November 14th, School Football Field, 7:00 P.M

Jake and Jet were standing in the huddle on their team's thirty-five yard line listening to their quarterback explain the play to the rest of the team. All eleven boys in the huddle were listening intently, going over what they would have to do mentally when the ball was snapped. Opening day of varsity football season always had this effect of tenseness and discipline on them, like a kind of hold that would never go away. Even then, there was still a job to do, and they were going to do it well.

"Alright, we're going to do a slant play action pass," Eric Fernson, the team's quarterback said. "I want Landers and Matthews on my left. Standard line up front. Jet, you're going to be the new starting running back for the team?"

"Correct. James broke his leg," Jet answered. Originally slated as a backup, Sean had been told that he was to be the starting running back only four days prior to the game.

"Shame that was. But I guess what's done is done. Welcome to the side. Now on three, break!"

"Break!" the rest of the team roared back in response, followed by the offense heading to their positions.

"Daniel, we have to talk about what happened at the afterparty. I've been trying to shove it to the back of my mind for the past couple of weeks but I can't do it anymore. We need to talk about this," Kayla said. She and Daniel had found a secluded area of the football field, away from all the bleachers and spectators with the intention of airing out any differences between the two.

"Kayla, what are you talking about? We haven't argued or fought over anything in two weeks. This is almost a new record for us," Daniel replied skeptically. In reality he knew exactly what he was talking about but was desperately hoping that she was talking about something else.

"We hooked up with each other man! We're best friends for god's sake! Best friends don't do with each other. Every day for the past two weeks I've just been thinking about the state of our relationship, it's felt like forever since I've been able to talk to you without feeling awkward as hell the entire time. I just want things to go back to the way that they were," Kayla nearly yelled at him, instead exercising surprisingly excellent restraint and said them in a calm and tempered fashion. It was what Daniel did next though that really caught Kayla off guard.

"Kayla, we were both drunk when it happened. It didn't mean anything, and it never will. In fact, I'm surprised you were even able to remember that at all. I want things to go back to normal as well, trust me, but the only way you can do that is by letting go," Daniel said as took both of Kayla's hands in his own and gently squeezed them. Kayla was suddenly flooded with a sense of warmth, almost like she was by a fireplace on a cold winter's night. Also flooding her mind was a feeling of doubt, and it was almost guaranteed that it was coming from her conflicted feelings on what to do.

"You know what Daniel, you're probably right. I might have been over thinking things to an irrational point. Let's just put this behind us," Kayla said with a smile as she pulled her hands away from him with a quick motion. For the moment, it seemed like a better idea to just go with the flow, but if she ever needed to revisit the topic, she promised herself she would do it no questions asked. "Now let's get back to where Crystal is. She's gonna think we're up to something if we're gone any longer."

November 17th, Math Class, 8:30 A.M

Kayla was sitting in her usual seat in class when her teacher decided to drop a bombshell on the entire class.

"At the beginning of third period today the police will be entering the school," her teacher began. A few murmurs arose from some of the other students before he began again. "There have been accusations of some… less than legal substances being distributed in the school and as such we have to investigate these claims with the utmost speed. Police dogs will be brought in to sniff out any contraband. If you have nothing to hide, then you need not be afraid."

Kayla was taken way aback at what was going on. She herself didn't use any drugs, unless one counted alcohol as a drug, but she knew people that did and was worried for their sake. However, the novelty of a new experience like this was exciting and even kind of interesting to her, so the curiosity to see who would get caught couldn't be denied. Either way, the most important thing to focus on at the moment was her math class, so back to listening to her teachers she went.

Daniel, Kayla, William and Bill had taken their seats at their standard table in the cafeteria when William decided to bring up the topic that everyone had their minds on in one way or another.

"So does anyone know what's up with the school sending in the pigs to sniff out our lockers? Just seems a little random don't you think?"

"Did your first period teacher not tell you that someone gave the school an anonymous tip?" Daniel replied.

"News to me."

"Well either way, I heard from someone in my history class that they already got a person. Apparently one of the search dogs found something in a locker. I don't know who it is, but I know the school got someone," Bill mentioned soon after.

"Knowing how fast gossipy information like that cycles through the school I figure it'll be a matter of time before we know," Kayla mentioned offhandedly.

"True that," Daniel said in agreement. "Now is there anything else to discuss?"

Kayla's House, 4:30 P.M

Daniel and Kayla were hanging out at Kayla's place after school like usual when Daniel got a text message from Jake. Reading the content of the message made Daniel's stomach churn as he processed the information.

"Kayla, let's go to your room. I need to talk to you about something," Daniel told his best friend, motioning for her to follow at the same time.

"What's the special occasion?" Kayla asked with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. The last time Daniel had been in her room she had ended up crying her eyes out, up until the point she fell asleep. That was when he had learned about her dyslexia, when he had discovered one of her 'defects'. The memory of that night was seared into her mind and whenever she came back to it the emotional floodgates opened up again.

"Just follow. You'll understand soon enough."

Kayla went into her room after steeling herself and prepared for the worst. What happened next broke right through that steel like a hot knife through butter.

"Okay, where do I begin?" Daniel said with some anxiousness in his voice. "I got a text message from a friend of mine, about the person they got for having… having coke in their locker. Now I'm not exactly sure what you two meant to one another, but the person the school got was Webmin. I'm so sorry."

Kayla was completely blown away by this information. Sure, they'd only been dating for about a month, but that didn't change the fact that they had become super close and that she cared about him. And now, here she was, learning that a person she trusted got caught dealing drugs. 'God damn it!' she thought to herself. Every time she got something good in her life it was always stripped from her, taken away in a cruel twist of fate. Shattered again, Kayla did the only thing her body would let her do; break down and start sobbing into Daniel's shoulder.

"It's alright, it's alright," Daniel said softly as he rubbed her back and held her tightly. 'This isn't fair' Daniel thought. Everything good that happened to Kayla was always followed up by something horrible. It wasn't fair to her. She was the sweetest, most innocent girl he knew. If anybody deserved better it was her. It just wasn't fucking fair. "You didn't know, it wasn't your fault, okay? It'll be alright in the end sweetheart, I promise you."

"I know. It's just… it's just that I thought this time something good would last, that I would finally get to keep something good for my life, but no, just like every other time, it's lost. God damn it!" Kayla nearly screamed as a new round of sobs started up.

Daniel decided to put Kayla on her bed so he could begin the process of healing. He would never admit it, but every time he saw Kayla crying like this his heart felt like it was breaking. And the worst part was that this had been happening a lot lately, and he couldn't seem to stem the tide.

"I'm gonna try and find out more information on what happened. I can tell you need to be alone, but I'm gonna be right outside in your living room if you need me. Just text me if you wanna talk or just need a shoulder to lean on. Can you do that for me?" Daniel asked Kayla softly.

"Alright," Kayla said in an extremely low and dejected tone of voice. Daniel had placed her blanket over her by this point.

"Good that you understand. Love you," Daniel said as he left the room. That was a bit weird, he very rarely told Kayla that, and almost never in a situation like this.

As Daniel took a seat on the couch the first thing he did was whip out his phone and his laptop to start contacting people. The first person he decided to contact was Crystal. If anyone needed to know about Kayla's mental state as well as school information, it was her.

"Hey Crystal, I heard Webmin got snagged by the school for drug dealing. You know anything else?" he texted her. Not a minute later he got a response.

"I heard that as well. He's definitely getting suspended. Maybe even expelled. How is Kayla doing?" Crystal replied back.

"She's in her room by herself right now. I decided to give her some space. I'm taking care of her. I'll update you if anything happens."

"Ok thanks. Have I ever told you how good of a friend you are to her?"

"Once or twice I think."

"I'm only concerned about what will happen if there ever comes a situation where you can't fix Kayla."

"What do you mean?"

"If Kayla runs into a problem that is so serious, not even you might be able to fix it, what would you do then? I'm concerned that it might not hurt only her, but destroy you as well. If it ever came to that, would you fight until the end or would you fall and spiral? I hope it never comes to that."

Daniel read the text over and over, trying to comprehend its meaning in a variety of ways. The entire time though, he couldn't shake the feeling that Crystal had a good point. If something so catastrophic happened to Kayla that it would change her entire self, would he be able to handle the change? Daniel mulled over the answer for what seemed like forever. And even then, at the end of all of it, he had come to only one conclusion.

For the first time in a long time, he didn't know the answer.