I was walking slowly towards Mr.Stephen's class while thinking about the events of yesterday. Right after the reveal of my brother's situation with this girl, my parents both lectured him.

About what? I don't know. But that's what parents do, they lecture you for no reason at all. Obviously, while he was getting lectured, I went ahead and stole the snacks he usually hid in his closet.

The moment I enter the classroom, I march to my usual spot. I stop at the front of my desk, my gut telling me something.

Andrew sat on the other side of the class, his head resting on his crossed arms, on top of the desk. His messy black hair indicated a sleepless night.

As usual, the seat next to him was empty.

Without thinking, I walk towards his table. I didn't know what I was doing, but it felt right in some way.

When I approach him, I sit right beside his seat and make myself comfortable. He suddenly looks up at me and stares for a while, examining my face. Feeling the tension, I look away from him and turn to the front.

A few moments passed by as he glanced back and forth at me. Connecting my eyes with his made me feel uncomfortable, so I didn't risk it.

The teacher finally made his way into the class, making the man next to me finally turn away.

"Good morning class." He clears his throat. "I hope you are all doing well." He continues.

Silence filled the air as the half-asleep students eyed him with despair.

"You know what else I hope? That you've done the homework I assigned." He squints his eyes at us while smiling accusingly. "Even if you didn't do it, you'll have until the end of class to hand it in." He rolls his eyes, hands on his hips.

Sighs and whispers make their way around the class in relief.

Obviously, I wasn't too worried about the homework. I had already done it a couple of days before.

Suddenly the girl in front of me turns around abruptly. "Hey, Ari." She smiles at me. "What's up?"

Surprised, I hesitated what to say. I've rarely spoken to this girl. What was her name again? Leah?

"Nothing really," I answer. "You?"

As if she was waiting for me to ask her this, she opened her mouth and went on to complain.

"I had like three exams to study for, yesterday." She says. "It's like all my stupid teachers gathered up together and plotted to put them on the same day." She sighed. "I wasn't even able to do today's homework."

I nod understandingly, aware of how cruel some teachers are. I wouldn't be surprised if they did do that.

Her eyes look up at me expectantly. "Do you mind if I copy yours?" She asks, her noticeable eye bags staring at me.

I felt terrible for her, so I agreed and handed her my notebook. "Just change it up a bit so he doesn't notice," I tell her.

Even though I did work hard on this essay, she seemed like she hadn't slept for days. I knew how it felt.

She grabs the book gratefully before stopping midway. "Actually," she hesitates. "Do you mind doing it for me? I'm so tired I can't even think straight." She pleaded.

I freeze, caught in a difficult situation. I wanted to help her but I felt like doing the homework for her would be too much. I didn't want to disappoint her though. But I didn't want to do the work for her. If I refuse, would she hate me for it? Would she understand? Would she-

"Are you serious?" I hear a deep voice from next to me speak up.

Leah looks at him with a crooked expression. "I'm talking to Ariana."

He turns his head and looks at me with a stern face, trying to read me. He slowly looks back at her as his frown deepens.

"Fuck off," He spits out. "Stop trying to victimize yourself." He tells her.

She squints her eyebrows. "I've never done anything wrong to you." She claims.

"It's not Ariana's job to pick up your slack." He leans in closer.

She bites her lip, frowning. She opens her mouth to argue, but backs down and throws my notebook back on my desk. "Whatever." She says, glaring at him and then landing her disapproving gaze on me.

My heart pounded as I stared down at my desk, scared of what she now thinks of me. I appreciated Andrew stepping in to help but now she'd probably go on and backbite me to everyone.

For the rest of the period my mind wandered around, unable to focus on the teacher's voice. I didn't know if I should offer up my homework again to her or not. I wouldn't say I liked it when someone disliked me.

In the end, I didn't do anything and simply left it as it is. I didn't want to make matters worse. Once the teacher dismissed us, I left the class like every one else.

Walking in the hallway, I notice Andrew following from right beside me. He sends a couple of glances towards me, so I peek at him. The moment we lock eyes he looks to the other side and clears his throat. Both his hands were down his pockets as he trotted next to me.

The awkwardness was killing me.

I clear my throat and speak, trying to ease the tension. "So," I start. "Are you the one who threw a jacket on me yesterday?"

He freezes and jolts his head to the other side. "You saw me?" He asks.

"No," I reply. "I didn't see you."

"Then how did you know it was me?" He questions suspiciously while leaning in closer, making his light cologne noticeable.

The small distance between us got my nerves up and made me fumble with my words. "Your... tag was inside."

"Of course," he says in annoyance before quickly changing the subject. "I only gave it to you because you looked cold," He admits.

I smile at his words. "See? You don't show the person you really are." I say.

He freezes a little and looks away quickly. His eyes scanned the hallway before glancing back at me for a mere moment. "I have to go."

Before I could say anything to him, he went away, not letting me reply and leaving me alone in the middle of the hallway.

What I loved about my friends was that anytime I had a crappy day, they would cheer me up without even trying.

I laughed as Laurie continued her story when her boyfriend met her father on a video call.

"I swear he just kept cursing at him in French," she sighs. "Julien is literally French so he understood everything."

I snort and try to hide it by asking another question. "What did Julien say?"

"We heard that snort, you cheater," Layla laughs, leaning on the wall.

I press a hand to my chest in an offended manner. "Are you calling me a pig?" I ask.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She raises her eyebrows in concern.

"Ari, if you're gonna joke, at least make it funny." Laurie rolls her eyes at me, arms crossed.

I was about to argue back with her when the door of the classroom in front of us finally opened up and a flock of students walked out. We watched them leave one by one, looking for Bella. Finally, Isabella pops up and walks over to us.

"How was class?" Layla asks her in a sweet tone.

Bella pays no attention to her and instead glares at me. I tense under her gaze, unaware of the cause of her unusual attitude.

"I heard Leah talking shit about you," she tells me.

"Oh," I reply.

At that, she rolls her eyes at me and scoffs. "Ariana, don't act like you're surprised."

I frown in confusion. What was this odd behavior?

"What did I do wrong?" I ask. "Did you want me to give her my homework?" I squint my eyebrows.

She sends me a disgusted face and bites her lip. "No, but that's what you would've done if that asshole wasn't there!" She sneers.

Silencing me up, I stare at her in surprise. Seeing my quietness, she continues.

"Why don't you stand up for yourself?" She says with spite. "Just say no! It's not that hard!"

I lower my head and stare at my shoes.

"People walk all over you, all the time. If they asked you to, you'd jump off a bridge for them." She compares. "You're a pussy with no sense of self-respect!" She yells at me. "For two whole hours I had to listen to that bitch Leah talk shit about my own damn cousin, all because you couldn't stand up for yourself."

"Bella, stop yelling-" Laurie cuts in.

Dismissing her, Bella continues to curse me and yell about things I can't do. She didn't know the first thing about me. How could she say such things when she's never stepped in my shoes? This wasn't the first time she'd said things like that to me and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"You're right," I finally get out of my mouth. "I can't stand up for myself," I admit as I stare at her eyes in determination.

She frowns and narrows her eyes at me, trying to understand my point. My chest heaved in anger as I felt a lump form in my throat, preventing me from continuing. I suck it up and decide to tell her how I've felt all this time.

"Have you ever asked me why I can't stand up for myself? Have you ever done anything except shame me and humiliate me in front of everyone?" I hiss at her.

She raises her eyebrows in surprise. Her mouth set in a hard line as she backed down a little. Taking this as my queue to continue, I open my mouth.

"You've never tried to understand me, Isabella." My lips trembled. "I'm not like you," I admit. "I can't say things to people without being afraid of them judging me. I don't know how to be myself without being ashamed. I don't know." My head hung low.

I glanced at her eyes for a moment to see how she felt about my outburst. Her hard eyes swarmed with fury and shock as she stood there with her arms crossed.

"Ariana-" Laurie cuts in once again, attempting to rest the palm of her hand on my shoulder.

I back from her in shame. They didn't need to see me like this. I sniff a little before retreating, leaving them behind me.

As I marched down the hallway, I kept my head hung low. Eye contact with people was not something I was hoping to deal with at this moment. Guilt swarmed inside my stomach, although this wasn't such a huge outburst. Was I too harsh?

She did insult me, but I didn't know if that was the right thing to do.

◆◈◇

I stared at the book I wasn't truly reading. Every time I would read a paragraph, I'd realize I hadn't been taking in the information. My mind would go back to the events of today. I regretted what I said to my cousin. I made her out to be evil when she was totally the opposite.

Crouched on the floor, in a hidden corner of the library, I narrowed my eyes to try and make the words make sense. My vision blurred as the words danced across the pages.

Before I knew it, a water droplet fell on the page of the open book, followed by another. I closed the book as soon as I realized that I was crying again. Getting up to leave for the bathroom, I wipe the tears falling from my eyes. I make my way over to the washroom and close the door shut behind me. Leaning against the door, I sigh and sniff the rest of my tears before washing my face with cold water at the sink. This was the fourth time I've visited.

Leaving the bathroom, I make my way back to my corner and plop on the ground. I opened the book once again, in an attempt to finally get something done today. It was already 9 pm and I still wasn't home. I didn't want to go home yet, in fear that Bella would have told my brother what happened already.

I had a tutoring session earlier but I was able to keep a good composure. Plus, it wasn't too long and the conversation helped me get my mind off things. I was hoping Lisa hadn't noticed anything because she was a bit quieter than usual.

I started to read the page and stopped once I heard a pair of feet walking towards me. When they reach me, I raise my head slowly and scan them.

His messy black hair fell comfortably down his face as his striking black eyes stared down at me from above. He wore a black fitted T-shirt and black sweatpants. I stared at him for too long before I realized the state my face was in and I looked back down at my book, completely ignoring his presence.

As I didn't greet him, it took him a while before he decided to crouch down and sit right beside me. I stop mid-way through fliping a page and stare at him. His gaze was fixated on the wall in front of him, showing off his sharp jawline and his Adam's apple slightly popping out. I examined his tan face without shame, taking in the subtle details like the small scars and another bruise that I've not seen before.

Noticing that I'd been staring for far too long, I looked away in shame and continued reading my book.

"Why were you crying?" A raspy voice rumbled lowly, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Taking me by surprise, I lie to him. "I wasn't crying."

He turned his head to me, his eyes staring back at mine. "I saw you crying."

"Why are you here at 9 pm?" I change the subject.

His usual frown deepens as he narrows his eyes at me. "I should be asking you that."

"I'm studying," I tell him.

He looks down at the book in my lap and raises a brow. "Well, it didn't look like it when you went off to the bathroom, crying." He states.

I widened my eyes in surprise, shocked that he'd seen me.

Why would he even come here so late? I've never seen him at the library but nowadays I've been noticing him everywhere.

"Why do you care?" I pout, dropping my eyes back down.

He sighs a little. "Lisa told me that you looked down."

Lisa...

Why is she talking about me to her brother?

"So why did you come? Why didn't she come?" I question suspiciously.

He tenses at my question and presses his lips together. A moment of silence passes by as no words come out from his mouth.

"...My sister really likes you," he finally says.

I let out a smile, amused by the fact that he managed to change the subject so easily. "I like her too," I tell him. "She reminds me of myself."

He doesn't reply and simply examines my face, eyes twinkling an unexplainable feeling.

"Was it because of me?" He asks with a hard tone, going back to the first topic we were talking about.

I look up at him before staring back down at my lap. "No," I reply without hesitation.

He scans my face, indicating me to continue.

"It's my..." I freeze, hesitating between telling him or not. "...my cousin, Bella."

He frowns the moment he hears her name. "Is it that bitch who came with you at the gym?" He hissed.

"Don't say that..." I warn him. "She's harsh but she... she..." I stop midway, about to start crying again.

I wipe the coming tears from the corner of my eyes with my sleeve, turning away from him so he doesn't see.

"What did she say to you?" He asks.

"It's not that she said something mean," I sniff. "It's that she doesn't try to understand me."

"Understand what?" He questions.

"What is this? An interrogation?" I frown.

Caught off guard, he glances around momentarily. "No, I just-"

"This morning..." I cut him off. "I didn't say no to Leah because I was scared," I admit.

He tilts his head in confusion. "What were you scared of?" He asks.

"I'm scared of people judging me," I tell him truthfully.

His frown deepens in confusion. "What's in it to you? Why does it matter if people are judging you or not?"

"I can't help it, Andrew," I say. "When someone talks to me, my mind immediately freezes and only thinks for ways to make them happy."

He stays quiet, contemplating my words.

We sit there, in the isolated part of the library, in silence. The dim light created an easing atmosphere.

"My cousin can't understand that." I sniff. "She thinks that just because she's strong and confident, it means that I must be the same." A tear falls from the corner of my eye. "I can't be like her," I admit. "She walks around with her chin high while my head hangs low. I'm afraid that if my posture, my attitude, or my face isn't perfect, people will start judging me. It goes to the point where even when I'm in class, I feel eyes all over me and my heart starts beating quickly, making me too self-aware."

Andrew nodded his head, taking in my words, as I recuperated myself. He leaves a moment of silence before answering.

"It's understandable," he tells me. "I don't blame you for choosing the option that's easier on the mind." He continues. "You're always in fight or flight mode, so it's understandable that you can't think straight when you're in a situation like this."

I examine his face for any hint of judgement, but all I could see were the comforting features on his face, softening as he spoke. His words put me at ease, appreciating the fact that someone understood me for once.

"But if it goes to the point where you're faking yourself..." he goes on to say before stoping, as if realizing something.

My lip quivers as a few tears fall down my eyes.

Brought out of his own thoughts, he looked around worriedly. "H-hey, why are you crying more?" He raises his hands to help, not knowing how to approach the situation.

I just needed a hug.

He was here already, looking around awkwardly, so I wrapped my arms around his chest for comfort. Taken by surprise, he tensed at the gesture and cleared his throat. The warmth of his body swarmed throughout mine, comforting me.

His body emitted heat like a radiator, sending electricity through my nerves. If I could, I would stay in this position for hours. I didn't know why he was here, but even so, I appreciated him coming.

"Do you think I should apologize to my cousin?" I ask. "I yelled at her, earlier." My chest heaved.

Silence filled the air as I waited for an answer. "No, let her come to you. If that bitch really liked you then she'd be the one apologizing."

I laugh lightly, amused that he kept calling her that even though I had told him not to.

Slowly letting him go, I stare at the chest that comforted me. "You know what you should do?" I ask, wiping my face with my sleeve. "You should dress up as El Primo for Halloween."

A glimmer of light crossed his eyes as he looked at mine.

"I-I'll drive you home," he declared.