For the first time in my seventeen years of life, I was actually glad to be at school. Despite the rigid structure of lessons, the too-long skirt requirements and presence of Jace Hartley's face, I'd come to discover that any place was better than my bed; an opinion I definitely didn't hold a few months ago. It was a truly wild feeling. But after a month of hospitalization, broken bones and nothing but my bed, the familiar sight of the oppressing wire gates was welcome.

Maybe my parent's decision to limit my freedoms and keep me in bed with private tutors—instead of sending me to school in a wheelchair—was a good idea, considering the first thing I did with my freedom was climb a tree and trash Jace's bedroom. If they had tried to send me to school with a wheelchair, I probably would've broken more bones attempting to use it to commit vehicular manslaughter on Hartley's person. It still would've been worth it.

At least I could get a bunch of people to sign my cast today. It was already decorated in swirls of colour and the names of my cousins written in various messy scrawls. Hopefully someone could turn Alex's contribution—a penis, obviously—into an artistic creation.

"Oh my god, Lena?" Daria Larrson gasped as she spotted me standing at the gates, her bright eyes zeroing in on the cast wrapped around my leg. She was sitting on the small bench beside the doors of the school, a battered copy of Harry Potter on her lap. She had clearly been waiting for me to arrive.

I'd only seen her a handful of times since the accident. She'd come to visit me whenever she has the chance—she was considerate in that way—and she'd called me almost every day with updates on our friends and general school gossip.

But she was always busy. She was the type of girl who packed her schedule full of activities. She was always doing something, flitting from event to event; cheerleading or bake sales or volunteering at a soup kitchen, usually dragging Hartley along to accompany her. But she had a way of making you feel special when you were with her, because she'd made time for you.

It was kind of her to allocate so much of her time to me. Daria was Jace's best friend—they were so close they were practically siblings, though the same genes that produced Daria could hardly be responsible for creating Hartley—and I wasn't exactly Jace's bosom buddy. But despite my feud with her best friend, Daria had never shut me out.

I didn't realise how much I'd missed her until I saw her.

Daria was fucking awesome.

I waved at her with my crutch, which was rather awkward. Kaelin snorted a laugh when I stumbled. Daria raced towards us, her sweet smile lighting up her face and her thin arms wrapped me in a careful embrace. Her head of chestnut brown, tumbling curls was tucked under my chin. She was shorter than me—most girls were—but Daria was tiny.

Daria had always been a hugger. She hugged every breathing thing she came across. When I first met her, it was disconcerting, but it was something you eventually became accustomed to. It merely added to her endless charm, as did her constant, genuine smile.

"Hey, Daria," was all I managed to say before she began rambling at a mile a minute.

"I can't believe you're back. We've all missed you so much! Even Jace missed you. He's actually been pretty down without you."

Doubtful.

"And Jonah has been more unresponsive than usual without you and Chance's mum friend thing has been on overdrive. He told Cadence to eat her greens at lunch. I'm sure you can imagine how that went down." She glanced down, worry furrowing her eyebrows. "Are you okay? How's your leg? Did you manage to climb the tree without hurting yourself? I was worried about you."

God, I loved this girl. Why such an innocent angel was best friends with Jace Hartley was the true mystery of the universe. It was a made-for-TV movie; the unlikely friendship between a bright-eyed angel and the spawn of Satan.

"The tree climbing was successful." I heard Alex's choked cough of disagreement and slapped his arm in response. "The mission was completed, and therefore I'm counting it as a win. I can't wait to hear about Hartley's reaction. Do you think he'll have an anger aneurism? That's my aim. But seriously, I'm completely fine. I now know way too much about the Kardashian family and all of their problems, and somehow, I'm weirdly up to learning Maths."

Daria nodded earnestly at my words. "I'm glad you're okay. Although, saying things like "I'm up to learning Maths" makes me think you might've knocked your head on a few too many branches going up the tree this morning."

I grinned at her. "At this rate, doing anything with people is a positive over my last few months. Maths with your company far beats Maths with tutors. I mean, they don't even let you slack."

"Was it really that awful?" Daria asked, wide-eyed and sympathetic.

I shrugged lightly, but I couldn't quite get the sound of ringing out of my ears. I pasted on a smile as the memory of a phantom pain made me want to wince. "It was fine," I said, and I forced myself to relax into the crutches, completely at ease. "I could have visitors, and one time, I saw a bird shit on another bird."

Daria quickly embraced me in another bone-crushing hug. "Oh, I'm just so glad you're back. It just hasn't been the same without you."

"I'm glad to be back," I said, choking slightly as the air was squeezed from my body. I patted the top of her head comfortingly, but over her shoulder I could see Kaelin grinning in amusement at Daria's enthusiasm. "I missed you a lot."

Daria pulled back and stared at me with a dopey smile. I think I saw tears in her eyes. She was also a crier. "Aw, Lena," she said, her voice a little choked. "Way to make a girl feel special."

"Get a room," said Kaelin.

"Yeah, do you guys need a minute?" asked Alex.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "These past few months have really made me reevalutate my priorities, and I realised my undying love for my dear friend Daria. We're dating now. I totally forgot to tell you."

Daria grinned. "Missed you so much, lover."

I wasn't actually dating Daria, though our love story would be truly epic. She'd been with Nate Lever for almost a year, and if there was a guy who could challenge Jace Hartley for biggest douchebag in the universe, it was him. He was the kind of possessive dicklord who stalked Daria's SnapMaps for her general location, and got pissy about Daria and Jace's weekly sleepovers. His face also looked like a dinner plate, because it was strangely circular, which wasn't exactly a problem in terms of how much I hated him, except that every time I saw it, his nose more and more resembled a bullseye that I wanted to punch.

I guess Daria had a habit of surrounding herself with douchebags, which made me want to punch a wall. She deserved far better.

Speaking of Daria's douchebags. "Where's Hartley? Did he finally learn to interact with the rest of society without you?"

Daria and Jace were usually a package deal. It was rare to see one without the other. They even tried to sync their classes most years. It was a shame, because I loved spending time with Daria, but her sidekick was disgusting.

"I just figured you'd want a friendly face for your welcome back," Daria said. "You haven't seen Jace since the accident, have you?"

"No, I haven't. It was a welcome reprieve," I said. Why on Earth would I have actively seen Hartley outside of my place of education? The very thought was preposterous. Ludicrous. Take note: if this event ever occurred, I was probably possessed by aliens and/or a zombie virus. Second note: my final wish would be for someone to give Hartley a big ol' kick in the nuts as a memento of our time together; something to remember me by.

"It was not," Kaelin insisted, crossing her arms. "You spent a month bullying me instead."

"I do not bully Jace," I insisted, brushing a strand of dark hair out of my eyes. "It's a mutual hostile war situation. Because he is a truly awful person."

To be fair, Jace Hartley had never kicked a kitten (to my knowledge). He could, theoretically, be a whole lot worse. And it wasn't his fault that he was born with a particularly punchable face (it was pretty, I was brave enough to admit, though only to myself, but so very punchable). There was just something about him; every time he spoke, I heard nothing but nails dragging across a chalk board. Plus, he liked to insult my dazzling personality, and I quite liked having unchecked arrogance.

Daria's smile brightened—if that was possible. "I've missed that typical Lena Montez hatred of my best friend so very much," she said. Then her face fell. "Oh, do you need to sit down? You should probably sit down. We should go inside and get you to class early, so you can get a seat in the front row."

I blinked. "Why the front row?"

"So it's easy for you to get in and out of the classroom," Daria said, as if that should be obvious.

I looked at her with dismay, before my gaze fell to my cast. "Okay, we really need to get rid of this broken leg."

Alex patted me on the head sympathetically, though the action made me feel like a disgruntled kitten. "I don't think it works like that," he said, at the same time Kaelin offered, "I could cut it off?"

I shot them both a deadpan look. "Thank you, Daria, for being a caring friend and offering to help me to class," I said. Alex looked slightly guilty; Kaelin only grinned mischievously.

"I could carry you up the stairs if you want?" Alex offered.

I might've actually needed the help, to be perfectly honest. The stairs weren't steep, but there were a whole lot of them. Plus, they were quite narrow. Honestly, this school needed to create a system that catered for the crippled. Wasn't that, like, a legal requirement now?

I patted Alex on the arm. "I feel like we've been over this, Krisler. You can't carry me."

"I probably could," a new voice assessed, so self-assured and arrogant and bleh. The voice was familiar and horrible—a voice born for reciting incantations to harness power from animal sacrifices. Not just any animals. Innocent, wide-eyed puppies. "If you needed help, Elle."

Elle. His stupid nickname that he'd called me since our sandbox, pee and bowl-cut days. It was a shame, since I'd always thought Elle would be a cute nickname. But he'd ruined it, as he ruined so much of life before.

I turned to face my demons with a sad little sigh. "Morning, Hartley. How would you feel about a nice swim in a lake full of crocodiles?"

***

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