Chapter 2

James was 5 years old. Around him were rambunctious shouts, torn wrapping paper, and all the other makings of a birthday party. His kind-of friend (kind-of because James only played with him sometimes), Buddy Simmons, was turning 5 today. James liked Buddy, but sometimes he could be so boring.

James had eaten 2 slices of cake and was going in for his third one. He was bored, and when he was bored he ate. And the cake was delicious. He'd given Buddy his gift (a new car video game his mom let him pick out himself) and was watching as the other kids continued to come up to Buddy and shower him with more.

James was in preschool and he had a bunch of friends. But they were all like Buddy; sometimes he enjoyed their presence but sometimes he just wanted to be without them. He had occasional playdates with them and got invited to their parties.

Someone accidentally bumped into him from behind, and James gasped as his face was shoved into the cake none-too-gently. He felt tears forming in his eyes. He didn't want people to see him with cake in his face. And his mom wasn't even here- only Buddy's mom was here with all the boys.

"Woah! James got cake in his face!" Buddy shouted, pointing at James's face. A bunch of kids turned to look, which made James feel stupid. He probably looked stupid with so much cake on his face. Sweat dripped down his face, because the bounce house was sticky and hot when he was in there earlier and the smell of sweat was still in his nostrils.

He burst into tears without meaning to. All the kids around him stopped and stared.

"Why is he crying?"

"What happened to him?"

"Cool! He got cake all over him!"

James sat on the bench, tears streaming down his face. None of the kids offered a napkin or anything to help him clean the cake off. He didn't want to move, he just sat there and sniffled and cried. Buddy gave him a weird look.

It felt like forever before he heard the voice.

"Are you okay?"

James glanced up at the voice. A blonde-haired boy with a ruddy face stood next to him, staring at him. His cheeks were red, probably from jumping around in the bounce house. His green eyes glinted in the sun as he looked at James. But he wasn't giving him a weird look like Buddy and all the other kids were; he looked at him in a nice way.

James reached up to wipe his eyes, but then stopped himself. "N-no." He got out.

The other boy reached over to the end of the table and grabbed a wad of napkins. He handed them to James. "Maybe you can clean it up, then you'll probably feel better." He said it with so much confidence, James couldn't help but believe it.

James nodded and grabbed the napkins. He wiped his face off, and the other boy kept handing him napkins until all the cake (and tears) were gone from his face.

The boy sat down beside him, giving him a pointed look, his eyes concerned and intense-looking. "You all better?"

James nodded. "Thank you." His mother had told him to say "thank you" whenever someone did something nice for him. What the boy had done was nice.

The boy grinned at him, reaching up to wipe the sweat off his face. His blonde hair was practically soaked with sweat, but still the boy had a big smile. "How'd that happen, anyways?"

"I… I was eating cake, but then someone ran into me and my face got in the cake." James said quietly. He looked up. "I don't want people to see me with cake in my face." He said, louder this time.

The boy laughed, the sound bright and clear. "I think cake in your face is pretty cool. You don't even need to eat off the plate." Which did actually make sense, the more James thought about it. The more the happy blonde-haired boy spoke, the more okay James felt about the whole cake incident.

"I'm Kendall." The boy piped up, sticking his hand out. James looked at him, slowly reaching his hand out too. They shook hands like people did in the movies.

"James."

James thought when he woke up, he would feel at least a little better.

But the pain was still there. It hurt like heck, but it was mostly his face. His body felt fine, but his face was on fire.

He cracked open one eye hesitantly and shut it immediately. He blinked a couple of times until he could open his eyes all the way.

His three friends were sitting in chairs across from where he was laying. The curtains were pulled half-way, but James could still make out their figures. Carlos had his legs pulled up against his chest, and he looked like he was crying. Kendall and Logan sat on either side of him.

"Carlos, James is fine. He's still alive, right?" Logan said, snapping a bit. Logan panicked when he was stressed, and his panic could manifest itself in snapping out at others. James hated being the cause of it.

Kendall gave Logan a look, making a horizontal slicing motion in front of his throat as a warning to tone it down. Carlos's eyes welled up with tears that he tried to wipe away. James felt his heart clench; Carlos was the most sensitive guy he knew. But James knew Carlos hated disappointing his friends; he would even force himself to stop crying if it meant Logan wouldn't be irritated at him. "I-I know. I'm sorry…" He mumbled softly, sniffling. His eyes were downcast to the floor until Kendall put a hand on his back.

"Hey, no need to apologize. We're all a bit stressed out, and it's okay to be worried about James. But the doctor said he should be waking up soon." The blonde gave Carlos a small smile, and Carlos visibly relaxed.

James cleared his throat. The three turned to look at him, their eyes widening. "James?" Logan asked slowly. "Are you awake?"

James opened his mouth to speak but closed it quickly when a piercing pain shot through him, inadvertently letting out a small whimper. He was all too aware of how pathetic he sounded. Logan stood up, rushing over to his side. He pressed on something near James's bedside, and in about a minute James felt something he'd never felt before.

Complete and utter bliss. The pain he felt in his mouth washed away, leaving a bright beach with beautiful white sand with no blood or pain or aching. He could open his mouth with no problem. He forgot all about sounding pathetic and laying half-naked on a hospital bed with a thin gown.

"Hey, guys." His voice was a bit groggy, but the three other boys were ecstatic nonetheless.

"James! You're awake!" Carlos squealed, his tears long forgotten. Kendall gave him a smile. Logan looked relieved.

"The doctors gave you some morphine. For the pain." Logan explained, gesturing to the small plastic tube that was sticking out of the sleeve of his blue and white-striped hospital gown. "We're not supposed to hit it. If you feel pain, just hit that button and it'll up the dose."

James nodded. That morphine was like magic. It was like heaven. He could feel the needle inside his arm, and he hated needles. In any other situation, he would have freaked out and perhaps even fainted. But with the morphine running through his system like water, he felt none of that. Who cared about needles anyway? He felt no anxiety, no pain, no worries- when was the last time he'd felt like that?

James had a good life, he didn't deny that. He knew he took a lot of things for granted. But he wanted perfect- he always strived to be the best- the best-looking, the best hair, the best teeth… the list went on and on. He had to be the best, or else what would he be?

Just another 17-year-old boy living in Minnesota. There were thousands upon thousands of those. He didn't want to be just anyone- he wanted to be someone.

But forget about all of that. Right now he was fine just being, as strange as that was.

He saw his three friends give each other a look. "What… what happened?" He asked slowly. Logan and Carlos immediately looked towards Kendall, who was captain of their hockey team on the ice and the leader of their group off the ice.

"Some jerk checked you from behind. You smashed your face pretty hard into the boards. The doctor said something about your tooth intruding into your mouth." Kendall explained, watching James to see his reaction. But James was feeling so light and blissful he didn't even care. It was just a tooth, who cares?

"He said you need surgery." Carlos blurted out. Kendall and Logan both slapped him in the chest, chiding him softly. Carlos looked down guiltily.

James smiled at him. "It's okay, guys." He said. "I'm okay." The three gave each other a somewhat disbelieved look. The no-morphine James would have screamed, the anxiety and panic filling inside of him at the thought that his face was going to be messed with.

But right now, James was okay. In fact, he was great.

"So what we're going to do is put your tooth back where it's supposed to be. See, right now your tooth is stuck through the top part of your mouth and gums. We have to get it out of there and…"

James stared up at the ceiling as the doctor explained his procedure to him. The morphine in his system made him feel like he was floating around in space. He almost giggled but remembered that there were multiple people in the room, including his doctor and nurses. His friends weren't allowed to be in his room before his procedure. They were outside waiting until James was done with his surgery.

"You okay, James?" The doctor asked. He said his name was Dr. Yu. He looked to be in his 40s, Asian and fit. His black hair was gelled perfectly, and James even felt a bit jealous. He could only wonder how his hair looked right now. But instead of the familiar anxiety that overwhelmed him when he even thought some part of him looked less than perfect, all he felt was that same happiness. He looked back down to the doctor.

"Yeah, thank you, Dr. Yu." James said, a smile cracking out at the doctor's name. Dr. Yu nodded and mumbled some things to the nurses beside him, then turned back to James.

"We'll be back in 30 minutes and wheel you into the operating room. It should be over in less than an hour. Sound good?"

James nodded and smiled again at him. The smile came easily, like it was begging to be let out. "Yep. See you soon."

He looked at himself in a handheld mirror his friends had left by his bedside, knowing that James was always one to keep up appearances- even before surgery. He lifted it to his face.

The first thing he noticed were the stitches. No one had mentioned he'd had to get stitches (or perhaps Dr. Yu mentioned it when James was riding the waves of the morphine). Short black lines ran vertically down his right cheek, and the skin around it was red. A stab of worry fought its way through the drugs and hit him in the gut.

Then there was his jaw. His injured tooth protruded at the top, making his mouth bulge. A bandage covered his jaw.

Then it hit him- he was The Face. How could he stay as that when his face was all… busted up and hideous looking? He felt the familiar panic seeping out at the thought of people seeing him like this, seeing the ugly scar on his face and whatever bandage thing he'd have to wear after the surgery. The whole school would be talking about him, and not in a good way-

James pushed the red button next to his left hand, and his thoughts disappeared as quickly as footprints on the sand after a wave washed over it.

A beautiful, amazing, blissful wave.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and favorites last chapter, I appreciate each and every one of them! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's gonna be an... interesting ride for James, let's just say that. I hope you all are having a great day, and I'll "see" you guys next chapter!

- AS