The first thing I did when I got home was scream.

I screamed so loud that my father barged into my room with a bat. I was surprised, because I didn't remember even having a baseball bat.

"What's wrong?" my father asked now, looking around my room, at the ready to attack anyone that was trying to hurt me. But when he saw that I was in my room, alone, he set the bet down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I answered, even though I didn't know if that was really true. My chest and throat were burning, and not just because I had screamed. "I just... thought I saw a spider, that's all."

My dad rolled his eyes, but I was expecting this much from him. He just thought I was acting like a regular teenage girl, and truthfully, I kind of was. I had just screamed because I was angry with my boyfriend. This definitely wasn't one of my proudest moments.

"Stupid Mona," I grumbled now as I made my way toward my bed and plopped down onto it. "Stupid, stupid Mona. Why did you have to transfer to our school? Why couldn't you just stay at your old school? Ugh!"

I just wanted to throw my pillows all around until I had finally calmed down. I was so pissed off and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Blake didn't believe anything I said to him about Mona. He didn't think she still liked him. After dating someone for five years, how could you be completely over them? I had barely been dating Blake for a year and I thought I'd never be over him.

"Leah!" I now heard my mother call out from downstairs, and I let out a groan. I did not want to deal with her right now. "Will you come downstairs, please?"

As much as I wanted to say no, I knew that I couldn't. As much as I didn't want to deal with my mother at that very moment, or ever, I knew that I had to.

"What?" I asked as I padded down the stairs. I knew I'd most likely not like whatever she had to say to me.

But when I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stopped dead in my tracks. Standing there beside my mother was Blake, who was the last person I expected to be at my house right then.

"Um..." was all I was able to say.

He smiled at me, almost apologetically. "Hey."

My mother did not look happy. But she never looked very happy at all whenever Blake was around or even mentioned, so it wasn't like I was expecting her to be a ray of sunshine or anything. I was surprised she had even let him in the house.

"Well, I'm off to buy groceries," my mother informed us now, giving us both a look before turning toward the front door. "I'll be back in and hour or two. I'll see you both then."

I was beyond shocked. Why was she letting me stay home alone with Blake? Yes, my father was home, but he wasn't going to leave his office because he had work to do... And my mother hated Blake! She'd always hated the fact that I was dating him...

Wait! That was it! She didn't think I was dating him anymore!

That was the only reason why she let him in the house. If she knew that we were actually still dating, she'd be furious and probably never let me see him again. At least she allowed me to be around him because we were now supposedly just friends.

We just stood there for about a minute after my mother left, just in case she came back to get something she had forgotten. I felt like this was just one big test. Blake and I weren't being secretive enough and everyone knew that we were still together. They just wanted evidence so they could prove it.

"So," I started, since I didn't know what I was supposed to say. My throat felt constricted, and I hoped Blake would save me from talking and just speak himself.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly apologized now, and it caught me off guard. This was not something I was expecting him to say to me.

"You're... sorry?"

He nodded, taking a step toward me. "The way I acted today was ridiculous. We fought for no reason. I really am sorry, Leah."

I felt like I was supposed to apologize as well, but my mouth was too dry for me to form any words.

"When I saw you in the car with Christian, I realized what I did was wrong," he continued now, taking another step toward me and taking my hand. "I don't want to see you with any other guy. It drives me crazy. Thinking that you could be with another guy drives me absolutely crazy."

I swallowed. "I could never love anyone else like I love you."

He smiled, looking relieved before leaning in and pressing his lips to mine. It felt like I hadn't kissed him in years, so I quickly melted into it. I almost completely forgot where we were right then.

I pulled away for only a few seconds to tell him that I was sorry as well. He only smiled once more before leaning in to kiss me again.

"Oh, Leah!" someone suddenly called out as the front door opened, and Blake and I immediately pushed away from each other. If it was my mother and she had seen us, we would have for sure been killed.

But instead of my mother, it was Morgan and Kyle. I remembered then that my mother had informed me that they would be visiting for a few days, but it had totally slipped from my mind until right then.

Morgan stared at Blake, her eyes wide. Kyle looked shocked. I didn't know why they looked the way they did, but then it suddenly dawned on me. Neither of them knew that Blake had woken up. I had completely forgotten to call to tell them that he had woken up.

"When did... How..." was all Morgan was able to say. She then dropped her suitcase and hugged Blake tightly. "You're awake! I can't believe it!"

I felt bad for not calling her when he had first woken up. She only lived a few hours away from me, and picking up a phone and calling her wouldn't have been that difficult. I guessed I just had a lot on my mind.

This reminded me of Mona. Even though Blake and I had apologized to each other, I still wasn't her biggest fan.

"So..." Morgan began, sounding suggestive. I did not like where this was going. "What are you two doing?" She wagged her eyebrows.

"We broke up," I blurted, since this was what everyone else thought.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor as she squawked, "What?"

I shrugged, trying to act as if it was no big deal at all. "We thought we would just be better as friends, that's all. Right, Blake?"

He nodded. "Right."

We all went silent; the only thing we could hear was the quiet humming of Blake's music. It made me wonder when he was going to be able to take them off again.

"But... but..." Morgan sputtered, and she looked between the two of us as if the world was ending. "You two are so... perfect for each other!"

I agreed with her, but unfortunately, no one else did. No one else could see that Blake completed me and made me feel better. For the four months he was gone, I was completely miserable and didn't want anything to do with anyone. And once he came back, they took him away from me again.

Blake quickly dismissed himself, and my mother returned home soon after that so Morgan couldn't ask me any questions about Blake. But I knew that they were going to come eventually, so I wasn't going to just forget about it.

The next day, school went by as it normally did. Mona drove me absolutely insane, Blake and I could barely even speak without our friends thinking something was up, and I found out that I had failed my English test. So after school, I decided to go talk to my teacher to see when I could make it up.

But I was surprised to see our teacher wasn't in the classroom like usual, but Jaz was instead. The lights were off in the classroom, and she was just sitting at her desk as if she were in class. I was almost too frightened to talk to her.

"Jaz?" I uttered, deciding it would be best if I spoke up. "Are you okay?"

I noticed now that she was shaking, which worried me greatly. What was going on?

"Bugs...." she shook, her eyes feverishly looking all around her, especially at the walls. "Bugs... Crawling... Everywhere..."

At first, I didn't know what she was talking about. There were definitely no bugs in the room, at least none that I could see. But then I remembered. I didn't have to see them. Jaz was schizophrenic.

"Have you taken your medication lately, Jaz?" I had to ask her, crouching down beside her now as she continued to shake.

She shook her head. "Hell, no. I hate that stuff."

This was definitely not good. I didn't know too much about all the medications they had to take, but I knew that they were supposed to take them regularly. Did she have a social worker like Blake to make sure she was taking them? Did she have anyone at all to make sure that she was taking them?

I couldn't worry about this now. Jaz was obviously in no condition to be at school.

"Jaz..." I blinked at her, not sure of how I was supposed to act toward her. "Are you okay?"

She was shaking. But not even a little, but a lot. Her shoulders shook, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do or say. I didn't know what was wrong with her, and she didn't answer me right away.

"Okay, come on," I whispered to her now, placing my hand on her shaking shoulder and helping her up and out of the chair. "Let's go, okay?"

The best thing I could have done for her was take her to Dr. Carlisle. I knew that he was her doctor as well, so he'd be able to help her more than anyone else, especially me.

Jaz made her way quietly toward my car along with me, though she continued to shake as she did so. I didn't know what I was supposed to do or say, so I did nothing. I just helped her into the passenger's seat of my car and then I hopped in and took off.

It only took about ten minutes to get to the hospital, since I was speeding. I had to cross the stupid bridge Blake had jumped off of, but I told myself not to even worry about that right now. That wasn't my main concern.

I stopped the car as I parked, turning toward Jaz and waiting for her to get out, but she didn't move. She just continued to shake in the passenger's seat. Did I really need to help her out?

I let out a sigh, hopping out of my car and quickly making my way to the other side. I opened the door for her and unhooked her seatbelt, but she still didn't move.

"Come on, Jaz," I tried, but she still didn't budge. "Jaz, you have to come with me to see Dr. Carlisle."

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest tightly. I didn't know how I was supposed to get her out of the car. I could have just gone into the hospital and asked for help, but I felt like that was just unnecessary. There had to be a way for me to get Jaz at least inside the building.

"I don't want to go see Dr. Carly," Jaz informed me now, and I wondered if she always called him that or if she was only doing it now because she wasn't exactly in the best mental state. "All he ever does is tell me that I'm crazy, and I'm not!"

I highly doubted Dr. Carlisle actually told her that she was crazy, but I wasn't going to argue with her. For all I knew, Dr. Carlisle really could have called her crazy. But if he did, I was sure he was doing it for medical reasons only.

"Come on," I tried now, reaching out and taking a hold of her arm.

"No!" she shouted suddenly, and her hand flew up and bashed right into my nose. I took a step back, letting go of her and covering my nose with both of my hands. Tears filled my eyes, biting the inside of my lip in hope that it would stop the pain.

The look Jaz was giving me now was unreadable, but that wasn't my main concern right then. I just really hoped that she hadn't broken my nose.

Jaz blinked at me now, but then down at her lap. "No, Zen, I can't," she whispered to herself a few times now.

I was the one to blink at her now. "Zen?" I had to ask, my hands still over my now bleeding nose.

"Zen is my best friend," she smiled now, and I already knew what she was talking about before she even finished. "But only I can see him."

This made me wonder. Had Blake ever been like this, or was he like this? He was currently wearing his headphones again because he hadn't been taking his medication long enough to not hear voices without it. Did he see things, or did he just hear the voices?

"What did... Zen say?" I gulped.

Jaz's smile turned to a frown. "Zen is really bad sometimes," she explained to me. "He tells me to do things a lot. Bad things. He just told me to hurt you some more."

I gulped once again, but this time it was a little harder. This girl had the same illness that my boyfriend did. His voices had told him to kill me, but he was able to fight it. Jaz looked like she was having a hard time fighting the urge...

She needed to get into the hospital, and so did I. Once I dropped her off, I was going to get my nose checked out. The last thing I wanted was for it to get even worse. There was already blood all over my face and hands.

I was afraid to touch her again. I didn't know how I was supposed to get her out of the car, and I didn't feel like touching anything at all with the blood from my nose all over my hands. How was I supposed to do this?

"Leah?" I heard a new voice suddenly ask from behind me, and I spun around in surprise to see that it was Sean standing there.

"Uh..." was all I was able to say at first, dropping my bloody hands to my sides, not even wanting to know what my face looked like. "Hi, Sean."

"Leah!" Sean gasped, and my face was in his hand in the next second. "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

I didn't remove myself from his grasp, mostly because I knew that there was no point in doing so. "I got hit," I answered simply, since there was really nothing more to it. He wouldn't let go anyway. "What are you doing here?"

"My aunt's in the hospital," he informed me now, and he finally let go of my face when he saw it was bothering me more than helping me. "Why are you here? For your nose? Do you think it's that serious?"

Sometimes I forgot that Sean was in love with me. He was dating my best friend, who was crazy about him, but even she knew about his feelings for me. It always made me feel awkward whenever I remembered.

"Um... I don't know," I answered now, looking over at Jaz who was whispering to herself, or maybe to Zen. Sean followed my gaze and then looked back at me, giving me a look that asked what was going on. "That's my friend Jaz. She was the one who hit me, but she didn't mean to."

I wasn't going to blame her for anything right then. I didn't know what was going on in her mind, but I didn't really think I wanted to.

Sean now gave Jaz a look as he watched her whisper to herself and play with her fingers. "What's... wrong with her?"

I tried to shrug as if it was no big deal. "She's... schizophrenic. She hasn't been taking her medication."

Sean had nothing to say back to this. I knew I had caught him by surprise, and I honestly didn't want to know what he thought. He knew that Blake was the same as Jaz, so he could have been thinking that it was possibly for Blake to do something like this to me. But I knew that it wasn't.

"Here, let me help," Sean now volunteered, and he made his way closer to the car. Jaz didn't even notice that he was there; she just continued to whisper. "Hello?"

Her head shot up, startled from Sean's sudden appearance. She looked like she had no idea what she was supposed to do, but I didn't really blame her. What would you do if an attractive guy was suddenly speaking to you out of nowhere? Especially if you were having a breakdown.

"H... hi," she stammered, swallowing now as Sean held out a hand for her.

"Let's go inside, okay?"

She nodded at him, seeming entranced. "Okay."

I stood there, jaw dropped as Sean began to lead her toward the entrance to the hospital. How had it been so easy for him but so difficult for me? I was Jaz's friend and he had just met her!

But this didn't matter right then. I shook it off and followed after them, now having my own reason to be there.

A nurse immediately tended to me the second I stepped inside, assuming that my injury was a lot more severe than it actually was. I didn't look at my reflection to see what it looked like, so for all I knew, my nose was completely deformed now. That would have really sucked.

I didn't even get seen by a doctor. I was seated in a room and a nurse was the one that examined my nose. It had now stopped bleeding, but it still hurt like hell.

"Your nose is fine," the nurse finally informed me with a smile. It definitely didn't feel fine, but she was the professional. "It's just bruised, that's all. You did get really close to breaking it, though. Just be careful, alright?"

I wanted to tell her that it wasn't my fault, but decided against it as she pulled out a lollipop for me. Though I felt childish for taking it, I wasn't about to deny it. This had always been my favorite part about going to the doctors.

"Now you just need to wash yourself off, honey," the nurse informed me now, about to hand the lollipop until she saw my bloody hands. She cocked her head toward the sink on the other side of the room. "After that, you're free to go."

I jumped up out of my seat and toward the sink. After thoroughly washing my hands and face, she handed me the lollipop and I was allowed to leave.

I ripped the wrapper off and shoved the lollipop in my mouth as soon as I was out of the nurse's sight. It almost made almost breaking my nose worth it.

I nearly ran into the Sean on my way out of the hospital. He informed me that Jaz was now with Dr. Carlisle and her mother was going to come and pick her up soon. I said that was good, and Sean gave my lollipop a look.

"What?" I asked, blinking at him.

"Nothing," he shrugged, looking away from me before continuing, "I just forgot how cute you were."

I felt my eyebrows furrow. "Don't forget you're dating my best friend."

He nodded. "I know, I know."

I said goodbye to him quickly after that, deciding that it would be best just to go home. If Jaz wasn't at school the next day, I would drive back to the hospital and ask Dr. Carlisle what was going on. Hopefully he'd be able to tell me.

As I drove home, my thoughts immediately went to Blake. Jaz was schizophrenic, just like him. He hadn't ever had a breakdown as bad as hers, but was it a possibility? He always took his medication, but what would happen if he stopped? Would he nearly break my nose, too?

I really didn't want to find out.

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Sorry that this is a month late. D: But I'm planning on writing a lot this summer. :)

This chapter seems short to me, yet it's the same length as my chapters usually are...

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!