After telling Justin last night, I didn't see him after he got engulfed in the woods. He was gone for a couple hours, and Madison had to be the one to tell me Cameron found him. She heard from Cameron and Tyler that he went into a rage and lost track of the time, which made me feel guilty. I didn't try and find him last night or talk to him when he got home because I was trying to give him space. I didn't even see him this morning in the kitchen. This morning with everyone was so awkward, and I left for school a bit early.

Right now, I'm sitting in class feeling sick to my stomach. It's hard to pay attention to anything going on. Staring at the whiteboard, I rest my hand on the blank paper that is supposed to be filled with notes. I flick my eyes between the clock and the teacher, biting my lips as I think.

I slowly raise my hand, trying to get my teachers attention. "What Allison?" Ms. Vickers asks, looking at my raised hand.

"May I use the bathroom?" I ask, feeling my heart beating fast.

She turns her head towards the clock and sighs, "We have a couple minutes left of class. You can wait until the bell rings." As soon as she finishes saying this, she turns back to the board. I sigh, starting to tap my foot. I continue to watch the clock, and it feels like the time is going as slow as molasses. Once we have about two minutes left of class, I hear the collective shuffling of students moving and putting their books in their backpacks. After hearing a couple zippers close, Ms.Vickers announces, "Wait for the bell. Class is not done yet."

The sounds stop until the bell rings a minute later and everyone stands up. I throw the strap of my bag over my shoulder and slide out of the desk. As I walk to the door someone rushes through squeezing me to the side of the door before I make it into the hallway.

I take a left, rushing past people until I push the bathroom door open and lock myself in a stall. Removing my backpack, I hug it too my chest as I sit on the toilet seat, waiting for the bell to ring. A couple minutes pass and I hear girls coming and going, some of them stopping at the mirror to chat before the bathroom remains mostly empty.

Checking my phone, I see the bell is about to ring and then I hear the bathroom door open again. The sound of keys jingle and I quickly pick my feet up, pretty sure a teacher just walked in. The position I'm in is uncomfortable, with my legs pressed against my backpack and not having enough room on the seat so I have to hold my legs in the air. Once the teacher or staff member is done, I hear as she washes her hands and exits the bathroom as soon as the bell rings.

I wait a couple minutes after the bell, and slowly stand up, unlocking the stall and press my ear against the door. I don't hear a sound in the hallway, and slowly open the door to peak into the hall.

Once I see the coast is clear and there's no one in sight, I toss my bag over my shoulder and slip i to the hallway. I speed walk to the doors, passing full classrooms and then I hear the sound of talking ricocheting down the hall. I quietly open the bulky doors until I'm outside and I run towards the woods surrounding the school. I needed to get out of there.

As I go deeper into the woods, I slip my phone out of my pocket and find Justins contact. I press the phone to my ear and listen to the ringing, hoping he'll answer. "Come on Justin, pick up." I mutter looking back and walking until I'm nowhere in sight. The ringing stops, and brings me to his voicemail. Sighing, I end the call and sit next to a tree.

There's two hours left of the day, so I can either wait  it out and go back at the end of the day to get my textbooks and homework, or go back in an hour for last period. I don't really want to go to my last class because it's science, so I decide to ditch the last two hours.

Opening my bag, I pull out the first piece of homework which is math. Math is one of my easiest subjects, so the worksheet shouldn't be too hard. I don't understand why we need to learn about the first 10 numbers of pi, or equations with pi because I'm not gonna use it in everyday life unless I'm a scientist. Hell, I don't even know which profession actually uses pi.

Once I finish the math worksheet, I check the time and realize I have a little more than an hour left, so I pull out my book and worksheet for English. I flip to my marked page and begin reading the next two chapters, filling out the worksheet as I go.

As soon as I finish the chapters, I fill out the last few questions before shutting the sheets and shoving them in my bag. I see that I have about 10 minutes left before the final bell so I just fiddle on my phone.

When there's a few minutes left, I gather my things and begin walking in the direction of the school. Once I'm out of the woods and stride up the steps, I peak through the mini window in the door and when I don't see anyone, I pull open the doors and make my way to my locker.

The bells rings as I start opening my locker and a flood of students start coming out of different classrooms. As I begin shoving books and folders in my bag, I look down the hall and see Madison and Lexi walking out of the classroom. Lexi is so pretty, and she has long platinum hair and bright blue eyes.

Shutting my lockers, I put my bag over my shoulders and make eye contact with Madison. She smiles at me and starts walking in my direction. Lexi looks straight ahead and as they get closer to me, she says, "Hey Allison."

I smile at her and reply, "Hey Lexi." Lexi is the super bubbly, popular girl that everyone knows. She always has a big smile on her face and is always trying to bring people up. I turn to Madison and ask, "Hey Mads, have you heard from Justin today?"

She shakes her head and asks, "Is he still not talking to you?" I shake my head slightly and press my lips together. "He'll probably be home after we get out of here, so you can try and talk to him then."

Sighing, I reply, "Yeah I know." Lexi goes a different way to her locker and I follow Madison so she can grab her books. "This shit sucks." I say absentmindedly. She nods and stuffs a few things in her bag. I lean against the locker and look around the hall. My gaze stops on Mason, and I feel my heart skip a beat. He's in a deep conversation with one of his friends, and I decide to look away.

"You ready to go?" Madison asks, slamming her locker shut.

I peak over at Mason again before saying, "Yeah, let's go." I can't help but feel attracted to him. There's just something about Mason that makes me not want to take my eyes off of him. A part of me wanted him to see me looking at him and then he'd come up and talk to me. The feelings I have for him confuse the hell out of me. One day, I want to not talk to him at all and I want to hate him. Another day, I just want nothing more than for him to kiss me.

I think I'm barricading my emotions and I'm trying to protect myself. I don't want to get hurt. I also think I'm putting my family first and letting their emotions get in the way of what I feel. I know deep down, I want him or else I wouldn't have agreed to move in with him.

Madison and I walk out of the doors, and I spot a car that looks like Justin's but brush it off. "Where'd you park?" I point to my car, and we start walking down the steps in the direction. Students are stopped on the sides of the stairs and flooding the parking lot, with some cars pulling away. As we get even closer to my car, I look back at the car and spot the way too familiar sticker that makes me stop in my tracks.

"Justin?" I mutter, staring at it. Out of my peripheral I see Madison stop and I automatically start walking in the direction. The door to the car opens and my gut feeling was right. Justin steps out of the car, and at this moment I start walking faster. What the hell is he doing here?

I watch as he walks away from his car and high worries me even more. There is no reason for him to be here. I watch his body tense up before he yells, "Hey Mason!"

My heart palpitates and at this point I'm sprinting. This can't be good. "Justin!" I yell, and I'm unsure if he heard me. "Fuck." I mutter as I try and get closer to him. I spot Mason and my heart stops again. I watch as he moves his hands, saying something to Justin.

Justin closes the gap with Mason and now they're face to face. I'm close to them and now I can hear their conversation. "What the hell do you want man?" Mason asks. I can tell Justin is mad and as I close the cap between us Justin doesn't say anything before punching Mason.

I gasp, coming to a stop next to them and announce, "What the fuck Justin?" Mason stumbles back from the punch and is clutching the side of his face.

"You're going to pay for this you dick." Mason spits.

"That's what you get for everything you've done." Justin seethes before saying, "You're lucky I didn't do worse." I scoff at him, and he looks at me before turning away.

"Justin." I demand but he continues to walk away. I walk so I'm in front of him, bringing him to a stop. "Why the hell did you come to cause a fight at my school?"

He stares coldly at me before nonchalantly saying, "That was going to happen one way or another." As he finishes his sentence, he brushes past me and gets in his car. I scoff as the engine starts and turn back towards Mason.

"Are you okay?" I ask him, examining his red jaw. He only nods, his eyes fixated on Justins car. I can tell he's pissed, and I can't blame him. He walks away without saying a word, and I sigh before walking back to my car. Justin's actions brought a group of people surrounding us, and I push my way through them, annoyed.

~

As soon as Madison and I get home, we grab our bags and make our way into the pack house. I really don't want to see Justin. Sometimes the stuff he does is alarming, because he's leading a whole pack and can act like a teenager.

"Do you want to come to my room and be there with me while I pack?" I ask, turning towards Madison. She gives me a sad smile and nods.

Once we get to my room, I set my backpack down and pull out a duffel bag, starting to go through my drawers. After today, I decided to move in with Mason right away because there is no reason to prolong it. My family will never except it, and if I stayed the few extra days I'm worried Justin would do something else to stop it from happening.

"I can't believe you're leaving." Madison says, handing me clothes to pack in my duffel bag.

I sigh, "I know. I'm really sad about it, but maybe this will be a good thing." I grab a few things off of my desk, shoving them in my bag. Shrugging, without turning towards her I say, "I won't lie, I'm really nervous about this because this is such a big change. Though, I'm sleeping here tonight and tomorrow after school is when it's officially happening. So, we'll hang out tonight, Mads."

Glancing over at her, I can't help but see how sad she looks. I stop packing and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you so much." She mutters, and the emotions are coating her voice.

"I'm going to miss you too." I pull away from her and give her a smile. "It's not like we're never going to see each other again. You're my best friend. We'll hang out again, Mads." She smiles at my statement and a single tear runs down her check. I pull her into another hug before saying, "I love you."

Without pulling away, she mutters, "I love you too."