Chapter 1: Running Into Him

"Hey, hey, look over there." Victoria, my best friend, nudged me to look to my left. We were currently walking to school, on a September morning. It was a little chilly out, but we didn't care.

I looked at where my friend was pointing at, and immediately spotted a group of Senior boys standing in a circle, smoking and taking drugs. I almost automatically saw the boy right after, the most attractive, most dangerous of them all, grinning as he talked to the others.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking over at Victoria. She raised her eyebrows.

"Come on, you can't tell me that Senior is attractive." She muttered. "You've seen him everywhere lately. You know, signs."

"Signs of what?"

"Maybe a future relationship?"

"Oh shut up Vic, he's like, nothing." I said, and I honestly meant it. "I mean, yeah, he's good looking, but I know who he is. A stoner, a player, a bad boy, a basketball player."

"If you know him so well, then what's his name?"

"I don't know, Jack?"

She burst out laughing, and the guys all turned their heads toward us. The guy's dark eyes watched us for a while, and then his eyes settled on me, and I saw him smirk.

I quickly turned away, blushing, glaring at Victoria, who was covering her mouth, trying hard not to laugh.

"Seriously?" I growled, and she snickered. We finally made it to school.

It was the beginning of a new year, Sophomore year, and I was not looking forward to it. Who would? I hated school, and pretty much everybody else in the grade did, too.

As the weeks went on, I began to see more and more of that guy. I had no idea what I was looking forward to or worrying about with him. Like I said before, he meant nothing to me. But I did get to know his name: Kade Lander.

I heard Kade a lot, then. Like, 'Oh, Kade did this.', 'I heard Kade broke another girl's heart.' I just pushed them off, didn't care for them, didn't worry for them.

In fact, I was thinking about how much I didn't mind him when I rounded the corner one day, and bumped into Kade myself.

I jumped back, my eyes widening as I realized who was standing in front of me. I do admit, I have been a little scared to stay near him. His dark, interested eyes looked me up and down.

"Um, s-sorry." I stuttered, looking away, and I heard him smirk. My palms were super sweaty, and I glanced back up at him. He stared at me for a couple more moments, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and then, he walked past me. I praised the Lord that things didn't get serious. I heard if you even messed with Kade Lander, he turned on you. So why did he just leave?

Of course, I didn't tell Victoria. I don't know why I would. I mean, she would be all over me, with the "future relationship" drama and such. She never understood the fact that I didn't have any interest in him at all.

For my Literature class a week later, my teacher, Ms. Noble told me to go down to the library and check some books out since she noticed I wasn't reading. I walked down without an argument, glad to get out of class a little.

I was looking around in the romance section (seriously, my favourite) when I heard a deep voice clear their throat behind me. I frowned, and turned around, and was surprised to see Kade Lander sitting there at a table, in front of an untouched computer.

"Romance, huh?" His voice was deep, almost attractive in a way. No, no, Lana, shut up.

I gulped, turning back toward the shelf.

"Um, yeah." I said quietly.

I heard his chair move, and I glanced back at him, and noticed he was standing up, and approaching me slowly, his eyes on my ass. I cursed mentally as he stood next to me, leaning his arm on the shelf, his body facing me, his intent, dark eyes watching me very closely.

"Why would you read something like that?" He asked, once again, that mischievous look in his eyes. "Hoping you can have something like it in the future?"

"Um, no, I just enjoy reading stuff like this." I muttered, not looking at him.

"Good, because something like that will never happen for you." I looked over at him, and he smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"Who would like you?" I was shocked by how rude this guy was being.

"Um, excuse me?"

Kade just rolled his eyes.

"The way you strut in this place like you know everything?" What the heck was he talking about?

"You're not popular, princess..." He whispered, coming closer to me, until I felt butterflies enter my stomach. His eyes were inches from mine, his eyebrows furrowed in a frown. "You may think you are, but watch out for people like me. Because once you get in, you can never get out."

I was shaking as he backed up slowly, his eyes still on me, and then, he walked out without another word. Was he referring to me and Victoria that day while we were walking? I was having mini freak outs in my body, and I quickly got out of the library then, checking out some dumb romance book I didn't even know anything about, and ran back to class.

"Wait, what?"

"Exactly. I so badly wanted to say that to his face, but his looks just frightened me." Vic and I were sitting on my bed, doing Geography homework.

"Lana, want something to eat? I just made pizza!" My 21 year old brother Jaxon called. Victoria and I smiled at each other, and sprinted down. I only lived with my brother. Our parents had died when he was 17 and I was 13, so he got a job and moved us into a small home, taking care of both of us. Jaxon was super overprotective and nosy, and sometimes, it got so annoying.

Vic and I grabbed slices, thanked Jaxon, and sat on the couch.

"So, he just like randomly spazzed on you?" She asked.

"Yeah." I frowned. "I mean, he said, 'you're not popular' and then he called me princess. Like what?"

"Future relation-"

"Oh my God!"

"What are you guys talking about?" I groaned as Jaxon came over and sat next to me, frowning.

"Nothing."

"Lana has a boyfriend."

"No I don't."

"Well, I need to know about the relationships my little sister gets herself into." Jaxon gave me a warning look.

"No, Victoria is just lying." I muttered. "It's nothing. Just something a dumb guy said to me in the library."

"Dumb guy." Victoria smirked, and I nudged her. Jaxon stared at me suspiciously, but then rolled his eyes and started watching TV.

I might have seemed calm on the inside. But later on that night, after Victoria left for home, and Jaxon in his bedroom, I thought about what Kade Lander, that dangerous bad boy, had said to me.

"Watch out for people like me. Because once you get in, you can never get out."