Elizabeth drops her jaw, staring at me. I shift my gaze to Alec and see that he's doing the same thing, but he's staring at Josh instead.

"What? Do you two want to catch a bunch of flies?" Josh asks. "No? Then shut 'em because everything we just told you was completely true." He sounded a bit harsh to me, but I'm not focused on him right now.

My best friends close their mouths, but they still don't say anything. I mean, I can't really blame them, can I? Would I believe this if it was happening to Elizabeth or Alec? Probably not. Don't get me wrong, I do trust my friends, but this is a little far-fetched. Okay, a lot far-fectched. But would you believe me? Let me answer that for you: No.

"I don't know, Mia..." Alec finally says.

"Are you serious, Alec? You think that I'd tell you this if it wasn't true? Come on, I'm not that kind of person! I thought you knew that!" I yell, standing from the bench and storming away, my fists clenched tightly.

How dare he say something like that? We've been friends for years, he should know better! We've been through so much, the three of us have, we've trusted each other over our parents for crying out loud! He should be able to trust me in this!

My thoughts consume me and before I know it, I'm leaning against Joshua's car with tears freely flowing down my face. I bury my head in my hands and sink to the ground. "How dare he..." I say, trying to calm myself down. One of the most annyoing things about me is how easily I can change moods. One second I can be screaming and the next I can be bawling, like I am currently. Or maybe I'm as happy as can be, then I'm moping around, not knowing what to do with my life.

And my friends were always there to bring me back to being myself. To calm me down.

They were there.

Through everything.

They still are.

Just as I'm about to stand up and apologize to my friends, someone places their arms around me and whispers comfortingly into my ear.

I start crying again. I mean, everything always comes back to me when people treat me like that. I wrap my arms around their torso and hug them tight, not wanting to let go.

"Mia..." he says, softly stroking my back. "It's okay. You need to give them some time."

"I-I'm sorry, J-Josh. I'm s-sorry I exploded back t-there."

"It's okay." Josh laughs suddenly, "You should have seen Alec after you left. He looked as if you were some kind of bomb that was ready to explode."

He got that right. Except that I did explode. Gosh I'm so unpredictable. Well, sort of. It's predictable that I'm unpredictable, if that made any sense at all.

I don't say anything in response, just burying my head into his neck as he keeps holding me and saying things softly, as if they'd give me any comfort.

And I really wish they would.

•••

I twirl the spaghetti on my fork as my friends are engaged in some discussion that I don't care about. Out of curiosity, I listen in for a second.

"-then Robinson stole the ball and-"

I mute them out again, not wanting to hear about the latest basketball game. What? I'm not a complete sport fanatic.  I know enough to be able to distinguish what sport it is. Besides, that's the only sport they ever talk about, Alec and Elizabeth that is. So, yes, Elizabeth is a sports person. Every now and then, I hear Josh breaking into the conversation, so at least he's not sitting there awkwardly like I am.

I allow my thoughts to run as I drop my fork, placomg my elbows on the table and resting my chin in my palms.

It's been a week since our 'talk' in the park. Elizabeth and Alec have both accepted the fact that Josh is staying around, and that he's really protective of me. Always.

Take yesterday for exmple, I was out having dinner with Dad, and I didn't tell Josh. Which I didn't think would be a big deal. Apparently he, Josh, came to my house to find I wasn't there. So he kind of freaked out and called me a million times, but I had enough manners to turn my phone off during the meal, not wanting to break away from the time my dad and I have together. Which, by the way, isn't very much to start out with. We usually just have dinner together then I break away for homework and he has some work to do.

So when we finished eating, I turned my phone on to see the many missed calls from Josh. Naturally, I started to get worried, thinking that something was wrong. I called him back and he almost screamed at me,telling me things like 'you're crazy' and 'what were you thinking'. After a while of telling him 'sorry' and that 'I'm fine' he relented and hung up. And when I say a while, I mean like thirty minutes. Let's just say that I've learned my lesson.

"Mia?" Josh asks, placing a hand delicately on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I look up at him, seeing his eyes peering back at me, full of worry. "I'm fine. Just thinking, I guess."

"Okay," he says, accepting my answer without a doubt.

That's something that I'm worried about. He trusts me so easily and openly. As nice as it is, I like earning my trust. I mean, I've only known Josh for a week and a half, which is not very long at all. But hey, I can't make him stop trusting me. If I break his heart, it's his fault. Except for the fact that according to him, he won't be able to stop loving me, or so he said.

"I'll be right back," I say, suddenly standing up and walking away, leaving my meal and friends behind me as I head out of the cafeteria. None of them follow me and I wish they did. I keep walking until I push through the front doors, where I sit down against the wall nearby. My hands come up and craddle my head as I tell myself to breathe evenly.

Why does he have to trust me so easily? I'm not fit out to be a Meise to Josh. He is so open and way too trusting for his own good. Someone is going to take advantage of that, I just know it.

Then again, maybe it's my fault. Maybe he thinks he can trust me because I haven't gone running and screaming for dear life. Maybe I should do something crazy, so Josh can snap back into reality. Realize that I'm not the perfect person for him. That I'm not his Meise.

•••

I sink into the passenger seat of Josh's car as he starts the engine. The radio plays Hey, Soul Sister by Train and I make myself slowly hum along to the song, acting as normal as I can.

After lunch - which I spent the remainder alone - I headed to class, one that I don't know anybody in. I kept glaring at everybody even if they didn't do anything wrong. And I mean anything. One person was just stting beside me and I growled at her. I really did. I then asked what she was doing and she gave me a blank stare before sitting down. After staring at the back of her head for five minutes I realized that she's always sat there.

Then someone asked if they could borrow a piece of paper to take notes on and I snapped at them.

Let me just say that today has not been one of my best days.

The music fades out and Josh takes that chance to turn it off completely. I turn and raise my eyebrows at him.

Josh takes a deep breath before saying, "What's wrong?" His eyes jump over to me before settling on the road again.

"N-nothing's wrong, Josh," I lie, looking out the window again, watching as trees blur by.

I picture Josh rolling his eyes as he replies, "I know you, Mia. Believe it or not but I can tell if you're lying."

I take the risk of looking at him to only see him glancing at me with an expression full of worry and annoyance. I didn't know that someone could fell both those things at once. Apparently you can.

When I don't respond he keeps talking, "Look, Mia. I know that this isn't the most ideal circumstance for you, but can you just try to help me out here? It's new to me as well, so please just go with me on this?"

My thoughts run wild as I consider every option I have here. But the longer I search, the more my options get narrowed down, until it leaves only one. The only option I have is to stay with Josh. He said it himself, I won't be able to stop loving him. "Okay," I whisper, shyly looking up at him through my eyelashes.

A grin appears on his face as he looks at me for a brief moment or two before looking out the windsheild again. "Yeah?" I nod quickly, biting my lip. "Thank you-" he starts but gets cut off when the car gets thrown sideways.

A searing pain rips through my whole right side and I scream. My head bashes against the window and a few moments later I black out to the sound of Josh calling my name.

This is a short chapter but I really wanted to end it there. I'll try to update soon. :)

Thanks for reading!