I had just wandered into the kitchen for breakfast when I spotted Olivia a sobbing mess at the end of the table. Though I knew that Mom was nearby, she wasn't anywhere in sight and I felt as though slipping by her without a word wouldn't only be disrespectful, but I couldn't find it in my heart to not comfort her.

"Olivia?" I whispered, touching my hand flat against the table a few feet away from her. "Are you alright?"

When she looked up, I saw so much of Onyx in her that it was startling. Her blue eyes were rimmed in red and puffy from excessive crying, her cheeks blotchy and red, stained with tears. My first instinct was to ask what Onyx had done, but I bit down hard on my tongue to keep it from slipping passed as she reached across the table and rested her hand on top of mine.

"Yes, honey. Everything is fine."

My mom took that moment to walk back into the kitchen with a couple manila folders. Her eyes drifted passed me and to her friend, then went to me and she jerked her chin toward the front door. "You better get going before you're late."

I couldn't help but feel as though there was something both women were keeping from me, but I knew better than to try and pry. I leaned forward to give Olivia a quick side hug, kissed my mom's cheek, and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket before heading for the door. "Bye guys! Love you!"

The moment I stepped outside on to my porch, the feigned peppiness dissipated and my eyes shot across my yard to see if the perpetrator was still here. He was and was sitting on his porch steps, rubbing his hands down his face. My head told me to keep moving forward, down my driveway to my mom's car, but my heart had me veering off toward the Hayes front yard. Onyx had heard me approach and lifted his head up, and all but rolled his eyes when he saw me.

"Go away, Sky."

He was crying. Onyx freaking Hayes was crying on his porch. The boy I had thought was incapable of having any human emotions outside of vanity and narcissism was as an emotional, blubbering, red faced mess.

"What happened?" I asked before I could stop myself.

He wiped at his cheeks with the collar of his shirt in an attempt to dry the tears. "None of your business."

"Onyx—" I started.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" he snapped, blue eyes icing over. "Just go."

"Whatever." I shrugged a shoulder and started to walk away.

I heard the thudding of his footsteps against the concrete descent into the grass until he caught my arm and forced me to turn and look at him. Being so close, I could see just how shitty he looked. Dark circles and heavy bags were under his red, swollen eyes. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

I expected him to bark out some cruel or sarcastic remark, or possibly even make a dig at me as he usually did. What he did was the last thing I thought he'd ever do; Onyx hugged me.

It was a little awkward at first, as if he'd never had the opportunity to learn how to show physical affection, but once he had me against the warmth of his chest, it became more relaxed. Knowing better than to stand stiff, I set my backpack on the damp lawn and wrapped my arms around him. I was thankful that Angie and Mikey were likely already at school and weren't here to witness this moment. It quite literally contradicted every single thing on that list.

"Thank you." he whispered, pulling away, and as if he felt the need to clarify what he was showing gratitude for, he added, "For caring, I mean. I appreciate it."

I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder and offered a weak smile. "Sure. Hope whatever is going on with you and your mom passes."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded, his muscles tense as he watched me continue on my trek to the car. I tossed my bag in through the open passenger side window and walked around the car, catching both our mother's standing in the window, looking at Onyx. They had most definitely seen what just happened, I'd have to tell Mom not to say a word about it to Angie the second I got home.

*

"Hey, Rory." I felt an arm drape over my shoulder before the heavy backpack nicked my ankle. I looked from Mikey on the court to Ty to my left.

"Hey."

He reached out and brushed my hair out of my eyes. "You been avoiding me?"

I raised an eyebrow at the question. I hadn't really been talking to anyone outside of Angie and Mike the last week or so. I didn't realize I needed to talk to Ty every second of every day.

"No, just busy." I answered with a small smile and one shoulder shrug.

"Well, do you think you can open up that schedule for some time with me?"

I felt my heart skip in my chest and shifted my body in his direction, blush creeping into my cheeks. "Did you just ask me out?"

"I did." he replied with a cocky grin. "So, is there time in that busy schedule of yours for a date with me?"

I reached up and rubbed my left shoulder with a coy smile. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" he touches a hand to his chest in feign hurt. "And here I thought you were as into me as I am you."

That sent another wave of flutters erupting in my stomach.

"How about you try and squeeze me in Friday night? Seven-thirty?" he said slyly, "Dress nice."

"Nice how?" I questioned, confused. I hadn't been on a date in over three years, I was an awkward fourteen year old the last time I'd been on one.

"Formal." he starts to stand but kisses my cheek gently before he rises entirely. "I'll see you Friday."

*

I was positive nothing could wipe the stupid smile form my face or pop the little bubble of giddiness I was living in all day. Leave it to Onyx to get in my head and put an end to every happy thought.

By the time I'd gotten off work, the sun had dipped. It was a new moon and the sky was dark, almost black. Somehow Onyx and I had managed to get home at the same time, and while I was reaching into the passenger seat to grab my stuff, he walked over.

"Hey." he eyed me from my dirty, ugly work shoes to my greasy red polo shirt. "That is definitely not flattering.

I flipped my hair over my shoulder with a wink, "I dress this way just for you, Hayes."

A hint of a smile touches at his lips, but falters a little as he rubs his neck, "I'm sorry, Sky, about the other day in the hall. And this morning."

That was another thing I was stunned into silence with; the fact that Onyx could actually apologize. Eventually, I shook myself out of it, and said, "It's fine. I get it."

"Ty's pretty into you." he says, diverting the topic. "Dude won't stop asking about you. It's at a point he's talking to me trying to get information."

Curious, I crossed my arms over my chest, "What'd you tell him?"

"That you're a very judgmental person with a list of forty-nine very contradicting reasons why you hate me."

I gaped at him, horrified, "You didn't!"

Relief washed over me seeing the grin he cracks as soon as he sees my reaction. "No, I didn't. I just told him you were pretty chill and sweet, but didn't know you that well. He didn't ask me anymore after that."

I nodded, but my eyes fell on the crack in the concreate under my shoe. "Where do you disappear to? After school."

He tenses just the slightest at the question, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I made a gesture with my left hand, crossing my right arm over my chest again, "Obviously or I wouldn't have asked."

He shrugs and looks away, "Doesn't matter where I'm at."

"Maybe you should try spending more time with her, Onyx." I knew I was overstepping, but something about seeing Olivia the way I had this morning wasn't sitting well. "She needs you."

"Maybe you should try minding your own business." Though the words were very Onyx, his expression was far from it. His eyes were an ocean of emotions and I had to blink rapidly to keep myself from getting lost in them.

"Olivia is my mom's best friend, therefore this is my business." I said, adding, "Whatever this is, whoever you're trying to prove something to, it doesn't apply to your mom. She sees right through it. She worries about you. Cries herself to sleep when you don't come home some nights. So grow up, Onyx. Put your big boy pants on and be a man for her."

I wholeheartedly thought he'd lash out hearing the words, but the opposite happened, he deflated and ran a hand through his mess of blonde curls. "You're right."

"I am?" I muttered, then more confidently and loudly said, "I know I am."

"I better get inside. She wasn't feeling good when I stopped by after school this morning." he nudged me with the black duffel bag draping from his arm. "Good look with Ty, Sky."

I lifted my hand up in a half wave, to which he returned with a nod before he jogged up the front steps of his porch and into the house. I made it passed my front door and to the couch before I fell onto it and slumped back, frowning.

I had written up that list when I was thirteen, actively adding things through the years, but could have never imagined it would affect him to this extent, to where he was trying to change himself in order for me to not view him as the guy I had for my entire life.

Worse? The more time I spent around him, the more I felt sorry for him. The Onyx Hayes I had hated for so long, that our entire school worshipped, was nothing but a façade, and I wasn't going to give up until I figured out what-or who- it was he was so desperate to keep buried.