The rest of the weekend was uneventful, and boring. I stayed in my room the whole time, unless I had to get dinner, or decided to go out and jog. Emery texted me a couple of times, but she had some family events to go to, so unfortunately, I didn't get to see her.

I woke up on Monday morning to rain against my window and sighed before dragging myself out of bed. I yanked on a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of light blue jeans, then tied my hair up into a ponytail before completing my usual makeup and hygiene routine. I grabbed my backpack and made sure all my homework was inside before leaving my room.

When I got into the kitchen, I noticed Annalise in there, reaching for a mug from the cupboard.

"Good morning," I mumbled. She turned and grinned at me.

"Good morning Charlie! How are you?" Annalise asked in a sing-song voice. I tried not to wince at her energy and gave her a small smile.

"I'm fine, how are you?" I asked politely.

"Great!" Annalise beamed. "Is there anything I can get you for breakfast?"

"I'm okay with cereal and coffee if you have any brewed." I replied shyly.

"Are you sure? I can make you eggs and bacon or something," she offered.

For the past few days, it felt like she was itching to make something for me for breakfast, but the thought of eggs made me want to wrinkle my nose. Besides, I didn't want her to have to do more for me than she already was.

"No, that's alright. Thank you," I said. I went over the pantry and grabbed myself the Corn Pops, pretending I wasn't disappointed at the lack of variety. It was either that or Raisin Bran, and I while I wasn't my biggest fan, I didn't think that level of punishment was warranted today. Annalise brought over a cup of coffee to have with my cereal and I smiled and thanked her before I began eating.

"Morning Mom, morning Charlie," I heard. I looked up and saw Mason smoothing down his grey, long-sleeved shirt as he entered the kitchen. He was also wearing dark blue jeans and a silver chain. He looked so handsome I almost forgot I was upset with him.

Almost.

"Morning," I muttered, shoving another spoonful of cereal into my mouth.

"Good morning my love! When you leave, will you drive Charlie?" Annalise asked her son cheerfully. I almost choked on the Corn Pops in my mouth. Instead, I swallowed hard and washed it down with coffee.

"Sure," Mason replied politely as he began putting bread in the toaster.

"Thank you! I'm off to work. You two have a great day!" Annalise kissed her son's forehead, before leaving Mason and I in the kitchen. There were a few moments of awkward silence, before we heard the front door open and close.

I got up and put my now empty bowl and mug in the dishwasher as Mason put his toasted bread on a plate. I grabbed my backpack off of my chair and began to leave the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Mason asked.

"School," I muttered, without looking at him. I could hear a knife scrape against his toast, and I was going to use his eating as my opportunity to leave without him.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"No, I'm going to walk."

"Don't be ridiculous. If you walk now, you're going to be late," Mason replied.

"So?" I asked dryly.

"Are you still mad at me?" Mason asked. The tone of his voice made me look up at him, and I saw the nervousness on his face and sadness in his eyes. Just like that, the word 'yes' died in my throat. I bit my lip and looked away from him. "I am sorry, Charlie. I'll even make it up to you after school." I glanced back at him and saw his eyes were wide with hope, making most of my anger evaporate, despite myself. "I'll show you, I'm not a jerk."

"We'll see about that," I smirked, making Mason chuckle. "Now grab your peanut butter toast and let's go before we're late."

***

At lunch, I entered the cafeteria with my backpack and head over to my friends, who were seated at our usual table. They greeted me as I sat down, and Emery let out an excited squeal.

"Finally, you're here!" she exclaimed before launching into the detailed story of her first date with Adam. We got the scoop on her outfit, the skating rink, the hot chocolate, the flirty quips and how the held hands the entire time. "It was amazing! And at the end–"

Suddenly, the lights in the cafeteria shut off and the blinds on the windows went halfway down. It was now light enough to see each other, but dark enough to see the projector screen that suddenly lit up. The whole cafeteria went silent and immediately burst into laughter as they saw the screen.

To my horror, there was a picture of me from the summer before high school sleeping in my bed, with my stuffed panda next to me. It was from the last sleepover with Tiffany and Emery before Tiffany stopped being friends with us. I knew that because it was the only sleepover I had at my house.

Frozen, I watched as the next thing to appear was a little movie.

'While you were all in class, this is what occurred at Charlie's house.'  The words appeared across the screen. Stick figures – one with a photo of my head on it – began to mime what happened on Friday with the fire, with a voiceover in the background. The voiceover was obnoxious and over-exaggerated as retold the events.

Almost everyone in the cafeteria laughing at me and pointing. Furious, I stood up and stormed over to Tiffany and her friends.

"What the hell is your problem Tiffany?" I sneered.

"What do you mean?" she replied, feigning innocence. I clenched and unclenched my fist, fighting the urge to punch her perfect nose.

"That video! And that picture!" I yelled, not caring that people were starting to gather around us curiously. "Why would you share that with the whole school? You know my reasons!"

When we were friends, I told her why the panda bear means so much to me. I trusted her – a stupid mistake I wished I could take back.

"I don't know what you're talking about Charlie," Tiffany said, a small smirk playing on her face. "But... what I do know is that if a teddy bear means that much to you, you should probably get some help," she said, raising an eyebrow as if to say, 'try me'.

"You're a spoiled bitch who doesn't understand sentimental value," I hissed. Her eyes widened slightly before she took a step towards me and gave me a hard smile.

"I don't need sentimental value because my dad can just go buy me what I want," Tiffany smirked. She leaned back and watched as the colour drained from my face. The words seemed to take the air out of my chest, and as much as I wanted to smack the smug look off her face, all I could do was turn around and get the hell out of the cafeteria.

I pushed through the backdoors, despite hearing Emery's calls. I walked off the school property, through some trees, and didn't stop until I found myself at a park near our school.

I threw myself down onto a swing and glared at the ground. I wasn't entirely surprised that Tiffany would humiliate me publicly, but I was taken off guard at how far she'd go. To bring my father into it was horrible – even for her.

I didn't even realize that there were tears streaming down my cheeks until the wind hit my face and they began to dry. I heard footsteps and quickly wiped them away as I turned to see Emery, Mason and Talia walking around, looking for me.

"Charlie! We were looking for you!" they exclaimed as they got closer to me.

"Well, you found me," I replied dryly.

"So, Tiffany's cousin was one of the fire fighters," Emery stated. "He told her what happened at a family dinner after over the weekend. She pieced it together after that."

"How do you know?" I asked, thinking back to the faces of the firefighters. None of them really looked like Tiffany... maybe the one who told Linda and John what caused the fire.

"She basically threatened Tiffany," Mason said, making me smile a little bit.

"Yeah, I had to pull her away before she punched Tiffany in the throat," Talia added, fiddling with her dark purple hair. I shook my head at Emery and she grinned in response.

"She has it coming one day I swear. If she hadn't made that last comment, you might have hit her," Emery laughed. I smiled back, but it wasn't real. She sometimes forgets to think before speaking and this was one of those moments. Before the conversation could continue, the warning bell rang, and Talia waved good-bye.

"Don't let Tiffany get to you; she's just mean," she said before heading out.

"Whoa, crap. We should go too. If we're late Mr. Fenby will publicly shame us," Emery said, her eyes widening with fear. She was right. Our math teacher, though funny and a great teacher, was a little bit nuts when it came to the rules. "You coming?" I shook my head, no.

"You can't be late if you don't go," I said making her smirk.

"Want to come over tonight?" she asked. I glanced over her shoulder, and saw Mason's expression. He was trying not to look at me, but slightly tensed, waiting for my response.

"I can't...I have plans after school," I said. Mason's face lit up with a mixture of surprise and relief. Like this meant I wasn't mad at him anymore. Or like this meant I didn't forget about him. Emery gave me an understanding nod.

"Okay, well, call me later then?" she requested. I nodded and flashed her a fake smile. She grinned and headed towards the school, leaving Mason and I alone.

"Aren't you going to class?" I asked him. He shook his head at that. "Why not?"

"Missing one math class won't make a difference...besides I can tell you're not okay despite the smiles you were giving your friends."

My heart dipped in my chest uncomfortably as the words left his mouth. I was surprised to hear him say that. It made me wonder if my façade was slipping or if he could just read me that easily. I wasn't sure which was more terrifying.

"H-how?" I stuttered out, not exactly sure what else to say.

"When you've perfect the art of being okay, you tend to see through others' fake smiles little easier," Mason said, sitting down on the swing next to me. I stayed quiet, my thoughts racing.

He read mine so easily though... His fake smile is perfected? His wrists... why is he so sad? I thought. I wonder if he has some of the same reasons I do. It's not like he'd tell me any ways...

I swallowed hard and decided to be the one to break the silence between us.

"What do you have fourth period?" I asked quietly. Mason's gave me a sideways glance, confused by the change in subject.

"Art," he replied. I raised my eyebrows.

"You can draw and paint and all that?" I tried to hide the surprise in my voice, but it wasn't working.

"Don't look too shocked," Mason laughed. "If you actually walked past my room, you'd see my art."

"Sorry, it's a bit too far," I smirked.

"It's practically across the hall!" he exclaimed.

"The key word being practically," I countered, making Mason laugh.

"See, you just learned something about me that isn't jerk-ish," he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes but smiled back. "What class do you have fourth?"

"I have music," I replied. Mason didn't look surprised at all. Instead he smiled and nodded. "You're not shocked?" He shook his head. "Why not?"

"I saw your guitar... and I might have heard you play it a little. And you listen to it so much that I'd be more surprised if you didn't take it." Mason explained.

"Oh," I mumbled.

One thing I'd learned is that Mason was very perceptive. He seemed to notice everything that I thought I'd carefully tucked away. It felt like I might have to be very careful around him. I nodded to what he said but didn't actually hear it.

"Charlie?"

"Pardon?" I looked over at him.

"Do you want to go get coffee after school?" Mason asked. He was fidgeting with the watch around his wrist unknowingly. "Then I can prove myself?"

"Sure..." I started. "But Mason, you do know you're already forgiven right?" Mason looked both shocked and hesitant.

"Really?" he asked. I nodded. "Good. Because I really am sorry. I wouldn't want to offend you. I mean, although, I may be angry at my dad, I shouldn't be ungrateful for him." I shot him a forced smile and a slightly sad look came over him.

Crap. He saw through that smile. I thought to myself.

"Charlie... Can I ask you a question?" Mason started carefully. I nodded. "You promise you'll answer?"

"I'm not promising anything," I replied stiffly and automatically. I mentally winced at how rude that sounded and sighed. "But... I'll try," I amended, fidgeting in my spot on the swing.

"Okay..." Mason smiled. "Why is your panda bear so important to you?"

_______

Author's Note: Uh, oh. Mason asking the big questions! 

Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger... but also not sorry ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully i'll have a new one up sooner rather than later!