My self-control to focus on the teacher's boring monologue about something about the French Revolution lasted just as long, until Malio passed me a small folded piece of paper. Actually, I wanted to ignore it and continue following this boring stuff. I had really tried, but at some point, curiosity just got bigger. I slowly unfolded the note that read, in squiggly handwriting, I'm sorry. I raised an eyebrow in irritation, held up the small piece of paper next to my face and looked at him questioningly. Malio rolled his eyes in annoyance and then snatched the note from my hand. I watched as he scribbled something else on the note and then held it out to me again. Again, I took the piece of paper in my hand and now let the completed sentence. I'm sorry I drove. A smile briefly crossed my lips and I forced myself to get that damn smile off my face as I felt Malio's eyes on me. I never, ever expected Malio to apologize for anything. Actually, I thought the words sorry and I'm sorry didn't exist in his vocabulary. My eyes wandered to him briefly. Our eyes met and I was mesmerized by those blue eyes. I didn't know what it was or how he did it, but there was something about him that drew me enormously. It just wasn't possible to take your eyes off his perfect face. "Are you taking it?" I suddenly heard him whisper while nodding towards the note as I was still holding it. I took my eyes off his face and looked back at the small note. Part of me wanted to believe him, to trust what he said on that note, but the other part couldn't. Malio was unpredictable. Perhaps this apology was just another piece of a perfidious plan he had already devised. I briefly thought about tearing up the piece of paper in front of his eyes to underscore my next words, which I suggested to him in reply, but I couldn't, instead I crumpled up the small piece of paper, put it in my pocket and said: ,, Malio, leave me alone!" With the courage I had accumulated, I turned even more directly to him and added, "You better stay away from me in the future." I fixed his blue eyes without collapsing under them this time and being sucked into a maelstrom of emotion. Malio's face hardened and I saw his teeth clench, making his cheeks look like those of a Greek god. He was silent and turned his gaze forward again, directly to the teacher, who was talking incessantly. "You were at his party?" Bekka looked at me with a mixture of envy and disbelief. We sat at a long table in the middle of the cafeteria. Besides Bekka, who had intercepted me right after the history lesson to make sure that the rumors that had spread like wildfire in the Academy and that I was at Malio's party yesterday were true, there were two other boys at our table who I didn't know until now. One of the boys turned out to be Bekka's brother. brandon Now that I knew of their relationship, I also saw the resemblance between the two. He also had dark brown, almost black hair and brown eyes, just like his sister. The other introduced himself as Gray. Gray was tall, probably 6'1" and lanky. His tanned skin contrasted with his light blonde hair and blue eyes. He was the typical surfer boy. "Yes." I answered Bekka's question. "I was there too, why didn't I see you?" Brandon wondered aloud while biting into his ham sandwich. I shrugged, after all I could hardly tell them the whole truth. “I left relatively early. Maybe we missed each other." I said quickly. "That could be the case. There was a lot going on anyway." Immediately, I felt the heat rise to my face, which made me pretend to pull something out of my bag that was under the table. "Why, what do you mean, Brandon?" Gray asked curiously. "Well, suddenly Alex showed up totally beat up. Mumbled something about how they would regret it. He then left when he couldn't find Malio anywhere. Later Malio had a huge fight with Chantal," Brandon said. "How?" I heard myself asking as I reappeared with cooled cheeks and lip balm in my hands as an alibi leaves the party. Malio was in such a bad mood, you can't imagine." Yes, I could very well imagine that. I probably had a lot to do with this bad mood. "Jolien, you could have told me I'd come to his party." Bekka said. "I thought you didn't like him," I replied apologetically. I saw Bekka's cheeks flush as she stammered in embarrassment, "Well, I'm just.. reluctant to go to his parties.. alone." I could understand that very well. "Well, I'll definitely let you know next time," I reply, giving her an apologetic smile. I was sure there would be no next time. I would never go to a Malio party ever again! Still, I lied as I kind of liked Bekka and didn't want her to think I didn't want her there. While I had no intention of making new friends, these three, all smiling kindly at me, made it very difficult for me to maintain that attitude. The next few hours were relatively quiet, I didn't have a lesson with Malio, which improved my mood significantly. When the loud ringing finally announced the end of the school day, I was glad that I somehow got through the day, even though I was so tired. "Shall we go for a coffee?" Bekka asked as we walked through the huge gate and slowly turned our backs on the Academy. "Unfortunately I can't. I'm grounded," I answered her. "Oh, about the party?" I nod and briefly explain that my dad didn't like weeknight parties. Who could blame him? "Our parents don't really care. Brandon is gone late into the night almost every night so as long as our grades are right they won't say anything." Somehow her statement made me sad. Parents who didn't care where you went sounded completely alien to me. I hugged her briefly and said, "We'll definitely do it again. I guess I'll be free in about a week." "I'll take your word for it, Jolien!" After Bekka had said goodbye with another hug, I watched her briefly as she joined a group of students. Among them I spotted Gray and Brandon. Apparently, they were some kind of trio. I smiled to myself when I realized that I must have made my first friends in Silverside. That smile was instantly wiped from my face, however, when I saw the guy I least expected here leaning against my white Ranch Rover. What worried me even more were his two friends standing on either side of my car. I stopped abruptly and briefly considered turning around, simply leaving the car behind and taking a bus or, if necessary, even walking home. However, those plans were immediately dashed when he suddenly noticed me and said with a cold, triumphant grin on his lips: "So soon see you again, Jolien!" *** Alex. This... Angry, I took a few steps towards him, ready to smack that disgusting smile off that bastard's face. A juicy slap was the least he owed me. I had almost reached him when I stopped abruptly. The way he laughed had changed. Now it had become one of those grimaces that made your blood run cold. Not only was it endowed with immense arrogance, it literally erupted with malice. "You know..." Alex just started talking. "I actually just wanted to fuck you yesterday." He took a step back, reaching behind him and scraping a baseball bat across the floor. The noise it made made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I just wanted to run away, away from Alex and whatever he was trying to do with the thing, but my legs wouldn't budge an inch. "You've made it personal now," he said while placing the cold metal on my chin. He slowly turned away, lunged, and without warning slammed into the back window of my car. The loud bang made me wince and I watched in horror and fear as the glass trickled across the asphalt in small shards. Alex laughed out loud and hysterically, then stopped abruptly and pointed the bat straight at me again. He was hovering menacingly in front of my face. Frozen with fear, I looked him straight in the eyes. "And now, I'm going to make your life hell. My fucking cousin can't always be with you and heroically rescue you. I'll enjoy playing with you." Alex laughed out loud again, his eyes sparkling like a madman's. “Take that (he pointed to my broken car window) as a little greeting. Next time it might be your face." He laughed again. He was clearly insane. I had run into a madman and he had chosen me as his new victim. Alex briefly pointed to his two friends, who were still standing motionless on either side of my car, just there to make the situation even more ominous. Even more hopeless. "We're going." Alex finally said, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. With a last wink, he disappeared into the red Mercedes a few paces away. I watched in amazement as the three drove past me with the windows rolled down. At my level, Alex stopped again and stroked my cheek. "I'm looking forward to seeing you, Jolien." I fight back the panic that threatened to overtake me uncontrollably. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. I kept saying it in my head so as not to break down in front of Alex. Finally, he revved up the engine and sped away. I didn't know how long I just stood in the same spot, I noticed some students walking past me and even thought some of them spoke to me with concern, but I didn't care. Unable to take a single step, I stared at the shattered rear window of my car. Eventually I started to move, at least that's what I thought, I felt like I had lost control of my body. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I inspected the rear window. A thousand small pieces of glass were scattered on the back seat and on my little sister's car seat. I carefully brushed the splinters from the upholstery, but already on the second try, the first small splinters of glass bored into my hands. I felt my knees go weak and I slumped down the metal of the car, crying. Gasping for air, I leaned my head back and cried silently. "What have you done again?" I heard Malio's voice through cotton wool. I cried so hard that I intuitively knew I was closer to having a panic attack than I thought. "Go away!" I yelled, secretly blaming him for everything. Malio was the reason I went to that stupid party in the first place. "Jolien?" There was indeed a worried note in his voice. I laughed hysterically because I just couldn't buy it. "Jolien!" His voice was much closer and I saw the outline of his face through my tears. "Could you please calm down and tell me what happened?" That he was still talking to me at all! What did he want? Anyway, I wanted to experience my nervous breakdown without an audience - that's why he had to go! Instantly! "Just go!" I yelled. I felt my throat tighten. "What happened?" Malio asked as if he didn't even hear my request that he should leave. I gasped, cried and rocked like a maniac - all in front of his eyes. Malio cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to look directly at him. "Calm down, fucking shit!" But I couldn't anymore. I had crossed the threshold of calm and there was no turning back. "Jolien, calm down!" I punched his chest, wanting him to finally release my face. "Stop hitting me! Damn girl," the next moment he pressed his lips to mine. It was only a split second that his soft lips were on mine, but it was enough to calm me down in an instant. When he pulled back and put the necessary distance between us, I looked at him in surprise. "There you go - now that you're listening to me, can you please tell me why you're sitting here, your hand is bleeding and your rear window is broken?" Instead of answering him, I continued to stare at Malio in bewilderment. Did he actually just kiss me? "I'm waiting, Jolien!" he urged impatiently for an answer. "Alex." I finally managed to somehow. "What?" Malio seemed really surprised for a moment, but as quickly as this expression had appeared on his face, he had given way to the indifferent look again. "I'll clarify that." "You kissed me," I said perplexed, my fingers stroking my tingling lips "Did you enjoy it?" the seductive crooked smile that made him look so sexy settled on his lips and I fight the urge to either kiss him or smack him for his arrogance. I blamed the longing throbbing inside me on the aftermath of the nervous breakdown—not on the attraction Malio had that was driving me insane right now. “No! Do you always run around kissing people who don't want to?" I glared at him half-heartedly, which made Malio laugh. "Well, first of all, I don't kiss people, only women. Second, I had to interrupt your panic attack somehow. " "And thirdly?" I asked challengingly, slowly regaining my confidence. "Was it worse for me than for you!" My mouth dropped, making him laugh even louder. "Jolien, I'll be honest. It's not that I don't want to kiss you - it's just that I imagined it a little differently." Before I thought about it for a second or even considered the consequences, I grabbed Malio's collar and pulled him back to me and pressed my lips to his.