The rest of the car ride was quiet and tense. Drake wouldn't so much as glance at Sophia, no matter how many apologetic looks she threw his way. Just watching was uncomfortable on its own. By the look on Sophia's face, I could tell she was feeling a lot more than just discomfort.

The car finally pulled to a slow stop, and Drake immediately threw off his seatbelt.

"Let's go." Drake huffed, exiting the car.

Sophia hung her head and quietly sighed before following behind him. After Sophia's door closed, I let a few moments pass before deeming it safe enough for me to at least sit up.

However, as soon as I peaked up from under the blanket, the car door closes to me flew up open. A squeal of terror shrieked past my lips, and I jumped sideways as far as I could, pulling the covers with me. My attempts to hide soon halted, once I heard a deep laugh next to me.

"Thanks for the heart attack, Weston. Really appreciate it." I muttered, pulling the blanket away from my face. Drake looked down at me with a cheeky grin.

"Maybe you just need to learn to be sneakier." He suggested jokingly.

"Really? I'll get right on that." I responded in a flat tone. I can't even walk down the hall at night without waking up everyone in the house. And that was before I had crutches.

"Anyways, I came to tell you that if you hear screaming call 911. It will most likely be Chris screaming because I've stabbed him." Drake paused to roll his eyes when I gave him a look. "Fine, I won't stab him. I'll text you if something happens or if we're on our way back."

I nodded at him in understanding and then the door was closed, and Drake was walking into the coffee shop. I made a valiant attempt to see through the glass and find the trio, but it was useless. The most I could do was tell myself to calm down and wait.

I was only successful at one of those things.

Δ

Chris had lied. Of course.

He tried to pin it on an innocent kid on the football team. He was in a few of my classes, and I saw him in the hallway every now and then, but we've never spoken more than two words to each other. I've never even heard him throw slurs my way. All's he has ever done to me is exist.

"Drake are you sure it's not Xavier?" Sophia grilled. "I mean, he looks really-"

"Trust me, Sophia. it's not Xavier." Drake gruffed. Sophia should trust Drake, my leg, my ribs, and everything else Chris has fractured or broken.

Sophia let out a dejected sigh and leaned back against her seat.

"I just want this all to be over so that I can be with Avery," Sophia confessed into the empty space in front of her.

My cheeks turned red under the blanket, and I could tell Drake was doing everything not to pull a smirk. He opted to ruffle Sophia's hair with a teasing smile I'm sure was meant for the both of us.

"Everything will be okay," Drake promised. "Just let me and Seth take care of everything.

After glaring at him, Sophia gave Drake a thoughtful look.

"Fine." Sophia caved. "But I'm going to call Avery to make sure she got home okay."

Before Drake could snatch the phone out of Sophia's hand, her finger's dialed my number faster than I could. If I had the time, I would've been flattered. But there was no space between Bright Eyes' "The First Day of My Life" blaring throughout the car and Sophia turning towards the back seat, more perplexed than she has ever been.

I don't know what was more confusing for her; the fact that there's a glowing blanket in the back seat or the fact that said blanket is singing. I applaud her for not passing out from fear yet.

Her frozen surprise only lasted for a few moments longer before the blanket was snatched from my body. As her eyes scanned my body, her confusion quickly turned to anger. All I could offer is a sheepish expression and a half shrug.

"Hi..."I trailed off nervously.

Sophia snarled in response, scaring any trace of color from my face.

Uh oh.

Δ

Somehow Sophia still managed to be angry with me about the whole fiasco, even though the entire scheme was Drake's idea. And when I tried to tell her that, it only ended with her getting more mad at me for blaming "an innocent person." Of course, Drake had no problem not being screamed at, so I had no help there.

Despite all of this though, everything went back to normal the next day. Normal being defined as me having a personal bodyguard that trails me all day and scowls at everything that moves.

"Sophia, you can not take me to my next class. You'll be late for yours." I decided, putting my singular foot down.

Even though Sophia hadn't officially yelled at Drake, her way of punishing him was not allowing him to watch me for the day. And since Seth was still on bodyguard probation, Sophia was the only one left.

Usually, I wouldn't complain about getting to spend extra time with Sophia. But a few of Sophia's classes are on the opposite side of the school as mine.

"Are you out of your mind?" Sophia scoffed. "Do you not remember what happened the last time you were left alone in this school?"

I gestured down at my crutches with a raised eyebrow. "Kind of hard for me to forget." I joked, and this time Sophia really scowled at me.

"Sophia," I groaned quietly, pausing to take a step closer to her. The halls were bare and empty, which was the only reason I felt brave enough to do this and even more of a warning that we should get to class.

"Nothing is going to happen to me between now and the fifty feet I have to walk to my class. And even if it does, Drake and Seth are in that class. They'll notice if I don't show up, and come and find me." I continued trying to convince her. There was still a glazed over look of uncertainty in her eyes, so I took another step closer.

"I have an excuse if I'm late. You don't." I reminded her, gesturing to my crutches again.

"Fine, fine, fine. But go straight to class." She warned. I did the best mock salute that I could manage, before turning away from her and walking down the hallway.

Sophia waited until I turned the corner to start sprinting down the hallway. I pulled myself as fast as I could to try and get to class on time, but before I knew it, the air was knocked out of me. My crutches clattered to the ground behind me, as I was dragged away by the two painfully firm grips on my forearms.

There was a scream I wanted to release; a loud and guttural that grew louder and louder the longer my injured leg dragged on the ground. All that I allowed to escape was an empty groan that was so low, I could barely hear it.

There were still stars floating around my closed eyelids from the initial impact. There were even more when my back was slammed into a wall. I tried to thrash against the bodies holding me down, but it was useless.

"Hello dyke," Chris' breathed low and hot into the shell of my ear. My fight immediately stopped, and my body seized up. All I could think about was trying to control my breathing and keep myself from hyperventilating. "Let's try this again. Why did Sophia break up with me?"

"I don't know Chris." I exhaled, trying not to let my voice quiver, but it still betrayed me towards the end. As soon as the words left my mouth, the hands around my arms squeezed tighter, and all I could do was let out a long string of whimpers.

"You don't know? How is that possible when you've been spending so much time together?" He pouted uncharacteristically.

The thought of Chris watching us made nausea so strong run over me that my eyes screwed shut. In response, he gripped my chin in his fist and turned my head to face him again.

"Look at me dyke," Chris whispered low.

I shook my head in refusal, keeping my eyes shut. I tried to shake his grip from my face, but if anything it only made him more upset.

Chris let out an animal growl before his hand constrained itself around my neck. I opened my mouth to gasp but found that I didn't have enough oxygen to do so. The hyperventilating that I had tried to stop before, only worked itself back up, chasing my heart into a frenzy. The fight in my limbs had started up again but grew weaker and weaker every passing moment.

"Look. At. Me." He seethed a squeeze of his fist following every syllable.

Tears pooled over my lids as I fluttered my eyes open to meet Chris's dark and angry ones. His hand gradually loosened its hold, and I gasped as air rushed into my lungs.

My desperate breathing turned shallow as Chris' finger glided across my collarbone and then shoulder with a gentleness that turned my stomach. Knots tied themselves together in my gut as I watched his lips morph into a smile.

There was an elongated beat. One that allowed me to scan the hallways for any sign of life. Chris's smile turned sweet as he shook his head.

"No one is coming for you Avery," Chris chuckled darkly.

Just as he spoke, the bell signifying the start of first period rang. A sob racked through my chest because I knew that Drake and Seth would be coming for me now.

I just don't know if they'll find me alive.

"Aw, don't be blue Avery," Chris cooed in a tone that sounded like a harsh attempt at soothing. If anything it only made my tears fall faster, and my body tremble.

I had never heard Chris speak to anyone this calmly, not even Sophia. That combined with the fact that he had just used my actual name instead of another one of his degrading terms. Chris was teetering back and forth between insanity right before my eyes. One false move and he could kill me. Right here and right now.

"Don't be blue or I will make you blue," Chris growled, and then his hands went back around my neck and gave it a light squeeze in a warning. That's all it took for my tears to stop flowing.

"You were supposed to get me my Sophia back to me Avery. Why is she back to me yet?" Chris lamented woefully. By now his fingers had made their way to my shoulder and was holding it in a dangerous caress.

"Do you remember the last time we spoke Avery?" Chris asked in a gentle voice. However, there was nothing gentle in the way his hand clamped down on my shoulder and twisted it back at a painful angle.

I didn't even try to hold in the scream that followed. It tore through me as the pain exploded throughout my arm.

"Chris please," I pleaded through my bawling, begging for him to release the pressure.

"No, Avery," He growled. He twisted it back again, barely stopping short of its breaking point. "If you don't tell me why Sophia broke up with me right now, you're going to be in a wheelchair."

Every fiber in my body wanted me to open my mouth and tell him the truth so that I could save myself. But the thought of putting Sophia in danger stopped me from speaking up every time. If he was doing this to me, he would kill Sophia on the spot if he found out the truth.

I shook my head as a response to his demand and squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the pain to come.

"Matthews!" A familiar angry shout came from down the corridor.

Cries of joy and desperation escaped me when Chris's startled hands pulled away from me. The two hands holding me against the wall remained, but there was still a giant weight lifted off of my chest.

"Oh look. The faggots' son came to join us, and he brought his boyfriend too." Chris teased. Drake had to struggle to hold Seth back, but I didn't understand why. All I wanted was to be wrapped up in their arms. Safe.

"Give us Avery," Drake demanded in a growl. The closer I heard his footsteps come, the more uncontrolled my sobbing became.

"You know what?" Chris pondered, his eyes scanning my body. A cold shiver ran up my body when he smirked. "You can have her. I think that we have a clear understanding now. Drop her boys."

And they did just that.

The ground knocked my injured leg, but I fell more so on the arm that Chris had attacked. An agonizing wail left my body at the impact, and I tried to roll my body over, but it did nothing to ease the pain.

"Avery!" Seth yelled, rushing over to me once Chris walked a ways away. Seth hovered over me, assessing the damage before pulling me against his chest in the most painless way possible.

"I'm calling 911," Drake muttered, and I immediately shook my head.

"No! No!" I protested, causing Drake and Seth to give me wild looks.

"Just let Seth take me home. You have to stay and watch Sophia." I begged with glassy eyes. The last place I wanted to be was back at the hospital, and the last thing that I wanted Sophia to be was alone with a maniac.

Drake's eyes watched me for a long time before he responded.

"Seth, take her to your house. Pick up, Ethan. Tell him to take care of her." Drake instructed before running in the direction of Sophia's class.

Seth's soft, teary eyes fell on me once Drake left. He picked me up in his arms and began to walk us out of the school.

I cried myself to sleep on the way to his car.