At last, it was Friday, and I wanted more than anything to enjoy it, but I knew better. Things were really tense right now at school, and I knew I'd have to face that head on. Whatever happened, I just hoped yesterday's events worked on Lysander. That was the important thing. I decided so as I walked from my apartment to the school, determined to stand my ground...before coming to a dead stop right in front of the door.

Argh, I don't get this! Why won't my legs move?

I was stuck. As I looked up at the massive building, fear crept its way into my heart, but I knew what I had to do. So, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and–

*BAM*

As soon as I grabbed the door's handle, it flew right into my face, which I immediately covered afterwards. I couldn't see who did it, but instead of an apology from the random stranger I assumed was there, all I got was:

"Oooops, sorry! If I'd known you were there, I'd have pushed the door harder! See ya, freak!"

"Ugh..." I muttered to myself as I watched Capucine walk away, laughing like it was the funniest thing she'd seen all week. I hated her. If no one else would do something to stop her soon, I would...I just had no idea how.

There was no doubt the impact left a huge mark on my forehead – I could feel it. "Great..." I sighed to myself as I entered the school. "...Exactly what I needed today." Frustrated, I stomped through the school, covering the mark with my hand. In the main hall, I noticed a group of students gathered around the bulletin board. That thing never really piqued my interest; it usually only held posters for school events I didn't care about or some kind of "news" I couldn't bring myself to read. There were always a few people throughout the day who stopped in front of it to see what was going on, but this larger group now really caught my attention. I stood there for a minute, stretching over people to try and see what was posted there, but I was too far back to read it. After a while, I decided to leave. I mean, I still had class to go to, after all; it's not like they were going to wait for me. I started to walk away, but I had only taken about two steps when I heard–

"Whaaat? A new guy's gonna be our student body president?!"

I stopped in my tracks. I realized now why so many students swarmed around the bulletin board: this was the rankings post for the next student body president.

How could I forget?!

Without hesitation, I turned back around and pushed my way through the students. I didn't care who I shoved or what happened to them afterwards – I had to get up there. If what that student said was true... I thought to myself as I finally reached the board. To my horror, my suspicions were confirmed. I glared at the board:

1. Nathaniel – 370 votes

2. Chris – 253 votes

...No...how did this happen...? Even though this was only a preview count, my heart sunk. I couldn't wrap my head around it; everyone knew and loved Chris, and he was doing so well. It was hard to get as many votes as he did, and yet...

Nathaniel IS a new student...how did he get that many...? While I knew that Nathaniel had skill with this sort of thing, he was just too new to make it this far. Not only was he competing with Chris, but he was winning by over 100 votes. Even the rest of the candidates, who had also been here for a while now and had been recognized by other students, were nowhere near them. How did THAT happen? How– And then it hit me:

Money.

That's what happened. It had to. That meeting I accidentally witnessed yesterday was Nathaniel giving that other guy orders to hand out money in return for votes. In other words,

"...It was bribery." I mumbled to myself, unable to break my gaze. "...But...how did he do this so fast?" This was a whole other side to Nathaniel I'd never seen before. As the rest of the students dispersed and the sound of the bell drowned out in my thoughts, I realized something that scared me. Nathaniel, the sweet boy from Sweet Amoris who used to be such a good person, was no more. No, this corrupted criminal here with me now was someone else entirely.

...I don't know Nathaniel anymore.

By the time I regained my composure, I was completely late for class. I really didn't wanna get reprimanded by my math teacher again, so I decided to just go to my next class. I could deal with the punishment later. I wandered the hallways a bit, since I still had some time until my next class started, which was good. I needed to think and really process everything. I really didn't think something like this would happen in completely empty hallways, but lo and behold...

*BUMP*

"Ow!" I shouted as I fell to the floor. This time, at least, it wasn't my fault. Someone ran into me full speed and sent me flying five feet down the hallway.

"Oh, geez! I'm sorry! Here, let me help you."

I stared at him as he pulled me up. I recognized his face from somewhere, but I couldn't tell where...

"...Are you okay? You're lookin' at me kinda weird..."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, realizing my mistake. "Yeah! I'm sorry. It's just that...well...I feel like...have I met you before?"

He looked away, trying to think. "Hmm...no, I don't think so...sorry. Well, I gotta run! See ya, Slidey!"

He literally took off running.

….

Slidey...didn't he call me 'Skittles' last time? I turned back to look at him, but he was already gone. Yup...no doubt in my mind...that was 'Skittles' guy.

"What a weirdo..." I whispered, before entering the classroom.

History class was...well...history class. Same boring stuff as usual – there was only one difference: "Okay class, don't forget! Your essay on World War I are due on Monday. Work hard, study well, and you'll get the grade you deserve! Good luck!"

AAAAAH! I COMPLETELY FORGOT!

I would have actually shouted that had I not been in a compact room with several other students. But rest assured, I was panicking. With everything that was going on, I had forgotten about my essays entirely, and now it was due in three days! On top of that, I also remembered I had a research paper due sometime soon for English.

Seriously...please kill me.

As I expected, my English teacher brought up the essay for her class too, but that one wasn't due until the following week's Monday, so I didn't have to worry about that right now. Fortunately, the teacher gave us the entire class period to work on our assignment, so I chose to start on my other one instead. She gave us permission to go to the library for research materials, so of course, I went. With two papers to write and not much time to write them, I was going to need as much information as I could get. I managed to get a fair amount, but I wasn't sure it would be enough. After all, you can only get so much information in the span of 45 minutes...I knew I needed to do a lot more research at home.

I was really glad to have the full lunch period today. I really hated having to rush yesterday, and I never wanted that to happen again. Then there was floral, which was also nice, as always.

….But then there was physics. And oh boy, was I in for a treat today. As soon as the teacher walked in, "Good afternoon, class. Before we begin today, Chis, Julia, could I speak to you for a moment?" I sighed as I walked with Chris to join our teacher at his desk. Here it comes...

"Your actions were very immature and disruptive to our class. You're both getting a detention."

I looked away, but said nothing. It was disappointing, but I fully expected it.

"And one more thing," he continued. "Since the two of you can't get along, you can't be in the same group. Julia, switch with that young lady at the table next to you. Please."

My eyes widened. The table...next to me? But that means–!

"NO!" I screamed. The whole class fell dead silent. I could feel their intense stare burning into my soul.

"Uh...W-What I mean to say is, I'm fine switching with anybody, but could it please be someone else? Anybody..."

"You will do as your told." He replied, harshly. "Until you earn my respect again, don't ask me for anything, unless it's for the lesson."

"But–!"

"We're done. Go to your new seat. Now."

"...Okay."

In utter shock and disappointment, I followed my teacher's orders and slumped over to my new seat...right across from Lysander. I couldn't bear to face him, especially now that he'd heard my plea for escape. I thought for sure he would be angry with me, but all he said was,

"...I'm sorry."

"What?" I looked at him, surprised. Out of all the things I expected him to say, that was about the last one on the list.

"I said, I'm sorry." He repeated, reaching over to put his hand on mine. "It really hurts to lose someone like that. I would know. I'm sorry you have to feel that pain."

His words sounded sincere, but all I could really think was You're "sorry?" Are you, really? After all, this was exactly what he wanted; how could he possibly mean that? Even if this fight between me and Chris was fake, at school, it felt all too real. Because of Lysander, Chris and I could only be friends part-time, and if he had it his way, we couldn't be friends at all. I didn't think I could ever forgive him for that, but for Chris's sake, I had to "try."

"Thank you." I replied, trying to muster the best smile I could. "I appreciate it."

He smiled back, and from there on, we just worked on our experiment. To tell the truth, it wasn't too bad working with Lysander. We really only talked to each other if we needed to for the project, so it was very easy to focus. While that feeling was nice, I couldn't let it overtake me. Now more than ever, I had to be strong. For Chris. For me.

Although...that was really hard to do when he looked at me the way he did...

In contrast to the chaotic events so far, the rest of my day was actually pretty nice. Jasmine and I were both put into the same group for our part in the choir, and P.E. didn't even happen. Apparently, today was club-promotion day at our school, so instead of having P.E., all the students could look around at the different booths for different clubs and see which ones they like. I had to admit, it sounded kind of fun and exciting. I looked around for a good while, but I couldn't find much that was interesting to me. I was about to give up when I finally found what I was looking for.

– Music Club

– Video Games Club

– Writer's Club

I didn't know why these three clubs were grouped together like that, since they were completely different. Or...maybe they were related to each other, since most games have a written story and music. I stood there for about an eternity trying to decide which one I was going to join. I had a passion for all of these things, so the decision was really difficult. Before long, the harsh ring of the bell sounded once again, signaling the end of the school day...which meant I needed to go to my detention. With a sigh, I took a flyer from each of the stands and exited the gym.

As per instruction, I went straight to the room and sat quietly. I deliberately sat as far away from Chris as I could, so that I could barely see him out of my peripheral. Out of sight, out of mind, they say, but I wasn't entirely sure that was going to work in this case. I decided to take out the books I'd borrowed at the library earlier to see if I could get any more work done on my essays. At first, it worked. I was reading everything I needed to know and listing down my main points on a piece of paper, but when it came time to actually fill in the blanks, my mind itself went blank. I was flipping the pages, but I wasn't reading anymore; my attention span was fully gone. Realizing I wasn't going to get any more work done, I sighed and put the books back into my backpack, along with my notes. I looked at the clock to find that we still had fifteen minutes left before we could go home. Impatiently, I tried to think about ways to use up my time. I tried looking at stuff in the room to see if any of it was interesting. I read anything that was up on the whiteboard from whatever class was held there last. I even tried my best trick – going into my own head and creating a weird made-up story. But, no matter what I did, I just couldn't seem to stick with it. After a frustrating five minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I glanced over at Chris, to see how he was doing. He was also upset, as I'd imagined, but he seemed a lot more so than me. I could see not only sadness, but a lot of anger in his expression, and every so often, he would rest his head in his hands like he didn't know what to do anymore. I felt so bad; after all, this was all my fault. Even what happened with the SBP election was my fault. If I didn't hurt Nathaniel so badly back then, he would have never turned into the monster he was now.

Everything that happened to you was my fault...everything bad that happens is always my fault...

At long last, our time was up, and we were let go from detention. And it was a good thing too; any longer in there, and I was afraid I was going to cry. The simple truth was, no matter what I did or where I went, something bad always happened, and it always seemed to happen worst to the person (or people) I was closest to. There was no escaping "me." I knew that now. But what was I going to do about it? How could I change? ….Was it even possible? So I thought to myself while heading towards the school exit. I needed to figure all of that out, but right now, I had other priorities. I really needed to get my homework done, first and foremost, before I lost my mind even further. Focusing on school was the most important thing; anything else would have to come after. How could I "fix" myself if I fell behind, trapped in my own mistakes? Answer me that.

After walking the long hallways of my school, I'd finally reached the door.

Finally... I sighed with relief. Time to go home.

I did it. I reached the end of a long day at the end of a long week. I could finally relax for a minute and forget about all the trouble going on here. I could really breathe and focus on my homework, and after that, just rest. Thinking about all of that brought a smile to my face like no other. I needed this.

I opened the door. My smile was gone.

"...Castiel?"