The next morning, Katherine woke up sore and not in her bed.

She took a look at her surroundings and sighed, closing her eyes once again.

This is what she hadn't wanted. She didn't want to wake up and not remember bits and pieces of her night. It was what she was perfectly avoiding for the first few months since school had started. And just like that, with one shot of tequila she had succumbed back to it.

"Good morning sunshine!" her friend's cheerful voice sang.

"Mmmm." Katherine mumbled.

"Damn girl, you were wild last night! I haven't seen you that free in months." Natalie laughed.

Katherine groaned, "How bad was it?"

"Not that bad, not what you're thinking probably, but I mean… you had fun. Which is all that matters." She smiled.

"Ugh." Katherine groaned again and stretched as much as she could before yawning and sitting up.

Her hair was in loose curls and all over the place. She was still in her dress from last night too and she frowned. Something was still gnawing at her.

"Did Will and I…"

"Oh. That." Her friend pursed her lips before nodded.

"Fuck." Katherine breathed.

"You guys just kissed, it wasn't a big deal." she waved away.

Suddenly, it was all coming back to her. She had a splitting headache as she thought about it. How she had grabbed Will by the jacket and planted a big one on him. Right after that he roughly pushed her up against the wall and they made out hot and heavy for a few minutes. She covered her eyes trying to forget the memory but it was forever engraved in her mind.

"I'm a cradle robber now!" she moaned and Natalie laughed.

"It was actually kind of hot the way you took control and then you guys disappeared into the hallway. I had to keep an eye on you. But damn. These Renner boys know how to kiss a girl." Natalie said and Katherine sighed.

"So anyways, I'm going home. I have a headache and I want to sleep this hangover off in my own comfortable bed thank you very much. Thank you for the party, it was great. From what I remember." She laughed as she stood and stretched once again, a few popping noises being made in the process.

"Oh, you are very welcome. You are free to come back to the party scene whenever you'd like if it's gonna be like that. It was so much fun." Natalie said and Katherine's eyes narrowed.

Her best friend was immune to hangovers no matter how much she drank and she was slightly jealous of her for it.

"Yeah yeah. You perky bitch." She mumbled and Natalie started to crack up.

"Will, I can't kiss you, but I want to so bad! Ugh, fuck it!" she heard her friend say from down the hall.

"I did not say that!" Katherine shouted as she found her purse on the kitchen counter.

"You did!" her friend shouted back, laughing hysterically.

"Fuck!" she groaned, slapping her forehead.

Her keys and everything else she needed was in her purse and she found her shoes by one of the couches.

"Hey my soon to be sister-in-law." Bradley's voice said from behind the large couch.

Katherine looked over to see his blonde head poking out of a large comforter and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Is he here?" she asked.

"He's showering down the hall, make a run for it now!" he laughed.

"I hate the both of you." She slapped his head before slipping her shoes on and rushing out the house.

As soon as she made it home, she parked and sat in her car for a few minutes.

Looking over to the left, she noticed Jonathan's house. Stepping out of her car, she turned to observe it. It looked eerie and it seemed too quiet. Not even the birds were chirping around it today. It was odd. Looking down at her phone, she read that it was 11:42. The old woman usually left earlier than that on Saturdays to go to her tennis meet at the country club in the city. Maybe that's why it was so quiet. And then she remembered.

Yesterday at school she had picked up extra assignments from her teachers from the classes her and Jonathan had together. Which was half of them. She thought she'd do something nice and seeing as he never missed a day of school in years, she'd bring whatever work she could for him so he wouldn't fall behind.

Like that would happen though. He was a teenage genius.

When she got to her room, she went through her school back and took out a folder with all of the assignments. She walked downstairs and greeted her dog who had come in through the back doggy door that he somehow still managed to fit after all these years. Her parents weren't home so she figured they were at work and she walked out onto the road.

It was usually quiet this time of day. There weren't too many houses on the street so it wasn't always filled with cars passing by. Sometimes it was nicer to live a little away from the hustle and bustle of the city. As she walked the not so long distance to his house, she suddenly felt weary of walking on his property. The last time she did this, she was twelve and selling girl scout cookies to his grandmother who all but hit her to scare her off her doorstep.

Should she risk it?

Better yet, why was she risking it?

Where had the sudden urge to see Jonathan Crane come from?

As she debated this in her head, she had already made her way to the front steps of the porch. This house was slightly older looking than the rest of the houses on the street but it was still beautiful just the same. It was in foreclosure when Jonathan and his grandmother had moved in when he was ten. She was sure that they were living off his probably dead grandfather's money. Harsh, but true.

Taking a deep breath in, she knocked on the door three times.

A minute had passed and no answer.

Her breathing was shallow. She knocked again; thinking maybe whoever was in there hadn't heard her the first time. She saw something from the corner of her eye and noticed the curtain from the window flutter. She took a step back and the floorboard of the porch creaked under her weight.

"Jonathan?" she called.

Silence.

This was stupid.

Backing up, she turned and started to head down the porch steps before she heard the door click and open.

Turning back around, she was wide-eyed when she looked at the boy. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this. It was as if the previous night had never happened. He was stood there, tall, and his hair was perfectly done. His glasses were still cracked the only indication that the incident had happened and wasn't a dream as she kept thinking to herself, but his clothes were clean and pressed and he looked calm, as usual. He looked hauntingly handsome.

If that made any sense; it did in her mind.

"Can I help you?" he said.

Deciding to take that as an invitation to talk, she walked back up the steps.

"I noticed you weren't in school yesterday." She started.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, "And?"

"And well, you never miss school."

Jonathan crossed his arms as he stared at her.

Way to make a girl feel stupid, she thought.

"Are you sick?" she asked.

"No." he answered.

"Are you… not feeling okay because of what happened the other night?"

"No, I'm feeling fine. Better than that actually, thanks to you." He said and she raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks to me?"

"I faced my fears. And I ended them." He smiled, though not showing his teeth.

That got Katherine thinking. What on earth were his fears? Was it drowning? Was it something more personal? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. So she cleared her throat.

"Um… okay. That's good. I uh, I came over to bring you your assignments that you missed from the classes we have together. We didn't do much in English, we just watched a movie. But here's the rest." She said as she handed the folder out to him.

Jonathan took the folder and looked through it. He nodded and looked back up at her.

"It's nothing I'd really miss." He said after a moment.

"Well, I just thought I would be a nice person and be helpful. Okay? It's not like you have many friends that would do that for you, so." She suddenly wanted to slap herself; that wasn't nice at all.

"I don't do friends." He merely said.

"You are so weird." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"I've been called worse." He shrugged, matching her stance.

"You're difficult too." She frowned.

"Keep going, what else can you add to the long list of things I am, please, enlighten me." He said, mocking her.

Katherine glared at him for a moment as he kept his pursed smile on.

"Ugh!" she groaned, ending their stare-off. "I'm done." She said, turning around.

Suddenly Jonathan stepped forward, "Wait."

Katherine stopped but she didn't look back.

"What?"

Jonathan cleared his throat, looking around awkwardly for a moment, hoping she didn't catch him before he composed himself again. He turned and disappeared into the dark house. Katherine turned around; curiosity peaking her interest. He returned and in his hand was a white rose. She stared at him, dumbfounded and then looked on skeptically.

"It's not going to bite me is it? Or poison me if I touch it?"

Jonathan almost laughed, but he kept himself composed, "No."

Biting her lip, she stared at it for a few more seconds before she gently took it from his hands. Her finger pricked itself on a thorn and she hissed.

"I'm not going to die right?" she asked quickly, blood oozing from the prick point.

Jonathan licked his thumb before taking her hand and wiping her finger.

"No, it's going to be fine. It's just a prick."

"I know a lot about those." She mumbled.

They were quiet as he stood back again and he cleared his throat.

"Okay. Well." He stepped back into the door way and she looked at him.

"Does this mean we're friends now? After eight years?" she asked.

Jonathan smiled softly, "No."

Katherine tried to ignore the slight disappointment tug inside of her.

"No, definitely not. Okay." She nodded.

She started to walk back down the steps and continued on down the long driveway without a glance back.

That was the single most bizarre moment of her entire life.