Matt stared at his packed drawstring bag that contained extra workout clothes, a water bottle, and sneakers. He knew Mya said he couldn't try out for football, but he was still a little mad at her from that weekend's incident. Mathew understood her concern, but He needed to figure out how to control his anger better before he does something dumb to make them move again. He liked living in Philadelphia, and more importantly, he loved the people here. Or a person, to be more exact.

"Mattie?" Ryan popped his head into Matt's Bedroom. "We need to leave, are you coming?"

"Ya ya, I'll be right there." Matt grabbed his backpack and headed out of the room. He stopped and looked back at the drawstring bag sitting on his bed. "I'm going to regret this," Matt muttered and turned around to grab his bag.

"What?" Ryan called from the kitchen.

"Nothing."

Matt opened his locker and threw his bag in. He came up with a pretty good plan on how to be on the football team without Mya finding out. She's never home until six at the earliest on weekdays. And on Friday nights he will just tell her he's going out with friends since he can do that now and Ryan can stay home by himself for a few hours. It's a plan that can go wrong, right?

Before Matt could decide, he heard the high pitched voice of a certain blond coming up behind him. "Hey, baby." Lexi turned matt around and grabbed his hair as she kissed him.

"Hey," Matt muttered as he pushed her away slightly.

"What's wrong hot stuff?" Katie asked with a huge pout on her face. "Don't want to kiss me anymore?"

"No, that's not it, I just-" Matt self consistently looked around the crowded hallway to make sure Katie wasn't anywhere around. The last thing he needed was to make her upset, even if they did decide just to be friends. "Its nothing." He smiled sheepishly.

Lexi pulled on his shirt collar and pulled him closer to her and whispered to him his ear, "Well, in that case, there is a perfectly empty janitor's closet around the corner if you wanna go to make up for the time we lost this weekend." Katie bit her lip seductively, in a desperate attempt to get Matt into her pants.

Matt was just about to agree when he saw a familiar face turn the corner. Her chocolate hair was down with the smallest amount of wave to it; She was wearing a white sweater that came just above her knees and black leggings. As she grew closer, he saw her semi-high ironman socks that were pulled above her leggings. He laughed at how adorable she looked, and he completely forgot about the cheerleader in front of him.

"Mattie?" Lexi waved her hand in front of him but was ignored. Lexi turned around and saw exactly who matt was drooling over. "Seriously!" She wrapped herself around so hard her blond pointy tail hit Matt in the face.

"What?" Matt flinched at the impact. Usually, he would be aware of something that was about to come in contact with his face, but all of his senses were down as he stared at Katie. She turned around and made eye contact with Matt. Her eyes sparkled as she waved to him. Matt was about to wave back, but Lexi smashed her lips into his. Matt was so surprised he let her kiss him for a moment or two. Then he realized what was happening and pushed her away once more. "Would you stop that?" Matt snapped.

"Would you stop looking at other girls when I'm trying to talk to you?" Lexi snapped back. "Do you even want me here, or would you rather go over and kiss Katie?" She asked it so loud, everyone in the hallway turned to the two of them, including Katie. Matt's eyes locked with Katie, and he waited for some sort of sign from her. Some kind of confirmation from her about what he should say. She didn't say anything, which Matt took as she didn't care, or to sick with their previous decision. Either way, it meant the same thing. "Well?" Lexi asked obnoxiously, and Katie turned around and walked into a nearby classroom.

"No." Matt blurted out. "I want to be with you." He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her close to him. "I promise." He leaned in and kissed her, which seemed to satisfy her for the moment.

"Let's go to that closet now." She whispered into his ear, and Matt let her pull him down the hallway and into a dark closet.

Katie shut the door softly. She smirked at him and quickly ripped her shirt off. Matt has screwed many girls and seen even more tits. Nothing beside Lexi's cheer uniform stood out to Matt. She was desperate and annoying, but more importantly, basic.

She ran her hands up Matt's chest, but Matt quickly removed them. "What? Not going to take your shirt off for me?" She whined, and she played with the bottom of his black t-shirt.

"Wouldn't you rather my pants off instead?" Matt started to undo his belt buckle in the hope of distracting her from removing his shirt. It worked, and soon the two of them were having fun in all the ways you can imagine.

Katie thought it was strange when Matt didn't show up for class, but when Lexi did not show up either, she quickly put the pieces together. Her suspicions were confirmed when Matt and Lexi came through the door, hand in hand. "It's about time." Mr. Lucenzo rolled his eyes at the stumbling teens as they took their seats in the back.

"Sorry, sir." Matt apologized quickly. "We got caught up in something."

"I'm sure you did." Mr. Lucenzo muttered, and the whole class laughed. Except for Katie, of course, which turned around to see Lexi had her fingers him Matt's hair.

Matt felt Katie's eyes on him, but he refused to meet her gaze. He could only imagine the mad or disappointed look she was giving him.

At the end of class, Matt used the smallest bit of his super-speed to get to Katie's desk just after the bell rang. Katie was barely out of her seat when she made eye contact with Matt, who was hovering over her. "Can I help you?" Katie asked as she gathered her books and stood up.

"Wanna walk to class together?" Matt asked, shyly.

"Sure." Kaite laughed and nudged him a little. As they walked out of the room together, he was stopped by the beaming voice of Mr. Lucenzo.

"Arendal." He called from his desk. Matthew turned around with a loud groan, and Mr. Lucenzo crooked his finger.

"I'll see you in Italian." Katie patted his shoulder as if a way of saying good luck. Matt hung his head low and slowly walked over to his teacher.

"Look," Matt began before Mr. Lucenzo was able to say anything. "I'm sorry I was late for class. I won't let it happen again. I'm going to start putting my grades and school work first and prioritize the right things and-"

"Shut up, Matthew." Mr. Lucenzo held up a hand and left Matt with his mouth open. "I don't need your pre-rehearsed, bullshit speech." Matt shut his mouth and sighed at the fact he wasn't going to be able to talk himself out of this one. Matt was always ready to manipulate his teachers into letting him out of trouble. He hated how hard-headed Mr. Lucenzo was. "I just wanted to know if I should be expecting you on the field after school?" Mr. Lucenzo laughed at Matt's shocked expression.

"I'm not in trouble?" He asked dumbfounded.

"No. You're marked tardy, what else do you expect."

Matt shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair. "I dunno. This place is a lot different than what I'm used to back in England."

Mr. Lucenzo nodded and waited for a response. "So?"

"So, what?" Matt shrugged.

"Football, boy. I'm talking about football."

"Oh, ya, I'll be there."

"Good." He nodded and waited for Matt to leave. "Get out." Mr. Lucenzo waves towards the door.

"Right, sorry. See you later, sir." Matt hurried out of the room and ran through everything he was going to do later. He needed to prove he was strong but not too strong. He just wished he knew exactly how strong the other guys were so he could mimic them. He had to be fast, but not too fast, jump high, but stay low, hear the guys yell the plays from down the field but maybe not. He didn't know anything about football or what he was supposed to do and what he wasn't.

Suddenly Matt was pulled out of his thoughts by a hefty guy picking him up by his the back of his shirt and slamming him into a wall of lockers. Matt's instincts immediately kicked in and punched the face that was staring at him. In a mix of adrenalin and confusion, Matt pushed the two guys who tried to grab him. A third lunged at him, but Matt stopped himself from hitting anyone else. He closed his eyes and told himself to focus. Matt just punched three guys, and he didn't even know who it was, though he has a pretty solid guess. He felt the wind blow past him as he was picked up in the air and slammed against the lockers for the second time, though it didn't hurt. When Matt opened his eyes, he was met with the sunken blue eyes that belonged to Alex. He looked to both sides of him and realized he was being held up by Tommy and Danny, the most abundant guys on the football team. Matt turned back to Alex and the fresh bruise on his forehead. Matt couldn't help but snicker at the sight.

"Shut up twig," Alex ordered and punched Matt in the gut, though Matt didn't move a muscle. "We heard you were trying out for the football team late on today."

"How the heck did you hear that?" Matt asked, considering he didn't tell anyone, and he just informed the couch a minute ago, these guys had to be stalking him or something.

"I have eyes everywhere," Alex smirked. "We are here to tell you don't bother."

"Why? Scared I'll show you up?" Matt snickered.

"No, I'm afraid you will make our team look like a joke."

"It doesn't need much help with that considering your record so far." With that comment, Matt got a fist to the fast, leaving his lip bloody and a large bruise starting to form on his cheek.

"You stay away from our field, and we won't have a problem." Alex slowly crept up towards Matt and grabbed a fist full of hair. "And you stay away from Katie, too; she's mine."

Matt was too stunned by the words 'She mine' to say anything back. The boys dropped Matt and walked away, snickering to each other.

Matt didn't go to class. Instead, he sat under the staircase that was located in the back of the school for the rest of the day. He let his powers heal himself, though they went working fast enough. There was still a significant cut on his lip and a half his face was black and blue. He heard the bell ring for his lunch period, but he just sat under there. He was starting to hate this school. He could handle the bullies, but what did Alex mean my Katie was his? Were they dating? Is he hooking up with her? Was Alex just another guy, or was Matt the other guy? He knew they wanted to be just friends, but maybe that was because Katie was fucking Alex, perhaps that's why they went to the bonfire together. He bet once he left, Katie went right back to Alex and finished with him. The thought sickened him. He never cared about anyone like this. He never cared if any of his flings hooked up with other guys. He definitely wouldn't even give a shit if Lexi was fucking the whole football team, but if one of them touched Katie, He thought he would explode.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the door to the stairwell open. He peaked his head out and saw the ironman socks over black leggings. When Katie looked in Matt's direction, he quickly pulled his head back, but he didn't do it fast enough. "Matt?" Katie slowly walked behind the stairs and saw him sitting in the grown, looking like he got hit by a bus. "Matt!" She ran over to him. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing." He mumbled, but Katie grabbed his chin and started examining him. "Stop." He pulled himself away, but Katie just moved closer.

"What happened, Matt? Is this why you skipped class? Did you get into a fight? Oh my God, Matt, who did this?" She asked in a panic and continued to examine Matt's broken face.

"How about you ask your boyfriend what happened," Matt mumbled.

"What?" Katie shot back. "What are you talking about?"

"Alex." Matt rolled his eyes and hid his face from her.

"Alex?" Katie gasped. "Alex is not my boyfriend." Matt just muttered something and refused to stop pouting like a child. "Look at me, Mathew!" Katie snapped and got Matt's attention by using his full name. That was the first time she's ever called him Matthew, and even though her frustration, he liked it. "Who told you Alex was my boyfriend?"

"Alex." Matt rolled his eyes. "Kinda," he added.

"Kinda?"

"He said you were his, what could he have meant?"

"Oh, my God," Katie muttered and moved away from Matt in frustration. "Number one, Alex, and I dated for a few months; we broke up during the summer. But the keyword is dated. Past tense. If he is still hung up on me, that's his problem because getting back together with him is the very last thing I want." She saw the rush of relief flow through Matt, and she almost laughed. "And number two!" She snapped. "Why do you care?" Her eyes grew soft, and Matt looked back over at her.

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked softly.

"Because you and I are just friends, we are nothing more, Matt." The words felt strange coming out of her mouth so confidently, and she could tell they went right through Matt, she thought she even saw him flinch. "Wait, did Alex do this to you?" She asked in horror. Matt just nodded and shrugged at the same time. Her words kept running through his head. She said it so nonchalantly, like she didn't care at all. "I'll kill him." She threatened under her breath.

"Don't," Matt whispered. "I don't care, I've gotten beatings before, it's nothing I can't handle."

Katie remembered his scars and his stories about his father. She flinched at the thought but told herself to stop thinking about it. "Then why did you skip class?"

"Because there was something else that was bothering me." He looked at her with his brown puppy dog eyes, and she was lost for words.

"But Matt, even if you and me - but were not - but if we were..." She stumbled over her words until he looked away from her. "You have ex's too."

"No, I don't." He muttered. "I don't date."

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "But sure enough you've hooked up with lots of people, I mean you and Lexi, this morning-"

"Wait!" Matt interrupted. "Are you saying you and Alex, you, you fucked him?" His voice was so hurt it astonished Kaite.

"Yes, Matt." She shrugged like it was nothing because it was nothing. "We dated for months, what did you expect to happen?"

"But with him?" Matt yelled and shot off the ground. "He's a twat!"

"Ya, you're right." Katie laughed at his British vocabulary. "But Lexi is a slut, but you go around screwing her!" Katie stood up too and grabbed Matt's arm. "Why is that any different?"

"It just is!" Matt yelled.

"How?" Katie yelled back.

"Because I-" Matt cut himself off before he let it slip out of his mouth.

"You what?" Katie threw her hands up in the air.

Matt stayed silent for a long time and let Katie's words ring in his mind once again. They are friends. Friends. For real this time. That's it. "You're right." He admitted.

"What?" Katie asked in apparent shock.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Matt nodded and looked at Katie. "I was just upset because he beat me up for wanting to try out for the football team."

"You're trying out for the football team?" Katie was shocked again.

"Ya, well, I was," Matt said slowly. "I don't think they want me on the team so-"

"Then, you have to," Katie said enthusiastically.

"What?" Matt shook his head.

"Prove them wrong; they are twats after all." She mocked his British accent.

Matt laughed and knew she had a point. "Fine, but I'll need a cheerleader." He hugged her, but Katie just rolled her eyes and started to walk out from behind the stories.

"Ask Lexi." She laughed. "I have to before the lunch period ends. Are you coming?" She smiled, and he smiled back.

"I know I'm an idiot. " Matt admitted as they walked out of the stair hall.

"Ya, I know that too." Katie giggled.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Always."