“You weren’t responding to my texts, and I o talk to you” Mia said to me.

  “Yeah, I saw them but didn’t think it was right to respond” I said. “You really shouldn’t be texting…”

  “I broke up with Noah” She said, cutting me off.

  “What?” I said.

  I didn’t know how to respond to this. I had a strange feeling just like I did when they first told me they were dating. A strange feeling I couldn’t really pce.

  “Yeah, I broke up with him” she said. “And there are a few things I want… that I o tell you”.

  I was having a hard time figuring out what this was about, but decided to just ig. So instead of staying to talk to Mia, I just moved past her.

  “Mia, it's fihat you broke up with him, but I don’t know what that has to do with me anymore” I say, shrugging her off.

  “PLEASE…” she yells, right when I pass her. “Just let me get through this”.

  As I turn to look at her, I hear my phone ding, but don’t have time to check it.

  “Fine” I tell her. “I listen to what you want to say”.

  I wasn’t sure what to do, but she was waitihis early, and clearly something was wrong.

  I could try to ighis, but I wasn’t going to try really hard to do so.

  “Thank you” she started. “Firstly, I'm sorry”.

  “... What are you apologizing for?” I ask her.

  “A lot of things… How all my friends were treating you, the stuff with Noah, not notig what you were going through” she said. “Just all of it”

  “I don’t uand why you're apologizing for that” I knew what she meant, but it didn’t make seo me.

  “Because it was my fault. If I had noticed what was going on, I could have stopped it sooner”

  “I don’t think that's true” I say. “How would you have stopped it?”

  “I don’t know, but it would have been different. If I wasn’t friends with them”

  “They probably still have bullied me” I said. “Mia, that wasn’t because of you”.

  She stares at me for a few seds, and then cuckles for a sed. “Even when I am here to apologize, you are trying to be o me”

  “Like I said, you have no reason to apologize.”

  We stared at each other for a few more seds.

  “There is one more thing I o tell you, and I don’t want you to respond.” Mia said.

  “What?”

  “Just one more thing, then I am going to leave” she said.

  “Ok…” I said, fused ohis was going.

  “Zenith, I l…” she started.

  But before she could finish her sentence, Enemy dete activated.

  I read ohat it also works when someone, a normal person, tries to attack you. It's used in petitions a lot to deal with cealment skills.

  I was fag Mia, and my house, so my back was to the street. And from the street, someone was trying to attack me.

  I quickly bend over, and swing my leg to knock the person off bance. My body moved on its own, like it did when I fight with on mastery.

  I khe person over, and before they fall, I stiy arm and grab them by the shirt, making sure they don’t fall to the ground.

  “Hi, Noah” I say, looking my former friend right in the face.

  And behind him, I see his entire group of friends on the sidewalk in front of my house.

  And my phone dings once again.

  ?

  Noah, and the rest of his group, went to see Mia in the m. They had been ed about the fact that she had now skipped 2 weeks of school and had fully not talked to them in that time.

  They viewed each other as good friends, but this was something they had never seen before.

  “Im worried about her” Katie said, as they walked to her house. “The only thing she said is to stop talking to her”.

  “She is going to be fine. She just ime” Noah said.

  As they neared her house, Noah told the group he would go up aloo see if she was willing to talk.

  As he knocked on the door, it was quickly opened by Mia’s father.

  The rest of the group didn’t know what was exged but they could tell it was a heated exge, with Mia’s father yelling at Noah.

  The very st sentence before he smmed the door in his face was heard however.

  “IF YOU EVER E TO OUR HOUSE AGAIN, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO CALL THE POLICE” he yelled at Noah.

  As Noah made his way back to the rest of the group, he walked right past them.

  “What was that about” Katie asked him.

  “A misuanding. But Mia isn't there. But I think I know where she went” was all he said, anger entering his voice.

  The rest of the group followed him to an unfamiliar house, where they immediately reized two people standing in the front yard.

  Zenith and Mia.

  “Is this where Zenith lives, its nice” David says.

  “His… House” Abby says in a weird tone.

  But before they could say anything, Noah rushes up behih, swinging his fist at the back of his head.

  But they all see, in a blink of an eye, Zenith trip Noah, and catch him, mid fall.

  ?

  “Noah” I said, looking at him.

  “Let, me, go” he s me.

  “Sure” I said, dropping him to the ground. “What are you doing here?” I asked him while he was standing up.

  “Well, my girlfriend hasn’t been talking to me for a few weeks, and when I go to her house to talk to her, she ends up being at your house” he says, very angry.

  Gng at Mia to see if she uood what was going on, but she seemed terrified.

  “She said you broke up” I say to Noah, trying to figure out what was happening here.

  “Ha, she doesn’t know what she is talking about. Now if you move aside, I’ll take her home” he said, trying to push past me.

  When Mia hears this however, she shrinks back when he moves towards her.

  Seeing this, I stop him by grabbing his arm.

  “What are you doing” he said to me.

  “I’m not sure” I said, not fully uanding what I should be doing here.

  But before anything else could be said, Noah swings his other arm at me, as to hit me in the face.

  I let go of his arm and step back before it hit me.

  “You know what, I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.” Noah said, standing in front of me, holding his fists in front of his face.

  Not stoping him, he throunch right at my face, but it never ects.

  Right whehrew the punch, Mia yelled out, “Noah, stop this!.”

  And right before his fist hits my face, a group of bck tendrils force him to stop.

  “What is this” Noah said, struggling against the binding.

  But I look up to the entrao my house, behind both Noah and Mia.

  “What are any of you doing at our house?” Aria said, standing in the door, still wearing her pajamas.

  This gets everyone else to look at her as well, including the group behind me.

  I could hear them murmuring behind me, but didn't really care about what they were saying.

  “Um, sorry Aria” Mia says, hanging her head in front of her.

  “Ahe question” she said, very angry.

  “Mia wao talk to me about something, and the rest of them just showed up” I answered.

  “Hey peanut gallery, get off our property” Aria said, dropping the bindings on Noah. “Now”.

  This gets the group to leave but Noah stayed.

  “I’m not leaving without Mia” he said, standing up to Aria.

  “I don’t care, she was supposed to leave as well” Aria said.

  He smiled at this, a twisted grin.

  “You heard her Mia, let’s go” he said, an odd tone in his voice.

  “Noah, just leave, I’m not done here” Mia said, getting a hold of her terror from earlier.

  “Mia!” Noah yelled at her, trying to get her to leave.

  But she just ignored him.

  “Zenith, I just o tell you this” she said.

  “I Love you”

  And after, my head began t with a sound that sounded like my phone for some reason.