Paulina sticks to me like glue for the rest of the day, always meeting me at the door of the classes she's not in. I'm almost excited when Lancer's class ends early because it means Paulina won't have time to get to me before I'm out the door.

Danny's the first one out of the classroom and I'm second, practically jogging so I can leave before Paulina catches up to me. I don't know what the fuck her deal is but I don't want to put up with it right now. I can't handle anyone else's bullshit.

I push open the door and Danny's at the bottom of the stairs. He turns back at the noise and offers a smile, tilting his head to one side. "Good luck at practice today. A-And at the game next week."

His voice is soft when he speaks but there's no sign of shakiness in either one of us. I want to ask him so much about whatever the fuck this anxiety thing is but the questions crowd each other in my brain. "You're coming to the game, right?" I ask, jogging down the stairs. He falls in step next to me and easily deviates from his path toward his car so he can walk with me. It's not like the field is that far away from the parking lot anyway.

"Maybe," Danny responds, his gaze lingering on his car before he's looking toward me again. "I don't know… I might be busy on Friday."

I don't know if he's ever been to a game before but I kind of want him to see me play. I blow at algebra and I fucked up at the garage when he was there. I want him to see me not mess up at something I'm actually good at. "You should come."

Danny raises an eyebrow and I have to wonder if the color on his cheeks is entirely from the heat. I can tell my neck is flushed too and I flick my gaze away from his. What am I doing? He probably has way better things to do on a Friday than watch me play a stupid game.

"If you're asking me to come, then I will," Danny says softly and my chest aches at the earnest look on his face. Oh fuck, Fenton, you're gonna be the death of me.

My hand comes up to rub the back of my heated neck as my mind scrambles on what to say. How do I tell him that I'm asking him to? Can I really just say that? God, isn't that such a lame response? I can't come up with anything better and the silence is turning awkward.

"Well… I'm asking then." I look back at him, fully expecting a roll of the eyes or for him to say he was kidding but Danny surprises me.

"Okay. Then I'll come to the game on Friday." He smiles then, a big goofy grin stretched across his face and it's the kind of smile I wouldn't give anyone if you paid me. But his damn smile is energetic and infectious. I find myself easily giving him one back and I roll my eyes. God, we're just a pair of grinning idiots at this point.

"Alright, man. I'll see you then," I tell him, gesturing toward the field. "I should really get to practice so, I'll see you tomorrow or something."

Danny nods, still smiling widely, and starts for his car. "Okay, see ya."

Jeff and Blake are heading toward me and they're casting curious glances toward Danny. I don't know if they saw us talking but from the questioning looks they're both giving me, I'm guessing they did. Keith looks toward Danny once when he sees our teammates staring but his attention is quickly on his phone again.

His eyebrows are drawn down and I don't know if it's because of whatever's on his phone or because of what my teammates are saying. They're too far away for me to catch their voices but I don't slow down. Something tells me I don't want to know what they're saying.

The field is mostly empty when I get there, save for coach and a few of my teammates. They look up when I near and give me exaggerated waves, catching the attention of Kwan. He has his back to me but when he turns around, he gives me a sympathetic look. God, I hate that look. If this is about what happened at lunch, he can save his pity. I don't deserve it for something as stupid as that.

"Hey man," I call out when he starts toward me and within a few seconds, he's at my side, matching my pace back toward our teammates.

"Are you okay to practice, Dash?" Kwan asks and the genuine concern in his expression is making me feel sick. If he's asking about my calf, it hasn't hurt in months. My ribs, days. My fucked up reasons for storming out of the cafeteria… ugh. I don't want to go there.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Just like when dad asked, 'fine' is interchangeable with 'fucked up'. I feel like Kwan knows on some level that there's a difference between when I'm actually fine and when I'm just saying it. Hell, he probably recognizes the difference more than I do.

Kwan pats me on the shoulder as we reach our teammates and then we're all exchanging fist bumps or clapping each other on the back. For most of these guys, this'll just be one year of many in their careers at this game. But for me, this is my last year. God, I'm gonna miss most of these guys.

When Keith reaches the field, he taps me on the shoulder and tells me someone's here for me, before pointing up toward the bleachers. It takes me a few seconds to recognize the curly black hair pulled back into a loose ponytail but as soon as I do, she's turned toward the field again.

Valerie's face lights up and she quickly leaves her spot, abandoning her backpack and several notebooks as she bounds down toward me. Several of my teammates turn to look as I move away from them, keeping my gaze on her.

"Dash, hey!" she says as she bounds toward me, squeezing me in a hug when she reaches me. It's not like the one she gave me at the garage when she was probably still picturing my hysterical sobs before she left at the beginning of summer. This one is more excited and I can practically feel her vibrating as she sways us from side to side.

"Glad to see you too, Val. It's also nice to breathe, just saying," I mumble, sucking in a lungful of air when she lets me go. She rolls her eyes at my dramatics and swats me with the back of her hand.

Valerie's practically bouncing and she moves from foot to foot for a second. "Okay, so. I kinda have some exciting news." She glances around the field before taking a small step closer to me and I guess this is something she doesn't want anyone else to hear. "Guess who made it as the top intern and is now going to be trained to work there?"

She leans back, the grin stretched so far across her face, it's gotta be painful at some point. I can't help it when a grin of my own spreads across my face.

"Holy fuck, Val." I pull her into a hug this time and squeeze her just as hard as she did me, looping an arm around her neck and running my knuckles along the top of her head. "I knew you could do it, I'm so proud of you."

She laughs loudly and pushes away from me, swatting at me again. "Stop it, you big jerk." She runs her hands down her hair to flatten out what I messed up and grins up at me. "I'm ridiculously excited, Dash, you have no idea."

I think I have some idea because she's still bouncing and I'm so fucking happy for her. If anyone deserves a good thing, it's Valerie. We should celebrate this somehow. I open my mouth to suggest it but she beats me to it.

"Anyway though, I don't know yet if someone's gonna switch shifts with me tomorrow so I have no clue if I'm gonna be able to make it to the game next week," Valerie says with a slight pout. "But, I want to see you play so I thought I'd come watch you practice in case I can't make it. You'll just have to text me how it goes if I get stuck working."

When mom quit going to my games, Valerie was the only familiar face in the crowd for me. Sometimes Alex could come by but he couldn't stay through the whole game and I'd never ask him to. Whenever Valerie's not working, she's there in the crowd. It's nice knowing she's up there.

"It's fine if you can't make it," I tell her, trying to convince myself of the same. Besides, dad'll be here to watch me this time. I debate on mentioning that to Valerie and decide to play it off pretty casually. "And my dad's gonna be there anyway so if you can't, it's cool."

Valerie's eyebrows raise and I wish I could take back the statement. She knows some of this shit now. It's just as bad as mentioning it to Kwan or Alex. They've both seen dad's handiwork and while Val never realized the bruises I was sporting were from dear old dad, she's still probably not comfortable with the idea of my dad being nice. Gotta admit, it's pretty insane to think about.

"He's coming?" she asks, looking like she wants to hug me again. Fuck, I shouldn't have brought him up. I'm such an idiot, why the fuck can't I read a situation better than this? It should be easy for me to recognize when the moment's right for something and when it's not.

I shrug, gesturing toward the locker room. "Yeah, probably. I should get changed."

Valerie catches my arm before I'm able to walk away and her expression is concerned. Like she's afraid of what's going to happen if my dad's there. She glances at my teammates all heading toward the locker rooms before focusing on me. "Are you… okay with that?"

"I invited him." It's out of my mouth before I can stop it and I realize that I don't want to take it back. I want her to know that I'm the reason he's coming. Because I took action and invited him. I don't want her thinking that he's suddenly decided to start showing up again. He's not really that type of guy anyway. Gently, I tug my arm from Valerie's hand and gesture toward the locker rooms again. "Seriously, I gotta get changed or coach'll have my ass. I'll see you after."


Practice is harder than I remember it being and maybe it's because I haven't gotten back into the swing of things but damn, was I always this out of breath after running? I don't bother looking up toward the bleachers more than a few times during practice. I know Valerie can see me panting and sweating my ass off. Good thing I didn't ask Danny to watch me today.

Coach says we're meeting again tomorrow to get ready for our first game and then we're set free, most of the guys lazily trudging toward the locker rooms. I climb the first few rows of bleachers before Valerie looks up and gives me a smile.

"Practice is over, if you want to go home," I tell her with a jerk of my thumb toward the locker rooms. "I need to take a shower before I go but I'll text you when I get home."

Valerie glances down where I gesture and looks back at me with a shrug, her eyes easily returning back to her notebook. I can't imagine a school subject is that interesting but it has her attention easily. "I'll wait for you."

What the hell?

I climb the rest of the way to where she is, stopping on the bleacher in front of her and sinking down with my back to the field. "Why?" I look down at whatever's covering her notebook but it's just a bunch of math and science stuff that makes my head swim.

She makes a small note in the margin of the page before glancing up at me again. "My dad's working late tonight. I was hoping that I could hang out with you today… if you're not busy working."

I should probably work a shift at the garage to make up for the way I was acting yesterday, remind Alex that I'm good for more than just being a whiny bitch, but I don't actually want to. Valerie and I haven't hung out since the spring and even then, we couldn't do much because of my stupid leg.

"Nah, I'm not working," I tell her before I even have my phone out of my backpack. Alex won't have a problem letting me off today if I'm on the schedule. He'll probably die of shock cause I'm asking for the day off.

To: Alex

If I'm on the schedule for today, can I have it off?

It's pretty shitty of me to text him right before a shift starts if I'm the one that's supposed to be there but he probably expects this. Why let him know up front that I want a day off when I can just be a dick and let him know the day of instead?

I try to push back where my mind is going because it's not a great place and I don't want to end up being pathetic with Valerie again. "So, I'll take a shower and come back and we'll decide what to do, alright? Sound good?" I ask, sliding my phone into my backpack again and hauling the thing onto my shoulder.

Valerie nods and easily returns to whatever is covering her pages. The more I look at it, the more it looks like stuff for her internship. I wonder how much of it she can tell me about and how much of it's classified. There's probably not a lot she can tell me.

I leave her on the bleachers and move back toward the locker rooms. My backpack is still in front of my locker where I stashed it before practice and I nudge it out of the way to grab my towel. I shrug my clothes off and ditch them into the bottom of my locker. Most of the guys are in the showers but there's still a few open and I head toward one of them, hanging my towel on the stall door.

Kwan looks over at me and I give him a nod before plunging my head beneath the sprayer. I run some soap down my body and into my hair, letting the warm water rinse away all the suds. It only takes me a few minutes underneath the spray before I feel like I'm clean enough and I shut the water off, running the towel through my hair before I wrap it around my waist, swinging open the stall door.

The chatter is pretty loud around me but I'm able to tune most of it out, going through the motions of putting my clothes back on. I smooth the material of my black t-shirt down over my chest and yank my shorts around my waist before I realize that Kwan's talking to me.

Just as my phone vibrates on the top shelf of my locker, I turn back to Kwan. "What's up?"

He spares a glance at my phone before looking at me again. His expression is concerned and I hate that he looks at me like that. There was a time before he knew, when we were just friends that enjoyed being around each other. Now, I can't help but think he feels obligated to stick around because of the shit in my life. I don't want anyone to feel like they have to be nice to me or hang around me just cause I'm sometimes a punching bag for my dad.

"You wanna come around my place for dinner tonight?" Kwan asks, crossing his arms as I swipe my phone from my locker. I shift the device from hand to hand for a few seconds before shaking my head. I don't need him to play caretaker today.

"Nah, man. I'm hanging with Valerie tonight." I glance up at him with a somewhat forced smile to ease some of that concern still clinging to his features. "Thanks though. I'll catch you next time."

I grab my backpack from the floor and shove my clothes into the front zipper area before I pull it onto my shoulder. Kwan follows me out of the locker room and I open up the text message waiting for me.

From: Alex

You're asking for a day off? Are you okay?

I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not but I debate on responding with a picture of my middle finger. Knowing Alex, he'd think it was hilarious. I decide against it though, probably be better if I don't.

Kwan nudges me with his elbow and gestures to end of the field. The cheerleading team are marching onto the field, probably to talk to coach, but I see Paulina in the thick of them. Her gaze is scanning the crowd and it's only a matter of time before she sees me.

"Oh fuck," leaves my mouth before I can stop it and I turn around, ducking under the bleachers. Kwan follows me without question and I silently send him my thanks as I glance toward him. He nods, understanding on some level what I'm doing.

This is stupid. Hiding out from Paulina is pretty fucking childish. It really shouldn't be that big of a deal anymore but god, I don't know how to act around her right now. Is she trying to tell me she wants us to try dating again? Or does she just want us to pretend we are in front of our friends?

"Trouble in paradise, I take it?" Kwan asks and I glance toward him with a shrug. Does that term still apply if what Paulina and I had was never paradise? I don't know. It was good in sophomore year and junior year was okay. This past summer was fucking amazing… or maybe just amazing fucking.

Paulina's finally stopped searching the field and her gaze is fixed on coach. Their voices are low and I'm barely paying them any attention. As long as she's not looking my way for as long as it takes me to nab Valerie, I'm good

I tap Kwan on the shoulder with the back of my hand and gesture behind the bleachers. "Come on." It's stupid to hide out as I go but I don't want to run into her right now. I just want to forget about her for a little while and pretend that what happened at lunch never happened.

Kwan follows behind me and we have to duck under the last row to get out and then I start toward Valerie. I glance back toward Kwan when I reach the end of the bleachers. "We should hang out this weekend, man. Text me and we'll figure something out."

He smiles and nods, giving me a small wave before he's heading toward the parking lot. I watch his retreating head on his path toward his Toyota truck and after a few seconds, I turn toward Valerie again. She's obviously seen me now cause she's packing her books away. So I just stay put and eventually she rises from the bleacher and starts toward me.

"So, what do you want to do?" I ask when she's close enough and follow her off the bleachers. She slides her other arm through her backpack strap and gives a shrug, pushing her bangs out of her face with one hand.

"Don't know. You wanna just order Chinese and play video games like we used to?" she asks, glancing at me with a smile. 'Like we used to' is an expression of ours. It usually means 'before everything got fucked up' and I guess it still works right now. We did used to do that all the time before everything went to shit. Before I told her what my dad was capable of. Before my mom left. Before hers did too. Before was better and I wish we could go back to it.

"Sure. Like we used to."


A/N: Yo guys. How was your week?

I decided to update a week early to celebrate the fact that I actually finished Camp NaNoWriMo! I don't think I really made it clear in last week's chapter but I was writing on Stay for camp. So, this month, I added 30k more words on this story and also discovered that this is the fic that's gonna destroy me. Just... Dash is a precious child, okay?

So here we get to see Valerie and tbh, I've really missed her. She's so much fun to write on and I love her interactions with Dash. I'm 110% supportive of their friendship. Even though it was basically nonexistent in canon, I've always had a strong headcanon that Val and Dash are bffs. After Kwan, of course. Also small note here, in the text Alex sends Dash, there's supposed to be multiple question marks after "You're asking for a day off" but fanfiction isn't letting them through for some reason?

I meant to say in last week's chapter, about the whole anxiety thing - I actually have generalized anxiety disorder. So if it comes across as though they both have general characteristics/symptoms of anxiety, it's cause I'm just drawing from own experience. I didn't really decide to give Dash anxiety, it just sort of naturally happened that way and a few beta readers said that it fit with his character in Stay so I went with it. I don't know if I ever consciously decided to give Danny anxiety either, it was just from the first introduction of him waaaay back in the first chapter, I just knew he had anxiety. Kinda gives the two of them something to bond over though, huh? ;p

The title of this chapter is another lyric and it comes from the song 'Poison' by Front Porch Step. Which tbh, I really feel like is a Paulina/Dash song given how fucked up their relationship is in this. You guys should give it a listen if you want to, I really like it for them. Especially considering the song reflects how Dash feels about it all at this point. Not to give anything away but his opinion toward her and their relationship in general goes through quite a few changes.

Gotta be honest with you guys, since I've been working on Dash throughout July and put 30k words down on him, it's weird to re-read these chapters in order to post them. Like... he's in an entirely different headspace now. I can't wait for you guys to watch the shift happen.

One final thing, for those of you that know me from the blog textsfromghosts on tumblr, you've probably seen the fact that I put the blog on hiatus but I'm not really gonna get into it on here. If you want to check out the post, feel free. But if any of you are interested in following my personal blog for shits or to see whenever I talk about Stay, I'm the-little-insomniac.

Anyway, that's all for this week. I appreciate all your thoughts and speculations in the reviews, they really mean a lot to me.