I rushed to catch up with Mina the moment science class let out.

It had only been three weeks since Ms. Tross asked me to tutor and I would like to think we were sort of friends.

"Mina! Wait up!"

Almost crashing into the girl, I could only give an apologetic smile for the trouble.

"Sorry about that, anyways. You missed school the entire of last week, you have a lot of catching up to do, but don't worry I already got all the notes for you. I would have given them to your brother if he isn't attached to the hip with that menace of a boy he calls his best friend. Not the point, would you like to sit with us for lunch?"

The reason I had stopped her to begin with.

Not to have a friendly but boring chat about schoolwork, rather to invite her to sit with me and my friends at lunch. I hadn't noticed this until last night, how much of an outsider she was standing with the popular kids.

How much of an outsider she really was sitting with them. They ignored her very presence.

I couldn't exactly say this was a sentiment I understood.

Back in Australia, when I used to hang out with Nick's football buddies, I was very much part of the gang. Someone who genuinely hanged out with them a d not out of either obligation or having no other choice.

Mina fell into the latter of the category - or so I'm taking a wild guess.

My question was met with dumbfounded silence. Mina looking at me like I had lost my marbles.

This did not deter me. I waited for her to accept or reject, not jumping to any conclusion yet.

"I - ur - alright," she said after a long moment. Her cheeks coloring pink as she looked away from me. "Are you... are you sure that's okay?"

"Of course, why would it not be?"

It wasn't until after the words were out of my mouth I realized how absurd a question this was to ask of her.

She was considered the social reject of the school. Her brothers (and Cam's) influence alone kept her safe from being bullied. It was also the only reason anyone even talked to her.

"Oh. Okay, I'll just -"

She pointed to her books then down the hallway, looking lost for words. Taking pity on her, I nodded my head to show I understood.

"Sure. We usually eat out in the courtyard, get your food and join us there," I said shifting my bag higher on my shoulder. Then with a small wave rushed off towards said direction.

This had been a rather spur-of-the-moment decision. I had to warn my friends to be nice.

My friends were all pretty chill. It's just that Stacey cared a tad bit more about her reputation than the rest of us. And hanging out with Mina is going to soil said reputation (the point of which I didn't understand).

Thankfully the whole gang was already present when I got to the courtyard.

Tossing my bag down, I plopped down next to Ian.

"Where's your lunch?" Richard questioned seeing me without a lunch tray. Carly was curled up on the ground, using Stacey's lap as a pillow as she dozed off.

I had every intention of following her example hence forgoing my meal.

I shook my head as I wrapped my hands around Ian's arm. Using his shoulder as a my pillow.

"I asked Mina to sit with us for lunch, so you guys don't be mean to her," I said.

"Excuse me! You invited whom to what?"

Stacey looked scandalized as if I had dumped a ton of bricks on her head. Sandwich spilling out, forgotten as she gaped at me.

"Be nice Stace. She's a very sweet person. Don't let all those stupid rumours cloud your judgement," I said, my voice no more than a grumble as I made myself comfortable against Ian's side and closed my eyes.

"She's right, we can give her a chance, can we not?" Richard questioned. Though it was clear it was addressed to his girlfriend and not to any of us.

I didn't need to open my eyes to see the smile he shot at Stacey. Or her visibly deflating in the face of it. It happened way too often to be sure that was what happened.

Satisfied with the result, I was about to let my consciousness slip when I felt someone sit down next to me.

Now, this wouldn't have been something of concern. I figured it was Mina who joined us. It was just that everyone went silent. Ian stiffened under me and the air turned frosty.

Before I could open my eyes a familiar voice sounded from right next to me.

"Hey there Sydney."

I tilted my head to my left, giving him no more than a sleepy look. Cam was sitting right beside me, with Leo beside him and Mina next to Leo.

Leo gave me a long stare before asking, "You okay?"

This was surely due to my lack of reaction to Cam calling me by that stupid nickname again. The pair of them found it entertaining, whereas I found a little beyond irritating.

"'m fine," I murmured, voice thick with sleepiness. I waved my hands at them to get over whatever they came here to bother me for - thankful that Carly was already asleep to face Cam.

"How's Mina doing with tutoring?"

Leo thankfully got the hint and went straight to the topic. Something I was immensely grateful for.

I didn't have the brain capacity to deal with Can and his pig-headedness right then.

"Good."

It took me a moment to notice the silence that followed my words. Having to pry my eyes to open, only to find Leo giving me a very much unimpressed look.

I stared at him for a full beat before realizing I was supposed to elaborate on my answer.

"Ugh, sorry. I mean, she's doing really good. She's pretty smart and she gets a lot of whatever I explain to her without much trouble. I mean you can't expect her to grasp everything all at once, but we're making progress, so that's really good."

Half-way through my explanation my eyes fluttered shut again. Luckily I didn't fall asleep while talking.

"Hmmm, that's all good then," Leo said, sounding like his mouth was stuffed full of food.

Boys.

"Am I really that good?" Mina asked, an amused tilt to her voice. Amused yet filled with a childish innocence.

I hummed, nodding my head in reply to her. A yawn interrupting me.

I snuggled into Ian's side, deducing they were done questioning me sp I could finally get through my nap.

Except, Cam nudged me with his elbow.

"Why exactly do you look like utter crap?"

No flattery behind his words.

"None of your business," I snapped.

My annoyance having more to do with him bothering my final chance of getting some shut eyes than at the question itself. I didn't care for the very unflattering way he addressed me. I didn't want him to address me in anyway flattering.

"Don't take anything she says when she's sleepy too seriously. She's just cranky your not letting her sleep," Stacey said, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

Cam may have believed her, but I knew better than him. She was finding an excuse to talk to him.

"Still doesn't explain why she looks like she that," was all he said.

Stacey chuckled and oh-so-helpfully explained how I had stayed up all night with Carly and were suffering the consequences. I couldn't exactly pinpoint if she was bitter about having been left out or she was trying to strike up a conversation with Cam at this point.

In our defense, she's been on a date when I invited her to go ice-skating with us. The sleepover hadn't been planned. It just happened because of how late we stayed out.

Something Stacey is resolutely ignoring.

In the end, I never got a chance to sleep. Between Cam nudging me ceaselessly and the chatter between everyone else, I was too tired to fall asleep.

The bell ringing was a relief. At least I didn't have to listen to Stacey trying so hard to flirt with Cam while her boyfriend was sitting right there.

Her boyfriend who was blatantly ignoring what his girlfriend was upto. It was ridiculous at this point.

Ian nudged me to get moving, easily hauling me up to my feet despite me giving him my whole weight. Chuckling at the pout I gave him, he only handed me my bag.

I'm not exactly certain how what followed happened.

One minute we were all heading back to school, the next moment Carly was on the ground, blood pooling under her.

my vision turned fuzzy seeing all that blood. I barely had time to check if she was okay before my own vision turned dark and I was slumping backwards.

The last thing I felt was strong arms wrapping around my waist.