I scanned my math notes for the hundredth time and still no information wanted to stay in my head. I sighed and slammed my hands down onto the lunch room table, dropping my head into my hands. There is no way that I am going to be able to take in this information before my math test next period, I only had the rest of lunch to prepare for the test and it was stressing me out. I still hadn't seen Blake since he walked out of my room after I was in the hospital and I was constantly worrying about him, so much so that I couldn't study.

Suddenly I felt a hand rest on my head and the shock of it made my heart jump in my veins. I jumped up, my whole body jolting as I snapped my head up to see who was touching me.

Lisa was looking down at me with her eyebrows pinched together in worry as she pushed her dark wavy fringe out of her eyes.

"How are you?" She asked solemnly. I could see the concern in her eyes, my lack of sleep must have been apparent on my features.

"Terrified now thanks," I evaded trying to cover up the fact that I was actually in fact not okay.

"Sorry," she laughed, sitting down across the lunch bench from me in the cafeteria.

"How are you?" I asked her in return.

"Busy," she sighed, collapsing her head onto the table. "It's taking all my extra time organising this orphanage fundraiser in a few months." Lisa was so dedicated to helping the kids that didn't find homes when the orphanage next to our school shut down. I know her room mate was a previous orphan from there and half of them ended up boarding at the school, the other half I am pretty sure are homeless. It's sad, I'm glad Lisa was doing something about it.

"But seriously, how are you? You look like you haven't had any sleep for the last 10 years at least," Lisa frowned when she looked at me more closely.

I ran my hands down my face and sighed loudly. "I'm just stressed, everything that is going on with Blake and our exams coming up soon, I'm just struggled to handle it all." Lisa placed her hand onto mine and her comforting familiar touch was able to relax me.

"It's a lot Rose, do you need any help with your studying?" She nodded her head down towards my study notes that I had read through ten times but didn't retain any information.

"That would actually be great, thank you Lisa," I smiled at her and we began working through the horrid exercises which helped me focus. Billy Lee joined our table when he saw that we were doing homework and started making conversation with Lisa, he was helping out with the orphanage fundraiser. I glanced at Lisa with a smirk on my lips and a knowing look and she gave me a death stare back. I returned to my work while they chatted.

After a few minutes of working away productively I was brought out of my concentration by a slamming of the cafeteria door that resided close to our table. I snapped my head up at the sound and when I saw who had walked through the door my heart stopped. Dread washed through my veins, like a wildfire, the feeling so devastating and cataclysmic it felt like it would knock me to the ground.

Blake walked through the door first closely followed by Sarah and they were laughing like they were the best of friends. But it wasn't just that sight that had me gasping for air but the sight of Blake with his arms around Sarah's best friend, Talia's shoulders and around her neck, his fingers laced through hers. He turned his amused gaze from Sarah down to the girl in his arms and smiled softly at her as he whispered in her ear, his lips running along her skin. Talia ogled up at him giggling, completely taken under his spell.

My own eyes were wide as I gaped at them together, barely believing what I was seeing, it couldn't be true. Blake wouldn't do that to me. In that moment as Blake's lips were on her skin his eyes flickered up from her to look straight at me.

A jolt of electricity ran through me as his eyes locked onto mine and he didn't look away, not for a few agonising seconds. My eyes welled with tears and my stomach heaved as pain radiated through my entire being. Blake was the first to look away, he pulled his head out of her ear and they walked off together.

All of them including Sarah sat down at the popular groups lunch table, they must have forgiven Blake easily enough. Talia sat right next to Blake and as soon as she sat down she reached her mouth up and began kissing Blake, right in middle of the cafeteria. Right in front of me.

They kissed for a few moments and a small part of me, the stupid part thought that Blake was going to push her away but he didn't. He began to kiss her back. A lump formed in my throat, threatening to suffocate me and I needed to grasp my stomach as my heart broke into a million pieces. The forming tears fell from my eyes like a tap that I had no control to turn off.

The worst part of it all though, was not the fact that Blake was kissing someone else, but that he knew that I was watching. He wanted me to see this. This was his way of saying that he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore.

"Rose? Are you okay?" Lisa asked softly and her voice jolted me out of my trance. Her eyes were worried and she was leaning over towards me, about to wrap a hand around my shoulders. But I couldn't stay here, I needed to leave, I couldn't watch that for a second longer.

I jumped up violently, my chair screeching out from underneath me and falling to the ground as I did so. It made a loud crash and most of the cafeteria's residents eyes snapped towards me, including Sarah's table. Tears were streaming down my cheeks and everyone in the cafeteria saw this.

Sarah's face lit up with amusement as she saw me and her viscous laugh was heard easily. But my eyes were fixed onto Blake as his attention was pulled from the girl in front of him and towards me. His eyes locked with mine and that just made the pain magnify like a knife was plunged into my heart.

Even though I was in tremendous amounts of pain I noticed through it Blake's reaction when his eyes took in the state of me. His mouth fell open as he gasped and his eyebrows pinched together and he pushed Talia away from him forcefully.

The lines around his eyes became prominent and I knew that those lines that only appear when he is in pain. But that just made me simmer with rage, how dare he feel pain when he was the one who did this? In my anger I threw my fallen chair out of my way and stormed out of the cafeteria, all the while holding my hands around my stomach just to try and keep myself from falling apart.

I wiped my hands over my eyes to prevent the tears from running down my face but they were soon replaced by new ones. I sprinted as fast as I could out of the school grounds and only when the school was no longer in sight did I fall to the floor against a fence on the side of the road.

I pulled my knees into my chest and dug my head into my knees, hiding myself in the darkness. My hands were still wrapped around my stomach, I was afraid if I let that go I would vomit. Being immobile made the vision so much more clear of Blake kissing Talia and I let it all out then, I cried and cried into my knees.

I cried for how much I cared about Blake and how I now know that he would never care for me. I cried for myself, for all the hopes and dreams I thought would become true if I could just help Blake, the hopes that maybe Blake could be mine. I cried for Blake, knowing that he will never recover from whatever he is going through because I couldn't, I wouldn't help him anymore. It was causing me too much pain and I just couldn't do it anymore.

I was done helping save Blake Huxley.

***

I trudged home in a broken trance after having a good cry. I wasn't worried about skipping school because I was going to tell my mum what had happened with Blake. I was going to ask her to kick Blake out of our house, I didn't want him here anymore. I didn't ever want to see him ever again. Blake didn't return to our house that night which I was thankful for and I was able to have a chat with mother over dinner which we collaboratively decided it was time to send Blake back home.

My mum was going to tell him as soon as he arrived back home and was going to drive him back to his parents house so I didn't have to see him again. I knew that no matter what I didn't have to face Blake so I was able to relax a little as I hid away in my room and finished my homework. But the hours into the night passed and Blake didn't return home.

I noticed this when I went to say goodnight to my mum at 11 o'clock to find her on the phone to Blake's mum, her voice was high and squeaky. It only became like that when she was stressed, worried. She was pacing as she grasped the phone so tightly in her grip her hands were white. Instantly my footsteps halted and a wave of heated anxiety rushed through my body, something wasn't right. Warily with shaky knees I sat down quietly and listened in on her conversation.

"Look Jessie, I think the best option is to get the police involved, he hasn't returned all night and we both know what he is capable of," mum worried and just from the sentence I knew what was wrong, Blake was missing.

"This was what happened before the last time he did it, wasn't it?" mum inquired, twirling her hands into her dressing gown. My heart jumped at her statement, what has Blake done before?

"Don't worry Jessie, we will find him. Call the police now and let them know the situation. I will let you know immediately if he returns home." A few seconds passed as Jessie said something else.

"Okay, keep me posted," mum finished and hung up the phone.

I stood up instantly, frightening my mother who gasped as she saw me walk straight up to her.

"What is going on?" I demanded with fear quivering my tone. Mum hesitated and looked at me with worried eyes, like she didn't want to tell me. She sat down at the dinner table and gestured for me to follow. I did as she asked but my back was straight and my hands were tapping against the table in agitation.

"An incident happened at school today," she explained with grave eyes.

"What?" I gasped, lacing my sweaty hands together.

"Blake was badly injured and had lost a lot of blood. We don't know where he is now, he ran off after it happened. No one has been able to get into contact with him for hours," mum explained with a worried pinch between her forehead. All the air left my lungs and it felt like there was an emptiness left in the void where there was no longer oxygen.

"What happened?" I asked desperately.

"He punched a glass door and it broke apart. From the momentum of his punch he fell over into the shards of glass, cutting him all over his body. The school nurse was worried that from the amount of blood that was left at the scene Blake wouldn't be in a fit state to walk let alone stand." My mouth fell open and the coil in my stomach wound up viciously in worry causing me to stand up from the table, my chair flying out from behind me.

My mother followed my movements and touched her hand to my shoulder in a calming gesture.

"Where did he go?" I fretted, wrapping my hands around my shoulders.

"We don't know, Blake's parents are calling the police now to start the search," she explained. My heart skipped a beat and then began again at a faster pace, this must be bad if they are getting the police involved.

"I will help," I stated instantaneously without having to think about it.

"Rose, you don't have to do this, not after what he did to you." Mum was looking down at me with a new worry in her eyes, a worry for me.

"Yes I do," I affirmed without room for debate. Mum understood and nodded back to me.

I ran to my room to grab the car keys, my mind scanning through all the possible places Blake might have ran off to. I grabbed the keys off my desk and was about to fly back outside to begin the search when I felt my phone ring in my pocket.

I dug it out of my pocket with clumsy fingers and nearly fell to the floor in relief when I saw who was calling me. It was Blake.

I didn't know how he had my phone number but my mother made me save his number in my phone in case of emergencies. He had never called me before and I honestly didn't even know he had my number. So I couldn't possibly imagine why he was calling me now.

I went to answer the call when a piercing stab of pain hit me at the thought of hearing his voice, I knew it would bring back memories of him being with Talia. But then the crippling anxiety won out, I would deal with the pain if I just knew where he was and knew he was okay. So I answered the call.

"Blake?" I answered hesitantly, questioningly.

"Rose, I need to talk to you," Blake spoke desperately. And just from his voice I knew instantly something was terribly wrong.

***

Hey everyone!!

I am back, YAY! I am so sorry for not updating for the last few months, I have recently started a full time job and it has been taking over my life. I have finally got around to writing another chapter. Thank you everyone for your patience and your lovely comments for me to update, they were very motivating.

So it wasn't exactly the nicest chapter to return to but it had to happen. Poor Rose was so hurt by what Blake did :( Does anyone have any ideas what is going to happen next?

Anyways thank you all for still reading even though I have left it so long. Let me know what you think of the chapter.

Love Elaine Xx