Five ignored calls from Miley, and a rough, sleepless night later, I roll over in my bed, dazed, and then the thick mattress vanishes from beneath me. The hard wooden floor boards replace it and pain splinters through my entire right side. I groan.

Then a godawful buzzing sound blares through the room, from my alarm clock, to wake me up. 

I climb to my feet and silence the alarm clock with a sharp thump to the snooze button. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I shuffle toward my bathroom and start my morning ritual. When I'm finished, I make my way downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. 

"Morning," I grumble as I walk into the room, only to pause in front of the kitchen table. 

"Take your pick," my mother's hand sweeps over the mound of open textbooks sprawled out upon the table. "Algebra, with a side of Trigonometry, is what I would suggest you start with. Don't want to over feed your brain." 

I chew on my lower lip and try not to retort with something that'll get me into even more trouble. I snatch my Algebra textbook from the table and shove it into my backpack. "Where did you even get all these books? I'm not supposed to take calculus until college, Mom." 

"Would you believe that the manager at Books-A-Million understands the troubles of a delinquent daughter?" 

Shooting her a glare, I grab a pop-tart from the fridge and rip it free of its packaging. "Ha ha, you're so funny." 

She responds with a confused expression, and asks, "Who said I was trying to be funny?" 

A horn blares from outside, and I swallow a mouthful of pop-tart. My mother grumbles something unintelligible under her breath. I ignore her insanity and slip out the door, my cell-phone in my hands. I glance at the screen again. "I called you last night," I announce as I climb into the car. The hurt and anger that had boiled inside of me all night came rushing out in one solid whoosh. "And you didn't answer." 

Shock crossed his expression and he opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "You weren't there for me last night. Dammit, Seth, I told you that you shouldn't have taken me bowling." 

I almost broke down into a sobbing mess. My hands pressed and rubbed against my eyes --and a small part of my mind was thankful that I didn't put on makeup today. I'd almost put it on this morning, but then I remembered. Rough night equaled rough looking girlfriend. Had he actually called me back last night, I might have wrestled with the blue bags beneath my eyes and tried. 

The car slows to a stop. I freeze and look around, because we aren't surrounded by the constant flow of students or the wrought iron bars that decorate the outside of the school campus. Instead, we're in the deserted parking lot of the local strip mall. 

I open my mouth, but this time he beats me to it. 

"Alice," his hands grab mine and pull them away from my face, "Oh my gosh, babe, I'm so sorry. I didn't have my cellphone turned on last night; the battery was messing up. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I'm so sorry." 

I respond with a broken, blubbery sob. 

He drags me toward him and my cheek finds the warm comfort of his chest. His arms wrap tightly around me and he buries his nose into my hair, lips pressing a gentle kiss here and there. I breathe in a shuddering breath, and his sweet, musky scent helps me calm down. When I can muster nothing but a few sniffles, he squeezes me tight. "I'm so sorry," he whispers and strokes my hair. 

"We're going to be late to school," I grumble into his chest. Then I push away from him. He frowns but the car begins to move forward anyways, and I stare out the window until I am composed enough to realize that we're in the student parking lot. 

"Are you alright?" Blue-Eyes yanks the key free of the ignition. "Do you want to talk about what happened last night?" 

"My mom bitched me out because of my grades," I bitterly glare at the inky colored dash. "I'm grounded until further notice, which means no more dates. And, if I don't get them up in time, your elaborate homecoming proposal was for nothing." 

"That's not fair," Blue-Eyes frowns. 

I shift my glare toward him. "Yeah," I snap, and then climb out of the car. The door closes with a slam and he hurries out after me. "Alice," he rounds the front fender and grabs my arm. He pulls me into him again, and once again, I'm staring into his crimson colored t-shirt. His arms wrap around my waist and he nuzzles the side of my neck, "Babe. I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault." 

"I don't care," I growl into his chest, "I'm still mad at you."

He releases his grip slightly a bit so I can tilt my head back and glare up at him. When our eyes meet, he presses his lips into a line and squints. My eyes narrow even more so. Then he smothers my face with kisses. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait through the attack. His lips move from my forehead, to my temples, to my cheeks, to my nose, and then finally, he plants a solid kiss to my own lips. There, he lingers, and I hesitantly relax into the kiss. 

"I hate you," I grumble under my breath when he pulls away, but he doesn't miss the amused twitch to my lips. 

"Does this mean I'm forgiven? Because I'll keep kissing until I am," he presses another chaste kiss to my nose, as if to prove his point. 

I roll my eyes, "Fine. But if you ignore my calls again, and I need you, I'll shove your cellphone up your butt so you have an actual reason to miss my call." 

He grimaces, "But I really was having cellphone problems." 

"Sure," I wriggle free of his grasp and start walking toward the main gate. My stride falters however when I spy a certain dark haired female near the gate, her arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrowed at me. I pause and then glance at Blue-Eyes over my shoulder. "Hey," I hiss at him, "I know I just kind of put you through hell because you forgot to call me back, but I need you to do me a favor." 

His eyebrows crinkle and he nods, "Sure." 

"I kind of ignored Miley's calls," I glance back at her and meet her gaze, "So don't get pissed because I was kind of being a hypocrite." A warm chuckle floats through the air, and it makes my heart thump loudly in my chest. I flash him a worried grin and then we continue to walk over.

Miley meets us halfway and scowls, "I tried to call you last night. Why did you ignore me? I thought we were friends." 

Slender fingers intertwine with my own, and then squeeze reassuringly. I swallow thickly and steel myself as I prepare to respond to her verbal attack. "I thought we were too," I allow my eyes to narrow a fraction and my jaw sets. 

"What are you even talking about?" Miley's eyebrows crinkle with confusion. 

"You're spreading rumors about my boyfriend and I," I clench my free hand into a tight fist, "And I don't appreciate it. I thought that I could trust you, and I honestly thought that you were my friend. But apparently I was wrong." 

"I have no clue what the heck you're talking about!" 

"Seriously," I want to rub at my temples; I can already feel a headache coming on. "Save the innocent act. It's not working." 

"Fine," something cold and mean washes over Miley, and she hisses, like a demonic cat from hell, "I'm finished trying to vouch for you anyways. Devon was absolutely right. You are a heartless bitch." And with that, she storms away. 

I stare after her. Some of the remnants from this mornings cry fest prickles at the corners of my eyes. Immediately, I find myself pressed into my boyfriend's chest for the third time today. "She's wrong," his warm voice is close to my ear, and he presses a kiss to my cheek. "She's the heartless bitch." 

I nod. Despite how mad I am at her, I still wasn't expecting that. I suppose I should have; I mean I was questioning her honesty, and that would be enough to set anybody off. But I had good reasoning, and proof. It still hurt, though. 

"She's not worth it, Alice," he continues, and I feel his cheek against the top of my head. "I told you. All she does is talk shit behind everybody's back. It seems it just caught up with her today, because she lost one of the greatest friend she could ever have. Don't worry about her." 

"Flattery will get you nowhere," I mumble, and then crack a small laugh. 

He flashes me a sweet smile and hugs me tightly once more, before releasing me so we can walk to class. "If your mother wasn't upset about your grades, I'd suggest that we skip this period, but..."

I shake my head as he holds the door open, and step inside the building that houses our first period. "No, I can't. I need to start seriously paying attention and everything in class." 

Blue-Eyes squeezes my hand and nods, "I understand." Then he sighs, "I'm sorry that you've had such a rough morning," he stares at the floor, "And I started your crappy day last night, didn't I?" 

"I swear Seth, if you try to start that self-pity train, I'll kick your ass right here and now," I grumble as we step into the classroom and take our seats. He just laughs at me. When class is over, he walks me over to my math class, per-usual, and we pause a few feet from the door near an abundance of lockers. 

His hands grip my hips and I flush when I notice his eyes are trained on my lips. 

"Nope, not today you two," a voice cuts through our bubble, and we glance over just in time to see Ms. Henry slow to a stop in front of us. She puts her hands on her hips and glares at us both. "Alice, I need to see you in my classroom, now. I talked to your mother yesterday and we have a few things to discuss." 

My stomach drops through my feet. 

"I'll see you after class," Blue-Eyes swoops in and plants a kiss on my lips, much to my surprise. Then he stalks toward the double doors at the end of the hallway. 

Ms. Henry rolls her eyes, "Classroom, Alice. Now." 

With a half-hearted sigh, I lumber past her as she holds the door open, and into the near empty classroom. I start to head toward my desk, but then think better of it. She sits down behind her desk and starts rummaging through some papers on her desk. "Right now, you're sitting at a solid sixty four, Alice," she says as I hug my backpack to my chest. 

I nod, "My mother made me very well aware of that." 

"I would like you to attend lunch tutoring," Ms. Henry's gaze snaps up to meet mine. 

My mouth drops open, "Wait, can't it be after school or something?" She can't take away my lunch dates with Blue-Eyes; lunch is all I have left with him. 

"I'm sorry, Alice," she shakes her head, "Lunch is all I can do." 

I grind my teeth together and close my eyes. This is it, I mentally decide. My life has officially ended.