Friday was great. Cheyenne, Mickie and I surprisingly all got along. Hayden and I were still on our streak of no fighting. Everything was just...great...

If you exclude the giant hole that was slowly getting patched together all because I was unfortunately getting used to Dastan and the Proliator's physical absence. I said physical because they were still here...but not where I wanted them.

The Proliator was on the news or on a magazine every other day—if not all of them. It's like the rumors of his injuries caused him to overcompensate with more and more vigilantism he could manage to prove he wasn't vulnerable. 

All the while, Dastan would text me things that represented his "tolerable" side yet chose not to interact with me at all in person.

"Good luck," I told Hayden after school, before he had to leave to the football game. We were standing in the hall with his hands on my waist and my hands played on his broad shoulders. He smiled like a child and looked down.

"Now I know we're gonna win," he said within the smile. I rose an eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

"Because all I needed was your support," he said. I smiled back, feeling an absolute blissful feeling and then he suddenly reached down to kiss me. I stayed in the kiss for a while, feeling our lips mold together without any force. I had even clasped my hands behind his neck. It was our first kiss since the first time and it was so sweet and tender and...surprisingly innocent. He pulled away with a red tint to his cheeks, and we both shared a radiant smile. He lightly tapped his fingers along my waist and started to release his grip.

"Tell Kenneth I say hi," he teased, wiggling his eyebrows. He backed away from me, leaving our fingers as the last touch, and he walked off with his teammates. I watched them punch each other's shoulders and goof off down the hall, but then Hayden froze. He probably just used it as a decoy to tackle his friend into the wall, so I turned around so I could start going home.

"Wait!" Hayden called and when I turned around, he was standing right behind me. "Actually, this weekend, I want you to consider being my girlfriend...After you settle what you need to with Kenneth, just think about it."

I reached up and kissed his cheek as my non-verbal answer: Yes.

As in yes, I'll consider it.

***

"Hurry and go get your bag. I want to leave here no later than five," Veronica said once Sebastian and I got home.  I jogged up the stairs and grabbed my pre-packed luggage off my bed, but when I looked to shut my window, it had already been done and there was a string attached to the bottom. It ran from the window to the closet. Although I should be cautioned, I was not.

I opened my closet and expected something to pop out at me, but, however, there was only an envelope and a lion stuffed animal. I picked up the envelope and opened it. On the black and white striped paper, there was a scribble of handwriting:

"Since I can't be there, Larry can"

Larry? I picked up "Larry the lion" and slightly chuckled. The cute lion had on a gold mask and gold shoes, and a red cape. He was a mini-Proliator. I could only smile at this innocent gift.

I didn't need "-P" to know it was from Proliator. The same echoing words of "I can't" informed me enough. Although it seemed as if our friendship was over, I couldn't help but appreciate his kind gesture out of the blue.

"Who's that from?" a voice suddenly asked and I turned around quickly to see Sebastian. He watched me intently as I placed Larry on the floor with care.

"N-nobody," I lied.

"It doesn't seem like nobody," he said, plucking the directing string. I stood up, leaving "Larry" on the floor, and then walked over to grab my bag.

"Let's go. We don't want to keep Veronica waiting," I covered. He was still dangerously curious of me but I eventually scooted him out of my room and went downstairs without any questioning.

***

The plane ride and following car ride to Frankford was interesting. It was as if our distant family was back to our farm-bound ways, aside from Sebastian being wary about my actions, no matter if I was just laughing along, or avoiding talking about something our Dad asked.

But when we got to the Bergen's giant estate, I was finally feeling the welcome.

"Angela!" Kylie squealed as we hugged. It was not dark outside, but that didn't stop her. "I missed you so much. Do you know how lonely I am here without you!?"

She says that, but actually she's a beautiful, popular, and outgoing person that couldn't actually be alone in life. Weaving our arms together after she and her parents greeted my family, I couldn't help but have a need to hear the latest small-town gossip and wonder where her brother was. No matter what crazy story she told me about how Abigail Granger got her heart broken twice since I've been gone, or how Vicky Laurie and Joey Jackson thought they cheated on each other at a party, when it was really just them two drunk off their asses with each other...Kylie said nothing about Kenneth. I actually had to ask her.

"Oh he's at Louis Jacobs' house," she informed. "He wanted to be here, but..."

"Sure," I said.

Louis was Sebastian and Kenneth's third party to their bromance. They were best friends and I'm sure they had grown closer when Sebastian left.

"He really did," Kylie defended.

"I believe you," I said, my voice cracking because I knew it was a lie. Kylie started to arrange the sheets in her bed that we were laying in.

"Well, we have rehearsal tomorrow bright and early," Kylie sighed.

"Don't blame me," I laughed.

"Good night," she laughed back. I returned her wishes and then fell into a deep sleep.

 ***

"How could you, Angela!?" Kenneth shouted at me. I was nearly crying. "You know I love you, but yet you cheat on me with some hotshot, jerk-jock asshole that just wants to get in your pants?! You've got to be kidding me, Angela!"

"Kenneth, I didn't cheat on you," I said between tears. "You said to move on and I did—"

"No. You didn't move on. You forgot," he countered. He wasn't broken with deep blue eyes. He was angry and approaching me in a way that I've never seen. "You forgot about everything we had. Sixteen freaking years that you forgot—"

"I didn't forget the fact that it took you sixteen years to realize that you finally wanted me the exact moment you couldn't have me!" I exploded. The tears had somehow dried without a stain, and I was the one wagging my finger at him now. "I didn't forget anything, Kenneth; that was you. It was you telling me to move on because you think that's best for me? Yeah right. If you remembered me and us, you'd know that I wouldn't have ever moved on, Kenneth. EVER."

There was a brief silence and I contemplated what just happened. I had never screamed at Kenneth before and he had never ever  raised his voice at me. Suddenly, Kenneth started taking steps towards me.

"You're right," he said, making me think that he would change back into the guy I had loved all these years. "I did forget you. Not for your own good, but for mine."

Not only did that hurt my heart like a million gun shots to the heart, but I was hurting when Kenneth literally pushed me away, roughly and my butt hit the ground. However, even though the fall was nothing compared to others I've had in my life, it was like my entire body was hurting and breaking down. However, I managed to stand up on my weak ankles and started to turn and run. I got to three invisible strides with my eyes full of tears, and then collided into a wall. A warm...breathing...wall that had arms to wrap around me. With the shock and tingle I felt under his grasp, all I could do was cry. But when I expected him to just hold me like he had a while before, he pulled me away from him by my arms.

"You can't do this," he said, firmly to me. His words seeped into my brain like chocolate over marshmallows. However, I didn't know what he meant. "You can't keep coming to me hurt and broken."

I immediately thought it was some sort of insult and I looked at him with disbelief.

"Was it not you saying it was your job to heal me?" I asked him with incredulousness.

"That was before I—" he shut his mouth even though I could tell he didn't want to. He looked down at me with eyes that didn't satisfy my need to have them turn an amber color. "You really need to realize the effect you have on me and how dangerous it is. Because then I need to be healed just as much as you do."

What was that supposed to mean? I had no idea because as I looked around, desperately, for answers, I found myself on a bed with the Proliator. He kissed my cheek and down my neck and then circled back up. A sensation of concern and assurance filled my body. Not only that, but there was also...lust. But that didn't come from the Proliator. That came from my own mental state of mind. He kissed along my entire body, appropriately, and his hands ran along my waist as we were both horizontal. With every touch of his lips, my pain went away.

Who was this guy? Why did his every touch and actions affect me the way they do? There had to be a reason. Something. Anything. As he grazed on my shoulder and collarbone, I reached my hands up to his mask. I had to know who he was. I grabbed the back of the mask's rubbery fabric and his hand flew to mine. Our eyes connected and I thought he'd stop me, but he removed his hand from mine. I continued to lightly pull it off as his face neared mine and when I had nearly pulled the mask over his nose, my eyes were nearly closed, unlike my slightly parted lips. When the mask was completely unworn, I didn't care to see what he looked like because my eyes were shut and our lips were millimeters apart. My stimulating touch was starting to spark before our lips even touched. Right when they would, I gasped and woke up.

I sat up in Kylie's bed and saw her sitting up, looking at me with her bedside lamp lighting up half of her face.

"So the Proliator, huh?"