My body was on autopilot while drifting through the hallway and away from the scene. Everything ached and I did not lie to Lana when I said I needed air.

Stone might not have responded to Lacey's advances but it was only a matter of time before he did get with someone else.  I could not think about that. Let alone watch it.

I pushed through the double doors of the main entrance of the school and then slumped down on the school steps.

In my peripheral vision, I could see someone sitting down beside me. He watched me taking deep breaths in silence.

"Want to talk about it?" The quarterback asked.

Shaking my head, I kept looking ahead in the direction of the parking lot as I muttered "Not really."

"I am sorry about your dad." He uttered softly.

I adjusted myself on the step so I was facing Chase. That is when I got a good look at his face. His very bruised face. My eyes widened at the massive dark mark of a bruise and the small long pieces of tape at the bridge of his nose.

"You nose looks like a baboon's bottom." I commented before I asked, "What happened?"

He chuckled while shaking his head at me "Your boyfriend happened."

"Stone did this?"

Nodding, he looked almost sheepish when he admitted "I kind of deserved it."

"What did you do?" I asked while leaning closer to see the severity of the bruise and making myself a reminder to confront Stone.

"It was my fault." He replied "I turned up to your hospital room with flowers. Then I made a couple of comments."

"Is your face okay?" I asked while wincing "It really does look bad."

"Thanks." He responded with sarcasm before explaining "He knocked me out. It was a good thing I was at a hospital when it happened. He managed to break my nose into eighteen places in one-go."

Not knowing what to say, I randomly blurted out "What flowers were they?"

He laughed at me before answering "Roses."

"I love roses." I told him because I felt kind of bad for him and his face.

Chase frowned "I do not want you to hate me, Ella."

"I don't. I never did." I assured him honestly before adding "I have to admit that you are not my favourite person in the world."

His frown contorted to a small smile "I am sorry for everything."

"I don't understand what changed." I admitted "You were once nice to me. We got on really well and then everything changed as soon as we came back to school."

"Everyone noticed how he never took his eyes off you as soon he started Leavendale." He uttered and it was the most vulnerable I had ever heard his voice "I noticed how you looked at him too. It was not as noticeable but I could see it."