Disclaimer: I do not have any relations with the members of My Chemical Romance. This is a pure work of fiction, none of this ever happened.

***

Maggie yawned, trying to keep her focus on the teacher that kept chatting on with students about his everyday life. It kind of reminded her of Charlie Brown when the teacher would just blah on about class at a scary tone of voice. She always hated Charlie Brown because of that. The teacher would sound so scary and it'd make her not want to go to school on the first day.

Instead of listening to the teacher, she adjusted the hem of her skirt and looked around. The students weren't even listening to them. In fact, even half of them were fallen asleep on their desks and had their heads down. Some girls were leaned back and filing their nails as their annoying boyfriends had their arms all over them. They snuck in a feel of their chests every now and then and when the girl glared at them, they'd act like nothing was wrong. Maggie looked over at her boyfriend.

He was cute, practically falling asleep. He smoothed his already gelled back hair and looked at her with his big blue eyes and smiled. She smiled back and nodded, running her hand through her hair.

His name was Matt and he was one of the popular boys in school, which kind of made her popular from the second she came to this school, and he talked to her. He said that he liked her hair. It was nothing but black and a bunch of faded colors so it showed the bleach. Maybe he thought she was going for a black with bleach highlights look, so ever since then she kept it that way just to make him notice her. Once she had him, she was nothing but the talk of the school. That's how she got the reputation as Maggie, the girlfriend of the lead singer in the high school's favorite local band.

Maggie found herself looking around the room again. Class was almost over, so everyone was starting to wake back up again. What she didn't notice until then was that she felt someone watching her. At first, she thought it was Matt, but he was too busy writing something, probably making it look like he was paying attention. He looked so cute being the goody good. But then she looked over to the corner of the room at the kid who she felt was looking at her. She knew he was looking because he looked down when he noticed she was looking back.

Mikey Way, her next door neighbor of six years. He was pretty mysterious for Maggie's liking. He had light brown hair, glasses, his eyes would squint in this way that drove her crazy when Matt wasn't looking, and he had smooth, moist lips that he licked every time they looked dry. Everyone made fun of him because of something stupid like his glasses or the acne around his mouth. She never really got to know him, considering the higher and lower standards of high school and all, but she always wondered how he acted. He couldn't act shy and quiet around people on regular basis, would he?

The bell rang and Matt tapped Maggie's shoulder to snap out of it. She watched as Mikey picked up his things and adjusted the headphones that held in his ears so they wouldn't be noticed. It was his trick for staying up in class so long. He gave her another look and then looked down again before making his way past the other kids into the hallway.

"Mags?"

She looked up at Matt who called her and stood up to pick up her books. He took them for her with one arm and put his other arm around her shoulder as they walked out into the hallway where they received some looks. People thought it was cute that they were together and shared a locker. Maggie thought it was just corny. They turned another way and ran into a small corner where Mikey was standing with three other guys. One had long black hair to his shoulders, who stood most near Mikey. She knew after school that they were related but couldn't see the family resemblance. He didn't even come to school half the time, and he was just always there between classes. He had a baby face, so it was kind of assumed that he was younger than Mikey. When she saw him after school, he'd be sitting on the doorstep, doodling on some piece of paper with a bunch of colored pencils as he waited for Mikey. Mikey always kind of sulked behind her in a way on the way back from school. She'd always pass by him and he'd never look at her. It was kind of unusual for her not to be watched.

Another guy was tall and had a big head of dirty blonde curls. They weren't tamed curls either, and it was more of an afro. Finally, there was a shorter one who seemed to look angry twenty-four hours at a time with his gelled black hair over his eyes and lip ring.

Maggie tried to stop but for some reason Matt wouldn't move out of the way. It looked like they were going to collide with them, so she backed up and his arm rubbed over the top of her head, which hurt.

"Ow, Matt!"

There was a big collision with Matt, Mikey, and the three strangers. Matt fell to the floor yelling and the rest of them just stood there, holding their laughs. Maggie leaned down on the floor, but Matt pushed her away. It wasn't a polite push either, so she fell against the wall after tripping over some of her school books scattered on the floor.

"God, you freaks!" Matt kept saying over and over as he brushed himself off and glared at them all. Taking the hint that he wasn't going to help her, Maggie picked herself up and her books. She saw a hand on one of them: Mikey's. He was picking it up for her, but as soon as she took it, Matt pushed it back down to the floor and then picked it up for her.

"They don't deserve to touch your stuff, Maggie. They're worthless freaks who shouldn't be in this school in the first place."

"Go lip sync your boy band, shit, Matt," the shorter one blurted out, giving him a glare. Matt walked over, measuring up to him by being almost a head taller. The guy backed away and leaned against the lockers again. Maggie grabbed Matt's arm.

"Please stop, you were in their way-"

"I was fucking not in their way!" he shouted at her, sending her to back off. She looked at Mikey and the other guys. They seemed as calm as could be, which was pretty normal. Matt wasn't all that scary. He was mainly words.

"We don't want any trouble," the long haired one cleared his throat. Matt pushed him against the lockers.

"Go shoot up, Way!"

It silenced him and he made his way through the crowd forming and disappeared to his class. Mikey scratched his nose and stood up next.

"I don't think you have any right saying that--"

"Why don't you go suck a dick, Mikey?" Matt made a second comeback, "Maybe get some more herpes around that disgusting mouth of yours!"

Like the other guy, Mikey backed up and went away followed by the boy with the fro after him. Maggie pushed Matt from behind for him to face her. He turned around thinking she was one of those guys with this big glare on his face, but when he saw her, he sighed.

"Look, babe--"

"Shut up," she interrupted, "That is the single rudest thing I've ever seen. Fuck off until you go get some manners."

She turned around without a care of her reputation and walked to her classroom only to find Mikey sitting in the desk next to the doorframe. She'd just remembered they shared the same English classes together.

But she tried to keep her cool as she entered the classroom and sat on the other corner of the room. She opened her notebook and a clutter of pens, papers with writing all over them, and an eyeliner pencil. The teacher didn't like people putting on makeup during class, so she kept it in her notebook disguised as a regular pencil, something she'd learned from her old school friends. Since the teacher wasn't in the room, she pulled out the compact mirror from her pocket and uncapped the eyeliner to quickly apply some before the bell rang for class. When it did, she lowered the pencil to pretend she was writing and slipped the compact back into her pocket. From the corner of her eye, she could spy a familiar face looking at her. She turned her neck to make sure, but she was wrong. Mikey had his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he held a pencil in one hand and his other hand in a fist. He started writing in the notebook he had. There wasn't anything on the board to copy, so she just shook her head, claimed him crazy, and turned her head back to the front of the room. The teacher, Ms. Waters, was already waiting for the class to calm down. She never told them herself, everyone would just suddenly silence after a while of watching her stand there.

The murmurs lasted a while though, that day. When it came to a dull, silent chatter, she began speak.

"Project."

It was all she said to make the class groan in disgust. Maggie just sat there looking around. What was new? She always scheduled projects that day of the week whenever they had her. Kids were such drama queens when it came to assignments.

Ms. Waters started walking around the room, taking a cell phone open and on from one kids ear, taking a note between two girls passing it, and closing a boy's magazine, the cover saying "Science", but the pictures saying "Naked Girls in Lab Coats".

"Forget about English for a week," she twirled around when she got back to the front of the classroom, "Let's focus on our classmates."

Everyone's eyes shifted. Their heads turned at each other and they all looked around. Ms. Waters grinned.

"Good. Step one s finished. Step two," she walked over to her unusually organized desk for a teacher and grabbed a stack of papers. They were handed to Nikki, the wide grinning class pet, to be handed out to every one. She continued to talk.

"Step two, you will be getting these packets. I have assigned a partner to you and wrote it on the page. Nikki, be sure no one switches. You will spend two weeks with this person. I don't care how, just as long as you get this packet done together. You can spend time with them just inside of school, outside of school, in Europe, I really don't care. They will be your partners whether you like them or not. I picked out your partners by the result of your projects from last time."

Maggie took the packet from Nikki and didn't look at it. She was too focused on what her last project was on: music. It was probably her most favorite project of the year. She did a whole report, poster, and video on her favorite bands, instruments, and genre's of music. She basically loved every type and couldn't wait to get out of class to listen to her new CD she'd gotten just last evening. It was what she spent her allowance on. When she looked down at the paper, her eyes widened.

Mikey? Mikey Way was going to be her partner? She felt herself turning pink before she even dared to look at him since he got his paper before her. Matt would not approve of this. Hanging out with Mikey instead of him? She couldn't just ditch the project either, she was too much of a goody good to do that. Just in time for her to break out in reaction, Ms. Waters started talking again.

"Now, I'm using this class period as sort of an...introduction part. So you and your partner may wander the halls, the teachers know I do this, so you won't get yelled at unless you don't have your packets. You may go anywhere in the school. When that last bell rings, you're gone for the weekend."

Everyone got up out of their chairs. Some girls jumped and giggled together since they were already friends, a girl slapped a guy from his introduction comment to her, and two guys stood awkwardly in front of each other for the longest time not saying a thing. She felt a chair rub against her thigh and she looked up. Mikey was standing uncomfortably, then he sat in the chair beside her and scooted closer towards the desk.

"Hi."

"Hi," she managed to scratch out.

He had a small smile on his face. His finger print smudged glasses were falling off the bridge of his nose, so he pushed them up with his index finger. There was a long awkward silence between them. Then again, when wasn't it awkward when they talked to each other? Her boyfriend had just told out his entire gang and Mikey, how was she supposed to explain that?

"You two!"

Ms. Waters pointed both Maggie and Mikey sitting in the corner of the room just looking down and making no conversation whatsoever.

"You two go to the auditorium or something! I paired you two up specially."

"Wow!" It was one of Matt's ex-girlfriends, Aly. She was nice to, though, unlike the rest of his girlfriends. She was a pale redhead with many freckles on her arms and face. But no one made fun of her because she always held the parties and her dad was the mayor.

"The nerd and Maggie? How special is that, huh, Mags?"

She just let out a light chuckle and waved as Aly walked off with one of the other girls in the class. Ms. Waters continued and signaled them to get up and out the door. Mikey stood up and grabbed his stuff. Maggie did too and they exited the room together. When Ms. Waters closed the door, Mikey let out a loud sigh.

"I hate that class."

She didn't do anything but chuckle again in response. They began to walk the quiet halls of the school toward the auditorium like they were told. It was quiet. All sound in the hallway fell onto the echoes of their shoes hitting the floor as they walked beside each other not saying a thing. A third pair of shoes stopped them from going any further.
Maggie looked up and noticed a boy wearing a vest with school colors: the hall monitor.

He raised his hand in front of them to stop and cleared his throat.

"Hall pass?"

Mikey dug in his pocket for the packet of the project. He seemed to take forever, so Maggie pulled out hers and showed it to him. The boy scratched the acne on his cheek and then looked up. He jumped.

"Maggie! I didn't know it was you! I didn't know you'd be standing by...Way..."

They both looked at Mikey who stopped looking and then squinted his eyes at them both.

"What?"

The hall monitor walked away, still apologizing to Maggie and then went to the nearest restroom. Maggie shrugged and began to walk again. She realized Mikey wasn't beside her and then turned around.

He was standing there just watching her walk. Then when he noticed she'd turned around, he rubbed his neck with his hand and caught up with her, running on a few feet. Then he began walking like it was no big deal. She cleared her throat and looked at him.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing," he shook his head, giving a nervous grin, "I just...I don't know...I'm not used to just getting by in the hallway like that..."

"Oh," it seemed to be no problem with her. Then again, it felt like status was everything in the school.

She and Mikey reached the auditorium and entered through the front where the play being rehearsed was stopped only for a minute. Then the teacher calmed them all down and explaining why random students were coming into the auditorium just randomly in each one of his classes.

They both walked down a few steps and over to some fold out seats in the corner so they wouldn't disturb anyone and sat down. Maggie opened her notebook and her pencil fell out onto the carpet. Mikey jumped up and walked over to the other row of seats to get it for her.

"No, you don't have to--"

"No, it's fine," he walked back over with the pencil and looked at it. She looked down at her other pencil in the pocket of the school notebook. Mikey was holding her eyeliner pencil. He showed no reaction and just gave it back to her before sitting down.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be doing for this project?"

She shrugged, holding the packet in front of her and scanning the pages. They were nothing but questions, like an interview perhaps. Then there were directions to what they were going to use them for. Somehow they were supposed to work a friendship out of the project. She looked at Mikey, eyebrows raised, and laughed.

"This project's so lame..."

His eyes shifted as if he wanted to say something contradictive in response. But he held it for a moment and then shrugged.

"Yeah, but we should get started."

"Mikey, we've been neighbors for six years."

His eyes shifted, and then he shook his head with an unsure grin as if he didn't understand.

"We haven't talked for five."

The only time Maggie had talked to him was in seventh grade when she first moved into the house beside Mikey's. She was swinging on the tire swing in the front yard attached to the big tree, and Mikey fell and scraped his knee when he was jumping off the three steps in front of his house. She skipped on over and asked if he was okay. All he did was adjust his glasses and nod. Then she walked away and that was it. Deep down, she regretted that day for not making more conversation with him. Maybe they wouldn't have been sunken into the pools of high school two years later.

Mikey was digging around in his backpack and pulled out a pencil. Then he grabbed a textbook to press on and looked at Maggie.

"Name?"

She sat back and gave him a smart look. His eyebrows raised and shrugged.

"I'm serious."

She sighed, "Margaret," then she got a pencil and textbook to imitate him, "Yours?"

"Michael," he wiped his nose and before he could ask another thing, the bell started to ring and everyone in the theatre class near them all started packing up to leave. Maggie picked up her things and stood up. Mikey grabbed his bag, shoved everything in there, and cleared his throat.

"Maybe sometime this weekend you can come over...or I could come over your house and we can finish the first part of the project then."

She shook her head in doubt. Matt would probably be all over her that evening, begging for forgiveness. He always did even with the simplest things she would forgive him over. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't resist the pathetic little look on his face. He would offer to take her out and cuddle with her just before she had to go back home for curfew.

"Maggie?"

Maggie blinked and looked back at Mikey. She shook her head again and shrugged.

"I have plans."

He nodded, looking down, "Right."

"Yeah," she sighed, "Bye."

She turned around and started toward the exit out of the auditorium doors. That was when she remembered she had to walk home with him behind her anyway.

It was freezing out. And it didn't help to be wearing a skirt knee-length skirt and walking home. Maggie took her hoodie and put it on halfway down the road just as a breeze blew by. She looked at the neighborhood around her. The sidewalk was empty ahead with just a few stray leaves blowing by. Then she looked beside her at the line of tall bushes in the front yard of the house. The leaves on the bushes were still a vibrant green, unaffected by the season change.

She heard footsteps behind her, so she began to walk again. If it was Mikey, she didn't want to talk to him. He'd try to make plans with her.

"Maggie!"

She rolled her eyes and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before she turned around to look at him walking quick to catch her. He almost tripped in front of her but as a reflex, she held out her hand to lean on his chest.

"What?"

Adjusting his glasses and kneeling down on one knee, Mikey put down his book bag and pulled her eyeliner pencil out of his pocket. At first, she looked at him. Then, he just shrugged and put it in the center of her hand that she held out.

"You dropped it when you ran away from me like I was some freak, so I thought it'd be not so freaky to give it to you."

She closed her hand and then put it in the pocket of her notebook again. Then she looked at him still kneeling down on the sidewalk digging in his backpack. Instead of just standing there like an idiot, she turned around and walked again. Shortly after, she heard a big sigh and footsteps trying to catch up behind her.

"Maggie, gosh, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," she whispered to herself and turned around only to bump right into his chin against her forehead.

"Ow! Damn!" she rubbed the spot on her head where he'd run into her and looked up at him. He was rubbing his chin as well and sighed.

"I'm just trying to be nice."

"Yeah, well, you're trying too hard," she sighed and watched him shift one armful of books into the other. They both turned and walked together along the sidewalk. It made her feel awkward, considering for the last six years, he'd always trailed behind her.

"Do you hate me?" he looked at her, squinting his eyes because of the sun. She looked down and shook her head.

"Not at all."

"Oh," he kicked a rock in front of him, "Because you've always acted like you did...or you just never talked to me."

"Well, I'm never obligated to. I just never felt like talking to you. You seemed so shy..."

"Oh," he nodded, "You're right then I guess."

Maggie sighed and grabbed his forearm as they both stopped walking to face each other.

"I'm sorry, Mikey, I just...I never mean to be rude to you...or I never mean for my friends to be rude to you."

A smirk fell on his lips. She couldn't admit that it didn't make her shiver because she still held his arm, so he felt it. There was a car driving up behind them. Maggie's heart leapt because everyone knew the sound of Matt's car coming from around the corner. Her arm jumped and she threw Mikey into the nearby pile of bushes beside them and turned around to face the car approaching the sidewalk.

The passenger seat window rolled own and Matt scooted over to the other side. He had this wide grin on his face and the puppy dog eyes. She smiled and walked over.

"What are you doing?"

He reached out and took her hand into his, "I've come to take you away."

"My house is just down the street."

"You don't know when someone will jump out at you," he kissed the top of her hand, "Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Her nose wrinkled and she shook her head, "No, thanks."

There was a frown on his face and he threw her hand back. It fell hard against her side. Maggie scoffed and looked back at Matt who was scooting back to the driver's seat.

"Matt--"

"Look, it was just a couple of guys, okay? Two of them don't even go there, so what's so rude about it?"

"Because they're people too--"

"Do you have a thing with Mr. Cocaine?" he interrupted, giving her a rude look. She backed up a little and adjusted the notebook in her arm.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Do you want a break?" he looked around and rested his forearm on the steering wheel. Then he wiped his nose and sniffled. She hated it when he did that. It was his look to feel important. He did it to everyone that he didn't feel like talking to. Now she realized that she was one of them.

"Look, I'll give you a week," he started the car back up, "I'll call you."

"Matt," she watched him shift the gears and back the car up a little, "Matt!"

Once he drove off, she dropped her notebook on the ground and kept shouting his name. She bit her lip, trying not to cry or break the color off her face as she bent down to collect her things back up again. There was a shuffle in the bushes that made her turn around and remember what she did to Mikey.

He was brushing himself off and there was a cut right by his eye. She sighed and walked over to help him.

"Are you okay?"

He looked at her, "Fine."

"No, you're not, I'm sorry, Mikey," she took his bag off the ground and put it on her shoulder, "I'll carry your stuff."

Mikey's hand stopped brushing off the leaves as he was too distracted that Maggie had cupped her hand into his and led him off the center of the sidewalk to check the cut near his eye.

It was nothing big, but she didn't want to risk the chance of it getting worse and she'd get in trouble or something. His head jerked from side to side as she tried to touch it the first time. She barely did and he jumped.

"Ow," he whispered and took off his glasses. It made her back away for a minute. Aside from liking the way he looked before, he seemed more attractive without his glasses. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," she shook her head and tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear, "...Can you see without those?"

"Nope," he shook his head and put them back on as they began to walk again. She walked with him and kept sneaking glances at him from the corner of her eye. He seemed to look down at the ground at his shoes kicking along the pieces of broken sidewalk on the ground. She wondered if he saw what happened between her and Matt just before. It all happened so fast, she hope he didn't see. The thought made her eyes water and a small tear fell onto the ground. Mikey stopped and looked at it and then at the sky, squinting his eyes up at the sun.

"Strange. It doesn't look like rain."

She shook her head. He didn't know. He was probably too much of a guy to understand anyway.

"Sorry about the bush again," she managed to blurt out to distract him from watching the tear evaporate into the concrete. Mikey looked up and nodded, rubbing what was left of the blood trailing out of the cut near his eye.

"No problem. It's fine, really."

Maggie nodded and looked at her house appearing past the bushes that separated Mikey's house and hers. As always, the guy from the school was sitting there, Indian style, with his colored pencils and papers just scribbling away. She looked back at him and sighed.

"I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he adjusted the books in his hand as he grabbed for his book bag she'd placed over her shoulder earlier, "If you turn up sometime not having any plans--"

"I'll keep that in mind," she interrupted, her eyes turning toward the boy with the long hair sitting at the porch. Mikey noticed and looked with her, sticking his hands in his jean pockets.

"That's my brother, Gerard. He just got back from art school."

"Oh," she replied, "He doesn't go to our school?"

He let out a nasally chuckle and clenched the straps to his bag, "No, he's twenty."

She nodded and shrugged. It was a nice fact to know instead of acting completely clueless toward who he was. Instead of saying bye to Mikey, she just turned and started walking past the porch, feeling Gerard's big eyes against her, sending a shiver through her body. It made her even turn her head to look at him. But before she even caught him staring, he'd looked down to his notebook again and pretended to color with a black pencil. It was the same thing he did every day just before she's managed to escape by then being hidden behind the bushes that separated them. It didn't make her shiver until then now that she had known his name.

This time was different. She felt the need to turn into the bushes and peek through the leaves to see what would happen next that she was gone.

Mikey was looking down as he threw his bag and notebook on the patch of grass that was on the other side of the line of concrete which separated the grass from the front porch. Mikey sat on his book bag facing Gerard and looked up at the sky leaning back on his elbows.

"What are you drawing today?"

"Nothing," Gerard managed out a mumble. His voice was very light and kind, nothing she'd expected. Maybe something raspy, but it was nothing at all like it.

Mikey rubbed his neck and sighed as he looked up at the various shaped clouds.

"I'm sorry about that Matt guy today, Gerard. He doesn't know--"

"He sure knows a lot," Gerard mumbled again, "I mean, if he knew and everything."

Mikey paused for a minute, "Gerard...you don't...do any of that stuff do you?"

Gerard paused, too. Then he decided to stand up and collect his art things quickly. Mikey stood up.

"Gerard--"

"Nothing, Mikey, just nothing," he slammed his pencil case closed and slammed the door while walking into the house. Mikey quickly followed after. It left Maggie to herself, then discovering that her hair had become tangled into the leaves of the bushes. It took her close to ten minutes trying to escape and make her way inside her house.

After finishing close to what was three hours of homework and a refreshing nap each, Maggie awoke on the living room couch. When she'd entered the house three hours ago, it was empty and dull smelling. But when she woke up, it was filled with the smell of pasta and garlic bread in the kitchen. She followed the scent out of the empty modern living room and into the kitchen, filled with small decorations and sort of a black and white theme going along with it. Her mother was standing in the corner of the room, tasting a sample of spaghetti sauce as Maggie circled around the table, spying three plates on the placemats and everything set perfect. The problem being that there was three instead of the regular two of her and her mother.

She looked at her mother. She had her long black curly hair up nice in a ponytail, just a few strands hanging down in a stylish way. Her makeup was done and she still had on her work suit instead of her heels. Of course, wearing pumps twelve hours out of a day could kill a woman.

"Mom?" Maggie took off her hoodie and rested it on the back of her normal sitting place at the table, "What's the occasion?"

When her mother turned around, she had this vibrant glow upon her face. It was that glow that Maggie would never forget. It wasn't a good glow. She knew exactly who was coming, and they wouldn't leave until they got what they wanted.

"He's coming for dinner and staying for a few days."

"What? No, Mom, he can't--"

"He's my boyfriend, sweetie," she walked over and squeezed Maggie's cheeks, which she hated, "He's back from Florida, he needs some time with me, you--"

"Me?" Maggie repeated, "He hates me--"

"No, he doesn't. He's just busy, that's all."

"He yells."

"Who doesn't?" she smiled, but then really look at Maggie and sighed.

"Just do this for me, okay? I know Kenny loses his temper, but just deal with it, hun. You know I love him."

Maggie shook her head and then sighed, sitting at her place at the table until dinner would be served. Of course, that was all interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Her mother closed the top to the pot of noodles and started for the door.

"Watch that for me, will you, baby?"

Maggie stood up and walked over to the stove, leaning slightly back to see her mother answer the door and jump into the arms of Kenny Warrick.

He was no stallion, nor was he a geek in any way. Geeks were her mother's specialty but not this time. Kenny was a business man. She wasn't sure what he did, but he would always be gone for these long periods of time and come back expecting a warm welcome. Maggie was never a big fan of his when she first met him five years earlier. He yelled, he did drugs, he smoked, and made the house such a wreck in the end. Maggie would always have to clean up everything he left: cigarette butts, scuff marks from his shiny business shoes on the kitchen floor, broken glass from plates he threw, and cuts from where the glass would hit her. It was amazing how her mother would put up with so much shit from a man.

"Maggie!" her mother ran down the hall with Kenny holding her hand. He was dressed of course in his suit and loose tie. His hair was gelled back and he had a bit of stubble on his chin from not shaving that day. Maggie just raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Nice to see you, Kenny," she lied, "Forget to shave?"

He cupped his chin and laughed a little, "Margaret."

"Maggie," she whispered, as she carried the large pot of noodles over the sink, "It's Maggie."

"Sorry," he sat at the table, tucking the napkin into his collar. Maggie rolled her eyes and watched as the grin grew wider on her mother's face. She couldn't disappoint her. She was too happy.

"Maggie and me made dinner tonight," she smiled, carrying over the plate of bread, "I hope you're hungry."

"I am," Kenny grinned wide and watched as Maggie put the bowl of noodles in the center of the table, and then the sauce was right beside it. She lowered her eyelids down so she wouldn't have to look at that bastard that has screwed up the relationship with her mother so many times before. Yet, when he came back, he acted like a saint for a few days just so he could get some good meals in and some sleep.

"So how's boyfriend life, Mags?"

Her eyelids fluttered up as she sat down on her seat at the end of the table, away from the couple. Kenny was reaching for her mother's hand slowly as he kept his eyes on Maggie.

Maggie just shook her head and took a piece of bread.

"Nothing--I mean...we're great. Fine..."

"That's good. Matt's a...a football player?"

She shrugged and bit into a piece of the bread. Her mother just let out a nervous laugh and grabbed the big hot bowl of noodles toward them. Maggie had no appetite that night. Her mother always knew.

They all ate dinner in silence. Except Maggie had finished her piece of bread and took out her homework. Kenny wiped his mouth with the napkin he used as a bib and shook the table to get her attention.

"No homework at the table."

She tilted her head as she looked down at the doodle she drew on her paper.

"You're not the boss of me."

"Maggie, Kenny and me have to tell you something, so put the pencil down."

Maggie always listened to her mother, so she put the pencil down, folded her arms over her chest and sat back in the chair until she was told to sit up like a lady by her mother. Once again, she couldn't disobey. It was Kenny she hated. But there was a glow in the two pairs of eyes staring at her. She shifted her feet across the carpeted floor under her feet.

"What's going on?"

"Maggie..."

"Mags," Kenny grinned, rubbing the top of her mother's hand gently. It sent a glare upon her face, but then it disappeared on the look of how happy her mother looked at her.

"Maggie, Kenny and I have been talking, and well...we think it's time to take the next step," her mother smiled at Kenny and then back at Maggie. They were both smiling.

Maggie was just sitting there questioning in her mind. Her mother promised her that she wouldn't get married ever again, so what was the point of Kenny?

"I agreed for Kenny to stay here...permanently...with us. Me and you, Maggie, isn't that great?"

Maggie stared, her arms dropped from the fold across her chest. She just stared for a minute at the two of them, so happy, and then there was her, staring speechless at them like some heartbroken idiot. Kenny was...Kenny was horrible!

"Mom, what are you talking about?" her voice shook as she stood up. The two of them just stared up at her. Her mother stood up and walked over. She tried rubbing her daughter's back, but she was pushed away.

"Mom, what's going on?! Are you two getting married, or-or what? What is Kenny for?!"

"Maggie--"

"What the hell, Mom?" her voice raised, making Kenny stand up with the two of them already.

"Now, you shouldn't speak to your mother in that tone!"

Maggie winded over to face him and then scowled. She threw her index finger pointing at him and started to walk over to him, soon stopped by her mother grabbing her from behind. Instead, she threw over Kenny's plate of hot noodles against his thighs.

"Who the hell do you think you are?! You're not my dad, you'll never be my dad--"

"Shit, you little brat, look what you did!" Kenny interrupted her, yelling loudly as he brushed off the sauce on his pants onto the white carpet under them. Maggie clenched the roots of her hair that clung to her head in frustration. Kenny and her mother were both glaring at her about now. She didn't like the look of it, so she grabbed her hoodie and started toward the back door that led to the deck.

"Don't you dare walk away from me--"

"Kenny, just give her some time, she's not used to this--"

"What kind of daughter did you raise, Helen?!"

The voices droned out as soon as Maggie slammed the screen door behind her, still clenching her hair and covering her ears. It was dark and chilly out. She could almost see her breath, it being so close to that time of year.

She walked over to under the lounging chair and grabbed the pack of cigarettes taped under it. She took one out and then found the lighter under the grill that she and her mother never used. The cigarette was lit, and she was blowing out smoke of her own then. Her eyes were closed in relaxation as she moved her neck side to side to calm the tension around her.

Once again, she felt eyes upon her, familiar eyes. She turned around to face the neighbors' backyard and deck where Gerard was sitting there under the porch light, smoking as well. He was looking at her. All she did was snarl at him and step on her cigarette that she dropped on the ground so he wouldn't tell anybody.

"What the fuck do you think you're looking at?"

Gerard's figure just stood there, staring at her. He removed the cancer stick out of his mouth and blew out a path of smoke before throwing it on the ground and stepping on it at well. Maggie stayed in place, still with an unsatisfied look on her face.

"You think you can just get into someone's business, well you can't! You better not have heard the yelling from inside or else! Or else!"

Gerard seemed to ignore her as he opened the screen door and walked back inside. The door slammed against the house as it closed shut and the porch light went off. Maggie turned back around, holding herself and suddenly feeling chilly again. A breeze blew some of her hair over her face as she let out shaky breaths.

"Freak..."

Maggie woke up tangled in the sheets of her bed. She'd forgotten how she ended up there. All she remembered was yelling at Gerard the night before and then going back inside after kicking a few pieces of wood on the deck trying to vent her anger. She really did hate Kenny, and he had no right to talk to her like a father. No one could be as good as a father as her own dad. At least, she couldn't imagine anybody like that.

She sat up in bed, pushing her hair out of her face and looking out the window behind the headboard. It was cloudy outside but no rain. Hopefully it was just one of those nice days when everything was so quiet and tranquil. Sometimes, the neighborhood was like that. It would just stop in time and she would go out for a walk by herself.

When she looked back around the room, everything was still. Of course, she wasn't expecting anything to move in her room, that would have been unusual. It was just a mess of posters, some CDs on the floor, and pictures of friends. Then in the corner of her scrapbook pile was a picture of Matt giving her a piggy back ride at the park just a few weeks earlier.

Maggie missed him, she had to admit. She missed his big strong arms wrapped around her legs when he gave her a piggy back ride, and his big smile and broad nose. He was perfect. But why did he have to be so rude to everyone that wasn't just like him? It was kind of the ironic question since she had asked it to herself millions of times.

She got up, changed the clothes she'd been wearing all day yesterday into an Anthrax shirt and jeans. Then she zipped a hoodie on and dug for some socks in her drawer. When she faced the mirror, she faced someone other than herself. She looked different, but she wasn't sure how. Her lips looked swollen, as if she'd been crying, which she had been all night. It was one thing she remembered. Her whole face looked white and her eyes were big. She'd always had big eyes. It reminded herself of her dad's own eyes looking back at her. There were shiver's going down her spine from thinking about her dad looking at her. She turned around and walked out her bedroom door to downstairs.

There was no one there, just an empty kitchen and an arch doorway to guide to the living room. Maggie just walked over to the fridge and poured herself a glass of milk. Then she sat down and leaned her head on her hand as her elbow pressed against the table. A few shirt minutes later, her mother walked in the room with her PJ bottoms on and a tank top.

"Morning, baby," she smiled and kissed the top of Maggie's head before walking over to the fridge. Maggie smiled and cupped both her hands around the glass of milk.

"Morning, Mom."

"Morning, Maggie!"

Maggie turned around and witnessed what she didn't want to see in the mornings ever in the house. It was Kenny shirtless and just wearing boxers. It made her sick to her stomach and she wanted to puke on him for being so rude.

He walked over and wrapped his arms around Maggie's mother's waist. Maggie gagged and walked over to pour her milk in the sink.

"Nasty," she mumbled and rinsed the glass out, "I'm going out."

"Out where?" her mother walked over, "You haven't had breakfast."

"I'll go buy some up the street or something," she smiled nervously, "I'll be back later."

Her mother stared for a minute and then looked at the cat clock on the wall, its eyes going side to side every second. It was close to eleven o' clock. Maggie pulled her hoodie sleeves lower to cover her hands, grabbed her bag, and she started for the front door through the living room. She was out the door before anyone could ever say anything else.

"Fuck!" Maggie exclaimed loudly, kicking a small pile of rocks against the sidewalk. She leaned against the streetlight and stared angrily back at her house. It was amazing how pleasant it looked on the outside and how angry it was on the inside, sort of like a person.

She turned and looked over toward the neighboring house. A woman had walked out of it with a smile on her face. She was an average woman, having big blonde hair and long nails. She kind of looked like one of those cool hairstylist ladies in the movies that sort of help the story plot together. Maggie realized that the woman was looking at her just before getting into her car. She gave a wave and a smile, Maggie did the same, only feeling fake.

When the woman drove off, Maggie walked over to the house. She knew it was Mikey's. The woman was most likely his mom. It was the first time she'd actually stopped and looked at the woman but apparently not good enough since she couldn't even recognize that she looked like Mikey.

The house looked the same as hers, except it didn't have flowers or anything decorative, just a plain yard. Maggie's mother had been growing rose bushes for years and always cared for them. This yard had no rose bushes or any flowers. There was just green grass and maybe a weed or few. She stepped on the stepping stones and thought for a minute. She really had nowhere else to go, so she walked over to the porch and then up to the front door. Her feet pressed onto the welcome mat that she remembered Gerard sitting Indian style just the day before.

It took her a minute to grab up the courage she had and knock on the door, but she did, and it took a long ass time before someone answered the door. Oddly though, it wasn't Mikey nor Gerard who answered. It was the short angry kid from school with the lip ring.

He wasn't as short as he looked, in fact, she was just a couple inches shorter than him. He didn't give her a welcome either. He just stood there, staring. She had to check to make sure that it was even her house. It was, so she looked at him again.

"Is Mikey there?"

The guy snorted, "Mikey? What would you want with Mikey?"

"I-"

She stepped forward a bit, trying to look in the house more, but she was blocked suddenly by a pair of big hazel eyesa few inches above her, Gerard, stepping in tall wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie. His hair was wet from probably showering a short time before and he gave her a small glare as he saw who was at his door.

Maggie bit her lip, feeling embarrassed that she had probably ruined a video game party or whatever they did on Saturdays. She looked down and then up again.

"I'm here to see Mikey."

"Does he know you're here to see him?" he threw back at her.

Maggie just shrugged, "I don't need an entrance do I?"

Gerard looked at the short guy and sighed, opening the door more.

"He's not awake, but you can wait in here with us if you'd like."

Maggie looked in more. It was just Gerard, the short guy, and the same guy also from yesterday that had the afro. She shrugged and stepped right in, holding in her nervousness.

The room she walked into was nice, decorated with fresh potpourri, neutral color furniture and painted walls, and then there was a television in the corner of the room playing weekend cartoons.

The door closed behind her, causing the room to darken a little since it was cloudy out. Gerard walked over and turned on a light, the short guy ran over and jumped on the couch beside the tall guy with the fro. She felt very awkward and looked at Gerard standing by the light. Then when she looked around the room, all three of the guys were staring at her instead of the bill sitting on capitol hill on School House Rock playing on the TV.

"I'm Gerard, Mikey's brother," Gerard walked past her and sat on the end of the coffee table, offering a seat in the chair in front of him, probably where he had been sitting before. Maggie shook her head and then looked at the other two guys. Gerard turned and pointed at the short one first.

"That's Frank. He's harmless."

Frank was slouching in the couch, poking at the lump the zipper on his hoodie made when he sat down. Then Gerard pointed to the afro guy.

"That's Ray. He doesn't do much."

Ray just nodded, his hair shaking with him. Maggie nodded and cleared her throat.

"I'm Maggie-"

"We know," Frank interrupted, "You're friends with that jerk off Matt."

Before she could protest, Gerard coughed and started scratching the back of his head, kind of to silence them. Maggie wondered if Frank had some sort of anger problem like Kenny's.

"Matt's my boyfriend," she said, making them all turn their heads, "We're just on a break right now."

"Pfft," Frank spat through his lips and turned his head at the TV. Maggie looked down at the hardwood floor and wondered if it was such a good idea to just come in someone's house like that so interruptive. Gerard's socked feet met with hers and she looked up at him.

"You want anything to drink?"

"No," she shook her head and then watched Gerard start toward the kitchen. Then her eyes met with Mikey walking through the arch doorway and looking at her. He wasn't fully dressed, just in his navy colored boxers and wearing his glasses. He was a skinny boy like she'd imagined. There being only a few bulges of muscle in his arms and he didn't look like he worked out, but he had a nice flat upper torso.

"You got a friend waiting," Gerard pointed to Maggie, making her look down and turn red. Ray and Frank laughed and watched as Mikey hugged himself and ran back upstairs. Gerard turned from the corner and motioned her to walk over. She did with no hesitation and looked up at him. He was pointing up the stairs.

"Last room at the end of the hall."

Ray and Frank were still laughing in the other room. Then Frank started making thrusting pelvic motions as he sat on the couch.

"Get it, get it!"

Maggie looked at Gerard, who was laughing too. She shook her head and started toward upstairs.

There were pictures aligned along the wall, most of Gerard and Mikey's school pictures. One was crooked, so she fixed it once she reached the last step and she was upstairs. The hallway was dark and all the doors leading down were closed. Mikey's door at the end was cracked, with a small light streaming out of it. She followed it, creeping along, so he didn't hear a thing. She was very light with her feet, especially in such light shoes like converses.

When she reached the door, she knocked on it twice and then opened it. Mikey was grabbing and shirt but when he saw her, he threw it over his front end as if it were a towel. She just let out a chuckle and walked into his room.

"Like I care, Mikey."

He nodded, not looking at her, and then he turned around to put on his shirt. Maggie looked around the room at the various posters, banners, and drawings on the walls. She assumed they were Gerard's, being that Mikey never showed that he could draw. Her eyes focused on the shelf of comic books near his bed on the shelf of his nightstand. She looked at Mikey, still struggling to buckle the belt of his jeans as he held the t-shirt in his mouth. Then she dropped the bag beside her and walked over and got on her knees to look at all the comics.

There was Spiderman, X-Men, some she hadn't even heard about, and a few novels. She turned around and noticed that Mikey was looking at her, still holding his shirt in his mouth. He took it out and straightened his jeans.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Project," she shrugged and sat on the end of his unmade bed, "My plans are kind of on hold right now."

"Oh," he nodded and turned to put on his shirt finally after he took off his glasses and set them on the dresser in front of them.

It started feeling warm in the room, so Maggie unzipped her hoodie and took it off, showing her Anthrax shirt, but then when Mikey turned around, he revealed that he was wearing the same shirt as her. He looked at her shirt and then his. She quickly grabbed her hoodie from behind and zipped it up again. Then she tucked a lost hair behind her ear and cleared her throat.

"So you like Anthrax?"

He nodded, "Yeah, they're good."

"Yeah, they're all right," she shifted her eyes and stood up to walk over to his desk. The project packet looked like it was just thrown there, mixed in with some more comics. Mikey walked over and scooped those up and aside. He grabbed an extra chair and let her sit in the cushioned one, him in the folding chair. She stared for a minute, but then he opened it and motioned her to sit, so she did.

"So do you draw? Or is it just your brother?"

He shook his head, "Just Gerard."

She nodded, "Got any other siblings?"

He shook his head, "What about you?"

"Nope."

They sat there after that. What really could they do? The project was overall stupid to the both of them, so they just looked around the room. Maggie picked at the corners of the paper and then opened his blue curtain a little to capture the fact that his window was directly facing her window.

Her mother was in her room, straightening the bedspread and bringing in clean laundry. Then the door opened and a fully-clothed Kenny walked in the room, said something, and then they were both out of the room. Her eyes closed, she breathed, and then they opened again. Mikey had been watching her the whole time.

"What are you looking at?"

She looked at him, a look of curiosity holding upon his face was staring back at her. She shook her head, biting her bottom lip. It got her to thinking about Matt for some reason. Matt had a nice room. If only he had a window that could see in her room, and he would see how much she missed him the night before. How much she cried and continued her scrapbook pictures of him. Maybe he'd take her back.

"I have to clean my room," Mikey stood up off the folding chair and walked over to scoop up the pile of comics again, "You can read me questions if you want."

She shook her head out of it and opened the packet to where they left off. It was only a few questions they'd already done, and then they were starting to get personal.

"Siblings?"

Mikey grunted as he picked up a pile of dirty laundry in the back.

"Gerard, he's twenty, he draws cartoons."

She took one of his pencils and wrote that down. Then she bit her lip, and faked a few questions.

"Where does he work?"

"Grocery store," Mikey sprayed his room with aerosol even though it didn't smell like anything bad at all, "Bagger boy slash artist"

She nodded and jotted it down in her mind, "Does he do anything else?"

Mikey stopped, wiping his forehead. Was he sweating already?

"Not that I know...I don't think...Um...Never mind..."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"What?"

She shook her head and changed the subject, "Parents, do you have parents?"

"Duh," he snorted and walked over to sit down again, "Do you?"

The thoughts of her dad made her cringe. Then the ones of Kenny did more. She just nodded.

"Yeah."

He nodded, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Her eyebrows lowered, "What kind of question is that?!"

He pointed down at the packet and on the last question on the page. They were actually asking whether she had a boyfriend or not. Even though it was quite rude and invading, it was for an easy grade. Yet, she looked at Mikey, unsure.

"I don't know..."

He leaned back a little, giving her a smile as if she was joking, but then he realized she wasn't, so he ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat.

"What about Matt?"

She shrugged and sighed, moving the pencil along the paper and looking down.

"You didn't hear us about taking a break, when I pushed you into the bush yesterday?"

"Oh, um," he scratched the small dotted scab where the cut had once been. At first he shook his head but then it mixed into a small nod.

"N--Yes, I did..."

The corner of her mouth twitched into a sarcastic smirk and she sighed.

"Right...he's probably with a bunch of girls more pretty than me now--"

"Doubt it," he shrugged, "I mean...a lot of girls you hang out are pretty and all but you--"

"Cut it out, Mikey. I don't want to be flirted with. I want to be with Matt."

He tilted his head and looked down.

"I wasn't flirting, I was just giving you a compliment."

She looked at him and sighed, feeling stupid. Then she turned her chair back to face the packet of paper in front of the both of them. Mikey took it from in front of her to get her to look at him. His eyes were similar to Gerard's. She never really noticed until then. They were a pretty brown-green, partially squinted because of his glasses, but when she took them off the other day and remembering that moment, she thought of Gerard downstairs. Her thoughts were interrupted by Mikey tapping the ends of the paper against the desk.

"I think I have an idea...if you can help me out."

She ran a hand through her hair, "What is it?"

"Okay," he took a deep breath, "I want you...to make me popular."

Her eyes widened. How would such a unique character like Mikey himself want to be popular? Maybe it was a guilty pleasure, but for sure if his friends knew, they'd make fun of him. It was what she wanted a long time ago, but once she reached it, she still wasn't happy.

"Mikey, being popular really doesn't make you happy--"

"Oh come on, Maggie," he whined, "Look where you are now. At least you don't get threatened, or made fun of--"

"Popularity changes people--"

"I won't. I want to be popular. I'm tired of being an outcast," he sighed, throwing the packet against his desk, "I want to know what it's like. I mean, come on, you need Matt back, I see how upset you are. I know we just barely met but we've been neighbors forever, so let's just take that to our advantage and make me popular and get Matt to like you again."

It was all a crazy idea, but she did want Matt. She wanted him back so bad. Maybe if she could use Mikey as a boyfriend, he would come back, full of jealousy and ready to love on her again. Mikey. All he wanted was to be popular. Why not for a week to give him a few days of glory? His idea was crazy enough just to work.

"Do you have any nice shirts, at all in here, Mikey?" Maggie laughed, looking through his closet to find a decent shirt for the evening. There was a party that night. Hell, there was always a party on Saturday nights. It was time for Mikey's new change. His wardrobe wasn't working out for him. Well, to Maggie, it was. She couldn't imagine him in anything else, but a boy had to have at least one collar shirt in case of an occasion.

"Collar shirts, sweaters, anything, Mikey?" she turned around at him piled through a stack of clothes she'd thrown on him. He stepped around and sighed at his then empty closet.

"Maybe Gerard has something old."

Maggie nodded and hopped up, holding what was left decent of his shirt collection. It really wasn't all that much, just some striped collar shirts and a nice pair of pants.

"I can get it."

He put down the clothes on his bed to change in and nodded, pointing out his door.

"His room's downstairs and it's the door just between the kitchen and living room."

A grin spread to Maggie's face and she pointed around at his dresser.

"Find a nice outfit and I'll go find more stuff."

Mikey nodded again and Maggie was already out of the room. She stepped down the stairs in kind of a swift movement, feeling in a better mood as ever. She was always in a good mood when she was helping someone.

When she reached at the end of the stairs, the entire first floor was quiet, still. Everyone had left. Gerard, Frank, and Ray were all gone. But the TV in the living room was still on, playing Power Rangers just when they started morphing.

Maggie spotted the door, what she thought looked like maybe a closet full of jackets, but turned out to be another set of stairs leading down. She stepped forward, padding her feet against the wood. She'd taken her shoes off before and left them in Mikey's room when she was busy looking for clothes. It sounded quiet when she moved downward, but left a loud thump and creak when she reached the last step.

There was a small corner in front of her and then a door to the side. The corner was drawn all over. In fact, when she turned on the light switch on the wall, the entire wall was drawn on. It was little cartoon monsters and words. It gave her a young feeling, like she was in the kid zone of an art museum.

The door was cracked and there was no light streaming out of it, so she opened the door quickly to notice a figure in the corner of the room at the desk by the bed.

Her head tilted as she noticed a razorblade in the figure's hand and the other was hidden because of the head faced downward on the desk in front of them. Her eyes widened when she finally turned on the light.

Gerard jerked upward, in a coughing fit, wiping his nose like crazy and shaking. Maggie stepped backward to get out, but Gerard quickly noticed and turned his head over to the door at her. He stood up and threw the blade he used on the floor. She looked at the desk with the small mirror and a line of white powder on top of it. Her eyes shifted back to Gerard's. He was walking quickly over to her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

He grabbed her arm with a strong grip, causing her to flinch back and gasp a little. As she fought for freedom, he was bringing her close to his door again.

"I was just looking for--"

"Get out! Get out of here! Fuck, fuck!" he threw her out of the room and slammed the door in front of her. She could still hear him cursing behind the bedroom door. Before she could knock again, she stopped herself and started walking back up the stairs. Then, when she made it to the top, she turned off the light and closed the door. Mikey didn't need to know about it.

"How do I look?"

Maggie stared at Mikey just standing in the doorway that led to his bathroom. He looked the same as ever: glasses, black collar short sleeved shirt, and some khaki pants. She figured he looked good since it was the best they had in the place. After being yelled at by Gerard, it was all she could do for the time being. She could tell Mikey was nervous. There was a somber look in his eyes. She knew that look. It was the look she had on the first day of high school: that look that she could never pull her head up for. She was always just looking down. Mikey had that same look.

"Is this me?"

"Well," she shrugged, "For now. We can go shopping or something tomorrow if it works out tonight."

He nodded and straightened his shirt down. Then his hands moved around his chest and then up to his collar. Maggie grabbed his wrists before he did anything.

"Don't pop it. I dare you. See what I can do to you."

He smiled at her and laughed, shuffling his feet. He still wore his worn out converse shoes from before, just like hers. They both looked down and then they parted when Mikey heard someone moving around downstairs. He motioned Maggie to come down with him, so she walked in front of him down the steps. She jumped off the last step and turned to the kitchen to face Gerard as he opened the door to where his room was.

Mikey walked past him, no suspicion at all, and opened the fridge.

"Anything to drink, Maggie?"

Gerard's eyes locked on hers. He gave her a bitter look, like he was going to hold a grudge on her from then on. Then he turned to Mikey and looked down. She wanted to tell him that she wouldn't tell anyone. Hell, she barely knew the boy and she wanted to make promises with him.

"Why are you so dressed up, Mikey?" Gerard took a sip of his soda, cornering his eyes to Maggie. She felt her cheeks turn red, so she put her hair over her face.

Mikey walked over and gave Maggie a bottle of water. She didn't even request it but she opened and drank it anyway just to avoid talking. Mikey shrugged at his brother and took a sip from the soda can he was holding.

"I can't look nice?"

"Well," Gerard shrugged, "You regular clothes are decent aren't they?"

"I guess," Mikey wiped the corner of his mouth and set the drink down, "I just want a change."

"We're going to a party," Maggie mumbled, "He's going to meet some of my friends."

"Friends?" Gerard let out a laugh. It sounded evil and sinister from the top of his throat. Kind of like a murderer would in a horror flick. It mad her blush even more and she turned to take a sip of her water. Mikey glared at Gerard and took Maggie's hand.

"Come on, we can go to your house."

"Woah, woah," she stopped him from taking her out the door so suddenly, "My house? What's wrong with here?"

"You don't need to change or anything before the party?"

She looked down at her black hoodie, jeans, and her converses. Then she looked up and shrugged.

"I think she looks great," Gerard met eyes with her. Then he walked downstairs to his room, closing the door behind him. Mikey sighed.

"Don't mind him."

Maggie nodded and started to walk out of the front door to outside again. It was starting to become a sunny afternoon. Everyone was starting to come out of their houses to do a Saturday afternoon of shopping. That was the trend of the neighborhood. No one was out of their house before noon. Well, that was what Maggie thought before she saw Mikey and Gerard's mother go out before she came over. By the time they were outside, she was already driving back and getting out of the car.

"Mikey, could you help me with this little bit of groceries?" she smiled at Mikey, and then eyed Maggie nicely from the corner of her eye. Mikey walked over and took two brown bags from the back of the car and then ran inside to put them in the kitchen. His mother looked at Maggie.

"I'm Mikey's mom."

Maggie nodded and walked over to shake her hand politely, "I'm Maggie, your neighbor."

"I know," she smiled, "You can call me Donna."

"Mom, we're going to hang out for the evening, all right?" Mikey jumped off the last porch step and stood by Maggie. Donna nodded and walked past them up to the front door.

"Will you be home for dinner?"

"Just save me something," he waved his hand and put his hand on Maggie's back to push her forward, "Gerard's in his room."

"As usual," Maggie heard Donna mumble before she went into the house. She smiled and turned around to Mikey.

"Your mom's nice."

"Yeah, she's cool," he shrugged and started walking beside her, "She worries a lot though."

"That's sometimes not a bad thing."

They continued to walk along the sidewalk and then Maggie turned to her house. She took out her key from her bag and opened the front door to the family room. Her mother was just walking through to hand a sandwich on a plate to Kenny, who was sitting on the recliner watching a rerun of a football game on TV.

"Mom, this is Mikey," Maggie quickly introduced as she took a minute to get the key out of the lock, "He's hanging out."

Her mom looked up and then smiled at Mikey. She politely stepped over the pile of sports magazines Kenny left and shook Mikey's hand.

"You can call me Helen."

He let out a timid closed mouth smile.

"Hi."

Her mother smiled and then looked at Maggie.

"Do you want a late lunch?"

Maggie shook her head and threw her key on the desk beside her. Then she shoved her hands into her pockets and started walking over to the stairs. Mikey was following.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Kenny yelled, not getting up from the chair. He was being such a lazy ass. Maggie decided to ignore him and walk up the stairs. It took Mikey a minute to realize that she was avoiding him, but he caught up with her at the top of the steps.

"Who's that?"

"Nobody," she sighed and walked to the room just around the corner. Then she threw open the door and turned on her ceiling light even though there was sunlight peeking through the windows. She turned around and noticed Mikey still standing in the hallway, shyly looking in. She took off her hoodie and threw it aside near her open closet.

"It's not going to kill you to come in here. I swear, I don't have any ugly girl scents."

He grinned and walked in, still looking around the room. Then his eyes focused on a The Smiths banner hanging over her door.

"I didn't know you liked this stuff."

"Excuse me," she laughed, smoothing her hands over her Anthrax shirt, "The Smiths are not 'stuff'. All music is good music, okay?"

Mikey wiped his hand over his eye under his glasses and cleared his throat. Maggie dug in her dresser drawers for a decent outfit to wear. She noticed he looked bored, so she took the remote to her stereo and turned the CD on. He began to loosen up and sit at her dresser. She picked out a red short sleeved hooded tee and a pair of black capris. Mikey was busy looking at her scrapbook, so she walked out of the room to the bathroom and changed.

When Maggie got back, Mikey was already looking through her CDs. She laughed and threw her other clothes on top of her hoodie and walked over.

"What next, are you going to look through my clothes?"

He jumped back and then looked at her. He sighed of relief and adjusted his glasses.

"No, I just...I didn't know you'd like all of this."

"I do. Now, do you want to get something to eat before we leave or what?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm fine if you are."

"Well, then, I'm not!" she smiled and grabbed his hand, "Come downstairs and watch me eat."

Then she looked at her hand in hers and cleared her throat. Mikey shrugged and gave it a squeeze.

"We can play that game."

Her head tilted, "What game?"

"To make Matt jealous," he said, "You know...be boyfriend and girlfriend."

The thought made her eyes twinkle. Her guilty pleasure coming true? She'd never thought she see the day that she would be holding hands with Mikey Way in her bedroom. She responded with a shrug and pulled him downstairs.

Maggie and Mikey stood at the top of the porch that would lead them both into a party environment, even though half of it was outside anyway. All of the action went on inside: kegs, smoke, people, money, poker, and whatever a teenager would do at a party and then more. Maggie adjusted Mikey's collar and he took out a handkerchief to wipe the smudges off his glasses. She looked at him and took it away to put back in his side pocket.

"If they get dirty, then wipe them off with your shirt."

He blinked, looked down and then rubbed them against the fabric of his shirt. She nodded and ran a hand through her hair before ringing the doorbell. They both exhaled, hoping all of it was going to turn out well.

Aly answered the door and gave Maggie a quick one arm hug as she had a red cup of beer in her other hand. Then she straightened her shirt and looked at Mikey.

"You invited--"

"Mike," Maggie quickly replied, "His name is Mike."

"Mike," Mikey said quietly under his breath and looked down. Maggie cleared her throat to make him look up and strong at Aly. She responded with a giggle and let them in.

"Drinks are all in the kitchen, activity is upstairs, games outside, and hangout is in the living room."

Maggie nodded, took Mikey's hand so he wouldn't get sunk in, and walked into the house. They both looked around, Mikey standing tall beside Maggie, admiring every one that was around.

They were the pretty people, of course. But instead of acting prim, rich, and popular, they acted like complete animals as they ran around foolishly and without a care. It was how all the parties were. People turn out completely different at parties, but then shoot lame ass people down back at school the next few days later.

Good thing it was a three day weekend for Mikey get over any shame he would get that night.

They mingled around for a little, running around the modern house and observing some rooms before they decided to catch a few beers from the kitchen. Maggie nudged Mikey's arm to get his attention.

"You all right?"

He nodded, not being able to speak over the loud hip hop music blaring all over the house. Maggie spotted a familiar face going into the kitchen and started walking. But Mikey hadn't seen and remained there until Maggie noticed and grabbed his hand.

They both stood against the wall and peeked into the kitchen. It was brightly lit, very many people were in there socializing and drinking cup after cup of beer. Then Maggie saw him.

Matt was getting himself a drink from one of his sports friends and then giving him a high five in return. Maggie grabbed Mikey by his collar to let him look and see. She felt his breathing go deep. Then he turned back and searched his pockets. She reached over to block his grip from his pocket to reach his inhaler.

"Mikey, just breath. I'm going to walk over there with you beside me and you're going to get us some drinks, okay?"

He stopped for a minute, and then he sighed and nodded, rubbing his glasses on his shirt and then putting them back on again. She nodded back and took his hand as he led her reluctantly. From the corner of her eye, she watched Matt. He was standing with his back turned to them. She wanted him to see, so she let out a familiar giggle to get him to look and held Mikey's hand even tighter.

Mikey stopped with Maggie bumping into his side and ordered the half-sober boy doing drinks for two cups of beer. She slipped her arms around Mikey's arm and cuddled with it. Mikey looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back up and then looked straight into Matt's eyes. He was angry. She could tell. His nostrils flared and he let out a deep exhale as he looked away. It made her smile and take the red cup Mikey gave to her as they turned to talk to each other. Her back was facing Matt's as she took a sip of the bitter tasting liquid.

"Is he looking?"

Mikey shifted to look over her and nodded, grinning, "Yup."

"Great," she looked down at the cup, "You're fitting in already, Mikey."

"I know," there was a glow of happiness in his eyes and he took a big gulp of his drink. She didn't know he liked beer. He looked more of the soda type, but apparently he wasn't. She'd pick soda over beer any day, but whenever she drank it, she felt important and mature. Maybe that was what Mikey felt.

Maggie tapped on Mikey's shoulder and he turned around to face her. She signaled that she was going to the bathroom, and she took his hand to let him follow behind her. That was when she noticed the looks in people's eyes as they both walked by. Maggie looked down, feeling herself turn red, up until she reached the bathroom door in the hallway.

"You wait right here, I won't take long."

Mikey nodded and took another big gulp of his beer. She stopped for a minute to just watch him finish the red cup and throw it aside on the floor. Then she turned the doorknob and let herself in the bathroom while Mikey stood outside leaning on the wall.

"Maggie?"

Maggie turned to face the bright yellow walls of the bathroom. There was a tub almost halfway full of cigarette butts and beer, a sink full of new and used condoms which made her gag and step backward, and then in the corner near the toilet sat a girl about her age, long blonde hair, and she held a join with her long pretty pink fingernails. It was one of Matt's ex-girlfriends, Jennifer.

"How's it going, Maggie?"

Maggie leaned on the wall, shrugging, and then she looked back at her.

"Fine."

"Matt told me you two were on a break," she struggled, trying to pull herself up by holding the toilet and the wall between her. Then she walked over to the mirror and checked her makeup.

"I figured we'd sneak in a good make up fuck tonight, but I'd rather run it by you first."

"What a bitch," she mumbled to herself and folded her arms over her chest. Then she walked over to the mirror to check herself as well. It was stained with speckles of something she didn't even want to ask what and it was hard to look through from all the smudges. Jennifer let out a cackle and finished off her joint.

"You're so cute. Checking your makeup. You have no one to look pretty for, do you?"

Maggie looked down and pressed her hands on the edge of the smooth counter. She watched as Jennifer walked behind her and got the straightening iron out of the cabinet. Then she plugged it in and sat on the counter to watch.

"I never told you this, Maggie, but you're amazing."

Maggie looked at her, "How?"

The girl let out a giggle and began to run the straightener over her hair.

"You come to high school, all dressed in your cute clothes and your hair all badly bleached from rainbow hair dye...then Matt sees you, dumps me, and then goes for you."

Maggie ran a hand through a bleached streak in her hair. It felt like hay between her fingers and ended with a bad case of split ends. She had to get rid of that.

Jennifer was lighting this time a cigarette and offered her a drag. Maggie accepted and took the cig from her, taking a deep breath. Then she gave it back and started for the door out of the bathroom. Jennifer was crawling on the counter to catch up.

"Maggie, we should hang out sometime this week, talk about how much of a dick Matt is."

She just nodded, not turning around to face a drunk ex-girlfriend that she never liked in the first place. Jennifer grabbed Maggie's hood behind her and tugged at it for a minute. Then she smoothed it out and let out a chuckle.

"Talk about how much of a good fuck he is."

The thought made Maggie close her eyes shut tightly. She hadn't had sex with Matt yet. He always begged her but she was never ready. It made her feel even worse that Jennifer and him had already done it. The image of the two of them filled her mind with thoughts Matt told her to never think of since he'd loved her so much.

Maggie opened the door to walk out of the bathroom. Mikey wasn't there. Her eyes shifted in confusion and she looked both ways to check if Mikey had switched leaning walls or something, but he wasn't there. A couple passed by holding hands and laughing, and then a drunk boy fell on her shoes and passed out. She stepped over him and then ran her head into a familiar chest that she longed to hug into for a day. She looked up and found Matt looking down at her. His holding arms let go and he walked over to the bathroom to take Jennifer's hand instead. Maggie stared for a minute. Matt kind of gave an eye stab back and a grin as he touched the small of his ex-girlfriend's back to lead her somewhere down the hallway. She fought a tear and walked over to the other side of the room. Everyone was running by her. She felt she was going the only one going in slow motion.

"Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike!"

There was a crowd cheering on someone in the kitchen. She remembered that was Mikey's new given name, so she started toward the room and pushed past a bunch of people holding her back. She stopped.

Mikey was in the center of the crowd, just laughing, drinking his last of however many cups he could drink while she was gone, and smoking. Maggie's eyes widened and she pushed through even more. Then she was stopped by Aly tapping her shoulder.

"I never knew the freak was a good partier!"

"Neither did I!" she replied in a sarcastic way and pushed her away. Then she was in the front after pushing down this tipsy girl in a halter top. It distracted everyone to stop and help her up. Then they all went back to their party games. Maggie walked over to Mikey and grabbed his wrist from behind. He turned around, licking his lips and reminding her of what Matt used to do. She cringed.

"Mikey?"

He took a drag of his cigarette before answering.

"It's Mike!"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his seat. He stumbled behind her as she kept walking and walking until the reached the closed up family room that no one was allowed to enter but did anyway. She closed the door behind her and turned to find Mikey sitting down on the shag carpeted floor. He dabbed the cigarette into it. Maggie freaked and jumped over to stop him.

"Mikey!"

"What?" he slurred out, "I was done..."

"What the hell?" she felt on his wet shirt, then grabbed the blanket hanging over the chair and blotted it against it.

"Your shirt is soaking wet, and you smell like beer."

"Beer's great," he let out a giggle, "I want more, you got anymore?"

"Fuck," she whispered, her lips only to be met by Mikey's index finger.

"That's a bad word Margaret."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him up by his arms. Then he put an arm around her and squeezed her tight.

"I love you Maggie! Thanks for making me cool."

His breath smelled bitter, and it made her gag and throw up just a little in her mouth. She took his arm and threw him on the couch. Then she sat beside him and sighed. He fell onto her lap and rested his head on her knee.

"Thank you, Maggie."

She looked down and ran a hand through his wet hair. It was tangled with bits of chips stuck in it. She couldn't bring him home like that, so she picked those out and threw them on the floor. It was a good thing that this wasn't her couch.

"This was a bad idea," she mumbled, "Coming to this party...I'm sorry for dragging you here, Mikey."

Mikey hadn't been listening. He was already asleep and silently snoring. Maggie sighed and picked up the nearby phone to call a cab.

Head pressed against the wood of the tapping, the tapping of a spoon on a coffee mug full of hot tea and a sweaty palm resting on the top of her knee.

Maggie looked up and rubbed her cheek with her free hand and sighed as she finally awoke that morning. It had been a hard night. She wasn't even hung over. Getting Mikey to sit up on his doorstep was hard enough work all by herself.

Kenny and her mother went out to breakfast and shopping. It left Maggie there all alone to tend to herself. She twirled her index finger over the edge of the mug and stared at it for a few long seconds. Then she walked over to the sink, put down her tea, and walked over to the living room.

But before she could even sit down, the doorbell rang, sending echoes throughout her house. She sighed and unlocked the three locks that held the door shut. Then she opened the door and was greeted by a hand grabbing forcefully on her arm and bringing her outside. Her hand, still on the doorknob, shut the door behind her.

"Ow, hey!"

"You did this, we're not dealing with it," Frank stomped down the sidewalk with her. Once again, he had angry face. He bit his lip ring and arched his eyebrows at her.

"You're a fucking dumb ass you know that? Mikey could have died!"

Maggie didn't answer. She just followed Frank to the Way house and was pulled inside. The room was all lit up with lights and even a glow of the usual TV. Mikey lay on the couch with a few blankets draped over him as his stomach moved up and down while he slept. Frank ran over to the arch leading to the kitchen and yelled Gerard's name and told him to come to the front room.

Maggie cleared her throat nervously at the call of Gerard and sat in the chair near the couch. Gerard and Frank both walked in front of her and stopped. Frank still looked angry and Gerard just had this nice look upon his face. That guy wasn't convincing her that anything was wrong.

"I had to tell my mom he had a cold just so she could go to work this morning," Gerard walked over and adjusted the blanket so Mikey's foot wasn't hanging out. Maggie sighed and stood up, wiping her hands over her jeans.

"I'm sorry--"

"You took him to one of those parties?" Frank interrupted, "Do you know what alcohol and smoking will do to a kid like him?"

"Obviously," she ran a hand through her hair and took Mikey's glasses from over his eyes, "Look, never again, I promise."

"You better," Gerard mumbled, "Just take care of him with us. He's been sleeping most of the day, but we're still worried about him."

"Of course," Maggie obeyed Gerard and set Mikey's glasses on the coffee table. Then she went into the kitchen to boil up some hot tea, which always helped her with the morning.

The Way kitchen was easy to understand. It was much like her kitchen: small and convenient. Big kitchens were always a mess anyway.

She took out a boiling tea pot and ran some water into it. Then she got out the teabags and picked one out for Mikey.

"Can you fix me some?"

Maggie turned around and met Gerard's eyes right in front of her, practically pressed up against her. She blushed and turned back around to get another bag for him. Then she opened a chair and sat at the counter. Gerard was looking through the fridge from the corner of her eye. Then he pulled out an apple and started nibbling on it. He took a seat in front of her.

"Apple?"

She shook her head and pointed at her mouth.

"Canker sores."

Gerard nodded understandably and peeled some of the apple skin off the fruit with his thumbnail. Maggie heard the water about to whistle, so she stood up and waited. It was so hard not to look Gerard in the eye after what happened from the day before. She wondered what he was thinking about her. He was probably plotting to kill her.

She poured the hot water into two mugs, then stirred the tea bags to mix into the water. Gerard came up behind her and took his cup. Then he led her into the living room for Mikey to get his. When the entered the room, it was dark again, Frank had fallen asleep in the chair beside the couch already and he turned out all the lights. Maggie tilted her head to check if Mikey was awake. He was.

He was resting with his head over his arm and he had his glasses back on. The blanket was still over him and with his free hand, he changed channels over and over on the television. It was Sunday, nothing was ever on but church programs. Once Mikey got the idea, he threw the remote aside and settled with a paid programming advertisement. Maggie greeted him by walking over and giving him the tea. She sat on the edge of the couch just by him and smiled. He just lay there with a mug in his hand, looking surprised that she was there.

"Hi," she smiled unsurely, "You all right?"

He nodded, taking a sip of his tea. Then he watched Gerard with his mug walk by and sit on the floor.

"What happened?"

"You partied last night," Maggie said, laughing, "You're so hung over, aren't you?"

"I didn't know parties were so cool."

"They're not, really," she shrugged. Then she looked over at Gerard sitting Indian style and tapping the side of his mug of hot tea. When he looked at her, he took a sip without blowing on it and nodded.

"I should drink this more often. Can you fix me some full-time?"

She let out a shy smirk and shook her head, turning back to Mikey. He'd been surfing channels once again and found a good Sunday morning chick flick. He curled up in a little ball under the blanket and continued to watch the TV screen, slowly closing his eyes. Maggie felt a tug at the torn ends of her old jeans she was wearing and looked down. Gerard was motioning to sit beside him on the floor. She politely accepted and sat Indian style by him. He offered his tea.

"I swear I don't have any art nerd cooties or anything."

It made her stop and chuckle lightly before she took a sip, but she had to hand it to herself that she could make a great cup of tea. She learned to make it whenever her mother was out of the house with a new boyfriend. It always calmed her when she was angry, warmed her when she was cold, and woke her up in the morning.

She gave the mug back to Gerard and he took another sip before putting it down beside him. He rubbed his hands together and sighed.

"I still can't believe you took him to one of your parties."

"It wasn't my party," Maggie defended, "It was a friend's. Plus, Mikey wanted to go, I was putting it off this week."

Gerard let out a laugh, "You just didn't want to see the boyfriend, right?"

She glared, "I saw him anyway."

"Oh," Gerard smacked the smirk off his face and cleared his throat, "How are things with him?"

Her eyes followed as he bent his neck backward to take another quick sip of tea and put the mug against his chest. She shook her head and started picking at the leftover clear nail polish from her last manicure.

"I told you before, we're on a break."

"Right," he nodded and then nudged her knee in a friendly way. She found it unnecessary yet then she found herself turning red when he did it. Gerard began to stand up. It was a reflex for Maggie to just respond by grabbing his pant leg. He looked down at her.

"I'm going to my room, want to come?"

"But Mikey--"

Gerard bent to his side to take a look at his brother. Then he just shrugged and took one of her hands to pull her up. He began to walk over to the door that led downstairs and opened it. It took Maggie a minute to realize that he was waiting for her to go down first, but then she began walking down the steps, the light in the staircase coming on short after. Gerard closed the door behind both of them and caught up with her at the end of the stairs. He opened the door for her and she stepped in. Her eyes immediately darted to the now clean desk that where she saw cocaine just the very day before. But now that she was fully in the room instead of being pushed out, she finally got a good look of what was around her.

There were a few action figurines on the dresser beside her, a mattress at the end of the room, followed by a headboard with a bunch of sketchpads and comic books for a quick bedtime read. Then there was just a whole wall full of drawings, all good, just taped up on the wall, fluttering up and down from the basement wall as the ceiling fan blew them up and then down again. There was a door leading to probably a bathroom in the corner on the same wall as the headboard of the bed.

Gerard had walked in front of Maggie and was digging through his shelf of comics and then spreading them over the black sheets of his bed. She walked over nervously and sat at the end. He'd unzipped his hoodie and threw it aside, leaving him in a black t-shirt and jeans with socks on. He tucked a piece of lost black hair behind his ear, only to let it fall down in the same spot again and scooted closer to her with a comic.

"Do you like comics?"

Maggie shrugged, suddenly feeling hot in her hoodie, "I like the Archie comics."

"They're all right," he shrugged, "But what about the real classic stuff? You ever read anything like X-Men?"

She hesitated and then sighed. It made him laugh and he put back his comics into a pile, then pulled out a sketchbook over skimmed through it before leaving it open to show her. It was a girl, a naked girl with no breasts. It made Maggie feel uneasy and feel burning on her cheeks from how nervous she was getting. Then Gerard finally pointless out the chest less girl and pushed the sketchbook over to her.

"You're a girl. What's your opinion?"

Maggie shrugged once again, feeling totally stupid in front of such a cute boy such as Gerard inviting her into his room. In return, she knew nothing of what he was talking about. Either that or she felt overly uneasy about the whole situation.

"S-She has no breasts," she pointed out the obvious.

"I know," Gerard nodded, "I never really know how to draw them."

"Neither do I," she let out a nervous chuckle. Gerard looked up, a piece of hair falling over his eyes as he grinned at her. She tried to look away, but she just couldn't. Her hand stood shakily in front of both of them as she reached to correct Gerard's hair. He leaned forward to let her do so. She scooted forward a little bit more and ran it back into his hair. While she did, she let in a quick feel. It was soft, still wet from probably a morning shower he took just before she came over. Her hands just went right through it, no tangles like she expected and then landed back on her knee, shaking.

"Gerard--"

"Look," he interrupted, "I only do the shit when I have to--"

"Gerard, you don't haveto do anything. You choose to do something like that--"

"How the fuck do you know me anyway?" his tone was loud. He scooted back to the end of his bed and folded his arms. Maggie turned away at the end of his bed and didn't face him. There came an exasperated sigh from him.

"You've lived next to us for years. You don't know either one of us, so who are you to judge?"

"Same question here," she mumbled and then stood up, not in a mumbling voice, "I'm sorry I even bothered."

Gerard's eyebrows lowered down and then he looked up. Maggie bit her lip unsurely and then turned around to walk out. There came padding footsteps after behind her and then when she turned around to see, Gerard's front collided with hers. She looked up at him but not as much as she would with Mikey. Gerard was a little bit shorter, so she only looked up just a bit. Then when his eyes met with hers, she turned, but Gerard's arms caught her so she stayed in place.

"I'm not," he panted from running before. The more his lips collided with the skin on her neck and cheek as she kept moving her face to stay away from them, she kept trying to get away. But then his hand met with her chin and tilted it to face him. Their lips crashed into each other's into a quick brief kiss that lasted no longer than two seconds. His breath into hers, his lips onto hers, their tongues touching instantly and then not. Maggie stared at Gerard right after and then walked out of his room and up the stairs, feeling totally embarrassed of herself for being so foolish for a kiss.

At first Maggie wanted to leave, but she didn't want to just leave Mikey alone after what she'd put him into. So, she stayed in the living room for the longest time, feet reclined in the chair as she watched the TV and for Mikey to wake up in the corner of her eye. The entire time that she was there lounging, Gerard hadn't come from his room since.

She still couldn't believe that she kissed him. Or he kissed her. It gave her an insane feeling thinking about it. Maybe it was from all the tea she drank. There were repetitive thoughts in her head about it. The feeling of his lips still lingered on hers and she felt as if she wanted to go back down there and finish off something she wanted to do. She eyes squinted shut as she tried to forget the fact. But then she ended up dozing off for maybe an hour or two until she was awake again. This time, Mikey standing over her holding a cup.

"Apple juice?" he rubbed his eye. She sat up abruptly, forgetting for a short minute of where she was. Then she remembered, running her fingertips across her lips and then looking at Mikey standing tall in front of her. He offered the cup to her again.

"Want some?"

"No," she finally replied.

He nodded and sat on the couch, still with a tangled sheet that he used for a blanket on it before. There was a warmth coming from the couch, probably because maybe he'd just woken up. Maggie pushed her feet down to close the recliner and sat up, rubbing her face with her hands.

"What time is it?"

"Close to four," he responded, looking at the clock on the wall, "Do you need to be somewhere?"

She thought about Kenny and her mom. It made her gag about what they were doing since they'd found she wasn't in the house half the day. So she just decided to lean on her elbows resting on her tired knees and looked at Mikey.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Since you fell asleep," he snorted. She bit her lip and hesitated to ask her next question.

"Where's Gerard?"

Mikey shrugged and took a sip of his juice. Maggie sighed and then bent down to find her shoes untied and placed messily on the floor. She needed to get out before she saw him again, so she put them on and tied quickly. When she stood up, Mikey stood with her and shifted, looking at his feet.

"So you're leaving?"

She felt he was pointing out the obvious. But instead of acting sarcastic, she just pointed at the door.

"I haven't been home all that much and--"

"'Cause I was wondering if you could stay the night," his hands clenched the cup he was holding, like he was nervous.

Maggie sighed and then looked at Mikey, questioning his seriousness.

"For real?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, "My mom doesn't really care."

That was different. She'd never really spent the night with a guy before. Then again, this was just a project and a plan. And it was no big deal like her mother would care with Kenny being around and all. He'd always make her forget she even had a child. But a con was that Gerard was there. She wouldn't know how to act toward him, she just kissed him what was hours ago but felt like just five minutes.

Mikey waved his hand in front of Maggie when she was trying to figure out good and bad things about staying a night in the Way house. She looked at him and shrugged.

"I need to get some clothes, don't I?"

A grin shot on Mikey's face and he grabbed her wrist to drag her out the door, shouting loudly to Gerard downstairs that he would be back soon.

Once they were outside, on the sidewalk, and up the porch, they were already almost inside. That was the good part about being neighbors. Maggie took out her key, unlocked the door to find her mother and Kenny cuddling together on the couch, sleeping. The television was blue to signal the end of whatever movie they were watching. Maggie pulled Mikey upstairs and into her room. She didn't even want to mention them to him again as she started shoving her clothes into her empty school bag.

"Your house is cool."

She stopped at looked at him for a minute in disbelief. Then, she shook her head and bent down to throw her deodorant along with her stuff.

"You have a cooler house."

"Nah," he waved a hand and then walked over to her shelf of little fairy trinkets and figurines. It made her blush, so she walked over to grab some random stuff from there to distract him from it. Instead, he walked over to her shelf of books and started peeking around that. She let out a laugh and followed.

"What are you doing?"

"I like your stuff! Can't I look at it?"

"It's just stuff," she replied quietly back and grabbed her bag. Mikey met her at the door and opened it for her. When she walked by him, he grabbed a piece of her bleached hair. It stopped her and she let out a loud giggle when she saw him looking at her split ends.

"You know, Frank is good at dying hair."

"Well, I don't think he likes me very much."

"We could force him," he smiled and then walked out behind her into the hallway.

Mikey ran in front of Maggie to greet his mom getting out of the car from work and helped carry the few shopping bags she was holding. Maggie hooked the book bag straps around her shoulders and walked over to help as well, being greeted by such a friendly face as Mrs. Way's.

"Well, hello! It's Maggie right?"

She nodded politely and took a bag. The older woman smiled, wiping her hands together now that she was free from holding anything since Mikey carried in about three bags. She walked with Maggie up to the porch.

"Mikey says you're staying the night, right?"

She nodded timidly, "I hope that's okay with you, Mrs. Way. It was so sudden--"

"No, it's fine, and I told you to just call me Donna. There's really no need to be so polite. Or else I'd be calling you Margaret."

Mikey took the bag out of Maggie's hands and set them on the mat by the door. Donna patted her son on his back and started towards the kitchen. She peeked around the archway before leaving the two of them alone.

"I'm making spaghetti tonight, Maggie. I hope you're hungry."

Maggie nodded, taking off her book bag. Mikey grabbed it short after and started up the stairs to his room. Maggie followed like she actually belonged in the house. Mikey was wrong. His house was way much better than hers. His house had wooden looking walls instead of painted a bright pastel that blinded someone whenever they'd walk in. They had family pictures around every corner and lots of little decorations here and there. Maggie's house had nothing. She and her mother didn't have much family to frame up anyway, and they'd never have anyone over much enough to have add up a little spruce of glamour into the room.

The two of them walked into the bedroom and Mikey placed Maggie's book bag gently on his desk right by his packet of papers. She'd completely forgot about it Then she forgot about it when Mikey took off his glasses to rub his eyes. He looked more like Gerard every second. It made her wonder if he would do such a thing as following his brother and doing coke.

"So you want anything to drink?"

Maggie shook her head, sitting uncomfortably on Mikey's bed. She'd never spent the night at a boy's house before. Let alone she'd known him for years, but only actually talked to him just the few days before. Now she was staying the night, in his room, along with his brother she'd kissed hours ago.

"Mikey, come down there, you're not being cooped up in there with Maggie all evening!" Donna shouted from the bottom of the stairs. They both jumped up and walked down the hallways and down the staircase. He gave his mom a quick hug.

"Sorry, Mom."

"I haven't seen you all day, and this is how you treat me. How are you feeling?"

"Great," he nodded and walked to the direction of the living room. Maggie had just reached the bottom of the steps, giving Donna a pleasant smile. She patted her arm.

"Mind if I steal you for a minute to help me cook?"

"Really?" her eyebrows raised, "You want me to help?"

"Yes," she nodded, taking the girl's hand and leading into the kitchen. Donna grabbed out the dried noodles and jar of sauce. Maggie took the package of garlic bread an then started for some pots by kneeling down on the floor searching through a bottom cabinet. Gerard walked in after closing the door to his bedroom behind him. He looked down at her, biting his lip unsurely.

"Do you need something, Gerard?"

He looked up. Maggie sighed with relief, grabbed the pots she needed and stood back up. She put them on the counter in front of her and leaned against it to watch their conversation. Gerard had shook his head, his black locks hitting against his face. His mother pointed at Maggie and smiled.

"You know Maggie, right? She's staying the night."

"Oh," he breathed through his nose, his lips clenching shut, "That's cool. I was just going to pick up Frank since he wanted to stay the night, too."

"Oh, all right. Be back in time for dinner."

"We will--"

Mikey ran into the room to crash into his brother. Then he walked over and took a dry noodle to suck on it like a farmer.

"Can you tell Frank to get some cool hair dye?"

"What does he need hair dye for?" Gerard grabbed and threw the noodle out of his brother's mouth. Mikey pointed at Maggie, making her turn red, so she turned around and continued helping Donna.

"Something cool for her hair."

"She doesn't need it."

She heard him mumble before turning to leave out of the room. Mikey followed after, still yelling for him to find a hair dye.

When she turned back to the counter to watching the boiling water, she caught Donna smiling at her from the corner of her eye.

"You're just too nice around those boys. I think you have an admirer."

Maggie let out a small laugh and cleared her throat, trying to hide it the fact that she already knew.

Gerard was twenty minutes late for dinner. Donna, Maggie, and Mikey ate together. She was impressed with the conversations going on between her. Donna would ask Mikey how his day was, how he felt, his dad was going to be late working that night so she asked him if he wanted to sneak an extra dessert. He was such a mommy's boy, it was cute. Maggie never had that with her mom.

Two tardy boys stumbled into the dining room. Frank fell against the table, making it shake and catch everyone's attention. Gerard got him by his shoulders and stood him upright, looking at his mother. She wasn't happy.

"Frank's mom made him do a bunch of chores, Mom. I'm sorry. Then Mikey wanted us to go get some dye, so we did, and we got distracted with the hair extensions and--"

"Just sit and eat." she simply reacted, taking a sip of ice water and patting down her blonde hair. Gerard nodded in reply and sat in the seat beside Maggie, and then Frank sat beside Mikey. They began to pick at their cold meal without complaining. Of course, Maggie wasn't expecting them to. They were boys after all.

"Maggie," Mikey stood up, collecting his and his mother's plate, "After dishes, you want to watch a movie?"

Before she could answer, Donna stood up and took the plates from Mikey and then took Maggie's empty plate.

"No, you two go ahead, Frank and Gerard can do them," she glared at the two, "They were late, anyway."

They both looked at each other and dropped their forks, standing up as well and collecting their plates. Their dinner must have been too cold to even finish. Mikey walked over and led Maggie into the living room. She sat on the couch while he sat on his knees near the video system to pick out a movie.

"What do you want to watch?"

She shrugged, "Whatever you want to watch."

"Get a horror movie," Gerard walked in with Frank. Frank sat down and then Gerard went over and joined his brother in movie searching. From the corner of her eye, Maggie noticed Frank staring at her while he was sitting at the recliner. She looked over at him.

"What?"

Frank reached on the table to a box and slid it over to her. She stopped it with her own foot against the edge of the table and looked down at it. It was a small box of hair dye. Her eyes met his and he nodded.

"I spent half of my allowance on it. Only the best for princess."

"I'll pay you back," she mumbled, sitting back again and pressing the heel of her foot against the coffee table again.

Gerard and Mikey both stood up with about five movies or so and set them on top of the TV. Mikey walked over and plopped on the couch beside Maggie and then Gerard on the other side of her since Frank had taken up most of the recliner by laying all over it. She bit her lip, trying not to turn red. She took her shoes off and sat back, holding her knees close to her and looking up at the TV screen. The movie that had started playing was not something that she knew of. It looked like an old school horror flick with bad effects and filming. Mikey and Frank let out a groan in reaction to it.

"Gosh, Gerard," Mikey fell backwards against the couch and turned to Maggie, "He loves this shit."

"It's not shit, it's genius!" Gerard exclaimed, a smile rocking on his face as he continued to watch the beginning of the film.

Throughout the movie, everyone changed positions on the couch. One minute, Maggie was leaning on Mikey, then she was leaning on the armrest while Gerard, Mikey, and Frank all sat together in conversation. Donna walked in for just a few seconds to tell everyone goodnight and not to stay up too late. They all said they wouldn't, but it was definitely a lie. It was the third movie when they all started getting a bit tired. Maggie even found herself leaning on Gerard a few times even when she didn't mean it. When she realized it, she always got up without saying a word and then continuing on with the movie.

One point of the night, though, Maggie opened her eyes and the television was rolling another set of credits and the whole room was dark except from the glow of the TV. She let out a sigh and then got up from Gerard's arm she was resting on. This time, she actually looked at him and he was looking back. To keep her attention away, she looked at Frank fallen asleep on the chair and Mikey asleep on the other end of the couch. She looked at Gerard again and he'd gotten up.

"You can sleep on that end of the couch if you want," he whispered, pulling off the blanket spread over the top of the couch, "I'll just go to my room."

She nodded sleepily, "Okay."

Then she curled up into a ball on the end of the couch opposite Mikey and closed her eyes, feeling the blanket Gerard was holding draping over her. She thanked him quietly and tossed her head to throw her hair out of her face. She'd thought she heard Gerard leave the room, but then felt surprised by the touch of a pair of lips on her cheek. They kissed her briefly and there was the feel of warm breath in her ear.

"Goodnight, Maggie."

"Night," she sighed, "Thanks, Gerard."

She wasn't sure what she meant by it. After all, she was half-asleep. She said crazy things when she was almost asleep like she was. But apparently, Gerard must have understood, because he left the room short after. The television flickered from the credits to the blue screen, showing that the movie and the night was over.

"Maggie, you want to go to the mall? Maggie!"

Maggie opened her eyes that morning, the front room window was open and bright into her eyes. She squinted and pulled the blanket over her face to shield her. Mikey walked over and sat on the edge of the couch, his head blocking the sun away.

"Any better?"

She removed the blanket and nodded. Mikey ripped the blanket off of her and threw it on the top of the couch where it belonged.

"You want to go to the mall?"

She pushed some hair out of her face and sat up to rub her eyes and look at what time it was. The clock read almost ten in the morning, and Mikey wanted to go to the mall?

"I hate the mall," she cleared her throat, "But we can go to the shopping center."

"I'll go see if Gerard wants to drive us," Mikey jumped off the couch, sounding a thump through the house and he ran to the kitchen. Maggie got up and smoothed out her shirt. Then she trailed upstairs to get her change of clothes from Mikey's room.

After switching out of her other clothes from the day before, she was refreshed with the feel of a good gray shirt and a pair of jeans to wake her up more. Then she walked over to Mikey's mirror, took her brush, and ran it through her hair. There were footsteps going down the hallway, but she didn't notice until they were walking into the room.

"Hey Mikey have you seen Gerard--"

She turned and looked at Frank. He just turned around without saying anything and then walked out of the room. Maggie followed and tapped him on the shoulder before he went downstairs.

"Frank, why don't you like me?"

"What do you mean?" he turned around and shrugged, "I didn't say I didn't like you."

"Yeah but you're treating me like it," she stared at him for a minute. He just scratched the back of his neck and then started tapping his hands against his thighs.

"Look, we're just not used to you, okay? You take Mikey in after ignoring him for some amount of years and then you want to be friends with him? I mean, that's just crazy. There's got to be a catch in there, right?"

She didn't want to admit there was, so she just kept her mouth shut. He got the idea and then just left her alone about it, walking down the stairs quickly and calling for Gerard. Maggie just decided to follow and find Mikey.

They were all found in the kitchen along with Ray, fro boy, she'd only met a couple days ago and then never saw really again.

"Gerard's taking us to the shopping center and they're going to hang out until we're finished," Mikey grabbed his house key and attached it to the key ring on his jeans.

When they started walking out, Gerard was the nice guy and let everyone go before him, Maggie being the last on. They made eye contact, a small closed mouth grin spread on Gerard's face. Then he disappeared behind her and followed her outside. Everyone was piling into Gerard's car. Gerard walked over and started directing the boys where to sit, because apparently he wouldn't let his friends sit in the back with Maggie. She started to turn red walking over.

Ray, Frank, and Mikey all ended up in the back seat. Frank, being the smallest, had to sit in the middle of the backseat, and then it landed with Maggie sitting in the front seat with Gerard.

"Oh well," Ray said first when they were all in the car, "At least she has to listen to Gerard's music."

"Shut up," Gerard laughed, turning on the car and a song started playing, "A little Bowie never hurt anyone."

"Yeah, sure," Frank said sarcastically from the middle seat. It was a funny sight. Littler Frank squished between Mikey and Ray, his knees practically stuck together so he couldn't really move.

Maggie watched out the window as the car drove by her house and out of the neighborhood. The four boys with her were making conversation she didn't really care about, so she just sat back and closed her eyes with her arms folded. But it really wasn't a long drive after that. She found herself opening her eyes at one point and noticed the familiar shopping center to the left of her. Gerard turned the car to it as soon as the light changed green and stopped the car into a space.

It was quite big for a shopping center. There was probably a store for everything. No one knew why it wasn't just turned into a mall. Not many people went there. Everyone who was anyone went to the mall, but Maggie only went with Matt and his friends. This time, she was with the Way brothers, a small angry short boy, and an Iron Maiden freak.

They all got out of the car. Mikey met up with Maggie and led her to the nearest store, calling the guys now feet away that they'd be back. Then they started running for the store and going in. Mikey actually wanted a real makeover, she discovered right when he was going for rugby shirts and khaki pants. She'd never seen such a boy who wanted to be accepted. He was fine just the way he was but not to himself.

After trying on and paying for a couple shirts and pants for Mikey, Maggie and him walked out of the store with their bag and spotted an optometrist's office just a couple stores away. Maggie bit her lip and took Mikey's hand.

"Come on."

"Why?" he walked with her anyway.

She just shrugged, "You're looking for change aren't you?"

Mikey nodded and walked inside with her.

Frame by frame and pair by pair, Maggie tried finding the perfect glasses to match Mikey's new look. No pairs worked for him but the ones he had already. But then she switched to the alternate: contacts.

It was a crazy idea, but Mikey walking out of that store with no glasses but the ones folded and put safely into a case in one of the bags he was carrying, made him look like a new person. If only he wore his new clothes, but he was saving them for surprise the next day.

They decided to get subs for lunch, and they sat in the booth by a window close by the door for an eat and go since they were supposed to find Gerard and them soon. Maggie hadn't eaten a real sub in who knows when. She'd ordered a twelve inch veggie sub, same as Mikey's, but he'd ordered a six inch. She engulfed it almost entirely before Mikey could even bite into his. But when she stopped to chew for a second, she looked at Mikey intently as he started eating his meal.

"So why do you want to be popular?"

He just shrugged, "I don't know. I just like change. Plus, I'm helping you out, and you seem unhappy without him, you know?"

"I guess," she tried not to think of Matt, "But how do you know how people would react to you?"

"You don't know how many reactions I get anyway," he snorted, reaching over his eyes to check if he actually went through with getting contacts. It made Maggie smile. He was so cute at how he wanted to be accepted, yet wrong at the group of people he aimed at.

"Mikey!"

There came a yell across the quiet restaurant. Both Mikey and Maggie looked over to see Gerard who had made the yell. Mikey waved and walked over to his brother and two friends. Maggie walked over as well, throwing her trash in the trash can and then sitting next to Mikey at the table. Gerard pointed at his brother and cleared his throat.

"Did you lose your glasses again?"

Mikey shook his head, "No, they're in here in the bag."

"Put them on."

"No," Mikey smiled, "I got contacts."

The three other guys looked at him and then at Maggie and then back at Mikey again. Frank got up and threw his tray away, walking over to the exit.

"I'll be waiting at the car."

"Where'd you get contacts?" Gerard stared seriously.

"The optometrist down there..."

"Even better question," Ray began, "Why'd you get them?"

"You're the one to ask, Ray," Mikey stared at Ray, who wore contacts as well. Maggie began to feel embarrassed, thinking that getting Mikey contacts was a bad idea if his own brother didn't trust where he got them. Gerard kept looking at her and asking questions like who paid for them and who suggested them. All eyes were landing on Maggie, and she was turning red as a pepper.

The conversation just ended with following Gerard and dumping his tray. He finally turned to his brother and shrugged.

"I guess as long as you like them."

Mikey grinned and then took Maggie's hand as they all walked out of the restaurant and to Gerard's car again where Frank was having a smoke. He stepped that down and got into the car as soon as Gerard got in and opened the manual locks. Maggie got in and slammed the door beside her. Then she cuddled herself in the same position she was when they got there and closed her eyes. She could hear all of their conversation the entire ride.

"Mikey, contacts aren't you," Frank protested.

"What is me?"

Frank just scoffed and then there was a shuffling of opening a shopping bag. Then it was suddenly thrown to the front of the car. Gerard turned the wheel so the car jerked just a little.

"What the fuck, you guys?! I'm driving."

"None of that is you!" Frank ignored Gerard, "These glasses are you, that's it!"

"Whatever, Frank," Mikey laughed, "By the way, you're dying Maggie's hair when we get home."

"Why me?" Frank started protesting again, "Why not any of you? Maggie is what Mikey's being turned into shit for, Maggie is why--"

"I can hear you loud and clear, Frank, I'm not sleeping."

"Did I think you were?" he replied smartly as she turned and looked at him. Gerard turned around and smacked his friends knee.

"Shut up, Frank."

Frank did shut up. Maggie went back to her resting. And then Gerard went back to driving. The car was silent until they all made it home again from a safe, short trip from the shopping center. Everyone got out of the car and went back to the house. Frank went straight to the kitchen to get everything set without question. He was in a mood no one liked. Even Ray had to leave because he couldn't handle Frank's attitude, so he wished everyone luck with him, and he left. Mikey went upstairs to put away his new stuff. Which that all left Gerard and Maggie unsurely in the living room together.

"Thanks for sticking up to me, but you didn't have to."

"I don't haveto do anything," he'd quoted her from the day before when they kissed. He had this grin on his face like he was being smart yet flirty at the same time. It made her blush. She always blushed in the Way house. There was no stopping her from it, ever.

Maggie stared at her new self in the mirror right after Frank had dyed, washed, waited conditioned, waited, and then washed again for about two hours. It was hard getting every blonde streak, but Frank managed it, and it looked good after she blow-dried it. Her hair had gone from maybe the look of a tiger to an almost dead rose. The color was close to red, but also had a bit of purple tint in it. She would only hope if anyone liked it the next day. That day she'd be showing Mikey off and her new hair. She wondered if anyone would notice both her hair and Mikey. Only time could tell.

She ran a hand through her hair as she walked out and two pairs of Way eyes met her. They were both waiting outside and both smiled when they saw her.

"You look great!" Mikey raised a hand for a high five. Maggie chuckled and high fived him back. Then she looked at Gerard, who was just standing there and smiling.

"Well?"

He shrugged, still with a smile, "You looked good before, you look good now, what's different?"

She smiled back and then tucked a piece of hair behind her ears.

"I guess I'll get out of your hair now. I better go."

"Right," Mikey cleared his throat and checked his watch. Her judgment from the window nearby was that it was close to dusk. She didn't want to be home after dark or else someone would maybe get worried, though it was a rare chance since Kenny was there.

Maggie walked upstairs to Mikey's room quickly and grabbed her bag. Then she was walking down the stairs when Mikey passed her. She gave him a quizzical look.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to take a shower, Gerard can walk you home."

"Okay," she nodded, "Hey, want to walk to school tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Cool, six-thirty?"

"Yup!" he yelled back as he ran to the bathroom and slammed the door. She rolled her eyes, smiling and then catching Gerard standing at the front door in front of her when she reached the end of the stairs. She smiled back and opened the door for herself.

"I can walk home by myself, it's only couple feet."

"Yeah, so?" he smiled, following her out and walking beside her. She kind of liked it.

"It's nice what you're doing for Mikey," he began, making her stop in her steps for a minute.

"What? Oh, yeah. He likes it."

"Yeah, I just hope he doesn't get caught up in it..."

"He'll hate it soon enough, Gerard, I wouldn't worry," she reassured him, "I've been through it plenty of times."

"You're still in it, that's what I'm worried about," he turned to her when they reached the bush separating their house from hers. Maggie bit her bottom lip, clenching her book bag behind her and then looking up at him.

"Mikey's different though. I just go along, you know?"

"I guess," he sighed, moving a piece of thin hair behind his ears, "I don't want to see him hurt. I don't like seeing anybody hurt."

"I know, Gerard."

He kind of chuckled and pointed at her hair, kind of changing subject from everything.

"I like how that turned out. It looks very pretty on you."

She gave him a smile and simply nodded. It was really unsure of where this conversation was going, but Gerard was getting to a point.

He kind of rubbed his neck unsurely and squinted his eyes a little, as if he was being unsure. Maggie found it cute, so she walked closer to him with a childish look on her face.

"What are you thinking, Gerard?"

"I was just wondering," he shrugged, his hand still rubbing his neck, "You know, if you're not popular or anything this weekend, if you'd like to come over and visit me...not with your posse or anything, just us."

She let out a small chuckle that turned into a laugh. He was so shy about asking her to come over, but still he knew how to kiss her so suddenly the day before. That boy was a character. She caught him staring at her for an answer, so she just smiled and kicked a small piece of concrete in front of her.

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "If that 's what you want to call it."

"I'd like to," she smiled, noticing a wide smile forming onto his face before she answered, "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he shook his head and pointed behind her, "The sunset...it's so perfect behind you, I don't know how to describe it...it's...so beautiful."

Her cheeks were burning with pouches of lust inside of them. Well, she wasn't sure what it was that she felt for Gerard. He was such a sweet guy. She remembered Matt. He was a sweet guy, too, but a high school kind of sweet. Gerard was an art-school, twenty-year-old sweet. She caught herself liking it better than Matt at that moment.

"I'll see you later," she decided to end it, "Bye, Gerard."

"Hey, wait," he turned as she walked past him, and when she turned back to look at him, he opened his arms for a hug. She couldn't find herself objecting, so she went back to where she was standing and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms snaked around her waist and held her for a moment. When they were letting go, their cheeks were rubbed together closely, and then she found herself looking at him so close, she wasn't sure what to do next. Gerard had pulled her closer and their lips touched. Her hand moved off his neck and caressed his jawbone. His lip quivered before he even tried moving his tongue closer to the opening of her mouth. Her lips accepted and let him in. With that, his grip tightened around her waist for just that second. Then he let go without word, just a quick "bye" and then he started walking back to his house. Maggie let a smile fall on her face as she turned to watch him. She didn't care that he showed such a reaction. It had brightened her evening more than the sunset that they'd kissed in front of.

Two pairs of shoes walked up the steps of the high school. The sun was barely up, but mostly everyone who was anyone always came to school early on Mondays for sports practice or morning detention. So it was the right time to show him off. She turned to him, straightened the collar of his blue and orange rugby shirt, then she straightened her own shirt and smoothed down her new dyed hair. He took the few books she was carrying and slipped those under his arm. Then she took his hand and looked at him with reassurance. When he nodded, they both opened the doors.

Maggie and Mikey both walked down the halls with their heads up, looking straight ahead. Everyone was watching as they passed by and grace them with their presence. The cheerleaders stopped waving their pompoms around and talking about Friday's game. They began to talk about their new gossip that week: Mikey and Maggie.

The jocks all stopped and turned to tap on Matt's shoulder. Hearing the call of Matt's name, it made her eyes direct in his direction where he was standing with Jennifer. His eyes showed no reaction. He just stopped, made eye contact with Mikey and then nodded. Maggie looked at Mikey who'd nodded back casually and then looked down at Maggie to smile. She smiled back and then made it over to her locker.

"What do you think?" she looked at Mikey before twirling the lock to open her locker. Mikey shrugged, a big smile on his face as he looked around at everyone just staring.

"It's pretty exciting."

"Maggie!"

Maggie turned to see who called her name. Of course, it was Aly. She ran over with her hand still attached to her boyfriend's, so he was kind of dragging after her.

"Maggie, you didn't tell me you and...."

"Mike," Mikey finished for her. Aly gave him a smile.

"You and Mike are going out?"

"Yeah," Maggie nodded and watched Mikey put her books in her locker for her, "At your party."

"That is too awesome! Oh, and nice hair, Mags." Aly exclaimed, Maggie didn't know her smile could get any bigger, but it did. And she walked away with new gossip to spread. They both just looked at each other and laughed. Then Mikey began walking beside her since the first bell had rung for class to begin. People were still watching them. Maggie cupped her hand into Mikey's and led him to her first class.

"Maggie!"

Once again, Maggie turned to look and Jennifer was running over, treating Matt like Aly's boyfriend and dragging him along behind her. Matt wasn't enthused. He had a completely uninterested look about him. It began to break Maggie's heart that he wouldn't care, but she straightened her shoulder and looked at Jennifer. She was sober and had not a snobby face on her like on Saturday evening.

"Who's your friend?"

"Oh," Maggie smiled at Mikey and held his hand tighter, "This is Mike."

"Nerd bomb?" Matt spat out. Maggie glared and then shrugged it off. Jennifer nudged Matt's side and then smiled at Maggie.

"He's cute where'd you find him?"

"I brought him to Aly's par--"

"Don't try to hide it, Mags," Matt glared at the both of them, smoothing his hair back and tightening the grip on the pile of Jennifer's notebooks on his side.

"That's the coke addict's little brother that goes here."

"Look how about you shut up," Mikey stepped in front of Maggie, "You lost her chance, now I have her, so why don't you shut your mouth, you fuck up?"

It was so hard not to laugh at what Mikey said. Matt took the boy seriously. Maggie could see the familiar look in his eyes that he wanted to fight but tried to control himself since he was close to a college scholarship.

"Watch yourself, kid," Matt took Jennifer and put his arm around her. Mikey just responded by putting his arm around Maggie. They both gave each other glares as one pair walked away. Aly having no clue what was going on, waved at Mikey and Maggie as she was being pulled away. Once they'd walked around the corner, Mikey turned to Maggie. She just laughed, giving Mikey a tight hug.

"Don't worry, Mikey, he's just words, I swear."

"Yeah, I know," Mikey smiled, "I'm glad I stood up to him for you, though."

She, once again, straightened his collar that was popping up, and gave him a kiss on