The drive home was quiet as I nervously wrung my hands around my wrists.

"Why are you so nervous?" Garroth asked, taking a quick glance towards me.

"I..."

"You're afraid," Garroth sighed, talking to himself more than me. We parked in the driveway, not leaving the car.

"What?"

"You're afraid of falling, afraid of getting hurt again."

"Garroth, falling is against the-"

"Would you forget about the mission for a few minutes?! Katelyn, right now I care about you a hell of a lot more than the stupid mission. I can tell that part of you is starting to like the idea of Travis. You're afraid."

"The m-"

"Katelyn, stop thinking about the mission."

"He's off limits."

"Katelyn."

"Okay, maybe a small piece of me is starting to feel something towards him, but it's only cause I'm not used to people caring about me."

"Don't be afraid. It'll be okay."

"No it won't. I'm afraid of falling harder and harder, because I know what I have to do in the end."

"My father had to kill my mother after Vylad."

"I don't want to end up like your father. I don't want this life Garroth, I never wanted this stupid life. It was forced on me, and I hate it. I thought I could do it. I can't."

"Katelyn," he held my shoulders, "you can do this. You can do anything. Don't stress. You have until graduation to hate him. Don't worry, we can pull a Gene together and ditch the facility after this or something, I dunno. We'll figure this out one step at a time."

I nodded and we left the car, going into the house. Jeffory was petting the cats and looked up at me with a smile.

"Hi, um...I need to go to my room for a bit, not feeling well. I'll be down for supper," I barely mustered a whisper as I soundlessly went into my room. I sat on my bed and took a deep breath.

Maybe I'm just PMS-ing.

I changed into a pair of black sweatpants and a blue tank top. I started to blast my music while sitting on my bedroom floor. I pulled out my homework and put on my glasses, tying my hair into a messy bun.

An hour in, Aphmau burst into my bedroom door. She shoved the papers out of the way and sat in front of me.

"Um....come in?" I awkwardly laughed, glancing at my now scattered homework.

"Travis is in love with you," she said without wavering.

"WH-WHAT?!"

"Think about it! He was insanely jealous about Gene, kissed you in a closet that wasn't even intentional at first, he never stops staring at you, he even called you his!" She swooned.

"Aph, it was just a mix up."

"No it wasn't!"

"Did he tell you this?"

"Well.....no....." She sighed.

"Exactly."

"Katelyn, come on! You two would be perfect together!"

"Would we though?"

"YES!"

"Well for now we aren't anything, so let's not jump to any conclusion."

"For now? Which means there is a chance for you two to be a thing?"

"There's a chance, but not right now. I did just get out of a relationship," I got off the floor and walked over to one of my dresser drawers, and I pulled out a package of cookies I keep away from Garroth.

"You keep cookies in your dresser drawer?"

"Well Garroth will eat them or pester me about eating them, so I must hide them."

"Ah, nice tactics," she giggled, taking one, "anyways, I thought it was a very cute confession."

"It was an accidental heat of the moment thing-"

"From the heart~" she sang.

I rolled my eyes but smiled nonetheless.

"Katelyn, I- YOU HAVE COOKIES?!" Garroth ran over, but I pulled the cookies close to my chest and held my legs out to hold him back.

"You're on a strict diet," I reminded him.

"So are you!"

"Yes, but I'm also doing better at the diet than you."

"You snuck cookies! How is that doing better than me?!"

"The container is still full, dimwit! Now out!"

"Yes, we are talking about important girl stuff!" Aphmau grinned and pushed him out of the room.

"Help.....gravity...increasing on me......" Garroth dramatically started falling back onto Aphmau causing her to groan and push him harder towards the door.

"No wonder you're single," she muttered.

"I take offence to that," he paused and held a hand to his heart. But he was still smirking.

And he says he doesn't have a crush on her.

I smiled as Aphmau closed and locked the door behind him, leaning back against it and sighing.

The next day I walked into the school, immediately spotting Travis. I walked over to him, and as we made eye contact, he turned around and started to walk away.

"Travis, please wait up," I begged, quickening my pace. He let out a sigh and turned around, looking to the left, or the right, or anywhere that isn't my eyes. "Look, I realise that what you said was a heat of the moment thing, and it probably didn't mean anything," he blushed, rolled his eyes, and started to walk away again, but I kept following him. "But I hate this distance between us because-"

"Hey, Lucinda!" He called and stopped beside her, "wanna go to the dance with me?"

"Sure," she winked and walked away.

"Travis...." I whispered as he turned around.

"Hey, don't stress it," he shrugged, "besides it like you said, a heat of the moment thing that meant nothing."

And he walked away.

He just left.

"...because I care about you..." I whispered, finishing my sentence while he was out of earshot.

And it wasn't entirely a lie.

I do care about him, and if asked out loud I would deny it. But now a piece of me belongs to him, and I can't take it back. And watching him act like he didn't care, it hurt. As much as I would hate to admit it, it hurt like hell.

I don't know how long I stood there, watching him walk down the hallway, take a left turn, and disappear to his homeroom. I was chewing on the inside of my cheek, gripping on tight to the straps of my book bag. I wasn't even sure I was blinking. My eyes weren't stinging, and I wasn't about to cry, but it felt like I was having an existential crisis. Hollow on the inside, frozen in place, frozen in time, but everything was still moving around me.

The bell rang and I still didn't move.

It wasn't until second period when I was grabbed by the arm and being tugged to my math class with Aphmau.

"So you are here today, what are you doing standing in the hallway?" Aphmau asked, but I stayed quiet, "what's wrong?" She froze and looked at me.

I couldn't find my voice.

"Hey, you can tell me," she grew concerned and sincere.

I shook my head and inhaled deeply, forcing a smile.

"I'm fine, just really tired," I lied. Aphmau shrugged and dragged me to math.

And then it was lunch. I kept my gaze on my food until I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey," Lucinda sat down next to Travis.

"Hey," Travis put his arm around her shoulders and they started making out. I looked back down, tapping my feet on the tiled floor in different ways. Only my toes, only my heels, my whole bottom foot, the left side, the right sight, the top of my foot, the big toe, the baby toe, and even my ankles. I pushed my food around with my fork and watched as one of the green peas roll from one side of the plate to the other.

"So!" Aphmau clapped her hands together, "how about we all start paying attention," I looked up, "so, Travis, you're failing history?"

"Yup, but I can jump back just fine, thanks," he leaned back in his chair, sighing. He started tapping his foot impatiently.

"Well how about you get a tutor? Like Katelyn?"

"I'd sooner die," he smiled 'sweetly' and looked at me, "she'd much rather spend the night with Jeffory."

I blinked in surprise and then gathered my stuff, throwing out the rest of my lunch and leaving the cafeteria. I walked to the library and immediately felt like the room was loud with silence. I walked down the different aisles of books, running my finger along the old bindings of great literature. I stopped when I saw a small table with one chair in the furthest corner, out of sight from the naked eye. I smiled gratefully and took my seat there, pulling out some notebooks. I started to re-copy notes into neater writing.

And that was where I spent the rest of my day.

A/N So yaeh, Travis is being a dick. Cool...sorry not sorry, I love you all devils, byeeeeeeeeee.
Song: Ghost Assassin