As I walked to Biology on Monday, I couldn’t help but be a little nervous. I knew that my friendship with Blake had changed over the weekend, but I wasn’t sure what he was going to be like in school. I had talked to him on the phone yesterday, and we had bantered back and forth, but I was still unsure of how he would act around me today.

            I walked into the classroom and took my seat beside him. “Morning,” I greeted him.

            He turned his head and gave me a small smile. “Morning,” he replied. He turned back to face the front.

            I frowned a little. “What, you don’t want to talk to me today?”

            He turned to me again. “What makes you think that?”

            I shrugged. “You just turned away from me right away.”

            “Did you have something in particular you wanted to talk about?”

            I let out a frustrated sigh. “No.”

            “Then what’s the problem?”

            “Nothing,” I grumbled, pouting a little.

            He chuckled quietly. “You’re pouting now, aren’t you?”

            I quickly made my face blank. “No,” I lied.

            The teacher chose that moment to come into the room, saving me from listening to Blake’s response. The class went by fairly quickly, which I was grateful for. We were supposed to start dissecting things soon and the thought caused me to shudder. I was going to have to find a way to get out of that one.

            After class, I grabbed my bag and linked my arm with Blake, but he refused to move. I looked at him questioningly. “Why aren’t we going?”

            He held out his free hand. “Give me your bag.”

            My brows furrowed. “Why?”

            He sighed. “Because I know it must hurt your back to carry that thing around. So give me the damn thing and I’ll carry it.”

            Wordlessly, I took my bag off my shoulder and handed it to him. He threw it over his shoulder and then waited until I had linked my arm with his again. We headed out of the classroom and down to his next class. Once we got there I led him back to his desk. He sat down in the chair and I hopped onto the desk. “I’m going to see Jake after school, but I’ll be at the park after that. Will you be there?”

            “What time?”

            “Probably just after five. Jared and Amanda will be with me, so we won’t stay there too long.”

            He laid his hand on my knee for a moment in a gesture of comfort. “I’ll be there. Just send me a text when you’re on your way back from the hospital.”

            I smiled. “Thanks.” I got off the desk. “I have to get to my class before I’m late. I’ll see you this evening.”

            “See you later.”

            I left his class and went to my own, just before the bell rang. I greeted Rachel and David and they both smiled at me.

            At lunch, Rachel nudged my arm. “Hey, do you and Jared want to come out bowling with us tonight?”

            “We have plans already, sorry. But we could do something this weekend maybe?”

            “Sure! Why don’t you guys come over to my place? You haven’t been there yet.”

            I chewed on my lip as I thought about it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull off the fake boyfriend routine when we weren’t out in public, but I figured I’d think of something. “I’ll talk to Jared and see what he thinks, but that should work.”

            “Great! We can have a movie night or something.”

            I smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

            After school, I went straight home and Jared was waiting for me in the garage. I jumped into his truck and we drove to the hospital. When we got to Jake’s room, Amanda was already waiting there. Jared and I settled into the two remaining chairs after I had kissed Jake’s cheek.

            “So how have you two been?” Amanda asked.

            Jared smiled at her. “I’ve been good. I have a date with Cindy tonight and things are going really well with her.”

            “Yeah, I know they’re going well. After all, she was in your bed on Saturday morning,” I said with a smirk.

            The tips of his ears turned a little red, but he grinned goofily. “Yeah, Friday was a really good night.”

            I fake gagged. “Ew, that is too much information.”

            Amanda laughed. “You guys are too funny sometimes. How are things going with Blake, Hailey?”

            I looked down at the ground. “I told him about the accident,” I muttered.

            “What? You didn’t tell me that,” Jared said.

            I sighed and looked up at him. “I know. I didn’t plan on telling him, but when I went to his place on Saturday morning, he was ranting about his parents. I ended up blurting out that my parents were dead and then the whole story came out.”

            Jared wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “How did it go?”

            I smiled. “Surprisingly, it went really well. I actually saw what kind of person he is under that sarcastic exterior. He has a really kind heart underneath it all.” I dropped my eyes again. “I even told him about Marcus.”

            Jared’s whole body went rigid. “You talked about that bastard?”

            I chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, Blake’s reaction was pretty much the same.”

            “How did you feel after you’d told him everything?” Amanda asked.

            “Lighter. As if a burden had been lifted off of my shoulders. And then he told me about his accident and we talked for a while longer. Eventually we fell asleep together.”

            Jared’s eyebrows rose. “What do you mean ‘together’?”

            I rolled my eyes. “I mean, he put his arm around me, I laid my head on his chest, and we fell asleep.”

            His eyes narrowed. “Did he make any moves on you?”

            My eyebrows shot up. “How the hell is that any of your business?”

            “You’re like my little sister, Hailey. I don’t want some guy to hurt you again.”

            “Not all guys are like Marcus, Jared. If I’m smart enough to know that, then you should be too.”

            Jared scowled at me. “I know they aren’t all like that prick. But how do you know that Blake just doesn’t want to use you?”

            “Jared, that’s not fair to Hailey and you know it,” Amanda interjected quietly. “I know you just want to protect her, but have you not been listening to what she’s been saying? I haven’t met the guy, but even I can tell that there is something deeper going on with the two of them.”

            Jared rubbed his hands over his face. “I know. I just don’t trust any guys with her.”

            I reached over and squeezed his arm gently. “You have to trust me, Jared. Blake hasn’t made any moves on me and he probably won’t. Just because we finally opened up to each other doesn’t mean we’ll fall into each others arms.”

                He sighed. “I know. Sorry for how I reacted. I just get a little edgy whenever I hear Marcus’ name.” He looked over at me. “Has he tried calling you again since that one night?”

            “No. I think he got the hint,” I replied.

            “Good. If he calls again, I want to know about it.”

            “Yes dad,” I said teasingly.

            We spent another forty- five minutes with Jake and then Jared and I got back into his truck and he drove me to the park. I had sent Blake a text already, telling him that I was on my way.

            When we arrived at the park, I climbed out of the truck. I stuck my head back in for a moment. “Thanks for the ride, Jared. I’ll see you later tonight. Have fun with Cindy.”

            He flashed me a smile. “Oh, I’m sure I will.”

            I made a face at him and then shut the door on his laughter. I headed straight for the benches and saw that Blake was there already. I also noticed a group of five girls around our age standing a little ways off. I saw that they kept glancing at Blake every couple of minutes. I frowned a little. Had he always attracted this much attention and I just hadn’t noticed?

            I shrugged it off as I reached the bench where Blake was waiting. I sat down and gave Abby a pat. “Hey,” I said to Blake.

            He turned to me. “How’d it go?”

            I shrugged. “It’s not so bad now that Amanda and Jared go with me, but it’s still hard to see him like that.”

            Blake lifted his arm and put it around my shoulders. “I can only imagine what it must be like.”

            I laid my head on his shoulder. “I like it when you’re nice like this,” I admitted.

            He chuckled. “I kind of like having someone to be nice too,” he replied.

            My eyes were drawn back to the girls who were about thirty feet away. They were still looking over here occasionally, but they seemed disappointed now that I was here. “Did you know you have some admirers?” I asked him.

            He groaned. “How could I not know? They’ve been standing there and giggling for the last ten minutes. They keep on daring each other to come say hi to me.”

            “Let me guess. You were scowling the whole time, so they were all too afraid to actually take the dare.”

            “Am I that predictable?”

            “No, you’re just that cranky normally,” I replied with a grin.

            He shrugged. “Can’t argue with the truth, I suppose.”

            I shivered slightly as the breeze picked up. “I think winter is about ready to make an appearance,” I stated.

            Blake removed his arm and shrugged his jacket off. He put it over my shoulders, then put his arm back around me. “Better?”

             I nodded, a little shocked. “Since when are you a gentleman?”

            “Since you’ve become the only person I care about,” he replied nonchalantly.

            “Aww, you care about me? That’s so cute!” I fake gushed, while inside I was actually feeling all warm and fuzzy because of his words.

            I swear I could almost hear him roll his eyes. “You sure know how to ruin these serious moments, don’t you?”

            “Yeah, it’s a gift.”

            We sat together and chatted for almost an hour before he told me he’d walk me home. His admirers had left a while ago, obviously losing any courage they might have gotten when I showed up.

            We walked back to my place in companionable silence, Abby trotting along beside him. When we got to my place, I invited him in for a bit, and he agreed. I made us both some hot chocolate and we sat in the kitchen, while Tonto and Abby took off to wreak havoc in other parts of the house.

            When my phone rang, I started slightly. I looked at the called ID and saw that it was Rachel. I answered it with a smile. “Hey Rach.”

            “Uh, hey Hailey…” her voice was hesitant.

            I frowned at her tone. “What’s wrong?”

            “Um, well, I don’t know how to say this. Do you know where Jared is right now?”

            “Jared? Yeah, he’s out…” Realization dawned and I cursed silently.

            “Out where?”

            “Uh, with a friend?”

            I heard her sigh. “I really don’t want to tell you this, but I’m your friend so I feel like I have to. We saw him tonight with another woman.”

            I smacked my head in frustration. “You sure?”

            “Yeah. At first, I thought nothing of it, but I saw him kissing her and, well…” she trailed off.

            This time when I cursed, it wasn’t silent. “I’m going to kill him,” I muttered.

            “I’m sorry, Hailey,” she said apologetically.

            “It’s okay. Thanks for letting me know.” I ended the call and stared down at the table.

            “Hailey?”

            I jumped when I heard Blake’s voice. I’d forgotten that he was still there for a moment. “Yeah?”

            “Are you going to explain what that was about?”

            “That was Rachel. She wanted to let me know that she saw Jared with another woman.”

            He was quiet for a second and then he snorted. “Good luck explaining that one.”

            I glared at him. “It’s not funny! How am I supposed to act when my supposed ‘boyfriend’ was just caught cheating on me?”

            “That’s exactly why it is funny. Think about it. You told Rachel you had a boyfriend because you didn’t want her to play matchmaker. Now, the guy you told her you were dating apparently just cheated on you. She’s going to try and set you up with a rebound guy.”

            Horror dawned as I realized he was right. “Oh hell, maybe I can just switch schools or something.”

            Blake started laughing. “I never knew you were such a drama queen,” he chortled.

            I gave him a nasty look, which was obviously wasted on him. “Just shut up,” I mumbled.

            “Now who needs a book of insults?”

            I groaned as I dropped my head onto the table. “I don’t like you right now,” I whined.

            I felt his hand pat my back lightly. “Don’t worry, you’ll think of something.”

            An idea formed and I raised my head to look at him. “Hey, you could-”

            “No,” he responded flatly.

            I frowned. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

            “I don’t care. I’m not getting involved in any crazy scheme.”

            I pouted a little. “Fine. I’ll figure something out.”

            Jared decided to come home at that moment and I stood up from the table, stalking towards the front door. I was vaguely aware of Blake following behind me, but I didn’t pay any attention to him. I glared at Jared. “You!” I said accusingly.

            Jared looked at me in surprise. “What did I do?”

            “You cheated on me, that’s what.”

            His eyes widened. “Huh?”

            “Rachel called and told me she saw you with another woman. How the hell am I supposed to explain to her that you were with your girlfriend, when I am supposed to be your girlfriend?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

            Jared burst out laughing. “That’s funny. Have fun trying to get out of that one,” he smirked.

            I scowled as I heard Blake join in the laughter. “You two are a riot,” I said sourly. “I’m the one who is going to have to deal with Rachel trying to play matchmaker now.”

            Jared came up to me and pulled me into a hug. “Don’t worry, you’ll think of something.” He looked over at Blake. “Hey Blake.”

            “Hey,” he replied before turning to me. “I should get going. It’s getting late and we have school tomorrow.”

            I nodded. “Yeah. Want a ride home?”

            Before he could answer, Jared interrupted. “I’ll take him home, Hales. I know you’re probably dying to go play on the piano.”

            I smiled. “You know me so well,” I told him.

            Blake frowned. “When do I get to hear you play? You heard me.”

            “Next time you come over, I’ll play for you.”

            He nodded. “Good.”

            “I’ll be waiting in the truck out front when you’re ready, Blake,” Jared told him, and then he walked back out the front door.

            I handed Blake the jacket that he had leant me earlier. “Thanks for letting me borrow this.”

            He took it from me. “No problem.” He whistled for Abby, and a moment later, the two dogs came barreling around the corner and skidded to a stop. Blake attached Abby’s leash and then turned to me. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

            I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He seemed surprised at first, but then his arms wound around me and he pulled me into a hug. I laid my head on his chest for just a moment before pulling away. Butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach and I silently cursed them. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            He gave me a breathtaking smile, and then went out the door. I leaned against the wall after he left and blew out a breath. Oh yeah, I was definitely falling for him.

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Here you go my lovelies :-). Not much to say, I'll hopefully get the next chapter up in two days. Hope you like the chapter, comment to show me you do!

Oh, almost forgot! I will be doing chapter 12 in Blake's POV as a bonus chapter. Not sure when I'll get it done, but it will be posted seperately from this story, so I'll let everyone know when I have it written!