“Are you sure about this, Theo?” Thalia asked as we walked into school.

“Yes,” I said with a confident nod.

“I don’t know Theo,” Oliver said with a sigh. We had filled him in on everything. “What if he didn’t show up to school today? I don’t see him.”

“Kim texted me. They’re here,” Thalia said, shoving her phone back into her pocket.

“Then let’s go,” I said, starting forward into the crowd of kids.

Some kids glanced at me and broke out into excited whispers. I grit my teeth but kept moving forward, my eyes searching for Dimitri.

Honestly, my gaze would have swept right over him if Kim hadn’t been standing with him. He still wasn’t looking like himself.

His hair was fohawk free again, covering his ears just like yesterday. It was that light brown color that matched his skin and eyes so perfectly. It looked so soft and inviting, and I just wanted to tangle my hands in it.

He was wearing faded jeans, ripped in one knee. He had on a tight-fitting grey V-neck T-shirt. His right arm was stacked with bracelets, and he was wearing a light blue scarf wrapped around his neck securely. He was wearing plain red Chucks.

He just looked too normal. My heart ached and I almost turned around and rushed out of the school as I looked at him again.

If he could just dress like that all the time…

I shook that thought out of my head. No. That wasn’t Dimitri. And he had been right yesterday. If I loved him, I loved him for who he was. He wasn’t some normal dressing, soft spoken guy. He was wild and flamboyant. And that was the Dimitri I had fallen in love with.

Thalia and Oliver were watching me carefully. I could see the shock on their faces from the sight of Dimitri. A few other kids around the hall were doing double-takes of him and whispering. It was the closest to normal he had ever looked.

I gulped and took a calming breath. Then I marched forward, pushing my way through the crowd until I had reached Dimitri.

He stared at me in surprise. “Theo. What are you doin-”

I cupped his face in my hands and crashed my lips on his. I heard the gasps of the large crowd surrounding us, but ignored it. I kissed Dimitri passionately, letting my hands tangle in his soft brown hair.

Dimitri placed his hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me away from him. His frosty eyes held a guarded look.

“I love you,” I said, my voice clear and honest. “And I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“I believe we should talk about this over there,” he said, a smirk on his face as he took my hand in his and led me through the crowd. But my stomach was clenching as I looked at him. That wasn’t his usual smirk. It was just a fake for the crowd of gossipy teenagers.

He pulled me into an empty classroom and shut the door. He locked it and turned to me, the fake smirk dropping right off of his face.

“I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of all those people,” he said, and I winced. He ignored it and continued speaking. “We’re not getting back together, Theo. So please stop.”

I stepped forward, holding his hand in mine. “Dimitri, I am so sorry about yesterday. But I will do absolutely anything to make it up to you.”

“One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, so fast they follow,” he quoted, gently brushed my bangs out of my eyes. He pulled his hand out of mine. “Do you really want to make it up to me?”

“Yes,” I said eagerly. “Yes, I do. I’ll do anything. Just name it, Dimitri.”

“If you really want to make it up to me, then move on. Find someone else,” he said.

He turned to walk away and my mouth dropped open. I reached out, grabbing his arm and spinning him around to face me. I slapped him as hard as I could.

“That was rude,” he said, looking unfazed.

“This isn’t you, Dimitri. This depressed person. You’re not even dressing like yourself! I know I screwed up big time, but I’m trying. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get you back and make it up to you. I’m not going to leave you and find someone else. I don’t’ want anyone else. I want you. I love you. I’ll keep trying to win you back for the rest of my life if I have to. So you might as well give in now,” I said.

“You say that now, but you don’t mean it. You’ll tire eventually. You should know by now that I’m very obstinate, Theo,” he said, giving me the same tired smile as yesterday.

“Stop it. You never call me Theo,” I said weakly.

“I’m giving you what you wanted. You always asked me to call you Theo,” he said with a shrug.

“Can you ever forgive me?” I asked him.

He drew me close to his body. “There’s nothing to forgive, Theo. You just made your feelings clear. How could I ever get mad at you for that?” He pressed his lips to my temple. “I’m not disappointed in you. I’m disappointed that I was wrong. I thought you loved me enough to be open, and I was wrong. I don’t hold that against you. So I apologize for giving you that impression.”

“Can’t we just get back together? One more chance? Please?” I practically begged.

“No. Please don’t ask again, Theo. My answer won’t change.” He placed his hand on my cheek, searching my eyes. He had his rings back on today, I noticed. “I’m sorry. But I’m doing this for you. You may hate me for it, but in the end, you’ll be happier.”

He let his hand fall back to his side and turned. I watched him leave the room slowly. Not his usual optimistic, cocky strut. Just a sad, slow exit.

The door shut behind him as he left, and I slumped against the wall, wrapping my arms around myself. He wasn’t going to forgive me. I had really lost Dimitri.

The door opened, but I didn’t bother looking up. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and finally forced my eyes to drag away from the floor.

“Come on. We’re late to class,” Oliver said.

“I don’t want to go to class. Can we just go?” I asked.

“Thalia figured you’d want to leave. She said she’s going to stay here and try to talk to Dimitri about it,” he said, leading me out of the classroom.

We left the school and went down to my car. I got in the driver’s seat and started the car up, taking off towards my house.

“Oliver, I don’t know what to do,” I groaned.

“What you need to do is get your shit together so we don’t get in accident,” he said as I drove dangerously close to wrong side of the road. I corrected my driving and sighed.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Just get us back to your house, and you can cry on my shoulder or something. Please just don’t get us killed. If you want to be a suicidal girl over your relationship, at least do it when I’m not in the car.”

“You are truly an award winning best friend, Oliver.”

“BABY YOU GOT THE KEYS, NOW SHUT UP AND DRIVE. Yea, that’s right, I went Rihanna on your ass.”

I sighed and shook my head, driving us back to my house and parking the car. We got out and went into my empty house, dropping down in the living room.

“Now can I wail over my destroyed relationship?” I asked.

Oliver nodded. “Yes, now you may.”

“OLIVER, DIMITRI AND I ARE NEVER EVER, EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER.”

“I SAID YOU COULD BITCH ABOUT IT, NOT SNG TAYLOR SWIFT.”

“SINGING MAKE ME FEEL BETTER DON’T JUDGE ME OLI.”

“SING SOMETHING BESIDES OBNOXIOUS LITTLE GIRLS.”

“LIKE I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE, I KISSED HIM IN FRONT OF PEOPLE, I APOLOGIZED, I STILL HAVE HIS DAMN SCARF, I PUT UP WITH HIS SCARY LITTLE BROTHER.” I buried my face in my hands, feeling hopeless.

“Theo, why don’t you just go to his house afterschool? Ask Kim if Dimitri’s home, and go talk to him,” Oliver said.

“Oliver, his dad is probably the leader of the friggin’ Russian mafia!” I snapped.

“Well if he sees you trying to apologize to Dimitri, he might know how to help you. Maybe Dimitri’s parents can talk some sense into him. They obviously couldn’t talk him out of his fashion sense, but maybe they can convince him to at least give you a chance to make it up to him,” he said.

“You’re a genius!” I cried, flinging my arms around him and kissing his cheek. “You have officially been promoted from background character to genius, Oliver Bradley Castro!”

“Okay Theodore Taylor Light,” he said, shoving me off of him and laughing a little. “Now, what are you going to say to him when you get there?”

“I’m going to burst into tears and beg him to take me back,” I said, my voice matter-of-fact.

Oliver sighed. “No Theo. You’re going to start by telling him I’m not a background character. Then just explain what happened. He was wrong to try to out the relationship like that. You weren’t ready. Yea, you reacted badly. But he started it. So make sure you point out that he was wrong, and he at least owes you his attention while you explain yourself.”

“Can I just bring you with me? I’ll pretend I have laryngitis and you can just ‘translate’ for me,” I said.

“No! You’re going alone. I don’t want to go to Dimitri’s house.” Oliver shuddered at the thought.

I sighed and laid down, resting my head in Oliver’s lap. We turned on the TV and watched movies until Thalia got home a few hours later.

“Well?” I asked, lazily glancing up at her. I hadn’t moved from my position in Oliver’s lap.

“I tried to talk to him, but he just kept changing the subject. He was still talking like himself but…his heart wasn’t in it. You could tell,” she said with a sigh. “And he wasn’t being as flamboyant as usual. He was still talking like he was in the Victorian London era or something, but he was just calling us Kim and Thalia, and not using any of his usual stereotypical adjectives.”

I explained the little plan Oliver and I had come up with. Thalia called Kim, who assured us that Dimitri was home and locked up in his room.

“Good luck,” Oliver and Thalia said to me as they watched me get in the car a few minutes later. They weren’t coming with me. They knew I had to be alone with Dimitri, even if I didn’t want to be.

I drove to the Ivanov’s house and got out of the car. I took a deep breath and walked up the driveway, ringing the doorbell.

Mr. Ivanov answered and shot me a dirty look. “What do you want?” he asked in his thick accent.

“I need to talk to Dimitri,” I said, trying to sound confident.

“I think you’ve done enough. Leave Dimitri alone,” he said flatly.

“Mr. Ivanov, Dimitri and I both screwed up. We both made mistakes. I just want to fix it. If you think I like seeing Dimitri upset, you’re dead wrong. I hate seeing him like this. It isn’t like him. I’m not going to go up there and yell at him and beat him like Kayden did. I’m going up there to apologize to him and explain everything,” I said, barely holding onto my patience.

Mr. Ivanov’s face paled. He slowly stepped aside and let me into the house. I glanced at him nervously, hoping he didn’t rip my spine out and use it as a toothpick.

“If you hurt him, I’ll hurt you,” he said calmly. “He never thinks about his own wellbeing and he doesn’t take things seriously. He’s a danger to himself. He does stupid things. But Dimitri is my son. And if you hurt him, I will make you regret it.”

“That’s comforting to know,” I grumbled and hurried away from him.

I went upstairs and down to Dimitri’s bedroom. I took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping into his room.

Dimitri was sitting at his desk, his arm moving violently, a frustrated expression on his face. Hugo sat on his bed, watching Dimitri curiously.

Dimitri’s let out a frustrated sigh and raked his hands through his hair. He crumpled up whatever he had been drawing and tossed it over his shoulder, where several other wadded up papers were.

He let out a sigh, the frustration leaving his expression. He dropped his pencil and just stared down at his desk, looking exhausted.

I walked forward quietly and picked up the paper, unfolding it. I let out a surprised gasp, and Dimitri spun around.

“Theo,” he said. “I wasn’t aware you were here.”

“You were trying to draw me,” I said, looking at the beautifully drawn portrait of myself. “It looks so perfect. Why did you crumple it?”

“Your eyes,” he said, watching me. “I can’t get your eyes right. It was frustrating me.”

“Are these all…” My voice trailed off and I gestured at the other crumpled papers on the ground around him.

Dimitri nodded. “All you, all with a poorly drawn expression in your eyes.”

I set the paper on his desk and grabbed his hand. He let me pulled him so that he was standing up.

“Dimitri, you were wrong,” I said, thinking to what Oliver had said. “You shouldn’t have exposed us like that. I wasn’t ready. It was why I reacted how I did.”

“I know I was wrong. But you know that’s why you reacted like that,” he said.

I winced. “Okay, yes, I was ashamed and embarrassed of you. Of being with you. But you saw what I did today, Dimitri. I was wrong. I’m so sorry. I’m willing to have an open relationship with you. I’m willing to do anything but leave you,” I said honestly.

Dimitri glanced at his cat. “Hugo, what do you think?”

“Meow,” replied Hugo.

Dimitri nodded. “And there you have it, Theo. Hugo agrees with me that you should move on and find someone else.”

“I’m mentally counting to ten so that I don’t slap you,” I informed him.

A ghost of his usual smirk appeared on his face. “Thank you for sharing.”

I opened my mouth to say more, but stopped as Galen appeared in the doorway. He marched into Dimitri’s room and shoved me away from Dimitri.

“You hurt Dimmy,” he said, crossing his arms and fixing me with a glare.

“I was coming here to talk to him about that,” I said.

Without another word to me, Galen pulled his leg back and flung it forward. His foot made contact with my shin and I yelped and jumped away, hopping and rubbing my smarting shin.

“That was for Dimitri,” Galen said smugly.

“That was quite rude, Galen. But if you promise not to do it again, I won’t tell dad,” Dimitri said with a sigh.

“I promise. I just had to get my anger it. Besides, I heard daddy telling mommy that if Theo hurt you, daddy was going to knock his f-ing teeth out! He was gonna say more, but mommy saw me, yelled at daddy for using a bad word, and made me leave the living room,” Galen said with a frown.

“Truly an endearing story,” he said, lifting Galen into his arms. He glanced at me. “Theo, I think it would be best of you left. We’re done here. I understand my wrongs, but I also understand that you’re ashamed of me. Honestly, you’re not better than my sister.”

My shoulders sagged, and I think that hurt worse than anything. “No, Dimitri. I’m not…I’m not ashamed of you! I was, but I realized how stupid that was. I would never ask you to change, either. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

I gestured to his clothes. He had changed since this morning. Now he was in comfortably fitting black sweatpants and a paint-spattered white T-shirt. With his hair messed up from running his hands through it and the light stubble on his face, he looked like he was 22 instead of 17. He was the spitting image of his father.

Dimitri kissed Galen’s cheek. Galen whined and poked Dimitri’s face, running his finger over the stubble.

“You need to shave Dimmy,” he said.

Dimitri set Galen down. “Give me a minute to talk to Theo, please.”

Galen frowned and nodded. He shot me another dirty look before leaving Dimitri’s bedroom, shutting the door as he went.

Dimitri turned to me. “Theo, please stop this. It’s almost pathetic to watch. You wouldn’t be happy with me,” he said.

“Don’t tell me who I’ll be happy with,” I snapped. “I know who I’ll be happy with. And that person is you, Dimitri.”

I stepped forward, gripping his shirt and forcing him to stumble towards me. I crashed my lips onto his, wanting him to feel how much I loved him.

He reluctantly broke away from me. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his frosty eyes. He stepped back from me.

“No, Theo. I told you it was over, and I meant it,” he said. I could tell that he didn’t want it to be over, but he really thought he was doing the right thing.

“You don’t want it to be over,” I said.

“No, I don’t,” he replied, his fake smile turning sad. “I do love you. But I want to see you happy, and you wouldn’t be happy with me. Maybe you should just date Aleksandra.”

I stared at him, my eyes wide. “Are you kidding me? Dimitri, she’s terrible to you! She won’t even admit that she’s your sister!”

“And you wouldn’t admit you were my boyfriend,” he said softly.

I stopped and gulped down the lump in my throat. “Fine. I’ll leave. But I’m not done with you, Dimitri Ivanov. I swear to god I will get you back,” I said, my voice calm despite the despair clawing at my chest.

Dimitri sat on his bed, Hugo crawling into his lap. He stroked the cat’s fur as he watched me silently leave his bedroom.

I shut the door behind me, a plan to get Dimitri back already forming in my head. I went downstairs and into his living room, where his parents looked up at me with cold stares.

“Glare at me all you want, but that won’t help Dimitri,” I said. “I need you to help me. To help Dimitri. I want to fix this. I want to cheer him up. But he’s made it very clear that I can’t do it on my own. I need you, Kim, my sister, and maybe even Galen.”

“How do you expect to fix this? He’s never once acted like this,” Mrs. Ivanov said.

“I have a plan. But I need all of you to help me,” I said.

“And why should we do that?” Mr. Ivanov growled.