I can't fucking believe it. She coughed up blood and thought nothing of it. As if it's normal to just cough up blood all of a sudden.

But I guess her explanation made sense. She did look like she was in pain when I poked her in the morning. I shouldn't have done that. I'm such an asshole.

After leaving Lia's house, the three of us went to my house to just hang around and talk about this whole situation.

As we sit in my room, I keep glancing at Tyler; he hasn't spoken a word since we left Lia's house. And both Will and I can tell something's wrong with him. He's not been his usual self since the whole ordeal.

"Ty, what's wrong, man?" Will decides to break the silence and finally asks the question.

"Lia. – he sighs – I- uh... for a second there I thought she was being abused. And I hated it. She doesn't deserve that."

"But she said that she's not abused. Besides, she lives alone." Will explains.

"Then HOW did she get hurt? She must've been hurt really bad to cough up blood like that! And clearly she's not the clumsy type to trip and fall. I can't shake off the feeling that she's hiding something." Ty says, obviously distressed. I wonder why the sudden interest in a girl that we, apart from Will, have not even talked to before today.

"I get you, Ty. There is something. She just shrugged off the entire situation like it's nothing." I say.

"Let's change the topic guys, it's getting depressing. Who wants to go to the Cage tonight? I heard Ace is fighting." Tyler is back to his usual self again.

"I'm not sure. Ace is an asshole. He fights dirty, I'm not a fan of his." I answer, and Will just nods, probably thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, let's just hang around, maybe hit a club." Will adds with a wink.

"Alright. Maybe there will be some nice chicks to play with. – Tyler says with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. I laugh at this.

"Well, Blake is out, since he's chained now, but you and I can still have fun!" Will laughs as he high-fives Ty.

"Just because Lia agreed to help doesn't mean I have to stay celibate, assholes!" I rebuke jokingly. Well half-jokingly.

"Oh yeah, you do. She's your girl now. Are you seriously going to cheat on her on the FIRST day?!" Tyler exclaims in mock outrage.

"We are only doing this in front of my parents, guys."

"Are you? Have you explained it to her?" Will asks.

"Explain what?"

"That you are going to bang girls on the side, but pretend to be with her only in front of your parents."

"No. But I will tell her."

Will shakes his head at me.

"What?! We're just pretending, anyway!"

"You're so dumb. It's not going to work, unless you're together EVERYWHERE, not just here. What if someone sees you with a different girl and then your parents find out about the whole charade? You can't possibly keep up the act if you don't take it seriously. You will have to be seen together both at school and outside of it or your parents won't believe it." Will explains calmly, like he's talking to a child.

"Jesus Christ, why do I have to do that?!" I whine, falling back on my bed.

"Because it's the right way! Do you realize the heat this whole thing will bring? You have to be believable. We all know how quickly the word spreads around here. Your parents will hear about you getting a girlfriend in no time. You can be sure of it."

"He's right, you know. – Ty intercepts – you need to work on some backstory with Lia cause people will ask questions."

"Damn it! I should've never agreed to do it in the first place."

"Yeah, but how would you get your parents off your back then?" Will asks. Damn him for being smart.

"I don't know. Fuck. But what's done is done. At least she's nice."

"Yeah, that she is." Tyler says, his tone almost dreamy. Is he into her already?

We hear the front door open, meaning my parents are home. It only takes few seconds for my father to start yelling.

"Blake! Get your ass down here!!!" Uh-oh, he's angry.

"Ugh, sorry guys, gotta go before he comes here."

"Don't worry about it."

I leave the room and head downstairs, only so see both of my parents sitting in the living room, looking angry. What now? As I approach, my father turns towards me, and starts his rant.

"What were you doing today? We heard that you were on the other side of town, meeting some girl. Who is she? And you better not lie to me! I've had enough of this shit already. We are not going to tolerate you running around and ruining the family's reputation that we worked so hard for, by whoring around!!! So, after a long discussion, we came to a conclusion that sending you to Montana is the best choice. I can't even express how disappointed I am with you!"

They already know? The word gets around faster than I thought!

"Woah, woah, woah!!! Dad, stop!" I stop his rambling. "I'm not going to Montana! You can't do this!"

"Yes, we can. You're not 18 yet. We are going to call the juvenile center there, I know their principal, he should be able to enlist you immediately and you're going to stay there for the rest of the school year. This has been going on for too long."

I can tell by the look on his face that he's serious. Time to put the plan into action. Now or never.

"Okay, okay, just... let me explain. It's not what you think. I was at my girlfriend's house. We had a dinner and just hung around for a while." Okay, I said it. Let the interrogation begin.

"Girlfriend? – mom asks, then pauses – As in a 'relationship' girlfriend and not a 'hook up' girl friend?" She's clearly surprised hearing me say this, but I don't give a fuck now. It's a good thing Will thought about this, they were seriously going to send me away.

"Yes, mom, girlfriend, as in a 'relationship' girlfriend. I wasn't going to tell you yet, we haven't been together for long – I say, completely honest, since it's not even been a day! – but it looks like I have no other option now."

My dad keeps looking at me like he can't believe what he's hearing, and my mom just stays quiet, processing what I said.

"We want to meet her." My dad says, his tone final and leaving no room for discussion.

I sigh. They are not going to let that go now. I have to talk to Lia, fast.

"Okay, but I have to talk it over with her. I'm not sure if she's ready to meet my parents, yet."

"I don't care. You will bring her to dinner this Saturday. End of discussion. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." I say dejectedly. It leaves me 4 days to talk with Lia and get everything ready.

"Blake, honey, we just want to meet her, that's all. If you're in a relationship, we have the right to know with whom." Mom calmly states, but I can tell she leaves me no choice.

"Yeah, I know. Can I leave now?"

"Sure, honey, say hi to the boys from us."

"Will do. Goodnight."

"Goodnight honey."

I head back towards my room, my head spinning from the whirlwind of today's events.

"Will, you're a genius!" I say as I enter the room.

Guys look at me quizzically, clearly not having heard what was being talked about downstairs.

"They already found out about Lia. Someone must've seen me at her house and reported it to them. They told me they were going to send me to MONTANA as soon as possible. Had it not been for you, I wouldn't have a way out of this." I quickly ramble to the guys, their eyes widening with shock as they register what I'm saying.

"So what happened? Are you going away? TO MONTANA?!" Ty exclaims.

"Not for now. I told them I was at my girlfriend's place when they started grilling me about what I was doing on the other side of town." I tell them.

"Okay. That's good, right? They believed you. So why are you so down?" Will asks me, as I flop onto my bed.

"They want to meet her."

"That was the plan from the beginning, right?"

"This Saturday."

"Fuck!" They both exclaim.

Yeah, fuck. I'm screwed.