I woke up, sunlight shining through my window. I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. The red numbers told me it was 4:00AM. I sighed and sat up on the bed, stretching. I yawned and pulled myself off the bed and grabbed a hoodie off of my desk chair and headed downstairs.

I fed my dog, Joey, and put on my shoes. I toasted a bagel and slathered it with cream cheese. I munched on it as Joey are his food. Once he was done, I grabbed a bag and headed outside with Joey for our 8-mile run. We ran to the park and back.

It was about 8:30 when we got back to the house. I opened the front door to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes and turkey bacon. My favorite. Normally, I would've jumped into a chair and ate, but today I just wasn't up to it.

I walked up to my mother, who was in the kitchen making our plates, and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye, Mom, I'm off to school. I think Aiden is in his room playing Black Ops III."

She gasped and yelled, "AIDEN!!"

I chuckled and walked out of the door before my little brother could come tackle me for telling Mom what he was doing. I hopped on my motorcycle and rode to school.

I walked into school, heading straight to my locker. My friends, Jason and Dylan were there, probably laughing about some joke Jason made. It's not like they got anything out of their lockers anyways.

I walked up to them, a smirk present on my face. We did our handshakes and started talking about Stephen Curry's injury. I listened for a while, but then I zoned out. I looked around until my gaze landed on Brooke Fields at her locker, drawing like she did every morning. She's the smartest, most athletic, and definitely the most beautiful girl in school.

I stared at her, marveling at her beauty. She was so beautiful, yet she didn't seem to notice. The only thing I didn't get is why she always covered up her face before school.

I was interrupted from my thoughts of Brooke by Dylan's voice. "You're going to Dash's party tonight? It's gonna be awesome!"

I nodded and said, "Sure, why not? It's not like I have anything better to do anyway."

Except homework, chores, my job at the coffee shop down the street, service hours... Shall I continue? Shut up, brain, your input wasn't needed. Whatever. Ugg. You're being a party-pooper and the party didn't even start yet!

*

I walked into the party, heading straight to Dash's kitchen for his mother's lasagna. What? I came here a lot. His mom made delicious lasagna every Friday. When I got in the kitchen, I saw Brooke was there. Some guy was talking to her.

"Hey, little mama," he said.

I looked closer at the guy; he had to be in his late twenties. What was he doing at a high school party? I thought to myself and Brooke voiced my thoughts.

"It's my house," he answered. Oh well, that explains it. "So, what do you say we go somewhere more private?" He leaned in and nibbled on Brooke's ear.

She pushed him off and said, "No thanks, I have rules."

Good because if she got with that guy, I'd be seriously worried for her safety.

"Oh, come on, dressed like that?" The guy said, gesturing at her dress. It was then I noticed her dress. It was hot pink, short, and strapless. Her hair was long and straight, framing her face.

"Yes, dressed like this," she snapped. Jeez, she sure was feisty!

I looked back at them, gasping when I saw him set her up on the counter and wrap her legs around him.

"Get. Off," she growled.

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. I have zero respect for guys who think they can do whatever they want with women. If she says no, then that means fu^k off and leave the girl alone. I took a deep breath, then walked up to them.

"Excuse me?" I said, towering over the guy.

"Can we help you?" He said, looking me up and down.

I pointed at Brooke and said, "Yeah, I need her."

"After I'm done."

Man, if only this guy knew how much I wanted to punch him in the face right now... I clenched my fists and said, "Well, I heard her say to get off, so get off."

He had the nerve to roll his eyes at me and say, "Whatever, I don't need to take this."

What a wimp.

I offered to help her down, but she just ignored my hand and jumped down by herself. She started to walk away, but I followed her. I had a question to ask her. "Hey, wait, why do you do that?"

She kept walking. "Do what?"

I scratched the back of my neck and said, "Sleep around. I know that was different, but you're a really beautiful girl." I grabbed her arm to stop her, but she yanked it out of my grasp. I was perplexed by her actions. "Why won't you accept that?"

She turned and yelled, "Stop! I'm not important; I'm fat, ugly... Just stop!"

My eyes widened and to my surprise, I found myself grabbing her arms and pushing her into a wall. "No, no you're not! You're beautiful, smart, amazing, and true! Not fake like all of those other girls at our school."

Her skin paled and she stared at me. I realized that she was scared of me. I didn't intend to scare her, but I guess I did. I let her go and watched her am walk right out of the front door. Man, I need a drink. But before that, I needed to figure out how to get this girl to love herself.