J O S H • P O V

"Why did you choose to go to boarding school?" I asked Marley, truly surprised. She sighed and ran her fingers through her thick lustrous hair.

"It was a really prestigious school," she said. "See, I want to be journalist and they had the most amazing literature and writing programmes there. But my Mum died two years ago. She was a pilot and made most of the money, my dad owns a local mini mart and we do alright, but it just wasn't enough to cover the boarding school fees anymore. So here I am."

"Marley, I'm so sorry about your mother," I sincerely apologised.

While my parents drove me a little bit crazy at times, I couldn't imagine losing either one of them.

She gave me a puzzled half smile before responding. "Thanks. . . the thing is we weren't that close. I mean I loved her of course. But she was always working and I was at boarding school. I just didn't see her very often," she quietly spoke, a slight look of regret washed over her face.

"Is that how she died? In a plane crash?" I cautiously questioned. She had already shared so much with me. I didn't want to push her; but I was curious.

"No actually. We were up north for the summer, scuba diving. Her regulator was faulty and she drowned. Dad recently won a court case against the rental shop."

"Shit that's horrible."

Marley quickly wiped a tear off her cheek and shrugged, giving me a sad smile. We stood in silence for a moment. It wasn't uncomfortable. She was the sort of girl that made it feel easy. If she had something to say, it was probably going to be intelligent or worth the air in her lungs. I got the feeling that most of her conversations served a purpose that was bigger than just filling the quiet.

"I better get home, but uh i should probably grab those notes," I said after a moment.

She gasped and threw her arms up, her cheeks flushing red as she joined me in present time and left the captivating thoughts that had been keeping her in another mind. "I'm so sorry! Babbling away when you just came to get notes," it sounded more like she was chastising herself than talking to me as she rushed over to a wooden desk and pulled open a drawer full of files. She rummaged through it for a moment before pulling out a binder and walking back towards me as she flicked through the pages before handing it over.

"There you go. That's everything you need."

I dropped my phone down that had been in my hand and took the folder from her, quickly flicking through and glancing at the notes. I tucked it under my arm and smiled with appreciation.

"I was happy to talk by the way. You didn't hold me up or anything," I reassured her.

Honestly, the more that we spoke, the more she held a fascination to me. I couldn't help but want to hear more of whatever she had to say and the temptation to stay and make conversation, was real.

"Oh well, thanks, that's good," she mumbled with a small voice.

I started towards the bedroom door and smiled as I lifted my hand in farewell. "I'll see you at school tomorrow Marley."

I kept thinking about her as I walked home. She was so. . . different. But not in a bad way. She spoke softly and seemed really shy, but occasionally she would find these bursts of confidence and it radiated from her. I found myself wanting to see more of that side of her. There was something about her that I found, intriguing.

I dropped the contents of my bag onto my bed for the seventh time and let out a frustrated groan when I still couldn't find my cellphone. I hadn't noticed it was missing all afternoon but now was usually the time I got in to bed and scrolled social media for an hour or so. Blake appeared in the door way and put his arms above his head holding on to the door jam.

"Where'd you disappear to after school today?" He asked.

"Oh I had to get some chem notes from Marley's," I distractedly told him as I carried on looking around the bedroom.

"Wait, do you mean, virgin Marley?" He pointed a finger at me as he stepped further in to the room. It was the one safe sanction that I had in this house and I hated it when he strolled on in with his big head and arrogant attitude. I stopped what I was doing and rolled my eyes at him.

Suddenly, I remembered that was where I left my phone, when I took the binder from Marley.

"That is perfect! You know where she lives! We should egg her house," Blake exclaimed as he excitedly clapped his hands together.

I whipped my head towards him with a disgusted scowl. "What are you, fucking twelve? I'm not egging someone's house."

Blake scoffed with a condescending expression as he folded his arms across his chest and proceeded to argue his point. "Egging is classic, and she's a loser. It'll be funny."

"No. I'm not doing that," I told with finality in my tone. "And don't you do it either or I'll fucking roll you, Blake. I mean it."

She didn't deserve that. It was clear that no one at that school had given her a chance. She was smart and kept to herself, sure. But she wasn't a freak or a bad person and she didn't deserve her house being egged for no damn reason. Blake pouted at me, realizing that I wouldn't be convinced.

"Spoil sport," he mumbled, retreating from the room. I ignored the 6ft tall child and once again felt baffled that he would suggest something so cruel and disgusting to a girl who was so sweet and beautifully innocent.

I needed to go and get my cellphone. I obviously couldn't give her a heads up to make sure that it was  okay. So I decided to just walk over there, grabbing a hoodie and pulling it on as I headed towards the front door.

"Going somewhere?" Aunt Jess's voice rang from the kitchen.

"Yeah Aunt Jess," I answered with a polite smile when I peeked inside the kitchen. "I left my phone at a friends earlier. I'm just going to get it."

My uncle glanced up from his place at the breakfast bar where he was reading through some work papers. "Want to borrow the car?"

"No she's only around the corner. Thanks though."

"Met a girl already? On the first day?" He chuckled.

"Well who can be surprised, he's a strapping young lad," Aunt Jess chimed placing a hand on her hip.

I ignored the fact that my Aunt just called me strapping and gave them a wave. "She's just a friend!" I called out behind me as I shut the front door.

The walk to Marley's was quick. She didn't live far at all and after I knocked on the front door, I waited for a few moments before Andrea answered, a wide grin spreading from cheek to cheek.

"You must be here to see Marley?" She chirped stepping aside to let me in. 

"Yeah I just left my phone here earlier, that's all."

"Well just go on through, she's in her bedroom." She grinned with enthusiasm. I gave her a polite smile and walked towards the hallway.

I heard Andrea yell something out along the lines of 'being allowed to have the door shut while I was in there'. It made me laugh and I shook my head with amusement. I assumed that she wasn't used to guys visiting her little sister.

My fist tapped on Marley's door a few times and I waited for a small pause, glancing at the framed photos on the walls. She didn't answer, so I tried again and listened, hearing the soft hum of a singing voice. She was in there, but she couldn't hear me. It might have been a bit forward, but I shrugged and twisted the handle, letting myself inside.

Marley was standing on the other side of the room with her back to me. She was wearing a little blue tank top and white boy shorts. I was blown away with just how incredible her body was. You couldn't see it under the uniform she wore.

Her olive skin appeared smooth and silky. She had long toned legs. Her tiny waist was accentuated by her butt, which yeah, I was shamelessly admiring because she was swaying her hips back and forth as she sang a song with her head phones in; I recognised it as a Twenty One Pilots song.

I watched her for a moment. She wasn't going to win American idol anytime soon, but her voice wasn't terrible. She suddenly spun around, belting out a chorus. Her eyes fluttered open and became wide and alert with fear as she jumped back. I held my hands up in an apologetic defense as she placed her hand over her heart and took a deep breath.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled.

I snatched the phone from the bed where it hadn't moved from and waved it by way of explanation. "Sorry, just came to get this."

She squinted with confusion and shouted again. "What?!"

I was about to repeat the sentence, but she held up a finger, signalling for me to wait as she pulled her head phones out of her ears and let them hang in front of her. "What are you doing here?" She questioned, seeming a little nervous.

"Sorry I left my phone here earlier. Your sister told me to just come through, I did knock but obviously you couldn't hear me," I explained.

Marley stared at me with a blank expression for about five long seconds. "Well my sister is a bitch and must die tonight," she said with a faux sadistic smile on her face.

I laughed as she shook her head, the pink from her cheeks, slowly fading. "Don't worry about it, you sounded pretty good."

And looked good.

"So you're a Twenty one pilots fan, huh?"

"I love them!" Marley beamed, not appearing as timid as she had before. "Their lyrics are beyond creative and so deep and meaningful. They're healing."

"So are you going to their concert when they come here next month?"

She slumped her shoulders and reverted back in to her more nervous self.

"I actually don't have anyone to go with. Andrea doesn't really like them. I heard it's not that fun when you go on your own," she chuckled forcefully.

My chest tightened and I couldn't help but feel fucking terrible for her. She couldn't even go and see her favourite artist because she had no one to go with.

"But hey, never mind right! No big deal," she gave me a wide smile but her eyes betrayed her. I could see that she was disappointed. I tried to keep the pity off my face, I doubt that she wanted to see it. "So it's getting late, I might get to sleep," she added with a tight smile.

I took the hint and told her goodnight.

M A R L E Y S • P O V

I tried to stop a tear from rolling down my cheek. I felt so pathetic for standing there admitting that I had no friends to go and see a concert with. Josh had tried not to look at me with pity. But I could see it in his face. I tried to shake it off.

Who cares what he thinks.

I suddenly remembered Andrea's act of betrayal and stormed out my room to find her. She was laid out on the couch, watching The Vampire Diaries.

"What is wrong with you?" I shouted, standing over her. She glanced up in confusion and flicked her eyes back and forth not understanding why I was angry.

"You just let him walk in to my room! Look at what I'm wearing!" I waved my hands in front of my body.

She tipped her head up and scanned me over before laying back down with an unapologetic expression. "Your body is literally goals. What are you worried about?"

"I'm in my underwear!"

"They're boy shorts. People work out in those. So it's not that bad. Plus like I said, your body is banging. I bet he liked what he saw."

I chose to ignore the comment that gave me a little bit of misplaced hope.

Did he like what he saw?

I shook the thought off and picked up a throw pillow, throwing it at Andrea. She let out a little yelp and gave me a playful glare as I retreated from the living room.

"Next time, come and get me so I have time to change!" I shouted before shutting my bedroom door with a disgruntled huff.

I climbed into bed and did what I could not to feel heat inducing embarrassment over the exchange that I had just shared with the most beautiful human that I had ever encountered. I cursed myself for having that stupid rule in place, the one that kept me from making an effort in my appearance. He was almost worth making an effort for.

But no, I had that rule for a reason. And I wasn't going to conform just because he looked like a male model. He seemed nice though, maybe we could be friends. It would be nice to have at least one friend. Perhaps someone that Dehlia hadn't convinced into believing that I was a leper.

Although, I had seen him spending time with Blake and his clones but it didn't surprise me that he was friends with them. Beautiful people band together.
It did make me feel a little unsettled though. Maybe this was just another one of their cruel pranks. I let the many thoughts carry me in to a deep sleep.

The next morning, I walked into the kitchen to find Dad sitting in his usual spot at the table with his coffee and news paper. As he was, every morning.

The more startling part of the scene was Andrea, dressed in nice clothes and making herself breakfast. I hadn't seen her dressed in anything but her Pyjamas at this hour of the morning in a really long time.

"Am I still asleep? Is Andrea really dressed for the day? What's happening?" My voice was laced with fake panic.

Dad glanced up from his paper and laughed as Andrea turned to me and rolled her eyes. I flashed her an innocent grin while I fetched a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

"Your sister is going out job hunting today, its time! I'm putting my boot down!" Dad announced holding up an authoritative finger.

"Dad, its 'putting my foot down," I laughed as I poured the milk on top of my cornflakes. "But well done, I'm proud of you."

"Marley had a boy in her room last night," Andrea announced, sitting down at the table with a hot coffee. I stared with disbelief and ignored Dad's fixed gaze. The betrayal.

"What kind of sister are you? I'm pretty sure there's some sister code for this kind of thing, 'when baby sister has boy in her room, thou shall not snitch'... Not that there's anything to snitch about," I shrugged.

"Oh please," she flicked her wrist, the bangles chiming with her action. "Dad is just as excited about this development as I am. You aren't in trouble."

"This is quite a development, are you happy?" Dad questioned with zero suspicion in his expression.

"Dad? Are you seriously not even going to attempt to give me the talk?"

"I don't need to worry about that with you," he waved his hand with dismissal.

"Oh is it that hard to believe someone would want to have sex with me?"

Andrea gasped, her mouth falling open while Dad just rubbed his temples and let out a frustrated groan. That was a little over share and somewhat dramatic but never mind.

"Marley I just meant, you're a very bright girl and you always make good decisions. And no matter what you decide, I know you'll be safe."

By safe I knew that he meant using birth control.
I dropped the hostile stare and gave him a kind smile. As far as fathers go, he wasn't bad at all.

"How was that for a talk?"

"That was great thanks Dad."

He gave a quick nod, appearing a little bit proud of himself before he straightened up and cleared his throat. "Now, I won four front row boxing tickets for Saturday night. Jerry and I are going to go. Would you two like the other two tickets?"

Andrea shook her head as she stood up. "No thanks."

Dad turned to me as my sister strolled out of the kitchen. He raised his eyebrows with an expectant expression.

"Not that I wouldn't love to hang out with my Dad and his friend on a Saturday night," I stood up and took my bowl to the sink. "It's just unfortunate that I have the paper to work on and a bunch of other school stuff."

He smiled with understanding as I picked up my backpack and gave him a quick hug. Dad was a great time. I loved hanging out with him. But I'd been the third wheel when he was with his friends before and it was painful. The Dad jokes have no limits and on one particularly horrific evening when he had a few too many beers, he had attempted to set me up with some waiter at the restaurant that we were at. I hadn't been back since.

"I'll see you after school, Dad," I called as I went through the living room to the front door. "Love you!"

"Love you darling, have a great day."

At my locker before the bell for home room blared through the corridors, I was shuffling books for first and second, swapping them with later subjects when I heard the approach of footsteps and became overwhelmed with the scent of channel number five and far too much hair spray for the every day girl.

I glanced up and found Dehlia with her entourage. All of them in their cheer gear and all of them wearing looks that I was sure were meant for intimidation tactics. That, or the Botox hadn't settled. Who could tell?

"Marley, we have things to discuss," Dehlia Rhodes stood with her hand on her hip beside me.

I didn't answer and continued to slide books from my bag to my locker. Perhaps if I ignored her, then she would evaporate. She didn't.

"As I said over the summer, I would like my article written this week. Today is the first day of cheer try outs. You need to be at practice to document."

"Yeah Dehlia, I know, you already told me all this in the email," I sighed, shutting the metal locker door.

"Well I was just making sure you remembered everything," she gave me a sarcastic smile. "And make sure the editor publishes the piece alright."

"Yeah I'll do my best."

"Good," she gave me a  pat on my forehead and spun around on her heel, leaving quickly with her army marching closely behind her. I wasn't the only person that worked on the paper. I had a feeling that she chose me for the simple fact that I had zero interest in her sport and she enjoyed finding ways to make me suffer.

When I had first arrived at this school, Dehlia had decided that the fact that I read books and didn't wear make up or a tiny skirt, meant I was some sort of mutant nun and had continued to remind me that she thought I was a lowly peasant ever since. She had also made sure that everyone else shared these thoughts with her. No one dared to think for themselves when Dehlia was around, so while not everyone went out of their way to pick on me, no one tried to be nice either. I didn't mind it so much.

People didn't expect anything from me. Which meant that I couldn't disappoint them and I didn't have to meet their standards.

The bell went for lunch and I begrudgingly made my way out towards the school field. Rugby try outs were happening on one side while the cheer try outs were happening on the other. The cheer team didn't cheer for the games. They competed in competitions and traveled for events. That didn't stop them from banning together to behave like some sort of elite bunch of socialites.

Dehlia, being the team captain had already arrived and was barking orders to all of the new potential cheerleaders as they arrived. I walked over to the bleachers and took my sandwich out of my bag, along with my notepad and pen and sat down.

I had just finished my sandwich when a shadow castover me and I glanced up to see Josh hovering with a sweet smile. He was wearing a light blue zip hoodie with a crisp white tank top underneath and some loose soccer shorts. The sunlight shone through his dark hair, making it look a little lighter. Every time I looked at him I was blown away by just how gorgeous he was.

"Joining the cheer leading try outs?" He questioned with a smirk on his face.

I scoffed and shook my head. "Absolutely not."

Josh laughed and sat down beside me. I was aware of how close his leg was to touching mine, we weren't touching but I felt like we could be with the way my body responded. I tried to clear my mind and steady my heartbeat as I turned towards him.

"Dehlia hired me to write this article about how cheerleaders are under appreciated athletes." I explained. "Honestly I've welcomed the challenge, it isn't easy writing a meaningful article about something that you detest."

Josh laughed loudly, his smile reaching his eyes. I couldn't stop staring at him with with amazement, could he be any more perfect?

"Is she paying you for your time?" He asked with the big smile still on his face.

I nodded. "Yeah I have to go to these practices and some games, so she's paying me for my time. The article will never get published though, so whatever."

"Why won't it get published?"

"Because I'm the editor of the paper this year, she doesn't know that though."

Josh bellowed out an even louder laugh than before, it was deep and sexy, yet somehow, completely adorable. "So she's paying you and you aren't even going to publish it?"

When he said it like that, it did sound pretty shitty.

"That's horrible isn't it? I'm a terrible person," I  buried my head in my hands.

"Nah, she's got plenty of cash, won't hurt her any," Josh shrugged, pushing some dirt around with his foot as he looked thoughtful. I grinned at him, a little bit glad that he wasn't against the idea.

"So what about you? Trying out for the rugby team?" I asked.

The thought of that disappointed me a little bit. It shouldn't, its just a sport. But the people that I disliked the most in this school belonged to the cheer and rugby teams.

"Shit no," he scoffed. "I'll watch it, but I don't play it." He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together as he turned to look at me. "I box."

"Boxing," I nodded in approval. "Better than rugby."

"I agree with you there," he laughed and stood up. "I better get some practice in before lunch break is over. I prefer to train out here in the sun than in the smelly gym."

He scrunched his nose up and I had to nod in agreement, able to see the logic in his choice.

"Well, see you in chem Marls," he said as he walked away. My heart sped up a little at the use of my nickname. That was a friendship thing, right?

I watched Josh jog over to a boxing bag stand that was set up about ten meters away. He slipped his hoodie off and then swiftly pulled his tank top over his head.

Holy.

Shit.

I knew that he had a good body, it was obvious even under his uniform, but wow. His arms were strong and toned, his shoulders rounding with muscle. His abs were defined and firm, and he had a chiseled V line trailing down in to his pants.

He pulled on his boxing gloves and adopted a defensive stance before he started punching the bag swiftly and expertly. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I stood up and walked to the edge of the field, in a trance of admiration, watching his arm muscles flex every time he threw a punch.

Suddenly, a piercing shrill voice cut through the air. "Marley! Stop perving on Josh!"

Josh must have heard his name because he stopped hitting the bag and stared over towards where I was standing. I was certain that he could see how bright red my face had just gone, from where he was. He raised his fists into position and turned back to the boxing bag with a grin on his lips.

With a rigid posture, I turned around to find Dehlia standing behind me, looking as smug as ever.

"What do you want Dehlia?" I bit, walking past her and sitting down on the bleachers.

She skipped towards me and planted herself right in front of me so that I had no choice but to acknowledge her presence. "I want to know how my article is coming along?"

"I literally just started watching your practices today."

"An update please Marley," she snapped her fingers and tapped her foot impatiently.

I ground my teeth together in annoyance. I was about to give her a pleasing brief answer when I decided on something better. "Ya know what, its actually going great," I told her with a cheerful tone, she straightened up with a pleasant surprise as I started packing up my things. "Yeah I just started writing a paragraph about how cheerleaders sustain a lot of head injuries, which seems to really effect their long term mental capabilities."

Dehlia's face instantly turned in to a scowl and she crossed her arms over her chest. I quickly walked away before she could say anything else. It wasn't the bravest exit but I took a little satisfaction in the fact that I had rendered her speechless at all.

____