“Oh, look. The ogre’s back,” Ethan announced flatly as I entered through the front door.

“Ogre?” I exclaimed, not expecting an insult right when I walked in the door. “What are you…? What’s your problem?”

“You,” he said simply before making his way up the stairs without another word.

Why that little...

I didn’t know what I was going to do with him! Ogre? Out of every insult he could have called me, he decided to go with ogre?

I made my way up the stairs angrily, banging on Ethan’s door as I walked by it to get to my room. That little punk was going to get it one of these days. He already made up a stupid (and yet clever…) rhyme when Johnny and I had kissed. I was kind of afraid of what he’d come up with when he found out that Johnny and I were dating now…

When I heard Zach come home from practice a few hours later, I nearly fell off of my bed. I waited until I heard him make his way upstairs before I left my room to confront him.

He plopped down on his bed when I entered his room, and he smirked at me. “Do you want a reprise of yesterday? I’d be happy to give you one.”

“I want out,” I told him, and this caused his eyebrows to furrow at me in confusion. “I want out of the game, Zach.”

“Oh,” he laughed, finally understanding what I was saying to him. “So you want out of the game so you wouldn’t be cheating on your loving new boyfriend?”

“Kinda,” I snapped, even though he was exactly right. “I just came in here to tell you that it’s over. I’m not playing this game with you anymore.”

“So, when should I expect you confessing your love for me to everybody?” Zach asked me as I turned back toward the door to leave. He didn’t even look up from his magazine, which annoyed me greatly.

“What?”

“You said whoever lost would have to tell the entire school that they loved whoever won.” Zach explained to me, still not looking up from that stupid magazine. “You’re forfeiting, which means you lost.”

“No, no, no,” I nearly panicked, grabbing the magazine from his hands and throwing it onto the floor. “I said whoever fell in love with the other one first lost, and I am not in love with you. Therefore, I do not lose.”

Zach smirked as he said, “Nuh-uh. You said that falling in love with the other person would make you lose. Forfeiting also means you lose.”

No way. I could barely remember what I had even said when I had started the game, since I had been so pissed at him, so whatever he said could have been true. If forfeiting meant I had to confess to the entire school… I couldn’t do it.

“I just got you after a year, Maxynn,” he winked, and it made me feel really dirty. “I’m not about to give you up.”

I swallowed. “And what if I just stop playing the game and don’t announce to everyone that I was in love with you?”

“I will make your life, and your relationship with Johnny, a living hell.”

“Even more than you already do?” I quipped harshly.

He laughed. “Funny.”

“I’m being serious, Zach,” I snapped, and I felt my palms grow clammy. Was Zach really the kind of person that would do this to his best friend? “I really like Johnny, and I don’t want you messing it up for me.”

“Then stay in the game,” Zach started, picking up and going back to his magazine, “and I’ll keep my mouth shut about it. All we have to do is make sure no one sees us together, but that’s what you’ve wanted the whole entire time, right?”

“Just… don’t screw anything up for me,” I almost whispered, actually really afraid that he would do or say something that would ruin everything for me. “If we have to do anything together, it’ll be in secret. Even more than it used to be. Got it?”

Zach rolled off his bed, standing up and taking a step toward me so that our faces were so close that our noses were almost touching. His arm was suddenly around my waist, pulling me even closer to him so our chests and stomachs were now pressed against each other’s. “Got it.”

When our lips touched, I thought about what I was doing. I had a boyfriend, and he was best friends with the guy I was kissing right then. And yet, I didn’t stop him. I didn’t stop him from pretty much pushing me on his bed and getting on top of me. And I didn’t stop him when his lips traveled lower than just my lips.

I had to do something about this, and I had to do something fast.

~*~

“There’s a party tonight,” Kate informed me in excitement. “We should totally go!”

“Party?” I asked Kate as she continued squealing, my nose wrinkling at the thought of it. “Whose party is it?”

“Logan’s and his brother’s,” Kate pretty much gushed, and it made me roll my eyes at her. She just had to have a crush on one of Zach’s best friends, didn’t she? “I really want to see Logan more, Maxynn. Can we please go to the party?”

“Can’t you just go alone?” I questioned, really not in the partying mood. “You know I don’t like parties.”

“Please?” she now begged, lacing her fingers together and nearly jumping up and down. “Please, Maxynn? You’re my best friend! I want my best friend to go to parties with me, especially after everything that’s been going on for you! You need to have some fun!”

I didn’t want to have fun. After what had happened with my mom, and after what had happened with Johnny, Zach, and me, I just wanted to hide under my covers and watch Disney movies all night.

“Fine,” I finally gave in, just wanting to make her happy. Just because I was upset didn’t mean Kate had to be… “I’ll go. There’s no guarantee that I’ll have fun though.”

“Yay!” she squealed, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and hugging me tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Maxynn! You’re definitely going to have fun, I promise! Logan always throws the best parties!”

How fantastic. I still wasn’t looking forward to anything party related whatsoever.

When we got to Logan’s apartment, the music was so loud that I could barely hear anything over it. Kate was saying something to me, and it made me wish that I could read lips so I’d know what she was saying.

“Logan!” Kate squealed suddenly, suddenly leaving my side before quickly making her way over to the brunette boy. Before I could even say anything to her, they were both gone to his bedroom.

“Thanks, Kate…” I sighed, shaking my head and looking at all the people around. “Thanks for leaving me here all alone even though you wanted to go to parties with your best friend.”

I looked around for someone I knew, wishing that Johnny was there with me right then. I hoped that he was there somewhere, since he was one of Logan’s best friends. If I was lucky, he’d get here later if he wasn’t there already.

“Todd!” I blinked in surprise when I finally saw someone I knew well. Luckily I was far enough away from the speakers so I could hear what both of us were saying. “What are you doing here?”

Todd was definitely not the partying type of person. He was more of a… studying type of person, I guess. But in all honesty, that was the kind of person that I was, too. We seemed to have been a lot more in common than I thought we were…

“Kate said I should come, so I did,” he shrugged, and he looked so out of place that it was almost funny. “I’m kind of regretting it now though because I can’t even find her. But I’m still glad I ran into you though.”

I made a face. “Yeah, well you can’t find Kate because she’s in the bedroom with Logan.”

Todd now nodded, rolling his eyes as well. “Ah. Well I shouldn’t be surprised.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting to see you here!” a new voice now said over the music from behind me, and I let out a groan before turning around. “I didn’t think that this would be the type of party that psycho murderer Maxynn Chase would come to!”

I glared as hard as I could at Aveline, two of her snotty friends on either side of her. She was grinning evilly like she always did, and I tried my hardest to think of a nose brace joke, but thought of nothing.

“It’s nice to see you too, Aveline,” was all I said back to her.

“Nice shirt,” one of her friends sneered as she looked at my sleeves. I then noticed that I was the only person around us in long sleeves, and it made me feel a little self-conscious. “What, are you not comfortable with your body?”

She wasn’t exactly far from the truth.

Aveline cackled, and her friends did as well. I turned to see that Todd was no longer beside me, which didn’t make me feel any better. As much as I would have loved to punch Aveline in the nose again, I would have gotten in trouble for it this time.

“What are you even doing here?” Aveline asked now, and she was scowling as much as she could with that nose brace on. “I didn’t think Logan would want a murderer at his party.”

“I was invited,” I told her angrily, even though it wasn’t an exact lie. Logan didn’t invite me himself, but his kind of girlfriend did. “And Logan’s my friend too, Aveline. He knows that I’m not a murderer.”

She scowled at me. “Only because you’re dating one of his best friends.”

That wasn’t true. I had been friends with Logan ever since I had come to Corvus, not just because I was dating Johnny. Aveline just couldn’t leave me alone, could she? She sure liked making up stories.

“I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now, Aveline,” I only sighed to her now, turning away from her and her ugly nose brace. “If you’ll excuse me…”

“You and Johnny won’t last for more than two weeks!” she shouted after me, causing me to stop dead in my tracks in surprise. I wasn’t expecting her to say anything like this… It was just like Zach had said. “He’ll break up with you. It’s just a matter of time.”

For some reason, this made my stomach turn. I hadn’t been drinking, so I definitely wasn’t drunk like everyone else around me. I now wanted to go home, but Kate was my ride and she was busy with Logan…

I knew who I had to look for, since I knew he’d be there, but he could have been doing something even worse than Kate and Logan. I gulped before continuing my way through the crowds of people, only wanting to find the idiot I was being forced to live with so I could leave.

“Zach!” I called out when I saw him, frustrated that I hadn’t found him sooner. I wasn’t really surprised when I saw him talking to some blonde girl, who quickly darted off when she saw me coming.

“Aw, Maxxy, you just had to interrupt, didn’t you?” he asked with a wide smirk on his face. “I was just about to go and take her to Logan’s bedroom, too. Maybe even take her home if I had to.”

My eyes widened at him in disgust. “Are you being serious?”

“As always.”

“You’re disgusting,” I spat, shaking my head at him. “And anyway, Logan and Kate are already in his room. Not to mention that girl looked like she was younger than us.”

“She is,” he shrugged, as if it was no big deal at all. “She’s a junior.”

“Zach!” I couldn’t help but cry out, not believing what he was telling me right then. A junior might have been only a year younger than us, but they were still younger than us. I hadn’t thought that the rumors were true when they said that Zach had been with nearly every girl in the school, but I guess I was wrong. I thought he only hooked up with seniors…

“What?” Zach asked now, and I didn’t think he was as innocent as he was trying to be. “She’s fucking hot.”

I made a face. “Do you have to swear?”

“What are you, six years old?”

Ignoring his comment, I only glared at him. “You really are a horrible human being.”

He only smirked. “You haven’t even heard the best part yet. You know that girl that Sean’s been pining over since, like, forever?”

“Yeah…” I nodded, sure I wasn’t going to like where this was going.

“That’s her.”

My jaw dropped. “You really are disgusting! And a horrible friend!”

I had heard about this girl before. I didn’t know her name, but all the guys on the football team would make fun of Sean for liking this girl that wouldn’t give him the time of day, and Zach was one of them. I honestly felt bad for Sean, who was barely even my friend, because it was obvious that he really liked this girl a lot, and I always hated it when the guys made fun of him. But now Zach was making everything so much worse.

“I am disgusting. I’m fooling around with my best friend’s girlfriend, aren’t I?” Zach reminded me now, and it made me want to punch him in the nose. Did he really have to bring that up, out of all things? It wasn’t necessary. “It would really crush Johnny to find out that his best friend was with his girlfriend behind his back.”

“Don’t you dare say a word to him,” I growled, taking a step forward as I tried my best to look menacing. “I tried to get out of this stupid game with you, but you wouldn’t let me. I just don’t want you ruining the rest of my senior year.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” he shrugged once again, and my hand itched with the urge to punch him hard. “Just admit it, Maxynn. You want me.”

Before I even knew what I was doing, I punched him in the shoulder as hard as I could. It wasn’t the face, like I had wanted, but it was good enough for me. I couldn’t walk around knowing that I had broken two people’s noses anyway…

“I do not want you,” I seethed, shaking out my hand because his shoulder was actually really hard. “I’ve never wanted you, and I never will want you. So just keep your mouth shut and never tell anyone about this stupid game of ours.”

“You’re the one that started it, remember.”

“To get you off my back!” I shouted, really angry at him now. “You wouldn’t stop hitting on me! I knew I had to do something or you would ruin the rest of my senior year, and possibly even my life!”

Zach looked just as uncaring as usual as I looked up at the swaying chandelier above us. Huh. The vibes from the music must have been shaking it. But this look on Zach’s face made me want to punch him again, but even harder than before. Maybe I’d slap him again, too.

When I heard a scream, I turned to see who it was. Before I could though, I was suddenly being tackled to the ground, a great amount of weight nearly crushing me.

Before I could shout at Zach and ask him what the hell he was doing, I was cut off by the chandelier that had once been above us smashing into the ground, right where Zach and I had been standing. All I could do was stare at it, just like everyone else, even though the music was still going loud all around us.

“That was close,” Zach breathed, still right on top of me. I didn’t even try to push him off because I was so shocked.

“That was…” was all I was able to say, since I couldn’t believe that I had nearly been killed by a chandelier out of nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed it before a few moments before it had fallen.

That would have killed me. It definitely would have killed me. Zach had really just saved my life… He had pretty much been my knight in shining armor.

“You okay, Maxynn?” a new voice now asked, and I looked up to see Logan’s older brother Jason, who also lived in the what seemed to be gigantic apartment, looking down at me in concern. “I told Logan that thing was going to break one day.”

My eye twitched just a little bit. Logan and Kate were probably too busy in his room to even notice a crashing sound outside. Then again, the music had probably been too loud for them to even hear…

“I’m fine,” I sighed, pushing Zach off of me and sitting up now as the party now continued around us and the broken chandelier, which I just didn’t find safe. “Just a little shocked, that’s all.”

Zach helped me to me feet, and I stumbled a little into his chest. I immediately pushed away from him, because I didn’t want him getting any ideas. He might have just saved my life, but I didn’t want him thinking I was going to repay him in any disgusting way he wanted.

“The music must have caused it to shake too much,” Zach informed me as he brushed himself off. “But getting back to what we were saying. What did you need me for, baby?”

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, my arms crossing over my chest. “I want to go home, so take me home.”

“Why don’t you just have Kate drive you? She’s the one that brought you here,” he now told me, seeming to be looking around for another girl to hit on. I wanted to punch him again for having the nerve to do so. “Can’t you just let me stay here and have some fun?”

“Like I said before, she’s in the bedroom with Logan,” I repeated.

Zach took a step toward me so our abdomens were now pressed against each other. “Then how about we go to the bathroom then?”

I took a step away. “I have a boyfriend, Zach.”

“That didn’t stop you this afternoon.”

My face turned crimson. “Only because you’d tell Johnny about everything if I didn’t!”

“I could always just tell him anyway.”

“Zach,” I groaned, covering my aching head with my hands, hoping that this would get him to shut the hell up. “I have a headache. Will you just please take me home?”

“You drunk? That would make things easier…”

“Zachary Deveraux!”

“I like how you say my full name,” he smirked, taking another step closer to me. “Say it again.”

“No,” I snapped, completely disgusting as I took another step away from him.

This boy was going to be the death of me, if I didn’t kill him first. Couldn’t he do one thing for me without either threatening or sexually assaulting me? I was sure that there would be thousands of more parties he could go to, and there would definitely be thousands of more girls willing to hook up with him at another time. I just needed him to be my knight in shining armor just one more time.

“Just say it one more time,” he tried now.

“Blanche Deveraux.”

His eyebrows rose in amusement. “If you say it again, I’ll take you home,” he informed me now, leaning forward so our faces were close once again. “Come on, Maxxy. Just one last time.”

“Zachary…” I started through clenched teeth. “… Deveraux.”

Zach nodded, straightening up. “Good girl. Now, let’s go.”

He placed his hand on my head, turning me toward the door and leading me right out of the apartment. I didn’t even try to shake his hand off; we were leaving like I had wanted, so I wasn’t about to make him change his mind.

As we walked farther into the parking lot, I turned to see a boy carrying/dragging the blonde girl that Zach had just been talking to before I interrupted. I looked away from them, not wanting to intrude, but Zach watched them go until he no longer could see them.

“Seems like someone’s gonna get laid tonight,” Zach grumbled, and I wasn’t sure if I was meant to hear it or not. “Lucky bastard.”

“Shut up,” I snapped, elbowing him in the side. “Don’t think I’m gonna have sex with you anytime soon. Or ever.”

“One can dream.”

I elbowed him even harder. “Shut. Up.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This may be the last time I update for a week and a half. On Saturday, I'm leaving for Lake Tahoe for a yearly week-long family reunion. If you guys read There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate or It's What You Do to Me, you might remember me saying this last year.

I'm bringing my laptop, but there's no guarantee that I'll be able to write anything. Last year I was able to write a lot because I locked myself in my room because everyone in my family was annoying me, but this year I want it to be different. But you never know. I'm actually really looking forward to this reunion, like I always do, but it's usually ruined somehow. We'll see how it goes this year.

I changed the cover! I like this one better. x)

This is for the Watty Awards! Please vote and share! <3

Oh, and thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. :3