When we got to school, I abandoned Simon and went to Jackson's locker. Brenda was sleeping on his lap, listening to his iPod. "She doesn't feel well," he told me, kissing her hair. "We can talk later, all right? I'm… not in the mood.""This is about last night, huh?""Shh…" he rolled his eyes. "Don't get all emotional on me."I hated how up and down things were between us. We had such a great relationship for about… four hours."Okay. Call me later?""Sure. Have a good day." He said, avoiding my eyes.My day was hell. All I could think about was HIV. Every time I saw Simom, I got sick to my stomach. It was the most stressed out I had been in a really long time. I couldn't concentrate on anything. Ellie tried to get me to tell her what was go

"It's Brenda. Come on in, but don't make a sound." "You have bed-head," I told him, entering the room and pulling the door shut behind me."I was lying down.""Jackson?" I heard Brenda ask.He un-muted the phone, putting his finger to his lips. "Back babe. Sorry."I went to his bed and lay down, resting my head on one of his super fluffy pillows. He settled beside me, slinging an arm over my shoulders. It felt really nice, but also really horrible, since he was on the phone with his poor unsuspecting girlfriend. After fifteen minutes of mushy talk, Jackson said goodbye to Brenda. He set his phone on the nightstand and turned his attention to me."Where did Simon go?" he asked."He ditched me for Caroline."He shook his head. "He's so

It just didn't seem real. Never again would I have to worry about Simon cheating on me with Caroline. As much as I had wanted that threat gone, I hadn't wanted things to turn out like this. The classroom was buzzing. Everyone knew who Caroline was, but not many people were close with her. "I heard some drunk guy killed her at a party when she wouldn't have sex with him," someone murmured."Nah, she was driving shit-faced.""She killed herself," I whispered."What?!" asked the person next to me.I nodded. "She shot herself."This got the class started up again. The teacher sat quietly for a while, and then stood up."All right everybody, that's enough discussion. If you need to see the counselor, that is fine. Otherwise, let's begin."

I went upstairs to my room without acknowledging my parents' greetings from the living room. I collapsed on my bed and sighed heavily. I thought about Wyette. He made a great first impression. I'd trusted him instantly and felt comfortable telling him all the terrible thoughts I had about cheating on Simon. I couldn't tell him about the HIV though; he'd probably think I was a slut and not want to hang around me anymore. I still loved Ellie dearly, but something told me that Wyette was more trustworthy. It wasn't her fault really… girls just had bigger mouths than boys. At about 10:00 I got a text message from Jackson.Picking you up at 7:40. I promised Simon. This isn't for you.I wasn't sure I wanted to ride with Jackson. I sure as hell didn't ride the bus though. I was the last person on, and I had no friends on the bus; I would have nowhere to sit. I suppressed a gr

A few minutes later Simon returned to the living room with his tennis shoes on. "Let's roll, babe."I got up, slipping on my flip flops on the way out.I felt like throwing up the entire way to the clinic. Simon kept one hand firmly on my thigh, obviously sensing my nervousness and trying to contain his own. He was the man, after all. He had to be macho. We parked and just sat there for a moment. He met my eyes."No matter what happens, Sophie… No matter what the results are… I'm going to love you just as much as I always have."It didn't even annoy me that he used the "L" word. What had just come out of his mouth was so sweet that all I could think about was how lucky I was to still have him. I kissed him tenderly and tried to smile."We're going to be okay… aren't we?