"Hey, Blakely." Tony Milligan, Jace's lacrosse friend interrupts my mindless sketching in my notebook.

"Oh, hey," I smile as he sits next to me.

"So I haven't seen you at the games lately," Tony continues. "Is Jace trying to keep you away from us guys?"

Tony was a dedicated "suitor," if you will, before Jace and I officially started dating. I went to the games with Alison specifically so we could check out the guys. Watching them play is significantly less entertaining now that I have a boyfriend.

"Well, I've been pretty busy. I never miss the games that matter, though." What're a few small competitions compared to the ones that win you trophies?

"It'd be really great if..." His voice trailed off in my head when I caught a glance of Leo Rylin strolling through the door.

I scowled at the sight of him. He really is dirt.

"...If looks could kill," Tony smirked and took me out of my glaring trance.

"Ha, I wish they could," I admit.

"Who's the guy?" He asks lowly since Leo is near us speaking to one of his friends who doesn't even have this class. I scowl at him once more before ripping a sheet from my notebook and writing Tony a note so that I don't have to whisper to him.

"Leo Rylin: Born apart of the miserable, penniless litter. He's not even worth the ink in this pen."

Tony snickers as he reads it out loud and watches as Leo passes us by. He shook his head in annoyance when he heard us laughing but continued to walk to his seat.

"Watch this..." Tony smiles as he stands up. "Keep a lookout for me."

Ms. Chang is unusually late today.

I subtly turn around to see what Tony is up to and laugh when I see him intentionally knock Leo's things onto the floor.

"Aw, sorry, friend," Tony said halfheartedly. "Here, have a fifty." He takes out his wallet and places a crisp bill on Leo's desk. "Now don't spend it all in one place. That's about a week's worth of groceries for you, isn't it?"

"Tony, you're such a sweetheart," I call out to him, "but didn't anyone ever tell you not to feed the pigeons?"

Leo sends me a cold, dead glare and I smirk.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Beggars and panhandlers should probably get off their asses and try to do something with their pathetic lives." He snatches the fifty off of the surface of the desk before crouching down to be eye level with Leo. "You don't deserve handouts."

Leo stands up from his chair, "keep talking, I fucking dare you."

Tony chuckled and I felt the room fill with raging testosterone as they came face to face. "What are you going to do to stop me?"

Leo wasted no time before shoving him back, and like falling dominos...Tony reacted immediately. Tony launched at him and Leo grabbed him by his shirt, lifting him up enough to slam him onto the lab table.

My eyes widened in shock, and against my better judgment, I ran over and tried to pull Leo off of Tony. I thought that maybe playing the martyr would be better than being punished for the villain when I'm named the reason all of this happened.

I had managed to pull Leo at least a foot away from Tony long enough for me to step in front of him. Leo angrily re-approached us with his fists clenched, but I didn't hesitate to stand my ground.

He's close enough for me to feel his body heat radiating onto mine...our faces inches apart.

"Move," he said through gritted teeth.

"What if I don't?" I challenged, "you gonna hit me?"

I know the answer is 'no,' the only reason I was able to pull him off of Tony is because he swung less when I was behind him. He clearly didn't want me to get caught in the crossfire.

Leo scoffed through laughter, "I may be apart of the miserable, penniless litter," He used my words in disgust, "but I don't hit girls, Heather."

Suddenly, the crowd of students who'd rather be the audience to everything instead of helping diffuse the situation all scurried to their seats.

"Well, what do we have here?" Ms. Chang spoke and I turned to see her standing at the door with her arms crossed.

I hurried to my seat as well, and Leo sighed like he knew he was already in trouble.

"That stupid roach just attacked me out of nowhere!" Tony shouted as he covered his probably broken nose.

Leo didn't bother denying the allegations, he just huffed and avoided eye contact.

"He has a name! Use it!" Ms. Chang yelled but Tony shrugged her off. "Leonardo, what happened?"

"What do you care? It doesn't matter what I say. He's gonna be let off, and I'm going to be suspended."

"As much as I love the whole 'the system is rigged, I'm the victim' attitude you've mastered, I'm going to need to hear your side of the story as well, Mr. Rylin. All I see right now are two bruised boys and a finger pointed your way."

"It's nothing."

Ms. Chang pressed her lips together, "Okay, Heather? I see you were in the middle of it. Any particular reason?"

"Uh— no," I say hesitantly and my eyes shift to the note laid open on the table.

"You don't sound sure. Should I ask you again?" She steps closer toward me.

"No...I'm sure," I say quietly and start pulling the paper back so she doesn't get a good look at it.

"Really?" Her eyebrows raise. "Then you wouldn't mind handing that over, now would you?"

"Actually-"

"Immediately, Ms. Blakely!" She puts her hand out.

I cringe as I fold the paper up before placing it in her hand. She opens it in a nonchalant manner, and I hear Leo laugh hysterically behind me, filling the silent class with his arrogance.

"Hm, it looks like Leonardo wasn't the one doing the attacking after all." She turns the paper toward me, "bullying is a level three offense in the handbook. What punishment does that call for, Heather?"

"...I don't know." I look down to avoid her disappointed gaze.

"Level three offenses must be reported immediately to the school administrator and may result in immediate removal of the student from the school."

"Oh..."

"Should I send you two to the headmistress? Deliver you to the appropriate authority?"

"Please don't..." I say quietly because I can't seem to work up the nerve to really speak.

"You're usually a good girl, Heather, an honorable student. This is very out of character for you. I expect this out of Tony, but I never would have thought you would be the one to try and degrade a fellow student. Disappointed is an understatement." I cowered back as she spoke, doing this in front of the whole class is punishment enough. "Fighting is a level four offense, Mr. Milligan. Therefore, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm sure there's a nice spot for you in the office." Tony huffs as he takes his pass and angrily walks out of the room, "but as for you, Heather, since you're bullying him, maybe you'll resolve your differences and learn to be a better person by helping instead of hurting."

"What?" Leo intervenes, "what's that supposed to mean?" He asks the question I am also wondering.

"As I said to you before, the semester exam is in February," she spoke directly to him, "You need to pass it and Heather may very well be exempt from it."

"Oh, that's cool of you to suggest, but I don't need a tutor-"

"Your mother and I disagree. I'd hate to have to bother her again," Ms. Chang smiles deviously. She truly is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"What am I being punished for?" Leo says in frustration.

"Fighting, though you could probably claim self-defense, is still not permitted. Especially not in my classroom."

"But-"

"You both have taken up enough of my lesson time. You can discuss your schedules after class. Three times a week for two hours or more, I'll inform your parents. That's final."

My phone has been ringing over and over for two days straight. Audrey told me she was pregnant with no plan and I freaked. I told my parents as soon as they got home and then they freaked.

Shockingly, that didn't help.

Trevor has been letting me crash at his place and didn't even pester me on the reason why. I've been avoiding Audrey because my mother went behind my back and called her father.

She was obviously super ticked off and left me me an angry message about how if I died she'd hijack my funeral and turn it into a birthday party for her mother's French poodle.

I can't have a kid, what am I supposed to do with one of those? If I could go back and change everything, not only would I restock on condoms, but I wouldn't have slept with Audrey in the first place.

"Hey, you!" Alison pops out from seemingly nowhere.

I jump back, clearly startled by her sudden appearance.

"Oh...Ali, nice to see you," I say with low enthusiasm.

"I was thinking...my family is having this sort of gathering this weekend. My cousin is getting married, so my grandparents are flying in and everything. It'd be amazing if you showed up...even just for a little while," she shuffles nervously like a cute, cliché schoolgirl.

"Uh— I don't know, Alison."

"...why not?" She looks up at me with sad eyes.

"I've been going through a lot, recently. I'm a bit stressed out so..." I try to come up with a good enough excuse for her not to think I'm just blowing her off.

"What if I can make you feel better?" She steps closer to me. "Would you want that?" Alison asks as she trails her hand down my chest and over the zipper of my slacks.

"...yeah, I think I might," I say breathily as she gently grabs ahold of my hardening cock.

"Right now?" She whispers in my ear and her lips brush over my neck.

"Well...my car has a pretty nice backseat."

"Why can't you take me to your house?"

"I would...but my parents and I aren't really speaking at the moment. I've kinda just been doing my own thing and staying with a friend...I don't know if I have bedding rights yet, probably shouldn't risk it by bringing girls over."

"Girls? As in...you'd bring someone other than me?"

How is this getting progressively worse?

"No, no— Ali, of course not. Don't read into it...we have something between us, right?"

"I hope so..." She shrinks back as she speaks, "I really like you, Ethan."

"And I like you, so why the sad face?" I lift her chin up with my fingertips.

"It doesn't seem like you're that into me," Alison pouts, "which sucks because I think I lost everything for you."

"What do you mean?"

"My friends didn't support us...and now I don't have friends. Well, not best friends."

Jesus Christ, now this dare has strings attached? When did games become so complicated?

"I'm sorry, Alison. What can I do to make things better?" I run my thumb over her cheek and watch as she leans into my touch.

"I just want to see you more, that's all..."

"In that case,how does tomorrow night sound?" I smile wholesomely, the type of smile that screams 'there are great things in store,' although, I don't have a semblance of an idea.

"Sounds perfect, I can't wait!" Alison seems to glow with excitement. "What are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise." ...For the both of us. "But make sure you look nice, we're going to have a little photoshoot afterward," I say slyly.

The faster I finish this and win, the better.

There's something about people getting attached to me that I find so nauseatingly uncomfortable. Friendships? They're fine...but people wanting more from me makes me sick. Please love me in the privacy of your own mind. Admire from afar.

"Teeling?" I turned once I heard my name called and smiled when I saw whose lips it was falling from. "Going home, huh?" Evan Andrews, one of the best guys I know, walks up to me as I wait for the train.

"Thinking about it," I shrug. "There's gotta be better things to do on a Wednesday, right?"

Evan chuckles, "maybe...if you're with the right person."

"Oh, are you that guy?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Depends on which train you're getting on," Evan smirks.

"Well, I was heading back to Madison but...I'll go wherever you are if you want to hang?" I speak hesitantly in fear of him thinking I'm clingy.

"Then we'll get on this one." He smiles as a train pulls in front of us and people start loading onto it. "Come on," he grabs my hand and pulls me on with him.

The seats are all taken but my hand stays in his as he latches onto one of the poles to keep us secure.

My heart races a bit when he doesn't pull away from me. I start wondering if my palms are too sweaty or if he's weirded out by how how much I'm fidgeting. Is my heart beating as loud as I think it is? Am I staring too much?

Can he tell I'm nervous?

"So, uh— where does this one go?" I break the silence between us.

"No idea." He shakes his head as he laughs and I find myself oddly mesmerized by how he lights up.

"Really?" I smile.

"I figured if everything went south and we ended up broke somewhere in Jersey, I'd call my aunt and take the heat for getting us lost," Evan spoke as he inched closer to me, sealing off a bit of the space that kept us far. I took that as a sign to let go of his hand and place it under the one he had gripped around the cold metal.

I kept my eyes on his face but his eyes were locked on where my hand had moved to, he glanced over at me for a second before letting his fingers trickle down over my knuckles until his hand was completely over mine as we held the pole.

God, I haven't been this sexually confused since I saw Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles.

I stayed frozen, my breathing shallowed, and the blood in my body rushed to my head so fast that I felt dizzy. Evan always looks so smug and sweet at the same time. I wish I could match his calm.

"Um, excuse me, boys." I jerk back on instinct when I felt someone tap my shoulder. "One of you can take my seat. I'm getting off now," An older lady kindly offers and I nod and smile in response before she leaves.

"Scared of seventy-year-old women now?" Evan teases me as I try to regain my composure. "I'll have to protect you from everything, won't I?"

"I wasn't scared of her." I playfully roll my eyes, "she caught me off guard."

Being with Evan usually makes me a target, I have to remember I'm a little safer when I'm not at school.

"Sure," he says slyly. "Just know that you're safe with me."

And I probably am. The future janitors of America who've made it a habit of pushing me into the dirt, throw insults at me instead of hands when Evan is near. But I'll never understand why he endures being called "gay" or a "fag" when he knows he's only called that when he's with me.

Evan was dating an upperclassman girl called Beth Robin when I first got to Chester. That gave him a good reputation, and I know I should've followed in his footsteps but I didn't mind being under the radar at the time. My people were on Madison Street, not an hour away with the middle class.

The people that I did know who was also transferred to Chester were either younger than me or older than me and, for some reason, we were never got acquainted.

Evan and I met in gym, though. He complimented my "Invaders From Mars" shirtand we completely geeked out about it for a second. We were total losers from then on and started exchanging bad alien movies and Martian comics. He told me that I'm his only friend he has a common interest with.

It's funny that we can stay forever in the company of people we don't genuinely enjoy.

"Are you hungry?" I ask when the train comes to a stop again. "I'll get us something, on me."

"Starved, honestly," Evan chuckles. "Let's get off here before it's too late."

I nod and follow after him. He checks behind him consistently to make sure I'm there, and I'm tempted to grab his hand again to keep close and put his mind at ease.

When we get up the stairs, I can tell we're in Brooklyn. He laughs as he looks around and waits until we're side by side before walking again.

We played that game where you point out people and give them stories. We guessed what kind of jobs they had, whether they were in a relationship, or had kids. I kept the game fun. When Leo does it, it always ends up going dark. I don't know what's wrong with him.

Evan suggested we stop somewhere small and cheap like McDonald's, though I offered to buy him whatever he wanted. We ate inside but took our fries and drinks with us and sat outside at a bench.

"What about him?" I ask and nod toward a guy buying roses at a flower stand. "What's his life like?"

"Him?" Evan smiles, "normally, I'd think a guy buying roses is bringing them to a pissed off girlfriend, but he looks too happy. I think he's going to propose."

"Wow. That's optimistic." I laugh at his prediction.

"Look at him, fancy suit and an entire bouquet of red roses. That's every movie proposal ever. He probably has a hotel suite and everything. You wanna know why?"

"It's a romantic setting?"

"That and if she says yes, they're going to have some wicked sex," Evan says slyly before shaking the ice around in the cup he drained all the soda out of.

"Can't they do that at home?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"It's always better in a bed that's not yours, you know that." Evan shrugs nonchalantly and I don't respond. "Unless you don't..."

"It's not that I don't have the experience-"

"You're a virgin, aren't you?"Evan says in amusement.

"...don't laugh," I sigh.

"I'm not," he says through laughter. "It's not a bad thing, I swear. You're only like what...fifteen?"

"Fourteen, but I'll be fifteen next month."

"My birthday was six months ago, and I had sex for the first time that night. After that, sex didn't really matter...kinda lost its sacredness," he explains. "So, I'm sorry for laughing. I get it if it's still important to you or something."

"It's not," I say quickly. It sounds so lame being a guy and treating your virginity like it's a fucking baby.

"Okay, then?" Evan laughs awkwardly at my impulsiveness. A wave of silence washed over us again, but I could feel him staring at me.

Eventually, he reached over and took my cup out of my hands and began drinking what I had left of my soda. I watched as he pushed the straw past his lips and wondered when we got this deep into the friendship.

Drinking or eating after someone you're not related to feels so intimate. It means you're close.

And for some reason, it feels good to be close to him.