Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I was walking beside my best friend, Jake, to go to my house after we spent the day at the mall. The cool weather was taken over by the sun beating down on us as we walked down the sidewalk. We forgot to stop before the garden of bloomed chrysanthemums, causing me to inhale the pollen from the bright red flowers.

We made it a few seconds past the garden before I felt my throat tighten. My head started to spin as I grabbed onto the other boy's sleeve to try to balance myself.

"Drew are you-" He started before exclaiming, "Your lips are swelling!"

Parts of my face began to swell as Jake helped me sit down. He took out an epipen from my shoulder bag and began to set up the item. He took off the blue safety release and set up where to inject the epinephrine in my thigh. He swung the epipen into my leg and held it there for three seconds. He took it out of my leg and began to massage the area for ten seconds as he took out his phone to call the ambulance to make sure it wouldn't get worse.

Eventually, Jake got me home when the paramedics gave me the all clear.

"Don't scare me like that!" Jake whined to me as I unlocked the door. "I thought you were the careful one!"

I glared at the blonde beside me who looked down at me, unamused.

I sighed as the door swung open. "It's not like I meant to do that!" I argued. "I just got caught up listening to you being a chicken."

"Wha-Hey!" He exclaimed as I walked into the house, a grin creeping up the sides of my lips. "I am not a chicken!"

I placed my keys down and looked at him. I tilted my head and raised my eyebrow. "Oh really?" He looked away from me. "Then, if I may ask, why haven't you asked out Daisy?" I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall, staring at the boy across from me.

His face dropped as he looked over at me. "I-" he started before shaking his head and giving me a fake annoyed look. "I'm just not ready!" He turned around and closed the door, sighing before continuing to talk about something that our other friends, Liam and Henry said.

I stopped leaning against the wall and followed the blonde up to my room. We played games for a few hours as I beat him at the twelve rounds we played before dropping the controller in my hand onto the beanbag I was sitting on. I turned over to look at Jake.

"Alright, what's wrong?" I asked bluntly as the boy's hazel eyes stared at me in confusion. I raised my eyebrow, "You've been acting weird since I asked why you wouldn't ask out Daisy earlier. Did something happen between you two?"

Jake's face dropped with understanding, before being replaced quickly with nervousness. He brought his hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

After a few moments of watching his nervous habit as he tried to mutter out an answer to my question, I stood up. I walked closer to the beanbag chair he was sitting on before grabbing onto his hands and holding them both out in front of us. I sat down right next to him as he moved to make more room on the chair.

I held onto his hands as I looked him in the eye. Our grips both settled for a gentle grip, easy to get out of if either of us got uncomfortable, but strong enough to support each other. His soft hands warmed up my cold, calloused ones in a comforting way.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he looked away from me as I noted the slightest change of color in his face. "There is no way he's blushing right now," I thought to myself before continuing. "If you really don't feel comfortable talking about it, we can drop-"

"I don't know if I like her." Jake said, cutting me off. His fingers tightened around the side of my hands.

My own fingers loosened when he told me. "Wait what?"

He sighed and looked up at me. "I mean, I-I don't know for sure yet!" he stated quickly before letting his face drop again. "I just..have my eye on someone else as well?" He questioned himself yet used it as a way to answer me.

"Oh," I looked at him with shock as he realized how tight his hands were placed around mine and started to loosen slightly. I put my fingers back into place as we returned to mutually holding onto each other's hands.

"Do I know who the other person is?" I asked softly. He inhaled deeply as he tensed up, resorting to me dropping the topic. "Ah-It's getting late, did you want me to drop you off or did you want to eat something first?"

"Just drop me off. I should make sure Milo is eating an actual meal and not chips and soda," he rolled his eyes at the mention of his younger brother.

I chuckled before standing up, our hands softly brushing as we let go of each other.

We got into my car before leaving for Jake's house.

"Sorry our walk from the mall was a nightmare," he looked at me from the passenger seat.

"Don't worry about it, neither one of us noticed that we were passing the garden. It happens." I stated simply. "Don't beat yourself up about it." I placed my right hand on his knee for a moment before bringing it back to the steering wheel and continued to drive.

Chapter Text

I woke up to my alarm blaring for school. I sighed after turning it off and rolled off the comfort that is my bed. I put in my airpods and played some random murder podcast and got ready.

I threw on a random t-shirt, my dark gray hoodie, my light gray sweatpants, watch, and my necklace. I went to my bathroom to brush my teeth, and do my hair.

I sighed and walked out of my bathroom, threw my backpack over my shoulder and made my way downstairs to see a note on the kitchen counter.

Going on a business trip. Be back in about two weeks.

-Love Dad

I shook my head and put the note down where I found it. I put on my socks and shoes before grabbing my keys and heading to my car. I drove over to pick up Liam and Henry.

—

The two idiots got into my car. I looked behind me in the backseat to look at them. Liam, a dark brown haired boy with red eyes, and Henry, a green haired boy with a green eye and a dark gray eye.

"Are we picking up Jake?" Liam asked as he put on his seat belt with Henry messing with him.

I shook my head. "He already told me he's walking to school, so we'll meet up with him there." I put the car in drive when the two clicks of the seatbelts behind me and started to drive off to the hell everyone calls high school.

I parked when we got to the school as all three of us got out of the car to wait for my best friend out front of the school. I pulled out my phone as I decided to drown out the boys beside me arguing about whether some girl our age was hotter than her mom.

I didn't care about their idiot talk, I just waited till I heard the voice of my other friend. I looked up from my phone to see Jake as a smile pulled at the sides of my lips.

"Sup guys," Jake stopped beside me.

"Jake, back me up here! Tell Liam that Stacy is way hotter than her mom!" the short green-haired boy exclaimed. I turned to look at him and the taller boy beside him and rolled my eyes, my smile dropping.

"Uhm..what?" Jake questioned.

"You have to admit that Stacy's mom has got it going on," Liam said calmly. Me and Jake exchanged a quick look.

"You're messed up dude." Henry stated plainly.

"Hey Jake," I started, placing my hands on my hips as I got excited to tell him the news, while also deciding to ignore most of our conversations yesterday. "You know how I told you about asking my dad for the new Playstation 5 console for my birthday?"

"Oh yeah! Did he say yes?" Jake asked me with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

"Well, he bought it for me earlier, I found it after I dropped you off. Now we can play that new game we were talking about." I said, letting my hands drop.

"Must be nice having a rich dad," Jake muttered under his breath, hoping I wouldn't hear. I was pretty used to that, people getting jealous of me getting pretty much anything I want. I ignored it when I saw Daisy.

Liam whispered to us, "Hey, look who's walking past." Liam and Henry looked at Jake, raising and lowering their eyebrows over and over.

Daisy passed us, "Hey Jake." I could tell that her sweet voice lingered in Jake's ears slightly. I found that odd till I remembered that the blonde still slightly liked Daisy and probably was just confused about it last night.

"M-morning Daisy!" He eventually said, though she was gone for a bit.

Liam started to laugh. "Bro!" he exclaimed. "You are so obvious! Just ask her out already!" He said adding, "Before I get there first."

"Ha! Fat chance," Jake replied with a hint of cockiness in his tone. "And I will," He said before the nervousness hit him again, causing him to grab onto his hands so he wouldn't scratch the back of his neck. "I'm just uh-waiting for the right moment."

I commented sarcastically, "you've been waiting for the "right moment" for years."

"Just admit it!" Henry exclaimed. "You're a chicken!" He followed his statement up with chicken noises and a weird chicken-like dance.

Liam started to laugh, and I chuckled. Jake looked annoyed with all of us teasing him. "Oh shut up," he said as we all looked at him, smiles still plastered on our faces.

"Oh look! It's the Music Freak duo." I said as I noticed two of the music club's members. The club president Hailey Austin had teal hair and gray eyes, and her step-brother, Zander Wickham, who had purple hair and eyes.

"What a bunch of nerds!" Henry stated before him and Liam were laughing again.

"Oh look, it's the monkeys who have nothing better to do than to look down on others cause it's the only way they deal with their daddy issues." Hailey looked at me with an annoyed and upset look as she stated that as coldly as she could. Her brother glared at me as his sister said that.

Liam and Henry both exclaimed "Oh," before chuckling again.

"Someone's feisty this morning," Jake looked at the girl who crossed her arms.

"Come on Hailey, we have more important things to do," Zander said before he began to mumble. "Then engage with these imbeciles."

"For the record," Hailey started. "It was your buffoons that started on us first!" She exclaimed. "Keep them under control," she said to Jake.

"I can't promise that Princess," the blonde beside me teased. A small feeling of pain hit my chest, almost like a needle was poking at it. The feeling quickly went away and I ignored it.

"Anyway, don't you have better things to do than engage with this imbecile," his teasing grew. "Or do you just like my company?" I glared at the two, mainly at Hailey waiting for the stupid interaction to be over.

"Get real, and we do have more important things to do than loiter around and pick on people." She defended, a bit of aggression laced her tone towards Jake.

"And what's that?" Jake asked jokingly. "Write cute wittle love songs with your boyfriend?" He chuckled. "Really, it's cute."

We all started chuckling when Jake finished.

"Why don't you just admit that deep down, you're just a jealous little boy who wishes he had half of our music talent." Hailey rolled her eyes. "Have fun achieving nothing with your life." She turned around and started to walk away with Zander.

"Whatever music freak!" Jake called out to her.

"No wonder she barely has any friends" I started while chuckling. "What a cow."

I looked back to Liam and Henry who were holding back full blown laughter and I rolled my eyes at them. I turned back to Jake who seemed to be staring off into space.

"We should probably head to class. I don't want to be like these losers and end up late." I said as I pointed at the two behind me. Jake chuckled before nodding and we started to head off. The others followed behind when they noticed us leaving them behind.

As we walked to class, we passed a poster promoting some random band competition.

"Wow, who would think that those freaks would actually be able to get part of a competition like that?" I turned to Jake who was staring at it intensely, as if debating something about it. "Jake?" I called out, without a reply. I looked up when I heard the bell ring, before looking back down at Jake.

I sighed before brushing my right hand against his left softly. He snapped out of it and stared at me for a moment.

"The bell rang," I said softly and we started walking towards our History class.

We sat down and had a small conversation before the second bell rang. Everyone continued their conversations, despite the teacher, Mrs. Jones talking.

"Everyone be quiet."

Everyone went dead silent and I looked up to see the "teacher's pet" Sadie, whom pretty much everyone was scared of for some reason. I rolled my eyes and started doodling on my paper as Mrs. Jones started talking about the band competition me and Jake saw on the way to class. I tuned out for a while till Jake got my attention.

"Hey, we're doing a group project," he whispered to me. "We get to choose our partners." His face was lit up, which led me to smile softly. I nodded and started to tune into what the teacher was saying again.

Most of class was boring, as the teacher explained what the project would be on. I swept in and out of paying attention, mainly only snapping back when I felt a small brush of Jake's hand against my knee. Eventually, she stopped talking and let us get to work.

"Wow, I didn't think she would stop," some kids overheard me and started to chuckle, Jake just shook his head.

"Who would think that you would space out that much?" He looked at me before turning his attention back to Mrs. Jones who said to get a paper in order to start the project.

I looked down at the drawing on my paper, avoiding any possible chance of eye contact as Jake left and returned with the paper we had to use.

He sat back down as I took the paper to read the instructions before placing it down and handing Jake a pencil.

"Huh-oh! Thank you!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the pencil. "How'd you know that I didn't have one?"

"You normally don't, so I make sure to keep an extra on me just in case." I shrugged before turning my attention back to the project.

Jake chuckled before looking at the paper as well, he placed his hand on my knee while he read. I felt my face heat up before accepting it, figuring that it was an accident, a random habit, or he was messing with me. The last one making the most sense.

He had a habit of teasing and flirting with people, including me. Much to my girlfriend's dismay, but Jake tends to ignore her fits when they occur. I always found Jake teasing me odd though, as though he made sure to find any and every weakness I had and use it against me. I didn't mind though, I was just another person who fell for The Jake Sterling's flirtatious behavior.

—

Classes are over. Jake was distracted, Henry and Liam were being their normal idiotic selfs. Lia and my girlfriend, Zoey, were chatting before turning to me.

"Drewy, can you take me shopping this weekend?" Zoey's high-pitched voice asked me.

"Sure, whatever you want Sweetheart," I said as I noticed Lia's face light up.

"Oh well if you are going to the mall, why don't we make it a double date? What do you say Jake?" she winked at Jake with her question which snapped him out of his trance.

"Uh-I'm busy this weekend," he said awkwardly.

"Ugh! You're always busy!" She stated, her tone laced with annoyance.

"Don't worry Lia, I can still make that double date happen." Henry slid next to her, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Ew, no way in hell, I've already told you Henry," she crossed her arms and shook her head. "I don't date dwarfs," she glared at him, unamused.

Henry kneeled on the floor in defeat with all of us watching him. I sighed and shook my head.

"Come on Zoey, lets just go already," Lia started to walk away.

"Oh ok! Bye sugar cube!" Zoey said to me before kissing my cheek.

I ignored Henry's groans about being rejected by Lia and turned to Jake.

"You going to come by and watch me play on my new counsel Jake?" I asked him, putting my hands in my hoodie's pocket.

"As fun as that sounds, I'm gonna skip today," Jake said to me. I raised my eyebrow as a way to ask for an explanation. "I have to stay for a bit after school. Mrs. Jones said she needed to talk to me about something so I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Jake ran off.

We all started in the direction he disappeared in before Liam spoke up.

"I think I understand," he began, causing me and Henry to look at him. "He must have a thing for teachers." He said with a straight face.

"Dude!" Henry exclaimed. "What is wrong with you today?"

"What?" he questioned innocently. "It's normal for a teenage boy."

My shoulders dropped slightly as I started to walk out the building to get to my car. "Come on you idiots, otherwise you're not getting a ride home."

The two followed close behind me talking about every wrong thing Liam had said that day. I was bored out of my mind before we got into my car. I drove the two idiots home before going home myself.

I got up to my room, threw my backpack on the floor beside my desk and fell onto one of my bean bag chairs. I took out my phone in hopes that Jake would text me, but all I got was messages from Liam and Henry blowing up the group chat between us and Jake. They labeled the group chat the "Jomies" and said it was the name of our friend group since Jake joined. I sighed and decided to start working on my homework due to the pile that was growing from my honors and AP classes.

I took out my math and English work due to those being the most difficult for me. After finishing those, I looked at my phone with no messages from Jake still. I sighed and sent him a message asking him if he got home alright, before setting my phone down and taking out my Spanish homework. I placed my pencil down after finishing that assignment, rubbed my eyes, and looked at the clock.

"It's already 11'o'clock?" I thought to myself picking up my phone to confirm the time. "Jeez, I've been working a while."

My phone had five different messages from Jake, all saying he had an announcement to tell us and that it would have to wait till tomorrow since I hadn't answered sooner.

I opened the message with Jake and asked if the news was bad or not. I put my phone down and started to put the finished assignments back into my bag and pulled out my art project. Sighing, I looked at the requirements for the assignment before hearing my phone start to buzz. I picked up the buzzing phone and answered Jake's call.

"Hey Jake." I said while trying to hold back a yawn.

"Are you still working on school work?" He asked immediately. I started to chuckle at this before being cut off by the yawn I had been suppressing.

"Yeah I am."

Jake sighed, "have you eaten?"

I looked up at the door. "I forgot." I started to stare at the white door. "It's fine I'm not hungry."

"Drew, if you don't eat while on this call, I'm coming over," Jake said seriously.

I looked back at the giant sheet of paper that I had to use for the project. "Jake, seriously, it's fine. You don't have to come over. I'll probably just eat a bowl of cereal in a bit." I could feel Jake shaking his head through the phone.

"Fine if you come over, then you have to tell me the 'important' news." I leaned back into my chair and grinned.

"I'm on my way." Jake said before the call ended.

My grin dropped as I brought the phone down to look at it.

11:12 pm

I reluctantly got up and headed downstairs to wait for the blonde, which wasn't long. I opened the door and stood aside for him to walk in.

"Hey Jake, uhm I'm guessing you'll probably have to stay the night?" I said as I closed the door, listening to him enter the kitchen.

"Probably, I'll have to drop off mom's car tomorrow though." I walked to the kitchen counter and sat on the barstool in front of Jake.

"Mhm, what are you gonna make?" I laid my head on my arms and looked up at him.

"Depends on what's in your fridge or freezer," he smiled at me.

"Heh, there's pizza rolls in the freezer if you want those." I closed my eyes and listened to him take out the air fryer and the pizza rolls.

"What assignment are you working on?" I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"Just a stupid art assignment. I might have to take out my paint though." I sat up and watched him make the food.

"That's your fault for choosing to go into the AP Art and Design class. I'm surprised you keep going into AP and Honors classes unless it's a Science, English or history class." He glanced over at me before turning on the air fryer.

"Maybe I just enjoy your company in History, English and Science," I said plainly. "Ever think about that?" I watched him sit down next to me, his hand finding my knee quickly. I felt my own face heat up before taking a deep breath and looking up at him.

"I could also change my schedule if you have an issue being in classes with me," I joked. He responded by smiling and elbowing my arm softly. I chuckled a bit before he started to caress my knee.

We sat there quietly before hearing the beeping of the air fryer go off. Jake got up, brushing my knee softly as he walked back into the kitchen. "Pizza rolls are done."

He took out a bowl and dumped the food into it before placing it on the counter in front of me. I waited for Jake to finish to start eating the pizza rolls.

"I'm surprised that you didn't burn the house down," I snickered.

Jake rolled his eyes, sat back down and started to eat some pizza rolls along with me.

After a while of eating, I looked over at him.

"So" I started to say. "What was that important news?" He started to tense up.

His hand hovered over the bowl of pizza rolls before gripping onto the edge of the counter.

"I found a way to ask out Daisy," I looked at him with a hint of shock.

"I thought you weren't sure-"

"I found a way," he whispered. "You won't like it."

I looked at him confused, and placed my hand on top of his. "We're friends Jake, I would like you to tell me," I paused. "But if you'd rather wait to tell me till we're with Henry and Liam, I understand."

Jake nodded and looked down at our hands. "You can uh-you can let go now."

I removed my hand and noted how his shoulders relaxed. "Sorry," I whispered, before getting up to start cleaning from dinner. "If you want to start getting ready for bed, you can borrow a pair of my clothes."

Jake nodded and started to walk upstairs to my room. I sighed, tears threatening to build up in my eyes. I started to clean the dishes when I heard the faint sound of a shower. I smiled again before finishing up and going upstairs myself. I changed into some comfortable clothes, sat down at my desk and started to look back on the art assignment.

I lost track of time as I focused, till I felt warm hands on my shoulders. I looked up at Jake, who looked annoyed that I was still doing homework.

"What?" I asked harshly.

Jake sighed before sliding his arms down to hug me. I felt my body tense involuntarily, before I forced myself to relax. I leaned back towards him before he let me go.

He turned my chair, leaned down and brought me into a proper hug. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, his head resting on top of my shoulder. I brought my hands to hug him back, my arms wrapping around his torso.

"You need to get some sleep." Jake whispered in my ear, causing a small chill to go down my back.

"I still have work to do," I turned my head away from him, whispering like him.

I felt the breath from him sighing on my neck, I tried not to shiver at the feeling of his hot breath against my cold skin.

"A reptile!" Henry called me once, with how cold my skin normally was. I tended to wear hoodies year round due to how I always felt cold. It started to get worse from the anaphylactic shock the day before.

Jake let me go again and helped me stand up before taking my hand.

"Jake?" I whispered to him. He didn't turn to look at me, only whispered back, "I'm tired."

I sat down on the bed, watching the blonde climb under the extra blanket I threw onto the bed before he got out of the shower. He always ended up getting overheated and throwing the blanket off himself anyway.

I laid down after him and he threw the blanket over both of us. I turned onto my side, facing away from Jake who was already falling asleep. I slowly started to fall asleep before I felt the blanket fly off me, hearing a soft noise as it hit the floor.

I turned to look at Jake who had thrown it off in his sleep. I sighed and started to get up before feeling a hand grab my wrist.

"Warm," Jake mumbled, his grip tightening slightly when I tried to tug my hand away.

"Well what do you want me to do?" I muttered, trying not to wake the boy up.

He lifted his left arm, his tired way of asking to hug me. I glanced down at him before laying back down on the bed next to him. He wrapped his arm around me and started to calm down. I huddled close to him to steal any warmth that I could before falling asleep faster than normal.

Chapter Text

My alarm went off, I threw my hand over the clock to turn it off. I shuffled my body closer to the source of warmth without opening my eyes. I felt more than heard the small groan coming from the warm source.

I opened my eyes in confusion to see Jake also starting to wake up. He yawned and opened his eyes halfway and looked at me. Both of our eyes jolted open as we moved away from each other, the sudden movement caused a large pain in my chest similar to the one I felt when Jake flirted with Hailey.

"Sorry Drew!" Jake exclaimed before quickly getting off the bed, looking away from me.

"It's fine," I said as monotone as I could while also facing away from him. I looked up at one of the pictures on my wall. It was of me and Zoey. I felt my stomach drop as I remembered that I was dating her.

I didn't necessarily want to, it was more so people would leave me alone. A good chunk of people tended to think I was gay after a guy kissed my cheek. I got with Zoey to stop any rumors from spreading, which I ended up regretting.

I looked over at Jake, who was still facing away from me, staring out the window.

"I have a pair of clothes you can borrow, unless you want to drop off your mom's car and get ready there, and I'll come pick you up after?" Jake turned to look at me.

"Oh, uh sure I'll go get ready at home!" Jake agreed. "See ya soon Drew." He walked past me while waving before going downstairs to his car. I exhaled softly, before looking out my window to watch him drive off. Afterwards I quickly got ready.

—

"You did what?" we all screamed in unison at Jake.

It was lunch and Jake finally got the guts to tell us the announcement.

He joined the Music Club.

We all looked at the blonde with varying levels of shock and confusion on our faces. We all stood up out of our seats, while I was ready to shake some level of sense into him.

"Wait, hear me out." Jake said plainly. "I know what you're thinking, but there's a reasonable explanation." We all sat down.

"You seriously ditched us yesterday to audition," I started out without too much annoyance in my voice. "For the music freak club?" I snapped out.

"Hoho!" Liam laughed out. "I can't wait to hear this!"

"Look it's—Daisy." He started. "She told me she loves singers and that I should try out for the competition so I uh-" he paused to chuckle nervously. "I agreed."

I felt he was just playing along with everyone else thinking he still was into Daisy, but I didn't feel it was the right time to mention it.

My thoughts were interrupted by Henry bursting into laughter. "You joined the music competition for Daisy?" He asked while continuing his laughter. "Dude, you're such a simp!" He grew louder as he went on.

"Dude! Don't scream it out to the whole school!" Jake snapped at the green-haired boy.

"So that's it huh?" I asked. "Daisy asked you to and you said yes?" I looked at him with a hint of annoyance in my face as to why he didn't tell me about it last night. "What's next? Are you gonna strip down butt naked in front of everyone cause she asked you to?"

"Simp!" Henry called out before him and Liam began their loud laughter again.

"Look, it's all part of my plan." Jake claimed with confidence. "Daisy said she'd come and watch me during rehearsals, which gives me a chance to get close to her. And once I impress her with my singing, I can finally ask her out!" His confidence started to drop as he looked at us. "Good right?"

"Seriously dude?" Liam started. "I wouldn't go through that much effort for a chick. I'll give you props though."

"Liam, if I know anything about ladies, it's that they love a guy who can sing," Jake brushed the other boy off. "Besides, it's called being romantic."

Liam answered sarcastically. "Romantic? What's that? I've never heard of that word." The red-eyed boy rolled his eyes at Jake.

Henry started to laugh again. "And that's why you've never had a girlfriend."

"And what's your excuse then? You've never even kissed a girl!" Liam shot back.

"I just can't believe you're going to embarrass yourself on stage with those freaks!" I looked over at Jake. "Just ask the girl out!"

"Hey, do you think if I audition to sing, it will get Lia to like me? It can't be that hard." Henry said confidently. I decided to take a sip of my water.

"Listen." Henry started to sing horrible off key to Baby by Justin Bieber.

"Great," I rolled my eyes. "Look what you've started." I pointed at Jake to Henry as he continued his horrid singing, groups of kids from nearby tables glancing over at our table.

Jake chuckled and started to get up, also deciding to ignore the annoying boy. "Sorry, I'll be leaving him with you two," he started to grab his stuff. "I just realized I'm late for music practice. See ya guys next period!" He gave me a quick wink before he started to walk off.

"Yeah see ya." I sighed out, a bit of sadness hitting me as I watched him leave before being annoyed with Henry still singing.

"Can you believe him?" I said to Liam to help drown out the boy next to him. "Joining those music freaks just to impress Daisy?" I snapped, not realizing Henry stopped. "What's so impressive about it anyway? It's not like I had to embarrass myself on stage to get Zoey to like me." The two looked at each other with an uncomfortable expression at the mention of my girlfriend. "Then again I probably could get any girl I wanted." I said with some cockiness in my voice.

I shook my head before looking down at my food. I noticed the other two starting to eat and chat. While they were distracted I went to quickly throw away the food without them noticing. "Jake would be pissed if he saw me doing this again," I thought to myself before tossing the food.

I sat back down and rolled my sleeves down as I started to feel cold again. I took out my phone and Airpods and started to play my murder podcast to drown out the idiots in front of me.

They ignored my existence and had some random argument about either girls, anime, or whether lettuce was better than tomatoes. They could both always agree that garlic was the worst thing in existence for some reason.

The rest of lunch went by smoothly, without listening to the idiots.

History came around and it was time for us to work on our project. I sat down beside him, and looked down at the poster he brought for it. I looked up at him and noticed him staring at Hailey.

I tapped his arm to get his attention back onto the project before we got to work.

School went by slowly and quietly. Jake was distant, Henry and Liam were messing around, and Lia and Zoey were talking about what they wanted from the mall on the weekend.

I took out my phone and started playing my podcast again till school was over.

"Bye guys, I have to go!" Jake started to walk towards the music room, waving back towards us.

I started to walk away without looking back at my other friends. I sat down in my car and drove home to get working on my assignments again.

Jake didn't text me that night. I worked throughout the night with a sharp, stabbing pain in my chest every time my brain landed on Jake. My hoodie sleeves rolled down the entire day to try to keep the cold out.

"Tomorrow's another day."

Chapter Text

I looked at my phone again at 5am. Jake asked if we could get breakfast with each other before school. I typed a quick reply and started to get ready, ignoring the clawing feeling in my stomach and the prickling feeling in my chest.

"It'll go away soon," I kept telling myself, it hurt more when I thought back to the way he glanced at Hailey during History.

I tossed my backpack in the backseat and started to drive to Jake's house, informing him before leaving.

I arrived at his house and knocked on his door. I heard his dog, Oreo, barking before the door opened. Jake's younger brother rubbed at his eyes and looked up at me. He smiled and hugged me. When he let me go he led me inside and I sat on the couch waiting.

"Jake!" Milo yelled. "You're boyfriend's here!" My face heated up for a second before calming down.

Jake came down the hallway. "Milo quiet!" he whisper-yelled. "Mom's still sleeping. And why are you out of bed? Aren't you sick?"

Milo groaned before saying bye to me and going back to his room.

Jake sighed before looking back at me. "Sorry about that! Let me grab my backpack and we can head out!" He smiled before quickly going back to his room to grab his stuff.

I glanced down at my phone before I spotted him entering the room from the corner of my eye. "Shall we head out Princess?" Jake grabbed my hand and helped me up.

"Yeah let's go." I said before turning away, an attempt to hide the pink in my face.

"Aww someone's turning pink," Jake said as we exited the house. He turned and locked the door before putting his hand under my chin, and lifting it to make me look up at him. "Yep, definitely pink."

"Oh shut up," I rolled my eyes at him and started to walk away.

"I can't believe that I, Jake Sterling, made the Drew Martinez blush," his voice became very cocky.

I groaned and got into the car. He got into the car beside me and looked at me with a proud look on his face.

"Did you want to go to that cafe that opened a few weeks ago?" I looked at the steering wheel, awaiting an answer.

"Sure! That sounds lovely Drew." I nodded and turned on the car.

We drove in silence for a bit.

"So any specific reason for wanting to eat breakfast together?"

Jake chuckled, "What am I not allowed to want to spend time with my best friend?"

"Oh haha, now what's the reason?" I glanced at him before looking back at the road.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm probably going to spend a bit less time with you guys while I'm in the club." Jake paused for a second. "I figured it would be better to tell you while we got food."

I gripped the steering wheel harder, my knuckles turning white faster than I expected.

Jake waited till we stopped at a stop light to put his hand on top of one of mine. "You can loosen your grip," Jake's hand exerted heat like blood flowing from a deep wound. "I'm guessing you didn't eat last night?"

The light turned green.

"What makes you think that?" my voice snapping more than I meant it to.

"Well one, you look paler than normal, plus I'm fairly certain you didn't eat your lunch, but you also look tired as all hell." he took a moment to breathe and evaluate what he wanted to say next. "And normally when you look that tired, you were up all night doing homework without a break to eat."

I pulled into a parking space and stopped the car.

I turned off the car before looking at the blonde beside me. "Well I guess we should get something then."

We got coffee and some breakfast sandwiches while having a normal conversation. It was always nice to talk to Jake without the interruptions of others at school.

—

Me and Jake split ways when we got to school, but I found him quickly in the hallway. Zoey was crying with Lia and trying to calm her down, and Jake was sitting on the floor, his hand up towards his eye. I saw two of the Music club members off to the side. The older member, Luke, was holding back the girl most called the "pink-haired devil". Her actual name was Milly.

"What is going on here?" I snapped out when Zoey started to burst into tears and Jake stood up.

"Are you ok?" I asked Zoey as she ran up to me.

"No! That wild animal just attacked me!" Zoey cried out.

"Jake! What happened to your eye?" Henry and Liam went up to Jake while I looked at both the blondes.

"Wow, she did that to YOU?" Liam started. "That's one hell of a feisty woman."

I noticed Luke still trying to calm Milly down.

"Yeah I'm ok guys," Jake started. "Thanks for asking." He finished with hints of sarcasm.

Zoey started to cry harder into my hoodie, which was slightly uncomfortable.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" I asked Zoey to try to get her to stop crying into my chest.

"My whole body hurts!" she whined. "She threw me to the floor and pulled my hair really hard!" She continued whining.

"Ah please," Milly rolled her eyes at the blonde-haired girl who finally took her face off of my chest. "Stop with the crocodile tears, you fake tart! It's embarrassing." I noted how Luke's grip tightened slightly when Milly seemed like she was going to attack again.

"Miss, she needs to be locked up in a zoo!" Zoey complained to Mrs. Jones. "She's a danger to the school!" I put my hand on her arm to try to prevent her from getting into another fight.

"You're one to talk, you snake!" Milly snapped back, Luke's grip also tightening to prevent anything from happening as well.

"Girls, please! Enough of this!" Mrs. Jones said quietly. "Millicent, violence will not be tolerated at this school. Don't think you know how close you are to expulsion! If I find you in any more trouble, you won't be allowed to compete in the band competition."

Hailey and Zander rushed over and exclaimed with Luke and Jake "What?" after hearing Mrs. Jones.

"I will have to have a conversation with your parents about this. I expect to see you after school in my classroom for detention," Mrs. Jones finished.

"But she-" Milly cut herself off and groaned loudly. "Whatever!" She quickly took her hands away from Luke and started to walk away.

"Milly, come back!" Luke yelled and went after her.

Zoey started to giggle softly as Mrs. Jones started to walk away.

"Miss, please don't do that!" Hailey called out. "This competition means the world to us! Milly is an important member of our group. We can't perform without her!"

I listened to the teal-haired girl try to talk the teacher out of getting Milly in trouble.

"I understand Hailey, but Milly needs to stop attacking people. If she can't stop being violent, then I have no choice." Mrs. Jones stated.

"Serves her right, the savage." I rolled my eyes as Zoey clung onto my arm.

Henry started to laugh. "Remind me to never get on her bad side!"

"I guess she's the type that can't be tamed huh?" Liam started.

"Ugh! Here we go again," Henry groaned at the comment.

"Oh my god Jake! Are you ok?" I watched Lia walk over to Jake, who had a black eye starting to form on him. "That savage punched you right in the face! Should I take you to the school nurse?"

"Oh thanks Lia, but I'll be alright," Jake reassured her, the rest of us starting to gather closer to the two. "It's just a bit of swelling." Lia nodded slightly before looking between Jake, Zoey, and me.

The bell rang and we started to walk to class. Jake was lost in thought beside me, causing what felt like a distance between us.

I decided to stay quiet and started to play a podcast again as we made our way to class in silence. Eventually we made it to class and started to work on our projects.

"So..do you have practice after school again?" I asked the unusually quiet blonde.

"Mhm?" He snapped out of it after a while. "Oh uh-yeah I do." He went back to work.

"Want to listen to a podcast as we work?" I offered my airpod to him. He looked up at me, avoiding eye contact as he seemingly grew more nervous under my blank expression.

He nodded and grabbed the item from my hand. "Any specific podcast?" I asked him as he continued to work. I sighed and played a horror podcast we both liked to make fun of. "Maybe this will get him talking to me." I thought to myself.

—

He continued to ignore me for a good chunk of school, seemingly getting worse after English, but calming down after lunch.

"Hey Jake!" waved to him as he walked down the hallway.

He waved then raced off down the hallway.

"I'm probably going to spend a bit less time with you guys while I'm in the club."

Jake's words echoed in my ear a bit.

"Drewy," I looked over at Zoey as she walked over to me. "Did Jake talk to you about anything?"

I raised my eyebrow slightly. "No, did he have something to tell me?"

"Oh no! I was just uh-I just noticed how off he seemed since Milly hit him." She ended with a small giggle. "I thought he might've talked to you about it." she gave a fake innocent smile before walking away with Lia who seemed uncomfortable with something.

I looked back to Henry and Liam before sighing. "You two want something to drink before I take you home?" Excitement filled their voices as we walked to my car.

I texted Jake, seeing if he wanted me to pick him up after practice. I had a feeling Zoey wasn't telling me the truth. I wasn't surprised, she often lied to get what she wanted.

Jake left my message on read immediately. I started to get annoyed, as I opened the car door, and ended up slamming it shut. "What do you guys want?" I turned around to look at the two people behind me, semi-throwing my phone towards the cup holder beside me.

They decided on a couple of milkshakes from Mcdonalds. They tended to be pretty easy when I offered things like this, unlike Zoey. She always had to have the most expensive things from everywhere.

I eventually got them their drinks and dropped them off.

"Practice ends at five." I thought to myself as I looked at the time.

4:25

I still had enough time to get back to school and get Jake. I decided that was the best thing for me to do.

I parked at 4:50 and stepped out of my car, waiting for the blonde to walk out of the school. I went on my phone till I heard the laughter of the Music Club. I looked up and saw Jake smiling at Milly and Hailey, his smile immediately dropping when his eyes made contact with mine. The stabbing feeling in my chest re-appeared, and the air grew colder. My body felt weak as the cold sent a shiver down my spine.

"This was a bad idea" I started to think as he nervously said bye to the club members and made his way over to me.

"Sorry I didn't respond," Jake started to reach up towards his neck before grabbing onto the hand instead.

"Hungry?" I asked instead. My hand grabbed onto the car handle. He nodded slightly before walking to the other side of the car.

"Is everything okay?" I asked after a few minutes. "You and Zoey seem tense today and I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"What did she say?" Jake's voice was lower than normal, the tone catching me off guard.

"She just asked if you talked to me about something, made it seem like you had something to tell me." I said calmly, noting how he relaxed slightly as I talked.

"It's nothing, don't worry. Just a small disagreement about something small." His voice was barely above a whisper as I pulled into a random parking lot.

"Alright, I trust you," I said, still not one hundred percent certain that everything just came down to a simple disagreement. "What do you want to eat?"

"How about Red Robin's? I'll pay for us," Jake suggested as took his wallet out of his backpack and put it in his pocket instead.

"Yeah, no. I'm paying." I reached over and grabbed his wallet, avoiding his hand as he tried to get the item back.

"No you're not! You always pay for everyone else," Jake complained as he continued trying to get his wallet back from my hand, slightly climbing on me to reach it.

"Why are you the only one who hates when I pay?" I asked him, leading to him freezing slightly.

"Well for one, I don't want to rely on your money." Jake started, leading to him sitting back down calmly as he listed the reasons he should be paying. "I like to treat you like a human, not some piggy bank."

My eyes widened slightly. "Do people really see me like that?" I started to think while continuing to listen.

"Plus, I want to treat you to dinner this time," Jake finished off.

"I'd understand that last point if it weren't for the fact that I offered to take you out. It makes more sense for me to pay." I disregarded his last comment.

"That's nice." I felt one of his hands grab onto my empty hand, attempting to get his wallet back. "Now give it back."

"Only if you put it into your bag!" I exclaimed.

Jake sighed as he let go of my wrist. "Fine."

I grinned and handed his wallet back to him. I watched him put the wallet in his backpack and put his seatbelt on.

I put the car into reverse and drove to the Red Robin's. A smirk still hinting at the corners of my mouth. Eventually we made it to the parking lot. I made sure that my phone was in my pocket due to it having my credit card.

"Alright, out!" I smirked as we both got out of the car.

I walked in front of the car, meeting Jake there. "Oh shoot! I forgot my phone!" Jake exclaimed and ran back to his side of the car. He came back a moment later.

I took a step towards him before checking his sweater pockets to make sure he didn't grab his wallet instead of his phone. He looked at me with a fake annoyed look, before we started to walk into the restaurant.

I ended up getting a burger with bacon and a sunny-side up egg on top of the patty, while Jake got a burger that was basically all sauteed mushrooms. We talked about random topics that just flew out of our mouths. No topic fully stuck, which was always a relief with Jake.

The topics stayed random until we got to the bill. I noticed Jake take out his phone as I reached into my pocket to take out my own. It was missing from my pocket. I looked around before turning to look at Jake who had put his own card down, which he hid in his phone case. He smirked at me as they took the card and bill away.

"You did not," I stated, shock still lacing my face.

His smirk grew as he looked at me. "Yep, I did." He looked at me with an innocent look as the paid bill and card came back. He smiled at the server before taking one last sip at his soda and putting his card back between his phone and phone case. "Ready?" He looked back up at me when he finished.

"Do you have my phone?" I asked him, glaring at him.

He smiled and nodded. "You can have it back when we get to the car."

I rolled my eyes as he stood up and offered his hand to help me up. I felt my heart racing slightly, which worsened the pain in my chest slightly as I thought about how close I'd end up next to him. "Fine," I grumbled as I grabbed onto his hand and stood up. We walked out of the restaurant, our hands still intertwined without me noticing.

We sat down in the car, Jake still proud of his scheme.

"Alright, give me my phone back." I put my hand out, trying to get it back.

"Hmmmm" he pretended to think. "Under one condition."

I looked at him, unamused. "What now?"

"Smile in a photo." He smiled at me. My mind went blank as I tried to process his request. "Wha-?"

"I want to take a photo with you, so I want you to smile for it. Otherwise, I'm not giving you your phone back." His grin grew wider as he held his phone in one hand, his other holding onto my hand.

"Come on Drewy, Just one picture?"

I shook my head before blurting "fine, but just one!"

His smile grew slightly more as he got into a position for us to take a picture. Once he figured out a pose he said "Smile!"

I smiled as he took the picture.

He squealed in excitement as he looked at the picture while I let my face drop from the smile. I looked over his shoulder at the picture. "Why do I look like that?"

The smile looked wrong on my face. Especially since I always had either a blank expression or some level of glare. The peaceful smile was just wrong.

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked, looking over at me before turning his attention back to the photo. "You look cute!" He exclaimed as he favorited the photo. "I'm putting this on your wall."

I groaned before putting on my seatbelt. "Fine, then let's get to my house shall we?"

I drove to my house as he ran up the stairs immediately.

I shook my head as I closed and locked the front door before heading up the stairs. I entered the room to see Jake cutting out a photo from the printer already.

"Wow, that was fast." Jake looked up at me, his face beaming with joy.

He looked back down and continued to cut out the photo. Soon he was laminating it and hanging it from the string of photos on my wall. Right in the center, the only photo of me smiling.

"Great, do I get my phone back now?" I crossed my arms and stared at him.

He reached into his pocket and handed me my phone. "I'm not accepting any attempts to try to pay me back unless you wanna take me out again." His voice went from serious to teasing. He finished his statement off with a wink.

My face grew slightly pink as I groaned. "You and your flirting." I turned around and went to the bathroom. I heard him giggling from behind the now closed door. I took out my phone and looked through social media as I just stood in front of the mirror.

I looked up at the mirror after a while, the make-up on my face starting to come off. I sighed as I took out my foundation and re-applied it, before putting it away and looking back at my phone. I checked the time before I heard knocking.

"Hey Drew!" Jake exclaimed. "Are you almost done? You've been in there forever!"

I sighed and put my phone away before stepping out of the bathroom. "Can't someone have some privacy in their own house?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Not when your best friend is here!" Jake smirked. "Now what took you so long?" He questioned before he looked across my face. "Make-up, really? This late at night?"

I felt my body tense a bit before I forced myself to relax. "It's called always looking my best," I said matter-of-factly. "Not like you'd understand," I added jokingly.

"Oh how dare you," he said while laughing. "I always look my best."

I chuckled before I started to walk to my bed. "Yeah, yeah, we should probably get some sleep."

I sat down as he nodded and grabbed both of us a pair of sleeping clothes.

He threw my clothes towards me before racing to the bathroom himself.

I stayed on my bed for a moment before hearing the shower turn on. I sighed and changed into my sleeping clothes.

I fell down on my bed, listening to the shower running. I looked over and saw my phone blowing up. I saw texts from Liam and Henry, Zoey.

I looked at the ones from Zoey first. Most of it was just her listing things she wanted from the mall this weekend. I decided to not reply to her, going to the group chat instead. Most of it was just the two arguing again.

'You two bicker like an old married couple.' I sent into the chat, leading to both of them denying the comment. I put my phone down and noticed how cold the air had gotten. I shivered before throwing one of the blankets over myself, before hearing the shower turn off. The air seemed to warm as the blonde stepped out of the bathroom.

He walked over to the bed and laid down beside me, both of us facing away from the other. "Well, night Drew." his voice was soft as he shuffled to get comfortable. "Night Jake." I reached over and turned off the lamp and then rested back on the bed.

The sheets grew colder as I shifted, trying to warm up. A small groan escaped my throat as I turned again and again. I heard Jake shuffling as he sat up.

"You ok?" he whispered in case I was asleep.

"Yeah, it's just really cold right now." I replied, my voice a whisper to match his.

I heard a soft hum from him before he turned over to face me, raising his arms.

"What are-" I started to question.

"Just come here." He stated.

I scooted closer to him under all the freezing blankets. He pulled me into a hug when he determined I was close enough to do so. He laid back down, holding me while doing so. My head was resting on his chest as I moved slightly closer to the warmth emanating from the boy beside me. I fell asleep quickly after that.

Chapter Text

I woke up warm. It felt weird due to me always being cold, even more this past week. As warm as I felt, I still felt tired. My breathing seems shallower than normal and my arms felt weaker than they did the day before. I brushed it off and opened my eyes to see I was still laying on Jake.

I gently took his hands off me and looked at my phone.

4am

I gently shook my head and made my way downstairs, trying not to disturb the sleeping boy. I felt the cold nipping at me, the back of my neck, my ears, my nose, my lips. All of it grew colder as it started to get to my fingers and up my hand.

I made it down the final step and looked around the dark house. I quietly made my way to the kitchen as I made a cup of black coffee. The machine felt like it took forever before I was holding the burning hot mug. "Any warmth is good." I thought to myself as I took a sip of the dark brown liquid.

It wasn't long before I felt arms wrapping around my torso. "Drew" the boy behind me mumbled into my shoulder. "Why are you up?"

I put my hand on top of both of his. "I don't know. You should get back to bed." I leaned my head onto his slightly.

"Too hot," he moved his head so his face was against my neck, his hot breath warming my skin enough to send shivers down me.

I sighed, "Alright, let's go then."

Jake moved and grabbed my hand, leading me back to my room. We laid back down as he laid on me this time, providing warmth to me, while also cooling himself down.

I decided to scroll through my phone as I was awake now. My free hand making its way into Jake's hair without me realizing it. I ran my fingers through soft, fluffy locks, genty fixing the knots in them when I felt it. I felt him move closer to me when I realized what I was doing.

I started to remove my hand from his hair before he caught me. "That felt nice," he mumbled, half-asleep. My eyes widened slightly before I put my hand back into his hair, running my fingers through gently. I put my phone down and focused on holding Jake.

I started to feel tired again, so I let the warmth lead me back to sleep.

—

I woke up again, my fingertips were cold again, as they lacked the soft hair that they had been holding when I first went to sleep again. I opened my eyes slightly to see Jake putting on a shirt in the distance.

I stretched with a small yawn escaping from my mouth. When I finished, I noticed Jake looking at me. "Hey bedhead." He chuckled as he finished putting his shirt on.

I rubbed my eyes before throwing the blanket off of me. I immediately regretted that action. "Morning," I groaned, quickly grabbing my blanket again and wrapping myself in it.

"That shirt's too small for you." I mumbled as he walked up and hugged me.

"It was a temporary thing," he started. "What? You don't think I'd look good in a crop top?" He let me go and made me look up at him.

"Eh, you probably could pull it off. It's just too early in the morning for you to be acting gay." I joked with him, while also thinking of what he'd look like in a crop top. "I have spare tops that should fit you in the closet."

I got up and led him to my walk-in closet and looked for a shirt that should fit the over six foot tall boy. It wasn't too difficult to find something.

We both finished getting ready before we headed downstairs. "Alright we should head out now," I said when we both got to the kitchen, watching Jake grab a granola bar.

He nodded and we walked out to my car.

—

It wasn't long for Jake to be distracted again. Chemistry came around quickly today and then slowed down from there. I was chatting with Henry and Liam as we waited for class to start since Jake was in his own world again. It tended to hurt more and more as he spaced out around us, leaving me to talk with our other idiot friends.

I started to ignore the idiots when they stopped involving me in their conversation. I glanced over at Jake who seemed to be staring at the brunette drummer, Luke, in front of him. The guy seemed down, which made Jake look at him like he wanted to help him.

"I just want my best friend back," I thought to myself as I read the instructions on the paper that had finally been passed out.

"What's Luke sighing about?" I raised my eyebrow, slightly glad to finally have the blonde's attention. "He have a falling out with his freak friends?"

"No," Jake started, his voice laced with worry and a hint of annoyance. "I think he's just having some 'issues' in the love department," he finished.

"Oof, that's tough," I said with some sarcasm. "Shame I can't relate."

I could tell Jake was trying not to roll his eyes at me.

"Ugh! I feel for him!" Henry sighed out. "Lia still hasn't texted me back since yesterday." His voice was slightly higher as he began to whine a bit. "I can't seem to catch a break!" He finished complaining.

"I keep telling you, stop sending her My Hero Academia memes!" Liam responded to Henry's whining. They continued a small conversation that I decided to ignore, as I didn't want to listen to Henry crush more on one of my good friends.

Next thing I knew, I heard Jake whispering to Hailey. I figured it had something to do with Luke due to how concerned he looked when thinking about him.

I decided against eavesdropping.

"Did you say Zander?" Jake suddenly shouted out. The whole class stared at him.

"Is there a problem at the back Jake?" the teacher asked him.

His face turned a bright red. "Uh no!" he started to chuckle nervously. "Sorry Miss!"

I turned back to the assignment that Jake wasn't helping me with. I was getting annoyed as he continued a conversation with the teal-haired girl instead of helping out.

I finally was fed up with Jake being distracted over Hailey. I turned to look at him.

"Are you gonna continue talking to your music girlfriend or are you actually gonna help me out here?" Jake and Hailey both looked at me as they turned pink.

"Don't call me that!"

Don't call her that!"

They both spoke at the same time, both looking equally annoyed with me. Hailey finally turned to help her partner with the work we had.

"I wouldn't have partnered up with you if I knew you'd just talk to her for the whole lesson. Help out would you?" I finished as I went to continue.

"Sorry Drew, I'll help," he said through clenched teeth.

He was still distracted, probably coming up with a plan to help Luke.

During this, he put the wrong chemicals together and the stuff started to smoke up and purple erupted from one of the beakers.

"Jake!" the teacher yelled out as an annoyed, yet angry look formed on my face.

We didn't get a good grade for the assignment. I was very pissed at him for it. Jake also ended up having detention for not being careful.

Getting through the rest of school was a nightmare again. I didn't talk to Jake again after class. I wasn't surprised when he was all over his 'freak' friends.

I decided to forget about it and went home as soon as I could since Henry and Liam decided they wanted to walk to get food with each other.

I went home and did my homework, before passing out on my bed at three in the morning.

Chapter Text

Lunch came around quickly today.

Liam and Henry were being annoying, and Jake was staring at a wall.

Eventually I ended up being fed up. "Would you give it a rest already?" I snapped out.

"I'm not joking around here," Henry said with a small hint of seriousness in his tone. "Ever since last night I can't stop craving it. Just thinking of its crunchy leaves makes my mouth drool." The green-haired boy started to drool as he thought about lettuce.

"Lettuce of all things? Are you turning into a rabbit or something?" Liam asked.

"Hey!" Henry started, before his tone changed. "Huh, maybe."

I sighed, "Can we talk about something normal for once?" The annoyance in my voice grew. "I don't want to listen to your disturbing lettuce fantasies."

"Well I'm sorry, your majesty" he said sarcastically. I tensed up slightly at him calling me that, yet not enough to be noticed. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Well getting back to what I was talking about," I let my body relax a bit. "Zoey's been acting really suspicious lately. Usually she's asking for new bags, shoes, clothes. I took her out last weekend and she asked for nothing!" I was annoyed as the memory came back to me.

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe she's finally given up on her golddig-I mean uh!" I stopped paying attention to his second sentence, but noted how nervous he looked suddenly.

"What he means is she probably feels bad for making you spend so much money!" Henry cut in quickly and chuckled at the end.

"Nah, she's not the type to care about that. It's pretty suspicious to me." I stated before deciding that Jake was staring off for too long. "What do you think Jake?"

It didn't snap him out of it.

"Jake." I said calmly.

He still didn't answer.

"Jake!" I semi-shouted.

"Huh?" Jake finally snapped out of it. "Oh uh, yeah I agree! You're totally right Drew!" He pretended like he was paying attention the whole time. I thought I was crazy, but it felt slightly colder.

"You haven't been listening to a word I said, have you?" I called him out with an expressionless tone.

He sighed. "Yeah sorry, I just-" he thought for a moment. "-spaced out for a second."

"What's wrong?" I asked, my tone hinting that I was annoyed now. "You miss your freak friends or something?"

Jake shook his head. "Don't call them that." It sounded odd for him to say that about the people he's been bullying for around two years at this point.

"Which part? Freak or friends?" I said with a slight chuckle.

It went quiet for a few moments, till I decided to break the silence.

"Ya know, I'm starting to wonder whether you prefer their company over ours." I said honestly.

"When you put it like that, it makes you sound jealous!" Henry exclaimed, causing him and Liam to chuckle at the thought.

Jake looked away, and I felt my face heating up a bit.

"Shut up." I said calmly to the two across from me before turning back to my best friend. "I'm just saying, you used to care to listen to me," my breathing felt more shallow as I realized I said more than I should have.

"Oh don't be like that Drew, you guys are my homies! Of course I prefer you guys." I felt a small sting in my heart as well as the stabbing pain in my chest. It felt like he was lying. "I was just uh-thinking about how good these cheese sandwiches for lunch were!" he started to giggle nervously and put his hand on the back of his neck.

"Definitely lying," I thought to myself as I let my body drop slightly.

"Right," I said sarcastically, trying to hide the fact that I knew how obvious he was acting right now. "I suppose you won't be hanging out with those nerds once the competition is over." I looked at him and saw how his face dropped slightly.

"I mean you're only doing this for Daisy, and then you'll leave the club," I said it as more of a fact than anything. "Right?"

Jake seemed to get more uncomfortable under my glance. "Uh y-yeah. You're right. I'm just doing it for Daisy." He refused to look at me.

"Uh I don't want to be 'that guy', but what if she rejects you?" Liam asked cautiously.

Jake's mood seemed to switch around as he faced Liam and gave a small smile. "Well at least I'll know that I gave it my best shot, but at least have some faith in me guys. I mean who would say no to someone with such an angelic voice as mine?" His confidence rose again as he looked back at me and winked, before turning his attention back to Liam. My face grew red again.

"Jeez, you'd think with that much confidence you'd be able to just ask her out." Liam stated. "Ya know, normally." He finished.

"Shoot!" Jake exclaimed suddenly. "I forgot the time! Sorry guys, gotta go to rehearsals!" He said before running out of the cafeteria.

"Don't look so blue Drew," I looked away from the door the blonde disappeared behind. "I know it must be sad to see your boy running off to the music freaks instead of into your arms," Henry teased as he and Liam laughed again.

"Does he have to leave me with you idiots?" I asked without wanting an answer.

"Aw come on, you know you love us," Henry said.

—

I saw Jake again during PE. We were able to have a random conversation as we rested after a round of soccer. He was talking to me about some random game he had played not too long ago and how I should try playing it. He said he'd bring it tomorrow for me to borrow if I was interested. I stared with a mostly expressionless face as he continued talking about random stuff before we got back to playing.

Lia started to cheer for Jake, who wasn't paying much attention. This led to most of the girls cheering for him or me.

At one point he realized the attention he had which caused him to wave and wink at the girls. Luke took his chance and passed the blonde with the ball. I wasn't that shocked. There was a reason that Jake wasn't on the soccer team with how easily he gets distracted by the attention.

Eventually Jake started to stare off. I started to get annoyed and light headed as I looked at the blonde.

He snapped back when he heard Liam shout, "Jake! The ball!" He caught it before looking off towards the girls again.

The ball was immediately taken from him as he tried to turn around with it. He gave up.

Me and Liam walked up to the boy.

"Whoops, uh sorry Liam, my bad," he started to scratch the back of his neck.

"What's up with you today?" my eyebrows furrowed slightly as I looked at him annoyed. "We're losing cause of you."

"Alright!" He seemed upset about my words. "I'm sorry, I just have," he paused. "Things on my mind."

I looked over to see who he was staring at. It was of course, Hailey.

I felt my body shiver as I had no warm clothing on, despite it not even being fall yet. It should've still been hot for me.

"Oh," I started. "I get it, you move on fast, huh." I joked with him, acting as if my own implications didn't hurt me.

"What? What are you talking about?" Jake genuinely questioned me.

"You know what I mean," I gave a smug smile. "You like Hailey." Saying the words out loud caused a large ache in my chest. "Maybe I should get that checked out," I thought to myself.

"What! No I don't!" Jake shot back instantly.

"Ah, ok." I rolled my eyes. "So it's just a coincidence that you were staring at her just now. Not to mention you were talking to her throughout science class yesterday."

"Well," Liam started as I noted how the blonde looked a little pink from my accusation. "That explains why you've had your head up in the clouds all day!"

"Seriously, it's not like that," Jake defended, despite his face saying otherwise. "It's just rehearsal stuff."

"Oh sure, rehearsal stuff." Liam said sarcastically. "Whatever you say." Me and Liam walked away from the blonde, letting him dwell on his thoughts.

I let my smile drop as soon as we turned away from Jake, my hand finding its way to grip onto my shirt at my chest. Liam saw Henry and started to talk to him.

—

The end of school went by fast after PE.

We were all walking down the hall to get to our lockers when I looked up from my phone.

"Hey look, it's your little freak friends!" I chuckled slightly. "Let's go say hi."

"We really don't need to do that," Jake started as I ignored him and walked up to them.

"Hey dorks!" I said before standing in front of them. "How's life in Freak Town?"

"Pretty swell without you asshats, actually." Hailey snapped back a bit.

"Oh!" Henry said to Jake. "Your girlfriend still has quite the attitude, huh Jakey?"

Jake shook his head slightly. "I told you, stop calling her that."

"Didn't you learn your lesson the last time I beat you to a pulp stupid lettuce brain!" Milly snapped out at the green-haired boy standing beside me.

"Whoa slow down little lady," I started. "We're not here to fight. I just want to know if you're looking out for our Jakey-boy." I could sense Jake get annoyed with the nickname. I didn't care at the moment.

"It seems he's grown quite attached to you. Maybe we should hang out more together," I started to chuckle a bit. "So I know what kind of freaks he likes-"

Zander shut his locker loudly, cutting me off. "Actually Drew," my eyes widened as he walked up to me, anger filling his face. "No one asked. And no one cares! I'm really not in the mood for your bull crap today!"

He crossed his arms as he glared at me. "Why don't you run along and get yourself a 'cute' outfit with Daddy's credit card, mhm?" I tensed a bit at the mention of my father.

"Whoa," Liam laughed a bit. "Do you always get this cranky without your boyfriend?" I noticed how uncomfortable Jake looked. All of us but Jake started to laugh a bit.

"What did you say?" Zander shouted at Liam.

"Oh, touchy subject I see." I said after I finished laughing.

"Why don't you boys run along?" Sean, the oldest club member's voice, was low and seemed as though it was supposed to be menacing. "Before somebody gets hurt." Milly started to crack her knuckles at the same time.

"Hey guys," we all looked at Jake. "Let's just go, you wanted to show us that new drone you bought, right Drew?"

"Uh, alright." I started to walk past the club members. "Well have fun, Freaks." We all continued to walk away.

We made it to our lockers where we met up with Zoey and Lia. Zoey was immediately on me asking about if I would take her to the mall soon so she could buy something. It didn't take long to see Zander run by.

A moment later, the rest of the club was running after. Milly grabbed Jake's arm and pulled him with them.

—

I sighed as I threw my bag down next to my desk, thinking about how fast the week was going, and how Jake seemed to leave us more and more.

I shook it off as I went downstairs to meet Zoey in the kitchen. I called Jake to see if he was available the next day since it was a Friday.

"Hey Drew," Jake's voice came out through the phone, sounding as though I had interrupted him working on his homework.

"Hey, my dad's giving me a new allowance for this month, so we're going to the mall." My voice was plain as I listened to the occasional small giggle from the blonde sitting beside me, or the faint rustling from the other end of the phone. "You in?"

"Tomorrow?" He questioned, before a small sigh came from the phone. "I can't."

"And why not?" I raised my eyebrow despite knowing he wouldn't see it. I was annoyed. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"Oh uh-well you see the thing is-" he paused after cutting me off as he attempted to come up with a good lie. He couldn't, Jake was a horrible liar when put on the spot. I could tell pretty well. Guess it comes with being someone's best friend. "I'm grounded."

"Grounded?" I asked with suspicion. "How did you get grounded?" Despite not acting like it at school, Jake was fairly mature at home, mostly due to having to watch his younger brother a lot since his mom was a nurse who worked most evenings.

"Oh haha-" he paused. "I uhm- c-clogged the toilet!" he almost screamed out.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, annoyed. "And how did you do that?" I immediately thought about the question and took it back. "Actually-I don't think I wanna know."

I heard Jake's faint chuckles. "Yea," his voice was faint.

"Well, Zoey really wants to go so we'll just go without you, ok?" I looked at the girl who started to giggle randomly again, I just brushed it off to Tik Tok or Instagram.

"Yeah that's fine!" he said cheerfully. "Have fun without me."

He hung up quickly as I looked down at my phone, staring at the screen with one thought. "Is he avoiding me?"

I doubted he would get grounded for a stupid reason. His mom would have him clean the mess if not the whole bathroom, but Ms. Sterling was a very nice woman to ground Jake over something so stupid.

I sighed as I looked over at Zoey who was glued to her phone. I walked towards the fridge as I made her a snack before we went to my room. She called Lia as I worked on homework.

She eventually left and I was left sitting at my desk staring at the glowing screen in front of me.

I kept getting upset about the phone call before I finally looked down at the homework on the desk.

I shivered as I also noted how cold it was. I shook my head and went into my closet to find a warmer hoodie. It didn't take long to find one.

I put on a light gray hoodie that used to belong to Jake. We decided to keep it in my house in case he randomly stayed the night at my house, which happened a lot, and something happened to the blue jacket I gave him.

It was warmer than I thought it would be, and still smelled like Jake despite a year without him using it.

I sighed and sat down at my desk and pulled another assignment out.

I sat there for a few more hours working and working. I eventually looked at the time to see it was past midnight. I looked down at my phone to see nothing more from Jake.

I knew Jake wasn't grounded, just cause he could accept my call to him.

The hoodie felt cold again as I felt dizzy suddenly. I shook my head, got up and laid down on my bed, deciding to deal with everything tomorrow instead.

Chapter Text

I woke up feeling lightheaded. I groaned as I opened my eyes and sat up. I rubbed my eyes and threw my feet over the edge of the bed.

I changed into an average outfit before deciding on getting coffee since my alarm hadn't gone off yet. It was still five in the morning.

I drove to a random café and saw one of the music freaks there. "Sean I think," I thought as I tried to remember who was who from what Jake told me. Jake said that Sean was the oldest and the nicest of the members in the club.

I got my coffee and sat down a few seats away from him, before I took out my computer to finish up the homework I didn't start the day before. I didn't notice when Sean sat in front of me.

I took a sip of my coffee, and saw his laptop. I jumped slightly before I looked the guy in the face.

"Sorry," his voice was deep, but nice to listen to. "I tried to get your attention but you were too focused." He gave me a soft smile, and I tried to keep my face as plain as I could.

"It's fine." I said plainly and looked back at the assignment.

I heard a soft hum from the boy across from me, who was focused back on his own laptop.

"So how's the song for the competition going?" Sean looked up at me with a soft smile still plastered on his face.

"It's going pretty well." I nodded softly. "I'm not supposed to do this, but do you want to hear what we have so far?"

I looked up at him and raised my eyebrow. "Uhm, sure?"

We connected my Airpods to his laptop and I listened to the song. I was pretty shocked with how well it was. No wonder they're competing.

"It's pretty good so far." I said after the song was done. "How much more do you guys have to do?" I tilted my head slightly watching Sean disconnect my Airpods.

"Oh, uhm.." he trailed off a little. "Jake and Hailey are planning on doing a duet now." My eyes widened slightly.

"Huh didn't know she could sing." Sean nodded nervously as though he just remembered who he was talking to.

"Yeah she showed us she could yesterday so we have to change the song slightly for it to be a duet both Jake and Hailey are comfortable with." He randomly seemed very uncomfortable when he looked out the window behind me. He looked back to me before he raised his eyes a bit. "Isn't that Jake's jacket?"

I looked down and remembered that I was wearing it. "Er- yeah, he left it at my house yesterday. It was cold on my walk here." I answered as plainly as I could before seeing Hailey and Zander walk into the caffe. "Looks like your friends are here, bye Sean." I stood up and started to walk away. As I passed him I whispered, "good luck with the song by the way."

I glared at Hailey as I walked past her and left the caffe to go back home.

—

It was a Saturday, with not much I could do other than wait for the weekend to end and for school to start again the next week. I wanted to do everything I could to avoid going to the mall, but I ended up not having much of a choice.

I picked up Lia and Zoey and drove them to the mall. They kept talking and going into stores, only paying attention to me when they wanted something.

We had been walking for a while. I got bored and took out my phone and was scrolling through Instagram. I looked around for a moment and noticed some girl with teal hair with a familiar blonde.

I felt my stomach drop, as I found it hard to breathe.

Jake looked towards me before he pulled Hailey away behind a fat column.

Zoey's voice snapped me out of it as she asked if she and Lia could look in the store we were standing outside of. I sighed and nodded before looking back in the direction I knew the blonde was in.

I decided to ignore it until Monday to see if Jake would apologize.

It took too long for our shopping spree to be over. I kept glancing around to find Jake who would then try to hide from me.

—

I eventually got home from the mall. I gripped onto my shirt when I finally was able to get to my room.

I felt the unfamiliar feeling of tears threatening to spill out of my eyes as I sat on one of my bean bag chairs as I replayed how many times my best friend had decided to hide from me.

I shook my head and went into my bathroom. I turned on the facet and splashed the water on my face. My own skin was so cold, the water felt warm against it. I looked in the mirror before deciding to lie down.

I decided to sleep for the rest of the night and then work on homework tomorrow as I thought about whether or not to play along with Jake saying about being grounded.

I changed into a simple t-shirt and a pair of some old middle school gym shorts.

I laid down on my bed and sat there thinking about the blonde, slowly being able to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

I woke up, tired from the day before doing pretty much only homework.

I got to school and noted how Jake was there before me.

"Hey Drew!" The blonde waved to me when he saw me.

"Jeez dude, you look tired as hell!" I glared over at Henry, before opening my locker to grab my stuff for school.

"Someone seems grumpy," I heard Liam whisper to Henry.

I slammed my locker door shut, making a loud sound as it rang through the hall. A bunch of kids looked over at me, some annoyed, some seemingly worried.

"Drew, did you get enough sleep last night?" I felt a hand brush up against my cheek forcing me to look up into hazel eyes.

I shook my head as Jake's frown fell more.

We walked to class as I let the day slip past my mind.

One notable part of the day was English.

I was helping Jake with the reading, somehow as I pulled my tired brain together.

I looked up and saw Lia walking away from Zoey, I figured the teacher made her move. She sat next to Hailey.

Me and Jake continued to do our work.

"God what's your deal?" we looked over at Hailey who was screaming at Lia.

"Oh for the love of-Do I need to separate you too as well?" The teacher asked, annoyance written all over his face.

"No sir, sorry," Hailey sat back down.

"Damn who peed in her cheerios?" I said after a moment. Jake looked at me with an unimpressed look on his face.

He looked down, lost in thought. I sighed and got back to working on the assignment.

Jake ran after Hailey immediately after class.

He ran to the music club with Hailey. After a few minutes, Henry and Liam decided they wanted to visit him during rehearsals. I reluctantly agreed.

We arrived at the door with the lavender music club poster on it. Henry opened the door and he and Liam poked their heads into the room.

"Hey Jakey~" Henry said, getting the attention of Jake and Hailey.

I walked into the room, glaring at the two idiots beside me.

"Oh uh, hey guys!" Jake jumped up. "What are you doing here?" He put his hand behind his neck.

"Just seeing what you're up to," I said without emotion in my voice.

I leaned against the wall beside the door. "You spend an awful lot of time in here after all." I used my eyes to point out the room filled with instruments. "And you never invite us in."

"Yeah," Liam joined in. "Why don't you show us this 'angelic' voice of yours for once?"

Jake looked over at Hailey and shrugged. I gripped onto the sleeves of my arms a bit tighter.

"Ooooo is that what you're singing?" Henry walked towards the notepad in front of Jake and Hailey.

She moved it away and cleared her throat. "Jake, we're sort of busy here," she said, annoyed. "Remember?" her annoyed tone deepened slightly.

"Oh yeah, right." Jake said to her. "Hey, sorry guys, I'm a little busy right now." He looked back at her.

"God," I exclaimed louder than I originally planned. "You're always busy!" my eyebrows furrowed as I exclaimed that.

"Haven't you rehearsed enough for this stupid competition?" My voice leveled out with my question.

"Well, we had a change of plans, so we have new stuff to go over." Jake responded calmly.

We heard Henry giggling. "Hey guys! Check this out!"

We all looked over to see Henry pretty much just banging his hands on the piano keys.

"Hey!" Hailey exclaimed. "Get off of that!"

Liam started to giggle. I raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Hey wait," the tall boy beside me said while giggling. "Let me join in!"

He walked over towards the drums.

"Jake, can you please do something about them?" Haliey asked the blonde desperately.

I walked over to the two. "Why are you so angry? The instruments are there to be played on, aren't they?" She looked at me with hatred in her eyes. Jake just looked annoyed with us.

"Not by the likes of you buffoons!" she argued back.

"Hey uh guys, you sound great, but could you please stop?" Jake asked the two playing.

"I didn't realize this was a fun-free zone, jeez" Liam said, looking disappointed. "Is this what you have to put up with Jake?"

I could feel more anger radiating off the teal-haired girl beside Jake.

"She probably doesn't know how to have a laugh since she's so uptight all the time." I decided to make it worse. "I'd hate being around that."

"Huh, maybe there's a reason I'm uptight around you jerks!" Hailey snapped out. "Now if you don't mind, get out," she said through clenched teeth.

"Damn, we barely did anything." I tried to keep any annoyance in my voice down. "We're allowed to come say hi to our friend, don't act important just because he's your singer."

"Oh I'm the one acting important?" I was annoyed with her. "Everywhere you go, you reek of insecurities." She walked up to me. "Picking on people cause you think you're better than everybody. You can't stand the fact that everyone else in this school's excited for the competition." she finished.

I scoffed at her. "The only reason people are going to this competition in the first place is Jake," I glared at her. "Sweetie, don't get so cocky."

"You out of all people do not get to-" Hailey started before Jake stepped in between us.

"Guys stop!" Hailey backed up behind the blonde as he turned to me.

"I'll hang out with you guys after school, we can catch up then ok," my glare softened a little as I looked at Jake. "So could you leave us?" He said slightly awkwardly.

I glanced from him to the girl behind him before furrowing my eyebrows again. "Fine, whatever," I turned around as my voice broke slightly. "Have fun with little Miss Uptight." I walked out of the room, Liam and Henry behind me.

I heard them stop as Henry spoke. "Well uh see you later than Jake." His voice was awkward. "Enjoy your alone time~" he said as he walked out.

I felt the sharp pain in my chest return as I stopped for a moment and put my hand up to my chest.

—

Eventually school was over.

We were waiting for Lia, Zoey, and Henry to get their stuff out of their lockers. I was on my phone ignoring everyone when I looked up to see Jake walking up to me.

"Hey," his voice was monotone and he seemed distracted like usual.

"Oh Jake," I felt my face soften from my typical resting face. "I'm surprised, you're not ditching us for the Music fre-" I stopped myself for a moment. "Club for once." I corrected myself to not have the blonde be upset.

I noted how his eyes looked at me with shock for a second, before he sighed. "I said I would come, didn't I?" His voice sounded slightly annoyed.

"Oh Jake!" Lia walked towards us. "I'm so glad you're coming," she took out her phone as she walked in between us, pushing me closer towards Zoey.

"We got to do this Tik Tok trend together!" She showed Jake the video, ignoring the uncomfortable look on his face. "It's called "two best friend's in a room, they might kiss," her smile grew wider. "Though you don't actually kiss me." Lia decided to use her fake laugh while Jake mouthed to me to help him. "Unless you wanted to," she looked at him with hope.

"Oh uh-" he hesitated. "Sure?"

"Alright," I said uncomfortably, my chest filling with a sudden rush of pain. "You finally ready to leave Zoey?" I turned to my girlfriend as my voice turned monotone again.

"Just a sec," her voice wasn't as high pitched as it usually was.

"Can't you just do that at my place?" I asked her as she stopped fixing her mascara to glance at me.

"Beauty is patience, Drewy-Bear," I rolled my eyes at the annoying nickname that Jake started.

"I don't think that's how the saying goes," my attention was brought back to Jake as he started to talk.

"Oh uh- wait a sec!" Me and Lia turned to look at the boy. "I forgot something important in the music room! Give me a minute!" He started to turn around.

"Oh, well we'll be waiting here anyways, so go ahead." I smiled at him and he gave a soft smile back towards me before he walked off.

"Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight!" Henry called out as he continued on.

I put my hands in my pocket and looked away from where the blonde was walking to, annoyed. I noticed how Lia looked as upset as me while she looked down at her phone.

I leaned against the lockers as I started to feel a bit dizzy, the pain in my chest growing as the cold started to nip at my skin.

We waited and waited, eventually Henry got to the negative fifties, Lia started to have a conversation with Zoey while she was still doing her make-up.

Me and Liam saw the blonde approach us, Henry continued to count down.

"You can shut up now idiot," I snapped out, Henry looking at me, a bit scared at my sudden harsh tone.

I sighed as Jake stopped next to me. "Did you get your important thing?" I looked up at him. He seemed upset.

"Uh-no, it doesn't matter. Let's just go." He started to walk ahead of us.

We all followed after him.

We all got into our cars. Lia and Zoey were driving to my place together, while I took Jake and the other two idiots in mine.

He continued to dwell on something in the car ride to my house while the other two were talking to each other. I only tried to focus on the road as I felt my heart throbbing in my chest and heard it in my ears.

"Will I get my best friend back?" That was the one thing playing in my mind as I pulled up my driveway.

We eventually got comfortable inside and me and Jake started to play some games.

Henry and Liam were on their phones on the bean bag chairs I told them were theirs whenever they'd come over, Lia and Zoey were on my bed either watching me and Jake or also on their phones. Me and Jake were on our own bean bag chairs playing Super Smash Bros against each other.

He was losing horribly.

He was probably listening to whatever our friends were talking about behind us while playing, due to how he seemed to look back towards them a bit before focusing on my move.

Finally I'd beaten him. "Heh, looks like I win again," my voice turned cocky as I sensed Jake doing a facepalm.

"Drew, I'm so bored!" Zoey suddenly exclaimed. Me and the blonde looked over towards her. "Can't we do something?"

"Like what?" my voice dropped at the sound of her whining.

"Hm," she started to think. "Oh I know, let's watch that new series in your dad's cinema!" I groaned when she finished talking.

"Really?" I crossed my arms.

"I'm not sitting here watching you play your stupid games all night!" She seemed to be getting agitated. "I might as well just go home."

"Alright, alright," I said to please her as I set down my controller. "You up for it Jake?" I looked over to the once again, distracted blonde.

"Hm? Oh sorry!" He started to scratch behind his neck again. "What are we doing?"

I sighed and looked at him, letting a hint of concern show up in my otherwise expressionless face. "Jake."

"Yeah?" His smile dropped as he looked at me.

"Just tell us what's up already," I decided to be blunt due to a bit of anger at how he seemingly was distancing himself from us. "You've been sulking ever since we got out of school. Something obviously happened when you went to get that 'thing' right?" I raised my eyebrow as he continued to scratch the back of his neck.

"Uh, sort of I guess?" he looked down away from me. "Look you guys wouldn't happen to know if," he paused, as if the next words out of his mouth would be his last. "If Daisy is seeing anyone right?"

I sighed as he seemed like he wanted to curl up and hide. "So it's just about Daisy?" The throbbing in my chest felt worse, as I almost felt like coughing.

"Dude, are you still questioning it after all this time? For the love of god, just ask her!" Liam exclaimed, him and Henry looking annoyed at the blonde boy's question.

He made a noise between a sigh and a no. "You don't understand." He was upset as he seemingly replayed a memory in his mind. "I saw her in the music room with Sean."

"What?" Liam said, Jake started to look back at us. "We're they making out?"

Jake looked at him, annoyance filled his face. "No," he stuttered out.

"But they did look pretty close," I saw his face drop a bit.

"Oh," I heard Zoey say behind me. "Well that explains the other weekend." Her voice was high pitched as I looked back at her and Lia smiling at each other.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jake asked. "What happened the other weekend?" His voice was deeper.

She told us about how her and Lia saw Sean and Daisy seemingly out on a date. With Lia showing pictures as proof.

"See," Lia let her hand drop after showing Jake the picture. His face was filled with shock, sadness, and a bit of anger.

"I hate to say it Jake," Zoeysounded a bit sarcastic with the first half of her sentence. "But it looked like they were on a date." She seemed a bit bored. "Looks like your friend got there first," she grinned a bit.

"And this is why you shouldn't have waited to do this dumb competition idea to ask her out," I rolled my eyes before looking at him. His face was still in shock.

"I just-Never thought that Sean and Daisy-" his brain was finally letting the shock settle.

"We would've said something, but we thought that Sean guy would've said something, since you're so chummy with them or whatever." Lia shrugged.

"Haven't you made it obvious to them that you like Daisy at this point?" I asked him, as he refused to look me in the eyes. "You don't exactly make it hard for people to figure out."

"Well yeah, I did tell them," he looked down at the ground.

"And he knew? Some friend." Lia rolled her eyes.

"So," I crossed my legs as he finally looked at me. "Are you still gonna bother doing this singing thing?"

He seemed to get nervous towards my question. "Hey well we can't know for sure right? They might just be friends," he smiled before looking away and continuing to scratch at his neck. "And I still want to do it."

"Only cause you're singing with Hailey," Lia was annoyed.

"Wait, you're signing with Hailey as well now?" I snapped out at him as he became visibly uncomfortable. I looked at him with a bit of shock as he seemed like he was on the verge of tears due to my sudden change in tone.

"Uh well-" Jake started before I cut him off, calming down my own tone from noticing his response.

"What, is she confessing her love to Daisy as well?"

"Oh ho ho ho" Liam laughed out. "Well this just got saucy." Henry started to giggle at his best friend's joke.

"Yes," Jake blurted out as he looked between Liam, Henry, and me. "I'm singing with Hailey now. We're doing a duet because I wanted to sing with her." His voice made it seem like he wasn't allowing any unnecessary teasing.

"Because of her stage fright right?" Lia said plainly.

"Wait, you know about that?" Jake let his tone drop a bit.

"Well yeah," Zoey cut in. "We all do. Everyone that went to middle school with her knows."

I cut in, annoyed again. "I don't get it Jake, are you singing for Daisy or for Hailey." I said the teal-haired girl's name harshly as he got uncomfortable again.

"For Daisy of course," he said quickly. "That hasn't changed." I studied him as I felt like he was lying.

"I don't think Hailey thinks that. She wouldn't stop rubbing the whole duet thing in my face!" Lia exclaimed. "The moment you auditioned, she knew she could use you. That's all she cares about." Her dark eyes rolled again.

"That's not true!" Jake called out. "She accepted me because she thought I was passionate and was kind enough to give me a second chance." He said confidently before muttering, "She told me herself."

I stood up, my voice harsh. "You seriously believe that? Just open your eyes already Jake." I started to walk around my room, a habit I did when I'd get a bit too upset and try to calm down with other people around. "Hailey can't sing by herself, so she needs you to," I pointed at him before looking around my room to organize my thoughts without it being too harsh.

"She's clearly a control freak who wants everything her way, and is using you to get it," I felt my nails cutting into my palms as I unintentionally clenched my hands. "Just the way she was earlier in the music room is proof enough." I crossed my arms to not accidentally make my palms bleed.

"You gotta admit Jake," Zoey walked up next to me as we all looked at her. "She kinda does have you around her pinky finger." She leaned against me as I stiffened a little bit. She ignored it and twirled her finger in her hair. "I gotta give her props for being a girlboss though."

"Not to mention one of the freaks is trying to steal Daisy from you knowing how much you simp-I mean feel about her." Henry stood up and walked up to my free side.

"Henry's right," Liam walked up next to the green-haired boy. "I mean she's the whole reason you're doing this, so what's the point if this Sean guy gets there first?"

I noticed Lia walking besides Zoey in the corner of my eye.

"And the only reason the school cares about this competition is you Jake." I stopped crossing my arms as I motioned to him. "You're spending all your time doing all of this for them. And what do you get in return?"

Jake looked between all of us, nervously.

He seemed to get lost in thought again before eventually speaking up.

"I joined to sing for Daisy, and that's what I'm gonna do." He started to tense up as he snapped out. "Whatever they're using me for, I'm not gonna let them get in my way!" I grinned.

"Heck, Hailey can't even sing without me cause of her stupid stage fright!" He was growing more angry. "And they probably wouldn't stand a chance without me. They should be grateful I joined them in the first place. They should've known from the moment I joined that I wouldn't be a music freak!" He finished as he looked to the ground.

Zoey started to giggle. "Damn Jake! Pop off."

I felt a hint of relief.

I felt I would be able to get my best friend back.

"At least you finally realize it." I walked up to him, my expression calm again while he was still trying to calm himself down. "Well, if you really think Daisy will give you a shot after this then go for it."

I smiled with my next sentence. "It'll be nice to have you back though," his face seemed to soften slightly. "Hanging out with us like this again once this is over."

I looked down at him as realization and some regret hit him. "Yeah, me too."

"Alright," I rolled my eyes as I thought about what we were doing before the talk. "I'll go set up Netflix for this marathon then I guess."

I looked back at Jake and smiled, receiving a small smile from him before I left to set up the cinema.

ㅡ

We ended up being up late. Henry and Liam got they're parents to pick them up, while Lia dropped Zoey off before going to her own house. Jake ended up getting permission to stay at my house cause his mom was there to watch Milo.

He was starting to play a game when I walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

I started the water and waited for it to warm up. I felt something wrong in my chest as I looked in the mirror.

I gripped at my bare chest, nails digging into my skin.

I felt my body shake as I started to cough. I brought my hand up to my mouth as my coughing was quiet, yet rough.

After a few moments, I finally was able to catch a breath. I brought my hand down, looking at it.

Red sparkle my hand as I heard a knock on the door.

"Everything ok Drew?" A voice called out from the other side.

I looked up in the mirror to see a bit of blood dripping out of my mouth.

"Drew?"

"I'm fine Jake," I answered quickly. "I'll be out soon."

ㅡ

I eventually got out of the shower, pushing down the memory of the blood speckled on my hand.

Jake was, again, shirtless as he continued to focus on the game.

"Dude, put a shirt on." I tossed one on the bean bag beside him. He hummed and continued to play.

I sighed and sat down beside him on the floor.

"We should get to bed after you're done with this," I stated plainly. He took a quick glance towards me before focusing again.

"What took you so long in the shower?" He asked bluntly.

I looked over at him. "Oh uh-I checked something and got distracted." I gave an awkward smile listening to the music ending as Jake was finally done.

He looked down at me before grabbing the shirt between us and putting it on.

A smile grew on the blonde's face as he finished putting on the soft cloth. "Alright then," his voice was soft and gentle. "Shall we go to bed then?"

I smiled at him as we walked and laid down in my bed. His arms wrapped around my body quickly as we fell asleep quickly, awaiting the new day arriving.

Chapter Text

I woke up as I felt the blanket on me shift.

I opened my eyes and watched Jake leave the room, tiptoeing.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and threw the blanket off me. I looked at the time on my phone. It was just before five.

I stood up and stretched before I followed down the blonde into the kitchen.

I looked at him from the hallway between the dining room and kitchen, covered in the darkness as the sun was starting to rise.

I watched him make himself a sweet coffee for himself. "He could never stand the taste of the bitter coffee," I thought to myself as I walked into the dim light of the kitchen.

"Jake?" He jumped before quickly looking at me.

"Sorry, I didn't stomp down the stairs," I chuckled a bit as he turned back to making his coffee.

I sat at one of the barstools and closed my eyes waiting for him to finish.

I opened my eyes as he started to walk past me.

"Are you upset with me?" I asked, knowing he stopped as I heard the lack of footsteps.

He didn't answer.

I turned around and looked at him. "Be honest with me."

"I'm going to take a shower." he continued to leave and walked up the stairs.

I sat there for a second before making my own coffee.

ㅡ

I sat on my bed waiting for Jake to get out of the shower.

I was about to throw on one of my sweaters, before I felt my throat close.

I started to cough, it getting more and more violent, blood splattering across my arm. I felt it start to ease up while I felt a hand land itself gently on my back.

"Are you getting sick?" Jake asked when I stopped coughing.

"Nah," I chuckled a bit, bringing down my arm to hide the hints of obvious red splattered across my skin. "Just got something stuck in my throat." I gave a small smile as Jake just nodded.

He stood up and continued getting ready for the day. I could tell his brain was lingering on the conversation we all had yesterday.

As annoyed as I was, I figured I'd have my best friend back soon, just four days till the competition, till I'd get my best friend back.

I snapped out of my thoughts and went into my bathroom to clean the blood off my arm and finish getting ready for the school day.

ㅡ

Jake was quiet for most of the school day. He dwelled on something, but I decided not to dig. I figured I did enough digging the day prior. I focused instead on helping him with the classes we shared. I wrote down extra notes so I could help him better understand later today when he wasn't as tense.

I ignored the glances passed to Hailey most periods, and focused on the annoying chemistry notes.

I ignored him, leaving to talk to Hailey and eventually help our history teacher. I focused on how Henry and Liam joked and flirted with each other. I focused on how upbeat Zoey was compared to the past week. I focused on how odd Lia looked on her phone.

I focused to ignore the pain as he walked away from me, looked away from me. I desperately did everything to ignore the worsening pain in my chest. To push down the cold without having to roll my sleeves down.

I did everything I could as text message after text message to Jake sent, he ignored after school was over. He ignored Liam and Henry's texts. Zoey couldn't care less, and Lia looked guilty about something and refused to try.

"Maybe he just needs time to focus right now?" her normal smile wasn't there. Only a fake one in its place.

I did everything to ignore the growing level of blood that splattered my arm or hand every time I coughed.

I eventually made it home peacefully. I planned to sneak Jake the extra notes tomorrow as I took out my homework.

I smiled as I counted the hours, the minutes, the seconds till the end of the night to be able to have my best friend back.

I fell asleep counting, ignoring the seen messages to Jake.

Chapter Text

I got out of bed, a smile plaguing my face. Two more days, only two days before Jake would leave his club. Two days before my friend would come back to me.

I started the shower and waited to start coughing. The water fell down onto the floor of the walk-in shower.

Nothing.

Not a single scratch in my throat. Just the small sting that had been lingering in my chest the past couple of weeks.

"I should get that checked out soon," I thought to myself as I stepped into the shower.

ㅡ

I was at school fairly quickly, waiting for Jake to meet with us in front of the school like normal.

I was telling Henry about something with Jake. Liam walked up next to Henry and immediately knew what was happening.

The green-haired boy started to tease me again.

"No, that's not-he's just a friend." I looked slightly down at the short, smiling boy before looking up towards the brown-haired one.

"Sure, and that's why you're so excited to see him," Henry leaned closer to me.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes before looking behind me.

I spotted the blonde-haired boy approaching me and smiled.

"Sup Jake," I waved at him before my face dropped.

I took in his expression. He looked exhausted and pissed off.

Pissed off at me.

"Morning Jakey-" Henry said. "Whoa, you look like hell." He said quickly after.

Henry paused to study Jake's expression further. "Wait, lemme guess you were up all night thinking about Daisy rejecting you for that Sean guy." Liam looked down from Henry to Jake. I kept my eyes on the blonde.

"Don't worry bro," Henry started again. "We'll be here for you whe-I mean if that happens." He started to chuckle which worsened Jake's anger.

The laughter quickly turned nervous before it cut off.

"Whoa," Jake focused his eyes on me instead. I felt a sudden throb in my chest as the anger seemed to worsen as his expression fell on me. "Grouchy much?"

I crossed my arms and looked him up and down. "What's up with you? And where did you go yesterday?" I ignored his silence. "It's not like you to skip class."

He looked down.

"Who was it?"

That was all he said.

I looked back at the two behind me before turning back to him. "Was what?"

"Who recorded me the other night?" He looked back up at me. "Or were you all in on it?" He looked at each of us, before landing back at me.

"Whoa what are you on about?" I heard Liam's concern from behind me. "You're acting really weird Jake."

He chuckled. "You think so?" He lifted an eyebrow and had a strange smile appear on his lips. "Well, maybe it's because my so-called friends decided to stab me in the back!" He let his face drop as he accused us.

I looked back to see if they knew what Jake was talking about. Liam looked a little concerned and pissed, while Henry just looked mad at Jake accusing him of anything.

"Jake you're freaking us out," I said before looking back at him, realizing they didn't know what was happening either. "Can you just spit out what the problem-"

"I've been kicked out of the Music club Drew!" Jake yelled at me.

I took a step back, surprised at the fact that he raised his voice at me.

"Someone recorded me at your house talking behind their back and sent it to them!" He looked like he was about to cry at the mention of the music club. "Now they won't even talk to me."

I felt the sting in my chest grow as he continued to blame me for what was happening.

"Oh," Liam and Henry said at the same time.

I looked between the three as Jake continued to single me out as the cause.

"Well don't look at me," I snapped out at him.

"Well you're the one who wanted me to quit in the first place." He started to yell again. "For all I know, you could've set me up." He pointed at me.

I clenched my fist as the yelling continued.

"And I'm telling you I didn't do jack! I don't know anything about a recording." crossed my arm and looked away from him, upset with how quickly he came to the conclusion that it was my fault.

I knew I wasn't the greatest person, yet I wouldn't go this far to get Jake to leave some stupid club.

He looked at me, not believing a word I was saying.

I sighed to calm down a bit so I wouldn't end up yelling at him back. "So they kicked you out of the club, big deal. I'm sure there are other weird and creative ways to ask out Daisy."

"This isn't about Daisy!" I looked at him confused.

"Oh don't look at me like that," his voice started to sound weird with him yelling. "I know deep down you knew I wasn't doing this just because of her." I felt a scratchiness in the back of my throat. "You knew that I cared about this!"

"That's not what it seemed like the other night at mine!" my voice broke a bit as I matched his tone. "Jeez, don't act like we were the ones who made you say all that smack," I rolled my eyes. "And besides, I thought you figured out they were using you for their gain anyway."

"They're not like that," he defended quickly. "If anyone was using anybody, it was me. They gave me a second chance to prove myself and I threw it in their face."

He looked sad as he finally looked down at the ground.

I let my shoulders drop and took a deep breath, my hand reaching my hoodie pocket. "It's not the end of the world Jake," I let my tone return to a mostly expressionless one. "We're your actual friends, remember?" He continued to look down.

"The club was a waste of time anyway. Whoever recorded you did you a favor." Jake looked back up at me as he let my words sink in.

"You wouldn't understand." His face darkened again.

My face formed a shocked look as I looked at any signs that he would calm down. I found none.

He started to walk away before pausing. "Oh, and I suppose I should return the favor." He said sarcastically, not turning back to look at me.

"You might wanna ask your girlfriend who she's really spending her busy weekends with."

I froze for a few seconds, before a small, confused "what" escaped my lips.

He started to walk away.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He ignored me.

"Hey!" I yelled out at him, as I felt my anger building up.

"Henry buddy," I heard Liam whisper as I stood there, motionless. "Remember what she said she would do to us if we said anything?" His voice turned to a whisper-yell.

"Just act dumb," his voice lowered again.

I looked back to see nervous smiles on both of their faces, before it got worse as they studied my face.

"What the fuck is he talking about?" Their smiles dropped at my demanding tone.

"Uh we don't-" Henry started before looking at me.

He started to cry as he knew that I could tell that they both knew.

Liam put a hand on the green-haired boy beside him before pulling out his phone.

A few seconds later I heard the ringtone I saved for him. I pulled out my phone and looked at the tons of photos of Zoey being with other guys.

"I'm sorry," Liam whispered, bringing Henry into a hug to try to help him stop crying. I didn't look up at them.

"How-" I cleared my throat to prevent it from breaking. "How long has this been going on for?"

"Has it been the entire time?" I demanded.

Henry nodded into Liam's chest. "I'm sorry." He started to mumble over and over again.

I looked down at my phone again and found her contact, telling her we needed to talk immediately.

I turned away from the two and walked into the school. I decided that I would probably skip today after I broke up with Zoey.

I walked around the school searching for the blonde girl and avoiding anyone else that I knew. I eventually found Lia and her and Zoey's friend Maria. Zoey wasn't there.

"Drew?" Lia walked up to me. "What happened? You look pretty much like Jake today." I glared at her a bit more and she stopped talking.

"Where the hell is Zoey?" I looked between her and Maria.

"I think she went to the library. She's annoyed with Jake." Maria shrugged.

I walked off to the library, hoping she was still there so I could make this quick.

I opened the door and quickly found her, annoyed on the phone.

She made eye contact and quickly ended the phone call. I walked up to her and grabbed her wrist. "We need to talk." I demanded as I took her up to the roof where we would have some peace to get this over with.

"Jeez, what's wrong with you? You look as bad as Jake right now." I let go of her wrist and kept walking up to the stairs. She sighed and continued behind me.

We eventually made it to the empty roof. "Could you hurry up? I'd rather not get another detention for being late for class." She crossed her arms.

I took out my phone and opened the photos of her. I turned to look at her. I held the phone up to her, forcing her to look at the photos.

She dropped her arms immediately and walked closer, looking at the photo I pulled up of her kissing another guy.

"How long have you been doing this?" My voice was cold, I could tell she wasn't prepared.

"Who told you?" She shouted at me. Realization set in and rested on her face. "J-Jake did, didn't he?"

I lowered my hand, a cold glare resting on my face. "We're done Zoey." I walked past her, ignoring her shouting at me to come back and that it was a mistake.

I ignored her calls as I walked down the stairs. Ignored her lingering cries that rang in my ears as I walked to my car. I got in and drove back home.

ㅡ

I looked down at the steering wheel. Hair dropping and sticking to my wet face.

My breath was heavy as my grip tightened, worsening my already white knuckles. A loud sob escaped my lips as I ignored the messages that blew up my phone.

Hot tears started to fall down my face again, sobs and whimpers interrupted by the occasional cough.

Eventually I was able to calm my breathing enough to look down at my phone. Messages from Liam and Henry filled the screen. A few from Zoey trying to explain herself, some from Lia asking if I was ok and what had happened.

I gripped the phone a bit tighter as I opened messages to text Jake, seeing if we could at least talk about what happened. He left it on read. I hit the steering wheel, a shout escaping from my throat followed by a sob.

I sat back and ran my fingers through my hair, blinking away the tears that continued to roll down my face. I shivered a bit as I looked around the driveway seeing my dad's car.

I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes roughly, trying to get any remaining tears out.

I sighed as I got out of the car and walked inside the house.

"Drew?" my dad's voice hollered out as I closed the door.

I looked up at him as his figure appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Hijo, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" He asked softly as he walked up to me. I looked up at him.

"¿Qué ocurre?" He brought me into a hug. I stood still in the embrace as I felt tears threaten to spill again.

"Can I stay home today?" I whispered.

"Sí hijo, yes you can," He let go of me and gave a soft smile.

Almost like a robot, I went to my room.

I laid down and took out my phone, seeing nothing but concerned messages and a failed attempt from Zoey to call me. I decided to call her back, I didn't really know why.

She answered. "Drew, please let me explain." She said after a few seconds.

"Why? So you can lie about how all you wanted was money?" I felt my throat start to close up, as I heard her tone.

I heard a soft sniffle on the other end of the line. "Why'd you call me back if you wouldn't let me explain myself?"

I stayed quiet, wondering the same thing. She sighed and started to talk, presumably trying to explain what happened.

It sounded distant and I couldn't focus on what she was telling me.

"Drew." She said after a while of me being silent. "Drew, are you even listening?"

I chuckled. "No."

I heard an annoyed groan from her.

"I don't even know why I tried." I could tell that she started to cry again.

I brought the phone away from my ear and ended the call. I looked at her contact information and blocked her number.

I threw the device down on my bed and curled up into myself. I let out a few soft sobs before I felt my blanket wrap around me.

I peaked up from my knees and saw my dad finish wrapping me in the blanket. "I brought you some café caliente," he said with a warm smile.

"Gracias," I whispered before he walked out of the room.

I stayed wrapped in the warm blanket for a few hours ignoring the many messages that Liam and Henry continued to send my way.

After a bit, my brain accepted what Zoey did and started to focus on Jake.

Jake, the boy who was always there for me. The one who I called my best friend. The one I felt happy around.

Jake, the one who joined the music club for some girl. The one who left me for them even when they didn't want him. The one who lied and left me.

I clenched onto the blanket as my thoughts brewed. I felt angry, betrayed.

"What if he's using me too?" I thought to myself as I felt angrier.

I eventually was able to sleep for a couple of hours to the stabbing feeling filling my chest.

Chapter Text

I woke up tired.

I glanced at my clock, it was only 4:37am. I covered my face, sighed, and ran my hands down my face.

I threw the blanket off me, accepting the feeling of the freezing air hitting me fast.

I stood up and walked over to my chair, pulling on the light gray hoodie that made me feel worse. The normal warm soft inside felt cold and rough. I brushed it off and went downstairs.

I walked down into the kitchen and saw dad already up.

"Drew, what are you doing up?" He looked back at me.

I shrugged, "couldn't sleep."

I looked at the thermos he was filling up with coffee. "Another business trip?" my voice was soft as it disturbed the silence.

He nodded softly. "This one will be a few months, but i can cancel if-" I shook my head causing him to stop talking.

"I'll be fine." I gave a small smile.

My dad gave a sad smile and nodded. "If you need anything, just call."

I watched him turn around and finish filling up the thermos. I said a soft bye to him before leaving to go back up to my room.

I walked into my bathroom and decided to take a shower to try to clear my head.

ㅡ

Soon enough, I was in class. Henry and Liam were sitting next to me, being quiet for once.

"Jake's not coming to class again." I didn't look at the green-haired boy speaking. "How long do you think he's going to avoid us?"

I looked over at him during his second sentence. I rolled my eyes. "Beat's me." My voice was low as I spoke.

"Eh," Liam said calmly. "He's probably busy writing some 'please forgive me' song for the club." He joked before he spoke-sang.

"Is it too late now to say sorry, cause I'm simping for more than just Daisy!" He sent Henry into a laughing fit.

I scoffed. "He should be writing that for us." Henry went silent, trying not to piss me off more.

I was cut off by the announcements starting.

"Good morning students!" Daisy's cheerful voice rang through the room.

"Apologies for the unprompted announcements. We have a quick word from one of our juniors, Jake Sterling who has an important message to share about the music club and the band contest this Friday!"

I felt my body freeze.

Liam and Henry looked as though they either saw a ghost or were about to burst into laughter at any moment.

I was corrected when Henry spit his juice all over Liam's face.

"Dude what the-!" Liam shouted out before groaning.

"Heh-Sorry," Henry chuckled nervously.

I listened to the whispering that filled the room.

"Hey everyone," Jake's voice spoke through the speakers. I felt upset already.

"This is Jake! Uh-which you already know because Daisy told you-" the room filled with his own nervous laughter.

"Uh anyway so, some of you may have heard the recording of me that's been going around." I looked up and saw Zoey tense up.

"Or the rumor that I got kicked out of the music club." His voice was sad.

"Well, it's true. I won't be singing in the band competition this Friday." The whispers grew around me.

"I said some really nasty things and hurt my friends." I felt like throwing up, cause I knew he wasn't acknowledging us at all with his words.

I knew he didn't care that he blamed us for something we had nothing to do with.

"I betrayed them, all because I was a coward. I let people make me feel like being part of the club and being passionate about music made me a freak."

I felt my hands dig into my palms as I put my head down, listening to the blonde's words filling the room.

"Yet, I was the happiest I've ever been with them." I felt the stabbing in my chest grow. Tears threatened to spill as his words hit me like a knife.

Despite my pleas inside my head for him to stop, his words continued.

"And I finally felt like myself. It took me this long to realize that I'd rather be called a freak than pretend to be somebody I'm not!"

I wanted to run out. Hide from the noise that just echoed in the school, but I couldn't move an inch.

"I should've stood up for them, but even though I'm not part of the club anymore doesn't mean you shouldn't go watch them this Friday. I might not deserve your support, but the rest of the music club does. They've worked their butts off for this competition and you would be missing out if you don't go. Because they sound so goddamn amazing."

I felt a single tear run down my cheeks, despite my face turning into a look of anger.

"I know I'm just ranting at this point, to be honest, I don't know how else I can convince everyone to go." He paused.

"Hell, I'll even strip down butt naked in front of everyone if I have to!" He exclaimed.

Henry and Liam started to laugh. Henry pointed at me. "Hey that's what you-" he froze as he saw the glare plastered on my face. "Said."

"I'm sorry I let you all down. But more than that, I let them down. Big time." He paused again, sad.

"And uh-Hailey, Zander, Luke, Sean, Milly, if you are listening to this, I know I called you freaks, but the truth is, you guys are the coolest most talented people I've met. You've brought me in and treated me like family. Despite me being an arrogant ass. I was so stupid to forget that. I hope you can forgive me."

The room filled with joy. I stood up and left the classroom, rushing down the halls. The halls that held excitement slowly turned into whispering as my hearing seemed to be going out.

I opened the door to the bathroom and splashed water across my face. I gripped onto the sink and looked up. My face looked like a mess. Dark eyebags rested under my too red to be normal eyes.

I glared at my own reflection as I relaxed my grip a bit. I started to cough uncontrollably. Red sprinkled across the inside of the sink and my hand as I quickly covered my mouth.

After a few minutes I was able to wash the blood from the sink and hand.

I sighed as I heard the bell signaling that it was lunch time.

I walked out of the room and down the hallway. I spotted the teal-haired girl moving towards the vending machine.

Hailey, the one who made Jake start acting weird. The one who he's been crazy over the past two weeks. The one who stole Jake.

I walked up to her, seeing her kneeling down to pick up a quarter she dropped. I stepped on it, preventing her from picking it up.

It startled her as she looked up at me. I put my hand against the yellow locker beside me, as I looked down at her with a scowl across my face. "Hey, freak."

She stood up and looked at me, fear in her face.

"You've got Jake wrapped around your little finger, embarrassing himself just as you wanted." She shrunk a bit as I talked. "Are you happy with yourself?"

She took a deep breath before looking me in the eyes. "Shove off Drew, go be a possessive asshole somewhere else." She snapped out at me as she started to turn around.

I grabbed her wrist, quickly pulling her back to look at me. "Don't act innocent! You waste all this time playing 'families' with him and kick him out!" I let her go, watching her rub her arm, shocked that I gripped her like that.

"Now he's spouting out all this nonsense. This is clearly all you freaks getting into his head!" I snapped out at her.

"Hey!" I looked up to see both Zander and Jake yelling that at the same time. Jake got to us sooner and stood in between me and Hailey.

My eyes widened a bit. "Back off Drew, you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me." Jake's eyes narrowed as he looked down at me.

I chuckled a bit. "Is that right?" I said before I quit laughing and my face darkened.

"You heard what I said," he watched me for any sudden moves against him or the girl behind him. I ignored the sounds of footsteps coming up behind me. Henry and Liam were watching.

A crowd started to gather around us. Whispers started to fill the hall and phones started to record us as if it was going to get violent.

"Yeah quite some speech Jake!" I rolled my eyes. "Blabbering about the competition again." I felt a throbbing grow in my chest.

"That's all you seem to care about these days!" I glanced down at Jake's closed fists, which were turning white at the knuckles.

Jake sighed, "You still don't get it Drew. The club is what I care about." His eyebrows furrowed a bit. "My friends!" He snapped out.

I felt my body freeze a little. "Then what am I then?" I shouted out. "Cause ever since you joined them it's as if we never were!" I crossed my arms glancing away for a second before looking back at the blonde.

"You barely have time for us anymore," my voice lowered to just above a whisper.

"You practically live in that stinking club room." I rolled my eyes again.

"Well maybe that 'stinking' club room is the only place I feel understood!" Jake shouted out at me. My eyes widened at his tone.

"You never supported my passion and I knew you never would." He took in a small breath. "Since you like to talk down on the club and tell me to leave!"

"Well how am I supposed to know anything about your passion, when you don't tell me a damn thing anymore huh?" I snapped back at the blonde.

"Hey come on guys, let's chill out a bit" Henry tried to intervene before being cut off.

"No," I shook my head as I turned to face the two behind me. "You guys realized it too, right?" I turned back and pointed at Jake. "All he does is lie to our face."

"You tell me you'll leave, that this is all for Daisy, that you need more time to practice" My eyes narrowed as a fake smile plastered across my face. "That we're your real friends and not those freaks!" I shouted towards the blonde.

"Not to mention you waited until now to tell me I was being cheated on by my girlfriend" my smile dropped as I thought about Zoey.

"If you care so much about your friends Jake, why don't you spit out the truth already!"

Jake's face dropped as he nodded. "You're right."

"Drew, Henry, Liam, I'm sorry."

"I didn't want to lie to you guys" Jake smiled to himself before continuing. "The truth is I love being part of the music club. I know I said I'd quit once the competition was done, but in the end I didn't want to." He closed his eyes as he thought about what to say next despite his body already being on autopilot.

"It's-It was like my second home," the corners of his mouth twitched to a smile before dropping as he thought about the club. "I just wanted friends who would stand by me, and you guys did when I had no else." He added.

"But we bullied people who were just like me!" His mouth dropped to a frown. "I felt like I had to so it would never happen to me again." His voice softened as he remembered the bullying he went through in middle school.

"But I won't be that weak minded person anymore," he straightened his stance as he opened his eyes to look at us. "I won't stand for them being called freaks anymore." He looked at me with confidence in his eyes about what he was saying. "And I also won't lie to you guys anymore." He finished, his confidence dropping slightly as he said that.

I started to clap, a sarcastic smile plastering my face. "Wow, I'm so happy for you Jake," I said as I stopped clapping. My smile grew as I mocked the singer in front of me. "It's funny, I really thought they were using you. Turns out you've just been manipulating me this whole time." My eyes rolled before looking the singer in his eyes.

"Nice to know we were never really friends." I started coldly, my fake smile fading.

"That's not!" Jake exclaimed. "Drew," he mumbled as I cut him off with a small chuckle.

"Whatever, I'm done with you." My eyes dropped slightly despite my smile growing temporarily. "Have a nice life," my face darkened. "Freak."

Jake's face grew with shock and sorrow as I pushed by him, slightly bumping his shoulder.

I walked down the hall, keeping my head down. Seeing out of the corners of my eyes the crowd moving to let me get by, whispering as I walked.

I felt my chest tighten as I walked out of the school.

It wasn't long before I stood in front of a café. I sighed as I opened the door and stepped inside the warm room.

I walked up to the cashier and ordered a hot black coffee.

I figured it would help calm down my still racing heart a bit. I sat down for a little bit, clinging onto the warmth of the cup.

I stared down at the table and cup before seeing someone sit across from me.

A hand reached out and was gently placed on one of my hands.

I looked up to see Lia giving me a soft, sad smile.

"What are you doing here Lia?" my voice was low, barely a whisper as I looked away from her.

"I saw the argument, and Liam told me about yesterday." Her voice was soft and calming. It was nice to hang out with Lia when she wasn't around Zoey. She was nice like Jake when he wasn't under mine or Zoey's influence.

"Are you ok?" Her question was answered when I started to shake, holding back a sob. I heard a soft sigh escape her lips. "Why don't I take you home?"

I nodded, remembering that I had decided to walk to school to try to help me calm down, before walking over here to prevent the emptiness that was my house.

We left the café and walked to Lia's car. It felt weird to get into the passenger seat due to being used to driving everyone else around.

"I'm sorry Jake blamed you," She said after a little while.

I looked over at her, "Do you know who-" I cleared my throat and knew I didn't need to finish when I saw her face drop a bit.

She pulled up into my driveway.

"Why?" I asked after she parked, my voice more broken sounding than I meant.

I saw a few tears start running down her face.

I didn't really need an explanation. I knew why. I placed my hand on her shoulder gently, "It's ok Lia, it's ok." I whispered before pulling her into an awkward hug around the armrest.

We stayed there for a while till I no longer felt tears soaking through my hoodie onto my skin. "Let's go inside." I whispered and she started to chuckle into my shoulder.

"Yeah, this armrest isn't the most comfortable," I gave a small smile as we got out of the car and walked into my house.

I studied the dark house once I opened the door. The silence filled my ears as Lia stepped into the familiar house.

"Let me make you something to eat. I haven't seen you eaten in a few days." I looked at her as her voice and footsteps broke the deafening silence.

I nodded, despite her back facing me, then closed the door.

ㅡ

Eventually we ate and she left.

I laid on my bed, under the blanket, wearing Jake's old hoodie. Tears spilled down my face and onto my pillow.

"One day till the weekend. One day I won't go to school." I thought to myself. "One day without Jake."

Chapter Text

I woke up late. Finally catching up on some needed sleep.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes hard with my knuckles. It took a second for my vision to clear again afterwards.

I sighed and looked at my phone. Worried messages from Liam and Henry, understanding messages from Lia, and none from Jake.

I felt my hand shake a bit as I thought about our argument as I opened Lia's message.

Are you still going to the competition?

The question seemed weird. The answer should've been clear, right?

Jake lied and abandoned me, used me for his own gain. Why should I still support him?

I opened the new group message between Henry, Liam and me.

The Dromies

I stared at the name, hoping it would change back to how it was when Jake was still in it.

Should we still go tonight?

I ignored their concerned messages asking if I was ok and sent the text.

I brought up my hand and ran it through my messy and greasy hair. I stood up and walked into my bathroom, turning on the shower.

I saw the text then.

If your still up for it :D

I stared at the text deciding if I should still watch Jake. I sighed and gave a soft smile.

Meet me at the park after school.

I turned off my phone and stepped into the shower.

ㅡ

I looked through my closet, I had an hour before I'd meet up with Liam and Henry.

I pulled on a muted blue shirt, gray pants, and a black denim jacket.

I looked in the mirror as I put on my watch, studying my outfit to make sure it was good enough.

I nodded to myself before I looked at the time. 15 minutes till I had to be at the park.

I sighed as I grabbed my phone, wallet, airpods and keys.

I went down the stairs and went out to my car. I took a breath as I sat down.

Eventually, I started to drive the car to the park.

When I got there, I remembered to text Lia back, telling her we'd be there. I got out of my car and waited till I saw a red shirt and green jacket.

"Drew!" I heard Henry yell out as he ran over to me, Liam following close behind. He stopped right in front of me.

"We're super sorry for the past three days, especially with Zoey." Henry blurted out, grabbing the attention of a few others nearby.

"He's right, we should've said something sooner." Liam said in a calmer voice, placing a hand on Henry's shoulder.

I smiled softly. "It's alright you two. Just don't be that stupid again." Liam started to chuckle softly and Henry just gave a huge smile.

Suddenly I felt arms wrapped around my torso. I looked down to the green-head who'd pulled me into a hug. I looked up at Liam.

"Are you joining this or what?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow as the tall boy smiled and hugged us. I smiled in the hug. "Don't get used to this." My voice was slightly muffled by Liam's white jacket, but could still be heard due to the following laughter I mostly felt.

"Alright jokes aside," I pulled out of the hug. "Let's get you two changed. There's no way in hell you two are going looking like that." I pointed at their outfits.

ㅡ

I eventually found them decent enough outfits as I started to drive us over to the school. Lia said she was watching it with her mom and wouldn't be able to sit with us.

Due to pre buying our tickets, we had seats pretty close to the front.

We were there early as well, so we quickly found our seats and settled in.

We waited for about an hour. The two beside me were joking with each other, while I was trying to ignore the stabbing in my chest by scrolling through Instagram.

"Hey you should tag us in a post!" Henry looked over my shoulder. I looked over to see him and Liam smiling at me, expectantly.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "Fine."

I turned and held my phone up to get a photo of us three. The two behind me smiled like idiots, while I had my usual resting face.

I paused for a second after taking the photo. I thought about Jake and the last photo I took with him.

"I smiled with him," I thought to myself as I studied the photo. I mentally shook my head and went to post it, tagging the other's in the post as well.

Soon enough, it was up. Henry and Liam's phones dinged with the notification of the photo.

Weird giggles and squeals came out of their mouths. "You two are weird," I glanced over at them, still obsessing over the simple photo.

"You should have this up on your wall!" Henry's face seemed to glow in the room.

I looked to the stage, the lights had started to dim, showing the competition was about to start.

I put my phone on silent and shoved it in my pocket, excited and anxious.

ㅡ

The competition was long. Mostly boring.

There were some good performances here and there, but not many. I listened to the few and random comments the two beside me made here and there.

Soon enough, the familiar blonde was on stage. Him and his band The Music Freaks.

I heard soft chuckles from my friends, but I just stayed quiet as I watched Jake set up his microphone. He looked out into the audience.

Drew made a note to pay attention to where certain people were. Jake's eyes looked out and he smiled at his mom and Milo, turning to see Lia, before waving at Daisy.

His smile softened before dropping as his eyes searched each row before spotting the two besides me, then me.

He smiled softly and looked like was about to cry as he looked at me.

My face stayed glued to its resting position, not allowing me to smile in order to prevent the tears that would spill if I could.

The lights on the stage lit up properly as Jake looked to Hailey who seemed to be about to have a panic attack.

Jake smiled and said a few things to her as she loosened up.

I felt my chest tighten as the song began. Watching the success from the two weeks of work come together. Watching as Jake sang beautifully as he enjoyed the time in the spotlight with the people he left us for. Left me for.

The harmony between him and Hailey sounded almost perfect when she joined in. They did work well together as the music continued to go on.

And I watched the blonde carefully, watching as he grew happier and happier alongside Hailey, Zander, Luke, Milly and Sean.

And then I knew it. Knew that he reached his goal.

He was finally a star.

The song was over too soon.

The claps and cheers grew loud as the music came to a soft end. I felt a hot tear run down my face as the cheering grew louder.

I subtly stood up and walked out of the room, down the hallway and out to my car. I sat down before letting the tears run down my face.

It burned my cheeks, before dropping down and soaking into my shirt. I breathed in deeply, trying to calm down as best as I could.

ㅡ

My tears dried by the time Henry and Liam were in the backseat of my car. They were blabbering about the songs.

"Who won?" My voice was soft as I disrupted their conversation.

They stayed quiet before Liam broke the silence. "Look to your left."

I glanced back at him through the rearview mirror, before listening to him.

Jake stood there holding a giant gold trophy, surrounded by the other club members who were all working on trying to get home.

I smiled and chuckled. "Damn right he won." I watched him as he turned away looking for his mom and Milo.

He caught my eyes through the window before his face filled with a big smile, a subtle tear falling down his cheek.

I couldn't help but give a small smile before I put my seatbelt on. He quickly noticed his mom's car and pretty much ran over to it.

"I'm proud of you Jake." I thought to myself.

"Alright, whose house am I dropping you two off at?"

"Mine!" Henry shouted out before Liam could get a word out.

I put the car in reverse and started to drive.

ㅡ

I was home soon enough, laying in bed curled up in my blanket. I looked across the room to see the light gray sweater still laying across the chair.

I smiled as tears started to run down my cheeks again. I picked up my phone, surprised to see a simple text from Jake.

Thank you Drew.

I looked at the message for what seemed like hours, feeling as my chest tightened more and more.

I started to cough. I coughed and coughed. Eventually the blood on my arm stopped as I started choking.

I gagged as I tried to desperately get whatever it was out of my throat.

Eventually a single flower petal landed in my hand. It was soaked in blood, but it seemed to be a red petal.

I stared at it confused, before I stood up and went into the bathroom. I cleaned the blood from my face and arm, before rinsing off the petal. I took a picture of it before searching for what flower it belonged to.

It was a red dahlia petal.

I noted how it was a flower the represents love.

I groaned as I felt weak and cold suddenly. I gripped onto the sink as my head started to spin.

I placed the clean petal on the counter before slowly making it to my bed.

I figured I'd handle whatever was happening tomorrow, or that I was imagining things and needed some sleep.

I felt my head hit my pillow pretty hard as a soft groan escaped my lips.

My head replayed Jake's voice from earlier as it seemed to gently carry me off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The weekend was long and exhausting. I slept most of the time, and when I was awake, I was coughing up blood and flower petals.

I groaned as I heard my alarm go off.

My limbs felt tired as I reached over to turn the alarm off.

I ran my hands down my face as I tried and succeeded in standing up. I walked around the room getting ready for the school day.

My chest ached with what felt like needles digging deep into my chest.

After a few coughs, newly shaped petals mixed in with others. These new petals were a slightly darker red compared to the dahlia petals. I shrugged it off as I deemed I would be late for school if I didn't leave immediately.

ㅡ

I walked down the corridor, watching as people started to whisper.

I stopped at my locker, seeing two figures walking down towards me, before I turned my attention to grabbing my books for the next two classes.

"Drew!" I closed the locker door and turned to see Henry.

I managed a small smile before I let it drop, noticing a sight of strawberry-blonde hair next to teal hair. I felt the scratchiness in my throat return as I tried to focus on the two directly in front of me instead.

"What's up Henry?" I looked down, not remembering him getting so close to me.

"You look horrible," his voice was blunt as Liam elbowed his shoulder. "Ow!" He looked back at the tall boy while rubbing his shoulder.

I chuckled softly, "thanks." I rolled my eyes playfully.

They stared at me.

"Who are you and what have you done to Drew?" Liam spoke up after a beat.

A small smirk lifted one side of my lips before I had to stifle a cough.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going to class," I started to walk away, letting my smirk drop as I walked off.

I sat down in History class and took out my phone, waiting for the period to start. Eventually, the bell rang and the familiar blonde walked in with a teal-haired girl.

I focused my attention on my phone more as Jake took his seat beside me. He was turned slightly away from me as he took out some of his stuff from his backpack.

"Alright class," Mrs. Jones started to speak. "Continue on your projects."

I sighed softly, as I looked down at the poster board that Jake unrolled.

Neither of us said a word as we stared down at the giant piece of paper.

Jake eventually broke the silence. "So, did you want to write or-"

"Yeah," I cut him off, I noted how he tensed a bit from my monotone voice. "I have the neater handwriting anyways."

"Right," he seemed both annoyed and sad.

He took out his laptop.

"What should we do the project on?" He asked as he typed out his password.

I looked at the paper that told us about the project. "I guess the Titanic. Since we both have done research on the before."

He nodded as he pulled up a new google doc, writing the stuff he already knew about the ship down.

I took out a piece of paper, doodling as I waited for anything from Jake.

"You did well at the competition," I whispered after a while, disrupting the awkwards silence between us.

The sound of typing stopped as I glanced up at him. He froze at his screen.

"Thanks," he whispered back before he continued to type.

I watched him for a bit, watched the information he put down on the doc before the teacher told us to start putting our things away.

I felt my chest tighten as I put my stuff back in my bag, trying to quickly leave after hearing the bell ring.

My other classes seemed to drag as the day went on. Eventually I was at my locker again.

I glanced to the side as I saw a girl with blonde hair that faded into a pink at the tips approaching me.

I felt one of my fists clench as I started to pick up my speed as I put my stuff in my bag. I wasn't fast enough.

I closed the locker door before turning around, annoyed with Zoey taking up my view as she stood closer into my personal space.

"Drew, please listen to me!" Zoey shouted out, gaining the attention of some others walking by. Her voice was very high pitched.

"Get away from me Zoey," I kept my tone from getting too annoyed as I tried to walk away from her.

I felt a hand wrap around my wrist before I was pulled back towards her.

"Zoey, let me go now," I glared down at her as I noticed how her eyeliner started to drip down her face.

"No!" She shouted out as she pushed me against the lockers again. "Please just listen to me," her voice was brittle as she let me go.

"Why? So you can try to deny the fact that you were going around with other men?" I asked as tears started to fall down her cheeks. The same tears that used to feel like acid when they landed on my skin.

"Or so you can try to gaslight me into feeling this is all my fault?" I tilted my head to the side a bit as her tears stopped.

"Well if you weren't so cold all the time," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

A fake chuckle came out of my mouth as I shook my head softly. "Don't."

Zoey looked up at me confused as to why I was chuckling. "Don't prove my point."

I looked up and saw Liam and Henry walking towards me, seemingly upset to see Zoey in front of me.

"Now, if you're done trying, I have other things to do." I walked away from her as she looked down and started to cry again.

I went up to the two who gave me a quick smile.

"Everything ok? She's going to leave you alone now right?" Liam almost immediately bombarded me with questions.

I stayed quiet before glancing over to see Zoey had left.

"Liam," I interrupted one of his many questions. "I'm alright, she's going to leave me alone."

He nodded before looking down at Henry as they started some random conversation.

I looked over and saw Lia. I smiled and waved to her before she walked over to us.

"Hey Drew," her voice was quiet, yet sweet.

I smiled at her, feeling my voice might break. She really did remind me of Jake some days.

"Hey we wanted to go to the mall, did you two want to join us?" I looked over at Henry, who looked excited with his question.

I saw Lia nod her head in the corner of my eye. "I have some school work I need to do, maybe next time."

"Ah man," Henry's face and shoulders dropped as he looked up at me.

I shook my head before I said my goodbyes and left for my car.

As I made my way home, I heard Jake's text tone. I felt myself tense a bit. As much as he was happy to see me at his performance, it didn't change anything about our current situation. I pulled into my driveway as I started coughing once again.

I groaned as the coughing finally stopped, the bloodied petals soaking my sweatpants with the dark liquid.

I looked over at my phone, picking it up with my non-bloody arm.

Can we talk during lunch?

That was all the text was.

I wanted to talk to him so much. To talk things out between us. Get my best friend back.

I knew it was hopeless though. He had shown how willing he was to lie and use me for what he wanted. How can you fix a friendship like that?

On the roof

That was all I replied with as I got out of the car, quickly going to start a shower to change out of the blood stained cloth.

The rest of the night I spent doing homework or coughing up blood and petals.

Chapter Text

Waking up at 5am was never much fun. I sighed and ran my hands down my face before staring at the dark ceiling. I felt as though I was drowning.

I slowly sat up, trying not to start coughing up more blood and petals. I'm not sure why I hadn't decided to go to the doctors yet, but eventually it stopped crossing my mind.

I started up my shower groaning as I decided to go on with my day.

ㅡ

The day felt like it was going fast. The rush to make it through each class to try to make it to lunch felt exhausting as I felt the drowning feeling cease a bit.

Despite the constant feeling in my chest, lunch arrived faster than expected.

The cold air chilled my skin as I stepped outside. Both of my jackets did nothing to keep the unwanted cold fall air out. I shivered before scanning the roof. Jake wasn't here yet.

I groaned and found a bench to sit on, as I waited for the blonde to arrive.

I took my phone out as I waited. Time flew by without any word from Jake.

One minute turned into five. Five minutes turned to ten. Eventually the bell that ended lunch rang.

I looked around the empty roof, my fist clenching as I stood up and walked down to class. I glared at Jake as I walked by him and the music club that he'd left me for. That he'd forgotten about meeting up with me.

Every step felt like a jab to my chest. A jab digging deep into my heart, into my lungs.

ㅡ

I rushed out of the classroom as the bell rang. The thought of looking at Jake's guilty face made me feel worse as I walked to my locker.

It took everything in me to not ask him why he didn't meet with me. It took everything in me to accept that he was happier now that I wasn't in his life.

I slammed the locker door harder than I planned, my thoughts drowning out my actions.

I froze, staring at the closed locker.

I didn't remember even opening it. I shook my head before walking out of the school, trying to avoid Henry and Liam's constant questions, wondering how bad it might've gone between me and Jake for us to not even be able to look in each other's direction during class.

I got into my car and drove home.

ㅡ

The car ride was too quiet. Being left alone with my thoughts led to a more risky drive as I couldn't fully pay attention. I felt a bit of surprise with the lack of getting into an accident.

I stepped into the kitchen, and grabbed a glass of water,

I stood in my kitchen, sipping at the soon half empty glass. I took a deep sigh, before feeling something stuck in my throat. "Great, another petal," I thought to myself as I leaned over the kitchen sink, coughing and gagging.

The petal was stuck in my throat. When I was finally able to cough it up, it left an opening for more to crawl up to my mouth.

By the time all the petals were out and blood covered the sink, my body felt drained.

I threw away the petals before feeling nauseous. I barely made it to the sink for another round of blood that was dripping out from my mouth. I felt my eyes water as I stared down at the deep red liquid that fell down my face.

I groaned as I washed the sink and my face, before dragging myself up to my bedroom.

"Just another day."

Chapter Text

The rain chilled my skin. Each drop falling on my bare arms, my white shirt, my sweatpants.

I stood in the pouring rain, staring out into the dark distance. The dark, cloudy sky grew darker and darker.

I breathed out a shaky exhale, watching as my breath formed a misty cloud in the air.

I looked up towards the sky, tears falling down my cheeks. I watched as each drop changed.

They kept getting darker. More red.

I stood, frozen as I watched the bloody drops fall down on me.

My white shirt stained red, my skin taking on a weird tone as the blood mixed with my ever falling tears.

My body jolted awake as I opened my eyes, my breath heavy.

"It was just a dream," I thought to myself as I put a hand on my chest, trying to calm my breathing and heart rate. "It can't hurt you."

I sighed before getting out of bed, leaving behind any memory of the dream.

ㅡ

I did my best to avoid Jake at every turn. Every stolen glance between us felt like a knife to my heart.

Every glint of guilt in his eyes felt nauseating as I quickly glanced away.

Yet one too many glances caused the now familiar feeling of my throat starting to close around blood and petals.

The bell rang as I quickly made my way towards the bathroom. My footsteps echoed through my ears as my eyes started to tear up and my lungs quickly started to run out of any air.

My body shoved the door open, my hands covering my mouth as I quickly made my way over to the blinding reflective sink. My hands dropped to grip onto the edges of the sink, leaning over as I heard the piercing sound of the bell ringing.

My throat closed more as a small whimper escaped my mouth, the sound soon being drowned out by the stench of metal.

I tried to cough, the air trapped in my lungs becoming suffocating. The soft noises of squeaks in the back of my throat made the feeling worse.

My eyes tightly closed shut which led to burning tears rolling down my face faster.

My body swayed as my grip tightened around the cold metal that prickled deep into my palms.

My closed eyes didn't help me feel less dizzy as I opened my eyes, staring through my blurry vision. I could faintly make out the red dots sprinkled onto the somewhat clean surface.

I tightened my grip as I felt the turning of my stomach as it moved. It felt full of liquid and nothing else.

I felt the petals dislodge out of my throat as a scorching snake slithered up my throat.

I clenched my eyes closed, my back arched as I vomited. It continued more and more as my grip tightened.

The edge of the metal started to cut into my palms. Tears fell down my face faster and faster.

After what felt like forever, I was able to open my eyes without shutting them immediately from the next round of vomit.

I breathed a shaky breath as I looked at the scene below me. The once cool, shiny gray was now covered in a staining red.

Blood was covering the sink, yet there was something else.

I blinked away some more tears as I tried to get a better look at the mysterious objects covered in the blood.

Petals.

My hand shook as I started to pick them up and out of the sink. As blood started to drip off each petal it revealed the familiar petals of the red dahlia and chrysanthemum.

I was then over the sink again, coughing more petals up till my blood was covered in a dance of multiple reds.

As my coughing grew more and more rough, I felt a hand gently place itself on my back

I flinched, wanting to look back at the person touching me, but my coughing kept me glued to the sink.

I wanted to hide away from this person who started to gently rub my back, trying to soothe me as my coughing seemed to be joined by more gasps for air.

As I shook over the sink, I heard a familiar voice talking to someone outside the restroom. "Call the ambulance," the voice was right behind me.

A mix of metal and bland yet celery-like taste filled my mouth and nostrils.

I let my body sway again as black crept into the edges of my vision.

"Drew?" the voice called out. "Can you hear me?"

I nodded slightly, the action leading to my head spinning more.

"Where's Jake?" My voice sounded as though I was underwater. The darkness ate away at my sight. The pungent smell of the floral metal filled my senses before everything was gone.

I was faintly aware when my eyes slowly opened again. The faint voice called in the distance for someone.

As my senses started to come back to me a bit more, I noticed the person was holding onto me. I leaned away from them as I started to cough again, a hot liquid burning its way through my clothes, staining it in a deep red, before reaching my body.

Everything was moving. My body shook as I finished coughing and leaned back into the figure. I opened my mouth as my head tilted to the side, resting heavily against the figure.

"Quiero que mi papá."

ㅡ

After a while, I felt my eyes open again. My half-lidded eyes taking in the blinding white of the environment I was in. A hospital room.

I tightly closed my eyes before looking around the room again. I took in the machines, both sight and sounds, that were hooked up to me. I looked at my arms to see an IV in my left arm, giving me blood.

My body felt like hell. The burning in my stomach, the tightness in my throat. Even the headache that pained every movement, every thought, made my body feel like it was in a living hell.

I tried to sit up but the dizzying feeling in my head caused me to stay still. The tightness in my throat making any movement feel like another dance of red and black in a pool of staining blood would come up.

So I waited. Waited for footsteps. Waited for someone, anyone to enter the room.

The minutes ticked by with the never ending sounds of the medical machines beeps and the ticking of the clock. The sounds were maddening.

Eventually the sounds of footsteps disrupted the never ending sounds. My attention snapped up as the door opened, revealing a tall man in a doctor's uniform.

The doctor looked up from a clipboard at me. "Ah, you're awake."

The doctor's voice was deep yet comforting.

"What happened?" My voice was rough as I cleared my throat, regretting it when I coughed a bit and saw the blood splattering my arm. The doctor frowned as he walked closer.

"Try not to speak too much. We're still trying to figure out what happened."

I nodded softly as he took out a wipe and helped clean the blood splattered on my arm.

"Your father was contacted and informed you were here." The doctor reassured me. I just wanted to see my dad and go home.

I nodded softly before the doctor handed me a cup of water, trying to help soothe my throat.

"We'll have someone bring up some food for you. For now, just try to get some rest. I'll be back in a bit." The doctor gave a warm smile as he looked at me.

"Alright, thank you." My voice sounded much clearer with the water. The rough scratchiness felt fairly soothed.

The doctor nodded gently before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

I sighed and looked up at the piercing white ceiling and lights as I waited, listening to the ticking of the clock.

Every sound outside snapped my attention to the door as I grew more and more desperate for someone, anyone to enter.

I looked around the room for anything that would keep me entertained, but with the IVs in my arms, I knew it would be better to wait for someone to enter and tell me what I can and can't do.

Eventually food came as the nurse checked the blood bag attached to my left arm. She took the IV out of my arm before checking my blood pressure. After another nurse came in and gave me food.

With one less IV in me, I could now move a bit more. I could use my phone, turn on the tv, and now eat.

The hospital food was bland and the texture felt gross on my tongue. The feeling of the mushy food that any sane person would know wasn't supposed to be mushy made the meal feel close to inedible, but I didn't complain.

The nurses left again once I was done eating as I took out my phone, looking through any messages that my friends might have sent me.

There were none.

I sighed as I looked at the one notification I had on my phone, a story on Jake's instagram.

I opened it and saw him and Hailey at a concert, with Zander and Luke in the background.

I felt a pang in my heart and forced back any tears. I turned the device off and laid back down on the bed. My eyes closed in the late hours of the night. I just wanted to go home.

Chapter Text

My eyes slowly opened to the sounds of machinery and doctors standing over me. I hummed softly as I looked up at them.

I looked around and saw they were checking my blood pressure and the IV in my right arm. They looked serious. Too serious.

I could tell something was wrong with me by the look in their eyes.

Blood loss. Of course it was blood loss.

I had a blood bag connected to my arm again with the other IVs. I should’ve gone into shock with how much and how rapidly I was losing blood.

Almost twenty percent of my blood was gone due to an ‘unknown factor’. What was happening to me?