I sat up slowly, groaning as my muscles painfully stretched. My eyes instinctively shut tight making white dots dance across my eyelids. Still, white light passed through them, making my head throb more than it already was.

Eventually I was brave enough to open my eyes, but I still used a hand to shield them. As they opened, they slowly revealed the white cabinets and row of beds that belong to the nurse's room. Suddenly I remember Coach yelling, the football field and then the darkness.

"You're up," a voice sighed quietly.

I jumped, startled, before scanning the room. My eyes landed on a tall, slightly muscular boy sitting in the corner of the room. I recognized him from a few of my classes, but couldn't actually remember his name.

I squinted at him with a tilted head for a few moments, before he answered my silent question.

"Drake. Drake Weston," he answered. That's right; he's in my gym and biology class. He was also the school's beloved goalie on the soccer team.

"You passed out while you were running," he explained, standing up from his chair. "None of the girls from class wanted to help you, so I did. I Wanted to wait until you woke up before leaving."

We both knew why they didn't want to take me to the nurse. They were scared they'd catch my disease. That being a decent human being would suddenly make them start liking girls.

My facial expression soured as my thoughts did and Drake gave me a sympathetic look. I rolled my eyes at him, and cautiously slid myself off of the bed. The small impact still rattled my body causing me to wince.

Drake ran over instantly, but I gave him a look that stopped him in his tracks. He held up his hands in surrender.

"I just want to walk you to class. Make sure nothing happens to you," he reasoned, giving me a gentle look.

He had to understand why I would be hesitant. I've had plenty of people say they wanted to help me as they picked me up off the ground, only to have them lead me to Chris' waiting assault a few days later. It wasn't enough for them to hurt me physically; they had to break my heart too.

Saying no would be the most logical answer, but I couldn't ignore the small possibility that he was telling the truth. Chris still hadn't seen me since Sophia and I's scene yesterday, so God knows I could use some protection from him right now.

After I dropped my look and lowered my head, Drake took that as a sign to finish walking over . When he reached me, I wrapped my hands around his arm and used him to steady myself.

Drake walked us over to the door and opened it. Paranoid of both Drake's intentions and Chris' whereabouts, I peeked my head out of the door to check the hallways. They were empty, but that didn't mean there wasn't someone waiting around the corner.

"No one's there. I promise." Drake spoke in a sincere manner, but it still wasn't enough to convince me. However, I didn't really have any other choice. Whether he was leading me to Chris or not, I was going to run into Chris at some point. Might as well maybe have protection.

I still made sure to scan every intersection that we passed. Since class had already started, it made sense the hallways were so empty. But the emptiness left an unsettling silence that didn't help my nerves. Drake's presence however, had slowly become more comforting and I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

We made a stop at my locker to pick up my books for English, and then continued the short walk there. When I let go of Drake's arm to reach for the door handle, there was an instant feeling of dread that washed over me.

I didn't want to go in there. Stand in the front of the room for everyone to point and laugh at my bruises. I'd have to do my walk of shame to the back of the classroom and risk being tripped on the way. And I didn't even want to think about how Sophia would react.

"Avery," Drake spoke, pulling me out of my head. "Do you want to exchange numbers?"

I tilted my head at him, waiting for him to explain why he thought that was necessary.

"You can call me, if something ever happens again," he offered, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

And as much as I wanted to take it, (because let's face it ,something will happen again), I have had to change my number three times this school year alone. It leaks every now and then to people who only use it to send threats. I couldn't deal with something like that right now; Sophia was giving me enough to do at the moment.

"I can't," I responded, hoping it was enough because I didn't have the energy to explain myself.

Drake gave me a nod and understanding smile, before putting his phone back in his pocket. He opened the door for me and as expected, everyone's eyes turned towards us.

"Avery, so nice of you to finally join us. Why are you-" Ms. Dean started but Drake cut her off.

"She was at the nurse, she suffered a bit of a fall. She only came to recently," Drake explained politely, and Ms. Dean nodded her head slowly before motioning for me to come inside of the classroom.

Drake walked me to my seat before thanking Ms. Dean and leaving the classroom. When I finally got settled in my seat, I noticed that Sophia was staring at me with a mildly angered expression. I didn't want to ask her about it right now though because Ms. Dean probably wouldn't appreciate me coming to her class late and talking during her lecture.

However, when Sophia's look intensified and her pencil started tapping on my desk, I realized she was probably going to create a bigger distraction than my whispering.

"What's wrong Sophia?" I whispered, not taking my eyes off of Ms. Dean.

"Funny you should ask that. I was just about to ask you the same thing," Sophia hissed, her pencil tapping becoming more frequent.

I sighed, resisting the urge to bang my head on my desk. "Sophia, can you please explain?"

"Why were you at the nurse Avery?"

"I passed out in gym," I answered, giving her a sideways glance to tell her that I didn't want to talk about it right now.

Sophia opened her mouth, but gave me one more hard glare before turning her attention back to the front of the room.

I can't wait to talk about this later.

I pulled my backpack over my shoulder, and closed my locker shut. As I began my walk out of school, I suddenly heard my name being called, or should I say shrieked, from behind me.

"Drake wait!" Serenity yelled, her heels clicking across the ground.

I tried not to let my face show my reluctance as I turned around to face her. I really thought I was going to make it out of here without having to deal with this.

She skid to a stop in front of me, her breasts threatening to fall out of her shirt. I almost covered them with my hands to save her from mortification, but that would mean having to touch her.

"Babe, I thought we were going to the movies today!" she whined at a pitch that almost made my head explode.

I had only agreed to going to the movies with her because she had been complaining non-stop about us not going on enough dates. Which is annoying to say the least because she isn't going to want to be watching the movie.

"Sorry babe. Something came up," I lied smoothly, giving her the most fake smile I could muster. She pouted in a way that I'm sure she thought was cute and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Fine, I'll find something else to do," she scoffed, before giving me a sloppy kiss and sauntering off.

"More like someone," I muttered under my breath after she was out of earshot and I had wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket.

I was very aware that Serenity was cheating on me, as I'm sure the rest of the school was. It didn't bother me much though because we weren't anything more serious than sex every now and then.

"Drake!" I heard Seth yell, before his weight was slammed onto my back. I chuckled after gaining my bearings again, and pulled him off of my back.

"You know, people don't usually greet each other by jumping on their backs," I joked, making him roll his eyes.

Seth has been my best friend since we were born. Literally. Our parents were best friends, so when we were born the friendship was basically destined to happen. We've been bound at the hip ever since. We tell each other everything, do everything together; he's basically my long lost brother at this point.

"Hey, we have to pick up Ethan today. My Mom's getting paranoid about him walking home," he explained, as we walked outside and towards his car. I threw Seth a look.

"You mean you're getting paranoid about him walking home?" I asked, and he gave me a mild glare.

Ethan is Seth's twin brother who goes to Blake Town High. They were fraternal twins, so you'd never be able to tell if you saw them together. Seth was extremely protective over Ethan; an excessive amount if you asked Ethan.

Which I could understand because I loved Ethan just as much as Seth did. Even though we didn't go to the same school, he was still my very best friend and we made sure to always make up for lost time on the weekend.

"Whatever. Ethan is small and fragile. I have every right to be protective," Seth defended, and I shook my head amused.

"Don't let him hear you say that," I warned him, and Seth chuckled a little.

We drove in silence for a while before Seth spoke up.

"Heard you took Avery Leon to the nurse today," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the road. I nodded slightly, playing with my thumbs. There was no reason to not help here. Avery's quiet and keeps to herself. People are just stupid homophobes.

"You Dads will be proud of you," he noted with a small smirk, and my chest warmed.

I also may have helped her because it was a little personal. My parents once told me about how people used to harass them when they were younger, while bystanders just watched and did nothing. I couldn't be one of those bystanders.

"Someone had to help her Seth," I told him. He nodded and glanced over at me.

"I know, and I'm not going to bash on you about it, but what's going to happen to her when Serenity finds out? She's going to want revenge on the person trying to 'steal her boyfriend',"Seth spoke, his voiced with a hint of disgust when he said Serenity's name.

"Everyone knows that Avery plays for her own team. I'm sure even Serenity has caught on," I sighed and Seth shrugged.

"I don't know man, this is Serenity we're talking about. The girl is crazy!" he exclaimed, and I groaned in response. Thank you Seth for reminding me of my poor decisions.

"It'll be fine," I reassured. "And I'll check on Avery just in case."

When we finally pulled into Blake Town High's parking lot, a large smile grew on my face. My seatbelt was already off by the time Seth put the car into park.

"I'll get him!" I yelled, before jumping out of the car and running towards the entrance of the school. When I dramatically opened the front doors, Ethan's head snapped up. He threw me a look, and closed the book that he had been reading.

"Why must you cause such a scene?" he sighed as he got up but walked over and hugged me. I wrapped an arm around him and ruffled his hair with my free hand.

He groaned in response before wiggling out of my arms, and walking towards the car.

"And why are you so mean?" he stressed as he walked away from me. I ran to catch up with him, and threw an arm over his shoulder. He gave me a look but nevertheless let me keep it there.

"I'm not and you know it," I countered, pulling him close to me. "You love me."

Ethan tensed under my arm, but before I could ask him about it he climbed into the back seat. I took my place in the passenger seat and looked for him in the rearview mirror. When our eyes met, he gave me a shake of the head that told me to drop it. I stared at him for a little longer, before shrugging and letting it go; I was probably imagining it anyway.

After Ethan and Drake exchanged greetings and everyone's seatbelts were buckled, we drove away.

After school, Sophia drove us to her house. She had pulled me into her room, slammed the door and was now pacing back and forth. I watched from her desk chair, until I had enough.

"Sophia what's wrong?" I finally asked her and she paused her pacing for a moment to glance over at me. This time when she began pacing, she started to wring her hands.

"I'm..." She trailed off, before sighing. "I'm upset," she said in a careful tone. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Obviously." She glared at me, and I apologized. "What are you upset about Sophia?"

She breathed through her nose for a few moments, before halting her pacing completely. Now we're getting somewhere.

"I know that it's really silly and you're probably going to laugh at me-" she started.

"Sophia let me stop you there," I said, standing up and interrupting her. I crossed the room and took her hands into mine.

"I know I'm being a little rude, but I'm never going to laugh at you," I whispered, catching her gaze. "Whatever you're feeling inside is valid and very important to me. Understand?"

Sophia's cheeks turned pink and a small smile appeared onto her face as she gave a nod.

"It's just that I've been trying to help you with everything that's going on, and you've been pushing me away." Sophia bit her lip before continuing. "But then Drake comes along, and you let him take you to the nurse. I bet you've never even talked to Drake before today, have you?"

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. There was an underlying ache in Sophia's tone that pained my heart. This is exactly why I didn't want to involve Sophia in this mess. She was too good for her own good.

I moved us over to her bed to sit down. "Sophia, I'm not pushing you away. I'm just trying to keep you safe." Sophia opened her mouth, but I shook my head at her. "And I didn't 'let' Drake take me to the nurse. I was unconscious, I didn't have much of a choice."

Sophia searched my eyes for a stretch of time, before erupting in a fit of giggles. I watched her deeply confused for a while, but before I knew it I was joining her in her laughter.

"I guess you have a point there," Sophia said after she had sobered a little. I shrugged a little and she ran a thumb over my cheek. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."

My breath caught in my throat at her gentle touch. I tried to pull out of her hold and give myself space, but Sophia wouldn't have it. If anything, she brought us closer together and by some ungodly force her fingers ended up tangled in my hair.

If anyone paid enough attention, they would be able to see the literal sparks flying between our eyes. They'd see the waves of heat radiating from our skin. From our hearts. If they were good enough at it, they wouldn't even see how wrong this was.

"Are we ever going to talk about this," Sophia whispered, her light breaths clouding my judgment right before my eyes. "Tell me I'm not the only one who feels this Avery? Tell me you feel this too?"

And despite the fact that I knew that I shouldn't, I wanted to. I wanted to get three years of love and adoration off of my chest. I wanted the weight gone.

But when I opened my mouth, the shrill of my phone pulled me away.

Any other sane person would have ignored the ring and continued their confession, but I only have five people's numbers saved in my phone and they wouldn't call unless something important was happening.

Unfortunately, as soon as I pulled away from Sophia's arms I could feel the atmosphere return back to normal. The moment was gone. Maybe indefinitely.

I finally found my phone in my backpack, and answered it without even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello? What's wrong?" I spoke quickly into my phone.

"We're back."

The air left my lungs, and my phone slipped out of my hands.