THREE

I could visualize Hannah's worried expression in my head as I remembered the exact words that she had said to me.

"...I don't want you to end up like me."

I had no idea why her words scared me so much. Justin wasn't trying to get anything out of me, was he? I was just his tutor and he wanted to buy me food as a way to thank me. That had to be all.

I was nudged in the shoulder. "Hey. What do you want to eat?" Justin asked, his blue eyes twinkling as he smiled down at me. He wasn't as tall as some of the other athletes at our school, but with me standing at 5 ft. 2 he had to be at least seven or eight inches taller than me. "Like I said, it's my treat."

I ended up ordering my go-to choice at Monet's, the Mushroom Grilled Cheese Panini. Justin ordered some kind of sandwich I think, but I was too distracted to notice the specifics. It wasn't every day that a popular guy from school took me out to eat.

Justin led me over to a table by the window and he looked around the cafe before taking a seat. I followed his action. "I haven't been here before. This place is actually pretty nice."

I nodded, giving him a small smile. I couldn't imagine him being in a quiet and cozy place like this with any of his friends. I knew that my thoughts sounded so judgmental then, but it was hard to ignore the fact that he and I were total opposites.

What were we doing?

What was I doing?

I had even lied to Mom, telling her that I was tutoring a student at the library again, only to come here after school with Justin. It felt so wrong to lie to her.

I never lied.

"You mentioned earlier that you moved here in middle school. What made you come here from the city?" he asked before adding, "If you don't mind me asking."

"Well, my parents got divorced when I was in sixth grade and my mom thought that it would be a good idea for us to move here. It was like a fresh start after my dad… decided to leave us for another woman."

I couldn't believe that I was talking so much on my own. Since when had I felt so comfortable talking in front of Justin? And why had I decided to tell him the truth rather than making up some sort of different answer? I hadn't talked about my parents' divorce to anyone before. But then again, I hadn't had anyone around me to tell the story in the first place.

"I'm sorry-"

I cut him off. "It's okay. I'm totally over it. Um, how about we talk about you before I end up bringing down the mood even further?"

"Sure. What questions do you have for me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me playfully.

"Hmm… Let's see. Have you lived here your whole life?"

"Yup," he nodded. "Born and raised."

"You can't use that phrase," I pointed out with a grin. "Not when you're still an adolescent."

"True, but you get the idea," he laughed.

I nodded this time. "So what's your family like? Do you have any siblings?"

There was a flash of discomfort on his face and I immediately regretted asking him the question. Did he not want to talk about it? Before I could say something to prevent him from answering my questions, he replied.

"No siblings," he shook his head. "It's just me… and my mom."

That was all I got out of him and I didn't push any further.

"You know, you should come to a game some time. Football season is gonna be over soon," he informed.

Personally, I didn't like football. I didn't understand the rules at all, but did I really know much about any sport? Maybe not knowing the rules wasn't my real excuse of not wanting to go to a game. Maybe I didn't want to step out of my comfort zone and a football game was exactly that.

I had missed homecoming this year, but I had missed last year's too. I wondered whom Justin had taken to the homecoming dance. He had to have gone and if so, he probably had had a date. Maybe it had been Robin. I had seen the two of them flirting with each other during that time. I didn't know if it was a fling or what, but these days I didn't seen Justin with her or any particular girl at all.

Ugh. I sounded like such a stalker. I had barely paid attention to Justin before I started tutoring him, but now I was often thinking about him. It was bad. Couldn't I just have a crush on a regular guy? Someone that I could actually approach confidently with my feelings?

"Come on. You should come cheer for me at my next game."

"Aren't the cheerleaders there to do that for you?" I asked and to my surprise, he rolled his eyes—something that made it seem like we were much closer than we actually were.

"They're different though. They're not you."

My heart fluttered in my chest at his response. "And what am I?" I carefully asked.

"My new friend," he replied with a bright smile.

I was friend-zoned but with Justin, I was content with even that.

He continued speaking. "Let's make a deal. You come watch me at a game and I'll come see you at your orchestra concert." His gaze briefly travelled down to my violin case, which was set aside next to my backpack near my feet.

I raised an eyebrow. "But I never asked for you to come see me at an orchestra concert."

"And you don't have to ask because I'm offering to go," he responded with a teasing smile.

It wasn't a total mystery that he was so popular with the girls at our school when he behaved so attractively like this. How was I supposed to say no to a face like that?

"You sure about that? I don't think you'd enjoy it," I said, trying to get him to give up on the idea.

I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of my crush coming to watch me play. What if I messed up on my solo? That would be even more embarrassing than making a mistake in front of just the usual audience, which was comprised of normally just moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and grandparents.

"How do you know?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I could end up having the best time of my life."

I had no idea why he was so desperate to get me into agreeing to the deal that he was making, but I eventually gave in.

"Fine. Fine."

I guessed I didn't have to worry about what Hannah had said to me anymore… Because to Justin, I was just a friend. But why did I still feel uneasy?

"Justin, can I ask you about… Hannah?"

He looked caught off guard for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Why do you want to talk about her?"

"Because... I want to hear the truth from you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"She told me the other day that the rumors about her aren't true and I think that I believe her…"

"So then you already know the truth. That we didn't really have sex," Justin said and although I had been expecting his answer, I was still shocked.

Justin. Oh, sweet Justin.

Why would he do that?

With how nice he had been to me so far, I couldn't imagine him being involved in destroying a girl's reputation like that, but then with the kind of guys that he hung out with, I could imagine it at the same time.

"But why?" I leaned forward and spoke quietly, in case anyone could hear us.

I didn't know why I was trying to protect someone like him in the first place. Why did hearing that he had ruined Hannah's reputation like that not make me run away from him already?

"Why would you ever do something so horrible like that?"

"Okay. I know I did play a part in the Hannah thing, but I'm not responsible for all of it in its entirety," he quickly said. "It was Bryce. I was showing him and the other guys the pictures that I took of Hannah and they were asking me how far I'd gotten with her… I just- I just kind of let them put words into my mouth and then it just sort of happened. Bryce took my phone from out of my hand and he sent out a photo to a couple of people… then it ended up reaching the rest of the school. I didn't mean for it to become like that. I still feel terrible about it… Does hearing all of this make you hate me?"

"I… I don't know how I feel right now, Justin," I admitted. "I was almost a hundred percent sure that Hannah was telling the truth, but a strange part of me wished that she wasn't. I guess I just wished that you could be better than that."

He looked down at the table, seemingly ashamed.

"You should apologize to her."

"Yeah, I should," he nodded. "I actually have been for the past few weeks, but it's hard to talk to her."

I realized that Hannah probably thought that Justin had sent out the pictures on his own when in fact it was Bryce who had done that part. Although what Justin did was much lighter compared to Bryce, overall, it all came back to bite Justin in the ass.

"You could have stepped up and resisted," I told him.

He shook his head. "I couldn't have."

"Why?"

"Sometimes... You just have to do things to fit in."

Hearing those words from him was disturbing because I related to him. While I was hiding away from the crowd to fit in, Justin was throwing himself into the middle of it. But we shared the same goal. We were just trying to survive.

Justin and I enter Bryce's home together. He's still staying here for the time being and it's apparently fine because Bryce's parents aren't even home. It's not even surprising anymore. Since the parents are out of town, Justin borrowed one of the cars at the luxurious home and we took it to buy some groceries. The trip felt like a sigh of relief for the two of us. I caught Justin smiling genuinely a few times and it made me happy. I wish I could see him smiling more often these days.

"What can I do to help?" he asks as I set up the ingredients on the kitchen countertops.

"You don't have to do anything," I tell him. "Today, I am cooking and you are resting."

"Resting?"

"Yeah, you look so tired these days. You make me worried."

"Don't be. I'm okay," he assures. "Besides, you look tired too."

"Hmm," I say with a chuckle. "I guess we've both been missing out on sleep."

My choice of words must have reminded Justin of the pregnancy scare. "I never got the chance to ask. What made you think that you were… pregnant?"

"Well, I was late for my period, which had been pretty consistent over the past few months and I thought I was experiencing some symptoms too… So then with how much we'd been, you know…"

Why am I suddenly feeling so shy?

"Yeah… We were having a lot of sex over the summer," he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

"We were," I confirm seriously in contrast, "and I just thought that maybe it was possible. It was weird. I don't know, but I'm relieved that we're not having a baby right now. I mean, we are practically still babies."

Justin laughs in response. "Yeah, we're definitely not ready. Let me find a stable job and buy us a house first, then we can start having kids."

I appreciate that Justin is thinking of us like that. It's refreshing to hear when Mom keeps talking about college even though to me, it sounds far away. I get why she keeps bringing it up though. Time is going to fly by quickly. Next year, I'll have to start applying for universities and that makes me nervous. Mom tells me often that Justin and I won't be together forever, but I'd like to prove her wrong. Well, I hope so anyway.

"I think I can settle with that," I smile before it fades away. My eyes suddenly begin to tear up.

Damn it. These onions.

"Ow, my eyes are burning," I cry out as I put down the knife.

"Move aside. I'll take over from here," Justin says and I switch places with him.

"How romantic. My knight in shining armor, saving me from these vicious onions."

"'Tis the evidence of my undying love for thee!"

I felt upset the entire day and the reason behind why seemed unreasonable and reasonable at the same time. Was I overreacting again?

I heard his familiar voice calling my name and I chose to ignore it as payback. However, he didn't give up on me.

"Gina. Wait. Can we please talk?"

His hand wrapped around my wrist and turned me around.

"About what?" I asked.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to apologize, Justin. I get it. You're too embarrassed to be seen with someone like me in front of your friends."

He fervently shook his head. "No, that's not true. I'm not embarrassed. Not at all. Where would you get that from?"

"I don't know, Justin. Maybe because you chose to ignore me? I thought we were friends, but I guess I was wrong."

"We are friends," he clarified.

"But only outside of school?" I finished for him.

"Can you stop saying stuff like that? I only ignored you in front of my friends because I don't want you to get too close and get hurt. My friends are… they like to play rough. You know what Bryce decided to do with Hannah. I don't want him to take advantage of us… of you."

"Then why do you still hang out with him?"

"Because he's been my friend since we were kids. It's complicated, but he's done a lot for me."

I let out a sigh, feeling a little better about the situation now that he had explained.

"Will you forgive me?" he pouted and I almost blurted out how cute I thought he looked. "Can we still be friends?"

"Yes," I said, a little too fast for my dignity. "But if we're going to be friends, then we're friends 24/7."

"Okay. I agree," he nodded. "That means that my friends are going to start approaching you too out of curiosity. But I promise... I'll protect you."

"Mm mm mm. Whatever it is that you're cooking smells so good," Marcus says as he enters the kitchen followed by Zach and then Bryce.

"Is that bulgogi?" Zach asks.

Marcus looks confused. "What's that?"

"Korean barbeque," Zach explains.

"Yes, it is indeed," I answer as I set down the main dish in front of them.

"Gina, you should come over more often and make us food," Bryce says. "You're a great cook."

For some reason, I feel offended by his choice of words. I can't help but hear it as if he's telling me that a woman's place should be in the kitchen where she can make a sandwich. I don't know if I'm just overreacting or not, but I can never tell if Bryce is being genuine or not. Sometimes, he seems pure evil—the biggest dickhead in our school. But at other times, he seems like a good friend to Justin.

Bryce Walker. Who are you?

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the kind reviews! I was so happy to read them as I really do appreciate the feedback. I am still in the process of developing my story so I don't know when exactly Jess will come in, but I do plan on including her just as she appears in the show. Therefore, Gina's role is going to be different from Jessica's. I'm excited to share more with you!

Okay. I need to go to sleep now. It is currently 4:08 AM... And I have to get to work by 2:00 PM. Yikes!

Thanks again for reading! See you in the next chapter!

-Jane