--Xander's P.O.V.--

The bell finally rings for lunch and I head out of my classroom. I walk into the cafeteria and sit at the table with Tony, Adam, and Clara.

"Where's Emilia?" I ask them.

"I don't know," Clara says looking around the cafeteria. She abruptly stands and heads for the cafeteria door. I look back at the guys and follow behind her. Everyone giving us curious glances and whispering, but I don't care.

We catch up with Clara and see she is talking to Makenna and her minions.

"What did you do?" Clara says angrily.

"I haven't done anything," Makenna says. She looks over and notices us behind Clara.

"Xander!" She squeals pushing past Clara to me. She tries to get close to me but I back away pushing her away from me.

"What's wrong Xander?" She says putting on a pouty face. I roll my eyes at her antics.

"Where is Emilia?" I say through clenched teeth trying to control my anger.

"I don't know?" she says with fake innocence while batting her eyes. I close my eyes, before breathing out. I don't have time for her ignorance.

"Fine whatever," I say walking past her. I hear her whine in protest.

"But, Xander. What about me?" she says trying to give me a flirtatious look. I scoff at her and turn back to her.

"What about you!? I don't like you Makenna and I never will! You're a selfish bitch! When will you get that?!" I say trying to walk away again.

"It's because of that whore isn't it?" She says making her minions laugh. Anger rises in me as I stop and turn to face her. I walk back to her and tower over, intimidating her. She slightly cowers making me internally laugh.

"Don't you ever talk about her like that," I say my voice dangerously low giving her a hard glare. A scared look crosses her features before it forms into anger.

"Fine! You'll see soon that she is a waste of your time and you'll come running back to me. You could do so much better," she says walking the opposite way.

I start walking again trying to figure out where she could be.

I haven't seen her in the hall or in her last class.

"Could she be in the restroom?" Tony says.

"Maybe let's go check," Adams says.

We head down the hall and stand outside the door. I knock on the door and listen. I hear crying.

"Emilia? Is that you in there?" I ask. I don't hear her respond.

"Clara can go in there," Tony says.

"Yeah, okay," Clara says going in. I try to listen in but can't hear anything clearly.

"Dude we probably shouldn't stand by the girl's restroom," Adam says giving me a knowing look.

"Oh, yeah," I say scratching my head slightly. We step to the side and just stand in front of some random lockers.

I stand there and worry about her. What did Makenna do? Many thoughts run through my head. I don't want her upset again. I look up and notice Tony and Adam giving me looks.

"What?" I say giving them a weird look. They look at each other then back at me.

"You really do care about her?" Adam says more as a statement than a question. I look back down.

"Yeah," I mumble out. I'm not embarrassed about liking her, they are my best friends. It's just telling them. They pat my shoulder and nod there heads like they already knew.

I never really liked any girls before Emilia. I never cared this much about anyone, besides my mother and sisters of course.

I did have one girlfriend but as it turns out, she just wanted to sleep with me. She would constantly try and bug me about it and try to convince me. It made me feel like shit and I didn't want that type of relationship formed for just sex.

It kind of hurt knowing that was the only reason she wanted to date me. Everyone thinks I'm some player that's slept with every girl in the school.

"Are you guys alright?" Adam asks outside the door.

"Yeah, just a minute," I hear Clara yell.

Moments later Emilia and Clara walk out of the bathroom. My face holds concern as I look at her. Clara gives us a 'don't ask right now' look. We nod our head in understanding.

The bell rings for the end of lunch. We say goodbye and walk to class. I walk alongside Emilia, not saying anything. I won't pry right now but I will ask later.

We enter the class taking out seats.

"Alright class remember projects due tomorrow," Mrs. Garrison says before starting the notes.

I look over and see Emilia's face covered in worry.

"Don't worry about the project. I finished it up," I whisper in her. Her face floods with relief and she mouths a 'thank you' before turning back to the front.

----

The bell rings, signaling the end of the day. I walk outside and notice Emilia walk past my car.

"Emilia? Hey, wait," I say she turns giving me a scared but curious look.

"Remember? I drove you here," I say a frown forming on my face. She looks like she remembered but looks around the parking lot before nodding her head.

"Yeah, I forgot," she says waving her hand dismissively. I nod my head, getting in my car and heading home.

I look over and notice her worried expression still.

"Emilia?" she doesn't answer.

"Emilia?" I say but she still doesn't answer.

"Emilia!" I say raising my voice slightly so she can hear me. She turns her head quickly in my direction.

"Yeah?" she asks.

"I called you name three times, are you okay?" I ask her. She looks shocked but waves it off as if it's nothing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says a small smile forming on her lips. I give her a look and she sighs.

"I'm really fine Xander, don't worry," she says looking out the window.

I know she isn't fine by her face and body language, something is bothering her. I'm gonna assume Makenna.

I pull into the Elementary school and see Izzy standing on the sidewalk. I stop and she hopes in with a smile on her face.

"Emilia!" She says giving her a hug from the back seat.

"Hey Izzy," She says giggle.

"Seatbelt Izzy," I say. She fastens her seatbelt and we head home.

We pull into my driveway. Izzy gets out and runs to the house. Emilia gets out and heads towards Mrs. Harrison's house.

"Hey Emilia? You wanna come over?" I ask her hopefully. She stops and turns tilting her head slightly. She pauses for a moment.

"I-I got homework to do and test to study for," She says clutching her books in her hand tighter.

"Oh, Okay, yeah. Maybe some other time then," I say going into my house.

I shut the door kicking off my shoes and head to my room. I slump on my bed pulling out my phone. I got a text from Adam.

Adam: Hey wanna come over? Me and Tony are at my house.

Me: Yeah sure, be there in a little.

I hear the front door shut and get up heading into the living room.

"Hey mom," I say giving her a hug.

"Hey honey," She says setting her bag on the table.

"I'm gonna go over to Adams house," I say.

"Okay, be back before 10:00. It is a school night," She says pointing her finger at me.

"Yes, I know mom. See ya later," I wave, grabbing the keys and heading out the door.

I drive to Adams house and pull into his driveway. His house is huge compared to mine, being he has money, but that doesn't change our friendship. I knock on the door and one of their maids answers the door.

"Hello, Mr. Jones. Adam is in his room," She says moving out of the way.

"Thank you," I say moving past her and heading for his room.

I go into his room without knocking and see he's on his bed with Tony playing on his ps4.

"Sup guys," I say going to the couch in his room.

"Sup," They say not really paying attention. I roll my eyes and get on my phone.

"Yes! I kicked your ass!" Adam says throwing his hands up.

"Whatever," Tony grumbles under his breath rolling his eyes. I laugh at them.

"Bet I can beat you," Adam challenges. I raise my eyebrow.

"Loser buys pizza for dinner," I say. Adam nods his head. A smirk playing on my lips.

"Let the game begin," I say.

----

"Dammit!" Adam yells tossing his controller on the bed. Tony and I laugh at him.

"Now we get free pizza," Tony says.

"Good game Adam," I say, patting his shoulder. He shrugs me off and pulls out his phone. He heads out the door to order the pizza.

"You know what I like!" I yell at him. He flips me off and shuts the door.

"He gets really competitive sometimes," I say shaking my head slightly.

"Yeah, but we get pizza, so it's a win," Tony says. He looks back at his phone a small smile twitches on his face.

"What got you so happy?" I ask him. He looks over at me.

"Nothing," He says turning back to his phone. I raise my eyebrow. While he is distracted by his phone I snatch it out of his hand.

At the top the name says, Clara. A smirk forms on my lips.

"Oooh, I see," I say laughing.

"Hey! Give it back!" He yells lunging for me but I quickly move out of the way.

"I would love to hang out sometime," I say in my best feminine voice.

"Quit it!" Tony yells trying to grab it again. I love messing with him.

"How about Saturday? Maybe a movie?" I say supper deep, trying to sound like him. He groans in frustration. The door opens and Adam walks in giving us curious glances.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Tony has a crush," I say. Tony tries again to get it back but I throw it at Adam. He looks at the phone and a smile spreads on his face.

"Clara?" He questions.

"Yes! Now give me my phone! You fucking dicks!" He hisses. Adam gives him his phone and Tony sits down with a grumpy face.

"Didn't mean to make you that upset Tony," I say looking over at Adam trying to stifle a laugh.

"Whatever," He says turning back to his phone.

"What did she say?" Adam asks.

"She said 'sounds good' now back off," Tony says. We raise our hands in surrender and Adam changes the subject.

"Pizza will be here in 25 minutes," He says.

Tony gives me a funny look before a smirk plays on his lips.

"How's Emilia," He says turning the tables on me. I give him a glare before talking.

"She seemed distant after whatever happened. She wouldn't talk about it so I don't know what happened," I say.

"Yeah she will probably tell you when she is ready," Adam says.

"Yeah, I hope," I say.

"Let's watch a movie," Tony says, looking through the movies.

"Sounds good," I say settling on the couch.

----

After the movie was finished, I look at my phone and see it's 9:45. I better head home would want to worry my mom

"I gotta go, guys. 10:00 curfew," I say heading out of the room.

"See you tomorrow Xander," They say.

I head down the stairs and out the door to my car. I hop in and drive home.

I pull into the driveway and head inside. I search for my mom to tell her I'm home. I go to her room to see she's reading.

"Hey, mom. Just letting you know I'm home," I say. She looks at her clock to check the time. I roll my eyes.

"Good you made it on time," She jokes look back at her book.

"Good night mom," I say waving behind me and heading to my room.

"Night sweety,"

I go to my room and drop my keys on my dresser before hopping into bed. I'm not really tired yet so I just play on my phone.

I glance at my window to see Emilia sitting on her bed with her sketch pad in her hand. I get out of bed and go to my window opening it.

I climb out and head over to her window. She hasn't noticed me she is too focused on her sketchbook.

I lightly knock on her window making her jump dropping her pencil. I laugh to myself and wave at her. She waves back coming to the window and opening it.

"What are you doing?" She whispers.

"Can I come in?" I ask her.

"U-Uh, Y-yeah," She says opening it more and stepping out of the way. I look around her room. I look back at her and see her shuffling on her feet.

"Wanna sit?" She asks gesturing to the bed.

"Sure," I say. We sit down and look at her closed sketchbook.

"What were you drawing?" I ask her. She grabs her sketchbook opening it to the page.

"A rose. They are my favorites," she says nonchalantly. It's so detailed and beautiful.

"That's really good," I say grabbing the sketchbook from her to get a better look.

"Thanks," she says. I look at her and see she is looking at me.

"They were my sisters favorite too," I say. I look at her and see she is looking at me.

"Emilia?"

"Yeah?" I hesitate before speaking, wondering if it's a good idea to ask.

"Can you tell me what happened at school today?" I say. I won't make the same mistakes again. I will help no matter what.

"U-Uh," She pauses like she doesn't know what to say. She looks like she is having a battle in her head.

"Emilia?" I say again.

"Yeah? Oh sorry," She says fiddling with her fingers.

"Makenna, she accidentally saw my...arms...and she threatened to tell everyone i-if I continued to...hang out with you," She mumbles at the end. Anger grows in me at Makenna's stupid threat.

"I-I don't want everyone to know. It's embarrassing. They will think I'm a pathetic loser," She says looking down at her hands and biting her lips. She does that when she is nervous. I'm getting slightly angry and upset about the way she is talking about herself.

I gently grab her arms pulling up the sleeves looking at the stitched up cuts. She instantly looks away tears forming in her eyes. I bring her wrist up and press my lips to them lightly. She looks back at me.

"Emilia, don't say that about yourself. These don't show weakness they show strength. You are not a pathetic loser. Who cares what they say? The people who care about you are here for you. I'm here for you," I say looking into her eyes, trying to show how sincere I am.

Tears fall down her face. I grab the sides of her face wiping the tears away with the pads of my thumb.

"I wish I could take away the pain you are feeling Emilia," I whisper to her before leaning in and connecting my lips to hers.