My eyes widened and my jaw fell open. I looked up at him and he was smiling his winning smile. I wanted so much to slap him. Slapping him. The girl was the girl from the bathroom. She was the one I saw with him at Paul’s house. I wanted to run and hide somewhere. I wanted to hide under a rock. “Congratulations” Robert whispered in my ear. I could feel myself literally shuddering in fury.

I turned to face him and nodded. I could feel my jaw lock itself in place, and ground my teeth together with ferocity. Robert was definitely wicked. His beautiful blue eyes stared into mine but there was something odd. My anger ceased. There was something in him that wasn’t malicious. I actually seemed to recognize some sort of concern towards me. Robert cared. “Yeah” was all I could say.

No matter how much he was concerned, he was my competition. Robert was new and people already loved him, especially the girls. He was a god and there was no denying it but I needed to win over the guys. There were 8 girls and 7 boys. I had to win over all the guys and a few girls. It seemed like a whole lot of hard work. Thanks to Robert, it was going to be really hard to become editor. Although I didn’t hate him I highly disliked him.

“Are you okay?” I turned around to find myself too close for comfort to Paul. I flinched away.

“Uh, sort of. Why?” He couldn’t have known about the whole Robert and I for editor thing. Paul never cared about my interests. Actually, he made fun of my love of reading and writing.

Paul’s expression was extremely worried. “Did that guy get to you again or something?” He meant the guy from his party. I hadn’t realized he was still hanging over that. I was over it already. I didn’t even know who did it or who saved me.

I shook my head. “No, no. Nothing happened. I’m fine in that aspect. I always have been.”

“Don’t act like you could’ve handled it. If it weren’t for Rob you would’ve been taken advantage of.” He looked away and nodded towards someone. My head began to spin. Rob = Robert. Robert had saved me. He punched that other guy. That’s why he knew it was a baseball player. How was I so blind?

Paul looked back at me. “I have to go.” I darted out to the parking lot but the Mazda was gone.

Why did he save me? He seemed to intend on ruining my life yet when he has a great chance he prevents it from happening. What is with him?

I sighed in defeat.

After school I decided not to head straight home. I wasn’t in the mood for family time. I wanted to get away. Everything seemed different this year. I had already gotten comfortable the year before but the current year it seemed like it was impossible to live it like I should’ve. I wanted to be the girl everyone knew as the “Ex queen bee.” I didn’t want that title back. Mandy held it well and nobody was able to snatch it away. She was either lucky or very deserving of it. I, on the other hand, was unlucky or not deserving.

I decided on the library. The library was a nice place to be in peace and quiet. When I got there I noticed there were hardly people. There was only one old man in the front desk and he was reading the newspaper. He looked so cute; I didn’t want to disturb him. I went to the first aisle of books and looked around. Nothing seemed to pop out. Ironically enough, a book seemed to literally pop out and land on the floor. I grabbed it and when I was going to put in place I noticed someone on the other side.

“Sorry, I’m new at the job ma’am.” It was Robert. Ha! He still hadn’t recognized me. “Would you please hand that book to me?” He looked through the peephole it formed.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

A smile immediately crept up his flawless face. I couldn’t help but smile back. “Wow. That was unusual.” He disappeared. “I didn’t actually think people met up at random intervals in random places like in the movies in real life” he said walking up to me. He had gone around to get to my aisle.

I smirked. “Just our luck, right? Out of all of the people, us.” I looked up at his face and was taken aback. Robert never ceased to overwhelm me.

“What do you mean?” He asked innocently.

I rolled my eyes. “Well you know. Since we’re not exactly one another’s favorite person.” Saying it aloud was harder than thinking it. It obviously had a different effect because Rob flinched.

“Speak for yourself,” he whispered.

I sighed. “Oh please. You can’t stand me.”

“In moments like now? Yeah, you’re right. Why are you so determined on making us enemies? We can be friends, you know?” Rob’s voice was husky and rough.

My jaw fell open. “Me? I’m the one determined on making us enemies? You’re the one who joined the paper and then was nominated to be editor when that’s all I’ve ever wanted! You also took my parking space.” I breathed deeply.

From Rob’s serious, composed face he burst out into laughter. “Shhh.” They had been shushing is for a while but I was too distracted. His laughter was also contagious so I giggled a bit.

When his laugh died out he composed his features once again. “If I’m the next paper’s editor it’ll be for the best.”

“What? Are you insane? You didn’t even like writing until you knew I did!” My voice was uneven.

“How about we change the subject?”

He caught me off guard. “Okay, fine. Why didn’t you tell me you were the one who saved me at Paul’s party?” The spotlight was on him.

Rob leered. “I just didn’t think it was necessary to point out.”

I folded my arms. “Of course it’s necessary! Who knows what could’ve happened if it weren’t for you?” A flash of anger passed through his expression and vanished quickly.

He half smiled. “Is this a disguised thank you?” Rob was teasing me.

I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m blunt, okay? Thank you. I just don’t get why you did it.”

The last thing I said struck him because I saw it in his expression. “The guy was already pissing me off. I also wanted to be the first to explore you and he was getting in my way of it.” Rob smiled and shook his head.

“Ha ha ha! You wish!” I rolled my eyes. “But if you did want to explore me so much why were you exploring the blonde girl minutes after?” I heaved my eyebrows at him suspiciously.

Rob’s beautiful blue eyes met mine. “Because I went into the bathroom to aid my hand. The blonde girl, Jessie or Jill, was one of the only people who saw me. She seemed to be turned on by it so she…”

I raised a hand to stop him. “I get it.”

“Nothing happened.”

“None of my business.”

“Never said it was.”

Our gazes met. I couldn’t help but feel warmth and comfort. “Where are you from?”

The question caught him off guard. “That was random.” He cleared his throat. “Um, originally Oklahoma, then California, and now here.”

I giggled. “Sorry. I just don’t know anything about you.” I ran my fingers through my hair. That’s when I noticed I wanted to know about him. He was so secretive. I never heard anything about his past.

“No, you don’t.” Once again, one of his mood swings took over. He sounded angry or disappointed. He ripped his gaze away from mine.

I groaned. “I really don’t get you,” I muttered. Robert was the weirdest kind of guy out there. That’s why I had to hate him.

Rob met my gaze again. “Nobody should.”

“Wha-“ I began but someone interrupted.

Someone cleared his or her throat. “Robert, you should be putting the books back into place. You don’t get paid to socialize.” It was the same old man I had seen reading the paper.

“It’s fine, I was just leaving,” I said. I glanced at Robert once more. He was so beautiful. Although his skin was a dark russet, he beheld a warm pink in his cheeks. He almost sparkled next to whatever he stood next to.

On my way to my car I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned to see Robert with pain against his beautiful face. It literally hurt me to see such sadness in such a beautiful face. “What do you want from me?”

I was taken aback by how blunt the question was. “I-I just want to understand you. Maybe if I do, I might know if I should stay away from you.” The words dripped through my mouth without my permission.

Rob let my arm go. “You don’t need to understand me for that. You should stay away from me. I’m the guy who took your parking spot the first day of school. The guy who is about to take away the one thing you know you really want.” He chuckled darkly. “Do you need any more understanding?” I could see in his eyes how much it hurt him to say that. For some reason I hated him for saying it.

“You know what? Fine.” I left.

A/N

Didn’t I say I loved this chapter? Hehe. Robert, Robert, Robert. Please reviewww!