I didn't want to go to school the next day, but I made myself go. Jason was quiet the whole ride there. I could tell he was still upset about yesterday, but I couldn't make myself form the words to apologize. When Cameron stopped the car, Jason jumped out and speed walked towards the school. I sighed and walked in with Cam.

Before we split up, Cameron turned to me. "Jason told me what happened yesterday."

"And you hate me, too." I said sourly.

"I don't hate you, Kassey. Jason's upset. He does a lot to make people happy and doesn't understand when people throw it back in his face."

I flinch. "I didn't throw anything in his face."

"You need to do something. There was no reason to run away. I know Hayley talked to you, but she wouldn't tell us what about."

At least there's one trustworthy person here. "Cameron, I'm trying, Ok? I didn't mean to hurt Jason."

"Why did you?" He challenged me.

"I don't know. It's a reflex. I'll..I'll try to make it up to him." I said thinking.

"You better." The bell sounded and Cameron walked off.

I slammed my things down on my desk in Psychology class and Evan jumped back.

"Damn, who did you kill?" He joked.

"Shut up." I said and buried my head.

He tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

"I did something stupid and now I don't know how to fix it." I muttered.

"You want to know what I do when I mess up?" He started.

"What?" I lifted my head a little.

He smiled. "If it's with a niña, I buy the biggest bouquet of flowers I can find and dance for her. If it's a niño, then I buy him something shiny and give them my car for a week or throw them a partido. I am the master of grandes fiestas." Evan made little dancing gestures and I laughed. I was starting to like the way he rolled his tongue when he said some words in spanish.

"Are you serious?"

"Hell yeah, you don't know how many times I have messed up and how many times I have become broke from messing up." Evan complained.

I burst out laughing and Evan told me to shut up before we got in trouble. I didn't know what it was about him, but I always forgot why I was upset when I was around him for a while. He always knew how to make me happy even when I didn't want to be.

"So, what was your mess up?" Evan asked me.

The feeling of dread returned. "I yelled at someone and I didn't know how upset he was."

"You hurt his feelings?"

"I didn't mean to! I do stupid things when I'm mad. I just wanted to be alone." I explained.

"What happened? People don't just explode for no reason." Evan pressed.

I sat there frozen for a moment. Did I want to tell him? I was torn between keeping to myself and blurting it all out. That was the problem. I had an overwhelming feeling to tell Evan things that I really didn't want to.

"Kassey." Evan waved his hand in front of my face.

I blinked. "What?"

"You went away. Are you going to answer or...?"

"If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't say anything." I said quickly.

"It's nothing illegal, is it?" He asked while slowly leaning back.

"No," I took a deep breath, "I have a note from my parents that I keep somewhere to refer back to from time to time. I also have a little box with things that are important to me. Yesterday after school, I came back to find that they were gone." My voice got lower as I talked.

"And you freaked out." Evan added.

I nodded. "So, I kinda tore the house up, and I yelled at Jason in front of everyone because he wanted to help, but I wanted to be alone to look."

"I get it. Though, yelling at him in front of everyone may have not been the best thing to do." He said, shrugging.

"I know. I didn't even know I hurt him until today. I didn't mean to. Jason's been nice to me."

"Sometimes it's easier to be meaner to those who are the nicest to us. We know they care and we know they will still be there. It's normal." He told me.

"You always support everything I say, even when it's bad." I observed.

"Well, I know you're not a bad person. You may just make bad decisions. Trust me, I can't be one to judge." Evan responded.

I nodded. I was kinda glad I told someone, even though I didn't really say the whole truth, I was able to feel lighter without all of the stress. We didn't really talk that much through the rest of class. Before Mr. Holden ended class, he assigned us a project. We were to present a powerpoint or poster of the brain's functions and how they affect the body's movements. We could work in partners or groups of three. No more than that. Everyone packed up and I did as well. I really didn't want to do anything that had to do with school and thinking, but I needed to pass the class.

"Kassey."

I turn my head to look at Evan who was looking at me with an uncomfortable expression. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to be partners?"

"Yeah. You may have to help me. I haven't been in this class for that long." I said sheepishly.

"No problem. We'll do it at my place." Evan said while still packing up.

"Your place?" The nervousness from before came back.

"Would you prefer your place?" Evan looked at me from the corner of his eye.

I thought about Evan coming over to the Johnson's house and him never really leaving. "Nope. Your place is fine." I said quickly.

Evan smiled. "You got a phone?"

I nodded and handed it to him, then he handed me his. After we exchanged numbers, he grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

"I'll text you later, sí?" Evan asked me as he walked out.

"Ok." I nodded and watched him as he left.

I got to my second to last class of the day, spanish, in a daze. Our teacher, who we call Señorita Lucía , was at the front of the classroom writing some words and sentences on the chalkboard. I sat down in my seat in the back of the class. Spanish was a class that I was both failing and passing. I didn't even know how that was possible, but spanish wasn't exactly my strong suit. I took spanish because I thought it would be an easy language to learn. I was sadly mistaken.

"Kassey, did you do the homework?" My friend, Emily, asked me quietly.

"Nope. I forgot we even had homework." I whispered back.

Emily rolled her eyes but nodded. Turns out, no one in the class did the homework, so Lucía gave us another day to do it.

My last class was gym. I was called out of spanish yesterday, so I didn't get the chance to go. Someone had reported yelling and having seen confrontation yesterday in the parking lot. I quickly told them there was nothing that happened. I knew I shouldn't have lied, but I couldn't tell them what happened that day. I wasn't going to snitch no matter how strong the feeling was to do so. I kept my mouth shut. But, when I left the office, I thought I saw Khalil's smiling face through the door's glass, prideful and taunting.

I changed into my gym clothes as soon as I got inside the locker room. I changed from my outfit and into a pair of white workout jeggings and a red crop top that had lines of black on the sides. I actually liked gym. Running and being physical were one of the things I liked to do that calmed me down. I remembered when I was younger and I would run with my parents in the morning during their workouts.

"Come on, Kassey. You can do it." My mom looked behind her at me as we ran down the street.

I struggled to keep up with them and I stopped to catch my breath. "Mommy...my chest hurts."

My parents stopped and jogged back to me. My mother kneeled down to my height and looked me in the eyes. "Kassey, you can do anything you put your mind to."

"But...I can't, mommy. You and daddy run too fast...I get tired." I said putting my head down.

My mom lifted my head up with her finger. I saw my dad kneel down next to my mom. "You are our little angel. We will always help you to reach your dreams. You may be too young right now to keep up with us, but you will be able to someday. You just need to keep trying." My father had said.

"I can?"

"Of course you can. Kassey, you are beautiful and smart. There isn't anything you can't do." My mother kissed my cheek and gave me a bright smile which I returned.

They both stood up. "You ready to keep going?" My mother asked.

"Yeah!"

The memory ended and I blinked to find myself back in the locker room. My parents were gone and the smell of my mother's perfume was replaced with the smell of gym clothes and shampoo from the shower. I sighed and went to join the rest of the class.

It didn't seem like too much time had gone by. People were just doing random exercises in the gym. I looked at the group of people until I found familiar faces. I walked up to one and he looked at me with surprise.

"Kassey." It wasn't exactly a question, but Evan seemed very happy to see me.

"I didn't know you would be in this class." I said looking around at everyone else.

"Same here. Nice outfit." He said while looking me over.

I blushed. "T-thanks."

"And, I don't think I'm the only person who thinks so." Evan looked behind me. When I turned around, I saw some of the guys crowded together glancing at me and smiling when I met their eyes.

"Hey, it's--what's wrong?" Evan's face stopped me from saying much. His face seemed to show anger and his eyes glared daggers at the boys until they got the hint and scurried away.

"Nothing. Nothing." Evan turned away from me.

I didn't buy it. "Evan, what's wrong?"

He sighed. "I hate it when guys do that. It's gross. We're still in school and they still do it." Evan scoffs.

"Well, I don't care. I'm not looking at them." I responded calmly.

Evan's face was blank for a moment before slowly changing into a smile. I was glad I could cheer him up. The moment his expression had changed, I had wrecked my brain to figure out how to calm him down. I didn't like the feeling that had come off him. I figured Evan was a person with a bad temper that he just didn't show around me. It showed itself in his off moments when he thought no one was watching.

Today was a free day, so Evan and I spent the next hour and a half playing basketball. It was another thing that I enjoyed doing. My dad would take me to the basketball court and watch me as I struggled to make a basket, and celebrate when I finally did.

"Look daddy! I did It!" I screamed as I jumped up and down.

My father smiled down at me and picked me up. "Yes you did! I'm so proud of you, Kassey! I knew you could do it!"

I giggled. "Will we always do this?"

"As much as you want to." My dad's eyes lit up when I had asked him. He always loved doing things with me that you would normally do with a son. I just made it easier for us to connect that way because I enjoyed many things a boy would. I just wanted to hang out with my dad.

My dad smiled at me and ruffled up my hair.

I sighed as I closed my gym locker. I didn't want to go home. I knew I would have to face Jason when I went outside to the parking lot. Avoiding him wasn't going to work anymore and him trying to avoid me was beginning to get uncomfortable. I needed to fix this before we got into the car with Cam. I walked out of the locker room to see Evan waiting at the door. I almost didn't see him until he fell into step with me. I stopped and tilted my head at him which he responded with a idiotic smile.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You waited here for me?"

"What else do I have to do?" He shrugged and continued walking.

I followed next to him. "Don't know. I just don't like making people wait on me."

Evan stopped so fast that I had to slightly trip myself so I wouldn't run into him.

"You know, the whole time I knew you, I noticed that you weren't like anyone I have ever met." He started.

"Is that a good thing?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah. It's a really good thing. I just don't know what kind of difference it is. You're really quiet when you want to be, and you're really guarded. Why?" He looked at me seriously.

I hesitated. "Isn't everyone guarded from time to time?" I usually answered a question with a question when I wanted to avoid answering.

Evan stared at me for a moment. "Sí...sometimes."

"Kassey!"

I turned around when I heard someone yell my name. Cameron ran down the hallway and stopped when he reached us. He looked between me and Evan.

"What?"

"We need to get going. I have to pick up the girls, remember?" He sounded irritated.

"Right," I turned to Evan, "I have to go."

He nodded at me. "I get it. I'll text you later, ok?" He nodded to Cameron and walked away.

"Who was that?" Cameron asked me as he watched Evan leave.

"He's a friend. I met him yesterday in Psychology and today in the gym." I didn't know how much Brianna told him, but I didn't want to mention the lunch.

"A friend?" Cameron started to smile.

"Yes, Cameron! A friend! Can we go now?" I asked and started heading for the car.

I heard Cameron laugh behind me. I rolled my eyes and kept walking outside to where Jason was waiting for us. When he saw me, he quickly looked away. I sighed and we all got into the car.

Jason ran right to his room when we got to the house. I watched him go upstairs and contemplated whether I should follow him or not before deciding that it would be a good idea.

I knocked on his door and listened to the sound of his bed shuffling as he moved. He opened the door then tried closing it once he saw it was me.

I pushed my arm against the wood. "We need to talk."

"There isn't anything to talk about." He pushed harder.

I grunted. This boy was stronger than he looked. "Please, Jason--Ow!" The door closed on my hand as hard as it possibly could. I ground my teeth together to keep from screaming. The pain was the thing that made me madder than him crushing my finger.

"You ok?" Jason swung the door open and gently took my hand to examine it.

"Not really." I watched him but he didn't pay me any mind.

Jason took me to the bathroom and took care of my hand. "Good thing Hayley has things for practically every injury." He said as he rummaged through the cabinets.

"Jason." I said as he wrapped up my hand, which had turned bright red and purple in some spots. Jason had said it was fine because it would heal while bandaged.

"Yeah?" He didn't look at me while he tried to fix my hand.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I didn't know I did."

"Why did you? You never think before you do things, Kassey. You hurt everyone who tries to be nice to you." Jason whipped his head around and looked at me with a sad face.

"I didn't mean to. I don't know how to....I don't know how to accept someone caring for me that way." My voice broke. I willed myself not to cry.

"Let me help you, then. I want you to feel like I can be your brother. I don't want you to push me away. It hurts when you do. Please let me show you that other people can care for you just the same." Jason's eyes bored into mine.

"You don't hate me?"

"I could never hate you. It just hurt to see you like that and to have it taken out on me. It wasn't fair." Jason explained.

"I know it wasn't fair and I'm sorry. I just wasn't in the mood for conversation. I never meant to speak that way towards you when you've been nothing but nice to me. You didn't deserve it." I wasn't much for admitting I was wrong, but I meant it. I didn't know Jason was upset and it hurt me to know that he felt that way because I had a sharp tongue.

"It's alright. We just have to work on that. Ok?" Jason asked me.

"Yeah." Jason helped me stand and we both walked out of the bathroom.

I made my way to Jade's room and knocked on the door. She looked at me and motioned for me to come in.

I reached into my pocket and handed her the necklace. "I can't take this."

"Why not?" She asked, confused.

"It seems too personal. I couldn't ask you to hand over something so nice and...I just couldn't take this from you." I explained.

"You're not taking it, Kassey. I gave it to you. I want you to have it. That's why I gave it to you." Jade giggled.

"Oh..Ok." I said, frowning.

"It's nice for you to care about that, though. But, Kassey, it's ok to accept nice things from someone else without having to give anything in return. It's called a 'gift.'" Jade said sarcastically.

"I know what a gift is, smart alec." I shot back.

Jade laughed and shook her head. When I left her room, my phone buzzed. I looked at the screen to see that Evan had texted me to let me know he was ready and if I needed to be picked up. In my pursuit of making sure Jason was ok, I forgot I was meeting up with Evan. I ran into my room and found my bookbag. I stuffed it with my spanish work and a few meaningless things for no reason. When I tried to hurry downstairs, I tripped on the second to last step and stumbled to the floor.

"Woah, what was that?" Hayley looked up from the TV when I tried to play off my embarrassment.

"Nothing." I hurried to the kitchen.

Hayley followed me. "Why were you running?"

I sighed. "So, this...guy, Evan, is picking me up so we can study for this project at his house, and I completely forgot about it." I quickly explained.

"A boy?" Hayley's voice had the same tone Cameron's did when he asked about Evan before.

"Oh my god, yes. A boy. We are studying! Nothing else."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure." Hayley smiled at me. She moved as if to leave then turned back around. "What happened to your hand?"

"Um, nothing." I didn't look at her. Hayley stared at me for a moment before going back into the living room.

I groaned and tried to find a snack and gave up when I came up empty. Maybe I'll ask to stop by the store or a market on the way there. The doorbell rang and Hayley went to get it. I heard Evan's voice and I waited behind the kitchen counter until they were finished talking. The boy smiled at me as Hayley let him inside.

"Nice home, Mrs. Johnson." Evan remarked.

"Thank you." Hayley smiled at her.

"Kassey, how long have you've been living here? This place is a mansion." Evan said looking around.

Hayley responded before I could. "Not very long. She's been here for a few days since I took her in. The kids took a liking to her quickly." She giggled.

I stiffened. Evan's face took on a look of confusion as he glanced at me, but I didn't acknowledge him. I didn't understand how these people could talk about their and other's personal business so openly!

"Are you ready?" I asked him hurriedly.

"Y-yeah. Um, nice meeting you, Mrs. Johnson." Evan said as he followed me out.

"You too. Be safe you two!" Hayley yelled as we left.