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Text copyright 2012 © Evangeline Vaughn

This is my first piece, so any constructive criticism is appreciated.

A Lover's Guide to Romance

~o0o~

Chapter 1: Daphne

Scandals

"Will you stop that?" I said, annoyed. Nathan just smirked.

"What?" He asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Well, I would really appreciate it if you could stop staring at my sister's ass." Nathan laughed and turned to me and grinned.

"I can't help it if your sister's hot." I frowned and hit him hard with my textbook.

"Ouch!"

"Dude! You do not get to be attracted to my baby sister!" Again, the dumbass laughed. I couldn't see how he found this the slightest bit entertaining. My sister, Labella was fifteen years old. She was beautiful, popular, smart and jealous. It was obvious to everyone that every straight guy to ever lay eyes on her would want to get in her pants, but really, you'd think that my best friend, Nathan would at least try to keep down his excitement. Literally. I mean, sure, some little part of me likes my sister, but her existence gets on my nerves. It really doesn't help that she's a total slut. I have had my fair share of boys, but I'd be surprised if she hasn't slept with every guy at our school yet. I was just really praying that Nathan was the exception.

As Nathan and I walked to class together, the subject of my sister really started to bother me. Once, I was dating a guy named Dalton. He was nerdy and attractive enough, but I really liked him. When I told her this, she made out with him in the middle of the cafeteria, in front of almost everyone. Then, a few months later, I was going to go on a date with a guy named Lucas. I was in my room, getting ready, when the doorbell rang. Labella called out that she was getting it. Five minutes later, when I came down the stairs, I saw them kissing.

"I don't get it," I stated.

"What don't you get?"

"Well, why do guys go for Labella so easily?"

"She's hot." He said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Obviously, I knew that, but that wasn't exactly what I meant.

"I know Labella is gorgeous, but are guys seriously that shallow? I've went out with a lot of different guys, but I never did it just because of how they looked."

"Maybe guys are different from, well. You."

"Obviously …"

We arrived in class by then, and I took my seat next to Coralline. As always, she had a pretty little, conniving smirk on her face. I prepared myself for whatever scheme she had planned that day.

"Hey Daphne!" Coralline smiled now.

"You seem perky today. What's up?"

"Well, good news on the Tanner project."

"What? Did he finally say hi to you?"

"Well, he always says hi to me, but that's beside the point." Coralline told me of her plan to seduce Tanner, which would probably fail and she make a fool out of herself – again. I probably should've insisted her that it was a terrible plan, but I'd given up being a good friend to her a very long time ago. Coralline, could really be a, shall we say, interesting character sometimes. Most of her revenge, seduction and anything vindictive plans, were surprisingly successful, but it was like Tanner brought out the worst in her. She was always jealous, awkward, forward and really just annoying when it came to him.

Coralline was saying something about a pair of really sexy stilettoes by now, so I was relieved when a man walked in. He was tall and muscular. He wore suit pants and a properly buttoned white button up with a bright blue tie. The man had gorgeous, bright blue eyes and when he smiled intimidatingly to the class, he had a nice dimple. I really did love dimples. It was probably some sort of weird fetish, but I accepted it. Right as the English professor, as I assumed, was about to start, Landon stumbled into class. His tie wasn't on properly and, as always, his dark hair was a mess. He took his seat next to me. "Hey," he said quietly, with a toothy grin. "Who's this guy?"

"That's our new professor, I think." I said. When I turned back to the handsome professor, he was staring directly at me. It was an eerie stare. He wasn't smiling anymore. I locked eyes with this man. I felt kind of vulnerable in those few moments that felt like forever. We only broke eye contact when the bell rang and I remembered where I was.

"Hi class, I'm Mr Scott. I'm going to be replacing Mrs Loralei for English this year as she has just had her baby in early August and if officially on mat leave until next September …" Mr Scott didn't look me in the eye for the rest of the class.

~o0o~

At break, I was sitting on campus with Nathan, sharing a tub of ice cream that I smuggled into my dorm. Nathan was telling me about some guy he found in his house that summer, while his mother was in Italy.

"Does it disturb you that your mom's always either away or whoring around somewhere in your house, possibly your bedroom, while you're here?"

"Well, I guess I'm used to it. She's not much of a mom. My nanny took care of me. Does it bug you that you and your sister have shared at least fifty sexual partners?" I cringed.

"Don't ever say, 'sexual partners' in the same sentence involving my baby sister. Ever." It was a very nice Californian day. It was perfect really. I could imagine someone looking up to the blue sky and thinking of its beauty. I wondered how a place that could be so beautiful could be so ugly.

My train of thought broke as Coralline appeared, almost like magic in front of me.

"Mr Scott wants to see you, Daphne. Right now." I wondered why he wanted to see me, as I stood up.

"Want me to walk you?" Nathan asked, but I declined and warned him jokingly to stay away from Labella.

I walked into the classroom. Mr Scott was sitting at his desk, concentrating on a book he was reading. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, miss Hill. Seeing your English grades from last, year there has been some concern from the dean, and from Mrs Loralei. To stay at this school for second semester, you will need to improve your average drastically, so, I have volunteered to tutor you, until your grades start to read the minimum requirement of at least 82%." I nodded, quickly. I didn't want to leave this school. GAC was my home. It was where my true family was and I wasn't about to lose my only chance of happiness because of my slacking off. "Great, so you can meet me here after school hours every Thursday. How's that sound?"

"Great, Mr Scott. Thank you so much." I smiled hopefully and left his classroom. As I walked out the door, I could feel his piercing eyes follow me out. There was something strange about Mr Scott. It wasn't so much as he was creepy, he intrigued me, to the point where he was the only thing I could think about, until a petite brunette came up to me. Labella's bow lips formed a happy smile and her deep blue eyes twinkled, even in the shadow of the overhanging roof.

"Great news, Daphne!" Whatever it was, I prepared myself. Whatever was good for Bella could only be disastrous for me. "Daddy pulled some strings and we get to share a dorm for the rest of the year!" Oh, how right I was.

"Labella, I don't want to share a dorm with you. I don't even like you." Her smile started to fade, but being the phony that she is, she grinned even wider.

"Well then I suppose that you'll just have to deal with it." I rolled my eyes.

"You sound just like your mother." Labella chuckled. It was so annoying watching her laugh, it was like the happier she was, the more I wanted to bitch slap her pretty face.

"Unlike you, I love our mother. Also unlike you, she loves me back. Not to mention our father … hmm … tell me, when was the last time he looked at you?" In one quick motion that little peasant was on the ground. I didn't hesitate to start laughing like a crazy woman as her nose bled and people came to see what the commotion was. I turned and walked away with my chin in the air. My defence for punching a tiny fifteen year old? She had it coming.

Nathan was talking with about three freshmen by the time I came back to our table. They were all tall, blonde, curvaceous and beautiful girls. When I sat down, they all shot me a dirty look. I recognised the middle girl to be Labella's right hand woman. If Labella said jump, Hayley would already be in the water. "Labella was sent to the infirmary. You broke her nose!" Nathan grinned and supressed laughter.

"Oh no! What happened?" I said, pretending to be concerned.

"You punched her, you twat!" I smiled, remembering that amazing feeling. Wow. I really needed therapy.

"I did not break her nose. It was just a little bruise … and lots of blood."

"You're gross." Hayley huffed and walked away. As if on cue, Ms Tyler marched over to our table. Boy, she was not happy. As the vice principal of the school, most students were terrified of her. Although it might not always seem like it, every single student at the Gifted Academy of California is very intelligent, had 95% averages and was rich and elite. We all cared about what University we went to, how society thinks of us, and especially how much the Dean or vice principal wants us to represent our school. I was smart, elite, but I had a bad reputation. As much as Labella was a slut, she got 110% on everything, she was going to run for student body president and she would've won, had she been old enough. Everyone loved Labelle, everyone knew Labella. I did pulled a series of about forty-seven pranks in one semester, I've probably punched about eight girls, I've told my teachers to go piss themselves, and worse. The only reason I still went to this school is because my mother and father give tons of money to the school each year. The only way I could lose my education here was if my grades didn't improve. My mom had told me on several occasions that she would make sure that I would be a homeless person if my marks went down.

Ms Tyler was a tiny and plump woman but she gave off that she could ruin your life with one single phone call. She was sweet when she was angry. I hated her with a fiery passion. I flipped my long blonde hair and put on a smile as she said, "Miss Hill, I need you to come with me. I was asked by the dean to escort you to the head office. Dean Malloy would like to speak with you, personally." I looked at Nathan and he mouthed good luck. I stood up and followed her.

~o0o~

I was sentenced to a one month detention. Again. I would have to serve my time, though it wouldn't be going on my record. Like usual. I walked into the detention room and I was the only one there, except for the teacher: Mr Scott. I closed the door behind me and took a seat at a random desk. Mr Scott was reading a different book than before, but I didn't pay much attention. Mr Scott stood up and walked over to the board at the front of the class.

"Daphne. Could you please come here?" Mr Scott looked different. He wasn't smiling, but that wasn't what bothered me. His eyes followed me as I moved toward him. Now it was starting to creep me out. When I got about a few feet away from him, he grabbed my wrists and pushed me with a lot force against the white board. My head hit hard and it started to hurt. I opened my eyes and saw Mr Scott's once beautiful eyes. I was so confused and my wrists started to bruise. All I wanted to do was get out of there. At the time, I didn't understand what was happening, but my brain told me that I needed to get out of this situation. I struggled and tried to fight him off, but he was too strong. All I could think to do was scream. So I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone would hear me.

I hope you enjoyed! Chapter two will be up soon :) Please review!