A/N: Hey awesome people who read my story! Just saying that I'm not uploading as frequently as I would like. I realise the past few chapters have been terrible so I am trying to make these next few better, as they're kind of important. ALSO I am starting a new story as well. To be honest, I've never tried to write two stories at the same time but I'll do my best. So if my uploads are later than usual, that's why! So chill, I'm still writing it but yeah, not as often. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and as always, read, comment, vote etc. (Also, check out my video clip that I made >>)

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The next day was no better.

It was hard enough with the whole no sleep thing going on again, and it was even harder not to be able to talk to Max.

I mean, I could. But I was stubborn and I silently vowed to myself that I wouldn't speak until he cracked. Which I suspected wouldn't be for a while.

My only problem was that he had become someone who I relied on so heavily.

Whenever I had a problem, I went to Max. He was one of my only friends that knew everything and could help. He wanted to help.

It was actually rather frightening how much I needed him, but all I needed was to get through today without either; a) blacking out, b) crying, or c) breaking.

And it sure as hell wasn't going to be easy.

I had a loose plan formed in my head when I walked into PE and sat down in my usual spot towards the back, wincing at the lightning that struck inside my head once again.

i knew it was going to be a long day, but I had a few things to do.

Firstly, I had to ignore Max. Obviously.

Secondly, I had to not black ourt.

Lastly, I had to talk to August.

He still hadn't talked to me after his rather abrupt departure and he would avoid eye contact and any conversations with me.

He was still one of my good friends and I needed to know what was going on in his head.

"Hey Rylie!" A high pitched voice screeched.

I winced and turned up to see the owner of the terrible voice.

I faintly recognised her as the girl who I gave Max's wrong number to. I gave her the pizza place instead.

"Hi," I said, biting my lip to stop the smirk lighting up my face.

"Like, you said you'd give me Max's number but you gave me the number to the pizza shop? Like, I can't eat pizza! What the hell?'

"Sorry, I must have read it wrong," I apologized, trying to seem earnest. "Here, I'll give it to you again."

And I did.

It was payback and I felt a whole lot better about everything after I did it.

"Thanks," the blonde bimbo smiled sweetly and sat somewhere on the other side of the classroom.

I seriously had no idea how that chick got into high level physical education. And no, it wasn't the running around and doing pointless sports. It was about bones and muscles and the cardio-respirotory system and energy systems.

All that fun stuff.

"Now class," my teacher started from up the front, pulling down the projector screen and plugging her laptop in. "Today we are going to watch a video on how the sarcomere works. Try to draw the actin and myosin sliding over the top of each other in your books and I will check them at the end of class."

I internally groaned. I hated sarcomeres with passion, but this video made it much clearer. I understood what the z-lines were and where the I-band was.

For the first time in a few years, I actually felt smart. Sure, I got good marks in school regardless, but I never felt like I knew the information. I had to study my ass off and most of the time I would guess half the answers.

I walked out of that class feeling good about myself, but couldn't help the pounding in my head that was obscuring my vision.

At recess I took the strongest painkillers I had, meaning I could take more at lunch if I needed them. Thankfully they cleared up my head before Japanese.

"Hey Rylie," Max smiled as I walked into class. I kept my mouth shut tightly and took a seat next to Nate.

"Hey," Nate smiled in amusement, clearly happy that I was following through on my plan. "What's up?"

"Can't wait to go home," I smiled, earning Nate to laugh.

"Oh good Lord what did I do?" Max groaned from behind me and I did my best to ignore me. Which was difficult when he asked every person in the class what he had done.

Nate didn't tell him, Seth and Leah had no idea what is was and August just looked confused, after which Tessa explained her version of the story.

August laughed at Max's groan but still wouldn't meet my eye.

Oh well, I'd catch him after class.

"Hey everyone," Mr Cole said from the front of the class. "Today I want you, in pairs, to translate the manga in the textbook, but I'll be choosing the pairs."

Please God not Max, please not Max, pretty please with sugar on top don't make me be with Max.

"Nate, you can go with Tessa," Mr Cole instructed. "And August, you can go with Rylie. Leaving Seth with Max."

Thank you God!!!

Oh, wait. 

Wow, this is going to be awkward...

I switched seats with Tessa to sit next to August, smiling. "Hey."

"Hey." He said, fidgeting awkwardly with his t-shirt. 

"Okay so I want to talk to you but we should do it at lunch and not now because we have to translate this so yeah." I rambled, keeping my head on my textbook. 

"O-kay," August stumbled, opening his textbook to the page of the manga. 

It was super awkward and whenever he would start to feel comfortable again he would recoil and put his hands in his pockets.

But at least we got it done. 

Honestly, the manga was really strange. There was this girl who went to buy jeans with her friend and the first pair were too big and the second pair were too small so her stomach started hurting. 

Was there a point to the manga? No. It just contained a lot of the words for the unit we were doing.

When the bell rang, we packed up slowly, waiting for everyone else to walk out before we did. On his way past, Max pinched my side and I was completely conflicted. 

Part of me wanted to smile at the tingles that his touch sent through me, but the other, the angry part, wanted to yell at him for being annoying. 

I did neither. 

August and I walked in silence to our lockers then went to sit outside on the bleachers. 

"I don't want you to avoid me anymore. I'm really sorry I don't like you but, it is what it is," I said, an apologetic smile spreading across my lips. 

August looked slightly guilty, his dark brown hair blowing in the wind that had come about. "No, it's okay. I mean, I only really liked you because I thought I had a shot. Well, that was until Max."

"What do you mean?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. 

He sighed, looking up towards the sky. "I mean," he let out the breath he had clearly been holding then looked back at me before he continued. "A few weeks ago, before Max came along, we were really close. You seemed really flirty and I didn't not like you. So I kind of started to develop more feelings for you but it was only because it seemed you were interested."

August paused, tugging at his collar nervously. "And then when Max came along you hated him, even though he clearly liked you. So I kept trying. But I only realised when you told us that I didn't actually like you like that." He finished, his cheeks slightly red in embarassment. "Sorry."

"No! That's okay! Really, it's a relief!" I exclaimed, probably way to happy but that's how I felt. 

"Really?" He asked while I nodded my head furiously. 

"Really."

We decided it was too cold to be sitting outside, so we went back to the cafeteria and sat down, joking around like we did before all this happened. 

"You're literally talking to everyone except me?" Max groaned in realisation. Again. 

He really needed to stop groaning. 

I didn't even nod my head, as that would be a form of communication. 

"Max, she's not going to crack. You need to figure out what you did," Nate explained from beside his brother who both had idenitcal smirks lighting up their faces. 

"But I can't," he puffed and I choked back a laugh. 

I didn't realise it was going to be this funny. 

“Rylie I can’t stand it anymore. Why won’t you talk to me?” Max pleaded, ignoring everyone around us and looking directly into my eyes.

It had been only a day since the silent treatment began and he had already cracked.

I mulled it over in my head for a minute. Either I continue to keep my silence or I let him have it.

Hmmm…

“Because you’re an insensitive asshole!”

Okay, I really wasn't good at silent treatments. And maybe I could have started off a bit more subtle. But hey, I was still pissed off at him.

He grabbed my forearm, almost roughly, and dragged me outside to underneath the big oak tree near the oval.

No one was around.

“What the hell did I do?” He shrieked, his green eyes irritated.

“What the hell did you do? Hmm, let me think,” I said sarcastically, putting a hand on my chin to pretend I was thinking about it. “Well, you lied. Then told one of my best friends about it. And last but certainly not least, you refused to tell me!” I bit out, glaring.

Max’s jaw instantaneously dropped, nearly hitting the floor. “H-how?” He asked, running a hand through his hair with the other hand propped on his hip.

I couldn’t deny the fact that he looked hot when he was frustrated. His black hair was sticking out at angles from running his hand through it, his sizzling green eyes burned with emotion and no one could deny that his body was irresistible, especially considering it was sunny and he was wearing a t-shirt that emphasised his muscles nicely.

“How do I know?” I asked rhetorically, finishing his question since he seemed too in shock to do so himself. “You know, the walls to mazes aren’t exactly soundproof you know. If you don’t want someone to hear something, you say it when, oh, I don’t know. Maybe when you’re not in a maze with lots of easy ways to overhear a conversation?” I seethed, crossing my arms across my chest.

For some reason, Max’s cheeks rose to a nice pink colour, emphasising his amazing cheekbones. “How much did you hear?” He demanded, trying to be as furious as I was.

“Enough to know that you’re a lying bastard. Why would you lie about that?” I fired at him, trying to make him feel as bad as possible.

Maybe it was a bitchy thing to do, but I never said I was going to be nice. I had actually warned Max that I wasn’t going to be a good friend.

Oh how he should have believed me.

He sighed – in what sounded like relief, strangely enough – and shook his head. “I didn’t want things to be awkward, okay? I know I should have told you but I couldn’t bring myself to doing that,” he ranted, his eyes pleading for me to understand.

“You didn’t want things to be awkward?” I screeched, not caring how much my voice sounded like a cat that was being run over.

“I know. I fucked up. I’m sorry,” he huffed.

Ugh, I was so not in the mood to have this conversation right now. My head hurt too much and I had just had an important conversation with August. I wasn't sure my brain could deal with all of this information, along with the pain. 

“Clearly!” I exclaimed, too far into my anger that I didn’t realise what was slipping out of my mouth until it was too late. “How do you think it was for me to have my best friend kiss me in his beautiful attic at 3am, completely intoxicated? What the hell was I supposed to think? Leah told me that drunk people do things they don’t have the courage to do sober, but what sense would that make with you? You’re you, Max Harris, most popular guy in school. Why would someone like that not have enough courage to kiss me when he’s sober? And then you said you didn’t remember!”

Shit.

Wow, I wasn’t even making any sense anymore. And I had just blurted out some stuff that I really wish I hadn’t.

“God dammit Rylie!” Max exclaimed, frustration seeping through his voice. “You know what? Yeah, I did kiss you. As you said, it was three in the morning, I was drunk, and you are fucking beautiful. I kissed you, so what? No guy in their right mind wouldn’t!”

Did he… did he really just say that?

“And honestly? I wanted to avoid this whole thing. I knew you would get pissed if I told you I knew what I was doing when I kissed you so I told you I forgot everything. Build a bridge and get the fuck over it!” He continued, his chest puffing in and out as he took deep breaths, like he had just run a marathon.

Woah…

I couldn’t really comprehend the words that had just tumbled out of Max’s mouth, but I understood the next ones.

“Ry. I know I should have told you, but my brain just doesn’t work when it comes to you. I am so incredibly sorry that I lied.”

My face that softened, but only a little.

“You better be,” I told him, pointing my finger up at him sternly. “Or else.”

Max smiled, almost as if testing that it was okay to.

I smiled back at him.

“Are you still coming over to mine after school, for the real afternoon? No masks?” Max asked as we walked back to the cafeteria.

Sure, I was still a little annoyed at him. But damn, the boy knows how to apologize!

And the fact that I was kind of completely in love with him didn’t really help my case…

"Isn't that tomorrow?" I asked, frowning in confusion. 

"Well yeah, but no. We had another change of plans."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm actually having a birthday party on Saturday and my family are going to see our cousins while I stay at home. We're sorting out the details tomorrow night while everyone is home, and no one is at home tonight. So do you want to?" Max explained, but I got caught on the first part of his sentence. 

"When's your birthday?"

It seemed so trivial, but I didn't know my best friend's birthday. 

That was rather pathetic on my behalf. 

"It's Sunday," he smiled as we walked to my locker, not having enough time to go back to the cafeteria. "Also, do you want to come and stay on Saturday? The group have already decided to help me clean up and are staying the night as well."

"Sure!" I opened my locker to get my painkillers out of my bag to take some. "And I'll be at yours this avo."

"Great," Max waited for me to have my meds - frowning, I might add - then we went back to Japanese. 

It's funny how so many things can change in one lunchtime. August and I were okay again, Max and I had sorted everything out, I was invited to a party and now had plans after school. I didn't realise so many things could happen in the short space of one hour, but I was wrong.