Gentle sun rays dance on my face, teasing my closed eyes open. I squint and when my blurry vision focuses, I notice the arm wrapped around my torso. Whittney's even breath fans the back of my neck, making me shiver. I lay still for a moment, not knowing how to react.

Carefully, I grab his wrist and remove his arm from my waist. He stirs a little, but luckily doesn't wake up.

I sit up and rub my eyes before glancing back at him, still fast asleep. All the stress he always holds on his face has vanished, replaced with a calm smile. I lay back down and admire his serene expression, enjoying how relaxed he looks. His breaths are even, so different from his uneasy ones that he usually takes.

After a while, he finally stirs. With a yawn and a good stretch, he sits up, rubbing his eyes. "Morning."

He's in a much better mood now, which makes me smile.

"Morning," I say back. "Sleep okay?"

"Best sleep I've had in a while, to be honest." He ruffles his hair, straightening out his bed head.

"Are we gonna talk about last night?"

Whittney sighs, "What of it?"

"You were crying for a reason."

"I wasn't crying," he immediately lies, clearly offended by my accusation.

"Is everything okay with your mom?"

"Jesus. Will you stop with all the fucking questions?" Whittney rolls out of bed and grabs his jeans, slipping them on as he glares at me.

I miss how at-ease he was just moments ago.

"When you give me some fucking answers, yeah." I fold my arms, not giving into his bullshit. "I'm your friend, Whitt. I care about you. That means I'm gonna ask you how you're feeling if I know that you're not alright."

A look of surrender crosses his face as he sits down next to me. "Fine. My mom woke up."

Confusion strikes me. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"It would be, if she didn't start shooting up the moment she got out of bed. Jay got his stuff from his supplier last night, and he got my mom to try it out."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Damn. Whitt, I'm sorry."

"Yeah." He avoids my gaze, looking down at his twitching fingers.

"Let's take a walk," I say, jumping to my feet. "It looks like we both could use a smoke."

He nods, and goes into the bathroom while I get dressed.


***

"When I woke up he was spooning me."

"Spooning you?" Amber asks in disbelief.

"Yeah. Holding onto my waist, and everything." I turn into the school parking lot, glancing around for a spot.

"Is Whittney..." Charlette chimes in from the back seat.

I laugh out loud. "Of course not! I just thought it was weird."

When I pull into an open space, a large honk comes from behind us. A large Dogde Ram takes up my rearview mirror.

"I think we took my dear step-brother's spot." Amber's grin is unmatched as she waves at the pissed Rodney behind us.

He flips us off and speeds to the next available one. When he gets out of the car, he slams the door and storms over. With angry expressions, he yells at us, but we can't hear what he's saying until I roll down the window.

"-you serious? I was obviously going to park there!" he yells, his disapproval finally heard.

Amber rolls her eyes. "Oh, will you calm down? Harry has a right to park wherever he wants."

"Amber!" I scold her, not wanting to start anything.

I jump when he pulls my door open, and yanks me out of my seat. My back aches when I'm pushed up against the car.

"Hey!" Charlette gets out of the backseat, grabbing Rodney by the shoulder and tugs him off of me. For her small size, she's surprisingly strong. "Rodney, stop."

"Why should I?" He turns to her, his glare deepening.

"Because," she starts, her anger turning into a flirtatious smile. "I need to talk to you."

"Can't this wait?" he hisses through his teeth, his jaw clenching as his dark eyes find me.

"No, come on." She tugs at his hand and leads him away, though he seems resistant.

Finally, he caves when she starts pulling him towards the school.

"Charlette, wait," I intervene. It's not hard to figure out what she's doing, and I won't stand for it.

"It's okay, Hare." She warns me with her eyes. "I'll talk to you later."

Before I can argue further, she's already hooking her arm with Rodney. He playfully pinches her side and she giggles, half heartedly.

"Are you going to let her protect you your whole life?" Amber asks when they're out of earshot, judgement written all over her face.

"I'm not getting in the middle of that." I grab my bag from the backseat and throw it over my shoulder with a sigh. "I don't know what to say to her anymore. There's a whole other side to her that I didn't know."

She looks at me with wide eyes. "You seriously had no idea?"

"I thought we told each other everything." I shrug. "I guess not."

"Oh," she says, holding the front door open for me. "You guys are just so close. I guess she just didn't want you to think of her that way, you know?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," I sigh. "but now I can't even talk to her."

"This is why she was scared to tell you."

I fumble around with my locker combination. When it opens, I stuff the books I don't need in my locker. "I'll see you fourth period, kay?"

"Yeah, I'll save you a seat," she says, walking towards her locker, which is in the opposite direction of my next class.

When I turn, I almost slam nose-first into a broad chest. I lose my grip on my phone and it drops on the ground, the blonde immediately bending over to pick it up.

"You should really be more careful," Bradley Stuart says, handing me my phone. "iPhone screens are easily breakable."

"Yeah," I say, holding it up to show him. "I found that out."

He sees the cracked screen. "Did that just happen now?"

I laugh. "No. Whittney was messing around and dropped it."

He nods awkwardly. Everyone on the football team hates Whittney, so I'm not surprised that Bradley is the same way.

"You're too nice to be hanging out with a guy like Whittney."

My fists clench. "He's the only one who's stuck around this long."

"What about Austin?" he asks, confused.

I sigh, deflated. "He comes and goes."

Bradley grabs my phone out of my hand and goes straight to the contact list, filling in his information. "If you ever feel like hanging out, give me a call."

He smiles and my heart jumps in my chest.

"What about Rodney?"

"He doesn't have to know." His smile grows when I grin back at him. "We have a class together this period, don't we?"

"Yeah, government," I say, already heading in that direction.

"I'll walk with you," he says, trailing after me.

Our conversation is limited to small talk on the way there, but it's already the highlight of my day.

When we get there, I notice none of his friends are in this class. I didn't notice that on the first day. Although, I was a little busy reading over the syllabus for this semester to pay much attention to anything else.

Most people avoid those things like the plague, but I've always enjoyed them. It lets us in a little on how the certain teachers click. Plus, I took school pretty seriously. Though I'm not as smart as Whittney school-wise, my grades are still excellent. Growing up with a father as a teacher probably helps, but I never like to give him much credit.

As much as I want to talk to the blonde beside me, Mr. Knight's ranting about the importance of the Constitution kinda got in the way. That doesn't stop me from glancing at him every once and awhile, though.

He catches me looking at him for a second when he pushes his glasses back into place, a silly grin etched on his face.

"I think we have the most passionate teacher in the school," he whispers, a soft laugh following.

"That good or bad?" I whisper back.

He shrugs. "I find it commendable."

"I hope you boys are discussing something connected to the lesson." Mr. Knight stands with his arms crossed at the front of the class, a disapproving frown pointed at us.

"Sorry, Sir," Bradley speaks up. "My fault."

"As I was saying," Knight continues, addressing the class as a whole again.

When I glance at Bradley, he winks at me. The room suddenly gets really hot, my cheeks burning. Immediately, I look down at my open Gov book, and can't help but make a mental note that that's the second time he's done that this week.

***

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please leave me a comment telling me what you think about this story so far. Is it good, or is there something I need to work on? Would love to read your thoughts. If the chapter is worthy of it, don't forget to click that little star in the corner of the screen! :D