Hello everyone! Over two months later, I'm updating the story, sorry for the wait! There's a link to Soleil's outfit for this chapter in my profile. I know it's a little short, but I'm really busy. I hope you all enjoy! Mwah! Xoxo

-Bria

I couldn't sleep that night and when morning rolled around I was haggard as hell. As I was getting dressed, my phone rang and I walked over to the bed to see who was calling me so damn early. Will flashed up at me. When did he put his damn number in my phone?

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you ready?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I told you that I would pick you up for school so that you wouldn't have to deal with Freeman and your bitch of a cousin."

A small smile crept on my face. "Hm, I faintly remember something along those lines."

"Great, so are you ready? I'm sitting in your driveway."

"What?!" I rushed over to the window and sure enough the cherry red Cadillac was sitting there.

"Uh, give me like five more minutes and I'll be done."

"No problem. I'll be here." I hung up and flung the phone back on the bed. I grabbed my suede shoes and my Chanel bag from the closet. On the way out, I checked my reflection in the mirror to make sure that I didn't look as tired as I felt. I flung my backpack over my shoulder and walked out of my room. I heard the sound of Ciara blasting from Jazmine's room and rolled my eyes.

Luckily no one was downstairs, so I just slipped out of the house with no problem. Will was sitting in the car on his phone and I knocked on the window softly. Turning to grin at me, he unlocked the door and I slipped in. "Good morning, Sunshine." "Don't call me that."

He held his hands up in surrender. "My bad, I thought we were at nickname level."

"Well, we're not. When did you put your number in my phone?"

"When you went to the bathroom yesterday at the rink. I just figured it would come in handy and low and behold, it did."

"Thanks for this. I really didn't want to walk or ride the bus again."

"I don't mind at all. Maybe when you get your car you can give me rides."

" I don't know about all of that," I said with a chuckle.

He smiled before pulling out of the driveway. I turned on the radio and the sounds of The Smiths met my ears. I softly sang along and noticed Will looking at me with a shocked look on his face.

"What?" I asked self-consciously. "Nothing. I'm just surprised that you know this song. You have a pretty voice." I slightly blushed.

"I think people fail to realize that I'm half white. I've grown up with rock music and I'm very cultured. I like variety with a lot of things. As for the singing comment, thank you. I don't do it often, so consider this an honor."

"I like that you're cultured actually. You don't see it much at this school. Everyone is…what's the word, ratchet?"

I burst out laughing at that. It sounded so funny coming from him with his southern accent.

"Yeah, I've noticed. I try my best to ignore the people around me. It's gotten me this far, I'm sure it won't fail me now."

He nodded and we drove to the school in silence with the radio playing softly. A few people stared as I got out of the car with him, but whatever. I wonder if it was really a spectacle to see Will have someone else in his car? Did they really think that he was that weird? I'm a good judge of character and I haven't noticed anything too alarming about him. I shrugged and followed him to our English class. I still decided to sit next to him instead of Huey.

We were one of the first ones in class, so I put my head down and closed my eyes hoping to savor these moments of peace. By the time Will shook me awake class was almost over. "What the hell? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" "Relax, I told Mrs. McClellan that you weren't feeling well so you could sleep longer." Well, that was sweet.

"Oh, thanks Will. I really needed some extra sleep. I couldn't sleep last night for some reason."

"Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for, right?" He asked with a grin.

"Geez, what's up with Freeman? He's been glaring a hole in your head for the past five minutes."

"Huey can go suck a dick for all I care. I don't know what he's so uptight about. Jazmine was probably talking shit about me with him or something."

"So what's up with you and Jazmine?"

"I think she's jealous or something. When we were younger we were best friends, people use to think that we were sisters and everything. Then, my parents got busier with their jobs so I wasn't able to visit as often and she just started disliking me. Maybe she thought it was my idea to stop coming to visit, I don't know. I think she's jealous because I embrace myself better than she does. I didn't conform to the image of what Black women want to look like. I'm just…me."

"Wow Soleil, that was deep. It hit me right here," he said as he gingerly touched his chest over his heart.

Rolling my eyes, I smacked him on the chest, which was actually quite muscular. "God, what are you made of, steel?"

"If you want me to be your Superman, all you have to do is ask Soleil."

The bell rang and I grabbed my bag, ignoring what he said and leaving the room. On my way to art, an arm wrapped around my waist and pushed me up against the lockers beside me. After the initial shock wore off, anger took over and I looked up into the wine colored eyes of Huey Freeman.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Dubois?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Freeman? I was walking to class when I was rudely interrupted. Now, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" I broke eye contact with him and noticed that we had a crowd.

"I meant, what do you think you're doing with William Matlack?"

He had both hands on the lockers beside my face so I couldn't just move out of way. "I'm minding my own damn business, just like you should be doing."

"You are my business, Soleil. You shouldn't be talking to him like you are. It's not safe. People stay away from him for a reason."

"Yeah well, I'm staying away from you for a reason. Shouldn't you be in a broom closet somewhere fucking Jazmine?"

He leaned in closer and blew in my ear. "Hm, I'd rather be fucking you in some broom closet."

I slapped him and used the moment to race to my art class. Just who the fuck did he think he was? I'm not some easy tramp. Jazmine already had that position filled. I sat my things on the desk in a huff and rolled my eyes as Riley looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I wish these Freemans would just mind their own business.

Huey's POV

My cheek was stinging hella' hard. Damn, that girl has some strength on her. Honestly, I don't know where that last line came from. I guess I was just trying to do the same thing she did to me the other day. I rubbed my jaw and made my way to class, ignoring the looks and snickers that the bystanders were giving me. I was going to get her back; that was embarrassing as fuck. She's lucky that she's a girl or I would've given her something to slap me for.

Seeing her flocking around the school with that freak Matlack just got my blood boiling. That guy was crazy and she had no idea what she was getting herself into. I walked into Trig and sat down next to Caesar. "Damn, bruh what happened to your face?" "The same thing that happened to your back."

"Red hit you? Damn, she has some balls." He said whistling.

"She just doesn't know any better. I was trying to warn her about hanging out with William, but she didn't want to listen. She's hardheaded as hell."

"Well, if she doesn't want to listen I guess she'll have to learn the hard way."

I shrugged and leaned back in my chair.

"I want to try and get her away from him before anything happens."

"You like her or something?"

"No, but she's different. She's completely different from Jazmine, that's something that I like about her."

"Hey man, whatever floats your boat. Just know she isn't going to take your shit, but I'm sure you know that by now," he said with a chuckle. I slapped him upside the head and turned my attention to the front to see what the teacher was talking about.

This was going to be a long rest of the year.