The light blinded Tamara as her eyes fluttered to the first rays of sunshine burst through her window. She blinked several times before she realized where she was. Back in her room, the next day. The night was over and everything she didn't truly understand, but hoped to achieve had all fallen apart. She could vaguely remember the night before, although she didn’t remember much of it after running away from Kit and Brent. Kit's strange actions had left her confused as ever. Now, not only was she a complete fool, she was a confused one too.

How odd, she thought. She didn't usually act this way. But, she supposed that's how people in love act.

She sat up and stretched her arms. As she brought them down, they came onto a piece of paper. Knowing who it was from she quickly read through it.

Tamara, call my cell when you wake up. Kit

Frowning talking to Kit was the last thing she wanted to do, but she walked to a phone and called the memorized number. It only rang once.

"Tamara?"

Tamara coolly replied, "Kit."

There was silence for a few moments before Kit started to talk,

"Your parents weren’t home when we returned, so just lie to them."

There was more silence, neither one knew what to say. Struggling not to say something stupid Tamara spoke,

"I have to go now

"Right."

That was all that was said between them for a couple of days.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Kit lay against the comfortable pillows in his bedroom. He hadn't expected what would happen after the incident a couple of days ago. That's what he'd began calling it in his head, anyway. They hadn't really spoken. No one except her, him, and that ass knew what happened on her so-called ‘date’. He'd finally figured out that he was acting irrationally that night and of course, she had to be lying about that date. Not that he's trying to be offensive or something, it's just that she'd never seemed that social before. When they were in the halls at school, he'd never seen her speak to many people. Well, he never noticed anyhow. They hadn't really been friendly at school. Everyone would be surprised that they knew each other so well.

What if his parents never got her as a tutor for him? What if Tamara’s family moved somewhere else in town so they never really met? What kind of person would he be now? Kit shuddered at the thought.

Kit pushed himself off the bed. He stretched his body, and shook as if releasing all of his problems. His smirk slowly began to edge its way back on his face. He was glad of who he was. Tamara’s strict regiment actually had an effect on him. Kit was one of the top students at school. He figured he was fairly popular. He mostly hung out with his own crew, but whenever someone talked with him he talked back friendly enough. People tend to see him as a nice guy. Tamara, on the other hand, was a different story. She's quiet and doesn't socialize with many people. Whenever someone tried to talk to her, she was cold and uncaring back at them; but her face and her hair were the topic of many boys' conversations. She was so pretty, that girls couldn't help but want to be her. So, the boys talked about her and occasionally threw in a wannabe who they could probably score with. He'd heard people mention their names together.

"Oh, Kit and Tamara would make a great couple, dontcha think?" and "Omigosh, Kit totally looked at Tamara. You think they're together? If they aren't they should be.. They would look so awesome, omigosh"

He really never listened to that kind of talk, he had contact with her enough and never thought of actually going out with her, until now.

Speaking of contact. Him and Tamara hadn't had much of that in awhile. He wished he knew what to say. Something had to have possessed him that night. He couldn't believe how jealous he acted. He remembered in great detail of his attitude, ‘Tamara is mine’ this and talk of such ‘need’ and ‘want’. He remembered carrying her back into her house. Her body was so close; her smell so light and feathery. She bounced against him as he walked up the stairs and held her. Her hair fell onto his skin and tickled it to where he had to resist his primitive urge to tug her head up to his face and take her lips against his hard and quick. He almost did; he thought he had that right. He cared for her. No one else did. He was the one who knew her the best, and no one else took the time to do so. That's what he thought. But, he came upon the house and instead of awakening her with a searing kiss; he went to her room and dropped her where she belonged, and that was in her bed with him nearby. He didn't have a single thought as to what was going to happen next. He walked back home, the party long gone. He just fell in bed and had some rather intense dreams.

Those dreams, how incredibly confusing they were. First she was yelling wildly, looking like some cavewoman back in time. She looked so passionate in his dreams that soon he was seeing her as some sort of fallen angel. She'd become increasingly quieter and back away, as he'd come closer to her and reach. Her eyes would glare at him, just to remind him that she hadn't forgotten her fury. But still, he'd advance and she'd allow him to do so. His hands would grab her by the shoulders and somehow wind up twisting in her silky hair as he ravished her mouth. She would make these little sounds; these little pleading sounds that drove him to the brink of ecstasy. And then, she'd slowly fade away. She'd leave him there, all alone and slowly awaking from the pure bliss, all alone.

During Saturday and Sunday Tamara had come over to tutor him as normal. She had not mentioned anything of the sort of the incident. She spoke only when needed to direct him on his studies. Kit hadn’t said anything back either. But now the silence was killing him. They had to say something. He stood up and walked over to her house. He came up to her door and knocked sharply a few times. It was silent for a moment, but then he heard shuffling feet coming towards the door. The door swung open and she glared at him like she had in his dreams.

"What?" she snapped.

Kit opened his mouth and like an idiot said nothing. For some reason, he wasn't ready for that talk yet. The time when all of the feelings were confessed was not now. He didn't know exactly what his feelings were right now. The point of coming to her door was totally wasted.

"I-I…I’m hungry," he finally stammered.

Tamara smiled evilly at him.

"Then go home and make yourself something to eat. You’re not sick and I’m not your servant. Jesus, you are a slacker."

She slammed the door on his face. Kit turned around and grinned. Trust him to think with his stomach.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


When Kit and Tamara returned to school, a few things changed. The whole school had turned on the two. Tamara didn’t understand completely why people started hating her but Kit understood completely. Brent was pissed off at him for kicking his ass, so he told the school of Tamara’s ‘private lessons’ with Kit. Most of the girls hated Tamara and Kit was keeping a third eye out for the jocks to team up against him.

But even so, not a single bit of it bothered him. He has finally figured out his feelings towards Tamara and nothing was going to stop the world from knowing.

Tamara on the other hand was thoroughly confused. Kit’s complete attitude towards her has changed. He'd stay at least 3 footsteps behind her as they walked to and from school, everyday. He'd arrive to school like that and follow her to her locker. Then, he'd grin and wave goodbye until lunch. He'd even started sitting closer to her. Everywhere she went in the school hall, she could feel eyes on her, his eyes, and other peoples, whispers and nudges, and girls suddenly glaring at her. She wasn't stupid, she'd figure that Brent was mad about something, so he started rumors about her and Kit. She soon learned that the rumors were about her ‘private lessons’ with Kit. The same girls who wished her and Kit were together were now calling her a slut behind her back. It wasn't like Kit was making it any better either. Staring at her over from his lunch table and waving at her when she entered the class they had together. They never even used to acknowledge each other. What had really changed?

While she walked to school she broke out of her musings as she felt a warm hand grip her shoulder.

"Tamara, we're there..." came Kit's voice.

"I know," she snapped. She really hated looking like the fool between them.

"A penny for your thoughts?" She sighed and turned to look up at his grinning face.

"Kit, everything about me is worth so much more than a penny."

And with that she turned and walked into the building.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Kit couldn’t help himself. There must be some kind of magic at work because he just couldn’t stop grinning. Each time he thought of her, he would smile. Talking to her, approaching her, all this so he can get a rise from her and see the passionate person he was falling for. Perhaps it was just the hormones from his 17-year-old mind getting to work, or whatever. All he cared about now was her.

The bell rang abruptly and snapped him out of his thoughts. Charlie, Mitch, and Scott were sitting around him and as they walked to their lockers didn’t stop talking about random things. Kit has yet to tell them anything and they haven’t asked. They’ve noticed his change of behavior towards Tamara but otherwise don’t know anything. They figure Kit will tell them when he wants to, that is the way he is.

At his locker Kit grabbed his next class’s books when Brent walked up to him. He leaned up against the line of lockers as he glared at Kit.

"Hey man."

Kit looked up, "Oh! Brent! Nice to see you! Love the new look you’re sporting."

Brent sneered. His face was all bandaged up and his nose wrapped up from the beating he took. He looked around before leaning in close,

"You’d better watch out for yourself if I were you! And your little whore as well, rumor has it that they are going to get something soon, and it’s something they will not like!"

Kit smirked, "Oh, really? How do you know I won’t like it? I love presents!"

Brent scowled. His hands balled up to fists but he wouldn’t do anything rash at school. He just smiled.

"I just can’t have you galloping around telling every one of my methods with the ladies, now can I?"

"Oh! You mean the date rape drugs!"

Brent twitched at that and glanced around to see if anyone heard Kit. He looked back and Kit and hissed,

"Just keep an eye out you fucker! And your little wench too! I’m not afraid of you!"

Brent smirked as he walked off into Statistical Calculus. From a distance he saluted Kit, pointing to Tamara as she headed towards the same class to attend. Kit was almost positive that the threat against him was an empty threat. Brent was afraid of him and wouldn’t try anything. Kit would just travel with Charlie and the guys for a while in case a group of them attack him. The three have helped in times of need before.

But Tamara was another issue. Kit was afraid that some vindictive girls might try to do something to her. And according to how Brent acted, something was going to happen soon.

His anger must have shown in his face because a small girl with curly dark brown hair laid a hand on his arm and blinked up at him with large golden eyes.

"Something wrong, Kit?" she whispered. Kit looked down at the small angelic girl and shook his head. He moved his arm so that her hand fell off and tried to find Tamara with his eyes again. The girl noticed and looked over to where she saw a quick flash of Tamara’s familiar blonde hair disappear into the classroom. She seethed inwardly as she looked back at Kit, whose own eyes had darkened with jealousy. She gasped as Kit began walking quickly to the counselor's office. Surely he wouldn't?

Kit handed in a fat envelope full of the needed paperwork to the counselor.

"I see no reason why you think that so late in the year, you would want to change your classes. You were doing exceptionally well in Biology Lab, Kit."

He nodded at the counselor.

"I know. But, it's always nice to try something different," he replied. "I've always been curious about the calculus classes. I've taken some other classes and I feel that I would like them better. Thanks for making an exception for me and allowing me to go forth to try new things. I will always be grateful."

The counselor was completely taken aback. She usually didn’t change classes this late in the year, but there was something about the look on Kit’s face that said he wasn’t going to say no for an answer. Anyway he seemed to be a smart kid, a little too laid back, but promising.

"Alright Kit," she spoke, handing him his new schedule and beckoning to the door, "You may go."

Kit left the office and looked down at his new schedule. He knew you only had to change at least one class to offset the ones you already had. He had most of the same classes as Tamara, but at different times. That was all changed now.

He smiled, "Gotcha!"


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Tamara sat in her desk, waiting patiently for the ever-late teacher to come in and do her job when a petite girl with wide sparkling eyes and a big smile joined her.

"Tamara?" the girl asked, with an almost fake cheeriness.

"Yes?"

"Some of the girls in the restroom want to know if you could come by and help us out. Please! It'll be really great if you did, because we have a bit of a problem and you're so smart." she gushed.

Tamara tensed. She had an odd feeling that something was not all right, and that this pretty girl with shiny brunette hair was her direct lead to trouble. She would like to say no, but what if she were wrong? And, besides, if the girl was lying she definitely knew how to take care of herself. So she smiled and stood from her desk.

"Sure."

The girl stood behind her and as Tamara made her way to the door, the smile that was on her face died in an instant. She narrowed her eyes and a malicious smirk replaced the happy look that was once on her face. She followed behind her until they reached the girl's bathroom.

Inside the girl’s bathroom Tamara found herself a small crowd of girls, all looking a bit perturbed. Tamara smiled as they parted to let the apparent leader out.

"Tamara, you little slut! What kind of lessons have you been giving to Kit?"

Tamara raised an eyebrow, "I’ll never tell!"

The girls all hissed and threw nasty remarks at Tamara, but she shrugged them off. The leader scowled, "You don’t deserve him. We’ll force you to leave him!"

Tamara laughed at this, "Oh go ahead and try! You won’t know what hit you!"


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Kit sat puzzled in his chair as the teacher lectured on. The class has been going on for about 15 minutes but Tamara hasn’t shown up. Her chair was still empty and she wasn’t anywhere in the room. The teacher was a little hesitant to let him in the class, but finally just told him to sit in a corner and try to keep up.

Kit didn’t see any problems with the class, but he was more concerned about Tamara right now. He leaned over to the guy in front of him and asked,

"Hey, Tamara is in this class, right?"

The guy gave Kit a strange look,

"Dude, this is the most advanced class in the school. Of course she’s in this class!"

"Then where is she?"

"Not sure, I saw her leave with some other girls at the start of class though."

At this time the teacher’s phone rang. He picked it up and spoke a bit,

"Yes? This is him…..Yes I own a gray Honda Hybrid….What? I’ll be right there!"

He slammed the phone down and quickly told the class to continue reading page 361 while he was out. He then ran out of the room. As soon as the door closed everyone in the room began to talk loudly to each other. Kit felt a drop of sweat fall down his temple.

Oh shit!

A few giant jocks walked into the room and stood behind Brent as he approached Kit.

"I told you that you had something coming!"

Kit growled, "Where is she?"

Brent laughed, "No idea, but she wasn’t my concern. But don’t worry, that little slut will get what she had coming as well!"

Kit clenched his teeth. He glared up towards the group, "Tough talk for a guy that can’t even get laid without some date rape drugs. How many innocent girls have you drugged you freak?"

Brent growled. He pointed at Kit and shouted, "Get him! Make him pay!"

"You can’t fight on school grounds! You’d get expelled!"

Brent chuckled darkly eyeing the other kids, "I won’t, it’ll be self defense. I’ve got tons of witnesses!"

The rest of the class huddled as far away as possible as the two jocks moved towards Kit. Kit nervously backed up until his back hit the wall. The two jocks lunged forward. Kit, by reflex, jumped up onto their backs and pushed off of them to the middle of the room, slamming the jock’s heads against the hard wall.

Kit landed softly and looked back. The two jocks had knocked themselves unconscious from the impact. Kit chuckled,

"Football players should know the importance of a helmet."

He turned to Brent who was completely dumbfounded, "Your move!"

Brent snarled. He took out of his pocket a small penknife and lunged forward to stab Kit. Kit grabbed one of the 800 page Calculus books and chucked it at Brent. It slammed into his face; his nose started bleeding again. He fell to the ground and was out like a light.

"My teachers always told me math would be used for all aspects in life. I never really believed them till now."

Kit turned to the other students; "You guys will help me out, right? It was self defense?"

Some of the kids nodded.

Kit gave them a small smile, "Thanks, and have the teachers look around for the drugs I was talking about!"

With that Kit ran out of the room to look for Tamara.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


The girls advanced on her, snarling. She laughed loudly; they reminded her of wolves waiting to strike prime meat.

"You girls don't seriously believe that harming me would cause Kit to like you, now do you?"

The girls either didn't hear her or chose to ignore the extreme truth of it.

A short girl with rather chubby features spoke out; "I'd rather get you right now, anyway."

Tamara's eyebrows rose so high that they were in danger of being lost in her hairline. Was this about Kit anymore?

The girl continued to speak, "You're smart, pretty, and you've got one of the best looking guys in school all over you. You're even giving him ‘private lessons’, you little slut!"

"Our lives would be so much better if you just weren't here!"

A hand reached out and yanked her hair. Her hand went up, grabbing the arm and pulling it hard. She twisted around, causing the owner of the arm to let out a yell of anguish at the unusual way her arm was bent.

Girls reached out and attacked her in the way girls do: random punches and slaps. Tamara fought back defending herself as well as she could, but there was too many and soon she was struggling as a bunch of them held onto her limbs. Bruises formed on parts of her arms and torso from the awkward punches and slaps. Her shirt was ripped and scratches from the other girls began to bleed.

"What do you plan to do?"

The girls brought her to the entrance of a stall. One of them brought out some rope and began to tie her up.

"We’re going to make Kit hate you!"

Tamara struggled but the ropes were strong. A cut from above her eye blinded her as the blood streaked down her face, but she managed to look at the crowd. Most of the girls were just standing around looking worried and bothered. Tamara smiled inwardly.

Most of these girls were probably convinced to show up. Only three or four girls were attacking me and insulting me. The others most likely had a small crush on Kit, so they showed up, but they didn’t want it to go this far.

How sad

Some of the other girls were muttering about going too far and how Tamara has learned her lesson already. But the other girls completely ignored the others. They approached Tamara.

"Oh, look what I found!" One of the girls brought out a small knife from what seemed an art class. Before she could get any closer there was a loud shout in the bathroom.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!!"


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Kit ran around the school searching for Tamara. He remembered that guy saying she left with some other girls. This made him nervous and he ran harder. He ran by a girl’s bathroom and heard loud screeches coming from within it.

He had thought he heard a familiar voice, actually several familiar voices. Some of them who belonged in his class at this moment, but he was pretty sure were said absent.

Seems not.

He pushed open the door, expecting to find some young girl bleeding, in need of help with several nice classmates, preparing to help her out.

What a blow to find out differently.

He said something, but he couldn't quite remember what. His eyes grew darker as they passed over the guilty faces to one spitting angry and confused gold goddess.

"Tamara!"

The girls gradually moved out of the way, whispering apologies and beginning to sob. He rushed further into the girl’s bathroom and started to untie Tamara from the stall. Some of the girls began to flee, running out of the bathroom.

"Um, Kit," Tamara asked as he finally got the last of the ropes untied, "What are you doing?"

"What the hell does it look like?" he snarled. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Fighting."

"For what?"

"For you."

He tensed and glared out at the girls. Most of them had their heads down as if they were ashamed, but a few of them were still huffing and some even crying. The one with the knife was shaking so badly she dropped it to the ground.

"Kit," said the girl who had approached him earlier. "I've liked you for a long time, and all of a sudden this... this... woman gets you? You’ve been tricked!"

"She always had me. You just never knew it," he said softly. His voice was gentle, but it had a mixture of cold unforgotten anger layering it.

"But Kit…"

He stared at her. "What made you think hurting the one I love would make me like you?"

There was a gasp heard between all of the girls in the bathroom. Even Tamara's breathing hitched.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Love? Did he just say love? This was what she was waiting for, what she was confused about. The confusion at him that escalated into a slight lie a week or so ago. She couldn't fool herself. She knew that she had caused him to be so overprotective. And, well, it can’t be said that she was feeling too bad about that.

A girl ran out the bathroom crying, but Tamara hardly noticed that. They were the completely matched couple, that nobody wanted to be true. They were the ones that no one even suspected actually knew each other so well. Wait, did Tamara know Kit? She knew so much about him and how he was, more then any other girl. But the basic questions any lover should know.

What is his favorite color?

His favorite song?

His favorite movie?

Her mind drew a blank on all of those. Still, she loved the person she did know.

"Kit….."

Kit's arm tightened around her. He was well aware of what he said. It was about time she knew too. She damned well should, all those hints he'd been throwing out at her. No one would take her out to the movies, out to a club except him. He had those rights, because he was the one who knew her so well, who cared for her so much, who loved her, no other boy. Forget other guys and new experiences, she can experience them with him.

"Kit…" Tamara murmured again. She felt all the blood rushing to her head. She knew her face must have been a bright red. For some reason her vision was dimming.

He looked down at her, smiling his usual smile as if nothing out of the ordinary, or the ordinary for them, had been said. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his in a silent acceptance of his love.

And then she fainted.


~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~


Tamara awoke in a white room. The lights hurt her eyes, so she shielded them from it. After a bit she could look around. She quickly found herself in the school’s nurse’s office. She sat up in her small hospital bed and looked around.

"Oh! You’re awake!"

Tamara turned to see the nurse tending to another patient. The guy’s face was all bandaged up and blood was stained on his shirt. The nurse put down the extra bandages and turned to Tamara.

"This guy was in a fight just now, tried to jump a kid he didn’t like or something of the sort. I don’t recall exactly what the eyewitnesses said exactly. How are you?"

Tamara nodded, "Fine I guess."

The nurse smiled, "That’s good. I’m sure you fainted because of lack of sleep and food. Here, eat this and rest for a bit longer. I have a two other kids with head injuries to deal with."

The nurse put a small bowl of chicken noodle in front of Tamara and headed to another room.

Tamara was eating her soup as Kit entered.

"How are you?" he asked as he watched her finish her soup.

She swallowed as the last of bits and said nothing.

He shrugged and sat on the bed. "Tamara, you have, uh, some calc work here and well, you missed the class since you were sick and all. Doesn’t matter because the teacher’s car was…"

She looked over at the clock and noticed that only half of the school day had gone by.

"Kit," she spoke quietly. "Kit, I need to ask you something. Did you mean what you said in the bathroom?"

There was another silence before Kit stood up and moved closer to her.

"What did I say?"

She gazed at him for awhile as her eyes darkened. "You know exactly what you said."

He smirked. "Well, you know, Tamara, I did say a lot."

"This isn't games, Kit! I need to know how you feel towards me."

He smiled and sat beside her on his bed. "Well, I love you, Tamara."

She stared at him. "Kit…"

"Isn't that what you were asking? I've told you and I think it would be fair if you let me know. I don't like being in the dark either."

She looked down at her hands.

"Why did you need a date? Why couldn't you go with me?"

Her head snapped back up and her eyes flashed fury as she looked into his. "Because, Kit. I wasn't welcome here. They're your friends; you're the one they love. I needed someone. And, please, do not tell me that you would've been that person because you know damned well you wouldn't have."

He stared at her. "Of course I would have…"

"No, don't lie. Please. I don't know what changed you and I don't know if what you feel is real. But, I know in the past you did not feel this way. It doesn't make me feel any better if you deny it."

He nodded. "I can see that. I think you're right at some point. No, I didn't feel the exact way I do now, but I would've never allowed for you to go on a date with someone else. I believe I'm rather possessive. Even if I didn't show it, I'm going to let you know it's what I think everyday. I need you Tamara. Whether I knew it or not, I’ve always had these feelings for you. I’ve never realized it because I have always taken you for granted. I’m sorry about that, and that you had to feel this way about me all this time without me ever giving you a sign back. It must have been horribly painful for you to see me talk with my friends and let them insult you and not protect you in anyway. It must’ve hurt when I never showed any appreciation or care for you Tamara, and I am sorry. But you are the reason I am standing here now! I am who I am because of you! And that is that. You know I would not have those same friends if you hadn't whipped me into shape the way you do. I'd be a lazy bum, wouldn't I? Always talking of help, but never actually doing anything? What would I be without you? You’re the most important person to me!"

She felt her eyes wet and she looked back down so that he wouldn't see the threatening tears.

"Thanks Kit."

He was silent

"Tamara…you haven't told me."

He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head up so that she was once again looking at him.

"You are so beautiful."

The tears dripped down her cheeks, and he thumbed them away.

"Tamara….do you love me? Please say you do. Please."

She tried to open her mouth, but all she could manage was a nod.

"Good," he said as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She gasped and he slyly slid his tongue between her parted lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she leaned in closer and wrapped hers around his. The kiss seemed to go on forever, as passionate and fiery as it was. Kit lifted his head, causing the kiss to break. She made an unfamiliar whimpering sound at the lost of contact.

He hugged her tighter and smiled as he nuzzled her cheek. Her soft body burrowed into his chest.

"It’s a good thing there will be no gossip at school."

"I love you, Kit."

"I know."




~_~ The End ~_~