"Hey Rose..." A quiet, and rather shy voice called softly from beside me as I put my morning binders into my locker. I had to hold them awkwardly against my chest with my sprained hand to put them away with my good one. It was a struggle, let me tell you.

I awkwardly glanced over at the guy standing a few feet away, a small smile pulling at his lips. My stomach flipped and it took all I hand in me not to drop my binders and make a run for it.

"What do you want?" I tried to keep my voice steady even though my grip shook as I clutched onto the metal locker door. Andy Garson's—one of Jason's 'friends' that Rex had beat up—smile slowly fell away and his brown eyes flickered awkwardly down to the floor.

"I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I actually wanted to apologize... for that day." His eyes flickered back up to mine, and the look on his face was apologetic—but that didn't mean I was going to let my guard down.

"Uh, um, yeah, okay. Thanks." I closed my locker quickly and turned on my heels to make a speedy get away. I didn't want to be around him, or anyone from that little group.

"Hey wait!" Andy called after me though I really, really didn't want to 'wait', but I was just too darn polite to ignore him. There were other people still lingering in the hallway, so it wasn't like we were the only ones there.

I clutched my sprained wrist protectively to my chest as my good hand wrapped tightly around my lunch bag. Rex would get worried if I didn't hurry. He had already been on high alert after the whole Halloween fiasco, and adding my little fall down the stairs onto the list had made him worry wart central.

I was actually surprised he wasn't waiting for me outside fourth period, until he texted me on my way to my locker saying he was running a little behind and would meet up in the lunchroom.

Rex was so not going to be happy.

I turned to face Andy but kept a safe distance. I was more than thankful he didn't try to close the space either. "Look, I really am sorry. What happened that day—it wasn't me. Call it group mentality or whatever but, like... I just really am sorry."

There was no doubting the sincerity in his voice, and while I tried not to hold grudges against anyone, I didn't want to be friends with the guy either. "Um, well, yeah, thanks for apologizing..." I muttered nearly down to the floor my hurt wrist still pressed against my chest.

I didn't really matter in the end. No number of apologies could stop the nightmares.

Andy's small smile returned, and he started to take a step forward, before he did a complete attitude shift. It didn't take long to figure out why. "Uh, hey, dude..." He stammered uncertainly, his face completely draining of color as his now wide-eyed gaze flickered behind me.

I didn't bother turning around. I knew who was there. There was only one person that caused that look of terror to cross people's face. "Here for another beating, Garson?" That dark voice practically growled beside us as a stone hard arm curled around my waist and pulled me into the safety of his side.

Andy took a step back, his hands raised slightly as he shook his head. "Naw, man. I was just apologizing to her. I don't want any trouble."

"Hm."

I could feel the tension strumming through Rex. His entire torso seemed coiled and ready to spring at any moment, but the arm that was wrapped around me stayed gentle.

"I really do-"

"Get fucking lost." Rex's let a hint of that tension snap out through his tone. "She's the only fucking reason your face isn't through that window right now."

I frowned at that comment but didn't say anything as Andy gave Rex one short, quick nod, and one last small smile at me, before hurrying off down the hall. Rex let out a rugged sigh, that tension slowly leaving his strong chest.

"Every fucking time I'm away something happens. I was just kidding before, but now I swear to God you attract trouble like a magnet." His voice wasn't hard or anything, but the truth behind it stung a little bit. I knew I attracted trouble. I always had and probably always would.

I tried to beam up at him as best as could, as if pure puppy dog innocence look would make him not be mad. He rolled those dark chestnut eyes but that hard look on his face didn't fade away. I swayed a little into him.

"He really was only apologizing." I mumbled as he raised the hand that wasn't wrapped around my waist to press my injured wrist gently against his chest. Butterflies erupted in my stomach at the sweet gesture.

"I didn't hurt him, did I?" He gruffly replied as that calloused thumb of his gently rubbed over the back of my hand. The soft touch sent little bolts of lightning through my skin.

I didn't say anything as he let go of my wrist to grab my paper lunch bag from me. I tried to shove down the blush at the small action. He always carried my lunch for me, or my binders, or books if they weren't in my backpack. It was so incredibly sweet that it made those butterflies go haywire. How could anyone say he was bad when he did things like that? Especially because he wanted to.

"It's like the fucker waited until I wasn't around." He grumbled a quiet moment later as the lunchroom came into view, his free hand wrapped tightly around mine.

"Why were you running late?" I asked casually to low key change the subject without completely changing it.

"Had to take a phone call outside, sorry about that." His voice turned into a soft mutter as he leaned over and pressed a kiss onto the top of my head. Those flutters suddenly erupted and swarmed throughout my entire body.

"You're forgiven." I mumbled back as the cafeteria finally came into view, my cheeks quickly growing warm. Not like I could ever really hold any grudges against him. He was just too darn perfect.

"Mr. Turner! Wait a minute."

And just like that, my endorphin, Rex filled stupor disappeared.

A chilling shiver ran down my spine. That would be the familiar voice of our principal filling the empty hall. I knew from before we were even friends, that anytime one of the administrators called Rex's name, it usually wasn't for a good reason.

Rex stilled beside me, his hand tensing as it went to press gently on my lower back. "You have got to be fucking kidding me." He said on a long, drawn out sigh. My eyes snapped up to see his close in aggravation before glancing over my shoulder at Mr. Anders. My heart dropped to the floor.

The principal stood just outside the front office door, the entrance to the school a little further down the hall. Behind him, just barely visible through the windows of the office, were two police officers.

Uh... oh...

"Would you mind coming into the office for a moment, Rex?" Mr. Anders called down the hall. It was empty except for us, but that did nothing to kill the fear building in my stomach. The principal needing to speak to Rex with two police officers...? Yeah, even I could connect the dots.

I latched onto the cuff of Rex's jacket as he turned to glance at Mr. Anders, that serious, hard grit in his beautiful jaw. "Why?" His tone was relatively calm for how tense his shoulders were. He knew why, even if I was falling a little behind. There was an older man standing next to the cops, his face flaming a super unflattering red. I clenched onto Rex's jacket tighter.

There was no way I was letting him step into that.

"There are some gentlemen here who would like a word with you."

The principal let out a small sigh and ran his hand down his rugged face. He looked a little more disheveled than usual. Mr. Anders was retired military with a strong build, caring eyes and salt & pepper hair. He was always nice to the students, even Rex—and on the times he really didn't deserve it too.

"It's better if you just come without making a fuss, Turner. It will be easier on everyone."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity—and the entire time I kept flickering my eyes between the two of them while trying to glue myself onto Rex like that would stop this whole thing from happening.

Then the gorgeous boy sighed, his shoulders relaxing as he turned back to me. "Go find Trey and the twins. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"No." I tried not to let that absolute worried panic show in my voice as I used both hands to grip at his jacket, sprained wrist and all. Which, by the way, did not feel good. "No, Rex. I'm not leaving you."

Those dark chestnut eyes didn't look angry, though they weren't exactly happy either. "Roza..." He started softly, his free hand reaching over to try and disentangle mine from around his sleeve. "I don't want you to have to deal with this, alright? And stop worrying, I'll be fine." He tried to give me a reassuring smile, which did absolutely nothing to reassure me.

I just shook my head and tried to cling tighter to him. If they were going to take him than they could take me with him. But he wasn't having any of it. His grip was gentle, but strong as he pried my hands away from his jacket and took a step towards the principal.

"No Rex-"

"I'm serious, Rose." He almost snapped-almost. "Go find Trey and tell him what's happening. He's gonna be my only fucking chance." He mumbled that last part, almost like he didn't want to admit it. And just to add onto the panicky flutters in my stomach, he reached down for my bad wrist, raised it to his mouth and pressed a small kiss to the back of it. I hated how out of whack that made my emotions go.

I didn't chase after him as he pulled completely away and handed me back my lunch, though I nearly latched onto his arm again. He gave me a side glare, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. I dropped my hands back down to my sides and curled them into fists. I could feel panic slowly creep into my chest, that panic I was all too familiar with.

Helpless.

I felt completely and totally helpless, and as I watched Rex saunter slowly over to Mr. Anders in his cool, calm, bad boy way, I knew there was nothing I could do.

My feet were frozen to the floor as I begged whatever higher entity there was to only let this be a conversation about something dumb he did a while ago. Because if it had to do with what I think it had to do with—'cough' Halloween 'cough'—then he was about to be in a heap load of trouble.

I watched as Rex walked by the principal and stepped into the office. Mr. Anders cast me one last glance before following after him and closing the door. I sucked in a shaky breath, and like a fire started beneath me, I sprinted through the cafeteria doors.

Trey. I needed to find Trey. His dad was the sheriff, he could do something! I ran nearly as fast as I could to our regular lunch table, the boys all sitting around their food laughing—until they saw the look on my face.

"Whoa, Princess." Trey laughed as I threw my paper bag lunch down onto the table and leaned against the cool top, my hurt wrist pressed securely against my chest. My breathing came out in hard pants. I was so not in shape. "Where's the fire?" He chuckled, those bright green eyes trailing over my face.

"Rex..." pant "front office" pant "cops..."

Those eyes widened, and without another word Trey shoved his seat back and jumped to his feet. "Not again." He practically growled as he hurried towards the cafeteria doors I had just fled through.

The Dimajios were staring at me with wide, identical blue eyes, Denton looking a little more flabbergasted than his brother. I didn't pay them much attention though as I turned on my heel and followed Trey out into the hall. None of the other students seemed to notice—or care. Which I was beyond thankful for.

Trey was a lot faster than I was, and I entered the hallway a few seconds after he did... and ran right into his hard back. "Oof..." I mumbled to no one in particular and went to rub the spot on my nose that I had smacked into his shoulder. God, those boys had too many muscles for their own good—or mine.

I peeked around his shoulder, trying to see if we could see into the office and see what was going on, only to see Rex being escorted out of the school—his hands cuffed behind him. The older guy with the red, inflamed face looked way too smug as he followed the cops.

The panic grew in my chest.

Oh no, no, no, no.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Trey hissed under his breath, his hand reaching up to run raggedly through his hair.

My breath was shaky as I tried to calm down. They couldn't take Rex. He didn't do anything wrong! I mean, sure, yeah, he beat up that guy at the party, but that was a bad person! Same thing with Jason and his friends! How long were they going to keep him? What if he got sent back to jail?!

God, I really wished I had my meds.

"What do we do, Trey?" My voice sounded hoarse even to my own ears.

"I'm going to have to call my dad." He grunted and scrubbed his hand down his face. "I don't think he can do anything though. Those are state police." Trey grumbled as he grabbed his iPhone out of his back pocket. "Go back with the twins, Princess. I'll be there in a second." And then he walked out of the side doors that let to the outdoor lunch area.

My heart felt heavy in my chest as I pushed back through the cafeteria's door and dragged my sluggish feet over to the lunch table. "What the hell is going on?" Brett practically demanded as I sat down heavily in my usual seat and tried not to cry. I hated crying, and I really hated when other people saw me cry.

"I-I don't know." I stammered and pulled harshly at the ends of my hair. "These cops just took Rex and there was a really angry looking old guy, and Rex didn't want me to go with him and- and..."

"Hey Buttercup, it's okay. Trey will sort everything out." Denton leaned over from my side and ran a reassuring hand across my shoulders. His face lacked that usual childish smile, and the look in his bright blue eyes was warm and secure. I gave him a small smile around the panic.

"Do you really think so?" My throat was burning from how hard I was forcing down the upset.

"Oh yeah! Trey gets him out of all kinds of trouble!" Denton said with that wide, beaming smile of his.

Brett rolled his eyes.

"Careful what you say man. Rex is still gunning for our heads." The grumpier twin grumbled as his eyes darted down to his cell phone. I forced down my frown. We never really got to talk about Halloween, but I did notice he wouldn't look me in the eyes anymore. It made me sad.

"But I didn't do anything!" Denton whined, and just like that his hand dropped away from my shoulder and he was back to his usual whiny self.

"You let her out of the car."

"Okay, but like nothing happened when she was with me!"

My eyes widened at that and I tried not to look over at Brett as he grew silent. A chilly tension rolled across the table. Should notttt have said that Den. But then the familiar figure of that mountain man/boy came back into view and grabbed my entire attention.

The look on his face made my chest want to implode.

"What did your dad say?" I asked before he even had a chance to sit down. He plopped down in the crummy lunchroom chair with a hard sigh, his jaw practically grinding together.

"He says there's not much he can do. They were state police, and he's gotten Rex out of so much shit already he doesn't think he can do much more."

I sucked in a sharp breath and tried not to shake. So, even if he could do something for Rex, he was going to be stuck with those cops for a while. And I couldn't do anything. I was helpless. Useless. A waste of complete space.

No... There was something I could do.

But I really hated asking for favors.

Then again this was Rex we were talking about. I would do anything for him.

"I... I'll be right back." I let out a shaky breath. I tried to keep my limbs steady as I pushed to my feet, but Trey's bright green eyes snapped to mine.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to go with you?" He asked softly and started climbing to his feet. That panic shot through me. He couldn't know. He would tell Rex and it would bad.

"No! No, I'm okay, thank you. I just need a minute."

He hesitated, that all-knowing gaze scanning my face before he nodded and slowly sat back down. I let out a small relieved sigh. "I'll be back in a sec. Promise." I reassured him and gave a little wave before making a bee line for the bathroom.

I locked myself in the farthest stall from the door, pulled my phone from out of my—Rex's—jacket pocket and dialed the familiar number. I let out a shaky breath as I pressed the phone to my ear and listened to it ring. God¸ I really hated asking him for favors.

"Rose?" He picked up on the second ring, his voice full of surprise.

"Hey, I-I need a favor."