A few minutes later we are walking out of the locker room and heading straight to my car. It only takes a promise of a mocha frappuccino and a chocolate scone to pull Harper out of her mood. Once we are parked in the parking lot of Starbucks with our drinks in our hands, she doesn't even check the calories before indulging herself in the pastry. While she stuffs her face, I attempt to keep my break-up details vague. Lily is so shocked we broke up after boating because last she saw, we were cuddled up in the boat together. I'm not fully ready to talk about what happened with anyone yet, so I just tell them we realized we were on separate pages about a lot of things and I was tired of fighting with him.

I change the subject back to what Harper was dwelling on and got her to agree to go to homecoming together with a plan that involved no boys. We decide we'll have more fun going stag so we can dance with whomever we want and go to any after parties we want.

We are both in chipper moods when we pull back into the school lot for third period. We make it back right as second period ends and we all split ways to go to our separate classes. I walk into the English hall and find Liam leaning against the lockers. When he finally spots me he pushes himself off the lockers and rushes over.

"Ellie! Just give me two minutes please!" He begs and I fold my arms across my chest. I might not be ready to discuss what happened on Saturday with Derek, but I do deserve to know how Liam ended up under Harper. I raise an eyebrow and he quickly continues, not wanting to miss his opportunity.

"Okay, so Harper wanted to go tux shopping while you were out with Derek, so I agreed and picked her up. On the way home, she asked if she could see where I lived so she could see if it would be better to take pictures at my house or hers. You know it's right on the way to her house so I decided to pull off and show her. I knew she was trying to get me alone because she kept looking for a make-out spot the entire time we were shopping, so I was trying to make the pit stop quick. She looked around my house and then went straight upstairs assuming that's where my room was and I followed her with my tux bag. When we got to my room, I hung the bag in my closet and when I turned around Harper was on my bed." The ringing bell cuts Liam's quick-pace off and I can tell he's frustrated. It's obvious that he's been thinking a lot about this weekend because he knew exactly what he wanted to tell me.

I dart around him to get to the open door and he follows me into the classroom. We take our usual seats and he immediately continues his story in silence.

I told her we had to go, but I could tell she wanted to hang out. I walked over to my window because I thought I heard something and when I turned back around, she completely caught me off guard and lunged at me. She knocked me onto the bed and that's when you walked in. I never wanted to kiss her Ellie, I swear! You know that would be taking things too far. I know I haven't talked to you, but I was just trying to figure a few things out. I just needed some time and some space but then you busted in and I could tell you were upset...He doesn't continue but he runs his hand through his hair. If anyone looked over right now, it would seem like Liam was super stressed out. He drops his hand from his hair and then stealthily grabs my hand under the desk and squeezes. We exchange a look and I can tell he's telling the truth about Harper.

Please Ellie, we were finally figuring things out he pleads but I am not fully convinced as to why he didn't call. He straight up ignored me for two days. I know Mrs. Nelson is in the front of the class, talking about King Lear, but my gaze is to Liam.

Why can't you go to homecoming? I ask with narrowed eyes and he lets out a sigh.

From the beginning, I told you I didn't want to go and it was becoming too complicated. I don't like playing with Harper's emotions either. That and my mom needs my help with something that weekend so it was a good excuse.

I eye him suspiciously.

What does your mom need help with?

He shakes his head. I promise to explain all that later. Not here. Now tell me why you were upset Saturday? What happened?

Before I can stop it, images of Derek's hands on me flash through my mind. Liam shoots me a bewildered look and I tear my gaze away from him and look down at the desk. I don't want to tell him here because I'm afraid I might start crying. Over the past two days, every time I thought about what he said and did, tears pooled in my eyes.

I shake my head while clamping my eyes shut. I'll tell you later. The image he just saw must have his mind racing because so he doesn't drop it. What did he do to you? Another image of Derek on top of me flashes and I bury my face into my hands. I shake my head and when I look over to him, I see his fingers are now balled into fists. Did you want him to touch you like that? He asks while staring straight at me. I slowly shake my head and I can feel the tears pooling.

"Not here Liam, please," I whisper but I am already enraged again, so I raise my hand to be excused. With a nod from Mrs. Nelson, I leap up and walk swiftly out of class leaving Liam behind. I run to the bathroom before the tears spill over and lock myself in a stall to get my emotions back together. I don't know why I cry so much lately, but I am having a hard time controlling my emotions. I'm just so mad that Derek did what he did and then has the audacity to be mad at me and tell the whole school he broke up with me. He treats me like shit and then gets to control the narrative. Maybe I should have gotten ahead of it by texting everyone back, but I didn't know how to tell anyone about what happened. That and Derek always acted like it was fine that I didn't feel comfortable doing certain things, but he was so quick to throw it back in my face. I'm not all that sexually adventurous compared to my friends but Derek genuinely seemed fine with it because he wasn't fully comfortable with himself either. I wonder if that's been talked about while I was gone. I wonder if he told everyone we broke up because I was a prude.

It takes a while to get myself together and I'm not even worried about missing class. I couldn't focus on King Lear anyway. When I finally walk out of the bathroom, I see Liam waiting for me in the empty hallway.

"Please talk to me, Ellie," he asks softly and I stop in my tracks.

"It sucks doesn't it?" I say with a shaky voice. "When the one person you want to talk to is ignoring you." His face falls before he says, "I'm sorry, Ellie. I'll explain all that, okay? But right now, I just want to make sure you are okay?"

I wait a moment before I shake my head. He quickly comes over and pulls me into his arms. He drops his cheek onto my head as I wrap my arms around him. I knew I'd feel safe here, my instincts were right.

I also know he will freak out when I tell him why I am upset because of his distaste for Derek already, but I actually kind of want to confide in someone, get some of this off my chest after everything I discovered this morning.

"I'm not okay, Liam," I whisper before closing my eyes and replaying Saturday in my head: the boating, the tubing, the drinking and Derek's room. I don't leave out any details and the further I get into the day, the tighter Liam's grip around my shoulders get. He is tense and his jaw is clenched but I continue on until I get to the part of me walking in on him. I'm glad the hallways are empty because it would look weird to other people, watching us stand there in silence for so long. He finally pulls away and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"So he forced himself on you and after you told him to stop, he continued to rip your clothes off?" He asks but he already knows the answer. Before I get a chance to respond, the bell rings and Liam pushes away from me.

"Where are you going?" I yell after him but he is determined to get to the common area. I run after him and see him making a beeline over to my ex-boyfriend. Derek is standing with Mike and Aaron by a cafeteria table and he doesn't see Liam coming. When he finally does, it's too late to react. Liam slams his fist across Derek's face and Derek stumbles backward. Mike grabs onto Liam but Derek comes right back up and tries to hit him. He misses and Liam tackles him to the floor. They've quickly drawn an audience and people are yelling, "Fight! Fight!"

A part of me wants to try and break it up, but I feel like Derek's getting what he deserves. I certainly have wanted to punch him in the face many times since Saturday. I watch my gym teacher, Mr. Helm, run over and drag Liam off of Derek. Liam's lip is bleeding and his breathing is heavy, but Derek isn't relenting. Mr. Anderson flies onto the scene and pulls Derek up off the floor, breaking up the fight. Derek's nose is gushing blood and his shirt is torn.

"My office! You two! Now!" Mr. Anderson barks and Mr. Helm drags Liam down the hall. He looks over his shoulder and when he spots me, he smiles. He's proud he finally beat the crap out of Derek and surprisingly, so am I.