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"

Nate shook his head in disbelief "Did you have to come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation for every single thing that we were angry at you for?"

Ethan nodded hesitantly and Nate smiled "I believe you." Nate told him and then put his phone to his ear "What about you Jacie? Did you hear all that?" Nate smiled again "Jacie believes you too" he turned the phone around so Ethan could see the screen "I rang her the second you walked in"

Ethan smiled, "Are you going to help me with this?"

Nate didn't hesitate "Not just for you but for Jake as well."

Ethan smiled and explained the plan, he finished just as the bell went for the first period. Nate would be late to class but he didn't mind making the sacrifice, Ethan, however, had to hurry to class or he'd be in trouble. Luckily he had Mrs Bryoney and she was very sympathetic to what had happened to him and didn't pull him up when he zoned out. He was anxious for all of it to be over, his foot wouldn't stop moving unless he focused on it in which case he'd start clicking his pen absently. Time was ticking over slowly, so slowly that he actually did some of the work to distract himself but his mind kept going back to the plan. It was simple really, during the class he was in Nate was going to text Jake and tell him to hide up in the tree and tell him to stay there and listen to what happened below him. The rest was up to Ethan. He looked up as Mrs Bryoney dismissed them and quickly packed up his stuff.

He stood at the door and watched as the twins met Jake at the tree and helped him climb high enough to be out of sight then they hurried away. Ethan took a breath, nodded to himself and slowly walked over to the tree. The second he sat down on the root he heard a snort of disbelief from above him somewhere but he didn't look up and instead continued to look around as if waiting for someone.

Finally, he saw Justin emerge from a hallway and stop, they stared at each other across the field for a moment then Justin beelined for the tree. Ethan slid off the root wanting to be on even ground this time, Justin scowled as he got closer,

"What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you learn from last time?" he snarled

Ethan blinked innocently "I was told to wait here, I got told Jake wanted to be friends still" he lied

Justin snorted and started pacing around and growing angrier

"Pacing is a sign of stress," Ethan said quietly

Justin turned and glared at him "What is that supposed to mean maggot?" he demanded,

"Nothing and everything," Ethan said, smiling.

Justin scowled and took a step towards him and Ethan flinched and scrambled back a few steps. Justin smirked,

"Everything ok here?" Nate said stepping between them while Jacie stood at Ethan's side,

"No it isn't fine," Justin said angrily "I can't believe you can stand next to him after what he said about your parents."

Ethan shook his head in disbelief "Why do you feel so threatened by me?"

Justin barked a laugh "I don't feel threatened by you, I just don't like you"

Ethan took a step forward as he gained confidence "So a few weeks ago when you and your thugs attacked me, that was just purely because you don't like me?"

Justin looked at Nate who saw Justin go rigid for a moment before relaxing,

"Are you seriously trying to blame me for the horrible things you said Ethan? Honestly, you wonder why I don't like you."

"So you and your thugs came after me because of the things I said?"

Justin glared at him "Of course, I would never hurt anyone for no reason"

"But I didn't send you any messages,"

Justin laughed, "Of course you didn't

"So that's why you attacked me that night? Because of the things I said to Jake and the twins?"

"Yeah, You hurt Jake, I couldn't let you get away with it"

Ethan pretended to look thoughtful "Nate, when did Jake tell you about the message he got?"

Nate pulled out his phone and searched for a moment, "He called us at five-thirty the morning after we hung out with you"

Ethan frowned and did his best to look confused "Why so early in the morning?"

Nate hid a smile when he realised where the conversation was going "That's when he woke up and saw the message"

Ethan turned back to Justin, "That can't be right, Justin said he came after me that night for what I said to Jake. But he couldn't have known if Jake didn't see it until the next morning."

Justin gave Ethan a look of pure hatred "Fine, I came after you because I don't like you, you must have sent the messages in response"

Ethan laughed, "I never mastered the skill of sending messages while unconscious with internal bleeding"

Justin saw the knowing looks on the twin's faces and stood up straighter "Fine, I sent the messages" he growled

All the confidence Ethan had been feeling vanished and he felt like breaking down "Why would you hurt Jake like that? Or the twins for that matter?"

Justin laughed "I had to make sure that Jake would never want to see you again, also putting you in the hospital was just a bonus."

Nate made a sound of disbelief and stepped back to stand next to Ethan.

Ethan bit his lip thoughtfully "So you set me up? You even set Jake up?" he said, willing himself to let shock flood his voice

Justin raised an eyebrow "You could say that I guess but I wasn't trying to hurt Jake, I was only trying to keep you away from him."

Finally, Ethan smiled, and Justin glared at him feeling uneasy,

"Why are you smiling, I haven't done anything to make you happy"

Jacie shook her head "On the contrary"

"You made him very happy," Nate said softly

Justin snarled and darted forward and grabbed Ethan by the throat and slammed him up against the tree, Ethan yelped and struggled as he tried to breathe "I wish we'd hidden you that night, I wish I'd kicked you some more" Justin growled in his ear Nate came towards him "That's far enough Nate, you come any closer and I'll just squeeze harder" Justin threatened

"Let him go Justin" called a voice and Justin's gaze snapped up in the direction of the voice. There was a rustle of branches then Jake landed next to him and even as he touched the ground lightning flickered across the sky and the thunder rumbled.

Justin's grip slackened as he took an unsteady step back, Ethan gasped and fell to his knees drawing in deep breaths as Jake and Justin stared at each other. A nervous heat swept through Justin's body and goosebumps flared up all over him. Jake looked at him so coldly that he shivered, the twins were busy helping Ethan to his feet but Ethan barely noticed them, he was focused on Jake with a pained expression on his face. Jake took a step towards Justin and as if on cue, the rain started to pour so heavily that the raindrops stung as they made contact.

"How could you be so cruel to someone who hadn't done anything to wrong you?" Jake demanded,

Water dripped from his face and although it could have passed for the rain, Ethan knew Jake was crying and he gently pushed the twins away and stepped forward to stand beside Jake.

Justin was at a loss for words, he opened his mouth but no sound came out and he shrugged

Jake looked devastated "We-" he shrugged hopelessly and looked at Ethan and the pained expression on his face, a new wave of anger surged through him and he clenched his fists,

"We're done Justin, stay the hell away from me and I swear to god stay away from Ethan" he spat

Justin's eyes widened and filled with tears, he swiped at them furiously then looked at Ethan with pure hatred and he lashed out, Jake reached to block it but Nate was faster, he darted forward and he caught Justin's arm as he swung and observed him coldly

"I think you have done enough harm don't you agree?"

Justin did not say anything so Nate tightened the grip on his arm as he twisted it. Justin hissed in pain, fury burning in his eyes. Nate snorted in disgust and swung Justin away from them; he fell to his knees collapsing in the mud. Nate motioned for everyone to follow him and walked past Justin, they obliged and Ethan fought the urge to kick Justin as they walked by. Jake stared at Justin for a moment longer than everyone else and then followed them.

Justin through his tears glared daggers at Ethan's back and silently swore to himself that one day he would make him wish he'd never lived.