It's my first day back at school. I'm really nervous, Christine told me that I'm the talk of the school. That's the last thing I want.

I'm dressed in some maroon leggings and one of Masons black hoodies. My boot on one leg and my nike sneaker on the other.

"You ready to go Le?" Mason asks, causing me to nod, smiling.

"Yeah, I think so" I grab my bag, placing it on my shoulder, careful not to touch my side.

"Here, give me that" Mason gently takes it off, slinging it over his other shoulder with ease.

"I need your workout routine" I huff, slowly making my way downstairs.

"Here Leah, have a good day" Tara says, handing me some eggs and sausage on a plate. She kisses my cheek and Mason and I head out to the car that Ellie is sitting in.

"We need to pick Brooks up too. Leah, sit up front" She smiles, causing me to nod.

I sit in the car, not wanting to go to school anymore. I don't like attention. It makes me nervous and extremely anxious.

"You're okay" Mason whispers in my ear, plugging his phone into the radio.

We soon pull into Brooks' driveway. He says his hellos and we finish the drive to school.

"Guys, I'm nervous" I say, throwing my head back.

"Don't be. You have Mason and I on your side" Brooks says hitting Masons chest.

"And, Tim really likes you. I can get the rest of the guys too. You'll be fine Le. Don't worry about it, ignore all the stares" Mason kisses my cheek as we pull up to the school.

We grab our bags, everyone gets out of the car except me. I take a couple deep breaths, looking at Mason. He has a small smile on his face, his arm stretched out. I gently take it, standing up.

"Here, I can take my bag" I say, looking down.

"It's okay, lets go" He kisses me softly, grabbing my good hand.

"Leah, hey. How are you?" Christine asks, smiling at me.

"I'm okay" I say, ignoring peoples stares.

'She's back? I thought she was in the hospital'

'Did you hear about her parents? I feel bad'

'Did you see them kiss? I cant believe it'

I shut my eyes, trying to block it all out. Mason squeezes my hand gently, leading me into the school.

"Hey Leah. Do you need help with anything? Getting to class?" A random girl comes up to me. "Oh, no. But thank you" I give her a small smile, putting my locker combination in.

"I don't want this pity Mas" I sigh, leaning against my locker.

"It will go away soon Le" He gives me a small smile.

"Hey man, How are you? Leah, you're back. How are you feeling?" Tim says, coming up to us. He gives me a gentle hug.

"Yeah, I am. Embarrassed, nervous, panicky, annoyed and much more" I laugh grabbing my books needed for my first class.

"The stares and rumors? Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I tried to stop them but people are so annoying" He rolls his eyes. "If anyone gives you a problem though, just let us know" He says and I nod, giving him a gracious smile.

"Thanks Tim. We gotta go to class now though. See you later?" Mason says, grabbing my hand.

When we get to my class I wrap Mason in a hug. "Thank you" I mumble, ignoring the pain in my side. "Of course" He kisses my cheek and heading to his class which is a few classrooms down.

I sit down in my seat, ignoring the stares.

"Leah, can I speak with you?" Mrs. Steven says. I nod, walking up to her desk. "If at any moment you need to leave don't hesitate. Here's the work you missed, email me if you want me to explain it to you, I think you'll catch up easily. And if you ever need anything or to talk to anyone, I'm here" She says, handing me my stuff. "Thank you, I'll remember that" I smile.

I walk back to my seat, not being able to ignore all the whispers. My chest tightens, getting that warm feeling.

Not right now. Not right now.

I close my eyes, trying to even my breathing but it just gets worse.

Slowly I get out of my seat and stumble out of the classroom, searching for the bathroom.

Attention, theres too much of it. I can't do it.

I find the bathroom, struggling to open the door with my shaky hands. "Come on" I whisper, giving up.

The tears start threatening to spill and I search for my phone, not being able to open it because of my blurred vision and shaky hands.

"Leah, what? Oh my gosh. Are you okay" A girl I recognize as one of Ellie's cheer friends looks at me.

I shake my head, unable to speak. Whats wrong with me?

"I, I don't know what to do" She says, staring at me.

"Get Mason" I choke out, desperately searching for air.

She nods, running back to our classroom. Soon I hear a door slam and see Mason rushing over to me.

"Leah, whats wrong?" Mason says, squatting next to me.

I shake my head, my breathing getting shorter by the second.

"Okay, okay, look at me. Deep breath in. Do it with me. In" He says, holding my hands. "And out" He instructs. "Keep doing that. Let's get her up" Mason says to the girl. She nods, grabbing my arm as Mason wraps his arm around my waist, hoisting me up.

"I got it from here. Thank you" He rushes, picking me up bridal style.

He runs down the stairs. Where are we going?

Next thing I know we are in Scarlets office. "Scar, I need the room. Now" Mason rushes. She nods, understanding exactly whats going on. Quickly, she opens the door for us.

He places me on the bed, eyes scanning my face. "Drink some water" He says, wiping my soaking wet face from my tears.

I force the water down, no longer shaking.

Clenching my eyes shut, I even out my breathing, slowly but surely.

"I-I'm okay" I stutter out, almost completely better.

"Holy shįt Leah" Mason says, letting out a huge breath.

"I'm really sorry. I tried to control it but I just couldn't. And then she saw me so I said the first thing that came to my mind. I wanted to see you because you always calm me. But I didn't want to worry you or get you involved" I start rambling, a small smile on Masons face. "What?" I ask confused.

"You're cute when you ramble" He chuckles, laying down next to me.

"What do you say we ditch?" He says, looking over at me.

"I cant, I've missed too much already" I say standing up.

"Leahh, come on" Mason whines, staring up at me. "Not happening, sorry" I say stretching.

"Come on, lets go back to class" I say holding my arm out to him.

He groans, taking my hand. "Thank you Scar" Mason smiles, kissing her on the cheek. "Of course, let me know if you guys need anything else" She says, hugging me.

"So, what are we doing today?" I ask Mason. "What do you mean?" He asks, looking up at me.

"I wanna do something Mas. Just sitting around is so boring sometimes" I whine, taking my lip in between my teeth.

"Its just, I don't want the pity, or the rumors, I want these stupid casts off, to be able to breathe and walk five steps without being in pain. Its bullshįt" I huff, mumbling the last part.

"Leah, I'm so sorry. I truly am. You don't deserve any of it, I wish I could take this pain away from you. But we have the doctors Monday and after that, hopefully everything will be almost healed and we can do so much more" He smiles, grabbing my hands.

"But thats the problem, I'm dragging you down and I hate that more than anything. Because of me you barely go to parties and you can't play hockey. Its the beginning of your last season and you can't play all because of me" I throw my head back, frustrated.

"That means nothing to me Le. You're most important. Now, please. Shut your adorable little mouth so you can stop putting yourself down and hurting yourself more" Mason says kissing me, gently.

"Text me if you need me. Meet me at your locker before lunch. Love you" He whispers, kissing me on the cheek.

I blush at the fact that just him whispering makes my legs shaky.

He smirks, seeing his affect on me. I shake my head, walking into my classroom.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Stevens" I walk up to her. "No worries Leah. I know you are a good student. A terrible thing happened and you are bound to be upset about it. Are you okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm better now. Sorry, I don't like all the rumors and things being whispered. What are we working on?" I clear my throat.

"I'll talk to your classmates about that shortly. Workbook pages 10-20. But catch up on the work first so you aren't confused" She says, causing me to nod.

"And Leah?" She says, I hum in response. "Would you like to go to the library? There's usually not a lot of people in there at this period" She smiles. "Thank you so much" I let out a breath of air, grabbing the pass and my bag.

"Class, I would like to talk to you-" Mrs. Stevens voice booms as the classroom door closes.

I quickly make my way to the library. I have 40 minutes of first period left. Today is crawling. I only have three classes today, 5 if counting my lunch and free period.

I sigh, handing Ms. M my pass. Finding a seat wasn't hard. I took the one close to the window.

Laying my head on the table, trying to rid my migraine. I hesitantly open up the book, finding my makeup work.

The period went by fast. I'm halfway done with my work, thankfully. I pack everything up in my bag and make my way to third period. No, I didn't skip second. My schedule changes everyday. One day I'll have all odd periods and the next I'll have all even periods. Todays my odd day.

This is my schedule

Period 1- AP English- Mrs. Stevens

Period 2- PE- Mr. Matthew

Period 3- AP Psychology- Mr. John

Period 4- Spanish- Ms. Garcia

Period 5- Lunch- No teacher

Period 6- Math- Mr. Murphy

Period 7- Free- No teacher

Period 8- AP World Studies- Mr. Avery

Period 9- AP Science- Mrs. Amherst

I make my way into psych, my absolute favorite class.

"Hey Leah. How are you? Can I talk to you quickly. Fill you in on what you missed?" Mr. John says as I walk in. I nod, walking over to his desk.

"If you need anything I'm here. We didn't do much while you were gone. Watched a movie a lot of the time. Heres what you missed. Take all the time you need" He smiles. "Thank you so much for understanding" I say taking the work and walking back to my seat.

Psychology goes by so fast every time. I quickly exit the room and go to my locker. Masons leaning against it while talking to his friends. I slowly walk over to the locker, not wanting to intrude.

Mason and I lock eye contact and he grabs my books from my hands, placing them in my locker. He grabs my AP World stuff, placing it in my bag. "Need anything else?" He smiles. "Yes, the purple folder please. It has all the psych work I missed" I blush at all the stares on me.

"Hey Leah, feel better" A guy wearing a backwards hat says. He's holding his bag on his shoulder. "Yeah, if you need anything just let Mason know" Another one says. I look at Mason, confused. He just shrugs. "Yeah, thanks guys" I smile, sadly.

Mason gently grabs my bag from off my back, placing it on his free shoulder. "Bye guys, see you at practice" Mason waves, ushering me to his car.

"Where are we going?" I yawn. "Subway, just getting some real lunch" He smiles, pulling out of the schools parking lot.

Subway is very close to our school so it took almost 5 minutes. "Hey man" Mason says to the guy at the counter. He quickly orders for the both of us and we grab drinks.

"Want to eat it at school or here?" He asks. "We can eat at school" I say, looking into Masons eyes.

"I don't want you to be uncomfortable" He says, brushing some hair from my face. "I won't. I want to see my friends" I say causing Mason to nod.

We quickly go back to the school, walking into the lunch room. I wrap my arms around myself, uncomfortable stares all over me. "Come here" Mason whispers intertwining our hands. This causes more stares. Mason smirks, bringing our hands up to his mouth and leaving a soft kiss on my hand. Gasps erupt causing me to blush and Mason to chuckle.

"You guys are so cute" One of the cheerleaders at the table next to us smiles when we sit down. "Where did you guys go?" Ellie asks, placing some salad in her mouth.

"Subway" Mason smiles, putting his arm around my waist, pulling me closer towards him. "Mas" I laugh causing him to shrug.

"You should invite Tim and some other guys on your team to sit here with us. We have six people here" I laugh. At our table its me, Mason, Brooks, Ellie, Christine and the guy in the baseball hat. I'm pretty sure his name is Aiden. We can fit at least four more.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to go invite Tim and his girlfriend? I'll get the rest of the guys later" He says after he chews his food.

"Yeah, I'll be back" I kiss his cheek, walking over to where Tim and his girlfriend are sitting. "Hey guys" I smile. "Tim?" She questions. "Hey Leah, um, this is Daniella, my girlfriend. Dani, this is Leah, Masons girlfriend" He says, introducing us.

"Hey Daniella, nice to meet you. I just wanted to see if you two wanted to sit with us. We have room at our table and would love to have you there" I smile causing Daniella to smile.

"We would love to. And, my friends call me Dani" She smiles getting up with Tim.

We walk over to the table and they sit down. Mason introduces them and everyone and we all continue talking in quiet conversation.

Soon enough the bell rings and we all sluggishly make our way to our next period. "Okay Le, text me if you need anything" Mason hugs me, walking off to his class.

I walk into the library, finding a nice quiet corner. I'm wiped out. I grab my books out of my bag and finish psych within a couple minutes. There was a very little amount of work and it was easy.

Grabbing my psych folder I bring it to my locker, getting my English book and putting away the work. Hopefully I can finish most, if not all of this.

"Hey, pity princess" A voice booms next to me.

No, not right now.

Word count: 2674

~Leah