BREAKFAST AT MARCELLE'S the next morning was quiet.

After Aurora and I had dried our eyes, we had headed back out to the rest of the group. We were met by a crowd of worried gazes. Apparently, Rachel's room wasn't exactly soundproof. Everyone had heard yelling, but they hadn't heard what had been said.

So, Aurora told them everything. It put a dampener on the rest of the night, sure, but it felt good to have all of the lies out of the way.

An awkward silence carried through to the next morning as Aimee, Aurora, Meghan and I piled into my car, and Violet, Sienna and Rachel piled into her Lexus for the quick drive to our favorite café. It lightened though, once we were all seated around a few collective tables with caffeine in hand.

"Hey, Red? Did I not see you meet the illusive Madison Van Allen yesterday?" Aimee asked, stabbing at a piece of crepe with her fork.

My eyes rolled as I picked at the blueberry muffin in front of me. "I would be content to never meet her again."

Rachel snorted from the other end of the table. "She hit on Kennedy, didn't she?"

"If you consider shamelessly throwing herself at her and completely ignoring my existence to be hitting on him, then absolutely."

"Typical. She always had a weird thing going for him and Dec. Like, gag me," she said around a mouthful of food.

"Well, she tried to psych me out backstage before my solo. If it weren't for our wonderful captain here, she probably would've succeeded," I announced, fixing Aurora with a smile. "Thanks for that."

Aurora looked up from where she was stirring her latte thoughtfully. It took a moment for her lips to curve into their usual smile. "You don't have to thank me. I'd been dying to call her on her shit all competition. But, you're welcome anyways."

Our conversation drifted back to small talk after that, none of us too talkative. Once we were all finished our breakfasts, a few of us grabbed some coffees to-go, and headed back out to our cars.

We were halfway to school when Aurora leaned forward from her spot in the passenger seat and turned down whatever music Meghan had playing on my stereo.

"I texted Tyler this morning and asked him to meet me in the courtyard before first period. Scarlett, would it too much for me to ask you to hang around. I totally get it if you'd feel... uncomfortable."

I didn't have to think twice before I shook my head. "It's not a problem, Aura. But you sure you want to do it like this?"

She nodded her head adamantly. "I need to. Thinking about putting it off and pretending like nothing's wrong makes me feel sick."

"Well, we'll all be there for you, Aurora," Aimee  grinned confidently from the back seat.

"Literally, all of us. You'll have the whole crowd of us standing behind you. Even the Addams twins," Meghan giggled, recalling my lovely nickname for the Morgan siblings.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "I seriously need to call them that to their faces."

"I'd pay to see that," Aimee laughed.

As we pulled into the school parking lot, following behind Rachel's car, I gave Aurora one last concerned look. "You ready?"

She blew out a deep breath out before nodding again. "I don't think I've ever been looked so forward to being single."

I pulled my car into a spot beside a very familiar black Cadillac and the four of us climbed out. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I walked around to the back of the SUV beside us to meet up with the rest of our new and improved little group.

"If I give you these keys, I better not find a single scratch on her when I get home. I mean it. I will kill you this time," a familiar voice sounded.

I held back a laugh as I stood just behind Noah, watching him and Sienna fight over the keys to his precious Caddy. 

Sienna rolled her eyes dramatically, crossing her arms over her chest. "For crying out loud, it was one teeny tiny dent, Noey. Get over it already and give me your damn keys."

"You stole my bloody car, Katherine. You're just lucky I don't want you spending the whole day here," he scoffed, reluctantly placing his keys in her hand.

His sister's eyes narrowed and she pointed a finger directly at him. "Call me Katherine one more time, I dare you. I'll leave your car in a bloody ditch somewhere."

"Don't you dare, you little—"

"Good morning, Kennedy," I sang from behind him, successfully making him jump.

"Bloody hell," Noah croaked, turning around to face me. "You nearly gave me a flaming heart attack, love."

"Oops," I grinned.

Leaning down, he pressed a quick kiss to my lips with a smile. "Morning, love."

"Mhmm, cute. Now, leave your sister alone, we've got to get to the courtyard," I told him before leaning around him to wave to Sienna. "See you later?"

Sienna smiled triumphantly. "Right you are. I'm getting out of here before Headmistress Stick-Up-Her-Arse decides she should've never let me graduate."

Without another word, Sienna hurried around to the driver's door and climbed into her brothers car.

"This is why I didn't want you ever meeting her," he said matter of factly, his eyes narrowed into a humorous glare. "You like my sister more than you like me."

"I'll make sure I send you an invite to the wedding."

Noah threw an arm around my shoulder as we made our way over to where the rest of our friends were waiting by Rachel's Lexus. "You could've at least gotten me a coffee, you know, before you betray me for my sister."

I held up the purple cup in my hand with a smile. "I did."

Noah happily took the cup from my hand and frowned. "It's half empty."

"I got thirsty."

"Took you long enough," Rachel called as we approached her car.

I flipped her the finger.

Violet, who was practically glued to Aurora's side, gave her a stern look. "You good to go?"

"Will everyone quit asking me that," she said exasperatedly. "Seriously, if anyone had a bucket and some fake blood, I'd happily go all Carrie on his ass."

"Well, if you'd told me that last night, I could've called a guy," Rachel scoffed.

Declan, who had been leaning up against his sister's car up until then, piped up. "You're fucked up."

"'Cause I had to share a womb with you for the first nine months of my life."

This was the opportunity I had been waiting a whole ten minutes for. "If the Addams twins are done here, we should get going. Classes start in fifteen."

Aimee was the first to burst into a fit of laughter, followed by Meghan, Violet and even Aurora. Noah snickered beside me, and while Rachel initially narrowed her eyes in my direction, she was quick to shrug and let out a little laugh. I even caught Declan's emotionless mask falter for a second when one side of his mouth tugged up in an uneven smile.

Without another word, we headed for the courtyard. Students were only just pulling into the lot now, but nobody was in any rush to line up for classes. A few people milled around the yard, most of them focused on their laptops or phones. Tyler was no where in sight, but Aurora had pointed out where is Audi say in the parking lot, meaning he was around somewhere.

I, personally, had a couple of ideas what he might be up to.

"Well, I told him I'm here," Aurora announced, her cellphone glued to her hands. "I'm going to go wait for him over at the bench."

With a quick hug from Violet, Aurora made a graceful exit.

"I hope she'll be okay," Meghan sighed, her arms wrapped around herself. She was worried, it was obvious by the lack of the ever present Meghan-watt smile on her face. We all were, really.

"She'll be okay. She's always okay," Violet reassured her. After all, Violet had been with Aurora through her entire rocky relationship with Tyler. She'd seen the effect every breakup had had on her best friend, but she also knew how tough Aurora was when she set her mind to it.

"She's got us," Aimee reminded her sister.

Rachel, who had been watching the bench Aurora had gone to sit at, perked up suddenly. "It's show time."

I looked over to see Tyler making his way over to her. Like a reflex, I shifted closer into Noah's side as I felt my breath catch halfway to my lungs.

"It's okay, Scar. You're okay," Noah murmured as he pressed a kiss into my hair, lingering for a moment. "I'm right here."

We tried to be as discrete as possible, but all eyes were on Aurora as Tyler walked up to her.

She got to her feet just in time for him to smile sickeningly nicely at her and give her a quick kiss. I didn't miss how she stiffened under his touch, or how the smile she painted on her lips was completely fake. But he did.

From where we were huddled, we couldn't hear what they were saying, but nothing looked too intense just yet.

"So, are you ready for that math test third period, Red?" Aimee asked suddenly.

When I turned to look at her, she had a tight lipped smile on her face. "Of course," I replied hesitantly, my brow furrowing in confusion.

"At least make it look like we're standing around talking and not staring at them," she murmured, before returning her voice to normal. "Right. Photographic memory. Completely slipped my mind."

"God, please, none of you go into acting, I'm begging you," Rachel grumbled, shaking her head at the two of us.

"I don't see you coming up with any better conversation starters," Aimee countered.

With a smug smile, Rachel turned on Meghan. "We never did get to finish our little girl talk about you and Mason, you know."

Meghan immediately turned a deep shade of pink, and I jabbed an elbow into Rachel's ribs.

"Speaking of little girls," Noah started. "Where'd your big brother disappear to?"

Rachel merely shrugged. "Do I look like his keeper to you? He's probably off having a smoke somewhere far from Miss. Pointy Elbows over here."

"And you're not?"

Rachel glared up at him through slitted honey colored eyes. "This is more interesting. Besides, she complains too much."

It was my turn to scoff. "I do not. We were stuck in an elevator and you—"

"Guys!" Violet's voice got our attention, and all at once we turned to see what was the matter.

Aurora had a finger pointed into Tyler's chest as she spoke to him. With every word she said, I could see his face growing angrier. The golden boy quarterback facade was gone now, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

He snapped at her, saying words we couldn't make out over the buzzing of students getting ready for class. But even without hearing them I could tell they weren't nice words.

Aurora's porcelain doll face had also changed, morphing into an unfamiliar something between hurt and anger. She snapped back at him, but her words didn't anger him this time.

Instead, he smiled. A cocky grin I'd seen before. He said something to her and her hand twitched.

Her hand was halfway to his face when he clamped his hand around her wrist to stop her. I couldn't watch after that. My eyes found the pavement under my feet, and I felt myself curl into Noah's tall frame.

"She's okay," he murmured, one hand rubbing my arm. "He let go of her."

I nodded my head in acknowledgement, but I still couldn't look up again. I kept my head down, resting against Noah's chest while the rest of them watched.

Suddenly, Noah stiffened. "We're going to walk back to your car now, Scarlett, okay? Come on," he instructed quickly, starting to walk away while guiding me with his arm.

It wasn't the sudden movement or the urgency I heard in his voice that made me look up then, it was the fact that he'd called me by my full name. Noah almost never called me Scarlett, not unless something was wrong

I looked up sharply just as I heard the sound of incoming footsteps behind me. I barely had time to panic as a large hand wrapped tightly around my arm and pulled me back before it was gone.

And Noah disappeared from my side.

I spun around quickly, my ears deaf to the sound of my friends calling my name.

I spun around just in time to see Noah's fist collide with Tyler's face.

Tyler doubled over, his hands coming up over his face as he cried out in pain. "What the fuck was that?!" He yelled, standing up straight and  glaring at Noah.

"Recompense, you sick bastard," he said through gritted teeth, shaking out his hand in front of him.

Tyler actually had the audacity to laugh then, the sound sending a shiver of fear through my every nerve. It was a sickening, sadistic laugh that could only be perfected by people with no conscience or remorse.

"For what?" He laughed, wiping away a little smear of blood from his nose with one hand. "What'd that little whore of yours tell you, huh?  'Cause I didn't do anything to her she didn't ask for."

I'd seen Noah angry less than a handful of times. Only one of those times when I'd told him how Tyler had hurt me. He'd scared me then, just for a second when he'd raised his voice. And while I couldn't see his face— he was standing so that his back was to me, blocking me from Tyler's view as best he could— I was sure the same anger I'd seen then danced in his eyes now.

"I'd keep my fucking mouth shut if I were you, Maxwell. Don't think for a second I would believe anything you say over her."

A cruel smirk twisted at the half of Tyler's face I could see. "You're just pissed that she's not putting out for you, aren't you?" He laughed again, stepping closer to Noah and getting in his face. They were the same height, after all. "Tell me, Kennedy, exactly how much longer can you wait for your precious little broken doll before you're screwing the first girl you can find?"

To Noah's credit, he didn't come right out and punch him in the face again. Not that anyone would've blamed him for doing it anyways. This time, he merely shoved Tyler away from him roughly, the other boy stumbling back a few steps. It was then Tyler swung back and aimed a punch at Noah's jaw, but Noah managed to catch his fist in his hand, knocking Tyler off balance. After that, I lost track of who was throwing the punches.

At some point, hands grabbed at me, pulling me back and away from the grappling boys in front of me. I stumbled, of course, completely unaware of my surroundings, but it was Rachel who stepped in front of me to get my attention back.

"Scarlett, you're okay. Breathe," she said firmly, her hand gripping my arms. "You need to breathe."

Breathing, right.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

I hadn't even realized I was hyperventilating until it was over, and I got my breathing back under control. "Okay. I'm good," I nodded, gulping down cold air. "I'm good."

Apparently, during my small episode of catatonia, my friends had sat me down on a nearby bench, Meghan on one side and Aimee on the other. I caught sight of Aurora, who was hurrying towards us from the other side of the newly formed crowd in front of us.

Of course two guys fighting in the courtyard would draw a crowd of angsty, drama-hungry teenagers. But much to my dismay, they were huddled around Noah and Tyler, meaning we couldn't see anything that was happening.

"Scarlett, are you okay?" Aurora asked breathlessly as she came up to us. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think he'd go after you like that."

"I'm fine," I shook my head. None too convincingly, I might add, seeing as I was shaking like a leaf. "It's not your fault."

She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by the sound of a much older voice yelling. "What the hell is going on here?"

It was Professor Newton, my biology teacher. He made his way towards the centre of the crowd, students easily parting to let him through. Most of them scattered then, the bell signalling the start of first period.

Once the crowd cleared, I could see Noah and Tyler standing in front of Professor Newton. Tyler's nose was bleeding freely now, the front of his white shirt stained a brilliant red. Noah, on the other hand, only seemed to have cut on his cheek, and a swollen lip.

A face I had not been expecting to see among them was Declan's, but there he was standing between Noah and Tyler. The third boy didn't seem to have a scratch on him, until I noticed his hand hanging by his side, his knuckles split. 

"Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Kennedy. Which one of you is going to tell me what's going on here? I assume you're all aware that fighting is strictly against school policy." Professor Newton asked, his tone firm and authoritative as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Not surprisingly, the boys stayed silent, their jaws all set in defiance. It was Violet, who I hadn't noticed was missing, who spoke up instead.

"Professor Newton, Noah and Declan were just sticking up for Scarlett and Aurora, sir."

Our teacher turned to see Violet standing behind him, her cellphone in hand. "Miss Elliot, I didn't see you there. Now, can I ask how you know this?"

"We were here the whole time, sir," she states, waving towards us sitting on the bench. "We saw Tyler grab Aurora when he got mad. And then Scarlett. I have a video of it if you would like to see it."

Violet handed her phone over to the professor, a small smile on her face as he hit play.

I would later watch that same video on her phone. Violet had been recording since Aurora first started talking to Tyler. It was clear as day that Tyler grabbing Aurora's wrist had started it all. He'd even left dark red impressions on her wrist where his fingers had squeezed. And when he'd bared down on us, Noah had quickly whisked me away and Violet caught the moment Tyler pulled me back. If it weren't for the arm around me, I would have been yanked off my feet.

Professor Newton handed Violet her phone with a stern look on his face. "Mr. Maxwell, please make your way to the headmistress' office. I will be there in just a minute," he ordered, before turning on Noah and Declan. "As for you two, consider yourselves warned. If the circumstances were any different, you would both be facing suspension. Remember that before you start thinking you're getting off easy. Get to class, both of you."

Tyler shot the boys a deathly glare before stalking off towards the administrative building.

"Miss. Grey, Miss. Vaugn," the professor greeted us, coming over to stand in front of us. "In light of this morning, I would fully understand if either of you wish to head home for the day. I'll hand in a notice to the front office if you do."

Aurora was quick to shake her head. "No thank you, Professor Newton. I'd just like to get to class if that's okay."

"Absolutely," he nodded, his gaze falling on me. "Miss. Grey?"

I was still shaking slightly, my arms wrapped around myself as I let out a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd really like to just go home."

Professor Newton proceeded to excuse himself, asking Violet to accompany him to the front offices to show the headmistress the video on her phone. I was frankly surprised that we weren't all escorted down to to the administrative building.

Once the professor was gone, none of us made any movements to leave. Declan and Noah rejoined us by the bench, standing over us.

"You sure you want to go back to class?" Meghan asked, looking up at where Aurora was standing with Rachel.

"I'm sure."

"Come on," Rachel said, nudging Aurora with her shoulder. "We both have math. I'll walk with you."

The two girls hurried off in the direction of their building, promising to catch up at lunch. Next to leave was Meghan, who had a project to present this period, leaving Aimee, Noah, Declan and I behind.

"You're not driving yourself home, Red, so don't even try," Aimee was quick to say when I opened my mouth.

My lips twisted down in a frown. She'd known exactly what I was going to say, which would've been annoying if I didn't know she was saying it because she knew me just that well.

"I'll rock, paper, scissor you for the job," Noah quipped, taking a seat where Meghan had just vacated.

To my surprise, Aimee shook her head and forced a smile onto her face. "No, you go ahead."

Noah seemed just as surprised, leaning forward to give her a look of confusion. "You sure, Amelia?"

"Kennedy, if you call me Amelia one more time, you will be the one with the bloody nose," she said flatly. And the she shrugged. "Beside, you have blood on your shirt. I'm pretty sure that's against the dress code."

Declan was the first to respond, his low snort of laughter reminding the three of us he was still standing there.

"Whatever you say," Noah announced, his hands raised in front of him in mock surrender as he got to his feet. "Come on, love, hand over your keys."

I was reluctant to do so, my hand wrapping around them in my pocket, but a stern glare from Aimee set e straight. "Fine," I sighed, holding out my keys for Noah to grab.

"Alright, let's get you home now," Noah announced, holding out his free hand to help me up. "Oh, and I can get Sienna to come by after and pick you guys up, if you want. She's got nothing better to do, the little dropout."

Aimee seemed to consider it for a second before nodding. "Sure. That'd be great, Kennedy."

I said my goodbyes to Aimee, and gave a Declan a quick wave before Noah and I headed to the parking lot. We walked in silence, his hand holding mine. It was uncharacteristic of him, to not have is arm wrapped around my waist or my shoulders. He was keeping a good foot of distance between.

I was beginning to think he might have taken something Tyler said to heart. But as soon as we made it back to my car, Kennedy wrapped me up in the hug I had been waiting for.

I buried my face in his chest, inhaling the comforting smell of his cologne as his strong arms held me against him. I wished I could just stay there forever; forget about rest of the world and just stay where I felt entirely safe.

The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. Three words, eight letters.

"What was that, love?" Noah asked softly, pulling away from me just enough to look into my eyes.

"I said 'thank you,'" I smiled. "Thank you for keeping me safe. You didn't have to stand up for me like that, but it means a lot to me that you did."

Reaching up on the tips of my toes, I pressed a sweet, slow kiss to his lips. The kind of kiss that sent a dozen butterflies fluttering in my stomach as he cradled my face in his hands. I melted into him, smiling to myself.

"Of course I had to, Scar," he said when we finally broke apart. "I would never let anyone hurt you."

Again, you can thank NaNo for this messy chapter 😂

So... who else was super excited to see Tyler get punched in the face? 
I can't believe we're finally winding down. I have less than ten chapters left, but worry not. I've got big plans for them. Because what kind of author would I be if I didn't have a big plot twist at the end, right? Cue the angry fans and  not-so-vague death threats from a certain friend of mine.
Until next time, let's just enjoys these two adorable humans. 

🖤🖤🖤