Monday. I groaned rolling over this morning knowing I had to go back to school after a near perfect weekend with Sasha. It had been a lazy weekend at home of catching up on homework and laying in bed together. It's always hard to leave bed when she's in it with me.

She's already up, I can hear the shower running and I smile listening to her hum through the walls. Whenever I let my mind wander I think about when she came back on Saturday, drenched from the rain, completely undressed with me.

Being with her like that made it hard to breathe, let alone think straight. I'm glad I was conscious enough to check in with her and make sure she was alright with everything we did together. Sasha was truly breath-taking, her body was amazing and it seemed like all the convincing I did to assure her she was beautiful was making her confident. The thing I found the hottest about Sasha was she could go from confident and pushy to innocent and sweet in a matter of minutes.

I hear the bathroom door open and I hear footsteps heading across the hall. I decide to get up knowing anymore time I spent in this bed would just do evil things to my brain.

As I shower I look to the ledge where she keeps her shower stuff and notice there's no razor with it. At first I figure she just left in such a rush she didn't get the chance to grab it, but her legs were always smooth. There didn't appear to be hair anywhere on her, except for the blonde locks on her head and her neatly kept eyebrows.

I chose not to question it, asking her about it would be more than awkward and a little offensive. I'm sure if she wants to talk about it she'll tell me.

I step out and quietly shave my face thinking about the two of us in that bed on Saturday afternoon. She loved me back, she was so open and vulnerable with me about it too. I didn't think she'd say it back so easily, I know Sasha's feelings have been completely scrambled around and she has a hard time being open about them. That's why when she is open with me I treat it very seriously.

I loved loving Sasha. As confusing as it seems, I really do. I know there's a few issues she's dealing with and she was worried about being a burden. But I didn't mind, if it meant I could help her take some of the weight off her own shoulders.

I know she needs to go home, I know she can't stay here forever but I really hate the idea of sending her back into that hell house. Sasha needs a certain amount of support and if I'm not allowed to go in and see her it could make for a lonely and depressing time for Sasha, and I don't want to see her like that again.

I'd fight for her, I'd do whatever I could for her so she was safe. I love her too much to let her fall back into that awful nightmare she was living in before.

"Nathan?" I hear with a knock on the door and I know it's Sasha's voice on the other side of the door. "Sorry, I don't want to disturb but I was wondering if I left my mascara on the counter in there?"

I feel my brain suddenly clear it's thoughts and tighten up the towel around my waist. I look around until I see a black tube just off to the side and pick it up reading that it was mascara.

"Is this it?" I ask, opening the door and holding it out. I immediately feel the air drain from my lungs, Sasha's outfit today was taking it all away. She was wearing a tight t-shirt that showed off her body shape and one of the skirts she bought with Kate. She had a pair of dark tights on underneath and her hair was done perfectly, sitting over her shoulders in bouncy waves.

"Yes! Thank god, I couldn't find it anywhere." She sighs and takes it from me. "Sorry.....I'll-um, let you finish shaving." She says remarking the side of my face covered in shaving cream. I feel like I can't move, I'm absolutely glued in place. I always knew if Sasha actively picked out her clothes she's be drop-dead gorgeous. "What?" She asks suddenly sounding panicked. "Is it too much?"

"No." I say quickly, shaking my head. "No, you look......amazing Sash." Her cheeks flame and I smile feeling embarrassed from my own cheesy reaction.

"Thanks." She says. "Sorry I bothered you."

"Not a problem." I answer shaking my head and she smiles walking back into her room across the hallway. I watch her hips swing all the way there and rake my fingers through my wet hair trying to pull my attention back to my soapy face.

Soon enough we're downstairs and I watch her shove two pieces of bread into the toaster. She walks over to kiss my cheek and grabs a plate out of the cupboard next to me. As she tries to walk away I yank her back towards me and pull her in for a longer kiss.

It's hard to break it but eventually we do and I feel completely out of breath. After this weekend everything had changed between us. Now our feelings weren't just love or caring, but for the first time there was palpable sexual tension. Something she and I weren't used to and that made our hormones run wild. It was getting hard to keep our hands off each other.

Part of me felt guilty for it, knowing what Sasha probably needed right now was just my attention. I made the agreement with myself that we wouldn't sleep together until she was home again. I couldn't do that to her when she already had tons on her plate.

Then we're heading out to my car, book-bags in hand smiling back and forth between each other. It was like we had our own inside joke going between us. I was hoping soon enough it wouldn't be a secret between the two of us, but that everyone would know.

After a quiet ride to school I'm pulling up in the parking lot. We hop out and I can tell all eyes are on Sasha. I hadn't thought much about how short that skirt was until now, it was incredibly distracting. All I could see were people staring, part of me wanted to put my hand around her waist to show she was taken, but I had to remember to keep my distance.

Then we walked into the school and she walked over to talk to Irene and Micheal. The two looked excited for Sasha and they immediately broke out into an animated conversation.

"Dude." Malcolm says coming up beside me. "What happened to Sasha?" He asks sounding a little too impressed.

"She just got some new clothes this weekend." I say trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"Well they certainly look good." He remarks and I watch his eyes comb over her body. I can feel myself getting angry, I didn't want anyone to look at her that way.

"Yeah she's very pretty." I huff and he leans his head off to the side.

"Wait....." He says and I thank god he was taking the hint to back off. "Are you two together?"

"Well no." I answer, wishing desperately that I could have said something different.

"Could have fooled me." He says raising his hands. "Do you think-"

"Don't." I say quickly. "Just please don't make a move on her, we're talking and everything. We're just not official."

"Oh." He says with a nod. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"Because it's complicated." I answer. A very true answer, what two people love each other and don't start a relationship?

"I get it." He says. "I hope it works out, it'd be one hell of a fuck-you to Sabrina." I laugh a bit knowing that was more than true but shrug.

"I guess, but it's not about that. It's tough to explain." I confess and he nods slapping my back as the bell rings.

"Good luck then!" He calls and walks down the hall as people start moving around and I laugh catching up to Sasha.

"Hey." She says cheerfully and I smile.

"Hey." I answer back. "So how were Micheal and Irene?"

"Good.......I think? I really don't know, they're sort of going through a weird patch right now. There's just a ton of things going on, I can tell you later I just don't want someone to overhear."

"Totally fair, catch me up tonight." I tell her and she nods walking through the door to the classroom. She smiles at me as we sit down and the class starts to fill up around us.

"Nice skirt, slut." I hear and turn to see Sabrina walking over to her desk.

"Thank you." Sasha says and flips her hair over her shoulders.

"So what? You think you're the shit now because you have some new clothes and a few friends?" She asks and I huff.

"Sabrina, fuck off." I say narrowing my eyes. "Leave her alone." A disgusted look crosses her face and a hurt one as well. I roll my eyes and look over to see Sasha suppressing a smile.

For the rest of the class I can feel Sabrina's stares. I just ignore them knowing how much me being with Sasha bothered her.

Then the class is over and I have to go on without Sasha. I didn't want to leave her, this is what happens when we spend all of our time together.

"Bye." She says.

"Bye, if anyone gives you a hard time let me know alright?" I ask and she nods giving me a quick smile and then disappearing down the hallway.

All morning all that I can think about is her in that skirt. She seems really happy with her new look, she didn't even bat an eyelash when Sabrina called her a slut this morning.

When the bell rings for lunch I'm out of my seat heading down to the cafeteria as fast as I can. When I get to the bottom of the stairs I can see her blonde curls just a few yards in front of me so I walk a bit faster.

"Hey Sash." I say grabbing her shoulder and she turns to look at me. She starts to lean in but then she remembers and pulls back. This whole together-but-not-really thing is starting to eat away at us.

"H-hey." She says clearing her throat.

I smile a bit resisting my own urge to place my hand on her lower back or grab her hand while we walk. The air around us was electric and I didn't know how to ignore it.

"So-um, was your morning alright? I'm sorry about Sabrina-"

"No it's alright, thanks for saying something." She says and I nod.

"Don't listen to her, you look nice." I watch her cheeks turn red and she leans over to nudge me.

We turn the corner to walk into the cafeteria when were immediately face-to-face with Sabrina and Jake. Sasha lowers her head and tries to walk past them but they immediately take notice and step in front of us.

"Well, well. Dating the ice queen huh?" Jake asks. "I have to say Nate, I honestly expected more from you."

"Just leave us alone." I huff, trying to walk past them with Sasha but Jake doesn't move.

"Not fucking likely." He laughs and I sigh. "I'm willing to bet this isn't new.....I'm willing to bet this is the reason you weren't around for six weeks. You were probably sneaking around with her."

"I don't need to explain myself to you." I spit, narrowing my eyes.

"Why don't you just hop down off your high horse and admit that you cheated too?" He says and Sasha tries to walk past him again and he pushes her back.

"Don't touch her." I practically growl, taking his hands off her. "I'm not the one who slept with someone else's girlfriend, and trying to spin it on me to make yourself look like less of an asshole doesn't change anything."

"You're not denying it." Sabrina chimes in.

"You know what Sabrina? I dealt with so much bullshit from you, I worked overtime to keep you happy while you were off screwing my friend. You were controlling and nasty for no reason, at the end of the day we weren't right for each other! The reason I didn't end it was so I could stay in our group of friends, but eventually that wasn't even worth it anymore!" She pulls back, seeming startled by my outburst and I just roll my eyes.

"I wanted to spend time with Sasha again, and I knew you weren't going to be alright with it. So yes....I snuck around because I wanted to see her."

"So you're really no better than I am." Jake says crossing his arms. "Just face it Nate, you're just as bad of a person as I am."

"No he isn't." Sasha says in a low voice.

"She speaks!" He teases and she rolls her eyes. "So you two......" He fades off pointing at the two of us and smirking.

"Shut up." Sasha says. "I'm sick of hearing your voice Jake, you make me sick. Move."

"Oh this is rich." He laughs and I roll my eyes. "I can't believe all this time you were saying you had family stuff going on you were just plowing the ice queen!"

"Excuse me?" Sasha says, narrowing her eyes and I feel like smacking Jake. This is going to undo all of the progress we've made.

"Don't deny it." He says. "Must have been fun, how was it Nate? I've never been with a virgin before."

Just when I feel my fists ball up and my anger starts to boil over something more unexpected happens. I watch a tall, muscular person shove past me. Alex Petrov now has Jake by the collar of his shirt, shoved up against the wall.

"What did you just say about my sister?" He says in a low dangerous voice and Sasha moves over into my side. "You're such a piece of shit McMaster, if you want to walk away from here with all of your teeth you listen to me." Jake was a bit shorter and smaller than I was, so if Alex could shove me up against the wall with ease, Jake must be out of his mind right now.

"That is my sister." He says through his teeth. "I don't want to see you around her again, I don't want to see you speak to her again. Is that clear?" Jake doesn't answer so Alex shoves him back against the wall again. "Is that clear?!" He repeats.

"Yeah fine, whatever." Jake says, pretending to keep his calm but clearly a bit intimidated.

"Good, or I'll make sure you're benched for the rest of the season." He says. "If your girlfriend continues to pick on her, I'll bench you anyway. So I'd decide if I were you, if this is worth it."

He then lets him go and Jake takes a deep breath and then takes Sabrina's hand leading her away from the doors, and out of the school all together. He then turns back to me and gives me a frustrated look.

"You told me......I trusted you Carter." He says and my eyes widen.

"No, it's not like that. I swear he just made that up, Sash tell him." I plead.

"Of course it's not true." She says. "I.....I think I need to....." She says and starts shaking her head, turning pale. She bolts off down the hall and I look at Alex who sighs.

"Look I promise, alright?" I say and he nods slowly.

"I just......I thought you might have said something to someone." He says and I shake my head looking at Sasha making a beeline for the girls washroom.

"No of course not I......" I start and feel distracted thinking about Sasha. "Number one I wouldn't rush into that with her, number two I respect her too much to share anything like that with someone else, and number three, I really like your sister. She's really important to me."

"Okay." He sighs and raises his hands. "You should go after her, she's probably about to throw up."

"Shit really?" I ask feeling bad for her and he nods.

"She must have told you about her issues with food at this point." He says and I nod. "This happens sometimes."

"Often?" I ask.

"Often enough." He answers. "I'm just as worried as you are." He says and I nod. "Go after her." I nod and run down the hallway.