Blake

After Lia leaves, I go to the living room, where my parents are. I'm about to enter, but my mom's words stop me dead in my tracks.

"Did Lia really do that to that boy? I have never seen anything like that." She sounds worried and shocked.

"What do you mean? I heard only about his arms, when her father asked her about it." My dad implores.

"His arms, oh god. – mom sighs – They were broken in twelve places, then ripped out of their sockets. His face was completely reconstructed, he will have to go through plastic surgery to fix that, if it even can be fixed, 7 of his ribs were broken and his knee was shattered. If someone told me it was a 16-year-old girl who did that to him, I would never believe it. He looked like he was ambushed by a gang and beaten to the brink of death!" My mom's words leave me stunned. I had no idea Lia beat that fucker up this bad. I decide I'm done eavesdropping, so I come in.

"Oh, sweetie! How are you feeling?" My mom exclaims when she notices me. Dad, on the other hand, watches me with a questioning look, as if waiting for me to snap at him again.

"I'm feeling fine, mom." I say before going to sit on the couch next to her.

"I can tell, - she smiles teasingly – you actually let Lia leave." She giggles, making me shake my head.

"Yeah. – I sigh – By the way, I'm sorry about snapping at you, dad." I apologize, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugs it off. "I realized something was going on, but I figured Lia would take care of you."

"But what exactly happened? I know for a fact that the pills you were prescribed should not have such effect." Mom asks, concerned.

"I don't know, mom. I got so... confused. I was sure that dick got her. When the guys took me to the hospital, they left her alone with him. And after I took the meds, I felt extremely weak physically and everything was just mixed together. – I turn to my dad – When I snapped at you at dinner, my head was filled with the image of that fucker putting his hands on her like he did that morning." I explain with a deep frown, remembering how Declan grabbed Lia.

"What?" Dad's eyes widen in surprise.

"Yesterday I caught him grabbing Lia when she was taking out her stuff from our locker." I remind him. He has actually heard about before, when Lia was explaining to her dad.

"Our locker?" Mom basically ignores everything else, deciding to comment on this one part.

"After that fucker left the first letter at her locker, we moved everything to mine, so no one would go through her stuff. She's really organized, so we easily managed to fit everything in." I finish with a chuckle.

"You two are so cute." Mom grins happily. "But back to the serious topic, I want you to continue to take Lia's pills, not the ones you were given at the hospital. I don't want to risk it." Mom's back in doctor mode.

"I agree. I'm not sure we want to deal with you in that state." Dad laughs.

"Thanks, dad." I retort dryly.

The next days are pretty much uneventful, and if it weren't for Lia coming over after school, I would die of boredom. We don't really do much when she's here, since I'm recovering. Lia organizes her notes on my computer, we have a dinner with my parents and just hang around. The best part of my day is when my girl takes care of me. She rubs that damned ointment on my bruises, wearing a face mask to hide from that menthol smell that triggers her allergy. I laughed at that once, which earned me a harsh massage, making me apologize immediately. My girl is so abusive.

"Stop moving! You'll get hurt more!" I'm brought from my thoughts by Lia's voice. It's Saturday, so she's staying at my house for the whole day and most likely for the weekend.

"But it fucking hurts!" I whine, burying my face in my pillow.

"My baby. It hurts? – she presses harder onto my bruise, making me groan in pain – Poor Cakey has a boo-boo." She teases as she sits on my ass, running her magical hands over my back.

"Roll over." She commands.

"Woof!" I lie on my back, with Lia straddling me. She laughs incredulously.

"Aren't you cute!" She squishes my cheeks and gives me a quick peck before pulling her mask back up. "Now don't start whining." I get a warning before she starts my torture. It hurts when she's massaging my bruises, but it does fucking help. Every day I feel better and I can move more freely.

All of a sudden Will and Ty stroll into my room, with wide grins on their faces.

"Woah!" Ty covers his eyes when he notices our position. "Jesus people! In the middle of the day?!" He exclaims appalled, obviously getting the wrong idea.

"It's the second time we catch you like this." William adds, laughing quietly.

"Then stop coming here unannounced!" I rebuke, putting my hands under my head.

"What's that on your face?" Ty turns to Lia.

"A mask. So this damn thing doesn't make me sneeze again." She patiently explains, not stopping her hands.

"You'll never guess what happened today." Will starts after taking a beer from my mini fridge, not even bothered about the show in front of him.

"We saw Victoria and her minions." Tyler says, lying down on the couch while Lia gets up from the bed and goes to the bathroom.

"They were at Jen's. We met them when we went for lunch. She was... WOW! That was some fucking show. – Will shakes his head, taking a sip of the beer. – She was screaming at how she's going to ruin Lia and whatnot. She said something about having a plan, so we stayed longer and listened."

"What is she planning?" I ask, settling against the headboard, with Lia between my outstretched legs. I wrap my arms around her, leaning my chin on her shoulder.

"She's going to try to expel her. We heard she's going to provoke Lia and get her bitches to record everything so there's evidence against her." Will says, making me frown. But Lia just laughs.

"Isn't she sly? As if I would fall for that. Damn bitch has no idea who she's dealing with." She chuckles, as though the whole situation amuses her. "Will, tell me – did I get in trouble for punching her on Tuesday?" She asks smugly.

Both Will and Ty frown deeply in confusion. "No, you didn't."

"She didn't even get a detention for that." Ty tells me with wide eyes.

"How? The principal would never let it slide! He punishes everyone who even looks at Victoria the wrong way. That's why everyone's afraid to do anything about her bullying and bitching!" I'm fucking shocked. I know for a fact that Victoria is not someone to mess with. She's fucked over so many people since freshman year, for the smallest shit, that it's not surprising no one stands up to her.

No one, except for my girl. She's not someone who takes shit from anyone, so I'm not surprised she's not afraid of Victoria.

"Well, she's out of luck. I told you this before, but I'll tell you again. If she pisses me off, I'll break her face and even her daddy dearest won't be able to do anything about it." Lia states, completely serious, playing with my fingers.

"You never told us why you didn't get in trouble actually." Tyler implores, staring at Lia expectantly.

"I may or may not know something about our dear Mr. Peterson that keeps him quiet about anything I do." She answers evasively. Now I'm intrigued.

"And what is that?" I pry.

"I'm not telling you. It's my trump card." She turns her head to smirk teasingly at me.

"Come on, you can tell us! We could use it, too." Ty tries to convince her, but she just shakes her head in refusal.

"Nuh uh. Not a chance."

"Meanie." Ty scowls playfully.

We stay in my room, just talking and joking before we decide to have a movie marathon. Lia ordered food, guys get the drinks and I pick out a movie. Oh, my girl is in for a surprise.

"'Conjuring 2'? Really?" I hear the irritation in her voice as she sits between my legs on the floor. For some reason sitting on the floor is way more fun than the couch.

"What? It's a good movie." I defend.

"You guys ready?" Ty hands us our drinks, while Will carries in two pizza boxes, setting them on the coffee table.

"'Conjuring 2'? Really?" Lia and I burst out laughing at Will's disbelieving tone. "What? You know I don't like horror movies." He scowls.

I don't say anything to that. Lia's not a fan of horror movies either, so I'm hoping to scare her a little. Payback for my torture.

And I'm not disappointed. Whenever that wicked nun appears, I feel Lia tense, pressing closer into me. I barely stop myself from laughing at her whenever she cringes or turns her head away. So cute.

"Valak!" I suddenly whisper into her ear, causing her to yelp.

"Don't do that again!" She hisses at me.

"You're adorable." I chuckle quietly, squeezing her tighter. I kiss her neck before burying my face in her shoulder.

"I am going to kill you in your sleep!" Lia seethes as I pick the next movie – 'Lights Out'.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll keep you safe from any ghosts." I assure her with a quick kiss. The guys watch us with clear question in their eyes, since they don't know that we are not pretending anymore.

And I'm not going to tell them, not yet at least. I'm enjoying this way too much to spoil it.