Happy New Year! Although it's still a few hours away where I live, I wanted to update this since I know I won't be updating anything else this year!

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T  W  O     D  A  Y  S     L  A  T  E  R

It was now Friday, and Evan had just got his morning dosage of Jonathan and was now headed to where the guys were waiting for him, it was the cafeteria today since they all thought it was too cold. He had just reached the double doors leading to the cafeteria when he was called out by none other than Chase O'Brien.

Can I just not catch a fucking break this week? He thought crossly to himself as he turned around to face Chase, a casual smile on his face. "Hey Chase." He said, waving.

Chase didn't look pissed, he didn't even have his friend Ashton with him. "Hey Evan, I heard you're not coming to my party, why is that again?" He asked, a sudden undertone of anger startling him, yet Evan dare not let it show. There was no way a football player was going to get to him.

"Well, like I told you, Chase. I'm busy. I'm going to the movies with my friends, speaking of which, they're waiting for me, so talk to you later." He said, turning around only to be dragged back and pushed against the wall, the wind being knocked out of him.

"Since when do you skip parties to hang out with your friends? They've never been a problem before." Chase said, curious yet still angry.

"They're not a problem, I just want to hang out with them for once. I'm sorry they don't like to get drunk like I do, now can I go?" Evan seethed, knowing that he was walking the line between staying in one piece and getting his ass kicked by Chase. He pushed at his arm, nearly wriggling out of his grip only to be pushed against the wall once again by Chase, who now had his hand on his neck.

"Not until you promise to go to that party, if you don't go, then no one else will, and I need this to be a damn successful party, Fong. We both have reputations to uphold."

Evan, although his face involuntarily pales from lack of oxygen, refused to be intimidated by Chase, because that wasn't who he was.

"Look, Chase. It's not my problem that the only reason people go to your parties or any party in general is because I'm going, but I texted you earlier this week telling you I'm not going, and I'm not changing my mind. So...let....go." He said, feeling lightheaded as the edges of his vision began to black out.

"Chase! Put him down." Evan could hear Tyler growl, glancing towards him to see the rest of his friends and even a few others, including Brittany and the other cheerleaders, surprisingly.

Chase, realizing he was defeated, let go of Evan, who collapsed to the floor, coughing hard and gasping for breath as his friends rushed forward.

"Ev, holy shit, are you ok?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Do you need to go to the nurse?"

Evan opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out except another gasp for breath. He blinked rapidly, praying for more oxygen to circulate to his brain but to no avail. Eventually his friends' voices faded out and the world became black.

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Evan came to in the nurses office, blinking a couple times to clear his blurry vision. Seeing he was awake, the nurse rushed over to him.

"Oh Evan! You're awake, I'm so glad. Your friends wanted to stay with you but I told them to go back to class, but I think they're in the front office right now talking to the principal." She spoke quickly, helping Evan sit up.

"Ok, wait. Why are they in the office?" Evan asked, noticing his backpack on the floor next to his bed, his friends must have left it for him.

"Because they were witness to what happened between you and Chase, I believe he might get suspended, about time too, that boy always gets away with things, but there's no way Mr. Michaels can ignore this, oh no! Not when a student passes out and is brought to my office. Oh sorry, sweetie. Do you want me to get your friends?" She asked, Evan ignoring her rambling.

"Yeah, if you can. And maybe an ice pack for my head?" He asked, pushing all his weight onto his forearms, half laying back and half sitting up.

"Of course!" She replied happily, grabbing an ice pack from the fridge next to her desk. She handed it over to Evan, who put it gently against his head, laying back once more. Then she briskly walked out of the room, most likely heading to the office to see what she could do about bringing his friends there.

He closed his eyes, relaxing as let his right hand dangle off the edge of the bed, the ice pack being held against his head by by his left. Breathing out a sigh of content, he started to drift off back to sleep until he heard footsteps outside the office door.

At first he had thought it was the nurse, then remembered that she had been wearing high heels and they had made a clicking noise when she departed.

"Fuck Luke and his soccer skills, he always manages to hit me with something, that piece of shit." The person who entered mumbled to himself, Evan instantly recognized that voice.

Jonathan.

He sat up slowly, pretending like he had just woken up at the sound of Jonathan's voice. Jonathan turned around in surprise, not realizing that he was there.

"Shit! Evan, you scared me." He said, dramatically holding his chest where his heart was, causing Evan to smile.

"What can I say? I'm a shadow creature." He joked, still holding the ice pack against his head as he sat cross-legged on his bed. "So what happened to you?"

Jonathan looked confused by the question for a few seconds, forgetting where he was before answering. "Luke hit me in the face with a soccer ball during PE. I'm surprised he didn't break my nose honestly."

"Sounds painful." Evan asked, trying to not stare at Jonathan's gorgeous face.

"You looked like you were in more pain earlier, when Chase choked you." Jonathan said, glancing down like he had said something wrong.

"Nah, soccer ball hurts way more than being choked by Chase. He's just a big baby really, depending on others for popularity and such. Football is his only talent, honestly." He said thoughtfully, thinking about what Chase's friends had said about him when Evan had spoke to them at a party once, completely drunk out of their minds.

Jonathan gaped at him, shocked that he had the nerve to speak that way about Chase. "H-how do you do that?" He spoke quietly now, forgetting the pain in his head momentarily.

"Do what? Trash talk the school quarterback without the fear of getting beaten to a pulp? Simple, blackmail him and his friends. That way you know everything about them, so they can't do jack shit to you."

Jonathan shifted in the spot where he stood, obviously uncomfortable with Evan's answer. Evan, noticing this, quickly came up with another excuse.

"I've never really liked football players to be honest, way too cocky. Think they're the absolute shit, ya know? Same with cheerleaders, except they're just sluts that don't know how to get anything without lifting up their shirts up or wearing dresses so short it's practically a t-shirt. Yet people treat them like Gods, but I never saw the point in that. It's just a title really, can't give them power if they never had it in the first place." He said, speaking truthfully yet also hoping that answer would suffice instead.

Jonathan nodded, still surprised that the words had come out of Evan's mouth. "You seem like a complicated person." He commented, turning to the door of the office where Evan could now hear the clicking of the nurse's heel and several other pairs of feet walking behind her.

You don't know the half of it, Evan thought to himself as the group of people emerged from the door, the nurse rushing over to help Jonathan and Evan's friends pulling him into a hug.

"Evan! God, you scared us half to death!" Lui exclaimed, being the overly concerned friend that he was.

"I was ready to beat Chase to a pulp, I swear. You're lucky it wasn't that bad." Tyler said, protective of his best friend as usual.

"I told you not to mess with football players, Ev, but you never listen to me, do you?" Brian said in a mock scolding tone, like the Irish mother he pretended to be.

Evan grinned like nothing had happened as he dived into joyful discussion with his friends, glancing at Jonathan out of the corner of his eye, who appeared to be staring at the group with longing.

Is he, jealous of our friendship?, Evan thought to himself, before mentally shaking his head. No, of course not. That's impossible, no one would be jealous of being my friend. Especially not the perfect human being that Jonathan Dennis is.

Shaking it off, he focused his attention on the guys once again, waiting for their parents to pick  them up since the nurse had insisted Evan should go home and rest.

Evan went home that night, excited about seeing the movie with his friends the next day since they had to reschedule. But as he laid in bed, thinking the day over, he couldn't get the look on Jonathan's face out of his head.

Then again, he never could.