"What do you mean? I wasn't staring. I was just... looking at him intently. There was just something about him that made me want to stare at him forever. Not that I was staring or anything."

Scarlett listened to Anna answer her question about why she acted so weird around Jesse while she was still trying to figure out why herself.

She didn't understand what Anna meant. Of course she was staring! Everyone in the whole classroom was, well except for Scarlett. It was like the whole class was in a trance the moment he stepped into the room. But How can someone put a trance on everyone in the class (including the teacher, because even though he fought hard against it, she could tell he was focused on Jesse to) just by looking at them? He's not Houdini! It's not possible, so there isn't a way that he did it. But apparently everyone seemed to disagree that it was weird and unnatural. Scar didn't understand any of it. But she had a feeling she didn't really want to.

At the end of the school day Scar was not happy at all. The new kid, Jesse, was apparently in half of all of Scar's classes. And in English, Mrs. Carma chose her to study with Jesse every day after school, to help him catch up with the class, starting next week. Sometimes being the smartest kid in your class just was not a good thing for her.

When Anna offered her a ride home, Scar declined. "I just want to cool off for a while." She had told her.

Scar strapped on her helmet and started riding towards her house. She always liked riding on her skateboard, or running, when she was upset or angry. She loved the feel of the air whipping past her because she was causing it to do so. The only problem with it today though, was the fact it started to rain. Normally, that wouldn't bother her but today she had her laptop and all her homework inside her backpack. If it rained hard enough, then everything would be ruined.

"Oh, crap." She mumbled. She could call Anna. But when Scar reached in her backpack to get her Cell phone, she realized she had left it on her bedside table this morning. Her house was still over three miles away. She could run or ride her skateboard. But with the way the clouds were rolling in, there was no way she could make it home in time, even if she was to run as fast as she could (which was pretty fast).

She was just about to take her unlikely chances with running when she heard the distant sound of a car. Thank God, she thought. Hitchhiking wasn't her first choice but since the only place the car could really come from was from school, she assumed it was another fellow classmate. She popped up her skateboard and started flagging down the car while praying it would stop and that if it did, it wouldn't end up to be some psycho pathic killer with a gun in the back seat. She lived in a fairly small town and knew a lot of people. She hoped that this was someone she knew. If it wasn't, she'd say she made a mistake and carry on her way. She'd rather risk getting slightly wet then getting raped and dumped in a ditch. It would take her fairly bad day to new levels of crappiness.

The Jeep Wrangler was almost to her and it was slowing down and pulling over. Just in time to, because she was starting to feel the first big drops of rain start to come down. She ran over to the driver side window and started to tell the person there that she needed a ride home when she realized who it was behind the wheel.

She sighed and muttered "Just my luck,"

"Good to see you too. It's Scarlett, right? Need a ride?" He asked with a smirk, most likely at her predicament rather then a friendly gesture.

Scar bit her lip and started to decide whether or not she should except a ride from him. True, she sort of knew him and he didn't seem like a psycho but she never knew. But she doubted it. So, she had a choice. She could either take her chances with running and most likely get all of her homework and her laptop ruined. Or she could except the ride and ride home safely with no harm to her homework. But it also meant taking a ride from a freak show who seemed to draw the complete attention of everyone around him but her and who seemed just as confused by that concept as she was.

In the end, she choose the latter. Even though she didn't really want to, it was her only choice. "I guess." She sighed. Scar heard the doors unlock for her.

"Hop in." Jesse gave her a charming smile and she almost laughed cause, to her, it was funny how he thought it would work. But once he said that she didn't hesitate a second longer than needed. The rain was starting to come down harder now and one more second out there and her homework wouldn't survive. Once she got in the car, she thanked Jesse and told him where she lived. He nodded in response and started to drive away. She only briefly worried about how he now knew where she lived. But how else was she suppose to get home?

Once he pulled away, Jesse started to turn the volume up on his radio. It had been on before but Scarlett hadn't noticed because it was turned down so low. But now that she could hear the song that was playing, she smiled and said, "I stole your love."

Jesse looked over at her with raised eyebrows and asked "Excuse me?"

"The song," She pointed to the radio. "It's I stole your love."

Jesse looked at the radio like he hadn't even noticed, even though he was the one who put it on in the first place. "Oh, yeah. You actually know who Kiss is?" He looked kind of shocked that a 17-year-old girl like Scar knew who the band Kiss was. Let alone knew one of their songs.

"Well, yeah. My dad used to listen to them all the time."

"He has good taste in music then." Was his reply.

"Yeah. He did." Scar had stopped smiling when she mentioned her father. Luckily, Jesse seemed to notice this, so he didn't press that subject. Scar liked him just a tinsy bit more just for that.

"So, you like rock music?" Jesse asked instead, to change the mood in the car.

Scarlett looked over at him and said "Yep. The only kind of music I listen to." She did not want to engage in small talk. She started it and now she regretted it. Less time spent talking to him, the better chance for her not to be tainted by his stuck-up attitude towards everything.

"Why?"

Scarlett opened her mouth to answer the question with "I guess because I grew up with it. My mom and dad both listened to it almost all the time." But when she started to think about it she decided instead to say "Because its real music."

Jesse seemed slightly confused, his eyebrows pulled together. "How do you mean?" He asked.

"Like... the people who made the music. They do it because they want to. Not because they think the people will like it or because their producers say so. And its real music. It's real people, playing real instruments, and not using the computer effects that are in hip-hop or pop music these days. And I also like it because its loud. For some reason rock music is so much more calming to me then soothing music. If that makes any sense to you at all." She didn't expect it to and avoided eye contact, looking out the window at the falling rain. She was sort of embaressed that she had just spouted a mini-monolouge over a simple question.

But when Scar saw Jesse's reflection in the darkened window, she saw that he was nodding like he agreed with everything she had just said and understood every word of it. "Yeah, I agree." Was all he said though.

There was silence in the car after that. Except for the music playing through the speakers, the two teens kept quiet. Jesse looked like he wanted to say something a couple of times, but then seemed to think better of it. He kept opening his mouth then shutting it right after ward. Like he didn't know how to talk to her.

When he pulled up at her house she said "Thanks for the ride." and was reaching for the handle of the door when she heard Jesse say "Wait."

Scarlett's hand was on the handle to open the door. What she really wanted to do right now, was open up the door get out and run to her house and pretend she had never heard him say anything. She knew his type. And she didn't want to spend any more time with him than she absolutely had to. But at the same time, she couldn't be mean. She hated being mean to someone who didn't deserve it. She didn't know Jesse and he hadn't really done anything to make her hate him. Yet.

She was still waiting.

So, she'd hear what he was going to say then as politely as possible, make a break for her house and try not to speak with him ever again. Something about him made her skin crawl in a bad way. But she turned around anyway and said "Yes?" with as much politeness as she could muster up.

"I just... wanted to tell you I was sorry." Then when he saw the confused look on her face he added "For the teacher sticking you with me to study. It wasn't hard to tell you didn't want to. So, I wanted to say sorry for getting you stuck with it." He seemed sincere, his eyes matching his words.

Oh, God. Now he was making here feel guilty for being so mean to him when she didn't really know him. She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry for acting like that. It's just... Okay, no offense, but to me you seemed like one of those snobby, cocky, rich kids who thinks their all that and think that just cause they have money they can have anything they want, anybody they want."

She expected him to be offended by what she had just said. After all, it wasn't the nicest thing to say and most people would be mad at her and call her out on judging them before she knew them. Which, in this case, was exactly what she had done.

But all Jesse did was chuckle and say "That was supposed to be Non-Offensive?"

Scarlett smiled sheepishly and said "Sorry. I guess it was pretty harsh."

He just shrugged and said "It's fine. But if you don't mind, I think I want to make up for doing whatever it is that I did to make you think I was a snobby cocky rich kid. What are you doing Saturday? I'd like to show you that I'm not that kind of guy." He said with another one of those charming smiles.

Of course. Her first impression of him what exactly correct. He just wanted to go out with her and see what he could get out of it. So, she just rolled her eyes and replied "I don't think so. You don't need to make up for anything so it's completely unnecessary." She had planned on just getting out after that and leaving the conversation like that. But when she reached for the door handle she heard a click! A quick glance at the lock made her see that he had locked the doors and she couldn't get out without reaching over him for the button. What kind of car didn't have a unlock button on the front door?

She looked over at Jesse with an appalled expression on her face. All he did was smile a very dangerous smile and say "You didn't answer my question."

"You can't just lock the doors! Let me out. Now."

"Not until you answer my question." He said with that dumb smile, that at that moment all she wanted to do was smack him so hard in the face he wouldn't be able to smile like that again.

"You do realize I could just punch you in the face and reach over to unlock the doors, right?" Scar said, with what she hoped was confidence in her voice.

"Yeah, I do. But you would have to able to hit me first." He replied with total confidence that with a sinking feeling, Scar knew he had a right to have. She would never be able to land a hit on him. And even if she did, she wouldn't have enough time to unlock the doors and get out before he recovered from the hit. Scar could fight. Really good actually if she needed to. But from the looks of Jesse, he would be able to stop any advance she would make on him.

"Hiking."

"What?" Jesse asked, slightly taken aback.

Scar gritted her teeth and closed her eyes trying to calm down before her temper got really out of control and she did or said something stupid. "I'm hiking Saturday." She said with an emphasis on each word "Happy now?"

"Yes." and of course he still had that smile on his face. "I am. Mind if I join you?"

"Yes." She said with a glare.

"I'm not letting you out until you agree, I hope you know that."

"That's kidnapping!"

"Actually it's not. See, you got in here willingly. I didn't force you. And we are right in front of your house." He shrugged.

"Oh my god!" Scar screamed and she hit the door. She did that when she was mad. She hit things. It never hurt, even if she hit it so hard she started to bleed. She was always to mad to notice it and her temper just sort of made the pain go away for a while. And right now, she was seriously mad. She didn't even know this dude! And he was already annoying the crap out of her. She knew he wouldn't actually kidnap her. But he also wouldn't let her go for a while. And she would not be able to handle it. She might do something stupid.

"All you have to do is say yes." He said in a sort of sing songy way. She groaned in response while he looked like he was stifiling a laugh. "Oh come on. It's not a big deal. I promise I'll be on my best behavior." He was enjoying this way to much. He was crazy.

Scar looked at him sternly. And after thinking it over, she figured she had to say yes, or be trapped in this Jeep forever until she managed to find a way out. So, she exhaled through her nose to calm down a little then said, "Fine. But." She held up a finger before he could say anything."Here's the conditions. You listen to what I say, you stop with all this cocky crap, and you have to be at my house at exactly 9:00. Even a second later and I swear I'll leave without you. Deal?"

"Deal." he said and grinned. She heard the doors click unlock. "See you then."

Scarlett didn't waste any more time. The moment the doors were unlocked she bolted out of the car and was about to slam the door when she turned back and said "You might want to work on the hitting on girls thing. Because, and please take offense to this, you suck at it." then she really did slam the door shut on Jesse's laughing face. Scar ran up the driveway to her house as Jesse pulled away. Vaguley, she wondered if she just made a date with the devil.