By the next week, everyone got over the school government drama, and things finally got back to normal. Of course, I still wasn't happy with the results, but my disappointment was nothing compared to how Chris must have felt. Now he was stuck answering to Nathaniel day after day, no questions asked. Of course, Nathaniel hadn't really given him a reason to ask questions, besides the obvious one: 'Why did Nathaniel win instead of me?' – I only wished I could tell him. Unfortunately, that would ultimately end up in disaster. I had to protect us both, even if that meant keeping Nathaniel's horrible secret. I just didn't understand why he needed it in the first place; what "reasons" could he possibly have to do something like this...? Well, whatever the case, he seemed to be filling his role perfectly, as usual. Little by little, the school seemed like it was getting nicer. The hallways were cleaner, the students were nicer, and...was it just me, or did everyone seem quieter now? I thought that was a bit strange, but I decided to shrug it off and just go with it. This whole time, I thought Nathaniel wanted a power trip, but it seemed like he actually, genuinely cared.

Good on you, Nathaniel. I knew you were still there, deep down...

Everything was so peaceful that my classes were a breeze. I might have gotten a homework assignment here and there, but nothing too difficult, and nothing long-term this time. Thank God. The only thing that bothered me was Chris; I mean, he was still mad at me, and rightfully so, but he was so upset with me that he avoided me all day. I realized I needed to apologize, but I knew it would have to wait until he was willing to talk to me again. Until then, I could at least look forward to my new after-school club! It was a tough choice, but in the end, I decided to go with the music club. After all, music had always been a passion of mine, and it was something I could possibly turn into a career someday. After all, when I was little, all I wanted to be was a singer. I must've given up on that dream a million times, and honestly, I was still unsure, but...who's to say that couldn't still happen? If I really wanted that, and I did, I knew I would have to be as involved in music as possible. And what better way to start than by getting involved in my school's music club? There was just one thing I didn't account for – well, technically two.

!

All I did was walk in the room. That's it. That's all. As soon as I opened the door, bam! Castiel and Lysander. They were sitting just one chair apart – the ONLY chair left open, might I add – and both of them were staring at me. Did I deserve that? No. No I didn't. But I got it anyway.

And then it hit me.

Oh, yeah! They're ALSO aspiring musicians! Jesus Christ, I can't believe I walked right into that one. I swear, I really create my own traps sometimes...

I knew full well that this would be the most awkward experience of my life, but regardless, I didn't give up. I wanted to be here, after all; I wasn't about to let anyone change my mind on that. So, trying my best not to look at either of their faces, I walked over and sat in the chair between them. Even when all the members were there, there was nothing but silence for at least a few minutes. Eventually, one of the students spoke up.

"So...what exactly are we supposed to do here?"

"Um, I dunno..." Another student answered. "I guess we should talk about music, or something...?"

"Yeah, I guess so..."

The two of them began a conversation about what kind of music they liked, which bands were their favorite, etc. etc. Soon, the rest of the room joined them. It was a simple conversation, but they all seemed to be having a lot of fun with it. But not us. Not me, anyway. I was stuck sitting between Castiel and Lysander, who still hadn't said a word. The tension between them was just...ugh...it was the most uncomfortable feeling in my life. I was just about to get up and go talk to the others, but then–

"Hmph. So we all sign up for this stupid club, and there's nothing for us to do? What a joke." Castiel grumbled and slouched back in his chair.

"Well maybe if you'd just try, you might actually enjoy yourself." Lysander refuted. "They seem to be doing alright."

Uh-oh... I wanted to get up, but...it was too late now. I missed my chance, and now I had to live with that.

"You think so?! Well if they're having so much fun, why don't you go join them? Or do you need your puppet with you?"

Puppet...what...? He wasn't entirely wrong, based on my relationship with Lysander, but it still made me really angry. "I am NOT his puppet!" I yelled at him, getting up out of my chair. "But maybe Lysander's actually right; it looks a hell of a lot more fun over there than here!"

"Great job proving your point there, Slim. You really nailed it."

That did it. "You know what? Screw you! If you just wanna sit there and pout, then fine! But I'm actually gonna try to participate in this, whatever it is."

"Good idea." Lysander agreed. "I'll go with you."

"The hell you will!" Castiel shouted at him, pulling him back down. "She's a person, not a pet! Leave her alone for fuck's sake!"

"I will not have you talk about her that way! She is, and has always been, my beloved."

"You're insane!"

"Release me at once!"

"Not a chance in hell!"

At this point they were pretty much just playing tug-of-war with each other, but I didn't care to stay for the rest of it. Instead, I talked with the other students, and much to my delight, it actually was fun. I didn't usually like holding long conversations about one subject, but I loved this one in particular. I gladly shared my own thoughts about it, and a lot of the others agreed with me. It turned out we liked a lot of things in common, so it was really nice to be able to talk about it with each other. In fact, I was so enveloped in the conversation, I didn't even notice that Castiel and Lysander had gone silent. I looked back at them, and the next thing I saw: Castiel was laid back in his chair, arms crossed, and Lysander was tied to his, desperately trying to make the knot come undone.

"I can't believe you did that!" Lysander shouted in frustration after a few seconds of attempting escape. "Do you even know how expensive this cravat was?!"

"Don't know, don't care." Castiel replied, calmly. "Aggressive dogs need to be chained up. That's just how it is."

"Now you're calling me a dog? Watch your mouth!"

"You first. How does it feel to be the captive for once, Lysander? Doesn't feel good, does it?"

"What are you trying to imply?"

I sighed to myself. I knew this would happen, well, not this, but...you know. I wasn't sure how to stop it, but I had to try. If I didn't do something soon, who knew what would happen? So, I brought some of my new friends over to talk to them.

"What are you doing?" Castiel asked, looking up at me.

"Bringing the club to you." I responded, returning a look of disappointment. "Since you and Lysander can't get along, then maybe you will with them."

"No, thanks."

"You will." I asserted. "Or else you might as well just leave. The point of having a music club is actually being part of, you know, a club. With other people. We're all new here, none of us know what to do. But at least they're trying to figure it out! So far all you've done is bitch about it and tie Lysander to a chair!"

We all looked at Lysander, who was still kind of pushing the chair around, trying to figure it out. "Yeah, and pretty damn good, too." Castiel said with a laugh.

"This is not funny." Lysander argued, focusing intensely on the knot. "When I get out of here–"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"How did you do that, anyway?" I asked him, continuing to watch Lysander struggle.

"Well, you know, it's really not that hard when the guy ties a freakin' noose around his neck."

"I'll have you know," Lysander interrupted, "that this 'noose' is worth more than everything you own!"

"Whatever, it's your funeral." Castiel replied, looking at him once more. "Literally."

"Dark jokes aside," I intervened, "you came here for a reason. I know you did. You and 'hangman' over there."

"Julia..." Lysander trailed off, resting for a moment. "Not you too..."

"My point is, you guys are here because you love music. You always have, at least since I've known you. Hell, you wrote me a song! Even after all that happened, you put aside your differences, and you wrote and performed a fucking song for me! Don't you remember that?!" They both fell silent and looked away. That, in and of itself, told me they still remembered it just as well as I did, if not more. I pressed on. "If you can do that, then you can do this too. This isn't just your passion, it's your dream. Don't let each other ruin it for the both of you!" Having said that, my voice faded back into silence. The entire room stood still, waiting for one of them to respond. It took at least a full minute.

Castiel spoke up first. "Wow, Slim...for once, you actually make sense. There's nothing more important to me than my music career, so if sticking around with you and this dickhead is what it takes to get where I'm going, then I'm in."

"I agree." Lysander said. "I shouldn't have to tell you how uncomfortable this makes me, Darling, but you're right. I have to follow my dream..."

I'll admit, I didn't mean for all of that to sound as dramatic as it did. I mean, this was just a school club; it wasn't exactly the type of thing to "make" or "break" their dreams. However, I genuinely believed it would help them get there, at least a little bit. To me, that's all that mattered. I wanted them to get everything they wanted out of life, to fulfill their dreams and anything beyond that. It would take a long time, of course, but if anyone could do it, they could. That's how much I believed in them. For now though, I was just glad that they seemed to have stopped fighting.

"...Would you please untie me now?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno how to untie those, I just tie 'em."

"You had better be joking."

…...Well...I did say "seemed to"...

Unfortunately for Lysander, Castiel was not joking. However, despite his...uh..."situation," the two of them finally did start talking with the rest of the club. They weren't ecstatic about it, of course, but they did calm down a little. Before long, an hour had passed, and it was time for everyone to go home. Having been defeated, Lysander had no choice but to cut free of the chair, mourn his loss, and move on. I had just left the room and was walking down the hallway, when I felt someone touch my shoulder.

"Hey."

I turned around to see Castiel. "What's up?" I asked him, curious to know what he could possibly want to say to me.

"I still hate you for what you did to me."

"Cool, thanks." I shook my head and turned to leave again.

"Wait."

I turned back towards him. "What?"

"How long has Lysander been here?"

"Basically since the year started." I replied, curious of the question. "Why?"

Castiel's expression got dark. "...Did he hurt you?"

"No..." I answered him. "In fact, he told me he would never do anything to me again."

"And you believe him? Are you that stupid?"

"This time, I think he's telling the truth. He gave himself a big, nasty scar on his arm to prove it. He says it's like some kind of reminder, of the pain he caused me or something like that."

"See, that's the kind of shit I'm talking about!"

"Why do you care, anyway? If you hate me so much?"

"Because I know him. I know what he can do. I could hate someone so much that I wanted them dead, but I would still never wish Lysander upon them."

"How...how can you talk about someone who used to be your best friend that way...?"

"Yeah, 'used to be.' Believe it or not, he was actually a normal guy when I met him. He was a great friend – in fact, he was like a brother to me. And then...his girlfriend broke up with him. After that, I dunno...he just, changed. Like a switch was flipped in his head. He went from being a normal guy to this...this...maniac. He started following random girls home, stalking them, stealing their phones, and taking whatever else he wanted too."

I listened in horror as Castiel told this nightmare of a story. "One time," he continued, "he tried to kill someone very close to me. And he would've, if I wasn't there to stop him. He was my best friend, so I didn't turn him in or anything, but I told him to fuck off and that I never wanted to see him again. After that...he stopped. He didn't do that creepy shit anymore, and he kept his distance like I told him to. Then one day, he apologized and asked to be friends again. I was still pissed, but just like you, I wanted to believe in him. I wanted to believe that he was back to normal – that this 'crazy' phase was over. Well, you see how that turned out. Lysander is gone. Long gone. The imposter you know is nothing like the friend I knew – he's not even human anymore – and I'm sorry I ever introduced you to him. He can hurt you, and he probably will, so please believe me. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I wasn't terrified for your life. As much as I hate you, and as much as I hate the shit you caused me, I still don't want him anywhere near you. Because I swear to God, Julia..." He clenched his fist and looked away, "If he ever hurts you like he hurt her..." then looked back at me. "I'm gonna have to kill him." Then, grabbing me by the shoulders and staring right into my eyes, he said, "If he ever does anything to you, you let me know – and you let me know the second it happens. I'll protect you. I always do. I always will." He didn't leave until I gave my response, but once I assured him that he'd be the first to know if anything was wrong, he nodded in agreement and walked away.

"Well, isn't that sweet?" Castiel had barely even turned the corner when Lysander appeared out of the darkness. I hadn't even had time to gather my thoughts. "He's going to protect you from me?" Lysander chuckled, before getting dead serious. "You'd better not give him the chance."

I stayed quiet. I wasn't sure what to say to that, especially right now. Lysander had this dark aura about him. Much darker than usual. I was afraid that any response I gave would be the wrong one.

"What a gentleman he is, coming to your rescue." He went on. "And what a magnificent liar too."

I was confused. "What? What do you mean, 'liar'? Castiel doesn't lie!"

"Oh, but he does..." Lysander continued. "You don't honestly believe that whole 'I hate you' act, do you?"

"Why not? He said it loud and clear. Castiel hates me. Why shouldn't he? I ripped his heart out...or, stabbed it with a knife, or something. I really hurt him."

"You hurt all of us, dear. You hurt us terribly. And I feel for him, I really do. He's right, you know. We were like brothers – we knew each other inside and out. That's why I know he doesn't hate you. 'Why shouldn't he?' indeed, but he doesn't. Quite the opposite, actually."

"Lysander, c'mon."

"He still loves you, Darling. I heard every word he said just now. Those were words of concern, not hate. Tell me, if you truly think he hates you, why would he warn you about me? I assure you, despite his claims, he would not do that for someone he 'wanted dead.' No, I know him much better than that. And, did you even bother to think for one second that if he honestly hated you, then maybe he wouldn't have said all those things in that tone?"

"What tone? He was telling me to be careful, what tone could you have possibly gotten from that?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he spoke to you. Well, how about this then? What was the last thing he said to you?"

I was starting to get annoyed with Lysander's interrogation. "He said he would protect me! He...always will...?" I had to think about that one. I really didn't want Lysander to be right (more than you know), but that honestly didn't make any sense to me.

If Castiel hates me, then why did he say he would always protect me? God dammit, Castiel, don't let Lysander be right!

"Bingo." Lysander said, an evil smile forming on his face. "I think it's starting to dawn on you now." He walked up to me and touched my cheek. "You see, Darling, when a man says he 'always will' in that sense, he's staking his claim on the one he loves." He inched closer. "But of course, I won't let him have you. You are mine. You 'always will' be mine." With one last twisted smirk, he leaned in all the way and pressed his lips against mine. While still gentle, this time, he made me feel uneasy. I could only bear it for a few seconds before I broke away from him.

"I...I have to go." I said, slowly backing away from him. I didn't dare look at his face.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned me, walking towards me at the same pace. "The only place you need to go is with me. Let me walk you home."

"N-No, thanks..." I refused, steadily increasing my speed. "I'll talk to you later...okay?" I flashed an uncomfortable smile at him, and then...

I bolted.

I had to get out of there – I didn't care how. The way Lysander was acting right then...it was just like before, only now, it was worse. If I had known before what Castiel just told me, I never would've given Lysander the benefit of the doubt. Not at all. I mean, I was the kind of person who could forgive a lot, but attempted murder...? There was no way. And as much as I still wanted to "play nice" with him in order to keep Chris safe, I couldn't do it anymore. If Lysander tried to kill someone before, who's to say he wouldn't try to kill me? As I ran through the halls, scared out of my mind, I heard his footsteps behind me.

"Hey!" He shouted. "Where do you think you're going?!"

I didn't respond. I just kept running, pushing past anyone who stood in my way. Thankfully, there were enough obstacles to keep him back long enough for me to get a head-start out of the school. I got far enough away to escape his line of sight, so I took that opportunity to stick close to walls and stay hidden all the way back to my apartment building. I finally calmed down once I got to my floor, and walked over to my apartment. As I was getting out my key, I heard the stairwell door close from the end of the other hall, behind me. I looked over my shoulder. Lysander was already halfway down the hallway and was coming towards me fast. I frantically searched for my key, found it, then ran inside and slammed the door behind me, locking it shut. No sooner had I done that–

*BAM BAM BAM*

"Open this door!" I heard Lysander shout from the other side. He hit the door so hard, it knocked me back a little.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted back, standing a few feet away in fear.

*BAM* "Let me in!"

"NO!"

"Why did you run?! I just wanted to spend some time with you! Was that so much to ask?!"

"Stop, you're scaring me!"

To my surprise, he actually listened. Through the door, I could hear him trying to catch his breath. "I apologize." He said. "That wasn't my intention."

"How could it not be, the way you're acting?"

"I..." He trailed off. "I can't stand seeing you with him. With anyone. I can't stand watching him touch you."

"He didn't, really." I said, trying to calm him down. "He grabbed my shoulders, but that's about it – that's nothing!"

"It's not 'nothing' to me. Knowing what he had with you..."

"Well...we don't have anything anymore..."

"That's not true either. At least not for long. He'll find a way to take you back if he wants to, Darling. Take you from me..."

I didn't know what to say. Lysander's tone went from enraged to depressed in a matter of minutes. He honestly sounded as if he wanted to cry. Still, I couldn't console him, not now. I knew too much. Wow, I thought, Lysander sure is sneaky. Even now, I wonder if his sadness is real, or all just an act to guilt-trip me into opening that door. If I did, I wonder how fast his attitude would change...

"...Are you going to tell him?" He asked, realizing I wasn't going to respond to the last thing he said.

"What?"

"Castiel. Are you going to tell him about me? About this?"

"...I..."

"You still have his number, don't you?"

"...Yes. I do." As a matter of fact, I had the same phone. I never got a new one since I left, and I didn't change anything on it. I still had all of my old contacts in there. It was stupid of me, yes, but...I didn't want to let go of my memories. I couldn't. They meant too much to me.

"...I did it for him, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"What I did to that girl...well, almost did. I did it for Castiel's sake."

"...Okay, but you can't just–!"

"To save his life."

Now that...that shocked me. "...What?! What do you mean, 'to save his life'?! How?!"

He never answered my question. After a few seconds of silence, all he said was, "Darling...when you tell him about me...make sure you tell him that too."

I heard him back away from the door and start to leave. "Wait!" I yelled, unlocking it as quickly as I could. I flung the door open and ran outside. "Lysander!"

I called out to him, but he said nothing as he walked away. The only response I got from him was a single, sorrowful glance before he disappeared into the stairwell, out of my sight. It struck me in the heart so deeply, I was questioning whether or not I really should tell Castiel about all of this. Of course I knew that Lysander was crazy, and I had every reason to turn him in, let alone tell Castiel. But still...could I really do that now, after he'd practically just begged me not to? In the end, I decided I had to. I felt sorry for Lysander, despite everything, but I had to do something about this. Besides, I already promised Castiel I would rely on him; I didn't want to break yet another promise. So, I went back inside and got my phone.

"Already?" Castiel said, the moment he picked up.

"Yeah..." I answered, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Well I assume you're not calling to ask me on a date."

"...But what if I was~?"

"You'd better not be!"

"We should totally go out though~."

"I'm hanging up."

"No, wait!" I shouted. "I'm sorry, I was just kidding!"

"Yeah, you're really funny." He replied, sarcastic as usual. "Do you need help or not?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off. "I do." I hated the situation, but at this point, I didn't feel safe at all. If Lysander snapped like that again, who knows what he could do to me, or anyone else? I couldn't risk that, so I told Castiel what happened.

"Really...?" He sounded slightly surprised, but mostly disgusted. "We just talked about this!"

"Yeah, I know. And then he showed up right afterward."

"If he was listening to us the whole time, he should've known to stay away. But what does he do? He goes after you anyway, right after I just said I'd kill him!"

"That's how he is. He's obsessed."

"Well I'm stopping it. I'm calling the police like I should've done a long time ago."

"Wait! Don't do that!"

"Why not?!"

"Because..." I took a moment to figure out how to explain. "If we aggravate him, he'll do terrible things. I'm not the only one in danger here. If I upset him, he'll go after one of my closest friends. And you too, for ratting him out!"

"Back up, what 'close friend'?"

"Um...well..." I wasn't sure how to tell Castiel about Chris. I didn't think he'd care anymore, but the tone in his voice was more than a little accusatory.

"It's a guy, isn't it?"

"..."

"God dammit, Slim, are you actually giving him a reason to keep after you like this?"

"I'm not giving him a reason to do anything!" I snapped at him. "You know better than I do that Lysander doesn't need a reason to do the things he does! He just does them!"

"Well it doesn't help that you have another boyfriend!"

"He's NOT my boyfriend! We're just really close friends, okay?!"

"Yeah, you seem to have a lot of those."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know damn well what it means!"

I fell silent. I knew he was right, and there was nothing I could say against it.

After a brief moment of silence, Castiel spoke again. "Look, you don't wanna be Lysander's slave for the rest of your life, do you?"

"No..." I replied, hesitantly. "But I don't see any other options here."

"The only option is to let me put him where he belongs! He needs to be gone! For good!"

"No, that won't work! Even if you manage to get him arrested, what happens if he breaks out? And what if he's not alone? Chris could be in serious danger!"

"So that's his name..." He said, as I realized that I had just revealed Chris' name, completely by accident. "Well, no offense, but I really don't give a fuck what happens to him. But you're right, Lysander's an escape artist. If he got out of everything before, he'll probably get out of this too."

"He got out of attempted murder?"

"He was never even a suspect. The police couldn't find any evidence against him at all. I could tell 'em what I saw all damn day – and I have – but it's not enough to put him in his place."

I realized Castiel was right. If they didn't have any evidence against Lysander for that crime, then they couldn't charge him for it. But...

"What I did to that girl..."

Lysander basically admitted that Castiel was right. It would certainly help build our case. Although, since he never admitted what he did (or 'tried to do...?'), I still didn't think it would be enough. We needed solid proof if we ever wanted this to work, so I decided I would tell Chris everything. After all, he was the one investigating Lysander, and he was the one in most danger because of him. I wanted to help him as much as I could, but first, I needed to figure out a plan of defense with Castiel. I filled him in on everything that happened between me, Lysander, and Chris since the beginning of the year. "So my plan was to play pretend with Lysander to keep him at bay, and 'fight' with Chris to buy him more time to do some research. So far, he hasn't found anything, but I think this could really help."

"Break up with him."

"What?"

"You heard me." The tone in his voice couldn't have been more serious. "Tell Lysander to fuck off."

"I can't do that! Are you crazy?! That would just add fuel to the fire!"

"Then I'll be there when it does! But you can't stay with him, he'll fucking kill you!"

"No, he won't!"

"Yes, he will! Listen to me – if you don't get away from him, he will hurt you. He has before, hasn't he?"

"Well yeah, but..."

"But nothing! If he's done it before, he'll do it again, now here's what you're gonna do: Find Lysander first thing at school tomorrow and tell him you want nothing to do with him."

"You want me to say that?"

"You have to. He won't take you seriously if you don't."

"But what if he–"

"I'll be there. I won't stand right next to you, but I'll keep an eye on the whole thing in case anything happens."

"How will you know where to find me?"

"I'll get there early and wait for you at the front. I'll follow you from there as soon as I see you."

"Oh, so does that make you my new Lysander~?"

"Shut it, you know this is different. I'm here to save your life, not ruin it."

"Okay, okay, calm down. I appreciate your help."

"You'd better."

"I do. So how about that date~?"

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

It appeared Castiel really did hang up on me this time. All jokes aside though, I knew that if I wanted to pull this off, I would have to do some planning. Castiel told me what to say to him, but there had to be more to it than that. If I wanted to convince Lysander I was done, I would need more material to back it up. So, I got out a piece of paper and started writing everything I wanted to say, making sure each word I wrote was as honest as possible, yet not too overbearing. Even after all of this, I didn't want to destroy him completely. But...why? Why was I still hesitating to let him have it, to show him the agony I felt inside?

Having folded the paper up, I placed it on my nightstand so I would remember to bring it with me the next day. I knew I would need to read it at least once more before facing him again. I couldn't let myself be vulnerable this time. I wouldn't.