i' sorry the chapter is so late... i didn't realize how long it had been... well anyways i hop you like it

Sumino had been successfully avoiding Teru at school for the past few days. She wouldn't make any eye contact with him, and if he tried to approach her she would turn and walk in the other direction.

Every time she saw him all she could think about was him kissing that girl and how much her chest felt hollow where her heart should be. Thankfully for her, it didn't seem like he was dating the brunette just yet, but then again Sumino figured it was only a matter of time.

She decided the best way to get over her infatuation with Teru was to fix her relationship with Hinata. Sumino still didn't know how to fix her relationship with Hinata though, she knew that she needed Teru's help, yet she just could not bring herself to talk to him let alone look at him.

She tried to eat lunch with Hinata as often as she could, but he mostly ignored her to work on student council stuff. The overwhelming silence only lead her to think about Teru.

She thought about his beautiful, blonde hair, his captivating smile, and his gorgeous, golden brown eyes… eyes that would never look at her as anything more than a friend, because he had already moved on to someone else.

Sumino let out a shaky sigh and put her head in her hands, willing herself desperately not to cry. It's not like she was doing it for attention, but she wished Hinata would notice and at least attempt to comfort her in some way. She knew Teru would have pulled her into a hug and awkwardly pat her head or pet her hair until she felt better, yet Hinata didn't even bat a lash at her, choosing to keep his head glued to the paper he was writing on.

Noticing that lunch time was almost over; she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and got up to leave the room. Sumino halfheartedly waved goodbye to Hinata, and without looking to see if he waved back, she turned and walked down the hall.

Sumino kept her eyes glued to the floor in front of her with her head tucked down when she bumped into someone. Sumino looked up to see who it was, she nearly froze in place when she saw Teru.

She hastily turned and sprinted down the hall, wiping even more tears from her eyes. Sumino clearly heard Teru call after her, but she simply was not ready to face him yet.

It took longer than she would have liked to get back to the class room, since she had to go around the school's back hallways to avoid Teru.

Sumino couldn't focus on the lesson for more than a few minutes at a time. The sadness clouding her thoughts nearly bordered on depression at this point. Occasionally, out of the corner of her eye, she would see Teru looking at her. The hole would burn even brighter when she caught him doing this. She ignored both him and the incessant burning by pointedly turning from him and looking out the window, away from his prying gaze.

The day felt like it dragged on and on endlessly. Sumino switched between twirling her pencil agitatedly and bouncing her feet, all while staring longingly at the clock. She wanted nothing more than to go home.

When the day finally did end with the shrill bell, Sumino left without waiting for Hinata.

When Sumino got home, she noticed a note on the table. She picked it up and read that her parents were out of town for the weekend.

Sumino sighed; she was certainly not feeling up to cooking dinner.

Nonetheless, she searched through the kitchen to see what food was available. She sighed yet again, seeing that she would have to go shopping, when all she wanted to do was cocoon herself in her warm bed and never leave.

Not feeling up to it at the moment, she headed back to her room, where she could succumb to her wishes and lie in bed for a while.

On a normal day, Sumino would go on her blog and make a post about her day, but she couldn't even convince herself to do that.

Hours passed and Sumino did nothing but stare at the wall, counting the indents and miniscule cracks she found in the walls. She dared to peak at the clock, it read 9:30.

She decided it would probably be best if she made herself something to eat. She wasn't overly hungry but Sumino knew she had to force herself to eat something, it would be bad if she didn't eat.

Not even bothering with her disheveled hair or disoriented clothing, she barely remembered to grab a few paper bills before she left.

It was rather late to be down town, especially by herself, but she was too upset to care. Sumino noticed that most of the stores were either closed or were getting ready to close. She walked a bit longer before noticing a small grocery store that was still open.

She entered and wandered the aisles aimlessly, not quite sure what she felt like eating. Every item of food she saw made her think of Teru in some way. All of it reminded her of the lunches they shared on the school roof. Sumino shook her head in vain attempts to expel him from her brain, but it was useless.

Sumino left the store after purchasing everything she needed for dinner. As she was walking out, she noticed a man, in his mid to late twenties, stumbling out of the bar across the street. Realizing that he was obviously drunk, Sumino decided that it would be best to steer clear of the man.

Minding her own business, the young girl continued on her way home.

It was only a few moments later when she felt someone harshly grab her arm, she looked over to see that it was the same man that she wanted to avoid.

"H-hey sweetie," he slurred in a drunken manner, the words blurring together, "Why don't you come home with m-me? I can show you a r-real good time."

Sumino quickly replied with a soft 'no thank you' before abruptly pulling her arm away. She tried to run from the man, but he simply snatched her arm again and slammed her against the wall, causing her to drop all her groceries.

"Oh come on honey, live a little," He breathed in her ear, the alcohol on his breath suffocating her.

Sumino wanted so badly to run, to scream, to do anything, yet she was frozen against the wall by her own fear.

She could feel his other hand grip her breast, but Sumino was too horrified to do anything about it other than whimper pathetically. He leaned even closer and began to kiss her neck sloppily.

When she felt his tongue lick her thrumming pulse, Sumino found her voice. She screamed as loud as she could, but there was nobody around to hear her desperate cries.

The drunk man immediately removed his hand from her breast and clasped her mouth with it. He hissed for her to be silent before releasing her mouth to continue groping her.

Sumino struggled to break from his grasp, but she was too weak and his grip on her arm was iron-tight. Sumino finally stopped her useless struggling, deciding that it was pointless anyways.

She didn't know when she started to cry, but her cheeks became wet with tears soon enough, in fear of what would happen.

The man trailed his lips from her neck up to her cheeks to lick the salty tears away, muttering, "Don't worry honey, I promise I'll go easy on you"

Sumino bit her lip hoping the pain would take her mind from what was happening, but it was worthless.

Hinata… save me, she thought to herself in desperation, wrenching her head away from his disgusting tongue.

Teru hadn't eaten that night, he wasn't hungry. Sumino clouded his mind, shoving out all of his other thoughts, making him wonder why she was avoiding him. Finally, his thoughts made him feel crowded and he went out for a walk to think things over and hopefully clear his head.

Teru wondered if maybe Hinata didn't want Sumino around him. Teru had to admit that his friendship with Hinata had weakened since Sumino came into the picture.

More thoughts floated through his head, when a high-pitched scream brought him crashing back to the real world. He know that voice anywhere. Teru knew Sumino was in trouble and she wasn't all that far away.

Teru took off into a full out sprint, pushing himself to run faster to find her.

It was only a moment later when he saw what was happening.

Teru saw the young man touching the girl he loved, and she obviously didn't want it.

Teru saw red as he clenched his fists tightly before he made a move.

He pulled the man off of Sumino and punched him straight in the face. The man stumbled back slightly before regaining whatever balance the alcohol had left him.

The drunk reached into his pocket and pulled out a small switchblade. He swung at Teru, making a rather deep gash on his face.

Teru felt the cut sting and throb with every beat of his pulsing heart as the blood poured down his face, but that didn't matter right now. Only Sumino's safety mattered. The man threw himself at Teru again, swinging slower this time and Teru was ready for him. He grabbed the man's arm, using his weight against him Teru threw him onto the ground, and punched him repeatedly until he was unconscious and blood flowed freely from his nose.

When Teru was satisfied that he wasn't getting up anytime soon, Teru slowly got up and walked over to Sumino, who was sobbing.

Hesitantly putting his arms around her for comfort, in case she was in shock from almost being r- No, don't think about it, he scolded himself. Teru focused solely on the quivering girl in his arms, he asked if she was okay.

Teru couldn't make out her answer other than some watery sobs, and instead picked up her groceries for her.

"Come on, I'll walk you home Sumino," He whispered gently once again putting his arm around her and pulling her close, telling himself that it was only for her comfort and not at all to give him security that she was truly alright. Nope, not at all.

Once they reached her house, she looked up and saw how bloody Teru's face was.

"Teru!" she exclaimed, "You're bleeding, w-why would you injure yourself like that just for me?"

Without giving him time to respond, she opened the door and pulled him into her house. She rushed him into the bathroom before ordering him to sit on the edge of the bathtub.

He stared at her with an utterly confused expression while she rummaged through the medicine cabinet.

Sumino gathered everything she needed and proceeded to kneel in front of Teru.

She cleaned the blood off his face, and then dabbed at the wound using rubbing alcohol and a rag. He winced from the sting, causing Sumino to look into his eyes.

The two stared at each other for some time, subconsciously leaning in closer to one another. When Teru realized just how close their faces had gotten, he quickly turned his head to avert his gaze from hers with an embarrassed cough.

"Sorry…" He muttered.

Sumino made no reply and placed a bandage over his wound.

Sumino stood up and looked at the tiled floor, "T-teru did you already eat dinner?" She questioned shyly

Teru shook his head 'no' signaling for her to continue, "W-well I was wondering if…" She paused, shyly fiddling with her hands, "Would you… maybe… like to stay… and join m-me for dinner?"

Teru smiled "I would love to Sumino."

Sumino smiled and lead him to the kitchen. She pulled out the food which she had bought earlier, thankfully it was mostly undamaged.

Teru stood aside and watched Sumino dart to and fro across the kitchen, until she asked him to help her. With him helping her they finished much faster. Once they were done Sumino set the table and they sat down to eat.

As they ate in silence Teru couldn't help but wonder why Sumino had been avoiding him. He thought about the blog post she made mentioning that there was someone else that she loved. He couldn't help but wonder if it was him. Teru also remembered how it said that the person she loved was already in love with somebody else. He wondered if she was referring to that girl that he kissed, that is if she even meant him.

Finally deciding to break the silence he asked her why she had been avoiding him.

Sumino stopped eating and looked up at him, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, "I-I haven't been avoiding y-you," she stuttered lamely.

Teru gave her a disbelieving look before speaking again, "Really? Then how come when we bumped into each other in the hall today, you ran away crying?"

Sumino opened and closed her mouth, completely at a loss for words; normally she didn't lie, but she couldn't think of anything else to do at the moment.

"I remembered that I left something in the student council room and I turned around to get it. I didn't want to be late to class so that's why I was running. Oh, and I wasn't crying. I've been having allergy problems lately, so my eyes were just watering, that's all."

Teru didn't believe one word of what she was saying. He knew that he should just stop pestering her about it and drop the subject, but there was one more thing he had to know.

"So if you're not avoiding me, then why haven't you talked to me all week?"

Sumino looked down at her half-eaten food, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

"I... I believe Hinata and I have fixed our relationship, and I figured that you didn't want to be bothered with me anymore," Sumino lied once again.

"I see," Teru stated looking sadly down at his food, "I'm happy that you guys solved your problems."

Once he finished eating, he quickly got up and headed towards the door. Sumino walked him out and waved goodbye as he left.

As soon as she closed the door, she pressed her back to the cool wood and slid to the floor. Sumino hugged her knees to her chest and buried her head in them when she felt tears gathering in her eyes. She truly believed with all of her heart that this time she could have possibly just lost her friend forever.