Annie's grin widened. "I know! Isn't it wonderful?"

Shaking my head, I spat, "No. No fucking way."

"Angelo!"

"Tell me you didn't say yes. Please tell me you didn't say yes."

Furrowing her brow, she chuckled. "Uh, if I didn't, would I be wearing this?"

She waggled her hand again, very much tempting me to rip the stupid diamond ring off her finger. Why did I think that this thing looks beautiful?

I focused on Annie."It's not too late for you to give it back. Spare yourself some unnecessary grief."

The grin slipped off her face. "What do you mean by 'unnecessary grief?'"

"I mean, the man you want to marry is a simpleton who you don't know very well!"

"Don't know very well? I've been dating him for four months!"

I scoffed. "Oh wow, four months? Why did he wait so long to propose then?"

Annie glared at me. "I'm done talking bout this! I don't need your permission to marry Aiden. The only reason I told you is that we're family and I was excited about it. And why on earth did you go somewhere without any security?"

Here we go.

I groaned. "What, am I doomed to forever have guards escort me from place to place like I'm a prisoner?"

"You know that's not why! Where did you even-"

"Look, Ann, I'm fine! Nothing happened! Besides, if someone is really hellbent on harming me, they'd have done so already. There's been plenty of opportunities in the past."

"Still, you can never be too careful! You know what family you come from."

I huffed. "If only you put this much thought into Aiden's proposal."

Annie's mouth fell open. "I-"

It remained open for a few moments, then she got up. "You know what, I'm sorry I said anything. Clearly, it's too much to expect you to be happy for me!"

Clenching my fists, I looked away from her. Do you even understand what I'm saying?

She scoffed. "You're not even going to say anything?"

I remained silent.

After a while, she turned away and stomped out of the room.

. . .

Andy was the first person I noticed when I walked into class the next day. A small crowd of people surrounded him.

I strolled to him as he was saying, "Nah, I didn't come to school 'cause I got the flu-"

Smirking, I drawled, "Really? Well, it's good to see you back."

A few people jumped at the sound of my voice, but it didn't faze Andy.

He grinned. "Angelo! What's up, man?"

Why is he being so welcoming?

I replied, "I'm good. Sorry if I'm interrupting, but do you mind if we speak privately?"

"Sure, no problem."

I leveled my gaze at the people surrounding him. They took the hint and moved, though not far enough that they were out of earshot.

Still, I said to Andy, "I'm just going to cut to the chase right now and ask-"

"If the rumors are true? Yeah, I did hit Cassie."

My eyes widened.

After a bit, I said, "Actually, I wanted to ask if you were still mad at me, but okay, let's start with that."

He shrugged. "It's cool. Not like answering your question wouldn't have led back to my statement. I'm not mad at you anymore. Why should I be, when it turned out everything you were saying was true?"

After pulling up a chair and sitting down, I leaned forward. "What exactly happened between you and Cassie?"

"Exactly what you probably heard. I went over to Cassie's house that night-"

Wait, did the bitch really hand him her house key?

"-and caught her with some dude's dick in her mouth. It's like she wasn't even trying to hide it, considering she probably heard me as I walked into the house. Of course, I was furious, but do you know the worst part? When I confronted her about it, she accused me of cheating as well!"

He laughed bitterly. "Isn't that ironic, the one time I don't cheat is the one time I'm accused of cheating."

I nodded, struggling to keep myself from grinning. "That's crazy!"

"Right? Anyways, I sort off ended up calling her a slut, which led to her walking over and hitting me-"

"Then let me guess, you hit her back."

"No man, that's the funny part! I was fucking angry, but I still managed to hold myself back and just warn her not to hit me again. She did, then I-I mean, what was I supposed to do in that situation?"

Maybe just leave?

I kept my thoughts to myself because I understood the power of provocation. Not that I could see myself hitting a girl, but I couldn't see myself getting one just hit me either. Granted, Aimee had done it before, but at least she wasn't entirely in the wrong then.

I replied, "No need to go on justifying yourself. What happened after that?"

Andy relaxed. "After I punched her in the eye, I left. The guy on the couch didn't even bother trying to stop me."

Naturally, most people wouldn't want to mess with someone who has your build.

I sighed. "Well, I understand what happened, but I doubt Cassie's parents will. You're eighteen, so you know you can go to jail for this, right?"

He shrugged. "I can say it was self-defense. Besides, her parents are hardly in town anyway."

But she's a girl. Most people are probably going to still view your assault on her in a more negative-

The bell rung, cutting off my train of thoughts.

Andy stood up. "Well, I better get to class. Catch you later, Smith." . . .

During lunch break, I found out that Andy hadn't been the only person who took a break from school.

While I was eating, Seth said, "Guess what? Serena's back in school!"

I rose an eyebrow at him. "Was she not in school yesterday?"

"No! Didn't you notice?"

"If I did, would I be asking you?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Touche'."

I scanned my eyes over Serena's usual table. Her crew was seated there, but there was no sign of their queen.

I looked back at Seth. "Where is she?"

"Behind you," he replied, pointing out the direction.

Serena was waiting for food, though not in the two student-designated lines: she'd created a third for herself.

Shrugging, I turned back to my food. "Ah, well, good for her."

After a few moments, Andy said, "Is it just me, or is Serena wearing extra makeup today?"

I smirked. "I guess Aimee's slap left its-"

Seth cut me off. "What's Dylan heading here for?"

Stiffening, I looked back, glaring at Dylan as he approached. His eyes were fixed on me, and he glared back.

When he arrived at our table, before he even had the chance to speak, Hans asked, "Yes, can we help you?"

Dylan didn't take his eyes off me. "I want to talk to Smith."

Hans scoffed. "Question is, does he want to speak to-"

I nodded. "Alright."

All heads turned to me.

I said to Dylan, "You want to talk? Alright. Let's go somewhere private and talk."