Mark hadn't gone to school the next day.
You didn't know whether to think it was weird or not. After all, he could've just gotten sick the night before or this morning and decided on staying home.
But you had looked forward to seeing him because you wanted to get to know him more. He seemed so interesting and fascinating. Plus, you were curious if Tom's little brother was in fact him.

You found yourself sitting alone at lunch, just like you had been for the past couple of weeks. You glanced over and saw your group of friends sitting and laughing together. You forced yourself to look away before you started crying.

~~~~~

"Hey guys." You smiled as you sat down next to the girls that had been your best friends since the beginning of first grade. "What's up?"
They were all laughing and smiling at that moment. That is, until they looked over and saw you. The smiles on their faces had turned into frowns in a blink of an eye. "Oh, it's you."
"What do you mean?" You asked, not bothering to hide your confusion. "Of course it's me. We've been friends since the beginning of first grade. Do you not remember all of us being put at a table together and talking almost instantly? We all decided to be friends a day after that."
A scowl fell on one of the girls' face. "Nobody asked you to tell us the story about how we all met."
You opened your mouth to reply but almost immediately closed it because you found yourself at a loss for words. Why were your friends suddenly acting like this? Had you done something wrong and didn't realize it?
"Oh." You simply said before letting out a sigh.
"Now go and sit somewhere else. None of us want to be your friend anymore."
At that moment, you felt as if you had been slapped in the face. "B-but..."
"None of that (Y/N)! We told you to go so just go!" Of course the one girl you had considered to be your closest friend out of the entire group was the one who snapped at you.
That was the moment you cried in school for the first time in your entire life.
Not only had you cried in school for the first time, you hid in the bathroom so that no one, especially those girls, would see you crying.
While you were crying alone in the bathroom, you deemed that day to be the worse day of your life.

~~~~~

You were pulled out of your flashback by someone tapping your shoulder.
"Huh? What?" You turned your head in order to see who had tapped your shoulder. But when you did, you saw that no one was standing behind you or near you. You were about to shrug it off as someone just playing a little joke on you when you turned back around and saw someone sitting across from you that you wouldn't have expected to see.
It was Julian.
"Julian? What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sitting with your friends?"
The muscular jock shrugged. "Yeah, I should. But I wanted to sit with you."
You crossed your arms and gave him a suspicious look. "And why exactly did you want to sit with me?"
Julian shrugged again. "What? I can't just sit with you randomly without you questioning me?"
"Actually, no you can't."
"And why exactly is that (Y/N)?"
"Because you never so much as look in my direction any other time except for right now."
"Well, maybe I've changed."
You weren't buying any of Julian's bullshit. "Yeah right." You spoke to him in sarcastic tone. "I think you just want something from me."
Julian laughed a bit. "What gave it away?"
"My bullshit detector." You no longer spoke to him in a sarcastic tone so that he knew that you were being serious about what you were about to say. "I've dealt with so much that it's super easy to detect when bullshit is coming out of someone's mouth."
Julian laughed. "You're a funny girl (Y/N). I'm so surprised that you don't have a boyfriend. You'd make him laugh a lot."
"Julian, you better not be asking me to be your girlfriend."
He ran a hand through his hair. "No, I'm not. I want to ask you something else."
"Well, ask me whatever it is you want to ask me then and stop stalling."
He paused for a moment and placed both of his hands on the table, folding them together once he did so. "I heard that you're friends with Derek."
You immediately felt your heart drop into the pit of your stomach. "How do you know about that?"
"He's at the gym three times a week so I see him."
"Does he talk about me?"
"Oh yeah, he talks about you all the time. He's always going on about how great you are and how he wishes that you were eighteen so that he can have the kind of relationship that he wants to have with you."
"What kind of relationship is that?"
"Isn't it obvious? He wants to date you and, well, you know."
You stared down at your lunch as you processed everything Julian had told you. Derek wanted to be your boyfriend? Is that the reason he wanted you to stay so badly last night at Troy's house and the reason he had texted you asking you to hang out instead of your other college guy friends?
Had he been making the fact that he wanted you as his girlfriend obvious and you were just too blind to actually notice?
"Anyways, enough about that and onto what I actually wanted to ask you." Julian pulled you away from your thoughts and you were so glad that he did. "Derek owes me big time. I did a really big favor the other night and he owes me some cash."
"Why can't you just ask him for the money he owes you? Why do you have to ask me?" You snapped at him.
"I don't have his number so I can't call him! Plus, he won't be at the gym today since today's not his gym day so I can't ask him then." Julian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper before setting it down on the table and sliding it over to him. "This is my number. If you happen to see him before me, give this to him and tell him that he owes me. He'll know exactly what you're talking about. Or I guess you could just text him my number. I really don't care you do as long as I get my money."
Before you could respond, Julian stood up and walked back over to the table where he usually sat at and fist bumped one of his friends as he sat down.

You looked down at the small piece of paper that Julian had given you. You decided to unfold it and see what Julian's number was. After unfolding it, you pulled out your phone from your pocket and entered his number into your contacts and entered his name as, "More Muscles Than Brains." You smiled and decided that you would use his number one day for something. For what exactly? Well, that was something that you didn't know.
But one thing bothered you about Julian that you had noticed about him when he first sat down.
Why did he have dried blood on his hand?

*****

Once school ended, you started walking out of the building and texting Derek.
Hey, are you available today?
His response didn't come until you were out of the building and had started walking to the park. You had originally planned on going to the library, but had decided on going to the park last minute because you hadn't been there in a while.
No, I have way too much homework today and I have this really big test that I promised that I would study for and pass.
Well, Julian says you owe him.
Shit.
Before you could type your response, Derek had already sent another message.
I don't have his number so I can't text or call him. And I'm not gonna be at the gym for a couple of days. I'm literally fucked.
Not necessarily. I have his number.
Do you wanna be an amazing friend and text it to me?
I will if you tell me why the hell you owe Julian.
Oh... Well, maybe telling you isn't exactly a good idea.
Why not?
You'd get pissed off.
I don't care. You're my friend and we shouldn't keep secrets from each other.
It'd be better to tell you in person. We'll hang out tomorrow and then I'll tell you. How does that sound?
Sounds good as long we hang out at Troy's house and he has the you-know-what. You felt guilty that you were itching to go over to Troy's house and get high again but the high you had yesterday felt so wonderful and you wanted so badly to feel it again. Plus, being there with Derek was great too.
I was thinking the same thing. I'll pick you up right after school tomorrow, okay?
Okay, see you then.

*****

Once you arrived at the park, you were surprised to see that there was nobody there. Then again, all the younger kids were still in school and they didn't get out for another half hour or so and kids your age typically didn't go hang out at the park. Instead, they hung out at each other's houses or something along those lines.
But you did see one person and you knew who it was instantly because all you had to do was look at the flower crown they were wearing on their head.
Mark was here.
What's he doing here?
You decided that you wanted to go over and talk to him and that's exactly what you did. He was sitting on the fountain and appeared to be drawing. His dry erase board and marker sat beside him. You noticed that instead of a purple marker, he had switched to a pink marker. Perhaps he had made the switch to match the light pink hair that he had? Whatever the reasoning was, you didn't mind. You were just glad that you would get a chance to talk to him today.
"Hi Mark." You gave him a smile as you sat near him. You thought that he might be uncomfortable sitting right next to a person that he had only met yesterday and the last thing that you wanted was to make him feel uncomfortable.
Mark seemed to really be focused on what he was drawing because as soon as you spoke, he jumped a little and quickly closed his sketchbook as if he didn't want anyone to see whatever it was that he was drawing. He grabbed his dry erase board and marker and set his sketchbook down on the spot where the two items previously were resting before he began writing a response.
(Y/N)? What are you doing here?
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Your eyes studied his flower crown just like they had done yesterday. It was the exact one he had worn yesterday and the red daisy that stuck out like a sore thumb was still there at the back of the flower crown. You didn't understand why it was even there in the first place. It wasn't like it even matched the color of the flowers that were on the flower crown. In fact, it didn't match at all. "Well, I was also actually going to ask you why you weren't at school today."
Mark avoided eye contact with you as he erased what he had previously written.
Oh, well, I planned on going to school today. It's just that... something came up, that's all.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly came up?"
Oh, I, um... Mark lifted his marker off of his dry erase board and placed it against his lips as he stared at what he had just written as if he were thinking about what he should write next. I had an appointment.
You immediately sensed that he was lying. He didn't need to talk for you to spot that. You were very good at spotting when people were lying, perhaps because your parents had told you a number of lies over the course of your lifetime.
"Mark, please don't lie to me." You resisted sighing. "I know we only met yesterday but you can trust me. I haven't given you a single reason not to trust me and you haven't given me a reason to not trust you. I don't want that to change. You seem like a really nice person and the last thing I want is to lose trust with someone that I hardly even know."
Mark closed his eyes and thought about what you said for a few moments before slowly erasing what he had already written on his dry erase board.
I'll show and tell you what happened that caused me to not go to school today.
Before you could ask him what he meant by that, he looked up and you were horrified by what you saw. He wasn't wearing his glasses due to the fact that he had a black eye on his right eye, which was swollen shut. His nose was also bruised and had dried blood underneath it.
When you saw him, you wanted to cry.
He seemed like such a kind and caring guy. Why did someone feel the need to do this to him?
"Mark..." You stopped yourself when you saw that he was writing to explain what had happened.
I was just about to come into school when Julian came by and shoved me down on the ground. He said some things that I'd rather not say because they really fucking hurt me. Anyways, I didn't even try to fight him off because I knew that it was completely and utterly useless because he's much stronger than me. He obviously gave me a black eye and he got pretty damn close to breaking my nose. He didn't, thankfully.
"Mark, I'm so sorry." That's all you could manage to say and you felt like shit that that was the only thing you were able to say. "I wish I could've been there. Maybe I could've stopped him."
No, please don't feel bad. That's the last thing I want. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me.
"I can't help but feel bad for you. You seem like you're so kind and caring and yet Julian treats you like his punching bag. You don't deserve it."
That's what you think. Mark had written so small that you had to squint your eyes and lean forward to read exactly what he had said.
"Mark, no one deserves to get bullied or beat up. It's not right. I think you need to tell someone about this so that they can put a stop to this."
No, it's fine (Y/N). I appreciate you caring. Really, I do. But I'm fine. Besides, I've been Julian's punching bag for a while now.
You sighed, knowing that you weren't going to be able to convince him to tell someone about Julian's abuse towards him.
But thank you for caring. Mark smiled as he wrote the five words and underlined them. He even added a smiley face at the end.
"It's no problem really." His smile caused you to smile along with him. His smile was just so contagious. Plus, it was a really nice smile. He had one of those smiles were you couldn't help but smile no matter what mood you were in. His white teeth glistened in the sun, only making his smile even better than it already was. "You don't have to thank me."
I feel like I have to. Mark waited a few moments for you to read what he had written before erasing it and writing something else. Hey, can I, um, ask you something?
"Of course you can. Like I said earlier, you can trust me."
Are you doing anything after school tomorrow?
"Yeah, actually, I am. I'm having a friend of mine pick me up after school and we're going to hang out at a friend of his's house. Why?"
Mark's smile turned into a frown when you told him this. Oh, okay. Never mind then.
"No, not never mind. What were you going to ask me?"
Mark erased what he wrote on his dry erase board at a snail's pace. After he had completely erased it, he just stared down at it for a few moments before he began writing at the same pace he had erased. I was going to ask if you maybe wanted to hang out after school tomorrow. We could come back here or go to the library or something like that.
He didn't even give you time to respond before he erased at the speed of light and quickly wrote, Never mind. It was a stupid question. Forget that I even asked that.
"Mark, hanging out with you sounds like it'd be a ton of fun." You smiled so that he would know that you were just saying that just to be nice to him. "But I unfortunately already have plans. But you could come along if you want. The more the merrier."
Okay but who exactly are you hanging out with tomorrow if you don't mind me asking?
"Well..." You nervously ran a hand through your hair, unsure of what Mark would think of you hanging out with a bunch of college guys despite still being in high school. "I would tell you but I'm afraid that you'd judge me."
I won't judge. I don't like to judge anyone. Besides, didn't you say that you trusted me because I haven't given you a reason for you to not trust me.
"Okay, you got me there." You found yourself running your hand through your hair, which is something that you found yourself doing whenever you were nervous. "Well, I'm going to hang out with some college guys. The guy who's picking me up is a sophomore and his friend, the one whose house we're going to, is a junior. There was also this guy who came yesterday who was a senior."
My brother's a senior in college...
"Yeah, about that..." You were happy that you found the perfect opportunity to talk about Tom. "Didn't you say that your brother's name was Tom?"
Yeah... Why?
"Well, you see... The guy that was there yesterday was named Tom."
Are you serious? Please tell me he didn't have black hair and a mustache.
You dug through your memory in order to see if Tom the description that Mark had given him. But when you attempted to do so, you found that you were barely able to remember what had happened the night before. The only thing you remember was Troy teaching you how to smoke weed from a pipe and Derek taking you home after everyone was done. Of course you remembered laying in bed feeling guilty about the high the weed had given you and how it had made you feel really good and really happy.
"I don't remember what he looked like."
How do you not remember? You saw him just last night. Do you have memory problems or something?
"Yeah, that's it..." You lied, cringing internally at how bad you had done so. Even someone who was awful at being able to tell when people were lying to them would be able to see that what you had just said was complete and utter bullshit.
(Y/N), no offense or anything, but you're the worst liar I have ever met in my entire life.
"I know." You sighed and placed your face in your hands. "I just don't want to tell you because I'm afraid that you'll tell someone and then I'll get in huge trouble."
I won't tell anyone.
"You promise?"
Mark nodded.
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath before you told him what had happened last night. "I smoked weed."
A shocked look fell on Mark's face and he even dropped his dry erase marker out of his hands. He quickly picked it up and started writing.
But that's illegal!
You sighed. "Yeah, I know it's illegal. But I didn't really give a shit at the time. In fact, I don't even really give a shit now."
(Y/N)... Mark looked at you with sadness on his face.
"I'm fine Mark. I'm a sixteen year old who knows how to control herself and who knows her limits." You reassured him.
I don't think that I want to come along with you, especially since there's a possibility that my brother might be there and also because there's going to be weed there.
"You don't have to smoke it if you don't want to. If they start pressuring you to do it and you aren't comfortable with it, I'll back you up. You shouldn't do things that you're being forced to do unless you yourself want to do it."
Well, okay... I'll go... I guess.
"I promise you'll have fun. Hell, I'll literally make sure you have fun."
Thanks (Y/N). Mark smiled as he wrote.
"It's no problem really." You smiled back at him as you stood up. "Well, I better get going. There's some homework that I need to get done.
Oh, okay. Mark seemed disappointed that you had to leave. See you tomorrow, right?
"You bet. I'll be seeing you tomorrow, right?"
Mark nodded.
"Okay, I'll look out for you then. It was really great getting to see you today."
You gave him a small wave before starting to walk back to your house.