Your mother was a kind person. She called your school to pick you up early and tell you some news. Your house was huge, and she let a wonderful woman live with you. The worst part? That woman had a son. All you knew was that he was around your age, had a hard childhood, and had a specific personality. God, you thought. How were you going to have any privacy with a boy there? You had never lived with a man under your roof. Your mom had always been alone—your father was never in the picture.

You went with your mom to pick up your new housemates. You immediately loved the woman, Emily Mustaine. But her son? He was already giving you attitude the moment you smiled at him. He had shoulder-length orange hair, was skinny, and had just a bit of muscle—mostly veins visible on his arms. He rolled his eyes at you and muttered something under his breath. You scoffed.

His mother, though, was such a nice soul! You adored her. The boy was going to be in your class, and you hated that he immediately attracted so much attention. Somehow, he got popular right away, falling in with the school’s so-called "bad boys"—the ones always getting into fights and smoking behind the school. You weren’t exactly popular, but you had plenty of friends.

Your best friend had a crush on one of Dave’s friends—whatever his name was. You thought he was ugly as hell. Then again, so was Dave. But actually… something about him was so ugly that it was almost handsome. If that even made sense. Damn it!

When you got home, no one else was there except for you and him. You noticed he was in his room, and the smell of weed hit you immediately.

You rolled your eyes and went to his door. "Seriously? You can’t not smoke? Your mother and mine will be back soon, and you’re high as hell."

You pointed at his red eyes.

"Whatever," he mumbled, flipping you off.