I haven't updated anything in such a long time! Things have just been busy with school and all lately- Hope to have the next chapter up soon if all goes well! :) Enjoy!

"Drake…" I said quietly, my voice echoing Adam's in both intonation and resonance. My eyes shot down to my feet as the name dredged up a bunch of bitter memories. I felt Neil's eyes trying to penetrate my thoughts, but I wouldn't let him.

Drake LaBry had caused every ounce of jealousy I had locked away over the past few months. He was Adam's type from the inside out, even more so than I thought I was. He was southern, brunette, and beautiful, not to mention funny. Hearing his name be the first thing to leave Adam's mouth since the accident didn't only make me self-conscious- it scared me to death. Was I really that desperate? Or was it just Adam that I wanted to cling to so badly?

"Are you okay, Kris?" asked Neil finally, his eyes searching mine as I turned toward him a bit.

I took a deep breath and sighed, trying to clear my head and recall where I was with my story. It meant nothing. Adam and I were together, and in love. Some bright-eyed beauty wasn't going to take that away and I knew better than to even doubt the strength of what Adam and I had for a minute. It was better than some fling; invincible.

"Yeah Neil, I'm fine. Where was I again? Sorry," I said quickly, hoping that Neil wouldn't try to dwell on what had just happened.

"Kris, if you're not-"

"Neil," I said firmly, shooting him a semi-dangerous glance, "I'll be alright. Now, where were we?"

Neil stayed silent for a moment, but when I didn't relent, he relaxed and said, "You were talking about when you first saw him again. It was in chorus and he complimented you… said your voice was beautiful."

"Right," I said, nodding my head slightly, "Well, after that day, Adam began to say hi to me every morning when I'd come in. He wouldn't say much else, but he always asked me how I was and asked about Daniel and Tommy, even though I knew he couldn't possibly give a shit less."

Neil smiled, "Yeah, probably not."

I returned Neil's grin and continued, "Then one day, I remember that he came over to talk to me. Not even about chorus, just things- Like what kind of music I liked, what I did in free time… It was so bizarre, because I was still convinced that he hated me. So after class that day I pulled him aside and asked him why he gave me the benefit of the doubt, why he acted like we were good friends when the only real interaction we had was my foot to his one day in a coffee shop…"

_*_*_*_*_

I grabbed hold of Adam's wrist and pulled him away from the stampede of students intent to make it to the lunchroom. He looked surprised, and even stumbled when I led him over to the wall. I looked around his frame to be sure that nobody was listening, and then straightened back up, feeling my face grow hot as he raised an eyebrow.

"What's up, Kris?" he asked, folding his arms.

I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to word my question to him. Did I want to take the calm, controlled approach, so as not to scare him off just after he'd forgiven me for acting like such an idiot, or did I want to just let my temper and emotions flow like I normally did?

I sighed, deciding to start out with the first option.

"Adam…" I said, nearly shivering from the way his name sounded as it rolled off of my tongue, "Why are you doing this? I made a fool of you at your own job and you just keep going like nothing's wrong, like I didn't do anything…"

"But you didn't," said Adam simply, letting his head and shoulder fall casually against the wall as he looked me up and down.

Now it was my turn to be confused. What was he talking about "I didn't do anything"? Did he forget; suffer some brain damage from the fall that day?

"What do you mean?" I asked, careful not to let my thoughts spill out too quickly.

He smiled jovially and looked me right in the eyes, making my stomach overturn.

"You did what you did because your friends were there, didn't you? I could tell by looking at you that it was an impulse decision, because you couldn't look me in the eyes right afterward, like you were scared," he said quietly, also making sure that nobody was around to eavesdrop now.

I had no words. Was I really that easy to read? And if I was, then why couldn't Tommy and Daniel see right through me when I condoned anything they did? I hardly ever approved, and to be perfectly truthful, I'd never considered them real friends. They were merely tools to hold onto to remain popular, and even that wasn't working out right at the moment.

I opened my mouth to tell him that he was right, but he silenced me with a comforting pat on the back. "Well," he said, as though trying to finish our conversation quickly, "I should go, and you should too. We have classes to be at, don't we?"

I nodded, but more to myself than to Adam, who was already halfway down the hallway when I snapped out of my astonished trance.

_*_*_*_*_

"There was something so completely mysterious about him, but comforting at the same time. I truly felt, after that day, that I could be who I was around him, and not some fake idiot who enjoyed other people's torment… " I said in barely a whisper, nearly forgetting that I was talking to Neil.

He shifted in his seat across from me a little, trying to hide a knowing smile behind his hand.

"He's always been kind of intuitive that way, you know. Once when I was little, I got really jealous of Adam because he was the focus of attention. He was about ten, I think, and our parents really were determined to get him into drama. They talked about it every second- at dinner, in the mornings before school, when Adam was off doing something… All the time, and it drove me crazy," said Neil, smirking and rolling his eyes, looking at Adam's slumbering face.

I laughed a little, imagining Adam in plays at age ten. It didn't surprise me or anything, but I could only imagine how dramatic he was back then and how much I probably would have wanted to hug him to death. "Go on."

"So one day, I was acting completely normal and he came up to me. He said, 'You know Neil, they might pay a lot of attention to me right now, but someday, they'll talk about you all the time and how good you are at something. Then we'll be even, right?' I hadn't told my parents how I felt, I never wrote about in a journal or anything he could find, I never showed it… It was just weird. Cool, but weird. Sometimes I honestly thought he was psychic. He's always been a little wise beyond his years, too."

I laid my head on Adam's stomach, suddenly wishing I had asked him more about his childhood or his relationship with Neil. I could always ask Neil, of course, but hearing it from Adam would make it sound like an adventure; something new and exciting. Maybe when he woke up, I could ask him then.

Neil glanced down at his watch, exhaling loudly as he did. "9:45…" he muttered to himself, looking back up at Adam and then over at me. "There's a café next-door if you want to grab a coffee really quickly. They have some pretty good smoothies too."

Smoothies and coffee sounded so tempting right now. I'd hardly eaten or drank anything decent in days, and some caffeine wouldn't hurt my chances of pulling another all-nighter.

I stretched and yawned, peeking out at Neil from my narrowed eyes. "Alright Neil, but if your brother wakes up and we're not here to see it, I'm blaming you for the rest of our lives."

Neil nodded appreciatively. "Alright, done deal."

I told Neil to go ahead and wait for me outside, and he did without a word. I imagined he was suspicious that I was still riled up over Drake, and he had every right to feel that way. I had stayed behind to search Adam's face for clues- any indication that he'd had a change of heart in his deep sleep.

But there was nothing: no consolation for me, no hope for Adam. Just a nonresponsive, delicate shell entranced in an uncertain and unstable world; a place I couldn't save him from even if I willed it with all of my heart.