Rio wasn't even sure why he was here. He should just skip detention like he skipped most of his classes. Yet here he was at 7:30 a.m. watching Mrs. Rydell reading the newspaper and drinking her morning coffee. There were only two other students here, some barely awake freshman whose name he didn't know and Elizabeth Marks, who was desperately trying to get his attention so she could hand him the note in her hand.

He was busy figuring out if he wanted to read it or not. On one hand, he was dying to know what she was itching to tell him but on the other hand, the girl was more drama than he could handle right now. He was just trying to do his business and keep his head low. He didn't need to get in trouble or expelled and he had a sixth sense that if he stayed around her too long that's exactly what would happen.

Hell, just yesterday, they'd almost gotten caught. If Mr. Hawkins had caught her with that gram of weed...

It was like it had all happened in slow-mo. He'd watched as she'd leisurely scooped the bag off the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd caught sight of the vice principal turning round the corner. Josh was long gone. Hell, he probably should have cut too. But he couldn't just leave her there with the damning evidence in her hand. He'd had to think of something quick so neither of them would get in trouble. So, genius that he was, he'd pulled her in for a kiss.

And it had worked. Mr. Hawkins just thought they were skipping class to make out in the hall. He'd given them a lecture and detention and had only appeared mildly surprised that the saintly Elizabeth Marks had been kissing the thuggish Rio Sanchez.

The person he'd surprised most was himself. He had to get himself in check. He couldn't start acting on his inner desires. But, man, it had felt good to hold her. She'd been so warm, so soft, so curvy. And those rumors about her weren't true. Her curves were 100% genuine. No padding. No stuffing. All real. Rio hoped Dean knew what a lucky prick he was.

And what scared him was that he couldn't get her out of his head. He didn't need to be all sprung on some chick. He needed his head on straight to get business done. Deep down he knew that if he didn't cut ties with Beth now there would be no turning back for him. They needed to part ways while he still could before he did something stupid like fall for her. Nah, they definitely couldn't work together and he probably needed to switch out of 3rd period biology for his own sanity.

Beth situated herself in the furthest corner of her chair possible and leaned forward. The edge of her note brushed his shoulder and sighing, he took it.

Opening it, he read:

I am so sorry about yesterday. I did not mean to mess that up. Now that I know what to expect I will do much better. Could we try again later today?

Taking a pencil from his backpack, he scribbled a hasty No at the bottom and handed the paper back to her. He shook his head at her outraged gasp followed by what sounded like some furious scribbling. A minute later, he rolled his eyes as he felt the tap of paper against his shoulder again.

What do you mean no? I have zero experience in this and it's totally unfair that you should have such high expectations of me. I demand that you tell me exactly why we can't give it another try.

Rubbing his temples, Rio lifted his pencil and responded.

1. I ain't got time to hold your hand through this. You're either good to go or not. And you ain't.

2. You're clumsy and don't know what to do with your hands.

3. I don't need your drama. I've already got enough to deal with.

4. Get that stupid boyfriend of yours to give you what you need. You're his problem not mine.

And fed up with the whole note business, Rio crumpled it up and tossed it behind him without looking. He heard the slight scraping of Beth's desk as she reached for where the note had landed. Seconds later, he heard the scratching of her writing and the crumpling of paper. Then, he felt the thwack of something hard covered in paper hitting his head. Glaring as he turned around, he found the paper next to his backpack. Picking it up, he found a big pink eraser inside and the bottom of the note read:

It wasn't all my fault. Why don't you use some freaking tape?! And don't you ever kiss me again.

P.S. - You're a total douche. I hope you choke and die.

Meeting her burning gaze, he threw the paper at her and mouthed "Right back at you, bi..."

"Mr. Sanchez, there's no talking during detention," Mrs. Rydell scolded.

Rio gladly faced forward and took out some scrap paper from his bag. To take his mind off how utterly pissed he was, he began drawing one of the tattoos he was planning on getting soon. He was just gonna pretend that her telling him to never kiss her again didn't bother him at all.

"Hey, baby. How's it going?" Dean said, nuzzling Beth's neck as she put her history binder in her locker. "Are we still on for the movies tonight?"

Forcing herself to smile, she replied, "I'm great and of course, I'm really looking forward to seeing Highlander 2."

"Are you sure, babe? Cuz you seem kind of upset?" Dean noted, furrowing his brow. "I could kiss and make it all better." Leaning in, he intended on doing just that.

Beth put up both hands blocking her face from his kiss. "Not now, Dean. You know we'll get in trouble for PDA."

"Ah, who cares? We're dating. I should be able to kiss you whenever I want." Zeroing in, this time his kiss landed.

Already emotionally fraught from her argument with Rio during detention, Beth pushed him back forcefully. "Just stop! For goodness sake, stop pawing at me! Can you just give me some space? Why do you always have to be touching me?"

"You're my girlfriend. I love you. I like touching you."

A hurt look spread across her boyfriend's face making Beth feel lower than dirt. It wasn't Dean's fault that she really wasn't into the physical side of their relationship. Maybe she was one of those people who wasn't interested in sex. What were they called? Asexuals? Or maybe she was just frigid?

She ignored the voice in her head that reminded her that she'd seemed to like Rio touching and kissing her...a lot. So much in fact that she'd barely gotten any sleep. In between worrying about how she was going to pay the rent and if Rio would give her another chance, she'd replayed the hallway kiss over and over again. Needless to say, she'd had a very unrestful night.

Guilt eating her up, she reached inside her backpack and found the bag of M&M cookies she'd made last night that she'd packed as an after school snack for Annie when she went to go pick her up. Taking the bag, she handed it to Dean. "I made these for you. I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me. I shouldn't take it out on you," Beth whispered, hugging him and rubbing his back.

"Your period's real bad, isn't it?" Dean whispered back, kissing her neck.

Stepping from his embrace, Beth nodded, "Something like that. Well, I've got to catch my next class. I'll see you later."

As Beth quickly jetted off, she didn't hear Dean say "Hey, Beth, I think you dropped something."

Or his muttered, "What the hell?" after he'd opened it up and read it.