Fulton sighed, resting his head on his arms. Two days had past and he hated this place even more. Cameron was, well to put it simply, different. It was like they had gone back in time to when they were in their first year of grade five. They would probably punch each other out if they said one word wrong. But the most annoying thing was that he still felt the tiny crush grow each time he saw her smile, or laugh, or just be herself. He glanced at her across the row. Her face was drawn in a serious expression and she looked as if she thought the lesson was the most important thing in the entire world. While he had forgotten that the teacher was still talking.

The bell rang, signalling that class was over. Fulton gathered up all his books and trudged out into the hallway. For more than the hundredth time, he wished that Portman had come to Eden Hall. Sure he had Charlie, but it wasn't the same kind of friendship. He wanted to talk about Cameron with Portman, because he would have understood the situation better since Conway hadn't looked at a girl till this Linda character. He made his way to his locker which just happened to be beside Cameron's locker. She had already gotten there and was putting her books into her bag. He gritteed his teeth and went over to his locker. Just as he opened his locker, she turned around to face him.

"Hi."

When he looked over at her, he saw the girl he fell in love with a long time ago. Her eyes stared right into his, with so much intensity that he had to look away.

"Hey."

"How have you been?"

"I've had better weeks. What about you? How's your boyfriend?"

"Um, I didn't know I had a boyfriend."

"Oh come on," He slammed the locker shut, " if you don't have a boyfriend who was that guy in your room a few weeks ago?"

"You mean Tony?"

"Yes! I mean Tony."

Then she did something he didn't expect her to do. She started to laugh. When she finally caught her breath, she looked back at him with a big smile on her face.

"Tony isn't my boyfriend, he's my older brother. And he's married."

"Oh."

Fulton had never felt so stupid. He had even met her brother once. Why had he just assumed that the guy was her boyfriend? And even more importantly why did he care so much? She had obviously expressed that she just wanted to be friends. He felt his cheeks burn. His face formed into a scowl. Why did he blush so much when he talked to her?

"I'm sorry by the way." She said quietly.

He jerked his head up, confused about why she was apologizing. It must have been obvious that he didn't understand because she explained.

"For throwing your clothes in the showers and making you walk back to the dorms in your sweaty clothes. And by clothes I mean your boxers and undershirt. I was out of line."

Fulton stared at her, slightly shocked but grateful for the apology. He gave a sheepish smile.

"It's okay."

"What class do you have next?"

"I think it's history."

"Fult, we just got out of history."

"Then it's english."

"I've got english too. Would you possibly walk with me to class?"

They started walking down the hallway, probably only an inch of space between them.

"You didn't throw my clothes into the shower just so you could see me in my boxers did you?" Fulton teased.

She gave him an exaggerated shocked expression, and pushed him gently away.

"You wish, buddy."

* 2 hours later*

Fulton lay on the bed. He had to study for that english test, even though it was pointless seeing as he could never maintain Coach's high standards. He groaned inwardly, getting up. The pile of books were picked up and taken to the commons. But he found that someone else was already there.

Cameron was sitting on the couch with papers scattered everywhere. Her head was in her hands, and she was muttering things to herself. Fulton gave a slight cough and her head jerked up. When she saw it was only him, he could see just a bit of the tension slip away.

"So, when did this tornado hit the room?" He asked.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Now what do you need?"

"What I need is to study english."

"Ah. Okay then, sit down and join the party."

As he sat down beside her, he saw that there was a bruise on her arm. She must have noticed him staring and pulled her sleeve down a little to cover it.

"Well, come on. Let's get this show on the road."

~Cameron~

He had seen it. She knew that he had. But he didn't ask anything about it. So they moved on. Sure, they had stayed on topic for a while but then both of them got frustrated and just settled to talking. It was so hard to stay focused though, her back was burning from pain.

"You stay still, and you better not make one f**** sound, you hear me!"

He tied her wrists to the rope shackles he made, her back facing him. She heard his footsteps go around her and then the silence.

CRACK!

Pain rippled through her, but she gritted her teeth and breathed slowly. It was repeated over and over and over. He enjoyed it, it made him feel powerfully. She could tell. Blood ran down her back, soaking her ripped shirt. When it was finally done, he untied her and left her in the room. He needed another beer.

"God, I feel like we should be studying but I mean how do you even study for English?" Fulton's voice made her jolt out of the memory.

She looked over at him, and saw he was reading over the notes again. His lips were pressed into a straight line, and his forehead was creased in concentration.

"I don't really know." She admitted.

"Yeah, well English is an annoying class anyways." He said, throwing the notes back on the table in defeat.

"What a wonderfully positive summary. Anyways, what do you even want to do when you get out of school?"

"I don't know. Right now, I think I'm only cut out for a career in hockey. I'm too stupid for anything else."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am. Don't deny that people say that I'm just a dumb jock."

"Not that I've heard. And the people who would say that would be dumb jocks. Fulton, you can be anything that you want to be. I'm not just saying that to be cheesy. It's true. As long as you actually put in the work to, you can do anything." She said, making her eyes keep contact with his the whole time.

His eyes looked down as if he was running over her words in his head. When he looked back up, she could see just a little bit of hope in between the hazel.

"You really think that?"

She gave him a small smile, and squeezed his hand quickly.

"Absolutely."

He stared at her for a little while, before spitting out a question.

"Do you want to go out sometime?"

Maybe she hadn't heard him correctly. Hopefully. Why wouldn't her heart just shut the hell up and stop beating so fast so she could answer?

"Excuse me?"

"Would you like to go out with me? Tonight? The Varsity invited us to a dinner. Some sort of lame tradition. But I was just thinking, well, I was just wondering if you might want to go with me possibly, maybe?"

Those words seemed wrong. Varsity inviting people out to dinner.. It sounded like something that Riley would do. She wanted to say yes just so that she could protect the Ducks from whatever cruel prank they were going to play. Well at least that was what she told herself was why she wanted to say yes.

"Fulton, I would say yes, but I have work tonight. I'm actually really sorry. But just a word of caution, be prepared when you go to dinner. It might be some kind of joke."

"Okay. I understand. Well, I actually should be getting ready for this thing, so I'll see you tommorrow, maybe." He croaked.

She watched him leave the room, feeling her heart break with each step. She wanted to call after him and say that she changed her mind. She wanted to be able to be with him. But she just couldn't. She wouldn't do that to him. Especially not to him.