I'm laying in bed, close to falling asleep when my phone starts ringing, Yasmin's name coming up on the screen.

"Alex, y-you gotta come get us." She's talking fast, tripping over her words.

"Find someone else to take you home."

"No, seriously, Val and, um – you just need to come get us."

"Fine," I groan, hanging up and putting clothes on.

When I get to this dude Chrissy's house – the guy Amelia sits with in math – I see Yasmin and Santiago amongst some of the people outside. My heart leaps out my chest when I spot Amelia and Val behind them.

Yasmin didn't tell me I was taking Amelia home...

Yasmin falls into the backseat of my car and Santiago and Val help Amelia in. She looks a mess. She must be really drunk.

"Who's that?" Amelia asks, her voice loud as hell. "Who the fuck is that, Val?"

"It's Alex." Val looks worried, glancing at me warily. What the fucks going on?

"What's wrong with her?" I ask Santiago when he gets into the passenger seat.

"She took ecstasy."

"Are you fucking with me right now?" I turn around in my seat to look at her, sprawled across the center seat, holding Val's hand. It pisses me off even though I know Val wouldn't do anything with her.

"I'm sorry, Alex," Val whines. "I wasn't thinking when I gave her it but then it wore off of me and I realised what i've done-"

"You gave her it?" I shout. "You're a fucking idiot!"

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care if you're fucking sorry! Look at her!"

Amelia puts her hands over her ears. "Stop shouting. Where am I even?"

"Get out of my car, Val."

"No way-"

"Get out right now before I kill you."

"Alex we can't leave him here," Santiago says, making me angrier.

"Val, go."

"What am I gonna-"

"I don't care! Go!"

Val looks down, not meeting my eye again until he opens the door and gets out. I drive away as soon as the door is shut again.

"You're so mean!" Amelia screams. "How could you do that to him? You dick!"

"Shut up," I mumble.

"I hate you so much."

"Good."

Santiago rubs his temples. "I can't believe you just did that."

"Look what he did to her."

"It's not like he forced it down her throat."

"Ask her where she lives."

"Why don't you?" I shoot him a glare and he rolls his eyes. "Amelia, where's your house?"

"I dunno. I don't wanna go home."

"I know where she lives," Yasmin says and shows me directions.

"Why don't you just kick me out too and I'll walk? It's better than breathing the same air as you." She scoffs and my heart falls. She doesn't mean it, I tell myself, even though she probably does. I wanted her to hate me though, didn't I? This is a good thing.

As soon as i'm parked outside her house, she opens the door and steps outside, ending in her falling on the ground. I get out and rush to her rescue without a second thought. Pulling her back to her wobbly feet, she starts pushing me away.

"Don't touch me."

"Go inside then," I demand in a harsh tone, making her glower at me. She pushes me back hard and starts running down the sidewalk away from her house. "Are you kidding me, Amelia? Come back here!" She ignores me, still running. She's gonna get herself lost if she doesn't even know where she lived- Shit.

I take off running after her, managing to catch up to her in just a minute. She's fast on these drugs. She'd probably run for miles and not stop.

"Stop!" She screams when I put my arms around her, forcing her to stay still. "Let go! Who are you?"

"It's Alex!" She faces me, realisation sinking into her blue orbs. "Why are you running?"

"To get away from you. moron!"

I shrink back, still holding her. She's running from me.

That's what I want.

"I know you hate me," I say, taking a deep breath. With my experiences with ecstasy, I couldn't remember most of the night before. Hopefully she doesn't either, because I just need to get this out.

"Why wouldn't I? You used me. You made me feel like a stupid idiot."

"I'm sorry." My hand slips into hers and she looks at me, confused. "I love you."

"Liar."

"I love you," I repeat. "Always will."

She doesn't say anything else, just watches me, probably trying to work out what's going on. I know i'm confusing her, but I don't know any better. Finally, she allows me to walk her back to her house. She closes her eyes every time there is a breeze, and watches the leaves on trees move as if it's the most interesting thing she's ever seen. I silently pray that one day everything will be perfectly fine and me and her can be together and be happy. Maybe have a family and live somewhere I have no connections to dangerous men like Caligari who are out to hurt people like Amelia. She's too innocent for my world. Too soft. Too gentle.

Getting a taste of Val's world of drugs, anyone can see it doesn't work for her. She's not the same Amelia when she's on this. She'll regret it tomorrow, and probably never do it again. She's too different from us all.

"I'm not even tired," Amelia finally says when we reach her front door. I knock before pushing it open.

"Go to bed anyway." I help her inside and just as i'm about to leave, Kate comes through a doorway.

"Alex? Why are you here?" Her eyebrows furrow, then she looks at the state of her daughter, gasping. "What happened?"

"My stupid brother gave her ecstasy." I grit my teeth, getting mad at Val again.

She puts an arm around her and Amelia assures her she's fine. "Have you been drinking? Did you drive her home?"

"No and yes." Amelia suddenly falls down into me and I manage to catch her before she falls on the floor.

"She could have been killed on this!" Kate runs her hands down her face.

"Trust me, I know. Val will pay for it." I look down at Amelia in my arms, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, making me more and more angry at Val.

"Do you mind taking her upstairs?"

I look up at Kate again, frowning. I'm trying to stay away from Amelia and now look at me. I nod anyway and start walking up the stairs, eventually giving up on getting Amelia to walk normally and just carrying her bridal style. Kate shows me to her bedroom – a plain room that looks way too big and cold from the emptiness – and lay her down on the bed. She's in such a mess; I just want to stay with her all night until she's better.

"Thanks for bringing her home," Kate says and I give her the best smile I can right now. She steps outside the room, for some reason wanting to give Amelia and I some privacy.

"Bye," I say quickly and turn around to leave, but Amelia grabs my hand before I can.

"Stay with me."

Stunned by what she just said, I stand in silence until leaning down and slowly kissing the edge of her lips. I squeeze her hand before dropping it and leaving.

"She okay?" Santiago asks as I clip my seatbelt on.

"No."

"Go back for Val," Yasmin demands from the backseat.

"No."

"You can't just leave him!"

"Yeah, I can actually. He should be lucky he's not in this fucking car with me." I clench the steering wheel, thinking about beating the shit out of that dickhead, but guilt hits me straight after those thoughts. Val means no harm, yet he causes it. He causes a lot of fuckin' harm.

+++

The sun is shining through my dark curtains and I still haven't slept. The time on my phone says it's 10am, and I've been up thinking all night – worrying about Amelia mostly. The guilt about leaving Val has also been eating away at me. It was obvious he had been taking shit too, and he was alone there. Who knows what could happen to him. I keep thinking, what if it was Amelia left there on drugs? But Val can handle himself; he's used to it. He knows everyone too. I'm sure he'd have found a girl to go home with for the night.

He usually comes home pretty early after hooking up with someone though. A lot of the time he doesn't even stay the night there, but he had no way of getting home last night. He should be back any second.

Another half hour passes and I can't handle what i'm feeling anymore. Fucking worry. I have to get out of my room, so I go down into the living room and sit with Yasmin, Carlos and Marco.

"Regret being an ass?" Yasmin asks when she finishes a mouthful of cereal.

"It'll teach him." I don't show that i'm a little sympathetic over what I did.

"What if Val gets murdered or something?" Marco says.

"He won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know everything."

Just then, I get a text. Taking my phone out of my hoodie pocket, I see an attachment from an unknown number. As soon as I see it I want to throw my phone at the wall.

"What is it?" Yasmin questions. I tilt my phone in her direction to reveal the picture of Amelia kissing the fucking Chrissy dude.

"You didn't know that, Alex," Marco says, smugly.

I put my phone back in my pocket, trying not to lash out at Marco because I know i'm not angry at him, but I'd take it all out on him for that one comment. Yasmin gives me a wary look and I stare straight ahead at the tv, my face screwing up in anger.

"Not to make things any worse but Santiago saw them go upstairs together-"

I get up and go up into my room before I can hear anymore. I hate this guy. I hate Amelia. No, that's a lie. I'm angry at Amelia that she could move on so fast with some dude who doesn't deserve her. No one that I know fucking deserves that girl. Not even me.

"Wake up," I say, barging into Santiago and Val's room where Santiago is now not asleep.

"What's going on?" He shoots up into a sitting position.

"Amelia and the Chrissy dude."

"So? You guys broke up?"

"Cut that bullshit out."

He sighs, laying back down. "Fine. How did you know?"

"A random person sent me a picture of them kissing. Thanks a lot for telling me that you saw them, by the way."

"I didn't think you'd want to know."

"I don't. Still, you should have told me." I pause. "Do you think they had sex?"

He doesn't answer, which is enough of an answer to me. I hold myself back for a strong three seconds before kicking the wall.

"Holy shit, man!" I look at the door to where Val is standing, staring wide-eyed at the dent I made in the wall – one eye with a dark bruise around it. I feel a mix of relief and anger from seeing him.

"Where have you been?"

He looks at me, then at the floor, then me again. "Just... With my friend."

"You couldn't call to say that?"

"My phone is dead. Why do you care anyway? You're the one who left me."

"You deserved it." I punch his shoulder with a little too much force than intended and he grabs it in pain. "You could have got her killed. Do you realise how stupid you are?"

"It was an accident, okay?" He rubs his shoulder then goes over to his bed and kicks off his shoes. When he looks down, a red hickey is exposed on the side of his neck.

"What happened to your eye?" Santiago asks.

"Someone hit me. Don't remember who."

"Who?" What dipshit thinks he can hit my brother and get away with it?

"I just said I don't remember who."

"Was it the same person that gave you that hickey?" Tiago laughs.

Val freezes for a second before recovering and letting out a short laugh. "Maybe." I narrow my eyes in suspicion.

He goes for a shower while I talk to Santiago about shit including Amelia and also his thing with vicodin. Apparently he doesn't take them anymore but I find that hard to believe. Val comes back into the room wearing a towel at his waist, and when he turns around to get clothes out of a drawer, my eyes are drawn to the red scratches that cover his back.

Santiago snickers, lifting his phone and taking a picture. "C'mere."

Val comes over and looks at 'Tiago's phone, his eyes widening when he sees. "Wh- How did-" He looks at his back in the mirror, running his hand along the scratches.

"Did you get into a cat fight?" 'Tiago mocks.

"Must've been that."

"You don't remember who you had sex with?"

Val closes his eyes and sits down. "I do."

"Who?" I ask out of curiosity, and so I know who to be annoyed at. Val's a little kid; a girl can't be doing that to him.

"Umm... You don't know her."

I watch closely how nervous he is. He never gets nervous, so it's pretty fun to watch. Maybe I shouldn't feel bad about leaving him, because it ended up in him hooking up with someone who actually makes him feel nervous. I think I deserve a thank you.

+++

it's a chapter in Val's POV about what happened to him last night and it will be the first chapter of his book. You don't have to read it because it's not important in this story so you can just wait til his book comes out, which will be the third book so it won't be out until like a year haha (or maybe sooner if i update the next book as fast as this one)

to see the chapter all you need to do is be following me. if you're having problems with it just remove this book from your reading list, then follow me then add it back and you should be able to see it :)

teaser: alex can't contain his feelings towards chrissy

ly

-e