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The rest of the school day passed by slowly for Nicole, maybe because there was so much in her mind that time seemed to tick by slower by the second.

Nicole trudged her way out of the school at the end of the day. All she wanted to do was go home, eat brownies and watch movies. Which is what she was going to do - up until Seth came face to face with her out in the parking lot.

Nicole raised an eyebrow watching a smirk grow on his face.

"My place, at six." He said before walking off, not leaving room for her to say anything.

Nicole looked at him walk off, confused. Why would the guy that has hated her for who knows how long, need her to be at his place? Questions filled her mind but she sighed, getting into her car knowing that it wouldn't matter.

"What was that?" Jason asked when Seth walked over to the guys after talking to - well saying four words, to Nicole.

He shrugged. "Nothing." He felt the guys didn't need to know because if he explained his and Nicole's truce to them, he would have to explain what he knew about her. The whole part of the truce was him keeping quiet so he decided to keep it to himself.

Before the guys could question him any further, he waved them off and headed to his car to leave.

"What is going on?" Parker mumbled, confused as he looked between Jason, Logan, and Seth driving away.

"No idea," Jason rubbed the back of his neck, furrowing his eyebrows. They were all equally confused, not sure what was going on with him and Nicole; first leaving at lunch to talk and then him saying something to her now.

"Something's up with him and Nicole," Parker noted.

Jason turned and glared at Parker. "That would never happen."

"And what if it did?" Parker smirked, amused when he noted Jason's sudden annoyance at the comment.

"It wouldn't!" He retorted, not having much argument.

"Why would you care?" Logan spoke up, raising his eyebrows.

"I-I... I wouldn't. No." Jason scoffed, looking away from his friends.

"I think you already care," Parker said, laughing at the irony because him and Nicole apparently hated each other so Jason being jealous was mildly amusing.

"Why would I care about Seth with Nicole?" He scoffed, shaking his head in denial.

"Well, considering you just called her Nicole when you always call her by her last name..." Logan grinned, answering smartly.

"What? No I d-don't..."

"Yes you do," Parker nodded.

"You guys are teaming against me!"

"Why would we, now?"

"B-b-because..." Jason trailed off, not having an answer and starting to feel pressured and intimidated.

"There's more to life." Parker and Logan finished, in unison causing Jason to glare at the two of them before he groaned and stormed off to his car getting more laughs out of his two friends.

❀

"Why are you so quiet?" Drew asked his sister as the two of them sat in the living room in front of the TV. He looked at her with analyzing eyes, finding it easy to see she was off.

Nicole glanced over at him for a split second before shrugging and looking back at the TV screen.

"That's not an answer, Nicole." Drew quirked an eyebrow. He knew he too well to simply let it go.

"It is, just not a verbal one." She told him.

"What happened to my cheery and loud sister? For the last months you've been so... quiet." Drew frowned, not liking this. He knew something had to be wrong with her because she had changed noticeably in the last little while.

Nicole looked at her brother and sighed as she sat up. "I'm sorry Drew, I've just been... caught up with school work, I guess. I've just gotten more into actually doing my own thing rather than focusing on friends and other people... I guess."

She didn't know how to explain it to him because she had secrets she couldn't tell him. She had gotten involved in something she couldn't get out of - the secret Seth found out about. No good would come from telling Drew about it.

Drew nodded. "Anything you said doesn't really add up but it's cool. If you want to talk though, I'm always here." He didn't want to push her or force her to tell him anything, he assumed it was just normal high school drama.

Nicole glanced at the clock to see that it was quarter to six so she stood up.

"Where you headed to now?" Drew asked.

"A... friends house. I promise I'll be home on time today," she assured him before grabbing her car keys and heading out.

Within a few minutes, she had reached Seth's house bringing back old memories.

"You're it!" A younger Nicole exclaimed as she tagged Seth on the shoulder.

"But I was just it," he groaned.

Nicole sighed. "Jason's hiding behind the counter," She told him, deciding to help him out in their game of tag.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Jason exclaimed, coming out from his hiding spot when he heard Nicole tell Seth where he was.

"You told him where I was too!" Nicole retorted.

Just then, Parker came out from his spot from under the table.

"Okay, okay, how about both of you are it?" Parker suggested, trying to continue the game.

Jason and Nicole both looked at each other before sharing some toothy grins and starting to count. Once they had counted to 30, they uncovered their eyes.

"Where could they be?" Nicole thought aloud.

"Parker went in the backyard," Jason said, grinning.

"How do you know?" Nicole furrowed her eyebrows.

"I looked," he shrugged, admitting he cheated in the game and not phased by it.

"But that's cheating, Jay!" Nicole gasped, her eyes going wide.

"Shhh, Nik. It's just a game," he grinned before motioning towards the back door.Nicole sighed as she gave in and followed him.

"Together?" Jason asked her.

Nicole smiled and nodded. Jason stuck out his hand which Nicole grabbed with her own as the two ran behind the shed, hand in hand, and yelled 'boo!' Causing Parker to shriek and jump out from his hiding spot.

Nicole sighed as she got out of her car and made her way to the front door. She tapped her foot after ringing the doorbell and waiting for the door to open which it then did, revealing Seth.

"Ah, hello Nicole," he grinned, enjoying this already.

"I'm coming in," she muttered, before pushing past him and stepping inside the house, wanting him to see she was annoyed.

Seth raised an eyebrow. Nicole looked at him and simply shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.

The two of them stared at each for a minute before Nicole sighed and stepped back out onto the porch. She was too kind to act rude like that though it really wasn't even a big deal at all.

"Can I come in?" She grumbled.

"Aw, I knew you couldn't do it," he smirked.

"Can I come in?" She repeated, unamused.

"I thought you'd never ask," he winked as he moved aside, letting her come in to his house.

"So why exactly am I here?" Nicole asked awkwardly as she followed behind him, Seth going upstairs.

Seth opened the door to the familiar room - his room as he held it open in front of him motioning Nicole to go in. She narrowed her eyes at him before walking in and awkwardly looking around, not knowing if it was a good idea to sit or not.

"You can sit," he told her a second later as if he had read her mind but Nicole stayed where she was.

"If this is because of the d-"

"It isn't what you're thinking," Seth cut her off. "Though... since you're already thinking about it, maybe we cou-"

"Don't even finish that," Nicole rasped, narrowing her eyes. She held an impassive look on her face, not amused or in the mood. She was beyond irritated and tired and did not want to have to deal with Seth and this truce on top of everything else she was dealing with already.

Seth smirked as he grabbed a bunch of papers off his desk before motioning Nicole to sit down which she finally did.

"You actually made a contract?" She asked in disbelief as she look at the stack of papers he handed her which were titled

'The contract of Seth's lodging'

"Lodging?" Nicole asked in dubiety, scoffing a little at how insane this was.

"Sounded cooler than bedroom," he shrugged calmly.

"Okay. Anyways, what's the point of this?"

"Well, this makes our deal -" que Nicole's cringe, " - official."

"You mean, I'm officially signing up to be your slave?" She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows.

"If that's how you want to put it, then yes." Seth nodded.

"What exactly... is written in here?" Nicole asked as she flipped through the many pages of small font. She wasn't going to read all of this now and didn't even know if it was bullshit to start with but still wanted to know what she was getting into.

"Just the terms and conditions of both of us making this truce." He answered, keeping it short and simple.

"You said it was a deal."

"Either way, it's the same thing." He shrugged, rolling his eyes a little at her comment.

"Also known as synonyms," Nicole pointed out, just trying to mess with his head a little.

"Well... yeah?" Seth muttered, confused. Nicole smirked seeing as her mind tricks worked.

"Anyways," Seth coughed. "It basically states how as long as you do what I say, I'll keep your little 'confidential information' hidden away from the light of day. There are some other terms, like how you wanted to be clear on not getting forced - or told (by myself) to hook up with me, just to make it fair and professional, for your sake. And well, I'll get you to sign the papers... though I have to add that I would love to take article 6 on page three out," he smirked. Nicole then flipped to the page and read over the article.

"Though Nicole must do as I, Seth Lee, say, as I keep her secret to myself, I, Seth Lee am forbidden to make any move on Nicole, use her as a sex toy, or touch her in any sexual - more than friends way or force her to do anything she isn't comfortable with which is under the intimate category." She read aloud, sighing deeply. "What if I'm not comfortable doing something else but it's in a different... uh, category?"

"Next article," Seth told her. "It states that I also cannot make you do other things you aren't comfortable with - as long as you have a acceptable reason as to why you aren't comfortable with doing whatever it is."

"What if I'm not comfortable sharing why?"

"You get what I mean," he said impatiently, not finding it too deep to go over every minor detail.

"Okay..." Nicole nodded, reading some parts of the contract.

"Ready to sign?"

"Wait," she looked at him. "Technically this means that I could be your 'slave' for as long as one of us lives." She narrowed her eyes, realizing there was no time line on this. She knew eventually it wouldn't matter but still, it worried her because she was able to pull all the strings here.

"I guess that's true." He smirked.

"I am not signing my death certificate," she muttered. "You can hold this against me my whole life, contract or no contract, really."

"Yes, but page 10, article 22, you can see that the most I'll do this is until we graduate high school."

"Why just until then? Though it's still two years," She kept her eyes narrowed on Seth, not understanding where his mind was with all of this though he really had thought it all out.

"It makes sense," he told her, shrugging. "After high school we'll both go our own ways, go to different universities and making our own futures so what am I going to do revealing it then? High school is different since I could ruin your reputation, friendships, any of that. Plus, it gives me my own little minion," he winked.

"You could still hold it against me though," Nicole stated, ignoring his enjoyment as he spoke.

"Could, but won't." He said bluntly.

"But w-"

"Nicole, if you do read it then it states that when this contract is ripped, by me, then I won't speak, bring up, or mention anything in this contract, anything that is related to or has to do with it. Also that after that, you'd be off the hook." He told Nicole. "It states that it's done the day we graduate unless I decide to make it vanish anytime before that."

"So I have to wait between the span of two years for you to let me off the hook?"

Seth shrugged. "It's all in front of you, angel."

Nicole sighed, scanning the contract once more before placing it done on the bed and looking at Seth.

"Where the pen?"

Seth smirked again, as he handed her a pen and showed her where to sign.

"I'll get you your copy shortly," he told her, grinning a wide grin. He saw this whole thing as fun and games. Nicole simply agreed because she didn't want to have to worry about Seth revealing her secret and now he wouldn't, as long as she did whatever he needed and really, what was the most he would ask from her anyways?

Nicole sighed.

Underneath the facade Nicole had one, there was a face nobody could see. Seth had discovered that hidden part of her. All she could think about was how he could reveal that at any moment and how much everyone would change the way they looked at her... but at least it would be a whole lot more like her real self.