I wake up and look around my room. It is no longer trashed. I see Billy over by my desk, putting things back on my desk. "Hey," he says when he notices I'm awake. "I woke up super early and I thought I would clean your room. I figured you wouldn't want to."

"Thanks, Billy," I smile at him. I lean over to my bedside table and pull open the drawer. I pull out an unopened packet of cigarettes and throw them Billy's way. "That's a little 'thank you' present for looking after me last night, I needed it."

"No worries," he shrugs his shoulders, sliding the packet into his jacket pocket. I examine his eyebrow and mentally wince at the color. It looks a lot less bad than it did last night but it still looks bad. "Can I just ask you a favor?" I nod my head at him, not wanting to hear the rest of it, kind of getting a gist of where this is going. "Could you not tell anybody about last night? You know, me staying and all. I don't want people to think I'm soft."

"Billy, they won't think you're soft," I try telling him, but he just exhales sharply, looking at me in a disapproving manner. I sigh, accepting he won't take no for an answer. "Sure, whatever."

"Thanks," he nods his head at me. "Anyway, hot stuff, I've got to go, but I'll take you out after school, okay?" I say my goodbyes and watch him climb out of my window and enter his house. I sigh another time before making my way downstairs to meet my family in the kitchen. No surprise, Dad is nowhere to be seen.

Emily and Elaine are having a conversation between themselves but I can't hear what they're saying because of how quiet they are both being. "It's rude to whisper, you know," I speak up, shaking my head at the two. "I know what you're both talking about so there's no need to hide it from me."

The two turn to face each other after looking at me and they try not to make it obvious. Emily just walks away but Elaine stays put, shrugging her shoulders. "Sorry about last night," is all she says before following Emily and leaving the house for work. I turn the TV on and sit at the breakfast bar, pouring myself a bowl of cereal. I don't eat it. I just look at it, pushing around each bit of cereal with my spoon. I push them down underneath the milk and watch them resurface.

I keep thinking about last night. About Billy. He must care about me, right? He wouldn't do everything he does if he doesn't. He wouldn't open up to me if he didn't. He confuses me so much. But for some strange reason, I like it. I like it a lot. The mental torture. I still hate it.

I hate the things it does to me, it drives me crazy. But I still like it, it draws me in for more. It's difficult to explain or even for myself to comprehend. I love how he makes me work for it. I hate the amount of effort I have to put in to work for it, but I still do it anyway.

I hear a car horn beeping outside, so naturally, I peak out of the drapes in the front door. I see Billy sat in his car, waiting for me. I furrow my brows before holding my finger up at him, indicating I wouldn't be a minute.

I run up the stairs and quickly throw some clothes on, brushing my hair and teeth before marching out the door throwing my into his car. "Hey Max," I greet her as I climb in the car.

"Hey, Billy nearly forgot about you," she pipes up, smiling at my presence. "I didn't want you to have to walk to school or something." I look at Billy and see the resentment in his eyes. I laugh softly at it, knowing it's all fake.

"Did he now?" I question, playfully. "Hmm, I'm sure he would've been kicking himself all day if he didn't get a chance to ride with me to school." Billy nods his head, keeping a poker face before putting the car into drive. He zooms down the road and makes it to school in record time. He doesn't need to drive so fast, considering he picked me up around half an hour earlier than I usually set off.

I watch him as he taps the steering wheel along to the beat of the music. He does this religiously. Every time he gets in his car, he blasts out his music and just taps along to the beat and with the occasional bob of the head when it's a song he really likes. He turns to face me, but I quickly look away. In the corner of my eye, I see a smug look on his face arising.

He carries on looking back at the road, bobbing his head to the music with the hint of a smile on his face. He pulls up to school and we all get out of the car. Max skates over to her school on her skateboard and I begin to walk into school. "Where do you think you're going?" Billy asks me. I turn around to look at him and knit my brows together in confusion. "I've got someplace to show you."

I let my facial features soften and follow him out into the woods and down a hill. I feel my stomach getting knitted together, beginning to worry. "You've not brought me out her to kill me have you?" I question him. He turns around and laughs at me. I begin to slow down, but he grabs my hand, lacing his fingers in mine. We stop walking.

He looks in my eyes deeply, and I look back in his. His hand plays with the front strands of my hair before placing his hand on my cheek and pulling me in for a kiss. The knots in my stomach immediately loosen, as if they just melted away. I let him fill the gap between our lips and this time, the kiss is soft.

His lips flutter against mine as I wrap my arms around his neck. The kiss is short-lived before he pulls away. "Come on," he says, placing another peck on my lips. "We've come here for a reason." A smile fills my lips and I follow him further down the hill.

After a few moments, I see a swing on a tree in the distance. "I found it on the first night we arrived here," he explains to me. "I had a row with my Dad, so I went to clear my head and ended up here. I stayed here for hours. It's such a peaceful place." He sits on the swing, pushing himself back and forth, gently, with his feet.

I watch him, as he drifts into his own world. I stand behind him and pull him to an abrupt stop. I wrap my arms around his neck and nestle my face into his hair, resting my head against his. His hands slowly hold onto my arms, almost like he's reluctant to the intimacy. I feel so calm. "Sweet cheeks?" He says, after a few moments of silence. I just hum in response, not wanting to move. "Thanks for last night."

I sigh, letting my arms drop to my side. "Which part?" I ask him, expecting the worst. He picks his legs up and twists around the swing, so he is facing me. His face is plastered with confusion. "You're just so hot and cold at times," I begin to explain. "You're nice and caring one minute, then you treat me like your average slut next door the next." Billy is taken back by what I said. He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it again. "It's fine, I get it," I shrug my shoulders at him.

He furrows his brows as I begin to walk away. "What is there to get?" He calls back to me, pushing himself up off the swing. "You know, sometimes I think you're the one who gets hot and cold," he says in an accusatory tone. I stop in my tracks and turn back to face him. Anger fills his eyes. I can tell he's not happy about what I said, but part of me doesn't care. A big part of me. "You're the one who sleeps with me one minute, and is all over Harrington the next."

" 'All over Harrington'?" I repeat, hurt by what he's told me. "I'm the one who's put our friendship on the line so I can spend time with you and then you don't even want to be seen with me in public!" I shout at him, loudly, my gut filling with rage.

"Friendship?" He scoffs in my face. "Please, you two were barely friends. Even when he was with that nerd, Wheeler, I heard you could barely keep your hands off each other."

I laugh at him. "Oh, yeah?" I nod my head at him, patronisingly. "Where'd you hear that?" I ask him, getting prepared for his answer.

"Carol," he replies, smugly. My heart drops. Carol? "Yeah, that's right," he nods his head, mocking me. "We've gotten real close, recently. Closer than anyone knows."

"You've slept with Carol?" I barely manage to get out. I feel like I'm going to be sick at any moment.

"Yeah," he replies, casually. "What d'you care? It's not like we're together. And it's not like you haven't slept with Harrington."

I hold back the tears, I don't want him to know how much this has hurt me. "What are you talking about? I've never even had sex with Steve," I admit to Billy. Not that he listens.

"You expect me to believe that?" He laughs at me, enjoying every moment. "You're just a whore who opens her legs for any guy that even looks at her."

I heard it. My own heart breaking. I nod my head, letting the tears fill my eyes. I begin walking away, heading back to the parking lot. A few tears roll down my face but I have cried too many tears over this boy and I refuse to waste my tears over him.

I hear his footsteps following me, but they are a while away. He isn't following me because he's concerned about the damage he's done, he's just getting back to the parking lot. He'll likely skip school. Go back to his car and drive to who knows where. I push my way through the doors as soon as I get to the entrance of the school.

The hallways are buzzing with students. I don't bother to look for any of my friends, I just push my way through the crowd and wind up in the library. Somewhere quiet for me to gather my thoughts and calm down. I sit at a table and stare into the middle of nowhere for a while. I hear the first bell ring and students begin flooded out.

"Elizabeth?" Someone calls my name. I look up to see Nancy peering at me. "Is everything okay? You look like you've been crying." I shake my head at her and put on a smile

"No, I'm fine, I was just in my own world," I tell her. I look up at the clock and pretend I didn't realise it was class time. "Is that the time already?" I ask her and she nods, cautiously and confused. "Better get to... math."

I begin walking away before she calls out to me again. "You've actually got Chemistry," she tells me. She's right. I do. I look back at her, slightly creeped out. "I was just speaking with Steve and you're both in the same class... so..."

"Right, of course," I nod my head at her, trying to keep the act going. "What would I do without you, Nancy Wheeler?" She laughs along with me and makes her way to her own class as I make my way to mine, keeping Billy at the back of my mind.