Chapter two

A/N- Thanks for the great respons for the first chapter for everyone who reviewed. It made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside (I've been using that expression a lot lately, haha.) Anyways, thanks and I hope oyu guys like this chapter just as much.

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Have you ever had those moments when you're walking down the hall and you feel like everyone's eyes are on you? Well, I was having that moment. Usually people paid no attention to who was walking along the long halls of East High. They were much too absorbed with talking to their friends, texting on their cells, those kind of things. But recently, everyone's been looking my way. I had no clue why though. I looked my usual. My favorite jeans, washed and worn, and a blue/green plaid sleavless shirt. I thought it looked cute anyways. My hair was down, and I was wearing as much makeup as I always did. I honestly had no idea what they were starring at. And all their eyes on me, like they were judging me wasn't helping. I felt like I was suddenly put under a microscope to be studied by some evil scientist because they thought I was some kind of freakshow. But this..this was new.

"Hey Pay." I heard called out behind me. I payed no attention, not realizing that it was me being called after until Troy jogged up to me, smiling that perfect smile.

"Oh, hey Troy. Sorry I didn't realize that was you calling me. I'm not really use to being called Pay."

He nodded, still smiling that dazzling smile. It was so intense that I had to looked away. "No problem. But really, who else would have the nickname Pay in this school?"

"Right."

He looked around, seming umcomfortable, like he was trying to think of something to say. He almost looked flustered, but really...that was more my area. "So...the weather's nice."

I stared at him for a minute before just laughing. He gave me a curious look. "Sorry, it's just...the weather? You're asking me about the weather?"

"I know, it's incredibly lame."

I laughed, shaking my head. "It's okay. So uh, how was biology? You getting caught up?"

He nodded, smiling. Apparently he liked this subject better. "Everything's already caught up on. I took the midterm test today."

"Really? You took the midterm? That test was extremly hard. We studied for like, a month on that test alone. I would have thought they would have given you extra time. How did you do?"

He grinned, pulling the paper from his bag and handing me the test. I starred at it in awe. "You got an A? I asked, shocked. "I didn't think that was posible. The test was crazy. The teacher, I swear, set it up to make us all miserable. But wow...an A. You must be really smart."

"I don't know. What did you get?"

I looked down sheepishly, playing with my hair a bit. "A C+."

"That's well....not too bad. I mean, it was a really hard test."

I rolled my eyes. "I know it's bad, but whatever. We can't all be smart like you."

He shrugged, taking the test back and placing it in his bag again as we continued our walk down the hallways, everyone still starring. He didn't seem to notice. "Well, I took pretty much all AP classes at my last school. And the one before that. And before that too. Actually, the last few schools I've been in I was taking advanced classes. So...yeah, I guess I'm pretty smart."

"Woah. More like genius. And how many schools have you been to anyways?"

He shrugged. "Too many."

"Is your dad in the army or something?"

He shook his head, looking away slightly. "My family just likes to travel. A lot. We don't like to stay in one place too long."

I looked down, a little dispointed. He's only been here and week and I was already starting to have feelings for him, and now...he might be leaving soon. Just my luck. "Well, I hope you stay around for a while." Or forever. I deciced to leave that last bit out. It was insane how much I liked him, even if I barely did know him. He'd become one of the gang since he arrived, but he and I still stayed the closest and I was silently very grateful for that. I finally looked back up to see him looking forward, smirking a bit. "What?"

"Huh?"

"You must be thinking something." I said, looking over his expression. "You were smirking."

He quickly bit his lip and looked away, but only for a split second. "Nah, I was just noticing that everyone's starring at us."

"Oh, yeah. Everyone has been for a while now. Don't know why though."

He shrugged. "They think we're together."

"What?"

"You can tell with their expressions. I'm really good at reading people." He said, laughing a bit at a joke I didn't know.

"But why would they think that?" I wondered, mostly to myself. He didn't answer as I contiued to ponder. Apparently I wasn't paying any attention because the next thing that I knew I felt my feet slip from underneath me. Before I could hit the ground I felt a cold hand grab my elbow and pull me back up. I saw that the very cold hand belonged to Troy. Once I was on my feet again he instantly pulled his hand back, stuffing it in his pocket and looking away from me. "Um...are your hands cold?" I stuttered. It was lame, but the only think of to say. His hand had been really cold, but that wasn't what I was paying attention to. It was the surge I felt when he touched me. Like...electricity running through my vains. That was the first time he ever actually touched me I realized, and it was definitly something.

He shook his head, an almost angery look on his face as far as I could tell. He still wasn't looking at me. "No. I uh, have to go." Before I could say anything he was gone, dissapearing down the other hall.

I sighed, looking back up to se everyone still starring at me. "What?" I finally asked loudly, everyone just continued to look at me. "Ugh, you people." I mumbled, stomping off to my next class.

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"Hey Gabs." I said quitely, sliding into my seat as she stood behind me at Ryan's desk, waiting for him.

"Hey Shar. What's wrong? You look upset." Gabriella observed, moving in front of her and sitting on her desk.

"Nothing, it's just that...something weird happened earlier." I said, remembering the way Troy acted after he had caught me in the hallway.

"What was it?"

"Well, Troy and I were walking together in the hall, just talking, and then I tripped. He caught me, but then he kind of looked mad about something and then left as soon as possible. He didn't even say bye. He just said out of the blue, I have to go, and left. Fastly." I sighed, slumping back in my seat and putting my head in my hands. "I don't think he likes me anymore."

Gabriella let out a short giggle, playing with my hair. "Shar, of course he likes you. He was probably upset for some other reason and hten discovered he had to go because he was late for something. I don't know."

"But later I saw him in the hall and he wouldn't even look at me. I don't know what I did wrong."

Gabriella rubbed my back, trying to soothe me. "It's okay Shar. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you. Just see how he acts later and ask him about it."

I lifted my head slightly to look at her, but saw Troy just then coming through the doorway, a slightly worried expression on his face. "Thanks Gabs."

"Not a problem." She said once she spotted Ryan. She told me she would talk to me after class and went to talk with my brother.

Troy slowly made his way next to me into his seat. He glanced at me, a look a worry in his blue eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked calmly.

"Just peachy." I replied sarcastically, putting my head in my hands again.

"Sorry." Was all heard before the bell rang and class began. I got lucky, Troy and I didn't have to pair up today. I was definitly talking to him after class though.

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"Hey, Troy, wait up." I called after him after class. I heard him give a big sigh before he stopped in the hall, turning back to face me with a slighly forced smile on his pretty face. Okay, so forget I just called a guy pretty, but seriously, he kind of was.

"Hey Pay."

"Hey...um...can I ask you something?"

He shrugged, seeming carefree. "Shoot."

I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he watched me with an anxious look. "Did I uh...say something wrong earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Before, when we were in the hallways. Everything seemed okay and then you just kind of ran off. You seemed kind of upset too."

He shrugged, looking down and scratching his neck. A nervous habit guys had, I reconized. Chad and Ryan always did that when they were guilty of something or trying avoid an uncomfortable topic. "I just realized I was late for a class that's all."

"Than why did you seem mad?" I persisted. I really just wanted to know the truth.

He sighed, looking back at me and looking into my eyes. I as suddenly breathless. "Maybe because I didn't want to leave you."

I raised an eyebrow, looking over his expression. "You're lying."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because, I'm good at reading people too." I smirked. "And you're not telling me the truth."

He sighed again. "Well, I wasn't lying about not wanting to leave you, but as for the class thing...yeah, that was a lie."

I snapped my fingers. "I knew it. Why would you lie though?"

"Listen, can we not talk about this right now?"

"No, we-"

"Hey Shar." Came the annoying voice of Zeke Baylor. I sighed. Teh guy had had a crush on me ever since high school began and I was getting a little tired of it. He never left me alone and worse yet, he always acted as if I were his girlfriend. The guys couldn't take a hint. I mean, he was cute and all, but not my type. I'm not really into stalkers.

I cringed when he put his arm around my shoulder. I noticed Troy slightly did too, which just made me smile a bit. "Um...hi Zeke." I said, trying to pull away from his grasp.

I noticed Troy took a deep breathe, like he was trying to control himself or someting. Now that was odd. Zeke didn't notice anything, and just grinned, pulling me closer. "Hey. I missed you while I was gone. I can't believe I actually went a week without you." He gave a laugh and I tried not to throw up. "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out after school?"

I rolled my eyes. "No Zeke. I've told you before-"

"Oh, hey. Who's this guy?" He asked, pointing to Troy who was standing in front of us, his face hard and his hands clenched in a fist.

I quickly stepped away and out from under Zeke's arm, moving next to Troy. "Zeke, this is Troy. Troy, Zeke."

Zeke, looking unhappy, simply nodded. "Hey."

Troy didn't move a muscle. "Hey."

They starred at each other for a while until I finally couldn't take the tension any longer. "Um...Zeke. Troy and I were kind of having a talk and-"

"Oh, that reminds me." Zeke interrupted, smiling again. "I really needed to talk to you." He shot a glare towards Troy. "Alone."

I nodded and stepped a couple feet away. Still plenty of space that Troy could hear but so little that they could start punching each other, from the looks of it that's where this had been headed. "What did you want to talk about Zeke?"

"Well, you know how the Valentines dance is coming up? I as wondering if you maybe...wanted to go with me?"

"Um...I can't. I uh..."

"Why can't you?"

"Because I'm...you know...washing my hair?" I guessed, sounding as lame as ever.

He looked at me confused before he started laughing. Personally, I didn't see the humor in this. "Good one. Ha. anyways, I'll pick you up at eight."

I sighed. "Zeke...I can't go with you to the dance."

"Well, why not?"

"Because she's going with me." Troy stepped in before I could speak. I stared at him in shock as he stood next to me with an almost smug look on his face.

"What?" Zeke and I asked in untison. He sounded mad, and I was just shocked.

Troy looked down at me with a look telling me to play along. "Yeah, we're going to the dance together."

I nodded slowly, still looking at Troy. "Yeah, we are."

Zeke mumbled something under his breathe and left without another word. It was a while before I finally tore my gaze away from him. "I-I can't believe you just did that."

He shrugged. "It's not a big deal. You obviously didn't want to go with that guy, so..."

I nodded, looking down a bit. Feeling dissipointed. Somewhere inside I was just hoping he had done it because it didn't want me to gow ith another guy. Maybe even go with him, but like I'd said a htousand times before, that was impossible. Anyone with eyes could tell he was out of my league. "Right. Well...thanks." I said, beginning to walk away. Feeling defeated.

He quickly stopped me, stepping in front of me. His hands reached towards my arm, my pulled it back quickly, almost as an after thought. "Where are you going?"

"To class."

He sighed, then grinned. "But you do know that now we really will have to go to the dance together right? I mean, people will hear about it and wonder. I think we should go."

Okay, I must be imaginging things. It almost sounded like...he just asked me out. "You uh, don't have to do that Troy. I wasn't even planning on going. Besides, I'm sure you have another girl you'd rather ask."

"There's no one I'd rather go with than you." He said quickly, his eyes never more sincere.

I was dazed for amoment before I could answer. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, why me? I'm sure there's a much prettier, smarter, funnier girl you'd rather go with than me. I mean, wouldn't you rather go with a date rather than a friend?"

He stared at me a moment, looking at me as if I were insane. "First of all, there is no one in this school prettier, smarter, or funnier than you. And beside, we don't have to go as friends." He paused a moments, smilign at my confused reaction. "I meant you could go as my date. Pay, I'm asking you out here."

I starred at him in wonder. "You're an odd person."

He laughed. "Yes I am, but that doesn't answer my question."

I shook my head slightly, smiling a little. "I really don't get you."

He sighed, rolling his eyes playfully. "I don't get you that much either, but honestly, I'm feeling kind of vunerable here. Answer please."

"Well, duh. Of course I'm going to say yes."

He grinned. "Really?"

"Of course."

He grinned even more and nodded. "Great. Now I really do have to get to class, but we'll talk more at lunch right?"

"Yeah, see you then." I said giving him a small wave.

He waved back, still with that amazing smile on his face. "Bye Pay."

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Wow, I havn't written a chapter this long in a long time. I really hope you guys like it.

Please review.

-Peace!