It was Monday and I was heading back to the School of Hell. And this time I knew things would be different then I woke up Liam's girlfriend.

Or something like that. I wasn't exactly sure what we were now.

It was too soon to call it anything truly. We just kissed. It didn't make me his girlfriend, did it? It sounded really weird. Almost unbelievable. Too good to be true. My head was still spinning, trying to process everything that had happened to me over the last week. And somehow kissing Liam fit into all this craziness. It all happened so fast. I went all the way into the depths of hell, despairing over the situation with my new nemesis. And then I was lifted into heaven by what happened between Liam and me yesterday. I could not stop smiling every time I thought of him. The hero of my childhood dream was now back in flesh and blood before me. And he turned out to be so much better than I ever expected.

Yes, he came with baggage. Huge baggage. I not only needed to make peace with his past with Jessica but also the fact that he was friends with Blake, Josh, and Frank, and their crowd, who all hated me.

Nobody really ever hated me before. I wasn't super popular or anything at my former school. I was mostly minding my own business, and I had Jackie and a few others I called friends. I had a rather quiet time at school. Until now.

I braced myself for whatever may come as I entered through the school gates.

As I approached my usual parking spot, I found Liam waiting for me there. He gave me one of his dare-devil smiles that melted my heart.

He opened the door for me and helped me out of the car. He didn't have to do that, but it felt really good that he did. I gave him my best smile.

"You look gorgeous," he told me and leaned in for a kiss. He just shrugged when I raised my eyebrow. I guess he wanted everyone at school to know we were a thing now. So I returned his kiss. "How is your foot?" He asked with concern.

"It's ok. It barely hurts anymore." Whatever Blake had put on it, did its magic. I put new badges on the wound today, there was still a small cut on the sole of my foot, but other than that, I could step on it, without much discomfort.

Liam gave me his hand and together we walked toward the school. It pleased me, that I was not his dirty little secret. I guess he truly wanted to move on. He and Jessica were a thing for years. I hoped I wasn't just a rebound. But when he looked at me the way he did, I felt like the world stood still. And there were just the two of us.

And maybe Jessica dated him for years, but I met him first.

During one of the breaks, Frank tracked me down at my locker. I went to change my books and when I closed the locker door, he was there.

"Hey..." he began.

"Leave me alone..." I said turning around and beginning to walk away. He hurried after me.

"I'm trying to apologize here..."

"I don't care for your apologies," I replied beginning to walk even faster. He grabbed me by the wrist and turned me around.

He looked like he had't slept for days.

"I was drunk. It was just a joke," he began. He let go of my wrist and brushed his hair back, looking uncomfortable. Like he's never apologised in his life before.

"I almost died because of you."

"About that... I don't know what's gotten into me. I was angry. Blake had told us to leave you alone. All the plans we had for you..." He looked like he wasn't sure anymore what he was about to say.

"Did he set you up for this?" I wanted to know. I didn't believe even for a second that Blake didn't have anything to do with what had happened at the pool despite what he claimed.

"It's true. He called it all off. I was pissed. We... I just wanted to scare you a bit."

"If you want me to forgive you, you'd need to try harder than that," I told him.

"What do you want?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," I replied and left him there standing.

During lunch break Liam and I met again. He asked me if I wanted to join him and the others at the cafeteria. I shook my head vehemently as if it was the worst idea I'd ever heard. He didn't push for it, instead, he joined me outside and we ate the lunch I had brought.

I must admit, I was growing more and more infatuated with Liam. We still were earning stares from anyone. Claire passed by, saw us, and gave me an approving thumbs up.

Carter was less happy about seeing me and Liam together.

"And I thought you'd be the one," he told me with a smile.

"Why don't you look for a girl your age?" I replied and laughed.

"No one is like you," he countered. "But it's ok. I forgive you. And you are still invited to my party this Friday."

"I don't know about that."

"Liam is also coming."

"I am," Liam confirmed.

"So you can come together. I told my mother about you. She wants to meet you," Carter insisted.

"I'll think about it...," I finally conceited. Satisfied, Carter run off to be with his friends.

Liam and I hang out together a bit more. He was curious about me and he wanted to know all there is. He even showed keen interest in Jackie and what had happened to her. So I told him who she was and how much she meant to me. It felt like he listened to every word I said and he cared about what had happened.

"I know you were there at that party the night Jackie was hit." I finally said out loud what had been on my mind a lot lately.

"I knew this question would come up one day. What would you like to know?"

"What do you know about what happened that night?" He shrugged.

"I never heard any names mentioned, if that's what you are after." My heart sank. "Having said that, I could help you find out. People might open themselves more to me than to a police officer's daughter."

"That would mean a lot to me," I said playing with the rim of his shirt. "The truth has always its way of coming out."

"Especially when they have you to deal with," he replied with a smile and pulled me into another kiss. And my head began spinning again. He was a good kisser. And as I had that thought, immediately Jessica's face popped into my head. She wasn't even around. Why was I bringing her into this, I wondered? Must be my own insecurities.

"Is there anyone you are suspecting?"

Yes, your ex. But I didn't say it out loud.

"No, nobody," I replied instead. He studied my face with some interest. "It could have been anyone," I added. It was truly too early to tell.

On Tuesday, when I opened my locker, a heard something pop, and a confetti explosion rained all over me. I just got a scare more than anything. I had little pieces of paper in my hair, inside my clothes, it was all over the floor.

Well, it could have been something nasty or harder to get out. I guess the war was still on.

In the afternoon, I finally managed to track Justin down. I desperately needed to have a talk with him. He was my best bet to start figuring out a few things. I found him hiding in one of the empty rooms upstairs.

"That's sad," I told him when I spotted him.

"Not every one of us can just hook up with two guys over the weekend and wake up popular."

"Don't be stupid," I replied rolling my eyes.

"The whole school is talking about you. Do you have a weird threesome going on with them?"

"Keep talking and you'll lose a few teeth. Guaranteed," I told him. "Now scooch over." I sat beside him on the floor. "I made a deal with them. They will leave you in peace from now on."

"I didn't ask you for this."

"You don't have to." I looked around the room. It looked like a storage room, and it was quite dusty. "Is that your little cave or what?"

"What do you care?"

"You are right, I don't care. What I do care about is that a little Trojan program of yours landed on my computer when I tried copying Blake's hard drive. Do you wanna explain yourself?"

"He made me do it."

"What other things did he make you do?"

"Nothing," he replied too hastily.

"On June 3rd there was a party here at school and that night a girl was injured in a hit-and-run. All the video footage from that night disappeared. What do you know about that?"

"Nothing." But the way he avoided my gaze, told me another story.

"The way I see it, there is only one person in this school capable of doing that. You are Principal Hitch's nephew and an excellent hacker at that. It makes you the prime suspect. Did he make you do it?" Justin was sweating profusely now. "I could take you to my father's office right now. What do you think about that?"

"That would get me into so much trouble."

"I know,"

"Please don't do this. I had nothing to do with that. I wasn't even at that party."

"I know. That is why I am talking to you. All I want is a name. Who made you do this?"

"He will kill me if he finds out."

"Who was it? Was it Blake?"

"If I tell you and you tell anyone, I am as good as dead. You don't know these people. What they could do..."

"I told you before, I can protect you."

"You can't even protect yourself."

"All right, Liam will protect us both." I don't know why I mentioned Liam. I guess Liam has become some sort of my protector. I smiled at that thought.

"Are you stupid? Don't you get it?" Justin was on his feet now and shaking. "It was Liam who made me do it!"

And with that, Justin grabbed his bag and ran off leaving me gasping for words.

I walked out of the room almost in a daze. Not Liam. It could not have been Liam. Not him. And then a thought struck me.

Whom did Liam love?

Carter's words came to mind as I was punching the bag at the martial arts school that evening. "Liam loved Jessica and Jessica loved Blake and Blake was Blake." Blake was Blake? What does that even mean?

Liam loved Jessica. Jessica was there that night. Jessica who went dark. Did Liam love her enough to help her get away?

He would do that for her.

What if he was in the car with Jessica? What if several friends were driving the car and the drunkest among them caused the accident? That's what Liam had said. It was his idea to change the game.

What if I was looking for the culprit in the wrong place? I wanted it to be Blake.

Because I hated Blake. I hated him the way Jake did ever since that fight. Blake was the enemy. I looked over to Jake. He was mostly throwing me angry looks and letting me be. I was grateful for that. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

But then I wondered. What did Blake say yesterday when the game had just started? He was the first to say without any hesitation that he would hand himself in. Have I ever heard Liam's answer? Now that I thought about it, I never did. He sat beside me, so I couldn't see his face. I was too focused on Blake.

And yesterday during lunch, how interested Liam was in knowing about the accident and what I knew. I just thought he truly cared. And I trusted him when he said he didn't know who did it and that he'd help me find out the truth.

Something in me wanted to believe that Justin lied. That it could not have been the truth. But the desperation and anger in his voice, when he shouted: "It was Liam who made me do it!" One does not fake that.

I could not sleep that night. Thoughts kept spinning in my head. The way Liam smiled at me. The way he kissed me. The way he made me laugh. It all happened so fast, almost too good to be true. Was Liam lying to me? Or was Justin lying to me?

Someone was definitely lying to me.