MARIA'S POV

   I walked over to John and Alex's dorm. It only took 5 minutes but it felt like an eternity with all the worrying. I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to get there. I finally walked down the hall to room 1779. I gently knocked on the door. The thought then came across my mind that they might not be home.

"John! Can you get the door?!" I heard Alex shout.

"Sure." I heard John say groggily. He opened up the door. His hair was a mess, and his shirt was....backwards?

"Hey Maria, what's up?"

"Hey John! I just needed some advice about Peggy. Didn't mean to interrupt your fun." I said this last sentence with a playful smirk.

"Oh! N-n! I that's not we were- we weren't!" He stuttered out the sentence. I stopped him and walked in, I instantly plopped down onto the couch. John cane and sat by next to me.

"What wrong Maria?" He said with concern  and with his head tilted to the side just a bit.

"It's about Peggy." I said looking down at my shoes.

"What did she do?" He said clearly distressed by the thought.

"Well, I don't think she told her parents about...us." I said embarrassed because it sounded like such a small problem saying it out loud.

"Well, yeah. Her father is the Phillip Schuyler, he's loaded for a reason." He said not even surprised.

"He's more of a traditional man. In other words, he'd flip his shit." This information did not help the situation.

"Well what should I do?" The situation was helpless.

"Maria, why are you actually worried?"

"What if this stops us from getting married? What if we have to break up? What if Peggy gets hurt?" I was starting to freak out, I was talking fast. My breathing was getting faster.
Memories started to flash back.

I remember my old boyfriend cutting me, I could almost feel the pain. I could almost feel the blood dripping down my arm. My mind was racing. I was in the floor. I was trying to breath. I could feel him kicking me in the ribs. Whoever said coming out and breaking up with someone is easy were lying.

I woke up taking a huge breath. I was in a hospital room.

"Maria!" John got up from his seat and gave me a hug.

"Doctor! She's awake!" John called out the door.

"Don't worry, Peggy is on her way." John said releasing me from the hug.

"W-W-What happened?" I said.

"You came over to talk about Peggy and you started to have a panic attack. I drove you to the hospital." He explained.

"T-Thanks." I said. I didn't have much more to say.

"Mrs. Reynolds?" A doctor came in.

"Yes?" I whispered unintentionally.

"Hello. We are going to take you in for some tests and family can visit after." I nod.

The doctors took me in for some tests. This gave me some time to think stuff over. I had a decision to make and by the end of 2 hours. I made a painful choice.

Once we were done they wheeled me out into a waiting room. The wheelchair wasn't super necessary but the doctors insisted.

"MARIA!" Peggy ran over and hugged me tight.

"Oh my god, are you ok? Are you alright? What happened?" She started flooding me with questions.

"Peggy I need to talk to you. Alone." As soon as I sis this she nodded. I stood up from the wheelchair, a little dizzy form sitting so long. Peggy helped me up. We walked to an isolated corner in the hospital. There were only a few nurses running in and out of the rooms.

"Peggy, I know about you not telling your parents."

"Oh! Maria I'm-"

"It's ok. I got this." I took a deep breath.

"I think we need to break up."

"What?!" Peggy yelled in disbelief.

"W-Why?! Why would we do that?" I could feel my eyes start to tear up at the question.

"Peggy, I can't have you getting hurt from your father. I wouldn't be able to live with myself." There was a moment of silence besides my muffled sobs. Peggy stood there, shocked.

"I'm doing this to protect you." I said squeezing her left hand gently.

"Maria, we can make this work! We don't have to tell him! We can run away together and-"

"Peggy," I whispered, barely even audible with the hospital noises.

"I'm sorry. I love you." Tears started to form in her beautiful hazel eyes. Her breaths were shaky. I took her beautiful face in my hands.

"My love, take your time." I kissed her on the cheek and gave her hand one last squeeze.

I walked back to he waiting room.

"John!" He looked up from playing with his hands.

"Peggy-needs you." His eyes widened and he ran down the hall as I quickly exited. I wanted to leave before anyone could stop me. I opened the door to the outside and let the chill air consume me. I had a light jacket tied around my waist which I put on. But it didn't help. It felt as if my cold heart kept me cool. I walked mindlessly on the sidewalk. When I finally looked up I was at an on campus park field type thing. It was covered with flowers and willow trees. It was strangely illuminating for the lack of light. I walked over to a willow tree and sat down at the trunk.  I looked up at the stars, as I was doing that I noticed my vision get hazy with tears. I choked out a sob. I then laid my head down and let myself sob. I let myself sit there and rot. It's myself take in what I've done and how everyone was going to hate me for it.

I just had to believe I was doing the right thing, I was protecting Peggy.

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Hello Friends! Sorry making this chapter took so long. But I finally did it! Bad because school is over I will have a LOT more time to write! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Follow me if you would like to see more and get updates on stuff! Thank you!