Wow, I had been at Spencer for less than two weeks, and the gossip about me was flying. The next day, it seemed everyone had heard about the fight with Aaron, and even that I had spent a couple hours with Brian. Throughout the day, I'd sit in my classes, waiting to be called to the headmaster's office. Aaron had been in my second period class, and as soon as I saw him I began laughing. His cheek was swollen and decorated with red, black and blue. He glared at me and I just smiled. But by the time lunch came around and I hadn't received a summons to the office, I began to doubt that I would.

After paying for my food, I left the lunch line and started walking toward an empty table. Something caught my ankle, and I stumbled and fell forward. I released the tray of food so I could use my hands to catch myself, and really only succeeded in landing hard on the floor, the tray of food under me and my messenger bag thrown onto the floor, a few books spilling out. Damn it, why had I decided to get a sloppy Joe? Groaning, I lifted myself and glanced down to see the meaty sandwich now smeared all over the front of my shirt.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry." My eyes narrowed at that sickly sweet voice. Grinding my teeth, I turned to glare up at her. "Sometimes my feet just have a mind of their own," Kira said, flashing me an apologetic smile.

Breathing deeply, I pushed myself to my feet just as another of the bitch's friends hurried over, followed by Aaron and his friends. My fingers curled into a fist, and without thinking, I lifted my arm back and then forward, ready to smash her pretty face. Her eyes widened and she flinched, but before my fist could connect with her head, a black fingerless gloved hand snatched my wrist and pulled it down. I rounded on whoever had dared to get in my way and instantly felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

Reid looked down at me, his bright blue eyes silently telling me what I already knew. Hitting her was a bad idea. I wanted to yank my arm from his grasp, shove him away, and return to beating the redhead. But I couldn't. The feeling of his hand on my skin stirred the memory of that day in his dorm. Of the pleasure his hands and mouth had given me. My skin began tingling as heat spread from the wrist he was holding through my arm, engulfing my entire body. And something inside me didn't want to lose his touch. His eyes shifted to Kira, and the spell was broken. I yanked my arm away, but that was it.

"I think you owe her an apology, Kira," Reid stated calmly.

"Apology?" Kira sneered, knowing it was safe to go back to bitch mode.

"I think you should be the one apologizing first, Garwin," Aaron said. "All Kira did was accidentally trip her. You're the one who fucked her to win a bet."

I threw my hands into the air in aggravation. "Forget it!" Bending down, I scooped up the tray. "This is pointless." And then I walked away, dropping the tray on the top of a trashcan before leaving the cafeteria and heading back to my dorm to change. The Kira incident was already out of my mind. All I could think about was Reid's hand on my wrist.

What the hell was that about anyway? I should have shoved him away, and even thrown a punch at him! Not stand there like a little girl and let him guide me away from a fight. He had no right to even step into the middle like he did! Oh, my hand itched to give that blond prick a bruise to match Aaron's. They should both be walking around with swollen, black and blue faces as proof of what they did sophomore year.

Oh, jeez, I was ranting. Damn it. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and released the air, and then repeated until I felt myself relax. I stripped out of the messy shirt, then pulled on another and tossed it into the hamper in the bathroom. After checking my face to make sure there wasn't any meat sauce, I left the dorm and headed back to the cafeteria. Because both Kira and Reid had pissed me off, I'd forgotten to grab my things. Just before I reached the door, it was pushed over and the Sons of Ipswich walked out.

Reid stopped when he saw me, and then raised his hand, which was clutching my bag. "Coming back for this?" he asked. His voice was a little deeper than I remembered it, and it rumbled through me just as it would if he were speaking with his lips on my skin.

"Uh... yeah." I grabbed it, ignoring the sudden tingling along my skin when our fingers brushed each other's, and slung it over my shoulder, glancing around awkwardly. "You shouldn't have gotten in the middle of the fight."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. 'Cause you getting in to trouble for hitting two students within twenty-four hours would have done you wonders."

"Why do you even care?" I snapped, my eyes narrowing at him. "What I do is none of your concern."

He frowned, and I hated to admit that it was a little cute. "I was just trying to help."

"Why?" I asked sharply. "Why the fuck do you care?"

"I... you haven't even been here a month. You shouldn't be getting into fights."

I laughed. "So now you're telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"I bet you're smart enough to figure it out," I answered. His frown disappeared and was replaced by understanding. Before he could say anything, I turned on my heel and walked quickly away from the four boys, heading to my next class.