We'll see." said Caleb. "But for now, we have to hit the water." Pogue and Reid agreed, then the guys got changed and went into the swimming pool.