I was lying in bed later that night as I stared up at the cracked ceiling of my bedroom, the moon bright enough for my eyes to trace the lines as they spider webbed across the plaster. My brain just wouldn't shut up, my thoughts going back and forth and around and around until my head spun.

I just couldn't stop thinking about Jake, about our confrontation earlier today. I had been so terrified that he'd guessed what was wrong with me, or if not guessed exactly then definitely at least knew something was unnatural about me, but all he thought was I'd seen something the police wanted me protected for.

The excuse worked, explaining why I didn't have a phone or a social media presence. Why I acted so weird and closed off at school, and why I shunned anyone who wanted to get close to me. The excuse had worked, but did that mean I could then go back to that school? To see him again knowing he didn't believe my standoffish personality I'd perfected over the years?

My brain hurt from over thinking and I groaned in frustration. I'd left schools and towns for far less, sometimes just a curious look from a few to many students had caused me to flee before, so why was I so indecisive about leaving now?

I could blame it on the fact I had no money for a new identity, that I didn't want to leave my home and that school because it was unsafe for me to do so and I had nowhere else to go, but was that really the truth? If I was being honest with myself I knew I had to give some of my hesitant reasoning to Jake. The guy infuriated me, was insufferable and never took no for an answer but... he cared about me.

I wasn't sure how I knew, maybe it was because he'd stayed with me through my panic attack, or maybe it was because he kept coming back, even after I'd told him time and again to go away. I wasn't sure, but maybe that had to count for something.

The next day I found myself getting up and ready for school before I'd even released what I was doing. Had a small part of my brain decided that it was safe for me to stay at this school? Or was this the stupid part of me that was craving human connections, no matter how false they were, no matter how much they were built on lies.

I didn't know, and I wasn't going to give myself time to question it. I had trusted my gut on keeping me alive for so many years, and if it said I was safe to stay here then I was going to listen to it, however stupid that may be.

When I arrived at school, early like always, Jake was already there, waiting in the courtyard on the picnic bench where we'd first met. I smiled slightly as I thought about him, how he'd stuck with me and stayed with me during my panic attack, but quickly shook it from my mind. Even though I'd turned up today, I still wasn't sure what his angle was, why he'd wanted me to come back and stay at this school even after everything he thought he'd worked out about me, but I was at least going to give him a chance.

"You're here early," I stated as I drew close enough for him to hear me.

His back was to me, but upon hearing my voice his whole body whipped around and he sprung up from his seat. "You're here," he sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I said I would," I shrugged as I walked around him and the picnic table before taking a seat opposite him.

"I know," he nodded as he retook his seat, looking far less like the cocky athlete he usually looked around this school and more... reserved. "I just didn't think you'd actually show after everything that happened last night."

"Neither did I," I replied as I dumped my bag on the floor by my feet, the metal buckles jingling loudly in the otherwise quiet courtyard.

"What made you change your mind?" He asked as he looked intensely at me. His bruising had been healing slightly, day by day changing colours, but it still looked pretty painful.

"I honestly don't know," I told him honestly as I looked into his eyes, eyes that transfixed me and held my own with unflinching strength, almost as if looking away would cause me to disappear into vapour.

"You don't think it had anything to do with a certain blond haired, green eyed guy you'd met and come to secretly obsess over," he smirked as his eyes crinkled in the corners at his own joke.

There was the Jake I knew, cocky and arrogant but also loyal and, so it would appear anyway, trustworthy.

"Nahh," I shook my head as I fought a small grin. "That guy is way to up himself for my liking."

"Ah I see... well his loss is my gain I guess," he grinned back, as much as he could anyway without his bruises causing him pain. "Oh I got you this by the way," he said as he sat up straight so he could fit his bag in his lap.

I leant forward slightly, intrigued by what he was going to produce from his bag, but frowned when I spotted it was a phone.

"Jake," I sighed, resisting the urge to drop my head into my hands in exasperation. "I'm not taking that phone from you, we've already been over this."

"I know why you couldn't take the other one, it was a smart phone and could be tracked or traced or hacked or whatever," he nodded as he held the phone out to me. "But this is a burner phone, with a sim card that you can replace regularly and at will."

"But why do I even need-"

"Just humour me okay," he cut me off. "It helps me sleep at night knowing that you at least have some way of contacting someone if something goes wrong and you need help."

I knew a burner phone was still technically traceable, that if you really wanted to find someone they could be found, but it was significantly harder to do so than using any other type of phone. I knew that because I used burner phones on the occasions where my homework business required me to need one, but I nearly always conducted business face to face.

"Fine," I sighed in defeat. "If it will get you off my back then I'll take the damn phone, but this doesn't give you free rein to text me whenever you want, the burner is for emergencies and emergencies only," I explained as I shoved it into my coat pocket, along with the charger he placed on the table.

"Great," Jake grinned as he folded his hands on the table and looked at me with a cheeky grin on his face. "Does this mean you'll go out to dinner with me now?"

"What?" I asked as a small laugh escaped my throat. "What makes you think giving me a phone means I'll go out on a date with you?"

"Because I now know why you were being so closed off and against the idea when I first asked you, you couldn't go out with me in case I discovered your secret and you'd have to move. But I worked it out anyway, and being in witness protection doesn't mean you have to live a lonely life for the rest of your high school life, so go out with me."

"One, I didn't say no to you because of my witness protection crap, I said no because I didn't know you and didn't want to, and two it's still a no because even though I know you a little better now I still don't know you enough, and you don't know me."

"So we'll get to know each other then," he shrugged as he casually looked around, his green eyes taking in our surroundings. "I mean you know more about me than nearly anyone else I know so what else is there?"

I sighed as I ran a hand down my face, he was like a dog with a bone and I was worried that if we continued this conversation I'd slip up and he'd find something out about me that he really shouldn't know. "Jake please," I sighed as I looked into his eyes, feeling more tired than I had in a long time. It might have been the panic attack yesterday, it might have been the sleepless night I had last night as I tossed and turned through nightmare after nightmare, but a small part of me knew it was because I was tired of battling him. Battling with anyone to keep them at arm's length and away from me, tired of constantly watching every single thing I say and every single thing I do on the off chance that someone was watching me and would suspect me of something unnatural.

"I can't... I can't deal with having someone in my life right now," I sighed as I looked off into the distance, my eyes blurring as they unfolded, looking without seeing. "With everything going on in my life I can't complicate it with having you in it," I shrugged. It was harsh but it was the truth, more or less.

"Not even as friends?"

"I-"

"Come on Kathy," Jake sighed, looking exasperated. "When was the last time you had any friends? Any real friends that you didn't have to hide from."

He'd hit a nerve with that comment, and he could tell because the second the words came out of his mouth his eyebrows turned down in a frown and his eyes momentarily closed in regret. "I'm sorry, that's not how I meant it to come out," he sighed as he ran his hand down his face.

"Yeah well, it's true," I shrugged as I put my hands on either side of me on the stool, using it as an anchor. "As crappy as it sounds I don't have any friends, and I haven't for years," I shrugged, looking away from him and into my lap, embarrassed by the truth. I may be in self exile, but it didn't make the truth any easier, that I had no friends and nobody knew and liked me for the person I was.

"Years?" Jake asked in disbelief and I quickly looked up to see the surprise on his face. "You've been in witness protection for years?"

"Something like that yeah," I shrugged, trying to stick as close to the truth as I could without giving anything away. I'd already told him I wasn't who I said I was, that I was in hiding and living in a crazy weird place in the woods, the last thing I needed was him finding anything else about me that he shouldn't.

"Well that settles it then," Jake nodded as he grinned over at me.

"Settles what?" I asked, nervous at the glint in his eye.

"There's nothing you can now say or do that will shake me from you, you're stuck with me White" he grinned.

I should feel angry, I should feel nervous, I should be feeling anything but how those words truly made me feel... relieved. What was happening to me?

I didn't truly understand what being Jake's friend meant, not until lunch time when I could hear the whole school whispering about me behind my back. They were confused, intrigued and jealous, about this new girl who waltzed into this school and instantly managed to make friends with the 'in' crowd when I should be the furthest from. I could see where they were coming from, Jake and his friends were all athletic, all sociable and loud whereas I was the complete opposite. I hated attention and only spoke when spoken too, even then I didn't always respond with words, but for some reason Jake wanted me around and against my better judgement I'd allowed him to wear me down.

We were now sitting at a table at lunch, surrounded by people chatting and joking with each other, but I'd still managed to put myself on the far edge of the group to try and get some studying done. It wasn't like I desperately needed to get any done, I probably knew most of the syllabus by now, but it was a great way for people to leave you alone, or so I thought.

"Why are you doing that," one of Jake's lacrosse friends asked as he came and sat in front of me, on the table, not the bench. "Aren't you like... the smartest person ever? If there's anyone who doesn't need to study it would be you."

I could tell he didn't mean it in a malicious way, that he was genuinely confused why I'd choose to study during the one hour of the school day where we could have some fun, but I didn't like his tone all the same. I looked him up and down for a second, taking in his letterman jacket with the school team's lacrosse name on the back and smirked before looking back down at my text book. "It's not the craziest thing you know, wanting to do well in school. If you spent more time with your textbooks and less time throwing a muddy ball around then maybe you wouldn't be failing History," I shrugged. "Don't you need to average a C in all your classes to stay on the team?" I asked innocently as I looked up at him with fake intrigue.

I waited to see the guy's reaction, hoping it would have the effect I'd desired and he'd leave me alone in a huff, but to my surprise he burst out laughing. "You're right Jake, she's got a back bone that's for sure."

I what?

I looked over at Jake, confused by what the guy just said, but rolled my eyes when Jake threw me a wink before going back to his conversation. He had warned them about my standoffish behaviour, probably told them to take no notice of it too, and with that I had no defence. Crap.

"I'm Jared by the way."

I knew that, I knew all of Jake's friends' names from the many times I'd heard them being yelled around the corridors, but I pretended I didn't as I offered him a small smile in greeting. "Another J hu? Is that some weird rule you guys have? Only people with the letter J are allowed in your weird clique?"

"Well," he laughed as he continued to look me in the eye. "You know what they say about guys with the letter J," he winked as got up off the table and made himself comfortable on the bench in front of me.

"They're all dickheads?" Jared laughed but didn't move from his spot across from me. Looks like I wont be getting any more studying for the rest of the hour.