"Hey Jolie," he said quietly.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. "Never mind. That's a dumb question. Obviously you don't feel great right now. I'm just not sure what to say."

"I'm feeling better than I deserve," Ryan said with a pained smile before groaning. "Oh I better not smile that really hurts and my head is killing me."

Even after everything he had done, she felt sorry for him, seeing him lying there all swollen up and in so much pain.

Ryan looked up at her and then hung his head.

"I'm really sorry Jolie, for everything."

"Try not to worry about any of that right now Ryan. The doctor said it's not good to get yourself worked up. We can talk about all of that when you're better. For right now we're all just glad you're okay."

"I'm not getting worked up Jolie. I need to get this out and say it before I go into surgery just in case something happens and I don't make it. I don't know what came over me that day when Mandy sent me that text that you knew about us. I just lost it. I was so desperate to keep my secret and it felt like you were trying to take my brother away from me. Austin means more to me than anybody in the world, because he's the only one that's always been there for me even when my family wasn't. I was so afraid he'd hate me if he found out about me and Mandy but instead he hates me for hurting you," he said grabbing his side and wincing in pain. 

Then Ryan smiled and said, "I can tell he loves you because I've never seen him like this over a woman before," his eyes starting to get red and watery. "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for hurting you Jolie and I wish I could go back in time and take it all back and not be an idiot for once in my life. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you Ryan. It means a lot to hear you say that and I can tell you really mean it. I'm sorry I came between you and Austin. I never wanted anything like this to happen and I didn't want Austin to lose his best friend. I could tell when he found out that he felt more betrayed than anything because he never thought you would do something like that to him and he was really confused and hurt."

"Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Ryan asked, and she could see tears in his eyes.

Jolie sighed and said, "I don't know Ryan but don't give up on him. He might come around eventually."

Blaze laughed and said, "The guy just beat you to a bloody pulp and you're worried about him forgiving you?"

Ryan said, "Well I know I deserved it, so yeah. I'm the worst best friend that's ever existed and I wouldn't blame him if he never wants to talk to me again. I'm stupid and I make bad decisions and don't think things through. Add alcohol to that and I'm really screwed. I'm just done with all of it, the partying, the drinking. I hate myself for what I did. I don't even know why I did it. I can't even stand Mandy."

"You and me both," Blaze laughed. "Maybe you actually did him a favor by getting him away from her so that he could be a lot happier with Jolie."

"I wish Austin saw it that way," Ryan groaned, laying his head back on the pillow and closing his eyes, wincing in pain as he grabbed at his ribs. "Ugh, it hurts to breath."

A couple minutes later the nurse came in and gave him some medicine to knock him out and then they wheeled him off towards surgery.

Jolie started to cry from the overwhelming emotions of everything that had happened that day and Blaze put his arm around her shoulder as she cried. She laid her head on his shoulder and he patted her back and said, "It's ok Jolie. Everything is gonna be ok."

She was really surprised that Blaze was so comforting, when he was normally so rough and crude. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all and he just wanted everyone to think he was. He was actually turning out to be a good friend.

"We should go ahead and go so Ryan can get his rest when he comes out of surgery. I'll give you a ride home Blaze since you rode here with Mr. Gentry," Jolie offered.

"Ok thank you."

On the ride to Blaze's house Jolie said, "Well, obviously the decision to tell Austin everything was a big mistake but now that it's all out in the open it feels like a weight has been lifted, like Ryan said. It feels good to tell the truth You know? No more secrets or lies!"

"Yeah," Blaze nodded.

"So if you have a secret you need to get off your chest, go ahead and let it out," she pressed, looking over at him.

He turned and looked at her with a confused expression. "What are you talking about?"

Jolie took a deep breath and said, "There's a rumor going around school that you're the one running the virginity betting site. If that's true Blaze, then just tell me now and get it off your chest."

Blaze laughed. "If it was me I wouldn't be afraid to admit it. People just love to blame me for anything bad that happens in that place. They automatically assume I must be behind it."

"So you're saying 100% it's not you?" she asked.

"No, it's not me. 100%."

"Well then do you know who's behind it?" she questioned him.

"No I have no idea. I swear if I knew I would tell you, but I don't."

"Ok fine. I believe you," Jolie said, right as she was pulling up to Blaze's house address that she had typed into the GPS.

The last time she had been here when they were dropping Blaze off it had been too dark to see. 

"What the hell Blaze!?" she said, looking at the beautiful stucco mansion in front of her. "I didn't know you were rich. Damn!"

"I'm not. My parents are," Blaze said, opening his door. "Thanks for the ride Jolie. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Hey Blaze?" she called out and he stopped before closing the door to listen. "Thanks again for everything today. It means a lot to me that you found Austin and stopped him when you did. You're actually becoming a really good friend."

He smiled and said, "I never imagined I would say this, but I actually agree. You've become a good friend to me too Jolie."

She watched as he went up to the door and walked inside, before he started her drive home replaying the crazy events of the day over in her mind. She wished it was all a bad dream that she could wake up from but unfortunately this was all too real.

Austin felt so humiliated as they took his mugshot picture and had him strip all of his clothes off and put on the orange jumpsuit. He put all of his belongings into a tub and gave it to the officers who escorted him to a small, cold 10 x 5 cell. There was a set of bunk beds and a metal toilet with a tiny sink with cold concrete floors and bare walls. They slammed the bars shut behind him and a very large tattooed man on the top bunk sat up and said, "Hey my man. What you in for?"

Austin noticed that he seemed to be drunk so he must have just gotten brought in too.

"Assault" Austin muttered, wishing it wasn't true.

He laid down on the extremely uncomfortable bottom bunk that had a very thin mattress and was extremely hard with a thin blanket and tiny pillow and tried to get warm but it was impossible.

'I'm in jail. How did I let my life come to this?' he asked himself. Then it dawned on him that if Ryan died he could be spending years behind bars and the thought of his best friend dying was too much to bear. Even with all of the messed up stuff that Ryan did, he still loved him like a brother. He wished he could take it all back and listen to Jolie's advice and stay at the house, not go after him. 'Why didn't I just listen to her?' he scolded himself and was hit with a wave of regret.

After laying there for hours and not being able to sleep, he heard some keys jingle and the door to the cell slid open.

"Fox, you've been bailed out. Let's go," the officer said.

"Really? I'm eligible for bail?" he asked, surprised.

The officer said, "Yeah you're only charged with simple assault. You didn't even have a weapon. It's not that bad. It's not like you murdered somebody," he laughed.

Austin got up and followed him down the hall to a room where he changed back into his clothes and got all of his stuff out of the tub. Then he saw his Mom waiting for him in a little room and he walked up and gave her a hug.

She stepped back and looked up at him and said, "Well I never thought I'd be bailing you out of jail. That's for sure. Especially not for beating up your best friend."

"Yeah. Not my proudest day. I'm so sorry about all of this Mom. I know you're disappointed in me." Austin looked at the ground. "How is he?" He was afraid to hear the answer.

"I just talked to his Mom and she said that he's out of surgery for his broken cheek bone and it went well. He's got a concussion and needed a few stitches on his eyebrow. He's got a couple broken ribs, but he's going to be OK."

Austin's eyes got big as she spoke those words and it finally started to sink in what he had done. Ryan had to have surgery and had broken bones because of him.

"Wow. So he's hurt pretty bad. Do his Mom and Dad hate me now? What am I saying? Of course they do," he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Mom can we just go home? I'm really tired." He looked at his phone and it was 1:00 am.

He not only lost a best friend and a brother today but also the man that had been like a father to him and his second Mom. He felt so guilty for letting his rage take over and not being able to control it. When it came to Jolie though he felt so protective of her that he couldn't hold it in this time.

When they pulled up in front of their house, he looked next door to Jolie's house and he wondered what she was going to say tomorrow. He wondered what everyone was going to say."'