"Holly!"

Lance looked at me in complete shock, a wide grin spreading across his face. I couldn't help grinning right back at him as I stepped into the white hospital room. Lance went to move position, but a grimace of pain flashed across his face, and he stopped moving. My grin faltered and was replaced by a concerned expression.

"How are you?" I asked, dragging a chair over to his bedside.

"How am I?" Lance repeated, raising an eyebrow. "How are you?"

"I'm fine..."

"You haven't changed at all!"

"Was I supposed to?" I responded, growing more confused.

"Well, after three months, I'd expect you to look a tiny bit older."

"What are you talking about?"

Lance frowned, looking at me like I was an idiot. "I've been unconscious for three months, remember?"

"What? No you haven't," I responded, staring at him questioningly. "You've been out for about two days..."

Lance's facial expression immediately turned to irritation. "My mother is so going to get it..."

I laughed. "Your mom told you that you were out for three months?"

"Yeah," Lance responded with a nod. "I freaked out about it for a full hour this morning. I can't believe she tricked me!"

I laughed again, but my breath caught when I saw the bandages around Lance's chest. He caught me staring and quickly pulled his bed sheet over his chest, sending me a cheesy grin. It didn't help the knot that suddenly appeared in my stomach.

"It's not as bad as it looks..."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please, Lance. Being shot is as bad as it looks."

He sighed, rubbing his hand across his face. "Yeah, it was pretty bad at the time..."

"What exactly happened?"

"There's not much too it. I was leaving work, and before I knew it I was surrounded," Lance explained, sounding like he had explained it a thousand times before. "They asked about Chris, and I told them I didn't know him. They said they'd seen me with him, he tutors me by the way."

"I know, he told me."

"Well anyway. There was a little, er... hand-to-hand violence between us and then one pulled out a gun and that was that," Lance finished, pursing his lips. "But when I told the police-"

I gasped, making Lance look at me in surprise.

"What?"

"What did you say to the police? Oh, no... Lance, did you mention Mr. Heywood?" I demanded, growing antsy. "Please say you didn't."

"I didn't," Lance responded slowly. "Why?"

"It's a long story, Mr. Heywood will explain it to you," I told him, waving it off. "As long as you didn't mention him to the cops at all."

Lance shook his head. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't then, huh. But I did tell them about the gangster who shot me."

"Good."

"Holly, don't you think this situation is getting too dangerous for us?"

I looked at Lance, a frown on my face. "It's been too dangerous from the beginning..."

"Then why are you still involved?"

"As of now, there is no way I can get out of this," I told Lance, leaning back in my seat. "I've sort of dug my own grave..."

"You may have dug your own grave, but the one who gave you the shovel to do so is Heywood," Lance pointed out, a scowl appearing on his face.

"And the one who chose to stay in it is me," I returned.

"What if you bury yourself alive?" Lance demanded.

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean!"

"What if you end up in deep trouble? Or dead?" Lance explained. "Holly, do you realize I could have died the other night?"

"I know! I'm not stupid."

"You need to space yourself from Heywood," Lance told me, a dead serious look on his face.

I immediately shook my head. "No, it's too late for that. They already know who I am, it's not like not interacting with Mr. Heywood will change anything now."

"Then don't get any closer."

Well, too late for that. He basically said he had feelings that he shouldn't have for a student. Or, in simpler terms, love. A blush quickly rose to my face and I stared down at my feet. It seemed too impossible, but there was nothing else I could think that he could have meant...

Lance narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. "Holly... did something happen between you and him?"

"W-what? No!" I responded quickly, waving my hands in front of me. "Ha, are you kidding? No way..."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Holly, don't lie. You're an open book, I can see right through you."

"It doesn't matter, because he thinks I think he's gay, probably."

"... I don't think I want to know now."

"Good," I responded, running a hand through the tangles in my hair. "Let's just say, it's something that could be favorable for me..."

"He's confessed his creepy, pedophilic, love for you?"

I scowled at Lance. "First, it's not pedophilic, because I'll be eighteen in about two weeks. Second, he'll only be four years older than me then, and third, it's not creepy. And no, he didn't say that... directly."

"Directly?"

"That's what I said."

"So he hinted at it?" Lance prodded, a frown slipping onto his face. "Holly, if the gangsters find out if he has feelings for you, won't that make it worse?"

"What? Why would that make them want me more? That's... That's..."

"Holly?"

I stared at Lance, a look of alarm on my face. Shawn wanted Mr. Heywood dead partly because Mr. Heywood stole his girlfriend back then... so what if for revenge he wanted to take me from Mr. Heywood because he thought Mr. Heywood cared about me? But where would Shawn even get the idea Mr. Heywood cared for me? I'd been with Jeremy the first time we met...

"Hello, Holly?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and caught eye contact with Lance. He frowned at me, a worried expression on his face. I quickly arranged my features into a nonchalant expression.

"I understand how you feel about him, and it's not like I'm going to stop you two from being together," Lance started, a sigh escaping his lips, "but I'm more worried over our safety than your love life."

"If they already think something is up, why would it matter?"

"Because they might not have proof right now, and they could get it."

"They're not going to wait around until they have proof, Lance," I responded, rolling my eyes. "They're gangsters. Once they decide on something, I doubt they're going to stray from it."

"You act like you're a gang expert," Lance commented with a snort.

"I don't know the first thing about gangs," I told him honestly. "But I know enough to know they do what they want. Anyone knows that."

Lance sighed, resting back on his bed. "Well, try to stay out of trouble for at least three weeks."

"Why?" I asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"I'm going to be stuck in here until then, so I won't be able to help you out of sticky situations," he responded with a grin.

"And get yourself almost killed again?"

Lance stayed quiet, directing his eyes away from mine. "It's not like I knew they were going to get me..."

"You're always worried about my safety, Lance," I told him, a frown pulling at my lips. "You need to be more worried about yourself. I worry twice as hard for you because you don't worry enough."

"Well who's worried about you then?"

"Mr. Heywood," I responded simply. "And we both know it's safe to say he's probably the best to have look after me."

Lance opened his mouth to argue, but after a moment he closed it. He let out another sigh. " As much as I hate to admit it, you're right."

"See-"

"But he's still the one who got you into this mess in the first place, so it's only fair he do his best to protect you."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "He does."

"And I don't think telling you he loves you is going to help," Lance insisted stubbornly. "Holly, you know they are targeting people close to him. If they found out you were his lover then-"

"We're not lovers!" I denied, feeling my face heat up.

Lance rolled his eyes. "An indirect confession is still a confession, and even if it wasn't, it's obvious he loves you in a way a teacher should not love a student."

"Those were almost his exact words..."

The words that made the impossible, possible. Mr. Heywood loved me. Me. Out of all the people in the world, it was me who he fell for. He hadn't said it directly, but what else could he mean? A smile was spreading across my face. He loved me! His feelings for me must have replaced his feelings for Haley.

"But since obviously you love him back, there's no stopping the two of you from being together once either of you directly confesses. And when that happens, don't come crying to me when a gangster shoots you. Actually... Holly? Are you even listening to me?"

"It's unbelievable, huh," I said, now grinning at Lance. "Mr. Heywood of all people..."

Lance shook his head. "Obviously you weren't..."

I gasped, remembering earlier. "Crap! He still thinks I think he's gay! But Lance, I didn't know what to say! It was so embarrassing when I figured it out, all I could think then was that I needed to get out of the car because I didn't know what to say back! And then I just blurted out he was jealous because he wanted Jeremy and-"

"Holly! Stop being such a girl!" Lance interrupted, clapping his hands together loudly.

I pouted at him. "But I am a girl..."

"But I don't want to hear you freaking out over a guy. Save that for Casey."

"But Casey doesn't know," I groaned.

"Tell her."

I narrowed my eyes. "And get her caught up in this mess as well? I don't think so."

"Well, don't tell her about that part," Lance responded, nodding his head. "You and I are enough."

"Just one of us is enough," I corrected with a small laugh.

"You and Casey are best friends, right? So you should tell her all your love problems."

"You're just saying that so you don't have to hear them, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Lance commented with a grin.

"But Casey won't let me hear the end of it if she finds out I'm in love with Mr. Heywood."

The sound of the door opening from behind me made me jump violently. Lance looked over my shoulder, and a grin came onto his face. I turned slowly to see Casey entering the room with a plastic bag, and a large grin on her face.

"I knew it!" she cried loudly, setting down the plastic bag. "I knew you liked him!"

Horror crossed my face. How much had she heard? When did she get here? I glanced back at Lance, who looked relatively calm. What if she had heard about the gang thing? I turned back to Casey, licking my lips nervously.

"Uh, how much, um, of that did you hear?"

"Just the last sentence, but it said it all," Casey responded, wagging her eyebrows. "I knew you'd end up falling for his charm one way or the other!"

Relief washed through me, and I hung my head, chuckling. I could deal with Casey knowing about how I felt about Mr. Heywood. I couldn't deal another close friend of mine getting caught up in the gang. Casey hummed triumphantly, pulling up a seat next to me.

"It was only a matter of time," she commented in a singsong voice. "And I knew it from the start! You two had an unnatural connection! I told you it was fate!"

Lance snorted and I rolled my eyes. "It's not fate, Casey."

"Close enough," she responded, her wide grin still in place. "Have you guys kissed?"

"Casey!"

"What?"

"We're not even... I can't- He can't even- No!" I finally responded, blushing furiously. That one time before didn't count.

"He has to like you back! Who wouldn't?"

"He does like her back," Lance interjected.

"Lance," I snapped, glowering at him.

Casey's eyes were wide with excitement. "He does? How do you know? Tell me! I want to know!"

I sighed. Casey wasn't going to let this drop. "He sort of indirectly confessed-"

"He confessed first?" Casey gasped.

I held up my finger. "Let me finish. He indirectly confessed, but I kind of turned it around on him because I panicked..."

"What'd you say?"

"Um... that he was gay and wanted Jeremy..."

Casey looked at me with a straight face for a few moments before bursting out laughing. I frowned at her, waiting for her to stop. When she finally did, she looked back up at me, her grin back in place I crossed my arms.

"It's not funny."

"Oh, yes it is," Casey responded. "Only you, Holly. You would say that."

"I didn't know what else I was supposed to say!" I argued, feeling my face heat up in embarrassment. "I was embarrassed!

"Who's Jeremy?"

"Oh, he's Mr. Heywood's friend. Well I guess he's my friend too now," I responded, brushing a stray hair out of my face. "I'll have to introduce you to him one day."

"Oh! Was he the man that answered your phone the other day? When I called to tell you my mom wouldn't let me leave the house?"

I thought to back then for a moment, and nodded. "Yeah. He brought me to the hospital."

"How old is he?" Casey asked.

"Uh... twenty."

"You've been hanging out with a twenty year old guy?" Lance said in a surprised voice. "Since when?"

"For a while," I responded, furrowing my eyebrows together. "I could have sworn I've mentioned him..."

Both Lance and Casey shook their heads. I shrugged. Why did it even matter?

"Is he single?" Casey asked.

"Who?"

"Jeremy."

"Why do you want to know...?"

"In case things don't work out with Mr. Heywood," Casey started, "you can go with him, right? Is he cute?"

I blushed again, glaring at Casey. "Casey, just stop. I don't like Jeremy like that. And no one ever said Mr. Heywood and I can't even be together, it's illegal."

"Only until your birthday," Casey pressed. "And that's only two weeks away! You're so close!"

"Yeah, it may be two weeks until it's legal," I agreed. "But it's still against school rules."

Casey opened her mouth, but abruptly shut it. A frown appeared on her face. I smirked smugly.

"Did think of that, did you?"

"No one will know," Casey said, her smile returning.

I sighed. "Casey..."

"Holly, you can't deny your feelings."

"I'm not!" I argued. "I'm just stating the truth! If something happened between Mr. Heywood and myself and someone found out, both of us would get in trouble. He'd be fired, and I could be suspended or expelled."

"She's got a point there, Case..."

Casey frowned again, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. I relaxed back into my chair, turning to Lance, who had the same expression as Casey. I wasn't making excuses as to why Mr. Heywood and I couldn't be together. I wanted to be together. But I didn't want to get him into trouble.

"Well," Casey started, breaking the silence. "They do say love breaks all boundaries."

"What boundaries is this breaking?" I responded, rolling my eyes.

"Student and teacher?" Lance guessed.

"Exactly," Casey responded with a nod. "A forbidden relationship. An illicit relationship..."

"A proscribed relationship," Lance interjected, a grin on his face. "An illegal relationship."

"It's not illegal," I pointed out, not finding their game amusing.

"Technically it is."

"A proscriptive relationship!" Casey cried.

"Since when do you know such big words?" I joked, shaking my head.

"I looked them up in advance in case a situation like this arose," she responded with a casual shrug.

I stared at her. Was she serious? She looked back at me, the grin on her face widening.

"Are you serious?"

Casey laughed. "No! I just pay attention in English... unlike some people." She looked at Lance pointedly.

"English is boring," Lance complained. "Stupid books, stupid vocabulary, stupid essays. There's nothing fun."

"It's so styu-pid," Casey mimicked in her best British accent. "Ay, Holly?"

"You know how I am with accents," I said with a laugh. "I'm not even going to try..."

Lance and Casey laughed too, and for a moment I forgot where we were. It was the simple, carefree, way it used to be before the whole gang incident. It didn't feel like Lance was in the hospital with bullet wounds. It felt like we were hanging out at my house after school like we used to. And it was nice.

But, I knew I couldn't get used to it, and it'd be a long time until everything was okay, and safe, again.

________________________________________________________

I lied. I needed to get Lance and Casey into this chapter, since the next chapters won't have them... well the next one will have Lance for a bit, but after that eh. Mostly Chris and a little Jeremy. Sit tight~! Vote, tweet, like, you know the drill yoooo. Facebook page in external link!

By the way.... This story reached 1,000,000 over all views! Woo!