"Hey. I was wondering when I was going to run into you again," a breathless voice said from behind Harley's back, and when Harley turned around, cigarette in mouth, she arched her eyebrows in surprise. "You're still smoking?"

McKay was never a fan of Harley's bad habit, so the blonde wasn't surprised by his comment —not in an aggressive tone, but clearly annoyed. The boy leaned against one of the columns in the courtyard, glancing sideways at the huge clock at the entrance that marked that he still had ten minutes left in front of Harley before the blonde walked into the school.

"What can I say? I pay for my own vices."

The boy nodded to himself as Harley exhaled smoke in a direction far away from him. Next, the blonde stubbed out her remaining cigarette, now barely transformed into a cigarette butt, and cleared her throat.

"I never liked that. It's not good for you."

"A lot of things aren't good for me," was Harley's only reply.

One thing that had weighed heavily on her relationship with McKay had been the boy's strange way of showing that he was older than her and therefore more responsible, more mature, with a greater protective instinct, something that had only succeeded in gradually alienating Harley from him. McKay knew who she was relating to when she first met Harley, a completely independent soul, who if she has someone by her side it's because she truly needs them, so the blonde was surprised a hundred times by McKay's eagerness to impose things on her that were good for her.

Still, Harley knew McKay was a good guy. Maybe a little bit of a pain in the ass and a morally superior character, but a good person, all in all. That had been the first thing that had struck her about him: how incredible it was that someone who was friends with Nate Jacobs was so genuine and focused on life. However, McKay was also highly impressionable, and when one of his friends said his girlfriend dressed too provocatively, or her past was too strange, McKay believed it.

"I didn't come to fight," the boy sighed, raising his arms in surrender. "I thought I saw you at the party on Saturday, but never got the chance to talk to you. Did you have a good time?"

Harley chuckled. "Considering your brothers almost harass Cassie's little sister and the fact that a girl cut herself with a knife in your kitchen... It wasn't the best party I've attended, to be honest."

Despite Harley's contradictory words, McKay cracked a small smile. Harley's dry humor was one of the things that had attracted him most to her —something Cassie lacked, truth be told, as hard as it was for him to admit. "Shit. I'll talk to them."

Harley cocked her head to one side. Christopher McKay was an incredibly attractive guy. Athletic, muscular, with a toned body and a football ability that could earn him a college scholarship. He had a beautiful smile, almond-colored eyes capable of winning anyone over, and a charming, smiling, bright, captivating attitude. That's why she couldn't help but wonder why she never grew to love him the way she should have.

"Did you need anything, Chris?" This time it was the blonde who glanced at the clock on the wall, as cars were beginning to fill the parking lot and the alarm was getting closer and closer to going off. "I thought you were leaving for college during the weekend."

"I'm actually leaving today. In less than five minutes, really. I just came to say goodbye to Cassie," nothing in Harley's countenance changed when McKay mentioned Cassie, but still the boy was forced to clarify. "I hope that doesn't bother you. I know you're friends and all that. I mean, I don't intend it to be awkward between you two, or between you and me—"

"I broke this up, Chris."

Against all odds, McKay smiled broadly. "You're never gonna let me forget that, are you? I know you're okay with this. After all, you became friends with her because of this. I just wanted to tell you that I want us to be friends, even after everything. Our relationship wasn't perfect, we both know that, but you were cool. You were there all the time."

"We are friends," Harley assured. "Cassie even asked for my permission, do you remember? I remember I texted you how nervous she was."

"I know, I know. She told me after that happened. She was right, though. You are intimidating. And she might even had had a crush on you at the time. But don't tell her I told you that."

Harley rolled her eyes, amused. "I won't. I have the feeling you're not here talking to me just for the memories."

McKay sighed, dejected, as if it was impossible to hide what was going through his mind from Harley. She was probably the person who knew him best, following his mother, of course. "I'm not. I just— I'm leaving for college, and I know high school is fucking nuts. Just take care of Cassie, okay? You're her best friend. She might need you, though I don't need to remind you this. You're a good friend, Harley," Chris smiled a little, without showing his teeth. His look was sincere and his smile was grateful, so Harley lifted the corners of her lips a little. Chris gently squeezed her arm in affection. "You take care, too. I hope we can catch up the next time I'm in town. Let me in on the latest gossip, will you?"

"Crazy things happen all the time in East Highland," Harley simply replied, as if that sentence was enough to give McKay an idea of all that could happen in his absence. In the next five seconds that she allowed herself to look away from the boy, Harley watched curiously as Rue walked past them not giving her so much as a glance, with another girl who looked vaguely familiar, and she soon understood why. "For example, turns out the girl with the knife goes to our school now. That's the one."

McKay's face broke down momentarily, following the blonde girl's gaze. "Oh, you weren't kidding with the whole knife thing? Shit," he added quickly when he saw a bandage covering her forearm.

"What, Nate didn't tell you?" Harley raised her eyebrows in surprise. She didn't know what had happened after her departure from the party, but she had assumed that Nate and McKay would have talked about it. Especially given the fact that it was Nate who had provoked the situation. "He was out of his fucking mind. Confronted the girl about wanting attention or something, and then she went berserk. Win win situation: she's fine and he almost shat his pants."

Chris scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. He'd been living through the Harley-Nate drama since he'd started dating her, and he couldn't seem to get out of that situation even when he was about to leave for college. He was friends with both of them, and that meant that, on many occasions, he was caught in the middle of fights and often had to pick sides. That hadn't affected Harley, who knew Nate and knew that if McKay didn't take his position he would be as angry as a kid. Harley, on the other hand, had no choice but to assimilate that McKay seemed to like to stay in the shadow of the almighty Nate Jacobs.

"You're being too hard on him. He was probably drunk as hell."

"I don't give a fuck, Chris," Harley simply replied. "He's got issues, whether drunk or sober. And he needs them sorted out."

"Okay, he's an ass sometimes."

"Always," corrected Harley, whose gaze was beginning to drift as she heard down the hall some alarm, signaling the start of classes. "I have to go. I hope you and Cassie don't have a hard time. It will mean I have a hard time, too," Harley winked at him, and Chris smiled again, giving her a short friendly hug.

"Always good to see you, H. And I will talk to my brothers, I will."

With the promise as a farewell, Chris disappeared from her sight as he crossed the street and got into his car. Her gaze lingered on the boy's car, and she thought about the number of times she had ridden in it, reflecting on whether she was happier that way or when she had McKay by her side. Harley concluded the reflection with the thought that in neither situation had she been what is known as happy.

It had been a long time since Harley had been happy. The blonde had learned to give it a more lasting meaning, something more than just a momentary feeling of happiness, and that had only increased her confirmations that she didn't remember what it was like to be happy. She could be content, yes, even euphoric on occasion, but that hadn't been thanks to natural causes, so it didn't count. Her life was a constant continuum, a groundhog's day, a routine so set in stone that there was no way out of it. She was momentarily unhappy to feel that she only remembered being happy when her parents were still together; or when, at least, everything seemed to be going well between them.

Harley stomped back on the cigarette she'd had in her mouth just five minutes before, trying to make the trail disappear as much as possible and make sure no one would associate it with her, sprayed peppermint spray in her mouth and realized that there was no one out there anymore, so she assumed she'd be running late. She checked in disgust that the first class she had wasn't with any of her friends —Kat had biology, and Cassie and Maddy math, which she would have preferred over the one she had. The stupid improvisations every year were one of her worst nightmares, especially since Harley hated having all the attention on her.

The gym was already full when the door closed behind her, drawing the attention of the entire class, including the teacher, who seemed to give her some respite as it was the first day. "Have a seat, Harley, please," Harley had to save herself a grimace of displeasure because the seats were literally the gym floor.

She plopped down next to Rue, who had her hood up, curly hair covering what could be guessed to be her face. She didn't look too good, and Harley wondered if it was because she was going back to class after all or if there were ulterior motives. Next to her, Lexi Howard leaned in perhaps a little too close to see what Harley's reaction was, and to her surprise, the blonde caught her gaze. Lexi pressed her lips tightly together in recognition when Harley lifted her chin in greeting. The young Howard didn't know whether to feel lucky that she had taken her into consideration, or stunned after the silence, because of the confession she had made to her days before.

"Yo, Harley," Rue began. She turned to speak to her, and Harley frowned slightly at the dark circles under her eyes. "I ended up going to the party, to no one's surprise. I didn't see you there, I thought you were going."

Lexi sharpened her ears to hear the answer, because she hadn't told Rue that she herself had gone to McKay's party, and that the way to leave was in the blonde's car. "I left early," was her only reply, but Lexi's eyes widened and she looked away when Harley glanced at her briefly. "Your new friend put on a show, that's for sure."

"Ah, shit," Rue tried not to laugh in front of the teacher, who seemed to say something not very interesting to the rest. "Yeah, that's Jules. She's something else. Did you meet already?"

"No," Harley shook her head. "But she scared the fuck out of Nate, so she has my respect."

Rue tried to stifle a laugh, but her attempt was unsuccessful, as a strange noise came from her throat, and it was enough to alert the teacher, who ceased her attempt at a welcoming speech and focused her gaze on the two girls. "Ladies, please. You'll have plenty of time to catch up once the class is over. So," the teacher clapped her hands briefly, drawing the attention of the rest of the students. "Let's start with a little improvisation. I'd like each of you to get up and tell us a five minute story about your summer," the eagerness of the students around Harley to do as the woman asked was equal to zero, but she could see how Rue was hiding, leaning slightly on Lexi. "Looks like we have our first volunteer. Rue!"

"Fuck, no," Harley heard Rue mutter, still trying to stay crouched behind the fellow in front of her.

Soon everyone's gazes swiveled to their position, and Harley understood well why Rue didn't want to talk about her summer: she figured that talking about rehab centers, drug effects and the fact that she almost died in her own home, with her family not knowing about it, wasn't the most pleasant thing to do. Harley then sprung up, catching the teacher's attention. "I can tell a story. If you're interested."

"Of course. Let's give Harley a little encouragement," half-hearted applause followed the teacher's words, who smiled at her to encourage her to take the stage.

As Harley had previously thought, she hated having the attention on her, which might seem ironic given that she was one of the captains of the cheerleading squad. However, things were very different when it was just her alone facing the crowd; with the rest of the cheerleaders, the whole squad formed one, but if it came to presentations, plays or oral exams, things went awry for Harley. So when she found herself in front of twenty students with their eyes on her, she sighed a little.

She looked for the eyes of someone familiar to calm herself, and spotted Rue and Lexi in the crowd. The former seemed to want to say what have you done, have you lost your mind?, while Harley looked at her for a few seconds as if to say would you rather have told your story about the drugs?, and hoped Rue understood. Lexi had a dramatic look about her, and if she turned out to look anything like Cassie, Harley knew she might have even stifled a gasp.

"Whenever you want."

"I met someone at the beginning of summer," Harley began, barely letting the teacher speak. She knew if he thought about it any more she would end up regretting it. "I met someone even when my intentions weren't those. When he was introduced to me, I thought, 'you're someone I wish I'd never had to meet,' as cold as it sounds. I didn't want to know him, because knowing him as a person meant that he had something I didn't, something that was taken away from me, and I resented him for it, even if he couldn't have known how I felt. He was not guilty of anything, so in a change of heart I decided to give him a chance. Turns out I ended up loving him," Harley half smiled, and something inside Lexi churned. "He's kind, his smile can light up the whole room and he's pure. He greets you with this unexpected enthusiasm and says goodbye as if it's forever, and he makes you feel like it is. He cares for you and offers you food and makes sure you've also got your blanket with you," Harley looked up, realizing that everyone was listening to her confession. "I'm not making this five minutes long because it could be much longer, but that's personal. His name is Niko, he's five years old and he's my brother. He's my dad's son, and my half-brother, but he still doesn't know what that means, so I'll go for brother. I didn't want to meet him because then it'd be more real, that my dad left and had another family. I knew that day would come, but I never thought it would arrive, so I felt in my bones the same I felt when my parents divorced. My father left and is happy somewhere else, somewhere when I'm not in the map, and that's the only memory I remember from all summer."

Silence reigned in the gym. Harley couldn't hear anything, only the blood pumping in her ears, preventing her from hearing the nervous throat clearing of one of her peers or the murmur of Rue just a few feet from her. Harley would probably regret that at some point, so she forced herself to remember Rue almost dying that summer as the embarrassment returned to her cheeks.

The smoke billowing from her mouth was what little illuminated the night. The nearly blown out streetlight that lit up the gas station in Fez gave it a gloomy feel that did not invite one to approach at that time of night, even though it was barely eleven o'clock at night. Harley took another puff on the cigarette, and despite the bad taste it left in her mouth, she couldn't stop smoking it at that moment. The horrible taste in her mouth was even more pleasant than the one in her body because of what had happened that day.

She had received dozens of curious, even pitying looks, and she knew instantly that her little confession in the gym had been circulating by word of mouth around the school. Even at lunchtime she'd noticed the awkwardness at her own table, with Maddy and Cassie's glances, as if they were trying to tell her something, or Kat's uncharacteristic silence, especially after the second most talked about event was the girl's virginity the other day at McKay's party (Harley was glad she'd gotten out of there in time). So it was BB who had to break up the awkward moment.

"So your dad fucked another woman and had a baby."

"BB," Maddy growled from across the table, giving her a withering look and playing with her fork as if to send her a signal.

"What? It has to be a fucked up feeling. She's our friend, maybe she wants to open up."

"I don't. Thanks for asking," Harley replied, putting her fork in her mouth. The salad was tasteless, the bread hard and the pizza cold, but it was all more interesting than following that conversation.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Cassie muttered with a pitying face.

"Because I didn't want anyone to look at me like that. Now everybody knows the story to why my father isn't around and why my mother resents him for it."

Again, the tension could be cut with a knife. BB cleared his throat. "This pizza is fucking good, right?"

"Shut up."

Harley blew the smoke out of her lungs again, and momentarily wished it was something stronger, something that would make her forget what had just happened, or at least reduce it to something so small that she wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Ironically, Rue showed up with the bike in the gas station parking lot, and Harley didn't need to be an expert to know that the girl was stoned out of her mind.

"Having a good night, Harley?"

"Not particularly. You?"

"I'm having a great fucking night," Rue smiled dreamily. "And I'm about to have a better one. Is Fez inside?"

"Wednesday night and you're out here?" Harley puffed smoke in an enigmatic way. "Where's your mom?"

"Home. Her and Gia are watching a movie. I guess she thinks I'm sleeping in my room. Where's your mom?"

Harley smiled. "Who knows?" The blonde was sitting in a folding chair that Fez often used to smoke himself outside the supermarket. It was dangerous to do so near the gas station, so everyone made sure there was at least a safe distance, or to do it when no one was using it. Thus, the solitude of the night and the cool evening breeze were enough for Harley to take Fez's place. "I heard you before. In the bathroom."

Rue composed a surprised gesture, not understanding what the other girl was referring to, but frowned as the memory came back to her. "What were you doing there?"

"You're not the only one allowed to use the restroom."

"It was nothing. We're okay."

"Not cool," Harley shook her head, stubbing out her cigarette. Now her mouth tasted like nicotine and she didn't have her peppermint spray handy.

"What, you're Lexi's personal bodyguard now? I told you, we're friends and we're okay. She understands I didn't mean it."

"You're the one who has to understand that pushing people who want to help you away is only going to make everything worse. You had no right to blow up like that, and deep down you know it, but you're too proud to admit it. And too high."

"Fuck off, Harley. I preferred you before, when you didn't mess with other people's business. Maybe that's why your father left, haven't you given it a thought or two?"

The blonde received the words like a breathless punch in the stomach, but she didn't give Rue the pleasure of seeing how she'd hurt her. She was high and Harley was pushing her limits, so it was the normal reaction Rue was going to have. However, even Rue was aware that she was well past her limits, so she bit her lip, as if it would restrain any more stupidity from coming out of her mouth.

Harley said nothing, just looked at her, and as soon as the conversation had started, it was over.