Monday morning comes and it is hard to get out of bed because of how tired I am. I feel like I have gotten no sleep, tossed and turned most of the night with the thought of how school would go. I have a lot of worries about what we'll see walking in today knowing that it's after a major event, and the fact that my best friend is involved in that event is going to make it worse. Aria didn't want to be there early so she just lays in bed for an extra half hour as I get ready, then actually gets up once I'm done. I can see the look of fear on her face as she laid there and the dread when she got out of bed. I wish I could help and I know I can't because neither of us know the damage of what's going on at school right now. We know all the chaos in town alone is a lot of staring, pointing and whispering. This is only being the adults in town who are doing it. So there's no way to know what teenagers will do to her. I sure as hell don't want to know either, but Mike felt it would be easier for her and the girls if we go in first to check the situation of what people are saying so that they are somewhat prepared when they come in later.

Once ready to go we both walk out the door and head to school. We decided to walk instead of getting a ride from Andrew today, feeling the walk would prolong us getting there too quickly and have a talk as we do. He knows I'm nervous about the aftermath of Ian's disappearance and all the gossip that has been following his sister and my friends, and I know he's nervous because he's her brother so it's natural to be protective but also aware that we both might get some heat for being related or friends with what they feel are liars.

"Why do I feel like we should have just stayed home today?" I say to him under my breath as we climb the steps to the front of the school.

"Because we're here to support them." He whispers to me as we get stared at with mixed looks. I'm not sure whether to say something to them or just ignore it.

"Aria doesn't even want to come, Mikey. I can't say I blame her."

We get to the top of the staircase now and I feel his hand grazing mine lightly to calm me down, "Just breathe. We have to make it easier on them by having their backs, okay? No fights, no making a scene."

I do take that breath and nod to him, "I…yeah, okay."

He smiles gently and gives a small laugh because he knows that staying calm and not making a scene is hard for me to do sometimes. But he doesn't comment on that, knowing that I already know how my temper can be.

"Well look who showed up." We hear a voice behind us before we can even make it through the front doors.

I close my eyes and tense up because I know who it is. I try to stay as calm as I can, but I feel my blood boiling, now forcing myself to turn around and see Rachel standing on the steps with a couple of her friends that I don't really know.

When I don't react they all give small smirks and I can feel Mike scoot a little closer to help me know he's here. "Nothing to say?"

I take a deep breath, my fists slightly clenched but I put on my usual smile of being defiant whenever dealing with bullies. "What is there to say, Rachel? It's early and you caught me in a shitty mood."

"Ah yes." She waves her hand as if dismissive of my reply, now laughing. "Your friends got themselves into trouble again and now you have to fix it."

I roll my eyes now, "I think you should leave us alone." I turn my back to walk inside because I've had enough.

"And I think you should watch your back, Jessie. Because I'm sure those friends of yours are sick of you and will have you disappear too." She says with a laugh.

I freeze mid-walk to those words, my blood boiling more as I spin in my spot and stare at Rachel, "What the hell did you just say?"

Mike's hand is wrapped around my arm immediately, sensing my need to punch them all in the face and pulls me back a bit towards him. "Dont…"

"You heard me." Rachel continues with a smirk, "Everyone goes missing around them. It's just a matter of time."

Now feeling Mike's grip on me more tight because my eyes get angry and I can feel myself ready to explode as he's practically guiding me inside. "Just landed yourself as a backup, Rachel!" I scream at her while being dragged away.

Her face drops, like she didn't see it coming. "Are you serious!"

"I told you not to test me!" I yell back, fuming in pure rage and half expecting her to come after me. But I see that she's frozen in place on the steps, eyes glued to me while the wall finally puts her out of view and I am being forced to walk down the main hallway to get to our lockers.

I'm too angry to process my thoughts but Mike is still holding my arm and is able to get me to walk side by side with him. I'm trying not to focus on anyone looking at us, not to focus on my thoughts of what Rachel just said because I'm afraid I'll make things worse for the girls when they get here if I make a bigger scene because there are two things I could do to make this happen. One, I could accidentally start a fight (which I almost did), or I could blurt out the fact that they are being framed and everyone will think we're all nuts. Neither scenario would end well.

Once we get to my locker I put in my code and slam it open. "Can you believe them?"

He sighs and places his hand onto my head, rubbing it gently. "Breathe, Jessie."

"Are you kidding me, Mikey?"

He sighs softly, "They do it to get a rise out of you. You're feeding into it and today is not the day."

I grind my teeth a bit, setting my hand to his on my head and pulling it off a little annoyed. However I don't yell, I just nod to his words and then turn back to my locker. Before I can say another word I hear his soft goodbye and a soft kiss to the head as he leaves and heads down the hallway, disappearing around the corner to go to his locker. Now I'm by myself and I'm not sure how long I'd be able to keep my mouth shut because I can hear the not so subtle whispers of people talking about the Ian situation behind me.

"You know you're not doing anyone a favor by protecting them, right dork?"

I take a deep breath and close my eyes to try and compose myself because things are just getting worse to hold my temper when I hear that it's Amber. I've always done my best to avoid her at all costs since it's rare that she bothers me while at school with Ezra and Mona usually having their eyes on her enough that she leaves me alone, but it seems this time she couldn't hold herself back. So I slowly turn around, setting my hand to the top of my open locker door. Amber is standing nearby with her brother and I smirk slightly at her, "I'm sure I can say the same about the fact that Tommy protects you from the people who talk about your dumb face."

A melody of some laughter echoes towards us, but I don't pay attention to them. I keep my eyes on her and Tommy carefully because she doesn't look happy from my comeback and I know if I drop my gaze she'll have her fist to my nose in no time. "Think you're funny?"

I half smile, not wanting to hold back. "I've been told I'm hilarious, actually."

She nods her head slowly, a half laugh coming out of her mouth from being amused. Then I watch as she gets closer to me with a stern look on her face until she's right in front of me, but I don't move or show any type of movement to get away from her. "You really want to start with me, Brant?"

I press my lips together and have my head tilted up a bit to look at her from our height difference. "I didn't start anything, you talked to me first."

Her eyes glare down at me, aware of everyone watching us. Then she leans her head a bit closer to my face and whispers, "After school meet me at the park. We'll finish this."

Now I half laugh and roll my eyes a bit before closing my locker. "Oh I'd love to, trust me, but I have practice today and unlike you I actually want to graduate with extra curricular activities attached for college and leave this town some day."

She smirks down at me, "Using sports as an excuse for being scared?"

"Please, Amber, don't give yourself so much credit by thinking I'm still the same kid you used to beat up."

"I still beat you up, Jessie. You just toughened up."

"Weird way to justify picking on someone." I say sarcastically with a tilt of my head, "Does that help you sleep at night?"

She laughs and gives my face a pat, which I absolutely hate so I move my head away from her slightly. "Anything that includes putting you in your place will satisfy me."

"Put your hands on me again…"

"And you'll what?" Tommy now gets into the conversation, his hand planted against the locker beside mine as he leans in a bit. "You'll tell your loyal savior, Fitz?"

I glare at him now, "Shut up."

He laughs, "Everyone knows you guys are doing it, so why not admit it?"

I clench my jaw a bit, "Now you're overstepping."

"Am I dweeb?"

"Yes you perv."

His face drops now, then Amber's hand grips onto my shirt tightly into a fist and slams me back into my locker, which makes me grunt a bit. "Your mouth gets worse by the day."

"And your temper is no better." I say back with a soft laugh.

She smirks, her grip holding me in place as she presses her fist more into my chest. "You better be at the park later or I'll kick your ass tomorrow right in front of everyone."

"If I was you I'd let her go."

We all turn our heads to the side and see Noel standing there, making me breathe out gently.

"Suspended all this time and you're still standing up for this loser, Kahn?" Tommy asks, shaking his head.

"I said to let her go." He says firmly and annoyed.

"Such a knight in shining armor." Amber adds with a laugh before letting me go, "You'll learn that she isn't worth it."

"Pretty sure she's more worth it than you two are. This is why you've been banned from my parties."

"You think we care?" They both smirk a bit, bumping him slightly as they walk past him. "She makes the party look like a losers get together." Tommy says as he walks backwards to look at us.

"Might want to rethink that." Amber adds with a laugh before they both head off down the hallway.

I have my eyes on them both for a few seconds longer before rubbing my chest from where she had her hand gripping my shirt with my gaze down to my backpack that ended up on the floor. I'm aware of everyone staring but I don't look up and I don't say anything to Noel.

"I know you didn't want my help." He says in a hushed voice.

I take a breath, "They definitely won't let you off easy for helping me." I say in a tired voice, annoyed with everything since I woke up.

"But I couldn't stand back and let them bother you."

I pick my backpack off the floor now, "I know." I look up at him now, seeing he has his hands in his pockets and staring down at me. "We need to go to class." I don't bother to continue the conversation, because I'm tired of having the same talk with everyone who defends me. I of course appreciate it but being helped all the time makes it seem like I'm weak and can't handle myself.

He nods gently and scoots himself sideways so that I can get by him, "Are the others here yet?"

I press my lips together as I walk towards Ezra's classroom with Noel beside me, "Not yet." I shake my head, "I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't show up honestly. They've been dreading coming to school."

"Yeah, well…"

I look up at him for a second, knowing that he pretty much hates them all at this point because of what happened with his suspension and Ezra. He never elaborated on finding out about Aria and Ezra though, he thinks I have no idea and just shrugs off the suspension by telling me and anyone else who asks that he got played. Which in reality he did, so I can't exactly argue with that. "I know things with you and Aria have been iffy since the breakup, but can you humor me and play nice?"

I hear him let out a soft sigh as we are getting to the door of Ezra's room and he says, "I can't make promises because they like to start with me too, but I'll try."

I stare up at him with a gentle smile as we walk inside now, "That's all I ask."

He gives my head a playful pat and smiles, "Only because you asked nicely." Then his eyes shift away from me as I laugh because someone is calling him over.

I look towards where he's staring at and see that Principle Hackett is who called him and doesn't seem to be in a great mood, "Probably welcoming you back."

Noel laughs and shakes his head as he starts to take steps that way, "Doubtful, but I'll call you if I need rescuing."

I smile and nod, "Wouldn't have it any other way."

He gives me a small smile and then walks off towards Hackett down the hallway before I turn and head into the classroom.

When I walk inside there's a slight commotion of talking from kids already being there, most crowding at the few seats in the front of the room. But I don't pay attention as I keep my eyes to my phone and head over to my desk, squeezing myself into it. The first thing I do is grab my headphones out of my backpack and place them over one of my ears, which keeps me busy as more people come inside, but then some giggles catch my attention this time as dead silence follows and I shift my eyes over to the voices. The girls are standing in the doorway with their gaze to the chalkboard and this has me realize that I didn't notice what was on it until now

My heart sinks into my stomach when I see that the game hangman is drawn on it with the word "Liars" written underneath. A couple of the letters are missing, but it's obvious enough to realize that's what the person who wrote it was going for.

"What the actual hell?" I say loud enough for people to hear as I pull off my headphones completely and let it hang around my neck, heads turning my way. "Are you serious with this bullshit?"

"Not saying anything that's not true, Brant." Mona's friend Riley says from the front of the class, her eyes on me and a smile on her face.

All four of the girls start walking over towards my way. I'm now standing with my hands set onto my desk and slightly leaning forward into my palms. My eyes are directly on Riley's side of the room now, practically throwing daggers with my gaze. "I'm sure Mona would love to hear that you're making fun of her best friend." I shoot back, now smirking back.

Her face slowly drops when she hears my words, slacking into her chair as Hanna takes her seat and the others do too. That's when Ezra walks in and his face goes pale from what's on the board, telling everyone to take their seats as he erases it.

Riley and me are eyeing each other the whole time while I'm basically forced back into my seat from Emily and Aria both grabbing my arms, knowing my temper enough to make sure I won't snap. Then Noel pops back up, commenting on helping Ezra erase the board before giving some high fives from his friends in class for being back and sits in the seat behind Aria that's beside me.

"Did you miss me?" He says to Em and Aria with his million dollar smile on his face. When neither of them say a word however as they look away he stares at me instead with a smile, noticing the angry glare on my face being still on Riley. "What happened?"

I suck on my lip for a second, shifting my eyes to him now when Riley finally stops looking at me and Ezra clears out the remaining voices. "Someone put something stupid on the board about what happened with the girls, and Riley needed to comment on it."

He shifts his head to Riley, seeing that she's now paying attention to Ezra as he starts to give a lecture on being rude to other students and bullying is not something he would tolerate. "What did it say?"

"Hangman with the word Liars underneath. I defended them and she had to shoot back her usual bullshit."

"Now, leaving where we left off yesterday. " Ezra changes the subject and has us all open up our books to where we were reading the day before, the conversation between me and Noel dying out.

...

School goes by slowly. So painfully slow that I feel like I'm losing my mind and I can only imagine how it feels for the others when people continue to stare, poke fun and be rude as if they are a freak show. The only thing that keeps my head free of people's meanness is the fact that I know I can be there for them when they need me now, or as much as possible at least. But it doesn't keep my blood boiling from rage with what's been happening, because I can't exactly protect them the way I'd like to from everyone. My anger gets the best of me sometimes and right now it's seeping in enough that I'm half considering going to the park to meet up with Amber after school. Sure she'll probably rip me apart, but there's something inside of me that needs this interaction, almost as if something has been stewing in the back of my mind and needs to get out. A distraction in a way.

So by the time after school comes around I'm at my locker in a heartbeat. My brain is overloaded with mixed emotions, but mainly being pissed off is at the surface. I know I shouldn't go because I do in fact have to be at practice and I'm the captain, but if I'm not at the park then that's looking weak and tomorrow will be worse.

My brain echoes my thoughts over and over in my head as I shift things from my backpack to my locker, weighing out my options. But in the end I know better and go with the best judgment part of me to play basketball as I close my locker, turn and head down the hallway to go downstairs to the gym.

"Going somewhere?"

I take a breath, knowing it would be too good that I wouldn't have been followed and turn around on the stairs. Amber is standing at the top steps and staring down at me. "Yes, Amber. Practice as I said."

"So you're taking my threats lightly on getting your ass beat."

I half smile, "Never said that. Just…doing both." Unfortunately my need to prove myself of not being a wimp outweighs my self worth, "I'll be there after practice…7pm."

She smirks now, raising an eyebrow. "You're being brave for once."

I laugh and roll my eyes, "Oh, Amber, I'm always brave. You just don't like people standing up to you and consider it talking back."

She licks her lips, as if ready to hit me already, "Just be there, or…"

"You'll rip me apart tomorrow. Yes, we've established I'll have a black eye if I miss this fight. Thank you."