It was taking my sister quite some time to get her shit together.

There were countless interruptions from girls walking into use the bathroom and having a mild meltdown when they saw me sitting on the floor beside Abby.

I was beginning to believe she was having me on to stall telling the truth. But I had all day to sit around and wait. My current class was chemistry and I wasn't sad to be missing out.

The door closed, giving us privacy again after a freshmen decided to wash her hands for an exceedingly long time and I gave Abby a nudge in the shoulder.

"Come on. Fess. I know he did something. And don't be mad at Flynn. He didn't—"

"I'm not mad at him," she mumbled with her knees pulled up to her chest. "I'm mad at me. This is pathetic. I should have listened, Luc. I should have."

She twirled her thumbs together and refused to meet my gaze while she admitted I was right. There weren't a lot of occasions she had come right out and told me I was right. I wasn't going to be smug about it though.

"Whatever happened, it's not like I wanted to be right," I told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I would have been fine if he'd proven me wrong and turned out to be a decent dude."

"He's far from a decent dude," she seethed, blotting the space beneath her eyes. Her mascara had created big black patches on her bags. "He's a little baby faced, lying piece of shit and I hope he fucking chokes to death on his girlfriends silicon tits."

As much as I wanted to hunt Tanner down and beat him back to birth, I knew giving Abby support was more important. She sat up and moved so she was sitting in front of me, allowing a view of her blotched cheeks and red eyes.

"He had a girlfriend," she snapped. "And I don't blame her for this. It's not her fault. But ugh. I feel stupid because— well yeah I liked him, I did. But the worst part, is that he used me. He used me to cheat on his girlfriend. That's what's so disappointing. Him turning out to be a total dipshit is something I can handle. But he had me going from the start."

"Bastard."

"Yeah," she watched me with obvious apprehension for a moment.

She wanted to tell me something. But I could tell it made her nervous.

Eventually though, she looked down at her lap and sighed.

"I slept with him, Luc. I left Milly's, I caught a cab to his place and I slept with him. His girlfriend surprised us five minutes later. Talk about timing. What's the bet she had some idea about what a nob he is. Apparently everyone could see it apart from me."

I felt sick. I never wanted her first time to be regrettable. I wanted it to be with someone who loved her because I knew how much she believed in love.

I knew how much she wanted it. It was hard to keep cool but I swallowed the internal rage and shrugged a shoulder.

"I'm not going to gloat about it," I said. "I'm here. You can talk to me. You can ignore me. You can subtly hint that you want his teeth in the heel of my shoe—"

She laughed.

"I know I don't always have the best methods for getting the point across. But I really care about your happiness," I gave her shoulder a gentle tap. "I want the best. It was never about barring you from the male species as a whole. Just the shit ones. There's a lot of those unfortunately. Me included."

She smiled. "You're doing alright, Luc. I can tell you care about Amalia. You didn't hit on Milly once during the weekend."

"Yeah," I lowered my gaze thinking about the few comments I made during our phone call. "But this isn't about me. What do you need?"

She stood up from the floor and washed her hands. "I'll be alright."

She used water on the tips of her fingers to clean the mascara from her face. "It was just a week. I'll get over him. I'm just— I'm just upset to be the reason that some other girl has a broken heart. I am not about that shit."

I stood up as well and waited until she'd dried her hands on a paper hand towel. She didn't even wait for me to force her into a hug, she stepped forward and let me embrace her.

"Don't do something dumb, Luc. He's not worth it."

It was just like her to slip that in before I could find the dip shit and snap my foot off in his ass.

Whatever though. It was her business, her ex and she'd opened up to me. She'd trusted me. So I nodded and abided by her request.

We split off after that. Went to our classes. Chem was in the beginning stages of some sort of experiment but the class had been paired up before I arrived so I had to work with Mr Bosnich. An enormous Russian man with a thick accent and no hair.

His appearance would suggest he's a damn marine or a private for hire assassin but he's such a cool dude.

He laughs like he's a child, he's all about practical classes and less bookwork and he's  set on success. He wanted all of his students to pass his class and he did whatever he could to ensure it happened.

At lunch time I met up with Amalia to eat before we went to our practices. When we'd piled our plates with sandwiches, fruit and a water each, we took our food outside to the outdoor eating area.

Tables and chairs were filled but I saw Max sitting on the edge of the school fountain and figured I'd go and see how he was doing.

He looked miserable. His phone in hand and his head hung low.

As we passed a row of concrete bench seats under the large canvas shade, I saw Tanner.

His back was to us but he was talking to a couple of the douchebags on the Lacrosse team. He was bragging. The motherfucker was bragging about getting my sister into bed.

"Yeah everyone reckons she's some inexperienced virgin. That wasn't the impression I got when she was riding me backwards."

"She good? Dude, I've always wondered but no ones ever been able to score with her."

"She's alright. Dunno it's worth the hype. Plus those thin legs. It's like fucking a stick."

He laughed. They all did and it pierced me. It was like nails on chalkboard. I couldn't hear what else was going on around me. I couldn't hear Amalia beside me, telling me to calm down.

I couldn't hear my own damn thoughts. But what I did hear was the clatter that my tray made when I dropped it and pulled Tanner off the seat backwards.

He dropped straight to the ground, gasping when his back hit the concrete.

I crouched over him and hit his smug fucking face. I could hear that too. The sound of his nose crunching beneath my fist as I laid into him.

The image of Abby sobbing in her bed fuelled me. The sound of him laughing at her expense.

I wasn't sure how many times I'd socked him, but he wasn't putting up much of a fight anymore.

However, I didn't get the chance to continue because I was pulled off of him and I knew without even seeing, it was Flynn. He shoved me against the wall, shouting at me while I tried to go back at Tanner.

"Stop man. You're on your final warning."

I didn't care. Someone needed to teach that mother fucker a lesson. But when I tried to shove Flynn off again, Max stepped in and looked at me with obvious fear.

He swallowed, his attention moving between me and Tanner who was bloodied on the ground and then he started ripping his school shirt off.

"Take your shirt off!" He shouted.

My breathing was harsh and fast but I managed to respond. "What the fuck?"

"Now!"

I did what he said and we swapped shirts. It was done in a matter of seconds. That was when I started to notice how many people were watching with shock.

Tanners friends were crouched beside him, Amalia didn't look upset, instead she gave me a small reassuring smile while I buttoned up the clean shirt and Max did the same with the blood covered one.

He crouched down beside Tanner, shoving his friends out of the way and began punching the concrete so hard that I ran forward and grabbed his hand.

"Stop Max, what the fuck?"

He shoved me off and did it again but as soon as we heard the eruption of a teacher shouting, he grabbed Tanner around the throat, as if he had been the one that was fighting.

Mr Bosnich appeared, pushing through the students with ease. He looked down at the scene in front of him.

"Max? What is meaning of this?"

Max stood up and shrugged his shoulders. "He deserved it," he said meeting my bewildered gaze for a moment. Amalia sidled up beside me and whispered that I should put my hands in my pocket.

Mr Bosnich was helping Tanner to his feet now. The kid was covered in blood. His eyes were almost swollen shut and he coughed, sending a shower of blood out in front of him.

I'd done a fair bit of damage. That was when I noticed Abby, watching with a flat expression as Mr Bosnich asked if someone could escort Tanner to the nurses office. He'd need more than a school nurse for that damage though.

"Max. You come with me," he said and shook his bald head with disappointment. "Show over! Back to eating!"

No one spoke up. No one said a thing about the switch. Not even Tanners own friends.

I wondered how long it would be kept under wraps. Surely someone would come forward about it sooner or later.

A couple of his buddies went on either side of him and carried his weight, leading him in the direction of the office. But Abby marched forward and intercepted before the three of them could disappear.

"Not one word," she warned in a harsh tone to his friends. She probably assumed that Tanner was too fucked up to remember the switch in the first place. "Or you'll end up in worse shape than him."

She turned around without waiting for a response and she stormed off towards Milly and Lola who were waiting for her. The three of them left Flynn watched her with an immense amount of pride. But when he peered down at me, his glare narrowed and he shook his head.

"What?" I said. "Oh sure, stare after the pretty blonde like she's a hero even though I'm the one that served that mother fucker his ass."

"Dude, I know where he lives," Flynn gave me a shove. "You could have handled this outside of school."

"I snapped."

"Yeah I saw that," he sighed with exasperation. "We've got practice. How's your hand?"

I held up my hand and winced at the smears of blood and the abrasions across the top of my knuckles. Amalia let out a soft gasp and gripped my fingertips as she leaned in for a closer look.

"I'm fine," I said. "I just need to wrap it. I'll be sweet."

"We've got first game this weekend," Flynn reminded me as if I'd forgotten. "You should make sure it's not broken."

I gave him a bored stare and put my hand in front of his face, opening and closing it a few times. "I think I'd know if it was broken. Stop stressing. I'm more concerned about Max. What the fuck did he do that for?"

"Because you're on your final warning?" Amalia suggested.

"Not that warnings would have mattered in this situation," Flynn added. "He's going to get expelled. That wasn't just a school yard fight. Tanner will need the hospital."

I smiled. "Good. You should have heard what he said about Abby."

"I'm glad I didn't," Flynn admitted with a venomous voice. "I might have finished the job."

Amalia ended up nursing me. She cleaned me up and wrapped my hand so I could get on with football practice.

It was sweet. She was so gentle and had the most loving touch in whatever she did. I spent the entire time watching her.

She was a momentary distraction from the thoughts that plagued me about Max. That idiot was going to be in deep shit and I felt terrible.

The worst part was that he didn't show up at our next class. He didn't text me back and after school, his car wasn't in the lot. It wasn't surprising to know he wasn't allowed to come back to class but I hated not knowing what was going on.

I went straight home and promised Amalia I would call her later tonight. I also had plans to take her on a proper date when things had settled down again.

When I arrived at home, I saw Abby and Max's cars were both parked in the garage.

I pulled straight in and went through the internal access door and up the corridor.

The house was quiet. I could feel the tension before I'd even stepped foot in the kitchen and when I did, it was even worse.

Mom was sitting beside Abby, her arm around my sisters shoulder. Dad was on the other side of the island with his head in his hands.

He should've been at work but there was a good chance he'd been called home because of Max.

"What's going on?" I dropped my back pack and stared between the three of them.

There was so much despair in the atmosphere that I wondered if someone had died. That was when I started thinking about Kyla and Max. "

"What happened?!"

Abby sighed and gave me a small smile. "I told Mom and Dad what happened with Tanner. The whole truth," she gave me a knowing nod and I realised what she was telling me.

Dad knew she wasn't a virgin.

Oop.

"Your father is—" Mom hesitated as she stared at Dad who looked to be having an episode. "Processing."

"Babe," Dad murmured, rubbing his face. "Give me an outlet. I need something to focus on."

"How about you go and do a circuit in the gym. Or go for a ride on the motorcycle?" Mom said with a weak smile. "Just don't go in search of any teenage boys that go by the name of Tan—"

"Sssh," he cut her off as he started towards me. "We shall not speak of his name."

He stopped in front of me and gave me a hug. "You make me so proud son. Thank you for beating that little pricks face in so I didn't have to."

"Oh," I said as he leaned back with his hands still on my shoulders and a weary smile on his exhausted face. "So you really do know the whole truth."

"Yep," he sighed. "It's the only reason Max isn't grounded for life over this damn expulsion."

"W— what?" I stammered as Dad stepped around me and left the room, letting us know over his shoulder he'd be using the boxing bag to expel the frustration over this 'cock sucker of a day'.

I turned back to mom and Abby with disbelief. "He got expelled?"

"Max was dead set on leaving school, Luc," Mom arched a brow. "He's a clever kid. He seized his moment."

"Mother fucker," I mumbled. "And here I was, thinking he was keeping me out of trouble."

"I'm sure it was a bit of both," Abby said.

"Expulsion is a permanent mark on your record. He wants to do law," I shouted. "What a fucking idiot. How's he going to get into a decent college?! I have to fix this. I'll tell them that it was me. I'll—"

"Luc relax," Mom stood up and took her mug to the basin to rinse. "We'll sort this out. Alright? What you did was wrong. But you did it for your sister. Your dad and I appreciate that. We don't want you or Max suffering over this. So just let us handle it. Alright?"

It still didn't feel right. I didn't want Max getting in shit because of what I'd done.

Flynn had warned me Max could have been expelled. I just hadn't given it a lot of thought at that moment.

I'm sure the clever little bastard was thrilled with his quick wit. I ran a hand through my hair and was about to leave so I could change when Abby stood up and came over to me.

"Can we talk for a second?"

I nodded. "Sure, what about?"

She peered over at Mom who was pinching her lip between her fingers while she read her cellphone. "Not here," Abby turned back towards me. "I need to tell you the whole truth."