I elbowed people out of the way, desperate to get to the school cafeteria. I was so incredibly hangry, that all it would take was someone to look at me the wrong way and I would probably bite their head off. 

I swore under my breath as I turned a corner and saw a ginormous crowd of students in front of me blocking my way to the cafeteria. 

As I got closer, I could hear a few rowdy jocks chanting "Fight, fight, fight," egging on whoever was in the middle of the chaotic mass of people. 

 "Seriously another fight," I muttered under my breath in annoyance. This was the third one this week, our school was honestly a joke. The teachers didn't give a shit and if they saw a fight they would just swerve around in the opposite direction and pretend they didn't see it.

 I stomped my foot down in frustration, knowing I was going to have to walk the long way around school as there is no way I was going to walk through the fight and get myself killed.

Don't get me wrong, I like to watch idiots try and beat each other up as much as the next person, but not when it got between me and my food.

However, my curiosity was nagging at me and I wanted to see who the fight was between. An advantage of being quite small meant that I was able to maneuver my way through the spaces people had left to eventually make it close enough that I could see. 

I looked on the floor and saw a football player called Connor, lying beaten and bruised on the floor. Blood was gushing profusely from his nose and the skin around his eye had gone all cracked and purple. 

I was surprised that someone like Connor such a hefty and meaty frame could lose so badly in a fight. My eyes then drew in curiosity to the guy kneeling over him. My view of him was obscured and all I could see was the back of his head which was decorated with a mass of dark brown hair.

 I squeezed passed a few more people, so I could get a better angle of his face. My eyes widened in horror, when I realized, it wasn't just some guy.

 It was Ethan.

I was so shocked; I couldn't even move. I just watched uselessly, as Ethan delivered plow after plow to Connor's face. Every violent thrust of his fist seemed powered with so much hatred.

 With so much anger. 

I saw Connor laugh manically on the floor on the floor like some kind of lunatic as though he was enjoying seeing Ethan like this. With no control. 

"You're a joke, Ethan. You thought you were getting better, huh? But you're not. You're always going to be a violent piece of shit; you're always going to be like him." Connor sneered as blood dripped from between his malicious grin.

 I saw Ethan flinch slightly as though the words hurt as much as a physical impact. Soon enough, his jaw clenched, and his gaze hardened upon Connor. The normal playful light that normally danced in his eyes was nowhere in sight and all I saw was a stranger. 

An unfeeling stranger.

 As Ethan continued to hit at him, I noticed Connor's body was becoming increasingly more motionless and he didn't even look strong enough to fight back anymore. I felt sick. 

"Ethan, what the fuck are you doing?" I screamed out at him, not able to take a second more of watching the violence. 

Ethan stopped midway through his next punch and slowly lowered his fists. His eyes immediately darted to meet mine. As soon as he saw me a look of immense guilt and pain swept over his face. 

He then looked back at Connor and let out a weird choking sound and slowly shook his head, his breaths coming out deep and ragged. Then without another word, he stood up and shoved a few people out the way so he could make his way through the crowd

"Wait Ethan," I called out as I scrambled after him.

 He just continued marching away and I swear I even saw him increase his speed after I called out to him. 

How the hell did he move so fast?

 "Hey, I know you can hear me, Ethan, stop ignoring me!" I yelled angrily, as I continued to dash after him. 

He suddenly stopped and slowly swerved around to face me. I let out a sigh of relief and finally caught up with him.

 "God you move fast!" I said breathing heavily, as I tried to catch my breath. His eyes were guarded and his face quivered slightly as though he was struggling to keep his emotions at bay.

"How can you even bear to look at me Mia?" he snapped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he spoke.

 "I don't get what you're talking about." I stammered out in confusion. 

He let out a frustrated chuckle. "I saw the way you were looking at me, Mia. You looked..." he paused. "You looked terrified," he muttered weakly as his voice broke slightly.

 I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I didn't know what to say. He was right, he had scared me.

"Please stay away from me Mia. I don't want to hurt you. I really don't want to ever hurt you." he choked out. 

My eyes softened as I took in the vulnerability in his eyes. "Stop being so hard on yourself Ethan. It's completely understandable why you'd want to beat up Connor, he's a class A douche." I chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood.

 He just scoffed. "You don't know anything Mia, you don't know how much anger I feel inside, I could have killed him." He screamed harshly. 

"Well, you didn't." I reminded him firmly. 

"Only because you were there to stop me, Mia. That's not right. I should have been able to stop myself." He stammered out in frustration.

 "You wouldn't have killed him, Ethan, whether I was there or not," I repeated again more confidently this time.

 He swallowed as he processed my words, his eyes darting between mine as though he wanted to believe me but just couldn't.

"Why were you even fighting him in the first place?" I asked curiously. 

His face immediately hardened. "I can't tell you. If I told you, you would never look at me the same. You might never even talk to me again." he said staring into my eyes, with a look that held a mixture of pain and fear. 

"You sure? Because you've done a lot of stupid crap to me and I've never once stopped talking to you." I laughed.

 "Believe it or not Ethan, you're my friend," I said bumping him softly with my shoulder. As soon as I said that, he looked up at me with an incredibly surprised look on his face, before he gave me a genuine smile, not a smirk, but a smile. 

"Dear God, did Mia Collins just call me her friend, or am I hallucinating?" Ethan said teasingly as he cracked a small grin. 

"Yes, she did. And just so you know that's the first and last time you'll ever hear me admit it," I chuckled. "Now let's get some lunch, I'm starved," I smiled.

-------------------------------------

I was in my next class after lunch, English, but I couldn't concentrate for the life of me as I was still thinking about what had happened with Ethan. I don't think I could ever forget the horrifying look on his face as he ruthlessly attacked Connor, it was a side of him I'd never really seen. 

When I sat with him a lunch, he still seemed rather distant, indicating he was still mulling over what had happened in his mind. 

I wonder what Connor had said to him to make him so upset? 

It took nearly all my willpower not to ask him again at lunch but I didn't as I wanted to respect his decision for privacy. But goddammit I was a nosy bitch and I needed answers. It was a terrible trait of mine.

 I needed to know more about Ethan, he was clearly hiding something. So that's why I had come up with a plan. I was going to tail his car.

 Okay, okay hear me out, I haven't gone crazy. I've just been observing his patterns over the last few weeks, and it seemed as though every single Wednesday, he left school at precisely 15:30, before getting into his car to drive somewhere. 

Somewhere that wasn't his house.... 

Okay maybe it could be his house, but maybe it wasn't. It couldn't hurt to confirm my suspicions, and it was the only hook I had to find answers.

 I paused, realizing how much I sounded like a stalker and if he could hear my thoughts, he would probably ask for a restraining order. 

I subtly glanced at Ethan from across the room, who was quietly sat by the window getting on with his work. 

I narrowed my eyes at him. You're going down Ethan Blythe. I will find out what you are hiding!

-----------------------------------

"Which car is his again?" Chloe asked as she looking around at the parked cars. We were both sat in Chloe's car, waiting for Ethan to come out so we could follow him. 

"It's the black Mercedes across th.." I started to say before I saw his figure sauntering towards his car. "Oh, shit he's coming, look casual." I said in a panic as I struck an awkward pose and ironically looked the most awkward out of the both of us.

 "I can't believe you dragged me into doing this Mia. This is incredibly low. Even for you," she said shaking her head at me in disappointment.

 "Well, it's your duty as my friend, to support me in this," I explained, "And I didn't have a car," I shrugged honestly. 

"I swear you're just friends so I can be your personal uber driver or something," she mumbled under her breath.

 "Damn it, you're on to me." I winked teasingly.

Chloe just scoffed and started to drive, following closely behind Ethan's car. "It'll be hilarious when he just drives home." Chloe snorted.

 I just ignored her and watched Ethan's car drive ahead of us with narrowed eyes. My eyes lit up in intrigue when I saw him take a left instead of his normal right at the roundabout. 

"No. He can't be, he just turned in the opposite direction of his house," I retorted, boastfully as I gestured towards the road triumphantly. 

"Oh yeah...." she said softly, clear confusion in her voice. She thought I was just going crazy, and that this was going to be a useless trip where we just followed Ethan home. 

We drove in silence, exchanging the odd few words, as we followed behind Ethan's car. Finally, after 15 minutes he slowed down and parked outside on the curb of a street. 

"Where the hell are, we?" I asked in confusion, as I looked out the window for any clues. 

Chloe parked her car on the opposite side of the road from Ethan and I watched in anticipation as he slowly climbed his way out of his car and entered a building. I squinted trying to read the name on the building, but it was too far away for me to see. 

"Wait here. I'll get a closer look." I said, before unbuckling my seatbelt and making my way out of the car. I crossed the road and walked closer to the building. As I got closer, I saw the sign on the building read. 

'Advice and counseling sessions'

Oh, was that it? He was just going to counseling. 

 I was kind of disappointed, to be honest, a part of me was expecting him to show up at some illegal street fight or something.

I had clearly been reading way too many fiction books...

Just at that precise moment, the doors of the building flung open again and Ethan walked back out again. 

Shit. 

 I widened my eyes and was about to dash it, but it was too late, and his eyes immediately locked on mine. I gulped as he slowly sauntered his way over to me, with a stony expression on his face. 

"Oh, hey Ethan," I drawled out nervously. "Fancy seeing you here...." I said in an overly cheerful tone, as I faked a look of astonishment, making it seem as though we had just coincidentally bumped into each other. 

He raised his eyebrows at me, looking highly unimpressed. "You're really shit at following people, aren't you chubs?" he retorted bluntly.