Mr. Brown's eyes landed on me as soon as I stepped in. His face lacked emotions but his eyes depicted the tornado whirling inside his mind.

He asked me to sit and I did so, keeping my head straight and my eyes focused on his face. The hurt in Adam's voice last night reappeared in my mind and I cursed him mentally, keeping my face blank.

"Miss. King! I'll ask you only one time, are the rumors true? Are you the one who is behind all the drama that happened this morning?" he said.

"No sir." I said in a clear voice.

He observed my face for any sign of lie and when he didn't find any, he sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his brown hair, something Adam often does.

"How is he?" he asked and I knew who he was talking about.

"Why do you care?" I said in a stiff voice, despite knowing that I might get suspended.

"Believe it or not Miss. King, I care." he said, his voice exhausted. If I didn't know any better, I would have believed that he was speaking truth.

A taunting smile appeared on my lips, my voice dripping with accusation as I said, "If you really cared for him, you won't have left him alone."

A wave of guilt passed over his expressions which he masked easily. "He is my son." his voice sounded strained.

"I guess it's easier to say that aloud now that everyone already knows." I said and stood up. "Sorry sir, you can suspend me for all I care but I can't sit in front of you and act like I don't hate your guts."

Saying this, I turned around and leave.

...

Entering the Calculus class, I looked around, hoping to find Adam but he was not there. With heavy heart, I sat down in a corner seat and fixated my gaze on the notebook open in front of me.

Sound of hushed whispers reached my ears and I lifted my head to see Noah who was now entering the class, his eyes lowered to the ground and a fine mixture of fury and hurt etched on his face.

Students gossiped among themselves, laughing at the situation while he silently sat down in another corner and pulled his notebook open, without looking around himself.

"Hey Noah, did you know your father banged Adam's mom?" one of the jocks said and the rest of the class erupted in laughters.

This time, Noah raised his head, his expressions harder than usual. "Yep. Wanna know a secret? One of your parents tried to seduce him too. A small hint, it wasn't your mother." he said through clenched teeth. The whole class silenced and the boy's face flushed red. He muttered something under his breath and turned to the front.

If it was some other time, I would have disapproved the usage of such personal remarks but somebody needed to teach them their limits.

Mrs. Dale arrived soon after and every pair of eyes shifted to the whiteboard. She wrote some problems on the board and started solving those, while I just sat there mindlessly, thinking about Adam. I wondered how he was, where he was and what was he doing right now. I wanted to be there for him but he didn't want me anywhere near him so I couldn't do anything.

After the class, Noah was the first one to leave the classroom. Following him out of the class, I ran behind him to check how he was. He turned to the ground, with me following him and stopped when he reached the benches.

Slouching down on one of them, he groaned, loud enough to be heard from a distance and threw his bag away.

"Noah." I ran towards him and sat beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Okay? How could I be okay Alicia?" he almost growled, making me suck a sharp breath. His features softened when he noticed my expressions. A smile sad appeared on his lips afterwards and he heaved a deep sigh. "I'm so fucking confused Ali. How could he do that to me? To mom? To...." he paused before saying. "To Adam and his sister."

"Everything will be alright." I tried to console him but he stood up, shake his head and made his way to the parking lot.

"Everything will be alright." I said once again, but I was unsure if it was consoling Noah or myself.

"Are you sure about that?" a familiar voice reached my ears and I turned towards the source of the voice, that happened to be Chloe. In all the chaos, I absolutely forgot about this bitch.

"Not now, Chloe." I said in a low voice.

"Of course Alicia, do you really think I'll say something bad or selfish at this critical time." she said innocently and then leaned towards my ears to whisper something. "Just a little tip, tell Adam to look around first if he is going to spill all his secrets in a public place."

My jaw dropped to the ground at hearing this and a stunned gasp escaped my mouth.

Does that mean she is the one who is behind this?

"How could you do that?" I screamed in my full voice, glaring back at her.

"Did what?" she feigned innocence.

"How could you do that to him? What did he ever do to you?" I accused and instead of feeling guilty, she just passed me her signature smirk and walked past me while I stood there frozen, feeling hopeless inside.

What have you done, Chloe?

...

"That bitch." Sophia cursed as soon as I finished telling them about Chloe's move.

"I can't believe she would ever do that." Emily mumbled. "I knew she was mean but this is pure satanic. God!"

My eyes shifted between both of them after which I lay down on my stomach and dangled my legs in the air. I wasn't even thinking about Chloe, or anyone for that matter. The focus of my thoughts was only one person, Adam.

"Do you want me to kick her butt?" Sophia nudged me and I shook my head in negative.

"She can die for all I care." I said. "It's Adam I'm worried about."

"You can call him." she proposed and I once again shook my head side by side.

"He lives just accross the street. You can go meet him." Emily suggested but I didn't respond.

"What do you want Ali? Tell us and maybe we can help you." Sophia exclaimed.

"Nothing guys." I groaned. "I appreciate that you want to help me but I want to be alone right now. Please!"

They argued with me for a moment, stressing on staying with me but at the end, both of them finally gave up and left after hugging me goodbye.

For the next three hours, I kept myself buried in the blanket. The empty tissue box was a proof of my pathetic condition. After every half an hour, the tap inside my eyes would open and a stream of tears would flow down my cheeks.

If it was upto me, I won't have left my room but Dad's voice echoed from downstairs, forcing me to leave my bed.

Checking myself in the mirror, I cringed when I saw myself wrapped in the dirty oversized hoodie and the centuries-old pajama pants. It felt like I just went through a massive break-up, even though we were never together.

Washing my face several time, I changed into some clean clothes, making sure I didn't look like I had cried for three hours. When I was satisfied with my appearance, I made my way downstairs to the living room where Dad was already plopped on the couch.

I sat down beside him, without making any noise. Dad observed my face carefully and I bit my lips under his scrutinizing gaze.

"Were you crying?" he said after a pause and I choked on the air.

"How.. How did you-"

"You are my daughter sweetie. I know you more than you know yourself." he said and scooted closer to me.

"What happened?" he asked and my throat felt clogged. Swallowing harder, I let out another sob and wrapped my arms tightly around him, resting my head against his shoulder.

"Alicia?" he whispered, patting my head. "What happened?"

"Dad.. Dad.. I.. I.." I said in between hiccups, my voice breaking. "It hurts... It hurts so freaking much."

For one painfully long moment, neither of us spoke anything, the only thing that could be heard were my sobs and whimpers. When I had finally cried enough, I pulled away and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands.

"Care to tell me what happened?" Dad asked, his voice thick with worry.

"Dad. If I tell you that I am in love with a boy, how would you react?" I spoke in a low tone, afraid of his reaction.

His face paled for a minute. Wiping the invisible sweat from his forehead, he stated, "It depends. If that boy is actually worthy of my girl."

"It doesn't matter." I grieved, tears once again pooled inside my eyes. "He hates me."

He rubbed his hand in circles on my back. "No sweetie. Nobody can hate you. You are a a wonderful person."

"He does, Dad. He does." I said and hugged my knees, hiding my face in between my legs. "He hates me."

I cried, and cried, and cried some more, ignoring Dad's pleas of telling him the reason of my tears. I didn't know for how long I stayed in the same position but the next thing I remember, I woke up next morning on the same couch, with a blanket covering me.

________________________