"Wait, you brought your own alcohol?" Nick snorts with laughter.

Beside him, Maria is still clutching her bottle to her chest but she chuckles lowly with him. "Madison said we couldn't trust anything here," she tells him. "Said the drinks would have herpes or something."

Instead of answering, Nick pauses and a genuinely amused smile pushes at the edge of his lips. It was exactly like Madison, he thought. She really is a control freak. He wonders what that makes him.

When Will appears, Nick feels guilt lurch within his stomach and he leans forward. "Hey, Will, look, man." He's not truly apologetic but Madison's words ricochet around his head like an annoying fly. "I'm sorry about what I said about your dad." And for the way that I, with the help of Madison Sutton, of all people, destroyed every shard of his reputation, thanks to the Internet. "It was a stupid thing to do and I let my anger get the better of me. I'm sorry, man."

"Hey, you know, it's fine," Will says heavily. "Mum's – Mum's – she's happy now."

"Huh?"

"Yeah," Will says, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I – I guess I never saw it before. Or, well, you saw it before I did. She was so – but now it's like, like she's free of him." Maria leans heavily against Will, beginning to fall asleep. "And she wants to thank you for giving her that push. So do I. I was so wrapped up in my own feelings that I forgot my Mum has them, too."

"Hey, man, it's fine. It's cool," Nick says and he feels relieved.

Will attempts to wake up a slumbering Maria worriedly. He mutters about how Madison Sutton is going to have his head on a platter, if she sees Maria like this. "Madison Sutton is going to kill me, Maria. You need to wake up before she thinks I've roofied you," Will is telling Maria, who shakes her head.

"Yeah, she's ...crazy and a control freak," Maria slurs slowly. She blinks sleepily up at Will. "Why doesn't she just get that?"

Nick snaps his head back to Maria. He furrows his brows in confusion. "What –," he begins heavily, before he realises there's too much emotion in his voice and breaks himself off. He clears his throat awkwardly and tries again. "Did you call her a control freak? To her face?"

Maria nods. "Yup," she says, smacking her lips as she sinks against Will's body tiredly.

Will begins to laugh, but Nick is still, his forehead creasing, as he suddenly sobers up. Something uneasy lurches within the pits of his stomach and Nick looks at Maria, who is giggling with Will. He can't imagine how Madison might have felt. It's okay if he calls her a control freak because she doesn't care enough for his opinion to matter. But her friends?

He knows – heck, everyone knows how much Madison Sutton loves her friends. Everyone knows that when Madison Sutton loves, she loves deeply, unconditionally, impossibly. How could Maria break her heart like this?

He's about to actually say some of this to Maria, when someone brushes heavily past him. Nick's a pretty big guy so it takes a lot to make him fall. But the amount of alcohol in his system, combined with the disoriented state that thinking of Madison usually gets him in, makes him crash painfully into the table. Nick is burning with anger and when he sees the guy who bumped him, he realises he recognises him.

It's the same guy who grabbed Madison's arm at the staircase. Already, the thought of Madison's face creased with the flicker of pain makes him hot and bothered. Nick was glad that she managed to pull the guy off her because he had been seriously considering breaking through the rush of the crowd and beating the guy to a pulp.

"You," Nick says, frowning.

The boy stares up at him, his eyes widening a little with recognition. "You're Nick."

There's something curious within the boy's tone that makes Nick straighten. "How do you know that?" he demands.

"Mitchell," the boy says and Nick goes cold. "Mitchell's so mad with you. 'M Ash, my name's – my – 'm Ash. Mitchell says he's coming to get you, coming for you. better – better watch your back. Says he's going to..." Ash's voice drifts away into a series of unintelligible drunk mumblings, to Nick's frustration.

He leans forward. "What?" Nick demands, biting out his words angrily. "What did Mitchell say?"

Nick can't stop the fear from clenching his throat and swallowing him whole. There is no more cockiness now. He's got real stuff to lose now, people he values, and he knows what people who make Mitchell mad usually end up looking like. But Ash is already moving through the crowd and even as Nick makes to grab for the boy, Ash has already melted away.

Next to him, Maria is moaning sleepily and as if by magic, Madison is there, Audrey hanging off her. It only takes a moment for Madison to sort out Maria, in between which a fight starts out in the living room, rumbling with rowdy teenagers. Nick squints at her as Madison looks up at him, her lips pursed.

"Stay here with them," she orders him, gesturing to both Maria and Audrey, the latter of whom looks like she's been crying.

Nick blinks. "Say please."

Madison rolls her eyes but she says, "Please."

He's rather surprised that she managed to agree so quickly so Nick nods and peers after her, curious. Madison's got a calculating, cool look within the light of her eyes and he realises that she's moving towards the fight. Muted panic ripples through him and Nick wonders if he ought to move after her, a heated surge of protectiveness flurrying within him. Madison is looking at the very heavy baseball bat on the counter.

Audrey is tugging at his sleeves, her eyes wide as she says, "You have pretty hair."

Nick turns his head, amusement at his lips. "Thanks," he tells her, as Will struggles to attend to Maria.

And then everything is chaos.

Kyle is screaming bloody murder, teenagers are shouting and fighting all over the place, and Nick leans in to shield both Audrey and Maria from the worst of it. He reaches forward to disentangle two fighting boys and rolls his eyes at them. During the chaos, Madison finally appears and takes her friends away, murmuring a word of thanks that lingers in her wake, as Nick looks after her.

When he turns his head, he sees a baseball bat rolling on the ground.

*

When school finishes, Madison has to reluctantly decline her plans to her friends. Elliot is watching her carefully, his brows furrowed together in that strange, suspicious tilt, but he doesn't say anything. Even Lula is looking confused because Madison has never turned down any of their plans.

"Are you okay?" Maria asks in concern, reaching forward to feel Madison's forehead.

Madison flinches back automatically, the sting of Maria's words still smarting painfully, and she sees the guilty expression flicker across Maria's face. Before the apology can make it out of the Spanish girl's throat, Madison speaks quickly.

"Yeah," she says. "I'm fine. I've just got some stuff to do with Mother." At the mention of her mother, Elliot blinks. Madison turns her head. "Is Audrey still in the bathroom?"

Lula nods. "Yeah, she's been feeling sick," she says. "I think something's going around."

Madison grits her teeth, her brows furrowed. Audrey has been holding her phone carefully all day, fearful that Kyle's texts and calls might go unanswered, despite whatever Madison says. Madison's never been more grateful that she and Audrey share their classes because she's been able to keep an eye on the girl.

Exams are cropping up soon but Madison's having some trouble balancing the upcoming exams and worrying about Audrey and this new charity ball thing with Nick. Sometimes, Madison thinks she might crack but she's better than that, she knows she is. The beginnings of a plan start to form in her mind.

Mindful of Elliot, Madison tells her friends, "I want Audrey at my house tonight, too." Elliot is already too suspicious and even Maria's brows furrow together, so Madison continues quickly, "There's something I'm planning for her so I need her at the sleepover tonight. Meaning, get stupid Kyle away from her, okay?"

Maria nods and the suspicion fades from her features. Madison is grateful that they are all used to her verbally abusing Kyle that they're no longer suspicious. She turns her head back to the bathroom and waits a beat, before growing impatient. Rolling her eyes, Madison goes inside.

When she goes inside, the bathroom is completely empty and Audrey is still frantically brushing powder on her face.

"Audrey," Madison says, her voice already growing slightly softer.

Despite making a visible effort to be softer towards Audrey, Madison is still burning with fury. She can't imagine how Audrey – Audrey, who is so strong and so angry and once brought her own cheating father to his knees simply by staring him down – could have let this happen to her. But most of all, Madison can't believe herself. She can't imagine how she could have let something like this happen to her friend. Audrey's eyes are wide.

Then Madison realises.

It's not puffy eyes Audrey is trying to cover up.

She reaches for Audrey's face, ignoring Audrey's weak stammer of protests, and turns it towards her. Sharp fluorescent light cants against Audrey's face, limning the ugly violet bruise in yellow as it blossoms against Audrey's right cheek.

"That bastard," Madison breathes furiously, so angry she can barely see straight. Her fingers are itching for another baseball bat. "I'm going to kill him –,"

"Madison, please," Audrey begs, starting to cry as she shakes her head. "You can't, you can't – I'm begging, you please – I love him –,"

"He's hurting you!" Madison says angrily. "How can you love him if he's hurting you?"

Audrey whispers, and her voice cracks softly, "I haven't got anyone else but him."

You have me. Her heart breaks for her friend but the words stick in her throat. Madison swallows thickly and brings Audrey to her chest. "You're staying over at my house tonight."

"But Kyle –,"

"If Kyle says or does anything, you will call me," Madison bites out. "No matter what I'm doing, Audrey. I swear to you. I will come."

*

A storm is beginning to brew within the edges of the skies as Madison enters the dance studio quickly. She hurries to put down her bag when Nick calls to her.

"Why are you so late?"

Madison scoffs at him. "It's none of your business."

She didn't mean for her voice to have such venom within it and even Madison winces at her tone. She's been thinking about Nick and how the dance lessons might be easier for them if they didn't hate each other guts. But now she sees Nick's face dim slightly and the beginnings of guilt and regret burn up within her. Madison huffs angrily, furious against everything.

"Alright," Nick says, eyeing her. He mutters, "Least there's no bats lying around."

Madison narrows her eyes at him, about to ask Nick what he means, and startled because she'd just been thinking about hitting Kyle again. Bastien enters the room and claps his hands together for their attention as she pushes herself up to her feet.

"Okay," Bastien says bracingly, readying himself. He doesn't have the bottle of wine today, for once. "Let's hold onto the beautiful mood that we left last lesson and create something beautiful within our dance today." He lifts his head and sees that both Madison and Nick are glowering at each other. "Or not." Bastien lets out a small breath of despair. "Alright, Nick. Take Madison's hand."

"Do I dare? She looks like she'll bite my head off," Nick says. "Or take a baseball bat to it."

Madison scowls at him, narrowing her eyes towards him, but Bastien is speaking again. "Let's not make murder jokes today, okay?"

"They're not jokes," Madison bites out, her eyes blazing. "They're promises."

Bastien looks as though he dearly regrets not bringing his bottle of wine today.

When Nick takes her hand, his big hand covers her own hand entirely and he looms over her like a giant. Madison tightens her grip unnecessarily and Nick narrows his eyes at her. When he brings them into the dance, he tugs at her waist almost painfully so that Madison almost stumbles. She keeps up with his steps at a frantic pace, refusing to let herself fall, even as Nick's spontaneous swings and spins take the breath right out of her chest. All those years of ballet did not leave Madison stupid and she refuses to let herself falter, even for a moment.

"What are you trying to do?" Madison bites out angrily, and when she sees the opportunity, she not so subtly stamps on his foot.

Nick yowls and pulls Madison around so quickly that it hurts. "What are you trying to do?" he retorts. "Cripple me?"

"Chance would be a fine thing," Madison snaps at him but she lets out an impatient huff, thinking about how she has to threaten Ash into confessing everything he has hidden from her. "God, let's just get this over with. I have things to do."

"You're not the only one with a busy schedule either," Nick tells her.

Madison rolls her eyes towards him. "Far be it for me to stop you beating up another unsuspecting poor person," she says dryly, gesturing towards his black eye.

Nick rolls his eyes and winces. "They weren't unsuspecting," he mutters. "They came after me. I was an innocent victim."

"A likely story."

"An innocent victim turned victor."

Madison furrows her brows, in realisation. "It was that Mitchell guy, wasn't it?" When Nick doesn't answer, avoiding her gaze, she realises she's struck on it. "I told you that you were being an idiot, didn't I? Now look at your stupid face. Mitchell broke it."

"I wasn't being an idiot," Nick retorts. "It's not like Lula won't find out what you did, either."

Madison turns sharp. "If you dare tell her, I'll –,"

"Relax, I wouldn't," Nick says, and she doesn't know why she immediately believes him, but Madison does.

Their movements have turned softer and smoother and Madison finds that she is gliding over the smooth floor, wrapped up in Nick's arms. She finds that she's feeling more relaxed than she's felt in forever. Nick is looking at her.

"You know that guy who was talking to you yesterday?"

"What guy?" Madison says, thinking of Kyle and bristling.

"The one who grabbed your arm," Nick says, and there's something strangely heated within his gaze.

"Ash?" Madison repeats and as Nick nods, she parts her lips. "What – are you going to kill him? You can't kill that idiot."

"Why not?"

"I need answers out of him!"

"So do I!"

They both still, staring at each other and blinking, both of them ignoring poor Bastien beside them. Madison narrows her eyes in confusion. Nick is trying to find out what Ash knows, too?

"He hasn't been in school all day," Nick says slowly.

"He knows I'm looking for him," Madison explains. "But you're looking for him, too?"

They look at each other carefully and Madison can practically see the sparks of the idea bursting between them.

*