Jolie got up the next morning to get ready for school and looked out her window to Austin's bedroom and was shocked to see him laying there. She was so happy that he was back and couldn't wait to talk to him. She got up and put on a cute outfit for school, a pair of dark blue distressed skinny jeans, a black tank top and some Birkenstocks. She straightened her hair and put on some makeup before putting in her contacts. She couldn't stand waiting any more so she picked up her phone and texted him.

Good morning. How are you?"

She looked out the window and saw him starting to move around in bed and grab his phone off the nightstand. He was laying there in just his boxer shorts and she thought he looked really good like that.

''

' she asked.

.

She smiled at his answer, thankful that she would get to see him more. '

'Ok, then I'll meet you downstairs in a bit

She saw Austin get up out of bed and go to take a shower so she went downstairs to grab some breakfast. For once her Mom wasn't already awake in the kitchen and she was shocked. She grabbed some unsweetened oatmeal and fresh fruit and sat down to eat it and pretty soon she heard a honk outside.

She ran out the door and climbed in to the passenger side of Austin's Jeep and looked over at him. She studied him for a second and he seemed different. His face was paler than normal and he looked tired and stressed. He gave her a weak smile before driving off down the road and the entire drive was spent in silence. She wasn't really sure what to say to him and he didn't seem to be in the mood to talk.

She looked down and saw the bloody knuckles on his hand from punching Ryan last night and she reached down and slid her hand into his, weaving their fingers together and then she rubbed the top of his hand with her other hand.

When they got to school, she held his hand as they walked down the hallway and everyone was quiet as they passed, staring and then whispering to each other. When they got to her locker Austin stopped and looked down at her.

"I'm so sorry for not listening to you Jolie. I was an idiot. When I found out Ryan had hurt you I was just so angry that I couldn't control myself. It was like the anger completely took over," he said quietly, looking down.

Jolie stepped up on her tippy toes and gave him a kiss.

"I love you Austin. I really wish you would have listened to me but I understand why you did it. I'm just glad Ryan's gonna be ok."

Austin nodded his head and said, "Yeah me too. If Blaze hadn't gotten there and stopped me when he did I hate to think what would have happened. You know he even offered to take the blame for beating Ryan up so I wouldn't get arrested and mess up my future? And to think I spent the last year hating that guy for something he didn't even do and he does something like that."

Jolie smiled. "That's really nice. I think he's not near as bad as people say. Oh I forgot to tell you. I called my Dad last night and he's offered to fly here and help with your case for free. I told him everything and he said he thinks you have a good chance of just getting probation with no jail time because you have no prior record and you're a minor and then once your probation is over he thinks he can get the charges dismissed so they won't be on your record. Isn't that great news?"

"Are you serious Jolie? You think he can do that for me?"

"Austin, I told you. My Dad is considered the best defense attorney in the state of New York. Of course he can do that for you. But let's just make sure this is a one time thing that we never have to go through again. Deal?"

Austin laughed. "Trust me Jolie. I will never make that mistake again. One night in jail is enough for me. I really am sorry about this whole thing. I just hope Ryan can forgive me one day."

Jolie looked up at him and said, "You know what? That's exactly what Ryan said about you at the hospital. He said he didn't blame you for beating him up because he knows he deserved it and he was worried you'd never forgive him for what he did with me and Mandy."

"Really? I'll have to go visit him tonight after school. Do you want to come with me?"

"I can't. I'm going dress shopping with Bailey after school for a homecoming dress. Do you have your tux yet?"

"Yeah I got it a couple weeks ago."

Austin walked her to her first class and gave her a kiss before walking away, looking a little happier than he had been earlier. Knowing her Dad was going to help with his case seemed to take away some of the stress and give him some hope that everything was going to be ok.

When she walked into class she was shocked to see Blaze already in his seat. He wasn't late for once! He was leaned forward talking to Bailey and laughing.

"Bailey you look so great!" she said with a smile, before taking her seat behind her next to Blaze. "Are you excited about going dress shopping tonight?"

"Yes! Like I told you guys, I've never been to a formal dance before so I'm nervous but really excited!" Bailey said with a big smile.

"Make sure you get something really sexy for me, ok?" Blaze said and both girls reached over and smacked his arm at the same time and laughed.

"Hey Blaze. Thank you again for finding Austin and stopping him. He told me earlier about how you even offered to take the blame for him. That was a really nice thing to do," Jolie said and Bailey looked at him funny.

"You offered to take the blame for beating up Ryan?"

Blaze nodded and said, "Yeah, I've been in trouble lots of times so it wouldn't effect me but Austin's got a great future ahead of him. I mean he's probably going to be the valedictorian of our class and he got into Harvard medical school with a full-ride football scholarship. I didn't want that to get messed up for him."

"What?! He's going to Harvard Medical School? He didn't even tell me that," Jolie said. "So if he's going there are you saying he wants to be a doctor?"

Blaze looked at her funny. "Yeah. He's wanted to be a doctor since we were kids. You guys really haven't talked about any of this stuff? That's kind of weird," he said.

Jolie just realized that he was right. Her and Austin had never talked about their future plans after high school. She had only had that conversation with Ryan.

After class she walked with Bailey to her next class which was Honors Calculus with Austin. She took her seat next to him and gave him a kiss since the teacher wasn't in there yet.

"Austin, we really need to talk after school about something. It's really important," Jolie said and Austin looked at her with concern.

"Why? Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Yeah we just need to have a talk."

He looked over at her with a very curious stare and said, "No I can't wait until after school. How about for lunch instead of eating in the cafeteria, we go eat in one of the rooms and talk about it then?"

She nodded her head and said "Ok."

Austin couldn't concentrate in class because he kept wondering what Jolie wanted to talk to him about. Was it something bad? Did she not want to be with him anymore because of what he had done yesterday to Ryan? If that was it, he couldn't blame her really. He had acted like a crazy person and completely lost it.

He looked over at Jolie and noticed that she looked so beautiful today. She looked over and caught him staring at her and smiled shyly before looking back down at her paper. He loved how she still acted shy around him even after all this time.

He tried to concentrate in class and pay attention but it was hard because he already knew everything the Calculus teacher was going over anyway. He could probably teach this class himself if he had to.

After class he took Jolie's hand and walked her to the cafeteria so she could get her lunch and then they stopped at his locker to get his lunch bag, before heading to the science room. Students were allowed to eat lunch in here as long as they didn't mess with anything. They sat down and Jolie crumbled some crackers into her vegetable chili and took a bite before she finally looked over at him and said, "Austin, we really need to talk about our future."

He looked at her eyes and his heart sank. "Our future?" he asked. 'That's it. She's going to break up with me because of what I did to Ryan,' he thought.