“Where’s Ethan?” I asked as I sat down at the lunch table the next day.

                “I don’t know,” Gideon said, looking around. His eyes shot to Jude’s table, but Jude was sitting there.

                “Well, the rich bitch doesn’t have him,” Sonnet said. “And Nate and Landon are sitting with Judeikas, so neither do they.”

                I pulled out my cell phone and texted Ethan, asking him where he was. Maybe he had just gone to work on something in a classroom?

                Still, I couldn’t help but worry about him. The kid had a big mouth, and he always pissed off the wrong people. I was worried someone was hurting him.

                “Hey, calm down. I’m sure Ethan’s fine,” Sonnet said, noticing my expression.

                “I hope,” I mumbled.

                I looked over and my face paled as I watched Jude, Nate, and Landon stand up together. They started walking towards the exit, and Nate noticed me staring at them.

                “What?” he snarled as he walked by.

                I remained silent. If they hadn’t gone after Ethan yet, me mentioning him might prompt them to.

                “Look who’s missing from the table. He thinks we did something to that pathetic loser,” Jude said.

                “You better not have laid a finger on Ethan,” Gideon said flatly.

                “I’ve been at the lunch table the entire period. I’m not going to touch your friends, Gideon,” Jude said. He looked at Gideon with longing and sadness. “I would do anything for you to forgive me.”

                “I won’t forgive you Jude. I can’t forgive you for what you did to Greyson,” Gideon said, a hard look in his eyes. But I could tell how upset he was over everything.

                “I’m the one who sent the soccer team after that bastard. Jude didn’t,” Nate said, glaring at Gideon.

                “I’m sure that Jude didn’t have a single thing to do with it,” Sonnet said innocently. “It’s not like he’s an over jealous asshole.”

                “You shut your damn mouth!” Jude snapped.

                “Don’t yell at Sonnet!” Gideon said angrily.

                “Yea, don’t yell at Sonnet! Sonnet will kick you so hard you’ll be straight for a damn week!” Sonnet said.

                “Gideon, please. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry about everything. Can’t you please just give me one more chance? I can prove to you that I’m not a bad person,” Jude practically begged.

                “No, Judeikas. Because Greyson and Sonnet told me the other things you’ve done. Not just to them, but to Ethan and others. I’ve talked to people, Jude. You fooled me once, but you will never fool me again. You’re a terrible person, and I’m ashamed of myself for ever defending you,” Gideon said.

                “Gideon, I love you. I didn’t lie about that,” Jude said, pain in his voice. “I would do anything for you.”

                “It’s too late for that,” Gideon said.

                “Fuck you, Gideon. Come on Jude. You don’t need to beg at his feet. You’re better than that,” Nate said, grabbing Jude’s arm and pulling him out of the cafeteria, Landon following behind them after shooting us a dirty look.

                “I’m proud of you Gideon,” Sonnet said, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t fall for that bastard’s tricks again.”

                “Yea,” he mumbled, shrugging her shoulders off and standing up. “I’ll be right back.”

                We watched him disappear out of the cafeteria. I frowned after him, wishing I could just make everything better.

                “Well? Go chase after him you dope,” Sonnet said, shoving me.

                “Hey!” I whined as I nearly toppled out of my chair.

                Sonnet rolled her eyes. “You are too stupid sometimes, Benji. Go comfort him. He’s your best friend and your future lover.”

                I blushed. “Okay, okay. Fine.”

                I stood up and left the cafeteria. I searched around until I had found Gideon sitting in an empty classroom.

                “Hey Gid,” I said, shutting the door once I was in the room. “Are you alright?”

                “Not really,” he mumbled. “I’m still confused about everything. And I still can’t believe how terrible Jude is.”

                I sat down next to him and put my arm around him. He leaned against me, his head on my shoulder.

                “I know. And I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this Gideon. You really don’t,” I said honestly. “You’re such a good person. You deserve so much better.”

                “No. Greyson, you deserve better. This whole time you’ve been after me, and I’ve been with someone like Jude. I was too stupid to see that I had something good all along,” he said, lacing our fingers together and looking into my eyes. “You deserve someone who understands how lucky he is to have you.”

                “I don’t want anyone else,” I said quietly. “It’s always been you, Gideon. Always.”

                He offered me a weak smile and kissed my cheek. “Plan Z could become a thing of the past pretty soon.”

                I grinned at him. “Good. I don’t want to have to pretend to be your boyfriend. I want to actually be your boyfriend.”

                We sat together in silence until the bell rang. We went off to class, suffering through the rest of the day until the bell rang.

                I went to my locker and began to gather my stuff. I shut my locker and turned, jumping back in surprise.

                “Sonnet!” I said. She raised an eyebrow at me.

                “Did Ethan ever text you back?” she asked. “Because I haven’t seen that midget since this morning. That’s not like him.”

                “Ethan!” I cried, slapping my palm to my forehead. “I totally forgot about Ethan!”

                I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and checked my messages. My heart dropped as I realized that I didn’t have any from Ethan.

                “He never replied to me,” I said, dialing his number and holding the phone to my ear.

                I cursed as it went to his voicemail. I shut my phone and stuffed it back in my pocket, looking around the hallway for any sign of Ethan.

                “You better go to his house and check on him,” she said.

                “Why me?” I whined.

                “Because you live five minutes away from him, moron! Besides, I have to pick my dad up from work in a few minutes,” Sonnet said.

                “Fine, I’ll go check on him,” I said, trying not to freak out. He was probably just sick or something.

                I waved to Sonnet and wandered down the hallway to Gideon’s locker. He offered me a smile and shut his locker.

                “Hey Greyson,” he greeted.

                “Hey. We should do a sleepover soon. Or maybe get dinner or something. Just, you know, hang out,” I said.

                “Yea, that sounds like fun. I want to spend more time with you. We should get dinner with Sonnet and Ethan, and then just spend the night together alone,” he offered.

                “Alright. Maybe Friday,” I said and he nodded.

                I stepped forward and hugged him. “I’ve got to go. But I can’t wait,” I said, pulling out of his arms.

                “Me either,” he said, smiling.

                I smiled and waved to him before heading off down to the parking lot. I got in my car and drove to Ethan’s house, mumbling along with my music as Alesana played.

                I pulled into Ethan’s driveway and got out of the car. I went up and rang his doorbell, waiting until his mom answered the door.

                “Hi Benji,” Mary said.

                “Hi Mary. Is Ethan here? Is he sick or something? He didn’t show up to lunch,” I said.

                Mary sighed. “He’s not sick. That asshole Tibbits boy was bullying him again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried telling Mrs. Tibbits how much of a dick her son is, but she just claims it’s boys being boys. Anyways, I think whatever they did to Ethan shook him up this time. He just got home a few minutes ago and he locked himself in his bedroom. Pick the lock with this.”

                She fished a bobby pin out of her pocket and handed it to me. I went into the house and down the hallway to Ethan’s bedroom. I carefully stuck the bobby pin in the door handle and fidgeted with it until I heard a click.

                I pushed the door open and stepped into Ethan’s bedroom. Music was playing out of his speakers, and he was sitting in the corner of his room hugging his knees.

                “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that it’s rude to pick locks? Hell, your mother probably did but of course my mom would teach you how to pick the damn lock,” he said with a sigh.

                “Are you alright Ethan?” I asked in concern. His hands were trembling slightly.

                “I’d have to check my mirror to see if I’m still here. My parents had no clue that I ate all my lunches alone in the bathroom,” his speakers blasted. He reached over and turned the music down.

                “I’m fine. Today is curl up in a corner day,” he said, patting the spot on the floor next to him. “Care to join me?”

                “What did Jude do to you?” I demanded. “He told Gideon he wasn’t going to touch us anymore.”

                Ethan barked a laugh. “What, and you of all people believed him? Jude Tibbits is a filthy liar, Benji. I thought you figured that out after he spiked your drink, tricked your best friend, and set a whole damn soccer team on you.”

                “Kids just love to tease. Who’d know it put me underground at seventeen,” his speakers sang.

                Ethan met my eyes with a steady look. “I was running late to lunch. Jude, Nate, and Landon came out. Jude and Nate were pissed off beyond belief, snapping at each other about Gideon. Then they noticed me. They dragged me into the locker room and, well…”

                He pulled his shirt up, revealing nasty bruises that decorated the majority of his sides, back, and stomach. I stared in horror, and he let his shirt drop back down to cover them.

                “They caught up with me after school, too. They beat me up a little more and tossed me in the dumpster.” He grinned at me. “I felt like Spongebob in the episode where he lost his identity.”

                “That’s not what shook you up so badly, though,” I said, stepping closer to him. “What else did they do to you?”

                His grin slipped. “Oh. That.”

                “Yea, that,” I said.

                “I’m allergic to nuts. Deathly allergic to them,” he said.

                “And?” I pressed.

                “And that’s ironic because I’m gay. So yea, that just shook me up a bit,” he said.

                “Ethan!” I said in annoyance.

                “Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes. “Well, Landon just so happened to have a bag of mixed nuts with him leftover from lunch. Most random thing to carry around, but who am I to judge? Anyways, he doesn’t know how bad I’m allergic to nuts. He just knows I have an allergy. So he thought it would be funny to try to shove them down my throat. If he had succeeded, it could’ve killed me. And the fact that I would’ve died in the school dumpster kind of freaks me out. I’d like to die smelling nice.”

                “Holy shit!” I cried. “Ethan, that’s not something to joke about! They could’ve freaking killed you today!”

                “But they didn’t. I pretended we were playing Mario Kart and smashed a banana peel in his face. You’d be surprised at the weapons you can find in the school dumpster. I fended them off with a notebook, a banana peel, and half of a hairbrush,” he said proudly.

                “We have to tell Gideon,” I said, trying not to panic. “They could really hurt you Ethan.”

                “Easy killer,” Ethan said, standing up and placing a hand on my shoulder. “While it is true that the only nuts I want in my face are yours, we don’t need to share today’s events with others. Especially not my parents, by the way.”

                “You need to tell someone,” I said.

                “I did. I told you. And you’re not going to tell anyone,” he said sternly. “Now, we’re done talking about this. Got it?”

                “Got it,” I grumbled, hating that he was just trying to make a joke out of this.

                “Alright, well, you have a look in your eyes that’s intriguing me. What did you need to talk to me about? And don’t say nothing because I can tell there’s something,” he said, pulling his hand away from my shoulder and leaning against his wall, watching me curiously.

                I opened my mouth to tell him about Gideon, but snapped it shut. My gaze fell on his still-trembling hands.

                Ethan was pretending that he found the situation funny, but judging by his music choice, the fact that he had been curled up in the corner, and his trembling hands, I was going to guess that he was scared out of his mind from today.

                How could I make things worse for him? The kid had almost freaking been killed today from what bullies thought would be a funny joke.

                “Uh…Gideon and I were making plans to go to dinner on Friday with you and Sonnet,” I said, since that was partially true.

                I knew I had to talk to Ethan about the whole relationship thing. But I couldn’t do that right now. Not when he was already so upset.

                “Okay, and what else? I can tell there’s something else,” he said, nodding at me to continue speaking.

                “I think you should tell your parents about today,” I said.

                “No. And you better not tell them either, Benji. I’m perfectly fine,” he said, gesturing at himself. “My mom will feel the need to hold my hand and walk me through the hallways everyday for the rest of my life. Do you really want to sick that woman on me?”

                “They deserve to know,” I said with a shrug.

                “What they deserve and what they actually get is very different,” he said.

                He eyed me and sighed. “You were going to say something else about Gideon. But we can talk about it later, I guess.”

                I stared at Ethan in surprise. How did he always seem to know these things? I swear he could read minds.

                “And no, I can’t read your mind,” he said. “So don’t think I’m physic.”

                “Right…” I said awkwardly.

                “Anyways, Friday sounds like fun,” he said, pushing himself off of the wall. “But you better head out now. When my dad gets home we have to go out to dinner. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

                “Bye Ethan. Text me if you need me,” I said seriously.

                “Don’t start acting like my mom. I’m fine,” he groaned.

                “Just promise you’ll text or call if you need me?” I said.

                “Fine, I promise,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Now, away with you, peasant.”

                “Bye Ethan,” I said and left his house.

                My mind kept wandering back to him as I drove home. Ethan wasn’t safe, not even now when Jude was trying to win Gideon back. But did that mean Jude had given up? Or was he just hoping that he could push the blame on Nate and Landon?

                I entered my house and went up to my bedroom. I couldn’t stop worrying about Ethan. If something happened to him, I would never forgive myself. I felt like it was my job to protect Ethan. He didn’t have any other friends.

                He was a sarcastic bastard, true. But he didn’t deserve to be beaten and nearly killed by assholes like Jude, Nate, and Landon.

                “God, this sucks. Why did I have to rescue him in the parking lot that day?” I groaned, falling back on my bed and burying my face in my hands.

                I couldn’t shake the feelings that I had for Ethan. But I also couldn’t deny that my feelings for Gideon were just so much stronger.

                I had to find some way to be with Gideon without hurting Ethan.

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A.N.- I'M SORRY I KNOW IT SUCKS I'VE HAD WRITER'S BLOCK LEAVE ME ALONE T.T I'm hoping it gets better within the next couple of chapters :c But sorry for lack of updating, I've had grad parties, my birthday, writer's block, anime addiction...But now I'm back! So, yea :p