A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a while and I truly am sorry. I had a bad case of knowing where I want this story to go, but not knowing how to put it into words. Then, just as I got my mojo back, I sort of got told my story wasn't good enough so it kind of made me sad for awhile. But, I decided that I'm going to keep writing and improving as much as I can and prove everyone who says my writing isn't good that they're wrong. So thank you to everyone who reads this book, it's because of you that I keep writing. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, enjoy! :-D

**Song: I'm not going anywhere by Anthem Lights**

Stephanie's POV

My breath fogs the car window as I sit in the driver's seat incessantly tapping my foot while waiting for Amy. It's a muggy day, and that coupled with eating a big breakfast prepared by Anna makes me feel much more sluggish than usual. I'm tired and still a little cranky from my recent move to the Jameson's house, so I'm about 10 seconds away from killing Amy for not getting her ass in this car on time.

I tap my hands on the steering wheel slowly trying to calm my anger down. I don't really know what's wrong with me. You'd think after all the years I've had to deal with Amy tardiness I'd be used to it by now. It's like something just keeps nagging me to stay angry. I can't really decipher what, though.

At this moment Amy finally decides to come out looking like an Abercrombie model, and that just makes me even more angry because this morning I closely resemble a mix between a hobo and a vampire. Sickly pale skin, hair askew, and bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep. I couldn't be bothered to put on make-up this morning because I was so cranky, and I barely passed a brush through my hair. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Haley ran away to her room when she saw me at breakfast and not because she was late like she said. I must look worst than I thought!

Amy climbs in excitedly and says hi while putting on her seat belt, but I simply give her a grunt and fly out of the parking lot so we're not late because of little ms. I-need-to-look-perfect next to me. She raises an eyebrow at me.

"What crawled up your ass and died this lovely morning?" She asks. I look over fleetingly and scowl back at the street.

"I'm just cranky, tired, pissed off for no specific reason, and I want to get to class on time for once and not be late because of you!"

She stares at me, completely flabbergasted, as I begin to look for parking at school.

"What is your problem? I told you yesterday that I wanted to look good because I'd be seeing Noah today, and you seemed fine with it. Why are you suddenly so, I don't know, hormonal?" She asks as we both get out of our cars and begin walking. I stop and look at her wide eyed.

"Hormonal!" I yell out. "Amy how could I be so stupid! My lady's days start tomorrow!"

"Oh, ok. That's fine, it's tomorrow, you just have to remember that." She grabs my arm and we rush to class before I can talk to her more.

I sit in my seat shakily. What I didn't get to tell Amy is that, just because it's supposed to come tomorrow doesn't mean it won't suddenly come today. I'm so worried that it'll be one of those times where my period decides to make a surprise appearance and embarrass me in school. Especially since my dumb self decided to wear a white skirt today.

"Hey," a voice whispers in my ear. I whip around to see Collin smiling at me as he sits down in the desk next to mine. His smile wobbles, though, as he takes in my appearance. "Bambi, are you okay? Are you sick?"

I look at his concerned emerald eyes, and I feel the sudden need to weep. His face grows even more concerned. The teacher begins her lesson, but Collin ignores her and tries to get me to talk.

"What's wrong? Can you please tell me, I'm coming up with insane ideas, and all of them are terrible."

I force myself to calm down and take a deep breath. It's always been the only thing to calm me down when I go into a hormonal rage.

"I'm fine," I whisper to him. "I promise I am. I'm just tired and overwhelmed, what with the move and everything."

His eyes turn sympathetic and relieved once he knows I'm okay, and he squeezes my hand once in reassurance before turning back to the lesson. I close my eyes and press my lips together once he's not looking. I've been in this situation once before, and I didn't fare very well. Add that to my already bad emotions from moving away from the only family I have left, and you have the big ball of stress that is me.

The alarm finally rings, and I run out of class like a bat out of hell toward the nurses room before Collin can catch me. The door closes behind me and I stop to calm myself before going toward the nurse.

The nurse's room is like a throwback to my preschool days. Pale pink and blue wallpaper line the walls, and posters with cheesy jokes on body systems are taped to them. A few metal chairs sit in front of the nurse's desk also; the type that make you break your back and have a butt ache from sitting on them for even a little bit. We used to have a male nurse only, but the school quickly realized how awkward it was for girls to talk to him so they hired a female nurse as well. They don't really like each other, but for the sake of keeping their jobs they always have fake smiles on when we come see them.

I look around and see Sean, the male nurse, wrapping the ankle of one of the football players. He looks over as he finishes and gives me a genuine but tired smile.

"Hey Steph, what can I help you with?" He asks. I fidget nervously, not really wanting to talk to a guy about something so personal.

"Um, it's sort of lady like," I tell him with a raised eyebrow hoping he understands the hidden message. He laughs and raises his hands in a sign of surrender.

"I understand. But Lilly isn't back from her break, so I'm sorry, but you either sit and wait for her or tell me." He says. I sigh.

"Okay I guess. I just, I need a, ugh!" I say and put my hands on my face. I try to explain what I need, but I'm just so uncomfortable! Sean gives me a booming laugh.

"Steph, do you need a pad, a tampon, what? Just spit it out, I'm a nurse, I can handle it." He tells me with crosses arms and a big grin. My face burns with embarrassment.

"Yes, okay? I need a pad." I whisper.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" He asks. I scowl at him and he laughs again as he walks over to the big cabinet on Nurse Lilly's side. He grabs one yellow and one green pad and hands them to me.

"Thanks Sean." I tell him. I know it can't be easy to be in this job and have people who constantly prefer your colleague over you, so I try to be nice.

"No problem, just remember, I may be a guy but I studied for this. Please don't be embarrassed to speak with me; I'll always try my best to help you out." He says with a fatherly smile.

I smile and thank him again, then I leave to class once I get a note from him. I do my business in the bathroom with the pad, then go to AP World.

***

"Hey, why did you leave class so suddenly today?" Collin asks as he sits next to me at lunch. I sigh.

"I had to go to the nurse. And no, before you ask, it's nothing bad just some girl issues." I answer him. I open up the lunch Anna made me this morning, and I lick my lips at the lovely sight of a grilled chicken and avocado sub with iced tea and four cookies.

"Oh, ok. As long as it's nothing serious. I can't stand the thought of you hurt Bambi." He tells me with concern in his eyes and another emotion that I'm not quite sure I want to define right now. It scares me, but then again, everything about this gorgeous man scares me. I put my hand on his.

"I'm fine." I tell him. He nods and grins at me before scarfing down his own sandwich. Unlike mine, though, his is a foot-long filled to the brim with toppings and roast beef. He also has two bags of Doritos, a bottle of Pepsi, and a big pack of chocolate chip cookies. How he eats so much all the time and still maintains a six pack is beyond me. I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn to see Stacy looking at me with her usual annoyed face.

"How the hell did you get on the cover of People magazine?" She asks angrily. I look at her, confused, and she huffs and rummages around in her huge Michael Kors tote. She takes out a glossy magazine and thrusts it in my face.

"See, It's you and Collin! Who the hell let you model when you look like that?"

I look at the cover, and there I am standing with Collin's arms around me and the restaurant backdrop behind us. I actually look much better than I thought I ever could. Must be the Photoshop.

"Well, seeing as how even now, with no make-up and random clothes she still looks better than you, it kind of makes sense." Collin answers with a glacial look in his eyes. Stacey's mouth gapes open.

"C-C-Collin, I didn't see you there. How was your break?" She asks with a smile that I guess is supposed to look sultry, but really just looks super creepy. Collin glares at her.

"It was perfect seeing as how I had Steph with me. You know, my girlfriend?" He says deliberately slow. Stacy pales.

"You mean it wasn't just some story? You guys are really dating?" She asks with a horrified look on her face.

"Yeah, we are." Collin answers smugly.

"But why? I mean, look at me and look at her. Anyone in this school would pick me, so why would you choose the loser?"

I didn't think it was possible for Collin to look more mad than he already did, but he definitely proved me wrong after that question.

"Well you see, Stephanie is real. She doesn't care about popularity, perfect looks, or bullying people to get to the top like you do. She has a quality that you will never ever have. Do you know what that is?" He asks. Stacy shakes her head slowly. "It's called integrity. And you don't have that because you don't know how to be anyone other than this fake shell of a person. You're so obsessed with finding perfection, that you've forgotten what truly matters. As a star, I can tell you, fame and fortune mean absolutely nothing if you have no true friends to share it with. If you don't have love and true friendship, then what does that say about you?"

Collin finishes his monologue with a deep, sad look at her, then he turns away and continues to eat his food. Stacy stares at the back of his head with an open mouth and tearful eyes, then runs out of the cafeteria with a hand to her mouth. I watch her leave with a heavy heart. I may not really like Stacy, but something about how she acted to Collin's speech tells me I'm missing a key puzzle piece. Something is not right.

I contemplate all through school, and even when it's done and I'm walking to the gym with Collin I still haven't figured it out. We walk in and see Amy and Noah arguing about something.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" I ask as I put my stuff on the stage.

"Mrs. Benson called and reminded me of the fair being on Valentine's day. So now Noah and I are fighting over the fact that we need to practice the showcase piece, but because he signed us up for the talent show we also need to practice for that." Amy says with her arms crossed.

"Well, Steph and I are in the showcase also. Why don't we combine forces. Steph and I can write a song and sing it, and you guys can be the backup dancers. Because we're singing, you guys won't have much pressure to come up with big dance moves, just a small and easy dance number to go with the song." Coll suggests.

Amy and Noah shrug and nod, agreeing that it was the best thing they could do in order to stay on track with the showcase piece. They leave to start practicing with the rest of the people here, and Collin and sit on stage with a piece of paper and a borrowed guitar from the music room.

"Alright so, how about for right now we just make a song to get the creative juices flowing, and then get started on the one for the talent show later on." Collin suggests. I nod.

"Yeah, it's best to get a nice song out to start my brain up." I tell him.

We agree to make one on our relationship, and we brainstorm a few ideas first. Collin strums a few full lines on the guitar, then we keep writing until we have a full song to sing about an hour later.

(Collin)
Open up, flaws and all
Let me in, I'll catch you fall
I wanna see your light, dark or in between

(Steph)
Nobody's perfect and I don't expect you to be
The good and the bad is what makes it so perfect to me

(Both)
Doesn't matter where you've been, no I don't care
Everybody makes mistakes
I'm not going anywhere
Doesn't matter what you've done
Know I'll be there
I will never walk away
I'm not going anywhere
Shout out your secrets and whisper your lies
There's no need to run girl, there's no need to hide
Doesn't matter where you've been, no, don't be scared
I'm not going anywhere

(Collin)
We could be (we could be)
The perfect past (the perfect past)
See you make up (you make up)
For what I lack
And I'll hold your hand when you can't stand up on your own

(Steph)
Nobody's perfect so please don't expect me to be
You know where I stand so I hope you say this to me!

(Both)
Doesn't matter where you've been, no I don't care
Everybody makes mistakes
I'm not going anywhere
Doesn't matter what you've done
Know I'll be there
I will never walk away
I'm not going anywhere
Shout out your secrets and whisper your lies
There's no need to run girl, there's no need to hide
Doesn't matter where you've been, no, don't be scared
I'm not going anywhere

(Collin)
Yeah, I ain't going nowhere like the bills when you don't pay them
Just kidding, everybody left you 'cause it's by mistakes
Girl just know that I wouldn't
There ain't no need for you to be scared of
Me leaving you 'cause baby I'm aware of the better man you make me
Doesn't really take me, a long time to figure out that I'm paired up
Meaning that I stepped up when I met you
You are out of my league, girl you know it's true
But I'm glad that you grabbed at me and
I practically became a man 'cause of you oh
That's a blow to my ego
But no matter where we go
You ain't ever gotta worry
We gonna write our love story
I ain't going nowhere so

(Both)
Doesn't matter where you've been, no I don't care
Everybody makes mistakes
I'm not going anywhere
Doesn't matter what you've done
Know I'll be there
I will never walk away
I'm not going anywhere
Shout out your secrets and whisper your lies
There's no need to run girl, there's no need to hide
Doesn't matter where you've been, no, don't be scared
I'm not going anywhere

We finish singing, and clapping immediately surrounds us. We look up to see Amy, Noah, and all the other dancers clapping with beaming smiles. Looks like their rehearsal is done since all of them were changed back into their regular clothes.

"That was great! Is that the song you're going to use for the talent show?" Amy asks excitedly. Collin and I laugh.

"Thank you, and no it's not. It's more of a get-the-creativity-flowing song." I tell her with a soft smile as the dancers begin to leave.

She nods in understanding, and we all walk out to our cars and drive to Amy's house (and my house now) except for Collin who said he needed to grab something at Noah's house and then come back for me.

The house is much quieter when we enter this time seeing as how the four gorillas aren't home anymore. We walk to the kitchen where lovely smells of homemade pizza waft out of, reminding me that I need to go to Dominic's soon.

Mr.J- I mean, Mike, immediately locks eyes with me and gives me a mischievous grin. I narrow my eyes, feeling very suspicious, and he takes out a glossy magazine from behind his back.

"So Steph, you never told me that you were going into modeling," he says smirking. I sigh.

"I knew I shouldn't have done that photo shoot." I say snaking my head. Mike chuckles.

"And that lip lock, wow. Some serious chemistry there." He says wiggling his eyebrows.

I frown and snatch the magazine. I look through it until I find the part that talks about Collin and I, and I flip through the pages until I find the outdoor pictures and gasp. There in the center of the collage is the picture of Collin and I kissing in the gazebo with two big hearts around the it. The caption says: Some red hot love for the superstar from a red hot gal. So cheesy.

"Aww, you guys look so cute!" Amy says as she looks on from behind me.

I give her a flat look and walk to the room I'm using while I'm here. As the boy's live on campus, I can live in what used to be Jake's room, but with a total revamping to make it more girly courtesy of Anna. My suitcase is completely emptied out by now, as I had the first week of the new year to unpack. It was a long, tedious job made even harder by the fact that I couldn't stop crying.

It was an emotional move for the simple fact that I was leaving my father. Sure, what we have can barely be considered a father-daughter relationship, but somewhere deep inside is the man I used to call dad. The man that would take me on walks and bring me to amusement parks is still there; he's just buried underneath miles and miles of grief. It hurts to leave the last family I have, but I can't go on living in such a suffocating environment.

I force myself away from those thoughts knowing that Collin will be here any second. I hurriedly put on my make-up and put on a loose, blue halter neck dress with very worn out silver flats. I brush my hair until ot shines, and I put my stuff in a bag and walk downstairs. There Collin is waiting looking absolutely delicious in a white v-neck, dark wash jeans, and combat boots.

He smiles at me and grabs my hand, and we walk out of the house after a quick goodbye to everyone. We walk out where his Maserati lays waiting.

"So, you're pulling all the stops for this date, huh?" I ask with a smirk as we get in.

"Of course! Got to impress my girl!" He answers with a wink. We pull out of the parking lot, and drive to some unknown destination. I ask and ask where we're going on the drive, but Collin simply smiles and ignores me choosing instead to turn on the radio. I pout, but it quickly goes away as "Moves like Jagger" comes on.

I dance in my seat, completely forgetting that I want to know our destination, and begin singing with Adam Levine. Collin joins in, and we laugh and interchange in singing. When Christina comes on, I go for the kill.

You wanna know how to make me smile
Take control, own me just for the night
And if I share my secret
You're gonna have to keep it
Nobody else can see this

So watch and learn
I won't show you twice
Head to toe, oooh baby rub me right
But if I share my secret
You're gonna have to keep it
Nobody else can see this (Ay! Ay! Ay! Aaay!)

I hit that last high note and Collin picks up the next line as I continue with the harmony Christina sings every now and then. The song finally ends, and we burst out laughing. I realize the car is slowing down, and I look around and see a beautiful park.

Collin comes out and opens my door, then opens the trunk and takes out a picnic basket, a blanket, and a guitar case. He smiles and leads me to a spot under a huge tree with a great amount of shade under it. We sit down on the blanket, and Collin reaches in the picnic basket and takes out a few containers. He opens them, and I see he's brought pizza that smells suspiciously like it's from Dominic's, my favorite cakes (chocolate with rasberry filling and red velvet with cream cheese frosting), and some pink lemonade.

"Okay spill, who told you all of my favorites?" I ask him. I mean, he got everything, right down to the pink lemonade. Collin smirks.

"I was sworn to secrecy," he says smugly as he gives me my pepperoni and onion pizza.

"It was Amy wasn't it," I say as I take a big, delicious bite of the pizza. Yep, definitely from Dominic's.

"Maybe," he says. I laugh and we finish our food, then move on to the dessert. Food is great and all, but nothing beats dessert.

When the cake is gone and we've drank some juice, Collin th akes out the guitar and some paper and a pen from the guitar case.

"So, I figured we could work on the song when we finished eating. I mean, we don't have to, but I just thought it'd be cool," he says rambling on and on with a slight blush on his cheeks. I smile softly and grab his hand.

"Collin, that sounds like a wonderful way to end this date." I tell him sincerely.

He sighs in relief, and we get to work. An hour later, we have half of the song ready and we decide to call it quits for today and head home so we can do some homework. I'm immensely grateful that the boys aren't here when Collin walks me to my door, because it allows me to kiss my wonderful boyfriend goodbye without their death glares through the window. When we break apart I go inside the house and find Amy waiting for me to tell her every detail. So I smile and go through the whole day with my best friend, then do some homework before going to sleep.

And while it was a wonderful day, all I can think of is the saying my mom always had whenever things were going too great.

"Buckle up Steph! It's the calm before the storm."

***

Unknown POV

The limo speeds through the streets, and I tap my fingers on my suitcase. I'm so close. Everything is falling into place.

The limo stops in front of the grand, domed building and I take lengthy strides inside. Women stop and stare on their way out, and I ignore them all. Even if I wasn't completely in love at the moment, they're all distractions. My plan requires the utmost attention, and I refuse to jeopardize years of work.

I get on the elevator and wait for it to reach the top floor. The elevator music makes me smile; it's one of his first singles after all.

When I step out on the floor I walk all the way down the hall, and take a deep breath before entering the dimly lit room. The sinister looking man sitting at the big, wooden desk stares back at me furiously.

Let the games begin.

***

A/N: I won't write too much, because it's 1 am right now and I have school tomorrow. But, if you could, would you guys please comment here what you thought of the chapter?

Thank you to everyone who's still reading, each and every one of you mean a lot to me. Please oveflow me with comments and votes, those are so nice to wake up to!

Shubh Raathri! (goodnight in Hindi)