I walk into 9th period, well, kinda dragged in by Kyle. Ever since I told him about my hurt ankle, he has insisted on helping me. He is currently holding my backpack while his arm is around my waist. It is supposed to take the weight off my ankle, but because his legs are so long, I struggle to keep up and he practically drags me. "You know this is totally unnecessary, right?"

"Shh, you're injured! I will nurse you back to health!" Kyle announces proudly, basically throwing me into the chair. Matt walks in and looks Kyle up and down, snorting and grinning to himself before sitting down and laying his head on the table.

"Kyle you ass, sit down and leave her alone." Tyler groans, pulling Kyle by his backpack nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Jeez, try and be nice to my friend and this is the thanks I get, bullshit..." he mumbles, plopping down into his seat and nuzzling into Julia. They are getting increasingly more comfortable showing PDA in front of us. Yesterday he held her hand under the table at lunch and today he has been hanging on her a lot, she even kissed his head once in lunch.

"Oh Syd, I am staying after today. I have a class meeting," Julia says, shifting to turn and face me.

"Oh if you need a ride home I can take you before practice," Kyle chimes in, looking pleased he can help. . . again.

"Relax buddy, I got her, you don't even know where she lives," Matt bites back in a rude tone before putting his head back down. Wow, totally unnecessary. What the fuck? I elbow him in the side but he doesn't react.

"Oh ok, um, well you are all coming to my game tomorrow, right?" We all groan and roll our eyes, Amanda throws a pen at him and he laughs like a child. "I kid I kid, I know you all will be there. Especially you Ty, gotta have my baby there wearing my jersey!"

Class begins, we all listen to Mrs. Wright while taking notes. It goes by much slower than usual since we are just sitting instead of doing things in the kitchen. Matt is really fidgety next to me and at one point I get so annoyed with him tapping his pen that I cover his hand with my own and whisper for him to stop.

When class finally ends, Kyle comes bouncing over to me about to help when Matt looks at him and he backs off. I am not sure what his issue is but Kyle is my friend and just being nice, he really needs to cut the shit. We all walk to my locker together and I make it a point to ask Kyle for help, which he does without complaint.

Kyle decided to walk Julia to her meeting before practice so they say goodbye while Amanda and I are going over what we need to do tonight for pre-calc. Tyler has his arm around her waist, leaning on the lockers next to mine, while Matt is buried in his phone next to me. A part of me wants to ask who he is texting but he would probably just give me an attitude.

"Alright babe, ready?" Tyler asks as Amanda puts her planner away.

"Yup!" She says, grabbing his hand and kissing his jawline. They are so adorable, I can't. Now that I know everything I know about them I can't help but to love them more.

Both of them say bye to me and Matt before walking away. As soon as they're out of earshot, I slam my locker close and turn to Matt. "What the fuck was that before?"

"What?" He asks, not looking up, clearly not giving a shit.

"What? You being rude to Kyle, that's what. It was totally unnecessary." I turn around and begin walking toward the door. I hear Matt sigh before he jogs in front of me, making me stop walking.

"Hey, stop alright, I just think it is annoying how up your ass he is. If he really liked your cousin he wouldn't be all over you." He tries to grab my bag from me but I push his hand away. What is he getting at? Kyle is just nice! Like a sweet little puppy. Besides, helping me is just a way to win brownie points with Julia since we are so close.

"First, he does really like my cousin, hence why he kisses my ass along with the entire rest of our families. Second, why do you care? He is just doing what you've been doing since yesterday. Yes he comes off a little strong but that is just him." Matt looks down at the floor and nods. I slide my backpack off my shoulder and hand it to him.

"Come with me to my locker? I just need to grab a book." I nod and walk with him to his locker. When we walk over, all his friends are still standing there waiting for him. He notices them looking at me and moves closer throwing his arm over my shoulder. "Just ignore them ok, if they say any shit to you I will handle it," he whispers as we walk over to them.

I take the moment to block out the obnoxious group of guys watching us to stare at Matt's tattoo. This is the most up-close I have ever seen it and wow is it beautiful. The line work is really clean and the shading is even throughout. At the bottom near his wrist is an extremely detailed rose, above it a pocket watch, followed by another rose, then a huge lion that goes from just above his elbow to his shoulder. From where I am, I can see there is something small written on his inner wrist along with other small elements placed within the sleeve. Most of the area not covered by a design is shaded in black, leaving little skin to be shown on his right arm.

As we move to his locker he pushes me in front of him, leaning around me to put the combination in. His left arm is out blocking me from his friends while his right is opening his locker. I can hear his uneven breathing in my ear as he quickly pulls his locker open. I don't really know why he gets this way around them but his reaction puts me on edge.

One of the guys looks at me with a smirk and I look down focusing on the inside of Matt's locker. "You don't usually keep them longer than a night, this one must be extra good for you to put up with at school too." Matt slams his locker shut and turns to the guy speaking.

"Shut the fuck up, Asher." Matt puts his arm around my shoulders again pulling me into him. His arm is now across my chest with my back pressed against him. "One comment to her or about her and I will be the least of your concerns."

"Ok yeah sure dude, she looks straight out of a playboy magazine; hot but that's about it." I pull against Matt's arm trying to get at Asher. Who the fuck does this little bitch think he is? Matt pulls me tighter to him knowing if he lets go Asher is a goner.

"Don't. You really don't want to be on my shit list Ash, I will fucking make your life hell." The rest of the group has moved between Matt and Asher at this point, most of them whispering at Asher to shut up. Blake, who faced the wrath of Matt on Monday, has his arm in front of Matt ready to stop him if he makes a move. Ironically they are all worried about a Matt vs. Asher fight when the real concern should be a Me vs. Asher fight.

"Whatever, are we all hanging tomorrow or not? Since you never answer the group chat anymore." Things begin to relax but Matt still has me pretty close to him. Not quite sure if that is to stop him or me from doing something.

"Yes of course we are, why you asking stupid questions?" Asher shrugs and they all confirm their plans for tomorrow before walking away. Matt finally lets go of me when they all walk away. "You alright?"

"I could take him, I saw the way he was standing. He couldn't win an actual fight to save his life." Matt laughs as we start walking out the doors to his car.

"Oh I know, I wasn't worried about your safety Barbie, I was worried about his." As we both get into the car Matt checks his phone and starts cursing. "Fuck fuck fuck!"

"What? What's wrong?" I ask, panicked. He is staring at his phone not speaking. "Matt what's wrong!?"

He looks at me with a look of fear and excitement. "Penn State Wrestling's recruiter is at the gym right now."

"No way," I gasp before leaning over and pinching Matt who is just sitting there still processing. "Let's go! You're going to be late!"

"Wait, don't you want me to drop you off? I am sure I can be 10 minutes la-" before he finishes I cover his mouth, ripping his keys from his hand and sticking them into the ignition.

"I can do homework there now let's go! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

Matt smiles at me before taking off to the gym. When we pull up I quickly get out, bouncing in excitement. Penn State has the best college wrestling program and they're here, looking at Matt! I start walking toward the doors when I notice Matt is still in the car.

I walk back to the car and pull his door open. Reaching over his lap I unbuckle his seatbelt and pull on his arm to get him out of the car. "What if I'm not good enough?" he asks quietly. I stop, looking at the person who just 24 hours prior was telling me he would protect me, no matter what. Just like he vowed to be there for me, I will be there for him.

"Matt, you're good enough. Step one is going in there knowing you deserve this opportunity, because you do." He nods, breathing in deeply before walking toward the door.

When we walk in, Rodney is talking to a guy in khakis and a Penn State Polo. They both turn around and the guy's face lights up when he sees Matt. "Mr. Dean, so excited to finally meet you in person! I have been watching you for some time."

Matt stands there shocked, so I push him forward toward the guy who has his hand stretched out. "Um- uh nice to meet you too. It is an honor." They shake hands and begin talking. I move over to Rodney who is looking at Matt like a proud dad.

"This is like a really big deal, right?" I ask Rodney.

"Huge," he says, moving back a little to give them room. Matt looks way more confident now than he did in the car as he talks, slowly getting more comfortable. "When he walked in here the first time, he was about 13 years old and just constantly in trouble. He had a lot of potential, even got pulled up to wrestle for the high school team in 8th grade, but his spot was in jeopardy because he was always getting called down to the office. He has improved his behavior drastically since then, but I still worry if he doesn't cut the shit he will ruin this for himself."

I nod as they shake hands again and the guy turns to Rodney and I. "I don't want to interrupt anymore, I am sure you are busy so I am going to just watch, pretend I am not even here." Matt nods but I know that he is going to most definitely act differently with this guy here. Him and Rodney walk inside to the corner ring while I follow along with the guy.

"I'm Casey," the guy says as we both follow behind.

"Sydney," I say shaking his hand. We both sit off to the side against the wall and Casey takes out a notepad. I sit close enough that I can read over his shoulder.

"So are you and Matt..." he trails off but I know what he is asking.

"Oh um no we- I um work out here too and he is in a few of my classes. We are friends. He has been driving me because I sprained my ankle here yesterday." Casey looks at me and nods before looking back at Matt.

We don't speak the entire rest of the time, both of us just watching. Him watching Matt and me watching what he writes. So far everything is really good; he talks about Matt's focus, speed, power, and stamina, not a single bad remark on the entire page.

After he is done, Matt comes over and begins talking to Casey again. As they talk Matt reaches his hand out to help me up. His eyes don't leave Casey as they keep talking, but I grab his hand and he pulls me up, putting his arm around my waist to steady me. I move back a little and notice Casey making a new note. At the bottom of his messy sheet of notes about Matt, circled and written in bold now is the new comment: Get the girl to Penn State if we want him.

They wrap up and Casey says bye to us both before heading out. Matt turns to me and I can see the excitement in his eyes despite his attempt to stay cool. "Soooo do you want to know what I read over his shoulder or not?" I ask. Matt nods yes so fast I am worried he might actually hurt his neck.

We walk to the front and I begin telling him and Rodney all the things that he wrote while watching. I leave out the comment about me because honestly it is unnecessary. He read the situation wrong but it doesn't matter, that won't affect Matt either way. When I am done telling them literally everything, Matt grabs me and squeezes me in a hug. "You are the fucking best Syd! Thank you for being so nosey."

I laugh but don't make a move to pull out of the hug. I have spent a lot of time in Matt's arms today, as much as I know I shouldn't really want more. He finally lets go and we say bye to Rodney before heading to my house.

He drops me off thanking me 100 more times before I shut the door. I wave goodbye and head inside. The second I walk in my parents both look up at me and break out into huge grins. "School ended 2 hours ago, where have you been?" My dad asks, sneaking a peek out the front window.

"Is that Matt's Jeep?" My mom asks, also looking at the car pulling out of our driveway.

"Will you two stop? The Penn State Wrestling recruiter was at the gym to watch him today so I told him we could go there instead of him dropping me off first so he wasn't late." They both nod, but the stupid grins are still plastered on their faces. I roll my eyes and head upstairs to my room. Matt is just my friend. I didn't realize guys and girls couldn't be friends anymore!