The next day at school Ashley had to push through the dread to get out her car and make her way to the front where Diane and Sally were waiting.

She tried not to let notice the stares she was still getting or the murmurs behind her back every now and then. The expectation that it would be as bad as the day before slowly disappeared with each hour.

The first time she saw Logan made her very aware of the confrontation between him and Maddox. The dark purple around his eye and on his jaw were evidence of Maddox's persuasion.

He couldn't look her in the eyes as they passed each other in the hallway. He was a stranger to her now. It was difficult to stomach what he had done to her but it was enough for her to keep her distance from him.

She took notes in the same classes she had with Maddox. It wouldn't totally cover all his classes he was missing but it was the best she could do. If it hadn't been for his actions she would still be seen as the easy girl who had fallen into bed with another guy while she was still dating another. Now when people looked at her is was with the whisper of Maddox and their connection.

"What I wouldn't do to have Maddox sort Noah for me," Diane sighed wistfully over her lunch.

"He isn't worth the effort," Ashley remarked, remembering her stealth night of egging his car with Maddox. It made her smile secretly. It was something only the two of them knew about.

The best thing Diane could do was get over him. She had made a bad choice with him and all she could do now was learn from it to ensure she never repeated the same mistake. There were other guys who were interested in her but she wasn't ready to date again.

"Has Logan said anything to you?" Diane asked.

She shook her head. "No."

There was nothing more to say. He had shown his true colours and she was glad to be rid of him. The guilt she had carried before was gone and in it's place was pity for him. Any guy with a reasonable amount of confidence would have moved on without making up lies to make her look bad.

"You talk to Maddox?" Sally asked with a raised eyebrow.

She pressed her lips together unsure of what she wanted to share with her friends. There was nothing really going on between Maddox and her. They weren't really friends, they were more like acquaintances with a few shared secrets. That was about it.

But the truth was she felt something for him, that went beyond friends and it scared her, especially when he didn't feel the same. To him she was just someone he was looking out for but for her it had become more than she had realised but she stopped herself from trying to label exactly what she was feeling.

"Briefly." She kept her head down while she ate.

"And what did you guys talk about?" Sally prodded.

"I'm going to take him some notes for his classes this afternoon."

Diane smiled knowingly which made her frown. "What?"

Her friend refused so say anything, instead she shook her as her smile widened.

"It's not like that," Ashley argued, knowing exactly where her friend's mind was going.

Diane gave her a skeptical look.

"It isn't," Ashley insisted.

"We know you Ash. You don't get close enough to people to let them in," Sally said softly. "Especially boys."

She opened her mouth to argue but they were right. She barely let anyone get close enough to see the real her, the one who hid from her fighting parents, the one who was saving up money to move at as soon as she could, the one who hadn't been able to feel the same depth of feelings her boyfriend had felt for her. And the one who didn't want to admit how she felt about the rebellious boy who had cracked her protective layer.

She swallowed, staring silently at her friends.

"Maddox is different. We can see it." Diane added softly.

She didn't know what to say. They had figured out things she wasn't ready to admit.

"We just want you to be happy." Sally reached over and covered her hand.

"Just be careful," Diane warned softly. The emotion in her eyes wasn't for Ashley, it was her own heartache.

"I appreciate your advice but it's really not like that with us," she said, struggling to face the truth.

"Maddox wouldn't have done what he did if you didn't mean something to him."

Her friend had a point but that didn't necessarily mean he returned her growing feelings.

"Maybe," she murmured. She didn't want to get into it with them.

Ashley twirled a lock of her hair as her friends went back to eating their lunch. She didn't want to think about Maddox any longer, she had to get through the rest of her classes as well as cheer leading practice before she could go by his house to give him his class notes.

He had sent her his address. She had never been to his house and the thought of going there made me nervous. She was just going over to give him the notes but deep down she knew it was an excuse to see him.

She saw Jasper a couple of times when she was heading to her classes. His constant frown only made her feel like he had a specific dislike for her. The incident the day before had probably only intensified his negative view of her.

At the end of the day she went to her locker to swap some books and found a couple of nasty messages in her locker. It took her a moment to catch her breath as she read them. Even though she had been cleared, some people had still sided with Logan and viewed her as the troublemaker.

You suck. One message read. Slut. She swallowed before she let out a shaky breath. Her hands shook but she wasn't going to let it get to her.

"You okay?"

Surprise she looked over her shoulder to see Jasper. She hadn't even heard his approach. The burn in her throat made her unable to speak so she nodded.

He studied her.

"It's nothing," she managed to murmur. It was lie. She wallowed the emotion that bubbled to the surface.

He frowned as he saw the notes in her tight fists. He took her one hand and opened it to read the note.

"They are just words written on paper," he said, crumpling them and dropping them on the floor. That was the nicest thing he had ever said to her. He took the others notes and did the same to them. "Don't let them get to you."

She nodded, still feeling like she was in an alternate universe where Jasper didn't dislike her.

"Maddox wanted me to keep an eye on you," he said, and then she understood the reason behind his actions.

The thought that Maddox had asked his friend to do that only lifted the hope that he might feel something for her.

"Anyone give you trouble today?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"You let me know if this continues," he said inclining his head to the notes discarded on the floor.

She nodded.

She was still stunned when she watched him walk away. Maddox she had seen fight countless times but she had only ever seen Jasper go at it with a guy once. She had no idea what the fight had been about but the other guy had walked away from it much worse than Jasper.

Feeling displaced she bent down to pick up the notes and shoved them into her pocket. She got the books she needed and closed her locker.

As she left the school she binned the notes and she disregarded the comments before she walked to her car. Jasper was right. She couldn't allow what a few people thought of her to bother her. There were always going to be people who didn't like her and she had to accept she couldn't please everyone.

She felt better when she got into her car and checked Maddox's address on her phone. It wasn't too far and the anticipation made her feel a twist in her stomach making her hesitate. Was this a good idea? Probably not but she knew that wasn't going to stop her. Her hands were sweating and she had to wipe them off on her jeans before she started her car.