Adrian didn't show up to school for almost a week, I did try to call and text but he declined my calls and never texted me back. I did drop by his house but his mom told me that he hadn't been home either, she said it was a habit of his and that she was used to it. She didn't look concerned or worried about him, that part made me understand him a little bit.

But I still had no idea where he was and neither did Jared, Jared said he usually showed up to work even though he didn't go to school or to his house but not this time around.

He completely disappeared.

Friday morning, I was more than early for school. I took the school bus since Adrian was missing and I was no longer friends with my ex-driver Haley. I walked through the hallways in headphones, listening to Shawn Mendes because why not? I opened my locker and took out my English book since it was my first class.

After closing my locker, I immediately locked eyes with Charlie, he was leaning against his locker, surrounded by Kim, Haley, Kennedy and Jim.

'His kind of people'

He kept staring at me while his friend Kennedy kept explaining something to the group. Kim looked at Charlie and saw that he was distracted, she followed his gaze and it landed on me.

I quickly looked elsewhere, adjusting my backpack straps and awkwardly turning on my heel to walk away. I didn't have anywhere to go so I decided to stop by the bathroom. Luckily for me, there was no one in there.

I sighed softly as I opened the tap and washed my face. Good thing I never put on make up to school, my face looked good with and without makeup and I was raised by a man who never wanted to see me turn into a 'woman' so there's that.

"Thought I saw you come in here." I heard a familiar voice behind me.

I slowly turned around.

It was Kim and Haley. Looking ridiculously slutty as ever wearing those leather short skirts and matching cropped tops. They looked like model twins.

I tried to just walk away from them but of course, Haley stood in front of me and smirked devilishly.

I sighed.

"What do you guys want?" I asked in a lazy tone.

"We saw how you were staring at Charlie." Said Kim.

He was staring at me. ME! Not the way round.

"So now I'm not allowed to even look at him?" I scoffed.

"No sweetie, you don't get to look at other people's boyfriends." She gritted her teeth.

I rolled my eyes at her and the next thing I knew, she had her hand around my neck and she pinned me to the wall, I could feel her manicured nails digging into my skin.

My heart started racing and my eyes started warming up. I wanted to shove her back but my hands were frozen on my sides and my whole body went rigid. All I did was stare back into her eyes.

"You think you're so smart don't you?" She tilted her head to one side, looking me down. A tear rolled down my cheek and I cursed myself for it.

I hated that she saw how weak I was.

"What do you want from me?" My tone was barely audible.

"I want you to fucking disappear, I don't want Charlie to see you anymore, infact, I want you to die." She spat.

More tears rolled down my cheeks.

No one had ever wished me dead before.

"Kim, that's a little harsh." Said Haley, standing closely behind Kim.

"That's why I said it." Kim still bore her eyes on my face.

"What the hell are you girls doing?" Said a third-party. We all turned our heads to look.

There was a girl standing by the bathroom door, she had glowing melanin skin and wore a brown cropped hoodie, denim jeans and white sneakers, letting her curly hair fall on her shoulders.

"None of your business, now get out!" Barked Kim. The girl walked towards us and literally pushed Kim away from me, causing Kim to bump into Haley.

"Are you okay?" She asked, clearly concerned. I just nodded yes while I smoothed my neck.

"Who the hell do you think you are to even think about touching me!" Kim screamed dramatically.

She snapped her head to face Kim, "Oh hey I'm Jess, I'm new here and I really hate bullies like yourselves." She said in a serious tone.

She sounded so badass. I loved it.

"What did you just call us?" Kim took a step closer to Jess.

"I called you bullying bitches and before you think about slapping me in the face, I just wanna let you know about my three year training in karate." She informed them.

Kim and Haley faced each other while my insides jumped up and down.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Jess held my hand and we walked out of the bathroom.

"Thanks." I uttered once we were in the hallway.

"No problem but you should speak up more, those girls have no muscle on them, they only have guts." She adviced as we walked side by side.

"I know but I always freeze whenever she starts talking." I murmured while wiping my cheeks, She stood in front of me and I stopped walking.

"Why? What does she have on you?"

"Nothing, but she is dating my ex boyfriend." I admitted.

"Oh I see." She said, "what's your name?" She asked.

"Emily, Emily Bennett." I smiled, my Dad always said that my name was the most beautiful and privilegely powerful thing I carried.

"Don't look Emily Bennett but the hottest guy I've ever seen keeps staring at you." She was looking passed me.

I heaved a sigh thinking it was Charlie.

I slowly turned to look, it wasn't Charlie, it was Adrian and he smiled and waved at me. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

Weird of him to do that, right?

"I see you already know each other." Said Jess in a teasing tone.

I nodded, "Yeah, he's my boyfriend"

She widened her eyes, "Holy shit, really?" She smiled at me.

"Yeah." I nodded, I had no idea why I felt so proud of that fake fact.

"He's pretty, you should tell him about those mean girls. He looks like a man of action." She stared at him.

Her words made me cringe. The thought of me telling Adrian that I got bullied just so he could confront them because he was my 'boyfriend' and all.

"Yeah sure, I will." I lied.

"Okay, see you later Emily Bennett."

"See you later, Jessica." I waved and she smiled before walking away.

I turned around and strolled towards Adrian who was packing his books inside his locker. I stood beside him and noticed his purple eye, it looked like he was trying to cover it up with his hair but it was still pretty visible.

"What happened to your eye?" I pushed his hair back, he flinched and grasped my wrist_pushing it hand away.

"You should see the other guy" he closed his locker and hung his backpack around his shoulder, giving me his full attention.

"Who is the other guy?" I questioned, hoping he would tell me something about his life.

"You really wanna know?" He smirked, tucking his hands in his pockets.

No, I really did not want to know.

"Anyway, where the hell have you been?" I asked.

"Vacation." He winked, I rolled my eyes.

"Adrian, I'm serious."

"I was around, Emily, and asking me these stupid questions was not part of our deal, was it?" He asked sarcastically.

"Excuse me for being concerned about you." I responded, sounding annoyed.

"Careful or else you're gonna be falling in love with me next." He grinned playfully.

"Gross, no." I scowled, he didn't respond, he just stared at me with a blank expression. My brows shot together in questioning.

He stepped closer to me and leaned into my face, staring at my face from part to part. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes met his green ones. At that point, I forgot about the people around us, I froze up and my knees became weak and my heart started racing.

"Are you saying you can't fall in love with me?" His voice was deep and whispery as he stared down at my lips.

I didn't even think about responding.

My heart was beating drums, it was so loud I thought he could hear it.

I gulped. Hard.

But then he laughed.

"Calm down, I'm just fucking with you." He brushed my cheek slightly and I burned. I also laughed a very awkward fake laugh.

"What the hell was that?" I asked myself.

"Oh and, you and I have to go to this bonfire party tomorrow night." He informed me.

Another party?

"Why?" I asked.

"Because kids from both Thornpark and Milo will be there." He put his arm around my shoulder and we started walking to class.

I looked at the arm, I guessed we were becoming buddies then.

"So?" I really wasn't getting his point.

"So your ex will be there and I assumed you would like to go." He pushed his hair back but it fell on his face again.

Goddamn it he looked so hot.

"No, I think I would like to stay home and study, my grades are slipping." I looked away from him.

"Spoken like a true nerd." He whispered in my ear, his hot breath hitting my neck. Stormy and hot.

"Whatever, have fun without me." I muttered underneath my breath.

"Sure, and I'm only going because Jen is gonna be there." He said.

"Dude." I looked up at him.

"What?"

"You can't."

"Can't what?"

"This whole Jen thing, you can't." I shook my head in disapproval.

"Then you have to come with me or else I'm not going to waste my once in a lifetime opportunity." He shrugged.

"By once in a lifetime opportunity, you mean getting laid." I shoved his arm away and rolled my eyes at him.

"No."

"Yes, it's no secret that you want to fuck her." I didn't meet his eyes as the words left my lips.

"She wants to fuck me actually, you should see the way she bites her lip when she looks at me." He defended.

"So you want to fuck each other." I glanced up at him.

"I think so." He pursed his lips, I stared at his lips.

Goddamn it!

"But you won't, right?" My tone was serious and forthright.

"Not until our fake break up." He joked.

Our fake break up, I never thought of that until that very moment.

"Right.." I whispered, more to myself.

The bell for first period went out and we both groaned frustratedly at the same time. He stared down at me and I did the same.

SILENCE.

"Okay but you have to pick me-"

I was cut off by him moving closer to me and placing his hands on each side of my neck, I hitched my breath and stared at him with wide eyes as he looked at my neck.

"Are these finger nail marks?" He asked, I quickly shoved his hands away and covered my neck with my hands.

His face turned serious and his stare was almost a glare, he looked to his side and his jaw twitched then he looks back at me.

"Who?" He asked.

"Who what?"

"Who choked you?"

"No one."

"Emily."

"I swear to God, I was just playing around with this girl, we were playing wrestling and I guess my skin is just too soft." I lied and avoided eye contact. He lifted my chin and made me look at him.

"He's not worth this trouble." He said then he turned around and walked away.

As I watched him walking away, something about how I looked at him changed.