It was now Friday, the day before my birthday. I had promised I would go to Charlie's to spend it with her, Luke, and Dale but for some reason, she didn't want to invite anyone else, maybe she just wanted to keep it small. The last couple of weeks had been agonizing, Aiden was sleeping with every girl he could and things were tense between us which didn't make too much of a difference considering he had no time for us now that he had so many girls. Things between him and Toby seemed almost even more tense than things between Aiden and me and I hated being the reason for that.

The bell had just rung for lunch so Jordan was walking me to the cafeteria, Aiden had spent the whole lesson flirting with the girl behind him but thankfully, Jordan chose not to question me about it. I assumed that Aiden wouldn't be making an appearance again today like he hadn't the past 2 weeks and again, I assumed that was because of the girl in English Lit, Maya, I think her name is.

Jordan drops me off at my usual table and the keeps walking to the bleachers where I knew that Lindsay and he spent their breaks together, Jordan and Lindsay were so exceptionally close and honestly, it was nice to see someone as pretty and popular as Lindsay protecting Jordan from all the bullies.

"Hey Mills!!" Toby grins as I take the spot beside him. Luke and Charlie join us quickly holding hands, something positive about the last couple of weeks was that Luke and Charlie were already the golden couple of the school. They were both so in love with one another and they both deserved to be happy.

Dale had also been amazing as always, I don't know how he found the time but he seemed to be spending even more time with me than he was before, he was worried about me. He was working tonight though so he would come and spend the night at mine after. Charlie and Luke were unable to spend tonight with me though which was sad but I would manage, Dale would take me there tomorrow for dinner.

My thoughts get interrupted when I see Aiden saunter in the cafeteria, surprisingly he was alone, but unsurprisingly, his hair was disheveled and his lips were swollen. I only imagined what Maya looked like.

He saunters over to us and keeps eye contact with me, he fully approaches me, gaining not only my table's attention but the whole cafeteria's.

"Hello Emily," he smirks, the cold player look in his eyes.

"Hi," I mumble, not knowing what else to say and admittedly, cowering away from the crowd of the cafeteria whose multiple eyes burned through me.

"Aiden," Toby says coldly in greeting.

"Toby," Aiden smirks mockingly.

Anger bubbles through me, Toby had been there for Aiden through absolutely everything and right now Aiden was treating him like shit. Toby deserved better and for the first time since the tracks last Monday, I didn't feel extremely guilty for being the wedge in between the 2 best friends.

"Don't talk to him like that Aiden," I say quietly, hoping that no one apart from Aiden and maybe my table hears.

Aiden looks surprised at me defending Toby and for some reason, it angers me even more.

"What you 2 are besties now aye?" Aiden questions sarcastically.

"Aiden that's not what's hap-" Carter begins to stick up for us before Toby interrupts him by standing up, a foot or so away from Aiden.

"No Carter, that's exactly what's happening," Toby says, directing his words to Aiden who looks like he's getting angrier by the second, Toby continues; "you've been nothing but a dick the last 2 weeks and she doesn't deserve it, if you weren't such an asshole to her then I wouldn't feel the need to apologize to her for my best fucking friends behavior, she's never been anything but nice and genuine and you're treating us both like absolute dog piss and it's not okay."

I feel the mood getting more tense by the second so my instinct is to stand up so I can try and ease the tension, the guilt about being the wedge in between the boy's returns and only multiplies, I hope I hadn't ruined anything between them.

"I've been nothing but a dick have I? I've just been living my best life, you know, having fun," Aiden smirks but it's obvious that the smirk is a mask for his anger that had also multiplied.

"You're a fucking asshole Aiden," Toby chuckles sarcastically, stepping closer to Aiden.

Aiden looks murderous for a second before a cold smirk covers any trace of emotion and he gestures to me, "look mate, you don't need to be pissed at me because she won't put out for you, she didn't put out for me either."

Everything happens so fast that for a split second, I'm completely frozen as Toby launches himself at Aiden and hits him square in the jaw. Aiden recovers quickly and hits Toby back just as forcefully.

"Stop!!" I yell, trying to pull Aiden off Toby. Somehow, Aiden had rolled them over on the ground and was now straddling Toby while he hit him. Whilst Toby got in a good hit, there was no denying who would win this fight.

"Aiden get off of him!!!" I yell, attempting to pull him off Toby again, nothing works. Carter and Blake stand up quickly and pulls them up, holding them back but Aiden breaks free from Carter's hold and continues his assault on Toby, Blake has no choice to let go of Toby so he can defend himself and Luke quickly jumps up to help Carter with Aiden. Aiden fights against them, so does Toby and just as Aiden breaks free again, I do something incredibly stupid, I stand in front of Toby.

Aiden stops his fist mid-air when he recognizes me standing in front of Toby and I catch an emotion fly through his eyes but it's too quick to decipher, before I can register what's even happening, the gym teacher Mr Marshel makes himself visible, standing in between me and Toby and Aiden.

"The three of you, Mrs Harwood's office right now!!" Mr Marshal yells, tugging Aiden's jacket collar.

Wait, the three of us?

Mr Marshal eyes me and I instantly know that I was the third person he was referring to.

I walk with Toby towards the office nervously, I had never been in trouble, neither of the boys looked nervous even in the slightest and I wasn't surprised.

Mr Marshal points to a bench in front of the office and Toby sits on the edge, I sit in the middle and Aiden sits on the other side of me.

"Stay here, I'll be back in a minute," Mr Marshal sighs in frustration before he disappears into the office. This bench wasn't very large so my left knee was touching Toby's and my right was touching Aiden's, this had been the most contact we had had in 2 weeks and I hated the way my heart pounded at the proximity of sitting so close to Aiden.

Mr Marshal returns a few seconds later with what looks to be a first aid kit, he sighs and looks at me; "Emily, I need to prepare for my next class so could you clean these idiots up as much as you can, Mrs Harwood shouldn't be too much longer.

Mr Marshal passes me the bag and walks away, mumbling something about teenage boys and girls.

Sighing, I stand up and face the boys, whilst Toby had looked by far the worst, I was actually surprised at how bad Aiden looked considering Toby was so much smaller than him. I had only seen Toby get in a couple of good hits but Aiden's nose was bleeding, his lip was a tiny bit cracked and his jaw had a bruise forming that I was positive would be painful.

Toby, on the other hand, had a black right eye, and a cut on the side of his left eye, his lip was bleeding and so was his nose, he also had a few good bruises on his face as well as a few more cuts. I quickly stand in front of him and kneel down to his level on the side further away from Aiden.

"How are you feeling Tobes?" I question.

"Great, nothing like a bit of cafeteria violence," Toby grins as I wipe away the blood with an alcohol wipe. I swear that I see Aiden rolls his eyes from the corner of my eye but he doesn't say anything.

"I'm sorry that you guys fought when you defended me," I smile sadly.

Toby smiles at me, "you defended me first."

I laugh at him; "yeah but I didn't beat him up for you."

Toby looks in my eye, he looks like he's searching for something but he gives up and smiles at me warmly; "Mills, you're one of my best friends and I protect my friends."

This time I know I see Aiden roll his eyes and clench his jaw, his fists also tighten as he looks straight ahead and I know he was listening to our conversation.

Toby and I engage in conversation as I keep cleaning his wounds, Aiden says nothing as he stares straight ahead and knowing that he was listening to everything that was being said between Toby and I had me more nervous than I care to admit.

I procrastinate as long as I can cleaning Toby's wounds but when I'm applying my 5th coat of cream to his bruise I realize that it's probably time to move on to Aiden.

I intake a nervous breath before moving to stand in front of Aiden who stares at me, so many emotions swirling in his beautiful eyes but each disappears and another replaces it before I can name it.

Aiden watches me like a hawk but says nothing as I kneel in between his legs to treat his bloody lip. I try not to focus on the fact that Aiden hadn't stopped staring at me and that Toby was staring at the 2 of us and just put all my focus on cleaning the cut on his lip.

I'm almost done cleaning Aiden's face, it was amazing how much you could do when you were trying to do it as fast as possible. I'm so focused on cleaning the wound that I almost don't hear what Aiden says.

"I'm sorry Collins."

I look at him in surprise and hear Toby scoff from the other side of the small bench; "now he says sorry."

Aiden's head shoots to Toby, "what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Toby goes to reply but I have enough of this argument before it begins, I stand up abruptly, cutting him off, "that's enough from the both of you, you guys are meant to be best friends so fucking act like it!! Aiden you've been a dick these past weeks but Toby, you're kind of sucking right now. I accept your apology Aiden, now you need to apologize to Toby so you guys can move past this!!"

They both stare at me, open-mouthed but silent, and just as I'm about to sit back down in between them like some kind of barrier, Mrs Harwood shows herself.

"Alright you two, come i- Emily?"

"Hi Mrs Harwood," I wave sheepishly, I hadn't had much to do with the principal apart from her congratulating me on my grades so she was obviously under the impression I was a good girl and shouldn't be here right now. She was right.

"Alright then, come in."

We all walk in, there were 2 chairs waiting in front of the desk where Mrs Harwood makes her way behind.

"You sit Mills," Toby smiles at me, I go to thank him but Aiden interrupts me.

"I was just about to offer her my chair," he says.

"Yeah well I offered first!!" Toby replies.

Aiden goes to argue again but Mrs Harwood interrupts, I look between the 2 of them in shock, were they really arguing about who would give me their chair?!

"Alright, that is enough boys. Both of you take a seat right now, Em, dear, sorry but you're going to have to stand," Mrs Harwood begins, the boys mumble under their breath but sit, I stand in between them awkwardly. Mrs Harwood sighs, "do you want to tell me what is happening between the 2 of you? I've known you boys since you first started here and I've never seen you fight, or even apart, and then suddenly you boys have a full-blown fight in the cafeteria?! You boys are soulmates."

Neither of the boys speak, whilst Aiden suddenly finds the corner of the room very interesting, Toby finds the ground very intriguing.

"No? Okay, then does either of you want to tell me why it was that you had a full-blown fight in the cafeteria?" Mrs Harwood asks.

Again, no one replies. Mrs Harwood sighs loudly.

"Emily? Would you care to enlighten me on anything?" Mrs Harwood sighs.

"I'm sorry Mrs Harwood, I'm not sure what happened either," I admit.

Mrs Harwood sighs again, "well then can you at least tell me what was said before they decided they were in the boxing ring?"

The boys both look at me, obviously wondering if I was going to tell her what Aiden said about me that had Toby defending me. I stay silent, looking down at the ground from the pressure of 3 stares burning through my head.

"Right, well I'm sorry Emily, and I'm sure you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time but as you won't speak, I'm going to have to punish you all, you will have an hour detention this afternoon straight after school. The 3 of you can sit down in a classroom and work things out because I hate seeing you boys fighting. I'll come and check on you as much as you can but because of the circumstances, I don't believe you boys need an actual detention but rather an hour to work things out, I'm sure Emily will be very useful in mediating the situation." Mrs Harwood says with finality, I nod at her quickly, thankful that this was not an actual detention which means it wouldn't be going on my record.

Toby stays silent and Aiden mumbles some choice words under his breath but eventually agrees. Mrs Harwood nods before allowing us to leave, we do so straight away just as the bell goes signaling the end of the school. We make our way to the classroom that Mrs Harwood had let us use, this should definitely be interesting.