Pretty Little Liars belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform (ABC Family).

I do not take credit for anything.

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Long story short, Hanna thankfully woke up from her accident later that day, but sadly she ended up in a cast on her leg from her thigh to her ankle. When Sean went I decided not to tag along after what happened. She wasn't awake though at the time but when she did Ms. Marin eventually let the girls know that Hanna wanted to see them. I didn't argue this time around when they went without me, so I hung around the store for a couple hours. Eventually I decided to head back to Aria's and faced an outburst from a panicked Uncle Byron as I walked into the house. I had forgotten that everyone was looking for me most of the morning and it seemed he wasn't going to let that go. After his lecture and giving me a week grounding of going nowhere else besides school, work and home (which I thought was completely unfair but he felt was him being a good parental figure for me) I went up to mine/Aria's room to reread the first Percy Jackson book. Fitz made the assignment for everyone to read the first book so why not take advantage of reading one of my favorite book series?

The next day Aria went to see Hanna again while I was still sleeping. I wasn't even sure if Uncle Byron would allow me to go if I was awake so I didn't think much into it when I noticed she wasn't home.

After a few hours of boredom I decide to play some video games. There really isn't anywhere to put my game system or TV so it's been collecting dust under my bed. When I get it out I just hook it up on the floor and plug the TV and my Xbox 360 in the outlet behind my bed. Then I go and sit up against Aria's bed with my legs crossed.

A soon as I sign in and get onto my basketball game a random person from online requests a match with me. I don't hesitate to accept it and we start.

It was a pretty intense basketball game but I manage to win it. Even though I won I message the person when we are done. It's something I always do whether I lose or win to tell whoever I'm playing with that it was a good game.

"Great game. Thought you had me there. Rematch?"

Almost instantly I get a message back from the person I was playing online with. I click on the username that says –AnonymouslyYours and read it.

"Did you know that once you start to lose a friend nothing will ever be the same?"

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. So I replay back. "What?"

"I know something you don't about your friends. They are hiding something from you, getting detached from you. Why do you think they didn't want you going to the hospital?"

"Who is this?"

The person never answers. Who was that? What does this person know about my friends that I don't?

"Hey Jessie." Aria says when she walks into the room. Her face gets confused. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"I uhh..."

She walks over and sees that I was playing a video game. "Oh, smart idea." I look up at her and she sees my expression is a little off. "What?"

"Is there a reason why you don't seem to want me going to see Hanna with you guys?"

Her face drops but then recovers. "No?"

"Okay, then why wouldn't you let me? You guys practically forced me away."

"We just didn't want to overwhelm her with so many people. We told you that already."

"Then how do you explain this?" I go back to the messages menu to show her the first one I got, but it was gone. They were both gone. "What the hell."

She shakes her head. "Jessie, what's going on?"

"This doesn't make sense." I sign off my username and then sign back in again.

"Jessie, what are you talking about?"

"Someone sent me messages that had to do with my friends hiding something from me and that's why I couldn't go to the hospital."

"Who sent you that?" Her voice cracked as she said it.

"I don't know. The username said –AnonymouslyYours. It was just someone random I was playing online with."

I look over at her and she leans forward, turning off my system. "You need to stop playing so much video games."

"That is not the point."

"You're probably tired from watching the screen for so long."

"No, it happened just before you walked in."

"I don't know what to tell you, Jessie."

I go to answer but then we hear. "Girls!" Uncle Byron yells from downstairs. "Dinner!"

She doesn't even give me time to continue. She just puts her stuff on her bed and heads downstairs. I had no choice but to follow. Then we just never finished the conversation later on because I was too busy trying to get my homework done before tomorrow.

When I woke up Wednesday morning I was a bit iffy about heading to school. I was in a bad mood and exhausted from the night before as we could hear Uncle Byron having another argument with Aunt Ella over the phone that had something to do with me. It has been less than a week since I moved in so it's taking a bit of time to get used to, but the living arrangement isn't so bad. I like it and appreciate it loads but it's weird to know that Aunt Ella isn't around. Then Uncle Byron is barely home because his schedule changed at work.

Now when I went to school today people somehow found out about what happened Saturday with Katie. Monday and Tuesday no one knew at school, and I wanted to keep it that way. But today? It spiraled and someone wasted no time spreading around that they saw me get hit by someone near Spencer's house. What makes it worse is that it turned into a rumor that Andrew was the one who hit me. How that managed to happen I don't know, and neither does anyone else. No one has any idea who started it.

I had no idea this rumor was even going around till me and Andrew got called into Principle Hackett's about it during first period.

"The following students come to the main office." Everyone hears through the intercom in the middle of first period. "Jessie Brant..." My heart sinks and I feel my face turning red as everyone looks at me. "And Andrew Campbell." The voice from the intercom finishes.

Mr. Fitz stares at me and nods. "Go on, Jessie." He says. "Finish this up for homework okay?"

I nod and I start to pack up my stuff, giving the girls a confused look as I see that they were reflecting the same look back to me. Then I swing my backpack over my shoulder and head to the door.

"Always getting yourself attention, Brant. Can't you give it a rest?" I hear Riley's voice whisper just as I was leaving.

I look at her and see a smirk on her face. She hadn't told anyone what happened at Mona's party the other night, which is great. But it seems she is gonna do everything she can to make my life a living nightmare and I'm not sure how long I can hold my tongue for. I know I messed up by losing my temper to the point I hit someone again, but all of them are pushing my buttons.

Before I can say anything though, Mr. Fitz butts in. "Riley." We all look at him. "No need for your opinion."

She gives me a look, seeming to realize that she didn't whisper it as low as she thought. "Sorry, Mr. Fitz."

I start to walk away and she gives me an evil smile when she thought he wasn't watching.

"By the way. You have detention." He tells her.

"What for!"

"That is something we will discuss when you see me after school."

I take a quick look at him and see him wink at me. I smile and turn back towards the door. The look of anger in Riley's eyes was a bit scary, but at the moment I didn't care. I was savoring the mini connection I just had with Fitz before things could get awkward again.

"What's going on?" I ask Andrew when I see him sitting on one of the chairs outside Hackett's door.

He shrugs. "Maybe they want to elect us as the cutest couple in Rosewood?"

I start laughing. "Funny. Very funny." I sit next to him and he goes to kiss me. "Hold up." I say and he watches me. "You're all better right? No left over flu symptoms?" Today is his first day back in school and earlier when I saw him he had kissed me on the cheek so I didn't really pay mind to it till now.

He smiles and nods. "Flu free, babe. Promise." This time he leans in and I don't stop him. When he leans back he says. "And it wasn't a joke. Us being the cutest couple thing. But I'm glad you smiled." I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "You didn't say bye to me when I left to go to my locker this morning, and when I picked you up you were distant the whole ride over here. Didn't say much, but whenever you did you seemed far away. Like your mind was elsewhere. Barely even smiled when you saw me. And you always smile, because...well I mean, look at me." I start smiling and then it turns into a laugh. "That's my girl." He says and kisses me again.

"Mr. Hackett will see you now." The secretary says to us.

It was an awkwardly weird moment when we walk inside because it isn't just Mr. Hackett, but the counselor and both Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella are there too. I just look at Andrew who has the same confused expression as me while I wondered what was going on.

We sat down in extra chairs in front of Hackett's desk and they told us the reason we were there. It took all of my power not to have an anger meltdown in front of them. So I calmly explained what happened with Katie that Saturday afternoon. Then waited for it to be cleared up when Mr. Hackett managed to get Veronica Hastings on the phone, confirming the whole incident.

In the end I got an earful from not only Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron, but Andrew basically yelled his ass off at me for hiding it from him after we left the office. I told all of them that I smacked my face into the concrete when the wheel of my skateboard ran over a rock in the parking lot at the camp on Friday. I had brought my skateboard just in case I got too bored and of course they believed me since it's not uncommon of me to get hurt while skateboarding. Plus none of them had seen me until after everything with Katie happened. So it wasn't hard to keep it from them with Aria and the girls having my back. As for the Mr. and Mrs. Hasting keeping their mouths shut? I lied and said I told Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella what happened. I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want everyone being concerned to the point where they would give me the same "she's fragile" expressions and sympathy they had when my parents died. I appreciated it but it made me feel like I couldn't do anything without everyone thinking they needed to help because they thought I couldn't.

"Why did you keep this from me?" He gets out after I calm him down.

We had already missed most of second period by the time we got out. So instead of going back like we were supposed to we were just hanging out in the courtyard. Kids from that free period were there so no one would notice the difference.

I play with his fingers that were wrapped around mine. "I didn't want you to worry."

"Babe. I'm always going to worry. It's my job."

I slightly smile at him as he leans across the table for a kiss. I can't help but smile through the whole time we did. I don't know what it is about him but he makes me feel like nothing could ever go wrong while I'm around him.

By the time we got to lunch it had circled around that the rumor about Andrew wasn't true. But it didn't spread fast enough because he walked out with a black eye.

"What the hell happened to you!" I yell when I see him.

He gets to the table we're sitting at outside the school and slides in between me and Luna, then starts taking out his lunch. You can tell that he's aware of Spencer, Emily, Aria and the triplets (Hanna's still in the hospital) staring at him but he just kept his head down.

"I ran into Mike in the bathroom and he didn't hesitate to pound me in the face."

I look at Aria and see her face go pale as I yelled "He what!" I start to stand up.

"Babe." He grabs my arm and forces me back into my seat. "This was before the rumor died out and before the truth came around, so he didn't know. He was just protecting you."

I take a deep breath. "Protecting me or not he shouldn't have hit you."

"Jessie...he hit me because he thought I was hitting you. Can you really blame him?" I watch him. "I would have done the same had it been the other way around. Anyone would have. If it wasn't that they were there at the time..." He points to the girls. "I would probably have broken bones too."

Spencer, Aria and Emily all have slight smiles and I know that it's true. I mean no, they wouldn't have hit him. But had they not been by my side when Katie visited and instead heard the news with the rest of the school, then right now Andrew would not be around me. If you have a best friend then you know that these girls would do anything to keep me safe from someone they thought was hurting me. Friendships like that are always the best.

He goes back to being interested with his lunch, seeming a bit upset. I watch him for a bit and the only thing I can think of to do is to kiss him on the cheek, which makes him blush hardcore and he turns to me. I smile at him and slightly rub his bruised up eye. He closes his eyes to my touch then grabs my hand. He slips his fingers between mine, kisses it and then wraps that arm around my shoulder with my fingers still between his. I lean my body closer to his and he kisses my head. I notice that the girls and the triplets all have that Awww look and I feel my face turn red, but I smile anyway and take a French fry off my plate that I got from the cafeteria.

Now the rest of the day was a bit of back and forth. Some people gave me the concerned look since the truth about Katie hitting me came out. Others, like the people who are always picking on me, were constantly trying to get on my bad side. They would slam me into lockers when they saw me in the hall, tripped me, called me names or even pretended that they were going to hit me because they wanted to see me flinch. I mean a lot of it is the usual stuff, but it doesn't stop being annoying.

"Dámelo!" I yell in anger. I haven't really spoken much Spanish since my family died and weren't around to speak it with me, but ever since Katie came to see me it has been a bit more of a habit at times than it used to be.

"What's that Spick?" Amber says while holding up Jeff's watch (that I started to wear) over one of the sinks in the locker room. "I can't understand you when you decide to speak your stupid language."

I was boiled now. I wasn't even supposed to be in the locker room as long as I was. Miss Marks needed me to stay so we could talk about finding ways to keep me from getting hurt since I was having a bit of a hard time catching things with the hand that was in a cast (yes, this is going to affect my basketball and softball skills if it doesn't start to corporate). So when I headed to the locker room after Gym no one else was there. I told the girls I'd meet them at my locker so they could hang with me at work since I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else from being grounded. Then they'd stay until Spencer and Emily had to go to their practices. Andrew wouldn't be joining because has a meeting for the basketball team (somehow playing basketball with me constantly made him decide to try out).

So anyway, when the locker room door opened I thought I was going to see the girls walk in. Instead it was Amber, and the first thing she thought to do when she saw me was snatch my watch from the bench in front of my locker. She thought it was more fun than hitting me for Riley getting detention. Honestly, she needs to grow up.

"Give it to me!" I repeat in English. She starts laughing and looks over as the locker room door opens and Aria walks in, Spencer and Emily right behind her.

"Are you com..." Aria starts.

I then lunge at Amber while she was distracted from the girls walking in to snatch the watch away. But I didn't get far because she noticed pretty quickly and sticks out her hand to hold me back. The force of her hand colliding with my chest makes me fall back onto the floor.

"Hey!" All three girls yell.

"So close, Brant. So close." Amber smiles, still dangling the watch.

"Give it back to her!" Aria yells.

I get to my feet and attempt to go after her. Before I can though I feel a hand wrap around one of my arms, which holds me back long enough to feel myself get lifted off the floor as a set of arms wrap around my stomach. The arms held on so tight that I couldn't breathe for a second. When I look to see who it is I see Emily letting go of my arm and Spencer's the one who has me off the floor.

"Let go." I half sob.

"Stop." Spencer whispers in my ear. "Just relax."

"She has the watch."

She nods. "I know." But that's all she says and carries me out of the room.

"Spencer stop!" I yell. "Put me down!"

"Better do what she says!" Amber yells after us. "Unless you want her aunt hitting you too!" She starts to crack up and I try to throw my body towards her. But I'm so much shorter than Spencer that my feet weren't close enough to the ground to help support my action. So that's the last I hear or see of Amber since Spencer succeeds at getting me out of the room.

When she gets me over to a set of lockers is when she decides it's safe to put me down. "Why did you do that!" I yell at her. "Every time I'm handling something you make me look stupid by dragging me away. She doesn't let stuff like that go, you know that. I have to do it by myself!"

"Yea." She says nodding and pushes me up against one of the lockers at the same time to stop my attempt to get by her. Emily has a worried look in her eyes. "You do. But she has the upper hand, Jessie." She keeps one hand on my shoulder and I just watch her with anger and tears in my eyes. "She's bigger than you, there's no way to handle yourself with someone like her. You will just get into more trouble by trying to finish what she starts. That's why we intervene."

"If she drops that watch down the sink, Spencer, I won't forgive you. That's..."

"Jeff's favorite watch." She nods. "I know."

"Then you should have let me sock her in the nose."

She half smiles, but it was forced. "You know that would have just made it worse."

"And what do you think Aria is gonna do to get it back that I couldn't? She's smaller than me!"

As if it was right on cue is when Aria turns the corner of the hall and walks over to us.

"Here." She says, holding out the watch and my backpack.

I look at her for a little and take them. "How did you..."

"Don't worry about it."

"But..."

"Stop."

"Aria..."

"Jessie, seriously. Leave it."

Honestly. I was afraid to know what she could have done to make Amber give back the watch. I thought of her even ninja kicking her ass to the floor, but as I thought of that it just sounded really stupid. Eventually, after a lot of begging, she told me. At the time it probably would have pissed me off that she did that because it was my personal business. Apparently she just had a heart filled convo on how much the watch meant to me and that had her sympathize a bit. I'm not sure why Amber gave in like that but she did. I can't help but think that she was up to something.

My suspicion was right. After I got home from work later on, Mike walks into my room. "Jessie."

Aria wasn't home so I was doing homework on my own and look up at him from my bed. My eyes widen. "What happened?" his cheek was black and blue.

"I got jumped by Amber, Tommy and their buddies Jane and Kenny after my pickup basketball game with my friends at the park."

"Are you kidding me?"

He shakes his head. "But that's not why I came in here. I took care of it."

"What did you do?"

He sits on the bed with me. "I'm sorry I hit Andrew." He says, completely ignoring my question.

I watch him for a second, then avert my eyes back to my homework. "It's fine. You didn't know."

"No, but I shouldn't have lost my cool even if he did actually hit you."

"He's not holding it against you, and neither am I. Don't worry, Mikey."

He smiles. "Thanks."

I nod. "Now back to how you took care of my bullies."

He stands. "I may have gave Tommy a black eye."

"Mikey." I look back up to him in fear. "He's going to kill you."

"And I will take care of it when it comes." He kisses the top of my head and then leaves.

I watch him walk out of the room and turn left to head back to his room. I hope they don't continue to bother him because of what he did.