PIPER'S P.O.V.

I knew that Harry was just being supportive, but I didn't want to talk about it until now. I felt out of place telling him such personal information about Cory. Riley honestly didn't even know and she had been close to Cory his entire life.

"Harry, I think I can talk to you about it now."

"Please do. I'm all ears."

"When Cory was younger - his first year in high school I think, so about 14 - he was highly depressed. He went into school with no friends and was made fun of a lot. We were home schooled through our earlier grades and our parents always encouraged us to be ourselves and nothing ever held us back. We made friends with kids whose parents wanted the same thing. Well, Cory loved drama and arts, which made him immediately unpopular in high school. They were vicious- boys and girls alike. He slowly became more detached from us and spent a lot of time in his room. One Saturday evening, I knocked on his door because he hadn't left his room all day. He didn't answer so I unlocked the door with a bobby pin, which we always did as kids to annoy each other, and he was passed out on the floor, an empty pill bottle next to him. We got him to the hospital in time to have his stomach pumped and he ended up being okay. We helped him through it and he's been alright ever since. He learned to ignore other peoples' hurtful speech and made friends with people like him. Eventually, he was back to normal. Still, every time he gets upset and disappears, I worry. I can't help it."

I feel hot tears stream down my cheeks and Harry grips my hand tightly.

"That's understandable. Come on. Let's go find him."

I agreed. It had been too long. I waited for him to call me back or text me but he'd given me nothing. We left a note for Riley that we would be back soon and left quickly. I drove this time, knowing the few places I wanted to check. First, we went to our old neighborhood; the place we lived when he was always happy. He was nowhere to be found. After that, we went to the high school. Sometimes he went there and ran the track at night, so it was a possibility. When no one was there, I thought about any other options. My mind stopped racing as I remembered going to the lake one year with our parents. Cory told me that he loved being there; it helped him think. We got back in the car and drove to the lake. When we parked, I could see a figure sitting on the dock, throwing things into the water. I could tell it was Cory and Harry decided to wait in the car. As I approached him, he didn't react. I knew he could hear me, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"Cory?"

He looked at me blankly, simply nodding.

"Can I sit?"

Again he nodded, this time staring off at the woods far in the distance. We sat in silence for a couple minutes and I looked him over. He had sliced his arms over and over, obviously throwing the blades into the water when he was done, angry at himself. I could tell that he had been crying but he'd been done for a while.

"Wanna talk about it?"

He took a deep breath and finally really looked at me.

"No. But, I will."

I forced a grin and turned my body to face him so he knew he had my full attention.

"I feel like a fuck-up, Piper. First, because of what happened to you and now Riley hates me. I just-"

"That isn't true Cory. She does not hate you! What happened today with her?"

"We just argued. I probably instigated it, but I don't remember. She told me she regrets what we did and that makes me feel terrible. I don't blame her, I just wish I would have stopped it from happening. I should have known..."

His voice trailed off, but I wanted him to continue.

"Should have known what?"

"I should have known that I could never make her happy!"

"Cory-"

"No, it's fine. I don't know why I thought that I could. I'm an idiot. I should have stopped the whole
thing and then maybe I could have saved you, too."

"We all make mistakes, but don't think for a second that you're to blame for what James did to me. That was out of your control. I promise, Riley doesn't hate you. I think you need to talk to her about how you feel... Calmly."

"I can't."

"You need to. You won't get past it otherwise. Can I see your arms?"

He pulled them to his body, trying to hide them, but I caught them and examined his many cuts closer.

"It's relief. Don't lecture me on it."

"I won't. Let's just get back and clean you up."

I stood up and held out a hand to help him. When we approached the car, Harry got out to move to the back seat but Cory told him not to. Once we were back in the car, I noticed that it was about ten o'clock at night and I remembered how little time I had with Harry. I kept forgetting that he wasn't here for good. It felt like it when we were dealing with so much drama, but the next day, he would be gone. He wasn't even supposed to be here. We were supposed to be enjoying a relaxing weekend in California, but James had to ruin that. James. I had never called his dad back and hadn't heard how he was. When we got back to campus, we walked into the dorm and Riley was sitting on the couch. She looked down to Cory's arms and gasped.

"What happened? Where were you?"

Cory looked at me and I nodded in encouragement.

"Come on, Riley. Let's talk."

"Alright, I'll get the first aid kit."

They soon disappeared into Riley's room and Harry and I entered mine.

"I need to call James' dad back. What do I tell him?"

"I guess ask how he is first. Maybe James already told him it was me."

He looked nervous, as he should. I held my phone in my hand and reluctantly clicked on his contact. As it rang, I remembered the time and decided to leave a message if he didn't answer.

"Detective Kamp."

"It's Piper."

"Hey, Piper. I was actually going to call you in the morning, but I'm glad you did now. James is
awake."

"Oh."

I didn't know what else to say. I didn't want to give anything away without hearing what he already knew.

"He doesn't remember anything about who attacked him. He's going to be alright though, which means we can continue with your case. He also wanted to know if your boyfriend was in town? I didn't say that he was. That's who I met the other day, right?"

"Yeah. Why would he want to know that?"

"He said he wanted to talk to him. That's up to you, though."

"I'll, uh, ask him if he wants to."

"Alright, let me know."

"Thanks for the update. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay. Good night."

When I hung up, I couldn't hide my shock. Harry looked at me nervously.

"What'd he say?"

"James doesn't remember, but he wants to talk to you."

"Me? Why?"

"I have no idea. Maybe he'll apologize and knows I won't see him?"

Harry's fists clenched and he sat down on my bed, trying to relax.

"You don't have t-"

"No, I want to hear what that asshole has to say for himself."

Notes

Hello, everyone. So sorry that I didn't update all weekend! It was insane and filled with school work. Also, my computer wasn't turning on so that was another issue. Everything is good now, though.

Anyways, what did you think? Opinions on Cory? What does James want to talk to Harry about? Do you think he'll never remember that night more clearly? What will happen with Piper's case?

Thanks for reading! Please, rate/subscribe if you haven't yet <3 x