Keep running! I told myself as I could hear her chasing after me. Oh god, why do they always choose me as their punching bag?

I felt somebody grab the collar of my hoodie and pull me backwards.

''You can't just run away from us!'' Emily growled into my ear. ''Nobody calls me a slag and gets away with it!''

''I didn't call you a slag, Emily!'' I cried, because I actually didn't.

''Don't fucking lie!'' She said, pulling me by my hair and then slamming me into the wall. Crack! That's my nose gone. If I tried to fight back she'd just beat me up even more, so I just let her carry out her little attack.

Her and her gang left me to lie in a pool of my own blood. I pulled myself up from the ground, yanking my bag back around my shoulders and gently touching the tip of my nose.

''Shit!'' I hissed in pain. It was most definitely broken, if I felt it at the top it would feel over-sized, meaning that it had swollen already.

I needed to get out of school as fast as possible before any teachers saw me and accused me of fighting, you know what that means: they'd tell my dad. If I told him it wasn't my fault and that they do it all the time, he'd find out about their constant bullying and he'd get them into trouble, and he'd find away to blame me for it. I'd receive a beating and a half.

I wish Sarah went to my school, she's fearless. I'd like to see them try and start a fight with her; They'd be the ones with the broken noses!

~*~*~

''What happened?!'' Sarah asked, ''Oh, wait. I bet I can guess.''

I nodded.

''Come on, let's get you cleaned up.''

*End of flashback*

-

I woke up to a loud ringing in my ears. I looked around for an explanation, but nothing stood out. I know one thing that stood out though, I was laid on Alex Gaskarth's chest! I immediately shot up from my position, my vision going blurry and my head pounding.

Where am I? How wasted did I even get last night?

''Jesus Christ,'' I muttered, holding my head and turning around to see Jack spread out, asleep on the coffee table. Me and Alex had passed out on a sofa somewhere. Speaking of somewhere, where the hell are we?

''Hey.''

I turn around to spot a guy stood in the doorway, his arms folded and an eyebrow raised. I noticed he had really short hair and his smile showed his perfectly white teeth. Rian.

''Um, hi.''

''Hm, you're a bit young to be a groupie, aren't you?'' He chuckled.

''I'm not a groupie!'' I whisper-shouted, trying not to wake up the two passed out boys on either side of me. Then I realized what position I was in, my shirt was all pulled up and almost revealing my bra, my skirt was hitched up and I looked like some kind of prostitute. I fixed my appearance hastily.

Rian was laughing harder now, and I could hear Alex stirring behind me. Jack, on the other hand, remained absolutely sparked out.

''Jocelyn?'' Alex mumbled, sitting up.

''Yeah, hi,'' I said, awkwardly.

''Oh yeah, Rian meet Jocelyn..'' Alex trailed off, scratching his head.

''What an appealing first impression,'' I groaned, causing Alex and Rian to laugh in unison. ''Hey, Alex can you please tell Rian here that I am not a groupie?''

''She's not a groupie, Rian,'' Alex giggled.

''Oh, you know my name? Must mean you like our band, so now you're not only a groupie, but a crazy obsessed fangirl, great!'' Rian grinned, clearly trying to piss me off, which was working.

I grabbed a pillow from the sofa and threw it at him, he moved out of the way just in time for it to hit a passing Zack.

''Sorry!'' My social anxiety started to get the best of me and my cheeks burned in embarrassment. ''Where's the toilet, Alex?''

''Through that door, to the right,'' He pointed to the doorway Rian was stood in.

I nodded 'thank you' and made my way there. When I walked past Rian I realized we were on their tour bus. Great, how am I going to find my way home now? I'm probably in some random place in the middle of England.

Then it hit me, I didn't have anywhere to go back to. Even if my dad would welcome me back into the house with open arms and an apology, he'd just start beating me again after about two days. The truth is brutal.

And the worst part is I've probably lost my only friend, I might have been disowned by my own father, but he's always been like this. I need Sarah more than I need him.

Why am I such a selfish person? I should have just left with Sarah like her mother advised and not gone to that god damn after party.

I stood at the sink of the tiny bathroom. I didn't need the toilet or anything, I just needed a place to cry and reflect on my stupid actions. I blinked back the tears. I did remember agreeing to think about going on tour with the guys, which was a stupid suggestion anyway. Did he just mean the tour in England, or actually going back to America with them?

No matter whether they're my heroes or not, they were still complete strangers. My mother taught me never to trust a stranger. Oh God, my mother...

The tears started coming hard now and I was trying my best not to make a single noise. I usually whimpered and sobbed uncontrollably when I cried, and it was hard not to at this point. Whenever I stopped crying it lasted for about 10 seconds, then I'd start thinking about how I'd have a loving mother and father to go home to if she were still here.

I wiped my tears away with the back of my hands.

I heard a knock at the door and then Alex's voice, ''Joce, are you almost done?''

''W-wait a sec,'' I called, my voice cracking.

''Are you okay?'' He sounded worried.

''Y-yeah, I'm f-fine-''

He opened the door before I could finish my sentence. His face instantly dropped once he saw my tear-stained eyes.

''Jocelyn?'' He took a step closer to me, closing the door behind him. The bathroom was so small we could both barely fit in it. ''Have you been crying?'' He whispered.

All I could do was nod, I feared that if I spoke the tears would make a reappearance. And I didn't want to cry in front of him.

''That lock's not very good,'' I joked in attempt to clear the air.

''No, no it is not. You should really learn to double-check the door's actually locked,'' he smiled weakly. ''Do you want to tell me why you've been crying?'' He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me to his chest.

Do I tell him?

''I just have a wicked hangover and I'm a little bummed about my argument with Sarah last night.''

No, no I do not tell him.
You never ever open up.
That's rule number one in the Jocelyn Walker book of life.


''Well, that's alright, I guess I can help you clear things up with Sarah.'' He patted my back. ''And as for the hangover, I'm sure I can find something for that.'' His hug made me feel safer than I have in my entire life.

I'm glad he didn't drag that topic out any further. And I'm certainly glad he fell for my lie, I'm getting better at deceiving people. Which is a very good quality to have when you're me.

''Alex.''

''Yeah?'' He pulled away from our hug to look me in the eyes.

''Were you serious when you asked me to go on tour with you?''

''I guess, Jack was more for it though.''

''I'll come.''

''What? Really?!'' He sounded more excited than he should.

''Yeah, let's do it.''

Notes

Okay, I'm sorry it took me like a hundred years to update, if any of you were waiting cx
but yeah here you gooooo c;