Hardin's POV.

"You broke my fucking nose!" He shouts and lifts his head up, struggling to get out of my grip.

I heard the crisp snap so I already knew the shit was broken anyway but the amount of blood pouring from it when he finally lifts his head is a little alarming.

"I already warned you over and over for fucking months now to stay away from Tessa but then what do you do? You fucking kiss her, have her sleep in your god damn bed?" I stride down the aisle to get to him again.

His hand is covering his broken nose as his red blood pours down his face.

"And I already fucking told you that I don't give a fuck what you have to say." He snarls, taking a step toward me.

"You just broke my fucking nose!" He yells again.

Tessa is going to fucking kill me.

I should just leave now. He deserves to get his ass beat, again, but she's going to be furious.

"You have done worse shit to me, you keep messing with my girlfriend!" I shout back.

"She isn't your girlfriend and I haven't even began to mess with her yet."

"Are you actually fucking threatening me right now?"

"I don't know, am I?"

I take another step toward him and he surprises me by swinging on me. His fist connects with my jaw and I stagger backward, knocking into the wooden box of plants. They crash to the ground in a fury and he swings again, this time I'm able to block him.

"You thought I was just a bitch didn't you?" He grins a deranged and bloody grin.

"What the fuck?"

He continues to walk toward me.

"You really thought you were a badass didn't you?" He laughs, pausing to spit blood onto the white tile floor.

My fingers wrap around the material of his lab coat and I push him into another row of plants, the plants and our bodies hit the ground. I climb on top of him, sure not to let him be in control. Out of the corner of my eye I see him raise his arm but by the time I realize what is happening, he slams one of the small pots against the side of my head. My head dips down, nearly

It shatters and I blink rapidly to restore my vision. I'm stronger than him, he's a better fighter than he had led me to believe but there's no way in hell I'm letting him get the best of me.

"I already fucked her anyway." He chokes as I grab ahold of his hair and slam his head into the floor.

At this point I don't give a fuck if I kill him or not.

"No you didn't!" I scream.

"Yes I did, she was nice and tight too." His voice is strangled and choppy, due to the fact that I haven't let up on him.

The impact of my fist slamming into his cheek causes his head to turn to the side, he half screams from the pain and for a brief moment I think about gripping his broken nose between my fingers. His feet kick frantically under me to try to lift my body from his. Images of Zed touching Tessa are fueling me, pushing me further than I've ever been before. I will kill him and I don't give a fuck.

"What the hell is going on in here?" A male voice shouts behind me.

When I turn my head around to see who the voice belongs to Zed attempts to wrap his hands around my neck. Not fucking happening. Another punch to his cheek is all it takes for his hands to drop to the floor next to his sides.

A hand wraps around my arm and I shove them off.

"Call campus security!" The voice says and I hurry to climb off of Zed.

Fuck.

"No, don't." I say and stumble to my feet.

"What is going on? Get out of here! Go wait in the other room!" The middle-aged man yells but I don't move.

"He came in here and attacked me." Zed cries, literally.

His hand is covering his swollen and crooked nose as he stands to his feet. His face is bloody, his lab coat is splattered with red and his smug smile has evaporated.

"Stand against the wall until the police arrive! I mean it, don't move an inch!" I assume this man is a professor.

Fuck, the campus police are coming. I'm so fucking screwed. Why the fuck did I come here in the first place?

She's going to be so pissed and most likely hurt because I literally just promised to stay away from him.

Tessa's POV.

Landon is already seated when I arrive to religion. His face is buried in his book and he barely notices when I arrive, it takes my books hitting my desk for him to gaze up at me.

"Hey," he smiles.

"Hey," I take my seat next to him and pull out my textbook and journal.

"How was breakfast?" Landon asks.

"It was good actually, we are back to where we were a few days ago I guess." I shrug.

I don't want to push my problems on him.

"That's good, my mum was so mad at him." He laughs.

"He said that too, I thought he was exaggerating."

"Nope, she called him an ass."

"No she didn't!" We both burst into laughter as Professor Soto enters the room.

"Alright guys, just give me a few minutes to settle in and I'll start class." He announces.

"Are you excited to go on the boat next week?" Landon asks.

"Uhm, well sort of." I admit.

"Why sort of?"

"I don't know, I've never really been into water sports or anything."

"Water sports? You'll be on a yacht." He laughs.

"Yeah but in the water. Like without land."

"It's fun, I promise you'll like it. Plus, we have life jackets." He teases and I throw my pen cap at him.

"Alright, today we will be discussing false hope." Professor Soto says.

Finally a topic that doesn't apply to my exact situation at the moment. Or does it?

No, of course it doesn't.

"There are more religions than we can even begin to count, spread all over the world, each with a different god and different beliefs. So who is correct? Everyone? Surely not, someone is wrong, but who? No set religion will even consider or discuss that it may be them, it may be them who spends their life dedicated to something that doesn't exist. It may be them who donated half their life savings to a church, to a god that doesn't exist. The scariest part of this for anyone is to consider the fact that they will never know until they die. They'll never know if they will meet their god, or if their god even exists until it's too late to change their minds. How would you feel if you spent all of your energy on something only to find out it was a waste of your time, it never existed at all, it was all in your mind? That's what I want you to write about today." He says and sits down in his chair, opening the top of his portable coffee mug and taking a drink.

When I look over at Landon he is already writing. I usually find a way to relate every subject to Hardin but this one I can't. Well, I can but I don't want to . I don't want to consider that possibility.

When my pen presses to the paper I have every intention of writing about my grandmother and how she dedicated her life to Christianity, but somehow Hardin's name appears in black ink.

"Ms. Young?" Professor Soto's voice says quietly but loud enough for everyone in the first row to hear.

"Yes?" I look up and my attention is immediately brought to Ken.

Why is Ken here?

"Tessa, I need you to come with me." He says and the annoying blonde behind me makes an "oohhh" sound like we are back in the sixth grade. She most likely doesn't even know who he is, that he is the chancellor of this entire campus.

"What's going on?" Landon asks Ken as I stand to my feet and begin to gather my things.

"We can talk about it outside." Ken's voice is unsteady.

"I'm coming." Landon says and stands as well.

"Is that okay with you?" Professor Soto asks Ken.

"Yes, he's my son." He tells him and Jonah's eyes go wide.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I didn't know that, she's your daughter?" He asks him.

"No, she's not." Ken appears panicked and it's starting to scare me.

"Is Hardin.." I begin to ask but Ken guides me out the door with Landon behind me.

"Hardin's been arrested." Ken tells us as soon as we get outside.

"He's what?" I can't breathe.

"He's been arrested for fighting and destruction of campus property."

"Oh my god." Is the only thing I can think to say.

"When? How?" Landon seems to be having the same problem as I am.

"About twenty minutes ago, I'm trying my best to keep this on campus but he isn't making that easy." Ken hurries across the street and I nearly have to run to catch up with him. My mind is racing, Hardin arrested? Oh my god. How could he get arrested? Who did he fight? I already know the answer to that.

Why couldn't he just keep his cool for once?

Is Hardin okay? Will he go to jail? Real jail?

Ken unlocks the car door and the three of us get inside.

"Where are we going?" Landon asks.

"To the police station."

"Is he okay?" I ask.

"He's got a cut across his cheek and another on his ear I heard."

'You heard? You haven't seen him yet?" Landon asks his step-father.

"No, I haven't. He's throwing a fit so I knew it would be better to get her first." He nods his head in my direction.

"Yeah, good idea." Landon agrees and I stay quiet.

A cut across his head and face? I hope he isn't in pain. Oh my, this is all so crazy. I should have just agreed to spend the entire day with him, he wouldn't have even been on campus today.

Within five minutes Ken parks on the street in front of the small brick building labeled "Police". There is a no parking sign directly in front of where he parked but I suppose that's one of the perks to being the chancellor, you can park where you want.

The three of us hurry inside the building and my eyes scan the small space looking for any sign of Hardin.

"I don't give a fuck, you're nothing more than a douche bag with a fake badge! You're basically a mall cop you fucking prick!"

And there he is..

I follow his voice and turn down the hall in pursuit of him. I hear Ken and Landon on my heels but all I care about is getting to Hardin.

When I see him he's pacing back and forth inside a small cell. Holy shit. His arms are behind his back in handcuffs.

"Fuck you! All of you!" He yells.

"Hardin!" His father's voice booms from behind me.

Hardin's head snaps to the side to where I'm standing and his eyes blow immediately. His face is spilt open just below his cheekbone and his skin is sliced from his ear to the back of his head, his hair matted with blood.

"I'm trying to contain this, you aren't helping!" Ken half yells at Hardin.

"They have me trapped in here like some fucking animal, this is bullshit. Call whoever you need to call and get them to unlock this shit." Hardin yells, attempting to tear his hands from the cuffs.

"Stop it." I scowl at him and his demeanor changes.

"Tessa, you shouldn't even be here. What kind of genius fucking idea was it to bring her?" Hardin hisses at his father and Landon.

"Hardin, stop it now. He's trying to help you. You need to calm down." I say through the bars.

This doesn't feel real, talking to him while he's literally in a cell in handcuffs. This can't be real, but then again this is what happens in the real world. You get arrested if you assault someone, especially on campus.

"Okay." Hardin finally gives in.

I know he wants to say more, he probably wants to tell me to fuck off but something stops him and I'm glad for it.

"Give me a few minutes to see what I can do, in the mean time you need to stop yelling. You're making this worse for yourself when you're already in a load of trouble." Ken warns his son.

Landon looks to me then to Hardin before following Ken back down the narrow hallway. I hate this place already, everything is too white and black, too small, and it smells like bleach.

The campus officers that sit behind the desk are immersed in their own conversation at the moment, or at least pretending to be so they don't get an earful from Hardin again.

"What happened?" I ask him.

"I got arrested." He huffs.

"Are you okay?" I ask him, desperately wanting to reach through and wipe his face.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. It's not as bad as it looks." He says, and he's right.

I can tell from here that the cuts aren't deep. His arms have light red streaks on them, mixing with the black ink to form a rather terrifying sight.

"Are you upset with me?" His voice is soft, a thousand degrees from where it was moments ago while he was screaming at the police.

"I don't know." I honestly answer.

Of course I'm upset with him because I know who he fought, well it isn't hard to guess. But I'm also worried about him and I want t know what happened that lead him here in all of this trouble.

"I couldn't help it." He tries t justify it.

"I told you before I wouldn't visit you in a jail cell remember?" I frown.

"This doesn't count, it's not a real cell."

"It looks real to me." I tap on the metal bars to prove my point.

"It's not an actual jail, this is just a bullshit holding cell until they decide to involve the real police." He says loud enough for the two officers to look up from their conversation.

"Stop it. This isn't a joke Hardin. You could be in a lot of trouble." I remind him and he rolls his eyes.

That's the problem with Hardin, he hasn't quite realized that his actions have consequences.