The next day, Stacey's family headed out to explore the town and look at houses for sale to see what they thought of the place. I still hoped they'd decide to stay, even though Stacey wasn't the happiest with me right now.

I needed more time to fix things with her. They were leaving the day after Christmas to head over to Oregon and check it out. After today, I had two days to try to make things right. It was probably pointless. I didn't know what I could say to her that I hadn't already said.

And it made me so sad. What she'd said to me the night before genuinely hurt, but I wanted to badly for Stacey to be happy again, even if it wasn't with me. Seeing her sad was enough to hurt me.

I spent the morning giving Baxter Jane a much needed bath. I wondered if Stacey had seen her during her stay. I figured she'd want to.

I was drying Baxter Jane with a towel when I just stopped. I put my hands on the dog's face and asked, "What do you think I should do, huh?"

She looked at me for a second before licking my face. I cringed. "You think I should kiss her? I've tried that."

I finished drying her off and set her free to wander the house. Then it was time for me to get to work. My last day of the week. At least I had something to do other than worry about Stacey.

Things were going fine at Walmart. Perfectly normal. Until I heard a familiar voice ask a question from behind.

"Excuse me, where do you keep the adult diapers?"

I turned. It was Perry who had spoken. It was Perry asking me for adult diapers.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in disgust once he recognized me.

"I...work here. Did you have an accident?"

"Shut up. They're for my grandpa."

"Okay then. Follow me."

"What, you don't believe me?" he said, sounding angry.

"I was just joking, Perry. I'm sorry."

"That wasn't very funny."

"I know how that feels. Seriously, though, I know where the—"

"Never mind, I'll find someone else."

"Okay? Really, I can show you where they are."

"Oh and here you are again, being Mr. Nice Guy." His voice rose quickly. "I'm freaking sick of it. You're always trying to show me up and act like you do it effortlessly. Well you know what? Some of us have to work for what we achieve. Some of us actually have do do more than just sit there in order to get a girl's attention. Some of us—"

"Perry," I said, holding my hands up. "Chill, it's okay. I'm not trying to show you up, okay? I'm just a quiet nobody who—"

Then, he raised a fist and punched me right in the face. All I could think was, Oh boy, that escalated quickly! before I hit the floor and the lights went out.

»»»»»«««««

I woke up in what I recognized as the town's urgent care. I looked around and spotted Ricky sitting in a chair, still in his uniform.

"Oh, hey," he said.

I tried to sit up but he quickly told me not to.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"First of all, was that the kid who kept messing with you?"

"Oh yeah. Him."

"Well, he's banned from Walmart now. Anyway, we had some therapists talk to him and I guess he's just been having a rough day. He's been taking care of his grandad and he's a little on edge."

I nodded. "He did seem a bit more hostile today."

Ricky chuckled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, actually. What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

"That late? My day was wasted with a punch to the face?"

"I'm afraid so. The doctor should be back soon to talk to you."

"How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I've just been chilling, watching Netflix. I didn't want you to wake up all alone and not know what happened."

"Wow. You didn't have to do that."

He shrugged. "It's no problem."

After a few minutes the doctor came in and asked me lots of questions, like if I had a headache, nausea, or anything of the sorts. He had me stand up and walk around. I seemed to be totally fine.

"Be sure to come back as soon as possible if you experience any of these symptoms," he told me, handing me a card with a list of concussion symptoms.

I nodded and Ricky and I went out to the parking lot. "Has anyone contacted my mom?" I asked.

He nodded. "I got your phone from your locker and called her. Hope you don't mind. It's in my car." He nodded his head toward a shiny black vehicle.

"What did she say?"

"She was worried, but I told her I'd take care of everything and get you home as soon as possible."

"Are we going back to get my car?"

"You sure you feel okay enough to drive?"

"Yeah, I feel perfectly fine."

"Really? You look like a mess."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Ricky laughed and unlocked his car so I could get in the passenger seat. He reached over and pulled down the mirror on the sun blocker, where I beheld my face.

"Holy crap," I breathed, staring at my reflection. My whole left eye was a decent shade of purple, and a good sized bruise took up my cheekbone. I poked it to find it hurt to touch. I was glad I would be allowed to stay in the confines of my home for the next week and a half, because this was embarrassing.

"Well," I said, "this is interesting. But yeah, I think I can drive home."

"If you say so."

Ricky proceeded to drive me to Walmart, where we each put away our work stuff and I was able to retrieve my car. Before we parted, he told me he hoped I got better soon and he'd see me later.

I drove home slowly and carefully, just in case I got dizzy or something. Nothing eventful happened—no lights in my eyes, no nausea.

As soon as I opened the front door, my mom was there.

"Oh, honey! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much your typical assault at work."

"It's not funny, Logan. Let me get you some ice."

She made me sit on the couch. I guess I couldn't blame her for being so worried. We didn't get in many accidents around here. We were just raised to be cautious. The few serious accidents we had were caused by the occasional carelessness.

Mom came back and made me put ice on my eye.

"What happened?" she asked. "All I got was a call from your coworker who said you'd been hit and would be back later."

I laughed.

"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny!"

"It's okay, Mom. I'll be fine."

"Well, what happened?"

"Just some jerk from school who decided not to like me."

She furrowed her eyebrows, and I could tell she saw I didn't want to go into it.

"Well," she said, standing up, "the Casses are still out and about, but they're on their way back. I really hope they like it here, because it would be a lot more fun to have them live here than all the way in Oregon."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked. "You haven't eaten since lunch."

I nodded, even though I wasn't very hungry. Mom went to the kitchen to get some food.

I took a moment to think of how different things could have been. If my phone hadn't died, Stacey and I could be having so much fun this week. If we hadn't had that extra week at the end of the reunion, this wouldn't have gone as far as it did. If Carla hadn't died, I never would have gotten so close to Stacey. Imagine if our moms hadn't decided to stay close all these years. Imagine if they'd never been friends in the first place.

My heart wouldn't be aching so much.

I seriously had to talk to Stacey. Except I had an injury now. That made me look even more helpless than I already was. I mean, I'd always been helpless, but now it showed.

Anthony came in and looked at me for a second before laughing. Mom came in with a sandwich and told him to stop laughing because this wasn't funny. She went back into the kitchen after handing me a plate.

Anthony plopped onto the couch so hard it made me bounce.

"So," he said. "Was it that Perry kid?"

I nodded, nibbling at the bread on my sandwich. "How'd you know?"

"He's always wanted to hit you."

I choked on nothing. "What?"

"Why do you think he started being such a jerk this year? It's because he was scared of me last year."

Last year I'd faced a lot of torment from Perry, but it never got physical.

"I could tell he was bad news, so I might have subtly threatened him with my biceps a few times," Anthony told me.

"Really? Wow."

Anthony chuckled. "See? I'm not such a bad brother."

"Nope."

I heard a car pull up, signifying that Stacey's family was home.

"Shoot!" I whisper-yelled. "I can't be seen!" I put my uneaten sandwich on the coffee table and fled up the stairs to my room, passing the door just as it opened.

I quickly closed my door and listened to the sound of people entering. What was I going to do? I couldn't be seen like this! Stacey would think I was weak. Well, I might be, but she didn't need to know that.

I turned around and nearly tripped over Baxter Jane. I looked down to see her looking up at me and screamed.

"Oh my gosh, Baxter!" I walked past her and sat on my bed. Baxter Jane hopped up beside me.

"Do you think anyone heard that scream?" I asked her, stroking her head. She just looked at me. "Oh, have you seen my bruise?" I angled my face so she could see my eye. She gazed at it questioningly. "Yeah, I got hit. I won't hit him back, though. That never fixed anything." I stared at the wall.

I wondered again if Stacey had seen much of Baxter Jane. I began to think more about just how happy we'd been this summer, and I decided then that I wouldn't give up.

__________________________

Hi guys! Logan got punched! You mad?

The next chapter will be more fun. Well, this one was kinda fun I guess. But a better fun. ;-/)

If you liked this chapter don't forget to vote! Thanks for reading!

~hannahjoco