Cole's POV

I look at myself in the mirror. There are dark purple bags under my eyes. My skin is pale. The eyes that used to be welcoming are now stone cold, like there is no life behind them. I'm a shell of who I used to be.

It was a quick decline once I took that first hit of whatever Tyler gave me at that party two years ago. I lost myself, making it so I lost Nya. Once I lost Nya, I turned back to what made me lose her, and everything fell apart.

It wasn't until recently that I noticed how much drugs changed my life. The withdrawals were painful when I was forced off of drugs, but the further I got in, the easier it got. I felt more free. Everything was less irritating. It became easier to breathe. I started to feel like me again.

But then I crashed. I caved into the peer pressure and played a round of beer pong. That round turned into multiple, and I got so drunk that I hurt Nya again. I hurt the girl that I swore to protect. I'm the reason she's on crutches.

I'm not me when I'm on drugs or when I even think about them. They transformed me. I used to be a hard on the outside and soft on the inside guy, but now I'm just a jerk. I see it and I hate it.

That jerk scared Nya away. She's never going to give me a chance again. In her defense, I wouldn't if she was her. She's finally happy again now that she has someone to rely on, even if I'm super jealous of Jay.

My jealousy drove me to a point of destruction. Jay has never done anything wrong to me. He's never been mean. I just got jealous that he got Nya and I didn't, so I decided I needed to beat him up. I felt guilty the entire time doing it, but I couldn't stop. I needed to direct my rage somewhere other than myself, and he was the easiest target.

"I need to fix myself," I verbalize my thoughts, telling my reflection. "I never want to see you again."

I walk into the kitchen to grab a trash bag. When I come back, I open the second lowest drawer to the left. It's overflowing with several vapes, wax pens, cigarettes, and lots more. One by one, I place each one in a trash bag until my drawer is clean.

I close the drawer before walking outside. I go into our side yard where we keep our trash cans. Opening the one with the black lid, I drop the bag in.

---

I walk through the halls of the school, trying to find two specific people. It would be three if I wasn't so afraid. I can't face Nya, not yet. I need to give both of us time and space. I need to give myself time to come to terms that I need to let her go.

I see the first person when I turn the corner towards the courtyard. He is sitting in the grass field. The flowers surround him, and his eyes are closed. Hesitantly, I walk towards him.

"Zane," I say softly, trying to break him from his trance. At the sound of his name, he snaps out of his trance, his eyes opening so his ice blue eyes are visible.

"I'm sorry Cole. I won't sit here next time," he responds out of fear, preparing to get his stuff.

"I'm actually here to say sorry," I admit, feeling even more guilt when I see him panicking to get his stuff. "Please sit." He listens, placing his backpack back down. "You've done nothing to provoke our actions over the past several years. You're innocent, and we penalized you for it. We've taken out of frustration on you, and we've made your high school experience miserable. I don't know what I could do to try to fix any of that. I'm sorry for bullying you, Zane. If there is anything I can do to lessen the damage, please let me know."

"I accept your apology. Everyone deserves the chance to start anew," he gives me a small smile, and it's like a weight is lifted off my chest. However, he starts to drift off, focusing on something over my shoulder. PIXAL is standing with Chamille, talking. Zane looks mesmerized.

"You still like her?" I ask him. He nods. "I'm pretty sure she still likes you too. She's just scared that Harumi will get mad at her for dating someone outside of the friend group."

"That is...unfortunate," he sighs.

"I can try to talk to her if you want. Maybe I can convince her that Harumi doesn't matter," I offer.

"I would appreciate that."

---

The second person is a lot harder to get alone. Whenever I see him, he's always in a conversation. After getting information from Skylor, I'm able to find his last period class and wait outside of it.

I lean against the wall, waiting to him to walk out. Everyone else gets out first, and finally at the end, I see him walk out.

"Jay," I try to get his attention. It works. His head automatically whips in my direction, and he gets visibly stressed. "I'm not here to confront you, don't worry."

"I actually can't talk right now. I need to uh...finish writing my homecoming rally speech. I was supposed to finish it yesterday but...." he blurts out nervously, the panic setting in. I can see his breathing pick up, his chest rising and falling more rapidly. I sigh

"I want to apologize," I tell him. The words stop him in his tracks.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for being so mean to you Jay. I was jealous that you made Nya happy and I didn't. That jealousy turned into rage, and I took it out on you. I should've just been happy that Nya was happy again. You do make her really happy Jay. I haven't seen her smile like she smiles at you in years. Beating you up, and being rude to you in general, was wrong," I apologize. He seems slightly uncomfortable the whole time.

"H-how do I know this isn't a trick?" he asks hesitantly.

"You don't," I answer realistically. "But why would I lie to you?"

"Maybe...um...I don't know," he tries to think of something but comes up short.

"You're going to be around Nya, and I'm going to be around Kai. There's no way we won't cross paths. I'd rather have as little bad blood as possible. I'm also just trying to start over again," I explain.

"I accept your apology," he declares with a hint of hesitation. "Have you already talked to Nya?"

"No, and can you please not tell her about this conversation? I want to apologize to her when I'm ready," I ask.

"Sure."

---

Kai's POV

I wait until after school to confront Harumi. When I see her, she's walking away from the gym, which is ironic because that's where her cheer practice is. She looks ready for practice though. She's wearing short green exercise shorts with a plain white tank top.

"Harumi!" I call to her. She stops in her tracks as I start to jog towards her. "I need to talk to you."

"I actually need to go to practice," she lies to my face, looking straight into my eyes with no sign of remorse.

"That's funny, since you're walking away from the gym," I comment. She rolls her eyes, adjusting her bag.

"I'm going towards the nearest bathroom. I'm having girl problems," she doesn't even hesitate, putting her hand on my arm.

"You don't need to lie to me. I know you're going to see Lloyd," I cross my arms, shrugging her off. Now, I see the first signs of unease come over her.

"Excuse me?" she snaps, her eyes narrowing.

"You're going to see Lloyd Garmadon, the guy you're cheating on me with. Don't even bother lying to me," I glare at her.

"Who told you?" she snaps, her face filled with fury.

"You really thought you could cheat on me without me finding out?" I start to raise my voice, deflecting her question.

"Who told you?" she grits.

"It doesn't matter. I was going to break up with you today anyways. This just justified it even more. I'm done with you Harumi! I'm done with you pulling me along! I'm done just being your arm candy! This was the last straw. I'm done. Bye Harumi," I turn, ready to walk away.

"Wait, Kai," she grabs my wrist, holding it tightly. "Hear me out."

"Nothing you say is going to make me love you again," I tell her harshly. She doesn't even flinch.

"I don't want you to love me again, considering I don't love you either. I just want you to be my homecoming date," she tells me, both confusing and infuriating me even more.

"Why don't you go with Lloyd?" I sneer.

"He's not a school dance type of guy. Besides, we always planned that we would go to homecoming together. Wouldn't it be a shame if we couldn't live that through?" she keeps her composure.

"No, it really wouldn't be," I deadpan, getting ready to leave again.

"I'll pay you," she sighs. "I'll give you however much money you need to buy Nya a car, so maybe she'll forgive you."

When the words come out of her mouth, I freeze. I need some way to restore Nya's faith in me. I need some gesture to show her that I care for her, not just myself and Cole. Giving up my senior homecoming to get her a car would do that, even if she couldn't drive it right away.

"You have a deal."

---

Harumi's POV

I walk away from my talk with Kai feeling victorious. Not only do I not have to fake being interested in Kai anymore, but I'm also still going to homecoming with him. Everything fell into place. I get everything. I get to be the homecoming queen with the football captain by my side. Not only that, but I can also be with only Lloyd.

I walk over to the bleachers where I know Lloyd is waiting. He's looking out at the field, his back to me. His blonde hair contrasts sharply with his black leather jacket. I try to sneak up on him, but he spins around before I can.

"Hey, you're late what...," he starts, but I cut him off by standing on my tip toes and pressing my lips against his. He immediately melts into the kiss, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. Our lips start moving more feverently, but I eventually pull away. "What happened?"

"Kai found out," I tell him. His eyes widen.

"Why aren't you worried?" he asks, a hint of worry in his own voice.

"Because now that everything is out in the open, everyone gets what they want. We can openly be together, I don't have to fake liking Kai anymore, and I'm still going to homecoming with Kai," I declare.

"How did you manage to get him to still go with you?"

"Nya may or may not be getting a new car," I give him the abridged version. At first, he sighs, but then he smiles.

"See, usually I'd be upset that you bribed Kai using several thousand dollars..."

"But?"

"But I'm way too happy now that I get you all to myself," he wraps his arms around me.

"We won, Lloyd."

A/N only 4 chapters left along with the epilogue. Are you guys ready?

So basically I'm not writing Schism anymore. It was a cool concept, but I couldn't pull it off. It wouldn't work, and things didn't tie together neatly. The plot became clunky, and I couldn't find a way to wrap up the book.

However, I'm going to write the idea that I had before Schism. I've already thought it all out. I just need to write out the plan, and it'll be finalized. It's super similar to Schism, but it's better. It's going to be titled Enmity

We're almost at homecoming in the book! I can't wait.

Thoughts?

Thank you guys so much. Keep commenting, reading, and voting. It really motivates me to write.