Yesterday Liam and I had spent it together hanging out. It felt like the really old days, when Mom and Dad were still together and we were still a happy family. Not the broken one we are now. Today we were already at school half way through the day, waiting for the right time to escape. Tonight was the Fall Ball and Liam had promised me he’d take me to go get my nails done and have me home in enough time so I could do my hair and makeup. We had planned to skip during last hour, and we were only in seventh hour, so we still had one class two classes to go before heading out. I was in Biology, going over our data and notes with Justin since the frog lab was a three day lab.

“I think that none of this matters because all we have is a dead, smelly frog, and gross, slimy guts everywhere,” Justin argued. He poked at the frog with his pencil before pushing it away towards me.

“Doesn’t matter that it’s dead. All we have left to do is label everything and we’ll be done. Then you can go throw it away.”

“Me? No way!” he argued. On the Brightside, we were talking again and I didn’t feel angry anymore, on the dark side, it still didn’t feel right, but it was a start. “So..”

“So, what?” I asked as I continued to look through our notes and get my half of the work done.

“Are you still coming tonight?” he asked slowly and silently. We both stopped what we were doing and stood there in silence. I didn’t turn to face him, but I could tell from the corner of my eye that he was looking down, also avoiding eye contact.

“I-um, yeah..” I answered carefully, “Oli asked me to be his date…” I trailed off.

“Oh, cool, cool,” he said awkwardly, “You guys been spending a lotta time together lately?” he asked, although it was meant to be more of a statement.

“We’ve been hanging out here and there, mostly just doing shopping and sleepovers so I can help him with his music.” He shot his head up in amazement and confusion.

“You’re helping him with his songs?” he questioned.

“Not entirely… He asked me to be his muse, so I figure why not,” I answered, picking my pencil back up and continuing. He didn’t say anything after that and continued his work, too. It wasn’t until maybe four to five minutes before class was over that he broke the silence.

“Well, uh, heh,” he chuckled, “ Willow and I broke up two nights ago,” he sighed. My head shot up in disbelief. “Um, y’kno, it just wasn’t gonna work out, so um, save me a dance, will you?” He picked up his things and began to pack his backpack.

I nodded, “yeah, okay.” The bell rang and I headed to Math. I had Math with Kellin, Jack, and Willow. When I walked in she turned to me and glared before going back to some discussion with her friends. The guys were in the back of the classroom laughing and making jokes so I went to join them.

“There you are, Shrek!” Jack laughed. He had nicknamed me Shrek because my name belonged to the girl the ogre was in love with in the movie, and he could never remember my name when we had first met. “Did you hear??” he asked raising his eyebrows a few times and motioning me to look towards Willow with his eyes.

“Yeah, uh, Justin told me about it ten minutes ago. What happened?” I asked taking a seat beside Kellin and in front of Jack.

“They started arguing after you left the party the other night and it just went downhill from there. They excused themselves from the party and later that night we all got the text, we figured maybe Justin would tell you what happened, since you guys are best friends and all,” Kellin explained. I sighed. I felt even worse now, and although I knew I had nothing to do with it, it had something to do with me and Willow had every right to glare at me.

“Yeah, uh, we aren’t really on very good speaking terms right now, so uh, we didn’t really talk about it,” I answered awkwardly. I bit my lip and turned away from the guys and focused on my desk. Our teacher walked in and told us to open our textbooks. For the rest of class we took notes on Proofs in Geometry, and working out problems.

When class was over, I bolted up and headed out the door first. I felt uneasy and I just wanted to get out. Seventh hour was finally here and this meant Liam and I were dipping. I met him in the courtyard and we snuck out through the forbidden hallway. Liam had made sure to park the car on the other side of the woods, and as long as we walked in a straight line, we would have no problem finding it.

“How was your day?” He asked as he took my messenger bag and carried it for me.

“It was fine, I guess. Willow and Justin broke up, uh, he told me during Bio.”

“Oh, wow, so everything’s back to normal then?

“No, not really. I mean, I feel bad that this happened, but he still lied, and that’s what started this whole mess.”

“So are you gonna go after him already?” he asked and looked at me. We stopped walking and just stared at each other for a few moments. “I mean, isn’t that what you want? To be more than friends?”

“What? No way!” I panicked, “I mean, we used to talk about it when we were younger.. And uh, as you know, we were each other’s firsts, but that was just because we wanted to give it away to someone special. We didn’t want to date because it could ruin us,” I explained.

“You’re already ruined, so why not now?” he asked and continued walking.

“Because we don’t feel the same way,” I sighed, “besides, he just got out of a relationship and I was thinking maybe Oli and I could get somewhere.”

“Oli? Really?” We got in the car and headed to the nail salon. I had explained to him that the last few days I had spent with Oliver had been really nice and that I thought there might be something there. It was a lie. Not only to him, but to myself. I was trying to make myself like Oli on a more intimate and personal level, just so I could escape the reality that was my life at the moment. After I finished explaining, he said nothing. Another awkward and silent car ride to add to my list for the week.