~3rd Person's POV

"Okay Logie… Time to get go," Logie smiles at himself widely at the mirror, actually admiring the way he looks today. Usually he'd just look away in disgust but today…

Today felt special for him.

He glances at the clock before beginning his journey at exactly 6:04 AM. He would arrive at 6:15 AM, which gives him an extra 25 minutes before school starts… Usually he'd be studying his ass of in those 25 minutes, even though the exams are still so far away.

But ever since moving here, those 25 minutes meant precious time he'd spend with his 3 goofy new friends.

But…

As he steps into the school, his heart suddenly shrunk. A bad feeling washed over, urging him to not step into the school. Just for today, his heart angrily warned, not to step inside. Even with his goofy new friends.

But alas, Logan's brain had other plans. He continues anyway, his heart beating at full speed.

"Look, it's him," A boy pointed out as he neared his locker, everyone else eyeing him with full suspicion, worry, pity, anger. Some had a smirk, some had a sad frown, some looked furious.

'What the hell? I haven't even done anything yet,' Logan thought… Until he reached his locker. Right there was plastered a picture… Of his house.

On top was written, "We know you live here Logan, admit it." While on the bottom, there was "You have the nerve to hang out with those three? They're way out of your league! Are you not ashamed?!"

Logan grips the picture, his eyes scanning the entire piece over and over again as he felt his world crash and burn. His mind slowly gave out, he felt like collapsing right there.

He felt like ending himself.

How did they even find where he lived…?

Meanwhile, at the School Gates…

"C'mon, I've something to ask Logie," Carlos hurried his friends, ignoring the looks from other peoples.

"Um… Is it me or are peoples actually looking at us… Differently?" Kendall whispered to James, who immediately scanned the surroundings.

Immediately his heart sunk. People all around were looking at them with pity, sadness and anger. He grabbed both of their arms as a thought popped into his head.

'Something must've happened to Logie,' He thought, "C'mon," He speed-walked down the entrance and to where they usually meet, in-front of Logan's lockers.

"Lo-Logan?" James called out, seeing Logan stand there, frozen in fear and sadness. "Logie?" Carlos called out, nearing the boy, who dropped his bad onto the floor, his hands shaking as he gripped onto the printout on his hand, seeing hundreds of others in other people's hands.

"Logan… Are you okay?" Kendall nears the frozen boy, seeing tears form in his eyes. "I'm sorry," Logan whispered with a broken voice, which broke James' heart.

Immediately he turned and ran, his heart pounding like a hammer pounding an anvil with full force, the other three ran and tried to catch him.

"Logan! Wait, please!" James yelled as they ran as fast as they could, trying to catch up to the boy, who seems to run at least 3x times the speed that they ran. Not even Kendall, who has the highest speed among all three of them, could catch up to him.

"Logan! God damnit wait," Carlos tried picking up his speed, but not even his muscular legs could catch up to Logan. Soon, they find themselves running to the sports field, nearing the wired-fences that walled off the forest behind the school.

James felt a bit relieved that Logan had nowhere else to run, and if he ran to the sides, they could cut him off…

But then something caught all three of them, and literally everyone else in view, happened.

Logan didn't feel like himself. He felt like someone had taken over… Someone who had been suppressed inside him for ages. His feet felt like the winds, he ran so fast… The only objective he had was to disappear out of sight from everyone, especially the three.

He didn't want anyone to know where he lived… Because surely, it would bring shame for all his friends to know he lived under such a place. Everyone would hate him even more… Specially his new friends…

But now, that's all out of the bag, all he could think of was to run. To escape.

Soon, Logan nears the wired-fences. He panicked, not knowing where else to run, since he'd be cut off if he ran to the sides…

Then he saw it.

Right in-front of him were two metal podiums, high enough for him to jump over the fences, if he tried hard enough. Unfortunately for him, the stairs which led up the podium was behind it, and he remembered how thick each steps was, if he tried to run up it, one of them could easily grab his clothes.

Instead of running up the steps behind… He managed to wall jump on the sides of the podium, gripping onto the little ledges where students would hang the flags of the sports team during sports day. It wasn't much to grab on to, but with all of his strength, he did so and jumped between both podiums with ease, reaching the top.

With all of his remaining foot-strength, he jumped over the fence, landing on both feet somehow, which he immediately regret.

Though he didn't have much strength left, he continued running into the forest.

James, Carlos and Kendall stood in awe, witnessing the godly parkour skills Logan had just performed in-front of them. None of them even knew Logan could do any of that…

"What are you idiots standing there for!? Go after him!" A girl ran towards them, about 6 others carried a portable wooden stairs long enough for them to climb over. "Thank you!" Carlos yelled, being the first to leap over the fence with the help of the stairs.

"Split up," James instructed, going North. Instead of searching around together, they figured they'd cover more grounds by splitting up. Kendall went West, while Carlos went East.

They each yelled out Logan's name, panting madly. Surely their legs would wreck them after this…

"Logan! Logan, where are you!?" James yelled, Carlos and Kendall's voice booming through the forest as well. "Guys! Guys he's over here!" Carlos yelled as he knelt down, gently turning Logan's unmoving body around.

"Logan!" James immediately cried, seeing Logan lie on the ground with both eyes shut, his chest still rising and falling fast.

"911, hello, please send and ambulance over, we've an emergency…" Kendall immediately called, running out of the forest. "Logie, baby, hang in there," James carefully situated both of his thigh under Logan's head, Carlos holding the unconscious boy's hand, bawling his eyes out.

"I'm gonna fucking find out who spread those photos and murder them," Carlos' voice oozed animosity as he stared sadly at the poor boy. "Who… Who could've done this…?" James, trying his best to fight his tears, gritted.

He failed though, they flowed out of his eyes anyway.

"I love you so much," James cried, placing a gentle kiss on Logan's warm forehead. Soon, the sounds of the ambulance was heard. James and Carlos watched from far as the school officials had to cut a hole on the wire-fences, since there was literally no other way around.

"Hang in there baby, help's here," James cried again as the paramedics came over with a red stretcher, Carlos gently set Logan's head on the ground as James stood up.

"He's breathing but out, get him to the ambulance," One of the instructed upon doing a swift check-up on Logan, the other one turned towards James and Carlos. "Did he hit anything before falling? He's not sick or anything, is he?" The female paramedic asked, Carlos answered in panic, "N-Nothing! A-And he's fine," his voice somewhat intimidated.

"Right. Leave him in our hands, he'll be fine. Come over tomorrow if you'd like to visit him," She continued as the others lifted Logan up and onto the stretcher.

James wondered how they'd carry him out of the school, since the distance between where they stood and the school's entrance was rather big… until he realized the ambulance was parked in the middle of the fields.

'Oh… Right, there's another entrance' he sighed.

"You three are coming with me," The principal furiously commanded the three, leading them to her office. "Explain," She scowled once the three of them sat down.

"We don't know much either. We just arrived this morning and someone spread this photo about where Logan lived and…" James looked at Kendall, who continued his sentence, "Then we walked up to Logan. As soon as he saw us, he literally ran like his life depended on it," Carlos nodded.

The principal let out a sigh, shaking her head. "We'll find out who spread the photos later and make sure they get what they deserved. For now… I've something to tell you guys about Logan,"

"He's not from here." She said, her voice stern. Carlos tilted his head, James and Kendall were equally as confused. "What I mean is… He's not from PalmWoods. He's from Michigan, somewhere, and he illegally entered this school," She continued, their faces changed from confused to shocked in an instant.

"Some professional hacker had transferred him to this school, along with a note," She said, taking out her laptop, turning it on and showing it to the three shocked boys.

"Dear Madam Sarah,

I know this is a bit much to ask, but please. Let Logan finish his final senior school here. He doesn't deserve being in where he currently is… The constant mental, physical and emotional abuse from his parents and peers alike? I'm surprised he'd even last this long.

The only thing I can ask from you is to please let him finish is last year in your school, let him start over a new leaf in PalmWoods,

Sincerely,
Anonymous"

James read out the letter and immediately his heart sunk for the 4th time today. "Logan was… Abused…?" He gasped, his eyes tearing up again. "That… explains all those gashes, wounds and bruises on his body…" Kendall whispered, all three pair of eyes turned towards him.

"You'll see." He frowned, turning his head away as James glared at him. Kendall kept that a secret from him?!

"Right. I wanted to expel him at first, but seeing how he's excelling his classes… And since he's the only hope you three have of not repeating this year, I'll allow him to stay as long as he doesn't cause any problems. If the school boards hear about this, we'll all be in trouble," The principal explained before dismissing the three of them.

"James…? Where're you going?" Carlos asks, seeing James look down, walking the opposite direction of where their class is supposed to be. "Home." He answered in a low growl, Kendall immediately grabbed his hand.

"Hey, you can't just skip class," Kendall frowned as he looked around, seeing so many photos of Logan's house scattered around. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't skip class. It's gonna be different without Logan," James lifted his head slightly, giving the green-eyed boy a death-glare.

"Logan's gonna need someone to catch him up on all his studies when he wakes up?" Carlos shrugged, Kendall turning towards him with a big shocked face. "Oh! Oh, that's a great idea. We could each focus on different subjects and y'know, actually learn stuff. Then when Logan wakes up, we could take turns helping him catch up! You know how much Logan hates being behind in his studies," Kendall piped up, seeing James shut his eyes and let out a sigh.

"I hate it when you guys come up with good ideas," He growled, turning to the direction where their class was.

~After School…

"That was horrendous," Kendall growled, feeling like his head is gonna explode. "Least' I finally understood what Mitochondria means," Carlos grinned widely, ecstatic that he actually learned something.

Kendall decided to take Physics and Economics, James took Chemistry and Additional Mathematics, Carlos took Biology and English Literature. They figured the rest won't give Logan that much trouble to catch up, since the rest of the subjects are quite easy.

"Let's uh… Let's go see Logie," James sighed as he started the car, Carlos and Kendall nodded. Though since it was their first time actually going to PalmWood's Hospital, it took them a bit of time since Carlos had trouble actually reading the map.

"I should've read the map instead," Kendall huffed as he exit the car, Carlos sticking his tongue out as a reaction. "C'mon," James grabbed both of his friends' arms, rushing into the huge white building.

"Good Afternoon miss, we're here for Logan Mitchell," James said, trying to control the worry in his voice. "Ah, right. He just got out of the ER. Go left, turn right and keep going straight, you should get to the ER soon," She answered, pointing to the left with a polite smile.

"ER? Wait, what happened to him?" Carlos' voice getting more and more panicky, James and Kendall visibly getting more and more worried. "He… He shouldn't need to go to the ER!" James panicked, grabbing both of their arms again. They did their best to control their steps so they wouldn't be running down the white halls, to avoid disturbing others.

As soon as they reach the ER, a doctor comes out with a sigh, seeing the three boys pop up actually startled him. "I'm assuming you're here for Logan Mitchell?" He asked, fixing his glasses.

The three of them nod in unison.

"You're gonna have to wait. He needs to be transferred to another room before you can visit him. Give us about… 15 minutes," The doctor stated, they nod in unison again. "Doctor… Can you tell us what happened to him? I thought he just got exhausted… W-Why is he suddenly in the ER?" James asked, worry filling his voice.

"He was breathing fine in the ambulance, but when he arrived, his lungs collapsed. We had to puncture a hole in his right pectoral to let the air out. That and the muscles on his legs are completely torn. He might not be able to walk at all for about a week," The doctor answered, lifting a brow.

"Exactly what happened to him? This looks like a case of someone who hasn't ran in years, suddenly forced to run and finish a 5km marathon in 30 minutes," The doctor asked, his voce stern.

"It's… A long story. If we had arrived earlier this wouldn't have happened," James explained, partly blaming and scolding himself.

"C'mon James, we'll wait here," Kendall pulled James to the side, gently making him sit down on one of the seats on the side.

~An hour and 45 minutes later…

"Right, you two can go ahead and visit him now. He's been transferred to that room," The doctor pointed to a room a few steps back down the hall before disappearing down the hall. Carlos briefly wondered why it took so long, since the doctor actually said 15 minutes earlier.

"Jamie, Kendall, wake up," Carlos gently shook his two sleeping friends, sighing as Kendall stretched his arms and woke up, James waking up a few seconds after Kendall.

"C'mon," Carlos led the way, his two friends anxiously dragging their steps behind him.

Gently, they pushed the door open, a bit glad to find out Logan actually got a room all to himself instead of having to share it with another patient.

"Logan," James whispered with a broken voice, tears trailing down his cheeks. It pained him to see Logan in this state, though James had to admit.

At that moment in time… He looked like an angel.

~James

"This is all my fault," I whispered, angrily scolding and yelling at myself mentally.

"How is this your fault all of a sudden?" Kendall stood beside me, gently holding my hand.

"If I… If I had hurried up earlier, we could've arrived early. We could've walked in with Logan instead! T-Then he wouldn't have had to run," I continued, practically sobbing into Kendall's shoulder as he hugged me tight.

"James," His voice soft as he rubbed my back, letting out a sigh. "Calm down, okay James? Logan's not gonna die," Carlos added. The thought of Logan actually dying from this sent my brain into a frenzy.

"Is this a bad time?" Camille came into the room, catching all three of them off guard. "Camille…? What are you doing here?" I asked, watching her come closer, carrying a dark-red velvet box.

"Logan ordered this yesterday and it kind of arrived early. I thought I would give it to him today but uh…" She handed the box to me. "Oh and uh, I did some research on Logan's background. The principal told me about him weeks ago," She crossed her arms, "Don't open it yet, I've something to tell you guys," She instructed.

All of our eyes fell upon her, ears perked as our curiosity peaked.

"Right, so first off, Logan ran away from home," She started. Immediately my heartbeat picked up. What would drive someone like Logan to run away from home?

"But it wasn't just a simple 'Oh I'll run away and come back later' thing, no. Logan's been planning this for years. He's been saving up his money, just for this… Plan. I contacted the person who hacked the school systems and transferred him here… And he told me everything," She continued, pausing for a quick breath-break.

"He told me that back at home, Logan was tortured. Mentally, physically and emotionally. The only escape he had then was school, which was just as bad as at home. Bullies and all that. At home, his parents would whip, punch, kick and hit him with various objects just for fun," She stopped again, her eyes fell upon Logan.

With a small frown, she continued. "The person told me that he could hear Logan cry every night in his room. He was forced to do everything in his house, treated like a damn slave," She shook her head after.

The room was silent for a rather long time.

I could feel my body heating up, anger taking over me. All the images of Logan being hurt in various ways… I felt like turning into a beast and murdering his parents.

What parent would have the heart to hurt their child!?

"Right, now you can open the box," She added, a small smile growing on her face.

I did my best to push my anger away, curious about what could possibly be in this box.

Slowly, I open the box and behold… Inside were two silver boyfriend rings, one had a J carved into it while the other had an L carved into it, a small note was also inside the box.

On said note was 'Hope we last' with a cute small heart at the end.

Just like that, all the anger in me just… disappeared.

~Kendall's POV

I watched as the tall boy next to me just broke down in tears, a stupid smile carved onto his face. "I fucking love this idiot, so much," He whispered, covering his mouth as he stared at the two adorable boyfriend rings.

"Logan's way more romantic than you," Carlos rolled his eyes. I raised a brow and smirked, "Oh, is he now?" I asked, a million ideas popped into my head.

Oh yeah, I'll show this shortie how romantic I could get.

"Right, before I go…" She said, her voice changing back into a stern one. "The three of you need to keep an eye on Logan 24/7," She said. Once again, the air in the room became tense.

"Logan didn't know this, but his parents are actually ringleaders of a dangerous mafia back in Michigan. The FBI has already caught wind of this news. Now he's in your care while they do their part to hunt down the two ringleaders," She continued, immediately I felt nervous as fuck.

"Ring…leaders? Like, gang leaders?!" Carlos gasped, trying to control the fear obvious in his voice.

"Yes. Any time now, his parents could pay some assassin or some shit to come get Logan. The FBI's placed you guys under careful watch too. I don't know where, but there'll be eyes watching you guys 24/7 now," She continued explaining. As soon as she did, I immediately felt a pair of eyes on my neck, as if someone was very carefully watching our every movement.

"We'll sacrifice our life if we need to for Logan," James stood his ground firmly, I gulped. "He's gone through enough shit for his entire life. The least we could do is help make sure he could at least live for the rest of his life," Carlos spoke sternly, the fear in his voice was gone already.

How?

Once Camille left, the three of us stood beside Logan's bed, trying to digest all the info we've just received in this one day.

"So… I guess we're gonna have to ask him to move in with us?" I asked, seeing a smirk grow on James' face. "Ask? Ha. We're making him move in with us," James grinned, proposing an idea, "Two of us are gonna go to his house and move all his stuff into the apartment, while one of us stays behind and watch him," James added.

Both of them turned their eyes towards me.

"What? You want me to stay behind?!" I threw my hands up in disbelief. "Well yeah. I doubt you'd be able to lift his heavy things," Carlos rolled his eyes.

He's right.

I mean, I might be athletic, but I'm not really strong.

"Fine. You two better be fast," I watched them disappear, then pulled a chair close to Logan's bed. "Oh Logie, I cannot wait for you to wake up," I sighed, holding his somewhat cold hand. I can't believe he's gone through so much shit!

It explains all the wounds I saw on his body that day…

After a few more seconds of watching the angel's chest rise and fall… I fell asleep.