***Collie’s POV***

                I cracked my eyes open and sat up, stretching and looking around my room. I looked over and frowned, seeing that Misha was gone.

                I checked the time and groaned. I was up a half hour before my alarm was supposed to go off. Joy.

                But since Misha wasn’t here, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Being curled up with him helped me sleep. His stroking my hair comforted me.

                Noticing something on my pillow, I leaned over. It was a piece of paper with Misha’s handwriting. I picked it up and couldn’t help but grin as I read it.

                Collie,

                You fell asleep a few hours ago, and I dozed off for about an hour. As I’m writing this, it’s almost 3 in the morning. I need to get home because I have class at 7 :( But you can text me if you want to when you wake up. I love you. I hope you slept well, and I’ll see you later <3

                -The cheesy dork formerly known as Misha Redner

                “Cheesy dork is right,” I said, laughing to myself.

                I got out of bed and showered, throwing on my clothes. I tucked Misha’s note in my butt pocket in case I needed something to make me smile today. Also, I didn’t want to risk my parents finding the note.

                I went upstairs and ate breakfast, listening to the running water as Colin showered. After about 20 minutes, Colin entered the kitchen, dressed with his hair dripping water.

                “Good morning Collie,” he said as I handed him a granola bar.

                “Morning,” I said, watching him eat. “Hey Colin, I have a question.”

                “Shoot,” he said, watching me curiously.

                “How did you know you were in love with Ant?” I asked slowly.

                “Uh…I just knew. I felt it. When I look at him, it’s like there’s no one else around me. I just want to hold him all day long. He makes me happy, no matter what it is we’re doing. Just being with him makes me so happy. And I just get this feeling in my chest when I think about him or see him. And when we have sex, I can just tell it’s more love than lust,” he said with a shrug. “Why, are you in love with Misha?”

                “I don’t know,” I admitted, dropping my gaze from him. “Maybe. He said he’s in love with me. I just don’t want to say it if it’s not true.”

                “Then give it time to make sure it’s true,” Colin said, tossing out his granola bar wrapper. “And don’t sleep with him!” He fixed me with a stern look. “Don’t sleep with him just to find out if you love him, or just because he wants it.”

                “You’re one to talk,” I scoffed.

                Colin blushed and poured himself a drink. I got up and grabbed the car keys, Colin following me downstairs and out the door.

                I had put the cover up back on so that no one would notice my bruises. I didn’t need Colin freaking out and getting himself hurt over it.

                I drove us to school and we went to our lockers. Colin hurried over to Ant as he entered the hallway with Zane.

                I watch Colin and Ant as they started kissing each other. Misha’s note flashed through my mind, and I was surprised at how sad it made me.

                Adjusting to being back home was going to be hard. It had only been a few days, but I missed going to sleep with Misha.

                His offer to move in with him came back to me, and I popped in my earphones. As Save Your Heart by Mayday Parade started to play, I made my way out of the senior hallway and down the quiet junior hallway.

                I wanted to move in with Misha. I knew that I did. I would try to find a job so that I could help him pay for the apartment and for food.

                Someone tapped my shoulder and I pulled out an earphone and turned around. I mentally cursed, realizing how stupid I was for wandering off by myself.

                “We met your boyfriend last night,” Vance said, smirking. Behind him, Jake and Drew nodded, similar smirks on their faces.        

                “He told me,” I said, shoving my iPod in my backpack. I would be ready to fight them if they tried anything this time.

                “Cover-up, huh?” Jake asked, eyeing my face.

                “I could take it off, if you’d like. Let my brother see the bruises,” I said with a shrug.

                “And then he can come after us and get his ass kicked and get some sense knocked into him,” Vance said, also shrugging.

                “You won’t touch my brother,” I said flatly. “You know he could kick your asses. You also know that if you hurt him, we’ll both come after you.”

                Without warning, Jake and Drew jumped at me. They grabbed my arms and dragged me into an empty classroom. Vance locked the door and stepped up to me as I struggled against them.

                “Your boyfriend is so polite to the guys who kick your ass,” he said in amusement.

                He came towards me, ready to strike me. But, like I had told Misha, I was ready for them this time. Maybe I hadn’t expected them to grab me and drag me into an empty classroom, but I had been thinking of ways to defend myself if they came after me again.

                I kicked Vance in the stomach when he was close enough to me. He coughed in surprise, wrapping his arms around his stomach and backing away.

                Taking advantage of the momentarily surprised Jake and Drew, I stomped on Drew’s foot and threw my weight against him.

                We all tumbled to the floor, me on top of Drew and Jake on top of me. They released my arms, trying to get up.

                Jake pinned me to the ground before I could stand up. He punched me in the face and grabbed my hair, slamming my head against the ground twice.

                I stared at him, dazed. My head was throbbing and my vision was slightly blurred. Jake pulled me to my feet and I stumbled, almost tripping over my own feet.

                “You can’t win against us, Collie. It’s three on one. You stupid faggot. It would be so much easier for you to just listen to us and break Colin and Ant up,” Vance said, throwing me against the wall and kneeing me in the stomach.

                I dropped to my knees, my arm around my stomach as I gagged. Vance kicked me in the side, so hard that I yelped in pain and fell over, squeezing my eyes shut.

                “You have until the end of the day Friday to break them up. If they’re still together when the final bell rings, we’ll come after you. Then we’ll get Ant,” Vance said, pulling me back to my feet.

                “Leave Ant alone,” I snapped, my head starting to clear.

                I punched him in the face, tackling him to the ground and letting my fists fly. He blocked his face as Jake and Drew dragged me off of him and restrained me tightly.

                Vance got up, wiping blood off of his bleeding lip and glaring at me. “And if that still won’t convince you to do what we say, we’ll go after Emma’s brother.”

                “Leave him alone,” I said, trying to pull my arms away from Jake and Drew.

                “He seemed pretty scrawny. We could take him,” Vance said, Jake and Drew nodding in agreement.

                “And we know how to find him. We’ll just wait for him to leave work, and jump him,” Jake said with a shrug.

                “You’re not going to touch him!” I yelled, managing to thrust my elbow into Jake’s rips.

                He released me and I swung around, punching Drew in the face. I backed up as the three of them advanced at me, hate in their eyes.

                Drew came at me, ducking under my fist and bringing his own fist up, catching my chin. My head snapped up as I kicked him in the place where he didn’t want to be kicked.

                Drew groaned, clutching himself as he dropped to the ground in pain. Jake and Vance came at me at the same time, overpowering me and pinning me to the wall.

                “You’re so stubborn. You really shouldn’t have tried to fight back. We wouldn’t have had to hurt you that bad if you had just cooperated with us,” Vance snarled.

                And then I was engulfed in a parade of fists and feet, being slammed against the wall, dropped to the floor, dragged to my feet, and struck roughly over and over again.

                The warning bell rang and they finally backed off of me. They all spit on me before leaving the room without another word to me.

                I curled up on the ground, wrapping my arms around myself and trembling. I whimpered in pain and forced myself to sit up.

                I slumped against the wall, panting and trying not to cry. I was not a little boy anymore. I would not cry.

                I shakily reached into my pocket and pulled out the note from Misha. I read it over and over again, trying to calm myself down.

                After a little while, I had calmed down enough to pull myself to my feet. I put the note back in my pocket and limped out of the room.

                I hurried to the boys’ room and locked the door after making sure I was alone. I looked at my bloody reflection in the mirror and sighed, grabbing paper towels.

                It took about ten minutes to clean myself up. I texted Colin and Emma, telling them that I didn’t feel good and was lying down in the nurse’s office. I didn’t want them to know I was hurt, or tell Misha that I had been skipping classes.

                “Misha,” I whimpered.

                I wanted nothing more than to go to Misha right now. I really thought I could take the three of them if I was ready, but I was horribly wrong.

                But I couldn’t go to the Redner’s house. For one, Misha had class until noon. And if I went there before school was supposed to be over, he would know that something was wrong.

                Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out the cover-up and reapplied it. I didn’t want Misha to see my new injuries.

                At lunch time, I forced myself to go to my usual table. I sat down and waited until Ant, Colin, Emma, and Zane showed up.

                “Are you feeling better Collie?” Colin asked, concern in his voice.

                “I’m fine,” I mumbled.

                I fell silent, just listening to them as they talked, watching Colin and Ant act cute together and wishing that I was with Misha. I just wanted to feel his warm, protective arms around me.

                When the day ended, I got in the car with Colin, Ant, and Emma. Colin dropped us off at the Redner’s house and I followed Emma inside.

                “Misha has work at five, but you have a few hours with him,” she said, smiling as she shut the front door.

                “Yea,” I said and hurried away from her.

                I went upstairs and took a deep breath as I stood outside of Misha’s bedroom. He could not know about today’s beating. He couldn’t know that anything was wrong. I didn’t want him to worry about me.

                I let myself into Misha’s bedroom. He turned to face me from his desk, a smile stretching across his face.

                “Hey Collie,” he greeted with a nod.

                “Hi Misha,” I said, going over and sitting on his bed.

                He stood up and sat down on his bed as well, keeping a little distance from me. I kept a neutral expression despite the surprise I felt. Misha would always come over and hug me. He would always sit right next to me.

                “I missed you,” I said, just to get him talking.

                “I missed you too,” he said.

                I reached over and held his hand, leaning over and kissing him. He kissed me back, but not with the usual passion that he normally did.

                I pulled away, frowning to myself. What was wrong with Misha? Had I done something wrong? Something to upset him?

                “I was thinking about the apartment offer,” I said slowly.

                He waved his hand dismissively, blushing a little. “Don’t worry about it Collie. I get it. You don’t want to move in. I shouldn’t have offered like I did. That was way too soon.”

                “Oh,” I said, feeling absolutely defeated. He didn’t want to live with me anymore.

                Why was Misha acting like this? He seemed distant. Like he was trying to put space between us and stop showing all his feelings.

                “Misha…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. The way he was acting was scaring me.

                But then all my emotions snuck up on me, and I found myself desperately fighting back the urge to cry and scream. Misha was watching me curiously.

                Without another word to him, I flung myself into his arms. He caught me in surprise, nearly falling off of his bed.

                “I just missed you,” I whispered, burying my face against his chest so that he wouldn’t see the tears gathering in my eyes.

                “Did something happen?” he asked, his voice soothing as he finally wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly.

                “No,” I lied, struggling to keep my voice sounding normal. “I’m not allowed to miss my boyfriend?”

                “You just seem upset. Baby, what happened?” he asked.

                I gulped and wiped my face against his shirt, drying my tears before he could see them. I looked up at him and shook my head.

                “I’m just tired,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder and locking my arms around his neck.

                “We could take a nap toget-” He stopped, seeming to catch himself. “I mean, never mind. I have work in two hours.”

                I swallowed down frustration. Why was he acting like this? Why was he trying to put space between us?

                He wasn’t even acting like himself. He wasn’t saying or doing dorky things. He didn’t look any different, with his messy hair, plaid shirt, and arm full of bracelets. But his personality seemed to have snapped over night. He was distant, and I hated it.

                “Misha, are you okay?” I asked.

                “I’m perfectly fine,” he assured with a smile.

                “You’re a dork,” I said, but my heart wasn’t in it. I reached over and flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes. “Can I kiss you?”

                “If you want to,” he said with a nod.

                I pulled his face closer to mine, pressing my lips against his. I wanted him to kiss me back with the passion and love that he normally did.

                But he didn’t. He kept the kiss carefully gentle and pulled away from me.

                I resisted the urge to throw the temper tantrum of a 3 year old screaming “GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!” and instead ran a hand through my hair. What the hell was going on with Misha?

                “You should probably head out Collie. I have to get ready for work,” he said, standing up. “I still need to finish a paper and eat dinner before I head out.”

                “Yea,” I grumbled, getting up.

                “You can text me later if you want,” he said, watching me head towards the door.

                I froze, my hand on the door handle. He always said he would text me. What had I done that had him acting like this towards me?

                “Bye Misha,” I said, glancing back at him, expecting him to say goodbye to me and tell me he loved me. Come over and give me a kiss, at the very least.

                But he didn’t do any of that. Instead, he gave me a small wave, said “bye”, and sat back down at his desk.

                I let myself out of his room and hurried out of his house before his sister or parents could stop me. I didn’t bother calling Colin for a ride home.

                I stuck in my earphones and walked home. I let myself into my house, ignoring my mom as she called my name.

                I went down to the basement and locked the door. I turned on my speakers, blasting What If You Don’t by Go Radio.

                Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the note from Misha. It felt like a heavy weight in my hands as I stared down at it.

                I love you.

                My eyes kept scanning over that line. Just yesterday, everything had been fine between the two of us.

                And now today, he was acting different. Did he want his space from me? Had I made him angry somehow?

                Was he…Was he going to break up with me?

                I tossed the paper onto my nightstand and flopped down on my bed, burying my face against my pillow and letting out a muffled scream. I picked my head up, my head throbbing from this confusion with Misha and my body sore from the beating I had taken today.

                Go figure when I needed my boyfriend the most, he decided he wanted his space. I mentally sighed, rolling over and rubbing my temples.

                If Misha wanted his space, that was fine. He could have it. But I was still hurt that he wasn’t even telling me why this was happening all of a sudden.

                Feeling scared, alone, and exhausted, I wrapped my arms around myself. All I had wanted was to hug and kiss Misha, and maybe take an hour long nap with him. Just talk to him and laugh and feel better.

                But now I was even more stressed out. Because judging by the way Misha had been acting today, he might be planning to break up with me. 

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A.N.- Misha's plan is backfiring! Stupid Collie's parents. Ruining everything, pshhh. What do you guys think? :c