I dodge the people in the halls, and I've avoided Jack and his group. All up until now. I pass a few of his friends, and they try and reach for me but I speed up. I hear them call my name, then Jack's name. Now all eyes are on me. I try and ignore it, but now Gene is in front of me.

"Hey, what happened? We've been trying to call you. Are you okay?"

I see people whispering and glaring, and a few pull out their phones.

"Back off," I say trying to keep my composure.

"Jack has been looking for you all day. Did something happen?"

"Go away," I say a little louder.

Gene's face turns sour, then to a frown. He puts his hand on my arm, trying to turn me with him to their group. I slap it away.

"Is this about Jack? Did he do something?" He whispers.

"Fuck that asshole. Fuck off already! All of you can go fuck off!"

I storm past, flipping them off in the process. I hear Gene say "What the fuck did you do," but I don't care. I don't know who he was talking to, it wasn't me because I did nothing wrong. The fuck up is Jack, not me. The eyes stop following me, but instead to the commotion that started behind me. Unlike everyone else, I leave the fight behind and continue with my day.

Tim calls me on the phone, and I answer. He's looking for me with our friends. He says Jack got into a fight with Gene when I ran away. They say Gene threw the first punch. They are best friends so it doesn't make sense. I tell them where I am. Hiding, in a locked empty men's bathroom. The only people who come here get high. A few seconds later, there's a knock. I open and hug him right when I see his face, my brother is here.

"First off, are you okay physically? Did they hurt you?"

"No, they just talked to me. Well, only Gene talked to me."

"Okay, are you okay mentally?"

"No, I didnt want this," I sigh and step away. I lock the door again. "I wanted to just ignore them. I didnt want to see them, or Jack. I knew I'd break."

We slowly slide down the wall onto the floor.

"I know you did. I'm sorry that happened."

"Do you know why Gene punched Jack?"

"I didnt see the start of it," he pulls out his phone. "But, I do know Gene punched Jack, Jack punched back, and the rest got in the way. It resolved as soon as it started."

He plays a short 30-second clip. First, they are talking lowly, then Gene punches Jack in the stomach, and Jack punches him back in the chest. They were yelling, but so was the crowd, so you couldn't make out anything, I saw Lucas and Deren hold back Gene. Nic and 2 others held back Jack. Jack was glaring at Gene, Gene was snarling and flipping him off. The camera goes down, then the video stops.

"God damn idiots. They are like brothers, why would..." I trail off. My thoughts slowly went through the corridors of my mind. "I don't get them."

"I'm just glad you aren't hurt. Whatever this is, it'll pass over. You still put up with your little evil plan, the whole reason you're in this mess?"

And if I do, what good will that do me now? A little satisfactory? Maybe happiness for the girls he's hurt? It'll also bite me in the ass, revealing I was only with him to get to him. That could lead to me being in trouble.

The bell rings.

"I don't know. I want to, I really fucking want to."

"There's a but in there somewhere?"

"But, it'd also make me feel like shit but also get me into shit with the school and my parents already try so hard. They will think less of me; think I'm heartless but also know I lied to them about everything."

"It's not like you meant for it to be a lie. It also really isnt a lie. It was just pretend. Jack would never actually go gay. And you know I mean that in the best way, not in a douch bag way. I love you, and it hurts seeing you hurting over some guy who couldn't love you back. Think about it, okay? Let's get to class. You're late, and I know you dont like being late."

I don't move from the ground, Tim does. He stands and grabs onto me. He lightly pulls me up, I want to slide back down, crawl into a ball, and cry like a newborn. Tim won't let me. He hugs me, and it takes a lot of energy to hug back. We stand like that for a solid minute then he guides me to the door. When we get to my class I take a deep breath and sigh it out. Then I push the door open. All eyes are on me until the teacher claps loudly to get their attention. She walks towards me with a note in hand. It's white, with the word "Principle" bold in red.

"Now," she smiles at me, it's a sad apologetic smile. "Who can tell me what page 132 says?" She turns back to them.

I walk back out the door, only to see Tims still waiting there. I give him a questionable look.

"I wanted to make sure you would be okay, so I was gonna wait for a little in case you needed me to save you," he shrugs his shoulders and then sees the slip. "Why the principle?"

"I have no clue. I assume nothing good."

"Whatever it is I'm here to help you," he lays his hand over my backpack and walks me towards the office. "Who knows, maybe it's a "Congratulations, you have a get out of school free card."

I laugh. Our favorite game to play is Monopoly. The get-out-of-jail-free card is about as lucky as you get with us.

"Oh, I wish. Maybe I can even pass "Go!" and get $200."

"Dont get your hopes up to much, I got boardwalk bitch."

"Of course you do, every damn game."

"You can't be mad forever, I just manage my money better."

"Bullshit, you just have better luck with rolls."

"Keep telling yourself that, it'll help you sleep at night."

When we enter the office I see the receptionist giving me wide smiles, wider than usual, almost a worried smile. I give a small concerned smile and head to the principal's office with Tim. I see Gene leave the room with his hands in his leather jacket, slumping over as if he's a kid in trouble.

My instinct is to play pretend and ask if he's okay. I wanted to know if Jack is okay. Gene has a hard punch. I reached out but retaliated. He still saw me through.

"Mac, hi. Are you okay?"

"Go away," Tim is in front of me now. "All you guys have done is caused issues, so, back off already. I can't believe I allowed Mac to get this involved with you scum. Stop acting as if you care."

Tim puts his arms out and turns, making a wall between me and Gene. I pass through and wait by the closed door.

"Excuse you. Who do you think you are?"

"Mac's brother, dickhead."

"Okay, I'll have you know I didn't do anything to cause this. That dumbass Jack started this whole mess and I just want to know Mac is okay. Because god forbid, if Mac is not okay then Jack will tear up the whole town till he's fuckin happy."

I give a questioning look. Do they not know this was all fake? I assumed they would know because of the phone call at the park.

"What do you-" I start but the door opens and an angry principal walks out.

"Gene get to class, same with you Timmothy, or both of you will have detention, and that's not a good look on your scholarship," she angrily points, then turns to me with a smile. "Are you feeling okay Mac?"

"I just want this to be over with."

"I know, come on in, we'll sort this out."