Chapter 1:

It was all because of a stupid gingerbread cookie.

"No! Please! Have mercy!"

I placed the gingerbread man cookie in my mouth and chomped down, letting the ginger-y taste explode on my taste buds. Amber gasped and cried out loud enough that the people at the surrounding tables turned and stared at us. I glared at them. "What're you lookin' at, huh?"

Immediately, they turned back around to their lunches, completely ignoring my now-known presence. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Okay, so let me rewind just a bit back to my nonexistent intro. I'm Juliette Marshall, junior in high school, and badass extraordinaire. Yeah, I know, right? But say a peep and I'll rip out your goddamn throa—

So anyways, here I am at lunch, sitting with my two friends (the only two people that aren't terrified out of their wits when in my presence that they wet their big girl panties) Amber and Madison. I just happened to take a ginormous bite out of Amber's cookie. I swear to God (not that I'm swearing at You. I love you very much and I'm very sorry that I haven't gone to church in, well, ever) she can eat more than a pack of starving wolves on a cold December day. And she's only freaking ninety-eight pounds and five-foot three! How the hell can she still be so tiny when she eats so much?

"Jules! I want my cookie back!" Amber bawled. Madison rolled her eyes and took a small bite out of her miniscule sandwich while watching Amber cry her eyes out over a cookie. It's a little bit pathetic. Okay, maybe not a little bit but Amber's my friend and I should be nice to one of the two people who can even stand having me around. It's pathetic. WHO SAID THAT?

"Sorry, pipsqueak, the cookie's mine now," I declared, popping the last piece of the cookie in my mouth and chewing thoughtfully. "You would've enjoyed the cookie. It was quite yummy."

"You big meanie! Go buy me another one!"

I raised my gloved hands in surrender as I stood up to buy another gingerbread cookie for Amber. "Fine. But until then, you're missing out on the ginger-y goodness!"

"Jules!"

"Alright, alright! I'm going!"

I walked to the snack counter and patted the pockets of my ripped jeans for cash. Pulling out a five, I handed the girl the bill. "I want a gingerbread man cookie to go. And make it really warm and delicious or I'm going to be eaten alive by the black hole, I mean Amber."

"I wouldn't mind eating you up."

I jumped at the unfamiliar voice. Turning around, I found myself staring at this guy. With awesome hair. And mesmerizing eyes. And lips perfect enough to ki—

Wait a second. Do you see what's wrong with the picture here? I, Juliette Marshall do not ogle guys. Especially ones with incredible, soft-looking hair. It's just plain wrong and, well, just wrong. He had shocking blue eyes, almost violet in the light and blonde hair that was brushed to create that 'I'm-good-looking-and-I-know-it' kinda style. Overall, he wasn't good-looking. Like, at all. But he had delicious hair. And eyes. And lips. And pretty much everything on him. Okay, I'll admit it, he's HAWT.

I wouldn't mind jumping him said a voice in my head. I mentally punched the speaker out cold. I, Juliette Marshall, will not be taken down by a mass of blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes that a girl can just drool over…

"Hello? I know I'm beautiful but you don't gotta stare."

I blinked, not realizing I'd been standing there like an idiot staring at this, this hottie for, like, an hour. Not really, it's been like two minutes. The girl with the cookie was looking back and forth between me and the UGH, the Unidentified Guy Hottie. He smirked at me and grabbed the cookie out of the girl's hand, and before I could open my mouth to protest, took a bite out of the cookie. That snapped me out of it.

"Hey! That was my very upset and hungry friend's cookie! Give it back!" I yelled. The UGH chuckled and took another bite out of the cookie. Bastard. "Fine! You asked for it, UGH!"

I launched myself at him, scrambling to grab the cookie from his hand. He held the cookie above my head, where I couldn't reach it. Damn him and his extreme tallness. I jumped, trying to snatch the cookie from his hand but couldn't touch the freaking cookie. At five-foot six, I didn't have anything on his six-foot one build. "Ugh, I give up!"

"Well, that wasn't hard. And people here think you're badass," the UGH drawled. I glared at him, my silver eyes piercing, wishing I could have super strength so I could take a tree and hammer him into the ground like a nail. Or laser vision so I could just eradicate him on the spot into a small pile of UGH ash. "Aww, is the wittle girwl angwy?"

"Listen, UGH! I want another cookie and you're gonna buy it before I take the Mr. Porter's pair of safety scissors and castrate you!" I fumed. Unidentified Guy Hottie raised a blonde eyebrow. "WHAT?"

"What's an 'UGH'? You've called me that two times now," he asked. I blew my auburn hair out of my eyes and glowered at him.

"An 'UGH' is an Unidentified Guy Hottie. Now, BUY THE FREAKING COOKIE BEFORE SHE EATS ME!"

UGH's smile widened. By a lot. Not good. Not good. "You think I'm a hottie, huh? Alright, I'll give your cookie back."

"Finally!"

He let his arm drop, lifting it to his face. . .

. . . and ate the cookie. My mouth hung open and I narrowed my eyes at him. He shrugged and smirked with a mouthful of cookie. I lifted my finger at him, anger filling every nerve of my body. How dare he play with me and then EAT the cookie?

"You'll pay! Gimme five bucks!" I screamed, hitting his arms. He raised them to defend himself from my blows but I was seriously pissed. He. Ate. The. Cookie!

"Christian."

"What?"

"My name isn't 'UGH', it's Christian. Christian O'Hara," said the UGH, err, Christian. I blinked. "Well, I thought we could be better off knowing each other's name. What's yours?"

"Err, Juliette. Juliette Marshall. Now, enough of this monkey business. I want my five bu—"

Christian stepped up in front of me and kissed me. Wait, wait, wait! WHAT? I stared at Christian, his eyes closed as he kissed me. Something's not right here . . . is that a strand of hair out of place on his head? Yes! That's the thing that's not right! I'm so smart. . .

He broke away and smirked at my blushing face. "Aww, sweetheart, someone getting a crush on me?"

I felt the warmness on my cheeks burn even hotter. He laughed, touching my pink cheek with his hand. "No! I just . . . It's just that . . . It's hot in here!" I finished indignantly. "And don't call me 'sweetheart!" He laughed again and patted my head.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart," Christian belittled, starting to walk away. "I'll see ya later, sweetheart!"

"No, you will not see me later!" I shouted at his retreating form. "And don't call me 'sweetheart'!"

I panted when the lunchroom door slammed shut. Then I realized that the room was completely and utterly silent. I turned and found every single pair of eyes trained on me. Some were snickering; others were recording the entire thing on their cells. Fuck.

"Hey, Juliette! Having fun sucking face with the new guy?" one person shouted. I raised an eyebrow at the guy who said it. It was Dylan Tyler, another junior my age. Aka, the junior class jackass. "If you like sucking face with random dudes, then I won't mind!"

Oh, bitch did not just say that. "Oh, really? Let's find out then."

I walked right over to him and grabbed him, slamming my forehead against his. He yelled out in pain and I let him drop to the ground, clutching his head. "Did you like it? Do you want some more?"

"No! No more!"

I smiled. That's what I thought, bitch. I headed back to where Amber and Madison sat. They stared at me like I had two heads. (Frantically checking to see if I did and disguised it as patting my hair down) I cocked my head at them. "What?"

"Who was that guy?" Madison asked curiously. I frowned.

"Dylan Tyler? I thought he was in your Gym class? Shouldn't you know him?"

Madison rolled her eyes and looked at me with the LOOK. "I meant the guy who sucked your face off."

"Oh. HIM. He's Christian O'Hara. Apparently, he's new here cuz I've never seen him around before now. I call him 'UGH', an Unidentified Guy Hottie. Oh, and Amber?"

Said girl blinked at me. I smiled sadly. "He ate your cookie."

Amber gasped in shock then looked murderous. I took a step back to avoid her wrath. Girl didn't like people eating her food, especially her gingerbread man kinda food. Amber stood up out of her seat and ran for the door at breakneck speed. I stared after her. Madison tapped my shoulder and I looked down at her.

"Three. Two. One." There was a loud shout and a piercing scream. I sighed, pulling Madison to her feet. We both ran through the cafeteria door and immediately spotted Amber. And boy, it did not look pretty. You see, Amber, when she was a little girl, took years of Karate, Tai Kwon Do, Martial Arts, Kung Fu, etc. Oh, and a bit of sumo wrestling. And by the looks of it, Christian's gonna have a lot of ice in his near future. I stepped forward and pulled Amber from Christian's tangled body. "C'mon, Amber. I'll go buy you another cookie!"

"No! I'm gonna kill him!" came the only reply before she ripped herself out of my grip and jumped Christian again. And not the good kind. I cringed. Madison groaned and stepped forward and pulled with all her might, dragging Amber off of Christian. He jumped up and straitened his shirt and hair. (Insert eye roll) He gave us all a once over and smirked his smirk.

"Sweetheart, you sent your friend to jump me? Too chicken to do it yourself? Oh, and you saw me later," he chided mockingly. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"As if, O'Hara! I didn't tell her to do anything. She came all on her own knowing that you ate her precious gingerbread cookie! I'd be careful with her. She's taken a lot of defensive and offensive classes," I bragged. "And I totally love her for it."

Amber spit and struggled in Madison's arms. "Lemme have at him again! He owes me a cookie! I. Want. My. COOKIE!" she snarled. Madison sighed and held her back. I turned back to Christian, who was smirking again. God, I hate that smirk! I just wanna rip it off his face! Hand, what are you doing?

"Look, O'Hara. Just give me my five back and I'll get her off your back. For now," I bargained. His smirk grew wider and I narrowed my eyes. I don't like where this was going. "Just spit it out, O'Hara."

"Well, I see no one taught you the importance of patience. I think I'll finally show you the way of the light, sweetheart," he announced. My mouth dropped. Excuse. ME? "You alright, sweetheart? You look like you're gonna kill someone. That color of red really doesn't go with your hair."

That does it. No one insults the hair! "You know what, O'Hara? Go to hell! Burn in its fiery depths where your skin melts and burns! And I'll be watching from an air conditioned balcony eating popcorn while watching you scream for mercy!" I elaborated. Madison and Amber stared at me with horror in their eyes. Even Christian looked a bit nervous. HA! Take that, O'Hara!

"I'm not allowed in hell. I'm too hot," he said, his usual smirk plastered on his face. Damn his fast recovery! My face burned with anger. Don't punch him. Don't punch him. Don't punch—"But I bet they have no problem letting you and your cold heart in, sweetheart."

"You know what? Your heart's so cold; I bet you couldn't get every girl in school to fall in love with you, no matter how hot you are!" I challenged. His eyes widened and his smirk widened. "It's the hair, isn't it? I dare you to cut off all your hair and let's see if you can get every single girl to fall in love with you!"

"Is that a bet?" he countered. I nodded and he grinned. "Then I bet you couldn't get a single guy to fall in love with your personality before the Spring Formal."

"Oh, yeah? I bet I could!" I shot back. He laughed, filling the air with his deep voice. "What?"

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"I could too!"

"Could not."

"I can too!"

Christian smirked again and patted my head. "Oh, sweetheart. Stop deluding yourself. You know I'm gonna win. And when I do, you have to do whatever I want for a week."

"Oh, it's so on. Winner gets to boss around loser and loser has to . . .?"

He looked down at me and chuckled. "Loser has to kiss the winner. On the lips. In front of everyone at Spring Formal."

Perfect. "Prepare to lose, O'Hara!"

"You wish you could. Then I'd have to kiss you and follow you around like a puppy. Not happening, sweetheart."

"Well, see."

And we shook hands on it. There was three months until Spring Formal and it was plenty of time to get every single guy in school fall in love with me. I had to admit, though, he had a distinct advantage being hot and new. All new hot guys are fawned over by the cheer squad and through them; hot guy is recognized by the entire school. But then again, I'm the badass girl in school. Everyone already knows me. Only problem is they're all terrified of me.

The bell rang and Christian started to leave. Before he went into the main building, he turned around and gave me one of his dazzling smiles. "Don't stare too hard at my ass or you'll burn a hole there."

My face burned at his comment. Damn him! I'll get him! And while I'm at it, I'll win the bet, get that kiss and have him do the worst things my little mind can imagine. Now, where did Dad put the rope and chainsaw?

"Hel-lo? Earth to Jules? You in there?" Hands flew back and forth in front of my face. I blinked at Madison's face. Or rather, her smiling face. Uh oh.

"Ohh, la la! Juliette's gotta crush! Juliette's gotta crush!" she chanted. I smacked her arm and glared at her. "Ow! What was that for?"

"I do not like him!"

"Sure you don't! Remember you're a part of this school too. He has to make you fall in love with him too before he wins anything from you," Madison pointed out. I thought about it and slowly grinned. She has a point. And with my hatred growing ever so much stronger towards that stupid bastard, he can't possibly win. Win-win for me!

"HA! Then he can't possibly win if he has to make me fall for him!" I cried happily. Madison and Amber exchanged a look that I pretended not to notice. "He better get ready to be punished as my slave."

"Yeah, but you have to get a guy to completely fall in love with you before Formal. And that's never happened in all your years as badass extraordinaire. How can you get a guy to love you in three months? You've never even had a boyfriend before!" Amber babbled. I glared at her. "What? What'd I say?"

Madison smacked her arm. "Ow! What'd I do?"

"Way to be supportive!"

I smiled at my two friends. They're always gonna be there for me, even when I screw up. A lot. My smile widened. This was gonna be an interesting year. And by 'interesting' I really mean kick ass.