Jace waves at me from down the hall. He's with a few friends but motions me over toward him.

"Hey, you're back," I say in surprise.

"And good as new." He smiles and wraps his arms around me.

"I'm glad," I pat his back and then wriggle out of his grip before it gets too uncomfortable.

"Can I walk you to class?" He asks kindly.

"Oh, no that's okay."

"Really? It's right by mine..."

"I'm fine, though. Thank you anyway."

"You're stepping in boyfriend territory," James teases, and Jace laughs with him.

"Is this a Rylin thing?"

"Well..." I shrug coyly.

"Am I a threat?"

"No, it's not that."

"Come on, Heather, we're just friends."

"I know, but it's a weird situation...you understand."

"Sure, I understand, you can't be seen with me until that necklace comes off," he teases.

"This crap?" James motions toward it. "What, is it a shock collar?" He snatches it off my neck and throws it across the floor.

I gasped as soon as I felt the chain pull apart.

Leo gave me it to show how he felt before we officially got together.

That necklace means everything to me...

"Why would you-" I try to speak, but my voice begins to crack the dam of tears.

"Heather," Jace says cautiously as he watched me pick it up, "he'll pay for it. I'm sorry."

I ignore him and walk away, letting tears fall onto the broken jewelry like they can somehow mend it.

Without it on, I feel underdressed. There was hardly a day where I went without Leo's charm on my neck.

I stop to wipe the tears from my face before I enter the classroom. It might hurt his feelings to know the necklace is broken, and I'll feel even worse.

Leo looks up at me when I walk in, and I press my lips into a smile for him.

"What's wrong?" He says immediately.

I shake my head, "nothing."

"Heather," he turns my chair so that I have to look him in the eyes, and when I do, I tear up again.

I grab his hand and drop the necklace into it.

"Aw, butterfly," Leo pulls me into a hug. "It's okay. I can get you a new one."

"I don't want a new one. I want this one."

"Things break, don't beat yourself up about it."

"I didn't break it," I say in offense.

"One of the links snapped, they do that sometimes."

"When someone snaps them," I mumble

"What?"

"James...he ripped it off of me. He wanted to prove some stupid point for Jace, I guess."

"Who the fuck is James?"

"Novak. He's on the lacrosse team." I shake my head and sigh, "I can get it fixed...or replace the chain. It will be fine. Right?" When I look at Leo, he is no longer looking at me, he's glaring at the door.

Oh, no.

"Right."

"...Leo?"

He gets up angrily and heads toward the door.

"Zach," I run to catch up with him while he's walking with Karlie. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Hi, Evan," Karlie smiles.

"Hey," I smile back. Her being warm to me might rub off on Zach. "I stayed away the entire break. Do you still want me to leave you alone?"

Zach brushes me off, "Probably shouldn't bring this up and make Karlie feel weird."

"Karlie, could you give us a minute?"

"Karlie stay," Zach says.

I open the door to the boys' restroom and take a glance inside.

"It's empty, can we-"

"Why do we need so much privacy?"

"Because we had sex, and I want to talk about it."

Karlie squeaks like a frightened mouse and then puts her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I'll wait out here."

Zach rolls his eyes and walks through the door. "Happy?"

"No."

"Never satisfied."

"I was the other night," I shrug, and Zach shakes his head while moving toward the door again."Why are you mad at me? You asked for my help."

"That was more than helping, and you know it."

"I didn't expect it to go that far," I sigh. "But I'm glad it did. I wish it didn't suck for you."

"...It didn't."

"Is that why we're not cool anymore? Because you liked it?"

He looks away from me, "shut up, Evan."

"I'm not trying to steal you from your boyfriend. I know why you're with him and not me. But, I don't like when you're mad at me. You're kind of...my best friend, you know?"

"I'm not mad at you."

"Look, don't tell Aaron you slipped up, and everything will go back to how it was when you weren't thinking about me like that."

Zach nods, "And you weren't thinking about me."

"No, I was."

"Why?"

"Last time I said it, you tried to fight me."

"I thought you were saying it to mess with me."

"I wouldn't do that." His eyes stay on me as if he's expecting me to prove it. " I love you."

Zach takes small steps to get closer to me, so I take bigger ones to get to him faster.

"I like Aaron..." he says, a safe distance away from me.

"I don't care," I reply, dangerously close to him...

before his hand is around my waist, and his tongue is sliding past my lips.

He kisses me.

He kisses me.

I can't remember what was happening before I felt your mouth on mine. I was just looking at you, and now here you are...

Pushing me into a stall.

All you assholes hang around the same place every morning because you're the only ones who like each other.

"Who's James?" I ask.

"Let's calm down, Leonardo," Jace tries to mediate like he didn't stand there and let someone mess with Heather.

"Fuck off. Which one of you is James?"

"I am," some smug-faced douche walked out in front of me.

I shove him hard and he stumbles toward the other guys.

"You put your fucking hands on my girl?"

"It was a necklace," Jace stops me before I could grab his friend. "He didn't mean any harm."

"You think I won't beat the shit out of you too?" I scoff, "Do you know how much I want to?"

"That wouldn't be a fair fight for you, now would it? 2 against 1? And then the rest of the guys might want in," he sucks air between his teeth, "I don't see that going well for you."

"How about we find out?"

"Leo," I hear Heather's voice but don't bother turning toward her.

"Get out of here," I say.

"You're going to get suspended."

"I don't care."

"I don't want to be here for two weeks without you," she pouts.

"Just go back to class."

James laughs, "Are we doing this or not?"

"You're talking shit but hiding behind your friends? You fucking pussy."

"I can take you on my own."

"Step the fuck up then."

"Leo, no!" Heather pleads.

"Go back to class!"

"Baby..." Heather says gently. I don't know why hearing her call me that makes me all soft for her, but it does. "Please?" She cautiously comes near me like she's defusing a bomb. He's lucky she got close to me before he did.

Relief washes over her when she takes my hand, and I walk with her away from what would have been the lacrosse team beaten to a pulp.

"Aw, how cute," James taunts.

Nope, you fucked it.

I pull back from Heather and hit him hard. He falls to the ground, and I almost crouch down to punch him again, but Heather holds my hand. When I look at her, I see her sad face...or scared expression, maybe both.

I expected the team to try to come at me like Jace the junkie said they would, but he holds them back instead.

A favor for my girlfriend, I bet.

"We need to go," she pulls me away.

I want to turn back, but we turn the corner and she presses me against the wall.

"Heather-" I huff in frustration while soothing the pain in my knuckles.

"No," She replies. My jaw clenches and a frustrated sigh leaves my body. "Hey...no." Her lips touch my neck, leaving a trail of warm kisses on my skin. It's nice, it would calm me down if I wasn't so fucking gone already.

"He hurt you."

"I'm okay," Heather says softly. "See?" She puts her hands over mine and guides them down her body.

"I'm fucking pissed."

"I know."

"I'm going to be pissed until I beat the shit out of him."

"That's not a good idea."

"Sounds pretty good to me right now."

"...want to know what sounds better?"

"What?"

She leaned in slowly, not caring if I met her halfway, just kissing me to make my anger dissolve against her lips.

I know what you're trying to do, butterfly.

Your hands against my chest does get me from a 100 to a 90, but I'd be at a 0 if I could just hit that guy until I see blood.

And maybe she can sense that because she kisses me more , moving my hands so that they're nicely situated on her ass. I like pulling her skirt up just a bit...it's a turn-on.

Heather backs away from me with a smirk. I jokingly roll my eyes and let her string me along to wherever she wants to go. Wherever and whatever 'better' is.

We come to a door and Heather reaches her hand into a little drop box next to it to take out a key. I lean against the wall beside her while she unlocks it, and then let her drag me in behind her.

She holds onto my hand and the railing as we go up into the weight room. I'm assuming anything she knows about this place came from her stint with lacrosse players.

"What are we doing up here?" I ask her.

She shrugs innocently, "nothing..."

I raise an eyebrow, and she gets down on one of the gym mats, looking up at me as if she's awaiting orders.

You're lucky you're cute.

I lower myself onto the mat, connecting our lips and kissing her until she's laying flat. My hands reach under her skirt to take her panties off immediately. If you're my prize for not fighting then I want you now.

My thumb presses against her clit, and she gasps at the pressure. She grabs my face and kisses me again, slower, controlling how much of her I get to taste.

When I rub that same spot, the hand on my face falls to my shoulder. Just short, small circles have her soft, slick, and warm. Heather's humming against my lips, pulling away to moan when she can't hold it in and watching in amazement at the way my hands moving under her skirt. This brings back memories of the first time, doesn't it, butterfly?

"I want you." Heather tries to pull me closer.

"Not until you're soaked." She whines like I'm depriving her of pleasure completely. "I'm not even teasing you," I chuckle, sliding my fingers inside of her to show just how much I'm actually giving.

The bliss in her moans speaks for itself.

Her eyes can hardly stay open despite her desire to watch me. Two fingers pump in and out of her with enough speed to have her breathing like we're running out of air. She arched up only for me to bring her back down, going a little faster every time she whimpers.

You're so strait-laced to everyone else. But look at how you are with me.

She tells me when she's close as if that would be my cue to stop fingering and start fucking— as if I won't do both to completion.

Her breathing is erratic with jolts of moans slipping through every few seconds right before her legs close suddenly, and she grabs hold of my wrist. "Fuck," I curse, my hand still between her legs while her body shakes through the ripples of an orgasm. That's ridiculously hot.

And, there is a sort of cathartic release in having her gripping my arm and cumming on my fingers.

I can tell her body is buzzing, and it makes me smile. I pull open her shirt to leave kisses on her chest and grip her through the bra that will be on the floor by the end of this.

"Turn around," I breathe out, unfastening my jeans while she assumes position.

God, I almost groan seeing her like that— wet and glistening in the sunlight.

She hears me opening the condom, and the way she looked back at me gave me a tingling feeling deep in my gut. Being this desperate for her makes it hard to last, but it feels so good when I do.

I let my tip play with her a little bit, toying at her entrance, pushing in slightly before pulling out again just to see her drip.

"You said you wouldn't tease-" I cut her off by finally easing into her, gradually filling her up until her skin met my pelvis.

You're right, this is better.

And, it's just like her to be impatient.

Heather moaned and whimpered, made all those needy noises while pulling forward and then pushing herself back on my dick. I throbbed as she did it, watching myself go in and out of her as that aching to flood her built up inside of me.

There's no way sex keeps you out of heaven. This shit is the only sign there is one.

I grip her waist in my hands and start giving her longer, harder strokes that her toes curl to. She moaned out my name over and over until she couldn't form a word or a breath, or make any sounds at all. Her body went tense, and I threw my head back letting her pulse around my cock.

A shattering moan breaks through her, and she collapses under me, giving way to a whole new feeling of depth. It was just her body against the mat and my body pressed against hers, barely separating while I grind into her. She made soft sounds in rhythm to the ones made by our bodies while her nails left scratches in the foam.

I lay my head on her back and groan. I want to look in her eyes while I cum...so, if I don't stop now...

She turns over instinctively once I'm off of her, and I grab her legs to bring her closer to me.

"Are you okay?" I ask breathlessly.

"Mhm." She nods.

"Yeah?"

Heather whimpers when I slide into her again, "yeah," she gasps as I draw back and push in— deeper each time. I moved forward and my hands came down to hold me up over her.

It felt like I was stealing her breath with every thrust. And stealing's never bothered me much. Seeing her eyes screwed shut and her mouth open in ecstasy, only closing to thrum out the most sexually driven hum that makes me twitch inside of her.

I keep going slow...easing her in before I start moving faster and faster, harder and faster turning her moans into choked whines as she covers her mouth with her hand.

Her legs hold me tight between her, and I chuckle knowing she's trying to close them again because cumming another time feels like too much.

You can handle it, butterfly.

I grab her waist and keep fucking her through it. But the clenching and her hips rolling on top of me got me closer...she was grinding me and squeezing me to my own release.

Oh, fuck. I'm going to cum. She's hardly recovered from her last orgasm, and she's already taking more relentless, hard thrusts because "I'm gonna cum..." and it would be fun to see how drenched these mats will be if I overstimulate you.

She takes it so well...biting her bottom lip and keeping me as close to her as possible when I fall apart. She kisses me and soothingly touches my hot skin while I curse and grunt, my body jerking into hers while I finish. It was a slew of sloppy technique, groans and heavy breaths— maybe even a few bruises on Heather from where my fingertips held onto her too hard. I came like I'd been edging myself for hours.

I'm so relaxed now I almost forgot I was ever mad.

She kissed me one last time before I moved off of her to lay by her side.

We need to catch our breath and get dressed so we can walk out of here like nothing happened.

All our stuff is still in class. It's laughable to think of Ms. Chang asking where we were while Heather was floating on air and I was balls deep inside of her.

"I thought you were against doing it at school," I smile.

Heather laughs. "This was a one-time thing. It's not happening again."

"Sure."

My fingers trace over her neck down to where the necklace stopped, and she frowns.

"Don't worry about it. You're still my butterfly."

"I know..."

I reach behind my neck and unclasp my silver chain, "Put this one on."

Heather looks at me in heartfelt surprise. "But it's yours."

"Give it back to me when we get your necklace fixed."

My fist repeatedly pounds against the door in a way that will make them rush to open it.

Amanda swings it open, "Oh, my god. Quit it, I'll go get him."

"Get who?"

"Danny."

"Danny's here?"

"Isn't that why you're here?"

"No," I laugh, "did you always like Danny? This is weird. It's really weird."

She scowls, "He wasn't with me-"

Danny steps out from behind her. "What are you looking for me for?"

"I'm not! I'm making a delivery across the hall. I wanted someone to watch, so they wouldn't kill me."

"What are you going to do at your other ones?" He narrows his eyes at me like it's a dumb idea.

"I don't know, but this is the first."

"Go ahead," Danny directs.

"Did you spend the night here?"

"Mind your business."

"If you weren't here for Mandy, that means-"

"I was here for Mandy. I came to talk to her...but she wasn't home."

"Who was?" I smirk, already knowing the answer. "I thought you weren't into her anymore?"

"Val's dating some loser named Marcus."

"So, you're hooking up with Kat now."

"I didn't fuck her."

"You wouldn't have stayed if you didn't get any action."

"I got something."

"Oh, she got on her knees...to beg for you to be her friend again."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Go sell weed."

Wish me luck.

I start across the hall wondering if I should've bought a bulletproof vest. Or a gun? Why don't I have a gun? I could be walking into the lion's den, some big mob boss who only had me come here so he could feed me to his alligator-"

"Why are you bothering Marley?" Amanda asks before I could do anything.

"Marley?"

"Yeah. She's super skittish. You're going to scare her."

"Well, that's why she needs weed."

I knock a few times on the door and wait for a response.

"Who are you?" A panicked voice comes from behind the door.

"Matt. Dane sent me."

"You're not the usual boy."

"Sorry, he just told me to come here."

"How old are you?"

I scoff, "How old are you?"

"You're a cop."

"You're a nut." I roll my eyes, "Look, do you want it or what?"

I hear about 5 things unlock before the door slowly opens enough for me to see a tall woman holding a furry gray cat.

"Hello."

"Hi..."

"Do you have it?"

"Yes," I unzip my bag and find the package with '25' written on it. When I look up again, she's holding a glass of milk the cat has its head in. "...You got the money?"

"Hold this." She gives me the milk. There's fur in it, but a lipstick print is on the rim. You better not be drinking this, Marley. "Here."

We exchange money, milk, and weed. "...thanks."

The door shuts in my face, and Danny starts laughing from behind me. "What the fuck was that?"