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                                                   Adena's POV:

I found myself in English class once again, but this time, I was tired. Last night had been terrible.

After the big fight with my family and my great relief with my razor, I had a hard time falling asleep. My mother’s words had stayed with me the whole night, causing me to feel disgust towards myself.

I had just fallen asleep too when my alarm went off.

But now, I was in English, sitting next to the last person in the world I’d want to be with. Being around Dylan, since yesterday, had made me uncomfortable. I was angered by the fact that for the rest of the project, I was stuck with him.  

 Mrs. Bridges walked in during my thoughts and took a hat out of her desk.

“Okay students. Today, we will choose another topic to talk about for your project. I have the topics in this hat." Mrs. Bridges walked over to James this time and had him grab a topic. As soon as he read the topic, he burst into fits of laughter.

“We have the topic: “How much do you love Mrs. Bridges?”" Everyone else in the room burst into laughter as well as Mrs. Bridges, but I was too tired to laugh, so I just smiled.

“I see that you guys got the joke topic,” she laughed again. “Go ahead and choose another topic. Unless you want that topic.” James dug into the hat and pulled out a topic again.

“We have ‘favorite movies and music’.” Mrs. Bridges continued through the rest of the class.

When she got to us, Dylan reached his hand in the hat. He pulled out the small slip of paper and turned to me.

“About me?” He said with a questioning glare.

“Try not to reveal too much! We’re answering some questions next week. Wouldn’t want to spoil it!” Mrs. Bridges smiled, walking to her desk.

“So, you first, tell me about yourself?” Dylan asked with a smile. I began to bite my nails, something I did when I was nervous. I didn’t know if I even wanted to answer him. Talking to him made me feel three emotions.

Anger. I was angry he hadn’t defended me the other day. And I was angry he was trying to be my friend now.

Sadness. I was sad that he hadn’t saved me from Jackie’s wrath. I was sad he let her insult me.

But most of all a small part of me wanted to talk to him. I didn’t know why but it pained me to not be talking to him. I had pushed that emotion as far back as I could but it hadn’t disappeared.

“So... we need to talk.” He said, breaking me from my thoughts after I hadn’t responded for some time.. I looked up to him, not saying a word. “About yesterday... with Jackie... I’m sorry. I just... When Jackie has something on her mind, she has to say it. And if I get in her way she...” He stopped for a moment and looked up at me. “There’s no excuse for what I did. I’m sorry.”

I was at a loss for words. I wasn’t sure what to say. 90% of me wanted to tell him it wasn’t okay, 7% of me wanted to slap him, and 3% of me wanted to forgive him.  

"I completely get it if you don't feel like forgiving me anytime soon... But all I'm asking is that it doesn't get in the way of the project."

I looked down at my desk for a moment, wondering if he even deserved my cooperation. But 11:11 comes twice a day and everyone deserves a second chance. I knew it'd take me some time to forgive him, But I was willing to concur.

"Okay, deal," I nodded and he smiled.

"Great! So! About me... where to start... Uhmm... You have any hobbies?" Dylan asked, starting immediately with the questions. I wasn't sure how to answer this one. Last time I checked being depressed and suicidal wasn't a hobby.

“Why don’t you start?” I questioned. Dylan laughed.

"Fair enough," He replied. "Well, I like to play football, play video games, and hang out with friends. You know, typical guy stuff. I'm also an amateur guitar player. Meaning I only know how to play hot cross buns, but it sounds pretty good if you ask me." I laughed and he joined in before asking: “You?”

“You know...” I said, not knowing what to say. I didn’t really have any hobbies. “Typical girl stuff...” Dylan looked at me funny, but didn't question my response; to which I was thankful.

“Okay, what do you want to be when you’re older?” I turned away and stumbled over my next words.

“I’m...not quite sure yet...still deciding...you?”

"We’re graduating in a little more than two months and you still haven't decided?" Dylan questioned.

"Well have you?"

"Touché." Dylan and I laughed. “Okay, what about college? Do you know if you plan on going?”

"I want to go, definitely. But i'm not lucky enough to get a scholarship like Quinton. I don't play sports or do any clubs. So i'm like... invisible to the college world." I looked to Dylan to see that he was actually listening to what I was saying. I wasn't used to be hearing so I tried my best to cover up what I had said by laughing it off. "You?"

"I barely got into college without Jackie's dad's help. He's on the board for the college an hour from here. So I totally get what you mean." I just nodded, feeling very odd I had shared that with him.

For a moment, I had forgotten I was angry towards him. I had forgotten I barely knew him. I had forgotten, in that moment, everything, and had let my thoughts run free.

But thoughts should be kept on a short leash because some of them are dangerous

"Alright! So! About me? Hmm..." Dylan questioned, tapping his fingers on my desk. "What else... You got any questions you wanna ask me?"

"Nope, not really." I shrugged. Suddenly the fire alarm erupted, causing me to jump slightly. But it caused Dylan to practically fall from his desk. Trying to play it off he laughed, turning to me and saying:

"Saved by the bell." I stifled a laugh as Dylan found a friend and they exited the classroom together. When I got out of the room, I could see Dylan and a group of kids standing to the side of the hallway, talking. A teacher turned the corner and I knew there was going to be yelling as I continued.

A minute later, loud yelling erupted. I turned around to see James and a bunch of his idiotic friends running rampaged through the hallways, screaming:

"Fire! Fire!" They pushed through the crowd of students hurriedly. Fear was etched in some faces and they were the ones to plow through everyone like a bull in a china shop. One stumbled past me and pushed me hard, forcing my head into a locker. I crashed to the ground soon after, my head hitting the locker a second time on my way down.

I immediately felt pain erupt from the back on my head as I set a hand on it.

Dizziness overwhelmed me so much that I hardly recognize the person that came running up to me. My vision started to clear and I could see a worried Dylan. Oh, how thoughtful, he is worried about me. I shook my head to clear it; I must have hit my head really hard to think that.

"Adena! Are you alright?" He questioned, squatting in front of me so we were at eye level. I was startled that concern was hidden in Dylan's eyes, so I didn't say anything. I just started into the mesmerizing ocean blue abyss known as his eyes.

"I'm fine." I quickly said. He stood up and held out a hand to me, I took it and he helped me up. I noticed quickly that the sea of students had calmed down to about ten kids.

"Guys! Come on!" Mrs. Bridges said, coming up to us. "I'm glad you're working on your project outside of class, but let's go!" She gestured for us to follow her; which we did. Pain enveloped me from my wound, so I lifted my hand off to relieve some pressure. Small red stains was what I saw in my hand. I quickly replaced my hand on my head, but not before Dylan saw the blood.

"Adena! You're bleeding! We need to get you to a nurse!" Dylan exclaimed.

"We have to get outside for the drill before anyone notices i'm not out there!" Mrs. Bridges replied.

"This fire drill is over. Please return to your classrooms," a voice spoke from outside. "Fine! Take her! But you guys better come back," Mrs. Bridges said as she keept walking towards the double doors leading outside. We walked in silence as Dylan led the way to the nurses office. When we got there, he swung the door open and held it for me.

I stepped foot into the nurses office to be hit by a wave of cool air. Miss Johnson was typing away at her computer in the corner of the small office. She looked up and smiled, until she saw my pale face and Dylan’s worried look.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, leaving her desk and walking over towards us. 

“Some punk threw Adena against the lockers and now her head is bleeding.” Dylan explained. I glanced at him in shock. He saw it happen? I was surprised he responded like that.

“Well, why don’t we take a look? Bring her over here.” Dylan did as she asked and led me over to one of the two little beds in the room as she grabbed her gloves. Miss Johnson began to move some pieces of my hair aside, trying to find the cut. Dylan stood in front of me, just watching Miss Johnson.

“Oh! Looks like you have a little cut here!" Miss Johnson exclaimed. There was some movement from behind me and I turned around to see her with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some cottons balls.

I turned back towards Dylan as she gently place one of the cotton balls to my cut. I hissed in pain and looked around, trying to distract myself from the pain.

"Hey, what a great way to start the project huh?" Dylan joked, trying to keep my attention away from Miss Johnson.

"It'll make an interesting essay," I joked as Dylan laughed. He looked around and spotted three stress balls. His face lite up and he grabbed them.

“I’ll juggle for you!” He threw them up and tried to catch them. But his hands did not follow the balls and he watched them fall to the ground. He stared at them for a second. Putting his hands up, he looked at me. “I got this. Don’t worry.” He tried it again and again; failing each time. I burst out in laughter as his face turned into a frown. “I thought I knew how to juggle...” I gave him a sympathetic look just as Nurse Johnson stopped working.

"Alright darling. It's a small cut but just in case I would go ahead and see a doctor. Just to make sure everything's okay in the noggin," Miss Johnson said, walking around the bed to stand in front of me.

"Let's make sure there's no other scratches," She grabbed onto my arm and started to roll up my sleeve. I pulled it out of her grip quickly.

"There's not," I replied. My heart started to pump rapidly for fear of her seeing my scars. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. The nurse took a step back and put her hands up in defense.

“Okay, I’ll just go... call a parent," she smiled, disappearing from the room. Dylan gave me a funny look.

“What?” I asked as though I didn’t know what he was thinking. He shook his head and smiled. An awkward silence followed for several minutes. But it must have only been awkward for me. He just kept on staring at me. I looked down at my shirt to make sure I was covered. I was.

I checked to make sure I didn’t have anything on me. I didn’t. He was starting to creep me out. Where is Miss Johnson? She needs to hurry. He was staring at me so intently that I gulped. I seriously felt like a deer caught in the headlights. What is his problem?

Dylan started to laugh and I couldn’t help but join in.

“Sorry, thought I’d try to break the awkwardness with more awkwardness but... as you can tell it didn’t work out so much,” I couldn’t help but laugh. It just felt nice to find something funny and to just stop thinking about the pain of life and to just laugh.

Our eyes met for a moment and looking into his blue eyes, I couldn’t help but be happy that we were partners. I felt at peace.  

“Hello students. This is Principal Shaw. The fire drill went excellent today. You all stayed calm and left the building in an orderly fashion,” The intercom boomed throughout the school.

“Yeah, like that happened...” Dylan mumbled to himself.

“This is just a reminder that all students must return to class. Thank you,” the intercom clicked off.

 "Well... this definitely takes first place as the most interesting fire drill in my life," I giggled and he laughed for a second before Miss Johnson came back in.

“We called your mom, honey. She’s on her way,” I nodded and  gave Dylan a kind smile as he came up to me.

"Well, feel better. Try not to hit any more lockers," he stuck out his knuckle and I went to slowly punch it. He then tried to do some weird handshake with me which ended up looking like he was beating my hand. "We'll work on that," he laughed, heading to the door. "See you tomorrow State."

As I laid down in the bed, taking a deep breath, I noticed that Dylan's smile had made my heart skip a beat.

And in that moment I decided giving Dylan a second chance was one of the best decisions of my life.