Author's Note: Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying my story so far, I know nothing much has happened between Hailey and Harry yet but it will build up, I promise. I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, it's been a crazy couple of weeks! The song for this chapter is "I'm Into You" by Jennifer Lopez. Enjoy, and don't forget to comment and vote J

Chapter 3: Four-Leaf Clover

The next morning...

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the throbbing in my temples. The bright sun streaming in all around me only made the pain worse and I screwed up my eyes against the harsh light. My mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert during a drought and I felt physically drained, as if I hadn't slept for a week. Actually, I felt like death. In fact, I felt so bad that I failed to notice my surroundings.

It was only when I heard someone move less than a meter away from me that I came to my senses, sitting up abruptly. I was still in Harry's car and he was right there beside me in the driver's seat, fast asleep. My heart started to pound. What had happened the night before? I could barely remember anything after Charlie climbed up on the roof. My gaze fell on my watch. It was 8:20 already!

"Harry." I hissed.

His arms were crossed tightly in front of his chest and he shifted slightly, kicking one foot out in front of him.

"Harry!" I tried again.

"Wha?" He mumbled, his voice heavy with sleep.

"Get up!" I kicked his leg.

"Leave me alone." He whined turning away from me, but I saw his eyes open slowly and he blinked a couple of times.

"Harry please."

He sat up, running a hand through his hair which was even more of a mess than usual but he still managed to pull it off, looking more irresistible than ever. He turned back to me. Recognition registered in his eyes and a smile spread across his face. "Morning gorgeous."

I was already panicking too much to pay attention. There was twenty five minutes until I needed to be at school, I had no time to have a shower and who knew where my homework was. It was a terrible start to my first day back, but first I needed to work out what was going on. "What happened last night?"

"How much do you remember?" Harry grinned.

"It's hazy."

"You wanted to see my car and then we ended up crashing here after..." Harry looked at me, a devious smile on his face.

"After what?" My words caught in my throat in anticipation.

"After you told me I smelled nice and that my tattoos are hot."

I cursed under my breath. Why did I have to go and inflate his already swollen ego? "Yeah well that was the drink talking."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive."

There was a long silence as I tried to work up the courage to ask the question that I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to. "We didn't...did we?"

Harry changed in an instant. His eyes darkened, his expression became thunderous and his tone was no longer teasing. "Relax, nothing happened. Luckily for you I was still sober enough to realise that you'd kill me if I let you do something you would regret. You don't need to look so fucking frightened."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not personal Harry."

"Sure." He muttered.

"I don't have time for this. I need to get to school. I should never have let you talk me into going to that party." I pulled my shoes on, without stopping to think about how thoughtful it was of Harry to have taken them off for me the night before.

"Oh so now it's my fault?" He challenged.

"Yes! Yes of course it's your fault!"

"I never forced you to come, you could have said no."

He had a point, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "You're so annoying."

"That's not what you said last night."

I stopped short. "You said nothing happened."

"Nothing "happened"." Harry spat. "But you wanted it to."

I felt my mouth drop open. He was so cocky. "You just keep telling yourself that."

"Oh come on, you were practically on my lap."

"I was not! You're such a...such a..."

"Such a what?"

I bit my tongue. There was no way I was going to let him goad me into losing it.

Harry just rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Unbelievable." I heard him mutter.

"Whatever, I need to go." I said, flinging open the car door, jumping out and half running for the stairs. 8:30. Twenty minutes to go.

"Let me drive you." Harry called, winding the driver's window down and leaning out.

"No."

"There's no way you'll get there in time if you get the bus."

I stopped, half way between the door to the stairwell and Harry's car. He was right, but I really didn't want to owe him anything.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Just get in the damn car."

"What about my clothes? I need to change." I conceded.

"You look better than anyone else will, just leave it."

Something in the back of my mind processed his back-handed compliment but there was no time to think about it. Thankfully I had worn something appropriate enough to wear to school. As for my books and homework, the teachers would just have to wait.

"Are you coming or not?"

I stomped back over to the car and got in, refusing to look at Harry. I kept up the silence for as long as I could, during the whole time that he pulled out of the car park, drove down the road and onto the motorway. I kept my eyes firmly focused on the view outside the window; it was a surprisingly beautiful day for early January.

After ten minutes I spoke, purely because I was becoming frustrated with Harry's sideways glances at me every five seconds.

"What happened to that blonde anyway?"

Harry didn't look at me but his grip tightened on the wheel.

"What blonde?"

"The one that was all over you."

Harry smirked, his expression changing and his eyes lighting up again as I paid him attention. "She's just a friend."

"With benefits?"

"Maybe a long time ago." He glanced at me. "Why?"

"No reason."

"You're jealous."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are." Harry's smirk was widening as he kept his eyes on the road, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Oh shut up." I snapped.

Harry's expression hardened. "Don't tell me to shut up, who do you think you're talking to?"

I took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose and trying to control my temper. "I just don't want to fight."

"Good luck with that."

"I wouldn't bet on my chances." I muttered, half to myself. "I haven't had the best luck recently."

Harry pulled into the last remaining parking space in the school car park. There were crowds of people streaming into the main building as the bell rang.

"I gave you a lift didn't I? You would never have got here otherwise."

"Yeah but I wish you hadn't bothered."

"So do I."

Glaring at him, I got out of the car and slammed the door behind me.

"If you scratch my car, you're going to pay for it." He shouted after me.

I rolled my eyes. Such a gentleman. Of course he would be more concerned about his car than my bruised feelings. Then again, I hadn't actually given his feelings much thought either.

I caught sight of my friends Heather, Flynn and Tommy waiting for me beside the gym and waved as I dashed over to meet them. Heather was pacing back and forth, a frown on her face while Tommy and Flynn sat on the wall in front on the building.

"Hailey." I heard Harry call my name behind me and cursed under my breath. Why couldn't he just stay in the car?

He was standing halfway between me and the car, his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

When I shot him a glare that clearly said "never in a million years" he laughed.

"I guess not. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No." I said through gritted teeth. "I'll get the bus."

"Enjoy walking back in the rain then."

"I don't think that's going to happen." I said confidently and it was my turn to smile as I looked up at the sky, a clear topaz blue.

Harry just shrugged and without another word he walked back to his car, started the engine and drove over with a screech of the wheels on the tarmac.

When I turned back to my friends, Heather's mouth was wide open in surprise. "Who is that and why didn't you think to tell me about him?"

"That's Harry."

"And..." They were all waiting for a better explanation.

"I met him the day I moved into my new apartment. I didn't mention him because there was nothing to tell."

"Then why are you so late?" She challenged. "We've already missed registration."

Flynn nudged me with a cheeky grin. "Yeah, what happened to Miss Punctuality?"

"I'm allowed to be late once in a while, what's the big deal anyway? I woke up late." I replied rolling my eyes, being careful to miss out the part about where I woke up.

Heather was looking at me as if I had grown two heads. "It is a big deal! We've got exams in four months!"

"Calm down, we haven't missed any work yet." I snapped.

There was an awkward silence and I felt guilty. Arguing with Harry had already began to change the way I dealt with people and quite frankly he had used up all of my patience.

I fell into step beside Tommy as we walked to the maths building. I hadn't seen him since before the end of last term since he had gone skiing with his family and he was the only one that hadn't judged me yet.

He smiled at me hesitantly. "How was your Christmas?"

I shrugged. "Better than last year, I went to Jamie's for dinner instead. What about you?"

"It was weird to be away from home but it was a great holiday."

"I've always wanted to go skiing, I asked my parents if..." I stopped mid-sentence as we walked into the classroom behind Flynn and Heather and everyone turned around to stare at us.

Thankfully the teacher, Mr Forman, didn't comment and just told us to take our seats. He was a new teacher, having started in September, and he was already the subject of gossip around the school. With his good looks, and being the only teacher under 30, most of the girls were desperate to be in his class.

The minute I said down in my usual place next to Heather, I remembered my books and homework that were still on the kitchen table back at the apartment.

My apartment, I mentally corrected myself.

I was ruining my reputation, but there was no point in dwelling on it so I stuck my hand in the air and waited for Mr Forman to notice.

"Yes Hailey?"

"I don't have my homework, or any of my books." I said, adding an apologetic smile.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I stayed with a friend last night and then I woke up late so I didn't have time to go home. I didn't want to be any later." I tried to sound as innocent as possible. Technically it wasn't a lie, although I wasn't sure if Harry qualified as a friend.

Mr Forman smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think I can't see right through that act?"

"What act?" I said, but I couldn't keep a straight face.

Mr Forman just shook his head, smiling. "Get some paper from the cupboard and hand in your homework first thing tomorrow."

I felt everyone's eyes on me as I walked to the cupboard at the front of the class. When I turned around to go back to my seat Heather was shaking her head, while Flynn just looked highly amused by the situation. Tommy kept his eyes on his work.

I hadn't even sat down before Heather started questioning me again.

"What does Jamie think?"

"About what?"

"Your new apartment."

"He's fine with it. He knows I can't stay with my parents anymore and of course he's worried about me, but he's always there if I need anything."

"Are you sure you're ready to be living on your own?"

"Of course I am, I've been looking after myself for the last five years anyway."

She didn't look convinced, but thankfully she dropped the subject and left me alone to think about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

By the end of the day Harry's prediction had come true and it was pouring with rain. My head was pounding, my eyelids were so heavy that they kept dropping shut and the awful weather was the last thing I needed.

But when I walked out of the main building alone into the rain, the familiar sleek black Ford Capri was waiting in the same space that it had parked it that morning. Behind the wheel sat Harry, his eyes following me all the way across the car park, wearing a red checked shirt that was unbuttoned halfway down his chest, showing off his swallow tattoos. This time, I realised with a breath of relief, he was staying in the car.

"I thought I told you I would get the bus." I said as I pulled the car door open and got in.

"Yeah and you also thought it wouldn't rain." He retorted, reversing backwards before I could even close the door. "Do I get a thank you?"

"Thank you." I muttered, refusing to look at him.

He turned to me and grinned, pulling something out of his pocket which was concealed in his hand. "I got you something."

I held out my own hand and he uncurled his fingers, letting something tiny and green drop into my palm.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, turning it over and flattening it out.

"A four-leaf clover. I found it when I was a kid." He shrugged.

"And you kept it?" I said, even though I understood exactly why he kept it. As much as I tried not to, I couldn't help but believe in all the traditional superstitions and good luck charms. A four-leaf clover seemed like a pretty powerful symbol to me.

"Why wouldn't I?"

There was a silence when I couldn't think of a witty enough comment, but I tucked the clover into my pocket.

"I'm still mad at you." I said in the end, but I wasn't. It was sweet of him to remember what I had said about my bad luck hours earlier, and he could have left me to make my own way home in the rain.

But he had to go and ruin it.

"You're mad at me? You're the one acting like a bitch." He said, his expression darkening.

I felt my anger from earlier bubbling to the surface again. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"I am not! You're the one who wouldn't stay in the car this morning. Do you have any idea how difficult that was to explain?"

"Why didn't you just tell them the truth? Nothing happened."

"I did tell them the truth but they still wouldn't stop asking questions!"

"So what? I don't care what they think of me."

"I know that, but I care what they think of me!"

"Oh so that's what this is about? Just because I'm not some perfect clean-cut university graduate you don't want to be seen with me." His voice was getting dangerously low and his darkening eyes focused on me.

"This isn't about you! It's not about the tattoos or the fact that you're a university dropout or even the attitude. It's about me! I didn't want them thinking I was sleeping around." I yelled. "And keep your eyes on the road!"

"I know how to drive." He snapped, but he seemed marginally calmer than before. Maybe what I was saying had finally got through to him.

We were nearly back at my apartment block but I was still fuming. There were things I still wanted to say, things that I needed to get out of my system, and yes I was probably taking it out on Harry but I couldn't help it.

"Why does everyone always overreaction to everything? Why do they always read so much into what I say?"

"I have a feeling we're not talking about me anymore." His expression had gone back to neutral again and I could just about hear how much steadier his breathing had become.

I carried on regardless. "Maybe I don't even care what people think anymore, I don't care if they judge me, but you don't need to keep shouting at me every five minutes!"

"You're the one shouting." He said as he parked the car.

I flung the door open and stepped out, straight into an ankle deep puddle of murky water. "Oh that's just fantastic."

Harry started laughing from inside the car and that was the last straw.

"Just stay away from me. I never want to see you again." I shouted, slamming the door and marching off across the car park, for once completely oblivious to the pouring rain which was making my hair go frizzy.

When I reached my apartment, after hiking up the never-ending flights of stairs to burn off my anger, I jammed the key into the lock so hard that I nearly bent it. The apartment was freezing cold, the arctic blast hitting me as I walked into the hallway. Of course I'd forgotten to leave the heating on the night before, the one time I needed it most.

I ended up leaving the door open because the smell of damp was too overpowering to bear and it was colder inside than out anyway. Instead I stomped into the living room and flopped down on the sofa, closing my eyes. What a day. Everything that could go wrong had done, and I was exhausted.

My eyes flew open as I heard a crash in the hallway. Leaping to my feet, I was up just in time to see Harry bulldoze his way into my living room with an indescribable expression plastered on his face.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from me." I said, but I could hear that the anger in my tone was much fainter than before.

"Yeah well I figured it's now or never." He said, stepping towards me.

"What..." I started, but Harry was too quick.

He pushed me backwards with one hand so that my back made contact with the wall, the other hand on my waist, and before I could react he crashed his lips into mine. It wasn't gentle, not at all how I usually expected a first kiss with someone to be, but it was as close to perfect as I was ever going to get.

When my mind caught up with my body and I realised what was happening, I froze. Then I shoved him backwards, hard, with my palms against his chest but he barely moved.

"No. This isn't happening." I insisted. "You can't just come barging into my apartment and..."

I could hear my heart beating a thousand times faster than usual and the blood pumping in my ears.

He drew back for a second, a hand pressed against the wall on either side of my face so that I couldn't move away from him. "So you want me to stop?"

I bit my lip. Of course I didn't want him to stop, but my mind was fuzzy and confused. Harry made me feel different and I didn't know how to react to him.

He was looking at me, waiting for a response.

The minute I looked into his eyes it was over. I shook my head and he smirked.

"Didn't think so." He murmured, his voice low and husky.

This time when his lips meet mine again I didn't resist. My hands moved upwards and under the collar of his shirt, over the top of his shoulders and down his back, closing the rest of the gap between us. Then my arms locked around his neck, his fingers digging into my hips but then, without warning, he broke away.

"Tell me you want this. Tell me or I'll stop." He said, lifting my chin with his thumb and forcing me to meet his gaze.

I bit my lip. If I said it, he would never let it go.

"You know what, never mind." He breathed, pulling me back towards him and his hands raked through the damp hair on either side of my face.

I smiled into his mouth as I noticed the effect that I apparently had on him. It was so nice to feel wanted for once.

That one perfect moment was shattered when I heard Jamie's furious voice just meters away from us, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"If you don't get away from her within five seconds..."

I felt my cheeks flame red as I slipped out from between Harry and the wall. If a hole had opened up in the ground and swallowed me up, I wouldn't have complained. "Jamie..."

He ignored me, his gaze locked on Harry. "I said, move."

"Ever heard of knocking?" Harry retorted and the irritation at Jamie's interruption was evident on his face.

If I hadn't been so embarrassed I would have laughed. Harry's comment was ironic. Only a few minutes earlier he had been the one who had practically broken in without knocking.

Jamie clenched his fists and when he spoke again his words were forced out through gritted teeth. "Get. Out."

"No."

Before Jamie could explode, I interrupted. "What are you doing here?"

"Heather called me." He said, still focused on Harry. "She said she was worried about you."

This time it was my turn to be angry. She was worried...seriously? She wasn't worried, she was jealous and she just wanted to find out what was going on.

"What are you doing here, with him?" Jamie demanded.

"It's nothing to do with you." Harry growled before I had a chance to reply.

"It's everything to do with me..." Jamie's started.

"Please just leave it." I interrupted. "I don't want to talk about this now. I haven't even had a chance to figure things out yet." I turned back to Harry. "Why did you come back?"

"Because I'm into you."

Jamie laughed darkly. "Yeah and we all know what that means."

When Harry didn't response I only felt more confused. Was Jamie right? Was Harry just using me? "I think you should go."

Harry stopped, his eyes focusing on me for a second. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes." I said firmly. No matter how I felt about him, I needed time to think it through. An emotion that I couldn't quite decipher flashed across Harry's face. For a moment I thought it was hurt, but it was gone too quickly. No, of course not. It was anger because he wasn't getting his own way.

"It was a mistake anyway." He said as he swung around and stormed out of the apartment.

My heart sank as the door slammed behind him. All the fight drained out of me and I struggled to remain composed.

"Come here." Jamie said, his face softening and his arms outstretched.

As I stepped towards him, I burst into tears. It wasn't just Harry, it was everything, but the crushing force of his rejection had shattered my facade.

"Ssh, don't cry. Everything's going to be okay." Jamie whispered holding me tight.

I wished I could believe him. Just when I thought things might get better. Maybe that four-leaf clover wasn't as powerful as I thought.