Carlie POV
**2WEEKSLATER**

It was myfirst day back at school afterchristmasbreak because I had took the first week off. I was getting really bad nightmares and they seemed to be getting worse. Ihadn'tseen or spoke to Alex in two weeks; today would be the first day I would see him.
I had really missed him it felt really weird because we had always spoke up until I was attacked. Two weeks ago though he just got up and left without saying anything while I was asleep. I was so petrified I was going tolose him; Icouldn't lose him he was my life.

I walked up to my and was shocked that no one was there waiting for me; fair enough I was super early for school but we were always this early. I waited for ten minutes and then the got fed up of hanging around so I went to the music room to see if they were there and thinking maybe they didn’t realise I was coming back to school today. They were there but it wasn’t usual for them to be sat in solemn silence.

"Hey guys," I said quietly my voice barely above a whisper.

They all looked up at me and then the excuses started.

Rian and Cass: We have to go do something for Mr Charleston.

Jack and Vic: We want to make out.
Alex didn’t even give an excuse he just upped and left without even looking at me. I didn’t understand what was happening and it started tearing me apart inside. I sank to the floor in tears until our music teacher Sid came in and helped me into a chair. All of my teachers knew what had happened with me being attacked so when Sid asked me if I was upset about the attack I shook my head. I explained about all my friends blowing me off it took me a while though because I was struggling to get my words out.

Sid said I could spend the day in the music room instead of going to my classes I just had to do work in here.


Alex POV
I felt horrible for blowing off Carlie we all did but we needed to protect her. I regretted the decisionihad made everyday since I had made it more and more each day. Seeing Carlie today and ignoring her killed me as I know it did all my friends. It was now lunch and IhadntseenCarlie since we blew her off this morning, she was supposed to have been in two of my classes but she wasn’t there.

"Hey wasCarliein your class earlier Jack?" I asked because I knew she was supposed to be in 1 of his classes.

"No I haven't seen her since this morning. Why?" Jack replied.

"She's supposed to be in two of my classes and she wasn’t there and I was just wondering whether you had seen her,"isaid.

"I feel really bad guys. She looked distraught when we made our lame excuses to leave this morning. I miss her. She needs usand we need her. What if we talk to her and watch her constantly?" Vic suggested.

"We can't because we can't watch her constantly. We're doing this to protect her. We stay away end of story,"Riansaid bluntly.

iwas taken aback by Rian's reply but I knew he was right. Lunch went by in silence after that and so did all my classes because I never spoke to anyone and I never contributed either.

Music was my last class it was normally my favourite class because it was the only class I had with all of my friends. i hadn’t seen Carlie all day but as soon as I walked into the class i noticed her straight away. She was softly strumming a guitar in the back of the class with pages of paper around her on the floor. I didn’t even know how I knew she was there because she wasn't easy to see she was well hidden on the floor but, I just knew. It was like an alarm in my head. The music room must have been where she had been hiding all day.

"Ok everyone sit down.Carlie you carry on doing what you're doing," Sid our teacher said.

Carlie looked up slightly and nodded. She looked so sad and I instantly felt guilty; I looked at my friends and i noticed we all looked guilty because our faces dropped.

"So we are going all going to have a bit of an open mic. You are all required to sing or a play a song as a group or sing alone whatever you are comfortable with. So who wants to go first?" Sid asked.

As more and more people got up to sing I became more and more anxious for when I was going to have to sing with Jack and Rian. Vic and Cass had been one of the first few people to perform.

"Ok now we only have two acts left. Alex, Rian and Jack who are together and finally Carlie. Boys you're up first," Sid told us and we got up in front of everyone.

"Hey guys Ok this song is a new song it's called " Running from lions", we hope you like it," I said as I picked up a guitar.

We sang the song and by the end of it I was crying because all I could think about was Carlie it wasn’t full on sobbing type of crying but it was a single tear which luckily no one noticed except from the looks of her faceCarliebut I pushed it to the back of my mind.

"Thank you boys," Sid said as we sat down and then turned to Carlie, "Carlie you're up."

Instead of picking up a guitar Carlie went to the piano instead and sat down before saying, "Hi everyone this song is called "You can't break a broken heart"."

She started to sing and I fell in love with her all over again by the end of the song everyone was crying including me. When I say everyone was crying I mean everyone in the whole room including Carlie.

The song was beautiful and only Jack,Rian, Cass, Vic and Myself knew what it was truly about and the reason behind it.

"Carlie that was beautiful. Is that what you've been working on all day?" Sid said and then waited for Carlie to nod her head before saying, "Well it was phenomenal. Would you perform it at the special assembly next week?"

"I'd love too," Carlie replied quietly.

"Brilliant, well thank youCarlie," Sid said as Carlie sat back down at the back of the class.

The bell finally rang to signal the end of class and the end of the school day without a moments pause I picked up my stuff and walked out the class.


Carlie POV
Singing in class was a huge achievement for me. I felt numb though because my friends were freezing me out and I didn’t know why.
I had a feeling it was because of Jessie they obviously didn’t want to be a part of the drama that Jessie had created and brought with him. My grandparents still didn’t know who attacked me and I lied to the police by saying I didn't see who it was. I know i should have told them about Jessie but I knew if I did things would only get much worse.

Maybe it was better that my friends were ignoring me because it meant they wouldn’t be hurt if things got bad in the long run; I didnt care about me getting hurt but I would feel super guilty if anything ever happened to my friends. I really needed them in my life though. I needed them more than anything in the world.

When the bell went for class i was going to speak to Alex and get to the bottom of why he was ignoring me but,i didn’t get the chance because he was out the room and out of sight by the time I left the class.i walked to my car and ran into Elliott the guy who saved my life. He was stood by my car.

"Hey Carlie. How you doing?" He asked.

"How long you got? Short of it is I'm up and down. My friends are ignoring me and normally at this time we would be going to Rians for the guys band practice. We're not talking though so I am going to get some ice cream and a milkshake and then go home do my homework and watch movies,"i replied.

"Well would you like some company to the ice cream parlour?" Elliott asked.


"I would love some it would be the nice to speak to someone whoisntmy music teacher today," I said.

We drove to Rita's italian ice in our seperate cars and we walked in together. After ordering we found a table and ate our ice creams and drank our milkshakes.
I looked over at the counter several times everytime I heard the door open. I noticed a sign saying help wanted and I told Elliott I would be back. I went to ask the manager about the job and after asking me if I had experience which i did and when I could start he gave me the job I was to start the next day.

I went back to the table I was sat on with Elliott and told him about the job and he said, "I work hereaswell when's your first shift?"

"Tomorrow. You didn’t tell me you worked here," I replied.

"Yeah.i worked at the one in Houston, Texas and when I moved here they transferred me to this one," He answered.

"Wow ok fair enough at least i know someone here, that's a start," I said as I finished my ice cream and milkshake i then turned to Elliott as we got up and said, "Do you want to come to mine for dinner?"
Elliott nodded and then followed me to my house in his car. I was so grateful to have at least one friend because it meant that I wasn’t alone which is something i hated being. I knew in school in classes I would be alone because I was a junior and Elliott was a senior but that didnt bother me because at least I wasn’t alone when it really mattered like at lunch or after school.

We got back to mine and my grandparents were in kitchen and surprised not to see Alex.

"HeyJellybean, dinner will be ready in about half hour. Where's Alex?" My grandpa asked.

"He's with the guys I've been with Elliott. You remember him right," I answered trying hard not to cry.

"Mr and Mrs Carter it's wonderful to see you again," Elliott said politely sticking his hand out for my grandpa to shake.

"Yes of course. It’s nice to see you again Elliott dear. You guys go upstairs I'll call you when dinners read," My grandma said handing me two cokes from the fridge.

"Oh just thought I would tell you I've got a job. I start tomorrow it's at Rita's Italian ice. It's something for me to do," I told my grandparents who I knew would be happy for me. I wanted nothing more than to tell them that Alex and I weren't talking but then it would mean loads of questions I wasn’t ready to answer.

After Elliott left at 11pm i texted Alex and my friends different messages instead of one big group message:

To Lexy xxx
Hey baby please talk to me.
I don’t know what ive done wrong
But ive missed you so please talk to me.
I have some news!!!!
Luv u txt bak xxxxxxxxx
To Cass
Hey hun
How u txt me xxxx

ToJackobyBarakitty
Yo dude missed ya 2day
Txt me xxx

To Zack
Whats with everyone today
txt bak xxx

To Vic
Hey bubz txt me luvs ya xxx

To Rian
You ok txt bak xxx

To Tay
Heya you ok.
Txt bak xxx
I waited for over an hour for replies that never came.


Alex POV

It was 11 and we all received texts from Carlie everyone was staying at my house. We all read what she had sent us out loud when it was my time to read mine it took me a couple of minutes to get through it because I kept choking up.

"Guys this isn't going to work," Zack said.

"Why isnt it?" Tay asked.

"It's not going to work because think about today think about how we have all been together all afternoon and we are all completely miserable. Ever since we met Carlie we became complete. She completes us and we all know it," Zack stated.

I couldn’t help but want to reply to Carlie's text .She needed to know the truth about why we were ignoring her but, that could put her in even more danger. i was so conflicted because I loved her to much too stay away but, i also loved her too much too watch her get hurt.

"We stay away," I said coldly.

She may be the love of my life but i couldn’t ever forgive myself if anything ever happened to her again. It was debated between my friends for a while but even though some people took longer to convince than others it was decided that we would all stay away for Carlie's own good.

Notes

hey guys sorry for the long wait. ive been having some problems with my personality disorder and been feeling really down.

what do you guys think Alex and his friends are hiding? why are they ignoring Carlie?

what do you think of Elliott?

let me know ur thoughts.

this is the song Carlie sings you cant break a broken heart kate voegele its such a beautiful song. it means a lot to me.

love you guys from sophie xxxxx

sums me up at the minute perfectly.