AN: Sorry for the delay this time guys. I found this chapter hard to write because, well, this is where things get dark... Duh DUh DUH!

Also! Did you see Loud and Clear won Best LGBT Teen Fiction on wattpad! xoxoxoxxo Soooo happy, I cannot even describe! (I'll put up the cover sticker asap) Thank you everyone reading and commenting. I might not have time to reply to every one but I read them all and reaaaaaally appreciate all of the support lately. Thank you, thank you, thank you! <3

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Lucas tried his best to avoid everyone.

But, well, he was just as bad at being sneaky as he was at keeping secrets and within a heartbeat of stepping onto campus grounds, he was spotted.

A shrill shriek met his ears moments before Lucas was engulfed in a hug.

"Tell me everything!" Grace shrieked.

Lucas rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing to tell," he said. But while saying it, couldn't make eye contact and felt his cheeks heating to an uncomfortable degree.

"Oh my god!" Grace squealed. "Was it amazing? Is he a good kisser?"

She clapped her hands under her chin and her eyes twinkled gazing up at him.

"He was so sweet at the party," she said. "He was all Grr, defending his man."

She trailed off and waited for a response and Lucas' initial embarrassment turned into a deep warmth at the memory.

"Yeah," he said and a smile tugged his lips. "He's pretty amazing."

"Pretty and amazing," Grace corrected.

She took his arm in hers and lead him to a nearby bench, pushing him down and sitting next to him eagerly.

"So?" she prompted.

"So, what?"

She sighed.

"What happened after you left?" she asked.

Lucas shrugged helplessly, torn between the sudden desire to spill his guts while squealing and/or pretending that nothing happened.

"Uh--stuff," he managed.

Again, his face gave it all away because Grace laughed gleefully and slapped his arm.

"What kind of stuff?" she asked, wiggling her eye brows at him.

Lucas flushed and looked away, pointedly ignoring the high pitched noise she was making.

There was only one way through this, he realized. Not to mention, he wanted to share... he felt like his chest was going to cave in and his head explode and having someone to tell him what the hell was going on suddenly sounded like a really good idea.

"Okay," Lucas said somberly, turning to face her again. "I'll tell you."

She waited with baited breath.

"We went outside and--I asked him to come over--"

"Lucas! I had no idea you had that in you!"

"There are many things you don't know about me," he informed her, pretending he wasn't blushing. "I have many secrets and mysteries...."

Grace rolled her eyes.

"Just get back to the story."

Lucas cleared his throat.

"Well, we went to my place and, since there's no power--"

"About that..."

"It's fine, I'm taking care of it," he said.

She pursed her lips and Lucas crossed his arms, not sure if he wanted to share anymore while she was staring at him so judgy.

"Then we made out and stuff," he muttered.

Grace gave him a very unimpressed look.

"That's it?" Grace deadpanned.

Lucas opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off.

"All weekend I've been imagining this romantic continuation of the night, where he literally sweeps you off your feet and carries you off to the bedroom and blows your mind and all you did was 'make out and stuff.'"

She lowered her voice into a strange imitation of what Lucas guessed what supposed to be a douchey version of himself and crossed her arms.

"Sorry," Lucas said, taken aback. "I mean, actually, he came up behind me in the dark and put his arms around me and then we made out and--"

He swallowed.

"Then, we barely made it to the bedroom and..."

Grace's jaw dropped and she watched Lucas with wide eyes.

"And?"

He flushed.

"We got undressed... God, it's really hot today," he muttered looking around. He appeared to be the only one sweating though.

"Lucas," Grace said, leaning forward with a serious look on her face. "At least tell me if he blew your mind."

Lucas couldn't help the short laugh that burst from his lips.

"Absolutely."

Grace's face split in a grin.

"Oh! That's so cute!" she squealed and Lucas found himself bubbling with happiness and nerves that it had even happened to him.

"Was it your first time?" she asked lowly. "With a guy?"

He nodded.

"Yeah but, we didn't have, you know."

For the first time, Lucas clued in to why Alex commonly referred to him as a toddler. He couldn't even say the word sex out loud in relation to himself.

He let out a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked. "You wanted more?"

Lucas looked away, unsure where to start. He didn't often do emotional purging and the last week alone felt like it was draining him dry.

"He left," he started. "In the morning."

"He didn't wake you up, or anything?"

The hesitance in Grace's voice seemed to confirm Lucas' fears and he felt his stomach knot as he shook his head.

Grace bit her lip.

"He sent me this."

Lucas fished in his pocket for his phone and scrolled to the conversation, past his numerous unanswered messages, to William's simple text.

Lucas didn't need to read it again. He knew exactly what it said. He'd read the words so many times that he saw them when he closed his eyes.

Sorry, I had to go to my appointment.

Lucas had already learned so much about himself since he had met William. He'd spent all of yesterday thinking about it.

There were the obvious things, like how he apparently liked kissing--among other things--boys. Then there were the not so obvious things.

For one, Lucas didn't know that he could like someone more than food. Food was necessary to live after all, and friends were not. But William, well, Lucas couldn't even imagine living without him anymore. He'd flipped everything on its head and Lucas felt lost and disjointed, wondering where he stood with the other boy. It was like standing on quicksand.

And perhaps the most surprising realization of all was that Lucas had literally had no idea that he was the sentimental type. Not until he got that text and it was absent of everything that could reassure him. There were no nice words; no I had a good time, I can't stop thinking about you, when will I see you again.

"Maybe he didn't want to wake you?" Grace suggested, but she didn't sound sure.

Feeling deflated, (and crushed) Lucas only managed a small nod.

"Hey," Grace said, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Whatever you saw in him, that made you trust him, I saw the same thing on Saturday night. I'm sure he has a good reason."

A small smile tugged on Lucas' lips, because truthfully, William had only ever showed Lucas his good side and he was ninety-nine percent sure that William had no other one. Whatever reason he hadn't texted Lucas back for, must be good.

"Hi!" Grace said, waving past Lucas' shoulder and only then did he realized that the others had spotted them.

He glanced over, briefly seeing Alex and his friend Dan that had been at the party and also--shudder--Blake.

Lucas jumped to his feet.

"See you," he muttered to Grace and took off blindly toward the school.

"Lucas!" Alex shouted, but Lucas didn't slow until he was all the way in his class. The one he shared with William.

It was empty but for a few students and Lucas turned in his seat, watching as people started to trickle in... and then realizing how desperate that would look and swiveling in his seat to face the front.

The room filled around him, but Lucas refused to look up until either William dropped into the seat next to him or class started.

His stomach clenched.

What if the class started and William never took that seat? What if he was ignoring him right now, and sitting somewhere else?

The seat pulled out next to him.

Lucas felt his heart sink with relief and then stop altogether when he saw Blake slide in next to him.

The red head pulled off his bag casually and glanced at Lucas.

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked.

Maybe it was an innocent question, but it felt like a jab.

Lucas glanced around the room. William wasn't there.

"Sick," he said and pulled out his books, effectively ending the conversation.

All class, he could feel Blake's fleeting looks and managed not to look back once.

Lucas knew what was coming before the class ended and with a sense of dread, he jumped to his feet the second the bell went.

"Wait," Blake said. "Can we talk?"

"No," Lucas said, shoving his books in his bag.

He took off, half afraid that Blake was going to follow him and didn't realize where he was going until he was half way through the arboretum.

Lucas' feet dug into the hard path and he stopped dead, staring ahead.

Was it habit, or did he really want to see William that badly?

Lucas resisted the urge to face-palm.

"It's only been a day," he told himself. "Get it together."

Still, Lucas knew that William went to their clearing whenever he could and even though he knew it was unlikely that the other boy was there, he went anyway.

It was funny, sitting in the little spot all alone a short time later, Lucas didn't get how he'd spent so much time there. It was dirty, there was an army of ants climbing up his arms and over his shoes and the sun was too hot.

Without William here, it was just a useless, awkward spot wedged between the bushes, the hill and the creek.

It took about twenty minutes sitting there for Lucas' mood to take a swift turn to frustration.

For one, William had come into his life and wrecked everything.

Really. Because of William, Lucas wasn't even talking to his friends. True, they were asshats, but at least before, Lucas hadn't cared.

And then of course, there was the fact that William had come in, showed Lucas how nice it was to feel wanted and now, now he wasn't even talking to him.

He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the messages for the millionth time.

He'd sent 10.

At first Lucas hadn't thought much of it, and then after the first three went ignored, he started to get worried.

His last message, is everything okay? Hung in the silence between them, the very obvious with me, suggested but not written.

Lucas grit his teeth and stared into the trees, betrayal and frustration growing in him.

He wasn't going to text him again.

He refused.

Keeping true to his promise, Lucas skipped the rest of the day, and managed to make it all the way until he was laying in bed that night before tentatively dialing William's number.

His heart raced as the phone rang. They'd never talked on the phone. He doubted that William liked doing it but if he'd meant everything he'd said before, surely...

The line clicked and fell silent.

Shocked, Lucas sat frozen on his bed.

A chill settled in him.

William hung up on him.

He didn't want to talk to him.

He probably didn't even want to see him again.

Slowly, Lucas looked at his phone, at a loss with what to do.

For a long time, he sat there, numbly. Eventually, he laid down in bed, but sleep when it did come was shallow and disjointed.

Lucas was awake before the morning light lit his bedroom but he waited until it was an acceptable hour to send his message.

I have your notes from today.

It was a lie. Lucas hadn't written a word today. He felt pathetic, even sending it, but still, he needed to know. He needed to see William and ask him what the hell had happened from when he fell asleep that night to when he woke up the next morning.

William's reply came quick this time.

I don't need them. I'm not coming back to school.