After school on Monday, I walked to the diner by myself. Cheryl was behind the counter when I walked in and gave me a large grin as soon as I entered. I smiled back, walking to the counter. "Hey Cheryl," I said, sliding onto the seat by the counter.

"Hey sweetheart," she told me, leaning against the counter. The diner was relatively empty, with only a few people sitting around. I figured that week days were usually slow. "You here alone?" She asked. I nodded. Jenny had remained at school for another cheer practice, seeing as there was a game coming up soon. Jaden and Uriah had gone home early, saying they had family matters to deal with in the city. Whatever that meant.

Cheryl nodded, "Okay sweetheart, let me get you a wrap eh? You can never go wrong with those."

I was grateful that she'd ordered for me. I had never done it for myself as Jaden had already picked out my orders twice and I didn't want to have to today. A part of me questioned why I could never make a choice for myself. I looked around the room, letting out a deep breath before I saw a familiar head of red hair.

Before I knew what I was doing, I slid off my seat and approached the person. He only looked up at me when I sat down across him and as soon as he saw that it was me he looked down again. I could see the bruised purple colour on his eyes and instantly felt guilty.

"Hey," I said to him.

"Hey," Hector said, looking up at me again. He was doing his math homework, a glass of coke and a sandwich next to him. I wondered why he wasn't with his friends or anything but I didn't ask. Instead, I got right onto what was on my mind.

The night before, I had stayed up thinking about walking into school again. On Friday, Hector hadn't come to school and I had been so focused on the fact that I had a date that I didn't stop to think about him. But Sunday night, after the dinner, I had sat in bed and thought about how he had gotten punched in the face by someone he was convinced he hated.

I felt a strong need to apologize.

"Look....I'm sorry about what happened at the party," I told him, "I didn't expect anything to happen."

"No, of course you didn't," he answered, not bitterly. Just factually. He tilted his head at me, setting his pencil down. "Maddie...I don't blame you for what happened. You know what we were talking about before I got punched? "

I could remember. We were talking about Jaden. And his mother. Two people I knew already. I didn't know where he was going with this question but a part of me had an idea. I just didn't want to admit it.

"You don't know Jaden like I do," he told me.

"Just because you've known him longer than I have doesn't mean you know him," I answered, crossing my arms over my chest. A part of me was angry about the fact that he was still trying to push Jaden away from me. Like his sister had done on the first day of school.

"I know the bad parts of him, Maddie, and that's all I need to know," he spat back, not missing a beat. He seemed deadset on his decision to not like Jaden. And I needed to know why. A part of me was afraid. Was I ready to see a side of Jaden I'd never seen? Would I still feel this way about him?

"Hector," I sighed, "What did Jaden do to Christina?"

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. He slumped in his seat, visibly amused. "That asshole hasn't told you yet?" He asked, "Figures. That's why you're still vouching for him."

I didn't say anything. How bad was what I was about to find out?

"It was sixth grade. Christina and Jaden were in the jungle gym at the park. You've probably never been there but it's pretty high. Don't know what whoever made it was thinking," he picked up his pencil and tapped it on the rim of the glass. "Jaden and her were talking when all of a sudden he pushed her. She fell out and broke her arm."

I was silent again, waiting for him to say that he was joking. Waiting for Jaden to walk in laughing because they had decided to call a truce or something. I knew that was wishful thinking. But it was hard to think that Jaden, the same Jaden who held me so gently the night before, could do something like that.

"You're.....that couldn't have happened,' I whispered.

He raised an eyebrow, "No? If it didn't happen, why hasn't Jaden told you why Christina hates him?"

"That's not true," I answered, "He couldn't have attacked her from no where. She must have said something."

"Whether she did or not doesn't change the fact that he is unstable. It's only a matter of time before he hurts you too,"

I slumped in my seat, a million thoughts running through my head. My Jaden? I thought about the first time we met, about how he'd said he was more like his dad than he'd like to admit. Did that have anything to do with this?

"You may think you know him, Maddie, but you don't," Hector said with a finality in his tone that signalled that the conversation was over. I stood up, giving him a simple nod.

"I'll see you around, Hector," I told him.

As I was about to walk back to the counter, he spoke again, stopping me in my tracks,"Just...make sure you don't give him the opportunity to hurt you,"

When I sat down on my stool by the counter, my phone rang. I picked up immediately I saw it was Jenny, grateful for the distraction.

"Hey," I said, trying not to let the distress I was going through seep into my voice. It had a habit of doing that and that was why I couldn't hide when I was upset about something. Luckily for me, I managed to hide it and Jenny let out a deep sigh before she spoke.

"I know we haven't gotten to hang out together a lot nowadays and I'm sorry. That is totally my fault," she begun. Before I could intervene and tell her that wasn't the case, she continued talking, "So how about tonight, after we've both had dinner, we sneak out and go for a walk or something? You decide where we'll go."

I nearly burst into tears of relief. Right now, what I needed was to not think about Jaden. I needed Jenny. I didn't even realize that I'd needed her until now, when her voice was so clear in my ear, like she was right next to me. I grinned.

"Sure," I said. Hector stood up and my eyes followed him to the bathroom. The sight of him made me think about Christina and in turn that made me think about Jaden. What had she said to trigger him in that way? I brought my attention back to the conversation and before I realized what I was saying, I said, "Let's go to the park."

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Musawa