"Are you alright, Zoe?" Heather asked me, as that genuinely caring expression appeared on her face again.

I was relieved that she had stayed with me, despite what Drew had said to her. Heather could have sacrificed her place in the band for me, but she didn't seem to mind it.

I could tell that Heather was beyond upset about what had passed. I had become rather sensitive to how she felt, since the two of us had been together. I believed that we knew each other better than anyone else did, now. However, sometimes I had to sacrifice my own feelings to make sure Heather was okay.

I gave a nod of my head in response to her question, even if it wasn't the full truth. I was alright because I was with Heather. I wasn't alright because Drew had become a colossal asshole, whose ego seemed to have become so inflated it could rival a bouncy castle.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

Heather provided me with a charismatic smile, in response to my question.

"I'm always alright as long as I have you with me," she stated, as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and led the two of us in the direction of the fields.

Fortunately, although it was a chilly Winter day, it was bearable. The two of us sat down and my mind felt clear for the first time all day. I was so glad that Heather was back.

"I really had missed you today, you know?" I asked her.

"Missed me enough to bunk off class?" she teased.

"Always," I said, "You don't have to say much to convince me to do that. I'm surprised you're the one suggesting this, though, given that I always thought you were the golden student," I told her, with a playful tone to my voice.

Heather simply smiled at me and I smiled right back at her. All of the worries that Drew had created in my mind began to fade away. Heather had this peaceful energy about her that I always loved to be in the presence of. I knew that as long as I was with Heather, I was going to be alright.

"Being the golden student can wait for some time, I just want to be the golden girlfriend right now," she told me, as she tucked some hair behind my ear.

"Things are going to be different because Drew and I aren't exactly on talking terms and I'm not sure when we will be. That being said, I'm really glad that I have you, Heather," I told her.

Heather stretched her arms out, so she could wrap her arm around my shoulders again.

"You'll always have me, Zoe. I'm not going anywhere and Drew certainly isn't going to do anything to split us apart, not that he knows about us in the first place," Heather told me.

I straightened up, as I sat on the grass, then.

"You don't know about the rumours, do you?" I asked her.

"I know about the rumours, Zoe. Let people think what they want to think. God knows I've already heard enough crap from my dad. The two of us are going to be just fine," she told me, as a kind smile made its way onto her face. Heather's eyes were expressive of her happiness and it made me feel a little better to hear her reassuring words. However, I couldn't help but feel melancholic when I thought back to my situation with Drew. The two of us had been friends for so long and now I didn't even know whether we would speak to each other again. At least, I wasn't sure we would ever be able to have a civil conversation.

"Maybe I just have an over-active imagination," I thought aloud.

Heather raised an eyebrow at me in her curiosity, so I went on to explain.

"I keep worrying that Drew is going to turn against me or something, like he's going to go Sith mode or something," I joked.

"Oh, Zoe. You are funny. Well, even if he does turn to the dark side, screw him. You have me," she reminded me.

I nodded.

"The two of us should go and do something! I'm sure that the teachers won't be too pissed if we miss, say, one day of classes," Heather said.

"I never took you to be such a rebel," I said, as we stood up from the slightly damp grass. I shifted some grass of my trousers and met Heather's gaze once again.

"Well, what can I say? I just don't want to look back on my life in ten, twenty years time and realise that I spent so much of it trapped in a school building," she said.

I smirked, as the two of us walked on.

"You're being so dramatic," I said.

Heather shrugged.

"It's what I do best," she said, as the both of us wandered out into the parking lot of the school. The two of us wandered over to her car and sat down within it.

Heather turned to me, once we were both sat down.

"Now, not a word of this to Evie, alright?" she asked me, "I need to be a good influence on her and I don't want to encourage her to be rebellious like me."

"Alright, no one will hear anything from me," I promised. I had to keep secrets to help out Heather and I had become pretty used to that fact.

The two of us moved away from the school building swiftly. I really hoped that the teachers wouldn't run out after us any time soon. After all, we were only missing our afternoon classes. No big deal, right?

Heather drove on ahead until we came to a local park. She parked nearby and the two of us exited her car and walked into the park.

Heather then reached into her backpack and took out a little Swiss army knife.

"Oh no...you're not going to get me involved in some kind of ritual, are you?" I teased.

"No. I thought that we could engrave our initials into a tree. So, my sweet, pick a tree," Heather told me.

I smiled, naturally, as I looked around at our surroundings until my eyes settled on a large oak tree.

"That one will do," I said.

So, the two of us walked on over to the tree and began to carve our initials into the trunk of it.

Once we were done, we stepped back to admire our work.

"I hope we haven't, like, injured the tree," Heather said.

I smirked in amusement.

"I swear, you're the only one who thinks about these things, but then again..." I trailed off.

Heather cleared her throat, as she looked a little apologetically towards the tree.

"Should we get going?" she asked me.

"Yeah, let's get going," I said.

The two of us walked out of the park and made our way back towards her car.