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Skylar p.o.v

The sun finally made its way over the tree line, creating a beautiful golden glow that shimmered along the leaves. They twinkle and sway left and right allowing the light to hit them differently every time. The small dew droplets glisten when the light bounces off. I love to see the sun rise from the roof of my house, it is never the same and it for some reason gives me hope. It is a very relaxing way to begin the day that is sure to be filled with stress and pain that soon follows. "But not for a little while longer..." I think to myself whenever these thoughts flash through my mind. I start off the morning watching the sun rise almost every day for this reason. But after the sun has risen, my happiness doesn't last for more than a couple of hours.

I climb back through the window into my bedroom and go straight for the bathroom. I turn on the hot water and let the steam build up before getting into the shower. the water soak my light gray fur. I sigh as big drops of water fall down. Soap slides down my body carelessly, making the fur shiny and clean. I step out of the shower and look at myself in the mirror. I have a decent build, some muscle, not a lot of fat. I'm not very happy with my appearance, always picking out the worst parts of me, because that's what everyone else seems to do anyway.

I walk back to my room and pull out my knife from behind my pillow. I feel a rush of relief as the silver blade cuts through the skin on my wrist, my blood forms in little beads on my arm and drips down my fur. I feel a little better when I do this. I don't feel the guilt of making someone else sad by doing it because I already know that no one would care if they knew. I do it again, and again, and again until finally my phone alarm goes off and I have to catch the bus to school. I throw on some jeans and a black sweatshirt before I grab my backpack and run out the door to get to the bus stop.

The bus is pulling up to the corner of my street just as I arrive. That yellow bus might as well drive me to hell, because it would probably be easier to deal with than what I have to go through every day at my school. I quickly get on, sit down in a tattered blue seat, and try not to bother anyone or say anything like any other day. The bus pulls up to the school and I quickly try to walk to my first period class. Unfortunately it can't be that easy. Alex and a bunch of his friends are waiting at the entrance to welcome me. Alex is a ridiculously strong tiger with black and orange stripes. He is a total jerk and has completely ruined my life. I try to ignore them every day and every day the same thing happens. I walk past them only to be stopped by Alex. "Hey!" he growls at me, "Where the fuck are you going?" I don't say anything. Nothing I say can help me now. His friends laugh. He slams me against a locker. The hollow ring echoes throughout the hallway. A few heads look over, they have a look of sympathy, but they won't help, they never do. Alex is just not someone you want to screw with. "I said," he continues, with a much softer voice, "Where are you going?" I look at him, there is obvious fear in my eyes. "Please..." I say so quietly he can barely hear me, "Don't..." He laughs and this is another trigger for all of his idiot friends to laugh with him. "But you know I have to." he says with a smile. He throws me to the ground, and kicks me in the stomach, hard. I wince and my hands clutch my stomach trying to protect myself from anything else he had for me. But he just kneels down next to me and whispers, "I'll see you later you fucking fag." One of his friends pulls me up and shoves me down the hall. It isn't much worse than every other day where he kicks my ass because I am too scared to fight back, and I probably should be, since he weighs about 200 pounds and I weigh 95, he is really strong, easily stronger than any student at school and probably some of the teachers as well.

I finally get to first period and sit down. My stomach is killing me, but I don't have time to worry about that, I have to study really quick for a quiz I didn't study for. But someone just walked into the room, a new student maybe. He is a fox with orange and white fur, he has a stronger build. Not the same as Alex but he still looked pretty strong. He looked around the nearly empty classroom and saw me. He walked over and sat down next to me. Yup, he is definitely new here. No kid would come within a mile of me because of Alex if they didn't have to. He smiled and said. " Hey! I'm Ryan! I just moved here with my family!" I don't really know what to say so I nod and say "Thats cool." and looked back to my notes, he was really cute, but I really didn't want to scare him off already. I had only met him two minutes ago. "What's your name?" he asked me. "Skylar." I said, he seemed really friendly. "Well since I am new maybe after school you can show me around, maybe see a movie or something..." he says to me. "Sure, that sounds great!" I say back. This is going really well, is this how easy it is to make friends when they don't know one of your biggest secrets already? He'll probably cancel our plans after hearing it from someone thanks to Alex and his social power. But I decided to try to ignore the fact that I might never talk to him again because of it. But my tail wags a little and my stomach starts to feel better. I can't wait for tonight!

I breeze through the first half of my day. Ryan gave me his phone number and told me to call him after school was over so we could meet up somewhere. But fifth period I have social studies with Alex. Luckily he sits far away from me and near his slutty girlfriend. So its not that bad. But after class sometimes he'll knock my books to the floor, or trip me or something stupid like that. Thank God there was a sub today, so he spent the period making out with his girlfriend instead of studying. When the bell rang I hurried off to my next class before he could do anything to me.

The rest of the day goes by quickly. I have art last period and have been working on a picture of a landscape. It is very dark outside with a storm cloud over an already dead tree. I add a small glimpse of light to the corner and smile. "I hope this works out." I think to myself.

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Skylar p.o.v

The final bell rings signifying freedom until the beginning of first period tomorrow morning. But that isn't my concern right now, I have plans to hang out with a potential new friend. I quickly pull out my phone and try to text Ryan to see where he wants to meet up, but suddenly an arm grabs my shoulder preventing me from going anywhere. "Got somewhere to be?" asks Alex. My body tenses up. He can feel this and smiles, "Nervous are we?" he taunts. I don't turn around, I don't say anything, I can't. It'll only make it worse. But I hear a voice calling out my name. "Skylar?" I turn around now, I see Ryan about halfway down the hall with a somewhat concerned look on his face. He just stays back for now, but then notices the look of fear in my eyes, he starts toward us. "Beat it." Alex tells him as he walks over. "Get off of him" Ryan says calmly. Alex steps off me, but turns to face Ryan. "What happens if I don't?" Alex asks, and with that he gives Ryan a small shove. Ryan, still very calm steps back foreword and quickly punches Alex in the face. Small drops of blood spray from his now injured nose and I gasp. The hallway goes silent as Ryan stands over him, waiting for him to get up. Alex looks up at him, gives a small chuckle and says, "You get that one, but you better watch your fucking back." He points at Ryan, then looks over at me, wipes his nose on his sleeve and walks away. Ryan glares at him as he walks down the hallway and finally turns the corner, then he turns to me now with sympathetic eyes and asks, "Are you okay?" "Yea, I'm fine." I reply, "So are we still hanging out today?" He laughs a little and says, "Of course!" and with that we walk out to his car.

We walk to to the school's parking lot and I scan the rows of cars for his, then i realize I have no idea what kind of car he drives. But then he unlocks the door to a 1997 Corvette Stingray and climbs into the drivers side. He sees me staring at the car and says jokingly, "You coming?" I blush a little and get in the passengers seat. "Sorry," I tell him, "I've never been in a car this nice." He laughs, "Well you'd better get used to it if we're gonna hang out! So where to?" he looks at me. "Uhh..." I think for a second. "Just start driving, I'll tell you where to go." "Sounds good." he says.

We pull out of the school parking lot and he starts down the road. "So..." I say, "You just moved here?" "Yea," he says, "I just moved here from LA about a week ago actually, my dad got a better job up here so we had to pack up and leave. I wasn't really too upset about leaving, too many bad memories there anyway..." His voice drifted off and his tail drooped behind him a little, but he looked over and smiled and said, "It's not to bad so far. Only had to punch one guy in the face so far!" he laughed. I looked down and blushed bright red, "You really don't have to stick up for me anymore, he is a jerk but you don't really want him as an enemy. Take a left up at this light." He pulls into the left lane. "Don't worry about it. I try not to leave my friends in a bad situation if I can. I really don't care if one asshole hates me." He turns and accelerates up the road. He had no idea how wrong he was but I just nod. I turn and look at him, he has a really fit figure, and his face is just so cute. He catches me staring at him, I get a quick glance of his beautiful green eyes like perfect emeralds. I look away and blush, he doesn't say anything but there is a tint of red in his cheeks.

After a few more minutes we finally arrive at the place I wanted to take him. It is a little bakery around the outside of town that not a lot of people know about. It's pretty great, so I lead him in and order a muffin, he orders a croissant. I pull out my wallet and pay before he can argue. "I can get the bill." he says, but I shake my head, "Don't worry, I got it." "I guess I'll get the next one." he says. My tail wags a little. "There is going to be a next one!" I think to myself excitedly. We sit down at a small table. He looks at me and finally says, "This place is really cool. Do you come here a lot?" I nod, I'm not sure what to say. Luckily he starts talking again. "We didn't have many places like this in LA, no small businesses or close community. I guess thats what I'm looking foreword to most, getting to know a bunch of people. I really like making friends, I hope I make a lot." "You shouldn't have a problem doing that, most people around here are pretty friendly for the most part." I tell him. He talks a little more about his old school and town, I am really relieved that he can talk and I can just listen. I'm not good at making conversation, but I'm a decent listener, so this could work out. He looks down at his phone. "Shute! I have to get home soon, hey I'm really sorry, my dad needs my help with something. You want a ride home?" "Sure." I say, I am a little disappointed that we have to cut our time short, but it doesn't matter, we can hang out again some other day, hopefully.

I get into the passenger seat again and he starts the car. We take the ten minute drive to my house. He pulls up to the curb, "Thanks." I tell him and start to get out of the car. "Wait!" he says, I turn around and he is blushing a lot. He quickly leans in and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. I feel a rush that I have never felt before. My tail is wagging like crazy and my face is scarlet red. I smile at him and he says, "Lets hang out again sometime, okay?" I quickly nod. He waves and drives away. I start to walk up my driveway, still feeling the rush from the kiss as I walk through my front door.

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Skylar p.o.v

"Where have you been?" The voice of my father startles me as I walk in the door. His voice is stern but his eyes are friendly. My dad is almost never home because of his job, he is always really busy, so we don't have a great relationship. But when he is, here he is pretty cool. "I was just hanging out with a friend." I say. He nods, then turns back to his work. I walk up my stairs and down the narrow, dimly lit hallway to my bedroom.

I pull out some of my school books and get started on the 1000 pounds of homework that is due tomorrow. I am about to get started when my phone buzzes, I check to see who it is, and I smile when I see it's Ryan. He said "Hey I had a really good time today. I hope we can hang out again real soon!" My tail wags a little while I read this. "Me to! Maybe we can work something out tomorrow at school." I say, "Sure!, see you then!" he says back. I have not felt this happy since when my mom was around. I think back to the last time she was with us, it has been a long time. I tear up a little bit, I'm not strong enough to deal with these emotions. But it is too late, I am remembering now, and I can't stop myself from reliving the nightmare that took place almost 5 years ago.

I was 11 years old. I had just gotten off the bus from school and was walking from the bus stop. I walked through the front door of our house into the pale green living room and yelled, "Mom, I'm home from school!" I waited, but there was no answer. "Mom?" I said again. "Are you here?" I quickly walked up the stairs to her bedroom. "She must not have heard me, she is probably on the treadmill listening to music or something." I thought to myself. I opened my parents bedroom door. "Do you know if dad will be home tonight? Because I-" I am cut short as I am hit over the head with my moms bedside lamp. I fall to the floor, blood running down the back of my head, pain throbbing and I can barely keep consciousness, but I am awake long enough to see a man in a black mask pull out a handgun and shoot my mother in the back of her head. I can't move, I am in a state of shock, and the pain is too much to handle. I see the man take our jewelry box and put it in a bag probably filled with a bunch of other valuables, and quickly walk out of the room. My moms lifeless body lies on the floor, but I can't help her. I am frozen, couldn't move if my life depended on it, but this was much worse than losing my life, I was losing the life of the person I cared most about, and it was all happening so quickly. Tears started to fall down my face as I realized she was gone.I let out a quiet sob I couldn't hold in anymore. "Mom..."

Tears are silently running down my face now. I quickly pull out my knife and let the cool blade run up my wrist. It doesn't hurt that much, but it gives me a temporary distraction to the emotional pain I am feeling right now. I look down at the hundreds of scars I left there. A thin layer of blood runs down my arm. I have to wash it out before the blood stains my fur. I jump i the shower really quickly and scrub the blood out of my white fur. Red water falls to the floor of the shower, the soap burns a lot, but it feels better than the pain of remembering what happened to my mother.

I finish up my homework and go to sleep. I am excited to see Ryan tomorrow!

My alarm sounds and I wake up. I look out the window, its still dark out. "Good." I think to myself. I open up the window and sit down on the panels of the roof, the cool wind hits my face, It is very refreshing. The suns bright light hits the horizon and I am once again mesmerized as the colors of the sun rise against the landscape it contrasts. It is a truly beautiful sight.

I get off the school bus and look around for Alex and his friends, but they are no where to be found. I smile to myself and proceed to first period. Ryan is there already. He sees me and goes a little red and waves. I wave back and sit down next to him. "Hi!" he says, his tail wagging a little. "Would you maybe want to hang out after school again? Come over to my house and study or something?" I laugh, "Sure!" I say, "But you've only been here for a day, what could you possibly need to study for!?" He smiles, "Maybe I'm just looking for a reason to hang out with you." He says quietly. I laugh again, "Sounds great! I'll see you after school!" "Cool!" He says. So are we going out or was the kiss not a big deal to him? I guess I'll find out later.

I finally got to 5th period and saw Alex, he glared at me all period. When the bell rang he didn't get up. He just kept looking at me with a deep hatred. I tried to leave as fast as possible to avoid the ass-kicking I was going to receive. Some sort of revenge for Ryan standing up for me. I'm not sure if or when it is happening, but I am scared for when it comes. Lastly is art. I start a new project today, and I know exactly what I want to do. I go over to the supply room and grab a piece of paper, chalk pastels, and a kneaded eraser. "This is going to be my best project ever!" I think to myself.

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Skylar p.o.v

I had finally gotten started on the frame of the body of the picture I was starting when the last bell rang. I scooped up my materials and put them in my locker so I could get started right away tomorrow. I had to go meet Ryan at his car so we could go to his house to study. I started walking down the hallway, there was Alex, but he didn't stop me today, he just glared. "What is up with him?" I think to myself as I walked by, avoiding eye contact. He wasn't around his friends either. Something was up. But I don't really know what, but I don't need to think about that, right now I need to think about what is happening now. I walked to the exit of the school and saw Ryan standing there. He grinned, "Hey!" he said cheerfully. "Hi!" I say back. I'm really happy to see him. I wonder if he feels the same about me. "Well, are you ready to go?" he asks. I nod and we walk over to his car.

He starts the car and turns out of the school parking lot. "So..." he said, "I kinda wanted to talk about what happened yesterday." I felt nervous, but I looked over to him and nodded. "I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I didn't even once consider how you would feel about it. I kinda just took the risk and went in. But I really want to apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable or awkward." He looked at me quickly then back at the road, so he could see the reaction to his words. I wasn't sure where he was really going with this, so I gave him a "go on" look. "All I wanted to say is I'm really sorry. I don't want to lose the one friend I've made because of something like this." He paused, "How do you feel about all of this? Can you forgive me?" I look at him. I'm really nervous now. "I..." I stutter a little. I take a deep breath and look away. "I think I really like you. I haven't had friends in a really long time and all I wanted was to find someone I feel like I can trust. I really think you could be that person. I know we don't really know each other, but I want to get to know you. Thats not something I can say about most people. So I'm happy that you did it." My face is bright red now, So is Ryan's. "Really?" he says in disbelief. "Yes." I say, I can't meet his eyes, I'm way too scared to see his reaction. But when I try to get a quick glance, he is smiling and blushing. "I'm glad to hear that." he says.

We finally get to his house and get out of the car. It seems a little weird now to meet his eyes. He knows how I feel now, but I'm not 100% sure I know how he feels about me. So we sit down at his table and do some homework. We get bored of that pretty quickly. But he had an X-Box so it wasn't hard to find something to do. He popped in a first person shooter game and we started to play. After about an hour he says, "You wanna watch a movie?" I nod and he puts an action adventure movie on that I don't know the name of. He sits down and scoots a little closer to me. About a half hour later I am starting to get kinda tired. My eyes droop and my head leans on Ryan's shoulder. I feel him take in a sharp breath, I quickly pull my head back up. "Its ok," he says and pulls me back to his body. Then he wraps his arm around my shoulder. I feel so safe in his arms, I don't feel nervous or anxious or anything. Just comfortable. I haven't felt this way in a long time.

The movie is finally over and he wants to drive me home. We go outside to his car and get in. It's late now, past sundown. We drive back to my house and he pulls up my driveway to let me out, but he doesn't open the doors. "Did you mean it when you said you were happy when I kissed you?" I nod, a little embarrassed. "Then I guess I can do this." he says, and before I can ask him what he means he pulls me in for a long passionate kiss. His lips are so warm and he tastes like peppermint. My hand finds his chest and his gently grabs the back of my head. This feeling is the best I've ever felt in my entire life. He pulls away. "Will you be my boyfriend?" He asks me. I smile the widest I ever have. "Yes!" I say quietly "I will!" He smiles and pulls me into a hug. We just hold each other for another couple of minuets. Finally we break apart and he smiles again. "I'll text you tomorrow, maybe we can hang out for a little while." I nod excitedly. "Awesome!" he says, "I'll see you tomorrow!" "Bye!" I say and get out of the car and head into my house.

I go up the stairs and go into my bedroom. I feel great, like I can do anything. But unfortunately, I still have some homework left, and it's really late. So I quickly do the homework and jump in the shower. The soap rushes down my fur and the warm water feels nice on my back. The feeling of happiness is still inside my chest. He wanted to be my boyfriend! This is real life!! It seems like a too good to be true situation, but I don't see how it couldn't be true. I step out of the shower and dry myself off. I go back to my room and lay down in my bed. I am happy, but still extremely tired. I decide to go to sleep a little early today. I can't think of a more perfect way to end the day.

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Skylar p.o.v

About two weeks later I woke up feeling great. I have a great boyfriend who would do anything for me and I would do the same. Everything is perfect. Even Alex has kept his distance, just glares and shoots dirty looks, but he hasn't done anything to me. I get myself ready for my day and go out to the bus, and go to school.

I walk over to the main doors and see a husky I haven't seen around before much... He waves at me with a friendly smile. "Hey!" He says. "Hi." I say, with a little bit of doubt. It's weird to me that people are talking to me. But I should just accept that people might not be as bad as I think they are. I look at him. He is a fitter husky, a little bigger than me and probably a lot stronger. He has white, black and grey fur that goes together very well. He is pretty cute, but I have Ryan so I don't have any feelings for him. "So I'm Zach," he says "I'm Skylar," I tell him "Do you maybe wanna do something sometime?" He asks, "I see you around but we haven't really talked." "Sure, that sounds cool!" I say. I see Ryan, he waves and jogs over. "Hey!" He greets me with a hug and a quick kiss. "Hi!" I say back with a smile. "So who's this?" He asks looking at Zach. "Oh this is Zach, we should all hang out today, it could be fun!" I say. "Sounds good!" Says Ryan, "What about you?" He says looking back to Zach. "Yea, I can do whatever." He says. "Great!" I say, "Let's all meet up here after school and we can go hang out." "Cool." Says Zach, "I'll see you guys after school."

"So what do you think?" I ask Ryan. He shrugs, "He seems cool." "Good, I think we should be friends with him, I haven't seen him much and he is never with anyone. He might not really have any friends." I say. He smiles, "You're sweet!" I blush and we walk to class hand in hand.

After school we all meet up at the front steps. "Hey guys!" Zach says, "Ready to go?" "Yep!" I say. I'm really excited for this. It has been nice getting to hang out with people recently, after years of going to school and going straight back home to repeat the cycle the next day, this was pretty cool. "So where to?" Asked Ryan looking at me and Zach for an answer. "Uh, I don't know... The mall maybe?" I say, looking for approval. "Alright." Says Zach, "What do you think?" He asks Ryan. "Let's go!" He says.

We all get in his car and go over to the mall. It's ok there, there is a food court, some stores, an arcade. The usual in a mall. We go to some stores, I get a shirt. Then we go to the arcade and play a few games, finally we go to the food court and start to go home.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow. That was really fun!" Says Zach. "Yea!" Says Ryan, "We'll definitely see you tomorrow!" I smile and nod. I am really glad they are getting along, I thought maybe Ryan would get jealous but he isn't like that. We all go home and get ready for school tomorrow. I really like Zach so far, he seems really cool and I hope we can be good friends.

Alex p.o.v. (A week earlier)

"So you see that guy walking up the stairs?" I say pointing at Skylar, "Yea." He says. "We are gonna bring him down." Alex says with a grin. "How?" He asks, "Leave that to me Zach. Leave that to me, first you gotta get to be friends with him and his friends, mainly Ryan, his boyfriend." "Uh, ok." Says Zach. "But how will that tear him down?" "Didn't I fucking tell you? Don't worry about it, I'll handle it." "Ok." He says, with a little bit of fear in his voice. "Great, now get to it." I say and he hurries towards the school. "Those little bitches are fucked now..." I grin to myself.

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It has been two weeks... Zach, Ryan and I have been hanging out a lot after school and things couldn't be better! Ryan is so sweet and caring. And Zach is great to be around, I have been able to stop cutting myself and Ryan hasn't noticed the cuts yet, which is a good thing probably, because it doesn't need to be a big deal, and knowing how much he cares it could make him upset. But he doesn't need to worry anyway because I love my life now! Instead of getting up to drag myself through a living nightmare, every day is a fun adventure!

I check the clock, it's 6:30 already, I have to go to the bus stop if I want to get to school by 6:45. I jog downstairs and grab by backpack and phone off the counter and rush out the door. I run out to the bus stop and barely catch the bus. I sit down panting as a little sweat runs down my forehead. I look at my phone. It's 6:40, awesome I'm not late.

The bus drops me off at school and I walk towards the front steps to see my friends. But when I look up the steps to see them, my heart stops. It can't be real, is it a bad dream? No, it isn't a dream, it's really happening, my knees start to wobble. I am speechless, everything I thought I knew about them was a lie. I feel sick in my stomach and really dizzy. I think I am going to pass out. I run as fast as my legs will carry me away from the school, I can feel the crying start in my chest. I finally get home. I run up to my room and bury myself in my bed. I am exhausted but I don't care right now. My eyes begin to tear up, and I start to sob. Quietly at first, but slowly my cries became louder and louder as the worst pain I have ever felt overwhelms my body, "Ryan... Zach..." I sob to myself. "Why would you do this?"

Zach p.o.v (about 6:20)

"Why do we have to torment him?" I yelled angrily at Alex, "What did he ever do to anyone?!?" "He's a faggot, isn't that reason enough?" Retorted Alex. "Are you fucking kidding? That isn't reason enough, he is probably the nicest person I have ever met!" I saw a blur and felt Alex's claws come in contact with the side of my head. I winced. "Your fucking job is to do what I tell you, so go out there and do it!!" He yelled, a menacing look on his face. I swore under my breath, I was gonna have to do it, or get killed trying to rebel against him. He knew he had me beaten and smirked to himself. I walked over to the steps and waited for Ryan.

"Hey!" He said with a wave and a smile, "Hi..." I said back. "What's wrong?" He asked noticing the nervousness in my voice, "Are you scared about the trigonometry test?" I hesitated and said "Yea, that must be it..." He smiled again, "Well don't be, you'll do great!" I smiled back and turned away, how was I going to betray him if he was such a nice guy... I scowled to myself and noticed Alex a couple of yards away, behind a tree. He looked at me, making sure I did what he told me to do. I was getting really nervous.

A few minuets later Skylar got off his bus and started walking towards the front of the school. I looked at Alex, "Do it!" He mouthed, I shook my head, "Fucking do it!!" He mouthed again. The time was now. "I'm really sorry..." I said to Ryan and I grabbed his hands. I brought them behind my head and pulled him into a kiss. He tried to pull away but I held is hands so he couldn't escape, I felt horrible. After a minute I finally let him go. Skylar wasn't here anymore. Alex nodded and walked through a side entrance into the school. I looked at Ryan, he shoved me back. "What the hell! You know I'm going out with Skylar!" I can't say anything, I have to much shame, "I can't believe you! It was Skylar who wanted to be friends with you because he felt bad that you didn't have that many friends, and this is what you do to him? You're sick!" He yelled.

He was right, I was so screwed up to do that to him, he had trusted me, and I totally betrayed him, what kind of sick fuck am I? I have to find Alex and get out of this situation. I don't care what it takes, I can't hurt them anymore than I already have.

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My alarm goes off at 5:45. I don't get up, I just hit the snooze button. My eyes are open, they have been all night, I couldn't sleep. I'm not going to watch the sun rise this morning. I flip over on my bed, the pain I was feeling yesterday hasn't gone anywhere, I still feel terrible. But I still have to get up and go to school, which starts in about an hour. I get up and go to the shower.

I turn the knobs and step into the hot water. It rolls down my back and down the drain. The warm steam from the water isn't relaxing me. I sigh and step out of the shower when a thought hits me, "No one is home to tell me what to do, so why even go to school?"

Ryan p.o.v (7:00)

I'm standing at the stairs waiting for Skylar's bus to come up. But when it finally shows up, he isn't on it. My ears droop back, I feel so bad. I don't really know how he is feeling. Probably betrayed and really upset, and I wouldn't blame him if he was really mad, he should be, but not at me. This is all Zach's fault, he did it, not me. But how does Skylar know that? He doesn't. And until I can talk to him, he won't know. I pull out my phone and send hi a quick text, "We need to talk soon, tell me where and when and I'll meet you there. We need to clear something up." I clicked the send button. I wasn't going to tell him over the phone, I need him to see that I'm really telling the truth.

I walk to first period and sit down in my usual seat. It feels so lonely without Skylar there next to me.

School goes by relatively quickly and I check my phone when the last bell rings, when I realize I left my phone in my locker. I swear under my breath and walk back to my locker. On the way back I see something around the corner. I jog over to see something I definitely wasn't expecting. It's Zach, lying on the floor with a deep cut on the side of his face and a really bloody nose. He is curled in a ball clutching his stomach, I don't know what to do. "Zach?" I say to him. No response. "Zach, can you hear me?" Still nothing. I kneel down next to him and check his pulse. He is still alive, just beat up, I take him to the school nurse.

She is packing up and getting ready to go home for the night when I walk through the door with him in my arms. She looks at me and I say, "Can you help him, he passed out or something and won't wake up. His heart is beating but he isn't responding to anything I do." She looks back at him, then me. "Ok," She says, "put him over on the bench there. Thank you for bringing him to me. Did you see what caused this?" I shook my head. "No, sorry I just found him." She nodded, well it's a good thing, he might need more help than I can provide. I'm going to call him an ambulance. You go on home, you've done all you can." I nod again. I wave, "Thank you." I say to he with a wave. She waves back goodbye and I softly pad down the hallway back home. "I wonder what happened to him." I think to myself as I walk to my car and start to drive home.

Zach p.o.v (End of school day)

The last bell finally rang and I walk out of last period. Hopefully I'll run into Ryan, I need to apologize for what happened, but I actually saw the last person I wanted to see. Alex was standing at the front steps waiting for me. I stepped up to him and he said, "Good job dumbass, now we start the next part of my plan." I just looked at him, totally speechless. "Are you fucking serious?! You want me to further hurt them?! Well I'm done, I don't care what you do, I'm done with this." I turn to walk away. "You're not going anywhere." He said and pulled me back into the school. I tried to pull away but he was too strong for me.

We rounded another corner and he pushed me to the ground. "You aren't backing out." He said as he stood over me. "Y-yes I am." I stuttered, "You can't stop me." He smiled, "Oh I can't?" He asked, "Do you really want to mess with me?" I didn't say anything. I stood my ground and tried to stare him down. He laughed. I barely saw his fist fly by as it hit me in the head. I feel dizzy and I stumble over against a wall, but that wasn't the end of it, he lunged over and kept hitting me. My whole body hurts but I am having a hard time staying conscience, finally I just let go.

I wake up later in a hospital room. I look around, a little dazed and really sore, but other than that I guess I am fine. I wonder how I got here, and really where I am. I just realized I have no idea. It couldn't have been Alex, why would he do that. I'll have to figure it out later, a nurse walks in the room.

She gives me a warm smile. "Hello." She says, "It's good to see you're awake, but you need rest." I nod, "Thank you." I say. She walks out of the room and I try to go back to sleep so I can leave as soon as possible. But I see my phone has a couple of messages from Ryan, I smile and unlock my phone.

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Skylar p.o.v

I don't know what to think anymore. How could my two only friends just turn on me like that? Especially Ryan, he seemed so loyal, so trustworthy. Not anymore. I wasn't angry with either of them, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, but angry wouldn't describe the way I think about all of this. I don't know how to handle it either, I miss both of them really badly, but they hurt me. I'm just confused at the moment.

I pace around my room trying to figure out what I have to do. I can't think of anything, figures, I never really was the greatest at solving problems. But I knew I would have to stand strong this time. I had to clear things up with my friends.

Ryan p.o.v

I walked up the front steps of the hospital and went into Zach's room. He looked at me as I walked in, and looked away quickly in shame. "I'm so sorry..." He said quietly, "I'm here as your friend Zach. You don't need to apologize." I said softly. "But what happened?" I asked, I want to know what put him in the hospital. He took a deep shaky breath. "Someone made me do it..." He said. "What are you talking about?" I asked, "Please just listen, I need to tell you what happened." He pleaded, he was on the verge of tears and I didn't want to cause him any more pain. I nodded. "Alex set me up to ruin you and Sky, at first he just had me hanging around you guys, I figured he would want me to get an embarrassing secret or something from Skylar and I would tell him so he wouldn't beat me up. But then he wanted me to really fuck with you guys and tear your relationship apart. I told him I was done helping him but he threatened me and I had to do it. You have to know how sorry I am, I swear I didn't want to hurt you guys, after I got to know you I couldn't stand to help Alex anymore. But I couldn't back out, so I had to do what he said." I listened to him and didn't say anything. I was seething with rage, not at Zach, but Alex and myself, I should've seen something like this coming after what happened in the hall that day. He was going to get his revenge against me, and for some reason, attack Skylar too. But Zach continued, "After I kissed you I went to Alex and told him I was done. I wouldn't help him anymore. So he took me back to the end of the school, where no one was around as the rest is kinda a blur." I nodded at him. It wasn't his fault, I'm so relieved to know, almost for sure that he wasn't lying. I don't think he would make all that up... But I realize something much more important. Skylar needs to hear this.

Zach p.o.v

After the second time telling the story I was emotionally exhausted. It didn't take very long for Skylar to get down to the hospital. Ryan called him and told him I was in the hospital and he needed to come down. He didn't really argue. As I told him what happened he seemed shocked that someone else was responsible for all that happened, but he kept his cool. "I can't think of the words to describe how sorry I am, and I know I can't make you, but I'd really like to be friends again." I looked at him, awaiting and answer. His face is blank. He slowly walks towards me and Ryan and pulled us in for a hug. I feel him shuddering and he started to cry. "I'm so sorry for everything you had to put up with." He sobbed to me. I can't help but tear up as he said this. It is unbelievable how sympathetic he is. He then turns to look at Ryan. Who is having trouble not crying along with us. He looked into Skylar's eyes. "I missed you..." He said quietly, choking back tears. Skylar hugged us tighter. I felt so happy when I realized that Alex wouldn't be finished with me. But until I have to confront him, I will just stay happy for a while. But I can't help but imagine the hell that is going to be unleashed upon me when I walk back into school. "Can't fucking wait" I think to myself.

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Ryan p.o.v

I waited at the front of the school for Skylar. We had sort of cleared things up yesterday but I never got a chance to talk with him one on one about it. I still have to apologize and tell him how I feel about us, I want him to know how much he means to me. I start to think of how I am going to do that when his bus pulls up. I know it has been a couple of months, but every time I see him he takes my breath away. His perfect figure and beautiful coat of soft white fur. I can't help but stare every time I see him. As if his looks weren't enough, he is by far the sweetest wolf, or any animal for that matter, I've ever met in my entire life.

"Hi." he says, I'm not sure how he's feeling, the tone of his voice seems like he's still a little upset. I try to look through him, see whats going on in his head, but it doesn't do anything. I try to be positive. "Hey!" I say my tail wagging, "How are ya' feeling?" He shrugs, "I don't know," he says, "Im worried about Zach." I try to smile, "He'll be alright, I'm sure of it! He's pretty strong, I think he'll bounce back from this one." He smiles a little, "Yea, I guess... Can we go to the hospital to see him after school?" He asks. "Of course we can." I say, "Whatever you want." He grins, "Whatever I want? I'll have to keep that in mind!" He says with a smirk and a quick wink. I laugh and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm sure you will Sky." I say, I grab his hand and lead him down the hallway to first period.

Skylar p.o.v

After first period I quickly went through the next few classes. I don't have any trouble in them, just take notes, study a little and move on. But then comes fifth period. As I sit down Alex comes over to my desk and leans over me. "You're next." He whispers in my ear. "And if you even think about telling your boyfriend, I'll make sure he suffers worse than you will." And with that he walks away. My eyes widen with fear, but I don't dare to turn around. I don't want him to see me scared, but he probably already knows I am. I think about telling someone, but I know he isn't lying, he will make people I care about suffer. After class I slowly get up and Alex is at the door. "Don't forget to watch your back." He says bitterly. My legs wobble. I'm really nervous, and I know this is exactly what he wants, not only to hurt me, but strike fear into me, as far as I know, for no reason. But I don't know what he's thinking.

It's difficult to focus on the rest of the day after that. But finally art class comes, I reach for my nearly completed picture. I gaze upon it, mostly satisfied with how it's turning out. I work on some shading around the face and try to make it seem realistic. It's turning out pretty well, some stuff still needs work, but it'll get there by the end of the year.

The last bell finally rings ad I rush out to the front of the school to see Ryan. He meets up with me and we walk out to his car. "Ready to go?" He asks, I nod, I'm a little anxious to see Zach. We climb into his car and head for the hospital. We don't talk on the way there, we are both to worried. I just hope Ryan is right and Zach can just bounce back from this. But I don't know how easy that'll be with Alex after him as soon as he comes back to school. It seems so hopeless for him, I have to find a way to help him. Ryan and I could figure something out, we'll make sure he is safe.

As we pull up I unbuckle my seatbelt and try to open the door, but Ryan puts his hand on my leg and looks into my eyes. "Can we talk for a sec?" He asks, I'm a little confused but I nod and readjust myself in the seat to look at him. He takes a deep breath. "I just want to say I'm really sorry about what's happened. I never really got the chance yesterday, and I just want you to know how important you are to me." He takes my hands in his and slides his hands up my arms and onto my shoulders, but then he stops short. He quickly grabs my arm, pushes some of my fur out of the way, and looks down at my wrist. He must have felt something on my wrist. My heart is pounding in my chest, and I look up at him. Tears are rolling down his cheeks and falling onto his seat. "I-I..." He is at a loss for words. When suddenly he pulls me in and hugs me tightly. I don't even hesitate for a second and hug him back, tears now forming in my eyes as well. "I'm so sorry!" He sobs, "When did this happen?" He pulls away and looks into my eyes, demanding an answer. "It's been happening for a long time." I tell him quietly. "When did it happen last?" He asks, he is so worried, I immediately feel bad for making him feel this way. "I-it doesn't matter." I say. "Please just tell me. I need to know." He whimpers. I look away, "Two days ago after I saw you and Zach." He moans and buries his head into his arms. He is shaking, and I hear small cries from him. I can't even look at him this way, it's all my fault. I can't make him feel like this. "I'm so sorry." I say to him. "You don't have to worry, I won't do it ever again." He looks up. "How can't I be worried?" He asks, tears matting down the fur around his eyes, "Your the most important thing to me in the whole world. What if I'd lost you?" I didn't know what to say. I just hugged him. "Please don't hurt yourself anymore..." He pleads as he wraps his arms around me. "Please..." I bury my muzzle into his neck. "I promise." I whisper to him.

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Zach p.o.v

A chill rides up my spine. I can't see, but I can hear, and deep breath taken in right behind me. I feel uneasy, something is very wrong. A claw gently touches my back, I tense up. Fear runs through my body. I try to speak, No sound comes out. I can barely think, what do I do? I take a weak step away, only to but struck down. My body is sprawled along the ground, still blind, still confused.

Suddenly I can see, it's Alex standing over me. "You should have just done what I said. It wouldn't have ended like this." With that he pulled out a gun and put it to my forehead. I try to cry out for help but I can't. Tears stream down my face, realizing there is nothing I can do, I just wait for it to come. He pulls the trigger.

I bolt upright in the hospital bed, covered in a nervous sweat. My heart is beating against my chest. I take a deep breath, "it wasn't real," I reassure myself quietly, "it was just another nightmare..." I bury my head in my arms. Over the past couple of days I realized how scared I was. He is so relentless, I have no idea what he can do to me. I shudder, the doctor said I would be able to be back in school in a few days. Maybe I should talk to my parents, no. They would never listen, even if they listened, there wouldn't be any change. They don't care about me. Probably would be relieved if Alex just finished me off. They didn't even come to see if I was ok, the doctor said I'd be fine to them when he called, they said to call them when I needed to be picked up. Figures, but Ryan and Skylar have been over every single day. Checking up on me, keeping me company, just being great friends. They are the family I never had.

I looked over at the clock. 1:30am, too early to try to text anyone. I laid back down and looked at the ceiling and sighed. How am I going to get out of this?

Ryan p.o.v

I can't sleep, I'm too worried. Zach is going to have to face Alex, which is going to be a disaster. But whatever happens, I'll make sure he isn't alone. But now Skylar. How could I have been so dumb? I have been with him for almost two months, didn't ever notice. I should have realized the day Alex was tormenting him, and I stood up for him. He must have been putting up with that for months, maybe even years. I felt so proud, for being there for him. But now I know what he was dealing with, and I couldn't help him. Now I'm here for him, and I'm going to make sure he never feels unhappy again. I sigh to myself. I feel tempted to go over to his house to see how he's doing. But when I look over to my phone, it's about 2am. I swear under my breath. Guess I shouldn't wake him up to see how he's feeling. I'll talk to him tomorrow at school.

Skylar p.o.v

My eyes opened when the sun shone through the window onto my face. I sat up in my bed and looked around for my phone. I grabbed it off my bedside table and unlocked the screen. It was about 5:45, I had to get ready to go to school. I wouldn't normally be nervous about this, but what Alex said kind of put me in a nervous and scared mindset. Finally I stepped out of my bed and started to get ready for the day.

When the bus finally pulled up to the school I scanned the front steps for Ryan, sure enough he was there. His tail wagged a little when he saw me step off the bus. He jogged over to me. I smiled as he pulled me in close. "I missed you." He said quietly. I looked up at him, he looked tired. He glanced down at me and placed a kiss on the top of my head. He smiled warmly, I blushed. He put his arm around me and we walked inside.

Ryan p.o.v

I feel so happy with Skylar next to me. I want to feel this way all the time. I looked at him, his fur brushing against mine, it feels so... Natural, like he was supposed to be there. "How are you feeling?" I ask him, he looks up at me. "Is this about yesterday?" He asks back. He knows why I'm asking him, there is no point in denying it. "Yea." I say. He sighs, "Please, just don't." He says. "I'm fine, I told you not to worry." I frown a little. "But- " I try to say, but he stops me. "I'm fine Ryan." He says. "You're back now, so everything's ok." I smile again. "I just don't want to lose you." I say quietly. "And you won't." He replies. I look away, "I'm sorry." I say to him. He laughs a little, "You don't have to apologize," he says with a smile, "I just don't want you to worry." I smile back, he's probably right. If he doesn't want me to push it, then I won't.

Skylar p.o.v

First period is over, Ryan waves goodbye and we continue with the school day. Fifth period comes along, I'm really scared to even imagine what gonna happen when I walk through the door, but Alex isn't here today. I am relieved, but at the same time, I'm wondering where he could be. As long as it is as far away from me as possible, I don't care.

Art is last, I pull out my project. It is nearly finished. Just finishing up the blending, and a couple of minor touch ups. My art teacher walks by and stops at my picture. "Wow" he says as his eyes scan over my picture. I allow him to look and he steps in closer. "This is phenomenal." He says. I blush and turn back toward the project. My art teacher is a handsome black dog, no one really knows what breed, probably a mix of lots of breeds, but he says he is unique because of it. "There is a little show going on that I know about. I would love to put this in. If that's ok with you. You will get it back after the show." He says, looking at me for an answer. "I- that sounds cool." I say, "will you send me the address of where it will be?" I ask. He nods, "Thank you," he says, "this is gonna turn a lot of heads. Might even win a prize." I look back down at it, smiling. I feel proud of what I've done. But I have to have it finished then, so I get back to work. He watches me for a while and walks away. I wonder if he recognized Ryan in the picture.

Ryan p.o.v

The last bell finally rang. I couldn't wait to see Skylar again, I half ran to the front steps when I was suddenly stopped. A hand had found its way to my shoulder and spun me around. It was Alex, I was a little nervous but I was about to punch him in the face again when he smiled. "Easy, buddy." he said cooly, "I'm not here to fuck with you." I snarl at him, "Don't call me buddy, we aren't friends." I say with a scowl. He chuckles, "Hey, I'm just trying to warn you." He says, I am taken aback, "Warn me about what, you? I could take you any day." I say with a fair amount of confidence. "Oh I know you can," he says with a small glint in his eye, "But Sky can't." I am stunned, he is right, so as long as I care about him, I really can't do anything. He knows he has me beaten, "Also remember, I have some other friends who would be more than willing to help me out. Seven is stronger than one." He looks at me, I am helpless, but I don't show it, or at least I try not to show it. But he leaves it at that, I don't know what to do. I have to be able to protect Skylar, and Zach for that matter, I'm sure he's not finished with him either. But for now I have to meet up with Skylar. We are going to study for a test and hang out a little before school tomorrow.

I finally get to the front of the steps and he is waiting for me. He perks up when he sees me and walks over. "Hey!" he says cheerfully, "Hi." I say back. "What was keeping you so long? I thought you forgot about me." he joked, I laughed, "No, just had to go to my locker." I lied. "So are you ready to go?" He asked me. I nodded and we walked over to my car, and started the drive to my house. We walked in and went up to my room. He pulled out some books and I groaned. He laughed, "What, isn't this why we came here?" He asked playfully. "Come on!" I moaned, "I was just at school for like eight hours! Don't you wanna relax?" He grinned, "Maybe." he said with a smile. I walked over to him and pulled him into a kiss, he melted into my arms, it felt so great, having him with me now. I pulled away from the kiss. "I-I love you." I said to him quietly. He blushed bright red and smiled really wide. "I love you too!" he said, his tail thumping on my bed behind him. I pulled him in for a hug, when something caught my eye. I let him go and looked into my doorway, my heart stopped. Someone was standing there, someone had seen everything, someone I did not want to find out about this. "Ryan?" said my father.

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Skylar p.o.v

I pace around my room. I have no idea what is going to happen with Ryan. After his dad saw us, he did not look happy. Ryan thought it would be best if I left, so he gave me a quick car ride home. I'd walk, but his house is like ten miles from my house. Just a quick fifteen minute car ride on the highway. It felt like an hour. He was so nervous, he didn't talk the whole way to my house, his hands firmly gripped the steering wheel and he was shaking a little. He didn't even bother trying to be upbeat, he was scared. An. After seeing the look on his dad's face, I would be too. When he dropped me off he looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "Whatever happens..." He pauses and looks away, "it's not your fault." And before I have a chance to ask him what he means he drives away. So now I am just waiting in my room for him to call me or text me or something, but so far nothing. It has been a little over a half hour. I have nothing to do but wait, so I text Zach. He responds relatively quickly. "Wanna come to the hospital? They said I should be able to leave tonight." I glance outside, it's not that bad out, then I look at the clock, it's only 4:30. "I'll be over in 20." I tell him as I grab my jacket and walk out the door.

The hospital isn't really far from my house. I would drive there, but I don't have a car, and no one taught me how to drive, with my dad gone all the time, and my mom passed away when I was too young. So I can't really drive. But I have my bike from a couple of years ago, that's the best I've got. So I'd better get going.

Ryan p.o.v

I closed my car door, and nervously walked up to the front door of my house. I opened the door, my dad was waiting for me. He didn't calm down in the time it took me to get Skylar home. I figured that he'd still be furious. He looked at me from across the hallway. I was getting anxious. "What?!" I yelled. "What do you want!?" He scowled at me. "Don't fucking talk to me that way!" He roared "I want you to stop fucking around with boys! You are a boy, so fucking act like it!" I am furious now. "You can't tell me who I love!" I yelled back, "You can't control my life!" He quickly walked towards me. "I can absolutely tell you that you will not love that faggot! That's not what love is, this is a house of God! Men love women! That is what the bible says, so that is it!" I can't hold it back anymore, "Listen up you intolerant asshole! I am so fucking tired of you telling me what's right and what's wrong! I can make decisions for myself! And I will love whoever the fuck I want to, because you can't stop me!" He swings his claws around and hits me in the side of my head. "Get the fuck out of my house." He growls. "Don't let me see you here ever again." I turn around and storm out of the house. He slams the door behind me. I get in my car and speed out of the driveway to Skylars house. The pain in my head starts to register, and I realize that I have no home, no family. I blink the tears out of my eyes and keep going. I finally reach Skylars house and I knock on the door. No answer. I knock again. Still nothing, so I pull out my phone and text him. "Where are you?" I ask him. "With Zach." He says. "I'm coming to see you guys." I tell him and get back in my car to go over to the hospital.

Zach p.o.v

"Ryan is coming now." Skylar says to me. He is worried about Ryan. And so am I, it seems like none of us can catch a break, me and Skylar with Alex, and now Ryan with his dad. We just wait a couple of minutes for him to get here. I look over at Skylar, "Are you ok?" I ask him, he looks over at me and puts on a weak smile, "Yea, I'm fine." He says, "I'm just worried about you guys." I nod. He must be so stressed. Ryan walks into the room. Skylar runs over to him and hugs him tightly. "Are you ok?" I ask him. He takes a shaky breath. "Yea, but he kicked me out." He said with a sigh. Skylar gasped. "B-b-but..." Ryan looked at him and cut him short. "It's ok, I hated him anyways." "Where will you stay?" I ask him. He shrugs, "Dunno I guess." "You can stay with me if you want." Skylar says. "Will it be ok with your parents?" He asks, "They aren't around." Skylar says and looks down. "Why not?" I ask. He looks at me with a tinge of sadness in his eyes, "My dad has a lot of travel for work, and my mom has... passed on." He says, holding back tears. "Oh, I'm so sorry for bringing it up, I didn't mean to-" he stops me. "It's ok." He says with a small smile. "So will you?" He asks Ryan again. "Sure, that sounds great." Ryan says with a smile.

After a little while, they leave to get Ryan set up in Skylars house. And my parents come pick me up to take me home. They don't say much to me, I don't know why they don't like me. I try to make them proud of me but they don't care, they never have. When we get home I just go up to my room. "Great to have you home." My dad says just loud enough for me to hear. "Great to be home." I mutter, but right now, the only thing I can think about is what is going to happen to me when I go to school tomorrow. I won't deny I'm scared out of my mind. But it's something I have to do. And I'll have to deal with it on my own. No, I won't. I have Ryan and Skylar now. They will help me, or at least I hope they will, because if not, I'm out of options, and on that happy note I turn out my light.

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Skylar p.o.v

I got up for school and walked over to the bathroom to get a quick shower, but when I got there I heard the water water was already running. "Ryan must already be in there..." I think to myself, I'm about to walk away when I hear something else coming from the room. It's Ryan, singing softly to himself. I am surprised, I've never heard him sing, but he is really talented. I lean against the wall and listen to him sweetly sing the lyrics to a song I don't know. When he finally finishes the song and steps out of the bathroom he jumps back in surprise. "God Skylar! I thought you were still asleep." He said, I smiled, "Why didn't you tell me you could sing?" I asked him. He blushed "You heard that!?" He yelled, not angry, just embarrassed. I laughed a little, "You sound fantastic! Why are you hiding that kind of talent?" He shrugged and smiled shyly. "Never really thought I was any good." I smiled at him, "You're amazing." He looked away, but I knew he was really happy. Suddenly an idea came into my head, "You should sing at the spring kick-off!" I said, he looked at me again, "What is that?" he asked, I had forgotten he hasn't been here very long. "It's like a big school event before spring break starts." I explained, "It's a lot of fun and they let people do stuff on stage and have a good time!" He laughs a little, "I don't know Sky..." He says, "Pleeease!" I beg, "For me!" He sighs, "Maybe, I'll have to think about it." I smile at him, "You should, you're really good." I say. He smiles back.

We got ready for school, which was pretty much like any other day, and finally drove over to the school. The ride was kind of quiet, I think Ryan is still a little upset about being kicked out. From what I'd heard before it happened, his dad seemed like a cool guy. But he obviously had no tolerance and didn't want Ryan to be a part of his family, but I don't know how it's affecting Ryan. He is so independent, he doesn't really tell me how he feels, but I don't want to pry answers out of him if he doesn't feel comfortable telling me, it's his choice. I look over at him, he looks back and smiles. I don't know what to think. But maybe I can try to fix it.

Zach p.o.v

I walked through the doors of school, looking over my shoulder for Alex, I am scared, but I'll never let him know it. I can't give him that kind of power over me. I still feel stiffness all over my body, I'll need to readjust to walking around again, I'm a little sore, but not hurt enough to get out of school. Even if I was my parents would probably send me anyway, I don't know what their problem is. I have tried so hard to make them proud of me, and they never care. That's really why Alex scares me, he can do whatever he wants, and they won't care enough to get involved. He could just kill me, and they probably wouldn't notice for a couple of days.

But that doesn't matter now. I've got my friends back, they have forgiven me for the horrible things I've done and they have my back now, and I have theirs. But I don't have to worry about that now because I haven't seen Alex and I got to first period, a class we don't share. I let out a quick sigh of relief. I'm safe for now.

Ryan p.o.v

We pull up the school's parking lot and get out of the car. We walk up the steps in silence, I'm glad for the quiet, I really need to think through what has happened to my life in the past few days. I lost my family and moved in with Skylar. Not what I thought was going to happen this week... I'm so lucky to have him, he let me stay with him in his time of need. I never want to go back to my dad, he was horrible and now he is in the past, I don't have to deal with him anymore. I need to look at this positively, it's all a good thing, and it's all happening for a reason. I'm not sure what I believe in, but I do believe everything happens for a reason. I look over at Skylar, he seems deep in thought also. We keep walking to class. Out of no where Skyler gives me a kiss and looks into my eyes. "I love you." He says, I smile a little, I pull him in for a hug, "Love you too," I say, "I'll never let go." He hugs back. I grip him tighter, he is my family now, and I couldn't be happier.

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Skylar p.o.v

I hopped on the bus feeling anxious. I was gonna do something really stupid and I was really nervous. But I was determined to do it, I needed to help Ryan. I could tell he missed being with his dad, even though he said he was a jerk. He had told me before about all the stuff he did with his dad, if it was fixing some old car or just watching a football game, they were close. Which is what I'm gonna tell his dad.

The bus dropped me off about a half mile away from the house. I was getting a worse and worse feeling about this, but I go anyway, I can't see Ryan this sad anymore, I know he hides it, but I heard him the other day in his room crying softly, I didn't want him to be embarrassed but I knew I had to try to do something. I looked at the stone path before me and looked at the familiar house it lead to. I'd been here many times and this probably isn't the most nervous I've been walking up this path, but with every step I wanted to turn back. I know something is going to go wrong, but I keep going. I look at the big brown door before me, hesitate for a second, and finally knock on the door. I wait and the door slowly opens. I see Ryan's father, I wasn't expecting what I saw.

He looked tired, like he hadn't slept in days, his eyes red from crying and he looked like part of him had just been ripped away from him. "Hello." He said to me, quietly and sadly. "Hello," I said back, "can I talk to you about something?" He nodded, "Please, come in." I followed him through the hallway to a living room. "Sit down, you don't need to be so nervous." He said, I looked at him, "How can you tell I'm nervous?" I asked him, he let a small smile show on his face, "You're shaking." He said "Can I get you something?" I was indeed shaking, I tried to calm down and sat down, "No, thank you." I said. He sat down in a chair across from me. "Before you say anything," he says to me, "I just want to say that I regret every word I said to him." I nod, "Well he doesn't know I'm here" I say, "I was actually coming to see if you'd want to have him back home. He has been upset and I think he misses you." He looked down, "My little Ryan..." He said to himself. He looked back at me, "Please tell him that he can always live here and that I love him." I know he is genuinely sorry, "I'll definitely tell him." I say, he nods back to me. "Thank you."

After I left I was happy, Ryan was going to be happy again, and his happiness is all that matters to me. I walked back to the bus stop and waited, I checked my phone while I was waiting, I had a few messages from Ryan, mostly the just said where are you? I replied, "I'm coming home now, don't worry." He answered back immediately. "Ok, I'll see you when you get home." I put my phone back in my pocket, I'm really excited to see how happy Ryan will be.

Zach p.o.v

I sat at the dinner table quietly while my parents are talking about a dinner party they are going to tonight. I wait for them to stop talking. When they finally do I look over to my parents, "Uhh... Guys?" I say they look over at me, "I kinda have this problem at school and I was wonderi-" my dad cuts me off. "Are you getting picked on?" He asks. "Kind of," I say, "I'm just-" he groans, "Look son, you need to man up and face this on your own." I look over to my mom, she is on her phone. Probably didn't hear any of what I tried to say. I try to hold it in, but I've put up with this for too long. "Can you guys just help me for once?!" I half yell, "I ask you for one thing, and it's like you don't even care!" My mom looks up, "Watch your tone!" She says, my father glares at me, "We are trying to help you," he says, I look at him, astounded, "Are you kidding?" I ask, "I can't think of one time you have been there for me, can you?" He looks stumped, "I'm done." I say. I get up from the table and walk out the front door. I turn around and look through the window, neither of them has moved. But I'm not going to stop, I'm just gonna keep going, but where? I think for a minute, then I remember, my cousin lives in the next town over, I'll just take the bus and see if I can stay there for a while. I see the bus pulling up to the stop. I jog over and get on, I am surprised to see Skylar on the bus, he doesn't see me, he is looking at his phone. I walk over to the seat next to his, I tap on his shoulder, he looks up. "Oh hey!" He says with a smile. "Hey!" I say back, "What are you doing on the bus?" I ask. "Just had to take care of something." He says, "what about you?" "I just walked out on my parents, I couldn't take them not listening and not helping anymore, so I'm going to my cousins house." He looked at me, "I'm sorry, well if you ever need anywhere to stay, you can stay with me." He said. "Seems like everyone wants to leave home and live with me." He says, we laugh at this for a minute. "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind!" I say. The bus stops, Skylar gets up. "Well, good luck!" He says. I'll see you at school if not before then!" "Thanks! See ya later!" I say and he gets off the bus and walks to his house. I wait by myself now for the driver to get to the stop at the end of town, when we get there I thank him and get off the bus. I am almost at my cousins house.

When I finally get there I knock on the door, he opens it up, "Hey cuz!" He says, "What's going on?" "Hi, I say "I'm sorry about not calling or anything, I was hoping I could sleep here for a while." He looked confused, "Why?" He asked, "Because my parents don't help me with anything and they don't listen, I'm just so tired of it." He nods, "I understand. Well you can stay here as long as you like." He says. "Thank you so much," I say "I owe you one." He grins. I follow the husky into another bedroom. "You can stay in here." He says, "Thanks again!" I say as he walks out. It's not the nicest house, but he's only in college, and I'm not complaining, he has been close with me for a long time, and I'm glad he's letting me stay. I lie down in the bed and try to fall asleep, I wonder what my parents are doing, probably leaving for that dinner party or whatever they were going to do tonight. Not gonna let their son leaving ruin their good time. I sigh, I just want them to care.

Ryan p.o.v

I'm getting nervous, Skylar has been. Gone for like 45 minutes and he didn't tell me when he left, or where he was going or anything. At that moment he walked through the door, "Hi!" He said, he sounded excited, "Hi." I said, "where were you?" His ears folded back, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I went and talked to your dad!" "You what!" I said astonished, "And he wants you to come home!" I look at him, the smile on his fave slowly goes away, his tail stops wagging. "What's wrong?" He asks, "Don't you wanna go back?" "No!" I say, "I don't! The things he said and did are unforgivable!" Skylar looked sad, "But he is really sorry, and you guys were so close. I think you should give him another chance." He says. "I don't care if he's sorry and I don't care if you think I should give him another chance! You didn't hear the things he said! Why would you go talk to him?" "I just thought you were sad... I wanted to see you happy again." "I just don't understand why you would do it after I told you how much I hate him!" I shouted, Skylar was getting a little angry, "You don't have to yell, it's not helping." He said, "I don't need your help, I can do this on my own!" I said back. He looked shocked, "I can't believe you, always trying to be the stronger person, but you have to understand you need help!" He yelled "And that's all I'm trying to give you! But if you don't want it... Fine. You don't need me, and I guess that's it." He said quietly, "Did we just break up?" I asked him quietly. He looked at me, "I don't know Ryan. I'm just... so mad at you right now." I nodded, "Well, I guess that's it then." I said. And with that, I walked out the door of his house, and got into my car. I leaned my head on the steering wheel and cried, I couldn't help it. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt more hopeless than ever before, I started the car and drove away, and as I passed Skylars' house, I saw tears in his eyes as he watched me through his window. I pulled into the parking lot of a 24 hour pharmacy and parked there for the night. I'll try to sleep and I'll figure out the rest tomorrow, when I can think clearly, because right now, I just feel a numb emptiness. I curl up in the backseat, tears still soaking the fur near my eyes, and fell asleep.

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Ryan p.o.v

It has been about 3 days since Skylar and I broke up, but it feels like its been a year since I've held him. I just want this nightmare to be over, I know its my fault we aren't together, I made a stupid decision to walk out on him. I shouldn't have, he just wanted to help, and I was a jerk. I sigh, but I still have to go to school. I turn on up my car and start the lonely drive to the school.

I finally pull into the parking lot and step out of the car. The cool breeze of winter hits me in the face as I walk inside. I see Zach over at the front waiting for me and Skylar, I walk over to him. He turns around, "Hey!" he says cheerily, "Hi." I say, not bothering to hide the sadness in my voice, he hears it. "What's wrong?" he asks, "Did something happen?" I take a deep breath, "Yea," I say, "I broke up with Skylar." Zach looked stunned, "Why!?" he asked quickly, "I thought you guys were happy together!" I looked down at my feet and tried toehold back the tears, but I couldn't stop myself from sobbing quietly, "You're right..." I said through tears, "We were happy, but I fucked the whole thing up." I felt Zach's arms around me, and I hugged him back, "It's ok." He said, "You can fix it." I paused "How?" I asked him, "Well," he started, "He was telling me about you being a singer, maybe you can do something with that." I started thinking, and I remembered the thing he was talking about at the school, a spring kick off or something. That could be the answer... or at least help me find one. "Yea..." I said, "That could work, do you know anyone who could help me?" I asked him, he smiled, "I might know a few people..."

After that little talk with Zach I felt like I had a chance to get Skylar back, I might not have completely screwed myself over, I could still make things right. I was walking to class when I saw Alex out of the corner of my eye, he was just watching me walk down the hall. I tried not to start a conversation of make eye contact. It worked, he just let me pass, I don't really know how to handle him, he seems threatening, but he hasn't acted on anything he has said to me, I mean, he put Zach into the hospital, which is a huge deal, but he threatened Skylar and I a while ago, and he hasn't even said anything to me, or Skylar as far as I know. I pass by a school bulletin board, I quickly scan it for any other info about this spring kick off, there is a sign.

"Come and start spring right!"

Bring your friends and family to a fun concert,

featuring the talent of the students at school!

Location: East Parking Lot

Date: March 9th, 2015

Sign up today!

I pull the flyer down and stuff it in my pocket, this might be the best way to show Sky how I feel. It'll be more people than I've ever sung in front of before, but I won't care about everyone else in the crowd, just the most special wolf in the world. I guess I'd better get to work on this, it has to be perfect.

Skylar p.o.v

I can't get over this, he was so perfect, and I tried to make him do what I thought was best for him, but I forgot that what he does with his family isn't my decision, it's his, and it was wrong of me to try to force him back to his dad. I can't cry anymore, my body won't even produce tears, I guess I've used all of them. But I didn't feel like I was mentally well enough to go to school without breaking down, especially considering I have class with him. I'm not ready to face him yet, not after what happened. It hurts to even think about him, I have never been good at fixing my problems, I have no idea if there is even a way out of this one, but I want to step up for once and take charge, finally resolve something I've started. But it's hard to do that when your whole world turns upside down, I might be being a little overdramatic, but he was pretty much the only one who understood me. I really don't want to lose him completely, and there might still be time to get him back.

It's the first time in a while I've felt the urge to cut myself again, just to distract myself from my emotional pain, but I think better of it, I made a promise to Ryan and I am going to try my hardest to keep it. I feel my heart beating, as I sit alone in my room, just thinking about what used to be, but thinking about the past isn't going to fix my problems in the present, I have to figure out a way to pull myself out of this, and I think I might know how.

Zach p.o.v

I can't stop thinking about Ryan and Skylar not being together anymore, this can't last, I have to help them get back together. Ryan obviously wants to get back with Skylar, and Sky's evidently not here, probably didn't want to see Ryan, I don't know if he's angry or sad. I still don't really know what happened. When suddenly my train of thought is interrupted.

Alex is walking alongside me, I am feeling terrified on the inside, but I refuse to show him how scared of him I am. "If you're friends with Skylar," he begins, "I'd definitely watch out for him at the spring kick off, you never know who might be after him." he laughed and then walked away from me. Despite my inner fears, I reached an arm out and stopped him from leaving. "Why?" I asked him quietly, "Why do you do this to him? What has he done to you?" He turned around and tried to stare me down, but I refused back down. I just looked back at him, a sad questioning look in my eyes. He sighed, but it wasn't sarcastic, I heard sadness in his voice. I couldn't feel bad for him after everything he had done to me and my friends, but I was finding it difficult not to have sympathy for him, after looking into his eyes, I can see the pain he must have gone through. After a moment, he broke our eye contact, he tried to speak, but he didn't say anything, he just slowly walked away. I didn't try to stop him this time. I couldn't move this time, I was stunned. I never even stopped to consider the fact that he might be so horrible because of his own problems, some people are just bad at handling it. Maybe he just needs help... Maybe, I can help.

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Alex p.o.v

The words rang in my ears. "Why?" I balled my paws into fists and punched my bedroom wall. It hurt, but I could barely feel it, I just kept hitting the wall, tears rolling down my fur. "Why do I do it to him? Why am I such a horrible person?" I think to myself, it isn't Skylar, or Ryan, or Zach. It's me, I'm the one at fault. But I can't stop myself from being a bad person, it's all I am.

I look down at my paws, they're bleeding. I swear to myself and try to find something to stop the bleeding. I pad down the hall softly, my tail drooping between my legs, tears still slowly falling off my face. I finally find a bandage and begin to wrap them around the gashes on my paws. I wince when I see how deep they are, I might need to go to a doctor. I sigh, it's funny how much pain I cause to everyone, including myself. Especially my parents, I remember the day they split up so well.

I was 10 years old, my parents were fighting again and I was in my room, afraid of what they were going to do to each other. I listened at the door, trying desperately to pick up what they were saying. I couldn't quite make it out, I snuck out of my room and over to the stairs, trying to be as quiet as I could. I tip-toed down the stairs and stood just out of eyesight of my parents, but I could hear them now. They were talking about a lot of things I didn't understand at the time, but the last thing my dad said before he walked out was, "It's all that stupid kids fault! Our marriage was fine before he showed up, but now everything is different and, I'm leaving you because of him!" I was stunned, I didn't know what I'd done wrong, but it was my fault, that was clear. "You don't think I know that?!" Came the voice of my mother, "I didn't want him, same as you! He ruined our relationship, but you can't leave me because of him!" She yelled, "Watch me." He barked. I silently ran up the stairs back into my room, I heard the door slam. I looked out the window and saw my father, he was going to his car, but before he got in, he took off his wedding ring and threw it at the front door. He sped off down the street and that was the last I ever saw of him.

My mother then turned to alcohol, and became very abusive. She died about two months later in a car accident when she was driving while intoxicated, I hate to say it, but I was so happy when she died.

I look back down at my paws, now wrapped in the bandages, and cry. For the first time in years I can't hold it in. I just let go, and cry loud long sobs. I let my head fall between my arms, and keep crying. I don't know a way to get out of what I've done, I don't know how anyone could ever forgive me for what I've done. And that's when I finally realize it, no one will ever forgive me, and I know what I have to do.

I pull out my phone and look through my contacts, I scroll to the bottom to find Zach's number, I still have it from when I had him try to ruin Skylar and Ryan... I open a tab and send him a quick message. I make my way over to my closet to find a rope, all I can find is a belt. Close enough, tears are pouring from my eyes now, but I know that I'm helping everyone by doing this. My desk chair is brought to the middle of my room and I loop the belt around my ceiling fan, my ears are ringing, I can't hear anything except the blood rushing in my ears, my paws go to wrap the belt around my neck and I take one last look at the world, when suddenly I am knocked off the chair. I look up to see who knocked me off, it's Zach.

Zach p.o.v (About 15 minutes ago)

Ryan and I were working on his song, but I was a little distracted with my previous encounter with Alex, something felt wrong, I just didn't know what.

"So I have the song, and a few friends who can help me with getting it all together. Now all I need is Skylar to show up, do you think you can make that happen?" Ryan asked me, I nodded, "Yea, that shouldn't be too hard." He smiled at me, "Thanks man, for all of this, I couldn't have done it without you!" I smile back, "Don't worry about it." I say, "It's really no big deal." He shakes his head, "Well it is to me, if you need anything just ask." I laugh, "Sure Ryan, I'll keep it in mind!"

My phone buzzes in my pocket, I pull it out and see I have a new message, and it's from Alex. It says, "Zach, I'm really sorry for all the horrible things I've done to you and Ryan and Skylar. I can't forgive myself for the things I've done, and I don't expect you to forgive me either. I think the only way for me to get what I deserve is just to be gone, it'll be better for everyone this way, but please tell Ryan and Skylar that I'm really sorry, and you too. Words can't express the guilt I feel for the way I've treated you, well I guess this is it, goodbye. -Alex"

"Ryan!" I yell. "What?" He asks, "is everything okay?" I shake my head, "I don't have time to explain, but I need your car keys right now!" He throws them over to me, "What are you doing?" He asks, "No time! I'll tell you later!" I yell as I sprint out of the room.

I drive the car down the road trying to remember which house is his, I should be able to remember, I spent so much time at it when we were kids. We didn't have the best families, but we had each other. Maybe that's why I felt so scared of him, he was like family, and he betrayed me. It caused me to forget how I felt about him, and I knew I couldn't let him die. I finally found his house, jumped out of the car and ran inside.

"Alex!!" I yell, I ran through the house looking for him, I can't find him, when suddenly I hear something upstairs. I run up as fast as my legs will carry me, tears cascading down my face, fear building up in my chest. Am I too late? I burst through the door in his room, I see him standing on the chair. I jump onto him, knocking both of us to the ground. He looks dazed but when he sees me he can't hold my gaze. He looks ashamed, broken, hopeless...

Suddenly he shouts, "Why won't you just let me die! I don't deserve to be here, you know what I've done!" I can't hear him talk this way, "Stop." I tell him, he sobs, "Why do you still try to help me, even after all the things I've done to you?" He asks, I sigh, "I don't know, I guess I care about you, just a little..." Now he looks at me, a puzzled look on his face. "What do you mean by that?" He asks. I'm not sure what to say, I'm not sure how I feel. He puts his paw gently on my shoulder, "Don't be afraid to tell me." He says, I take a deep breath, and I just say it. "I love you."