CHAPTER 3

The first class Rose had the next day was history, which none of Rose's new friends had with her, so after being dropped off by Becca and Lucie, she was on her own. They had got there a bit late so when Rose walked in everyone was already in there places. Rose went over to the teacher, an ancient looking man who looked as though he could give a first-hand account of all the events they'd be covering this year. He smiled at her from under his fluffy white moustache.

"Hello, hello, you must be Miss Azalea, yes? Lovely to meet you, lovely to meet you. Now, where shall we put you? Well, there's only one free seat, isn't there? Go and sit next to Mr Merwin at the back, good good." And ignoring the intakes of breath from the rest of the class, the teacher (Mr Smythe, according to Rose's timetable) adjusted his bowtie, pulled down his waistcoat and tottered over to his desk, smiling merrily to himself as he looked at his computer. Rose looked towards the back right-hand corner he had pointed out, and her eyes met a pair of ice-cold storm cloud grey ones. Rose smiled at the one and only Drake Merwin, and sat down next to him. She felt his eyes boring into her as she got out her brand new exercise and text book. Then she turned to look at him.

"Heyya, I'm Rose." He raised an eyebrow.

"I don't care." Rose raised an eyebrow too.

"Well, I don't care that you don't care." Rose shot back.

"Well, I don't care that you don't care that I don't care." He returned and Rose started laughing, despite himself, Drake felt his lips twitch as well. But then, he regained his composure and leant back in his chair, crossing his arms, and facing Mr Smythe, looking as if he couldn't care less about what he was saying.

"So…you never told me your name." Rose said, as she too stared at the old teacher.

"I thought we just established that neither of us cared about each other." Drake replied, not taking his eyes off the old man at the front of the class. Rose shrugged.

"True…but it might help to know each other's names if we're gonna be sitting next to each other every history lesson."

"Who said anything about making this a regular thing? Y'know there's a reason why I always have an empty seat next to me. I hospitalised the last few sods that old Smythy put in that chair." He turned to look at Rose, a shark smile forming on his face, his eyes glittering dangerously. Rose stared right back at him. One eyebrow raised.

"Are you threatening me?" She asked calmly.

"Err, yeah." Drake replied, just as casually.

"Well save your breath, I know you're not gonna lay a finger on me."

"Try me." Drake replied. Rose shrugged. Drake narrowed his eyes – why wasn't she scared of him?

"You're all talk." She muttered as she opened her book and began the exercise the teacher just set for them. Drake clenched his jaw. No one stood up to him and got away with it!

"You ask anyone in this school and they'll tell you you're wrong." He snarled, still Rose didn't blink. What was wrong with this girl?

"So…why do you do it? Why do you beat them up?" She asked turning to face him, her expression innocent. She took in his beautiful grey eyes, like the sky on a stormy day, and the dangerous glint like bolts of deathly lightning. His sharp features and shark-like snarl. His messy blonde hair with streaks of darker brown that represented his personality; moody with dangerous outbursts. His face relaxed as he smiled that sharp-toothed smile.

"For fun." He grinned and Rose raised an eyebrow. Then she shook her head, dismissing him.

"Whatever, I don't even know why I'm asking…I really couldn't care less about you and your messed up ways." That caught Drake by surprise. Immediately the smile vanished and he glared at Rose with the force of a train hitting her at full speed.

"I don't know who you think you are," He hissed, so close to her that she felt his spit on her face. "But you're gonna regret speaking to me like that." He said and with that he grabbed his stuff and stormed out of the classroom. Mr Smythe looked from his empty seat to the open door.

"Oh…oh my…where did Mr Merwin go?" He asked, bewildered.

"Umm…the nurse, I think, he wasn't feeling very well." Rose blurted out, and immediately wondered why she was sticking up for him Mr Smythe nodded, relieved.

"Oh good, very well. Back to the Liberal Reforms of 1906…" Rose drifted off once again. Scared after Drake's threat, but also kind of excited. She didn't know why, but after seeing the real Drake Merwin, she was even more attracted to him than before…