Recap: "Yep. I'm positive that's the reason. Anyway, what else don't I know about you anymore?" he asked.

Kate then stood up, successfully getting all of our attention and began, "Okay. That's all the girls, we will now hold the auditions for Romeo. Um, Taylor. Why don't you go first and show the rest of them how it's done?" she joked.

Taylor shrugged. "Alright."

I looked at him, and he looked back at me. "I'll tell you when you get back from being a lovesick Italian puppy," I joked.

He sighed dramatically. "Whatever…"

4. Getting to Know Each Other… Again

Taylor stepped up onto the stage, and I guess not that many people knew that he was actually attending the school, because I heard some of the girls in my class saying stuff like, "Holy shit! That's Taylor Lautner!" in whispers, of course, so as not to disturb the auditioning process.

"Okay, Taylor, I would like you to recite Romeo's 'But Soft' speech, but only half of it. So end at "Oh that she knew she were".

"All right," he answered. And then he began, and my jaw dropped. He was even better than Leonardo DiCaprio in the 90's remake.

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!"

He ended, and some of the girls were giggling uncontrollably, some of the guys were glaring at nothing for having competition for the lead role, but mostly everyone was speechless.

"Thank you, Taylor, you may sit down, now," Kate said, after clearing her throat, and she made some more notes on that clipboard.

He walked down the stairs of the stage, and took his seat next to me, ignoring the hushed murmurs throughout the auditorium about him.

I stared at him with wide eyes, and it took him a couple minutes before he acknowledged me for it.

"What?" he whispered.

"I didn't know you were a Shakespeare person." I said.

More auditions were going on as we talked, and he replied, "I didn't know you were either."

I chuckled and said, "It looks like we've got some catching up to do…"

Lunch was horrific. By that time, a bunch of people recognized him and were swarming the table. And what I was surprised at was that the people at the front were the people I would least expect to swarm a celebrity.

"Taylor! Over here!"

"Taylor! Are you going to homecoming?"

Brittany walked right up behind him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered in his ear, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

He cleared his throat, "Um, no."

"Do you want one?" she asked saucily.

"Okay, Brittany! Leave the poor guy alone. He came here to get an education, not be raped," I told her, and she let go, huffed at me, and walked away. I guess I was going to have to deal with an angry friend later.

The crowd cleared after a few more minutes, and Taylor leaned over to me and said, "Thanks."

"No problem," I replied. "Looks like you're not my protector anymore, but it's the other way around."

He laughed shortly. "Yeah, I guess."

Mia was sitting to my right, and Taylor to my left at the round lunch table, and we fell into easy conversation with all our friends. Justine had just said something hilarious, and everyone started cracking up. After we finished eating, we continued to just sit and talk—well, usually laughing. Taylor was sitting back in his chair with his arm resting on the back of mine, and it definitely didn't go unnoticed by me, though I acted as if it had.

"Hey, did you guys know that in New Jersey it's illegal to slurp your soup?" I asked while laughing.

Everyone else started laughing as well, but we were interrupted by my friend Jake. He wrapped his arms around my neck, much like Brittany had done to Taylor, but instead of whispering in my ear, he kissed my cheek—successfully making Taylor move his arm—and pulled up a seat next to me.

"So, Aria, who's your friend?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Jake, this is Taylor. We were best friends when we were younger, and he just got here today. We used to live next to each other in Grand Rapids."

"Ah, cool," he said, and ran a hand through his dirty blond hair.

I shook my head at him, and turned to Taylor who seemed to be glaring at Jake, for some reason. "Uh, Taylor, this is my friend Jake. We met in Theater last year."

His eyes didn't leave Jake as he leaned in toward me and murmured, "Yeah, he looks like he's just interested in friendship."

I leaned away from him and looked at him incredulously. "What's wrong with you?" I asked.

His eyes snapped to mine, and lightened, but also showed just a hint of regret. "What? I told you that I would be your protector," he said innocently.

I shook my head and sighed. "Whatever." I turned my attention back to my friends at the table, and we continued to talk and laugh like nothing had happened.

The rest of the day passed like a blur, and Taylor and I were walking out to the parking lot. Since I didn't have a car or my license, he was going to give me a ride home. He also wanted to see my parents again, but not my brother since he was at his first year of college.

"Aria!" I heard behind me. I turned and saw Jake running to catch up with us, and heard Taylor grumble under his breath.

I sighed at his behavior, and obvious dislike for my good friend, and asked, "Yeah?"

"My car's being stupid. Can you help me?" he asked as he caught up and fell into pace with us.

I glanced over at Taylor, and then turned my attention back to Jake. "Yeah, sure."

"Great," he said, and led me over to his silver Ford Focus.

"Man! I forgot you had a Ford! Where's your Camry?" I asked.

"The Camry's with my mom in Arizona. My dad made me take the Focus. I don't like it anymore than you. And I think it hates me. Every time I drive it, it has problems. I'm just glad that this time, you're here. Last time, it was just off the highway, next to the park. It never stays fixed when you fix it. But the other ones do. Makes me think of that little saying… Found On Road Dead—F.O.R.D," he said ruefully.

"All right. I'll take a look, fix it, and you have to pay me this time," I said.

"Okay. It's my parents' money, I'll just have them pay you. How much?"

"Depending on what's wrong, I'll determine a price. My base price, though is $500. I've fixed your cars before, and I've fixed this scrap of metal more times than I care to count," I replied.

I looked over at Taylor who had followed me, and he was staring at me questioningly.

Jake chose then as a moment to talk. "Dude, if you want to get going, I can take Aria home. You know, if you don't want to hang around for as long as this may take…" he suggested.

Taylor glared at Jake and said sharply, "No. I'm taking her home. We were going to hang out, and I was going to see her parents again."

Jake raised his hands in surrender and said, "Fine, I was just saying… if you didn't want to stay around…"

By this time, I had opened the hood of the car to look at the engine.

"Well, thanks for your concern," Taylor replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes at the two and saw that a belt had come loose. I reached into the engine, grabbed the belt, and hooked it back into place. After I finished with that, I stood up, brushed off my hands, and slammed the hood.

"What was wrong with it?" Jake asked.

"Eh, a belt just came loose. You could've fixed it yourself, but I'm glad you asked me. I just made five hundred bucks," I smiled.

His face reddened infinitesimally, and muttered, "Erm, thanks. I'll have my dad write you a check."

"Okay," I replied.

"So how much money do you have now from this and the shop?" he asked.

"Uhm… I don't know. But I almost have enough for a brand new car. I'm still saving up for that Camaro, though. I personalized it online, and the total before tax was about $35,570. So I'm thinking it will be around $40,000 or so."

He let out a low whistle. "Well, good luck with that."

"Hey, it'll happen," I promised.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will." He looked around at the empty parking lot and saw only Taylor's black BMW left in the parking lot besides his car. "Well, I should probably be getting home… I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and then stepped into his car.

"Okay. See you," I replied.

"Let's go," Taylor said softly and pulled me along to his car.

The first five minutes of the ride home were silent, and then Taylor decided to say something. "You're good with cars?"

"Uh, yeah. My dad opened up a garage in town a few years ago, and I work there to make some money," I answered.

"As what?" he asked curiously.

I cleared my throat abashedly. "Uhm, as lead mechanic," I whispered.

"You're a mechanic?" he asked. "Wow. Yeah, we really do have a lot of catching up to do."

"Heh, yeah," I said. "Hey, um, don't freak out when you see my room, okay? It's a little bit different than my room in Grand Rapids…"

He laughed like he didn't have a care in the world. "Okay. I didn't expect your room to be all pink and full of butterflies with a rainbow fan and unicorns on the walls, and little princess figurines on your shelves."

I started laughing with him and said, "Yeah, my room is definitely different than that. And I don't have shelves anymore."

He laughed some more and said, "And of course that's the only thing you say you don't have, now."

He got me to laugh again with that, and we fell into easy conversation for the rest of the ride. Eventually, his right hand ended on my leg, and I could feel my face heating up. I was blushing! I NEVER blush! He asked me where to turn, and how to get to my house, and—while he didn't seem to notice—his thumb was rubbing soothing circles on my thigh.

We pulled into my neighborhood, and I said, "Turn right here." And we pulled into my driveway. My dog was outside, and started barking like crazy when he saw the unfamiliar vehicle. Taylor pulled up behind my dad's truck, parked the car, and we got out, and immediately after, my dog came running up to me.

"Hey, Pup," I cooed to my Sheltie. He wasn't really a puppy, he was about eight years old, but he still acted like a puppy.

"What's his name?" Taylor asked.

I laughed and answered, "Dragon."

He laughed with me as he tried to get Dragon to approach him. Dragon started to walk toward the strange man reaching out to him, but he did so timidly, and when Taylor tried to pet him, he barked, and Taylor staggered backwards. I tried not to laugh, but was completely unsuccessful.

"Come on, Taylor. I'm sure my parents will be glad to see you again," I said and grinned at him.

"Okay," he sighed dramatically and I laughed some more.

We stepped into the garage, and I stopped him suddenly. "Before we go in there, you need to tell me what your problem is with Jake."

He sighed and said, "I don't know what to tell you. I mean, he seems like he could be nice, but he's been trying to come on to you all day, if you didn't notice that."

"Of course I noticed it. He does that all the time. It's just the kind of guy he is. He's flirty, but he's looking for an actual serious relationship and won't go for just anyone. Believe me, he doesn't like me," I reprimanded.

"You're wrong," he disagreed, "I saw the way he looked at to today. He wants you, but you just don't want to believe that because you don't want to jeopardize your relationship with him."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "… When did you turn into Dr. Phil?"

He chuckled once humorlessly and said, "I'm a guy, okay? I know when a guy likes a girl. Just like you probably know when a girl likes a guy."

"Yes, I do. But trust me, no guys in that school like me. At least not as anything more than a friend," I insisted, and started toward the door to go inside.

"Well, I know that's definitely not true…" he muttered under his breath—I was sure I wasn't meant to hear it.

What does he mean by that? I thought to myself.

Hey, guys. Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter and got to know Aria a little better. Thank you so much for the reviews; they keep me motivated when I write this story. Keep it up! =D