WARNING: This chapter contains a bit of strong language, and the next few chapters will have some content that is not so appropriate for a young-minded audience...If you have mature minds, then you may read it. I'll warn you again when there is a chapter or two with sexual content, don't worry, haha. (: This is not one of those though, just strong language in some scenes...

Chapter 5

The date with Michael went absolutely splendid, obviously, because they had a nice talk and she had her very first kiss. Afterwards they watched the sun go down and looked at the stars for half an hour. They talked but about nothing important, just making chit-chat really.

She had just got dropped off at her house and she changed in her pajamas. She got the phone to dial Robin's number, but figured she'd do it tomorrow since she's a bit tired.

She sat on the bed, playing with her guitar. She hoped she could find more lyrics to that unfinished song she had started earlier that week.

And it did come.

Then it's one foot then the other as you step out on the road,
Step out on the road, how much weight, how much weight?
Then it's how long and how far and how many times
oh, before it's too late.

Calling all angels, calling all angels
walk me through this one, don't leave me alone.
Calling all angels, calling all angels,
we're trying, we're hoping, but we're not sure how…

She pulled out her notebook and went on an empty page. She found a pen on her dresser and wrote the lyrics she had sung so far, from tonight and earlier this week.

She wondered why these kind of lyrics are coming up to her. What kind of significance did it have to her? Nonetheless, she still liked it. It was calm and sweet and something she could sing at a church or something.

She knew that her mom would have loved it. Her mom absolutely loved hearing her sing because she put her complete soul into it. When her mom first figured out that she had cancer, she'd call Bella from the hospital and tell her to bring the guitar and sing for her. She would sing types of songs like 'When You Wish upon a Star,' or 'Your Song.' She sang everyday to her mom until she died. That's when Bella would completely bury herself and her sadness into her music. She would play piano or guitar and play sad songs.

She would remember her dad yelling at her to stop playing music. Her and her father had a very vague relationship. One day her father was happy and would be in the mood to take Bella out for dinner or a walk in the park. Other days he would get drunk and hit her. Some days he would just be really silent. He was very confusing to her, but strange enough she loved him and was extremely sad when her dad died from the accident. She knew in a way he cared for her.

She placed her guitar down and laid down, now thinking about Michael. She only knew so much about him but yet she's totally in love with him. What is it about him that makes him so attractable to her? Were they meant to be? Was he sent to her?

She shook her head to shake the questions away as she was getting a bit of a headache. She rested her head on the soft pillow and closed to hazel-blue eyes.

She was just happy that someone like him came into her life.

The weekend passed by very fast unfortunately, but it was only days closer to summer break at least.

Bella had just dropped off her Reading supplies in her locker and picked up her Math supplies for the next class. As soon as she closed the locker, she saw Michael standing next to her with a smile.

"Michael!" she brightened, giving him a peck on the lips.

"Hey, sweetie, you wanna skip lunch after this period?"

"What?" she chuckled. "You're serious?"

"Yes I am. They're serving tuna fish today and I'm pretty sure you forgot to pack your lunch."

"Ew, tuna? Yes, I would love to skip lunch today."

"Haha, okay. Meet me in the auditorium, okay? No one will be in there but us, I promise."

"Alrighty. What are we doing there then?"

"You'll see," he winked. "Get to class now. I'll see you."

"Okay, bye." She hugged him and went into Math class.

For what seemed like the longest time in math class, the bell finally rang and Bella simply rushed out of her seat.

She dropped off her supplies in her locker and rushed down to the auditorium. By the time she got there, the bell rang and she smiled once she saw Michael there.

She ran up to him and literally jumped on him to give him a hug. He laughed and twirled her around, making her squeal and giggle.

She gave him a kiss after, making him smile more. He sweetly kissed her back and they stayed there for a minute. They soon pulled away with a smile on their lips.

"You missed me a lot, didn't you?" Michael asked.

"Yes I did! Math class was so long, we had to do a study guide that was like three pages long for the damn final! The final itself is going to be five pages long! I think I may need your help…"

"Oh dear, you know, finals aren't that bad. They're most likely tests that you have studied this entire school year."

"Well, I know, but Math is my worst subject."

"Okay, okay, I'll help you. But let's just have fun now, okay?"

"Okay. What are we doing?"

"Come up here." He led her to the stage and helped her up, with him joining afterwards. "Okay, so you say want a long-lasting tattoo, right?"

"Yes…"

He pulled out a box from behind him and opened it, picking up a bunch of square cards with prints on them. He showed them to her. "Choose one."

"Are you serious? Okay, um…I like the…butterfly." She chose a pretty butterfly design.

"Air-brush or glitter?"

She giggled. "Glitter, please."

"Okay, and which color would you like?"

"Hm…what's your favorite color?"

"Red."

"Mmm, then I'll go with red!"

"Alrighty, and where do you want it?"

"Hmm…" she looked around her body and thought about it. She decided with this; She pulled down her cardigan along with her camisole spaghetti strap, pointing to the front of her shoulder. "Right here."

He looked in her eyes and smiled. He got out the supplies for the tattoo and scooted closer to her. He got out this white paint out for the glitter to stick on. He wet the spot first and blew on it to dry it a little. This gave her little goosebumps, hoping Michael wouldn't notice. He got the butterfly design paper, and started to tattoo her shoulder with the white paint first.

"So tell me…what made you so attracted to me?"

She smiled. "I guess it's just from the moment we became partners. You were so nice to me and I don't know…I guess I just…saw you."

"Saw me?"

"You know…people see you as…well, weird. I don't. You're just really smart. But then again, so am I. I think. But that's beside the point. I'm just one of those people who don't like to judge a book by its cover, or judge people before knowing them. But you're pretty cute…"

He blushed at her compliment. "Thank you. And thank you again for not judging me like others are doing. They just need to know the truth for why I'm changing skin colors or whatever. But really it's not that big of a deal…"

"I think it is a big deal to you, Michael…"

"Well…yeah, I guess it is. It did change me a lot. But really, I can't tell if it's for the better or for worse."

"Well, I'm going out with you and I think you're absolutely gorgeous. Does that sound like it's for the worse?"

He chuckled. "No, I guess not." He finished painting her shoulder and pulled out the red glitter and a makeup brush. He got some glitter on the brush and patted it on the paint. She looked at his face with a smile on her lips. She loved how he was all serious at first, but when he smiled, his whole personality seemed to light up. She didn't understand why anybody could find him weird. He was so polite and quiet and he didn't do anything weird at all, as far as she knew about him.

They simply just judged him by the color of his skin. This just so proves that the world is still a bit messed up.

"God, I'm really falling for you hard, Michael," she whispered after he finished patting the last of the glitter on her tattoo, now removing the design paper. His eyes looked up at her and saw that she was really serious about her statement.

He brought his face closer to hers and bruised her lips with his, making her skin tingle with ecstasy. His long fingers brushed her soft hair gently, from top to bottom. He loved how long her hair was and yet it was so shining and healthy.

With his other free hand, he stroked her bare shoulder, softly running his thumb across her now dry tattoo. He tenderly rubbed her smooth arms as if it were fragile. He then circled both his arms around her huggable waist, pulling her closer to him as if he didn't want to let her go, ever.

Soon he knew that he was falling hard for her too, and he truly wanted to be hers.

Sadly, that period was over and Michael and Bella had to break away from their intense kiss and go to their next class. She took her seat and waited for class to begin.

"Hey!" Robin greeted rather loudly, making Bella jump.

"Robin! You scared the death out of me!"

"Oops, sorry! Where were you in lunch? I had to sit next to Roxanne and Addison!"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I forgot to pack my lunch today and I really didn't want to eat tuna fish, so I went with Michael to the auditorium."

"…And what did you do there?"

"Nothing too serious, Robin. He gave me a tattoo and we kissed for most of the period…but yeah!"

"Nothing too serious, huh? He gave you a tattoo? Lemme see!"

She pulled down her cardigan and strap to show her the glittery red butterfly.

Robin gasped, "So pretty! Wow…is that real?"

"No, of course not. It's long-lasting though."

"Ooh, okay."

Bella giggled at her friend. She was always so excited about every single detail.

Finally, school ended and Michael and Bella walked home once again, hand in hand. They simply just talked about how school went, besides their little get-together in the auditorium.

They reached her house, and before she went inside, Michael gently pushed her against the door, cupping her face in his hands and kissed her. She proudly kissed back and wrapped her arms around his small waist. They stayed like that for a couple minutes and finally pulled away.

Smiling, he said, "I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Okay…" She smiled back and kissed his chin. He grinned wider and kissed the back of her hand before leaving.

Michael's house was actually the street next to Bella's, but he decided to walk a bit slower, thinking about today. He noticed it got a bit dark, so he picked up the pace a little bit.

When he got on his street, he suddenly felt uncomfortable. He rubbed his arms as if he were chilly and walked faster now.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard a noise. He looked behind him and he saw silhouettes of three men, slightly larger than him. He knew who they were immediately.

"Could you please leave me alone, Dillon?"

"Naw, man. Not especially after you took my chances away of fucking a hot girl with a tight body."

"Don't even."

The mixed man, named Gavin, snickered and let out a snort after that. "I've heard around town that you're her man. What's up with that, man?"

"I happen to like her."

"Do you? Have you slept with her yet?"

"No. It's only been almost two weeks."

"What a shame. I can already tell she'd be great in bed. She's a screamer, ya know."

"Stop talking about her like that."

"Shit, and whatchu gonna do 'bout it? I don't care about your threat anymore, all I care now is beating you up and getting inside that girl's tight-"

Before Dillon knew it, he was on the concrete, the breath knocked out of him for a bit. Michael had thrown a punch at him before the other two guys grabbed him.

Dillon immediately regained himself back on his two feet. "Fuck no you didn't. Put him against the wall so I can throw punches at him easily." Michael struggled to free the grips of the two men, but it was no use. They had him pinned up against the brick wall.

"So, who's the strong man now, huh?" He stepped up close to him to the point where Michael could smell his rancid breath.

Michael growled. "Get off of me."

"So comes the same question. What'chu gon' do 'bout it?"

With his legs being free, he kicked him between his legs and elbowed the two guys hard, all groaning in pain, giving him a chance to run.

"Bastard! You come back here! Get him!" The two guys regained themselves before running to him, while it took awhile for Dillon to get himself back up.

"Should'a worn a cup…"

Michael ran away fast enough to hide in a dark alleyway. He took deep breaths and hid his face in his hands. "Ugh, god…why is this happening…?"

Soon he heard footsteps and tried to hide more in the shadows. He could hear them talking, though.

"Crap, where'd he go?" The mixed one panicked.

"I don't know. Man, Dillon's gonna kill us! Keep looking! Wait…what's that in the alleyway?"

"Oh…lookie here."

"Well, hello lil' Mikey. Look at you all vulnerable…"

"You guys rile him up…Ah, good," Dillon smirked as he came into the scene.

Michael was in huge trouble.

Hey guys! Sorry for the little delay, I was a bit busy. School's finally over now! It ended yesterday, actually, so. I am READY for an AMAZING summer! How about you guys? :D

Oh, and the song that Bella is singing, I do not own it. It is sung by Jane Siberry. It's such a sweet and beautiful song. (: