When my friends saw me practically naked wrapped up in Zach's coat, him behind me holding my wet clothes, all they could do was stare at us for a moment.

"It’s not what you think,” I informed them flatly, relieved when I saw that Kate and Logan were both there, safe from the blizzard outside. "I got stuck out in the storm."

Kate gasped, but I only walked up the stairs to the room I was going to be staying in. Without even looking at my scars, I wrapped my arm up in the gauze that I had brought with me just in case. I then changed into dry clothes, not even caring about how my hair looked once I was done.

There was a knock on the door right when I finished changing, and I made sure my sleeve looked alright before calling out, "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Johnny, which made me feel just a little bit nervous. I didn’t know what he was going to say to me about everything that had happened.

"Why did you go off on your own?" Johnny frowned, looking worried that I was somehow hurt, even though I looked and felt absolutely fine. "When we all saw that you were the only one not here, we went and looked for you."

"I'm guessing Aveline didn't care," I couldn't help but mutter, not even answering his question at first.

Johnny gave me a look, not even having to speak to answer my question. He now waited for me to answer his question instead.

"Todd and I thought Logan and Kate were missing, so we went out to search for them," I answered with a shrug, turning away from him and to the suitcase on my bed. I made sure my gauze was well hidden as I sifted through my suitcase for nothing in particular. I just couldn't face Johnny right then for some reason.

"Logan and Kate were at the store getting dinner for all of us," Johnny informed me now, and I heard him take a step toward me, but this still didn't get me to turn around. "They were both perfectly fine. It's a good thing that Todd got back to the cabin before the blizzard could really start up."

So they had been safe the entire time. I was so glad, because I knew I'd never be able to forgive myself if anything had happened to the two of them and I wasn't able to do anything about it. I would have felt horrible.

When arms wrapped around my waist from behind, I jumped only a little bit in surprise. Johnny then buried his face into shoulder, neither of us saying a word. We both just stayed silent as he continued to hold me.

I could feel his chest raise and fall against my back. It was completely silent in the room, the only sound being the faint voices from our friends downstairs.

"I was so worried," he murmured into my shoulder, and I still said nothing. "Todd told us how you guys went out to look for Logan and Kate, who were in the cabin with us. All the guys went out to look for you. I was scared that you were out there, freezing to death. I was so... so worried."

"I'm fine," I tried to smile, even though he couldn't see my face. "Zach got me before it was too late. I'm here now, aren't I? Everything's okay."

"But I didn't know if you were going to be okay or not," he began, his grip on me tightening. "And I'm angry. I'm angry that you went out there without me and I'm angry that Zach found you and I didn't. I'm angry that he kissed you in the pool and that he still hits on you even though we're dating. I'm angry that you live in the same house as him. I'm just angry at him."

"Johnny," I swallowed. "Nothing... nothing's going on between Zach and me."

And in a way, it was the truth. Everything that was going on between Zach and me was purely physical, and it wasn’t the same as what Johnny and I had. The relationship Johnny and I had was emotional, which was something I'd never be able to have with Zach.

"Maxynn..." he breathed into my neck now, causing me to freeze. "I love you."

I couldn’t even respond at first, because I wasn't even sure if my feelings for him were love. I really did like him a lot, but we hadn't been dating for that long. Sure, we had known each other for a year, but...

"You don't have to say anything back to me," he whispered now, finally removing his face from my shoulder and turning me toward him. "Just you knowing is enough for now."

I still said nothing. I only rested by head against his chest, and we stood there for the longest time, his arms just wrapped around me. And I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do.

But even worse, I didn't know how I was supposed to feel.

~*~

"I really don't understand this game..." I muttered almost darkly, swinging the remote to the side as I tried to get my character to kick Ethan's.

"That's not very surprising," Ethan drawled right back, easily defeating me without even trying. "I don't get why you're even trying to play with me anyways. I can play by myself."

I made a face at him. "I'm supposed to be babysitting you, so I'm going to do what you want to do."

"Correction: Zach is supposed to be babysitting me, not you," Ethan informed me, but I only made a face. Zach wasn't babysitting him because he was on a date with Andie. "But no, he left me to you while he went out on a date with your stupid teacher."

I scowled at him now. "Don't call her my teacher."

Ethan rolled his eyes at me. "That's what she is, isn't she?"

That was true. Andie was my teacher, even though she didn't teach me during school. I just didn't like thinking that Zach was dating a teacher, even though she wasn't his teacher.

"I know that you're not happy about it," Ethan informed me now, not even looking at me as he continued to kick my ass at this stupid video game. "Anyone could see that you're not happy about it."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "What I feel isn't important."

It wasn't because I liked Zach. That was definitely the last reason why I was upset that he was out on a date with Andie. I was mad because I told him not to go near my friends, but he wouldn't listen. He didn't care about how I felt.

"I don't think teachers should ever get into a relationship with students," Ethan told me now. "That kind of stuff never ends up well. Not to mention it's illegal."

"You do know she isn't a teacher at our school, right?" I had to ask him now, just so he wouldn't be confused. "She's my singing teacher, but she doesn't work at the school."

"Oh," he responded simply, not even removing his eyes from the game. "Then I guess it's alright."

No, it wasn't alright! I had to have been the only person that didn't think this was a good idea. If she wasn't my singing teacher, I wouldn't have cared if he was dating her or not. But it was almost like he was dating her just to annoy me.

Once I was finally getting the hang of this game, the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock to see that it was only eight, so it wasn't too late for anyone to be at the door. I paused the game, jumping up from the couch and opening the door without even thinking twice.

My eyes widened when I saw two policemen standing there, and I was too afraid to speak. What were they doing here? Had something happened?

"Is Maxynn Chase here?" one asked, and I would have been scared of them if he hadn't called me Maxine.

"Um, I'm Maxynn," I said, making sure to pronounce my name correctly.

"Is your father here as well?" the other asked me now.

"Um, no," I answered, having a really bad feeling about all of this. "He's on a business trip. He's due back in about a week or two."

"Okay, Maxynn," one of the officers now said, finally pronouncing my name correctly. "I'm Officer Lopez, and this is Officer Black. I'm afraid we have some bad news for you."

My breath caught in my throat, and I glanced back at Ethan, who was watching us from the couch. I knew he could hear everything we were saying, and I didn't know if he was going to want to hear what they said.

Officer Lopez followed my gaze to the boy on the couch. "Maybe you should send the boy to bed."

"He's smarter than me, so I'm sure he's fine," I excused, not wanting to be alone with these two officers. They looked at me as if I was insane for what I said, but I didn’t back down. "Now, what is it that you want to tell me?"

"It’s about the fire at your house," Officer Black now said, and my stomach did a bunch of twists and turns at the mention of it. "We've done some investigating of it and we've learned that the house was covered in gasoline."

My jaw dropped, and even Ethan looked surprised. If there had been gasoline all over the house, that only meant one thing. Someone had purposely set that fire.

"And I'm sorry to say this, but we'd like to take you in for some questioning, also," Officer Lopez added with an almost sad look on his face, and this only shocked me even more. "You were the only other person in the house, and you got out without a scratch..."

That wasn't true, but I couldn't find my voice to say this. Did they seriously thinking that I could have set fire to my own house, just to kill my mother? Why would I ever do anything like that to anyone?

"I can't come with you," I swallowed, taking a step back away from them. "I'm babysitting right now. I can't leave him here by himself, so could you maybe just... I don't know, question me here?"

Officer Black made a face. "Maybe we'll just call you in some other time. You're our only suspect as of right now."

Being called a suspect made my heart shatter into a million pieces. Even Ethan still looked surprised, which wasn’t something I was expecting. The look on his face was just something that I hadn't ever seen on his face before.

When the two of them turned away, I took a step forward and shouted, "I didn’t kill my mother!"

Officer Black didn't look like he believed me. Officer Lopez looked like he wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt, but his job wouldn't allow him to do so. I only stared at the two of them, my eyes glassy with tears.

"I didn't kill my mother," I repeated, not knowing anything else I could say to the two of them, "and I didn't set fire to our house! I don't know who did it, but I'm willing to do anything to catch them. It wasn't me. I'd never do something like that to someone I love."

Officer Black still didn't look like he believed me. "Though you were able to get out of the house without a scratch on you."

"That's not true!" I shouted now, pulling my sleeve down and revealing the scars, which I hadn't wrapped in gauze that day because I didn't see the need to do so any longer, since they didn’t hurt anymore. "I didn't get out without a scratch! Maybe if you checked my hospital records, you'd see that!"

Officer Black sneered at me before turning away. Officer Lopez gave me a sad smile before turning away also and following his partner.

I pulled up my shirt to cover my scars again, my eyes watering and overflowing as I turned back into the house. Ethan was still watching me as I walked back over and sat next to him on the couch, tears streaming down my face.

"Hey, ogre," he started, and I could tell this was his way of trying to cheer me up. "Let me kick your butt at this game again."

I let out a sob, falling into a pillow and crying my eyes out. I didn't even care if Ethan saw me crying, or if he had seen my scars when I had showed the cops, I just didn't care. Now the police even thought I had killed my own mother.

"Come on, it’s not fun teasing you when you're crying," Ethan pouted from next to me, but this didn't stop me from crying.

"I’m... I'm sorry..." I blubbered, a complete mess as I continued to shove my face into a pillow. "I can't... I can't help it!"

When I felt his hand on my head, I nearly jumped in surprise. The last thing I expected was for Ethan to touch me.

"There, there," he said flatly, patting my head as he did so. It would have been funny if I wasn't so upset. "I'm sure you didn't kill your mom. Those cops are blockheads."

I let out a small laugh at what he had called them, pushing myself up from the pillow. "You really think so?"

"Yeah," he nodded, now removing his hand from my head as he got up from the couch. "I think I'll go to bed early tonight. You probably should, too."

Maybe he was right. Sleep was probably the best thing I could have done right then, after all the crying I had done. But even though I told myself to go upstairs to my room, my body wouldn't let me. I stayed right where I was, downstairs while Ethan was now upstairs.

When Elizabeth got home from her classes, she said a small hello to me before going up the stairs to go to bed. But I still stayed sitting on the couch, the room now dark, the only light coming from the TV.

When Brianna and Steve came home, I knew it was late. And yet, Zach wasn't home from his date with Andie yet. I wouldn't have been surprised if he didn’t come at home at all.

I then realized why I wasn't going upstairs. I was waiting for Zach to get home from his date.

"Are you going to bed soon, hun?" Brianna asked as she passed by the back of the couch.

"Um, yeah," I nodded, even though I was sure that that was a lie. "In a little while."

Brianna nodded at me, and I knew that she could tell that I was lying. "Alright, dear. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight," I called after her as she made her way up the stairs. I just continued to sit in the dark, the only light coming from the TV. The volume was so low that I couldn't even hear it, but that was fine with me since I wasn’t even paying attention to it anyway.

When I found myself growing tired, I laid down on the pillow that I had been crying on earlier. I felt my eyelids growing droopy, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.

When I heard the front door shut, I barely even stirred in my sleep. It wasn't until I heard footsteps passing by that I finally sat up, now fully awake.

A smirk grew on Zach's face. "Were you waiting up for me?"

"No," I denied, wiping at my eyes so my eyesight wouldn't be blurry any longer. "I just fell asleep down here, that's all."

"Uh-huh," he snickered, not sounding like he believed me at all.

"But anyway," I excused, just wanting to get to the point. "How was your date?"

Even though I didn’t want him knowing that I cared, I couldn’t help but ask the question. I wanted to know if he had a good time with Andie or not. She was a great person. She was kind, funny, and pretty. Zach would have had to have been crazy if he didn’t have a nice time with her.

"It was fine," he shrugged, and I could tell he was only acting like he didn't care because he knew it would aggravate me. "It was a date, what do you expect me to tell you?"

I didn't answer him, because I really didn't expect him to tell me anything. He didn't have to tell me anything, since it wasn't like we were dating or anything. I didn't have any right knowing about what he did with Andie.

"I don't know, you could tell me what you did," I shrugged, honestly really wanting to know what the two of them had done together.

Zach smirked, starting toward the stairs now. "Believe me, you do not want to know what we did."

I gasped, jumping up from my spot on the couch and jumping in front of him on the stairs. I was two steps above him, so we were now the same height, completely eye-to-eye.

"You did not have sex with her," I nearly growled, not wanting what he didn't say to be true. "You didn't have sex with her, Zach. You couldn’t have."

"And why couldn't I have?" he asked with a grin, just like he always did. "I'm not a minor, so it wouldn't be illegal. She likes me, I like her. It's something that people do when they like each other, so why couldn't we do it?"

"Because she's... she's..." I swallowed, at a complete loss for words. "She's my teacher! She might not be your teacher, but she is mine! How am I supposed to face her knowing what the two of you did?"

Zach shrugged, as if he didn't care in the slightest. He tried to pass by me on the stairs again, but I wouldn't let him. "Just pretend you know nothing," he said simply.

"I can't just pretend I don't know anything!" I nearly shouted, wanting to push him right down the stairs. "I don't think I'll ever be able to face her ever again!"

"Maybe you should just focus on telling Johnny you love him back," Zach waved away in a bored tone, and I only stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. "I'm sure he won't wait for you forever."

"How do you..." I swallowed. "How do you know about...?"

Zach's smirk only grew. "You two talk way too loud."

When we heard a door open upstairs, we turned to see Ethan glaring down at us, just like he always did.

"You guys are seriously loud," the younger Deveraux brother muttered as he stood above us. "If you don't keep it down, the cops are going to come back."

Zach looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Come back?"

I shot Ethan a look, but he only shrugged and walked back into his room. I now bit the inside of my lip as I turned toward Zach, not wanting to tell him the reason the cops had been here.

"Goodnight," I excused quickly, turning around and starting up the stairs. But before I could even move up two steps, Zach grabbed onto my arm and stopped me from moving any farther away from him. I was now another step above him, so it was now like I was taller than him.

"Why were the cops here?" he asked me, a serious expression on his face.

I didn't want to tell him that I was a suspect in my mother's murder. I didn't know how he'd react to it. Would he believe me if I said I didn't kill my mother, or would he believe what the cops thought? I don't think I'd be able to take it if someone else thought I had killed her.

"Maxynn," Zach said now, losing his patience with me now.

"It's not that big of a deal," I lied, and then finally told him what had happened while everyone was gone. He looked surprised, and he didn't look like he knew what he was supposed to say, but I didn't blame him. I didn't know what I was supposed to say either.

Instead of saying anything, he only leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. This kiss only lasted for a few moments, which shocked me because he usually kissed me for so much longer.

"I don't know if I can play the game anymore," I swallowed, feeling tears prick at my eyes. "Johnny said he loved me. And I didn't even respond to him because I don't even know if I love him yet."

"As girly as this sounds," Zach started with a shrug. "What does your heart tell you?"

"It doesn’t say anything," I whispered, telling him the truth. "It's silent."

Zach only shrugged again, now passing me by and making his way up the stairs. "Maybe that's its way of telling you something."

Maybe it was, but I couldn't have been sure. I wasn't sure of anything as of right then, but the only thing I could really think about was that someone deliberately set that fire to my house, but I had no idea who it could have been.

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I don't like Johnny. xD I don't know why. I was fine with him until this chapter, but now I'm like... bleh.

I have homework that I need to do for when school starts again in two weeks, and yet I've stopped doing it to write this because this story will definitely not be finished in time if I'm not serious about it. :/ I just might die once school starts, because my honor classes apparently have homework every single day. Not to mention I'm also going to have geometry and drama. Last year, I barely had any homework at all. -_-

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