Nate watched her as she walked by, he red hair hung about her shoulders and her eyes sparkled an unmistakable green. She was beautiful, he would imagine dancing the night with her and taking her home and kissing her. He sighed, as he knew the truth of the matter. She was his best friend and she was dating his brother. He kicked a piece of trash along and walked to his lesson, trying not to look too unhappy. In English, they were looking at love poems. The class had to write one each and share it with each other as part of an oral grade. Nate looked at he piece he was trying to write. It didn't sum up all the emotion of what he felt for her, the intensity and the sadness and just everything. He threw it in the bin and started again.

Jake sat in class and tried to write the poem she was suppose to be writing. She was trying to draw on what she felt for Brad but nothing could come out. She looked over at Nate who was scribbling away and then throwing away and started over again. She watched as his spiky blond hair fell over his eyes and he blew it out of them. He looked totally cute and she always wondered why girls never seemed to want to go out with him. She started to find herself wondering away, thinking about him but in a totally different way than before. After that she started to ferociously writing stuff down.

After the lesson was over, Jake hung out with Nate and they skated to the mall where they ate ice cream. She watched him silently eat his vanilla; he looked really unhappy, like something wasn't right. "Nate, you look really sad, what's up?" She asked. "It's nothing," he replied. "There must be as you are normally the happiest guy I know!" she continued. He looked at his watch. "I've got to go, I'll see you in school!" Nate said getting up and walking away. Jake watched with a feeling there was something he wasn't telling her. She sighed and finished her bowl and then walked back home.

Over the next few days, Nate kept looking sadder and sadder as Jake started to hang out with Brad more and more; she thought Nate would tell her what was up soon enough. Also she had avoided him in hope of forgetting what she thought she felt for him.

Nate sat in his room with a pair of scissors and started to slice into his skin, for him the physical pain was allowing him to forget the emotional pain that was with him all the time. He sat there for about half an hour, cutting his flesh again and again. He fell asleep, wrists covered in blood.

Jake saw Nate the next day, looking pretty ill, she wondered over to him. "Nate, you don't look well, what is wrong with you?" Jake asked, concerned. "It's nothing, nothing you should be worrying yourself over," and he walked away again. Jake watched his retreating back and really got concerned, as he wouldn't tell her, they told everything to each other.

Nate started to slit his wrists more and more frequently and started to wear long sweatshirts all the time. His very secretive behaviour was a huge worry for Jake, every time she asked him what was wrong, he simply replied with 'nothing'. It made her worry more and more.

One day she decided to go around to his house and see how he was doing. His mother said he was in his room so she walked up the stairs and put her ear to his door. She heard sobs and gasps so she pushed open the door and found Nate slitting his wrists. "Nate, what are you doing?!" Jake exclaimed. Nate turned around and she saw his tears. "Go away!" He said. "No, not until you tell me why you have started to slit your wrists," Jake replied. She sat down beside him. "Why do you care? Wouldn't you rather be with my brother?" He spat in reply. "I care more about you than I do about him," Jake said, "tell me, please." "I can't, you'll hate me!" Nate said, tears dripping down his face. "I won't," she replied, "just tell me!" He took a deep breath, "I love you," he turned away, expecting her to leave in disgust. She instead started to cry. "You did this because of me?" Jake said. He nodded. She pulled him in and kissed him, it took him a little while for him to react but he returned it and put his hand through her hair. She could feel some of the blood touching her face. They were kissing for about a minute when Brad walked in. Jake looked ashamed and Brad just blew his top. "You slut!" he pushed her about, "you dirty little slut!" he pushed her against a wall and she struggled in pain, realising that Brad was an idiot. In school he constantly flirted with the cheerleaders and she didn't bat an eyelid and she swore he saw him kiss one. And now he had kissed his brother, nothing more, he was beating her about. She did see Nate get up and go to punch his brother, Brad was taken aback. "Leave her alone! I've seen you kissing and taking girls to your room!" Nate said. "I kissed her fine, beat me, not her!" Nate stood between his brother and Jake. "What?!" Jake said, "You. I don't know what to say. I thought for a time that you weren't playing straight with me, but not like this! I honestly believe we are over!" She took Nate hand and lead him out, leaving Brad shocked.

Two weeks later, Nate and Jake were sitting eating ice cream again. She looked at him and smiled. "I wish you had told me sooner, we could have stopped this," she said, gesturing at his arms where scars and scabs were forming. "I could have told you that I loved you." "But you were with Brad, my own brother," Nate replied. "Yeah but he was a jerk and I would have left him soon anyway!" She replied, smiling. She noticed Nate had ice cream on his nose so she leaned over and kissed his nose then kissed his lips, which were sweet with ice cream. He sighed contented and happy, for once he wasn't the underdog for once and that he wouldn't taste blood again.