I woke up to my alarm screeching at me. I was too tired to realize what was going on and how to turn my alarm off. I rolled over and sat up, glaring at my alarm.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! How do you like it?" I screamed at my alarm and slammed the snooze button. 

I am not a morning person, especially on Mondays. I laid back down and stared at the ceiling. This week was the last week of school and then I would be a free man. All those years of torture will have paid off. I got up and walked over to the bathroom and peeled off all of my clothes and hopped into the shower. 

I ran my fingers through my hair as I rinsed out all shampoo. I had let the water stream down my face and make it's way into the drain. The scorching water felt so good on my body. The way it burned. I just kind of forgot about everything happening in my life for a moment and just relaxed. 

Sadly the moment came for me to get out of the shower and I had to get dressed. I wrapped a towel around my waist and dragged myself towards my closet. For a moment I had just stared at my clothes as if they were magically gonna appear on me. I reached for a light blue shirt and slid on a pair of khaki shorts.  

I turned on my phone as a trotted down the stairs. I had a good morning text from Lexia and an Instagram notification. I clicked on it and I had a new follow request from Baxlyn Vans. I had immediately accepted it and clicked on her profile. I wasn't private so I could look at her photos. As I pulled out a box of Captain Crunch, I studied her profile. She had over 5,000 followers and had 127 photos. I scrolled through them, looking t her gorgeous face. She was quite the singer too. I clicked on a video of her doing a quick cover of Stitches by Shawn Mendes on her guitar. It was amazing. My ears felt so happy when I listened to some of her covers.

I finally drawn my eyes away from my phone and looked at the clock. It was 6:45 am. I had to leave right now. I got up and threw my bag over my shoulder. I ran outside and reached for my keys and realized I had forgotten them inside. I hurry and ran inside and started searching for them. I couldn't find them. Neena made her way downstairs and threw something at me.

"Looking for these?" she said and I caught them. My keys.

"Yes! Thank you! Have a good day!" I yelled, running out of the door. 

My car started right away. It ran like a beauty. I pulled out just as Baxlyn was passing my driveway. She honked at me and I honked back. I pulled out right behind her and turned up my music. Opening the sun roof and rolling down the windows, allowing the wind blow threw my hair. It had felt nice. I loved cool mornings like this. 

I was still behind Baxlyn as we pulled into the school parking lot and I parked right net to her. She got out and stood by my car with her arms crossed. I grabbed my bag and got out, throwing my keys in my pocket.

"Stalk much?" She said.

"Not exactly. We just happened to take the same roads to the same place," I said smirking.

"You usually take the other way to school. Any reason you took the way I did today? Don't say it was a coincidence."

"Nah. I guess it is just something like fate," I said smoothly and threw my hands in my pockets.

She adjusted her backpack. "Right...well I'll see you later."

She turned and started walking to the front of the school until someone came out of nowhere and grabbed her by the waist. It was Troy. I watched her turn around and peck him on the mouth. I couldn't stand watching this. If only she knew what he was capable off. He was using her. 

"Yo Tanner!" a familiar voice yelled behind me.  I turned to see Nick and another boy from the football team named Scott.

"Sup guys?" I said doing a little bro handshake with them. 

"Have you sen Troy and Baxlyn yet? It's what everyone is talking about," Nick asked.

Oh yep. I seen his dirty hands all over her, I wanted to say. "Oh, what's up with them? Are the official now?" 

Scott spoke. "Yeah I guess so. Oh, look there they are now." 

I turned and seen they were still I the same spot. Troy's hands were around her waste and they were smiling and giggling together. I would have been cute if I didn't know how big of a fuckboy he is. Everyone that was around us were talking and staring. I couldn't watched. I shoved passed Nick and headed for my locker.

***

Finally after 8 hours of horror, I placed myself in the driver's seat of my car and looked to see Baxlyn on her phone right outside of her Jeep. It looked like she was yelling and her face as all red. I wanted to ask if she was okay but I knew it was probably best if I just left her be. troy can deal with her.

I headed home and basically felt like doing nothing. I plopped myself on the couch and stretched out. Grabbing the remote to see one of my favorite movies was on. The Outsiders. For a while after I watched that movie when I was little I thought I was the real OG. Acting all gangster like and made up my own little gang. I laughed at the thought. 

My eyes started to get droopy and I eventually dozed off.

***

I woke up to the smell of something amazing. Neena was probably cooking dinner. I walked into the kitchen. She drained some noodles and glanced at me. "Oh wonderful you're awake. I am making Ravioli."

"Mm-mm, my favorite," I said running my hand down my face after a yawn. As I did that, I looked at the clock and it was already 7:30 pm. 

I took my usual spot at the dinner table and played with the rim around my glass of milk. Neena placed the bowl of Ravioli in front of my and the warm, steamy smell filled my nose. Neena's homemade Ravioli was killer. If there was a Grammy for food, Neena's ravioli would so win one.

I demolished 3 bowls of it and made my way upstairs saying good night to Neena. It was a little chilly upstairs so I had thrown on my Holister sweatshirt and walked out onto my balcony. It was a beautiful, breezy night. I went to relax on my chair when I heard sobs. I looked around and seen Baxlyn leaning her forehead against he sliding glass door crying. The first thing that popped into my head was Troy. I wanted to ask her what happened and too comfort her. I climbed down the side of the balcony, jumping on the rood below and stumbled onto the ground. This is how I usually sneaked out of the house.  

I crossed my yard and jumped the bush that separated out yards. Against the side of her house was a gardening trellis that looked stable enough to climb. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I started to climb up and reached her balcony. I jumped over the railing and obviously scared the crap out of Baxlyn. She jumped and turned to look at me. Her eyes were all puffy and her cheeks were wet with tears. 

My heart throbbed at the sight of her like this. "Jesus you scared me! What are you doing?" she said, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"I am sorry. I just heard you crying and came over to make sure you were okay." I said, leaning against the balcony railing. 

"Oh, um. I don't even know." She tried fixing her runny make up but just made it worse. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I questioned her. She looked at me with sad, tired eyes.

She took a deep breath. "Don't take it personally, but I don't know you well enough to actually share what's going on right now with you."

I feel like she just took a hammer and just smashed my heart. "It's okay. I get it. Just thought I would offer it. I am here for you inf you ever need someone to talk too."

She managed out thank you before she burst into tears. I pulled her into my arms and tried to comfort her by making 'shh' sounds and telling her it was gonna be okay. After a few moments she pulled back and looked right into my eyes.

"Thank you." She gave me a peck and walked to her door and walked inside. 

"No problem," I said to myself climbing back down and heading back to my house.