A/N: Wow. I am horrible with deadlines. I just finished this chapter today! I know I usually update in the mornings, but I didn't feel like waiting another week for a chapter that was already done. I promise that I'll try to get chapter 16 up by next Friday, but no promises.

Here's the chapter that leads to the end! Of course, there's 11 more chapters to go before the end, but this one really leads up to the next couple of chapters. To wrap up this Author's Note without it being awkward, I saw Big Time Rush yesterday! Celebrities came to Long Island! That is huge because no one ever comes to Long Island.
~Lia

~There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.~
—Bryant H. McGill

Nina
Chapter 15: "The Threat"

"Please don't be mad at me!"

Fabian came into the dull florescent lights of backstage, his arms in an X-formation, covering his face, when he caught my glare aimed at him.

"Oh, no," I growled, crossing my arms as I moved closer to him. "Why would I be mad at you? You only lied to millions of people about who I was!"

Fabian removed his shield and started to glare right back at me. "I did it to protect you!" He defended.

"How were you protecting me?" I boomed, approaching him to look him right in the eyes. I still saw that innocent charcoal-blue I remembered from three years ago, but they looked different now, somehow. "If you did anything, you put me — and yourself — in more danger!"

"I don't see how that's possible!" He screamed right back at me. Just like at the park, I didn't care if we were causing a commotion. I needed to discuss this was Fabian now, so we'd talk now.

"Do you not understand?" His voice gradually got louder with each sentence he spoke. "You are a smart girl, Nina! Think for a second! What would happen if the world knew we were parents?"

"I don't know!" I shot back. "But I just saw you talk to the whole world about me and you lied! Lied! I thought you were taking responsibility!"

"I AM!" Fabian's face was growing redder by the second, and I wasn't so sure my skin wasn't turning the same color as well. "I'M PROTECTING YOU! You might be too dense to see it, but I know what I'm doing! I am protecting you!"

"Well, it didn't look like that from here!"

Both of our faces red, neither of us realized that there was a figure behind Fabian until he interrupted with: "I'm sorry to disrupt this...argument, but you two need to go to your car if you're going to fight like this."

The color immediately drained from Fabian's face as he turned around and asked, "What? Oh, sorry, Aaron. Yeah, we'll take this outside. Sorry for bothering you." He turned around, glared at me once more, and started to lead me out the door.

When we reached the exit, Fabian's father pulled him aside. Mr. Rutter waved at me, to tell me they'd just be a second, but with me being the snoop I was, I leaned my ear against the door, trying to listen in, and luckily (for me), I could hear parts of their conversation.

"...Well, I don't think of her that way!" I heard Fabian's voice scream. I figured they were talking about me, so I leaned in closer.

Mr. Rutter's voice was exclaiming, "Well, you'll have to, son! Look what she's caused!"

"This is not her fault!" Fabian's voice seemed even more pissed off than he was when we were arguing. "We were at the park, and—"

"And who suggested they go to the park?"

"That is unnecessary, dad!" There was footsteps, as if he was pacing the room. "We were at the park, when suddenly Emma — who is our daughter, not just Nina's — went missing, so we searched for her. Eventually, we found her — not that you'd care if your granddaughter died or anything — but Nina was distressed, so I comforted her, trying to be a father and a supportive parent, which I am! This is not her fault in the slightest! So stop telling me to think of her as a mistake!"

"Fabian, this girl is a mistake!"

"This girl has a name! And her name is Nina Anne Martin, who is the most amazingly, astounding, wonderful girl — woman — that I've ever known. And—"

"Fabian Rutter, when you were sixteen, you had sex with a girl you barely knew. You were a teenager. Teenagers do crazy things. I bet you were together for a few hours! And you don't consider he a mistake?"

"No, I don't! I have no idea why you can't get it through your thick head, but our night together produced Emma Grace Martin, who is my daughter, my child. Emma is also your granddaughter! I have no idea why you're so against them instead of wanting to meet them! Mum wants to meet them!"

"That's because your mother is—"

"Dad, that's enough. I have to take Nina home now, so I hope you can understand that I'm taking responsibility for everything I did." By now, I started to back away so they didn't know I was listening in the first place. "Oh, and by the way, I just thought you should know that back in 2009, I was the one to start unhooking Nina's bra strap. Okay, see you later!"

He slammed the door in his father's face and took a deep breath. I tried to play it off that I was busy with my phone, and I was so caught up in typing nonsense that I actually jumped when Fabian tapped my shoulder.

He released a weak laugh. "You ready to go?"

Trying to forget what I just heard, I nodded, forced a smile, and followed him out into the parking lot.

So many things were running through my head involving Fabian at the moment that I didn't know what I was thinking. I was mad at him for denying everything — but I was impressed with him by handling things with his father so maturely — then I was angry with his family for considering me as a mistake — then I loved Fabian for saying that I wasn't a mistake —

"Nina?" Fabian's voice brought me back to reality as we drove out of the parking lot. I addressed him, and Fabian continued, "Are you okay? You seem kind of troubled."

"Well, I'm still mad about the photograph thing," I stated simply, looking him in the eyes again. His face was something I loved to look at. I wasn't going to bring the subject about his father up, and I didn't think Fabian was either, so I just left it alone.

He sighed, digging his nails into the steering wheel. "I don't want to fight again," He said finally, after a few moments' silence. "But all I'm going to say on the subject is that I was trying to protect you. Fans can be cruel. If they knew you were the mother of my child, they'd attack you and you'd never see the sunlight again. Trust me, Nina, I was—"

"Okay, okay," I interrupted him. "I understand. Thank you."

He smiled at me, a genuine smile, not forced or anything. But when he saw the annoyed look still plastered on my face, he sighed again and turned a corner. "Hey, Nina?"

"Yeah?"

"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together."

I snorted, looked and him and asked, "What?" a small smile forming on my face.

Fabian kept his eyes on the road, but he laughed and answered, "Trying to cheer you up with some cheesy pick-up lines! Here, I've got another: I've got Skittles in my mouth, want to taste the rainbow?"

I laughed at that one. Instead of kissing his mouth, I leaned over and kissed on him on the cheek. As I sat back down in my seat, I could have sworn I saw him blush.

"Don't go away, because I have more!" He laughed along with me. "Can I have your picture? I need to show Santa what I want for Christmas. Do your legs hurt? Because you've been running through my mind all day. I think I'm lost, so can you give me directions to wherever you're going? Hey, I'm Mr. Right—someone said you were looking for me. You're so hot, you could make the devil sweat."

I was laughing so hard that I was surprised I didn't get a cramp. Fabian continued to recite horrible pick-up lines, and I felt myself fall in love with him harder all the way home.

v v v

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't expect my life to change the way it did.

When I got home, I was tired from everything that happened yesterday, so I went to sleep; I didn't think to answer Eddie or Mara's messages. The first thing I did when I woke up, though, was open my laptop. The date read October 29th, 2012 as I clicked my email. Fabian wasn't online, nor was there was an Instant Message, so I closed the laptop and picked Emma up out of her crib.

"Yeah..." I muttered, pushing her up in my arms so she didn't slip. "Oh, Emma, you cause me so much trouble." She laughed, her small baby teeth showing. I set my daughter on the floor, holding her hand, trailing along the hallway with me.

"Good morning, honey," my grandmother greeted. "How are you today?"

"Fine," I answered casually, getting up to pour myself some cereal. I smiled to myself, remembering yesterday — the argument Fabian and I had, Mr. Rutter saying all I was to him was a mistake — the cheesy pick-up lines...I knew something had changed between us, whether it be external or internal, I didn't know.

My phone beeped: A message from Mara. It read: Do you want to walk to the bus stop together?

Mara usually walked to the bus stop alone, because she was caught up in her book or schoolwork; to say the least, her request surprised me, but of course I didn't decline. I responded with: Will Eddie be joining us?

Her response to that was: NO THANK THE LORD

When the time came, I joined Mara at the corner between our houses. "Any particular reason you wanted to meet up with me this morning?" I questioned, and Mara shook her head.

"No. Just wanted to see my best friend," she said, punching my arm playfully. I smiled, even though I was confused, and started to walk to the bus stop, my rucksack bouncing against my side.

"Why isn't Eddie with us?" I asked, looking over my shoulder to see his house, sitting right beside mine. We'd been next-door neighbors since we were thirteen, so we'd always walked to school with us.

"Yeah, well, I asked him politely if he could leave us alone this morning so he agreed. Is that a problem?"

"No, no," I defended holding my hands up. Mara was one of those people that seemed nice and sweet, but if you got her angry, she was one creepy motherfucker. "No, it's not a problem. Just wondering."

"Good. So, where were you yesterday? I was looking for you and I couldn't get in touch with you. Is there any particular reason...?"

Trying to hide my smile but at the same time still pissed off at him, I answered, "I was with Fabian. We—"

"Hey, look!" Mara announced, breaking my sentence off. "Look at that leaf on the tree?"

I already knew she was trying to change the subject. "What's so good about that leaf on the tree?

"Just...look at it! We're almost in November and no leaves have changed color yet, but that one has! Isn't it extraordinary?"

"Yeah, I guess...so, are you ready for the test Mr. LaBella is going to give us today?" Mara nodded and started to talk about how she had studied for that test for one month straight and that she'd ace it, but by the time she started to recite the states in the USA, I zoned out. I started to think about what my relationship with Fabian — where were we going to go? Forward? Back? Was yesterday a good point in our relationship, or a bad point?

Fabian told me to think of anything but what the fans were saying about me. I knew he couldn't change how his fans acted, but I also knew how the One Direction fans would act if "Niall" ever got a girlfriend. They'd flip shit. And if the rumor that Emma was Fabian's child spread around, Fabian was right: I'd never see the daylight again. I needed to ignore them...

But if there was one thing I realized, was that I needed Fabian more than ever right now. I didn't know how a photograph could start something that wonderful and another photograph could take it away, but Fabian Rutter was something that I needed in my life.

And if I was being honest with myself, I loved him as more than a friend. I knew that Fabian didn't feel the same way; he was always busy, had Mick, Jerome, and Alfie as his best friends, and probably still loved his old girlfriend, who he had to break up with for the press, but I loved him. I'd probably always love him, because my mother told me that there was no such word as "loved"; if you stopped loving someone, you never truly loved them in the first place.

"Anyway, Fabian and I were out, and in the car he told me this ridiculous pick-up—"

"Could we please not talk about Fabian?" Mara begged; her eyes were pleading. I'd always known that Mara was paranoid — she would scream if I creaked the floorboards trying to get to the bathroom at our sleepover — but something in her eyes showed that this wasn't embarrassment over how she acted when Fabian surprised me with his appearance a few weeks ago.

I didn't know why she was trying to avert my thoughts from Emma's father, but if Mara could change the subject, I could too. "Hey, Mara, remember when you had a crush on Eddie?"

She groaned, and I laughed as I started to walk faster to the corner where the bus would come in only a few minutes. "Don't bring it up," she muttered under her breath.

"Oh, come on!" I pushed her. "You told me you had a crush on him like every single day! You two were working on a school project together, and you spent the night at his house...and then..."

"Ugh, Nina, shut up!" She yelled, but that only made me laugh harder. "I was thirteen years old!"

v v v

"Rise and shine, girls! Today is a brand new day for new opportunities and chances!"

"Stop being Mr. Sunshine, Eddie, please," Mara stated as she walked past him. "Besides, it's cloudy today. And cold. Very cold."

"That's because you live in Britain," Eddie said, as if the answer was obvious. His blonde hair, usually up in a spike, was glued to his forehead; he had probably taken a shower before coming to school. "It's always cold in Britain. That's you why you should move to Los Angeles! It's always sunny in Los Angeles!"

"It's always hot in Los Angeles!" Mara argued, coming back to face Eddie again. I loved hanging around Eddie and Mara; they were always a riot to be around. Eddie pushed Mara's limits and Mara could do nothing about it; even though she was the oldest out of the three of us, having been born in December of 1994 while Eddie and I were born in 1995, Eddie constantly tormented the poor girl; he once dressed up as a ghost and scared the living shit out of Mara — she peed her pants — and Eddie still didn't let Mara hear the end of it to this day.

"Yeah, but it's not below freezing in LA!" Eddie began, but I butted in with: "You should move to Florida. Everyone thinks it's like a thousand degrees but it storms like every day. Then again, I don't know if Mara could handle that...every day I'd hear screaming coming from her bedroom..."

A girl passed by us; she caught sight of me, raised her eyebrows, and turned back to her friend that was walking beside her. I quickly checked my outfit; my bra wasn't showing, my shirt and pants matched, and — luckily — there was no spinach in my teeth. Why were they laughing at me?

"Ugh," Mara groaned again, leading us to her first period classroom. Unfortunately, Eddie, Mara, and I didn't have any classes together except for lunch, so after the bell rang, we wouldn't see each other for another couple of hours. Mara continued, "Is this Pick-On-Mara Day or something?"

"Oh, sweetie," Eddie cooed, petting her hair. "It's always Pick-On-Mara Day."

v v v

By lunchtime, I was hopelessly confused.

There were four periods before lunch, so there was three hours for people to look and point at me. I didn't know what the problem was — I wasn't doing anything to annoy them — not to mention that plenty of people were pointing and staring. What happened?

"Yum," Eddie mutters as he sat down across from me, his chicken teriyaki wrap sitting on his plate. "I cannot wait to eat this." I laughed; I knew that the teriyaki wrap was his favorite meal the school cooked, but since he overslept, he didn't have time to eat breakfast.

"Don't look now," Mara whispered, sitting next to me, her fruit spilling juice over the table, "but those girls across from us are staring at us."

I sighed, brought a forkful of peas into my mouth and chewed angrily, trying not to look at the girls looking at us. It had been happening all day, and I didn't have the slightest idea why.

"Do you want me to punch 'em?" Eddie asked, starting to sit up, but I gave him the don't-you-dare look and he sat back down, grumbling to himself.

"I don't get it," Mara muttered, and when Eddie asked what she meant, she answered with, "Eddie, you're not scared of anything. I stayed at your house that day when we were thirteen" — now Mara sent me the don't-you-dare look and I had to hold in a laugh — "and we were tracking ghosts; I had to close my eyes to stop myself from screaming, and you didn't seem the least bit scared. It seems like the only thing you're scared of is the girl sitting next to me."

Eddie, eyes wide, sat up, looked Mara straight in the eyes and said, "Nina is fucking terrifying, okay? Terrifying."

"Then why are you friends? And how did you meet?" she wondered, taking a sip from her water bottle.

I laughed. "Well, we were thirteen, and I had just moved to Liverpool only a few weeks ago. Gran and I were going to the grocery store to buy some food, as we had just moved in, but then some bitchy jocks pushed a cart my way. I told Gran to look out, but before we could get out of the way, someone came and took the blow for me; he ran in front of the cart and was knocked to the ground. Obviously, it was Eddie, and ever since then we've just been friends."

"And I'm going to take the blow for you again today," Eddie growled, getting out of my seat, but before I could get him to sit down again, he went over to the table with the girls and started to talk to them. Mara and I watched him argue and scream with them before he sat down next to us again.

"What was the problem?" I asked, and when I saw Eddie and Mara share a long look, I knew something was up. "Guys, come on. Just tell me. Is my bra showing? Do I have spinach in my teeth? What's wrong with me?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong with you," Mara stated simply. "It's — well — how do I say it...remember how this morning you were telling me that you were with Fabian yesterday?" When I nodded, Mara continued. "Well, a photograph was taken of you, him, and Emma a few days ago. And he denied who you were at a talk-show yesterday. I didn't want to tell you because you'd be mad at me."

I sighed, avoided Mara's gaze for a minute, but eventually found the composure to speak. "Oh, I know."

Mara looked beyond shocked. "You know?"

"Of course I know," I remarked. "I was with him when the photograph was taken. I was also with him when he denied having anything to do with me...So, I know. Is that why everyone is staring at me? Because Fabian was comforting me because I lost my daughter?"

"You lost Emma?" Mara shrieked, making someone from another table look over at us.

"Yeah...why?"

"That's not the rumor going around," she said, and I knew I was going to hear what people have been saying about me during the weekend. "Well, people didn't know who you were at first; they said you were a friend, they said you were a girlfriend, they said you were just a random person at the park at the same time he was. No one really knew why he was at that park, though — everyone, and I mean everyone, denied that the toddler in his arms could have been his daughter.

"Then people from this school got into the picture. They confirmed that the little girl in the picture was the woman's daughter — don't ask me what they said about you, please, because I think I'd cry — but after that everyone was like Oh, no! That couldn't be his daughter! He must have been helping that woman! But people wondered who you were to him...most said you were a girlfriend...and people were cruel...they said some mean things about you, just because you might have been his girlfriend..."

"Wonderful," I muttered, ducking my head so Eddie and Mara wouldn't see me cry. Just wonderful."

"It's okay, Ninesy-poo," Eddie said. "We're here for you."

v v v

It just got worse after that.

The day dragged on, and I was forced to try and ignore everyone who was pointing or laughing at me. I didn't know what they were saying — and frankly, I knew it would be better if I never knew — but I didn't know how a simple photograph could cause that much hate. I was sure that some people who were laughing weren't even fans of Fabian; they just felt like they had to laugh at me.

I had been laughed at before; when I was pregnant, when I gave birth — being a teen mom in high school wasn't fun. Everyone who wasn't Eddie and Mara thought that I still didn't know who Emma's father was; like I've said before, no one would believe me if I said that Fabian, who is popular around here and most commonly known at my school, was the father, people would treat me worse than I was being treated right after I gave birth.

After school, I walked home, said hello to my grandmother and my daughter, and checked my laptop. I had one IM from Fabian: How was school today?

My hands were on the keyboard, ready to type; but I never pressed a key. If I responded, we would have to start a conversation — I'd have to tell him about what people were saying about me — it wouldn't be pretty. On the bus ride home, Mara had shown me Twitter; some of the things people called me were unrepeatable. But it didn't really faze me...it was just like 2010 all over again.

So instead of answering Fabian, who could probably help me, I decided to check Twitter again and check more of the messages people were sending out, involving the photo of Fabian, Emma, and myself at the park.

"She's a teen mom? So irresponsible."

"That tramp better not go near Fabian! He deserves better!"

"Whore. Fabian doesn't want you so stop trying to get him."

I held my breath, looking through more and more messages; eventually, I just closed the laptop and went to sleep. I missed dinner and another episode of my favorite television program, but I didn't really care. Fabian would send more emails, Fabian and Mara would send more text messages, and the names would continue.

I wasn't going to break down at the hand of those people, though. I knew I was stronger than that. Besides, all fans of popular singers go through a phase of "She's not his girlfriend! No way!" Before accepting that he actually likes her and moving on.

I knew that wasn't the case with Fabian, though. If word got out that we were a family, my life would take a left turn.

By the time I woke up, my phone displayed: New message from Mara (70).

I almost laughed at the number. I knew Mara was a worrywart, but she shouldn't have been sending me seventy text messages. All of them were short messages, reading "ARE YOU OKAY?!" or "If you don't answer me I will come to your house and slaughter you in your sleep". I finally responded to them, telling Mara I was fine and that she shouldn't be so paranoid.

There was more laughing and pointing when Eddie, Mara, and I walked through the doors of the school, but I didn't care. I ignored them. To be quite honest, it was Eddie who was being the worst.

I didn't know what it was — it might have been his protective nature, but I think he took things too far. One group of girls looked at us and muttered, "Ugh", and that simple word set Eddie off. He started to curse and scream at them — he was sent to the guidance counselor because a teacher caught him cursing the girls out.

Mara and I were laughing at him at lunch again. "Shut up!" he muttered, lowering his voice so no one would hear him. "I'm sick and tired of people pointing at her all. Fricking. Day. You know?"

"Oh, yeah," Mara said, laughing again, and after she calmed down another girl walked to us. I didn't recognize her; our school was huge, and most of the people who were younger than us — Eddie, Mara, and I were in year 12, so we were the oldest group in the school — stayed in different halls, so it was no wonder why I didn't recognize her face.

"I've heard that you're the teen mother in the photograph?" she asked, pointing at me. I nodded, and the girl continued, "Well, I'm not going to say that you can't like his music or anything, but stay away from him. No one would ever like someone who get pregnant when they were fifteen," she sneered.

"Uh, excuse me?" Eddie piped, raising his hand. I was prepared to bury my head in my hands in shame when he announced, "I had a crush on her when I was fifteen."

At that, the girl gave a confused look and walked away. I wasn't surprised at Eddie's statement — I knew that he had a crush on me — mostly because I had one on him too. In fact, he was my first kiss. Eventually, though, we came to realize that we'd do better as friends and everything had been mutual since. He was my best friend besides Mara, and I was sure that I was his friend too.

Eddie and I hadn't dated; his first girlfriend, he told me, was Patricia Williamson — and Patricia was also his current girlfriend.

"Hey, babe," Eddie greeted as Patricia took her seat next to her boyfriend. She planted a quick kiss on his lips, and Mara and I turned away. Patricia wasn't just cruel to me — she was cruel to Mara as well — and to everyone else in the school besides Joy Mercer and Eddie.

"Why are you sitting next to her?" she sneered, pointing to me, but I pretended not to notice.

"Because she is my friend," Eddie stated, as if the answer was obvious. "Patty, we've been through this—"

"I've told you like a million times not to call me Patty."

Eddie took a deep breath; I knew that Patricia could be a pain in the ass to him sometimes, but they always seemed to pull through as a couple. "Patricia, we've been through this. Mara and Nina are my friends. As in, I like spending time with them."

"But Joy told me that Nina was with Fabian Rutter the other day," she pleaded, as if that statement would make Eddie run away from me. "You know, the famous singer. I don't know why you spend time with her in the first place! She's a teen mother! She's irresponsible!"

"She met a guy she really liked!"

"And I bet she doesn't even know who that guy is, does she?" Patricia fought back. I could see Eddie trying to yell back at her "YES SHE DOES!" but he kept his mouth shut. "That's exactly what I'm saying. My friend, Joy, really likes Fabian and his music. It's obvious that you're just trying to get his attention and pity, because you don't know who the father is? Oh, poor me! I'm a teen mother without a father! I'm an orphan! Oh, woe is me! Well, newsflash, honey; no one cares. Stop trying to move in on Fabian."

I was silent, staring at the lump of food on my tray; I could hear Eddie having a silent conversation with her, but I was too lazy and depressed to hear what they were saying.

"Exactly!" Patricia finalized their conversation, standing up. "I'm going back to my table now. Eddie, I hope you wisen up and realize that Mara and Nina aren't worth your time and leave them; also, Nina, just a reminder that if you ever step towards Fabian again, you're dead meat."

I rolled my eyes as she started to walk away, but Mara took the liberty to speak up. "Yeah, well, for your information, Nina has found the father! Oh, god!" She seemed to realize what she said as my eyes widened and I started to curse Mara out under my breath.

"Oh, really?" Patricia wondered. "And who is that?"

I was tempted to scream "FABIAN RUTTER!" But I knew that would only hurt me instead of help me in this situation.

I quickly thought up a lie: "Um...Matthew...Wilson. Yeah, Matthew Wilson."

"And when did you reunite with him?" Patricia was obviously disbelieving; I would be, too, if I heard someone talk the way I did.

"Um...sometime in Aug—"

"It's none of your business, Patricia," Eddie sneered; it was funny how their relationship worked. "Just leave her alone and go back to your table."

Patricia sighed and looked over to where Joy was sitting alone; she was talking to someone else. Right when I thought that she was going to go back, Patricia looked at me and said, "Nina, can we go out back? Into the courtyard?"

I nodded, despite Eddie's protests, and followed Patricia out of the cafeteria and into the courtyard. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I thought you didn't like Fabian?"

"No, I don't, really," she announced, and I lifted my shoulders in a questioning way, as if to say Then what's the problem?

"Look," she began, "I love Eddie. I really do. True, we fight like ninety-nine percent of the time, but I really do love him. I don't like him spending time with you and Mara."

"What's wrong with Mara?" I questioning, my voice getting louder with each sentence. "She's probably the most innocent girl you'll ever meet."

"Oh, nothing much. The problem is mostly you," she sneered again. "What I'm saying is that Eddie deserves better than you for a friend. You're a teen mother, and frankly I don't believe you actually met this 'Matthew Wilson', but anyway, I want you stay away from Eddie and if I ever see another photo with you and Fabian, then you won't look as pretty as you do right now."

"Is that a threat?"

"It certainly is," she said, and her fist collided with my nose.

The first thing I felt was the pain. "Ow!" I screamed, and I saw Patricia laugh as she walked away.

My hand on my nose, I tried to walk back into the school, but Eddie came outside. "What the hell, Patricia?" he yelled, and put his hands around my shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked, and I nodded. "All right, let's get you to the hospital."

"Hospital?" I shrieked, still holding my nose as I looked up at the boy who towered above me. "Why? No! I don't need to go to the hospital!"

"Yeah, well, I'm taking you there anyway to get you checked out. I don't know how much damage Patty did to your nose," he grunted. "Man, that woman is a pain in the ass."

A few minutes after we got permission to leave the school, we were on the highway headed to the hospital. Eddie grabbed his phone from his pocket, dialed a number I didn't recognize, and called it. He lowered the volume so I couldn't hear the voice; Eddie started the conversation with: "Hey, you there...yeah, it's me. Yeah, um...could you come to the hospital? No, no, everything is fine, she's fine, I just think it would be good if you there with us, you know..." He looked at me, holding my nose, my eyebrows raised. "You know, to give us a ride home. . . . yeah, okay, thanks, meet us at the hospital! Okay, bye!" He hung up.

"What was that?" I asked, trying not to put too much pressure on my nose.

Eddie quickly pressed some buttons on his phone, then sent me a glance and announced, "Oh, that was my dad. I just. . . . um, I thought, we might need a ride home if, like, your nose is completely broken and you need to stay overnight. . . . me and Mara would need a ride home!" I rolled my eyes and turned away; I didn't know why Eddie was lying. I might not have been the best liar, but I could definitely see through a lie.

Mara was in the car ride with us, which I should have voted against. Every five minutes, she kept asking if I was okay, which I answered every time with "yes".

Eventually, her questions stopped and we arrived at the hospital — we were told to sit down and wait for a doctor to come and call us — so Mara and I took a magazine from a stand and started to flip through it, occasionally commenting on something we thought was pretty and/or ridiculous, and Eddie started playing with a yo-yo.

"Yeah, completely photoshopped," I agreed, turning another page. I was looking at a ridiculously skinny model when a doctor finally called me into another room. Mara and Eddie followed; eventually, after a few minutes of inspection, the doctor came to the conclusion that my nose was fine, only bruised, and not broken in the slightest. Mara looked like the world had just been lifted off her shoulders.

I was just getting out of the seat I was in when a figure walked through the door. I looked up, only to see Fabian Rutter once again. "Nina?" he asked, finally seeing me and running to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." I said, looking around and seeing that Eddie was ducking out of sight. "I'm fine. Why are you here?"

"No reason," he said, touching my shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

I smiled.

v v v

Wednesday was Halloween, which Eddie found completely entertaining by dressing up and once again scaring the shit out of Mara and me. I was at school, of course, and the teasing and pointing ensued, but I ignored it.

Thursday was when it really got out of hand. People at school now avoided me; they claimed that I paid Fabian to be seen with me so people could take a picture — or that I was so obsessed with Fabian that I'd do anything to get his attention, even putting my poor two-year-old in a slide; some even claimed they called the police on me for abusing my child.

I didn't know what I was going to do. They laughed at me, calling me every bad name they could think of; slut, whore, tramp, attention-seeker, you name it. Eddie and Mara tried to calm me down, but they didn't help.

I didn't help myself by checking fan websites when I got home. The photo of me and Fabian was swirling; on Twitter, Facebook, and every other social site. My classmates weren't the only ones calling me names; these strangers on the internet went much further with words.

One person even cursed me out. I saw threats — and even a couple death threats.

"Nina, it's going to be okay," Eddie attempted to calm me down over the phone. "Just take a deep breath. One...two...come on, just don't think about it. They're worthless, okay? You don't even know these people."

"Exactly!" I screamed, pacing to and from in my bedroom. "I don't even know these people, and they're calling me a slut and a tramp just because I'm a teen mother and Fabian is touching my cheek! One girl even threatened to kill me if she saw me in another photo with Fabian!"

"Relax, Nina!" Eddie screamed; I knew he was getting anxious with my behavior. "Just relax, okay? She's not serious. I don't think a teenager would come and kill you just because you're involved with Fabian. All of those people don't even know the relationship you have with him! They don't know what you two have! They're just rumors!"

I held the phone between my ear and my shoulder so I didn't have to hold it in my hands. "I . . . I just . . . I can't do it, Eddie. I can't do it. I'm not a tramp, I'm really not!"

"I know you're not."

I got out my laptop, refusing to answer Fabian's attempts to get in touch with me; he said that he had given Eddie his number a few weeks ago, and they had been in touch since. But I knew that if I got in touch with Fabian again, I wouldn't be able to last the night. I'd just cry myself to sleep if I had to remember everything I went through.

Instead, I checked what people were saying about me again. The curses and the death threats couldn't get much worse than what they already were.

Friday was the last straw.

So I packed up my bags, kissed Emma on the forehead, left a note for Eddie, Fabian, and Mara, and Gran and I were off to wherever we were going.

Next chapter: The Note (16). Obviously, it kind of speaks for itself, but Eddie and Mara meet Team Fabian for the first time! The next couple of chapters will be so fun to write — I know that you guys will like them! I also have a surprise planned for you in chapter 25, the second-to-last chapter...just you wait and see...