A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait on this chapter and I'm not going to lie, there is a possibility on a wait on the next chap as well - sorry! I'm just so busy at the moment. But I promise if lots of you review and encourage me I will work extra hard to get the next chapter out a lot sooner! Please enjoy!

~O~

3 cups of coffee, one too-long shower and a late wake up led to Aurora rushing to school the next morning. Her head was all over the place, what with her nightmare of a meeting with Bucky the previous night. But when she walked through those front gates, the deceptively happy smile went on and her shoulders went back.

"Aurora!" Betty hugged her like they were long-lost lovers, her clique of girls smiling and waving obediently behind her. "How was your Christmas?"

"It was-"

"Did you hear?" The blonde vixen interrupted before Aurora could reply. "Victoria's boyfriend cheated on her over winter break when they were vacationing in Tuscany and, yes it was only one little kiss, but a kiss is a kiss. She's considering giving him a second chance - which is, of course, ridiculous. You agree with me don't you, A?"

Aurora blinked at the Queen B before turning to Victoria.

The words 'you should do whatever you think is right, if you want to stay with him then you should' were ready on her tongue, but then she looked at Betty, staring at her expectantly.

Aurora gulped. She took a breath. And then she did something she never thought she would do; she gave way. "Betty's right, Victoria. Break up with him. A kiss is still a kiss." Immediately some terrible feeling washed over Aurora. What are you thinking? She berated herself. Since when do you cave to girls like Betty Lockwood?

Betty's pretty face stretched into a wide grin. "Exactly. I told you Victoria. Betty always knows best."

~O~

In between third and fourth period, she saw him for the first time that day and the first time at school since they had gotten together. She was leaning against her locker with Betty, Allison, Victoria and Isabella.

Bucky had his shoulder bag slung over him, his button up shirt just tight enough to see the clear muscle defintion of his body. He was walking down the hall, his usual semi-scowl in place. Their eyes met, the scowl fell, and time slowed.

She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hug him. She wanted to walk up to him and at least talk to him.

She could do none of the above.

What could she do? Watch as he clenched his jaw, as his hand tightened on the strap of his bag and as he walked away without a glance back.

For a second, Aurora could not breathe.

Then time sped up again and she was yanked back to reality by Betty's hand on her shoulder. "A, what's wrong?"

Aurora looked up. "Oh, nothing." Betty's eyes flicked to the retreating form of Mr Barnes and for a moment Aurora thought she saw the gears in Betty's head clunking away, but then the Blonde Bitch™ was smiling again and speaking.

"So, call me archaic and out-of-date, but I think us girls need a weekend away. A nails-and-hair-and-champagne kind of weekend to prepare us for the term ahead. We could take the jet up to the chateau in Montreal. It'll be fun. You girls in?" She was talking to the whole little group, but her eyes were focussed on Aurora. Something told Rora that Betty had already asked the other girls.

"Sounds perfect," Aurora agreed. "It's exactly what I need." To get away.

~O~

Sitting through Economics was damn near unbearable. Watching him and listening to him and being treated exactly the same as every other student was harder than Aurora had expected. The class dragged on and when the bell finally rang everyone rushed out, eager to get home after a long first day back.

Aurora hovered, slowly packing up her books to stall time.

"You coming, slow poke?" Wanda bumped her shoulder against her friend's. Rora glanced down at Mr Barnes, who was packing up his laptop.

"I have to ask a couple of questions. I'll text you later," Aurora promised and Wanda smiled and left with the rest of the class.

Aurora slung her bag over her shoulder and slowly made her way down the steps until she was standing in front of his desk. Nerves swirled inside of her, so intense that she nearly turned around and walked out without saying a word. He still hadn't looked up at her - intentionally, she was sure.

She glanced over her shoulder once, to make sure that absolutely no one else was in the classroom, before saying softly, "Hey."

He paused packing up his laptop and finally looked up at her. He took in a deep breath and for a moment she thought maybe he might ignore her completely, try and pretend that whatever had happened over the holidays between them meant nothing or that it hadn't happened at all. The thought scared her.

"Hey," He finally said and some of the tension bled out of her shoulders.

"I'm really sorry about what I said last night," she said, hesitating only a moment before reaching out and placing her hand over his, where it was resting on the desk. However, her stomach sank when he quickly pulled it away, craning his head to peer out the window on the door that led to the hallway to check if anyone was there.

"We can't do this here," he said.

Aurora gulped, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets. "Right, of course. Maybe we could go back to your place?"

Before he even replied, Aurora knew he was going to refuse. "I have lesson plans to do and I'm going to the gym with Steve. I can't tonight, sorry."

She sighed and shook her head slightly, annoyed. I made one stupid little joke and now he'll barely say a word to me. Great.

"Whatever," she muttered under her breath and turned to leave. She heard him let out a long breath and she was at the stairs when he stopped her.

"Rora wait," he walked toward her as she turned slowly, readjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. He glanced again out into the hallway briefly before reaching out for her, placing his hands on her arms and drawing her close toward him. "I'm sorry."

"You're getting cold feet," She stated matter-of-factly, because Aurora was nothing if not brave and bold. "If you don't want to do this anymore, if you've changed your mind, then we can just forget this happened and go back to how we were before."

He pursed his lips, his thumb stroking her skin. "I don't want that. I couldn't just forget all of this and go back to how everything was before. I could never do that - I couldn't pretend that... That I don't feel this way about you."

She looked down, chewing the inside of her lip. Her dark eyelashes dusted her rosy cheeks for a moment as her eyes closed. "I couldn't do that either," she admitted, very quietly. He reached down and kissed her on the cheek, his lips lingering on her soft, smooth skin.

"What if I pick you up Saturday? We can spend the whole day together and do some of your Russian homework," he suggested and Aurora immediately smiled, more than glad that they were back on amicable terms.

"Yeah, that sounds grea-" She stopped herself and cringed, as she remembered her plans for the upcoming weekend. His eyebrows furrowed. "Actually, I can't this weekend. I'm going on a spa trip with Betty and the girls to Montreal."

"Montreal?" He questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, it's a long story...Actually it's not really; Betty is ridiculously rich and owns a private jet and a chateau in Canada's second most populous municipality," Aurora explained satirically.

He chuckled a little, but it was only half-hearted. "Right," he nodded. "I noticed you guys hanging out a bit." He looked thoughtful, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. "Look Rora, just..watch out for Betty ok?"

Aurora blinked at him a moment before taking a step back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It just means that… I know girls like her. I've seen them go through here and I dated them in high school," he said. "Trust me, they're bad news. And there was some drama with her and her boyfriend and another girl last year. It all ended really messily. It's not worth it. You're better off hanging out with girls like Wanda. Good influences."

Aurora looked at him like possibly he'd grown another head. Did he just tell me who to hang out with?

The words 'you sound like my father' were on the tip of her tongue but she quickly bit them back. He didn't sound like her father, not really - her father would never care about her personal life enough to actually give her advice. He sounded like-...well, he sounded like her teacher. A teacher that was just trying to look out for her.

"Um...thanks for the advice. But I've dealt with girls like Betty before and she's actually quite nice. I've got it under control," she said tightly. He gave her a disbelieving look but before he could reply Aurora continued. "I better get going. Maybe we can hang out one day this week after school?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," he sounded mildly disappointed that she hadn't taken his advice. But Aurora didn't want 'advice' from her boyfriend (was he her boyfriend?). If she wanted that, she'd go to the school councillor.

She nodded and began backing away. When she finally reached the first step, she turned and made her way up them. When she glanced back at the top, right before exiting, he was still standing, gazing at her, his hands stuffed in his pant pockets and looking like the most gorgeous person she'd ever seen, the sun reflecting in through the windows and bouncing on his olive skin. He looks like a war hero, she thought, right before remembering that he was, in fact, just that. She smiled a little and walked out.

~O~

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this! I know that it's short, but I promise the next should be longer.

Please leave a review and encourage me to keep writing! I love you all and will talk to you soon x