Rick's POV

I did not miss the feeling of waking up extremely early to an alarm at all. I felt so tired as I struggled to even process what I was hearing. Once I finally put it together though I wanted to cry. After all this time off it was hell going back to school. It was bad enough not waking up next to Kate every morning. That would probably be the only good thing about going back actually. Seeing her beautiful face again. After the phone call from yesterday though, I couldn't help but feel a tad bit worried, not just for myself but for the others. After my alarm stopped snoozing and rang again I turned it off and got out of bed. I would definitely need a quick shower to wake me up. Once I was finally up and moving I slowly dragged myself to Angel's room where I knocked on the door frame. She groaned, causing me to chuckle as always.

"Come on Angel, time to wake up" I said.

"I know," she groaned. She then reached for her phone and turned it on, it's been awhile since I saw her use that technique to wake up. I went to the bathroom and did my usual routine along with a quick shower, as I was in there angel came in to brush her teeth and pee as well. She didn't shower though because I was in there obviously, but she hopped in once I was done. By the time I was dressed she was hopping out and dressing as well. I made my way downstairs and grabbed my bookbag along with my jacket. Today wasn't supposed to be terribly cold but that didn't mean that the morning wasn't freezing. Stepping outside I realized that I was right, getting hit with freezing air. I turned on my truck and blasted the heat like always, and then waited for Angel as she came over. She was silent as she tossed her bag in and buckled up. I then pulled around the driveway and started the journey to school.

"So do you think someone will try and talk shit?" Angel asked. Honestly I did, but I didn't want to put Angel on alert more than she already was. I exhaled through my nose as I thought of a quick answer.

"If they do, what's the worst that can happen?" I said.

"I guess but… that doesn't make it any less annoying" Angel replied. I didn't say anything to that. I didn't know what to say. I guess Angel felt unsettled by my silence so she spoke again. "You know I was called in about the whole knife thing" she said.

"Called in? What do you mean called in?" I asked.

"Called in as in, called into the office" Angel answered. She got caught?

"You got caught?" I asked.

"No, I figured that Garth would snitch so I gave the knife to Lilly" Angel said.

"Lilly knew?" I asked, gripping the steering wheel a little hard in anger. How could she let her do that?

"Only after I did it, I handed her the knife at lunch and she gave it back after school," Angel said.

"How did she react when you told her?" I asked.

"She was just kinda speechless, I mean can you blame her? Everyone sees me as this weak little shit, but I can hold my own" Angel explained.

"I hope so, anyway what happened when you were called to the office?" I asked.

"Well they searched me and my bag, and once they didn't find anything they believed me when I said that Garth was lying, so he's gonna get in trouble today" Angel said. Again my heart dropped. He's gonna get in trouble? Lying about such a thing can get him kicked off the football team, and if that happens…

"Did the principal say what would happen to Garth?" I asked nervously.

"No, he said he couldn't disclose it, why?" Angel asked.

"Angel… if he gets kicked off the football team, that means that they're all gonna come after me" I said. Angel turned to me. She just stared as she thought of a response.

"I think he'll get a warning about that Rick, I dont think theyll just kick him off the team" Angel said.

"I hope not, let that bastard have his moment of fame now, because after high school he's gonna struggle hard" I said. Angel laughed, causing me to smile as well. "You got guts Angel, ya got guts" I said. It was silent for the rest of the ride until we got to school. Once there we parked in our usual spots and hopped out. The other four had already been there waiting for us, talking about whatever they wanted to. Once we pulled in though their heads had turned to face us as we approached them.

"Hey guys" Humphrey greeted for everyone. I stuck my hand up slightly with a smile as if to wave hi and then was greeted by Kate wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into a soft kiss.

"Hey" she greeted.

"Hey" I smiled back. I saw Lilly and Humphrey go back to talking about something as Angel gave Shaky a quick kiss and then went over to join the two with him. Me and Kate had something to discuss though.

"Ready for today?" Kate asked.

"I like to think so, I just hope I won't have to deal with idiots" I said. Kate unwrapped her right arm from me to rub my cheek with her hand.

"If you do, you won't have to pay them any attention. You'll be in class all day anyway" Kate said.

"What about lunch?" I asked. Kate looked away from me to think for a moment even though the answer was obvious.

"Want to go out?" she asked. I chuckled.

"Sure" I answered, giving her a kiss. She then unwrapped both of her arms and held her hand out after taking a step back. I accepted it and together we walked to the school as the others stayed behind to talk a little more.

"So other than everything that's on you mind, how does it feel to be back?" Kate asked.

"Well, waking up this morning was next to impossible, not waking up to you was even worse, and the thought of sitting for seven whole hours straight was mentally draining, let alone physically when I actually go to do it. But I get to see you and as cliche as it is that's all that matters" I explained. I felt Kate rub her thumb on my hand as she continued to hold it in response. She then turned back to me as she continued walking to give me a smile. As always it was stunning. She then turned back to look forward.

"Think Garth will try anything?" she asked.

"Let's hope not, although after the whole Angel incident I'm not sure" I said. Finally we made it in the building where it was nice and warm. Kate led me to her locker as we continued talking. "You know I'm not sure whether to be proud or angry at her for that" I added.

"How about both?" Kate suggested.

"Both sounds about right," I agreed. We made it to Kate's locker where she grabbed her books and stuff, and then made our way to homeroom. As we did I started to notice how I was getting stared at by certain people as I walked by. None of them ever said anything, but I didn't want them to. Whether they did or not though it made me feel uncomfortable. We made it to Kate's homeroom eventually.

"You gonna be okay?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, giving her another peck before splitting up. As I walked to my homeroom I couldn't help but feel unsafe, like everyone was staring at me, judging me. I did eventually get stopped though just before turning the corner. It was a female voice that called out to me.

"Rick, hey" she called. I turned around ready for confrontation but cooled my jets once I saw it was Winter and the rest of Kate's friend group.

"Oh, Winter hey. You startled me" I said.

"Startled?" she asked.

"Well for lack of a better word" I replied.

"We wanted to know how you were doing, '' one of the others asked. I didn't know her name.

"I'm doing better, I don't believe we met," I said, trying not to sound rude. I guess I succeeded when she put her hand out to me.

"Sweets, and this is Candy. Winter said she met you at the pharmacy?" Sweets said, making sure what she remembered was correct.

"Yeah, Kate took me to the drive thru once I was out of the hospital" I explained.

"You looked so glad to be out of there," Winter said.

"Me and Kate both were," I replied.

"Oh yeah, she stayed with you like the whole time," Candy said.

"Yeah, I wish she didn't. Last thing I wanted was for her to be trapped in the hospital with me" I explained.

"Well she cares about you, and can you blame her? You seem like you fit the profile of every girl's dream guy" Sweets replied.

"I try, but not for them," I said. The two laughed while Winter nodded.

"I'm glad you're doing better, let me know if you still need pain killers or something and I'll hook you up" Winter offered.

"Free drugs?" I asked jokingly.

"Not like that," Winter laughed.

"I know, I know" I said as the bell rang. "We better get going, nice meeting you two" I said. They waved by and started walking away while Winter walked alongside me. "Your homeroom this way too?" I asked.

"Yeah, don't think I'm weird and following you," Winter said.

"No I don't think that, but while I got you here I want to ask you, have there been any rumors going around about me?" I asked. Winter's head darted to her left as she turned quickly to me.

"Um… maybe a bit, mostly jocks from Garth's group. You know… assholes. They see you as someone trying to steal their spotlight and somehow succeeding" Winter answered.

"Spotlight?" I asked.

"Yeah, spotlight. Every girl has taken extreme notice to you once you and Kate started hanging out, and I don't know if you noticed but Kate is the most wanted girl in this school, and once you took here, the jocks such as those guys started to take notice, that was more than enough to get you on their bad side, but once Garth specifically came into the mix and you won… they might be out for blood" Winter explained.

"Clearly" I said. Winter sighed.

"Just be careful around here okay? I know it's bullshit but from what I've seen so far? You can handle it" Winter said. I nodded.

"This is my stop," I said.

"Alright, see ya around Rick" Winter replied as she started walking away. I then walked into my homeroom and sat in one of the chairs. After about five minutes of just watching youtube on my phone Kate messaged me.

K. hey, make it to homeroom okay?

R. yeah I'm fine, ran into your friends along the way.

K. Winter?

R. Winter, sweets, and Candy, their nice girls.

K. damn, I wanted to be the one to introduce you guys properly, they always wanted to meet you ya know.

R. Yeah, see you soon?

K. you bet. See ya soon. XOXO

I smiled as I went back to watching youtube. After all this time Kate still texted me XOXO everytime we were done with texting. I loved it, it felt as though she was actually doing it every time she sent it. Although I'm sure it pained her to say goodbye. I know it did for me. The bell rang again and I made my way to my first period. So far no sign of Garth. Good. I was successful in avoiding drama as I arrived at the class. I took my usual seat and waited for Kate. After about two minutes she came in and sat down.

"Anything?" she asked.

"No thankfully, do you think Angel's okay?" I asked.

"Why dont you text her?" Kate suggested. Immediately I pulled out my phone and messaged Angel. It was only a quick "hey, did you get to class okay?" before I put it on my desk and waited for an answer.

"I'm assuming you did run into anyone" I said. Kate shook her head.

"All clear," she said. My phone then vibrated, telling me about my response from angel which was a simple thumbs up emoji. I sighed in relief and put my phone in my pocket. "All good?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, all good," I said. The bell then rang again, signaling that all students should be in their classes. Our teacher then did the usual of taking attendance. The first class was pretty tame, no one really said anything apart from the occasional chatter. Once the second period rolled around though our science teacher did pull up a chair next to me at me and Kate's table. Me and Kate had been discussing the project when he sat down.

"Hey guy's, how are ya doin?" he asked. I thought he would come to check up on me. Mr Woodruff was always one of the cooler teachers in the school.

"Getting by" I answered.

"That's all we can really do now, look I'm glad to have you back and see you're doing okay, and if you need anything you let me know alright?" Mr Woodruff asked.

"Yeah… thanks" I said. As cliche as it was, I was really grateful for the option. Mr Woodruff nodded and then stood up to go back to his desk.

"My prayers are with ya" he said. Once he was gone Kate seemed to slow down a bit.

"The whole school knows, I guess" she said.

"It only makes sense," I replied.

"Well yeah but… I don't know, it just seems so surreal" Kate said.

"Not the craziest thing to happen to me" I said. Kate gave me another gorgeous smile, almost teasing me in a way. Once we split up in third period I was walking to my class when someone slapped me on the back as I turned the corner.

"Watch your back bud" he said. I didn't even know who he was, one of Garth's friends surely, but this confirmed it. Thanks Hutch. I made it to lunch but didn't go into the cafeteria, I could see our table from where I was standing. As of now there was no one there, people were still just heading in.

"Hey, you going in?" I heard someone ask. I turned to see that it was Shaky.

"Oh uh… no, I'm waiting for Kate, we're gonna head out and eat" I said. Shaky nodded.

"I get it, mind if I wait with ya?" Shaky asked. I shrugged, giving him the yes. Shaky nodded and leaned on the wall next to me.

"I messaged Angel, she's doing fine, and I don't think Humphrey and Lilly have to worry" I said.

"Hopefully not, Humphrey does have something to worry about though, he texted me that he has to go fishing with his mom's boyfriend after school, I hope it goes well for him" Shaky said.

"Hopefully, do you think we were wrong about him?" I asked.

"No, I still think he sees Humphrey as an obstacle, getting in the way of his mom you know?" Shaky asked.

"You speaking from experience?" I asked.

"Sorta, about a year or two ago, my dad started seeing this girl, and he loved her because she was giving it up on a daily basis, but when ever he wanted to spend time with me, or have dinner with me, she always protested it, said that I needed to grow up. After a while he saw it like I did and they broke up" Shaky explained.

"We're lucky to have the parents that we do," I said.

"Yeah, I just wish my mom were still here," Shaky said, staring at the floor. Before I could apologize Kate showed up and came over to us.

"Hey boys. I miss anything?" she asked.

"No, I was just keeping Rick company, you guys have fun" Shaky said. He then went to leave but I stopped him when I called out to him, causing him to turn around.

"Sorry about what I said" I apologized.

"Don't be, besides you were right" Shaky said. He then turned to go sit down. Kate grabbed my hand and started walking me to the front desk.

"So what was that about?" Kate asked.

"I brought up our parents, I always forget that Shaky's mom died" I answered. Kate shot me a quick glance and then turned to look forward again.

"His mom died?" she asked.

"Yeah, a couple of years ago" I said.

"Wow I… didn't know" she said. Immediately I guess she felt bad for him.

"Yeah, it was pretty rough, we all went to the funeral. Lilly was there" I said. Again Kate shot a glance at me.

"Lilly? Wow, how much did I miss?" Kate asked. We made it to the front desk and signed out, walking outside and over to our cars as we continued the conversation.

"It's not exactly something you would want to be there for," I said. By now we had stopped holding hands and were walking side by side, thanks to the sign out process.

"I know but… Shaky is still part of our family, and it feels wrong that I wasn't there, I was off trying to make it big with jocks" Kate said.

"Kate, you will never be able to convince me that you wanted to be a jock at some point" I said.

"But I dated one," Kate protested.

"Yeah but you didn't kiss him or anything, besides why did you break up with him?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Because he was being a dick, and he didn't really care about me," Kate answered.

"See? Right there. If you really wanted to be like them then you would have stayed with him, but you didn't. Because that's not you" I explained. Kate giggled and then her smile faded.

"I still feel like I should apologize for his loss," Kate said.

"You do what you feel is right," I replied. We then stopped in front of our cars.

"Who's are we taking?" Kate asked. I unlocked my truck and gestured with my head to it.

"Hop in," I said. Kate smiled and climbed into the truck. I turned the truck on and rolled the windows down. The temperature was a nice fifty degrees. It was cool but not cold. "So what did you want?" I asked.

"Why don't you pick this time?" Kate asked.

"I'll have whatever you want, just name something" I instructed. Kate just stared at me with a slight smile. I think she felt bad that she picked the place every time. "If I don't want the place you name I'll tell you" I said. Kate seemed satisfied with that.

"Well… I could really go for a chicken sandwich" she suggested. I put the truck in reverse and backed up. I then started driving to the subway after leaving the parking lot.

"Chick fil a?" I asked.

"Sounds great," Kate answered. We both ended up getting a chicken sandwich, mine however was spicy. We also didn't go through the drive thru, instead we decided to sit inside and eat. We chose a booth by a window and began eating. About halfway through when most of the initial hunger was satisfied we started talking. "Thank you," Kate said.

"I made you that promise" I replied, referring to when Kate was in the hospital and I told her we could do this every lunch if she wanted.

"You know I'm getting tired of us being in danger, having to watch our back this is bullshit" Kate said after a moment of silence.

"At least you and I are graduating this year, we won't ever have to see Garth again after" I said.

"We shouldn't have to wait, we should be able to just enjoy our senior year" Kate ranted.

"I know, maybe if I died that night you guys wouldn't have to deal with this" I said. Kate froze at the thought.

"No, we would all be dealing with something much worse, hell Rick, if I had to choose between a lifetime of this or losing you, I would choose this every single time" Kate said. I placed my hand on top of hers.

"I know you would, hopefully it's just me he still wants" I said.

"Like Angel said, he messes with one of us, he messes with all of us. Besides he doesn't want you, he wants me. As selfish as it sounds, I could probably stop all of this if I wanted by just giving myself up" Kate said. My eyes widened.

"That's not selfish, and I hope you don't do that. Promise me you wont" I begged. Kate giggled.

"I promise, I promise," she said. I nodded and took another bite of my sandwich.

"You know, on my way to third period I had a run in with one of Garth's friends" I said. Kate removed the straw from her lips and put the drink down, swallowing the liquid as fast as she could.

"Why are you telling me this now?" she asked.

"It wasn't that big" I answered.

"Wasn't that big? What happened?" Kate asked frantically. I sighed.

"The douchebag patted me on the back, and told me to watch it," I said. Kate rested her head on her hands and looked down at the table.

"For fucks sake" she mumbled.

"I guess I just… have to wait" I said, realizing the reality of the situation.

"Have to wait? For how long? You can't just live like this for the next couple of months" Kate said.

"Look , Kate, if something does happen and you can't help, I want you to not try. If you get hurt on my behalf I don't know what I would do" I said.

"You wouldnt do anything because you'd be fucking dead" Kate growled. "Come on Rick, I've had enough of these fucks, if they want a fight they'll fucking get one, because I know that their not gonna just jump you if they decide to do something, they'll make sure they finish the fucking job" Kate ranted. She then got up and grabbed the tray, walking over to the trash can. I put the rest of the sandwich in my mouth and ran to join her. She stormed out of the restaurant and over to my truck.

"You don't plan on doing anything stupid do you?" I asked.

"No, but don't expect me to leave your side, I'll text the others on the way back" Kate said. Instead of walking to my side of the truck though I met her on the passenger side.

"Kate, calm down. Jesus it's like you're getting ready for war" I joked.

"At this point I am" Kate cracked with a tear in her eye. "They'll finish you Rick, and I can't live without you" she cried. I now felt bad, maybe I shouldn't have told her. I rubbed her soft cheek with my hand, causing her to nuzzle into it with shaky breaths.

"Shhhh, it was probably just a scare tactic Kate, they're not really gonna do anything, not all of them are killers. Just… the two" I said. Kate sniffed.

"You really think so?" she asked. I nodded.

"We won't be watching our backs forever," I assured.

"F-fine, I wont t-text the group, but I'm s-staying with you as long as I c-can" Kate sniffed. I didn't know what to say. I could only offer so much comfort.

"C'mere" I said, bringing her into a loving kiss. She accepted and returned it, I felt her calm down as she exhaled into the kiss, causing her lips to stop quivering. We broke it after about ten seconds. "You okay?" I asked.

"I don't know," Kate whispered. I nodded.

"We'll be okay," I said. I then opened the truck door and held it for her, shutting it once she was inside. I then climbed into my side and started the truck, once again rolling down the windows. The ride was silent for the most part until I spoke.

"You know Hutch came through for me, even if nothing happened" I said.

"I still don't trust him, you almost died because of him" Kate said.

"He didn't want to be there, Kate, and he really didn't want to leave me" I defended.

"But he did, look Rick, I wouldn't put all my trust into this guy, even if he helps you here and there" Kate said.

"Yeah I know, but right now… I don't have much of a choice" I said.

"Lets just hope nothing actually does happen" Kate said.

"I'm sure it won't Kate, I'm sure it won't" I said as I turned onto the street that our school was at, it was only a matter of time until we were at the school again, and that time was soon.

Author's note - okay we're done with another arc. Sorry if this one seemed a little boring but like I said, these characters deserved a break, but now that break is over and things are about to start picking up again. This next arc is mostly gonna be about Humphrey and Lilly, like I promised a while back they will now get their time to shine. My only regret is that I feel that I'm not using Shaky enough. He will get his turn as well. Although we did have the arc with Shaky and Angel, but it was mostly Angel.

Also I want to mention that these characters are all main characters. But the main one out of the six is Kate, I feel as though Rick is getting too much time, but when it comes to Garth and his desires for Kate, it's only right that he goes after him, so there's a lot there. I will try to use him less because this isn't about him. But yes the main main character is Kate, the rest being her family that she is building up and trying to live with.

Anyway thank you for all the comments and criticisms so far, they really make my day, and help me make this project as good as it can be. hopefully you guys enjoy what is to come for these characters.