"Here, I figured you could use this," Nadia said, passing a coffee into my hands as I approached her in the hallway in the morning.

                "An actual lifesaver," I said, taking it from her and sipping on it. "I spent all of last night playing email tag with the staff to figure out when I could send Leigh down to the yearbook staff to design the senior pages."

                "I'm not surprised. Listen, Gabriel, I think the junior council might come at us again," Nadia said.

                I frowned. "What? Why? We already told them no."

                "Yes, thank you, I was there when we did that. But they found two students having a drug deal down on the track afterschool yesterday. You know Marshall is going to claim this is why we have to act," she said. "I don't agree with Marshall's position on the issue. I'm just warning you, he's going to take this as fuel."

                "We're not a disciplinary committee. He needs to stop," I said, and took a large gulp of my coffee because holy shit did I need it.

                "Well, don't look now, because I guarantee that's them plotting how to convince you to join their cause," Nadia said.

                I ignored her "don't look now" advice and immediately looked over. Sure enough, Taliesin was across the hall with Marshall and Kaya, the three of them circled up. Taliesin had his arms crossed, tapping his fingers impatiently as Marshall said something.

                Taliesin responded to whatever Marshall had said, and I could tell by his expression that he was frustrated. Kaya put a hand on his arm and shook her head. She said something to Marshall before pulling Taliesin away.

                "He's in control of their council," I said, shaking my head slowly. "Everyone knows it."

                "Of course everyone knows it. But no one can prove it. No one can prove their decisions are coming from Taliesin, and no one can prove Taliesin gave them their positions," Nadia said. "If they want to make a power grab, Taliesin will be behind it. He knows us, Gabriel. He'll be able to anticipate our moves and work from there."

                "Just...keep an eye on it for now. Christ, it's just the student council. It's not supposed to be this serious," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. Of course I took my responsibility seriously, but not so serious I was going to try to make a power grab. It was just high school.

                "I'll handle it if Marshall tries to meet with us again. You just focus on playing email tag," Nadia said, patting my shoulder. "I've got to go. I said I'd help Bianca with her homework before class starts. See you second period."

                "Thanks for the coffee," I said. Nadia took off, and I leaned against the wall, wishing I could inject this coffee straight into my veins.

                "Good morning, Gabriel."

                Scratch that, I wish I could inject heroin straight into my veins and die immediately.

                "Good morning," I said to Kaya. Taliesin stood next to her, texting on his phone.

                He absentmindedly started reaching for my coffee, but Kaya caught his arm. He seemed to realize what he was doing and heaved a sigh, dropping his arm back to his side. He tucked his phone into his pocket and looked up at me.

                "Did you need something?" I asked Kaya.

                "I'm just curious if you guys are planning to do anything to tackle the drug issue. I know you don't like Marshall's position on it. But even putting up some posters or something to warn students is better than nothing," Kaya said.

                "It's not our job to tackle the drug issue," I said. "We'll leave that to the staff. I've made it quite clear that's what we're going to do."

                "Better start chugging that coffee, sunshine. Marshall won't like that answer," Taliesin said.

                "You can just say you don't like that answer," I said. "Even if you and Marshall and everyone else hate it, that's the answer I'm sticking with. We all had the D.A.R.E. assembly in upper elementary. We all know drugs are bad. I can't control what other people do when they already have the knowledge it'll hurt them."

                "People get tricked. It starts with a little prescription pill, and escalates once that hooks them," Taliesin said. He nodded to my coffee. "You know you could get addicted to caffeine, but you still drink it because you need help getting through the day when you're tired."

                "A coffee addiction won't have me snorting coke in a few months," I said, shoving the drink into Taliesin's hands. "See how easy that was? Don't need it."

                Taliesin took a sip and made a face. "Too much creamer."

                I took it back from him. "Don't want you getting addicted."

                "We're not going to force you to act. Just something to keep in mind," Kaya said with a shrug.

                "Noted. Goodbye," I said.

                "We have first period together," Taliesin said, checking the time. "Bell's about to ring. Might as well head down there. If you don't need to stop at the bathroom and shit out your intestines first. Way too much creamer."

                "You have such a way with words," I said.

                "I'll catch you later, Tal," Kaya said, taking off before I could protest.

                My mood sank a little, but Taliesin was right. We had first period together, the bell was about to ring, and we might as well walk there together.

                Taliesin seemed at ease as we started walking down the hall together. I had no idea what to even talk about with him, but he didn't seem to mind the silence.

                "I don't remember you being so awkward before," he said at last.

                "I don't remember you being such a prick before," I said.

                "A fair point. Okay, easy conversation, then. Your student council is a little low on members, isn't it?" he said.

                "We didn't want to risk putting someone else in who didn't work well with us," I said.

                That was partly true, partly a salty jab at him. The whole truth was that I hadn't wanted to replace Taliesin. He'd been part of the student council since we were freshman. Some foolish part of me had hoped he'd come back.

                A stupid hope I certainly didn't hold anymore. It was too late to elect a new member now, so I took on the extra workload as much as I could as a silent apology to my friends.

                "Ah," Taliesin said, but that little tilt of his lips told me he knew the truth.

                "Most people consider easy conversation to be 'how was your day' or 'how have you been lately', not student politics," I pointed out.

                "Are we most people?" Taliesin said.

                "Yes," I said.

                He shook his head. "So quick to put us down, Gabriel. We're not most people."

                "Sure, fine, we're special snowflakes. I don't want to talk about the student council with you. You gave up your position, so you gave up the right to information about what we do," I said.

                "Secrets don't make friends," he said, taking his phone out. It buzzed in his hands, but he ignored whoever was calling him and instead pulled up his text messages. Without Kaya here to stop him this time, he reached over and took my drink, pausing when he realized what he'd done, but shrugging it off and helping himself to a few swallows of coffee.

                "Taliesin," I said, glaring at him.

                "I'm protecting your stomach," he said, handing it back to me so he could have both hands free to text. He locked his phone when he was done and put it in his pocket, looking over at me. "You look exhausted. Horrible as ever at a sleeping schedule, I see."

                "I've just been busy. I'll sleep in this weekend," I said.

                "I'll sleep in this weekend," he mocked. "Sure, and I'll fist fight Bill Cosby in a Denny's parking lot tonight."

                "You'd win. Old fuck wouldn't last two minutes against you," I said. "Might earn you some praise, even."

                "Two minutes?" Taliesin snorted. "What an insult. I give him two seconds. That first punch hits him and his old bones will shatter on the spot."

                "I'm more curious about why Bill Cosby would be in our Denny's parking lot tonight than how long it would take you to knock him out," I said, sipping my coffee to hide a smile.

                "He's on the run. Gross old fuck like him won't make it long behind bars," Taliesin said. "How did this come up? Oh, right, your shitty sleeping schedule."

                "I see the bags under your eyes, hypocrite," I said.

                "They're designer. If you look close enough, you'll see a Kate Spade label," he said, lightly poking his finger against the bags under his eyes.

                "Why Kate Spade? Is your mom still obsessed with Kate Spade?" I said.

                "She'll never stop being obsessed," Taliesin said. "Besides, I can't name any other designer off the top of my head."

                We entered first period and I thought I might escape Taliesin. But he followed me to my desk, perching himself right on it.

                "Your ass is where my books go," I said.

                "I could sit in your lap to get out of the way," he offered.

                "You have a desk," I said, giving him a dry look. He couldn't treat my friends badly and then try to flirt with me.

                "I do, I do," he agreed. He stared at me for a moment, that expression on his face that said he was thinking of what to say. Finally, he got up and walked away, apparently not able to think of the right words.

                As our teacher started class and droned on and on, I downed my coffee. God, I wish I had more. Something told me I was really going to need it today.

                "Coffee gone already?" Taliesin asked as we finally left first period.

                "I wish you were," I said, tossing my empty coffee cup into the garbage. "Is there a reason you're following me around today?"

                "Keeping you company. You're welcome," he said.

                A kid rushing by accidentally knocked into Taliesin, calling out a hasty apology as they continued on down the hall. But I saw the way Taliesin winced in pain at it.

                "Your back?" I said.

                "My back is fine," he said, his voice suddenly that meaner tone he could get sometimes.

                I reached out towards him and he flinched away, confirming my thoughts. He turned his head away, glaring at the ground and speeding up to walk away from me.

                He'd always been closed-off about it. Ever since he'd been in a bad accident and suffered long-term pain from his injuries. He'd just gotten touchier about it as time went on.

                It worried me, though. He said the pain had been getting better, back before everything had happened. Had he injured himself again? He'd seemed fine in gym the other day.

                Or was that it? Had being so careless in gym injured his back?

                It made sense. I thought back to that speedball game. He'd been rubbing his neck early on, a telltale sign that his pain was starting to flare up. And then Kace had body slammed him so roughly, and he'd been stiff in math class.

                I shook my head. It was Taliesin's problem, not mine. He knew his limits by now. Besides, he'd never really told me about his pain. He'd always tried to hide it from me. And anyways, he'd been taunting Kace. I couldn't have too much pity for him when he'd basically goaded Kace into shoving him into the wall like that.

                I entered second period and took my seat, keeping an eye on Taliesin. Sure enough, he was rubbing his neck, looking restless as he shifted to try and get comfortable in his seat.

                The accident had left him with pain flare-ups in his neck, back, and shoulders. He'd gotten good at hiding it, but I knew him well enough to see those signs of pain and discomfort, where others might confuse it for bored fidgeting.

                I dragged my gaze away from him as class started. There was nothing I could do. Even if we were still on good terms, he hadn't let me help him before. He was stubborn as hell.

                Nadia entered the room and sat down next to me. "Coffee gone already?"

                "I wish I had 18 more cups of it to get through the next few classes," I said.

                "One cup a day, two at the most. It's bad for you and you don't need a caffeine addiction," she said.

                I almost made a sarcastic remark about her and Taliesin being my new parents, but I stopped myself before I let it slip that I'd been talking to him. Nadia would surely figure it out if he kept trying to walk to class with me in the mornings, but I was too tired for the "keep him another face in the crowd" conversation right now.

                Mr. Geary started up class, going over a lesson about muscles in the body. I tried to pay attention, but I found my focus slipping a little. Nadia had to keep nudging me to snap me back into attention.

                "Ugh, what's wrong with me today?" I groaned when the bell rang. I scrubbed at my face with my hands, rubbing my eyes.

                "Come on," Nadia said, pulling me to my feet. "Do you homework in lunch today instead of holding a meeting. Maybe then you can actually get to sleep on time tonight."

                "Have you met me? Do you really think I'll get to sleep on time?" I said.

                "I like to be an optimistic person," she said.

                "Hey, Gabriel!"

                Nadia gave a cold look to Taliesin as he came up to us, his bag slung lazily over his shoulder. He pretended not to notice her hostility and gave her a little wave.

                "Nadia," he said by way of greeting. "Mind giving us a minute?"

                "He has four minutes to get to class, so you'll just have to walk and talk," she said, and shoved me towards the door.

                "Fine, but I already know I'm an asshole, so don't bother interrupting to restate facts," Taliesin said. "Anyways, Gabe, you look like total shit. You sick or something?"

                "No. I'm fine, Taliesin," I said, wishing he would go away. Dealing with him only made me feel more drained right now.

                "Don't go drinking anymore caffeine today," he said, and I noticed him shifting a little out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't his pained shift. He looked almost nervous, though his expression easily hid away what his body language betrayed. "Just go to bed early tonight."

                "Not everyone can just go to bed early. Some of us have things to do," I said.

                "High school won't mean shit in ten years. Why wreck your health over it?" Taliesin said.

                "Is that why you suddenly became so destructive in your senior year?" Nadia said. "Not great advice."

                A saw a flash of anger pass over Taliesin's face. He'd never been good at hiding his anger, even when he could keep his other emotions in check. It'd gotten even worse not long before he'd betrayed us.

                But when he spoke, his tone was neutral. "Sorry, next time I'll just chill in the background while Gabriel wrecks his health. Shitty me, how dare I show concern."

                Nadia spun around, Taliesin nearly running into her. "How dare you show concern for someone you willingly hurt. How dare you strut back in telling him what to do without ever apologizing for your own actions. If you thought you could just come back in like nothing ever happened, you're wrong, Taliesin. You're not just an asshole. You're an egotistical, selfish, destructive child."

                Nadia grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Taliesin. I couldn't help it; I looked over my shoulder at him.

                He was looking at the floor, his face angry but his shoulders slumped in defeat. I turned to look ahead of me before he noticed my gaze.

                "Nadia-" I started.

                "Don't tell me it was too harsh. He deserved to hear it, and you know it," she said. "He was one of my best friends too, Gabriel. I don't like this anymore than you do. But I won't coddle someone who's twisting into someone unfixable."

                Someone unfixable.

                I knew she was right. But the thought of losing Taliesin like that hurt too much to think about. He still cared about me. Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was stupid, maybe it would create more problems than it fixed.

                But maybe, just maybe, I could help him.