"Tell it again, Tell it again!" Gwen taps Mia repeatedly on the shoulder. Mia slightly shakes her head. "Gwen, I've told you five times." Mia turns to her. Gwen smiles, "Yeah, but...come on, you dumped Brett Thomas!" Gwen laughs. "That'll show his ass!"

Mia couldn't help but grin. Gwen being excited about Mia having the guts to dump the 'Brett Thomas' makes her self esteem rise. "W-why are you so happy about this?" She asks with pulled brows. "You were the one that wanted me to try and get over Clay by getting under Brett--Which is very disgusting." The brunette grimaces.

"That was until I found out Brett could be that much of a dick." Gwen defends herself. "But he is hot."

Mia rolls her eyes, "In all honesty...he wasn't really my cup of tea anyway." She shrugs.

"Yeah, nice guys are your thing." Gwen mocks her.

Mia lightly shoves Gwen into the lockers. Gwen laughs, she runs and catches up to her friend.

"Y'know...I would've never thought I would end up being friends with 'popular girl turned outcast' Mia Walker!" Gwen throws an arm around Mia's shoulder. The brunette rolls her eyes, a smile tugged at her lips.

"You're always reminiscing..." Mia murmurs.

"I'm always reminiscing?!" Gwen raises her voice in the hall.

Mia looks around, "What's with the yelling?" Mia quietly laughs.

Gwen shakes her head and chuckles. "Every time I'm talking you are literally in your own head. Thinking about Clay." Gwen says Mia's cheeks heat up.

"I-I-I do not think about Clay all that much." She scoffs.

Gwen slowly nods her head, "Right, right...okay..." Gwen bites the inside of her cheek. "Hey, you want to hang out after school?"

Mia slightly tenses up, she was planning on seeing her mother. "I actually have plans, after school." Mia states. "My mom and I have a cooking class."

Gwen raises her brows. "No shit! Really? It's about fucking time."Gwen chuckles.

Mia slowly nods her head, "Wow! Thanks, for that...I guess..."

==========

"If you don't want to go, why are you going?" Dr. Ellman questions.

"Because my girlfriend wants to go," Clay says, picking at his fingers.

"But you don't love your girlfriend." Dr. Ellman says.

Clay slightly shrugs, "Still not sure I believe in love...not anymore at least." He whispers the last part.

"Have you ever been in love?" Dr. Ellman inquires.

Clay looks down at his hands, his eyes examining his fidgeting fingers. He loved Mia, he still does. He could share that with Dr. Ellman...right? "No. That's my point." Clay lies, not wanting to dig deep into his life.

"What about Hannah?" Dr. Ellman questions.

Clay thinks about Hannah, he's only talked about Hannah in depth when he was dating Mia. They both felt the pain of losing someone they thought they loved. But now since he wasn't with Mia anymore, he never really talked about his feelings, until now with Dr. Ellman. "Yeah, for a long time, I thought I was in love with her." Clay states.

"What about Mia?" Dr. Ellman asks, he already knew Clay was trying to avoid talking about her.

Clay tenses up, "Y-Y-Yeah...I loved Mia..." Clay says quietly.

"Loved?--"

"I still love her, is that what you want to hear?" Clay questions, he snaps his head up.

"Ok, so what's the difference between thinking you're in love and actually being in love?" Dr. Ellman questions.

"So...you're basically asking me, what's the difference between my feelings for Hannah and Mia." Clay slowly nods his head.

"However you want to think about it." Dr. Ellman encourages.

"I didn't know who Hannah was. I didn't know what love was...without Mia...it's like...I still don't." Clay answers.

"You don't know what love is, but you're confident you can say that it's a lie." Dr. Ellman says.

Clay slightly rolls his eyes, "Ok, maybe not a lie. Maybe a...a fantasy." Clay states. "When you see people for who they really are, the fantasy goes away and then so does the love."

"Is that what happened with you and Mia?" Dr. Ellman questions.

Clay nods his head. "She saw me for who I really am, and...that was that." Clay shrugs, his chest aching.

"And who was that?" Dr. Ellman inquires.

"A liar...someone she couldn't trust...someone she could hate, just...a bad guy," Clay explains, he balls his fist, his nails digging into his palms. "Did you see who she really was?" Dr. Ellman asks.

"Yeah, she was...everything she had the sad, the empty, the angry, the happy, the calm, the nerd, she's still all those things...and that's what makes her...Mia." Clay grins.

"It seems like...you still do love Mia." Dr. Ellman says.

"Of course I do, but...after I hurt her, there's nothing I can do about it," Clay says. "Our love...it's there, but...it's not?" Clay places his pointer finger and middle finger against his temple and exhales, confused as hell.

"Your conclusion is basically love is just some ideal. Which means that no one can ever truly love anyone else, and no one can ever truly love you." Dr. Ellman concludes.

"So...do you think I'm just avoiding?" Clay questions.

Dr. Ellman just stares at the boy. "And no fair saying, 'It doesn't matter what I think.' because I'm tired of that tactic, and it does matter...what you think." Clay rambles.

"I think...I wonder...if you do believe in love, but then you love so fiercely that it hurts sometimes...and you're afraid of that hurt, as anyone would be." Dr. Ellman explains.

In Clay's mind goes back to the day he told her the truth about framing Monty. It was so instant, seeing her bright blue eyes become dim, her face twisted up in anger, betrayal, and hurt. "If you love someone, you're going to lose them. Sometime, somehow." Clay states.

"Yes, quite possibly." Dr. Ellman agrees, nodding his head. "But we...love anyway. Don't we?"

==========

"I see we have new faces." The woman says.

Justin takes his hand away from his mouth. "Would you both like to introduce yourselves?" The woman questions.

Justin looks over at Mia and she gives him a small smile. "Uh--Hi, I'm Mia...I'm an addict and an alcoholic." She holds her hand up, signifying a slight wave.

"Hi, Mia." "

"Hi, I'm Justin...and I'm an addict." Justin introduces himself.

"Hi, Justin."

"Hey, Justin."

During the meeting, Mia and Justin just listened to other people's stories. Mia decided to join Justin during this meeting, Justin wanted to at least know one person there...who knew his coach would be there as well?

After the meeting, Mia sips her coffee as Justin and Coach Kerba were talking. Justin looks back down at his phone after Kerba walks away from him. His jaw tightens as he sees Charlie's text message, 'Dance is great. Jess ditched me for Diego.' Justin puts his phone away. He turns his head and spots the brunette sitting by herself. He walks over to her, "Hey." He greets her.

Mia looks at him and smiles softly, "Hey, ready to go?" She questions, standing up.

"Yeah, I mean...I was wondering if we could...make a stop?" Justin asks hesitantly.

Mia pulls her brows together, "Like a...grocery store for...candy?" She questions.

"No." Justin shakes his head.

Mia arches a brow, "Okay...my patience is thin now." She crosses her arms and smirks.

"The dance," Justin says.

Mia chuckles, "Justin, of course, I can drop you off." Mia grabs her keys.

"Wait--Mia." Justin stops her. Mia looks back at him, "Yeees?" She questions.

"You should go to the dance too," Justin says.

Mia raises her brows and quietly laughs. "Justin...are you...asking me to the dance?" She mocks him.

Justin rolls his eyes, "Shut up." he laughs.

Mia smiles, "Why would I go to the dance? I broke up with Brett, I don't want to really see Clay and Ani dancing, and I don't want to see you obsessing over Jess and Charlie dancing together." Mia lists off many reasons.

"Sh-she's not dancing with Charlie...anymore," Justin says quietly.

Mia slightly tilts her head, "Then...who?--"

"Diego." Justin blurts out.

Mia's nose flares, fucking Diego. "The car...now." She says in a growl. She turns on her feet and quickly walks to her car with Justin smiling, triumphantly.

==========

"Damn." Mia snorts as she sees Zach and a girl fall on the gym floor. Justin and Mia run over to them. "Hey, hey, guys. We're gonna grab you now, ok?" Justin says.

Mia helps the blonde girl up. "You okay?" Mia questions the girl. She laughs quietly and stumbles out Mia's grip. "Come on!" The girl says, walking towards the dance floor.

"Okay, see ya...girl." Mia rolls her eyes.

Zach stands up and pulls a whiskey bottle out of his jacket. "Coming!" Zach starts to walk forward.

"Dude, maybe you should sit this one out." Justin stops Zach.

"What? What the fuck you talking about?" Zach questions, taking a swing of alcohol.

"Dude, seriously, there are, like, two chaperones with their eyes on you right now." Mia comments.

"So what? Are they gonna bust me for having fun?" Zach questions. He steps forward again, "Hey--"

"Don't fucking..." Zach shoves Justin back. "Don't fucking touch me."

"Zach," Justin says.

"You know, I think you should take care of your own shit." Zach points at Justin.

"Your boy Clay is going a little crazy. Your girl's making out with Diego--"

"Jess doesn't belong to me," Justin says.

"Well, then she belongs to Diego." Zach shrugs.

"All right--okay. That's enough." She walks between them. Mia looks over at Justin, "Go to her." Mia says motioning her head to the dance floor.

"Thank you," Justin says, running to the dance floor.

Mia looks over at Zach. "You talking about Justin dealing with his shit is fucked up!" Mia says over the music. "Especially you! Justin is doing great! You on the other hand..." Mia tilts her head side to side. "Not so much...so deal with your shit!" She pokes his chest.

Zach looks away from her and Mia scoffs. "You know...you should at least look me in the eye. You owe me that much." Mia growls. "You're a...you're a good guy, Zach and...out of everyone in this little cult of ours...I would've thought you would at least apologize to me!" Her voice becomes shaky. Anger, and grief coursing her tone.

Zach brushes past her and Mia exhales sharply. "I fucking hate school dances!" She balls her fists and presses them against her forehead in frustration.

She walks through the crowd of people and sighs as she sees the person she was looking for. "Aw how cute!" Mia gushes, wanting to forget what just happened with Zach.

The girl turns around and her face lights up as she sees her friend standing in front of her. "Holy shit! You came!" Gwen crushes Mia in a hug.

Mia groans and hugs her back. "Yeah, Justin convinced me..." Mia shrugs.

Gwen separates from her. "You're not wearing a dress." She states.

"Yeah, we immediately came here from our meeting," Mia explains.

"We've gotta dance!" Gwen gasps.

Mia slightly shakes her head, "I'm not dancing, I'm not dancing, Gwen--"

Gwen spins Mia around and the brunette laughs as she stumbles across the dance floor. Gwen laughs, she walks over to her friend, but stops as she sees Clay entering the room. "Holy shit!" She exclaims.

Mia inhales, she sees the panic on Gwen's face. Mia turns her head and her eyes widen as she sees Clay covered in blood. "Oh my god..." She shoves through the crowd. Clay looks at all of his friends, his eyes her shaky and empty. "What the fuck happened?" Ani questions in a whisper.

Clay flits his blue eyes over to Mia's. Her eyes were burning into his, full of worry and remorse for him. Clay slightly shakes his head, "I don't know..." He says quietly.

"Jesus, Clay..." She whispers.

Mia looks over at Ani, waiting for her to do something. To help her boyfriend. "You're right. I can't fix this." Ani pushes through the crowd and walks away, leaving Mia wide-eyed. Did she just Fucking leave?!  Mia looks over at Clay, she turns her head at the security camera that caught everything. Mia licks her lips, she walks forward and grabs Clay's hand walks him out of the gym.