I cracked the classroom door open and poked my head outside, peering into the hall. I looked left, right then left again. Parker put his chin sitting on top of my head, so his head turned when I looked around. I knew he was smiling because I couldn't help but smile myself at his corniness.

"Is it safe yet?" He whispered to me.

"I don't know," I whispered back. "How about you check it yourself?"

He looked at me in confusion. "What do you-"

I suddenly pushed him out the door, making him stumble forward into the crowded hall, almost knocking over someone. Everyone stopped walking and stared at Parker. Parker turned back to me and caught the backpack I chucked at him right in the stomach with a grunt.

I grinned at him. "Is it safe yet?"

"I don't know. How about you check it yourself?"

"What do you-"

Parker grabbed my hand pulled me towards him, yanking me out of the classroom. I yelped as I stumbled towards him and into his arms. Then the both of us just grinned at each other.

"Is it safe yet?" He asked me.

"It does to me," I said back, leaning forward.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Does it now?" Parker mused.

"Yeah it-"

"-is so weird," someone finished.

The both of us snapped our heads towards the people next to us.

"I know," her friend whispered back. "It really is weird."

"It seems so," she paused to think about it then said, "unnatural."

I snorted. "The only thing that's unnatural is your-"

"Now Naomi," Parker said with a frown.

"What?" I asked innocently. "I was only going to say grades."

He gave me a blank look.

"Okay, fine, not really."

The girl ignored me and continued talking to her friend.

"I mean, I know that she's not Nerdy Naomi anymore, but it still has to be weird for the both of them," she said. "He bullied her since like freshman year, that's three years."

So she can count.

"I wonder how they can like each other despite their history together," her friend muttered. "She has to remember the things he did to her, the times he bullied her."

I felt Parker's grip around me tighten.

"What I'm thinking is that he's just pulling a joke on-"

"How about you go talk somewhere else?" I barked at them.

The both of them rolled their eyes and walked away, probably going to continue talking about this. Parker awkwardly let go of me and we were both left just standing beside each other.

"Can I walk you to class?" He asked me.

"I don't know," I said. "Can you?"

"Can I?"

"Can you?"

"Can I?"

"You're supposed to say may instead of can."

Parker burst out laughing. "Okay then. May I walk you to class?" He held out his hand to me.

"That's better." I took his hand. "Yes, you may."

So hand in hand, the both of us walked down the hall. As we walked we noticed the stares and glances people gave us. We heard the whispers and conversations people talked about us. Ever since Parker proudly let it out that we were dating followed by the new update of the Nerdy Naomi website that the both of us were seen together in the café with him down on one knee, we've been the number one conversation starter. It went from people cheering on Parkomi (this stupid ship name of the both of us) to people hating us, being Anti-Parkomi as they called it. Some girls are jealous of me for getting Parker while other people think that it's actually a joke. Parker and I don't talk about it. We usually do our best to ignore them. But it's always a challenge being together when all we could hear are the talks.

"Look, there they are."

"Wow, they're actually holding hands."

"I'm so jealous of her."

"Man, he has guts."

"I heard it's actually a prank."

"I bet it's a joke."

 "They shouldn't be together, it's so weird."

I felt Parker's hand tightening around mine.

I looked at him and didn't see the usual Parker with a big grin and bright eyes. Instead he looked sad, not even being able to look at me in the eye when people talk about this. I know that he still must feel guilty about this. But even with the many times I've assured him I don't hold a grudge about, he still feels guilty. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, having him look at me and give him a small smile.

"As long as they don't kiss, I'm okay with-"

"Can you shut up?" I demanded at the guy.

He held his hands up in defense and walked away. People in the hall all turned to look at us. I glared at them back, but I didn't have Declan's glaring powers because they kept on staring. This is the problem with people. Gossip, rumors, they have nothing interesting in their lives so they talk and be engrossed in other people's lives. They should be like Mario and get a life.

"You know, a picture lasts longer," I snapped at them.

Immediately everyone took out their phones and began taking pictures of us. I opened my mouth to say that a video lasts longer too, but from the looks of it, they'll probably do the same thing. So I just pulled Parker's hand and had the both of us walk faster to my elective. Soon we arrived in front of the nurse's office. A flash of the memory when Parker came to pick me up for lunch along with the guys getting their first impression of them came to mind.

I looked at him. "I wish they could stop."

"Yeah, me too," he said wistfully.

"They have better things to do like... actually studying rather than going around gossiping."

"As if people would actually do that."

The both of us laughed.

"If only we can just hang out together in school in peace," I said. "But we can't because people are too busy staring at us."

There was a long pause before Parker said something.

"Hey, I have an idea."

He motioned me to come closer. Then he leaned down and whispered something in my ear. My eyes widened in surprise, but then I smiled mischievously.

"Have I ever said how much of a brilliant evil-genius boyfriend you are?" I asked him.

"I think once at the dirty gym clothes incident."

"Then I'll say it again," I told him with a grin. "You're a brilliant evil-genius boyfriend."

He poked my nose. "And don't you forget it."

-

"Parker O'Neil!" Coach Douglass hollered out.

Parker looked up at the sound of his name. "Yes sir?"

"You're excused for practice today," he said.

The whole football team groaned. At this period, the football team has this period to so practice as well as after school. Everyone was still sitting in roll call order as Coach Douglass took attendance.

"Are you serious?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"That lucky son of a -"

"Shut up or else all of you maggots will do push -ups until your arms fall off!" Coach Douglass barked, making the whole class silent. Probably because they know he's not kidding because that happened to a kid once.

Coach Douglass a man at least in his early 30s with dark army cropped hair and a clean cut. He's a well built man who spends hours of the day in the gym lifting weights just to show them off to swooning girls. He seemed like the male version of Ms. Ramos only he's younger, better looking, and meaner. I'm not kidding. Coach Douglass makes Ms. Ramos in her time of the month look like an angel. Ms. Ramos is just plain mean, but Coach Douglass actually has a reason to be mean given he's the coach of the football team. With the more driven goal, he works the whole team for long tiring hours, having them do routines, each one harder than the next, he rarely give them breaks, they either take breaks when they pass out, they're dead or they break something, and he verbally abuses them, scaring all of them.

"I don't know how any of you would want to be Parker right now," he growled at them. "This poor guy is suffering from-" he turned to me "-what again?"

"Spattergroit," I told him.

"Yeah," he said. "Splatter groin."

Since he chose brawn over brains, he isn't really the brightest light bulb.

"That's not real," someone sneered at me.

"Yes it is," I retorted back.

"What is it then?" He challenged.

"Hey, it's not like she's a doctor," Parker snapped at him, defending me.

The guy rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure, of course you'd defend your girl-"

"Spattergroit is a very contagious disease caused by an infected fungus." I said, interrupting him. At the sound of contagious, everyone immediately scooted away from him, staring at him as if he sprouted antennas. "It causes the skin to sprout purple boils, and even when you're heals, they will leave scars. If the infection reaches the uvula, you won't be able to speak."

The whole class groaned in disgust.

"Gross."

"Sick."

"Ugh."

I nodded in agreement. "It's a good thing we caught Parker's symptoms of Spattergroit in time before it fully develops and spreads around you or worse, become Cerebrumous Spattergroit, which gives severe confusion and memory loss."

A kid raised his hand. "H-how do you know you have them?" He asked nervously.

"Well usually you could tell if someone has "unsightly blemishes" on their face."

Parker gasped. "I thought they were only freckles!"

"Spattergroit is usually gotten if you had contact with a type of fungus, directly or indirectly, which Parker must have done when he went to a camping trip last week."

Everyone sighed in relief.

"But it's highly contagious and can be given by the infected."

People scooted away from Parker more.

"You'd know you have the symptoms if you're somewhat itchy-"

Parker began to scratch himself, scratching his back, arms and neck. "To be honest, I've been feeling kinda itchy..."

Kids around him unconsciously began to scratch themselves, looking nervous.  

"-having a hoarse throat-"

Parker coughed a bunch of times then rubbed his throat, before saying in a slight hoarse voice, "I thought it was just a frog in my throat."

A few kids coughed at that.

"-and even forgetting things, being a start of Cerebrumous Spattergroit."

Parker rubbed his chin, and thought aloud, "What did I learn in class today again?"

A couple of kids began to wonder the same thing which everyone asks themselves eventually because no one really listens in class.

"We'll be giving a Parker a vaccination before the Spattergroit fully develops," I told him. "Hopefully the Spattergroit isn't so develop that is would infect anyone that badly."

"C-can I have one?"

"Yeah me too."

"I think I need it."

I scratched the back of my neck. I didn't know that this was going to work this well.

"You're going to need to make an appointment then," I explained.

Mrs. Matthews will have a surprise when she has a bunch of kids asking for vaccines for Spattergroit.

Coach Douglass cleared his throat, either to get everyone's attention or see if he had caught Spattergroit too.

"Well Parker, you're excused to get that vaccine," he said.

Parker got up and walked to the front of the class. A few kids scooted back to give him a path, not wanting to get the disease if they haven't caught it already.

"But once you're all better, you're getting 10 laps for missing today," Coach Douglass told him.

My jaw dropped. "Why 10 laps? That really un-"

Parker nodded. "Yes sir."

Coach Douglass turned back to class and barked orders for everyone to quit whining over the Spattergroit and given him five laps. I handed Parker his excuse notice and the both of us walked back to the building towards the nurse's office. I wanted him to change out of his P.E uniform, but it would seem weird to do it first than go to the nurse's office directly. Parker was still in the P.E uniform of the school's colors green and gold, which is usually a gray shirt that had a green and gold trim paired that had the school's logo on it, with green basketball shorts with gold trim. But he was wearing the grey tank top with the school's logo that had me keep reminding myself not to stare.

As soon as we went into the main building, Parker grabbed my hand and the both of us ran down the halls. The both of us snickered at the Coach's stupidity as we ran away the nurse's office.

"I can't believe that actually worked," he told me.

"Me too!" I said. "I knew he was stupid, but I didn't know he was that stupid."

"And I can't believe the rest of the class believed it too."

I laughed. "I know right?"

He stopped and looked at me. "Spattergroit isn't really real right?"

I snorted. "Of course it isn't. Well, unless you're a Potterhead."

Parker ruffled my hair, smiling down at me. "Man, I'm so glad I have a brilliant nerd of a girlfriend, especially a cute one."

He leaned down to kiss me but I suddenly pushed him away. He looked at me in confusion as I backed away from him.

"You got Spattergroit!" I told him. "There's no way I'm taking my chances and get infected because of you!"

Parker grinned mischievously. "We wouldn't want that, now do we?"

He grabbed his arms around my waist despite my protests of not wanting to catch the Spattergroit. Then he leaned down to my ear and asked me.

"How would I get better from Spattergroit so I can be with my girlfriend properly?" He whispered making my ears burn red.

"Well you could take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about his throat and stand naked by the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes," I suggested.

Parker burst out laughing. "I bet you'd like the last part."

I made a face. "Standing in a barrel of eels' eyes in the full moon?"

He winked at me. "No, the naked part."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. "Ugh no. Now c'mon, we might get caught."

Parker then led me towards the teacher's lounge. I frowned at this.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him.

"We'll just hang out here until lunch," he told me.

"Are you crazy? This is the teacher's lounge."

"Exactly," Parker said. "All of the teacher's are in class, all the staff are doing their work. The teacher's will go to the lounge when lunch starts, by then we'll be long gone."

"But still..."

"Relax," he said, reassuring me. "I've done this a million times."

I looked at him. "A million times?"

"Oh c'mon Naomi, you know I'm exaggerating. I've only done this a couple times to skip lessons, tests, quizzes, classwork, homework," Parker paused and thought about it. "Okay, maybe that's a lot."

He casually opened the door, not even having to use a stolen spare key or needing to pick the lock. He held the door for me, giving me a slight bow and gesturing me to go first. I rolled my eyes, smiling at him, but went inside.

I've been in the teacher's lounge only twice. Once to annoy a teacher of giving me an extra credit project to turn my grade of 98.9 to an even hundred. The other was to give a teacher a note when I was stationed at the main office, which I now suspect the note was in code for something because of the teacher's suspicious and paranoid look. Both times I quickly had to leave without getting a good chance to look at the teacher's lounge. Now that I'm here with no adult supervision, I can.

The first thing I noticed is that it's way better than the cafeteria. Everything was clean, spotless clean. The cafeteria had weird stains and left spills with graffiti kids made when they got bored. The lounge had this nice, clean smell while the cafeteria smells like the dumpster. Trust me, I know. Plus notice how I didn't say a dumpster, I said the dumpster. It's so much bigger, there were better tables, and there were brand new looking chairs. And you can't forget the vending machines with lower prices and better snacks. And I bet they get gourmet food while we're stuck with mystery meat. This is so unfair. The teachers have better quality of everything while the kids get the second-hand stuff. But I still have to admit, the school knows how to make a teacher's lounge.

"Wow," I said in awe.

"Yeah, I kn-"

"Look at all these snacks!" I exclaimed, racing towards the vending machines.

My hands pressed on the glass with the snacks so far yet so close. I was practically drooling over the snacks with unbelievably low prices. I patted down my pockets to see if I had a dollar with me.

"Here," he said suddenly as his arm lazily hung around my shoulders, standing behind me.

Parker took out two dollars out of his pocket. And before I could protest, he slipped the money into the vending machine, it greedily eating it up. I turned my head, shooting him a glare, but his arm around me only tightened around me as he smiled. I pressed the code C7 for the bag of pretzels. As I grabbed the pretzels, Parker took the change the vending machine spit out and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Are you going to share?" Parker asked me as he plopped down to the couch , referring to my bag of pretzels.

I snorted. "No, you bought it for me, it's mine."

"Well this is mine."

"What do you-"

He suddenly grabbed my waist, pulling me onto the couch. I laughed as I plopped next to him. I swung my legs over his lap and leaned back against the couch's armrest. I took my time opening the bag of pretzels to torture Parker who looked at it wistfully. I rummage into the bag and took out a pretzel, then popping it into my mouth, crunching it.

"Mmm, this is really good," I said.

"Can I just have some?" He whined.

"Nope," I said as I took another pretzel.

"How about one?"

"No." One pretzel down, many more to go.

"A piece?"

"Nada." Bye, bye pretzel.

"A crumb?"

"Nuh-uh." Another pretzel gone.

But then I decided I could at least spare Parker one pretzel. I held out a pretzel and acted like he was a dog waiting for his treat. I waved the pretzel one side to the other, his eyes following it. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide for the pretzel. But when I tossed it to him, it bounced off his nose, falling onto the floor.

"I thought you had good aim, Na-"

I chucked the pretzel into his mouth at mid-word of my name. He coughed and ended up swallowing the pretzel whole.

"I do."

He cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have doubted you."

After that, I continued tossing pretzels to Parker as he caught them into his mouth. At one point, I closed my eyes and tossed it to him who also closed his eyes who easily caught it. Soon we were down to the last pretzel.

"Last one," I told him.

I motioned to toss the pretzel, but before Parker was about to catch the pretzel, I bit the pretzel at one end. I smirked at him, showing him that the last pretzel is mine. But before I could eat it, he suddenly grabbed my shoulder, jerking me forward as he leaned forward himself. Then he bit the other end of the pretzel, our lips just brushing against each other. At the moment I was awkwardly staring at him, my eyes widening in surprise and my face heating up more and more. There was a quiet crunch of the pretzel as it broke in two, letting him back and away to eat his half of the pretzel as I slowly chewed mine, not even being able to look at him in the eye.

That was such a The Lady and the Tramp moment.

When I was finally able to swallow my pretzel, I looked at him to see him already staring at him. Suddenly he moved forward again, his hand moving up to my waist while the other touched the back of my neck. But he didn't need to have me move forward, I was leaning towards him as well. Our eyes closed, we were slowly leaning towards each other. Then just when we were only seconds away from each other away, the door opened.

The both of us jerked away from each other, even scooting away on the couch. We automatically turned to the door, expecting a teacher or staff to catch us. But no, it was worst.

Declan.

"What the fudge is this?" The he demanded, and knowing Declan, he obviously didn't say fudge.

"W-what are you doing here?" I stammered.

Declan narrowed his eyes at me. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

"I asked you first."

"I was going to buy some snacks, the prices are cheaper," Declan grumbled, motioning towards the vending machines with his head. "Now it's your turn."

"Do I have to really spell it out?" I asked him sheepishly, not really wanting to state the obvious.

Without answering, Declan walked towards us. No, it was more like stormed towards us with his pace, making us feel very small. Suddenly he grabbed the both of us by the collar, yanking us up to our feet.

"Whoa!" Parker yelped.

"What are you doing?" I demanded at him, struggling in his grip.

Then he did what I never thought he would do to me. Something that I've seen him do to many others. He shot me a cold, hard glare making my freeze in place, making my blood actually run cold. I never thought I'd be in the other end of his stare, and now I have the sympathy of the people who did. It could make even the manliest of men run with his tail between his legs. But Declan's grip was strong, so I wasn't able to. I instantly shut up, not daring to say another word in fear of getting another glare from Declan. With a rough tug, Declan dragged us across the room. I could tell he was pissed when he viciously kicked the door open, the hinges could have popped off out of fear from Declan. After that, he dragged us out of the teacher's lounge and down the hall. I didn't know where he was dragging us to. But the only thing I could think of were these four words: Parking lot, after school.

"He's really strong," Parker whispered to me as he shifted his collar.

"Yeah, I know."

Declan grumbled under something under his breath but didn't say anything, he only gripped our collars tighter.

"Hey, what took you so long?"

I would have frozen in my tracks if Declan wasn't dragging me.

"How hard is it to get some snacks? I went as far as to copy the key so you wouldn't have to pick the lock."

"Well it's because I found this," Declan growled.

He practically threw us forward him, making us stumbled forward, barely catching out balance. When we looked up we saw the surprised looks of Bennett and Jordan. The both of them looked back at Declan with blank stares.

 "It's only the two love birds," Bennett commented, not seeing the point of this.

"Yeah, why are you so mad at this?" Jordan asked him. "We've seen them more than once."

 "What's so bad about it?"

"Have you forgotten that they're both out of class?" Declan snapped at him.

"You guys are out of class too," I grumbled.

"Yeah, but we're only doing it because we're bored. You're doing it to-" Jordan paused and glared at us. "-what were you doing?"

"I caught them making out in the teacher's lounge."

"We weren't making out," I grumbled again. "I mean... not yet."

Parker and I had the guts to glance at each other, our cheeks turning pink. But the guys just tsked, glaring at the both of us.

"Can the both of us leave now?" I asked them. "I don't see the point of why you had to literally drag-"

"No, we're not done yet," Declan snapped.

"Well I think we are."

Declan shot me a glare, making me stiffen in place. "No. We. Aren't."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Parker, can you leave us?"

"But-"

"The three of us need to... talk."

There was a small pause, as if he was hesitating to go.

"No, I don't want to leave you."

"Parker, please."

"Naomi-"

I looked at him. I didn't have to say a single word for him to really get it that I don't want him here right now. With a slow nod, he turned and walked down the hall. I watched as he turned around the corner, hearing his footsteps grow faint until I heard the slam of a door that he left the building to go back to class. I whipped back to the guys, my fists clenched.

"Can't you guys just be happy for me?" I demanded, practically screaming at them.

They opened their mouths to protest, but I wasn't finish just yet.

"Try looking at this in my perspective for once, will you? Do you know how many years I've been bullied?" I asked them. "Eleven years, eleven freaking years."

None of them said anything.

"And do you know how many times I've had no one but my books that told me the girl gets a happy ending and someone? Do you know how long I've known for a fact that I would never find someone? Going through all of those insults that scar me, those punches that hurt me, and those times I cried myself to sleep, knowing that I'll never have someone. Knowing that no one will ever see me like that, that I'll be alone forever-" damn, I have tears in my eyes now "-Then for once someone actually showed they like me. And I know you guys don't trust him, I didn't either at first. But you have to know everyone has done bad things in their life and that they regret it. Can't he deserve a second chance? Can't I deserve someone?" My voice cracked as I asked this to them, asked it to myself.

I sniffled, pushing my glasses up to rub my eyes before setting that back. "Now all of a sudden you guys care for me again. Why now, why all of a sudden now? Do you know how hurt I was when you chose those girls over me? When I watched you walk away with them, leaving me by myself? And when you guys didn't even notice that I existed until I caught your attention or when you guys got bored and had nothing better to do. Did you ever think how used I felt? That you just played with me for a while, and then suddenly tossed me away, forgotten and alone? You guys act like spoiled kids, throwing away a toy away to play with another one, and when someone notices its value, how special it really is, you want it back, actually remembering it! How dare you! I thought you guys were different! I thought you guys were my friends." I shook my head, turning away from them. "I guess I was wrong."

There was a huge silence between the four of us. No one dared to speak a word. I couldn't even look at them right now. I said it, I finally let it out, and I told them how I felt about this.

"No, Naomi," Bennett said.

"Oh?" I said snarkily. "Then how about you enlighten me, Frazier?" I hissed the name.

He closed his eyes. "I get it. We all get it. We shouldn't have done that, any of this Naomi. We should have thought how you felt, not just ourselves. But Naomi, you have to understand that we care for you, we always have. If only you know what we're doing-"

"Besides the fact you've hurt me?" I snarled making him flinch.

"We're only looking out for you Naomi," Jordan said.

"Well let me tell you this," I told him, my eyes narrowing at him. "You can't be the heroes for me, my knights in shining armor, the heroes that saves the damsel in distress because if you guys were-" I laughed bitterly "-I'm screwed. My life doesn't revolve around you. You need to understand that. You can't always be in my life because as impossible as it may sound, I do have a life. I don't want your lives revolve around me, either. You're always trying to be there for me, caring for me, and I thank you for that. But that doesn't mean you should be there every second of my life, because you can't."

"We can, we will," Bennett said, his voice filled with promise and determination that would have made me hopeful, to believe every word. "Naomi we promise that it won't be like before anymore, you can depend on-"

"No," I said stopping. "This is what I'm trying to say. About me depending on you guys. Before you three came, I've always looked out for myself. I trusted no one, I had no one. And I was okay with it, who better to have than yourself? Who better to have than someone who's been there for you every second of your life than yourself? I already lasted eleven years fending for myself, watching out for myself, comforting myself. Then you guys came along and it was as if that Naomi never existed."

Declan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It was as if I lost my independence." I said quietly. "I began depending on you guys, too much. I always expected you guys to look out for me, to keep me safe. Do you know how stupid I feel when I think about myself back then? That I actually depended on you guys? That I felt like some innocent, defenseless girl? Remember back at the dinner with the Myers, with Raymond?-" the dark look on their faces told me they did "-I depended on you guys to be there for me. But I should have known that in the end I'll be the only one to fend myself."

"So what you're saying that you don't trust us, that you don't want us to be-"

"I trust you guys. I'm just saying that I can't always depend on you. You shouldn't get my hopes up and always care for me, just so when I really do need you, you won't be there." I bit my lip. "Did you guys just notice that? What I just said? I'm still expecting you guys to always be there for me when I shouldn't. I can't expect you guys to be there, because you won't always be there. Only me, only I will be there. It's because of you I'm not my independent self anymore, I want to find her again, she's better than the Naomi you brought out. I miss her."

"You're still her," Jordan said. "You're still that Naomi."

"No, she's just lost. I need to find her."

 "You want us to be happy for you," Declan said. "We want to be, just not with him." He spat the word out, not even wanting to say Parker.

"We still care for you," Jordan told me. "We always will, but if only you knew-"

"We get that we don't revolve around your life," Bennett said, cutting Jordan off. "But that won't stop us from always being there for you Naomi. And we understand that you want to be independent. But you have to understand you still are independent, you always have. You don't need to find her because she's always been there with you."

I said nothing to this, I didn't want to.

"Then what now?" Declan demanded.

"We live through this," I answered. "You'll leave my relationship alone, you leave Parker alone-" they all frowned at this, but I ignored it "-and I won't care about you and the girls. You'll be happy for me, I don't care if you're pretending to, and I'll do the same for you guys."

Jordan and Declan looked at Bennett, wondering if he'd accept this.

"Fine," Bennett said after a few beats. "We'll give you enough space for the two of you, but that doesn't mean we'll like it."

"Good, you're not supposed to."

"We still don't trust him Naomi, you deserve better than him," Declan said.

"The same goes for you too."

It was like there was a wall between the four of us, three to one. I couldn't even tell if we were still friends. They still cared for me, and I still cared for them. But now it was as if there is a limit to this, only we don't know the other's limit to how much we care about the other. I hated this, I hated them, and I hated myself most of all.

With that I turned around and walked away. I could feel their stares at the back of my head, watching me go. The only sound was my footsteps against the hallway floor. But then they paused for me to turn back to them.

"If you'll never accept Parker and me being together, then fine, I don't need your blessing," I told them. "It's not like I'll ever accept you guys and the girls either."

No words had to be said. It was clear. The wall was officially there, six feet high with bars of steel and spikes at the top. I continued walking down the hall wanting them to know how it feels like, when they left me by myself, like I'll always be.

Mrs. Matthews will be wondering where I am. I should have gone back to the nurse's office a while ago. Maybe she'll think that I visited one of my classes to learn if I could get to get more extra credit, went to the cafeteria to get my lunch ahead from everyone else, or decided to hang out at the library all throughout lunch. The thing is, I know she's got my back. But suddenly I paused from walking, just halted to a stop. I didn't even bother turning around.

"How long have you been there?"

(Sniffle)

I'm not crying. Why would I be crying? Shut up. Why are you crying?

And no, it's not because of this chapter. Though, I have to admit that as I wrote this in the car (I had to do some shopping and refused to leave my computer when I could be writing at home, so I brought it so I can write on Microsoft Word as the car drove) I teared up a bit.

Let me give a shoutout to sdk430, she actually private messaged me, giving her this idea of how Declan would find Parker and Naomi making out in a room. It was a brilliant idea that was too good to pass. Of course, I couldn't take the credit, the idea of course were her. So thank you sdk430 for the idea, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Of course, to another shout out to PaperLights. It was her comment a chapter ago that gave me the idea of Naomi's whole rant. You guys have to understand that the guys don't revolve around her life. You're going to have to live through them not always being there because she is her own person, they aren't her idols and that she should follow or fangirl wherever they go. That your job. Anyway, I miss you Paper or Lights, or PL. I'm actually doubting if you're the person I think you are, because if you aren't, I'm feeling like a total idiot. Anyway, tell that Limey I said hi, he better be good to you.

And before I forget, a reader, MirunaIulia7 (Hi Miruna, love your name) asked if I could put a song in every chapter, put in my opinions and stuff. Well, since she asked so nicely... I'm happy to do it! Well let me just introduce you guys to my music. I love pop, rock, alternative rock (holds up rock sign), punk, disco (for some reason because of Mama Mia, but only Abba) and a bit of country (Yee-haw!). My favorite bands are Queen, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, 5 Seconds of Summer, Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, Smash Mouth, and The Vamps. I'm sorry to break this to you guys, but I don't like Justin Bieber (even though we share the same birthday and birthplace which proves that God has a sense of humor) or One Direction (after seeing one too many 1D fanfics on Wattpad of vampire, werewolf, paranormal, historical fiction and even science fiction and too many girls in school wanting to marry them, I didn't see the point).

Today's song chapter is After Ever After 2 by Jon Cozart. I have a love for creative made up songs and acapellas. I love the movie Pitch Perfect and have this song called the Passover song by the Maccabeats, this acapella group, watch it if you've watched Les Miserables and The Prince of Egypt. Anyway, this guy made up funny alternative endings of Disney princesses. I was watching Mulan on my computer when my little brother's friend came up to me and told me about After Ever After 2. At the side is the video, I hope you all enjoy it. Watch the first one and wait for the third one along with everyone else. Until the next chapter...

RubixCube89201