“These shirts are cute, Maxynn, but why are they all long sleeved?” Brianna asked me, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked at all the tops that I was holding. “It’s starting to get really hot outside.”

I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from making a face. The only short sleeve shirt that I owned now was the one that I had worn during the fire. I was wearing it right then, but with Kate’s jacket over it. My bandages were covered, so no one knew that anything was wrong with me.

“I… like the styles of these shirts,” I excused, and it wasn’t exactly a lie. I did like them, that was why I was buying them, but I would have bought a lot of short sleeved shirts if it wasn’t for my burn.

Brianna shook her head. “You need to get some short sleeved shirts, hon. You’re going to get heat exhaustion or something.”

I bit down on the inside of my lip even more. She might have been right, but I didn’t want anyone knowing about my burns. Maybe if I bought a few jackets as well, no one would ever know...

So I did as she suggested and bought a few short sleeved shirts, along with a fee jackets as well. Wearing only long sleeves all the time was probably going to get suspicious anyway...

"Now we should buy you a dress for the funeral," Brianna now frowned, and I wanted to start crying at the thought of actually going to my mother's funeral. "I think I saw a few nice black dresses on the other side of the store."

Everything I loved had been burned in the fire. All of my things, most of my house, and also my mother was gone. And there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Brianna and I picked through all the black dresses, a lot of them actually pretty, much to my surprise. But every single dress that I liked had short sleeves.

I knew that the funeral was going to be held outside, because we were going to see her buried. It was getting hot outside, and I would have had to wear all black...

My eyes sparkled in relief when I finally found one dress that was actually attractive with long sleeves. I quickly pulled the dress off the hanger, showing it to Brianna.

"I really like this one," I told her quickly, getting her attention off of another short sleeved dress.
She looked the dress up and down and smiled. "Alright, dear. How about you try it on?"

I nodded, and we both headed toward the dressing room. I hoped that this dress would fit me, since it was the only one of its kind.

I quickly headed into the dressing room, undressing as quickly as I could without undoing my bandages by accident. I hadn't even seen my burns, and I didn't think I ever wanted to.

After I had gotten the dress on, I finally looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a normal girl; you never would have thought that I had lost everything I had owned and my mother. I could have been buying a dress for a dance; no one would ever think that I was buying this dress for my mother's funeral.

If she was there with me right then, she would have scolded me for even trying on a dress that was this short, even though it wasn't even that short.

The sleeves went all the way down to my wrists, just like I wanted it to.  The skirt snugly fit around the middle of my thighs, and I didn't really know if it was that appropriate for a funeral, but all I cared about was how long the sleeves were. I was sure my mother would understand.

My mother was the only thing that was ever on my mind anymore. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been alive. She was the one that had woken me up during the fire. If it wasn't for her, I just would have  kept dreaming. I would have died if it wasn't for her.

"Does it fit, Maxynn?" I now heard Brianna ask me from the other side of the door, snapping me out of my thoughts and reminding me where I was.

“Uh, yeah," I swallowed, hoping she wouldn't have noticed that my voice had cracked.

I opened the dressing room door, stepping out carefully. I didn't think I would fall, since I was still in my sneakers, but I couldn't help but feel kind of dizzy as I walked in this dress.

“That’s a very pretty dress, Maxynn, but…” Brianna’s forehead crinkled as she looked at the dress I was now wearing. “It’s long sleeved. The funeral is being held outside in the sun, and the dress is black. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

I frowned at her. “But… I really like it.”

This was the only dress with long sleeves that I thought actually looked nice on me. Everything else that I had seen just weren’t good looking, or had short sleeves. All the other dresses with long sleeves were for older woman, and they wouldn’t have fit me even if I wanted to try them on.

Brianna nodded now. “Alright, dear. We’ll get you that one. I smiled at her, grateful that she wasn't forcing me to buy a dress  with short sleeves. I was sure my bandages and gauze would not have looked good coming out of a black dress.

Before I could turn back into the dressing room, both Brianna and I heard someone call out, "Mom!"

It was a familiar voice, a voice that I really didn't want to hear. It was the voice of a person I was going to see a lot of.

"Ethan won't shut up about how bored he is," Zach informed his mother without even glancing in my direction. I could have used this time to escape, but for some reason I decided not to.

I forgot to mention that Zach and Ethan were waiting in the car for us, didn't I? Well, yes, they were both out in the car while Brianna and I went into the store to buy clothes. We had probably left them out there about... I don't know... two, three hours before?

Zach then looked over at me, smirking when he saw that I was wearing a dress. I felt my cheeks burn, but didn't snap at him like I wanted to.

The many women that were shopping around us were now staring at him, obviously checking him out. The youngest woman there was no younger than twenty, and then the oldest woman there was definitely in her fifties. All in all, all of them were too old for Zach at that moment.

"You look so cute in that dress, Maxynn," Zach smirked, cocking his head to the side as he looked me up and down. "I just might not be able to control myself if you wear things like that."

I made a face of disgust, but Brianna giggled, much to my surprise. I didn't think that most mothers would have liked to hear their sons talk like this, but I had come to realize that Brianna wasn't exactly the most normal mother.

“You two are so cute," Brianna gushed, covering her mouth with her hand to stop herself from giggling even more. "Should I start picking out dates for the wedding?"

"No, no, no," I started quickly, the thought of marrying someone like Zachary Deveraux repulsing me. "Sorry, but I'm really not interested in your son in that way. At all."

But Zach smirked, suddenly wrapping his arm around me. "But I'm interested in Maxynn in that way. Very much."

How could he say things like this to his mother without any kind of problem at all? I just didn't get it. I hadn't ever been able to talk like this in front of my mother, or even my father. It was just so... awkward and uncomfortable.

I removed myself from under Zach's arm, making a face at him before smiling at his mother. I didn't care about looking like a bitch to him, but I definitely did care about looking like one in front if his mother.

"I'll get her to show her love for me one day," Zach grinned, and I felt like sneering at him.

I placed my hands on my hips. "In his dreams."

Brianna's eyebrows suddenly furrowed I'm confusion, and she took a step toward me. She reached forward, gently running her fingers over my bandages, even though they were covered by the dress.

"Is the dress supposed to be bunched up right here?" she asked, here eyebrows still furrowed as she played with the fabric.

I quickly yanked away from her, gaining a strange look from Zach. Brianna seemed to think nothing of it though, but she continued to stare at where my bandages were hidden intently.

"I guess," I answered her question nervously, forcing out a laugh before quickly turning back into the dressing room. I then quickly took the dress off, grabbing my shorts and pulling them on before picking my shirt off of the ground. I was about to put it on as well until I finally looked at the bandages and gauze that wrapped all around my bicep.

These burns were reminders. They were reminders that my mother was gone and that my house was, too. If I had scars for the rest of my life, I didn’t know what I would have done.

I ran my fingers down the bandages, just lightly enough that I wouldn't feel any type of stinging. I sighed, pulling my shirt back on before tugging Kate's jacket on right after it.

No one could know about these burns. They had to be kept a secret. I didn't know how bad they were, but they hurt whenever they were touched. I knew that the pain wouldn't last forever, but the scars could. They could last a lifetime.

~*~

“Why did you not call me right away?” Kate demanded, her eyes as wide as saucers as she sat across from me during lunch, like she always did. “You moved into Zach Deveraux’s house last night and you decided to tell me this afternoon?”

“I was busy yesterday,” I shrugged, and it really wasn’t a lie. “Zach’s mom took me out shopping for more clothes.”

Kate’s eyes got even wider, so wide that I thought her eyes were going to fall right out of their sockets. “You went shopping with his mom?”

I nodded, as if it was no big deal. “Yeah, so what?”

Kate placed her face in her hands, and I sat there poking at my salad as I waited for her to respond to my question. I didn’t want this to be such a big deal, which was why I wasn’t telling anyone else.

“You went shopping with his mom,” Kate repeated now, still in complete and total disbelief as she just stared at me. “That’s so… oh, my gosh. It's like you were shopping with your mother-in-law or something! That's so cute. I barely even know what I’m supposed to say! You’re living in the same house as the Zach Deveraux.”

“What?”

At the sound of this new voice, I nearly jumped out of my seat and onto the floor. I turned to see Todd staring down at me, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I felt like throwing up, and I hadn’t even eaten anything yet.

“You’re living in Zach Deveraux’s house?” he asked, his eyes just as wide as Kate’s. Mine were wide now as well, only because he had heard what we had been saying to each other. I didn’t want anyone else but Kate to know that I was living with Zach and his family.

“Todd,” I began, nearly falling off my seat again so I could beg on my hands and knees, “you can’t tell anyone! No one else can know that I live in the same house with Zach.”

Todd nodded, pulling his backpack higher on his shoulder just a little bit. “Okay, Maxynn. I won’t tell anyone.”

I let out a sigh of relief, nearly dropping my head into my salad that I definitely wasn’t going to eat anymore. I already thought I was going to throw up my empty stomach.

If anyone else were to find out that I lived in Zach's house, I didn't think that I would ever be able to live it down. A ton of girls would hate me for sure, and i knew that everyone was going to think that we were doing something together behind closed doors.

"Oh, Maxxy!" I heard someone call out, causing me to cringe immediately. "Maxxy, Maxxy, Maxxy, Maxxy, Maxxy!"

"Girls find... that attractive?" I growled through clenched teeth, my whole body tense as I jabbed my thumb behind me at Zach.

"What can I say, Maxxy?" Zach grinned, plopping down in the seat next to me. "I'm just ridiculously attractive."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I don't see the appeal."

"Zach," someone called out now, and we both looked over to see Johnny and their other friend Logan only a few feet away from us. "We have to go see coach. Or did you forget about it?"

Zach waved his friend away. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go in a second. I want to spend some time with my roomma--"

I slapped my hand over his mouth, getting everyone to now look at us as if we were insane. Ignoring them, I removed my hand from his mouth and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him out of his seat and away from our friends without even saying a word.

"If you want me that badly, Maxynn, all you had to do was ask," Zach informed me loudly, just so that our friends and everyone around us could hear him. "And at school, too! I never knew you were like this!"

"Shut up," I snapped, still yanking him away from our friends.

I didn't stop walking until we were now in the empty hallway, where I knew no one could hear us. I definitely did not want anyone overhearing what we were going to say.

“Did you tell anyone?” I asked, his shirt still balled in my fist.

“Relax, Maxxy,” Zach assured, holding his hands up in defense. “I didn’t tell anyone about you living with me, not even Johnny or Logan. That would probably turn off a lot of girls.”

“You can’t tell anyone that I’m living in your house,” I nearly growled, finally letting go of his shirt and shaking out my fist. “If anyone were to find out… I don’t know what I’d do. You just can’t tell anyone.”

Zach smirked. “Aw, are you embarrassed by me?”

“Yes, Blanche, because I don’t exactly want people to know that I’m living with the school’s manwhore,” I informed him snappily, rolling my eyes at him before crossing my arms over my chest and turning away from him.

His eyebrow's furrowed at his nickname. "And did you tell anyone?"

I probably shouldn't have lied to him. The only person I told was Kate, but then Todd had overheard...

"I did," I answered defiantly, even though I had nothing to be defiant over. "I told Kate, and Todd overheard. But I trust them not to tell anybody."

"No one would believe Todd anyway," Zach shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. "That guy's nothing but a nerd."

"Hey," I snapper, my eyebrows furrowing at him in annoyance. "Todd is my friend."

"But he wants to be more than friends," Zach smirked, and I felt like hitting him over the head for reminding me. I had almost completely forgotten that Todd had asked me out, what with everything else that had been going on...

I scowled at me. "Don't remind me."

"Zach," a new person now said, and I nearly jumped at the voice. We both looked over to see Johnny, who was now leaning against the lockers beside us. "Can't you hit on Maxynn later? We both know she's just going to reject you anyways."

Zach's eyes narrowed at his best friend. "You hope so, don’t you, Johnny?"

Johnny chuckled. "I do."

Zach was the hottest guy at our school. Everyone knew that. Before him, the hottest guy was his cousin, who was five or six years older than us. Kate had told me that his cousin Dallas looked just like him, only older. I was guessing that it just ran in their family, then.

But in all honesty, to me, Johnny Walker was the hottest guy at our school, not Zach or his cousin that I hadn't even ever seen. It wasn’t like people thought that Johnny was ugly, which he definitely was not, but everyone seemed to always notice Zach or some other senior named Sean more than him. I just didn’t get it, because I really thought that Johnny was absolutely perfect, unlike all the other guys at Corvus.

I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't have a crush on Johnny Walker. I knew I wasn’t the first, and I knew I wouldn’t be the last. Unlike Zach, Johnny was charming and kind. He didn't hit on me like an idiot, and he actually cared about how I felt. Zach wasn't like that at all. All Zach cared about was getting in my pants. All Zach cared about was getting into every girl’s pants.

"Let's go, Johnny," Zach finally said, nodding his head in the direction of wherever they had to go to go see their coach. "I can always hit on Maxynn later. I definitely have… a lot of opportunities to."

And he would, I knew. I didn't think he would ever stop. He would probably keep hitting one me until the day one of us died.

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I changed Zach's little brother's name, since he's going to be a really important character later on. His name used to be Ryan, but now it's Ethan. I realized I already had a character named Ryan in There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate...

This one story totally connects, like, all of my stories together. Most of my stories all take place in the same area. ;)

I keep calling this story A Dangerous Game, which is an old story of mine. It's confusing me. -__-

Mostly all of this was written on my iPod... so I wouldn't be surprised if there're mistakes.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D