-

Nicole's first period Algebra 2 class was with Jason. She had third period English with Seth, then fourth period World History with Logan and her last period PE class with Parker. The only periods she had without the group of boys was second and fifth, and if you wanted to include lunch. Much to her dismay, it was still better than nothing though Nicole wished she had more time to spare without them.

After the morning run-in with Seth, she felt un-easy all morning. She was more quieter than usual and during first period, when Jason did his usual insulting and irritating, she just ignored him, not even bothering to muster up a single insult back to him.

"How's my palm tree standing up?" Jason smirked as he stood in front of Nicole's desk after walking into the classroom.

Nicole ignored Jason, keeping her head in her hands.

"Aw, c'mon Nicole. You're being no fun," he fake frowned. Once again, Nicole ignored his comments.

"Why so out of lately?" He narrowed his eyes, finding her manner unusual because she never refrained from telling him to screw off.

When she didn't reply, he tried again.

"I'm basically giving you a free and extra opportunity to insult me."

That caused Nicole to look at him but she didn't even glare at him, she simply looked at him with a straight face before turning and looking down at her desk, busy doodling on her paper.

"Whatever," Jason grumbled knowing there was no use. He was confused as to why she was all of a sudden acting so different but he decided to leave it though the thought of what was going on didn't leave his mind for a split second.

She rarely understood algebra anyways and with her head being filled with so many thoughts, it didn't help at all. This only stressed her out more since she was already sure she would end up failing this class.

After thinking all morning and wracking her mind about what to do, she finally knew what she had to do later when the bell for lunch rang. She walked into the cafeteria but instead of taking her usual seat at a table with Serena, she walked right past Serena and walked over to where the boys were sitting. Serena gave her an odd look as she walked to the boy's table which was two tables over from Nicole's usual table.

Nicole stood in front of the table where the four boys were seated. Logan's eyebrows pulled together in confusion while Parker quirked an eyebrow, amused because he thought whatever was about to happen would be interesting. Seth smirked, knowing he got to Nicole and she was here to talk to him. Jason simply narrowed his eyes, unsure as to what she would want and also confused because of how quiet she had been lately which made it harder for him to understand why she would be here.

"Why are you here Pal-"

"Can I talk to you, Seth?" Nicole asked bluntly, ignoring and cutting off Jason. She was feeling more uneasy when she actually stood here but managed to ask before she could chicken out. Her body was about to start trembling from being so anxious but she held her ground.

Seth stood up, the smirk still plastered on his face as he nodded and followed Nicole out of the cafeteria. Not only getting odd looks from Serena and the other boys, but also from the whole cafeteria since everyone knew who Seth was and who his friends with, also knowing the hatred between Nicole and the boys.

"What was that about?" Parker asked, his eyebrows still pulled together in confusion.

"No idea," Jason grumbled under his breath as they watched the two leave the cafeteria. He was irritated for some reason.

Meanwhile, Nicole and Seth made their way into an 'abandoned' hallway in the school. It was upstairs in the east wing of the school where there was an old computer lab and library that was no longer in use. The computer lab was old and trashed and never had gotten renovated because the school had multiple other computer labs so it didn't make much difference. The library was dusty with tons of old books that nobody ever bothered looking at so eventually, all the students ended up calling it the 'abandoned hallway'.

Nobody ever bothered to come up here because of all of the rumours and ghost stories people had made because of this hallway, and of course, because of the vulnerable morons people were, they started to believe all those rumours and now, nobody ever dared to come up here.

"Why do you need to talk up here?" Seth asked, leaning back on some empty, rusty old, dented lockers as he looked at her in amusement.

Nicole shrugged because she didn't have an answer to that. She just wanted to go somewhere nobody would overhear them.

Seth smirked. "Okay. What do you need to talk about?""

"You were lying," Nicole muttered, narrowing her eyes at him. She was telling herself more than telling him, really.

"Are you sure about that?" Seth asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well... no." She sighed, feeling a sense of defeat. She wanted to convince herself that he didn't know anything but he wouldn't have brought it up if he didn't see her last night.

"Would you like me to spread the news? Because I'm sure you would ge-"

"No!" Nicole exclaimed, cutting him off. Worry took over all her emotions, becoming the only thing that she could feel. "I mean... it isn't what it seems like," she stuttered, nervous and unsure of how to get out of this mess.

"Really?" Seth raised an eyebrow, not convinced. "Because even if it isn't true, people still believe rumours, you know."

"You wouldn't." Nicole glared at him. She didn't want to believe that he was low enough to start spreading rumours about her that would change the way everyone looked at her.

"What do I have to loose?" He retorted calmly, still amused at the situation because he had the upper hand and wanted to take advantage of it.

Nicole opened her mouth but shut it when she didn't have anything to say. What was she suppose to say? He was right. He really didn't have anything to loose or anything stopping him from telling everyone about her secret.

"Nothing," she said quietly, looking down at the ground.

"Exactly," he nodded. "But..."

"But what?" She looked at him again, hoping he was about to make a compromise and tell her he wouldn't say a word.

"I am willing to make a truce," He grinned smugly. Nicole cringed at the word, wincing a little and suddenly feeling very small.

Nicole thought for a minute when she realized this may be the only way he would leave her alone so she gave in, "What is it?" She narrowed her eyes.

"You have to do whatever I say for as long as I say. As long as you do so, I won't spill your secret." He explained to her, shrugging a bit.

Nicole narrowed her eyes at him, again. "So you want me to become your slave in order for you to stay quiet about your newly founded information?"

Seth nodded. "Basically, I just prefer to call it a secret,"

"It's not a truce if both the people don't agree," Nicole pointed out, her face impassive. She hated him very much in this moment for doing this to her.

"Fine then, call it more of a deal, then."

Nicole's breath hitched in her throat which Seth didn't fail to notice - except he didn't say anything about it.

She sighed until she slowly nodded. "Fine - though I still don't completely agree."

"Good." He smirked, as usual.

He stuck out his hand. Nicole looked at his hand before slowly grabbing it. Seth looked at her with a quirked eyebrow as she held his hand, slowly shaking it - causing Nicole to awkwardly pull her hand back, and then take a step back, away from him.

"I guess we have a deal," he grinned, just as he turned around and was about to walk off but Nicole stopped him.

"Wait," she called out. "Can I make it clear that by 'doing whatever you say', I'm not becoming your little whore toy."

Seth nodded. "I'll get a contract made if that will help you sleep at night."

Nicole glared at him, annoyed with the fact that the stupid smirk wouldn't leave his face.

"I'll see you after school," he said before walking off leaving Nicole standing there completely lost and confused with thoughts whirling through her head.