Just like always, I didn't hurry on my way to school. It was the same as every other morning, so I thought nothing of it. It wasn't like me to get there early, and all my friends knew that already, so they never even asked me to meet them before school because they knew I wouldn't be there.

I just never looked forward to just a regular day at school. Little did I know that that day was no normal one.

I started up the steps to the entrance, but was stopped before I could get to the doors. I looked up at Sean, who was blocking my path, and neither of us said anything to each other at first. I was thinking about just passing him by without even acknowledging him, but I was pretty sure that I had hurt him enough already.

"Sean," I greeted, not wanting to be rude to him. If it was any normal day with him, I wouldn't have even minded being rude to him, but after everything he had said to me, I knew that I probably should have acted kindly toward him if I knew what was best for me.

"Leah," he greeted right back to me.

"Is there something you need to tell me or can I go inside?" I asked him now, not even caring about sounding rude anymore. "It's cold out here, Sean. Hurry up and talk to me or let me move along."

"I decided that I'm not going to give you up so easily," he began suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing at me. "I'll steal you from Blake Solo even if it's the last thing I ever do."

And just when I started to feel bad for him for the first time in the time that I had known him, he decides to go back to his old ways by chasing after me again. Did he seriously think that I would leave Blake, who I loved more than anything, for him?

"Don't think it's going to be an easy thing to do," I advised, knowing very well that there was really nothing he could do to ever take me away from Blake. "I don't just like Blake, Sean, I love him. And I really don't think there's anything that you can do to change that."

Sean smirked his regular smirk that I had come to know. "We'll see about that."

He let me by then, which was the only thing that I was grateful to him for. It really was cold outside, and I hated Sean just a little more for making me stand out there for longer than I already had to.

I didn't see Blake before class started, but that was normal. I usually got to school when the bell was about to ring unless I had something to do, and I was pretty sure Blake got there earlier, even though I didn't know why. But when the bell rang, signaling that we had to go to first period, I groaned. My feet felt way too numb for dance class.

And my ears were already numb enough from the cold. I didn't need Cassie gabbing on and on about whatever was on her mind. Maybe if I lied and said I was sick, Ms. Bencherelli would let me stay out.

But luckily, Ms. Bencherelli wasn't even at school that day, so we had a substitute. It was an old woman that was nearly blind and didn't even know when class ended, so the class period was pretty much a free day for all of us.

"Do you think Sean's been acting differently lately?" Cassie asked me as we both sat on the floor just like the rest of the students. "He's been acting really weird to me. I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

I stared at my best friend since childhood flatly, wishing that I really was sick so I didn't have to sit through this for an hour. I just didn't understand why every conversation Cassie and I had just had to be about Sean or how much she hated Blake Solo.

"I don't know why he's been acting weird," I answered in an almost robotic tone, too used to the same questions and answers when it came to Cassie. "I'm not the person you should be asking, Cassie."

I was guessing now Sean was going to start acting normally again since he said he wasn't going to give up one me, but I guess there was no way for me to be sure. The only thing I could really do is just wait and see what he decided to do.

Cassie then went on and on about how I should know how Sean felt since he was the closest thing I had to a boyfriend and I was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend. I scowled the entire time she spoke, wanting nothing more than to tell her that I actually had a guy that I could call my boyfriend, but I couldn't do that. Not yet. She'd definitely freak if I told her right then...

"What about Leslie and Derrick?" I heard Cassie ask now once I zoned back in. "Do they still hate each other or are they actually getting along for this project of theirs?"

"I have no idea," I shrugged, tired of her asking me these questions that I didn't have the answer for. "I haven't talked to either of them about each other or the project in ages. I don't even know if the two of them are even talking to each other anymore."

Cassie shrugged, and it sure made her look like she didn't care at all. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped talking. Leslie really isn't Derrick's type."

"Anything that's a living, breathing female is Derrick's type."

Cassie looked offended, but all I did was roll my eyes at her. She knew it was true, even if she wasn't going to deny it. Derrick was just as bad as that senior Zach Deveraux, and I was sure Derrick was going to take over for him once he graduated. Couldn't a guy just stick to one girl and be happy with her?

"If you like Derrick so much, why don't you just ask him out yourself?" I asked her flatly now before she could go off on another rant about how perfect Derrick was, just like Sean. "You're a pretty girl, he's a handsome guy, and you've known each other for years. Why wouldn't he go out with you?"

"Derrick isn't the kind of guy who dates girls," Cassie sighed overdramatically.

"He's not gay, Cassie," I sighed as well with a roll of my eyes. "At least, not that we know of."

She gasped. "Take that back!"

"Nah, I'm okay."

She wrapped her arms around her knees and pouted, and I sat there and waited for her to stop acting like a child. I looked around the room to see that everyone looked bored out of their minds, and I couldn't help but blame them. My feet might have not been numb anymore, but my ears sure were.

"Speaking of that stupid English project that you teacher assigned you," Cassie continued now, and I was pretty sure that I didn't want to hear what she was about to say. "How's Blake Solo doing?"

Okay, so it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, but I was afraid she was going to verbally attack him like she always did after I said anything about him. I just didn't understand what was so bad about him to her. Was it because he wasn't popular? Was it because he wasn't Sean? That seemed to be my mother's reason.

"He's fine," I answered, not about to tell her the truth about Blake and me. If she found out that I was dating him and keeping it a secret from her for so long, she'd be angry with me for sure. She was going to be angry with me no matter what, but I still had to find the right way to tell her so she'd get less angry.

"Huh, fine. You seem to spend more time with Blake Solo then you do with me or Sean," Cassie started like a child now, and I nearly fell back onto the floor out of exhaustion. "It's always Blake Solo this, and Blake Solo that with you. What's so special about Blake Solo? I remember there was a time that you were annoyed with him."

My face twitched. "That was before I got to know him."

"Got to know him," she started again, and I felt like asking her if she was a parrot. "You've known Sean for so much longer and yet you still choose hanging out with Blake Solo over hanging out with him. What, is Blake Solo brainwashing you, Leah?"

I didn't understand why she had to call him by his full name pretty much all the time. I was glad she didn't know his middle name, because I was sure she would go around calling him Blake Archer Solo without a second thought if she did...

"Blake's my friend, Cassie," I nearly growled through clenched teeth, tired of this topic of conversation now. "Just drop it. I don't want to talk about Blake anymore."

She sighed. "Fine by me. I don't ever want to talk about him at all."

She was the one that had brought him up, but I wasn't about to say anything to her about that. I didn't feel like listening to another one of her rants, so I kept silent. She went back to pouting, and all I did was sit there and wish someone could come and save me.

When I saw that there were only ten minutes of class left and Cassie wasn't budging, I grabbed onto my backpack and got up from the spot that I had been sitting in. Cassie didn't even try to stop me, which surprised me a lot, so I just assumed that she wasn't even paying attention to me, so she probably didn't even know that I had moved.

"Um, excuse me," I swallowed, and the substitute teacher turned toward me, and she almost looked scared. Was it because she could barely see me or was she just generally afraid of people. "Could I go to the bathroom please?"

"Sure, dear," she nodded with a smile, going to pat my hand but ended up patting my stomach instead. Weirded out just a little, I hurried out of the classroom without another word to her. She didn't even notice that she had missed my hand...

I let out a sigh as I opened my locker, finally able to breathe again without Cassie being right over my shoulder as my shadow. I was starting to not believe that I had actually dealt with her for so long without going crazy. Had she always been this controlling? I was pretty sure that she had always been. Maybe the only reason I could deal with her was because she reminded me of my mom, who I had to deal with...

I placed my backpack in my locker and just stood there for a minute, thinking about things. Blake told me he had chemistry this period, so I was wondering if he was wearing goggles and sitting over a beaker of a flask. I was sure he looked cute while he was doing it. For someone with a mental disorder, he was so smart...

Letting out another sigh, I rested my head on the door of my locker, just taking in the silence of the empty hallway. It was so peaceful and quiet... but soon, soon it would be loud and crowded with obnoxious people, and I was sure I was going to see Sean because I usually saw between almost every class, unless I avoided him well enough. But now that he said he was going to try even harder to get me, I was sure I was going to see him.

When arms wrapped around my waist from behind, I nearly screamed. I turned around quickly to see who it was, letting out a breath of relief when I saw it was only Blake.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, out of breath from what he had just done.

"Scaring you, apparently," he grinned, and I would have smiled back at him if I had been breathing normally.

"Yeah," I nodded, placing a hand over my heart as it started beating normally again. I then really focused on him and realized that something was different about him. "Your headphones! You're not wearing them!"

Blake's grin grew as his arms tightened around my waist. "Yeah, I stopped hearing the voices last night so I thought it'd be safe to test it out with no headphones today. They're in my backpack though, just in case I need them."

I glanced down at his backpack that was slung over only one of his shoulders before smiling brightly up at him. This was so great! He was finally walking around without his headphones on; he could finally hear my voice clearly! This was so amazing that I could have cried...

"How did you get out of class?" I asked now, really curious how he could have gotten out of class during chemistry. Even if Ms. Bencherelli had been there that day, I would have been able to sneak out of the class because there were so many people in it. But chemistry was... well, chemistry.

"I kind of have a free pass to just get out of class whenever I want," Blake shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "Courtesy of the schizophrenia, of course. I'm pretty sure Mr. Dawson thinks I'm having some kind of attack right now, but that doesn't really matter right now. I saw you walk by the classroom since the door was open and decided to follow you."

"Aw, how creepily sweet," I teased, sticking out my tongue at him before wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Why, thank you," he grinned right back, ducking his head down now and pressing his lips to mine. I felt him smile into the kiss, which made me smile into it right back. I didn't know how much time left we had until the bell rang, but I honestly didn't care. Blake Solo and I were literally making out in the middle of a school hallway and we actually weren't getting caught.

If a teacher were to come out right then, I was sure we'd get into trouble because I was pretty sure his schizophrenia didn't give him a pass to make out with people in the middle of school, especially since I didn't have anything wrong with me...

When he started trailing kisses down my jawline and neck, I had to bite my lip to stop myself from moaning. We were still in school, mind you, so I couldn't be completely indecent. But a little bit, yes, I could, so I wasn't about to stop him.

Our lips finally met again, I didn't want him to ever let go of me. I wanted him to fight for me and hold me forever, no matter what happened. I never wanted to leave his side and I never wanted to leave me. I wanted to be with him forever.

When the bell rang, I immediately pushed away from him, not wanting anyone else to see us like this. No one but Jane knew that we were dating, and I was intending it on keeping it that way for a while longer.

The once empty and quiet hallway filled with loud and obnoxious kids, leaving Blake and I completely hot and bothered for each other. I was certainly ticked off, but I couldn't tell if Blake was or not because I refused to look at him. All I knew was that this feeling had never been between the two of us before, and I didn't think I would ever say it out loud, but I kind of really liked it.

"Hey, Lee," a new voice now said, completely killing the mood that Blake had just set moments before. I turned to see Sean smirking at me, and I knew we were back to where we had been before, but this time it was worse. "My friend Megan is having a party tonight and I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me."

This boy was either really stupid, really determined, or both. I gave him an A for effort, but that was all I was going to give him. I didn't like parties anyway, especially after I had gotten drunk at the last one. Even though I did end up waking up in Blake's bed, which definitely wasn't a bad thing...

"Sorry, Sean, but no," I answered nonchalantly, and I was a little worried that this was going to break Sean's heart again. But much to my surprise, he only smirked at me like he always used to. What the hell happened to the heartbroken Sean that we all felt bad for?

He turned away from me then and started down the hall toward his locker, which wasn't even that far from mine. I could see him from mine and he could see me from his, so I was pretty sure he was still watching Blake and me from his locker.

I turned toward Blake to say something to him, but cut myself off when I saw the look on his face. It was a look that I hadn't ever seen before, with his hair covering his eyes even more than usual. I swallowed, not knowing what to say at first, but then I finally had enough courage to utter, "Blake?"

"I... I hate it," he muttered with his head down, surprising me greatly because I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What?" I asked, leaning closer to him a little. "What do you mean?"

He finally looked back up at me now, that look still on his face. "I hate that you're keeping our relationship a secret!"

This shocked me, and it caused me to take a step back away from him. Had I really been causing him pain by keeping our relationship a secret from everyone? It was just what I thought was for the best. I didn't know that it would cause him any trouble...

"Blake..." I frowned just as I saw Jane making her way toward us.

"Are you embarrassed by me?" he asked me now, just as Jane was close enough to hear what we were saying. She stopped to the side of us, right in the middle so she could see both of our faces. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, as if asking what was going on.

"No, I'm not embarrassed by you!" I said immediately, knowing that it was the truth. "Why would you ever think that I'm embarrassed by you?"

"Because you won't tell people that we're dating!"

"I'm doing that to protect you!"

"And why won't you let me protect you, huh?" he demanded, and I was starting to feel weaker and weaker as this argument continued on. "It's what I'm supposed to do. It's what I want to do. I'm your boyfriend, Leah, it's my job to protect you!"

I couldn't believe that we were actually fighting about this. Actually, I couldn't believe that we were even fighting at all. Blake and I had always gotten along, but now... we were actually fighting. We were practically yelling at each other. The only reason we weren't screaming was because we were still in the school hallway, and Jane was right there.

"I don't need to be protected!" I nearly shouted now. "Who knows what my friends would do to you if they found out that we're dating! The only one that would really be okay with it is Leslie, and she can't do anything against everyone else!"

Blake shook his head, as if he was trying to clear it out. "I don't care what your friends would do to me, Leah! I want everyone to know that I love you and that you love me. I want everyone to know that you're mine!"

"Guys..." Jane gulped, looking nervously at the two of us. "Guys, please stop fighting..."

"I want everyone to know too, but we just have to wait a little longer!" I assured him, acting as if I hadn't even heard Jane's plea to the two of us.

"And how long is a little longer for you, Leah?" Blake questioned, and I honestly didn't even know the answer to that question. "Because I'm pretty sure your answer is different from my answer. If you want a boyfriend that everyone will accept so badly, then why don't you just go date Sean or Derrick? They're both very willing!"

"You know I love you and not them!"

"Maybe if you weren't such a slut, they'd know too!"

Any argument I had died in my throat right then. My entire mouth went dry, and my throat tightened up. Did he really just call me that, of all things? I was sure I'd be able to handle anything else except for that. Sure, I hadn't rejected Sean or Derrick completely, and maybe I led them on a little, but... but that didn't make me a slut, did it?

"Blake," Jane gasped, and the look on Blake's face changed from anger to complete regret. "How could you say something like that to her?"

"Leah, I didn't mean it, I swear," Blake nearly pleaded, reaching forward to touch me until I recoiled away from him, grabbing my backpack from my locker and slamming it shut once I had taken it out. "I wasn't thinking, Leah."

"You don't have to worry about our relationship being a secret," I started coldly, shouldering my backpack as I stared at Blake with no emotion on my face, "because there isn't a relationship anymore."

Both Blake and Jane stared at me with wide eyes now, and I turned away from them without another word. The first thing I saw once I turned away was Sean, which immediately gave me an idea.

I'll show Blake Solo how slutty I could be.

I hurried toward my blonde friend from childhood, smiling once our eyes met. I knew that both Blake and Jane were still watching me, but that was exactly what I wanted.

"You know what? I'd love to go to Megan's party," I told him, smiling as seductively as I could have. It wasn't like I had a lot of practice or anything, unlike Blake supposedly thought. "Could you take me to the party tonight?"

At first, Sean looked shocked. I didn't blame him, since I had just rejected him a few minutes before and I had told him that morning that there was nothing he could do to break Blake and me apart. And that was the truth, since Sean didn't do anything to break our relationship apart. Blake did that on his own.

Sean then smirked at me after a few moments. "Of course I'll take you to the party tonight, babe."

And there we were, back with that babe nickname. I still didn't like it, and I was pretty sure I wasn't ever going to like it coming from Sean, but that wasn't the important thing at that moment. Getting annoyed over a nickname wasn't the reason why I was talking to him right then.

"Could you walk me to class?" I now asked, even though I had Blake in the next class with me and we usually walked with each other to it.

I didn't know if Sean could tell if something was up or not, but I didn't even care. He offered his hand to me, but instead of taking it, I wrapped my arms around one of his. We were going to have to pass by Blake and Jane, who were still standing by my locker in complete shock, to get to Mrs. Sparks's class, but that was exactly what I wanted to do.

Sean and I started off, and he looked so high and mighty that I was on his arm that I almost felt bad for practically using him just to get Blake angry and jealous.

He didn't even look at Blake as we walked by him, but I sure did. I glared as harshly as I could, with all my might, and my eyes narrowed at him as we went by. He looked completely shocked, and almost helpless. He looked like he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

But that was good. I wanted him to look that way. I wanted him to feel horrible, just like I did when he called me that horrible name.

Did I even do anything to deserve being called that from him? Just minutes before we had been having a hot and heavy make out session right in front of my locker, and now we were broken up just like that.

Now I was going to have to get ready for Megan's party that night instead of just watching a movie in my pajamas like I had wanted to.

And I didn't even know who Megan was.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy birthday to me! ;D

Usually when I write a chapter, I'm pretty sure I know how you guys are going to feel about it. But for this one, I have no idea. I don't know if you hate Leah, or Blake, or Sean, or me for making Blake and Leah fight. I don't know if you feel bad for Leah, or Blake, or Sean, or me for making Blake and Leah fight... I just have no clue.

But yay! This is a chapter I've been waiting for. :)

Everything on the side is perfect. <3

I decided to update all my stories on my birthday as a birthday present to myself... It was a goal that I made since I've been updating randomly lately. ;)

This is for the 2012 Watty Awards! Please vote and share! Don't forget to comment and tell me what you think! Maybe for my birthday? <3