It was easy to pretend being exhausted at the breakfast table the next day. After all, I hadn't got much sleep last night, which was already following a day and some change of solid crying.

All things considered, the night could've been even crazier. There was a moment where too many clothes had been on the floor instead of on us, where we'd been on the verge of rounding all the bases. It wasn't that either of us realized that we had to put a brake on things, that we were moving too fast and that at least one of us wasn't ready to hit a homerun quite yet. No. The only thing that made us stop was that it was getting more and more difficult to keep quiet and Sawyer assured me he'd make me scream if we kept going.

In light of the morning, I wondered if I would've made him scream, too.

I should've been jumping through the roof that a night so amazing had happened to me, someone who hadn't dreamed of this any time soon, but I wasn't. Yes, I was still mourning the loss of the future I'd worked for, but at the same time I was in conflict with who I'd always been. I'd looked down on the kids at school who placed any value of themselves in the sexual adventures they could find. I'd always thought I was mightier than the intention my own hormones had to rule my life.

Now I wasn't so sure that I was above any of that. I hadn't met true temptation until the moment Sawyer crumbled my self-imposed barriers with his surprising kindness. Reluctantly, I'd always found him attractive, but the moment that amped up his appeal was when, without asking any questions or trying to extricate himself from the situation, he took care of me and my family, even, when Toni had the scare early on in her pregnancy. I started to see him with new eyes after that, eyes that started detailing all the good things about him. Including his impressive assets.

I was kind of glad that the threat of my parents hearing us stopped us from going further. As much as my body craved it, as much as I was now dying with curiosity, I didn't think I was ready to deal with the consequences. Already it was hard to face the fact that I'd been wrong. That being with a boy, the right boy, was good. That he'd have the power to cheer me up even in my darkest times, with both sweet and sexy gestures. That they weren't opposites, but could be part of the whole.

It terrified me to see the power he now held over me.

"Are you feeling better?" Toni asked as she placed a plate overflowing with empanadas that she'd just finished frying.

Much.

Kind of.

Confused?

I didn't know what to say, so I shrugged and tucked into a cheese and potato empanada. My favorite. Meanwhile, papa read the newspaper and mama ate in silence. It was probably a good thing I hadn't said anything. I didn't want to trigger a sermon from either of them for missing school yesterday.

The knock on the door surprised all of us. Papa put the newspaper aside and shuffled over to peer out the window. Then he joined us back at the table and said, "It's your friends, Aurora."

That could only mean one thing and it was confirmed once I opened the door. Courtney and Lina bumped against each other in their haste to see who could hug me first, which turned into a compromise of a weird simultaneous hug.

"We're so sorry," one of them said, but the words were muffled and I couldn't determine where they came from. I attempted to thank them, but it wasn't possible considering one arm was wrapped around my head.

I pulled away to breathe and Lina shook me by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

I weighed my answer carefully but in the end admitted the truth with a shake of my head.

Courtney popped her head in and after greeting my family said, "Can we whisk Rory away?"

"Get some empanadas for the road," Toni said.

Which was how we ended up in Courtney's car on the way to school as we munched homemade empanadas. They got the full story out of me, starting from the text message alerting me to the result of my application being available, to the moment I saw the fateful words on the admissions website and everything that followed. Including Sawyer's visit. By that point of the story we were sitting in the car in the school's parking lot, which was clearing quickly as most kids rushed to avoid the last bell before first period.

"Holy shit," Courtney said. "You almost lost your V-card last night to the school's bad boy."

I cringed. "You don't need to sound so disappointed."

Courtney laughed. "I am disappointed alright, but by the fact that you don't actually have juicy details to share."

I gasped. "This is already juicy enough for me, thank you very much."

"I'm confused," Lina said. "I mean, I know that a lot has happened but," and as she said this she looked directly at Courtney. "Aren't we supposed to be anti-Sawyer?"

Our blonde friend tossed her beautiful hair over her shoulder. "We were, except that the main anti-Sawyer has turned most definitely pro."

They sent me a smile that I shared easily.

"Yeah, things have changed."

I had changed.

"So, is he your boyfriend now?" Lina asked, eyes shining bright. "Can we go on triple dates?"

"I don't know," I said. While we'd had plenty of time to bring up the topic last night, both of us had been too busy shoving our tongues down each other's throats and our hands in places to really discuss about what everything meant—medium term, at least. One thing was for certain, as soon as we started dating in public, the rumors that had died down after the big showdown at the cafeteria were sure to come back.

As we exited the car Courtney said, "Well, I suggest you sort the particulars out. It's not fair for either of you to stay in limbo, as comfortable as it may seem."

Dang it, she was right.

We walked into the school, my head spinning with so much going on. Last night Sawyer had suggested I go see my favorite teacher first thing in the morning to get some advice, and my friends came with me for moral support. I glanced this way and that, hoping to catch sight of my not quite but potential boyfriend. I'd never seen him commit to a girl for long, and maybe the real reason I hadn't brought it up last night was because I was afraid he would say that, just like I wasn't ready to have sex with him yet, he also wasn't ready to commit himself fully to me. The thought dissipated from my mind as we approached Mr. Davies' office. I caught him in the middle of a group of people. The Principal was next to him, as was Coach O'Hare and half of his baseball team.

"That's a weird group," I muttered.

The closest one to us was Taylor Banks, and Courtney asked him, "Hey, what's going on?"

He tore himself away from the discussion and gave her a slimy once over. But at last said, "Last year's district trophy's missing."

We gasped.

The trophy won by the team that was led by the ultimate power couple of Metropolitan High School had gone missing.

"How can that possibly be missing?" Lina asked, which was what everybody else was wondering. The trophy itself was a massive hunk of cheap metal, half as tall as I was. It wasn't just clunky and easily recognizable, but the school kept it locked in a glass case that was smack in the middle of the main building, close to the principal's office. There was a security camera in that hallway.

The school buzzed with the news all throughout first period. Our teacher gave us a speech about coming forward if we knew anything and about the perils of stealing. Whoever had taken this thing was in deep trouble.

"It has to be a student," Courtney whispered to us as the teacher turned around to jot something on the whiteboard.

"How do you know?" Lina asked.

"Well," our friend continued. "Nothing else was missing. Who else would find any value in stealing the trophy?"

"Trinity?" Lina said with narrowed eyes. The rivalry between our schools was the subject of local legends, but there was a flaw in her theory.

"I don't think it'd be easy for any of them to escape from their boarding school in the middle of the night to steal this," I said. "Besides, aren't they strong contenders this year?"

That deflated her.

Courtney nodded. "Exactly, that's why it has to be an inside job."

But who would be suicidal like that?

Just before lunch the entire senior class was summoned out of our lectures to stand in front of our lockers. All of us looked at each other as though we could glean the culprit based on the perceived level of nervousness alone. The Principal and three teachers, including Mr. Davies, walked up and down the senior hall as if they'd had that very idea themselves.

"We've already checked the other school years," the Principal said, his voice carrying to every corner of the hall field by the power of his anger. "We haven't found it among them."

It didn't mean it would be found in any of our lockers. I didn't think whoever stole it was dumb enough to leave it there. The fact that the school didn't have a clue who'd done this meant they hadn't been captured by the security camera, and someone that clever would've removed the trophy from the premises entirely. Still, I looked at the faces all around me wondering if anybody here was capable of something so stupid and pointless. I made brief eye contact with Lexie but kept looking down the row of people. Sawyer's locker was in the same row as mine, so I couldn't glance his way without anyone realizing. I stayed put as the inspection started in the row across from mine. Courtney and Lina were on that side and they were cleared early on. Taylor Banks was too, and so was his ex. I rolled my eyes at Lexie's smug face.

Then the teachers moved to my row. When it was my turn I opened my locker and showed them that it was full of books and notes. They moved on, and I stayed there because we'd been ordered to remain until the inspection was done. They were sure going for the dramatic flare.

I got it, it was a major deal for the school. That trophy meant a lot and it was the top accolade we had achieved in any of our sports programs. But I had more important things to focus on and that I would have loved to take lunch to discuss with Mr. Davies, instead of this. Plus, I was getting hungry already.

My musing was interrupted as a commotion exploded down the hallway. I turned, just like everybody else, to see the Principal pull the trophy from someone's locker. Mr. Davies was next to him with a pair of bolt cutters.

"Whose locker is this?" the Principal asked. Clearly the culprit wasn't around.

Then a sentence froze me to my very core. It was uttered by no other than Lexie Cooper.

"It's Sawyer Logan's locker."

Suddenly there was no oxygen.

I broke formation to stand in the middle of the hallway and although my eyes searched for Sawyer, they couldn't find him. He was really absent, and the trophy had been pulled from his locker.

My brain couldn't process this.

How? When?

He'd been with me the entire night. He'd tiptoed out of my house at around five in the morning. How could he have possibly done this between that time and when the janitor first arrived, and stayed unnoticed?

But he'd told me he was buddies with the janitor. What if he'd got help? What could possibly have been in it for the janitor? Or for Sawyer, even? Kids worshipped him. Teachers pardoned every little transgression of his. Skipping school, being late, getting into fights that I now knew weren't really such.

Sawyer didn't exactly love the baseball team and he and Taylor Banks could barely stand each other's presence, but it wasn't like the baseball boys bullied Sawyer or anything. He would've told me. Or the girls' boyfriends would have.

Nothing made sense, except for the fact that my gut told me this couldn't possibly be what it seemed.

The shock rendered me immobile, and I missed the moment to defend him when the Principal said, "This is unacceptable. Mr. Davies?"

"Yes?" the latter replied.

The top authority figure in the school drew himself upright and announced to the entire senior class, "Please notify Mr. Logan that he is expelled, effective immediately."

In the commotion that followed as half of the kids in the class tittered in glee at the new gossip and the other half broke into protests, I felt hands grab my arms. I was numb as I saw my two best friends around me say words that my brain couldn't register.

The one thing that broke through the fog was the brilliant smile on Lexie Cooper's face.

just wanted to say that y'all should brace yourselves and remember all the love i have for y'all 😌✨