Song for the start of the chapter!

I leaned against the frame of the car as I waited for Jaimie and Paulo to come outside the school to the car. It was times like this when I was reminded that I needed to get my license.

I fanned my face as I tried to cool down, but I couldn't. I was sure I was running a fever, which was just another side effect of the treatments I was on. They told me that this would cause the least amount of side effects and that I should still be able to keep up with my expectations. But with only a week in, I was struggling to keep up with everything.

"Hey girl!" Tom said with a smile as he ran up to me.

"Hey," I smiled as I tried to look as well as I could in front of him. I stood up a little straighter as I leaned against the car as he zipped up his coat, reminding me it was freezing out but I didn't feel cold at all.

"So did I see you holding hands with Callum Weeks today?" he grinned.

I nodded as blush came to my face knowing he did see that. We had been dating for a week now but until today it had been secret, spending time together where no one would see us. But today was the day that we decided to make it public and the whole skating group knew.

"You guys are cute," he said with a smile, although there was something that he was holding back.

"Thank you," I said, ready to ask him what he was holding back.

Breaking us from our conversation was Quinn, who came running up to us. "Hey El!" she said with excitement.

"Hey," I replied as I looked at Tom to see that he vanished. I frowned, wondering why he left so quickly when Quinn was his best friend.

"So who were you talking to?" she asked as she stuffed her hands in her pockets, looking uncomfortable.

"Tom, you didn't see?" I asked, unable to fight back the concern in my voice. Fear crept back into my mind as I thought maybe I imagined him just like I did with my father at sectionals.

She shook her head. "Nah, but that doesn't matter... I wanted to ask you about your eating disorder..."

I frowned, hoping it wouldn't come down to this. I had watched Quinn pick at food and tell us she wasn't hungry for a year now. It was clear that she herself had an eating disorder, but no one wanted to address it. She wasn't wasting away, and she was still improving with skating, so why make it worse? "Yes?"

She shrugged as she looked at the ground, kicking a chunk of ice with her shoe. "I don't know. I just... how did you decide it was time for help?"

And suddenly I realized what a mess I got myself into. I had no experience to provide any kind of valid advice, but I needed to in order to keep up the lie that everyone thought was the truth. So what would I say to this girl who was actually battling the disorder. I was silent for a moment as nothing felt right in my mind. "I don't think I'm the right person to talk about this," I said, hoping that she would drop it.

"But you came out about it. You have been so honest. It's inspiring."

It actually wasn't. I was a liar. I hid behind a false illness in order to protect myself. There wasn't anything inspiring about that. "I didn't seek help until that moment I passed out on the ice." I crossed my arms over my chest. "And even then, it wasn't my idea. It still isn't," I said, forcing the words out like bitter large lemons.

She frowned at me, not liking my response. But I didn't like it either. She was expecting some grand statement, but that wasn't me since I had no life-changing statement. I sought help because I had no choice. It got to the point where I couldn't ignore it any longer and they forced me to the place I am currently.

"Do you ever think you just wanted to change?"

I knew she was seeking for advice but I wasn't the right person to ask for it. There was no advice to give her except ignore whatever battle she was going through, but she wasn't looking for that. I sighed as I put my hand on her shoulder. "Not every story is the same. Look Quinn, if you need help and recognize it, seek it. Don't be like me, don't wait until you pass out on the ice."

She smirked slightly, finding humor in my statement. "Thank you for being such a role model."

I nodded. I did nothing. Really. I was no role model, in fact that thought made me sick to my stomach. If she really knew what I was going through, she wouldn't say that. "No problem."

"So you and Callum?" she asked with a smile.

I couldn't help but smile back at her since the thought still gave me butterflies. "Yeah, me and Callum."

"Cool. My parent's and the Weeks all grew up in Portland and stayed around. They have a few stories about Wallace to share."

About his parents? I have so many questions, but the first one was why did Quinn just now decided to tell me about this when I had been asking about Callum for a while now. I suddenly got interested in this conversation. Even though Callum and I had dated for a week, there was so much I didn't know about him and maybe Quinn could share some information. I wanted to know more about him, even though he was so hesitant to share, but it was forcing me to ask other people that maybe were not as reliable. "Do you have an opinion of Callum?"

Quinn frowned. "Not really. He doesn't say much. He's a loner. I honestly know his brother more than I do Callum and his brother is like seven years older."

Callum never talked about his brother, so I would gladly take any information from her. "What is the brother like?"

"Parker? He's quickly turning into his father. He used to volunteer for everything in the town, but I think he stopped because volunteering has no money involved with it. His wife's a sweetheart though, which makes little sense to me that someone like him could land someone like her. Sometimes I run into her and she always says hello."

I nodded as I paid attention to her words. I had not had a chance to met either of them because Callum always took me around when they were gone. It made me wonder why he was hiding them from me.

"But with Callum, I'm sorry, El, but I probably know as much as you about him."

And suddenly Quinn outlived her usefulness, and I was ready for her to go so I can feel terrible in peace.

"Callum may lack personality, but one thing is for sure is that Callum's father's a dick."

I chuckled at her at her statement and couldn't agree more. "Already knew that." I remembered the last time I saw him, the day Callum asked me to be his girlfriend. I was just glad that I didn't see him again since that moment. He rubbed me the wrong way, and I wanted to do all I could to stay away.

"I'm sorry."

I nodded. "I just feel sorry for Callum."

"His mother was the more well-liked member of the family."

His mother, I don't think I had ever heard him mention her before. To be honest, Callum didn't talk about his family besides his niece. It seemed that he kept even his family at arm's length and I didn't get it. It made me wonder if he was always like this or if there was something in his life that made him change and if that was the case, what was it? "What happened to her?"

She shrugged as she thought about it for a moment. "I honestly don't know. Maybe she realized that Wallace Weeks was a terrible person and left his sorry butt," she chuckled with little humor as if she had a vendetta against Callum's father.

Breaking us from our moment were my brothers, who were talking loudly to one another. "El, think fast," Paulo said as he threw a basketball my way.

Not expecting he would throw it with such force, I caught the ball in my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I coughed as I held the ball in my thin arms, grabbing onto the side of the car for support as I tried to catch my breath. I leaned into the car as if I would pass out at any moment.

"Paulo, what the hell, man." Jaimie said as he pushed Paulo in frustration then ran up to me. "El, are you ok?" He wrapped his arm around me as if I would faint at any moment and for a moment I was grateful he was beside me to hold me up.

But the moment quickly faded and was replaced with anger. I fainted once. But he acted like I was on a verge of fainting always. I quickly pushed him off of me, hoping that Quinn didn't read too much into it. He had been so silent recently. Every time I asked him about something, I got one-word responses and it made me wonder if he actually cared about me. But suddenly he was all over me as if I was broken and he cared. Maybe he was just doing this to spite me since he knew I was keeping every thing hush hush.

Quickly, I regained my breath, then handed Jaimie the ball, practically pushing it into his stomach. "I'm fine," I hissed with a forced smile, looking at Quinn, hoping Jaimie would get the clue. Jaimie better shut his fat mouth before Quinn got any ideas. "I'll talk to you later Quinn," I said to her, hoping that she would run off quickly.

She nodded. "I'll talk to you later."

Without wasting a minute, I got into the back seat of the car as Paulo and Jaimie took the front seats.

Paulo turned on the car then spoke up as if he had been waiting all day to ask me something. "El, I heard a rumor at school. I was hoping you could put me at ease," Paulo said as he pulled out of the parking spot.

I sat in silence, knowing what it was going to be about. I didn't tell Paulo that I was dating Callum for a good reason. Paulo hated him and I think he would always hate him and so he would hate that we were together. What Callum did was unforgivable to Paulo, but I knew Callum and I knew Callum wouldn't do what Paulo was accusing him of. If Paulo just gave him a try, he would realize that he was actually a good guy. He was guarded, and quite, but he had a good heart.

"Please don't tell me you are dating Callum Weeks."

"I am." I said simply. I wouldn't deny it. It was better that he knew now than later.

"Damn-it Ellis. I told you he was trouble," Paulo frowned as he hit his steering wheel in frustration.

"You're trouble, Paulo and I hang out with you," I snapped back at him.

"I'm different."

In my mind, there was no difference. "Paulo, just give him a chance. Callum's a nice guy."

"I tried that, El. How did you think he met the girl I was in love with? Once upon a time, Callum and I were friends. I stay away because he has burnt me before. Callum is only good at one thing, burning the people around him. Why do you think he has no friends?"

His words hit me like bricks falling onto my lap. I wouldn't say that Paulo's words worried me. But somehow I felt like I wasn't getting the entire story.

"El, I'm not going to stop warning you. Callum Weeks is dangerous."

I sat still in silence as I mulled over what he said to me. Was Callum dangerous? No one knew anything about him, so maybe there was a reason for that. But I got to know Callum, I had no reason to believe he was dangerous. He cared for me and would never hurt me, in fact, I was sure he wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Dad and mom both know the trouble that Callum caused in the past. Why do you think dad talks about him with such disregard?"

I thought back to the night at the hospital and how dad refused to call him by his first name even though he knew it. Even though Paulo was warning me, I wasn't going to listen because I knew Callum wasn't as dangerous as everyone thought. He cared about me, he knew me so well, which was a lot more than I could say about the people that I called friends around me.

"El, please, don't go any further with this."

I looked at Paulo in silence, then looked at Jaimie, who had been silent this whole ride. He looked at me with caution as if warning me not to push my luck with Paulo since we both knew he could have a temper. But as I looked at Jaimie, I realized he didn't have such a distaste for Callum. It made me wonder why. Was there something that Jaimie knew he wasn't telling me?

"El.... Promise me," Paulo said, bringing me back to my thoughts.

I shook my head. I would not promise that. He was just my brother and he couldn't control my life. "No," I said simply as we pulled into the driveway.

Paulo swore loudly, then turned to face me. "You will regret this. Callum forces everyone to regret knowing him." And with that, he left the car without another word.

I frowned as I looked at Jaimie and he looked back at me. "What do you think about Callum?" I asked, hoping that he would provide another light.

He shrugged. "I don't know him so I don't have an opinion of him," He replied.

"None at all?" I pouted, hoping for something more than just that.

He sighed as he grabbed his backpack. "Look, El, I don't have time to talk about this. I have things to do." With that, he walked out of the car, leaving me alone in the car.