"Holly, what happened to you?"

I winced at Casey's loud outburst. "Why are you shouting so early in the morning?"

"You're face," Casey commented, touching her own cheek to show me what she meant.

"I fell down the stairs," I mumbled, avoiding her gaze.

Casey laughed. "You're so clumsy."

I forced out a laugh too, even though guilt was washing through me. I was lying to my best friend. And she easily believed me- proof of how much she trusted me.

My shoulder's sagged. I was an awful person.

Casey must have noticed my bad mood. She jabbed me in the side. "Well let's get to school! I'm sure whatever reason you are upset about won't matter when you see Mr. Heywood!"

I grimaced. Casey didn't know he was part of the reason of my bad attitude.

It had only been one day since the fight had gone down between Mr. Heywood and Lance. I hadn't gone to school yesterday, hoping to have my injuries heal a little more before returning, and apparently Lance had the same idea.

I was still angry with him, there was no doubt about that. He had punched Mr. Heywood in the face for no reason! That wasn't acceptable at all.

But Lance was just worried about you, another part of me told myself.

I held in a sigh. I was right. Lance was just worried. It's not like he punched Mr. Heywood for no reason. But still...

"Holly, Holly, space to Holly!" Casey said, waving her hand in front of me. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

I snapped my attention onto her, smiling sheepishly. "No, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said it was weird how you, Lance, and Mr. Heywood were all absent yesterday," she told me.

"Mr. Heywood was out?" I repeated.

Casey nodded. "Yeah, we had a substitute."

I frowned slightly. Did Mr. Heywood skip? Or did he suddenly get sick over night? Did something happen?

I suddenly felt sick with worry. I tried to shake it away. I was just being paranoid. Mr. Heywood was fine.

When we arrived at the school, Lance was waiting by the gates, his arms crossed. When he noticed Casey and me, he pushed himself off the wall and came towards us. Casey let out a little gasp and hurried forwards.

"What happened to you?" she cried, her eyes wide. "That's a horrible bruise!"

Lance raised a hand to his face and shrugged. "I fell down the stairs."

Casey whipped her head towards me, and I quickly threw on a shocked expression.

"Holly did too!"

Lance raised his eyebrows at me, an amused smirk appearing on his face. "Is that so?"

I nodded, giving him a quick smile, then looking away. Casey looked suspiciously between us.

"Huh."

I gave Casey a questioningly look. She returned it.

"Did you two have a fight?"

My heart skipped a beat. How could Casey have figured that out already?

"No," I said quickly, waving my hand. "Why would we-"

"We did have a fight," Lance cut in with a sigh.

Casey's eyes widened in surprise. "You did?"

Lance nodded. "Yes, and I'd like to talk to her in private about it."

Casey shot me a look. I returned it with a please-don't-leave-me-here-alone one. She smirked and held up her hand.

"Say no more," she told Lance. "I'll just go over here for a bit..."

I frowned as Casey began to saunter away towards the large oak tree that was on the other side of the gate entrance. Lance turned to me with a frown. I kept my face expressionless.

What was there to talk about? I knew I had to apologize, but what did Lance have to say? Was he going to scold me more for getting into this gang problem? It wasn't like it was my fault... I grimaced. Well, it was partially my fault.

Lance took a deep breath. "Holly."

I watched him carefully. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry," he muttered, casting his eyes down.

My eyes widened and I stared at him, my mouth hanging open slightly. Why was he apologizing? What did he have to apologize for?

"For what?" I forced out.

Lance shifted uncomfortably. "I yelled at you a lot yesterday... I don't want you to be angry."

I blinked, my face expressionless. "You think I was angry because you yelled at me?"

Lance gave me a confused look. "Aren't you?"

I returned Lance's look with my own exasperated one. "No! Are you stupid? I could care less about that!"

"Then what?"

"Lance, you punched the guy I... you know," I muttered, my face heating up.

"Oh," Lance responded, frowning again.

"Not to mention, this isn't all his fault!" I continued quickly. "I don't know what he told you, but I'm sure he blamed everything on himself, which isn't true at all! And I'm not angry with you Lance, I was actually going to apologize too."

"You were?" Lance responded, raising any eyebrow.

I nodded. "I know you only got angry because you were worried about me... and I was a jerk about it."

Lance laughed. "Holly, don't worry about it. I kind of understand."

I gave him a questioning look. "Understand what?"

"If I was in Mr. Heywood's position, I would also take the blame onto myself. And I guess it was a little out of line to actually punch him... so sorry about that too."

"You need to apologize to Mr. Heywood about that, before I forgive you," I told Lance, crossing my arms.

Lance's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. "There is no way in hell that I will ever apologize to him!"

"Then you're apology to me won't be accepted," I responded stubbornly.

Lance scowled. "Why can't you just accept it?"

"Because I'm not the one you punched!"

"But-"

"No buts," I said quickly. "You will apologize for punching him. He could press charges you know."

Lance scowled. "I know."

"Make sure you apologize to him."

Lance rolled his eyes. "If I do that, are we good? No hard feelings?"

I laughed, lightly punching Lance on his shoulder. "Lance, we are best friends. If there were 'hard feelings' over something like this, I'd be worried about our friendship."

Lance grinned. "That's true. And what would you do without a handsome man with a sexy British accent around?"

"Tell Mr. Heywood to talk in a British accent all the time," I responded, smirking.

Lance shook his head. "I think I liked it better when I wasn't positive that you liked him."

"Wait," I started, staring at Lance. "You said you already knew when you told me to admit it."

Lance snorted. "How am I supposed to know, Holly? You didn't tell me anything!"

I stared at him, my mouth open in shock. "So you lied?"

"I got you to admit it, didn't I?" Lance responded with a smirk.

"But still-"

"Mr. Heywood! What happened?" I heard Casey cry.

Lance looked over my shoulder, an amused expression on his face. I quickly turned around to see Casey staring at Mr. Heywood in shock. A noticeable bruise on his cheek caught my attention quickly.

I quickly shot Lance an annoyed look. He covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"I fell down the stairs," I heard Mr. Heywood tell Casey.

Casey's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. She quickly looked over and Lance and myself, gesturing with her hands frantically. She pointed at Mr. Heywood, then her cheek, and made some more frantic gestures.

I tried to hold in my laugh, but Casey's face made it impossible. I burst out laughing, turning away from the pair.

Casey came over to us, Mr. Heywood trailing behind her.

"Did you hear that? Mr. Heywood fell down the stairs too!" Casey told me, her eyes still wide.

I cleared my throat, glancing at Mr. Heywood, who was staring at me questioningly.

"What a coincidence," I responded, faking shock.

"And you all have bruises on your cheeks..."

For one panic-stricken moment, I thought I saw suspicion flash across Casey's face, but before I was positive, it was gone. I relaxed slightly. There was no way she could figure out what happened.

That thought brought guilt back to my gut. We were all now lying to Casey. Even if it was for her own good, I felt awful about it. She had been my best friend for so long... I shook my head. I'd rather lie to her and have her safe, than tell her the truth and put her in danger.

"I'm going to class," I heard Lance mutter.

I jumped, momentarily forgetting he was there. I turned to see him with an irritated expression on his face. I frowned slightly.

Lance looked at me for a second, his eyes narrowed. Then he turned to Mr. Heywood.

"You," Lance started, getting Mr. Heywood's attention.

"Yes?" Mr. Heywood responded politely.

"Sorry about yesterday," Lance apologized, his voice hard and strained.

Shock passed across Mr. Heywood's face. Lance turned and started hurrying towards the school building. Mr. Heywood turned to me, his eyebrows raised.

"What was that about?" Casey asked, looking after Lance.

"Yesterday, he knocked into me at the grocery and store and I dropped everything. It wasn't a very big deal," Mr. Heywood lied smoothly, smiling at Casey.

"Oh, I see," Casey responded, tapping her chin.

"Casey!" a familiar voice called suddenly.

I looked up to see Willis hurrying towards Casey. She grinned and waved.

"Hey!" she called back.

"Casey," Willis panted again when he was closer. "I have to show you something! Come here!"

Casey grinned at Willis, shaking her head. Then she turned back to Mr. Heywood and myself. "Apparently I have to go see something, so I'll see you two later."

Before I could say anything, Willis grabbed Casey's hand and started dragging her away, leaving me alone with Mr. Heywood.

I did my best to avoid his gaze, staring at the ground as hard as I could. I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look up.

What was I supposed to say? Should I apologize? Should I be mad? I didn't know. I wanted to be mad. He had put all the blame on himself. But being mad about that made me feel like a jerk. He was only trying to help me.

I sigh slipped out of my mouth. I quickly covered my mouth, blushing.

"Holly, look at me."

Involuntarily, my head whipped up to look at him. He was frowning at me. I slowly frowned back.

"I see you got home safely," Mr. Heywood commented.

I raised my eyebrows. That was the last thing I had expected Mr. Heywood to say just then. I couldn't help a smile from slipping onto my mouth.

"Yeah, Jeremy's a nice guy," I told him.

Mr. Heywood nodded. "I agree..."

There was an awkward silence again. I adverted my gaze from Mr. Heywood again.

"Holly, are you mad at me?"

I quickly looked at Mr. Heywood again, cringing as my neck cricked. I rubbed it, muttering a colorful word.

Mr. Heywood watched me with an amused look.

"I'm not mad," I told him.

He looked relieved. "Good-"

"I'm irritated."

Mr. Heywood frowned. "Why?"

"Because! You put all the blame on yourself, Mr. Heywood!" I responded, clenching my fist. "That's what caused Lance to punch you! You should have just said that it was my fault too!"

Mr. Heywood rolled his eyes. "Holly, get over yourself."

I stared at him in shock, my face reddening. "Get over myself?"

Mr. Heywood nodded, putting a hand on my head. He ruffled his head. "You're a good girl."

I stared at Mr. Heywood in confusion. He wasn't making any sense at all! Mr. Heywood chuckled at my expression.

"Make sure you don't have any plans after school for awhile," he told me, changing the subject.

I was about to tell him not to change the subject, but I dropped it.

"Why?"

"You've got a lot of work ahead for you if you don't want me to press charges on Lance."

Mr. Heywood smirked, ruffling my hair once more. I stared at him, stupefied. Before I could say anything, he turned and began walking towards the school building.

I scowled. That stupid, blackmailing, devil of a teacher.

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