Aloveen Rising

6. An Enemy For Life...

Ethan nervously brushed his hair to the side and tapped his phone; he had not been back to school since the attack because he had not wanted to give Justin the satisfaction of seeing him while he was injured and today was his first day back.

"Stop stressing about it, I have been at school the whole time and no one has even mentioned anything wrong with you, obviously whoever it was hasn't bragged about what they did," Lucy said in a terrible attempt to reassure him,

"Well that's the problem, they wouldn't be able to without my friends learning the truth."

Lucy raised an eyebrow "Friends? The same friends who haven't even come to see what is wrong with you over the past four weeks or to ask where you've been?"

Ethan bit his lip "They don't know, they just think I don't want to see them" he lied

Lucy sighed, "Let's go or we'll end up being late"

Ethan looped his fringe around his finger and examined the blond hair, it did not seem to be as bright as it had been and he was not sure if he liked the change or not though he had not done anything to change it, it had happened naturally.

He became aware that Lucy was watching him so he nodded and followed her out of the house grabbing his bag from the front door as he went.

Lucy was treating him to the scenic drive to give him some more time to prepare himself so he read the messages Justin had written on Ethan's phone, addressed to Ethan. He was not going to stay away from Jake just because Justin had told him to. He had already come up with a plan to repair his friendships and show them what Justin had done. He nodded to himself as the plan solidified and sprang to life in his mind and his resolve turned to concrete, he would not let this go and he would sort the issue Justin had with him. Permanently. He stepped out of the car, took a hesitant first step into the school and looked around. He saw Nate step into the office so he hurried over and walked inside.

"What do you want Ethan?" Nate said glaring venomously

Ethan sighed, so much for the quiet approach. Steeling his nerves he spoke "Who said I was looking for you at all? It is my first day back in weeks; maybe I had to collect work from the office"

Nate raised an eyebrow, which softened his glare "Are you here to collect work?"

Ethan hesitated "No. I am here looking for you." He admitted,

A smile flickered on and off Nate's face, "After what you said to Jacie and me I assume you have something really good to say or you wouldn't be here at all. So come on, out with it."

Ethan took a deep breath "I know Jake probably told you what he knew of that night, here is what he didn't know. Justin saw Jake hand me my jumper and it must have looked like we were holding hands so he followed me with two of his friends and when they caught up, he accused me of stealing his boyfriend. I got anxious and tried to explain things and he hit me, I tried to fight him but his friends grabbed me. Justin must have grabbed my phone after I passed out; I haven't been at school because I have been waiting for my injuries to heal."

Nate looked at him with pity "What kind of injuries did you have?"

Ethan shrugged "A tiny bit of internal bleeding, bunch of fractures, a couple of breaks and about a million bruises but I'm fine now"

Nate's eyes widened "You had internal bleeding? You could have died! Why haven't you told the police?"

Ethan stared at Nate "I could never do that"