"I'm sorry, babe." Sabrina tried making me feel better with a kiss, but it didn't help.

"This is bullshit!" I hear Rodney shout from behind me, chucking his helmet onto the ground.

The whole team was completely deflated. Losing this game meant we couldn't continue on to state, and to make it worse Rodnick High would be taking our place. Everyone had been so pumped to see that smirk wiped from Ryan Berkley's face, but that was all just wishful thinking.

Sabrina takes my hand in hers and it's then that I realize just how tense I am. A little anger subsides as she intertwines her fingers with mine. I smile and raise her hand to my mouth and kiss it lightly.

We are all behind the bleachers, letting out our steam away from the watching eyes of our coaches and parents. The game had been over for not even five minutes, our tempers still fresh.

A few black jerseys stand out amongst our red ones as a few members of the opposing team make their way over to us. It isn't surprising that Berkley is at the head of this entourage. That arrogant smirk is displayed proudly on that infuriating mug of his. Ryan's lackeys -Patrick Dooley and Kendrick Jordan- shared a similar expression, still pleased with themselves due to their victory.

"What do you want, Berkley?" Brett already defends his team captain; acting as a type of barricade, he stands between the two QBs, keeping Ryan from getting any closer.

Ryan's grin only widens before he says, "Oh, I just wanted to congratulate you guys on how well you played tonight." The two players accompanying him send him confused glances from the corner of their eye. Brett's harsh look softens out of surprise. "Apparently not well enough."

An enraged Rodney stomps toward Berkley, but Brett stops him.

More of the team starts to gather together, outnumbering the opposing trio. They don't seem intimidated, but it isn't like we can do anything to them. We are on school grounds. Their school grounds.

"Awe! Is that your girlfriend, Griffin?" Berkley turns his attention to me and I clench my jaw. "She sure is a fine one." He runs his dark eyes over her body. My fist clenches and I grow tense. "I bet she'd look even better while she's underneath me, screaming my name. Begging for mo-"

His fowl words were cut off when I tackle him to the ground. I'm about to throw my first punch, but I'm immediately pulled off him. A couple of my teammates hold me back before I could make him regret his words.

"Bro, stop!" Bradley is one of the guys holding me back. "Calm down. This is just what he wants."

"He's not worth it, man." Cole is the one gripping my other arm. The hold he has on my left bicep tightens as I continue to fight against both him and Brad.

I know what he said is true, but I don't care. The guy deserved every punch I would have thrown at him if I wasn't stopped me.

A smirking Ryan brushes himself off and gets to his feet. "Quite a violent one, isn't he?" His words are directed at Sabrina and I lose it all over again.

"Don't you fucking talk to her!" Bradley and Cole almost lose their grip on me as I try to propel myself at him all over again. Rage blinds my actions as I continue my attempt to break free and give Berkley what he always had coming.

"I think you hit a nerve," Patrick said, sarcastic.

"Babe, it's okay." Sabrina gets in front of me and places her hands on my chest. I feel myself calm down immediately, not wanting to hurt her while trying to strangle the asshole who just insulted her.

After letting out a ragged breath, I nod and my friends release me. I automatically grab hold of Sabrina and move her so that she is behind me. When I look back at Berkley, him and Rodney are red-faced, only inches away from spitting in one another's faces.

"You wanna hit me, don't you? Go ahead," Ryan mocks, his lips curling at the edges as he holds up his phone to Rodney. "See what happens."

I can see Rodney's eyes go wide from what Berkley had just shown him, but I can't see what's on the screen. His fists turn white as he clenches them.

"Hm, this situation seems really familiar." Berkley looks to his friends with an amused grin. "Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago that it was me in your position? Oh how the tables have turned."

Whatever Ryan had on his phone, it was enough make Rodney speechless. He was never speechless, always having the last word or the upper hand. This time his greatest rival had a hold on him.

"Give. Me. The. Phone." Rodney finally spoke up, venom lacing every word.

"Hey Matthews," Ryan's attention turns to Brett as he tosses the phone to him. He catches it and goes completely white after seeing what's on the screen.

Before Rodney can even get a word out Brett already decks him in the nose. He immediately falls to the ground from the impact and Brett is pulled back. "You lying son of a bitch!"

Rodney wipes at the blood dripping down his nose as Bradley helps him stand back up, but he didn't look angry. He accepted the blow like it was something he deserved. Judging by Brett's reaction, he probably did deserve it.

"Let me go!" Brett struggles against Cole and Jameson as he continues to yell at his friend. "He needs to pay for what he did!"

"What's going on, Brett? What did he do?!" I yelled over the commotion.

"He roofied my sister!" Brett's eyes were murderous. After this declaration everyone went quiet. "You were going to fucking rape Tasha! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I'm sorry!" Rodney cries helplessly. For the first time, I see remorse in those cold eyes.

"Oh, you will be when I'm done with you." Brett once again tried to get to the friend he was defending not too long ago, but once again he was kept from his goal. At one point it seemed like he was going to be set free by the very people who were holding him back. Jameson's face was full of disgust while he looked at Rodney. This was not going to be something everyone was just going to get over.

Cracks in friendships like this would take more than just time to heal.

"By the way, Reid," Kendrick finally spoke up from the Rodnick trio, "The whole team knows about what you had on Ryan, and we don't care."

"What I did, that's forgivable." Ryan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "But you? I don't know how many people want to be friends with a rapist."

"It wasn't like that, and you know it!" Rodney was in Ryan's face again, this time more mad than ever. "You are the one who put that shit in her drink. I'm just the one who found her!" He turns to Brett, who still is glaring daggers into his skull. "Brett, man - you have to believe me. I was drunk, and I barely knew what I was doing. I thought she wanted it. You saw on the video that I wasn't forcing myself on her!"

Brett still didn't seem convinced so Rodney continues, "Berkley pulled me off before I could even go through with it, man!" Before anyone could appreciate that Berkley kept Brett's sister from getting raped, Rodney pointed an angry finger at him and said, "He's the one who went through with it! Why would he have been taping that in the first place, huh?! He obviously set the whole thing up!"

After thinking over the story for a moment, it did add up.

Ryan Berkley was a devious person. After being one of his rivals for so many years, I've come to realize that he has more than just a trick or two up his sleeves. The label Trickster almost doesn't do his foul nature justice. He was more than capable pulling something like this off, but at the moment I didn't know which story to believe.

Everyone thought over Rodney's explanation. Some seemed to have switched over to his side due to loyalty, like Bradley and Cole. I choose to believe him due to my lack of trust in Ryan. Then there's Brett and his best friend on the team, Jameson. They're still carefully evaluating the story in their heads.

When Brett marches over to Berkley, the decision he made is clear. "Is it true?" Brett wasn't taller than Ryan, but right now he looked bigger. Ryan seemed to physically shrink once Brett was in front of him. "Answer me!"

What we came here tonight to do happened without us winning the game. Ryan's smirk was wiped from his smug face. Now it was covered in a mask of fear. "Yes! Dammit, it's true."

Brett doesn't hesitate. The confession sprung him into action, his sister's actual rapist on the ground clutching his jaw. He rubs it as he gets back to his feet, now fueled by anger. Brett backs up a little and prepares to feel a similar pain, but he's stopped before he can throw his first punch.

Braedon Carvaerno. The Rodnick team captain grips Ryan's arm in a tight hold and pulls him back. "What the hell's going on here?"

Never in my life had I been happier to see Braedon. Out of everyone on both teams, he was the most responsible. I never figured out how he got most of the team's votes on becoming captain, but maybe it depended on a lot more than just popularity, like how it was at our school.

No one answers his question so he just continues, "Are you three trying to get me into trouble with Coach? As TC I am responsible for everything that happens with you idiots on and off the field."

His attention turns towards our whole team, eyeing us apologetically. "I'm sorry for my team's behavior." The way Braedon handles every situation shocks me thoroughly. He stretches out his hand to a couple of our players, each taking his hand without question. "Good game, guys. Good game."

I'm the last one to shake his hand before he shoves Berkley towards the locker rooms. Patrick and Kendrick follow right on their heels. "You're lucky we need you for state," the TC hisses at the trio, "or else I would have had Coach bench all three of you."

The other guys on my team could say what they wanted, but I liked Braedon.

When all Rodnick ears are gone Rodney walks up to Brett. "Thanks so much for believing me, man." He places his hand on Brett's shoulder, but he's quickly shaken off. Rodney sends him a confused look. "What?"

Brett's expression contorts into one of pain. "If Berkley wouldn't have been there to stop you that night, would you have stopped?"

"I don't know what you're-"

"Answer the question." His voice was so quiet, almost broken.

It felt like forever before Rodney finally answered. "No."

That was all the information he needed. Brett starts walking to the visitor locker rooms, rubbing his knuckles as he went. Not saying another word.

Rodney leans back on the chain link fence that surrounds the stadium and slides to the ground, his hands cradle his head as his elbows are propped on his knees. His cousin tries to comfort him, but he does the same to Bradley what Brett did to him only moments ago. Shakes him off.

Everyone quickly gets the point and leaves him alone.

The rest of the night was really quiet.

Not the whole team was there for the events that happened earlier tonight, but people who were stayed quiet. Especially Brett, seaving in a silence.

Sabrina was waiting for me by the front of the stadium with all the other cheerleaders. I wrap my arm around her waist and kiss her temple. "You okay?" I ask, making sure she isn't shaken up from earlier.

She nods and smiles up at me.

Grabbing her by the hand, we say our goodbyes to her group of friends before leaving for the parking lot. My car was in one of the first few rows. When I click the unlock button on my keys the car chimes, signaling that it worked.

"You played really well tonight." Sabrina gave my hand a sqeeze. Even though I know I didn't play as well as I should have, just her saying that made feel like it's true.

I twirl her so that her back presses against the passenger side of my car. It doesn't take long for me to follow and intensify the pressure by leaning my body against hers, capturing her lips with mine. Both my hands cup her head as she holds onto my wrists. The kiss intensifies, but before the heat can travel down the the lower part of my body I pull away.

Her eyes stay closed for a few seconds before they flutter open. "What was that for?" She's out of breath, but her voice still sounds more than perfect.

"Just for being amazing." I grin and lightly kiss the tip of her nose.

Grabbing the handle to the car door, I wait for Sabrina to get out of the way before opening it. She steps to the side and when it's open she slides right in.

A Rodnick jersey and a hooded figure stray my focus on the darker corner of the parking lot. Since it's so dark I'm surprised I can even see the two. The one in the hoodie is holding a small plastic baggie and he holds it out the the Rodnick player.

Once he turns to check if anyone's watching, I almost duck, but it's too late. Luckily it doesn't matter because he doesn't look long enough to spot me, but I saw exactly who he was.

Ryan Berkley.

He takes out his wallet and pulls out a couple bills and hands them to the hoodie. The hooded figure then hands him the baggie. I squint to get a better look at what's in the bag, but I don't even have to look to know.

None of this was making any sense. Berkley has always hated drugs so why was he getting into them now? Were they for a friend, maybe?

The two of them shook hands and the hooded one runs off to a van. A very familiar van.

Whittney?

"Austin?" Sabrina's voice brings me out of my trance. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," I say before she realizes what my eyes are fixed on. Closing the door to the passenger seat, I hurry to my side of the car. I open the door and quickly put my key in the ignition and speed out of the parking lot.

It was just another one of the drug deals he ran for his brother. That's all.

Nothing to worry about.

Sandra had been sleeping in my bed all week. Every single night before I fell asleep, she was there with another bruise. Andrew was getting worse with everyday that passed and neither of us knew how to handle him.

His mood swings have become so unpredictable that I can't even have Sabrina over because I never know when he's about to explode.

It was just after breakfast and he was already swirling around a glass of Bourbon. He often only did this when he was deep in thought. Whatever he's thinking I don't want to be here when he puts those thoughts to action. I'm about to leave for the basement again, but the doorbell rings.

Andrew adjusts himself to stand, but I stop him. "I got it."

When I open the front door Harry stands in front of me. I was surprised he was even here since he'd purposely been avoiding me ever since Whittney and I had our falling out. It was unclear whose side he was on in the whole situation, but he didn't look as happy to see me as usual.

"Hey," I say awkwardly. "You wanna come in?"

He seems unsure for a moment, peeking over my shoulder like he's looking for something. Eventually he nods and steps through the open half of the double door.

I lead him to my room, but we have to walk through the TV room and the kitchen to get there. Andrew hasn't moved from his spot. The way he's eyeing Harry tells me he isn't in the mood for company in the house.

Harry visibly shrinks back under his gaze.

Andrew stands and downs the contents of his drink before placing it on the coffee table. "Mr. Whittemore, to what do we owe this pleasure?" The smile he is wearing is fake, almost mocking. Faking emotion was something he did so often, it must just come as second nature to him now.

"I-I-" Harry's stuttering didn't start him off on a good note. Even a minor flaw could be seen as weakness through my father's eyes, who was now already scowling in judgment. "I just came to talk to your son." When Andrew only raised his eyebrow with some kind of knowing look, Harry added, "Alone."

The scowl on Andrew's face reappears. "Very well."

I lead Harry to the basement and we go down to my room. Once we get there it's quiet for a while and then the silence becomes deafening. He must have known what he was going to say to me before he came over, but now his mind seemed to be drawing a blank, because he wasn't saying a word.

"He's been wincing from the pain in his ribs for the last couple days." Harry finally let out, the tone he had with me was one I hadn't heard in a long while. The last time he spoke to me like that was a couple years back when he realized I was going after his younger sister.

Little did he know that little Charlette had lost her innocence at the young age of nine, and not by choice. She never told me who did it, and I never asked her to tell me.

"Jeremy wouldn't even let Mike take him to the hospital since he didn't want the chance of being blamed and charged for assault. I mean, you saw what he did to Whittney's face, right? What kind of sick person would do that to their own brother?!"

Harry was furious. Even though his anger was currently being aimed at me, it couldn't be me who he was so mad at, right?

"There was nothing I could have done."

"You could have stood up for him," he counters. "Whitt needed you and again chose those jock d-bags over him."

"Excuse me?" Harry had never spoken to me like that before. Heat rose to my head as I clenched my fists. "I am one of those so-called 'jock d-bags'!"

When I took a step forward, Harry took a wary step back, almost like he was scared of what I'd do. I sigh and run my hand through my hair.

"Why do you hate my friends so much?" My question seemed to surprise him, because his eyes widened. "Like, I know why Whittney doesn't like them, and vise versa, but you?"

"W-we're not talking about me right now." His stutter made me scowl at him.

"Are they bothering you?" I got no answer, so I tightened the grip in my fist and repeated myself. "Harry, are my friends bothering you?"

"No!" His eyes went wide for a second, and he laughs nervously. "I mean, n-no. Of course not."

"Who is it? Is it Rodney?" I asked, seeing through his obvious lie. "If he hurts you again, you tell me, okay? You tell me, and I'll beat the shit out of him."

A sheepish smile crosses Harry's face. "Do you really mean that?"

"Harry, you're like my brother! Of course I mean it."

"Brother, right," He nods, chuckling lightly to himself, leaving me confused. "Austin, I need to tell you someth-"

Harry is cut off, and automatically jumps back a few steps when Andrew barges into my room. Eyeing the two of us skeptically, he held my phone up for me to take from him. "You left this in the TV room."

I reach out to grab it from him. "Thanks."

Andrew glances at Harry and smirks, then he looks back at me. "Sabrina's on the phone."

I bring the phone up to my ear. "Hey babe, what's up?"

"Hey handsome." I hear her giggle and I grin myself. "How do you feel about me bringing over a couple movies and we have a snuggle night?"

"And will this snugglefest be cut off short with you having to be home at curfew?"

The couple seconds of silence worry me, but eventually she replies, "Tonight my parents are out of town, so I'm all yours."

"Perfect." My grin grows bigger than it has been all day. It isn't until Harry lets out an disrupting cough that I remember that anyone's in the room with me. "Oh yeah, listen, I gotta go. Harry's over, but what time will I be getting you?"

"Seven?"

"See you then, Rina. Bye."

Before any reply can be made on the other line, I hang up. I send my father a confused look. "And you're still here, because . . ?"

Andrew rolls his eyes and then leaves. He doesn't shut the door so I groan and close it for him.

"I-I should go." Harry makes his way to the door.

"Wait, why are you leaving?" I grab him by the arm before he can grab the door handle and turn him to face me. "Our talk isn't over. Did Whittney tell you why my friends ganged up on him?"

Harry's look grew skeptical, but I wasn't sure if it was against my words, or Whittney's side of the story. He crosses his arms and says, "No. He coincidentally never got around to explaining that part."

"Figures," I say dryly. "Well Whittney took drugs from his brother and owed him money. He came to me after practice a week ago practically begging for cash. I gave him two hundred dollars, and when I refused to give him more, he punched me."

"He never mentioned throwing the first punch." The anger on his face isn't aimed at me anymore, but I can tell he's still not on my side. "He told me you started the whole thing."

"I saw him dealing with Berkley."

Harry's eyes widened from surprise. "He must be planning something."

"It's possible, but we're going to have to keep an eye on him."

Sabrina held multiple movies out in front of her. Most of them were romance, but I only faked a groan when I realised this. No one would ever be a witness to me saying this aloud, but I loved romance movies.

The fact that two people can be so happy together and treat one another so beautifully. Love stories always made me have hope that love like that truly existed, and not every relationship was doomed for failure.

Like my parents.

"Let's get this over with," I said, snatching The First Time from the collection of films she brought over. Since the actor Dylan O'Brien from The Maze Runner was in it, I had a good feeling about it.

"Good choice," she said, not being able to conceal her smile. "This one's amazing!"

For the first hour of the movie we just sat there. We're laying down on the couch in front of the projector, her body snuggled up against me the whole time as I rubbed her arm with my left hand and she held my right in hers, playing with my thumb.

When a heated make-out scene came on, I let go of her hand since it was gathering sweat. "Um-" I shuffled a little bit, rearranging my position on the couch.

Sabrina laughed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assure her. "It's just a little hard watching this right now knowing that we're not doing the same."

"Kiss me then."

I didn't waste any time pushing her down on the couch, my body flush with hers. Our crotches aligned and I could already feel the heat travel down to my lower region. I grab her hands in mine and adjust them so that they are both above her head.

Adjusting my hand so that both her wrists were pressed down by one of them, the other travels down to her shirt. My fingers tickle her sides as I bring them up, along with her shirt. Once I reach her bra, she doesn't flinch. I smirk as I start fiddling with her bra strap, making sure to distract her from that while I nibbled at her neck.

The moan she lets out makes me tremble down there and my breathing accelerates. My mouth is now on hers as I throw her bra to the floor. We barely notice our lips separating as her shirt comes off, and so does mine.

Both our chests line up with each other, the heat of our skin intensifies as we're pressed together. My mouth claims hers all over again after trailing kisses along her neck and jaw. I continue the pattern for a little while, my hand massaging one of her breasts. Right now I don't even think about how this is the farthest we've ever gone.

I'm lost in the ecstasy of the moment.

Sabrina's heavy breathing could be heard even over mine. "Austin . . ?"

Since I'm focusing so much on trailing kisses along her neck again, all I can say is, "Hm?"

For a while she doesn't say anything, probably just as lost in pleasure as I am in this moment. My hand loosens its grip on both her wrists and her hands find their way into my hair, pulling lightly.

"I love you," she breaths.

I freeze.

***

Yes! It didn't take me forever to update this time!

So lots of stuff happened in this chapter... What do you think of the newly introduced character Ryan Berkley? And what do you think Whittney is planning with him?

Next chapter preview: Austin reacts to Sabrina's confession, and an innocent party makes a turn for the worst.

Please don't forget to leave a comment, or vote on the chapter if you think it's deserving of it!