Six o’clock on Tuesday morning came a little too soon for Taliana’s taste.

After two and a half months of freedom, it was finally time to return to the hell better known as school. In exactly two hours, she would be sitting amongst all the other trust fund babies that filled Georgetown Trinity to the brim, and she certainly wasn’t looking forward to it.

With a groan, she slapped at her bedside table to silence her alarm and stumbled out of bed to face the day. It took a good half-hour-long shower for her to wake up enough to realize she needed to get her ass in gear if she didn’t want to be late for homeroom, so after quickly toweling off, she scurried out of the bathroom to search for something to throw on. It was then Taliana spotted what looked to be a uniform on her bed, a souvenir someone must have deposited there while she was in the shower.

In the six years she’d been away from Trinity, she’d completely forgotten there was a uniform involved. Back in LA, she’d been free to wear her normal attire of shorts and t-shirts to school, but it looked as if those days were over. But the ensemble didn’t seem too bad: a simple white button-down shirt, blue plaid skirt, tie, and a blazer. While it wasn’t the best, it was definitely a step up from the awful pinafores they’d been forced to wear throughout elementary school.

At least, that was what she thought until she actually put it on.

Taliana didn’t even have to look in the mirror to know she looked like the clichéd, dirty Catholic school girl. While the shirt and blazer were fine, the skirt was absolutely horrific. If the little detail that it was a skirt wasn’t bad enough, the fact that it barely fell to mid-thigh made her wonder if someone was playing some sick joke on her.

The thing was mere centimeters away from being indecent, and there was no way she’d ever be able to bend over in it. Squatting was definitely out of the question too, as was kneeling, causing her to question what she was supposed to do if she dropped something. Even walking too fast seemed like a bad idea, seeing as the fabric had the tendency to fly up even with the slightest breeze. Most days, Taliana didn’t mind being tall, but it sure made wearing certain clothes—like this skirt—pretty damn miserable.

Grumbling, she grabbed her bookbag, the blue-and-silver striped tie, a pair of black slip-ons, and stalked out of her room to join everyone else in the kitchen. In the chaos that was breakfast time in the Avilla household, Taliana didn’t expect anyone to notice her entrance. That morning, however, all eyes turned to her.

Though the TV was blaring in the background, it seemed like everyone had been stunned to silence. Katherine’s jaw had practically hit the ground, the twins were giggling behind their hands, and Taliana’s father looked uncomfortable.

“Is it really that bad?” Taliana questioned, even though she already knew the answer. “I could maybe throw on a pair of leggings underneath.”

“Leggings?” Marissa scoffed while her twin shot Taliana a disgusted look. “Um, ew. Besides, it’s like ninety degrees outside. You’d burn up in those.”

“Yeah, but you can practically see my cooch,” Taliana pointed out, tugging on the hemline. “I’m going to end up flashing everyone.”

Taliana’s father groaned and ran a hand over his face. “That’s not something I want to hear from my daughter.”

“Not something I really want to do either.” Taliana gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I think I’m shit out of luck until I can go buy some bike shorts though.”

“Language,” he warned tiredly, obviously not as concerned with her cursing as he was with the length of her skirt. “I suppose you girls should get going. You don’t want to be late on the first day.”

“Can I just stay home?” Taliana proposed, smiling hopefully. “You know, until I get a new skirt?”

“As much as I don’t want you leaving the house wearing that, you still have to go, kiddo.” He eyed Taliana’s outfit in distaste before meeting her gaze again. “Just don’t get arrested for indecent exposure, please.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll try my hardest not to.”

“Good,” he said, nudging her toward the door. “Now get out of here, all of you.”

After grabbing a granola bar off the counter, Taliana followed Vanessa to her car and crawled into the backseat. For the entire fifteen-minute drive, Taliana tried to stretch the fabric of her skirt enough to maybe give her another centimeter. Hell, she was so desperate that even a millimeter would have been good enough. Sadly, by the time they turned into the parking lot of Georgetown Trinity, she had little to show for her hard work.

“God, I missed this place,” Vanessa announced as she helped Taliana out of the car, looking happier than anyone should have been on the first day of school. “Well, I missed the people at least.”

Taliana frowned and glanced toward the front steps where students in identical uniforms were milling around, greeting each other after a long summer break. Though she wasn’t exactly new—hell, she probably knew most of the other seniors from back in the day—she still felt out of place enough to want to run in the opposite direction.

“Come on,” Marissa urged, tugging on Taliana’s tie. “Let’s go inside.”

If Taliana had the option of staying in the car for the rest of the day, she would’ve done it without hesitation. Unfortunately, she found herself being dragged across the parking lot toward the school. Marissa released her a few seconds later and then shot her a steely look.

“Try not to embarrass yourself today,” Marissa warned. “I’m a cheerleader this year, and the girls on the squad will totally tease me about anything stupid you do.”

Taliana had to suppress a laugh at how serious she was. “I’ll try my best.” She swung her gaze to Vanessa. “What about you? Will anything I do to embarrass myself affect you?”

Vanessa scoffed, waving a hand to dismiss the idea. “Oh please. Like my debate team cronies will even care.”

A bell sounded inside the building, causing the groups lingering outside to move toward the front doors. With one last hard look in Taliana’s direction, Marissa turned and ran off squealing toward a group of girls with pink ribbons in their hair. Vanessa and Taliana shared a quick chuckle before Vanessa patted her on the back and took her leave with a handsome blond boy wearing thick-rimmed glasses. After both disappeared, Taliana fell into the flow of traffic and entered the unfamiliar hallways of Georgetown Trinity’s upper school.

She’d received her schedule a few days ago and had memorized her first couple of classes. After homeroom with Mr. Jones, it was off to English with Ms. Cohen, then to AP Latin with Mrs. Guston. It wasn’t a terrible morning schedule, but she certainly wasn’t looking forward to any of it.

She found her homeroom with little difficulty and settled into a desk near the back. The only people who even bothered to spare her a second glance were a few of the boys, whose eyes lingered longer than they should have on her legs. The final bell rang a minute later, and the teacher who’d been sitting behind his desk struggled to his feet with a clipboard in hand.

“You know the drill,” he said as he fumbled with the papers. “Say ‘here’ when I call your name. Adams, Jessie.”

“Here,” a redhead in the front row squeaked.

Mr. Jones marked the paper. “Alton, Gage.”

“Here,” was the bored reply from a gangly boy a few seats down from Taliana.

“Avilla, Taliana.”

“Here,” she called, causing a few stunned heads to turn her way.

Taliana tried to ignore the stares, choosing instead to busy herself by drawing random patterns with her fingertip on the desktop. A whisper passed between two girls in front of her, bringing on a bout of giggles.

“Ladies, please,” the teacher scolded, making the two fall silent. “Bryant, Maxwell.”

And just like that, Taliana was out of the spotlight again. No one was staring at her anymore, but a couple phones had been whipped out, their owners furiously texting. The unmistakable sound of a phone camera came from the girl beside Taliana, who blushed and put away the device when Taliana shot her a glare. Apparently, she was some sort of celebrity around here, famous enough to get her picture snapped by the resident paparazzi.

She already couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Homeroom ended not long after, and Taliana left as soon as she could. This time, however, there was a noticeable difference when she entered the busy hallways. Stares followed her and whispers sprung up, and she had a feeling they weren’t just talking about the length of her skirt.

“I can’t believe she's actually back,” Taliana heard someone murmur as she passed by.

“Didn’t she get expelled back in sixth grade?”

“Guess they took her back. I wonder if Sebastian knows.”

Taliana sunk her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from cursing. She’d almost forgotten she needed to keep an eye out for him, since running into Sebastian was the last thing she wanted to do. Now that she had her ring back, any contact with him was absolutely unnecessary and would probably bring about pain for both of them, physical and emotional.

Luckily, Taliana was able to breathe a sigh of relief when she breezed into Ms. Cohen’s classroom without having seen Sebastian anywhere. Most of the class had already taken their seats, leaving two empty desks side by side near the door. Taliana took the one on the inside and dropped her bag, this time occupying herself by fiddling mindlessly with her phone. The bell signaling the start of first period sounded just as the last person slipped inside the room and took the seat beside Taliana. Curious to see who the latecomer was, she glanced to her left, expecting to see an unfamiliar face.

It was anything but.

“Oh god, not you,” Taliana groaned, staring into the face of none other than Sebastian Phillips.

It took a second for him to register who she was, but a scowl soon made its way to his face. “This has got to be some sort of joke.”

“I’m just as unhappy about this as you are,” she hissed, turning away from him. “Don’t talk to me and we’ll be fine.”

“All right, people,” Ms. Cohen began, choosing the perfect time to interrupt. “I recognize most of you, so we’ll save roll call until the end of class and just get started.” The young teacher pushed a few books aside and perched on the edge of her desk. “This year we’re going to be putting the buddy system into effect. This person will be your partner for the two group projects we have this year, so hopefully you’ll work well together. Rows one and two, get to know whoever's sitting next to you, because you’re now partners.”

Taliana’s head hit the desk with a bang and a loud groan came from the asshole next to her. This was just her stupid luck.

Out of the corner of her eye, Taliana saw the teacher raise an eyebrow.

“Is there a problem I should be aware of?” she asked, turning to Taliana and Sebastian.

Taliana lifted her head off the desk and shot her a pleading look. “Ms. Cohen, unless you really want to witness a bloody brawl every morning, it would probably be a bad idea to pair us together.”

“A very bad idea,” Sebastian concurred. “If you weren’t aware, this is the girl who tried to kill me back in sixth grade. I don’t think anyone would blame me if I said I fear for my life every time she’s in my presence.”

Of course he had to use the same argument every damn time.

Taliana threw her hands up as she turned to him. “I didn’t try to kill you!”

“You hit me with a baseball bat!”

“Only because you punched me!”

“You pushed me first!”

“Well, you were badmouthing my mother!”

Sebastian looked too smug for Taliana’s taste. “Yeah, but you were the one who started the actual fight.”

“Don’t even think about putting all the blame on me.”

“Too late for that, Stick Girl.”

Taliana saw red, and hearing her past nickname wasn’t making anything better. “Stop calling me that!”

A taunting smirk found its way to his lips. “What are you gonna do to stop me, Stick Girl?”

“Oh, I’ll show you what I'm gonna do about it, Cry Baby.”

She lunged for him, but he narrowly missed being sacked to the ground by sliding out of his seat just in time. However, she stopped short on a second attempt when a furious Ms. Cohen stepped between them.

“That’s enough!” she shouted. “Headmaster’s office, now!”

***

“I wish you had never been born.”

“I wish you’d never been conceived.”

“I wish you would just drop dead.”

“I wish I could ki—”

“Enough!” a voice bellowed, causing Sebastian to glance up in time to see Headmaster Hawthorne shuffle into the office where he and Stick Girl had just been bickering.

It had been years since Sebastian had been in the headmaster’s office. Not that he stayed out of trouble, but nothing he’d done was bad enough to warrant the attention of teachers. However, now that he was sitting there next to Stick Girl in her indecently short skirt, it was looking as if this was going to become a common destination for him.

“Something told me you two would end up in here today,” Hawthorne continued, “but I didn’t expect you this early. It’s not even nine o’clock!”

“It’s his fault,” Stick Girl grumbled, sliding Sebastian a dark glare.

He was in absolutely no mood to put up with it. “Fuck off.”

“Mr. Phillips!”

Sebastian mumbled an insincere apology to the headmaster and slinked lower in his seat.

“This is an absolute disgrace,” Hawthorne huffed, moving to his large leather chair and taking a seat. “Never in my thirty-eight years of teaching have I seen a pair of students behave like this.” His gaze went to Stick Girl. “Miss Avilla, you’re lucky we accepted you back into this school after being expelled. Your parents assured us you had changed, but it seems like you’re exactly the same!”

Sebastian smirked, taking pleasure in her scolding. However, Hawthorne noticed and turned his angry gaze in Sebastian’s direction.

“And you, Mr. Phillips, are no better! In the past I’ve turned a blind eye to your behavior because of your family’s support of the school, but I can no longer do so. Your treatment of other students is appalling to say the very least, especially Miss Avilla! I’m not sure what your problem is with each other, but this must end.”

Taliana rolled her eyes and fixed the headmaster with a frank look. “This will never end, Headmaster Hawthorne. We just don’t get along.”

The man lifted a bushy eyebrow. “And why is that?”

Sebastian watched as she shrugged, unable to come up with an answer. Hawthorne then looked at him for some sort of response, but Sebastian raised and lowered his shoulders as well. At least they could agree on something.

Hawthorne blew out an exasperated breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Wonderful,” he mumbled, leaning back in his chair. “Well, since you two can’t seem to give me an answer, I’ll allow you to think about it. How does a day of in-school suspension sound?”

The two groaned, both objecting to the torture.

“But, Headmaster—” Sebastian tried to protest.

"Make that two days."

“Oh, come on!” Taliana exclaimed.

“Three days with both of you in the same room, and five days of after-school detention next week.”

Stick Girl opened her mouth to protest, but the headmaster cut her off. “Another word and I’ll tack on a ten-page essay about the consequences of violence. Don’t tempt me.”

That was enough to get her to shut her mouth.

“Good.” He rose from his chair and opened the door for them, a signal that this torturous meeting was over. “Report to room 132 after homeroom tomorrow. Except for lunch, you are not to leave the room. Am I understood?”

Together he and Stick Girl mumbled, “Yes, Headmaster.”

Hawthorne motioned toward the door. “I’ll contact your parents and inform them of your punishment. Now, go back to class. I don’t want to see either of you in here again.”

As much as Sebastian wanted the same, he had a nagging feeling this was just going to be the first in a long series of incidents. And he couldn’t wait to find out how it would all end.