(A/N: Hey guys! Bet you thought you'd never see me again, am I right? Sorry sorry sorry for my super extended absence, especially when I said I'd be writing more. I'm just now getting back in the swing of it and I've got more free time on my hands so I should have more chapters of ABH and D&D up soon. It's been nagging at the back of my mind that I really do need to finish these stories because I totally know how frustrating it is to get really into reading something only to come to the unfinished end, and then WAIT a bajillion years to find out what happened. So I'm bad about that but I'll try to be a lot better now! Thanks to all you readers out there who have stuck with my stories anyway. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

As for the disclaimer, I think the only thing I need to say is that I don't own Jell-O… but damn is it yummy frozen :D Enjoy the chappie! Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW! - VH)

I got home just in time to slip into my room and reheat a pizza before my dad got home that night. It was late. I didn't want to talk, and the only things in the house I was grateful for were the lock on my door and my bed. I dropped my school bag down, watching the notebooks slide out the side pocket. They were messes of Jason's graffiti mostly and some sketches of cars. Not much school work. I lay back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. God, pillows are awesome.

William and I had hung out for the rest of the day and talked. Only talked. He didn't push and he didn't flirt… at least not much. He was sweet. He backed down if he thought I was getting uncomfortable, and I felt better just realizing that it wasn't hard for me to relax and be myself around him.

I was starting to finally drift off when a muffled buzzing sound came from the bottom of my bag. I fished out my phone among a handful of paper bits Bianca and I had used to pass notes in class. A text from Angeline read "Will stopped back by the house tonight, don't know what you did but he seemed in a good mood. Keep it up girlie I gave him your #." Great. I didn't even know what to say to him. I groaned and rolled over again. I just wanted to sleep. I wasn't sure what time I'd passed out last night, but I knew I hadn't gotten enough sleep. I tucked my phone under the pillow, squished my head down on top of it and fell asleep instantly.

The buzzing and loud ringing noises that woke me up early in the morning scared me to death and back. It's never fun to wake up to a phone making all the noises of a mini fire brigade underneath your head. And I hadn't done any of my homework. Again. What really drove me nuts, though, as I dragged myself through a hot shower, was the fact that William had my number… and he hadn't texted me. For all that I'd told him about liking my space it perplexed me that he hadn't tried to talk to me again yet. Maybe he'd realized after all that I just wasn't a fun person to be around. It bothered me all the way to school, where I took the corners like a Nascar derby and arrived twenty minutes early to my stupid classes.

I wandered around to pass the time. The school hallways were still pretty empty. That is, until I rounded a wall of lockers to find Aaron and Bianca so far down each other's throats that they must have developed gills to keep breathing. I stifled a snort of disgusted laughter. "Oooooooh, PDA!" I jeered, sticking my tongue out at them when they jumped apart.

"Well there was no P to our DA til you came along," Aaron joked, face flushed. Bianca took his hand and gave me a flustered once-over.

"Long night?" she asked. I nodded and laughed. "Do I look hungover or something?" She grinned at me. "No, but you seem particularly and zealously vicious this morning." I held my hands up in defense.

"I was just looking out for your best interest." I tried to appear serious. "Your faces might have gotten fused that way, and then where would you be?"

I could have sworn I heard Aaron mutter "… happy" under his breath as we made our way towards class.

I couldn't concentrate on lessons at all. I blamed it on being residually hungover, but I couldn't stop thinking about yesterday's lunch with Will. And the soup really wasn't bad there at all. I wouldn't mind going back there with him. He was different. He felt… I couldn't believe I was admitting it… comfortable. He felt safe, almost. Richard felt safe to me, but it wasn't at all the same. Richard was like an older brother looking out for me. And it was beginning to slowly dawn on me that the edginess I still felt with Will was uneasiness toward the attraction I felt toward him. It scared me, and I didn't know whether or not I could trust it. But there was definitely something there, and I'd be stupid not to admit it to myself.

I didn't see him at lunch, but the cafeteria was usually so packed with students that it was easy to lose people in the crowd. I sat with Bianca and nudged experimentally at the 'spinach surprise' with my fork before abandoning it for Jell-O and an apple. "So where'd you head off to yesterday?" Bianca asked, spinning her orange on the table, "We missed you in class."

I looked down. "I was with Will. Treymore." I could feel her eyebrows rise even before I looked up. I spent the better part of an hour telling her about it, and was launching into a story about how Jason had stolen Ashley's bikini top one night and used it as a slingshot, when my phone buzzed from my pocket.

"Hey, you ever coming to history?" It was Will. My stomach did a weird little flutter. I checked the time.

"Shit, B, we're supposed to be in class right now." I grabbed my bag off the chair beside me and saw her suppress a smile from the corner of my eye. Normally I wouldn't have even bothered worrying about being late, and she knew it.

As it was, we arrived before the lesson actually started. Will greeted me with a soft 'hey' but I could feel his gaze wandering back to me all through class. I didn't hear a word of the lesson and spent a lot of the time tracing patterns on the desk with my fingers. Every now and then I'd look back at him and we'd lock eyes for a split second before I'd look away again, face hot. I was counting down the minutes until class ended for the day. At fifteen til, Will began tapping his pencil against his hand again. I hid a smirk, remembering how I'd nearly snapped that same pencil in two and skewered him with the bits last time. I reached over to teasingly grab the pencil away, but somehow his hand found mine instead and I felt my cheeks heat up. Something melted at the pit of my stomach when he started drawing little circles on my palm with his thumb, and it drove me crazy.

He didn't let go of my hand until class was dismissed, at which point my heartbeat was running a marathon around my eardrums. I saw Bianca make a break for the door and give me a quick, mischievous smile before disappearing into the crowd outside. Will and I were the last two out of the classroom. He took my hand again out in the hallway.

"You're okay with this now?" He asked, lacing his fingers through mine. He sounded surprised. I looked down at our shoes. "It's funny how much a day together can change, I guess," I told him. When I looked up at him, something had softened in his face.

"You know I don't want to push you or pressure you. You don't have to do anything you don't completely want to." He sounded like he was asking me a question, so I squeezed his hand lightly. "I'm not," I assured him. "I'm fine."

He got a kind of guilty look on his face and gave me a half smile. "Don't suppose I'd get lucky enough to merit a hug?" He asked. I bit my lip. "And don't do that, it's too tempting." I quickly let go and pressed my lips together. "I'm teasing, kinda," he tried to reassure me, and god I felt like I'd explode with nervous pins and needles, but I hazarded a smile up at him. He held out his arms with a small shrug. And I couldn't say no. No matter that I still felt kind of uneasy, I didn't want to tell him no. So with my heart beating hard, I slid my arms around his waist. I felt his arms come up around me as I rested my head against his chest. He was so warm and solid that it gave me goosebumps. I could hear him breathe in and out, his pulse going almost as fast as mine. I let my schoolbag drop to the floor and his arms tightened around me, pulling me closer. I shivered, but it was more a thrill than a chill running down my spine. With my head tucked under his chin, it felt like the rest of the world just faded away. His hands were working some serious magic on my back, tracing lines down through my hair and over my hips.

I wasn't sure how long we stood like that, but I guess I must have sighed or something because he stepped the caressing up a notch. And then I was pressed against his chest receiving the best and only massage of my life. I think I probably went limp or disappeared into La-la-William-land or something because I was dazed and seeing little sparkles when he pulled back. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and let his hand trail down my shoulder, down my arm, and over my hand again.

Have you ever felt you've zoned out so far that when you come back the whole world looks upside down for a moment? That's exactly how I felt. In the busy hallway nothing made sense except Will , and I could hear my own breathing even over the noise of various conversations and slamming lockers. I couldn't take my eyes off his, and he tipped his face down towards mine. Someone dropped a pile of books near my feet and knocked me out of my daze. I looked down, avoiding his face. I wasn't ready for all this. But his lips brushed my forehead and by all that's holy I swear I died and went to heaven for a second.