Her best friend was seemingly further away from her very time he turned his back to her and walked away. He was much more closed off, they didn't do their usual hang outs and he wouldn't tell her what was up. The blond was just worried, why was he acting so suspicious, did he get a girlfriend and was hiding it for the time being, maybe feeling a bit shy. All those random escapes he do every now and then after school was definitely suspicious, or the fact that most of the time he was off somewhere during lunch, truly there couldn't be any other explanation. But he didn't have any reason to keep the gal a secret from her; contrary Nazz would love to meet her.

Then concerned consumed the blond as she questioned about what if he was falling too hard for the girl, and forgetting all about their friendship? They were best friends and best friends should be able to tell each other everything, then why wasn't he telling her anything? Pretending like nothing was wrong. This was frustrating to her, she was mad at him, yet she understood that this was his private life and Kevin had the decision of telling her or not. She trusted Kevin to make the right choices in his life, and trust that he wouldn't abandon her for someone else, besides she could tell he was still trying his best to make her know that.

Yes, they didn't talk as much as they did before if it wasn't at school, because it seemed that he was preoccupied and would now respond to her messages much later in the day. It wasn't so much at first but gradually she found that Kevin was always consumed in his own thoughts, sometimes looking sad, other times looking enthusiastic about something. All she could do was watch and pretend she didn't see his pained expressions on those conflicted days, and kept her mouth shut.

Nazz also noticed his physical appearance beginning to look brighter. She could no longer see purple bruises peeking through the edges of his sweater, the eye bags under his tired eyes were disappearing among his now pink fleshy skin. He seemed happier in a peculiar way, and all she wanted to know was what the cause of his change was. Maybe the J's stopped attacking him as it most definitely appeared to be the case, as he never seemed to mentioned Eddward anymore.

Why all the silence though? She pondered sadly.

...

He had become to rely on excuses to get away from his best friend. The ginger was simply too afraid of telling her the truth, but why? Because he knew she would try and talk him out of helping Eddward Vincent. By this point he knew the raven haired bully needed someone by his side, that he wasn't as bad as he presented himself to the public eye. Behind closed doors Eddward was an abandoned kid who needed someone's company and compassion.

For weeks Kevin had kept lying to his friend to sneak away from lunch and go to the library, often times receiving confused messages from her and he didn't know how to respond. He was trying hard to have Eddward not noticed his constant buzzing phone with messages from Nazz, and pretending to go look for a book among the shelves he'd go and respond. He was feeling extremely guilty about lying to her; however he kept on walking her to all her classes, and every day that went by the further upset Nazz seemed to appear. She'd make an attempt to try and get him to spill, and every time he would avoid the matter and she would turn her head away disappointed and become silent.

Kevin sat in the dining table moving his food from one area of the plate to the other, in deep thought. He really wanted to hang out more with Eddward; you know get to know the raven haired better and all but he couldn't abandon Nazz. He knew how she would react to him trying to help the guy. She would try and convince him that Eddward was just lying to him, he knew how she would react and if he did tell her, however the ginger was most afraid of losing his best friend. He couldn't blame her for hating Eddward, she had been a victim once, he had personally hurt her and had the J's beat her many times before Kevin showed up and began to take the beatings for her. Yet how was he supposed to all of a sudden try to make her understand that the bully wasn't what she thought he was.

The ginger sighed leaning his cheek deeper into the palm of his hand. He had been through his thought process over and over again, and only came to the conclusion to try his best at hiding it from his best friend. What about Eddward? Kevin was praying this whole secretly didn't make him feel too guilty.

"Hey buddy what's up?" Kevin looked up at the sound of his father's voice, and realized he had been zoning out in front of him.

"N-nothing really..." The tiny teen lifted his body a bit more straight to make his failed statement seem more believable. Of course, it was a failed statement after all and all he got was a stern stare from his old man clearly saying you're lying to me so Kevin sighed thinking about how to phrase the situation maybe his Dad could give some advice. "Uh well... I've been reading this book at the school library and there is this guy that isn't really in the right path I suppose and the protagonist wants to help the guy out cause he realized there are understandable reasons why the dudes done what he's done, and well it's the right thing to do right" Kevin looked up to his dad hoping he was following along, and at the sight of a simple nod in agreement Kevin got a bit nervous but continued nevertheless

"Well, the protagonist has a best friend who utterly hates the dude and is trying to keep things a secret from her, of helping the guy out I mean, and because of this secret he feels like he's becoming a bit more distant from his best friend. He doesn't even know if he can help to in a way 'fix' the guy's life. I mean the dude is so negative about himself and life in general, it kinda hurts...so what do you think pop? I haven't finished reading the book obviously but it got me thinking and all" he sat back on his chair fiddling with his hands under the table.

Kevin father sighed "Well in a situation like this shouldn't there be trust?" Kevin stared at his father in shock as that word appeared once again. "The protagonists should trust that his so called friend will understand, and if they don't then well too bad because everyone deserves a second chance to renew themselves. But the friend's actions depend on their reasons of hating the struggling guy. If the guy has in fact done terrible, possibly unforgivable things then the protagonist has to understand that his friends opinion will be hard to change, or won't at all. However the friend should also trust that the protagonist is doing the right thing, and should understand they chose to give the bully a second chance. The protagonist should also trust himself, and that the guy will trust him. The moment a person like the guy in the book opens up they have given that person their trust, well at least partially of it but it's a great beginning." Mr Barr smiled softly at the silent reaction of his son; he had always been a terrible liar. "Don't trouble yourself too much little man just finish reading the book and you'll see it will have a happy ending"

"I hope so..." He picked up his fork and continued to eat his breakfast processing his father's words.

...

The day was all the same, it followed the same routine. Kevin met up with Nazz at her locker, chit chat then he walked her from class to class, during lunch they would meet with at her class and they walk together to lunch. The ginger would make up an excuse to leave knowing that Nazz was fine among her other female friends. Then he would usually leave to meet Eddward. This wasn't going to happen today, no not today.

Today the little ginger had slipped Eddward a note in his locker way before anyone was at school letting him know he wouldn't be able to meet up during lunch. Today everything would be like it used to be, however he had to talk to Nazz. He thanked his father for being his father and advising him when he most needed the help.

Kevin met up with Nazz during lunch and reached to grab her hand as a way to reassure her that today he wouldn't leave her, and dragged her out to their usual spot on the football benches. She seemed so surprised at his sudden action, but didn't question it and instead held tightly on to his warm hand and smiled finally feeling at cease. They sat down on the benches and stared out quietly onto the P.E class as they would usually do, continuing to hold hands.

It was a perfect spring afternoon, for eating lunch outside. The grass was green, and flowers at full bloom now with the cheery blossom tree petals scattered beautifully all along the ground. Nazz seemed to enjoy the view very much, her perfectly golden hair dancing among the winds soft waves. Kevin felt nervous about telling her, he hoped she wouldn't react too badly. He felt his hand begin to become a bit sweaty and tried to retrieve his hand, but was held tightly by Nazz who turned with distressed eyes to him. "Kevin, what's wrong…?" she asked praying to god he wouldn't shut her out again.

Kevin could see it in her eyes, she way pleading for a truthful response from him. There was no backing out; she should know, Nazz was his best friend after all. He breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly his breath a bit shaky, his hands holding tightly onto hers. "Nazz..." He began "I'm sorry, I got too caught up with something else, something that is important to me" He looked up to her to see her reaction. "Promise that you won't get mad, Kay?"

Nazz gave him a lopsided smile "why would I get mad at you?"

Kevin ripped his stare from her eyes and focused down on their intertwined hands "Well, it's about...um, Eddward" he whispered out.

He immediately saw how her hands tensed and squeezed his "What's wrong! What did that bastard do now! Damn it Kevin I've told you to tell me these things"

"No, Nazz it not what you think" he tried to calm her down "it's about what he hasn't done actually" he trailed off wanting to explain without giving too much info, well not like he knew many details anyways but he had a good idea.

"What do you mean?" She asked

"...what if, what if there was a reason for all this?" He asked looking straight at her.

"What reason could there be for his actions? For the way the J's beat you! They are natural assholes that's it." She tried to let go of his hands, but now Kevin held it tightly.

"Nazz..." He sighed "I don't know about Jimmy and Johnny but I at least know enough about Eddward to know he doesn't mean it..."

"Mean it! Of course he doesn't mean it Kevin, the way he's been tormenting us and the rest of this fucking school, clearly he doesn't mean it, he just has fun ruling this town" Nazz looked extremely confused at her best friend "what do you know about Vincent? How do you know anything about him?"

"Nazz please calm down, he's... He's not what he seems; you know that saying about how not to judge a book by its cover...it's kinda like that" The ginger gave a small squeeze to her slightly trembling hand who in response ripped it away.

"Alright I won't judge his cover then let's take a look at his contents shall we! In middle school he'd get into trouble with his old friends, the Ed's, he'd be the brains behind their stupid shit that always ended up with someone hurt. He would beat his ex-Marie Kanker! And since High school he's been beating on everyone at school, and may I remind you, he personally nearly killed me when I tried to talk last year!" Nazz had stood up in a rage "Clearly it seems you know more than me about Eddward Vincent but I'm the one who has grown up watching his reign of terror this entire time. The reason you never knew anything about that monster was because you were going to school on the other side of town until high school Kevin!"

Kevin looked shocked at her rage, he had forgotten that Nazz had attended school with Eddward since elementary. "...look maybe I don't know a whole lot, but he's broken, been broken for a long time Nazz... He needs me" he looked up carefully at the blond.

"Needs you..?" She breathed out confused "Is this where you have been disappearing to this entire month? Have you been meeting with him" She asked more baffled than ever.

"Yeah"

She kneeled down and grabbed his slender arms "Kevin is he-"

"No Nazz you're not listening to me, he hasn't done anything, he hasn't laid a hand on me nor has he been forcing me to do anything" Kevin interrupted her knowing what she was worried about. "I just don't want to lie to you anymore"

"You have been lying to me this entire time..." She let go of his arms "you've never let me see or know how bad your wounds are from the beatings, how is this any different? What if you're lying to me again" Nazz looked down at her hands "How can I trust that you are telling me the truth? You can't trust him Kevin, he'll be the death of you"

"Then I'll start digging my grave..." he gave her a somberly smile "But please don't go, I need you"

She returned as sad smile to him and leaned closed to be engulfed in his arms "I don't know what I'd do without you"

They sat there in silence leaning into each other's presence. Nazz was certain nothing good could come from being around Eddward. Kevin didn't know what he was getting into and was sure that the raven haired was going to harm the little ginger; she however wasn't going to let that happen. Kevin always tried to seem stronger than he was, and she knew even he had his limits. The only reason Kevin started getting picked on was because of Nazz, and now it was her duty to free him of this problem.

...

Kevin watched his small feet step in front of the other, the air hitting his shoe lace which bounced with every step. His bag was heavy today, maybe with the amount of textbooks he needed to take home for that week. He heard the sound of familiar footsteps fill his hears, and then came into sight. They were shoes that were most likely twice his size, he stared at every detail of the shoes noticing that they were oddly very neat and clean. Every step they took seem to leave a trail of needles behind, they were such graceful yet painful footsteps. He realized that the pair had stopped in their tracks and turned to his direction as if waiting for him.

The ginger delicately looked up to see a pair of long legs attached to the shoes, and then a firm slender chest with broad shoulders hidden behind a long sleeved shirt. A bit further up and he saw a beautiful exposed neck that lead him to meet with those familiar dark blue gemstones.

Eddward Vincent.

Kevin was well aware that this boy was more than meets the eye…

…

ok so clearly the whole posting once a week didn't go as planned lol

Sorry it's just that two of my classes are essay based, so it's a bit hard for me to get motivated on writing when feeling exhausted.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hope it wan't too bad. We are getting closer to a plot i really want to get to already!

Please leave a review on your thoughts/ feelings/ predictions, i enjoy reading them very much & look forward to the next time i update! :3

Hope you have a lovely Day/Night xoxo