On Wednesday, the swelling had completely gone down, but I still looked like I'd fallen into a paint bucket. At least the pain when moving my facial muscles was gone. My dad rated my look with a It'll-be-alright grimace. "As long as it doesn't hurt anymore," were his encouraging words. I rolled my eyes and packed my lunchbox.

He drove me to school again, where I waited in front of the building for the others. Turned out, it was pretty hard not to stare at Hiccup the entire time. He looked really good in his lined leather jacket, the casual look suited him. Especially his messy hair, how I'd love to run my fingers through it ...

Stop!

I blinked, looking at my phone to distract myself and smiled at everyone as they arrived. Elsa looked like she'd only gotten three hours of sleep, which meant Jack would be her support for the day. While the two of them walked ahead arm in arm, like the cute couple they were, Hiccup walked beside me, but with a slight distance that honestly stung a little. I knew I shouldn't want the hand brushes anymore, I shouldn't even think about them, but damn it, couldn't he at least leave me that? That brief tingle that came with it, just so I felt something. On the other hand, it was the right thing to do. He was taken and shouldn't let anyone else get close. I was the problem.

In class, I had just placed my notebook on the desk when Katrina appeared next to me. I smiled at her so she'd know I was feeling better and really wasn't mad at her. "Hey, what can I do for you? Or do you just want to admire my natural make-up?"

She laughed. "That too. I'm so glad you can laugh about it, but I still feel so, so terrible about what happened. So I got you these." She pulled out a box of chocolates from behind her back.

My eyes widened because it was from a fancy and expensive brand. "Oh, that really wasn't necessary. It was just an accident and-"

"Oh, shut up and take the damn chocolate," she interrupted, laughing.

The smile on my face this time came on its own. "Thank you."

She winked at me and went to her seat. Hiccup grinned at me when I turned to him. "You never turn down a gifted box of chocolates."

I rolled my eyes playfully, put the chocolates in my backpack, and set it on the floor. "You've probably gotten plenty."

He shook his head. "Not a single one."

I looked at him after I sat down. "Seriously?"

He nodded. I could've brought up the usual Stacy talk again, but school wasn't the right place for that. So I just said, "Then I guess you'll have to get a door slammed in your face first."

He laughed, so nice and bright and genuine. "Probably, yes."

After that, we fell silent. We hadn't been talking as much lately anyway, even though it was only the third day since I found out about his decision. I guess it was because we were both idiots. Hiccup because he went back to his ex, and me because I gave him my heart and he broke it like it was worthless.

Who would've thought back in June that it would come to this?

❁

On Thursday, Hiccup came over after school like always so we could get our tutoring session done. We grabbed a pizza on the way, since my dad was working the afternoon shift and wouldn't be home before ten, and I was way too lazy to cook. So we spent the first half hour on the couch watching The Vampire Diaries. We'd finished Stranger Things a while ago, Hiccup couldn't wait for the next season, especially since he loved season four. When we were browsing for something new to watch during one of our last meetups, we stumbled upon The Vampire Diaries, and I never thought he'd watch that with me voluntarily, but he agreed, said vampire stories were actually kind of interesting, and now he was totally hooked. He was dying to know whether Elena ends up with Stefan or Damon. My bet was on the latter.

"Damon's a jerk," he argued as we put the pizza boxes into the trash can. "Why would Elena choose him? Sure, he got better in season one, but she was in love with Stefan from the beginning."

I shrugged. "Stefan's great too, but I've got a feeling something will happen that'll make her switch sides."

He raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "So she suddenly likes psychopaths now?"

I grinned. "Maybe. Come on, Team Stefan, we've got homework to do."

He followed me into the dining room. "This isn't gonna turn into some Twilight-type thing, is it?" he asked as he sat down next to me.

"What do you mean?" I pulled my stuff out of my backpack.

"Don't you remember?" he said, giving me a puzzled look. "Back when the Twilight Saga was huge and everyone kept asking if you were Team Edward or Team Jacob?"

"Oh, right." I grinned again. "Yeah, I think it was the same thing when the show came out. People asked if you were Team Stefan or Team Damon."

He shrugged. "I had to watch all the Twilight movies with my mom, that was enough for me."

I laughed and opened my math folder where I'd tucked away the worksheet we had to do. We worked on the first two problems in the same silence that had settled between us these past few days. Then he cleared his throat.

"Do you have plans for tomorrow?" he asked, but kept his eyes glued to his paper like he was afraid to look me in the eye.

His behavior confused me, but I didn't let it show. "I'm going to my mom's grave after school."

That made him look up. "Oh, sorry."

I shrugged and smiled at him. "For what? I know I don't talk about her much, but I'm not going to fall apart just because someone brings her up. I've made peace with her death by now."

"Okay," he said, giving me a quick smile before focusing back on his worksheet.

We finished the whole sheet, every problem and every question answered, only one remained unanswered for me: Why did he ask if I had plans tomorrow?

❁

On Friday, he walked me to the edge of the school grounds because he had insisted on it, even though I told him I was a big girl and could manage on my own. He didn't want me going alone, so here we stood. Since the cemetery wasn't far, twenty minutes at most, I planned to walk the rest of the way.

I turned to Hiccup. "Well then, thanks for walking with me. I'll see you tomorrow," I said and was about to head off, but Hiccup had other plans, because he hugged me before I could take a single step.

For a moment, I was too stunned to understand what was even happening and my mind was spinning with questions, but then my arms moved on their own, wrapping around his torso and pulling him close. He smelled so good, still fresh and sweet. Was it his laundry detergent? His cologne? Shampoo? I didn't know, but I loved it.

Did Stacy love it too?

Abruptly, I pulled away, which made him look at me a little shocked, but also sad. "Sorry, I-"

"No, I'm the one who should apologize," he cut me off. "I shouldn't have hugged you without knowing if you wanted it."

Oh, how I wanted it.

"That's not it," I said, trying to come up with some sort of explanation, but nothing came to mind. "You ... I-I have to go now. Thanks for, uh ... just thank you." And with that, I turned around for real this time and walked briskly down the sidewalk. This just kept getting better and better.

On the way, I plugged in my headphones and let Linkin Park blast into my ears, followed by Coldplay. That usually helped in situations like this. My head was pure chaos, all because of Hiccup. Why had he hugged me? Why did he ask if I had plans? Did he want to hang out? Why did he drive me insane and why the hell did he have to go back to Stacy? Why didn't he come to me ...

As Chester sang about whether anyone cared if another light went out, I walked through the entrance of the cemetery. Most of the trees had lost their leaves, the bushes had lost their bright green. Many of the flowers on the graves were wilted, weeds were creeping through, and the gravel was the same as always. As I turned toward my mom's grave, I saw someone standing in front of it, which made me stop.

Stacy.

You've got to be kidding me. What the hell was she doing at my mom's grave? Was she even at it or looking at one next to it? After watching her I was sure she was looking at hers. I was going to lose it, she had to know boundaries. I angrily pulled my headphones out and packed them into their case, already about to storm over to her when a thought hit me, and I froze.

Is that why Hiccup had asked if I had plans? Did Stacy want to know where I'd be today? That made no sense, what would she want from me? Had it really come to the point where he was telling her about my personal business? But Hiccup wasn't like that. Not with me. He couldn't have been faking everything, he couldn't be such an asshole. He couldn't keep trampling all over my heart.

I walked toward her, knowing she heard my footsteps, but she didn't lift her head, just kept staring at the light gray stone with my mother's name and dates carved into it. "What are you doing here?" I said, anger clear in my voice which she well deserved.

She looked up, her face expressionless, just relaxed muscles. "I wanted to talk to you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't you have done that at school?" I rolled my eyes, turned my back to her, and dropped my backpack onto the gravel.

"I wanted to do it in private with no one else around."

Was she serious right now? Good thing I had weeds to pull from the grave, that helped me blow off steam and kept me from punching her in the face. I couldn't even answer, because if I did, I might have screamed.

"It's about Hiccup."

Of course it is. With you, it's always about him.

"Okay, what about him?" I asked.

She inhaled sharply. "I want you to keep your distance from him."

I froze, crouched down with my hands full of weeds. "Are you serious?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Yes."

I turned slightly so I could see her. Her expression hadn't changed. "You do realize this kind of stuff will only push him away, right?"

"He knows I'm here."

Another shot to my already bleeding heart. So I had been right, he had asked for her and not for himself. I turned back to the grave and kept pulling weeds. "How exactly do you imagine that working? He's still my tutor."

"I don't mind that, your grades shouldn't suffer because of your feelings. But at school, I'd prefer if you didn't get so close to him."

I brushed the weeds aside and clapped the dirt off my hands. My heart was pounding in my throat. "What do you mean by my feelings?"

"I know you're in love with him."

I forced a laugh, and it sounded just as fake as it felt. "Definitely not."

"You can deny it all you want, but it's true. You don't have to pretend with me."

God, how I hated her. And Hiccup had chosen her. Unbelievable.

"Fine," I said, but didn't turn around. "You're right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to try to take him from you. We're still friends and I'm not letting you take that away from me."

She didn't respond for a few minutes, so I pulled the battery-powered candle out of my backpack, switched it on, and placed it in the right-hand corner of the gravestone next to the small white stone that read Forever in our hearts. Then I stood up and turned to face Stacy. She looked me straight in the eyes.

"Why can't you let him go?" she asked.

I raised my arms. "Because he's my friend and I don't want to be alone again. Yes, I like him more than that, but I promise you I'm not going to try to take him from you. That's not who I am. You're his girlfriend and I respect that. Maybe you should try learning that kind of trust, too."

"I do trust him," she started, but I cut her off with a laugh.

"No, you don't," I said. "You're trying to scare off every girl around him because you want him all to yourself. But you don't understand that you already have him all to yourself. He chose you, twice. He only wants you. Get that in your head or you'll lose him again."

She scanned my face. "If you try anything, I'll break something."

I stared back, defiantly. "Go ahead and try."

She didn't respond, instead, after a few seconds, she turned and left the cemetery. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in and out, and tried to process everything that had just happened. This couldn't be my real life, it was too insane. What kind of messed-up novel had I landed in?