Thank you to Sammie94, justkimmy, Alexandria M and corbettluv for reviewing :)

"Does anybody know if Leah will be coming in today?" Asked Mr. Stapp as he took attendance. She was late today and she hasn't been in school much the last few days.

I looked over at Vanessa who was always with her because they had almost every single class together. "Hey, have you seen Leah at all this weekend?"

She gave me a sad look and shook her head. "I haven't seen her since Friday afternoon. I haven't heard from her either."

Even though I was still upset about her leaving, a part of me still wanted to know that she was okay.

"Where's your girlfriend, Ambrose?" Asked one of the jocks. "Out with your mom?"

A few of the students snickered under their breath and I tried to fight the urge to punch him in the face. "She's not my girlfriend. We're strictly friends, but I bet that she's probably with your mom teaching her a thing or two."

A few of my friends laughed under their breath as his smile faded. The idiot turned around in his chair and continued his conversation with the cheerleaders.

About midway through the class, there was a soft knock on the door and Mr. Stapp smiled and signaled for the person to come in. The door opened and a few of the students gasped softly when Leah walked in through the door. She had a jacket in her hand with a hat still on her head. A grey sweater still on and light blue jeans with a black shirt underneath her sweater. Her bookbag hung over her shoulder as she went to the teacher and said something to him. Leah looked beautiful and I couldn't help but notice her again. Even though I wanted to pry my eyes from her, I just couldn't.

I don't know what Leah said to him, but he showed her a seat that was in the front of the room, but near the window. One of the guys whisteled, getting her attention and getting her to look in my direction. We locked eyes for a bit, though it didn't last long. A wave of emotion hit me, but I didn't show it.

"Had a rough weekend, Leah?" Asked the same jock that I shut up.

"Kiss my ass, Antonio." She retorted.

I couldn't help but smile seeing that feisty side of Leah that I liked so much. But then I remembered what happened and got my eyes to go else where as she paid no mind to me while she went to her seat. Looking over, I saw the empty seat next to me that she once occupied and knew that she may no longer sit there again.

When class finally ended, I quickly got my things and began to walk out before the teacher stopped me. "Ms. Richards wants to see you in her office. She didn't say why though, but it sounded important."

I made a face and was interrupted by him before saying anything. "Dean." Mr. Stapp said sternly, knowing what I may have been thinking.

A thud came from within the room and we both looked to see that Leah's bag had fallen on the floor and some of the things that had fallen out were some personal items.

"Oh no." She whispered softly as she slightly panicked and quickly began to pick them up and stuff them back in her bag. I bit my tongue and sighed as I looked down before walking over to her. I bent down and picked up a few of her things and handed them over to her.

Leah looked up at me as she took her things and put them away befoer getting up as she closed her bag. "Thanks."

Breaking her gaze from me and clearing her throat, she fixed her bag and walked away. Notcing the look on my face when she left, Mr. Stapp rested his hand on my shoulder.

"Does she mean something to you?" He asked.

...

"Mr. Ambrose, nice seeing you today." Said Ms. Richards, the guidance counselor. "Please, have a seat."

"Am I in trouble?" I asked her. I haven't been in her office since my freshman year so I didn't know what she could possibly want to talk to me about.

She smiled and shook her head. "No, I just wanted to talk to you about the SAT exam coming up this Saturday. I see you applied for it and I wanted to make sure you understood what time to be there and the directions and things like that."

"I understand." I replied. "One of my friends has been helping me out I think I'll be ready."

"You always said you didn't want to go to college, Dean." Ms. Richards told me. "What made you sign up for this exam? Are you planning on applying for college for the fall, because you still have time to do so."

My mind immediately went to Leah and that one night that it was storming outside like crazy. We couldn't sleep so we stayed up all night talking. We were both in pajamas and sharing a bag of chips and a soda. Leah's hair was up in a messy bun, but she still managed to look beautiful.

'Why do you like school so much?' I asked her.

'Because for a while, it makes me forget about the bad things that are going on in my life.' She responded. 'And because knowledge is the one thing that can give you power because it's something that people can't take away from you if you don't let them.'

'You're the reason why I like school.' I told her.

She smiled. 'What did I do to make you like school, Mr. Ambrose?'

Leah's smile put me at ease. 'Because you give me something to look forward to everyday by going. You've taught me new things to make school more interesting for a guy like me. And maybe it's because I just like seeing you.'

We shared a stare and a smile before she looked down with a shade of pink on her cheeks. I smiled at her even more and shared a comfortable silence with her.

Clearing my throat, I cleared my thoughts and put my attention back onto the guidence counselor.

"I just thought that I'd give this a try." I told her. "I um...uh- I filled out my college application. Mr. Stapp helped me out and I was going to wait until I took the test to send them. And...someone once told me that knowledge is the one thing that can't be taken away from you."

Ms. Richards smiled at me. "I'm proud of you. Looking at your grades, you could really get accepted into college, Dean."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "I didn't think my grades were good enough."

"Well, you've improved significantly since last semester." She told me. "You probably haven't noticed, but you're getting more B's in your classes and no more 'Fs' or 'Ds'. You don't even have any 'Cs' this semester. This semester, your attendance has improved significantly and you're rarely ever late anymore and your teachers can't stop giving compliments about you. Whatever's causing this improvement, keep it up. You're doing great."

We talked a little more before she let me go with a note to my next class. Being away from Leah may be harder than I though it would be. Seeing Roman in the hallway as I headed to my next class, I decided to hang around with him until next period.

"I'm having some people over at my house tomorrow night." Said Roman. "Wanna come?"

I thought for a while. "Yeah, I'll come over. What time?"

"The same time as always." He replied. "From eight on."

O.O

I took both of my bags from my locker and made sure that I had everything that I needed before walking out of the school. I put my jacket on and zipped it up as far as I could and looked around as I sighed. I didn't know how long I would be away, but I knew that it's what I had to do.

I let the office and my teachers know that I had an emergency that I had to take care of and that I would have to be out of school for a while because of it. The truth was that there was no emergency. It was really because my heart was breaking with every step that I took as I walked away from school.

My heart is breaking from the words that Dean had told me a few nights ago. He wants me to go back to New York, but to me it meant that he wanted me to leave and because he didn't want me, or at least not anymore. I guess he doesn't realize how I feel for him. That smile of his makes me so much more comfortable and so much more at ease.

The way he looks at me makes my heart skip a beat. No guy has ever looked at me the way he does. Everything just feels right with him and it's something that I can't ignore. But it seems as if Dean can and it hurts.

When I made it to the bus terminal, I asked for a round trip ticket to New York. I thought that I could take this time to reconsider things right now or at least think about what I really want. It could also help me avoid Dean for a while and not make it more difficult than what it already was, being in the same place with him around.

"You're on your own?" Asked a sweet old man that sat a few seats away from me as I waited for the bus.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm going back home though. To New York."

"You New Yorkers are tough." The guy said. "You'll get through it."

"I hope." I whispered softly as my heart broke even more. I want Dean here with me. Right by my side and he isn't and I wish he was so badly. He always found a way to make me smile, even when I didn't want to. For the first time in my life, someone may finally have my heart and I would gladly let him have it even though we're having a bit of a falling out. I want his heart too and I wonder if I'll ever have it.

The next day...

I made my way, in the early morning hours, around the tough streets of New York City. It was a bit chilly here, so thankfully I had a jacket and sweater on as well as a few things that I could wear underneath my clothes to help keep warm. I had some money on me that I could try to have last for the time that I'm here.

Making my way down to the subway station, I bought myself a metrocard in case I needed to take the bus or subway somewhere if I didn't have any change. After debating for a bit, I decided to walk around Manhattan for the day. I'll go uptown to the Bronx, tomorrow. My hometown that I haven't seen since moving.

...

'Tell me something that people don't know about you.' I suggested as we were well underway to another sleepless night in the locker room. We sat leaning up against the lockers playing thumb war and making jokes.

'My mom started prostituing when I was thirteen.' He told me softly. 'She believed that it was the only way to get money to pay the bills because she didn't want to get a real job. Truth was that as much money as she was making, she used the majority on alcohol and drugs. When we finally got stable again, she would still be gone for days at a time before I'd see her again.'

I held his hands in mine and felt him relax as he continued. 'There's times when she looks at me and it's as if she doesn't recognize who I am. Sometimes it's as if she doesn't care. You and Roman are the only stable people in my life and ones that I can actually count on.'

'Well, she's missing out on an amazing person.' I told him softly. 'Underneath that tough guy persona you have going on, you're really a good guy, Dean.'

The way he looked at me, gave me butterflies in my stomach. I couldn't stop smiling and I didn't want to. He took me in his arms and sat me in between his legs. He wrapped an arm around me and lightly stroked my waist with his thumb. If it wasn't for the little breaks of silence in between our conversations, I wouldn't have noticed. I leaned back against him and felt him rest his chin on my shoulder. Who would have thought that Dean Ambrose would have this side to him?

...

A part of me wanted Dean to just show up. I wanted to find him waiting around the corner for me like he does back in Cincinatti with a big smile on his face when he would see me. I wanted him to walk with me and talk to me. After meeting him, I don't know if I can handle not having him around in my life and it's only been a few days. If I see the sun tomorrow, it's just another reminder that I may have lost him.

I just wanted Dean. Nobody else. Why was that so hard?

A/N: Anybody surprised that Leah actually left Cinncinati all together? How is she going to make her way in and around the city without Dean by her side like he has been since they met? Is Dean trying to go to Roman's house knowing that other girls will be there and in an effort to convince people that he doesn't care that Leah's gone? How do you think he'll react when he finds out that Leah left?