You woke up feeling confused as you looked around and saw that you were back at Troy's house rather than with August. You sat up, hoping to see the brown-haired boy somewhere nearby. But, after a few moments of looking around, you found that he was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, you're finally awake." Troy's voice almost made you jump five feet in the air because of how sudden it was. "You slept for a long time."
"What time is it?" Surprisingly, you didn't feel tired at all.
"It's almost ten o'clock." Troy said as he checked the time on his phone. "I tried waking you up a bunch of times earlier so that you could go to school, but you wouldn't budge. That August kid must've tired you out."
"Oh yeah, I was about to ask you about that." You suddenly remembered the question that you had upon waking up and seeing that you were at Troy's house and not with August at the beach. You blamed the fact that it was still morning for your terrible memory. "How the hell did I get back here?"
"August brought you back here at about eleven thirty." Troy said as he put his phone back into his pocket. "He said that you two were watching the sunset on the beach when you rested his head on his shoulder and fell asleep. He also pointed out that you were a really heavy sleeper and that you didn't even move a muscle as he picked you up and took you out to his car. He also said that you did the same thing while he was driving you back here and while he was carrying into the house and laying you down on the couch."
"Oh, okay." You nodded. You then realized something. "Wait, how the hell did he know that I lived here? I never told him where I lived."
Troy smiled. "You think that I'm gonna let you go out with some boy without having his contact information and making sure that he's taking good care of you? The moment I found out that you were talking to August, I hunted that boy down and forced him to give me his phone number, home address, and the like."
You sighed. "Why are you acting like you're my dad instead of my friend?"
"I don't really think that I'm acting like I'm your dad." Troy shrugged slightly. "I'm simply just looking out for you because I don't want some asshole guy to break your heart. If that happens, I'm gonna have to break him and I really don't want to sit in jail because I've heard that the food in prison tastes like shit. Besides, I already possess weed so I'm running a great risk and because of that, I have to make sure that I'm on my very best behavior and I have to be careful about what I do because even the tiniest slip-up could make the wrong person suspicious." He sighed. "Derek's threatened to tell the police that I have weed countless times. He just can't get over you. He never shuts up about how he's going to convince you that he's the right guy for you and how he's going to make you fall head over heels in love with him."
You let out a sigh as you rolled your eyes. "Ugh, I wouldn't date Derek even if he was the last guy on Earth. The guy is literally such an asshole and I can't forgive him for what he did. I honestly can't believe he wanted to get close to me solely because he wanted to be more than just friends and didn't care about how my feelings and what he had to do to get what he wanted in the process."
"Yeah, you're lucky that you don't have to see him every fucking day." Troy let out an annoyed sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "That kid literally never shuts his goddamn mouth and if it wasn't trying to stay out of any sort of trouble since I have weed in my possession, I'd beat the shit out of him."
"Speaking of weed, would you be willing to give me some?" You asked. "Only a little bit though. I've been trying to cut back lately."
"Of course." Troy grinned as he reached into the pocket of his hoodie. "You know, you're the only person that I don't charge when they want some of my weed." He then pulled a pipe, lighter, and a small baggie out of his hoodie pocket. "Think fast." He then proceeded to throw everything that he had pulled out of his pocket. You successfully managed to catch the pipe and the lighter and you just barely missed catching the small baggie.
"Well, I almost nailed it." You laughed a bit as you bent down and picked the small baggie off of the floor. "I swear, I can't catch things to save my life."
"We all knew that." Troy laughed as he sat down next to you.
"Shut your mouth." You laughed as well as you lightly shoved him.
"Hey, I'm the one who overslept until ten o'clock and has to miss school because of it."
"You're not at school either." You pointed out.
"It's because my classes aren't until the afternoon today." Troy said as he placed both of his hands in the pockets of his hoodie allowed them to rest there. "It's Tuesday today. I have afternoon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, remember? That's why I get to have the truck on those days."
"Damn it." You cursed as you opened the small baggie and proceeded to pour all of the weed into the pipe. "I was really hoping that it was my day to have the truck. I wanted to drive up to the hospital and see how Mark's doing."
"Well, I could always drop you off at the hospital when I have to leave to go to my classes." Troy pointed out.
"What time are you done with your afternoon classes?"
"My last class ends at seven." He briefly removed his right hand from his pocket to run his fingers through his hair for a moment before he placed his hand back into his hoodie pocket. "And the hospital is about fifteen or twenty minutes away from school so I'd be able to pick you back up from the hospital at seven forty-five at the latest."
"Okay... Well, what time do your afternoon classes start?"
"My first class starts at three." Troy replied. "We'll probably have to leave at two thirty since I like to be a couple of minutes early to my first class because my professor's an asshole."
"I know that feeling." You sighed as you blew smoke from your mouth. "My science teacher is literally the very definition of an asshole."
"Yeah, well, you're lucky that the one teacher that's an asshole out of all of your professors isn't teaching your major." Troy let out an annoyed sigh as he lightly tapped on his foot on the ground. "I've dealt with my professor's bullshit for three years now. I really can't wait to graduate next year. I just want to start the next chapter of my life and open up my own business with Brandon. And yes, it's the same Brandon that hosted the party we just went to. Anyways, I don't want to deal with all of my classes and learn about shit that I'm not even going to use after I get my diploma and step foot out of college for good."
"That's how I feel about high school." You blew smoke from your mouth once more. "I may not know what I want to study in college yet, but I'm pretty sure that I don't need to know almost all of the shit that we learn in math because I sure as hell don't plan on being a math teacher."
"Same here." Troy replied. "I seriously question whether or not I'll need most of the math that I'm learning in my math class right now in order to open and manage my own business."
"What kind of business do you want to open?"
Troy laughed. "Funny enough, I have no fucking idea and I'm literally about to graduate next year."
"You've still got time to figure it out." You tried to reassure him.
"I guess." Troy let out a sigh as he shrugged. "There's so potential for a business. I could do pretty much anything that I want to. And let me tell you, that's fucking awesome and it fucking sucks at the same time."
As soon as you opened your mouth to order to respond to Troy, you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You reached into your pocket and pulled out your phone a moment later. When you did so, you saw that you had a text from August.
Is Sleeping Beauty finally awake? Class is boring as hell and I really need someone to talk to.
You responded to him almost immediately.
How on earth did you get my number? I don't remember giving it to you.
"Who are you texting?" Troy asked teasingly as he peered at your phone over your shoulder.
"August." You told him as you waited for a reply from the shaggy brown-haired boy. "I have no idea how he got my number. I just asked him about it and I'm waiting for him to respond."
Troy simply smiled as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.
Your little friend, Troy, gave it to me. I was actually going to ask you what your number was while we were at the beach, but you fell asleep before I could ask you.
As you were about to type a response, you saw that he had immediately started typing again after he had sent his message. You decided that you would wait until he sent the next message to respond to him.
By the way, what are things like between you and Troy right now? I know that you told me that he felt much more like an older brother than a friend, but things can change. Do you have feelings for him?
You couldn't believe that August was asking this. None of the behaviors of you or Troy and the interactions between the two of you seemed to point to the fact that you had feelings for each other. Well, that's what you thought at least.
No, I don't have feelings for him and he doesn't have feelings for me. Besides, he's already talking to someone right now so he definitely doesn't have feelings for me.
As you were waiting for August's reply, you thought about how Troy was getting himself involved with Mary, who already had a boyfriend. While it was partially your fault because you knew that Mary was a cheater and you were keeping this a secret from him, you didn't like that he and Mary were starting to become close. Troy deserved someone way better than her.
How about Mark? Do you have feelings for him?
You felt your heart drop when you read August's message. How on earth could he have possibly known about Mark? You never once mentioned anything about Mark to him.
Do you know Mark or something? I never once mentioned anything about him to you.
Yeah, I know him. Not very well, but I've had a conversation or two with him. Plus, I've heard some rumors going around that are saying that you two secretly have feelings for each other and that you just don't want to admit it.
That's definitely not true. Mark and I stopped talking to each other a few months ago. It's a long story as to why, but we've barely had any interactions during that time.
Okay. Good to know.
I'm really curious as to why you're asking me if I have feelings for Troy and Mark.
Well, I wouldn't want to have any more nights like the one we had last night if you have feelings for any other guys. I'd feel pretty guilty if I took you out again and did things like we did last night while you had feelings for someone else.
You have nothing to worry about. I'm not seeing any other guys right now.
I'm really happy to hear that.
You started typing a response, but you immediately stopped when you saw that August had started typing again.
Hey, I gotta go. My next class is about to start and I'll get my phone taken away if I get caught texting in class. I'll text you later, okay?
Okay. You added a smiley face at the end of your message. After sending the message to him, you put your phone back into your pocket and went out into the kitchen since you were starting to feel hungry.

"I don't know about ditching school." You walked into the kitchen to hear Troy talking to someone on the phone. "If my professors find out that I didn't come to school because I decided to ditch, they'd be super pissed off at me."
You slowly walked over to the cabinet and opened it up, still listening to Troy.
"Are you serious?" He asked whoever he was on the phone with. "Your professors wouldn't get pissed if you ditched? Man, you're so lucky."
You stood on your tip-toes as you reached up and grabbed a pack of fruit snacks. Troy always put the snacks where he could perfectly reach them and it always drove you crazy because you were quite a few inches shorter than him and therefore always struggled to reach the snacks. You had asked Troy numerous times to put the snacks somewhere where it would be easier for you to reach them, but you gave up after a while because he never listened and continued to put the snacks in the same spot over and over again.
"Okay, fine. I'll ditch." You looked over and saw Troy rolling his eyes as he let out a faint sigh. "But on one condition." He paused for a moment. "You have to do my homework." He smiled. "Good. I'm glad to hear that we have a deal. Now, when would you like me to pick you up, my lovely lady?"
You rolled your eyes as you realized that Mary was the one he was talking to on the phone.
"Two hours from now? Okay, that sounds perfect." You felt a little pain in your chest as the smile on Troy's face grew bigger. Troy was such a nice guy and he was developing feelings for a girl that already had a boyfriend.
You should just tell him already.
You heard a nagging voice in your head as you tore open the package of fruit snacks.
What's the use in keeping the truth from him if it pains you to see Mary make him so happy?
You rolled your eyes as you tried to ignore the nagging in your head and tried to focus on eating your fruit snacks instead.
He wouldn't even believe me if I told him the truth. He'd say something like, "Mary would never do that. She's not the kind of person to do that." or, "If she was cheating on me, don't you think that I would've figured it out by now?" Because of that, it's way better for me to just keep quiet than it is for me to tell him the truth.

"Well, looks like I'm ditching school today." Troy said to you after he had ended his call with Mary. "I'm going to go and hang out with Mary instead of going to my classes. Because of that, I can drop you off at the hospital right now if you want to."
"Okay." You shrugged as you finished the last of your fruit snacks. "Let's go right now then."

*****

After you arrived at the hospital and had gotten to the floor that Mark's room was on, you sighed as you placed your hands in your pockets and began making your way over to his room.
"Um, what the fuck do you think that you're doing here?"
You turned your head in the direction that you heard the angry voice coming from. After you had turned around, you saw that Mary was the person behind the angry voice.
"You have no reason to be here, you know." She stormed over to you and stood a few feet away from you. Once she was close enough to where you could study her features, you realized that she looked a bit different than she usually did. You didn't really know how she looked different.
Well, that was until you laid eyes on her neck.
There were various marks scattered all throughout her neck. Specifically, they were hickies. 
You decided that, since she had approached you in such a bitchy way, you were going to be a bitch to her. "Wow, nice hickies. Which boyfriend gave those to you?"
She seemed to be caught off-guard for a moment because her eyes widened and she looked to her left, to her left, and behind her. After she had done so, she glared at you. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I have one boyfriend and one boyfriend only. My one and only boyfriend's name is Mark and I'm here visiting him in the hospital so that he isn't so lonely while he's recovering from what happened at the party."
"Well, at least you have the decency to come and visit him before you go and hang out with Troy."
Mary's eyes widened once more and she looked all around her again. After she had done so, her glare turned into extreme anger. "How the fuck do you know about this? Is Troy your boyfriend or something?"
"Nope." You shook your head. "He's just a really good friend of mine that was kind enough to allow me to live with him since my parents aren't exactly the greatest people in the world. I've known since the moment that Troy told me what you two did at the party that you were a dirty cheater."
Mary sighed and rolled her eyes. "How much do I have to pay you in order to keep your ugly face shut about this whole thing?"
"Bitch, are you seriously trying to bribe me to not expose you for being a cheating piece of shit, even though you fucking are?" You felt your anger growing with each passing second. You couldn't believe that Mark had stopped being your best friend and decided to be with Mary instead. She didn't deserve to have him and she sure as hell didn't deserve to have Troy.
"Yeah, I do believe that that's what I'm trying to do." Mary nodded as she ran a hand through her hair. You couldn't help but notice that her hair was actually quite disgusting. It was much too long for pretty much anyone's liking and it was obvious that she needed to at least get it trimmed. It was also obvious that she needed to get it dyed again because the blue in her hair had become extremely faded. You couldn't stand looking at her hair after coming to this realization and the fact that she was wearing the flower crown that you had made for Mark only made you not want to look at her hair even more.
"So, (Y/N), name an amount and it's yours."
"I don't want your goddamn hush money!" You snapped. "Stop trying to think that you can buy your way out of being a complete piece of shit because, news flash, you can't. You can spend all of the money you have in your possession, but at the end of the day, you'd still be a complete and utter bitch. The sooner you realize that money can't get you everything that you want, the better it is for all of us."
"You can say that all you want, but Mark will always want my money." A small smirk formed on her face.
"What the hell are you talking about?" You asked her, even though it was pretty obvious. Mark was a gold digger and he was only in a relationship with Mary not because of her as a person, but because of her money.
"You know what I'm talking about." Mary rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. "Don't act dumb."
"Wow, you and Mark's relationship is even shittier than I thought it was." You crossed your arms, feeling quite annoyed as well. "You're cheating on him and he's only with you for your money. Seems like a loving relationship." You spoke with sarcasm when you said the last sentence.
Mary laughed a little. "Sure, use the word "loving" to describe it. Personally, I feel "business" describes our relationship much better."
"Okay, what the actual-"
"I don't time for you." Mary raised her hand and cut off your sentence before you could finish it. "I have to go with Troy now. I've been keeping him waiting this whole time and I don't want to keep him waiting any longer."
You let out an annoyed sigh as she walked away from you and began making her way outside to the parking lot, which is more than likely where Troy had been sitting and waiting for her while you and Mary were talking.

What the hell did she mean when she said, "I feel "business" describes our relationship better?" That doesn't make any goddamn sense. Maybe I should ask Mark about it. But, then again, he probably won't say anything about it.

"Mark?" You called into his room. "Are you in there?"
Are you fucking stupid? He's mute. He's not going to respond! You'll be lucky if you ever get to hear him speak.
You walked into the room and saw that Mark was now sitting up. He had his dry erase board laying next to the flowers that you had brought for him the other day and he had his sketchbook on his lap. He seemed to be focused intensively on whatever it was he was drawing. He was gently biting down on the corner of his bottom lip as his hand moved his pencil carefully across the paper. He threw his head up in frustration a moment later and began erasing whatever he had just drawn.
"Mark?" You attempted to alert him of your presence once more since it was clear to you that he hadn't heard you knocking or call his name before.
Upon hearing his name, Mark looked up and became startled when he saw that you were standing directly across from him. He quickly closed his sketchbook and grabbed his dry erase board before he put his sketchbook in the same place where his dry erase board had been just a moment before. He then began writing on his dry erase board, briefly glancing up at you a few times as he wrote.
You're here again? Wow, this is a quite the surprise. Mark smiled a bit as he held the board up for you to read what he had written.
"Yeah, well, I imagine that it gets to be pretty lonely when Mary isn't here." You shrugged a bit. Even though you were still angry at Mark for what he did, you still felt bad for him. What happened at the party must've been absolutely terrifying for him and he very well could've died. Plus, you had a feeling that you knew who was responsible for what happened and that it wasn't just an accident.
Yeah, it does a little bit. Mark shrugged as he ran a hand through his hair. But it's okay. I'm used to being alone. Besides, I've been passing the time by drawing. It's been really nice. I've gotten a couple of sketches done. The one I'm working on right now has been taking me a really long time though. It's mostly because I want to get every single detail right and make sure that it's perfect.
"What are you drawing?" You asked him, legitimately curious about what he was currently working on. One of the many things you missed about being friends with Mark was getting to see his drawings. You had never seen anyone who was even close to be talented as Mark was at drawing.
Seriously, you still miss him? You scolded yourself. What's wrong with you? Don't you remember what he did? Besides, you have August now and he's really kind. Focus on him instead of Mark. Mark obviously didn't value your friendship like you did. The sooner you truly get over losing him as a friend, the better it'll be not just for you, but for everyone else as well.
It's nothing special really. Mark shrugged as he wrote. I'm drawing someone that I like.
"Is it Mary?" You asked, somehow managing to hold back your annoyance as you did so.
Mark shook his head. No, it's not her. I've never once drawn her. She doesn't like my drawings so I have no reason to draw her or anything for her.
"Wait, Mary doesn't like your drawings?" You tried to hide your shock you were by this, but failed to do so.
Mark shook his head once more. She doesn't like anything to do with art.
"Wow, that's..." You trailed off when you realized you had no idea how to finish your sentence.
It's fine though. I don't really care. Mark shrugged again. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.
"Yeah, but who on earth doesn't like art?" You muttered as you went over to the bedside table and looked at the flowers. You reached over and gently ran your thumb over the flowers that you had bought for him a couple of days ago, which were the red dahlias. After a moment, you looked back over at Mark and he smiled as your eyes met his.
You smiled back at him for a brief moment before you asked him, "So, when are you getting out of here? I'm sure that you absolutely hate being stuck in this hospital room all the time."
I get to leave tomorrow if I continue to recover at the rate I've been recovering at. Mark smiled again, not looking up from his dry erase board until he had finished writing. I really hope that I get to leave tomorrow. My mom's been super lonely since I've been in the hospital and plus, I miss sleeping in my own bed and in my own room where familiar things are surrounding me.
"Has anyone besides Mary and I come and visited you?"
Mark shook his head. My brother's been busy with college and other things, my mom's been busy with work and the same other thing that my brother's been busy with, and my dad... Well... He looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. He honestly looked like he was going to break down into tears at any moment. He opened his eyes and began writing on his dry erase board after a couple of moments passed. He's too busy being sick.
You resisted letting out a gasp. "Is that what you've been keeping secret this whole time?" You had always had a feeling that Mark was hiding something, but you could never figure out what it was. You could never explain why there would be days where he would leave with his brother and give little to no explanation as to where he was going or why he was leaving with his brother in the first place.
Mark nodded. More and more people are finding out about it because Tom just can't take keeping it a secret anymore so he's telling pretty much every person that he trusts, but he at least has the common curtsy to make everyone that he tells promise that they don't tell anyone else. As for me, you're the second person I've ever told. I have no reason to tell anyone else because I'm already a closed book as it is and plus, I haven't spoken since the day that Amy died and I don't really have any plans to start speaking again anytime soon.
"Do you plan on speaking ever again?" You asked quietly as you kneeled down to his level and stared down at the ground. You had always wondered what Mark sounded like. One of the first things that you get to experience when you meet someone for the first time is what their voice sounds like. Then, if you manage to become close with someone, you usually get to the point where you can identify their voice from a mile away. Plus, knowing what someone's voice sounded like helped you find them when you lost them in a crowd or wanted to find them and talk to them. As for people like Mark, you didn't get to hear what they sounded like so you had to rely on calling out their names and hoping to get some sort of response from them.
Not only would it be easier to find Mark if you ever wanted to talk to him if he started speaking again, but it would also satisfy the curiosity that you had about what exactly Mark's voice sounded like.
Perhaps. I imagine that I can't function properly if I continue being mute. Plus, it's going to be pretty damn difficult to do my dream job if I'm mute. Mark shrugged. Good thing that I have another year to figure everything out.
"You're lucky that you know what you want to do with your life." You shrugged as well. "As for me, I literally have no fucking idea. I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life and I sure as hell don't have a clue as to where I want to go to college."
You'll figure it out eventually. Mark reassured you with both his words and a smile. My advice is to keep your focus on things that you enjoy doing and look for something that involves it. Believe it or not, there's a job for pretty much anything that people like to do. Once you have that figured out, picking out where you want to go to college seems like a walk in the park.
"I sure hope so." You sighed, starting to feel the stress of senior year quickly approaching and not knowing what you were going to do once you graduated that you tried so hard to suppress once again. "I really want to embrace the freedom that I'll have after I graduate."
It's going to be amazing. Mark smiled, obviously excited about graduation even though it was still more than a year away. No more curfew, no more getting my car taken away from my mom, and no more having to have my mother hover over me like I'm a little kid. Graduation can't come soon enough!
"Well, I'm glad that you're excited." You resisted letting out a sigh once more as you looked up at the boy that you had once deemed to be pretty and now deemed to be ugly.
But, then again, it seemed like he was fighting some sort of mental battle that no one knew about. After all, he had confessed that his dad was sick and he was still probably mourning Amy's death since it hadn't even been a year since she had died. While you were still angry with him for suddenly abandoning you and tossing you to the side like you didn't even matter, you were now less angry with him now than you were before.
He was going through something and closing himself off. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he closed himself off to everyone again like he had done after Amy's death and before he had met you.
Now that you were thinking about it, it seemed like you were the first person he opened up to after closing himself off to everyone when Amy passed away.
You wondered why he had chosen to open himself up to you. After all, he was someone that had been broken into a million pieces and it seemed like he was nearly impossible to put back together.

A few moments had passed and there had been complete silence between you and Mark during that time. While you two hadn't said a word, you hadn't taken your eyes off of each other.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down as Mark reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. After doing so, he closed his eyes and slowly began leaning towards you.

"Mark! It's time for your medicine."
Both you and Mark nearly jumped five feet in the air when you suddenly heard a voice and a knock at the door. You quickly stood up and went to sit in the chair that was across from Mark's bed so that it didn't look like you and Mark were doing anything that you really shouldn't do in a hospital where doctors and nurses could come in completely unannounced at any time, just like a nurse had done just now.
"Oh, I haven't seen you before." The nurse gave you a bright smile as she came into the room with a tray that had Mark's medicine on it. You took a quick glance at it and saw that it was pain medication. "Who are you?"
"I'm (Y/N)."
"(Y/N)..." She echoed. "That's a nice name. What's your relation?"
"I'm his friend." You told her. While you weren't totally sure whether or not that was actually true, you were more than likely never going to see this nurse ever again so telling her something that may or may not be true and wasn't exactly significant to her wasn't the end of the world.
"Mark, you're real popular with the ladies." The nurse teased as she laughed a bit, setting the tray on Mark's lap. "This is the second girl to come and visit you today."
"Hey, um, Mark, I'm gonna go now." You said to the blue-haired boy as you stood up. "I'll see you around, I guess."
Without waiting to see if he would write a response, you headed out of the room. As you were walking back down to the lobby, you pulled your phone out of your pocket and did something that you didn't think that you would do.
You unblocked Mark.