"Kellin? Earth to Kellin Quinn!" Alex snaps his fingers in front of my face. 

"What?" I look up and see the entire group staring at me. "Sorry, I was just thinking about... Homework." 

Jack rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, I never think about homework." 

Alex glares at Jack. "I know. All you ever think about is fucking some random guy on the street." 

Tyler goes stiff and Brendon covers his face with his hands. Justin and Nick share a glance. 

"Uh... Did something happen while I was... Busy?" I ask, trying to break the odd tension that suddenly fell over us. 

"Yeah, why don't you tell him what happened, Jack?" Alex grunts. 

"Well, why don't you, since you're his best friend?" Jack shoots back. 

"Fine. Jack cheated on me with another guy. Just fucked him without even thinking about how I would feel," Alex spits. "Zack, isn't it?" 

"Fuck off," Jack glares back. "You didn't tell Kellin about how you decided to relapse." 

"You what?" I gasp. 

Alex looks down. "Yeah. I did." 

I sigh and wrap an arm around him. "I'm sorry, I should have been there- I just got caught up with some... Family stuff... And I just-" 

"It's okay, Kellin," Alex whispers back. "I'm sorry- I putting you through this again I just-" he sighs and glares back at Jack, who's staring at the ground. 

Jack stands up. "I should go."

"You should," Alex spits. 

"You know what? Fuck you, Alex. I was with Zack before you. I only just went back to him when you started pulling all this shit. For the week we dated, there was nothing between Zack and I." 

Alex lets out a bitter laugh. "I saw you kiss him."

"How many times do I have to tell you? He. Kissed. Me. I tried to-"

"YOU FUCKING KISSED BACK," Alex screams. He violently grabs his own sleeve and yanks it back. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID?" He rips the bandages off his wrist. I gasp. It's littered with fresh cuts. 

Jack's jaw drops. "Alex, I knew that you- but I didn't realize-" 

"Well," Alex drops his arm. "Now you do." He turns on his heel and storms out of the room. 

"Alex," I stand up and rush after him. I hear a door slam and my stomach twists. We're at Jack and Alex's place, and he just-

He locked himself in the bathroom. 

"ALEX, DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE DO SOMETHING YOU'LL REGRET," I scream. I bang on the door, and desperately twist the doorknob. "ALEX." 

I hear heavy footsteps and turn to see Justin and Tyler. "He's in the bathroom and-" I bite my lip. 

"Hey," Tyler starts. 

"ALEX. OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR," Justin shouts. I jump in surprise. Justin rarely raises his voice, especially around me. When he found out about my dad, he started being really careful about that stuff. 

He gives me an apologetic look. "Sorry," he whispers. 

I shake my head. "It's okay." 

Tyler bangs on the door to the point where I'm afraid he'll break it. 

"Alex, please," I speak softer. "Please let us in." 

"N-no."

His weak voice shatters my heart. 

"Alex, please. I can't lose you," I beg. "Please." 

Silence. 

Justin and Tyler share a glance. 

They move aside so that I can get closer to the door. "Alex, please. I really can't lose you, not now. Not ever. Please, just open the door and I can help you. Please, I'm begging you." 

A click echoes in my ear. I grab the doorknob and throw the door open. I rush in and he drops the blade. 

Two cuts. 

I look him in the eyes as I grab the blade. I drop it into the toilet and flush it. 

"I know you can always get more. But this is your chance," I say before grabbing some hydrogen peroxide and bandages. 

"I'm sorry," he mumbles. "With everything- When I saw Jack and Zack together, it's like my brain went into autopilot- I just couldn't stop myself." 

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. We'll get this figured out," I coax softly. "You're just lucky you didn't cut any deeper," I sigh. "Okay, now, can we try and talk this out?" 

He shakes his head. "It's over for Jack and I." 

"Okay... Do you want to stay at my apartment for a while?" 

He nods. "Just until I can find somewhere else?" 

"Yeah, of course. Uh- we should go." 

I help him up and we walk to the front door.

"Alex-" Jack stands up. I turn and see tears running down his face. "Please..." 

"No, Jack. Not this time." 

"I'm sorry," Jack speaks softly. His voice cracks and he clears his throat. "If you'll ever give me the chance, I really have to tell you something." 

Alex clenches his fist. He takes a deep breath and turns slowly to look at Jack. I see something in his eyes melt at the sight of the younger boy in tears. "Fine. But you do it now, in front of everyone." 

Jack nods. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I wasn't even trying to. I just- Zack-" he takes a breath. I can feel Alex trembling beside me. 

"This was a mistake," Alex speaks sternly. "I have to-"

"He was abusive," Jack blurts out. 

Alex turns, staring at Jack wide-eyed. My jaw drops and I see Justin and Nick look at Jack in pure shock. 

"Jack... What do you mean?" Alex speaks softly, sounding less and less confident with each word. 

"I dated Zack briefly before we did and- he would say things to me and... Do things to me," Jack starts slowly. "I left him, and then we started dating. I thought Zack would never try and hurt me again but then- at the library- he saw me. And when I tried to rush off, he chased after me and that's when you turned around," Jack gulps. "He just grabbed me, slammed me against the wall and... Kissed me." Jack closes his eyes and I see tears hit the floor. "And when you stormed off, he dragged me into an empty classroom and-" 

He breaks down. 

Suddenly, he's sobbing and collapses to the floor to his knees. Justin, Nick, Tyler, and Brendon all stare in shock. 

Alex is the first to rush over. "What did he fucking do?" Alex asks, anger built up in his voice. 

Jack shakes his head. 

"Jack," Alex scolds. 

Jack sniffles and lifts his shirt up slightly. 

The air goes thick when Alex sees what Jack meant. 

A large, bruise. The really harsh colored ones that mean he was hit. And hit hard.

Alex gasps and gently runs his thumb over the bruise. "Baby," he whispers. "He did this to you?" 

Jack nods hesitantly. "Zack told me that you hated me and that I was nothing without him. He got me to believe him and I couldn't- I couldn't run." 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alex murmurs. 

"I was scared he would hurt you. And I believed that he was the only one that could ever love me so I just- I didn't do anything." 

And then Alex and Jack start making out. 

Justin and I make eye-contact. Justin smirks and rolls his eyes. 

"Wait- where does he live? I want to fucking kill him," Tyler says. "He doesn't get to hurt my friend like that." 

"No. We will not go a beat the shit out of him. Besides, he's fucking built. He'll probably just punch you guys and- it's one thing for him to hurt me, but if he hurt you guys too-" Jack sighs. "Just... Don't." 

Alex grabs Jack's phone from off the table. He opens it and glares at the screen. "These fucking texts are disgusting," Alex grumbles. "One minute he's insulting you, the next, he's telling you how much he loves you and how he's the only one who will ever love you." 

Alex tosses the phone onto the couch and turns back to Jack. "I should have let you explain," he sighs. "Then maybe... Maybe all this wouldn't have happened." 

"I should have explained earlier," Jack answers. "I'm sorry." 

Alex shakes his head and presses a kiss to Jack's forehead. 

I grab the unlocked phone and find Zack's number. 

"If you won't let us beat the shit out of him. I'm going to block him," I say as I press the block button. 

"Hell yeah! Dickhead Merrick is blocked!" Brendon cheers. 

"And if he ever comes for you again. Just shoot us a text and we'll poke his eyeballs out," Tyler adds. 

Jack smiles at the ground. "Thanks," he whispers. Alex wraps an arm around him. 

I smile back and we all sit down. "So... Did I miss anything else?" 

Just then, my phone buzzes. I pick it up and answer the call. 

"Kellin?" I hear Tony speak. I excuse myself and walk over to a corner. 

"Yeah?" 

"Vic's being released tomorrow. You can't pick him up because of rules and stuff, but I thought you should know," he explains. 

"Oh thank god he's alright. No one even told us anything." 

"That's because he got everything fixed rather quickly. He'll just have to take it slow for a few weeks and he'll be fine," Tony says. 

"Okay, good. Thanks for the notice," I smile as he hangs up. I pocket the phone and walk back to the group, who just stares at me in complete silence. 

"Was that your boyfriend?" Alex wiggles his eyebrows. 

I shrug. "It's actually his friend." 

"SO YOU ARE DATING!" Justin laughs. "CALLED IT!" 

I roll my eyes. I look down and see his bandages. My stomach twists at the thought that this is my fault. 

I purse my lips. 

I'm sorry.