Thank you to Ginevra Annabeth Herondale, ForeverNicole, L.M.T.O.P, ilovesos9467, David Fishwick, dream-big-101, PopCultureAddict, Romitri99, grandprincessanastasiaromanov5, and Reviewer for reviewing the first chapter. I had an amazing turn out for this story so far, thank you all so much.

To dream-big-101 (and anyone else who doesn't know what HOPE is): HOPE class is kind of like an alternative P.E. class. It stands for Health Opportunities through Physical Education. It's a mix of P.E. and health, basically. Some days the students are outside doing something physical activity-related (or inside if it's raining/cold) and other days, they're in the classroom leaning about how to be healthy and about body systems, etc. I'm not sure if this is just an American thing or not.

To PopCultureAddict: Yes, my high school was in Florida, though I took it during my freshman year versus taking it through Florida Virtual. I was one of the lucky ones who got it on their schedules during their first year.

Enjoy the new chapter!

–SKD

Chapter 2

As Mr. Belikov sat down at his desk, I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I stretched my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankle, and crossed my arms across my chest. Adrian nudged me, and I glanced over at him. A small piece of paper landed on my desk, and I quickly slipped it onto my lap, under the desk.

Someone's hot for the teacher.

I glared at him as I sat up. I glanced over at Mr. Belikov to make sure he wasn't paying attention before turning slightly in my seat so I could kick Adrian in the shin. His eyes widened, but he didn't make a sound, even though I knew my heels had to hurt.

Glancing back at Mr. Belikov, I thought I saw the ghost of a smile on his lips, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. Without looking up, he started taking attendance. "Adkins, Michelle."

"Here," a girl a few desks over from me said. She sat up straighter, pulling her top down a little to show off unimpressive cleavage. Her face fell when he just continued reading the roll, without looking up once. I sighed again as I wait for the list to get anywhere close to my name.

"Finley, Cole," he continued. Cole shouted 'here' from the back of the class, and I rolled my eyes. "There is no need to shout, Mr. Finley."

I heard him and his friends laughing in the back and rolled my eyes again at their immaturity. That was another reason I refused to sleep with anyone who was in my grade. Almost every male in this school lacked a morsel of maturity.

"Frank, Katrina." Mr. Belikov glanced up when nobody says 'here', and he repeats the name before marking Katrina as absent.

"Hathaway, Rosemarie."

"Here," I said, raising my hand.

Mr. Belikov looked at me, his brown eyes seemingly staring into my soul. I met his gaze for what seemed like forever, challenging him, until he broke it, looking back down at his papers.

"Ivashkov, Adrian."

Adrian answered from beside me before staring at me incredulously.

"Someone has a crush on the new teacher," he sang under his breath.

I glared back at him. "Shut up, Ivashkov," I hissed. "Did I not kick you hard enough the first time?"

He smirked but didn't say anything else.

"Johnson, Michael."

"Marino, Renata."

Mr. Belikov continued down his roll, and I tapped my fingers impatiently on the desk, watching the clock. This period always felt longer being at the end of the day and watching the clock only made it drag on more, but that didn't prevent me from checking the time every three seconds.

"Peters, Tess."

"Pitman, Haley."

"Rinaldi, Mia."

I started to zone out as more and more people said here until finally, he reached the end of the roll. Thank God.

Mr. Belikov stood and walked around his desk, to sit on the front edge of it, near where Adrian's desk was. Adrian started to turn to me again, but I glared at him, silencing him before he could even open his mouth. I knew I wouldn't be able to kick him again, not with Mr. Belikov so close.

I could feel Mr. Belikov staring at me, and I felt my face flush a little bit, but when I turned to meet his gaze, he was no longer looking at me.

I do not get flustered by the male species.

Not even tall, Russian gods.

"Due to the way your schedules are set up on the block schedule with only having this class every other day, on Mondays and Tuesdays, we will be inside, doing a health lesson. Thursdays and Fridays, you all will be dressing out and playing a sport out on the fields. Wednesdays, it will be a mixture of a health lesson, along with light physical activities. Wednesday through Friday, you must be wearing tennis shoes." He eyed my shoes. "I do not want to see a single heel or wedge on any of you ladies, is that clear?"

Adrian's hand shoots up into the air, grinning mischievously.

"Yes, Mr. Ivashkov?" Mr. Belikov arched a brow.

Adrian faltered for a moment, surprised that he knew his name, despite not looking at him while calling roll. "Am I allowed to—"

"Smartasses do not belong in my class. If you're about to ask a smartass question, the door is right there. Feel free to leave," Belikov said, cutting him off.

I grinned, and a couple of girls giggled. Adrian smirked but stayed silent.

"Instead of being seated alphabetically, you will sit with your respective grade," Mr. Belikov said, ignoring the immediate outcries of complaints.

There were eight columns of seats in the classroom, each with five seats in it. It didn't take him long to realize that assigning two columns to each grade level wasn't going to work. Instead, he directed the seniors, including me and Adrian, to the row directly in front of his desk before placing the other grades in descending order next to us. Since Adrian was already sitting at the first desk in that column, I quickly took the seat behind him and had to resist the urge to scoot my desk forward when Cole took the seat behind me. The other rows weren't perfectly aligned, with the juniors overlapping into the sophomores' row and the sophomores slightly overlapping into the freshmen row, but it wasn't terrible.

Mr. Belikov glanced at the clock – forty minutes left. "On Friday, you will be purchasing locks and choosing lockers for the year in the locker rooms. You have to purchase a lock; you aren't allowed to bring your own. Locks are five dollars. You will also be dressing out on Friday. The uniform is simple: a black or a grey t-shirt and black or red gym shorts. Shorts must be no shorter than three inches above the knee, just like the regular dress code."

He glanced around the room but didn't meet my eyes this time. I leaned forward in my seat, resting my chin in my hand, and waited for class to be over as Mr. Belikov continued to talk about the class.

"We have about five more minutes until the bell rings," he said. "Any questions?"

I raised my hand.

"Miss Hathaway, what can I do for you?"

I could see Adrian start to open his mouth from the way he was half-turned in his seat and quickly leaned up to flick the side of his neck.

"What sports will we be doing?" I asked.

"Flag football, basketball, soccer, and tennis, just to name a few," Mr. Belikov said. "There will be a few periods of free for all on the fields, but there will also be a track and field unit. Everybody has to complete certain tests in order to pass the class and graduate."

I made a face, and I saw that same ghost of a smile on Mr. Belikov's face again. But just like before, it was gone almost as fast as it had shown up. He answered another student's question, but I was no longer paying attention.

I felt Adrian bump into my shoulder a few moments later. "Rose? Are you okay? You're usually the first one out of class when the bell rings."

I hadn't even noticed that the bell went off.

"I'm fine," I said. "Just tired."

I could tell that he didn't believe me, but he didn't say anything as I followed him out of the classroom. I could have sworn that I felt Mr. Belikov watching me, watching us, but when I glanced back, he wasn't in the room.

Lissa and Christian were already leaning against our lockers by the time Adrian and I made it back through the crowds in the hallway. Lissa tossed me the keys to her car.

"You okay with driving home by yourself? I forgot that I have to stay after school today to meet with Coach Tegan," Lissa said.

"I don't mind, but if the meeting won't take long, I don't mind waiting," I said.

She sighed. "I have no clue how long it'll take, but Christian's going to pick me up. We're going to get dinner afterward, have a date night."

I nodded. "Have fun. Be safe," I teased.

Lissa stuck her tongue out at me before giving me a quick hug. "I'll see you later!"

She ran off toward the gym, where Coach Tegan's office was, leaving me with Christian, Adrian, and Sydney. Sydney was a cheerleader with Lissa, but I guess this meeting was for captains only.

"You should try out, Rose," Sydney said. "I'm sure—"

"You're sure of what, Sydney?" I said, turning to face her. "That they'd just let me back on the squad as if nothing had happened?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking."

No, you weren't.

I didn't say that out loud, though.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just tired," I said. "I'll see you guys later."

I made sure to grab my math textbook from my locker before turning to leave. Christian was getting a ride with Sydney and Adrian since he had carpooled with them to Shipley's this morning before carpooling with me and Lissa to the school, which meant that I didn't have to take him anywhere.

The parking lot was almost empty when I walked out of the school building, and I quickly crossed it to climb into Lissa's car. The temperature was a little warmer inside the car than it was that morning, despite the car sitting in the shade. I quickly put the top of the convertible down and tied back my hair before fastening my seatbelt.

I locked my phone in the glovebox, turning the Do Not Disturb setting on first, before going through all of my checks, including moving my seat forward to better suit my shorter frame and moving the mirrors. I put the car into reverse and turned in my seat, checking for any traffic.

It didn't take me long to get back to the apartment, but instead of reviewing my math classwork from that day like I should have, I changed into a pair of leggings and a sports bra. I pulled a zip-up jacket on over the sports bra before lacing up my shoes. I grabbed another hair tie to secure my hair in a tighter ponytail before leaving a note for Lissa on the fridge and locking the apartment door behind me. The gym wasn't too far from our apartment, less than a mile, and I chose to jog there instead of taking my car.

Normally, the jog helped me clear everything from my head and acted as a destresser, but today, I couldn't shut my brain off. Sydney's comment earlier about trying out again for the cheerleading squad rubbed me the wrong way. Most people didn't know the whole story but—

I pushed myself faster, not wanting to think about the incident. By the time I reached the gym, I was nearly out of breath. I scanned my membership card and made my way to the locker room. I paid for a year-round locker at the gym to make it easier to run to and from the gym. I took off my jacket, leaving it in my locker before grabbing the water bottle that I kept there. I filled it up with water, taking small sips as I made my way to the weight room.

My workout passed quickly, and I was finishing up my repetitions of hip abductions when I noticed a man staring at me from the machine on the other side of mine.

"Do you come here often? Because I've never seen you here before," he said with a wink.

I rolled my eyes and didn't say anything. I wiped down the machine with sanitizer spray, and when I turned back around, I saw the man leaning against the machine that I was using, a smirk on his face. It didn't long for me to place who he was after that.

"I was going to call you, but this works so much better." Ivan flashed another grin my way. "So, what do you say? Dinner tomorrow night, seven, my house?"

I nearly laughed but managed to refrain. "I'm more of a one-night-stand girl," I said, shrugging.

I walked past him, draining the rest of my water. I heard his footsteps following me, and a moment later, I felt his hand wrap around my arm. A frisson of fear ran through me, and I pushed it away as I yanked my arm out of his grip.

"Come on, Rose," he said. "One date."

"No, thank you," I said. I was planning on going back to the locker room to drop off my water bottle and grab my jacket, but I didn't want to give him any ideas. I was starting to regret not driving to the gym. I was also starting to regret only wearing a sports bra to work out in.

Ivan grabbed my arm again, and I reacted without thinking. I twisted in his grip so that I was facing him and brought my knee up so that it hit him where it really hurt. At the same time, I pulled my arm back, prepared to punch him in the throat, but before I could, someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me backward.

"Let go of me!"

They immediately released me but I knew that if I took one step towards Ivan, I'd just be dragged backward again.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"I told him not to fucking touch me," I said, speaking before the voice fully registered in my head.

I turned around to see Mr. Belikov standing behind me. His arms were crossed across his chest, and I could tell through his thin shirt that his biceps were bulging. I could also tell instantly that he was angry. Very angry.