☆ Hey Guys! Sorry about the delay in updating, I've been having a busy summer spending time with my friends and going outdoors! Thanks for all of the reads and support on this book, love y'all

I wake up feeling someone run their fingers through my hair. I just enjoy the feeling of it knowing exactly who was doing it. I open my eyes and feel a bit shocked to see me laying on Sasha's chest. She just smiles a bit and leans down to kiss my forehead.

"Sorry." I mumble, trying to move off of her. I don't even know what possessed me to lay on her like this.

"It's alright." She whispers, holding my shoulders. "I don't mind."

I felt pathetic for even liking it, I wanted Sasha to feel safe with me, not have her look after me. She just smiles and gives me a knowing look.

"Nathan there's nothing wrong with this." She says quietly. "I like being there for you when you need me. I like the fact that you want to lay like this with me, and that you trust me."

I felt so vulnerable with Sasha, she was the only person who saw my weak side. The side where I'd cry or show my real feelings.

"I can't believe I slept on top of you all night." I mutter and she giggles.

"Well we came back here last night and after we got ready for bed you looked really tired. I knew you'd had a few really busy days and you looked sort of sad. So I told you to come over and lay with me. I'm pretty sure you fell asleep on the way down, you ended up on top of me and you were out like a light." She says and I furrow my eyebrows not remembering it. I must have been pretty tired.

"Shit." I mumble and she laughs.

"What is it?" She asks and I shake my head.

"Well you wanted to....do something last night and-"

"Don't worry about it." She whispers. "I really don't mind, it was nice to drift off to sleep like this."

"I'm also sorry about the stuff at the party last night. I didn't think Sabrina and Jake were coming, otherwise I never would have put you in that situation." I tell her and she smiles.

"It's alright, it wasn't your fault." She says and then laughs a bit. "I can't believe Mel told everyone about her having sex under the bleachers just so Sabrina would back-off." I laugh a bit at that myself.

"I think Sabrina's in for a reality check, sooner or later someone's going to give her what she deserves." I say and she nods, running her thumb over my cheekbone.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, laying with Sasha like this was completely amazing. I really did like the affectionate gestures like her running her fingers through my hair. Maybe I fell asleep like this because it was the most comfortable.

"You know, I had fun last night." She admits and I smile. "It was really fun for a long time. Thank you for bringing me."

"I'm glad you were there." I tell her, moving up next to her instead. "There's nothing I love more than telling people we're together."

"Really?" She asks and I nod. "I tell too many people, that's probably because you're a little out of my league." She says and I laugh, leaning my forehead on hers.

"Are you kidding?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Sasha you're so.....god you're perfect." I tell her and her eyes dart away as her cheeks turn pink. "I'm serious."

"Stop!" She whines and I laugh. "Nathan I can never take your sweet, but incredibly mushy comments." I laugh a bit and pull her close, letting my hand run over her waist and feeling the silk slip under my palm.

"So big day, you've made new friends, you're the national figure skating champ and I've won my hockey tournament." I say and she nods.

"This is the first day I feel like getting out of bed in weeks." She says and I smile. That made me really happy, I knew Sasha had been really worn out for a long time and everything that happened last week almost shattered her into a thousand tiny pieces.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that." I tell her and she smiles.

Before she can say anything else her phone starts going off. She sits up and presses a button shutting it off and then tosses it back on her nightstand.

"Who was it?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"No, it wasn't a phone call. It was an alarm to make sure we actually had enough time to get ready." She whispers, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

I suddenly remember last week how the two of us rushed around trying to get ready on time. To top it off her mom found me in her closet and we barely made it to first period.

"You're so smart." I mumble and she laughs, standing up and going into the washroom. I smile and get up, following her.

This time I actually had my toiletries with me, I didn't have to 'make do'. I watch as she starts to brush her teeth and I join her. She just laughs and gives me a shove making me smile. I then let her have the bathroom, knowing the hair and skin routine Sasha went through every single morning. It seemed excessive but I wouldn't dare tell her that, it always boggled my mind that the girl who claimed she wasn't attractive had such an over-the-top beauty routine.

"Okay." I hear her say a while later and I drop my phone. "You can have the bathroom, I'll just change while you take care of your morning routine." I smile seeing her usually straight hair fall in loose curls around her face. Her make up was immaculate, the way it usually was. It just brought out her natural features, none of it hid her away.

"You're so pretty." I tell her and she smiles as her cheeks turn red.

"T-thanks." She stutters and hurries into her closet.

I just shake my head and take my turn in the bathroom, doing my quick routine. I finish and head back to her room, seeing she's still in her closet. What I don't expect to see is Sasha, only dressed in her underwear, looking through her clothes.

"What are you looking for?" I ask and she whips her head around, instantly drawing her hand over her chest.

"Well I-I don't.....I don't know yet." She says and I laugh a bit. "I'll be out in a second, just....wait."

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, no matter how intimate the two of us got she still seemed to get worked up when I could see her naked. She pushes up onto her toes and reaches for a hanger on the top rack. She's just a bit too short and can't quite get her hand around it.

Without thinking I grab it and give it to her. "Here." She nods a bit and takes it appreciatively.

"Thanks Nathan." She says and opens a drawer finding a few other articles of clothing.

I decide to give her some space to get changed, I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. I pull on my own clothes and get my things together.

"You can leave that stuff here if you want. I'll wash it with my clothes and then you won't need to bring new things every time." She says and I smile, seeing her outfit for the day. I swear Sasha could wear a burlap sack and she'd pull it off.

"Are you sure?" I ask and she nods.

"Totally sure." She says, walking over and looping her arms around my waist. I smile and lean down to give her a quick kiss.

"Come on, let's get going. I need to get my books from home before school." I say and she nods.

Together the two of us head downstairs and she goes to the kitchen, popping her usual two pieces of bread into the toaster. She then goes to the fridge and gets a container of something, shoving it into her backpack.

Afterwards we head outside, she slows down though, looking incredibly confused. Then I see why, neither of her parents' cars are in the driveway.

"I wonder where they went, they're usually here when I leave for school." She says and I shrug.

"Early business meetings?" I suggest.

"No clue." She sighs. "Well let's go, I'm sure it's nothing."

After making a brief stop by my house we arrive at school. Today everyone's comments to Sasha were about her performance this weekend. It wasn't often that a high school student won a national competition and word spreads fast.

Sasha seemed thankful that everyone was congratulating her, but also appeared uncomfortable. I knew she wasn't great at taking compliments so I'm sure to be constantly acknowledged was making her head spin. It was also ridiculous that half of those people were the same ones who'd been harassing her just last week. People really seemed to flock to wherever was the most stable.

We sit down in our first class and she raises her eyebrows to me, making me laugh. I found that she and I didn't even need to say things half the time, we just understood what the other one was trying to say.

I'm not sure what we talked about at the beginning of class today, all I did was stare at Sasha. It was probably good this was our only shared class. I was constantly drawn in, I always smiled when I caught a glimpse of her, the only thing that was better was when she'd catch me. Then we'd share the same guilty smile.

My daydream is broken when I hear a phone ringing, I watch as our teacher walks over to her desk phone and picks it up.

"Hello?.......Certainly. I'll send them right down." She says, and hangs the phone up. "Sabrina Carmichael, Nathan Carter and Sasha Petrov? Your principal would like to see you."

I felt a bit shocked by that but stood up hoping it had something to do with Sabrina's flyers last week. She needed to be taught a lesson and I was praying she'd be suspended.

I took Sasha's hand and watched as Sabrina walked out in front of us, going down the hall faster. Once we'd reached the main office we were shown to a boardroom. Inside I was almost overwhelmed. Inside were Sasha's parents, my parents, Sabrina's parents, Jake's dad, three men I didn't recognize and the principal. Jake was already seated inside and Sabrina took the seat next to him.

I knew what this was about instantly. Now it suddenly made sense why neither of Sasha's parents were home this morning, they were here.

"Alright." Principal Barnes says closing the door to the office. "I'm sure everyone knows why we're here this morning?"

"Well I personally don't." Sabrina chimes in and her parents scowl.

"Mister Barnes, I'm sure this can all be sorted out very quickly and we won't have to keep these children from class much longer. I'm certain whatever it is, Sabrina took no part in it." Sabrina's father says and I give Sasha's hand a squeeze. Her father was the top attorney in the state, he didn't take kindly to anyone pointing the finger at her.

"I understand that Mister Carmichael, but I'm afraid this matter is more serious than that." Principal Barnes says. "Originally, we weren't sure how to deal with this matter but Miss Petrov's parents have been in contact with the police and another attorney. With their findings they then contacted myself, and the superintendent, Mister Garcia. This matter is quite serious so he will be the one conducting this meeting." He says and gestures for Mister Garcia to start, sitting in the chair next to him.

"Yes, thank you." He says opening up a folder on his desk. I couldn't imagine how terrified I'd be if I was on the other side of this. I felt terrified now sitting across the table from Sabrina's parents. I hadn't seen them since I dumped her and they were giving me the dirtiest look possible.

Jake's father looked angry and incredibly disinterested, he was often too busy to spend any time worrying about Jake. His mom had died when he was quite young so it was just him and his father from then on. I used to feel bad for him, knowing the reason he was acting out. Now I just didn't care, he'd done too many things to me.

"Today we'll be discussing the incident that occurred last week in the main lobby." Mister Garcia continues. "Misinformation was delivered to the student body via flyers and banners running over the television screens. Most of the things said are incredibly hurtful and detrimental to Miss Petrov." I watch as all the eyes around the table now stare at Sasha and she swallows harshly, but holds her ground.

"At first we weren't sure who had done something like this, it seemed excessive and overly aggressive. Miss Petrov's parents are quite upset about this and quite frankly so am I, our school board has zero tolerance for bullying or anything of this nature."

"I'm not sure what that has to do with Sabrina." Her mother chimes in. "She's an exemplary student here and holds a standing in multiple clubs at this school."

"Well after an investigation had been done we determined it was Miss Carmichael and Mister McMaster who were at the centre of it. Not only did Mister Carter and Miss Petrov name them as the people behind this, but upon asking other students they seemed to share the same suspicion." Mister Garcia fires back and Jake's dad sits up from his reclined position.

"I hope your not making this accusation based solely on rumours kids believe at school-"

"I can assure you Mister McMaster, believing rumours is the reason we're all here today." Mister Garcia interrupts and he sighs, leaning back in his chair again. "As I was saying, the reason we were having a hard time finding out who did this was because the school's security cameras were hacked. Luckily we were able to trace the IP address, we found it linked to your son's computer." Immediately Jake's face changes, he goes pale and his father glares at him. "I'll let sergeant Blake take it from here."

The second man I don't recognize stands up and opens a file on the table in front of him. He clears his throat and flips the pages before stopping on a certain one.

"This is a very serious matter so we've made sure to look into it carefully. We of course traced the computer back to yourself, Mister McMaster." He says, shuffling a police report over for Jake to see. "But based on the interviews we've conducted with various other students, they don't believe you were the mastermind. They actually didn't believe you were involved and it was primarily the work of Miss Carmichael."

"That's ridiculous." Sabrina spits from across the table. "I had nothing to do with this, why would I go after Sasha?" I feel Sasha squeeze my hand so tightly I temporarily lose feeling in it. "I didn't have anything to do with this, now, can I please be excused?"

"If you're so innocent Miss Carmichael, care to explain how over five hundred copies of these horrific flyers were made using your father's credit card?" Sergeant Blake asks and her eyes widen. She quickly tries to cover it with a smile but she clears her throat again.

"I have no idea what you mean." She says quietly. "I did no such thing."

"Mister Carmichael, could you please take a look at this transaction information for me?" He asks, sliding the paper over the table and he clears his throat. "Whatever you identify or not doesn't matter, we know your children are at the centre of this."

"What did you do?" Jakes dad hisses, shaking his head.

"Sabrina, this card is for.....why would you do something like this?" Sabrina's mother scolds.

"It was just a joke, it's harmless." She says in response and Sasha, huffs.

"Can I say something?" She blurts out and the shuffling of papers and mumbles goes silent.

All eyes were on her and I could feel the air fill with tension, Sasha was on a mission and I could see the anger written all over her face. Watch out Sabrina.