Jax Pov

I rolled over for the 4th time to check my cell; still no call from Opie or Ryan. What the hell? I thought as I ran my hand across my tired eyes, rubbing away the sleep that lingered there.

The plan was for them to call and I'd meet them and Big Frankie at the school parking lot at lunch. I'd opted not to go to school today; the first day is always a waste and I wasn't too keen on listening to each annoying teacher act like a hard ass, knowing they'd flake out as the semester went on anyway.

Instead, I decided to crash at the clubhouse and catch up on my sleep. We'd been partying our asses off all summer and I wasn't fully recuperated yet. Besides, it was only one day.

Opie, Ryan and Frankie had gone anyway, probably cuz their parents threatened them with their lives. My parents didn't even notice. Mom was too busy fretting over Thomas and dad had taken another extended vacation out of the country. I wasn't even on their radar anymore.

I checked the clock again and realized that Charming High's lunch was almost over. Fuck this, I thought as I dragged myself out of bed. I'll just head over there and meet them. Frankie was the only one with a license and his big ass truck could fit all of us so the logical choice was for Frankie to drive.

I got dressed lethargically, grabbed a pack of smokes and headed out. Charming High wasn't too far and I didn't want to make Frankie go out of his way to get me from the clubhouse. He'd bitch about gas money and I really didn't feel like listening to that shit today.

As I rounded the corner of TM toward the school, I couldn't get my mind right. Millions of thoughts swam through my head making me dizzy. The whole world had been falling apart the last few months and I just wanted to grip it in my hands and shake the shit out of it, demand it to be fair, to give me a break. But, obviously, life doesn't work that way and every time I felt closer to getting my hands around Fate's throat, the bitch would just kick me in the gut again.

I grabbed for my cigarettes and pulled a long Marlboro Red from its' pack, brushing the lingering tobacco from the filter before lighting it with my new Reaper Zippo. Zippos were a bitch to refill, but when I saw it sitting on the counter at Hot Topic, I couldn't resist.

I could see the outline of the aging chain link fence up ahead. The grim, discolored cinderblock buildings made it look more like a prison yard than a high school. I laughed to myself; I guess they were pretty much one and the same when you really looked at it. I stared at the shadowy figures mobbing the large, open field. All of them the same, cookie cutter kids you could seamlessly substitute for any of the others. I felt bad for them and their pathetic, suffocating lives. I may be heir to a criminal MC, but at least I was free, free from the confines of what everyone thought I should be, free from keeping a pristine image so my parents could save face. We may be a lot of things, but confined by the social order of "acceptable" life, we were not.

I could see everyone moving sluggishly toward the breezeway and realized lunch must be already over. Not sure what the hell Ope and Ryan were up to, I quickened my pace a little so as not to miss Big Frankie. He'd be pissed if he had to wait on us. It was a hell of a lot harder to leave campus once class had started. Officer Garcia ran truancy patrol and he definitely knew which students to keep an eye on.

As I got closer, I recognized Opie's tall, stick figure build standing next to a few girls. Of course. I thought to myself, Opie would blow us off for some bitches. But as soon as I had that thought, I was almost stopped cold in my tracks. It took everything in me not to freeze in my spot and to continue like nothing was happening.

Tara Knowles.

Even from a distance, I knew that ass anywhere. Her hair was shorter, darker now, but I could never forget that perfect curve and how it fit perfectly into my hands. Well, had fit was the more operative word. It'd been months since we'd spoken and even longer since she'd let my curious hands run over her uncharted body.

I was instantly thrown back to the first time I'd seen her, mouthing off to one of the vice principals about sending her to Saturday school for a late assignment or some bull shit. The intensity in her eyes had been like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was hot.

I'd seen her a few times over the years, but I'd never really SEEN her before. Dark denim jeans slung low against her hips, arms crossed defiantly across her newly developed chest. A middrift baring top exposed the creamy skin taut across her stomach. Long brown hair hung nearly to her ass. Her ass… damn did it stand out in those jeans. My eyes drifted down her baggy jeans to a set of worn out purple Vans. I had to chuckle to myself. Not too many chicks rocked those these days. I'd tried to hit on her as soon as the VP was out of the way, but she blew me off. She knew who I was; my reputation usually preceded me like that.

"You know, I could think of a few better things you could do with that pretty little mouth of yours than just giving Mr. Bryant a hard time" was my smooth line. In hindsight, I probably could've come up with something better.

Her eyebrows furrowed together in disgust as she narrowed her eyes at me. "Fuck you, Teller," she seethed as she turned and walked away. Right then and there, I knew she had me, hook, line and sinker.

Unfortunately, where we were then to where we were today, hadn't gotten much better. Our string of make-ups and breakups had been an insanely intense cluster fuck that obliterated any sense of reason in sight. She had got me; got me so good it had made it hard to deal. So I didn't.

What got me now was the look of anger on her face. Her brown eyes still filled to the brim with defiance. She turned her head like she didn't even see me, but I knew she did. She hadn't been in school for awhile. I knew she'd been busted down for fighting. They sent her to juvie, alternative school, the whole nine. She was feisty and compelling and totally uninterested in me, which was my own fault.

I knew she had a mean streak in her but had been totally unprepared when she unleashed on Sally's face. I had meant to piss her off, get her riled up… a little jealous even, but damn had I underestimated her. The end result: Sally had to have her face stitched up, Tara left in handcuffs, and Ope and I were left there dumbstruck, unable to even begin to process the eruption that had just occurred before our very eyes. Opie's flat response, "You fucked up, bro". That was the understatement of the century.

But here she was, back at school. That certainly changed things. I couldn't avoid her, no, I wouldn't be able to do that. As much as I knew she hated me right now, I still had the urge to claim her as my own, to keep all those pretty boys in line and let them know they couldn't touch her. Sure she was angry, but she was so damn infuriating, so damn intriguing, so damn intimidating that I couldn't stop thinking about her now. When there had been distance, I had been able to deal with that, I'd forced her from my mind. But walking next to her in the halls every day? Yeah, that just wasn't gonna work. I would find a way to make it right; I just didn't have any clue where to start.

I finally reached Frankie's truck and firmly shook Opie's hand, pulling him into a bro hug.

"So, Knowles, eh?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at them, moving to shake hands with Ryan and Big Frankie.

"Yeah, uh, I guess she's back for good… well, until she kicks someone's ass again" Ope laughed, elbowing me in the ribs. I deserved that. "I have a class with her", he continued.

"You gonna talk to her?" Ryan questioned, his eyes drifting toward her figure disappearing in the distance. Like he even need to ask.

Not wanting to get ahead of myself, I just shrugged. "I don't know, I'll guess we'll see if the opportunity presents itself" I responded as blandly as possible. I knew they knew I was lying, but I wasn't about to validate their musings, trying to make me look like a little pussy whipped bitch.

"Riiiiiiight", Ryan responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Whatever you say, bro", he said, deciding to let it go this time.

"Yeah, whatever you say, bro" Opie echoed, his eyes twinkling, knowing I was full of shit.

"Are you fuckers ready to go yet or what?" Frankie called from the inside of the cab. "Garcia's gonna start making his rounds any minute and then we're fucked" he shouted, annoyed at our lackadaisical response. Frankie was a cool guy, but impatient as all hell.

We jumped in the bed of the truck as Opie slid into the front of the cab with Big Frankie.

"Let's get this show and the road, bitches!" Frankie shouted out his rolled down window, banging on the side of his door, clearly looking forward to hitting up Diversions, our local arcade.

As we drove off, leaving Charming High in a cloud of exhaust, I couldn't help but think of Tara and how long it'd been since I'd seen her last. I had been such a dick, and she'd always been so fucking cool to me. She didn't deserve that, I sighed trying to stifle a moan at my idiocy. But right then and there I resolved that I was gonna fix it. It wasn't gonna be easy, far from it actually, but if she felt for me even a fraction of what I felt for her, I knew I still had a shot.

A/N: I really hope you guys liked this one. I couldn't figure out how to end the chapter, so any feedback on the last paragraph or so would be much appreciated.