"You suck at this," Mason laughs as once again I throw an m&m at his mouth and it misses by about a mile.
"I think i'm gettin' it. Don't distract me," I say, aiming another m&m.
We were sitting on each end of my living room couch, m&ms surrounding us.
"Okay, boss," he opens his mouth wide, and I aim, missing again.
"This game is rigged!"
Mason laughs, "Let me try."
I hand him the bag and open my mouth. He aims and the m&m goes straight into my mouth.
He smiles innocently while I glare at him.
I'm a little bit competitive.
"Don't be sad, babe," he hands the bag to me and moves closer, "Try again."
I aim the m&m at him, one eye shut with complete concentration, and when I throw it, something magical happens.
It goes in!
"Oh my God! Oh my God! I did it! I'm an expert!"
I wrap my arms around Mason, who is laughing his ass off, and he hugs me back. I feel us falling as he lies back on the couch, me on top of him.
Awkward.
We both stop laughing and look into each other's eyes. His beautiful grey eyes.
My eyes go to his lips. All I want to do is kiss them, but I can't. I don't have the confidence. What if he calls me gross and pushes me off the couch?
No, I need to stop being so safe. I should just do it.
So I do.
He kisses me back, his hands going to my waist.
I wonder if he thinks i'm a bad kisser.
Why am I thinking about that right now? Why am I even doing this?
I'm on top of Mason freaking Conway, kissing him as he tries to slip his tongue into my mouth and I accidentally let him.
Maybe not by accident though.
I pull away from him, catching my breath, and get off of him.
He sits up straight and I sit next to him.
"What are we?" He asks.
"Humans," I say, then cringe at my lame attempt at a joke.
He laughs anyway, rolling his eyes. "I mean, you and I. Are we friends or..."
"Oh, uh, I don't know. What do you want to be?"
"More than friends."
I fight back a smile.
"What about you?"
I'm too awkward for questions like this.
"Maybe sorta more than friends, too."
He smiles, showing his perfect dimples, "So," he clears his throat, "Would you like to be my official girlfriend?"
Holy shizzle on toast.
I bite my lip, overthinking.
"Okay," I finally say, "but, would it be okay to keep this a secret for a while? I really don't want the attention at school."
He frowns for a moment before nodding, "Okay."
Oh my God, I have a boyfriend.
And he just happens to be the guy the entire school is crushing on.
Oh God.
+++
It had been two weeks since Mason asked me to be his girlfriend.
Two weeks of exchanging smiles from across the cafeteria, two weeks of hiding our relationship from everyone. Two weeks of happiness.
Zoey knew, of course. How could I not tell my best friend?
Well, actually what happened was she caught us looking at each other in that, you know, way, and she knew something was up.
"Guess what we're all doing this weekend," Cole says from beside me at the lunch table.
"What?" Isaac says through a mouthful of pasta.
"Going camping!"
Zoey and I look at each other.
Zeke and Isaac just stare at a smiling Cole.
"I can barely contain my excitement," Zeke says, monotonously.
"It's gonna be lit," Cole exclaims, "You're coming right, Marnie?"
I sigh, "Sure." Maybe it'll be fun. Except from the sleeping outside on the ground part.
"Are we going to Silver Oak again?" Isaac asks. I'm guessing the guys have do this a lot.
Silver Oak Park is famous in this town. It's a beautiful camping ground, surrounded by palm trees, only about an hour along the coast. And it's next to the best part of the beach, with sun loungers and umbrellas.
"Yeah, so we can go swimming too. So bring your sexiest swimsuit, Zoey," he winks at her.
Zoey stabs her fork into one of her fries and rolls her eyes.
"Hey, Zeke," a high-pitched voice says.
Aubrey sits down beside Zeke, putting her hand on his shoulder and whispers something in his ear.
Everyone at our table watches, as do some of the other people in the cafeteria.
When she stops whispering to him, she presses her lips together and smiles. Zeke just shakes his head, glancing around at us.
"No. I can't."
She frowns, "Why not?"
"Because I don't want to anymore."
He doesn't want to what? What is this about?
Aubrey glances at me before looking back at Zeke with her fake smile. "We can talk about this later." Then she walks back to her friends.
Zeke turns around, looking at his food as he eats.
"What was that?" Zoey asks.
Zeke and Isaac look at each other.
"Nothing," Zeke says, looking back at his food.
"It wasn't nothing. You were just talking to the beast."
Cole and Isaac laugh, Zeke just continues to stare at his food.
My eyes wander around the cafeteria to Mason's table, where I find him looking at me, then he looks at Zeke.
He looks tense.
When lunch ends, I throw the remains of my apple in the trash and begin walking to my locker, then realise Mason is walking beside me.
"What did Aubrey say to Zeke?" He asks.
"I don't know, Zeke wouldn't say. Why?"
He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, slouching against the lockers next to mine.
"Mason?" I open my locker.
"I don't know if I should tell you."
I eye him suspiciously, "Tell me."
He looks around, as if making sure no one would hear, "Zeke was... sleeping with Aubrey while we were together."
I slam my locker shut, "What?" I yell.
Mason looks at the ground, "Whatever. It's over now. When I saw her talking to him I just thought that they might still be..."
"I can't believe he'd do that!"
"I can't believe Aubrey would do that. The fact that they're probably still doing it just shows that me dumping her because of her cheating didn't affect her at all."
"Mason, i'm sorry," I pull him into a hug, not caring that there were people all around us.
"It's fine, don't worry about it."
"It's not fine. They're both jerks for doing that."
Why would Aubrey be so cruel to hurt Mason like that?
The bell rings, making us pull apart.
"We should get to chemistry," Mason smiles weakly.
I nod and go into my locker, taking out my chemistry folder and then head to class.
Mason and I sit at the back of the class together. We are talking, until he looks behind me and goes silent. When I turn around, I see Zeke sitting two seats away from me in the same row.
Why didn't he sit beside me?
Not that I want him to, I'm mad at him.
Zeke sits there, on his phone, for most of the period. How can he do that? I'd die if I missed out on work.
"Yo, Mr. Kennedy," Zeke shouts out, "Can I go to the bathroom?"
He goes out to the bathroom almost every period and never comes back, I'm surprised he's still allowed out.
"What are you gonna do there?" Mr. Kennedy asks, suspiciously.
"Slay a god damn dragon, what else?"
Some of the class start laughing, Mr. Kennedy just looks exhausted.
"Go," he says as he puts his fingers on the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes.
I relate to you, Mr. K.
+++
"Zeke!"
Him and Isaac turn around. It was the end of the day and I had just saw Zeke on his way out, so I might as well call him out right now.
"Sup, nerd."
"What's wrong with you?"
"Feeling a little tired, i'm pretty good though."
"You're so... infuriating!" I take a deep breath to calm myself down. He shouldn't be annoying me while i'm already mad.
"What do you want?"
"To know why you're such an asshole."
"Can't answer that, sorry," he turns to walk away but I grab him.
Isaac looks around, not interested in what's going on.
"You and Aubrey!"
His eyes widen, "How did you..."
"Why did you think it was okay to sleep with her while she was in a relationship?"
"I wasn't thinking straight."
"That's not an excuse! You're a fricking-"
I can't think of a word to use.
There are not enough words in the english dictionary to describe Zeke Blakely.
"If all you're going to do is shout and cause a scene then fuck off."
"What's going on?" Mason stands beside me.
"Nothing, we're just talking," I say, glaring at Zeke.
"Go away, Mason, this conversation is between us."
"I think he's pretty damn involved, asshole."
"Would you fucking stop!" Zeke shouts loud enough for everyone in the building to hear. "You're being an annoying little bitch right now."
Okay, that hurt.
"Hey!" Mason shoves Zeke, "Don't fucking call her that."
Oh God.
The look on Zeke's face...
Oh God.
"Do not fucking touch me," Zeke says slowly before stepping towards him, looking like he's about to tackle him to the ground.
Until Isaac grabs him.
"Zeke, don't! You can't do this here." He manages to pull him back, but Zeke's eyes are focused on Mason, his nostrils flaring.
By now a crowd has gathered round, chanting "fight, fight, fight".
I can't even believe what is going on right now.
Isaac pulls Zeke and they walk out of the school. Mason and I walk out too, away from the crowd.
"What a douche," Mason shakes his head.
"Marnie!" Zoey yells as she runs up to us. "Oh my god! That was crazy! Oh, hey Mason."
Mason smiles and waves.
"Zeke looked so mad," she continues, "That could have been real bad."
"I know. Thank god for Isaac."
"I thought you guys were friends," Mason says, "Why would he call you a bitch like that."
"He was just mad."
"Doesn't make it okay."
I shrug, "Thanks for sticking up for me though."
He takes my hand, "No ones allowed to talk to you that way."
I feel butterflies in my stomach. I wish we were alone, but we're standing in the parking lot.
I quickly pull my hand away and look around. It doesn't look like anyone was looking.
I notice Mason frown, "I'll see you later. Wanna hang out tomorrow?"
"I can't, i'm going camping. I would invite you, but Zeke's going."
Oh God. Zeke's going.
He furrows his eyebrows, "You need to call me while you're there."
"I will."
"Okay," he smiles and quickly kisses my cheek, then walks to his car.
I turn around to find Zoey standing with her arms crossed.
I kinda forgot she was there.
"Go ahead and rub your cute relationship in my face then," she says sarcastically.