"Gabriel! Gabriel Giovanni, wake up!"

                I felt my mom shaking me and cracked my eyes open. "Huh?"

                "You're running late," she said, picking up my laptop and setting it on my desk. "You stayed up working last night, didn't you? I bet you forgot to set your alarm."

                "I did," I said, rubbing my eyes. My thoughts were muddled and my body felt tired and sluggish. "Sorry, mom."

                She looked angry as I sat up. "You were supposed to go to bed early, Gabriel."

                "I'm sorry," I said, checking the time. Shit, I really was running late.

                "Look at me," she demanded. I met her eyes and she put her hands on her hips. "You need to start taking care of yourself. I don't give a damn if you're the president of the student council or the president of the United States. If you can't take care of yourself, then you're not responsible enough to take care of a group of people. Do you understand me?"

                "I understand," I said, my heart twisting a little at her words. "Can I get ready now?"

                "Be quick. You don't need to get in trouble for being late. Don't speed though," she said, leaving my room and shutting the door as she went.

                I hurriedly got dressed, fighting with my slow body. I grabbed my stuff and left my room. Mom had two granola bars, a water bottle, and baggie of almonds waiting for me on the counter.

                "It's better than nothing. Don't make a habit of it," she said, sweeping them into a bag and passing it to me, along with my car keys. "Drive safe."

                "Thank you," I said, taking it from her and leaving the house. She was mad at me, and I deserved it.

                Once my car was parked at the school, I took a minute to eat my granola bar. I tucked the almonds and water into my bag and got out, heading up and in to the school.

                I was later than usual, so the halls were pretty full of students. I went to my locker, exchanging my things and debating if I wanted to hide from my friends for the morning. If they found out I'd worked last night, they'd be mad at me for not taking a break.

                But after checking my phone and seeing the missed calls from Nadia, I realized how stupid I really was. Of course they were going to figure it out. I'd done some of their work. All they'd have to do is check our group email to realize I'd been working late into the night. Shit. Why was I so stupid?

                I was stupid and tired, so I went down to the freshman hallway to hide away from my friends. I couldn't avoid them forever, but maybe I could avoid them long enough to think of an excuse.

                I hurried down to first period just before the bell rang, making sure to keep an eye out for any of my friends so I could hide like a little bitch. I felt exhausted as I sat down, and prayed I could keep myself awake through the day.

                "Here."

                I looked up in surprise as Taliesin set a thermal bottle on my desk. The bell to start class had rung, but our teacher was on the phone at her desk, so kids were still milling around the room and talking.

                Taliesin tapped the top of the bottle. "Caffeinated tea." He paused, that expression that said he was carefully choosing his next words. "I drink it when I'm tired. Not as harsh on your stomach as coffee. Won't wake you up quite as much, but it's better than nothing."

                I pushed the bottle back at him. "I don't need it."

                "You look like you're auditioning for the role of Nancy Thompson. Drink the tea," he said, pushing it back at me. He sat on my desk, watching me. "You look even worse than yesterday. But I figured you wouldn't go to bed early. You never take care of yourself when there's work to be done."

                "Like you're any different," I scoffed. "We'd both be nagging each other to go to bed in the middle of the night, trying to pretend like we both weren't up working."

                Taliesin grinned a little. "Then Nadia would knock our heads together the next day when we were both too tired to function properly."

                I rubbed my head. "I think I just felt a ghost pain at the mention of that."

                "Remember that time we both promised to go to bed early, but we were both lying and stayed up all night doing the exact same report so the other wouldn't have to worry about it?" He shook his head, snorting a little. "Fucking genius, truly."

                "Top tier communication skills," I agreed, cracking a laugh at the memory.

                "Torres! Class is starting. Go sit," our teacher commanded.

                "I'm going, I'm going," Taliesin said, getting off my desk. He shook the bottle at me a little. "Take a fucking sip, babe. And by that I mean drink this and try not to die. I'll have my pen ready for kidney penetration."

                "Please don't ever word anything like that again ever, thanks," I said.

                Taliesin went back to his desk and sat down. I uncapped the bottle and drank the tea, surprised at how good it was. I was tempted to chug the whole thing, but I forced myself to nurse the drink through class, leaving myself some for second period.

                When class ended, Taliesin caught up to me as we left the room together. I guess he was done being late for class. Just had to be a drama queen on the first day.

                "You haven't spit it out yet, so I'm guessing that's a success?" he said, gesturing to the drink.

                "It's pretty good," I said. "You never used to drink this before. We drank so much coffee I'm surprised our blood didn't turn into coffee."

                "My mom found this stuff. I started drinking it instead," he said with a shrug.

                "Taliesin, a word?" Mr. Geary said as we entered second period.

                "That was three words," Taliesin said.

                "You're hilarious. Come here," Mr. Geary said, waving him over.

                Taliesin left me to go to Mr. Geary's desk. I took a seat at my desk, stifling a yawn.

                "Yawn too hard and it can actually kill you."

                Nadia took her seat next to me, looking highly displeased with me. I sat up a little straighter, trying to pretend it wasn't a battle to keep my eyes open.

                "Can you really die from yawning?" I said.

                "Yes, you can," she said.

                "Sweet. Next time I'll let natural selection have it's way," I said.

                "Tell me why you were sending emails at four in the morning, Gabriel. That doesn't sound like relaxing to me. You started uploading files hours before that," she said.

                "I just couldn't relax. I figured I might as well do some work, and I just...lost track of time," I said. I couldn't admit I'd been thinking of Taliesin.

                She took the bottle from me and eyed it. "Gabriel, why do you have Taliesin's bottle?"

                "What?" I said.

                She set it back down on my desk. "That's what Taliesin used to chug coffee out of. He brought it with him almost every day. I recognize it."

                I took a closer look at the bottle and realized that it was Taliesin's favorite. He said it was the best thermal bottle he'd ever owned, and used to bring it with him whenever he needed coffee for the day.

                "He gave me tea," I said, finally looking up at Nadia. "I wasn't going to say no to a free drink."

                She let out a sigh and now she looked tired too. "Gabriel, he's not the same anymore. You have too much faith in him. You always did."

                "I have to see him all the time. It's not a bad thing to just talk a little," I said, hating how defensive my voice sounded. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Shit. Sorry. I don't want to fight, Nadia."

                "That makes two of us." She put her hand on my arm. "We're your friends. We're just worried about you. You're too close to Taliesin. I'm not going to control your life, but I am going to caution you to listen to people who have the ability to step back and look at the whole picture."

                The whole picture used to be us. It used to be me, Nadia, Taliesin, Leigh, and Kace.

                "Sure," I said, too tired to argue. "Sorry I didn't make it to the student council room this morning. I was running late."

                "Next time at least text me back so I know you're alive," she said. "Also, don't expect a thanks. I won't thank you for ruining your own health. But...I do appreciate how hard you work."

                Mr. Geary started class, saving me from answering to that. Twice I had to pretend to need a tissue just for an excuse to get up before I could fall asleep. It was going to be a very, very long day.

                I finished off the tea and felt my mood sink. Only two periods into the day and I'd already chugged that shit out of existence, fantastic.

                The bell rang and we got up, gathering our stuff and leaving the classroom together. Taliesin came up to Nadia and me in the hall, and I wondered if they were going to pick a fight with each other. God, I wasn't ready for this.

                 But he just held his hand out. "Done?"

                "Yea, here, not trying to kidnap your bottle," I said, passing it off to him.

                "I'd hunt you down if you did. I love this bottle," he said, tucking it into his bag. "Catch you later, then. She's giving me the 'go away Taliesin' eyes."

                "I'm glad he can read my resting bitch face so easily," Nadia said as Taliesin sped up to get away from us. At my expression, she rolled her eyes. "I just don't like him hanging around us again. He doesn't regret what he did, so he doesn't deserve to come back like nothing happened."

                "Alright, alright, got it," I said. "Let's just get to class."

                We dropped the topic of Taliesin and went off to class. By the time we were able to head to lunch, I felt barely awake. I'd already splashed cold water on my face twice in an attempt not to fall asleep during class again.

                I entered the student council room, where Leigh stormed up to me and pointed a stern finger in my face. She was giving me the stern look she'd tried to learn from Nadia, which was more like a comical imitation of it than an actual threat.

                "You were supposed to sleep!" she said. "And relax. And...not do work! You said no emails."

                Kace looked up from where he was sitting on the couch. "You're getting it from all sides today, huh?"

                "I guess I deserve it," I said, pushing Leigh's finger out of my face. "I couldn't find anything relaxing to do, so I did some work. I just lost track of time. I'm sorry."

                Leigh took my face between her hands and shook my head a little. "You are so dumb I want to shake your face until your brain works again."

                "I really, really don't think that's how it works. Please don't ever become a doctor," I said, pulling her hands away. "The concern is appreciated, but my brain is perfectly functional."

                "Debatable," Nadia said as she entered the room. "We're back to work today. I used my study hall to go over the work Gabriel did last night, so we can have a meeting on that, and figure out what still needs our attention."

                I sat on the couch and set my lunch on the coffee table. Nadia began going over some of the work I'd done last night. I tried to stay focused, but found myself slipping off.

                "Let him sleep," I heard Nadia saying. "He did more than his share already."

                I wanted to argue that I hadn't. That we only had so much work piling up because we were short a person, and that I was the one who'd been too stubborn to bring another person into replace Taliesin.

                But I was too tired to talk. So I let my head fall back against the couch, and drifted off.

                                                                                                ***

                "Up and at it," a voice said, shaking me.

                For a delirious moment, I was baffled they didn't add "sunshine" to the end of that. Taliesin always said "Up and at 'em, sunshine" when he woke me up like this.

                But then I opened my eyes and was met with the sight of Leigh. She gave my shoulder one last light shake before backing off.

                "Back with us?" Kace said.

                "Shit," I mumbled, wiping my sleeve across my mouth.

                "Surprisingly, you didn't drool," Nadia said. "Feel any better?"

                Honestly, I just felt worse. I had a headache starting up and my thoughts were fuzzy.

                "What time is it?" I said instead of answering her.

                "The bell is about to ring. You slept through lunch," Nadia said. "I put yours in your bag. Maybe you can pick at it between classes."

                "I'm not carrying you to science," Kace said, hauling me to my feet. "Wake up, Gabriel."

                "Yea, I'm up, I'm good," I said, wondering if I could just sleep until I was old enough to retire.

                The bell rang and I left with Kace, heading towards the science wing. I ran my hands through my hair, wondering how horribly messy it was now.

                "Hey, hey, do I look like I just passed out for a half hour?" I asked, gesturing to my hair.

                "You look like you're an Italian. But, you know, not one of those Italians who slick their hair," Kace said.

                My shoulders slumped. "So I look messy."

                "You always do. Curse of thick hair," he said, gesturing to his own thick hair. "Can't tame it worth a damn. The girls have it easy."

                "My hair's so long, it's hard to make it look nice," I mocked in a cheap imitation of Nadia's voice. "She should try having thick ass ropes replace each individual strand of hair."

                Kace laughed. "It looks the same as usual, don't worry so much."

                "What did I miss?" I asked.

                He shrugged. "Not much. We were just looking over what you did to see what still needed to be done. We had a few questions for you, but we wrote them down and we'll talk about them tomorrow."

                "I'm sorry I fell asleep," I said.

                "I'd like to think it'll be a sign that you need to take better care of yourself, but I've known you way too long to fool myself," he said.

                I sighed as we entered our classroom and sat down together. Taliesin came in and stopped at my desk, setting his bottle down on it.

                "Refill," he said. "Jeez, you somehow look worse than this morning." He cocked his head to the side. "Your hair's a mess in the back, by the way."

                I glared at Kace. "Did you lie to me?"

                "It looks the same to me as it did earlier," he said, but his voice was sharp and his gaze kept slipping to Taliesin.

                "Got it, got it, not welcome here," Taliesin said. He reached out and pushed my hair down before heading to his desk.

                "Gabriel?" Kace said, narrowing his eyes at me.

                "He gave me tea this morning," I said, picking the bottle up and uncapping it. Sure enough, it had been refilled. "It's nothing, Kace."

                "Sure, if acting like you did when you two were still dating is 'nothing'," he said.

                I mean, I guess we technically were still dating. "I'm not going to suck his dick because he gave me tea. I remember what he did to us."

                "Don't forget," he said, his voice hard. "He hurt us. He hurt you. Don't just forgive him."

                I sipped on the tea, not answering him. I had nothing to say to that. I knew part of me would always have faith in Taliesin, regardless of what he'd done to me. But I wasn't an idiot, and I wouldn't just forgive him. I'd be willing to give him another chance, but only if he could prove he'd earned it.

                Class started and I tried to focus. The tea was warm, settling easily in my stomach. I still felt...muffled. Like someone had shoved a pillow over my face and wouldn't let up. But I didn't fall asleep, so that was a good sign.

                The bell rang and we went on down to the locker rooms, changing for gym. Kace and I went to the gym and leaned against the wall together.

                "What do you think today? More speedball?" he asked.

                "Probably. I think we start a new unit next class," I said.

                Coach entered the gym and signaled for us to line up. He picked the teams, Kace and I careful to position ourselves so we'd be on the same team.

                "Alright, last day of speedball," he announced. "Next class we start our unit in the weight room. No slacking off in that unit, got it?"

                Kids grumbled out responses as they pulled on pinnies and took up position on the court. Coach started the game, and I realized that we were, once again, up against Taliesin.

                But this time he didn't go near Kace. I noticed the stiffer movements he made as he moved the ball around the field- he was still in pain from Kace slamming him into the wall last class.

                Someone passed the ball to me and I took off at a run with it, dribbling past the enemy team, my eyes on their goal. Taliesin came up at me, though I noticed the way he tried to contain me and force me off target rather than engage me. He was playing careful today, probably not willing to risk anymore injury.

                I tried to dribble past him, careful to just push him lightly with my shoulder. He and I began fighting for possession of the ball, a grin on Taliesin's face telling me that my shouldering wasn't hurting him.

                I started to look up at him, but the next thing I knew, I was on the ground.

                "Hey," Taliesin said, kneeling in front of me with a hand on my shoulder. "You good? You with me?"

                I looked down at the ground, curling my fingers against it before slowly looking back up at Taliesin. He nodded at me.

                "Alright, you're with me. You're fine," he assured.

                "What happened, Rizzo?" Coach asked, jogging over to me. "I thought you tripped."

                "I...don't remember. I don't know. I was just on the ground," I said, putting a hand on my head. It was starting to pound with a vicious headache. "Sorry. I'm fine."

                "I'll take him to get a drink," Taliesin offered.

                "I'll take him," Kace said, suddenly coming up behind me. "You okay, Gabriel?"

                "Taliesin can take him. Have a drink, sit for a few minutes, and let me know if you need to go to the nurse," Coach said.

                Kace grit his teeth but didn't argue with Coach. He just helped Taliesin get me back to my feet.

                "I swear, if you put something in that drink you gave him-" Kace started.

                "Oh, yea, I drugged Gabe," Taliesin said, rolling his eyes so hard I thought they'd fly out of his head and physically assault Kace. "Use your brain, big guy. If I know Gabe, he's running on less than a handful of sleep and maybe two granola bars, max."

                "One," I said.

                "My point exactly," Taliesin said. He led me out of the gym, keeping a hold on my arm.

                "I can walk," I said.

                "You can also fall. You just did a spectacular job of that a minute ago," he said, not releasing my arm.

                We entered the locker room and he sat me on a bench, finally letting go of my arm. He took a water bottle out of his locker and handed it to me.

                "You backwash in this?" I said.

                "Stuck my tongue right in there and mixed it around a little," he said.

                "Your tongue's not that talented," I said, and started chugging his water bottle.

                "Easy there, savage Sally," he said, pulling it away from me. "First of all, leave my tongue out of this, it's doing it's best. Second, don't chug the water. You'll just hack it back up." He handed the bottle back to me. "Slowly. You have any food in your bag?"

                "My lunch," I said.

                "Of course, because why would you, you know, eat your lunch?" he said, putting in my locker combination and yanking it open.

                "You still know my combination?" I said.

                "Duh," he said, digging in my bag and pulling out my lunch. He sat next to me and set the bag in my lap. "Eat up. Which you should've done during lunch."

                "I fell asleep," I admitted.

                He shook his head and sighed. "Just eat, Gabriel."

                I did as he instructed, realizing how hungry I was a few bites into my lunch. Taliesin shot me a look whenever I started eating too fast, and I'd force myself to slow down.

                A few minutes into the silence, Taliesin said, "I didn't, you know."

                "What? You didn't what?" I said, turning to face him.

                He was resting with his elbows on his knees. "Put anything in the tea. It was just tea."

                "I didn't think you put anything in it," I said in confusion. "I doubt Kace even really thought that. He just saw me fall and assumed the worst. I'm sure he realized how dumb that sounded when he thought it over."

                "I say some shitty things, and I've hit people. But I'd never drug anyone," he said, his expression darkening. After a moment, he added, "Especially not you."

                "I know, Tal," I said, frowning. What was going on with him? I hesitated before reaching out and putting a hand on his back. "Need to get something off your chest?"

                "Nah," he said, but didn't shrug my hand off. "Just making sure you don't go to the cops about how I tried to drug you. Not trying to get myself a permanent record."

                He was hiding something. Frustration rose up in me, a common part of our relationship. Taliesin always did this. He kept things to himself, tried to deal with his problems on his own. He'd do whatever he could to help me, but he never let me help him.

                I dropped my hand, noticing the way his shoulders sagged the slightest when I did. But then he stood up and took my empty lunch bag from me, tossing it in the trash.

                "Good to go?" he said, holding his hand out to me.

                I took it and he hauled me to my feet. I felt a lot better after eating, my headache even starting to recede. I'd have to see if Nadia or anyone had some Advil I could take.

                We headed back for the gym in silence. Taliesin was trying to play it off like he was at ease, but I could tell something was off.

                "Hey," I said as we neared the doors. "Thanks."

                "No need to thank me if you'd just take care of yourself so it doesn't happen in the first place," he said, and entered the gym. "He's good, Coach. Just need a drink and some food."

                "Sit out the rest of the game, just to be safe," Coach said. "Taliesin, you're fine, get back in here."

                I sat with my back against the wall, watching the game pick up again. Taliesin kept a safe distance from Kace, who seemed more than content to avoid Taliesin. I rested my head back against the wall, my eyes drifting to Taliesin as the period passed by.

                Something was going on. Something had been going on for a while. Whatever had torn us apart back then was still affecting him, and he was still trying to hide it.

                Maybe he didn't want this. Maybe he did feel sorry for what he'd done, but he wouldn't admit that until he'd fixed things as best he could.

                I wouldn't shut out the possibility of letting him back in. I'd just be more cautious this time.