"Stop the car!" Alec told me, and when I pulled over, he opened the door and jogged over to Damian's house. I followed him hesitantly.

"Mrs. Winters!" Alec yelled. "Mrs. Winters!"

A figure turned around and I was stunned to see that it was Mrs. Winters. Her face had more wrinkles than I remembered, and she was a bit rounder, but her smile still lit up her face like pure sunshine.

"Alec!" she said, laughing as she enveloped him in a hug. Then, when she saw me, she cried, "Sailor! Oh, it's been a long time!"

"It has been," I said, unable to stop my grin. "So, you guys are moving back, huh?"

"That's right," Mrs. Winters said happily. "Jackson got another job here, so here we are! I'm so glad I got to see you again! And who is this young lady?" She nodded toward Abiona, who stepped forward to introduce herself.

"Hi," Abiona said, smiling. "I'm Abiona, Alec and Sailor's friend. I moved here two years ago from California."
"Oh, California," Mrs. Winters said, hugging Abiona too. "I used to live there, and it's such a wonderful place. It's so good to meet you! Alec, how is your sister?"

Alec's sister was a Shopkin-obsessed nine year old. "She's good," he said. "She's gotten into baking now, and it's not going well." He shuddered exaggeratedly and Mrs. Winters chuckled.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Winters said. "I have to teach her this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe I found in Indiana someday!"

"Sure," Alec said. "I think she'd like that."

"Hey, where's Damian?" I asked Mrs. Winters. "I want to see him again!"

Suddenly, Mrs. Winters' entire personality shifted. She bit her nails nervously - a new habit, I noticed - and glanced into the house. "Of course, Sailor," she said quietly, "but I must warn you. Damian has... changed a lot in Indiana. He got involved with the wrong crowd, and, well..." She didn't finish her sentence.

"Damian can't be that different," I said confidently. I knew him like the back of my hand. He had been my best friend for almost eight years. How much could change about him in four? And Damian knew better than to hang out with bad people.

"I suppose it is your own opinion," Mrs. Winters said, sighing. "You are, of course, free to come in to meet him now, but you can also see him at school tomorrow."

"That would be amazing," I said the exact same time Alec said, "I guess we'll see him at school then." We looked at each other before Alec grabbed my arm and pulled me away, waving goodbye at Mrs. Winters as he did so.

"What?" I asked him as soon as we were back into the car. "I want to see my old best friend! What's wrong with that?"

"He was my old best friend too," Alec pointed out. "Besides, I'm worried. I've never really seen Mrs. Winters so concerned before. Aren't you worried about Damian?"

"Not at all," I said. "I mean, come on. It's Damian. The same dude who let his older sister practice makeup on. The same dude who made cake pops for me on my birthday. It's the same guy who tutored you in math when you were failing pre-algebra!"

"I know, but..." Alec was still uneasy.

"I gotta side with Alec on this one," Abiona said. "This Damian guy seems kind of weird to me after hearing Mrs. Winters."

"You don't know him like I do," I said, completely convinced. "He wouldn't change so much he wouldn't be friends with us anymore. I just know it."

"Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow," Alec said. "C'mon. Let's go home and think about this for a while."

I was right. I was sure of it.

• • •

I drove Abiona and Alec to school every other school day, while Abiona drove us on the days I didn't drive. Today, Abiona was driving.

"Get in!" she yelled at me through her car window. "Hurry up, or we'll be late!"

"There's still fifteen minutes left!" I yelled back at her through my window, hurriedly filling my water bottle and stuffing it inside my backpack. "I overslept, okay? Geez, woman!"

"Well, hurry the hell up!" Abiona said, tapping her wrist. "We're on a tight schedule!"

I grabbed my shoes, not even bothering to slip them on before running toward her car. As Abiona drove her old Toyota Corolla (a car she claimed would last her until she was in her twenties because they were so reliable) I tied my shoes and chewed a granola bar.

Alec was standing outside of his house, shivering in the cold. In the past week, temperatures had dropped surprisingly, although it really wasn't surprising at all. It was almost winter after all.

"You're late," Alec said grumpily to us.

"Blame it on Sailor," Abiona said immediately. I stuck my tongue out at her childishly.

"Oh, please," I said. "Blame it on my alarm clock. It didn't wake me up in time for some reason."

Alec coughed into his fist, sounding suspiciously like he was saying "Excuses."

"Would you like to repeat that?" When Alec looked away, I smirked. "That's what I thought."

"We're here," Abiona said, pulling into the parking lot. "Shoo. Get to class."

Newark Hills High School was always buzzing with chatter and energy, but today, it seemed like the students were particularly excited. I assumed they'd heard that Damian was back.

The first half of school went by fairly quickly. It was all my easier classes - P.E., Geography, Choir, and my absolute favorite class, Forensic Science. But there was someone new in Forensics.

I couldn't see his face from where I was sitting, and the teacher, Mr. Alabast, didn't introduce him. He didn't talk to anyone, didn't look at anyone, and barely acknowledged Mr. Alabast. He seemed weirdly familiar, like I had met him before, but I couldn't figure out who it was.

I studied him, not listening to the teacher. His head was covered by a grey hoodie and he kept drumming his fingers on the desk in a rhythm I recognized, but couldn't remember. I rubbed my eyes, trying to remember. It was a pretty fast beat and I was certain I knew it from a long time ago. But when Mr. Alabast started to teach something new, I had to look away to take notes.

Mr. Alabast always let out our class earlier than other classes so I was always one of the first people in the cafeteria. Alec and Abiona joined me a few minutes later. As soon as Abiona sat down, she started talking so quickly I could barely keep up with her.

"Oh my god!" she squealed. "I saw the Damian guy in my religious studies class and holy crap. You guys didn't tell me Damian was hot!"

"Uh... what?" Alec said confusedly.

"Hot," Abiona said, stressing the word. "I can't believe you didn't say anything about that!"

"I'm pretty sure you're talking about a different Damian," I said, thinking back to the photo Nali found. "Damian Winters is not 'hot' at all. Pretty much nobody liked him when we were younger. He even got bullied sometimes." And then I stood up for him, and nobody teased him after that for his braces.

"I'm positive I'm not talking about a different Damian," Abiona said, standing up and looking around. "I swear, it's insane. I'll show you when I find him in the cafeteria. The weird thing is that he's really quiet, for some reason."

I laughed at that. Damian and quiet didn't belong in the same sentence.

"There," Abiona said, jabbing her finger toward something behind me. "That's him."

I turned around, but there wasn't anybody behind me who looked like Damian. I turned back to her, saying, "I don't see him."

"I swear to god, you're blind. How do you not see him?" Abiona pointed again, and just like before I turned to look, but the only people behind me were people I recognized and the same guy from Forensics.

"The guy in the grey hoodie?" Alec said, pointing at him. "That's Damian?"

"No way," I said, starting to laugh at the impossibility of it. "Look - people keep going up to him, but he just ignores them like they're not even there. That's not like anything Damian would do." It was true. Caroline, a sweet girl from my gym class, went to the table he was sitting at and said something to him. He grunted something back and the bright smile on her face faded. Annoyance started to creep into my mind. Caroline was such a kind girl, and the least he could do was not be an asshole.

"What a jerk," Alec said, as if he could read my mind. "Yeah, that's definitely not Damian." He started to eat.

"It is," Abiona insisted.

"For the last time," I said, slightly impatiently and gesturing toward the boy, "that's not Damian! I know him! He's not a jerk." I glanced over at the guy, definitely irritated, then froze.

At my words, the boy had looked at me dead in the eye. I was so surprised that I dropped my sandwich, because I could have recognized those eyes anywhere.

"Oh my god," I breathed, and when Alec saw, he choked on his food. Abiona gave me a look like I told you so.

I wanted to look away, but I was frozen in shock. Damian had gotten his braces off and his hair was longer, but noticeably less curly. His jawline had sharpened and his pink lips twitched slightly. But the two things that hadn't changed about him were his scar and his eyes.

I glanced down at his left hand where he had a weirdly long white scar stretching from the space between his thumb and pointer finger to his wrist. He'd gotten it from trying to open a can of cat food for Alec's old (and now dead) cat. It was a pretty stupid way to get a scar, but we all thought it was funny.

I realized I was staring at his left hand and looked up. Striking almond-shaped emerald eyes narrowed at me, and I could tell that he immediately recognized me. My mouth popped open as I took him in, completely caught off guard.

Slowly, a smile spread across my face. I stood up, starting to walk toward him.

"Wait," Alec said, grabbing my arm. "Maybe we should just leave him alone."

"Are you kidding me?" I shook him off. "He was my best friend. I'm not just gonna leave him alone." I strode over to Damian, still smiling. Dang, I had missed him so much.

"Damian!" I said, waving as I made my way toward him. I grinned at him when I reached him. "Damian, hey!"

He looked at me, his eyes uncharacteristically cold. He looked uninterested - bored, even.

"What do you want?"

***

So I forgot to upload Chapter 3 yesterday... I hope you don't mind! (Even though I know there are, like, two people who actually care about my story.) I hope you loved this chapter, or at least liked it! And if you did, please vote and share! Also, tag someone who you think would enjoy this story :)