wow, i'm back! you guys, honestly, i have had the craziest month. i'm busy with classes, moving my sister into a new apartment (again), and work stuff and unfortunately fun stuff like writing easily falls to the wayside.

but despite that you lot have been amazing and your reviews are just incredible. i really appreciate the encouraging ones and the ones that give me a kick in the ass to keep going as well as some of the more hilarious ones that are reacting to the story. you people are all gems. hope this chapter isn't too much of a let down; things are going to get kind of bleh before they get spicy, you know? haha, hope you enjoy!

do whatever it takes

pay whatever the cost

TEN: "you won't like it."

Jay never knew there was truth to the metaphor 'seeing red' until he was pounding across the school grounds searching for the kid he intended to subdue into silence with his fists. As he scanned the crowds of students peering at him with both ridicule and fear, he felt as if he was in one of Carlos' video games, eyeing everyone until he found his target.

He made it inside the grand hall before he felt someone latch on to his left arm. Being on the offensive, his instincts guided him as he pulled away roughly and turned around to drive away the attacker, who at this point could be anyone in this school considering how many enemies he'd made.

But it wasn't just anyone. It wasn't an attacker.

It was Evie.

It was Evie, gasping in surprise and backing away from him.

It was Evie, looking back at him in fear.

Evie.

He instantly recoiled, ashamed at his actions, but the damage had been done. The anger toward Doug had cooled, only to be replaced with the familiar self-loathing that came when he disappointed his best friend. Why did he keep doing that?

"I'm so sorry - I didn't mean to - I thought you were -" he rambled helplessly as she collected herself, hopefully realizing he wasn't a raging lunatic anymore. "Are you okay?"

He touched his hands to her arms and she didn't flinch like he half expected, but her expression was still wary. She knew he would never hurt her, right? She had to. God, if she thought that he would ever hurt her…. The thought made him sick.

"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. His first thought was to check again, but she seemed so bothered by the throngs of students shooting them harsh looks that he resisted. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

He complied quickly with a silent nod, though a large part of him would rather just have given his classmates a piece of his mind. This staring and whispering act was already getting in his nerves. He couldn't imagine how Evie was taking it.

Shooting glares at his gawking peers behind her turned back, he followed Evie into an unlocked classroom. It reminded him too much of the day before, and a sickening anxiety stirred with his rage as he waited for her to begin whatever her reasoning was for stopping him. If it had been anyone else, he'd have already sent Doug to the infirmary, but for Evie he'd at least let her talk.

"Jay, please don't hurt Doug," she pleaded, and he immediately wished he'd changed the subject before she could get to this.

He stepped away, scowling, but she held her ground. "I'm serious, Jay! Beating him up won't solve anything. It will just make things worse."

"No, it will shut him up which is exactly what I want," he argued with her, trying not to look in her eyes. He knew himself well enough to know that he'd give in for sure if he looked in those eyes.

"Jay," She sighed heavily and bowed her head. As soon as he couldn't see those eyes it struck him that maybe looking away was a bad idea. How was he supposed to read her? "I know you're angry that I got your name dragged into this, and believe me I want it all to stop just as -"

"Wait," he interjected sharply, feeling his anger flaring up as he realized she was taking the blame away from that rat again."You didn't get my name dragged into this, okay? Doug made all of this up. This isn't either of our faults. It's Doug's."

"I know, but…" she wavered and glanced up at him briefly. "People wouldn't have believed it so easily if they didn't see us alone together all the time."

"That's not our fault either! We're friends. Hanging out together is what friends do." Reacting quickly gave him less time to think about how she was probably a little bit right. The guys on the team had teased him about her before, clearly misreading their relationship. Of course the student body was doing the same thing.

"I agree. However, the only way to stop these rumors is to stop giving people a reason to believe them. Beating up Doug is only going to start more rumors about us or get you kicked out, which I am not at all okay with!" She crossed her arms defiantly and he had to remind himself to stay in the conversation and not dwell on how adorable she looked when angry.

"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it," he responded lowly, hating that he was giving in. She did have a point about beating up Doug. No doubt someone would turn Jay in and he'd be shipped back to the island in a heartbeat and then he'd be far away from anyone who cared about him at all. If avoiding that was possible he supposed he could give up putting Doug in his place, at least for a little while.

Evie bit her lip, another image that inexplicably threatened to distract Jay from the present situation. But after that small gesture, her arms slackened and her gaze drifted, warning Jay that this solution wasn't going to be favorable.

"You won't like it," she murmured. "I mean, I don't like it either, but -"

"Just tell me," Jay cut in impatiently, having a terrible prediction of what she might be suggesting.

"It's not a big thing, really," she reasoned carefully as she looked up to him, wary. "We just… We have to let the rumors die. We can't give anyone any reason to suspect anything romantic between us."

"Which means?" he questioned slowly.

"Which means...we avoid being seen alone together, for a little while. Just until they all find something else to talk about."

Jay could only stare at her while his mind turned this around. She was wringing her hands together so much they kept changing colors from white with pressure to red with burn. Despite his anger he had the distinct urge to take hold of her hands and stop her worrying, tell her everything would be fine.

Idiot. It was those exact urges that were getting them into this mess.

In the time spent berating himself he missed the point of what she was saying, but he came full circle a few seconds later. That's when the reality of her words hit him like a less than gentle boulder in the gut.

"You don't want to be seen with me?" He stated, short and angry and without the questioning tone the words suggested. Anger was safer than acknowledging what he really felt hearing that from her, and it was certainly more familiar.

"No!" She supplied quickly, stepping toward him and reaching out like she was going to touch his arm. She didn't, though. "That's not what I mean at all. I just think that…the next time we spend time together… maybe we don't spend it alone on the bleachers with half the cheerleading squad glaring at us."

"What are you talking about? This afternoon?" He questioned, losing track of how hanging out with her and seeing the cheerleaders were at all related.

"Yes, this afternoon," she replied, now crossing her arms at her chest, probably to stop her hands from moving. "I'm sure it only made the rumors more believable, especially to those girls. And those girls… Well, what they think matters."

"To who?" he scoffed.

"To me," she answered quietly, looking down to the floor. "I don't want it to, but it does. I want them to think I'm good, like them."

That all too familiar self-loathing you're-an-inconsiderate-jerk feeling sunk into him like a sucker punch. Of course she cared what they thought. Her mother trained her to care about what everyone thought of her. As twisted as it seemed in his mind, it wasn't going away anytime soon; not when it had been drilled into the poor girl since she was a child. He only wished he could make her see that the only opinion of herself that mattered was her own.

He huffed a sigh of defeat and ran a hand through his tangled hair. "Okay, so what's your plan to get them to stop? I'll do whatever you want."

"Really?" Evie's voice carried a note of happiness for once in the last hour and when he looked back to her face she was smiling in awe. Could she really be surprised though? His will power against her was waning by the day.

"Of course," he said transparently and without forethought. "I may not care what any of them think, but I care about you. If you want them to stop, then so do I."

There was a beat of silence, filled only by the feeling of his neck getting strangely warm.

What was he doing just word vomiting his thoughts like that?! No way could he even look at her now, not until this moment of humiliation had passed. Yet the internal debate within him had other ideas, what with something in him screaming to just get outta there while simultaneously daring him to judge her expression.

However, he didn't have much a chance to decide, for in the next moment a surprisingly soft blue hurricane filled his vision, accompanied quickly by two arms crossing tightly around his neck and Evie's whole body weight pressing against him.

At that point his brain switched off like a light and it was all he could do just to wrap his arms across her back and reciprocate this hug she'd sprung on him. Every thought in his head prior to this moment turned to mush and all he knew was the scent of her hair, the softness of her skin, and the rhythm of her breathing against his chest.

Why didn't he hug his best friend more often?

Hours too soon, she pulled away, and it was only then that the world started to come back to him and the answer to that question made sense again.

She was Evie. His best friend. The whole point of this conversation was that they were so close people thought they were secretly dating. Hugging her on a regular basis would definitely be detrimental to the cause and would probably give her the wrong idea about things. Not that she would ever think those things about him, but still, if she did then -

Man, he needed to pull himself together.

Evie cleared her throat awkwardly in the silence, or maybe the awkwardness was only in his head. Regardless, it snapped him out of his dangerous thoughts.

She met his eyes and said sweetly, "Thank you."

Jay only matched her small smile, because his vocal chords were apparently still on lockdown from the surprise hug. However, looking at her face did reveal a faint, but very real redness to her cheeks that reminded him clearly of the time on the bleachers. His small smile grew to a grin involuntarily.

She glanced down again shyly at that and quickly redirected the conversation. "Anyway, my plan is that we avoid hanging out alone around school until everyone gets bored or starts talking about something else."

Jay frowned, his good mood rapidly deflating. Yes, he'd agreed to this, but it still annoyed him.

Probably feeling guilty, Evie tried to force some positivity on the bleak situation. "We can still hang out together with other friends though. And it shouldn't take more than a week. I'm sure it will fly by."

He seriously doubted that.

"What about tutoring? I have that test I need to pass this Friday," Jay reminded her, more thankful than he'd ever admit that he found a loophole in this plan. Not seeing Evie on his own terms for even a week sounded downright awful.

Only because he didn't like being controlled by other people, obviously.

"Well, we can just do the tutoring in your room, where no one will be watching us, like yesterday. Will that work?"

Good. So as long he still needed tutoring he would get to hang out with her. Not quite back to normal, but he guessed he could live with it for a week.

"Yeah. That'll work."

"Great!" She answered with much more enthusiasm than he did. "And Jay, don't worry about that test. We've got all week to prepare. It's only Monday after all."

God, she was right. It was only Monday. His day felt like it lasted a month. This had to be the worst Monday ever, and the week was only going to get worse.

Great.

FAM THEY'RE BREAKING UP! lol just kidding they're just "friends". anywhoooo who's ready for some separation anxiety?

- m.g.