3

"Nicole… do you feel something right now?" I asked. Her head moved up to look at me, saying nothing. "Because I do."

Nicole stared into my eyes for the longest time. After a few seconds her view narrowed, as if she was looking for something. Finally a huge smile grew on her face.

"What?" I finally asked.

In answer, she moved her head forwards and spontaneously gave me a slow, deep, sweet kiss on the lips. I can't say I didn't see it coming, but I still had some element of shock to me.

I missed feeling her lips on mine. Her lips were the perfect shape, the perfect size, the perfect feeling. I felt a tingle go through my body as I felt the nostalgic rush of happiness surge through me. I responded immediately, kissing her back with as much passion as she gave me. Our arms wrapped around each other as the kisses get more heated, more desperate, losing none of the passion. We just lost the subtlety.

I was kissing Nicole again. And this clearly wasn't some one-off in a car after we talked about our feelings. This felt so much more real, more perfect.

I broke off the kiss first. I wanted to ask her, to make sure. It was stupid to make her doubt herself, but above all, I wanted to make sure she wanted this. It didn't feel right knowing what she told me before to just continue without another word.

Nicole, however, was a little distracted. As soon as the kiss was broken, a sound that almost sounded like a whine escaped from her lips, as she kept peppering my face with kisses. The kisses trailed downwards until they reached my neck. Every movement of her lips hit the mark perfectly. As she graduated from kissing to light sucking and biting, I felt my hand move up her back to cradle the back of her head subconsciously. Every movement of hers was like creating art. I lightly moaned as she continued.

"That feels so good…" I whispered, our first words said since the kiss.

Nicole took a break from kissing, her fingers tracing lines on my back. "Good." she purred. "Wanna lose the shirt then?"

"Are you sure you want this?" I asked cautiously. Here goes, I thought. My chance to fuck this up, to lose everything we just built up. "I mean, in the car you s-"

"I want this, Adam. I want you. It doesn't hurt right now, and I think… I just… it feels right." Nicole responded, nothing but sincerity on her face, besides the hint of lust in her eyes.

I studied her face for a bit. "Okay." I finally said, smiling. I sat up and began to work the shirt over my head. "Are you gonna do it too?"

"Say please." Nicole teased, leaning in and giving me a quick kiss before the shirt went over my head.

"Please, mistress?" I teased right back.

She gave a slight chuckle. "How could I say no to that face?" She quickly worked her shirt over her head, taking it off and revealing a black bra underneath.

"Aw, you wore a bra today." I mock-complained.

"If it bothers you so much, take it off, stud." Nicole replied smoothly. I had no clue what changed her attitude so much today, but I wasn't about to question it. I moved in, my arms snaking behind her back. I felt the back of the bra and unhinged the latch.

No I didn't. I thought I did. Frowning to myself, I fiddled around with it some more, causing Nicole to lightly laugh.

"Here. Need some help?" she reached her arms around to her back, unsnapping the bra in record time. She shuffled around, allowing the bra to fall naturally, her beautiful D-cups falling into view with a slight jiggle.

They were just as beautiful as I remembered them. The amazing round shape, the curve they brought her body, the way her nipples stood atop them proudly, reaching out to the open air around her as if begging to be sucked. I couldn't help but stare.

That made her smile. "I bet you missed the girls, didn't ya?" she coyly asked.

"Fuck yes I did." I replied hungrily, already moving forward.

"They're all yours, squirt." she sighed. Remind me why I love it when you play with them."

I knew better than to just latch on immediately. I started by feeling them, caressing and tracing around the edge of her breasts with my fingertips, my touch just light enough to make her want more. Next came the attention I gave her nipples, tracing around them until they were even harder than when they first came into view. For good measure, I tweaked one just a tad, earning a sharp 'ooh' from Nicole.

I grinned cheekily at her reaction, and gently pushed her down onto the bed. She smiled in anticipation, making herself comfortable as I hovered over her, lowering myself down mouth first. Gently, I extended my tongue and made contact with her skin. Slowly, teasingly, I made circles around her areolae, teasing her and making sure she was lightly whimpering by the time my tongue dared to flick across her nipple.

The effect was visible. She flinched ever so slightly, wanting me to go harder and faster so badly. I didn't afford her such a luxury, keeping up my efforts until I myself couldn't take it anymore and dove in, using every trick in the book and every function my mouth could provide to make her experience a memorable one. My tongue traced, flicked and ran around her nipple as I sucked. Every once in a while, I would suck the nipple into the back of my mouth and let my teeth graze the nipple on its way back out. Each time she cooed and sighed and panted.

"Adam… oh baby, you're doing such a good job…" she whispered.

Baby, I smugly thought to myself. That's a new one. The other breast got the attention it craved from my hand as I tweaked and played with her other nipple. Eventually I thought that fair is fair and switched my mouth from one nipple to the next as my hand snaked its way down her body, slowly gliding its way down her stomach until it reached the beginning of her pants. I attempted to start putting pressure on her pussy, but alas, she was wearing jeans.

As psychic as ever, Nicole reached down, undoing the button of her pants, then lowering the zipper. She couldn't contain her smile as she slid the pants and her underwear down her leg. "Full access." she murmured. "Do your best, squirt."

I had planned to do my best. 'Squirt' was going to be her nickname by the end of the night. Skipping the plan to finger her, I took my mouth off of her amazing breasts and slid down, smiling at the familiar sight. I ran my hand through her almost trimmed pubic hair and marvelled at the sight. She even had an amazing-looking pussy, as if she wasn't already the perfect girl. I loved seeing her engorged clitoris, practically begging for me to play with it with my tongue. I sure as hell didn't want to disappoint.

I leaned my head down and began in my usual teasing fashion, licking around her folds instead of going right in.

"Adaaaaam…" she whined. "Just go for iiiiit…"

"Beg for it." I ordered sarcastically before going back to my teasing.

"Pl… please…" she panted, really getting into it. I think she missed this just as much as I did. I was half-surprised I wasn't panting myself.

Well, since she said please… I moved my tongue slowly from outside the folds to inside, beginning to experiment with different speeds and tongue movements, listening for which got the best reactions from her. Every so often I would give the clit a gentle lick, making sure that I always left her wanting more.

"Yes, that's so good…" Nicole sighed in approval, squirming around slightly in a subconscious effort to match my movements. Most girls might have closed their eyes, but not Nicole. She looked intently at me, smiling as much as she could given her panting as I continued my efforts.

"I missed this so much…" she purred softly as my tongue traced patterns between her folds, occasionally lightly dancing on her clit. Every so often I'd challenge myself to see how deep my tongue could go inside her, then what I could do in that position. Every little moan she made let me know what worked, what made her feel good. I so desperately wanted to give her the grand finale she desired. If nothing else, to prove to her why she should never second-guess doing this with me, having sex with me, being with me.

As her pants got shorter and more pronounced, my energy and enthusiasm got higher, my actions became more precise, more stimulating. I used everything I knew, everything I learned, to make her feel as good as I could.

Before long, her hand subconsciously went to the back of my head, holding me down as I performed the last few notes of my orchestra. Her pants and moans turned into soft cries, then sharp ones, then at the crescendo, she froze in place and her eyes closed, her face contorted as time froze for her. My tongue could feel her spasms as her muscles danced and a short spurt of her juices shot into my mouth, complimented by a sharp "Ahh!" I could practically feel the waves of bliss and ecstasy flowing through her as she remained still for a good ten seconds before letting out the first of many satisfied long sighs.

Slowly I pulled my head up, mostly because my need to breathe started to surpass my desire to give her pleasure. "How was that?" I practically wheezed.

Nicole beamed lazily. "You did great, squirt." she cooed happily.

I wiped my face. "Should that be my nickname or yours?" I noted suavely.

Still smiling, one of Nicole's eyebrows lowered. Okay, not as suave as I thought. "Wow, nice one. First time I heard that. How long were you holding that one in?" She reached her nightstand and pulled out her mint water. She brought it to her lips, chugging a bit, before passing it to me.

"You want me to drink this?" I asked, a tad hesitantly. "Does this mean…"

"Round two." She smiled, almost shyly. "If you're up for it."

"Are you?" I asked. "Like, are you su-"

"I want you inside me, Adam." Nicole confirmed. "I want this."

I smiled at her as I held the bottle dumbly. She wanted this. What changed? Did she finally snap, did she reach a conclusion? I resolved to not ask myself so many dumb questions as I took a good swig, then reached over her to put the bottle away.

"Now that your mouth is all clean…" Nicole trailed off seductively, pulling me into a sweet little peck on the lips. "Ready to do this?"

"You seem eager." I joked.

I looked into her eyes to see they were hazy with lust. "Don't fucking joke around with me." she ordered. "I want you. I want you now, and I've put this off for way too fuckin' long." She smiled at me. "So do you want me to guide you in or do you want to do it yourself?"

I smiled back as I reached down to grasp my cock, pulsating and all-too-ready to enter her, the girl I was denied for too long. I pulled my dick up to her entrance, enjoying the friction of rubbing up against her the whole way there. She lightly jumped, just a touch, when she felt my cock hit the outer folds of her pussy for the first time. She sighed contentedly.

"I missed this." she cooed. "The anticipation… the teasing… but it's been too long. Please, no more. Don't tease me."

The tip of my cock, practically bouncing in pulsing anticipation, slid across the surface of her beautiful pussy, shining with its temptation. Poised, set and ready, I gave Nicole one last look for confirmation. She nodded, and slowly, I slid in, feeling every inch of my cokc glide into her pussy, her warm, caressing walls enveloping my manhood as the pair of us connected in that way we were craving, becoming one.

Testing the waters, I pushed all the way in, only seeing a slight wince from Nicole at the very end as I felt her pelvis against mine. Slowly, I started to pull back, feeling our skin depart as the sensations built up around my dick and spread like a fire over my whole body. Every second that I took, my lust grew, and soon I couldn't resist it anymore as I picked up speed, knowing full well my desire to animalistically ream Nicole for all her worth.

Given her sighs-turned-moans, this was exactly what Nicole wanted as well. As I began to pick up speed, her hand grasped around my arm for support as her cries got more desperate, more lustful, more wild. Nicole wanted more, she wanted me. I began to feel her hips grind against mine as all logic was turned off in her brain and she just went mindlessly for what she wanted: more pleasure. Gladly, I gave it to her, savoring the look of my beautiful princess as ecstasy painted her face and sweat lightly caressed her body, accentuating every curve. She was more than getting into this, she was in her own world. Her own world of pleasure, and I was the key to that lock.

Every cry she gave made her pussy clench against my cock, amplifying our orchestra further. Not that she got the opportunity to cry out for long as I dove forward, desiring to feel her amazing lips on mine. As we kissed, so too did our bodies, pushing us towards the state of bliss we both knew was arriving shortly. Every movement sent a jolt of joyous electricity up my body, reminding me each and every second every way I loved Nicole, and why I did.

I truly did. I loved her. The way she kissed me back, energetic passion in her movements, traveling through her tongue to meet mine, it couldn't possibly have been any different for her. Every thrust, every push, sent me closer and closer to giving her that built-up surprise I never thought I would get to give her again. As I hammered my full self into her over and over, I felt a surge of gratefulness that almost brought me to tears. I was fucking Nicole Baker again. No, I was making love to her.

We broke the kiss as Nicole moaned in carnal desperation. "Oh, fuck, Adam," she panted. "Fuck me, please, yes, fuck me. Just like that. Keep going, you're driving me crazy."

"You're amazing, Nicole." I panted right back. "I love you so much."

A few seconds of silence passed, and as I kept thrusting, I worried that I went too far. Maybe I shouldn't have brought that up so early as the first time we're doing it again. She's going to make us stop again. She's going to put up walls, and e-

"I love you too." she panted, almost in a whisper, as I kept going.

A unique surge went through me and positively uplifted my body. This wasn't quite like the electric shocks sex gave me, but the two complimented each other very well. I found myself subconsciously smiling as I kept drilling her pussy, knowing that I was getting close.

"Ni… Nicole…" I breathed as I tried to last as long as I could.

She read my mind. "Almost there, squirt… Please just try to last a little longer…" Her face was contorted in concentration, the feelings building up in her body almost too much for her to take.

I wasn't about to last too much longer. I tried thinking of other things to prolong the event but it always came back to Nicole and how amazing she looked, how sex y she looked, how good being inside her felt. My whole body was tingling and every breath came out as an increasingly pained moan as I held out as long as I could.

"Oh my God…" Nicole all but squealed, "It's coming. Shit, it's coming. This feels fucking incredible, Adam, oh fuck, Adam, it-"

She cut herself off, taking one long breath in and squeezing her eyes shut so hard it must have hurt. She was buzzing, she was shaking so hard. In the nick of time too – I could only handle one more thrust before I let loose a load with a prolonged "Ooooooh," slamming into her as the first rope of cum erupted from my dick. I could practically hear her filling up and knew this only heightened the immense pleasures Nicole felt from our tryst.

We didn't say anything. Eventually I collapsed on her and practically blacked out. We just held each other afterwards for God knows how long. We didn't say words. Words weren't needed. The whole thing felt right, too right to ruin with words. After a while, Nicole opened her eyes, looked at me, and giggled.

"Just like I remember." she told me softly.

"It was even better for me." I grinned back.

"Well, you'll have to earn that one." she winked at me.

We lay there in silence for a bit until I decided to sit up. "So, now what? I inquired. "Not to be that guy, but I wanna make sure. What happens from here?"

"I'm not sure." she answered. "I honestly didn't think this would happen. Now that it has though, I guess we're through the looking glass. As long as…" she trailed off, looking away.

"As long as?" I asked.

She shook her head at me. "Never mind. Nothing." she rolled over and picked up our clothes from the floor, tossing my shirt at me. "Put this on."

"Just the shirt?" I laughed. I was rewarded for that comment with a pair of my underwear to the face. "Well played."

As Nicole put her pants back on, she made oddly little eye contact with me. Being the overthinker that I was, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the start of something amazing or something terrible.

***

"Not meaning to say it's not good to see you again." I clarified to Carson as he booted up his Xbox.

"I get ya." he waved me off. "Everyone's busy this time of year." He sat down and waited for the system to boot.

Carson had lost his 'natural glow.' The spark that once surrounded him abundantly, filled with childish glee yet mature superiority, with a dash of mischievousness, was all but gone. The air around him felt dead.

"You okay, man?" I asked him. "You don't seem as chipper as you usually are. Is something up?"

"Nah, nothin'…" he trailed off, slumping over the couch so much he may as well have been one with it.

"You're a shit liar." I quipped.

He smiled lazily. Even when he smiled, all of his usual charm was gone. "Yeah, probably." His smile faded as he sat up.

"So…" I trailed off expectantly.

"…So what?" he asked me, looking over at me. If his glance hadn't been so dead I would have thought he was challenging me with his eyes.

"So are you just gonna sit here like this or are you gonna tell me?" I asked exasperatedly.

"I dunno." he slurred, slumping back down. "I think…"

I waited with bated breath as he collected his thoughts or something.

"I think I'm gonna try to get back together with May."

Yeah, of course. What the fuck else was I expecting? "May?!" I asked in disbelief. "Why? She-"

"I feel like…" Carson interjected, his voice just powerful enough to make me stop talking. "I dunno. Just feel like it."

"Buddy." I said sympathetically. At this he gave me an ice-cold glare.

"You don't get to call me that."

Woah. Well, okay then, mister. Call me 'buddy' all you want, I see where I stand. I sat in silence for a few more seconds before Carson sighed.

"Sorry, buddy." Of course he got to say it. "I've just been… I… It feels weird. Y'know? This whole… just feels weird. I'm just, like, going through the motions and it…" He sighed again. "I'm gonna go to the washroom. When I'm back we can play or some shit."

I felt almost guilty as I watched him get up and trudge off. What was my social obligation here? He clearly wasn't feeling well. Should I be supporting him more? Should I offer to leave and give him some alone time? I really didn't know how to do things here. I felt awkward and uncomfortable.

I saw Jenna getting a glass of orange juice from the kitchen fridge in the corner of my eye. I waved to her, but she didn't respond, in classic Jenna fashion. Well, what the hell, I thought to myself. If she was going to be a bitch about it, I could flex my proverbial muscles.

"You feeling better?"

Oh. That was supposed to come out as a 'How's that punch to the face treating you, biiiitch?' Maybe I was maturing. The horror.

"Yes." Jenna simply said from the kitchen, finishing her pouring then putting the juice container away. She picked up the glass and walked to me, looking down the hall.

"Carson might be in there for a bit." she observed. "He's feeling like trash lately."

"Yeah, I noticed." I nodded, looking down. "Any idea why?"

"I feel like he's beginning to understand the oppressive nature of his ways." she muttered, almost to herself.

"Ah, so the patriarchy's gettin' to him, huh?" I replied, a little too much dismissiveness to my tone.

"No." she replied bitterly, staring daggers at me. "He had a girlfriend until recently. They broke up, almost spontaneously. He didn't even have sex with her, as far as I know."

I hated to admit it, but that definitely didn't sound like Carson. It wasn't like him to go out with a girl and not take advantage of the fact that she had a girl's anatomy. "What?"

Jenna nodded, looking off towards the washroom. "He kept being all proud, saying this one would be different. This one was different all right." She huffed. "Maybe he is getting more mature. Sparing her his usual sexual advances was the kindest thing he ever did for a girl."

Carson being low-energy and slumping and mumbling and shit was one thing, but I knew that Carson in his right mind just wasn't that kind of person. "Out of curiosity, who was it?" I asked her innocently, trying to play it cool.

"I think her name was Jasmine Dunn. She's a good person, very kind. I don't know why he did that. He got her all infatuated with him, then…" She demonstrated letting go of something and letting it fall to the floor.

"Just like that?" I asked her.

"Just like that."

I stared straight ahead. Carson was definitely not that kind of person. He seemed very intent on what he wanted, but was he the manipulative type to get people to show him affection, only to drop them? No. No he wasn't at all. Was this why he was so low-energy? Did he do something he regretted? Or was it something else?

"I don't think Carson would have done that intentionally to her." I started, realizing talking to Jenna was playing with fire all the while. "He may be ignorant of what he does to girls, but he would never intentionally build a girl up to make her feel awful."

Jenna didn't look at me. "I agree." she said in a factual tone. "Something is unusual here."

"What do you think it is?" I asked her, practically wide-eyed.

I was expecting the heroic "I intend to find out," but with Jenna being Jenna, she just shrugged and walked away, still never looking at me. I shrugged too, watching her leave. Blame it on my curious nature, but if she wasn't going to bother digging deeper, I sure as hell was.

***

Being in the student council came with a surprising amount of connections. With my mind set to it and the right people being around to ask, I was able to find out pretty quickly that Jasmine Dunn partook in French class. This significantly helped, since French was in such little demand that there was only grade nine class for it. Even better, it was during fourth period.

"Mr. Brock," I wheezed, running up to the Adonis of a teacher a few minutes into the daily jog we had to do.

"Heeey… man." Mr. Brock replied, trying to use his 90s workout instructor persona to mask the fact that he didn't bother to learn any names except for the five students that actually were athletes. "How's it going?"

"I was just wondering if I could be let out of class a little early today." I started.

Even as he gave me that 'can't let you do that' grimace, the smiled remained on his face, as if it were permanently stuck there. "Sorry, lil' guy. Can't let you do that. You're still a minor and I could get in trouble if I let you go. I'm technically supposed to be watching over you."

"Okay…" I replied slowly, trying to think on my feet. "But what if I needed to walk home in a hurry? Like if it were a family thing?" I wasn't saying it was, I was just… implying it. Plus, Mr. Brock didn't know where I lived, it was worth a shot.

"Um…" He scratched the back of his head, probably removing a few sun-bleached hairs in the process. "Then I guess you would need to talk to the attendance office and call your parents."

"Cool, can I go do that now?" I asked.

His smile became increasingly forced. "Yeah, of course, go ahead." he replied, knowing I had a right to anyway given I was a student. I loved knowing my rights. Thanks, James Madison.

I walked almost triumphantly into the office and let the secretary know I wanted to call my mom to ask her if I could go home early. Politely, the secretary complied and after asking for a phone number, handed me the phone.

"Hello?" came the sweet, rehearsed voice of Mom, proving in her voice that this was her line of work.

"Hey mom. It's me. I… uh…" Crap. I hadn't really thought this far ahead. "Could I miss the last half of gym today? I'm not feeling all that great and I don't want to be running around."

"Oh, hello, sweetie." she began. "So are you just asking to sit on the side during class?"

Crap. Crap again. Complications. "Um, no…" I attempted to find a way around this one. "I was just thinking of sitting in the cafeteria because it'll be quieter there."

"Ohhhh, I see… do you have a headache?" Mom asked, her tinned voice full of concern.

Bingo. "Um, yeah." I replied, feigning pain in the same way every scumbag kid does when they lie to their parents about feeling sick.

"My poor sweetie." Mom lamented. It took all of my strength not to roll my eyes. "Yes, of course that'll be okay. I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks, mom. This will definitely help. Want me to pass you back to the secretary?" I asked.

"Yes, please do. I'll talk to you at home soon, love you!" Mom's voice cheerily declared.

"Luhyou." I lamely mumbled, still childishly embarrassed of saying 'I love you' to my mom. I passed the phone back and the secretary talked for a bit before putting down the receiver.

"Okay, everything checks out. You'll be dismissed from class halfway through, which means you'll still need to be in class another half hour." She typed a few things on her computer and some kind of receipt started printing. "If your headache is that bad, tell your teacher and they can make some accommodations for you." She ripped the receipt out of the machine and handed it to me. "Hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks," I warmly smiled as I took the paper from her. What a nice lady. I was so glad some of the horror stories about school weren't entirely true.

I practically skipped back to gym class, handing the paper to Mr. Brock along with a short explanation. I promised him I would be 'good to go' for those last thirty minutes despite the headache, mostly because I felt awkward just sitting there while everyone had to jog around the track. A gruelling half an hour later, Mr. Brock called me over and dismissed me, almost disappointedly.

But whatever. Phase one was complete. All I had to do was lie to a bunch of adults that trusted me. No problem. Now to phase two.

I wandered around the school for longer than I would care to admit before finally finding Room 315. 'The French Room,' as people called it. Gathering up my social anxiety in one big ol' basket and chucking it out the window, I knocked on the door.

A few seconds passed and the door opened. A friendly yet stern-looking middle-aged woman with 'teacher glasses' and blonde hair clearly out of a bottle opened the door, not stepping outside so that I could get the full experience of every student there staring a hole through my face.

"Bonjour." the woman told me. "T'es correct?"

"Um, hi." I broke out into a big smile in embarrassment as I pointed at her. ���I don't know what that means, but okay. Could I talk to Jasmine Dunn for a second please?"

"What is this about?" the woman asked me in slightly accented english.

"Just class stuff, it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes." I lied coolly.

The woman nodded. "D'accord. Jasmine, if you need to see him…"

I wasn't even sure who I was looking for, all I was staring at was a sea of different-looking wannabe French people. A shy-looking girl with frizzy brown hair and glasses got up nervously and wordlessly walked over out the door, passing me. The door shut behind her and I looked around for a few seconds before turning to her.

"Okay, hi. This clearly isn't about class stuff. I don't think we've even met before." I began. Not the best opening liner I've ever given.

"Okay," was all she said. She was looking at me with a bit of a concerned expression.

"I just needed to figure some stuff out. I, uh, understand you were with Carson Carter until recently…"

Her face fell. "Did he say I did something?" she asked timidly.

"No no! No." I waved my hands in front of my face. "No. I just know that Carson is… I just…" I tripped over my words. "I just know who Carson is as a person, and he seems really sad lately. And the only thing I know about it is that he broke up with you. I just wanted to know, for my friend's sake, what your side of everything is."

Jasmine crossed her arms uneasily and let her expression fall to the ground. "Um…" she began nervously.

"I totally get this is weird. This is weird for me too, believe me." I gave a small laugh out of nervousness. "I'm just trying to fix the situation." The words of Phil warning me to never get involved in other people's business floated around my head, but I shooed the thoughts away.

"Well… Carson was a nice guy, at least I thought he was. I knew that he liked to… well… How much do you know about Carson?" she asked.

"Total manslut. You're good to go, sister." I reassured her.

"Yeah, he told me about that. That was okay, I didn't see it as a problem if it was just his past. He said he was going to change for me. He never touched me or anything, he never pressured me. I thought he was the sweetest guy ever. But before anything happened, before we ever went public or anything, he…" Her eyes started to well up. "He just stopped. He just told me that he couldn't keep going like this anymore. I don't get it. Nothing changed, I wasn't doing anything different. He just decided one day that I wasn't good enough for him."

"I'm sorry." I tried to console her. "Was he mean about it?"

"No, it was like he just gave up." she answered me, trying to blink rapidly to stop any embarrassing tears from happening. "He wasn't mad, he just… stopped trying. Like I wasn't worth it."

"I'm sure he didn't see it that way at all." I coaxed her soothingly. "Believe me, if Carson wanted to go out with you, that means something. "Was there something that you know could stop this?"

She shifted her feet uneasily. "I can't tell. I mean, this could be in my head but I got really jealous and protective knowing his past. Like, I trusted him but I didn't trust any of the girls that always were around him."

I never liked admitting to myself how much of a chick magnet Carson was, but he was. Even if he was abstinent he'd have at least three girls a day strike up a conversation with him. And of course, every time they did, he would be charismatic as fuck.

"There was this one girl I really didn't like. Always flirting with him and stuff. He brushed her off, but she kept clearly trying to one-up me." she continued.

I was starting to lose faith in Jasmine. I couldn't help but feel like she was lying or exaggerating to get me on her side. Great. My one lead on why my friend was acting like death warmed over and she was a drama queen.

"I think her name was May."

Nnnnever mind, this all sounded completely legit now. "May Stevens?" I asked abruptly.

"Yes…" she said slowly. "Do you know her?"

Oh boy did I fucking ever know her. "Yes, I do." I replied, not trying to let my tone reflect how I felt in the moment. "Um, anyway, I'm sure it's just Carson not being ready for a relationship like this. I think he learned that with May. You bringing her up reminded me of that."

She gave me a small smile. "Yeah, maybe." she pettily admitted. "What's your name? I never got it."

"Oh, it's not important. I mean, it's Adam, but it's not important." I flashed her a polite smile. "Anyway, I'm sorry for bringing you out of class like this. I, um, I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks…" Jasmine said slowly, a little weirded out by my clear sudden shift in demeanor.

I walked down the hallway with purpose. Fucking May. How many people was she willing to steamroll in her quest to manipulate people into believing she was a decent human being? This had to stop, and it had to stop now.

***

As soon as May opened her locker, I shut it. Not knowing I was there, she give out a little yelp and fearfully turned behind her to face me. Once she was it was me though, her fearful expression went away, masked by a fake face of apathy.

"Expecting someone else?" I all but growled.

"What do you want, Adam?" she asked blandly. I realized then and there that this was the first time I shared a conversation with her since Nicole had the talk with her.

"What was the talk with Nicole about?" I asked, leaning on the locker next to her. It was stupid, but I wanted to make sure I always had the upper hand in this conversation. In Salvador's words, I wanted to make sure I was 'higher status.'

"None of your business, that's what it was about." she replied flatly.

"Look, you burst into the room trying to drag me through the mud. You made all of this my business. So as soon as you're put in the same situation, you don't get to pull this shit. Cut the crap."

She laughed condescendingly. "No, putting you in the same situation would be punching you in the face and putting on a big show to get everyone else on my side."

"Would it also include me blackmailing you into keeping your mouth shut by threatening to say you raped me, then me raping you a few months later? Or does that not fit your little story of woe?"

"Bite me." May added coldly yet calmly.

"Not to mention, I sure as hell didn't try to get back with my ex after they found someone else. It's curious that you only went after Carson as soon as he got someone else. The way Jasmine tells it, you started flirting with him and trying to one-up her."

Ugh. I was contributing to teenage drama. I had lived long enough to see myself become the enemy. Still, I was in too deep at this point, and had to keep going.

A look of fury crossed May's eyes and left as quickly as it came. "Why does this even matter to you?" she asked me, her words delicate and non-confrontational, trying to seem like the better person. "After all, you chose the other two over me. You don't care about me like I did about you. So really you're being hypocritical if you're coming after me as soon as I move on and accusing me of doing the same to my ex."

My blood boiled. "Okay, first of all, we were never a thing. We were absolutely never a couple. Don't you even pretend like we were. Nothing happened between us."

"It can still be something even if there isn't a label, can't it? I would have thought you and Camera Girl would know all about that." May's grin, not present on her face, was evident in her eyes.

"Leave Nicole the fuck out of this. And I'm following up on this because my friend is hurting, and Jasmine is hurting too. You're just making everyone around you feel terrible, and that's not fair to anyone." I huffed as she stared at me, daring me to continue. "And anyway, If you're so damn sure you could get Carson wrapped around your finger at the drop of a hat anyway, why even bother with me?"

May rolled her eyes, as if I was asking a stupid question. "Because," she began, drawing out the word as if it were obvious, "I've clearly always loved you more. Loved you more than him, and certainly more than you ever loved me. Or anyone, I bet."

I shook my head in disbelief. "That's your fucking argument?" I started, ignoring the small crowd staring at us. "Seriously? May, you throw around the word 'love' as if it's candy on Halloween. I bet you don't even have a fucking clue what it means. It's okay if you're lonely or sad or whatever, but a good person admits their pain and tries to find ways to move on from it, but you like to inflict your pain on everyone around you. You've caused God knows how many bad situations this year. You're the chief cause for a stupid amount of them. To sit back and say that you've loved me more is laughable." I turned to the crowd. "This girl tried to blackmail me at a party after we had sex together. She felt guilty after we did it, so she said if I ever blabbed, she'd tell everyone I raped her. How crazy is that?"

"Adam!" May interjected sharply, the calm look on her face gone.

"What's up, May?" I asked, my tone full of confidence knowing I won the higher ground. "Was that untrue? By all means, face the people. Tell them I'm lying. Because I fucking wasn't."

I practically danced out of the way so that the students could see May. She didn't make a move to speak. She barely moved at all. She just stood there, her face getting redder.

"That's right." I moved back in front of her. "You've been a great audience. Get out of here, the rest of this is private." I just stood in front of her, staring at her, challenging her with my eyes as the students awkwardly moved behind me. It was a good four minutes until every student was gone, and I spent every second staring her down.

"It sure sucks being faced with what you've done, doesn't it?" I asked smugly. "Be thankful I didn't bring up that you had your way with me after I didn't give consent. What kind of 'love' is that, May? If that's what you think love is, God help anyone you love ever again."

"I don't want to speak to you ever again." May said softly, the first thing she said in a while.

I chuckled and folded my arms, hiding the twinge of pain I felt from those words. Somewhere inside me, May was still the high school crush I pined for, even if that part of me was getting exponentially smaller every day. "Fine by me." I said. "But only if you promise." I held out a hand and stared her down. Slowly, May extended her arm and I firmly shook her hand.

"Goodbye forever, May." I said, slowly and meaningfully.

"Bye." she said, half in soft anger, half in fear.

I couldn't help beaming to myself as I walked away. At this point in time, this was all I wanted. I won. May was out of my life. As far as I was concerned, she was one big problem I wouldn't ever have to worry about ever again. More importantly, I won. The last conversation we ever had wasn't dominated by the sneaking, cheating, raping May. I got to have the last word.

I was still smirking to myself as I got to the main hallway. Most of the students were gone – I would have to spare no time in getting to the bus. Either that, or pray to God that Nicole was still here and willing to drive me home. There were only a few students left, just standing in pools talking amongst themselves about classes or whatever.

Among the sounds of the crowds, one stood out, and it sounded like a vaguely familiar one. In the main hallway, there was one branching path that led to a small dead end, so to speak – the elevator hallway, just in case anyone in a wheelchair or something decided to go to Hazelwood. Being the stupidly curious kid I was, of course I had to go investigate.

Very quickly, I discovered why I recognized the sound. It was Megan, because life decided it hadn't thrown enough shit at me today. She was crying.

'Crying' was being generous. She was bawling her eyes out, the quiet kind where you weren't doing it for attention or anything – you were doing it because your life was as good as over.

"Megan?" I asked her in shock. She didn't really respond – she was curled up in a ball. I couldn't see her face. If her hair wasn't so distinctly beautiful, I wouldn't have been so sure it was her at all.

I walked over next to her and slid down the wall. If Megan was this devastated, the bus could wait. "What is it, what's wrong?" I gingerly moved my hand to her back and started stroking it supportively, to which she pulled back and moved away.

Damn, she must have been really upset. I moved my hand back to my side slowly. "Sorry." I mumbled.

I sat next to her for a good minute before she lifted her head. "I-I-" she attempted to say between sobs.

"It's okay." I soothed her. I had no clue what was going on, but I didn't want to worsen matters. "Do you want to talk about it, or just sit here? Nod if you wanna talk."

She stared straight ahead crying for a few seconds before hesitantly nodding.

"Okay." I replied supportively and slowly. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Megan made a few attempts at words which quickly dissolved into sobs, sniffles and sorrows. Following my advice, she took some deep breaths until she was able to control her breathing, and spoke.

I'll never forget the shock that hit me when I heard her words. My heart froze and lightning struck me as soon as I processed what she told me. I wanted to refuse she said it, I wanted to pretend it wasn't real. I have have experienced a lot of shit this year, but never in my life had I expected to deal with what came out of her mouth right then.

"I'm pregnant."

Chapter Eighteen

I was going to have a stroke before I was 40, I swear to God. I'd like to say that I was calmly sitting behind Megan, stroking her back and reassuring her it would all be okay after she informed me of her pregnancy, but unfortunately, no such thing happened. Within microseconds I was up and pacing the cramped hallway in a frantic manner.

"You don't- how? Why? No way. This isn't true, you're lying." I breathily spat out.

This only made Megan's sobbing harder, the first thing that sobered me since she told me the news. After looking her over I tried to understand that this was her suffering, not mine. As I tried to conduct a few deep breaths for myself, I tried to remind myself that this had nothing to do to me, and my role was to support her. My hand outstretched, aiming for her shoulder, I steeled myself to be her guardian in this crisis.

Before that happened, I shot right up. What the fuck was I thinking? Of course this had to do with me. It was probably… I was most likely… Oh god… I was a…

"Who's the father?!" I demanded in a panicked voice, grabbing her head and yanking it up so her eyes could meet mine.

She stared deeply into my eyes with a look that was a third incredulity, a third sadness, and a third anger. "I don't know!!" she practically shrieked at me.

Oops. Right. How the hell would she know? I needed to calm down. I steadied myself by leaning against the wall and slinking down to meet her, still conducting those deep breaths. Eventually I built up the bravery (or nerve, I suppose) to put my arm around her.

"I'm sorry." I softly said.

Megan attempted to shove me off, her crying never faltering. She was entirely inconsolable. I sighed, knowing the prudent course – I sat in silence for a good twenty minutes, missing my bus and brushing off one confused sophomore who found us at one point, but mostly just sitting awkwardly, stroking her back, listening to her cry the entire way. The crying got quieter and quieter over time, although the ferocity of it never stopped. She just lost the energy to make noise. Eventually she was making frantic pant noises, her body shaking with every one, when I got the courage to speak again.

"How long have you known?" I asked her.

"I-I… I…" she attempted to speak through her uncontrolled soundless sobs.

I continued stroking her back. "It's okay. Take all the time you need."

"T-today." she managed. "I-I don't know how l-long I… I've been preg…nant for."

That sounded about right. I frankly knew absolutely nothing about how these sorts of tests went down, and I should have known better, but I had to ask. "Was it a medical test or something?"

"N-not really." she answered shakily. "I w-was talking to the school nurse and I told her everything."

"Everything?!" I asked urgently.

I could swear I heard a chuckle amongst her chokes and cries. "Not names." she reassured me. "I told her I could never, although she w-wasn't happy."

Go figure. A hidden sex circle is running amok in Hazelwood and adults aren't sitting idly by when they find out it happens.

"I was t-there to get tested." she told me. "To make sure I'm c-clean. She recommended the pregnancy test too." she sniffled,trying to turn off the invisible waterworks at this point.

I nodded, trying to hide my internal panic. STDs. I never fucking thought of that. God knows who Nicole has banged in the past. Or if May never banged anyone else on the side. Hell, or even…

"Wait, how many? Y'know…" I gestured outward.

Megan shuddered. "Sixteen."

Damn. Sixteen times, huh? She got around. "Sixteen times, really? Well, we know quite a few of those are with me, and Carson pro-"

"Sixteen guys."

Silence hung through the air as I stared, mouth agape, at a frightened Megan who didn't dare look back at me. "Sixteen guys?"

"I know, I know." Megan uneasily remarked.

"I don't even know sixteen guys! God knows how many guys have a chance to be involved in some shit now! I really hope you don't have an STD, because thi-"

"You're not helping!" Megan sharply interjected.

I shut my mouth and looked straight forward. "You're right." That wasn't easy for me to say. "I'm sorry."

I sighed and the silence returned. I had learned to loathe its presence, and decided to get rid of it while I had the ability. "So, are you going to tell your parents?"

"I can't. No way. It's out of the question." Megan immediately and quickly replied.

I gave a low chuckle. "That was fast."

"Adam, I was raised a John Miles Baptist. Both of my parents are incredibly… y'know… 'by the book.' They would murder me."

Well, thanks, John Miles, for making our lives that much more complicated. And speaking of hypothetical murder…

"So then what's the plan?" I asked grimly. "Are you going to have the child, raise it? Or…"

"I can't. I'm not having this child. I'm just… I can't." Megan spat out, the convulsions of her crying returning to her.

"Not having it at all? So you're not even putting it up for adoption? So that means…"

Megan buried her head into her knees and violently shook her head yes. I can't imagine how much Mr. Miles would have approved of abortion, but personal morals aside, I could hardly blame Megan. I was scared as shit of this whole thing. Chills were running up my whole body, so much so that my blood was running cold. I was one wrong word away from having one of my full-on panic attacks. It was difficult to even ask her the questions I was asking, and I'm sure I was visibly shaking as much as her.

The small voice of Megan took me away from my inner hell. "What…" she began uneasily, then brought her head up. "What would you choose to do if this were your child?"

That just about did it. In a hysterical fashion, I flashed a smile that constantly twitched as I breathed out slowly and painfully. "There's…" I choked out. "There's a good chance it is mine, isn't it?"

I couldn't take it anymore. Like Megan, my head hit my knees and I was full-out crying. I didn't want this. I wanted this whole thing to go away. I wanted nothing more at this moment than to just run away from Megan and never return. My whole body was uncomfortably shaking, so much so that every movement my body made almost took the wind out of me. It was my turn to be inconsolable, and based on Megan's hesitantly placed hand on my back, I think she understood.

Everything raced through my mind. My parents, my future, my deadbeat child I would most assuredly never raise properly, and Nicole's gaze. I couldn't escape its path. I knew she would be disappointed in me, I just fucking knew it. It terrified me. This whole thing terrified me. I needed to switch this situation off, to wake up from this dream.

"Adam!" Megan said with force, tapping my back.

I just realized I was screaming. Full-on screaming into my knees. I was terrified. I wasn't okay. None of this was okay.

"It's okay." Megan reassured me as I brought my head up. "We… we have a lifeline here. I don't want to do it but…" she grimaced. "we don't have a choice."

My teeth stopped chattering enough for me to form coherent words. "I think… In… in r-regards to your question…"

"Yeah?" she asked, weirdly interested in what I would do.

I could feel tears fill my eyes. "I couldn't tell you what to do, Megan. If this ever happened to me, I could never look you in the eyes and tell you what to do. I'm sorry, it just seems so wrong. I would leave it up to the…" the last word hung in my throat like vomit. "…mother."

Megan and I had the exact same instinct as we pulled each other into a frantic hug as we both nuzzled into the other's shoulders. So it was decided then, Megan would have an abortion. What a fucking dirty word. It was her son. It was probably our son.It was sickening, the whole situation was sickening. As I tried to regain control over my breathing, I murmured a silent prayer i thanks that this happened with Megan and not May. The last thing I wanted was to have a reason to be trapped with her, especially if the reason was a chapter of life I was just not ready for.

Megan's hand clung to my other shoulder, clawing at it as she attempted to nuzzle further in. "I'm so sorry, Adam." she breathed. "I love you so much."

Don't say it.

"I love you too."

Fuck.

She slowly brought up her head and I followed suit. "Thank you so much for being there for me," she began. "You're so kind and sweet and I don't know what I would do without you."

My eye twitched. I tried to remain eye contact with her, but I ended up scoffing and looking down at the floor.

"What?" Megan innocently asked.

Well, every fucking thing was happening today. I may as well let today be 'truth hurts' day. National holiday or something, why the fuck not?

"Megan… I haven't been good for you at all." I began. Tears began coming back, letting me know that I was going to have to fight to get through what I wanted to say. "You were young when we first… did stuff. Like, fucking really young. And all because I made you feel like you needed to have sex with me to get me. I made you act all submissive for me, I made you my sex toy, all because it made me enjoy it. I feel… I feel like…" I sighed and faced the floor.

"I feel like I turned you into a slut who gets off on being used." I told her gravely. "And now here you are, fifteen guys later. One of those guys is Carson, who likes to use girls too. And you're pregnant, and you're unsure if you have an STD, and… and your relationship with your brother is ruined, and you keep doing things that damage you, and…" I shut my eyes tight to extract any tears then opened them again. "I can't help but feel like your life would be so much better if you never met me. I'm not good for you. I've been a shitty boyfriend and a worse friend."

Megan said nothing and looked to the floor. We both said nothing for a bit. Hello silence my old friend.

"When I say I love you, I don't mean as a lover." Megan said slowly. It was a new tone for Megan. Authority. It almost scared me. I looked up at her face to see a facial expression I never saw before. It was seriousness, but not anger, like if she were in Debate Club or something.

"But that doesn't mean there's no connection there. I love you, and I can see it in your eyes. You love me. That's why you say it." She paused for effect. "You curse yourself every time you say it. I can see that in your eyes too."

I looked at her in shock, and she gave a small, low laugh.

"I'm not the simpleton you take me for, Adam. I notice things. You cringe because you think that love has the connotation of a lover. But it doesn't. Look me in the eyes. Think of everything we've done."

Not knowing why, I stared deeply into her beautiful, doe-like, brown eyes.

"I love you." she said, slowly and meaningfully.

"I love you too." I feebly managed.

"But… we're not lovers, are we?" she asked me seriously.

I shook my head no. "I don't think we are."

She bit her bottom lip. "Okay." Gathering her strength, she stood up. "Then I'm definitely getting that abortion."

I have no clue what was going through Megan's mind. In the space of about a minute, she changed. She was no longer the shy, sweet little girl. Even her playful aura was not as contrasting to her shyness as this. She had something she was craving for a long time now – authority and boldness, the kind that could make her respected. How unfortunate that if this last, she had to get her inner authoritative attitude this way. Secretly, I had hoped she'd go back to the old Megan tomorrow, that this event had no consequences.

But that was stupid of me. Consequences were very real. They were abundant, and they were not over.