~Author's note~
Before you continue reading I would first like to thank you all for the support this book as received so far and for almost 350 reads. Secondly I would like to mention that I'm now in my final year of secondary/high school which means it's an important year that I need to focus on. I will continue to try publish the chapters weekly but I may be late by a day or two so please forgive me. You may now continue to the story.

"Hello? Earth to Julia. Why are you not listening?"

Kate's voice rings through my ears and I zone back in. I have a tendency to zone out when I lose interest in a conversation.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

Erin scoffs and rolls her eyes. "I was talking about my date with Connor. If you don't want to hang out with us you can just leave."

"No, of course, I want to hang out, sorry I've just been distracted lately."

That last part comes out as more of a whisper than I had planned. There is a moment of silence, both of them looking me up and down. Then like nothing happened, Erin continues talking about Connor.

Connor has kept me updated with a few things. I haven't seen much of him since Aiden and I stopped hanging out which is a shame because I actually really enjoyed having him around. Honestly, I never thought him and Erin would end up together, or even be together this long. Erin is one of my friends don't get me wrong but she's never really committed to one boy. I would just hate to see Connor get hurt and then stop hanging around with us.

I just sit in silence and scroll through my phone, making sure to tune into the conversation every now and again so that I can keep up. They both converse back and forward about their relationships which are a conversation I'm not interested in joining.

"You know why I think you're still single Julia?" Kate says.

I guess I'm joining.

"Because Jack and I only broke up a few months ago," I answered still looking at my phone.

She looks at me as if I said the wrong answer even though I'm the only one that should know that answer.

"What? No, you're single because you don't try." Kate continues.

I look up from my phone to see them both staring at me, looking like they've just come to a revelation about my dating life.

"What do you mean I don't try?" I don't know how to react so I respond calmly but remain cautious at the same time.

"Well." Erin starts "we're not trying to sound full of ourselves but it's always easy for us to get boyfriends and that because we put effort into how we look. You never do much with your makeup and you don't really do much to show off."

I sit there with my mouth gaped open. Why are they saying this to me? I did nothing to spark this kind of conversation with them.

"Don't look so surprised Julia. You'd be so much prettier if you just tried a little more." Kate says glancing at Erin who nods in agreement.

"Are you saying I'm not pretty?" I ask

They look at me in disgust and frustration as if it was me who offended them.

"Julia that's not what we said! You always put words in our mouth." Erin raises her voice which I'm used to. She's easily irritated and lately, it seems that I'm the one irritating her.

"We were just trying you give you some friendly advice Julia. Why do you always feel the need to take things out of context."

Maybe she's right. I've always been an over-thinker and maybe they are just trying to give me some friendly advice. They're not really wrong either. I suppose if I dressed up a bit more and put more effort into my makeup then maybe I would have better luck with boys.

I've never really been the type to fuss over boys either. If a guy takes an interest in me then I just see how it goes and if it doesn't work out then there's always the next time. I'm still young so I don't see why I should spend my teenage years worrying about boys. Since I've been friends with Erin and Katie, the topic of boys just became more important because it's what they talk about most of the time.

"I'm sorry I guess-"

I start my sentence but that's when I hear Kate mutter something under her breath.

"You know maybe if you weren't so uptight and negative, Aiden would've actually fought to keep you around. Sarah could be doing him a favour."

I've heard a fair share of unnecessary comments from both of them but this one hurt more than all of them combined. For as long as we've been friends, they've both known how important Aiden is to me and how important our friendship is-was. I haven't told them anything about which means any information they know would've come from Aiden or Sarah.

I'm debating whether or not I should let it slide and pretend I didn't hear it but before I can make that choice, I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I wouldn't be this upset if I didn't believe this even a tiny bit but a part of me does.

Maybe Aiden told them that. That he felt some sort of relief not having me around anymore. Then my mind thinks back to what Aiden said to me earlier today, he sounded sincere. He went on about how much he missed having me around and wanted me to be in his life even if it meant lying to his girlfriend.

I couldn't let him do it though and I hope he stops. Sarah must know herself that he's going to see me in school but hopefully understands that it can't be helped.

"You don't know shit." The words fall out of my mouth before I notice what I said.

"Fuck sake Julia it was a joke. You really need to chill." Kate says quickly without hesitation, she's looking at her phone probably texting her boyfriend. She doesn't even realise that what she said was wrong and she probably never will.

"Look clearly shit is escalating here so I think I'm going to leave," I say as I stand up and grab my bag.

They don't even try to stop me from leaving, I knew they wouldn't. I know that by tomorrow I'll go to school and they'll act as if tonight never happened like they never hurt my feelings.

I leave Kate's apartment and notice how late it is. A teenage girl walking home in the dark during winter is not something many people would consider safe. My mam would be asleep and I wouldn't want to wake her since she starts work early tomorrow. As I scroll through my contacts there's only one person I can think about calling right now.

~ ~ ~

I see a silver car pull up beside me, it only took about ten minutes to get here. The window rolls down and I've never been happier to see Shane's face. I get into the passenger seat and put my hands against the heater.

He was only telling me a few weeks ago that he got his learners license so technically he should have a fully licensed driver with him right now. Let's hope we don't run into the police.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice and at a late time as well. I'm sorry if you get in trouble with your parents." I say? Looking down at my lap, twiddling my fingers.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. My parents are asleep and they won't wake up to the sound of me getting back inside. They're heavy sleepers which I haven't really needed to take advantage of until now." He says with a laugh as he starts the car.

The road is empty but he continues to dry slowly due to the ice. We begin to talk about all sorts of things. Things that we never really get the chance to talk about in work because we're busy. This is nice, maybe whatever we talk about now will make up for the lost time that would be spent watching the movie this weekend.

Shane is actually a really funny guy, he keeps cracking jokes which calms me down considering the events of today. We're getting close to my house, thank god because I would love bugging more than to be in my own bed right now.

"Hey so what exactly happened with you and your friends?" He asks which I shouldn't be surprised about because I didn't really give the most detailed description through text.

"They starting saying stuff about someone important to me and I didn't appreciate it. So I left." I respond.

"We're they talking about your friend Aiden?"

How did he know that? Is the FBI agent in my phone telling Shane everything they can hear?

"I'm just taking a guess because he seems to be someone you really care about. Whatever they said about him I would ignore if I were you." He advises.

"Why?"

"Because I saw how he looked at you today, how protective he was when I showed up and how quickly he tried to stand his ground. He either really cares about you or he likes you. My guess is that it's both."

"He has a girlfriend so that's not it. We've been best friends since we were toddlers so we're just really close." I notice a slight relief in his face when I say that. Given how Aiden was acting towards him today, I can understand any doubts he may have had.

"Well, I hope he looks at his girlfriend the same way he looks at you because I've never seen anyone look at someone so intensely but in awe at the same time. It's like he was mesmerised by you which I can't really blame him for." His words catch me off guard, he must have been looking at me while I was talking to Shane.

"Well we're just friends, always have been."

"Ok, I believe you. I'm sure you would tell me if I had any competition." He says with a light laugh. "But seriously, whatever your friends said about Aiden isn't true. Based on what I saw today, you definitely mean a lot to him."

Those were the exact words I needed to hear. I always fear that my reactions to people comments or assumptions can be too dramatic. It's nice to finally have someone agree with me, knowing that me leaving wasn't an overreaction has definitely put my mind more at ease.

We turn the final corner and pull up outside my house.

"Thanks again for showing up on such short notice, I just wasn't comfortable walking home alone this late in the dark. If you get in trouble with your parents then please tell them it was my fault. Parents love me so I can get you off the hook with my undeniable charms."

"It's really no problem, glad I could help. As much as I'd love for my parents to get to know your charming personality, I'd really rather it not be due to the fact I was caught sneaking out."

I laugh and lean over to give Shane a kiss on the cheek before hopping out of the car. Which definitely catches him off guard but he does reject it which give me a feeling of relief. I think the last thing I need today would be a rejected kiss, even if it was just a small kiss on the cheek.

I wave goodbye and watch as he's turning out of the housing estate. Lucky for me, my mam is a heavy sleeper too which means I'm not going to get in trouble for coming back home unexpectedly. I will have to explain to her tomorrow why I'm back home but I can say I was home earlier than I was to avoid causing her unnecessary stress.

Once I've managed to get inside I head straight upstairs and flip onto my bed. Nothing feels better than your own bed in my opinion. I don't even bother changing into Pajamas and decide to stay in my hoodie and joggers. They are perfect substitutes for Pajamas so I'll still be comfortable.

My final thoughts before closing my eyes include my usual dread for school tomorrow, facing Erin and Kate and the thought of how Aiden stares at me when I don't notice him.

The last one makes me smile more than I thought it would.

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Thank you for reading the sixth chapter of "All I Knew was you" I know it was a little bit shorter than usual but I hope you enjoyed and continue to read. Please feel free to vote, comment and share if you did enjoy as it would be a major help and mean a lot to me.
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Thank you all for reading, you will hear from me in the next chapter.