The break up with Derrick was quite rough, however I managed to keep my head up high when I entered the school on Monday. I wasn't sure if people knew or not. I only told my closest friends, including Chad because he kept asking so many questions I nearly exploded. Gaby was the only one of them who knew the whole truth, meaning why we broke up. She felt sorry for even encouraging me to go out with Derrick, but it wasn't her fault. It was my fault. I was so blinded by his looks, that for a moment there I lost my common sense. However, that was over. I had him off my back and I was single again. At first I was sad, but after a week it started feeling really good. Except for one little detail. I had no idea why, but every time I was passing by, people either gave me strange looks or giggled. I tried to ignore it, but it really bothered me.

'Hey guys' I said as I sat down at the table with Gaby and Troy.

'Hey Tay, what took you so long?' Gaby asked.

'There was a line… as usual. I just came too late.'

'It's always better to come here at one. If you come here at least 5 minutes later, it's crazy' Troy explained.

'Yeah, thanks for the tip' I snapped. I was a bit irritated, but what Troy said had nothing to do with it.

'Sorry…' he said quietly.

'What's wrong Tay?' Gaby asked. She had a concerned look on her face, because she knew I'd never snap at Troy like that.

'I don't know...' I said. I unwrapped my sandwich and looked at it. 'It's just that… Every time I pass by, people give me these funny looks…'

'Why?'

'I don't know!' I rested my head on my hand. 'It's like I did something wrong…'

Chad walked up to us and sat next to me.

'What's up guys?' He smiled, but his facial expression changed when he saw all of us were serious. 'Yo, what's wrong? Who died?'

'Something is wrong…' Gaby said and looked at me.

'You okay Taylor?' he asked.

'Yeah, I'm fine… Just… Chad, why is everyone giving me funny looks?' I asked. He raised his eyebrows.

'I don't know. Is everyone really doing that?'

'Yes! Almost the whole school! And I have no idea why!'

'Hmm… I didn't hear any gossips recently… At least none of them had anything to do with you. What about you guys?' He looked at Troy and Gaby. They both shook their heads. 'Then I'll try to find out and let you guys know.'

'Thanks' I said quietly.

'No problem Tay.' He smiled. 'Now stop worrying and eat your sandwich before I take it' he said jokingly, but I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

'You want it?' I asked. He stopped smiling.

'What's it with?' he asked slowly.

'Tuna.'

'Is that one of those amazing tuna sandwiches your mom makes?'

'I guess… You want it?' I asked again. He hesitated for a moment, and then he picked up the sandwich, broke it into two parts and put one part in front of me.

'It's more fair like that.' He smiled and he bit his half of the sandwich.

'If you say so…' I looked away. I caught Gaby looking at me. She smirked and I just shook my head. She was still on about that Chad thing. She still thought he was "the guy" who liked me.

After classes I was waiting for my dad. I was in a bad mood and I didn't feel like going home by myself. When he finished the practice, we went to his office. He had to wait for all the guys to change and leave so he could lock the gym.

'How was school today?' he asked me. He was sitting at his desk and I was sitting on the chair right in front of him.

'It was okay. I got an A on my chemistry test.'

'Congrats!'

'It's okay dad, after all these years you can stop acting surprised every time I get an A.' I smiled and he laughed.

'Oh come on, doesn't matter how many times you get one, it matters that you keep getting them.'

'I guess.'

The guys kept passing by my dad's office saying "Bye coach" and he replied to every single one of them. I looked down at the ground. When I was sitting and watching them practice, most of them gave me those funny looks again. I still had no idea what that was about.

'Hey pops, I'm ready' someone said. I looked up and saw Tony. He looked down at me. 'Why didn't you go home already?'

'Didn't feel like going by myself' I said.

'Why, what's wrong?' he asked. I gave him a confused look.

'Why are you asking?'

'I don't know, I'm trying to make a conversation?'

'Stop it, you're freaking me out' I said.

'Oh, sorry princess. Sorry I dared to talk to her majesty' he said sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at him and he just started mimicking me. My dad sighed.

'Stop it you two!' he said strictly. 'You are in high school, it's about time you two started controlling…' he stopped talking.

'Dad?' I asked.

'Shhh…' He looked in the direction of the locker room. 'You guys hear that?'

Tony and I looked at each other and started listening carefully. After a second I heard some guys yelling and cheering. The sounds were coming from one of the changing rooms.

'What the hell?' My dad got up from his chair. 'Tony, come with me.'

They ran out of the office.

'Hey! Hey! Cut it off! Right now!' I heard my dad yell. I knew he wanted me to stay in the office, but the curiosity was pulling me towards the changing room. I got up and ran there. I stopped at the door and saw my dad holding Chad and Tony holding Derrick. They were surrounded by a group of guys. Derrick's nose was bleeding and his face was all red. I looked at Chad and saw that he was bleeding from his lips and his brow was cut. They obviously got in a fight.

'What the hell is going on here?' my dad yelled. 'What the hell is wrong with you two?'

Neither of them answered, they just kept looking at each other with furious looks on their faces.

'Derrick, go see the nurse. I'll be there in a moment.'

Tony hesitated for a second, but he let Derrick go. He sort of pushed him away. Derrick looked at Chad, chuckled and grabbed his T-Shirt. No one saw me there, so I just hid behind the wall. Derrick walked right past me without even noticing me. My dad let Chad go once Derrick was out of sight.

'What the hell?' dad asked Chad. My father was furious. Chad looked down. He was silent. 'We'll talk later' my dad said in a serious tone. He looked around the changing room. 'What the hell are you all looking at? Home!'

'Yes sir' the guys said as if they were synchronized. They grabbed their stuff and walked out of the room, leaving only dad, Chad and Tony in there. My dad sighed heavily.

'Danforth, my office! Now! Wait for me there!' he yelled and he stormed out. He bumped into me on his way out. I was scared he'd yell at me, but surprisingly he did not. 'Taylor, could you maybe take care of Chad?'

'Yeah, sure' I said.

'Good. Thanks' he said and he headed towards the nurse's office.

'Man, what happened?' Tony asked Chad.

'Nothin'…' he replied. He put his T-Shirt on and made his way to dad's office. Tony and I followed him.

'Then why'd you beat up Martin?' Tony continued his interrogation.

'Cause he deserved it…' Chad answered as he fell on the chair. I opened one of the cupboards and took out the first aid set. I put it on my dad's desk and opened it.

'What did he do though?'

'Never mind.' Chad looked down. I stood in front of him and looked at his face. His lip was still bleeding pretty badly.

'Look at me' I said. I needed him to lift his head up so I could clean his wounds.

'Why?' he asked, but he did it anyway. 'What are you gonna do?'

'Help you' I replied and handed him a piece of gauze. 'Put it to your lip.'

'Okay' he said and he did what I told him. As soon as he touched his lip, he jumped up in the chair. 'Man, this hurts! What is that?'

'Water with 6% of Hydrogen peroxide… It will clean your wounds.'

'But it hurts!'

'Don't be a baby' I said. I took his hand and I forced him to touch his lips. 'It will stop hurting in a moment.'

'Yeah Chad, you beat up Martin but you can't stand some burning on your lip?' Tony teased him.

'Shut up!' Chad said. I laughed.

'Let me see your brow now' I said and I twisted his head a little so that I could see it. 'Hmmm… It's cut.'

'No way' Chad mumbled. I gave him an angry look. 'Sorry… why are you doing this? Why didn't I go to the nurse?'

'Because, unlike some people, I finished the first aid course back in junior high. Plus, why would you go to the nurse if you can scream like a baby here?' I smiled and Tony laughed. God, did I love teasing Chad like that.

'Very funny' he said. He rolled his eyes and put the gauze away from his lip. He looked at it. 'Damn, he hit me real hard.'

'Not as hard as you hit him' someone said. It was my dad. He walked into his office.

'Dad, do you think he'll need a stitch?' I asked. My father looked at Chad's brow.

'No, he'll be fine' he said.

'Okay then, band aid it is' I said and I reached for one.

'Give him a bigger one, he's still bleeding' my dad advised me.

'Sure.' I took out a big band aid and stuck it onto Chad's brow. 'You look lovely' I said jokingly. He just gave me an annoyed look. I put the first aid set back into the cupboard and stood next to Tony.

My father took a deep breath and looked at Chad.

'What happened? Why did you two fight?' he asked.

'I can't tell…' Chad looked down. My dad leaned against his desk.

'You have to, because I need to tell his parents why you broke their kid's nose.'

Chad looked up. 'Really?'

'Yeah. The nurse said it was broken, he's at the principal's office, waiting for his parents to pick him up and get him to a hospital. It's pretty bad.'

'Well, he had it comin…' Chad mumbled.

'Excuse me?' dad asked. Tony and I stood there in silence, waiting for Chad to answer.

'I mean… I wanted to hit him, but not to break his nose.'

'Why did you hit him?'

'Um…' Chad looked up at dad. He hesitated for a moment. 'He said… something.'

'What did he say?'

'I can't tell, coach. It was somethin' bad…'

'So he provoked you?'

'Not directly… Just what he said made me mad. I told him to shut up and then we started arguing…'

'And then you started punching each other, huh?'

'Yeah… I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking.'

'Oh, I know you weren't thinking. Who does that?'

Chad looked down. 'I'm sorry…'

'What did Derrick say?' I asked dad. He looked at me. He must have forgotten Tony and I were still there.

'He didn't say much either… Danforth, I'm gonna try my best to stand up for you, even though you're not really helping me. I just hope you had a good reason to deal with Martin like that.' Dad got up and looked down. 'I'm gonna talk to your mother today, I will need her to come to school, is that okay?'

'Yeah…' Chad said quietly.

'Okay. Go get your stuff now.'

Chad got up and left the office in silence.

When we got home, my dad went over to Chad's house to talk to his mother. He told her what happened and that she had to come to school the next day to face Derrick's parents. Ms Rossi was upset; she couldn't believe that Chad got into a fight. To be honest, everyone was shocked. Chad wasn't one of those guys who got into fights easily. No matter how hard one tried, one could merely provoke him. That's why all of us knew that whatever Derrick told him, it must have been really bad and probably personal.

The next day at school everyone was talking about what happened between the guys. One of the guys from the team must have blabbed out that I was there, because everyone kept gossiping that I was a part of it. Again, just like with the Chad-Maya thing, I was involved for no reason.

We, meaning Gaby, Troy and I were sitting in front of the school, waiting for Chad. He was still in the principal's office, together with his mother, Derrick, his parents and my dad.

'What do you think is happening?' Troy asked.

'I don't know' Gaby answered. 'Probably they are just talking… accusing Chad.'

'It's not his fault though' I said.

Gaby sighed. 'I know… It's so unfair. Everyone thinks Chad is the bad guy.'

'Well, he did attack Derrick… and he doesn't wanna say why' Troy pointed out.

'Danforth is not like that' someone said. We all turned around and saw Tony. 'He wouldn't hit anyone for no reason.'

'Did he tell you what happened?' I asked.

Tony shrugged. 'Nope. He didn't wanna.'

'From what I heard Derrick didn't want to say anything either' Troy said.

Tony walked up to us. 'No wonder. He's guilty, he's obviously not gonna say shit.'

'What about the guys that were in the locker room?' I asked.

'Two of them are Derrick's friends so they are not gonna say anything. The rest of the guys didn't hear what they were talking about, they just saw them fight' Tony answered. I sighed.

'If Chad only said what Derrick said to him, everything would be different…' I said.

'True that' Gaby agreed.

Finally, the entrance door opened. We saw Derrick walking out with his parents. We all avoided eye contact. When he passed by, he looked down at his feet. We all pretended we did not see him, except for Tony. I swear, if I didn't grab his arm, he'd go after Derrick. Even if his parents were there.

'Calm down' I told him. He just shook my hand off.

A moment later we saw Chad walking out with his mother. He had his hands in his pockets and he was listening to his mom talk. He had his head down. They stopped about 30ft away from us. Chad looked at us and he waved his hand.

'Do you understand?' his mother asked.

'Yeah, I do' he replied.

'I need to go back to work now. On my way there I can drop you off at home.'

'No, it's fine. I'll stay with them… can I?' he looked at her. She looked at us and then back at him. She sighed.

'Yes, you can. Just don't stay too long. I want you home when I come back from work, is that clear?'

'Yes ma'am.'

'Good. Your father's plane lands in 30 minutes, I don't want him waiting in front of the locked door.'

'Okay, I'll be there on time.'

'Good. I'll see you at home' she said. She did something, something in between patting and rubbing his back and she headed over to her car. Chad watched her walk away as he slowly walked up to us.

'Hey' he said quietly. We all replied in the same tone. He seemed depressed and none of us wanted to jump on him with questions… except Tony of course.

'So what happened?' he asked.

'Nothing' Chad answered. 'Long story short, they suspended me from the team.'

'What?' we all asked at once. It was a big shock. We couldn't imagine Chad off the team.

'Don't worry, it's temporary' Chad explained. We made some space for him on the bench and he sat in between me and Gaby.

'For how long?' Troy asked.

'Till either of us says why we got in a fight' Chad replied and looked down.

'Okay, then just go there and tell them what Derrick said' Tony suggested.

'I won't!' Chad bit his lower lip, which was still swollen. 'I wanna give that bastard a chance to admit to what he said.'

'Man, you know he'd never to that!' Tony cried. 'He's a freaking coward! You're just doing him a favor by staying quiet.'

'Tony's right' I said. 'You should tell.'

'You don't understand. I don't wanna repeat what he said.'

'Well man, then they will just keep you suspended from the fucking team. And I know and you know and Troy knows and the girls know and everybody knows the team needs you' Tony said. He was clearly irritated by Chad's attitude.

Chad was silent. He kept looking down at the ground.

'What about Derrick, how did they punish him?' Gaby asked.

'They suspended him too' Chad replied.

'Oh please!' Troy whined. 'That's not a punishment for him! He's not as engaged in the team as Chad is. Martin's there only for the girls' he explained. I looked down. Wow, where was my brain when I dated that guy?

Tony was getting more irritated with every minute. 'Wait, and my father allowed this?' he asked Chad.

'He did try to fight for me… He said the team needed me the most, but the principal didn't want to listen to that' Chad said.

'Man, this is bullshit!' Tony exclaimed and kicked his bag. Even though no one said anything, we agreed with him. 'You know what, fuck this. I'm getting out of here.' He walked up to his bag and picked it up.

'Where are you going?' I asked him.

'Meet my friends. I'll be home on time, no need to cover up for me.' He put his bag on and walked up to Chad. 'Don't worry man, we'll get you out of this.' He messed his hair up and walked away.

'Tony's right man. Everything will be fine' Troy said and got up. 'You'll see.'

'Yeah, I guess' Chad said quietly. He was still looking at the ground.

'Don't worry' Gaby said and she rubbed his back. So far everyone was comforting him except for me.

Troy and Gaby looked at me. I guessed it was my turn to say something, but I didn't want to. Instead I pretended I had no idea what they wanted me to do. However, Gaby had another plan.

'Look at the time!' she said while looking at her watch. 'Troy and I better get going. He needs to be home before dinner and he promised to walk me home.'

'Really?' Troy asked. He seemed confused. Gaby gave him "a look".

'Yeah, don't you remember?'

'Um…' he stuttered. He looked at her puzzled, trying to figure out what she was trying to do. He finally got it. 'Oh yeah! I did! Now I remember. Yeah, let's go.'

'Okay then' Gaby said and she got up. 'Bye guys.'

They walked away. I was watching them and I saw Gaby punch Troy on the arm. I smiled to myself.

'What was that all about?' Chad asked. He looked up at me.

'I don't know… They are just weird' I said and I looked at him. I noticed blood soaked through the band aid on his brow. 'You're bleeding. Lean back.' I put my hand on his chest and I pushed him back so that his back was touching the backrest. He gave me a funny look.

'Am I really?' he asked and he reached to his band aid. I slapped his hand.

'Don't touch it! You'll make it worse.'

'It was dry yesterday…'

'Yeah, well you were leaning forward and that's why. Just stay like this.'

'Okay… Hey, do you also think I did a wrong thing? You know, for not telling your dad and the principal what Derrick said?' he asked and looked at me. I sighed.

'I don't think you did the wrong thing, but you should tell them what happened. After all, you're the only one who is actually getting punished and that's not fair, because it's not your fault.'

'I guess you're right.'

'Oh no, Chad. You can't guess, because I'm always right' I said and smiled. He laughed.

'Oh yeah, how could I forget?'

'Anyways, what could Derrick say to make you blow up like that?' I asked. He looked away.

'You don't wanna know…'

'Well maybe if you don't wanna tell my dad or the principal, I thought it would be easier if you told me?'

'Oh, that wouldn't make it any easier, trust me…'

'Okay then… But you gotta do something about it. The team needs you.'

'The team is fine…' he said and looked at me.

'No it's not. And if they lose the championship, Derrick won't be your only trouble' I said jokingly. He smiled.

'Oh really?'

'Yeah, you'll have me on your back' I said and smiled. He chuckled.

'You need to find other ways to scare me, because I wouldn't mind having you on my back' he said and looked into my eyes. I blushed and looked away. He chuckled again and looked at the school.

'If your team loses, I'll punch you' I said without looking at him.

'And what happens if we win?' he asked and looked at me. I looked back at him.

'I don't know, what do you want me to do?'

'Hmmm, let's see… I can have you do anything?' he asked. He had a silly smile on his face.

'Something doable' I said.

'Right… Hmmm, if I had Taylor McKessie as my slave, what would be the one thing I'd make her do…?' He pretended to be thinking. I hit him on the arm.

'Get serious!' I said and he laughed.

'Okay, okay! I'm just kidding. By the way, punching me is your prize if you win the bet! It's unfair if you hit me now!'

'Trust me, that hit was nothing compared to me punching you' I said in a sweet voice. He laughed again.

'Alright. If my team wins the championship, therefore I win this bet… I want a kiss. A kiss from you.'

My heart stopped for a second. I was shocked and I had no idea how to respond. As much as I wanted to start blushing again, I decided to stop myself and pretend like I didn't care much.

'Really? You could have me do anything, and you choose that?' I asked with fake disbelief. He smiled.

'Yeah. It's because that's that one thing I'll never have you do. Seriously, would ever you kiss me if you didn't have to?' he asked. Again, I had to pretend like I didn't care. I acted like I was thinking about it.

'No, I wouldn't' I replied. Back then I wasn't quite sure, but today I know I lied.

'See? And if I can get Taylor McKessie to kiss me, I can do anything' he said and smiled. Poor thing, thought I'd never kiss him. Boy, was he wrong.

'Alright then. If you win, you get a kiss… But if you lose, I get to punch you' I summarized.

'Deal?' he asked and pulled his hand out. I looked at his hand and then at him.

'Deal' I said and firmly shook his hand. When we let our hands go, we both looked in different directions. Also, we both had these huge smiles on our faces.

I kept staring at the parking lot and thinking about what just happened. Chad Danforth just told me he wanted me to kiss him and I couldn't help, but smile. There was something between us and it wasn't that we liked each other or anything. We were just able to sit there, after he told me that, like nothing happened. Zero awkwardness. I wasn't sure whether he wanted the kiss because he liked me or just because he wanted me to do what he told me to, but either way I didn't mind.

My daydreaming was interrupted by someone walking towards us. That someone wasn't just a random person, it was someone we both knew. At first I couldn't recognize who it was, but as he was approaching us, my memory became clearer.

'Chad, is… is that your dad?' I asked. He turned his head in the direction of the parking lot and looked at the man. He smiled.

'Yeah, that's him!' he replied and got up. The man laughed as soon as he saw that we noticed him.

'There is no surprising you, is there?' he asked. Chad walked up to him and hugged him.

'What are you doing here?' he asked after pulling away. Mr. Danforth laughed.

'Hello to you too, son. Nice to see you too, son. I'm great, thanks for asking' he said jokingly. I have to tell you, I was looking at them and the resemblance between those two was scary… in a good way.

'Sorry, just… mom said your plane was landing like right now. I thought that by the time you get from the airport I'd be home' Chad explained.

'Right now? I told your mother I'd be landing at 2:30, not 3:30… She must have mixed it up.'

'I guess…'

'Your mother's busy all the time, can't blame her for making a small mistake' Mr. Danforth said and smiled.

'Yeah… Good thing Taylor and I sat here for a while. Normally we'd be home right now… you wouldn't find me here.'

'Taylor?' Chad's father asked. He finally noticed me standing on the side. He walked up to me and looked at me carefully. 'Taylor? Taylor McKessie?'

'Yes sir' I replied politely. He raised his eyebrows.

'Taylor, for God's sake, you changed so much. I swear I'd never recognize you. Last time I saw you was… what, 5 years ago? You two were 11 then. Your parents invited us for dinner. I remember Chad and your brother were chasing you around with water guns… Remember that?'

'Yeah' Chad and I replied. Mr. Danforth smiled.

'These two didn't change a bit, but you from a little girl grew into a young, beautiful woman' he said and smiled. I blushed a little.

'Thank you' I said quietly.

'Come on kids, I'll drive you home!' Mr. Danforth said. We walked up to his car and got in. Chad and I sat in the back.

'Nice car dad' Chad said and looked around. It was a SUV, quite spacious.

'Yeah, well apparently at the airport they had nothin' else. I think they lied to me just to get me to rent this one. A bit pricey, however it's comfortable.'

'It's fine… though I like your car more' Chad admitted and smiled.

'Thank you. Now, are you going to tell me what's up with the band aid?' Mr. Danforth asked as he started the car. Chad looked down.

'I got in a fight…'

'That much I know, your mother told me. But why?'

'Because that one guy is a dickhead…'

'Chad! Watch your language! Especially when you're around a lady!'

'Sorry' Chad said and looked at me. I smiled.

'It's okay' I replied.

'They also suspended me from the team today' Chad continued. 'I broke the guy's nose.'

Mr. Danforth raised his eyebrows. 'And why would you do that, son?'

'Because of something he said dad. And it was bad and that's why I had to hit him.'

'I hope you had a good reason to break his nose though.'

'Don't worry, I did…' Chad said and looked out of the window. When we stopped at red light, Mr. Danforth looked at Chad through the mirror. You see, Chad's parents were completely opposite people. His mother was strict and serious, while his dad was funny, laid back and full of understanding. He saw that the topic made Chad sad and decided to change it.

'Anyways, how was school today? I heard you improved your grades Chad.'

'Yeah, I did, only because Taylor agreed to help me out. Without her help I wouldn't be able to do it' he said and looked at me. I smiled and looked away. I had enough of all that eye contact for one day.

'Really? And how is he doing Taylor?' Mr. Danforth asked.

'He's actually doing a lot better than before… He's just really lazy' I replied. Mr. Danforth chuckled.

'Oh, tell me something I don't know.'

'Wow, thanks dad!' Chad said and we all laughed.

We stopped in front of Chad's house. I thanked Chad's dad for giving me a ride and I went home. I had a lot of thinking to do.

Taylor M.

Yay! So thatw as the 13th Chapter! I hope you guys liked it! :)

I know it was a bit long, but I hope no one fell asleep while reading! ;)

Feel free to review! I'd love to know what you guys think!

~TheCreativePenguinLover

P.S. I will be moving at the beginning of next week, so I'm not sure whether I will be able to update next weekend, since we have no Internet there... BUT I'll try my best to fine a way to update. :)