Leah could tell easily find her math books today. Her locker was still relatively neat from when she organized it the day before. But that was clearly not going to last for long. Leah tucked her books in her arm with a smile on her face and closed her locker. Leah turned to find go to class, but her path was blocked by...oh my god. Noah Mason.

      "Noah," Leah stuttered. "Um, hi?"

      "Hey Leah," A cocky smile spreads across his face. "Justin Hale is having a party on Thursday at his house. There's gonna be music and booze and stuff. It's gonna be sweet. I was wondering if - uh - if you wanted to go. With me, I mean."

      Hilarious. Another dream.

      "Leah," Nope, not a dream. "So do you want to go with me."

      This was really happening. But why would he like her? She was just a cancer-ridden emo. People like Noah didn't associate with people like Leah. It just didn't happen. Which was why she always thought that she was pathetic to dream about dating Noah. And also why she could barely speak.

      "Why?" Leah asked. Stupid. "Why do you want to go with me. Why not your girlfriend?"

      He looked down at his feet. "She broke up with me." Leah formed her mouth into an O shape. "And besides, you're pretty. And I heard the serve you gave Hunter Davidson. Pretty awesome. And sexy."

      Leah let out a little gasp. No one had ever called her that. Ever. She had only been called beautiful by her mother, and that doesn't count.

      "Um okay," Leah replied finally. "I'll go to the party with you."

      "Awesome," Noah smiled even wider than before. "I'll pick you up at eight. You don't have to dress up, but maybe wear something different than - well - that."

      That stung. Leah tried not to show it, smiling wider and nodding her head.

      "I'll see you later," Noah said. He kissed her on the cheek and walked away.

      Leah leaned against her locker in shock. What. Just. Happened. She gingerly placed her hand on the place Noah's lips had touched. Then, she remembered she had English, and she was late. She began speedwalking towards her English class. Then, a body slammed into her, sending her into a row of lockers. A sharp pain flared in her shoulder. Leah turned around to face the harasser. She already knew who it was. Hunter Davidson.

      "Can't wait to see you at the party on Thursday," He snickered. Leah walked away from him, clutching her shoulder in pain. She headed towards her English class.

      "Can you stop following me?" A voice, Hunter's voice snarled from behind her.

      Leah whirled around and looked at Hunter like he had just asked if Pete Wentz was the lead singer of Panic! at the Disco.

      "Why am I following you? Last time I checked, you are behind me."

      "Oh whatever nerd," Hunter snarled. "You know what I mean."

      "Don't call me that," Leah muttered.

      "Or what?"

      Hunter entered the classroom, followed by Leah a few seconds later.

      "Mr. Davidson, I assume," Ms. Miriam said, looking up from the laptop on her desk. "I know it's your choice whether or not to come to class now that you're legally an adult, but that doesn't mean it doesn't influence your grades."

      Her expression softened. "You've missed your first week-and-a-bit of class. You can make the decision to change that. Starting now. You and Ms. Thatcher can take the two empty seats."

      Of course, the two empty seats were beside each other. Leah quickly occupied the one next to Jasmina and slightly moved it away from the seat Hunter occupied.

      Leah turned to Jasmina, whose eyes were puffy and red from - crying?

You okay? Leah signed.

      Mina shook her head. Someone hurt my feelings in the hall. Fine now.

      Leah nodded and turned her head back to the front of the class.

      "Ms. Thatcher," Ms. Miriam called. "Please tell the class your thoughts on the quote 'don't waste your love on somebody who doesn't value it' from Romeo and Juliet."

      "I think it's true," Leah said, trying her best to keep her eyes off of Hunter. "If you love someone who either doesn't love you back or doesn't care that you love them, you'll only get your heart broken. If you can't stop loving them it happens over and over again.

      "Every time you see them you can only see a reflection of your own heartbreak."

      "I disagree," Hunter interrupted. "Love isn't a tangible thing. So it's impossible to run out of it. Therefore it's impossible to waste it. If you love someone who doesn't love you back, it's not your love that's wasted, it's your time."

      Leah looked at Hunter, finally unable to resist any longer. There was something other than the sadness and hatred Leah always saw in his eyes.  There was love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Leah fingered the silver, diamond-encrusted skull pendant on the end of her necklace. She was sitting on one of the couches outside Justin Hale's house, waiting for Noah to come back with drinks. The music playing was awful. It was mostly the Chainsmokers, Ed Sheeran (his only good song was Perfect, and it hadn't played yet), and Fifth Harmony.

     Leah couldn't bear sitting down anymore. She stood and began walking around. Mostly she only saw people drinking, talking, making out, and taking videos of one guy who was clearly drunk and had stripped down to his underwear, dancing around and occasionally jumping in the lit-up pool. Oh God, Leah hated parties. Leah hated most social gatherings. No, Leah just hated most people. Ah, the joys of being emo.

       Leah walked near a large glass window and stopped. Inside, the cheer captain was making out with Noah Mason.

How could she have been so naïve. Jocks and emos never ended up together. For as long as cliques have been around, jocks dated cheerleaders, and emos - well, they just got cats.

Leah began making her way toward the front door. She had heard somewhere that if a person is trying to get through a crowd of people, sustaining eye contact with their destination tells people that they want to get there, and people would stay reasonably clear of the person.

This method was not working. In fact, people were so clumped together that Leah overheard Hunter asking about her cancer. She stopped to listen.

"Yeah, leukemia," One of his friends said. Leah was about to go in and yell at him for telling Hunter about her leukemia. She hated when other people talked to other people about it. She entered the room where the voices were coming from. "What a tragedy."

Wait, was that sarcastic?

"Honestly, I hate her. I hope the cancer kills her," The guy said.

Leah stopped as the guy's eyes flicked toward her and widened in shock. Leah whirled around and ran to the door, pressing her back against it. Leah couldn't believe it. That was the worst thing anyone had ever said about her. It felt like a pole had impaled her chest but she was unable to die. Like she would be in this pain forever, unable to breathe, unable to move. She could faintly hear someone yelling. It sounded like Hunter. He was screaming about how the guy crossed the line, how he never should have even thought what he said. Was Hunter defending her? After the way he treated her? Wasn't he supposed to hate her too, supposed to agree with him and laugh? What was happening to the world?

Hunter was making his way through the clumps of people now, clearly trying to reach Leah. She wiped the tears off her face and opened the door, leaving the house. Hunter was outside too in a matter of seconds.

"Leah!" He called. "Wait!"

Leah whirled around. "Why? Why should I listen to you? All you've ever done is treat me like crap and I hate it!"

"I know," Hunter said. He sounded genuinely regretful. "And I know you can't forgive me. I need you to understand. I need you to know that I am so sorry. The only reason I did it was because I'm in love with you."

What?

"It's an awful excuse, I know, but I was afraid to feel that way about anyone. I might be a cliche, but I thought it was the right thing to do. I was wrong, Leah. I was so wrong."

"I - I'm," Leah stammered. "I'm in love with you too."

She took a step toward Hunter. "I understand why you did it and why you felt that way. You've been through a lot. I know you live with your mom. That can't be easy."

Hunter took a step toward Leah. "It's not. I try so hard to deal with it but the teachers at school are so harsh, and my 'friends' are absolute idiots. Honestly, one tried to fit a hot dog wiener up his nose one time and another tried to-"

Leah couldn't take it she surged forward and kissed him. She had never kissed anyone before. Hunter was shocked, she could tell. But he smiled against her lips and kissed her back, arms around her waist. She twined her fingers in his hair and deepened the kiss. She loved this boy. And he loved her back. She was euphoric. Until he pulled away.

"We can't," He whispered, forehead still against hers. "Noah."

Leah chuckled. "I think we should talk about that."

"How about you tell me while I drive you home?"

Leah nodded. "Okay."

He gave her another kiss, this one just a peck, then took her hand and led her to his car.

On the way home, Leah told Hunter about Noah and the cheer captain. She decided to tell him the whole story of her cancer so he could hear it from her. As she explained, Leah thought she saw a tear roll down his face.

Hunter kissed Leah goodbye when they reached her house. She couldn't sleep that night. She was happy, but most of all, she was relieved. Relieved that Hunter would finally stop bullying her, but also that he knew how she felt about him. And that he felt the same way about her. Her life was good. Everything was good.