"Happy Birthday!" I exclaimed as I clambered into the passenger seat of Liam's car. It was weird having him pick me up at my house. I stayed at his until my dad got back from his work trip, which was extended by four days, much to my relief, it gave the bruises time to heal. He only got back last night, and was gone to work super early this morning, so I haven't had to explain my injuries yet. And hopefully I never will because I'd made sure to cover them up.

"Thanks." Liam replied, giving me a warm smile and a kiss on the lips before pulling out of the driveway.

I returned his smile even though he couldn't see it because his eyes were trained on the road, and we fell into a comfortable silence.

"So, I left the gang." Liam causally brought up after a few minutes.

I stared at him in shock, eyebrows raised, mouth agape. Even after what happened, I never expected him to leave that lifestyle.

He quickly glanced over to see my reaction and rolled his eyes at my dramatics, "Don't look so surprised. The only reason I was even in the gang was for the easy money. I needed to support my family because my mom didn't make nearly enough."

My mouth didn't shut at his explanation, I never thought of it like that. But maybe that's because I never really met his mom or knew what she did for a living.

"But I don't have to worry about money anymore, my grandparents are moving in and they have the money to take care of everything." Liam went on, surprising me with his talkative mood. Usually if we got on to a topic like this he would shut it down really quick.

"I'm glad you can focus on being a normal teenager now." I finally replied, giving his arm a supportive squeeze.

"Me too." He agreed, a content smile making its way to his lips.

There was just one thing that I still wanted to know, but I didn't know if I should push it since it's his birthday and I don't want to upset him.

After a moment of consideration, and seeing as he was in a chatty mood, I decided to ask the question.

"What happened to your dad?" I knew his dad died, but I didn't know anything about it. Liam never talked about him.

Liam's grip on the steering wheel tightened, but he stayed relatively calm as he replied, "He was in the same gang I was in, pretty high up, which is why I had the respect of so many members. My dad was shot and killed by Garrett's gang."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was like that." I muttered, instantly feeling guilty for bringing it up.

Liam shrugged, "He had it coming, he wasn't a good guy. Used to slap around my mom, sold laced, unsafe drugs to people. But after he died the money ran out quick, that's when I joined the gang."

I nodded but couldn't find the right words to say. My mind was spinning with all this new information. Liam and Jenny ended up with two terrible parents. How did I get lucky enough to have two amazing parents, even if I only got a short time with one of them, but Liam and Jenny ended up with awful parents?

Thankfully we pulled into the school parking lot, leaving all the heavy conversation behind as we stepped out of the car.

"Are you ready for your first day back?" Liam asked as he met me in front of the car, interlocking our fingers as he spoke.

I shrugged as we began toward the front doors, "I'm already a week behind in all my work from that freaking concussion, I don't need to miss any more school."

Liam nodded in understanding, pushing the door open and holding it so I could walk through first.

"I gotta go to the bathroom, I'll meet you in class." I told him, slipping my hand out of his as I spoke.

"Sure, but I have to tell you something before class starts." He replied, leaning down to kiss my lips before we headed off in different directions. Hopefully Liam goes straight to class so he doesn't figure out what I'm really up to.

I decided to go in the direction of the closest bathroom so I didn't look suspicious in cause I somehow ran into Liam, but when I didn't find who I was looking for I huffed out an annoyed breath and veered off in a different direction.

"Thank God." I mumbled under my breath when I found who I was looking for.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, thankful that no one was around to overhear the conversation we were about to have.

"What do you want?" Garrett snapped, his eyes flaring in anger.

I immediately flinched away from him, even though I knew he wouldn't do anything to me at school. Or at least I hope he wouldn't.

"Is Russ alive?" I got straight to the point. I wasn't going to spend one more minute than necessary around him.

Garrett's expression dropped, "You didn't know? He died." Then his expression turned back into anger and he pointed an accusing finger at me, "You killed him. The cops will be coming for you any day now."

The blood drained from my face and my stomach churned. I think I'm going to-

I rushed over to a garbage can just in time to spew the contents of my stomach into it. I coughed and gaged for a minute before I felt confident that I wasn't going to throw up again.

I straightened up from my hunched over position over the garbage, and blankly passed Garrett without another word.

My only thought as I walked through the hallway was that I needed to get out of here. Fast. I didn't know what I'd do once I was out of the building, but I needed to get out.

I was so dazed with the news of Russ' death that I didn't notice anyone still in the hallway until I ran into them.

"Huh?" I mumbled, the bell already rang, no one should be out here.

"What's going on Emma? Are you okay?" The person asked, and I looked up into the concerned golden brown eyes of Liam.

"I'm going to jail." I breathed, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his chest as I began to cry. 

"What are you talking about?" He asked, instantly wrapping his arms around me and stroking my hair comfortingly. He didn't seem the least bit worried about the fact that I was going to be locked up.

"R-Russ, I killed-d him. Garrett s-said he's dead." I stuttered through my tears.

I felt Liam tense as he pulled away enough to look at my face.

"You talked to Garrett. I told you to stay away from him, he could hurt you again, or worse-" Liam stopped his sentence abruptly, his eyes going dark at the though to Garrett killing me.

"I'm sorry, I just needed to know. It's been eating away at me." I apologized, burying my face back into his chest. I wanted to stay in his arms and memorize every detail of it because soon I wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Once I'm in jail for the rest of my life.

"If you were just a bit more patient, I would've told you that I had some friends look into it and Russ is fine. Healthy as a horse except for a nice limp he's now sporting." Liam told me softly, pulling me impossibly closer to him and resting his cheek on my head.

When his words registered in my head I ripped away from him.

"You knew Russ was alive and you didn't tell me!" I fumed. How could he keep that from me? He knew just how much I'd been worrying about it.

Liam rolled his eyes, "I just found out this morning, I was gonna to tell you when you got back from the bathroom."

I vaguely remembered Liam saying he had something to tell me before class, I guess that was it.

"You could've told me as soon as you picked me up this morning!" I argued weakly.

"Let's get to class." He changed the subject, gently wiping the tears from my cheeks.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

Lunch wasn't as tense as I expected it to be.

Our table consisted of me, Liam, Steph, and Lisa. And seeing as Steph and Lisa don't exactly get along, I thought it was going to be quiet and awkward, but it wasn't!

Those two didn't directly talk to each other, but they both pitched in on the conversations much to my delight. And there was no rude comments, or looks, thrown at each other, which I classify as a success.

Even though our friend group has shrunk by two people, Leo and Garrett, I was happy with the four of us. Although I think Liam needs another boy around, soon he's going to start complaining about the overwhelming estrogen.

As the conversation died down at our table, I glanced around the cafeteria at nothing in particular until they landed on a dark haired monster. I expected Garrett to act all high and mighty, like he's the king of the school, now that he didn't have to pretend to be friends with Liam, but to my surprise he was still quiet and reserved. Probably plotting more evil throngs. The only difference was that he sits with members of his gang now instead of us.

The clicking of heels getting increasing closer to our table brought me out of my thoughts, and I looked up just in time to see Danielle and her posse looking at us in disgust.

"Lisa, why are you sitting with these losers." Danielle spoke, disapproval dripping from her every word.

Lisa shifted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable with the situation, "They're not losers, they're my friends."

I inwardly grinned, defending us to Danielle would surely win Lisa some brownie points with Steph.

Danielle scoffed, "You can't be serious. They dropped you after you made one mistake, they aren't your real friends."

Lisa's face got slightly red as her anger rose, "I deserved it, but they are my friends. You were just my rebound friends until I could win these ones back."

I put my fist against my mouth to stifle a laugh, I'm sure Danielle has never been called a rebound before.

"You were just our charity case anyway, you're the biggest loser out of all of them. I would never want to actually hang out with some dirt poor slut." Danielle spat.

Calling Lisa poor was a serious trigger, she was always so self conscious about the amount of money her parents had. And it was not okay for Danielle of all people to call someone a slut.

"Watch it." Steph barked, defending Lisa.

I, on the other hand, grabbed Lisa's smoothie,
walked right up to Danielle, and poured the contents of the cup onto her head.

"Payback's a bitch." I said so only she could hear, just as the bell rang.

No one messes with my friends.

"That was hot." Liam said, close to my ear as we walked out of the cafeteria.

I smiled up at him, rolling my eyes, and that's when I remembered something.

"Come with me!" I exclaimed, taking his hand and dragging him down the hall despite the fact that we were definitely going to be late for class.

I didn't stop walking until I got to my locker, and that's when I finally let his hand go so I could spin the combination into my lock.

"I know the party is tonight, but I wanted to give this to you now because it just popped into my head and I didn't want to forget." I explained, sheepishly pulling out a neatly wrapped box.

I gnawed at my lower lip as he gently tore the paper off, nervous even though I'm sure he'd like anything I got him.

His eyes widened in awe at the box that contained a shiny red pocket knife that had a bunch of add ons. It can open bottles, do fishing things that I didn't understand, and a bunch of other things that were very manly and woodsy.

"I know you like hiking, and I thought this would be perfect for all that outdoor stuff you do. And it's for your protection in case you're ever attacked by Garrett's gang or something." I rambled out an explanation.

"I love it, thank you so much." He finally spoke, his eyes sparkling genuinely as he pulled me into a grateful embrace.

"I love you." He added.

The air left my lungs and I took a moment to compose myself. Did he really just say what I think he said? Maybe I misheard?

He pulled out of the hug, nervousness written all over his face, and that was all I needed to confirmed my suspicions. He really just told me he loved me.

"I love you too Liam Coleman." I told him, and never had a said a more honest statement in my life.