Luckily I don't have to wait long to talk to Xavier. When I walk out of my apartment Wednesday morning, he's next to my car again. Small snowflakes float down from the sky, but melt as soon as they hit the ground. I pull my coat tighter to my body as I walk up to him. "Kay said you wanted to talk to me," he says. I take a deep breath. "I'll never speak to Dylan again if you leave me, my aunt, and Casey alone." It's a hard decision to come to, but I don't really have a choice. Nothing else will satisfy him and I can't put my friends and family in danger just because I want to be with Dylan. He scratches his chin. "Get Casey to talk to me once, and you have a deal." "She doesn't want to talk to you," I stress. His expression is cold, like it doesn't matter. "That's all I want." I stare at him. What is his obsession with Casey? It isn't right. "I'll get her to talk to you, but I have to be there with you two." "You drive a hard bargain," he says. "Fine. As long as Kay wants Dylan, just leave him alone and I'll leave you and your aunt alone. Get Casey to talk to me, and I'll leave her alone." "Deal," I nod. And with that, he walks away. I instantly get in my car and wipe the sleep from my eyes. I cried myself to sleep and woke up crying. Needless to say, it's a no makeup kind of day. When I get to school, Dylan's car isn't in the lot yet. I sit in my car and wait for Casey to show up so I can talk to her. My heart skips a beat when Dylan's car pulls into the parking lot. I sink into my seat and stop myself from going out there and talking to him. I watched as he tosses his backpack over his shoulder and walks towards the building, not once looking my direction. His black sweatpants and black hoodie make him look so good, I have to close my eyes and force myself not to watch him. Casey finally pulls into the spot next to me and I get out at the same time she does. "You look sick," she says immediately. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," I brush it off. "I have to tell you something." We start walking towards the main building and I make the words come out of my mouth. "I talked to Xavier," I say slowly. Her eyes nearly pop out of her head and her face darkens. "When did you talk to him?" "We just had a casual run-in," I bite my lip. "I know this might sound crazy, but I think you should talk to him. Not alone, obviously." "Why?" she frowns as she ask. "I think he'll leave us alone once you talk to him," I say, trying to make her understand what I can't explicitly say. Casey is smart. I need her to understand. If I tell her he's threatened the people around me, she'll go crazy. She shakes her head. "No way. I don't want to see him." The bell rings in the distance and we don't have time to talk about it further. Once we're inside, we go our separate ways. Days that drag on aren't my favorite, and today seems to be going on for years. At lunch, all Casey wants to talk about is her partner in Algebra who she thinks is cute. I don't know how Casey can move on from one guy to the next. It makes me envious. It took me forever to get over Jacob. Now I have to find a way to not obsess over Dylan and Kay. Lauren sits with us at lunch also, which makes it easier to stay out of the conversation and stay in my head. Dylan is eating with the boys in the back of the cafeteria, sans Carlos. I haven't see him at all and I wonder if Anthony, Reece, or Derrick told Dylan about what he said. While Casey and Lauren are talking, I stand up to throw my trash. While walking over to the trash cans, Jacob appears by my side with a tray of trash himself. "Is this trash a metaphor?" Jacob asks me. "Maybe trash means something different to everyone. Do you think that would make a good article?" I roll my eyes. "You don't have to write about everything you think about." He takes my trash and throws it away for me. "But I do. Journalism has changed my life," he says in his dramatic voice, like he's in a Greek theater. "What are we going to do in class now that the paper is being printed?" "Probably just have free days until the break," I shrug. Mrs. Thomas always makes the newspaper our final, so we're practically done with that class. "Speaking of the break," he says, leaning against the wall. "I need to talk to you." "You aren't already talking to me?" "Ha-ha," he says sarcastically. "My mom wants me to invite you and your aunt over for a Christmas dinner." If this is some scheme by Jacob's mom to get us back together, she can forget it. And my aunt doesn't like Jacob. It would be a disaster dinner. "I'll let my aunt know," I tell him, even though I can already see her reaction. "Cool," he nods. "See you in class." When I walk back over to the girls, it's quiet. I look at them strangely. "What?" "You're talking to Jacob again?" Casey asks me. I look between them and realize they've assumed the worst. "We're friends, I guess." "I thought we agreed that isn't healthy?" Casey points out. "Plus, you have all this drama with Dylan now." Lauren speaks up. "Casey kind of filled me in about Dylan." They have to be on some kind of drug. "You guys know I would never get back together with Jacob, right?" They don't look convinced. I can't believe I have to sit here and explain myself. "I have zero feelings towards Jacob, and he has no feelings for me," I say. "We're talking like old friends right now." I can't help but steal a glance in Dylan's direction. The root of it all, admittedly, is because Jacob is just more accessible than Dylan right now. It doesn't mean that I care less for Dylan and care more for Jacob. I need more people in my life to talk to and regardless of what he's done to me, he was my friend before we even dated. "Well, I just don't want you to get all mixed up in your head again," Casey says, thoughtfully. It's different. I never imagined my life coming to this stage, what with being friends with Lauren and Jacob, and pining over Dylan who I can't have. It's not how I imagined my senior year to go. English is agony. Dylan walks into class after me, and doesn't look at me as he passes by. Feeling his presence behind me has my heart racing as I try to keep it together. Part of me wants the semester to be over already so I won't have to see him in class. Journalism is as I expect it to be. Mrs. Thomas gives us a free day to study for other finals or to just keep ourselves busy. I help Vicky study for her English final and it makes me giddy that she asked me to help in the first place. It only took the whole semester, but she's finally said more than four words to me. Once she's happy, we sit there and wait for class to be over. Will has his head on the desk, and I assume he's asleep. Ultra-bored, I get up and walk over to Sophie and Seth, who are sitting near the front of the class. "I have a feeling the rest of this year is going to go by slowly," I say to them. "Senioritis is a bitch," Seth says. I want to graduate already, but I'm anxious for college. I applied to a couple local colleges, and some a little further away. One is out of state and I haven't heard back. From any of them really.