Thanks for the amazing support on this one. Here's the continuation.

Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE.

I stormed into the house, ignoring my drunk father sitting on the couch in front of the TV and took the stairs two at a time. Frustrated was an understatement. I had her. So close. It had been so close that I could practically taste it. Taste her.

And then that idiot had to show up and ruin it.

"Fuck!" I growled as I vented out some of my frustration by kicking something soft that was lying on the floor next to my bed.

"Someone's got his panties in a bunch." I heard my brother say off to my right.

I flicked the light switch on and shot him a death glare. "Why do you love to sit in the dark?" I shook my head at him. "It's creepy."

"Well, that was quick." He said, ignoring my comment. I thought I detected a hint of disappointment and maybe sadness in his tone.

I shook my head at him again. "Nothing happened." I confessed.

Something I couldn't quite put my finger on lit his gaze. A spark of hope maybe. "Someone finally said no to the Prince." He flashed me a happy grin. "Good."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I growled at Tony. I was really not in the mood for his stupid shit.

"You always get what you want." He shrugged, taking his eyes off of me for a moment before returning his gaze to meet mine. "It's getting hard to keep track of those you haven't boinked."

"Tony." I warned, using my best 'don't mess with me' tone.

"Oh, what?" He defied, standing up. It was then that I realized he was now taller than me. My little bro wasn't so little anymore. "Are you going to hit me too?"

The anger that had been brewing barely under the surface deflated instantly and I burst out in laughter. "You like her, don't you?"

He just stared at me.

"You do!" Wow. How could I have missed that?

Tony shook his head. "I only thought she was kinda funny." He shrugged. "But now, I've got a whole new level of respect for her."

The anger flared up inside of me once again. It seemed everyone and their mother was going to get in the way.

"Leave her alone." I don't know where he got it from, but he was suddenly defending someone and holding his ground.

I flashed him a smile, before I spun on my heel and stormed out of the bedroom.

Stephanie is going to be mine, because once I set my mind to it there's no going back.

S&R- Stephanie's POV

"Stephanie!" The loud call was accompanied by a hand landing on my left shoulder to shake me awake.

"Five more minutes." I grumbled, turning my head to the opposite side and burrowing under the covers.

"Your sister is already dressed and is in the middle of eating breakfast." My mother informed me in that nagging little tone she reserves just for me.

Valerie is my older sister and she's the perfect one. She gets good grades, never gets in trouble and is an all-around saint. I, on the other hand, am the trouble child of the two. I always get in trouble for not being more like my sister. I barely pass some of my classes, like Spanish for example. I'm not a bad person. It's just that I don't exactly fit my mother's expectations.

My mother blew out a sigh as she exited my room and I dragged myself out of bed before she returned a second time.

I took a speedy shower, dried my hair and trotted downstairs to grab breakfast on the go. My father and my sister were already waiting for me in the car when I exited the house.

As soon as my father dropped us off, we headed our separate ways.

My morning classes were uneventful, with me just going through the motions. But when the bell rang for lunch Mary Lou materialized herself out of thin air in front of me.

"You have to tell me everything." She said as we took our food to our usual table in the quad.

"There's not much to tell." I shrugged, reminding her that I told her everything there was to tell last night when I got home from work. In fact, we stayed up so late talking on the phone that I didn't want to get up this morning for school. "It was slow at the bakery, so I hurried to have everything ready." I just wanted to do my cut after closing and go home. "Just as I finished sweeping and moping the back, the door opened." I remember looking at the time and being glad that there were ten minutes left before my shift would be over. "It was Joe Morelli."

Mary Lou gasped, as if she'd heard this for the first time. "I told you he's a vampire."

I snorted and took a bite of an apple. "Look, yeah he was flirty." Morelli had been more than flirty. The way he spoke and carried himself left nothing to the imagination. And had it not been for the interruption, I might have fallen prey to him.

"What else happened?" Mary Lou wanted to know everything.

"Nothing." I told her that the new guy showed up to buy pastries.

"The Cuban guy?" Mary Lou fanned herself. "I have him for PE." She winked at me to let me know the guy was hot.

"Mary Lou!"

"Hey, a girl's got eyes." It was her turn to shrug. "Anyway, you have to be careful." She said rumor had it that Morelli's operation consisted of getting poor innocent girls alone and taking advantage of his good looks. "I mean, he usually succeeds in his first try." Mary Lou pointed out that Morelli would keep trying. "I don't think he's going to give up too easily."

I remained silent, munching on my apple for lack of something better to do.

"Hey, Stephanie." Tony Morelli passed by our table and gave me a friendly smile. Something about the spark in his gaze told me he was being sincere.

"Hi, Tony." I returned the greeting, watching him walk away.

"What the heck?!" My best friend stared at his retreating back for a moment. "Not one, but two Morellis have their eyes on you." Again, she warned me to be careful.

S&R- Ranger's POV

I have to admit that I'm the last person to complain about being put in a Spanish for non-native speakers class. Sure, it's going to be a bit boring at times considering I speak fluent Spanish and yeah, I could be using my time for wisely. But aside from being an easy A, it's also the only class I have with Stephanie. I really think that I need to set things straight with her and show her that I'm not a total asshole. After all, she hasn't done anything to me.

I took my seat in front of her just as the late bell rang.

"Okay." Mr. Castillo clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "I assigned a reading yesterday." He scanned his eyes around the room, silently assessing how many had actually done the reading. "We all read, yes?" There was a collective murmur in the room and a loud 'shit' from none other than Stephanie. "Ms. Plum." Mr. Castillo shot her a warning glare and she mumbled a quick apology. "So, since we all read that means you'll all do great on my pop quiz." This time there was a groan of protests from many around the room.

When I passed the quiz back to Stephanie, our fingers brushed for the tiniest bit and a surge of something coursed through my body. I took a deep breath, trying to shake myself out of the good feeling that touch brought and focused myself on the questions in front of me.

About ten minutes later Mr. Castillo called time. "All right, pass 'em up." As soon as he had all the quizzes in his possession, he moved towards the door. His hand gripped the stack of papers, hovering over the trash can. "Should I really grade these?"

"No." More than one replied instantly.

He tossed the papers in the trash. "Let that be a warning." He said next time he suspected people weren't doing the readings, he would start issuing out extra quizzes. "Let's move on." He said after a moment. "I want to talk about your next assignment." Mr. Castillo went on to explain what he wanted from us. "In groups of two, you will come up with a dialogue, memorize it and recite it in front of the class." Papers with the assignment's criteria were passed around. "I've already randomly assigned your groups." When he said that Mañoso and Plum were paired together, I couldn't help but shoot her a grin over my shoulder.

"I hope you're better at this than me." She told me when Mr. Castillo gave us class time to work on our assignment.

"Don't worry." I assured her I knew what to do.

"You seem confident." The way her brow furrowed in thought only added to the cuteness factor.

"I, uh…" I leaned closer to her, whispering conspiratorially. "I speak fluent Spanish."

"Then what the hell are you doing in this class?" She must have thought about it, because she quickly amended her statement. "You know what? I don't care. I'm just glad you're my partner."

Me too.

I just flashed her a smile before we got to work.