Jake was distant, but that was okay because I am too. Jake has a cut lip, and a bruised nose, I want to heal his cuts like he healed mine, too bad I have no idea whatsoever how to do that.I haven't talked to Brandon or Jake in the last week.

Except when Brandon tried coming up to me, it was during lunch, he walked up to my and grabbed my hand, I looked up at him, his lips was swollen and cut, and his right eye lid was puffed, he said (and I quote) "Bethany, I'm so sorry, I never should have fought Jake, I knew he was your friend, I just got angry, and kind of...well jealous. That's not an excuse, it's just my reason. Please forgive me, I miss you" he said that two days ago.

It's not that I'm mad, because I'm not, I'm just guilty. I did something so much worse than he did and yet he's apologizing. I feel like I kind of needed a reason to be mad at him, so that I could feel better about what I did, but It didn't make me feel better, it made me feel worse.

I pulled my hand gently away and said "I'll talk to you later" before walking off. But today, I decided he didn't deserve to be treated like this. Plus prom is in a week, I didn't want to totally bail on him, I told him I'd go, so I'm going.

I see Jake in the hall, making out with Cassandra, ignore them. I tell myself and keep walking. There, I see him, he's talking to a group of people. I zone in on him to listen to his mind.

Keep acting cool. Keep talking, smiling, and making jokes...why do they have to be so annoying?

I furrow my eyebrows as I look at Brandon laughing, he was a really good actor apparently. But why would he need to act? He hangs out with people he thinks is annoying just to be popular? How pathetic.

I lose a little bit of my respect for him. Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders back and walk forward confidently. "Hey Brandon, can I talk to you for a sec?" I ask. The whole group watches me

That's the (not so nice word) that flirted with that other guy and broke up with Brandy after he beat up the guy. Slut.

An annoyed looking red head thinks as she stares at me with anger. I just notice that her hand is on his arm. Brandon's face lights up "yeah, of course" he says smiling down at me "see you guys later" he tells his group as he lets me pull him along to a area is the halls where nobody is. "Brandon, I overreacted. Jake was pushing your buttons, and he started it. Still wanna date me?" I ask. He doesn't even hesitate "of course I do babe" he says bending down and giving me a hungry kiss. People around us whistle "get a room" I hear along with "get it Brandon!" And things similar to that.

Dumb little slut.

Geez horny little teens

They're so adorable together.

Getting the hottie with a body! Nice Brandon

Stupid girl can't even make up her mind. She doesn't deserve Brandy.

Why would he like a nobody like her?

I try my best to ignore these thoughts that the people are thinking though I'm having a hard time.

Brandon pulls away and I smile up at him. The bell rings and we leave for class "didn't that hurt your lip?" I ask referring to the fact that his lip is cut and bruised. "I don't mind it" he says kissing my hand. I lean my head onto his shoulder.

Maybe this day won't be so bad.

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Guess what happened? The day went perfectly just as I had predicted.

Not.

I swear my life is so cliche. I think maybe this day will be a good one, and a few hours later it all goes downhill. Screw my life ugh.

Okay I guess I should explain.

Abigail, Tessa, Chloe, Ally, and I are all on our way over to dance. "So yeah, we kind of just started making out" I tell them reliving the moment in the halls. "Get it girl!" Abi yells. Chloe just giggles. Tessa nods, smiling. And Ally is texting away on her phone, talking to everyone about it I'm sure.

We get through dance practice, I dance with no mess ups as usual, and then it's time to leave. I stay after so I can keep dancing without having to follow the routine, I do this often. My friends say goodbye, Abi asks if I want her to stay with me but she already knows the answer is no. At first Mrs Danica stays for thirty minutes but then says she has to go home and take care of her daughter. I don't leave though, I keep dancing alone.

I move around the whole studio, no hesitation in my moves. For the first time in days I'm not worried. I don't feel guilty about what happened, I'm not angry at Jake for the conversation I overheard, I'm not even scared about Slyder, nothing matters, I'm just moving anyway I feel.

After about and hour or so, I run over to my bag and gulp down the rest of my water, then I head off to the showers. When I get in the water is only now just heating up after the girls took all the hot water. As the water pours down on me I start humming Angie Baby-Helen Reddy.

Showers always take forever because of my thick, long (down to my hips) hair. Let me tell you, cleaning this hair is not easy and it's definitely not quick.

After a good long shower, I step out and wrap a towel around me. As I'm gathering my clothes to change into, I hear something behind me, I quickly whip my head around, but there's nobody there. I'm all alone in a locker room/shower room/bathroom, and it's dimly lit. I swear this is the most cliche place to get hurt and I'm just now scared. There's something wrong with my brain.

I stand up straight with my clothes in my hands. It was only your imagination. I say over and over again in my head. Just then I see something move out of the corner of my eye, when I spin around, I see something move behind the lockers so fast I'm almost convinced I didn't see it. "H-hello?" I call out "yeah hey, I'm just a creepy guy watching you change, by the way, I'm going to kill you" the dark figure says coming out of the shadows.

Not.

Of course there's no answer. I slowly creep around to where I saw the dark figure run "s-show yourself" I stutter my body shaking with fear. I quickly jump out so that I can see the creep, but there's nobody there. That's impossible, I just saw him walk over here. I walk over to the sinks to get far away from the person. I close my eyes and concentrate on reading a mind. The thing is there's no mind to read. (I can read the mind of only somebody in the room. Outside the room I can hear thoughts but they're muffled and I can't understand them, just like when somebody's talking in a different room.) So it was my imagination? I open my eyes I look around the room, goosebumps are all over my bare legs and arms, my heart is beating wildly, and adrenaline is going wild in my body. The lights start flickering quickly. I spin back around to the mirror. Suddenly the lights turn off. My breath catches in my throat.

Run to the door

The thought is in my head but I don't know what to do with it, I can't see the door. The lights flicker on and I see a dark figure run across the room lightning fast. And that's it. I leap forward and grab my bag, spin and make a run for it. I don't hesitate I just run. I swing the door open, expecting any minute from now for the hand of the dark figure to grab me and pull me back, I start running once I'm in the halls. I look behind me, the door shuts, nobody follows.

Just then I smash straight into somebody. I start screaming as I punch and scratch at the person, too scared to open my eyes and see who the dark figure belongs to.

Two big hands grab me around the wrist, I fling my arms around as much as possible. "Princess" At the sound of the soft, slightly raspy voice I stop flinging my arms around and open my eyes to see Jake watching me with concern. "Princess, what's wrong?" Jake asks as he wipes the tears off my wet face. Tears? I hadn't even noticed I'd been crying.

"It was so scary, I thought I was alone, but I wasn't" I say taking deep breaths as I try to calm my racing heart. "What do you mean? What happened?" He asks. "Well I stayed after to dance, everyone left, and then I was taking a shower-" I stop talking as I look down at my body, covered by a towel that only barely covered my private areas. I feel my cheeks burn so much it actually hurts. I look up at Jake to see he still hasn't even noticed my clothes, or lack there of. Instead his concerned eyes are staring into mine.

"Princess-" he starts to say but stops and instead pulls me into a hug. This hug, I don't even know how to put it into words. It's magical. It's like fear doesn't even exist, I can't even remember why I was so scared. At the moment nothing matters, his big strong arms wrap around me making me feel safer than I ever have before. I feel my whole body relax. It's such a simple thing yet it takes every pain and worry away. I breathe in through my nose so that I can smell that beautiful peppermint and orange smell I've come to rely on.

I'm about to tell him what happened, when suddenly the conversation I overheard pops into my mind. The conversation where Jake said that being there for me, acting flirty, being kind, was all just an act to make me trust him. And look, it was working.

I shove Jake off me as hard as I can, in surprise he takes three or four steps back. "Don't touch me and don't talk to me ever again" I yell at him. He looks confused maybe even...hurt? But then realization sets in "is this about your little boyfriend?" He asks smirking slightly. I give him a look that I'm sure could kill "screw you" I growl before spinning around and running away from him "Princess" Jake yells but I ignore him.

No more Jake, I remind myself.

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