He walked off.

He just left me there. Speechless. Angry. Frustrated. Confused. So fucking confused. I tried to look like I wasn't fazed; I tried to hold myself together. The last thing I needed was for someone to see what that guy did to me. He hadn't even done anything. He'd just said a couple of words, words that had been used so many times by so many people that they didn't really mean anything.

I hadn't meant them—or perhaps I had, but not in that way.

"Dylan." I heard Tyra's familiar voice as she walked closer. I couldn't seem to greet her with my usual smirk. I didn't have it in me.

"What's up?" she asked, instantly seeing that something was off. Two days, she had known me for two days and had picked up enough to read my like this. That made me smile, albeit a small one.

"Nothing really," I answered, shrugging my shoulders in something between I-don't-care and I-don't-know.

"Nothing, huh, such a big ugly lie in that pretty mouth of yours," she scolded playfully while latching on to my arm. She really was a great girl. Had I been a little less gay, I would have kissed her right there and then. I did kiss her forehead, though, which brought the sun out in her eyes.

"See, now you look much better!" she said. When I didn't respond she continued, "Do you want to hang at my place tonight? Watch a movie or something?"

"Sure, I was just about to suggest it. Can I bring a friend though?" She looked at me curiously, obviously wondering who my friend was, and why she didn't know about this.

"Of course, who?"

"Sebastian, I have to go and see if he's up for it, haven't asked him yet."

"Sebastian..." She seemed to think for a while, quirking her mouth a little to the side as if struggling to remember. "The quiet guy?" she asked, looking at me with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, any problem?"

"No, of course not. I was just a little surprised. He's so shy. I've never seen him talk to anyone."

"I'll go find him," I said and walked away.

It didn't take me long to find him, but I wasn't exactly happy when I did. He was standing in the middle of what looked to be a circle of assholes who didn't leave him any room to escape. It twisted my gut. I didn't get bullying, there really was no point to it. It was just a way for insecure teenagers to swell with an illusion of power. I hated it.

"Get lost," I said, keeping my voice a bit nonchalant but firm. One of the guys turned his head over his shoulder and looked at me mockingly.

"Yeah right, loser," he said, laughing at my attempt to stop them.

"You really think you're a bad-ass for bullying a guy half your size?" I asked, provoking him with a grin plastered across my face.

"I don't care what you think," he growled, leaving the group to stand in front of me.

"What's happening here?" The shrill voice came as a welcome interruption. I didn't think I would ever be happy to see our very insufferable chemistry teacher, but here I was, changing my mind. "Clear off boys, leave poor Sebastian alone." She looked at me pointedly, clearly thinking that I was one of the aggressors.

I met her stare, refusing to let her judge me just based on what she saw. As the others went, we stayed behind and that just made her glare harder. I felt like laughing in her face, but teachers tended to dislike that.

"Come on Dylan, let's go," Sebastian said, lightly nudging my arm. I noticed Ms. Denton's surprise and smirked at her before walking off.

"I was looking for you, was going to ask if you want to hang with me and Tyra tonight, maybe watch a movie, eat some snacks?"

He looked at me, obviously unsure of what to answer.

"You'll love her, don't worry," I said, and saw him visibly relax, already trusting me a little.

"Okay, I'll come," he answered, and for some reason it warmed my heart a bit. For a brief moment, I didn't think about Zach at all. This guy just tugged at something inside of me, something that told me that I wanted to be the friend he'd never had, a friend he deserved, a friend who deserved him.

Tyra managed to warm him up even more, making small talk with him as she drove us to her place. Sebastian seemed to lower his guard, and in the end he was acting like any normal teenager would do: laughing at Tyra's jokes, making some witty comments now and then and smiling with his entire face. Seeing him turn into himself made me relax. It was nice to focus on someone else for a change.

"So, Dyl, why did you look like a cloud of thunder before?" Tyra asked, taking me off guard.

"Had a little run in with someone," I said, not wanting to lie.

"With Zach?" she asked.

"Yes..."

"You're playing with fire there Dylan, I don't think you should..." She paused, and I thought she would continue, but she closed her lips into a line and stared at the road.

"Should what?" I probed.

"I don't think you should try to rile him."

"I haven't been riling him...not intentionally at least," I answered, feeling a bit offended.

"Well, you must have done something. He rarely interacts," she continued.

"I screwed up, okay?" I sounded a bit more hostile than I'd intended, and it made her frown.

"Hey, calm down Dylan, you got him out of trouble, he shouldn't have been angry about that," Sebastian interrupted.

Tyra looked at me questioningly before her eyes slipped back to watch where she was driving.

"He handed over Zach's sketch to Ms. Demet," Sebastian explained, saving me from telling her myself.

"The one he had thrown away, the one we found?" she asked.

"Hey, watch the road," I cried out, seeing how close we were to the car in front.

"Opps," she said, hitting the brakes. It was such a cute sound so I couldn't help but chuckle a little. Tyra smiled back, and soon we were all laughing, laughing at nothing, letting out the tension.

After a while, as the laughter softened Tyra spoke again. "So, Zach?" She left the statement open.

"I really don't want to talk about it," I said, mentally urging her to stop mentioning his name at all.

"You saw him Dylan...with that girl. You'll see it again, with ten different ones."

I knew she said it to protect me, but it didn't really help to cool the frustrating emotions that boiled within me.

"I don't care," I answered, knowing she would see through the lie.

"I care," she said, which surprised me.

I wanted her to tell me more, but as always when his name was mentioned, she clammed up, putting on a very forced facial expression. This time I didn't probe, I really didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to have a great night with two new friends. A night free of Zach.

We watched two movies, laughed until we cried and ended up sleeping in a pile in the middle of Tyra's room. It was a great night, much better than the previous one.

———

Over the next two weeks I found a rhythm: waking up, driving to school while bickering with my sister, having classes, lunch with my new friends, sitting through the awkward art class with Zach, and then having a blast with Sebastian or Tyra or both in the evening. I realized that I was slowly leaving my old life behind. I just hoped it would stay that way. Tobias hadn't sent me more messages, thank heavens for small favors.

I'd tried to avoid Zach as much as I could, but to be honest, I couldn't get him out of my head. He was getting on my nerves and perhaps even into my heart, and that didn't really work out too well. So, avoidance soon turned into me doing exactly what Tyra had said I shouldn't—I riled him. I deliberately made him annoyed. Not that he showed much, but slight movements in his face told me that it worked, and not really in my favor.

I ached to reach him, to make him climb out of that shell. I wanted nothing more than for him to show something, show anything in those eyes of his. I was losing the battle with my heart, and I'd never felt so pathetic in my life. The last thing I wanted when starting a new life was to fall for someone. Last time I allowed myself to feel for someone, it ended in disaster.

Don't ask me why I was interested, or why my heart was invested. Perhaps because it seemed like such a waste to never interact with the world. He was a shadow, a hauntingly stunning one, but still a shadow. Yet, even so, being in his presence was enough to make my heart race inside my chest. Every second his eyes were on me, my skin sizzled and my thoughts became muddled.

Then came Friday, and the point of no return suddenly appeared.

We were standing in the corridor just before study hall was about to begin. I saw Tyra tense up next to me, and I turned around.

"Oh, Mr. Cold is here to give us a chill. How considerate of you!" I joked, using my most sarcastic voice.

"Shut up," he said, his voice laced with ice, like always. I gritted my teeth in frustration. I wanted him to react, I wanted him to let something past that mask of his. Then I did what must have been the worst of my alternatives.

"I bet not even your mother likes you," I spewed out, the words rancid and disgusting. I'd never sunk so low before, and I instantly regretted it.

His hand smacked into the locker next to my right ear, the sound echoing through the corridor. His cold eyes weren't so cold anymore, they were burning like hot furnaces, burning with anger and something else combined. I gasped when I realized what it was. He grabbed a hand around my neck and forced me off from the lockers, leading me away.

Tyra's words haunted my mind. You're playing with fire. She had touched the truth with those words, but she hadn't understood what kind of fire.

Zach's unrelenting hold sent shivers down my spine, and not of the kind most others would feel. I wasn't afraid. I could see a myriad of eyes following us as we walked, startled and curious—some with pity and some with mock badly disguised.

He shoved me into a storage room, making me trip over scattered equipment. The door slammed shut behind me and the darkness became complete—like a thick blanket settling around us.

"You've been begging for this!" Zach hissed behind me. I winced as his grip tightened, but I refused to make a sound. He shoved me up against a wall and pushed into me from behind. I groaned involuntarily, earning me a cold chuckle from those enticing lips. The same lips that slowly came closer to my neck. I could feel brushes of hot air that burned my skin as his breaths came closer. Then he bit down, and my body screamed in passion to his violent touch. I groaned again, no longer able to contain it.

His hands slipped up under my shirt, stating their claim. My breathing became shallow, and soon I was struggling to keep sane. While his hands roamed over my skin, mine just stayed on the wall, holding us up, holding me up. His teeth grazed my neck again and my head fell back over his shoulder.

I'd never felt like this before. I'd never given in to such intense feelings, never felt my desire burn so brightly. It was too much. I feared what it would do to me if he stopped.

"Why?" he growled in my ear. I couldn't answer. Didn't know what to answer. "Why are you doing this to me?" Through my haze I heard the pain. A pain so fragile that it killed everything I had. Every last ember died within me, leaving me hollow, empty in his arms.

"Leave me alone!"

His voice was cold again, ripping at my heart, tearing through my soul. I'd lost. I couldn't reach him. As his body left mine I sank to the floor, unable to counter his words like I used to. A lone tear fell from the corner of my eye, slowly descending across my cheek. It rested there, fragile until it left me, falling to the ground. I was pathetic, and I didn't even knew why. Why was I doing this to myself? Was I punishing myself?

The door slammed behind me and I decided to pick up the strewn pieces of myself. I'd fooled myself—but no more. He wanted to be left alone and I would—I would leave him behind, I would forget. I wasn't naïve enough to think that I would only feel like this once. Or so I told myself. Tobias had been a mistake, Zach had been at mistake, but at least Zach had made me realize how little I had felt for the guy in my past. He had been no one in comparison.