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Everything was a mess. Avoiding Thomas was like avoiding sleep. You couldn't. He was literally everywhere. Because of that, I kept our conversations to a bare minimum. I only spoke to him if it was about our project. Since it was due soon, we were forced to stay together. But, I made sure to avoid eye contact at all cost. I knew the moment I looked into his eyes, everything would crumble apart.

     If only he didn't kiss me like that . . . everything was going perfectly fine. Why did he have to ruin everything and do that? The way Amanda explained it, it was so simple. So, why did I feel something when he kissed me? Why was my heart beating a million miles a minute just thinking about that kiss? Why did I feel so guilty? Why was he affecting me so much? Why? This isn't suppose to happen. I wasn't suppose to feel anything. There's no way that kiss meant anything to me. No fucking way.

    I just needed to focus. Focus on the plan. Focus on all the things he did and said to you when he knew you as Isabella Ace. If he knew the real you, there's no way he would've been that nice to you. He's only being nice to you because you're skinny now. He's just pretending. He doesn't like you. So, that get through your fucking brain, Izzy. You know what he's capable of. Stick to the plan, and crush him.

    I nodded. Everything I'd done up to this point was because of that. To crush Thomas Reed and to get my revenge—Little Beauty, you're so cute.

    I shook my head. No. He didn't mean those words.

    Isabella, you and my brother are so perfect for each other. I hope you take good care of him!

    I chewed on my lips, remembering what Megan told me at her birthday party. She didn't know, no one knew. Maybe, maybe I should stop this. Is this even worth it anymore? Am I really doing the right thing by continuing this?

    "Ugh. This sucks!"

    "Isabella," Mr. Jacob yelled, ending the mini rant with myself. Crap, don't tell me I said that out loud? "Please don't say 'this sucks' to your classmates while they're trying to present. Harsh words will not be tolerated in my classroom. This is your first warning, one more and you're going straight to the office." Oops. Guess I did.

    I grimaced, sinking in my seat. "Sorry."

    "Don't apologize to me, apologize to your classmates." He pointed at them.

    I peeked in the direction Mr. Jacob was pointing towards. I can't believe I did that. "I'm sorry."

    They both shrugged their shoulders, going back to their presentation, but I could tell they were both annoyed with my 'opinion'. Truth is, I couldn't even tell you what part they're on, let alone criticize their work. I don't even remember when the presentation started.

    "What's wrong?" Thomas asked. The heat from his hand slowly creeped into my consciousness, and I pulled away, his touch burning me. He was too close—way too close for comfort.

    "Nothing."

    "Izzy," he sighed. I could tell he was finally getting fed up with my short responses. I'm surprised he tolerated it for this long. "You'd been acting strange all week. Seriously, what's wrong?"

    "I'm fine."

Lies.

    "Right." I waited for him to continue talking but he never did. When I looked at him from the corner of my eye, he was back to facing our classmates. As their lips moved, his stayed closed.

    I gulped. Oh God, his lips.

The very lips that touched mine not too long ago. The same lips that brought back a million memories in a split second. I could still remember how they felt against my own. When he kissed me, my body lit on fire and ignited a feeling I never felt before. After that, my mind fell into an unconscious state of intoxication. But, it was those exact same feelings that woke me up. The warmth that spread throughout my entire body scorched my insides, and charred what was whole. His kiss became an inferno that blew up. It was a mistake. Something that should've been avoided.

    "Thomas, Isabella, you're up," Mr. Jacob called, snapping me back to reality.

    Ignoring the flew glares sent my way—mostly from Rachel—I got up and stood by Thomas. Not wanting to accidentally touch him again, I made sure to keep a good distance between us. As Thomas held the poster board up, I motioned my hand at it. "So, um I did my report on my partner, Thomas Reed."

Seeing the approval nod from Mr. Jacob, I continued on. "For our project we decided to build a collage consisting of the things that were most important to us. For Thomas, it was his hobbies, friends, and his little sister, Megan."

"As you can see here." I pointed to the photos that made up the majority of my side. "He really likes cooking, playing basketball, and football. He also likes spending time with his best friends, Jason and Gabe." I showed the photo of them playing tackle when they were young. "He's also a big horror movie buff."

"Glancing at this, this may seem like every other teenager out there, but his undying love for his little sister sets him apart from everyone else. After his parents passed away, he moved in with his grandparents from his mother side before they also, sadly passed away. Since then, he has done everything he could to raise Megan. Seeing them together, and their special bond, I knew Thomas would give anything to protect her." I swallowed the lump in my throat when I felt his gaze suddenly on me. "Because of them, I realized there's a reason why love is invisible, why it's undetectable. It's not suppose to be seen, just felt."

    "Well," Thomas carried on, once I was done with my half of the presentation. "Now that we heard my boring sob story, we can move on." Some people chuckled at this. "So, I did my report on Izzy. As you can see by the amount of purple I put into my half of the collage, purple is her favorite color. These random paint splatters represent her love for art." Thomas leaned towards the crowd and whispered, "I'd seen her work. They're fantastic."

I blushed, not expecting that compliment.

"She was originally from Germany before her family moved to the United States when she was three years old." He pointed to a map, showing Germany and New York. "Like me, she has a little sister. Even though I haven't met her yet, I can see the love they have for each other whenever Izzy talks about her."

I directed my eyes at the ground when I felt the intensity of his stare. Even though I wanted to look up, I couldn't. I may find myself at the mercy of his pleading eyes.

"Whenever she talks about her, she gets this little sparkle in her eyes. And someday I hope to see that sparkle when she talks about me too." His voice stopped, causing the whole room to fall into complete silence. "I like you."

My head shot up hearing that.

"I like you," he repeated. "To the point that I can't stop thinking about you, Izzy." Our eyes locked for the first time since that day. "You never leave my mind, no matter how much I try. Before you, I never felt this way about anyone. This feeling." He clutched his chest. "This feeling is so strange, so new to me. It feels like my heart is surrounded by a whirlwind of emotions, begging to breathe, and yet, I feel so safe, so free around you."

"W-what?" He saw the shock register on my face before I could hide it.

A small smile danced on his lips. "You heard me. In case you still don't understand, I like you, Isabella Elizabeth. I like you, a lot."

My body went rigid when he said my full name. He actually directly called me Isabella . . .

    "I-I . . . ah, um—"

Before I could finish my thought, he snatched the poster board from me, and gave it to the teacher. "If you'll excuse us."

I backed away on impulse when he started walking towards me. His hand touched my arm, pulling me towards him. He swung me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing. "We'll be back, Mr. Jacob." Not waiting for a response, he kicked the door open, and carried me into the hallway.    

When the door slammed shut, I slapped Thomas across the chest, and demanded to be put down. But did he listen to me? Nope. He ignored my constant screaming and yelling, and continued walking. He only stopped and set me down when we were at the end of the hallway, facing adjacent to the staircase.

    "Thomas, what in the world—"

    "What's your answer?"

    "To what?"

    "My confession."

    "I, um . . . I don't know." At this point, I wasn't sure if I should say yes because of the plan, or no because I didn't want to break his heart . . . "Can I think about this?"

    His shoulders slumped. "Izzy, I already waited long enough. I can't wait another week."

    "What do you mean another week?"

    "You left me suddenly after we kissed." His voice sounded more painful than anything. "Then you avoided me all week."

    "That's because um, well . . ." I started to say, before his eyes locked on mine, and I wilted under his stare.

    "Izzy." He took a step forward and cupped my cheek. My body automatically shivered at the touch. "Please don't make me suffer anymore. Even if you say no, just tell me now. I can't stand waiting anymore." When I didn't say anything, I saw his eyes shift to the side and became glazed over. "Izzy . . ." The pain throbbed in my chest. The way he said my name felt like someone had came from behind me, wrapped their hands around my heart, and crushed the organ with all their might.

My eyes squeezed closed. Will I even be able to crush his heart after this?

I stayed head bowed, knowing the second I looked up, all thoughts of revenge would be gone. I could already feel it—the guilt. It surged my body with every expelled breath I took, consuming me entirely. But at a time like this, I couldn't be at the mercy of its whims. I needed to be strong—to take control. I couldn't be that pathetic pushover anymore. This needed to happen.

I looked up. "Okay."

    "Okay?" he asked, blinking his eyes.

    "Okay, I'll go out with you."

    His eyes lit up. "Really?"

    The moment I nodded, he picked me up and swung me around in circles, flashing me the biggest smile I'd ever seen. Even when I tried to keep my emotions at bay, I couldn't help but smile in return when I saw the smile eternally stained upon his lips.

When he sat me down, he stayed as close to me as possible. "You won't regret this, I promise," he said, as he wrapped his arms around me.

    "I better not." I smiled and gave him an impromptu squeezed back.

"You won't, Little Beauty . . ." His voice suddenly got low, prolonging each syllable. Gently, his fingers clasped themselves in my hair. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, leaving the spot burning with anticipation.

Locking eyes with me, his gaze set directly on my lips. I felt the blush on my cheeks deepened under his scrutiny, knowing exactly what he was going to do next. I hardly had a moment to react before he pressed his lips to the seam of my lips, causing my body to go stiff with surprise. His soft caress became more firm—more passionate, obliterating every thought and worru I had before. 

My eyes fluttered shut, knowing that I was in deep trouble when I kissed him back, and actually liked it.

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