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"Alex," he whispered tenderly.

"Eric," I whispered back.

He cupped his hand on my cheek and pulled my face closer to his.

Just as I closed my eyes and felt his breath on me, the door to the room swung open allowing several of the football team members to swarm in. I pushed myself away and out of Eric's arms and scooted to sit beside his bed on the opposite end of the room.

"Dude, did you see Becca? She looked pissed," stated Uriah happily.

"Not as mad as Jenn," laughed Justin.

"Do you think your sister is going to be upset, Aidan," questioned Al.

The whole time Eric and I just stared at one another. I couldn't read his expression. I wanted to mouth that I was sorry we didn't end up kissing, but I really wasn't. I had never kissed anyone before and I got so scared when he pulled me closer. The guys didn't really notice that I was there. Considering I heard them speak about me, I decided to interrupt them right there. Not to mention, it would give me a chance to get out of Eric's stare down.

"You mean to tell me, I wouldn't be exempt from the pranks," I said loudly standing up so as to make my presence known.

Justin, Trick, Peter, and Al all dropped whatever water balloons, silly string, toilet paper rolls, and eggs they had in their hands to stare at me wide mouthed.

"What are you doing here," cried Aidan. "I thought you were in your room with Christina."

"But, if you're here," started Uriah pointing at me.

"Then who was it in there with Christina," questioned Trick as they looked around at each other.

Immediately Eric and I started laughing.

"Aren't you folks missing another member of your team," I asked hoping they would catch on who that other person was. They looked at each other again and I could see some of them thinking.

"Dammit," said Zeke finally coming to the realization.

"That damn Will couldn't keep it in his pants for prank night," said Peter sitting down.

"Seriously Aidan, I wouldn't be exempt?" Aidan smiled and shook his head. "So you went to my room and thought I was in there?"

They all started to laugh.

"We prank all of the cheer leaders," explained Four. "Sisters are no exception."

"Neither are girlfriends," said Al.

"Wait wait wait… Shauna," I said looking at Zeke who nodded. "Tris?" Four smiled. "Lauren," I finished looking at Peter.

"Hey," he tried to defend. "I'll make her happy later on."

Ew gross, I thought to myself. He put a wide grin on his face. He looked back at me and winked. I rolled my eyes. Boys!

"Well, I guess I better go back to my room and see if Christina… and WILL," I emphasized hoping they would feel guilty for picking one of their teammates. "Are okay," I finished attempting to walk out of the room.

"Wait," said Aidan grabbing my arm. "You mean to tell me, you were here this whole time?"

"No, not really," I shrugged. "I was down at the rec center for a couple hours. I knew that Will would still be in my room with Christina, so I came up here, since you said that I could whenever Christina had 'visits'," I finished with putting quotations in the air.

Aidan looked over at Eric who finally stood up. "You two were hanging out?"

"Yeah," Eric simply stated.

"Doing what," asked Four with a steady gaze.

"Talking," I answered still looking at Aidan.

"About what," asked Uriah.

"Stuff," answered Eric.

Things got quiet for a while. The guys kept looking at one and between Eric and me as if trying to understand that I was actually in here with Eric, alone and we had truly been talking.

"Well, at least you both are still alive," stated Justin.

"That's true," agreed Four. "They didn't kill each other."

"Funny," I said trying to play sarcastically. "You are all so funny. Can I go now, officer," I said asking Aidan.

Aidan looked me up and down. Then stared into my eyes as if trying to find an answer as to what we were talking about. He could stare all he wanted, but I was not going to budge. I crossed my arms. He shook his head and looked away.

"Fine," he said.

The second I reached the door and grabbed the door knob, he called out to me.

"Alex," Aidan called to which I turned around.

BAM!

I wiped the sticky, yellow, smashed egg on my head and watched as it fell onto the floor. I looked back at him shocked. All the guys were laughing. Eric was attempting to hide his laughter. Aidan walked up to me smiling. He snapped a pic on his phone and then kissed me on the forehead.

"Goodnight Sis," he said and then walked back to the guys, quickly giving Uriah and Zeke fist bumps.

"Oh, dear Aidan," I said grabbing the shells from my hair and throwing it on the ground. "My dear sweet, caring, older brother, you'll pay for this later," I said smiling and walked out.

Thankfully on Monday, Eric didn't talk about the almost kiss in his room. I was beginning to think that he never would. Occasionally I would catch him looking at me. When I did look at him, he would smile. Perhaps it would come up later on.

I ran ahead of Eric and the guys on the way to second period, knowing Aidan would be there. I pulled out a little pocket screw driver from my bag and started to undo the bolts on Aidan's chair.

"He's going to kill you for that," said Four as he took his seat next to Aidan's chair.

"Well, this is for the egg he threw at me on Saturday," I said as the other guys started to trickle into class. I put the screw driver back in my back and sat down in my chair.

"Oh my goodness, that's brilliant, Alex," cried Lauren a few seats in the front. "We have to get the guys back for this weekend," she said looking at Marlene who smiled.

"Now look here," said Eric. "You all know that's part of Dauntless tradition."

"Yea, all in fun," said Four.

"Well, looks like we're going to start a new tradition," said Lauren giving me thumbs up as Zeke and Aidan walked into the class.

I tried so hard not to smile any bigger than I did. When he got closer to his desk I turned to look at Eric who was also smiling happily. I held up my finger to tell him to be quiet. He nodded slightly. I saw Four and Lauren take out their phones.

"Hey, Sis missed you at brea..." Aidan's chair busted the second he sat down and he was unable to finish his sentence.

Half the class started to laugh. Eric and I did a high five. Aidan stood back up as fast he could and turned to glare at me. I leaned forward in my chair.

"Payback for the egg," I whispered and winked.

"Man, your sister is evil," screamed Zeke with laughter.

"Mr. Kent," said the teacher in a stern voice. "Are you going to be disruptive in class this week as well?"

"No ma'am," Aidan said as the rest of us tried to hold back laughter. "My chair broke," Aidan said looking embarrassed.

The teacher seemed to consider this for a while, even looking at Aidan's desk on the floor, still unwilling to believe Aidan would not be disruptive.

"Grab one from next door Mr. Kent," the teacher ordered. "Be quick about it too. I really want to begin today's lesson."

"Yes ma'am."

I found out later on that day at dinner, that somehow all the other guys got payback handed to them, some way or another. All except Edward and Will of course who stayed as Shauna put 'by his girlfriend's side'.

I still was not finished with Aidan. There would be more considering that he had me under close supervision last week. It wasn't until Friday that I finally thought about something. I was in the library with Myra, Tris, and Christina trying to come up with ideas for our AP Gov project.

Edward came walking in and sat down on the table next to us to as he claimed wait for a computer to open up. He threw me a wink and I knew he would be holding his end of the deal. Eventually he and Myra started talking and he made his way to our table carrying on their conversation.

"Well if you need a volunteer, I think I'm up for it," said Edward.

"Remember though, in the world of Panem, nothing ever good comes from volunteering," said Myra to which everyone at the table started laughing, except me.

"Alex over here hasn't seen Hunger Games," Edward teased as Myra slammed her book down at me.

"Seriously!?"

"Sorry Myra," I said smiling.

"You know what this calls for? Movie night," yelled Christina, who immediately got "sh" and "quiet down" from kids at other tables. "Oh why don't you hush up, Sam," she said loudly back at another boy on the table next to us.

"Why don't we do that tonight, at Marlene and mine's dorm," said Tris.

"That sounds like fun," said Myra.

That night we watched both Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Myra, Marlene, and Tris had to constantly explain the story to me. Shauna and Lauren ratted on about Liam Hemsworth, who wasn't that bad. The only connection I made was that 'He's Thor's brother!' They later agreed that we would have a Captain America and Thor night later on.

Then the idea came to me. Aidan was a totally comic book enthusiast. He loved the whole Avengers, Justice League, and X-Men thing. I knew where his stash of comic books was kept in his dorm. I saw it Wednesday night when I was studying with Eric for our Pre-Calculus class. He would be furious if he found out they were missing.

The next day after cheer practice I decided to rush to his dorm. I asked Eric for the key. He had a million questions about why I needed it. I told him he would find out later. While they finished football practice, I went in and did some more payback.

It wasn't until Sunday night at dinner in the cafeteria that I felt the full joy of my payback.

"You, Miss," said Eric sitting down next to me at the table. "Are in a whole lot of trouble," he finished as Aidan came barreling through the door.

"Alexandria Lara Kent!" To say he looked upset would be a total understatement.

"Aidan Clark Kent," I teased back attempting to make his lighten up.

"Where in the hell did all my stuff go?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that. I know you were in my room."

I gave him a confused look. He held up a piece of paper I taped to the bottom of his now empty trunk that had my initials ALK on. I started to laugh.

"Where is everything?" I laughed harder. "I'm not playing Alex. The comics, the movies, my games, where are they?" I stared him not letting my smile disappear. I knew I had him. "I mean it Alex. Where is it?"

"Okay okay. I'll tell you where everything is, if you promise me something."

"What is it?"

"You have to promise me first." He looked reluctant. "Whatever it is, you'll do it and I have your word." He seemed to lighten up a little while considering it over. Finally he turned back to me.

"I promise."

"Everything is still in your room," I said smiling sweetly and turning back to finish eating my plate.

"It can't be."

"Oh but yes it is."

With that he left and went back up to his room I assume to look for everything.

"You're not going to tell him where exactly you hid all of it," asked Eric.

"No."

"You are so evil," he teased. I have to say things were somewhat okay with me and Eric. Everyone seemed to notice, which I was called on it later on.

"Eric kept smiling throughout the pep rally. I think I know why too. He was looking at you almost the entire time," said Marlene.

"You folks put me in the front," I replied. "People were bound to look at me if I was standing right there in the front."

"He acts different around you, that's all we're saying," said Shauna after the prep rally the following Friday. The first game was tomorrow night against Navy Pier Prep. Just hearing that school brought back memories. Aidan hated it over there and I never knew why.

"I mean he talks to us, only because we're girlfriends with some of the guys," said Tris. "But you two talk more, you hang out with each other and it's not just in our group, but you two hang out alone."

"Most of it is because we have the same classes, like every class," I tried to defend. "If I'm good at one, then I help him. If he's good at another class, then he helps me. That's all it is."

"I think he likes you," said Mia.

"No he doesn't. We argue all the time."

"You used to argue all the time. Now it's not so much," agreed Shauna. I shook my head.

"Oh no hunny, trust us," interjected Marlene. "If he didn't like you, he wouldn't help you with classes, let alone admit and ask for your help."

"I can't say I approve though of you two hanging out," said Christina.

"Why not," I asked.

"Because I don't like him," she said dramatically. Everyone started to laugh.

"You're just overreacting Christina," teased Marlene.

"He tried to drown me!"

"Oh my Christina," said Lauren. "That was freshmen year. And it was just a prank."

"I don't care. He's always mean to me."

"That's because you make it so easy," teased Lauren.

That night we had curfew because of the game the next day. Coach wanted all of us prepped by lunch and ready to go. Navy Pier Prep wasn't a far drive away. But it was a couple hours. Mom and Dad were going to be there too, since we lived in that area. It had been a while since I saw them. Immediately I was reminded of the box that Myra showed me. I still hadn't opened it, even though I had it now for like three weeks. As I laid down in bed, I couldn't help but think about what was in that box.

Then when I rolled over and saw Christina sleeping there, I thought about what the girls said earlier today. Did Eric really like me? Okay so he would show me some of his faults and weaknesses, but I came to overlook it now and then. He never told me anything else about last year, but I was slowly starting to forget it. I couldn't help but think back to our almost kiss that night a couple weeks ago.

We argued here and there, but Shauna was right. It's become less and less over the past three weeks. I really did enjoy spending time with him. It was relaxing and comfortable, like we had been friends for so long, known each other for so long. I knew what irritated him and vice versa. Yet, as much as we did, we would end up joking around within the next minute. I couldn't help but think what I would do, if he did like me.

Just before I fell off to sleep, I thought, oh no, was I starting to like him too?