It was too early to be up.

The sun had barely crept up to light the sky.

Natalya had been staring at her ceiling for half an hour, still in bed but unable to sleep anymore. It was Monday morning, early morning, and she was unsure of what to expect.

With a huff, the teenager rose from her bed. She quickly fixed it before heading to her dresser to pick out of her outfit for the day. Half an hour later, twice as long as she usually took to shower, she was out and dressed. Normally, Natalya went straight to combing her hair and bypassed the mirror, but today for some reason she stopped in front of it.

There was a slight darkness under her eyes, but nothing too noticeable. Her skin was very pale, but she was fine with that, she hardly had any reason to be out and about in the sun after all. There was a fading pinkness on the bottom of her chin, from a small pimple that had finally left after a week of having popped up.

There was a short time that she thought maybe she should curl her lashes or apply a bit of blush on her cheeks. With a horrified gasp, Natalya stared wide eyed at herself. She did not just think that! The last time she had contemplated wearing any real makeup was when she was with—with him.

"What is wrong with you?" she scowled at her reflection before she turned around.

"Oh, you are up early little sister," Kat mumbled to her pleasantly as she passed by. Natalya did not say anything back. Although, the way she slammed the door to her room spoke for her.

Natalya glanced over her shoulder for what felt like the thousandth time. She had been on edge since she arrived on school grounds. Every time she turned a corner, she expected to bump into Alfred. If she was her usual self, she would not care about bumping into the loud mouth, but since the sleepover…

She stopped the train of thought. Inwardly, the girl chastised herself for over reacting. It wasn't as if Alfred had kissed her on the lips or anything. There was a nagging at the back of her head though. Alfred was getting more daring, who could say he would not try to kiss her again? He still had a card up his sleeve as well. The two had yet to discuss the three dates Natalya had promised him.

"What are you looking for?" a voice asked behind her.

The voice belonged to the very person she was trying to avoid. She jumped a good two feet, the books and papers in her hands fell to the ground in a loud clatter. On reflex, Natalya turned around. She schooled her features into a nonchalant expression, but on the inside, there was no denying that her heart rate had spiked and her palms were clammy.

"What was that for?" the blond girl snapped while she bent down to pick up her books. Alfred frowned, maybe it was just him, but it sounded like her snarky reply was colder than usual. He bent down to help her pick up her books. Alfred noticed the girl looked more stiff than usual and was pointedly not making any sort of eye contact with him as she collected the fallen papers around her.

Alfred picked up two small novels that were closest to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Natalya said curtly. She snatched her books from his hands and returned to a standing position. Thankfully, she was able to keep her usual bored abet slightly annoyed expression she always wore on her face intact.

"Alright, just wanted to say good morning," the blond boy said with a smile. He turned around and made his way back to his usual friends. Natalya stared after him. Usually the blond made more of an effort to stick to her side like white on rice. He would pester her for minutes with mindless small talk, never before had he gotten straight to the point and left.

The rest of the week went as such. Natalya wasn't sure if she should have felt relieved or wary. Every time Alfred had those short interactions with her, Natalya felt it was the calm before the storm.

"Natalya! Nattie!" Alfred yelled on Friday after as they left for the weekend. He looked extremely excited, barely containing his joy as he rocked on the heels of his feet.

Natalya eyed him suspiciously, "What?"

Not one to be discouraged by her guarded tone, Alfred only smiled wider and declared, "I want to redeem my first date."

Icy blue eyes widened a fraction and she almost tripped over her own feet. The platinum blond's eyes unconsciously looked across the mostly empty school parking lot. Thankfully, no one was around to hear the loud boy's announcement.

"When?" the girl answered, cool and collected.

"Tomorrow," Alfred said excitedly, "All day tomorrow starting from ten to about four or five?"

Natalya had to stop herself from grimacing, "All day?"

"Yup," Alfred popped his 'p'. Just as Natalya was about to go off on a long rant about that being too long but Alfred added, "You promised me three dates."

With a disgruntled sigh Natalya gave in, "Fine."

"See you tomorrow!"

A/N: So this chapter is pretty short, but I thought I'd just get out of the way, there is a little going here but not much. Anyway I'm glad to have gotten a few new readers! Hi! Glad people are still interested in this story:) Anyway thanks for reading, reviewing, and/or favoriting! Next chapter should be up sooner than this since it was a short chapter.