"You know it's illegal... right?"

I looked up from my dinner at Lance, who was frowning at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Do I look stupid?"

Lance smirked. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I know it's illegal, Lance. Just because I like-"

"Love."

"-Like," I repeated forcefully, "him, doesn't mean I will be romantically involved with him."

"You've admitted you love him!"

"It's something I will never repeat again, Lance," I told him, looking back down at my food and picking up a piece of steak and putting it in my mouth.

"Even when you confess?" he responded, sounding confused.

I nearly choked on the steak. I swallowed and looked at Lance, my eyes wide. "I'm not going to confess to him!"

Lance looked at me bewildered. "Why?"

"Because," I started, chewing on my lip.

"Because why?"

"It's illegal, Lance," I told him, looking at my lap. "Not only is it illegal, people think it's disgusting. Even just talking about it, people get these disgusted looks on their faces."

"That's why? You won't confess because people will think you are disgusting?"

I looked back up at Lance, surprised by his angry tone. He stared at me, his mouth twisted into a small scowl.

"It's not only that," I responded, casting my eyes down again. "He could lose his job. And I'd be in trouble too."

Lance scoffed. "So what?"

I stared at Lance in surprise. Wasn't he the one who said in the beginning of the year that it was creepy for a student to like a teacher?

"If you really love someone Holly, you wouldn't care about any of those things," he informed me, his mouth pressed into a firm, straight line. "There's nothing wrong with two people being in love! In a year, you won't even be a student anymore. And there isn't even that big of an age difference between the two of you."

My mouth was slightly open now. Lance clucked his tongue impatiently.

"Why do you care?" I managed to ask, still in slight shock by his outburst.

"Because, Holly," Lance started with a sigh. "You're my best friend. I care about you a lot, in a friend way," he added quickly.

I laughed. "Yeah, we've been over that."

"Anyways, I want you to be happy. And if being with that teacher is what will make you happy, I'm going to support it. Even if I don't like it. And if you say you can't be with him, I'm going to force you to be with him because I know that's what you want."

I suddenly felt like crying. My eyes were beginning to water, so I blinked rapidly to keep any tears from spilling over. I swallowed a lump in my throat too.

Lance was too sweet. He cared about me far too much more than I deserved from him. I wasn't nearly as kind to him.

Like the time I had left him all alone at the fair. And when he called to check up on me when he was worried I had just blown him off pretty much.

I was the hugest asshole ever.

"Whoa. Holly, what's wrong?" Lance asked, leaning forward. "Why are you crying?"

I shook my head. "I'm not..."

How could Lance have figured out so many of my fears about liking Mr. Heywood so quickly? I hadn't even mentioned anything about Mr. Heywood at all, and yet he managed to figure out my deepest secret.

Even after all that I had done to him... he still wanted to help me.

I rubbed my eyes and than reached my hand across the table, grabbing Lance's. I squeezed it and he returned the squeeze.

I swallowed the lump in my throat again and looked up at Lance. "Thank you, Lance."

"You're welcome," he responded, a warm smile on his face.

"You're the best friend anyone could ever have," I told him, giving him a watery smile. "And I'm sorry for ditching you that time at the fair, and when you called because you were worried. And-"

Lance laughed, cutting me off. "Holly, we are best friends. Not lovers. You're making me feel like we are a couple that are making up after a huge fight."

I chuckled, pulling my hand away. "I guess you are right."

Lance nodded. "And since we are speaking of couples again, good luck with that teacher."

"He has a name you know," I responded, frowning slightly.

"I don't like him for taking you away from me, so I won't call him by his name," Lance responded, rolling his eyes.

"Taking you from me?" I echoed.

"You know. If you two start dating or something, I'm sure you won't have time for poor, old, Lance."

I shook my head frantically. "I'll always make time for you! And Casey!"

"You promise?"

"Promise!"

Lance laughed. "Good. And while you're at it, you can help me with something."

"Anything," I told him.

"You have to help me find a girlfriend, " Lance said with a wink.

I grinned. "Sounds good."

Lance returned my grin. I suddenly felt at ease. Like all my worries about liking Mr. Heywood went away.

I could actually say I love him, and nothing in my mind made me want to deny it. I could say it.

"I love Mr. Heywood," I said aloud.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "I know..."

"I love him!" I repeated, smiling. "I actually love him. Out of all people."

Lance pursed his lips. "Are you okay?"

I laughed and nodded. "I'm fine! After talking to you, it feels like a weight has been lifted of me. It feels nice."

"Hmm, maybe I should become a counselor then..."

I froze, staring at Lance. Him? A counselor? I could imagine the poor person he was counseling now. Lance would ask what was wrong, and the person would reply about something in their life that was bad, and Lance would go, "Oh... Sucks to be you."

I snickered. It was so him. Lance raised an eyebrow.

"I hope you aren't imagining me as a counselor right now," he said in a slightly offended voice.

"Nah," I lied, smiling again.

We finished our dinners and had a quick desert. The waiter bought the check and, due to Lance's pestering, I ended up paying for dinner. He paid for the drinks.

"I thought this was supposed to be a date," I muttered as we exited the diner.

"It was supposed to be but you didn't think that at first, so it turned into a regular dinner among friends," Lance responded.

"I would have preferred it to be a date if I knew I would have to pay for dinner if it wasn't," I told him.

Lance laughed. "Sucks for you."

We rounded the corner to where the car was parked. Lance suddenly stopped and I ran into his back. I rubbed my nose and looked around him to see what the problem was.

"Lance... where's the car?"

Lance looked at me, shock on his face. "We parked here, didn't we?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but where's the car?"

"I don't know! Holy shit. Did it get stolen?" Lance asked, his voice panicky. "Shit, my mom is going to kill me!"

"How could of it have been stolen? There are tons of people around!" I reasoned rationally. "Someone would have noticed. You have the keys, right?"

"Yeah I-"

"Hey!" a loud, disgruntled voice shouted from behind us.

I jumped, twisting around quickly to see who it was.

An old man in a black suit was walking towards us. Lance stepped in front of me in a protective manner. I stared at him curiously.

"Yeah?" he called to the man.

"Are you the owner of the Subaru Outback?"

Lance nodded in response.

"Take a look at that sign behind you," the man ordered.

I turned to see the sign he was pointing to. In large, red letters were the words: "No parking. Violators will be towed."

I heard Lance groan. I rolled my eyes. It was so like Lance to park in a no parking spot.

"Lucky for you and your girl the towing place is only down the block," the man told us, smirking slightly.

"Yeah," Lance muttered. "Let's go get it then."

I sighed, and started following behind Lance. We left the parking lot of the diner and got onto the brightly lit street.

"Smart move," I commented, pulling my shirt tighter around me.

"Shut up," Lance responded, rolling his eyes. "You didn't see it either, smart ass."

I scowled at him. "I wasn't the one driving."

"Only adds to my point," Lance said with smirk.

I sighed, letting the subject drop. We were close enough to the towing station. If it had been a few miles, I would have been angry. But it was a nice night for a walk anyways.

As we left the main street, it could considerably darker. Now the only light we had were the streetlights that were spread very far apart. There were patches of dark in-between each set of lights. I moved close to Lance, gripping the back of his shirt.

"What's the matter? Scared?" he asked in a joking tone.

I scowled at him. "No."

"Sure."

We continued down the street in silence. I kept my eyes peeled. Mr. Heywood's warning was back in my head again. I clutched Lance's shirt tighter. We were almost at the station now.

A movement to my left caught my eye and I froze, staring at the place where I had seen the motion. Lance stopped, looking over his shoulder at me curiously.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Did you see something move over there?" I whispered, pointing.

Lance scrunched his face up and watched the area for a few moments before shrugging. "Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Paranoid much?" Lance laughed. "Come on, let's go."

He grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me in front of him. He began to push me down the street in a forceful manner. I had to stay focused on my feet in order to not lose my balance.

When I looked up again I realized we were at the towing station. Relief swept through me. Mr. Heywood was just being silly. No one was going to attack me in the middle of town.

Lance and I entered the towing station. There were only three people in there. A man at the counter, that was on the phone, and two men in the corner, their backs to use as the read papers posted on a billboard.

"You can wait here," Lance said, pointing to a chair by the door. "I'll get my car issue settled."

I nodded and took a seat at the chair as Lance went to talk to the man at the counter. The man at the counter held up a finger, signaling Lance to stay quiet while he was on the phone. After a few moments the man hung up the phone and began talking to Lance.

My gaze wandered to the two men in the counter. They book looked pretty young, and buff. I smirked slightly. Was every buff these days? I glanced back at Lance. He was average muscled, like Mr. Heywood. But both men were still very strong.

Lance turned to me with a frown. "Holly!"

I was still focused on the two men and didn't realize he was calling me.

"Oh look, it's Mr. Heywood!"

My head snapped in the direction of Lance. He grinned at me and I felt myself blush.

"Do you have any money on you? I'm a few dollars short of-"

The rest of what he said, I didn't catch. I was too busy staring at the two men who had now turned around and were looking at me.

My mouth went dry as I saw one of them smirk. He said something to the other guy, and a flash of realization spread across his face. I quickly stood up, walking towards Lance.

"Here," I said, quickly pulling a ten out of my pocket and giving it to the man. "Keep the change."

"Alright, you're free to go then," the man said, taking the ten. "Your car is in the back of the lot, by the dumpster."

I grabbed Lance's arm and began to quickly drag him out of the store.

I felt like I was going to be sick. My heart was pumping furiously and my hands were sweaty and shaking. I pulled on Lance with urgency, trying to make him go faster.

"What's the matter?" Lance asked, laughing slightly. "That guy wasn't that scary."

It wasn't the guy at the counter I was worried about. I looked over my shoulder and saw the other two guys exiting the building, and heading towards us.

I pulled out my phone, starting a new text message. I quickly tapped away at my phone, my hand shaking, making it hard to click on the right letters. When I finished I closed my phone, sticking it in my pocket.

I looked over my shoulder again. The two men were still there.

The same two guys that Mr. Heywood had beat up at the fair.

____________________________________

I bet just about all of you were expecting that!

When I was reading the comments, I couldn't stop laughing. Ever since one of you said that maybe Mr. Heywood was behind her, the most of the rest of you were like "maybe he's behind her!" after that. Or "maybe there's a thug!"

I LOVE when people try to guess what's going to happen next. Because I can either a) go along with it , or b) make it not happen and be amused.

Not in a jerk-ish way lol :) But I have a feeling a lot of you wanted that to happen, so I'm sorry. But that's not what I wanted to happen :O

ANWAYS. Join my facebook page!

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