I'm glad you're all enjoying this story so far. This chapter is a bit longer than the other two... but I'm sure you won't mind... ;)

Chapter 3 - Dumbstruck

The next day rolled around and Hailey found herself on the receiving end of Kira Snider's bitching and moaning. She was going on and on about how Aaron was her man and that Hailey needed to back off. Hailey simply brushed her off and rolled her eyes entering her American Literature class.

Hailey noticed Reid and Tyler sitting on their desks talking to one another and Aaron one row above them looking as though he was about to nod off in to dreamland again. She ascended the stairs quickly blazing by Reid and Tyler and to Aaron.

"Your girlfriend is really getting on my nerves…" She stated letting her bag slide out of her possession and on to the floor.

"She isn't my girlfriend…" Aaron replied not bothering to open his eyes.

"Aaron, please… you and I both know that if Kira had it her way you'd be serving her breakfast in bed every day in a speedo…." Hailey grinned plopping down next to the curly-haired brunette.

"So, I heard the youngest Son of Ipswich left with a very pretty brunette last night…" He stated leaning forward, his blue eyes opening for the first time.

"Good news travels fast," Hailey commented her green eyes slowly lurking over to the handsome brunette she had driven home the night previous.

"Surprised me really…" Aaron remarked letting his arms fold on top of the wooden desk.

"Why because I'm winning this bet faster than you thought?" Hailey smiled over at him.

"No, with him… he usually doesn't go after girls… always thought Simms was a bit queer…" Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"Tyler Simms is way too good looking to be queer…." Hailey announced, her gaze once again drifting over to the blue-eyed brunette and his blonde friend.

"Since when do you think that Simms is good looking?" Aaron raised an eyebrow in question.

"I never said he wasn't… hell all four of the Sons of Ipswich are good looking… there's no denying that…" Hailey felt Aaron's arm slip around her shoulders as he leaned in to her. Tyler was glancing back at them, as was Reid. "How am I supposed to finish the bet if you're hanging all over me all the time?" Hailey asked him.

"Making it a bit more challenging for you, it looks like this is going to be too easy…" He smirked tossing a glare in Reid and Tyler's direction.

"Don't be a prick Aaron," She nudged him in the ribs with a very bony elbow.

Aaron rolled his eyes as he let his arm slide off of her shoulders, "Would it kill you to believe that I'm just showing my affection for you?" He asked her carefully.

"No, because if you were you wouldn't have made this stupid bet…." Hailey quipped giving him a strange look.

"You're right," Aaron nodded opening up his book.

Hailey groaned as the instructor walked in the room, h is hands full of books and papers. Professor Graham was always late for his own class; it was quite amusing to his students. Hailey found her self disregarding most of the lecture, she spent a good amount of the last hour staring at Tyler Simms, and figuring out how she was going to do this.

She had figured she would toy with him a bit, harmless flirting to get him hooked, Aaron said he just had to fall for her, so did that mean she just had to get him to ask her out? Or did that mean that she had to make him head over heels in love with her? She wasn't quite sure.

Tearing a sheet of paper out of her notebook she quickly jotted a note to the blue-eyed cutie next to her. She shoved the paper in front of his nose and he let his eyes linger forward to read the note, a small smirk appearing on his lips as she raised her eyebrows waiting for his answer.

He picked up his pen and wrote something down, sliding the paper back over to her.

Before she could read the piece of paper the bell rang, Aaron grabbed the paper and crumbled it up. He stood up and grabbed his things; he leaned down next to her ear and whispered to her.

"He needs to be completely in love with you," He paused. "I'm talking can't eat, can't sleep… follows you around like a lost puppy and anything you want in a blink of an eye kind of love…"

With that Aaron took the stairs two at a time leaving her in her seat looking a bit dumbfounded. How the hell was she supposed to make a boy fall in love with her, how was she going to know when he was in love with her?

She let her eyes linger down towards the main floor of the room, he was laughing at something Reid was saying to him, his blue eyes shining in the fluorescent lighting of the room. His gaze rested up on her and a smile spread across his features, he gave her a small wave.

Hailey felt the smile tugging at her lips, she gave him a small nod, snapping out of her daze she gathered her things and descended down the stairs in a hurry. She brushed past the rest of the class that was fighting for the door.

"Hailey," She recognized his voice without question.

She turned slightly to see him say something quickly to Reid and then jog to catch up with her, his cheeks a bit flushed from the sudden attention he had grabbed. She gave him a warm smile and felt a small fluttering feeling in the very pit of her stomach.

"Tyler, hey…" She looked down at her black ballet shoes.

"You have AP Government next, right?" He asked her

"Yeah," She nodded to him.

"Can I walk you to class?" He asked his tone hopeful.

"Sure, I'd like that…" She gave him a small grin before he took her books from her and stopped with her at her locker.

Tyler handed her the books, and as she swapped them out he took them back. She gave him a sideways glance and raised her eyebrow at him.

"I can carry my books you know…" She stated shutting her locker.

"I know, but what kind of gentleman would I be if I made you carry your own books?" He questioned.

Hailey didn't say anything she just held on to her book bag and nodded her head, letting Tyler walk her to the class that they shared together. Aaron didn't share this class with her, and she figured it'd be a good time to start getting in good with Tyler.

"You want to sit with me?" Tyler asked.

"Um, sure… but don't you usually sit with Reid?" She asked skeptically.

"He can sit with us, if you don't mind?" Tyler offered leading her up to the third row where he normally sat with Reid Garwin.

"No, not at all…" She gave him a polite smile.

"What's this?" Reid asked coming in moments later noticing that Tyler was sitting next to Hailey talking about something he couldn't quite make out.

"Hey man," Tyler grinned at him. "Hailey's gonna sit with us… that cool?" He asked giving his best friend a convincing smile.

"Sure man whatever," Reid stated coming behind Hailey to get to his seat. He leaned down to whisper to her so Tyler couldn't here, "If I would have known you'd end up looking like this over the Summer I wouldn't have dumped you…" He smirked to himself before taking the seat next to Tyler.

Hailey's jaw dropped and she shot Reid a nasty glare. Why had she been stupid enough to fall for his charm? She could have said no when he asked her out last year, but no… her stupid hormones had other plans.

She looked from Tyler to Reid and wondered how the two boys were friends; Tyler was sweet and caring, where as Reid was cynical and selfish. How the two were so close was beyond her.

"So, what do you think Hailey?" Tyler asked tearing her out of her thoughts.

"That sounds great…." She agreed subconsciously. She gaze him a worried glance, she was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't bothered to listen to anything he had just said.

"Great, so I'll pick you up at eight tonight?" He asked her.

Did he just ask me out? She questioned looking up at him, her eyes wide. Tyler let out a small chuckle and shook his head.

"So you weren't listening to me after all…" He grinned shaking his head.

She felt a blush rise on her cheeks as she situated through her homework from Government, "I'm sorry, Tyler, I was just thinking…" She stated feeling a bit stupid.

"It's ok… you looked like you were in la-la land…." He grinned at her. "I was just testing you…."

That smile, it was completely irresistible. She gave him a sheepish smile and felt her cheeks get hot.

"Maybe she'll give it up to you a little quicker than she did with me Ty…" Reid quipped from behind the two.

"Reid," Tyler turned and gave his friend a short, pointed glare.

"What?" Reid asked with an innocent smile. "Perhaps she'll wear those sexy purple satin panties…" He grinned licking his lips and sending her a wink.

Hailey's lip curled in to a snarl as she gave Reid a disgusted glance, "I must have been crazy to date you, and I plead insanity…" She mumbled loudly enough for Tyler and Reid to hear.

Tyler laughed and gave his friend a shrug. He leaned forward ignoring Reid and changing the subject with Hailey. He whispered an apology about his blonde comrade as the teacher walked in, Hailey laughed and shook her head, accepting the apology but letting him know that she knew better about Reid Garwin.

The class slowly rolled on and the AP Government class was assigned a project. The Professor paired up Hailey, Reid and Tyler, much to Hailey's dismay. She wanted nothing to do with the blonde wonder, that is, nothing except for his best friend.

"So should we meet up tonight to start on the project?" Tyler asked as the bell rang.

"God Tyler, you make me sick…" Reid uttered as he grabbed his bag, slinging it nonchalantly over his shoulder. "Just some lame excuse to get Hails in your bed…" He gave the girl a wicked grin, before his pale blue eyes set on a buxom red head that had just walked by.

"Don't call me that," Hailey gave Reid a sharp look.

"Now now… don't get defensive sweetheart…" Reid gave her an arrogant smirk. "You two go ahead and get a jump start on the project… I've got my own project to work on…" He grinned taking off after the red head.

Hailey watched as he suavely let his arm curl around the girl's middle that same smirk never leaving his face as he worked his Garwin Charm. She felt her stomach flip as Tyler's hand touched her elbow, she turned to him and he was giving her a 1,000 watt smile.

"So, does that sound ok to you?" Tyler asked.

"What about Reid?" She asked jabbing her thumb in the direction the blonde had just fled.

"I'm used to picking up his slack…" Tyler shrugged his shoulders.

"Why?" Hailey asked.

"Why, what?" Tyler questioned as they head back towards their lockers.

"Why do you put up with him?" Hailey questioned watching Tyler hand her the books from AP Government, as she finished the combination on her locker.

"He's my best friend…" Tyler shrugged leaning up against the cold metal lockers. "Wouldn't you do the same for Aaron?"

Hailey stopped and looked at her book she was pulling out and sighed, he was right, she usually picked up Aaron's slack when he decided to be rebellious, she nodded her head. "Point taken…" She glanced at him.

She pulled out a note book and her Physics book and shoved them both in to her messenger bag. She glanced over at Tyler and noticed he hadn't gone to his locker; she pursed her lips together in thought and noticed the book bag hanging off his shoulder.

"Carry all your books around?" She asked him.

"Only when I escort pretty women around…" He gave her a sheepish grin.

"I see so do you escort these pretty women around frequently?" Hailey asked shutting her locker and leaning against it.

Tyler let his eyes linger over her for a moment and then responded without thinking, "Why do you ask?"

"I need to know if I should be jealous or not…" She pushed herself off of the lockers and started walking towards her next class.

Tyler's blue eyes fell on her again, the way she walked, her skirt flirted dangerously low and bounced around her curves. He noticed her glance over her shoulder and Tyler felt a sudden urge to run after her. Before he could argue with himself he pushed against the lockers and jogged to catch up wither, letting his arm rest around her shoulders carefully.

"No need to be jealous," He answered. "You're the only pretty woman I'll be escorting around…" His response was easy, not thought out or planned, it was almost natural.

Hailey took in his profile from her peripheral and found that he was a bit flushed, but not as he normally was when one of the usual Ipswich groupies was hounding him. He seemed, almost, comfortable.

"Awe, babe… you're making me jealous…" Aaron's voice interrupted their quiet stride to class.

Hailey let out a heavy sigh and turned to her right seeing Aaron leaning coolly against his locker. She gave him a look that read 'Cut it out, or else.' But Aaron seemed to ignore it.

"Simms is making a move on my girl, huh?" Aaron asked rocking his neck from one side to the other, a few distinct cracks could be heard.

"Aaron, stop…" Hailey slid from under Tyler's arm and glared at the curly haired brunette boy.

"I'm just having a little fun Hails, no need to get your panties in a knot…" He grinned stupidly at her, sending her a wink.

"Look Aaron, I know you're Hailey's friend and all but she's my friend too…" Tyler stated his fast showing that he was getting flustered.

"Not so tough without your other Fags of Ipswich are you?" Aaron asked getting in to Tyler's face.

"Aaron," Hailey warned.

"It's ok Hailey…" Tyler stated holding up his hand. "Let'em say what he wants… it doesn't bother me…" Tyler shook his head. "I'm not going to stoop down to your level of stupidity Aaron, so don't play with me…" Tyler shot back.

"Oh a big boy now…" Aaron pushed.

"Aaron that's enough…" Hailey stated pushing the brunette boy back.

"Alright, fine…" Aaron pressed his lips together tightly and glared at Tyler. "Watch yourself Simms,"

Hailey pushed Aaron back and shot him a nasty glare before grabbing Tyler by the hand and pulling him towards their Physics class. She saw the look on his face, his cheeks red and his eyes dark, he was not in a good mood.

"I'm sorry about Aaron; he can be a real pain in the ass…" She stated softly as they walked in to class. "I don't know what's gotten in to him lately…" She shook her head.

"Does he think you belong to him or something?" Tyler asked in a deep, low voice.

His tone caught Hailey off guard she was not expecting for that voice to have such an effect on her, but it did. She felt goose bumps travel up her arms, immediately rubbing her palms over the clothed skin she turned and gave him a small smile.

"Lately I've been asking myself the same questions, but it's only if he sees me around other guys… it's weird…" She shook her head.

"He likes you," Tyler stated finally.

"Aaron?" Hailey asked her mouth fallin open shortly. "Like me?" This was followed by a subtle laugh.

"Seriously," Tyler nodded his head pulling out her chair for her.

Hailey looked at the chair as if it were a foreign object; she had never been treated like this before. It was new, and she liked it. She slowly took a seat and looked up in to his blue eyes as he maneuvered around her chair and fell in to his.

"Thank you," The words fell out of her mouth before she could think clearly.

"You're welcome…" He stated raising his eyebrow at her questioningly. She continued to stare at him and then back at the chair and shook her head. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"N-Nothing…" She answered with a nervous smile.

"You sure?" He questioned sticking a pencil behind his ear.

"Yeah, I'm ok…" She gave him a reassuring grin before pulling out her things.

By the end of the day Tyler and Hailey were close, she thought it was unbelievable how he had sort of brushed off his friends to sit with her during class, walk her to all of her classes and even stood up to Aaron in front of her. It was amazing.

The only time they didn't spend together was during lunch, but their crowds were different. She hung out with Aaron Abbott, Ryan Bael, and Brody Jennings, while he hung out with the rest of the Sons and their girlfriends. She was pulling her books out for homework that night when a familiar voice came from behind her.

"I bet you're probably wearing, blue lace…" His breath was hot on the back of her neck, and not wanted.

Her jade green eyes rolled, she didn't bother to look back to see who it was, she already knew. There was no one on this earth that could be as annoyingly cocky, or as terribly arrogant as Reid Garwin.

"Do you have a purpose for harassing me, Reid?" She asked shortly.

"Harassing, that's such a nasty word…" He leaned down towards her, pressing his hard body against hers. "I just came by to talk…" He stated letting his lips linger over her ear, making her entire body quiver.

His gloved hands grasped on to her hips roughly, pulling her closer to him, she let out a small yelp as he pressed his mouth against her ear.

"Wh-what do you want?" She asked grabbing on to the edge of her locker, trying to pull herself away from him.

"See that's what I want to know…" Reid stated turning her around aggressively, to face him.

"Excuse me?" She asked looking up at him.

"I want to know, what you want with Tyler…" Reid's voice was sharp and his eyes penetrated in to hers.

"What are you talking about?" Hailey asked playing the confused card.

"You're not the kind of girl that goes after what she wants," Reid accused. "It took me nearly three weeks to get you to even talk to me, then two more weeks for you to go out with me… and then a month to get you in to bed…" He calculated.

"I'm not the same girl I was a year ago, Reid… you of all people should know that…" She gave him a malevolent look.

"I'm watching you Gregory, don't even think about hurting my best friend…" Reid quipped pulling her against him roughly.

"You should be the last person preaching to me about hurting someone…" She snapped shoving him off of her with as much force as she could muster up.

The blonde glared at her and was about to say something when she snapped back at him without thinking, "Don't be jealous because I actually find Tyler more attractive than you…"

Reid's face fell at the thought, "Excuse me?" He asked.

"That's right… Tyler is better looking than you…" She grinned. "Fancy that…" Her grin turned in to a smirk as she took a step closer to the blue-eyed heartthrob. "It's a shame that it took me an entire year to see that…"

With that she slammed her locker shut and took off towards the dorms, leaving Reid completely dumbstruck.

Please remember to R&R! (It's my inspiration!)