I shut the passenger door of my 05' Honda Civic when my phone rang. Crawling into my seat I hit the speaker button. " Gab where are you?", my best friend's voice filters through the speaker. Rolling my eyes I backed out of the driveway. " I'm on my way Stace this morning has been a cluster fuck. I couldn't find my uniform and you know what I just fucking hate Mondays no way around it '', I say as I stop at a light. " Aww , tell me you are stopping by Starbucks on the way", Stacie says snickering. " OMG no Chica I have to hit the library so I need to get there at least a few minutes early, DAMN", I scream checking my rearview mirror as I merge into the left lane. " Hijo de puta!"Stacie whines into the phone. " I wanted a macchiato", she continued. I listened to her whine as I crossed the Aurora Bridge. " Stacie look.... I'm like 5 minutes out give me a minute and we can be coffee less and miserable together", I say. Stacie sighs. " Alright but, you better get your lil culo here", she says as I push the end on my phone.

I pulled into Fremont High student parking lot and stepped out of the car when I heard music. Sighing I make my way to my trunk when I see a crowd around this guy. I slang my bag over my shoulder and start towards the crowd. I spot Stacie on the outskirts. " Gabby you finally made it", Stacie squeals, grabbing my forearm. " I thought I was going to have to come get you", She continues but I'm barely listening because I seem to be stuck watching this guy dance. "Are you listening to Chica?", Stacie says, realizing my attention was somewhere else. " Who is he?"was the only thing I could get out of my mouth. " IDK he is a senior, he is Japanese and his name is Daniel", I hear Stacie say. I watched as sweat rolled down his neck into his shirt and suddenly felt like I had to fan myself. "Hmm", I hummed to myself. "Papi is a very good dancer and hella fine too", Stacie says, bumping me with her shoulder." You haven't stopped looking at him", she says smiling like a Cheshire cat. I stood there half listening to Stacie's accusation when the ten minute bell rang and the crowd started to dissipate. Daniel looks up and I immediately look away not wanting to get caught gawking. Not able to help myself, apparently I look right at him and he smiles and winks. "Oooo, looks like he likes what he sees Chica," Stacie coos while taking the steps toward the school. I shake my head trying to conceal the blush that stole across my face and turn to follow Stacie inside when I feel a tug on my bag. I turned to find Daniel holding my class schedule. " I think this belongs to you", he says, completely blowing my mind. His voice was like honey , having him in such close proximity wasn't something I had prepared myself for. He was so sexy. Something about him made me want to kiss him and run at the same time. He towered over my 5'6 frame. " Looks like we have a few classes together", he says looking at my schedule. I'm still standing there without words looking at all the things that intrigued me. " Which is a good thing", He continued. Wait...What did he say. " Why is that", I say as I shift my bag strap from one arm to the other. " It will give you the chance to check me out some more", he teases and chuckles. Fuck Me! That laugh... it starts low in his chest and now I'm thinking about his chest. Even though I know he is teasing me there is a challenge in his eyes. " Is that so?', I say, putting up a good bravado." Seems to me like you were the one checking me out", I say already kicking myself for that weak ass to come back. I take the schedule from his hand and start the stairs toward school. " Gabriella", Daniel calls out. I shouldn't love how it sounds coming from him, but here I am. I turned and looked over my shoulder giving him the minimum of my attention. " I never said I didn't enjoy the view", he says. Smirking, I beeline my way to my Chemistry class.

" Gabby, how was your summer?", Ms. Harris asks excitedly. " OMG, it was nice, I spent most of it on the beach with Kimberly", I say as I walk to the front of the classroom. " Speaking of Kim , how is she enjoying USC?", Ms. Harris says, pushing her wheat blond hair behind her shoulder. " She loves it there, she even talks about moving there", I said when a leather clad arm reached across me. Is it weird to say I could smell him before I saw him? Forget I asked its crazy psycho! I turned to see two hazel eyes locked on me. I look at Daniel taking in his 6'1 frame to his muscular build. He had on a v neck white tee , dark blue jeans and a leather jacket. " You must be Mr. Oh , I'm Ms. Harris, your chemistry teacher. You will have a partner in this class , I think Gabriella will be a good fit ", She says brightly. His eyes never left mine a definite challenge there. " That would be great, I would love to partner with Gabby", he says and winks at me. " Well Gabby will show you to your seat", Ms. Harris says. I turn and walk towards the third lab table. I look over my shoulder to see Daniel watching me with amusement. I slide my bag off my shoulder and kick my chair out before sitting. " You look so adorable in that uniform", Daniel says as he sits in the chair next to me. I don't know what it is but I like him. I look at him after pretending to check my phone. " Do you have a boyfriend?", he asks completely throwing me off guard. I burst out laughing because WTF! "Why", I ask rooting through my bag for a pencil. I looked at him, noting how much lighter his eyes were than my bourbon brown ones. When he smirked and ran his hands through his ink black hair my eyes immediately tracked his full lips. " You are very beautiful", he says so quietly I'm sure I'm the only one that heard him. " But that doesn't answer my question", I say, tapping my pencil on the table. His mouth twitched as if he was containing laughter." No , I don't have a boyfriend", I say, swinging my hair over my shoulder. Daniel bumped his knee against my leg. Smirking, I bumped my knee against his. '' So, do you have a girlfriend?"I am not exactly sure why I asked. Daniel chuckles and shakes his head "no'' making his thick black hair scatter across his head. Without thinking I reach over and brush his hair out of his face, his eyes closing when my nails come into contact with his scalp. I snatch my hand my hand back and shrink in my seat embarrassed that I just did that." I'm sorry", I laugh nervously. I take a chance and look at Daniel and find him looking at me. Daniel leans over and whispers, " You don't ever have to apologize for touching me" making me shiver. "Are you cold", he asks with a knowing smile. I respond by bumping my knee against his. I turned to hook my bag on the back of my seat when I noticed several people looking at us. Stacie caught my eye in the corner by giving two thumbs up which I replied with a middle finger. Thirty minutes go by and before the end of class Ms. Harris had assigned us a partner on chemical reactions. " Can I have your number? '' Daniel asks, scooting his chair out. I smirked at him and gave him before taking my phone out. " Ok", I say calmly even though I was freaking the fuck out. The bell rang and I took my phone from his hands and walked/ran to my next class. I stopped outside the door and tried to catch my breath. " You know we could have just walked together", a voice says behind me. I see Daniel out of the corner of my eye grinning at me. I groaned and walked into Mr. Garret class and took a seat toward the back. I was once again looking for a pencil when my phone vibrated on the table making me almost jump out of my skin. I checked my phone and saw a text message from an unknown number. "Were you running away from me?" the message read. Shiiiiiiiiit what was I supposed to say? I think I like you so I'm acting like a middle schooler! No no no no I can't say that shit! WTF is wrong with me? My phone buzzed again alerting the teacher who threw me a stern look as he wrote on the board. Smiling at him I snatch my phone off the desk and place it in my lap. " I didn't mean to freak you out. Was I that horrible? Was my game lacking", Daniel text reads. I burst out laughing making Mr. Garret flare his nostrils and glare at me. " Sorry Mr. Garret", I say sheepishly. " It's not you it's me ", I texted back quickly following that with " You aren't horrible". I hear Daniel behind me before I feel a light tug on my hair. I turn slightly in my seat to see Daniel with a handful of my hair give or take a few tracks. It would be just my luck for them to come out in his hand. With that thought I grabbed his hand before he pulled too hard. " Well my Mr. Graves isn't it nice for you to grace us with your presence", Mr. Garret says as D. J. slides right into the seat next to me. I rolled my eyes before covering my nose with the end of my hoodie , guy smells like he bathe in Axe body spray. "Gab", D.J. says smiling. I bob my head as if to say wassup. DJ looked between Daniel and I and then at our hands which Daniel had interlaced. I squeezed his hand and he began stroking my thumb. " So how was your summer , I heard you went to California", DJ said smiling that creepy ass smile I hate. " It was nice", I said noncommittally. No , I didn't ask about his summer because I didn't care. I don't want to talk to him but, he always manages to get close to me and strike up a conversation. Daniel shifted in his seat making me look at him. Lifting his head he winks at me and my phone vibrates in my lap. "Boyfriend?", the text reads. Before I could think I blurted out " Hell No"! "Soo are you going to Kayla's party Saturday?", DJ asks completely ignoring my outburst. " Umm.... I wasn't aware of a party Saturday", I said, completely distracted by Daniel drawing patterns on the palm of my hand. " Well actually nobody knows she just planned it last period", DJ replies with a flirty smile. I chanced a look at Daniel who was engrossed in his phone, even though he hadn't let go of my hand. My phone vibrated distracting me from whatever DJ was saying, at this point he sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Whoomp Whoomp! " SO are you going to the party? " Daniel texts. Blowing out a sigh I replied ," I don't really know". I knew damn well Stacie was going to want to go as soon as she heard about it. So yes naturally I would have to attend to accompany her. Relaxing in my chair my phone vibrates again. " Would you like to go together?", Daniel texts. I could hear him shuffling around behind me and looked up to see everyone working on worksheets Mr. Garret handed out. I texted back before depositing my phone back into my bag and started the worksheet.

I was walking out of the classroom when Stacie loops her arm through mine. " Spill", she whisper yells. Not bothering to answer her right away I walk the few steps to my locker. "Gabby", someone says from down the hall. I look over my shoulder while holding my lock and see Daniel walking towards me. "Well speak of the devil", Stacie whispers all too happy about this situation. What I wasn't expecting was his embrace or the kiss he placed on my cheek. " I'm going to call you tonight", he says deeply while tucking hair behind my ear. "OK", was all I could say because my damn face hurt from smiling so much. " Alright I'm out of here for the day", he says backing away toward the front door. "Wait.... where are you going", I said confused because we still have like three classes left. " I only have a half a day on Mondays but I'll be back tomorrow", He chuckles cupping my cheek like a mother consoling her child on their first day of preschool. Embarrassed that I had asked, I said, " OK I'll see you tomorrow". Daniel turned and then back and stared at me like he was struggling. " I'll text you until school lets out , then I'm calling ", he says seriously. He grabs me around my waist and places a kiss on my forehead and walks out the door. "Bye", Stacie says to his retreating back reminding me that she was still there. Stacie swings her eyes towards me trying to get me to talk with her crazy eyes. " Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?", she says. I rolled my eyes and start putting my combination into my locker. " If I didn't know any better I could swear y'all are crushing on each other", she continues trying to egg me on. As I was closing my locker my phone vibrated alerting me of a text message. " I'm going to miss you", the text read. I smiled to myself and texted back "me too". "Gab", Stacie squeals. " That's him isn't it?", she asks smiling. " Yeah", I say distracted as I save his number under Danny.