When I got in my Uncle's truck, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and he took a moment to look across at me, concern in his eyes, but I didn't look back. I knew that my lips must have gone blue, but I didn't want to look and find out. This was seriously the worst case scenario. Axel must have been so confused! I wasn't going back. Never. No, I couldn't. There was no way that I could. Over that weekend, I simply kept up with school work and work work, knowing that I would have less hours the next week. Everything was falling fast, especially my friendship with Axel. When we came back to school, I saw that his lip was swollen, though I could see that he had tried to cover it up. When he sat down next to me, I shifted nervously until I just couldn't handle it. I leaned over close, but didn't touch him.

"Did he hit you?" I whispered, knowing to keep my voice down. Hayner used to ask me stuff like that when I came to school with new marks.

Axel's emerald eyes simply rolled over me before shifting back to the front of the classroom. He hadn't really been sleeping either, I could tell. Though he had done a good job of fading the dark marks, up close you could see the puffiness of the skin beneath his eyes. No answer?

"Axel." I felt myself reaching to touch him, but I stopped myself. When Hayner had grabbed my arm once, I had punched him and then panicked. I didn't want to risk a scene. Swallowing I pulled in closer, whispering. "Please. I just want to help. I'm sorry that I left… I know that I shouldn't have."

"No shit," he whispered, looking at me for a second before turning back to the front. I couldn't do this. I had dealt with enough beatings on my own.

"You know what? Fine, be that way." I turned back to the front of the classroom too, but I just couldn't sit still long enough. I gathered my things before getting up and walking out. The teacher sort of yelled, but I didn't care enough to stop. I lifted my headphones up onto my ears, blasting the music that played as I shoved everything back into my messenger bag. If anyone cared, they certainly didn't show it. No one came after me, and I had even been stupid enough to turn and see, as if I expected someone to be there.

Had I ruined everything? Probably. That was what I was the best at. I didn't stop a second time for anything, just walked home with my hands in my pockets to avoid the cold that bit at my fingertips.

It wasn't my fault that his dad hit him, right? There wasn't anything that I could have done, and I knew that already. How many times had I fought back and just got hit harder? More than enough. I would have frozen up and stared anyway. These were just facts.

Upon walking into my house, I simply went into my room and turned on the heater, curling up under the blankets.

Was I waiting? Nothing was going to come, no one. I wanted to talk to Axel, to someone that I could tell anything, but… he was mad at me. I waited until school was officially out to do anything, washing my dinner dishes and vacuuming so I wouldn't hear myself cry. It was an ugly sound, and I didn't like to cry, though I did it quite often. It wasn't until late that night that I heard a knock on the door.

I almost didn't answer, but it persisted, and I slowly got up, annoyed that I had even moved from the warmth of my bedroom.

The lock turned itself between my fingers, the door opening before I could even decide if I wanted to see him- Axel. He was standing there, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast. I swallowed and sort of stepped aside, letting him come in. It wasn't much warmer than outside in the kitchen, but I told him softly that we could go in my room. When I sat down, he did too, but not too close to me. I watched quietly as he looked around the blank room. The only thing I had standing that meant anything was a picture of my old friends, back from my hometown. And I even questioned it myself. I wanted to throw it out the window.

We sat in silence for a long while, neither of us able to come up with anything to say. I had already tried to apologize for leaving him there with his dad… what else was I supposed to say? He spoke first, his eyes staying down.

"I'm sorry for… being so rude at school." That was it? I sort of swallowed.

"It's okay; I um… I understand," I replied, trying not to do anything that would show how nervous I really was.

"You understand? I don't think so." His tone wasn't mean or rude or anything like that. I didn't want to say that I did, mostly because I didn't want to explain my life to him. I didn't have to, but it didn't stop me from doing so.

"I do though. I don't deal with it anymore, but I seriously used to. That's why… I- uh… why I ran out of your house that night. And I'm sorry for doing so, but… I was scared." I didn't say anything else, and I didn't really expect him to say anything either, but he did, after a minute.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't know that he was going to be there. I assumed that he wouldn't be." I could hear his voice tremble for a moment, but he swallowed and turned to me. "I'm not going to lie. I really like you. I may not know you very well, but it's true. Can I kiss you?" he asked. I sort of felt myself shift nervously. I came up with an excuse.

"But your lip!"

Those thing fingers were touching to my chin then, my breath gone.