D A R K O' S P.O.V

Have you ever walked past a kid who's just sitting there, smiling like a tool at their phone and wondered why they were?

Well, right now, that's me - sitting right here, by myself, in the cafeteria with the biggest grin on my face. You can blame Taylor for my stupid grin.

I keep re-reading the conversation, but one bit in particular made me fangirl more than a thirteen-year-old teenager at a Justin Bieber Concert.

'Love you too dude.'

Taylor has no idea how happy that single message has made me. Today's been absolutely shit; Bella would not stop giving me bitchy side-eye all of Maths, Lyra's ditched me for Stefan - who I don't want to be around - and Owen's disappeared from the face of the Earth. I felt like crying before but after talking to Taylor for those short few moments, I felt so warm and loved.

I was so lost in my musings that I didn't even notice Bella plonk herself next to me. I was still smiling at my phone when I heard a cough come from her.

Her gaze was murderous.

"Uhm, what the fuck?" She said, whipping her phone out. "What did you do?!"

I furrowed my brows, the happiness from Taylor vanishing. "What the hell are you on about?"

She sighed heavily. "Don't act dumb! You got Taylor to reject me, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!"

"Reject you? I didn't! I didn't even know he did until just now!"

She rolled her eyes, before scoffing. Her lips curled into a sardonic grin. "You're full of shit, Darko."

I'm gonna hit her. "I swear on my grandpop's grave that I did not get him to reject you!"

She cocked her eyebrows in a mocking way. "Whatever. Watch your fucking back. If I find out that you had something to do with this, then you can kiss your closet goodbye!"

"Whatever," I said, returning back to my phone. "You aren't going to find anything, because I haven't told him jack shit."

"Then why is he so hung up on asking y-" She said, cutting herself off before she could finish her sentence. I lifted a brow, but before I could ask her to finish it, she picked up her things and stormed off.

Who?

"BELLA," I shouted, "Who does he want to ask out?"

She craned the upper-half of her body around, flipping the bird at me. She shot me a withering glare, before disappearing into the crowd.

~~~~~

"Darko? Why aren't you racing?" Owen said, shouting up at me from the starting point. I shook my head before sighing, leaning against the backboard of the makeshift stadium stairs that lined the race track.

I wanted to race - I just couldn't. Every time I hopped onto my bike and went to the starting line, all I could hear was Stefan's dramatic commentator voice from the referee stand. He was acting so great these past two weeks, and now, it's all just been thrown to the wind.

Owen glanced at the other racers, nodding and mumbling stuff out of my earshot. He quickly parked his bike on the edge of the track before hurrying up to where I was sitting.

"What's wrong, mate?" Owen said, carefully sitting next to me. I shrugged.

"Did Bella do something else? Because if she did, I swear she's gonna get a face full of Knuc and Ckles."

I lifted a brow, a slight smirk teasing at one corner of my lips. "Knuc and Ckles? Who are they?"

He lifted up both fists in the air, wiggling his brows at me. I let out a laugh as he pretended to box an imaginary punching bag. God, I thought I was bad at nicknames. He's worse than both Lyra and I, combined.

"Mr Lefty is Knuc. He's the best at uppercuts. Sir Righty here is Ckles - a dirty fighter, but always a winner."

My smile faded. "Hey, Taylor calls his piano hands Mr Lefty and Sir Righty."

Owen's smile warped into a frown. He lowered his fists and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Is Taylor the reason why you're sad?"

I scoffed. "Nah. Taylor's actually one of the reasons why today was bearable."

He lifted a brow. "Oh. So, what's the reason then?"

I sighed. Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was listening, I lowered my voice. "Bella outed me to my brother and Lyra yesterday night. Now they're both ignoring me."

Unsure of what to do or how to react, he just sat there, wide-eyed.

"What the fuck," he said eventually. "What a fucking bitch. Is that what she did the other day? Jesus, what happened?"

His face was plagued with worry. I sighed. "Five minutes or so after you left yesterday evening, I got a call from him, telling me to come home so we could talk. He said that Bella sent Lyra texts and photos of the letter, and Lyra blabbed to Stefan."

I felt tears well in my eyes. "He... he called me such shitty things, man. A failure, a freak, and disgusting to name a few. I really don't want to go home tonight."

Owen wrapped me in a hug. I felt a few tears seep onto his jacket sleeve. He tenderly stroked my back when my sobbing grew louder.

"Hey," he said, pulling away. "Let's get out of here. I know the perfect place to go - It always makes me feel better when I get upset."

I couldn't speak. I could only manage a nod.

"All right," he said, getting up. "Let's go, bro. You wait here, I'll go park your bike in the shed so it doesn't get stolen."

I tossed him my keys and he darted off. Looking around, I was getting a lot of strange looks from the other bikers. Some seemed to want to ask me what was wrong, while others gave me condescending glares. One even straight up pointed and laughed at me.

I was about to shout 'Fuck you!' to them when Owen reappeared, extending his arm out for me to grab. "Come on, it's been locked up. My bike's just down there."

"Where are we going?" I felt my lips say. He turned on his bike's ignition before tossing me a helmet.

"You'll see."

~~~~~

Soon, the salty smell of the ocean was all that filled my nostrils.

I peered around, keeping a tight grip on Owen's waist as I saw the rolling ocean in front of us. Tiny waves rippled and undulated on the sea surface. The sound of the sea crashing against the shore instantly relaxed me.

Owen parked the bike. Stepping off and taking off our helmets, I took a deep breath, letting the crisp brine air fill my lungs. Seagulls could be heard nearby, battling out who would get that greasy chip a girl threw at them. The sunset beckoned me to meet it halfway, but Owen grabbed me before I could nosedive into the water.

"We came here mostly for that, Darko." He said, pointing to a large ice-cream stand. "Unless you're skinny dipping, we can save swimming for another time."

I glanced over to the ice-cream stand Owen pointed out. It was built to mimic the shape of a giant waffle cone - the top exploding with plastic lookalike chocolate mint, vanilla, strawberry and caramel ice cream scoops. Two giant wafers protruded from the plastic blobs, making my mouth water.

"Hey, Darko," Owen said, catching my attention. "I need to make this phone call. Can you buy the stuff? I'll have whatever you're having."

He slipped me a ten dollar note before pulling out his phone. Smiling at me, he walked away, pressing his white fingers onto the number pad on his screen.

I walked over to the stand and was immediately assaulted by seagulls - one shat on my shoulder, another parked itself on my head, and a third tried to pry the money out of my hands. Waving my arms around like a madman, I shooed them. Damn, these birds are brave as hell.

The cashier at the ice cream stand was howling with laughter. He handed me a tissue.

"You have some bird poop on your-"

"Yeah, I know,' I spat, hastily rubbing off the bird shit. "Have you finished laughing at me?"

He shook his head before bursting into tears again. Groaning, I looked at the menu. Hopefully, he hasn't pissed his pants by the time I order. So fucking rude.

"Could I get a banana and caramel scoop on two waffle cones?" I asked. Barely stifling his giggles, he grabbed the money out of my hands and began scooping. I let out another groan as I turned around, looking at what Owen was doing.

Something wasn't right.

He was standing there, shouting at his phone. His face expression told me he was angry, but his eyes were red like he's just cried. Was he sad and angry? He shouted a few more times before hanging up and kicking his bike, earning him a few concerned glares from passersby's. I spun around and grabbed the towering ice creams from the cashier, before hurrying back to Owen.

"Hotman, is everything okay?" I asked, handing him the change and the ice cream. He cringed slightly at the nickname, but then shrugged.

"Let's go find somewhere to sit. I need to tell you something."

I lifted a brow, before scanning the area. "There's that sand dune under the palm trees over there. Nobody's near it, and it's secluded. Is that okay?"

He nodded. I gingerly ate my ice cream as we walked to the spot in silence. He pulled out his phone, reading a text, before hastily shoving it back into his pocket.

"You know, you never told me why you're almost always on that thing," I said, trying to lighten the mood. It did the opposite.

He started crying. He dropped his ice cream, the sand quickly enveloping it. I went in to hug him, but he quickly shoved away.

"Look, just... forget about me for now, okay? I took you out here so you'd feel better."

His phone buzzed again. We both snapped our attention to Owen's pocket, which he had clutched with his hand.

"No dude, forget about me. I've never seen you cry or ever be upset before - please, tell me what's wrong. I wanna help."

He scoffed. "Well, do you have the cure for dementia?"

I lifted a brow. He smiled, letting out a nervous laugh.

"It's my grandma. She has it. I'm always on my phone because I'm the only one that she remembers clearly - she's always asking me where the coffee is, where the tea is, what the name of my parents is. I just got word from her caretakers that she forgot who I was, and where she was. She won't stop messaging me, threatening to call the police and-"

Ding. Another message on his phone. He turned it off and threw it across the sand in front of us.

"She's forgetting me, Darko. The staff at the nursing home have told me that they're going to try and get her to a hospital. She hasn't got much time left. Soon, she won't remember how to swallow... or walk... or t-talk..."

I sat there, my jaw swung open. Owen began to weep again, which I responded by wrapping him up in my arms. He sobbed, harder and harder, thicker, wetter until the sleeve of my shirt was completely soaked.

"I don't want to lose my grandma. She's all I've got."

"What about your parents?" I asked. Owen sat still for a few moments, only moving to wipe the tears from his eyes. He looked out towards the sea.

"Let's just say that they prefer money over actually taking care of their only child."

A thick silence hung over us. The only noises that could be heard were Owen's slowing sobbing and the soft lapping of the sea water hitting the shore. I stared at Owen, who was still gazing out to the ocean. For someone that's always so happy, so strong, I never expected him to have shitty parents and an ill grandmother. I honestly thought he was the luckiest of us all.

I glanced out to the ocean. The sun had just vanished below the horizon, leaving a beautiful violet-orange sky behind. The clouds above us twisted and curled like cotton candy dragons waging a thousand year long battle. I heard a soft giggle come from Owen.

"Dude, I think your ice cream is melting."

Suddenly feeling the cool drips from the dessert, I glanced at my hand. Half of the ice cream has fallen off into the sand; the other half has melted onto me. Groaning, I threw it on the floor and flicked the drops away from me, all while Owen laughed.

Owen fished out a water bottle from his bag. "Wash your hands with this, dude."

Taking it, I opened the lid and dribbled the liquid onto my fingers.

"Thanks." He said quickly. I looked at him, and he had the smallest of smiles on his face. "I don't usually open up to people, but I feel like I can trust you with this. Thank you for listening to me, man."

I smiled. "Of course Owen. It's the least I could do for you - you've done so much for me."

He grinned.

"And Darko," he said while putting his drink bottle away, "if things get too hard at home, my door is always open. I'm the only one that's ever home, so there's plenty of room for you if you want to stay for a couple days."

A wave of comfort washed over me. I grinned so widely, I was worried that my lips would crack.

"Thank you, Owen. I really appreciate you offering that."

Owen smirked. He stood up, extending his arm to me. I clasped it and he hoisted me up. Owen quickly darted ahead and picked up his phone, before we began walking back to his bike.

"Just don't want my best friend anywhere near Stefan."

I smiled. I'm so lucky to have Owen as a friend.

"So," I said, putting on my helmet. "I'm going to guess that's why you weren't at school today?"

Owen side-glanced me, before scoffing. "Nope. I was busy getting that idea ready, the one I mentioned to you yesterday before walking off."

I furrowed my brows slightly, but then relaxed them when I remembered him doing that. "Oh yeah. What was the idea?"

Owen smirked devilishly. Growing somewhat nervous, I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You remember how you said YOU couldn't tell Taylor that you were the one that originally bought him the gift and the love letter?"

My chest sank. "Oh no... you didn't-"

"You bet your ass I told Taylor. I left a note on his doormat. I told him to text me when he's seen it."

"And that took you the whole day because..?"

Owen scoffed. "I didn't know how to write in calligraphy."