"Hi," I say, sitting down on the couch across from Zeke's usual spot.

He looks up from his phone, his eyes widening a little, "Uh, hi."

"Have you done the chemistry homework yet?" I ask, trying to make conversation.

"No," he clears his throat and stands up, "Im gonna go take a nap."

I groan, standing up too, "Seriously, Zeke? You've said that every time i've babysat you this week."

"I am tired," he shrugs.

He's doing his thing again. The thing where he cuts me out with no explanation. Ignoring me in school, making excuses to avoid me when I babysit him. Him and Cole haven't even sat with us at lunch since the thing with Isaac, since Cole and Zoey aren't talking and Zeke is mad at me for some unknown reason. It's been a week. And I'm getting fricking sick of it.

"Tell me what i've done," I demand.

"What?"

"Tell me why you're pissed at me."

He sighs, "I'm not pissed at you."

"Then what's going on? Why are you avoiding me again?"

He runs his hand through his hair, "Stop overthinking. I'm tired."

"I'm tired of you acting this way."

He starts walking up the stairs, ignoring me.

"Zeke?"

He doesn't answer, and then I hear his bedroom door shutting, and I'm left standing at the bottom of the staircase wondering what the hell I've done wrong.

+++

"Marnie," Mason whispers to me, nudging my leg under the desk.

"What?"

"What'd you get for question two?"

"You're only on two? I don't know if I can date you anymore."

He smiles, trying to hold in his laugh. Everyone in our chemistry class is silent right now, working at textbook questions.

"Seriously though, what's the answer?"

"Figure it out yourself."

He rolls his eyes with a smile, "You're cute."

"You can't sweet talk me into giving you the answers."

"Can't I, babe?"

"Shut up."

He laughs quietly, then leans in and kisses my cheek. "What if I just kiss you until you give me it?"

"Shh, I'm trying to concentrate."

He kisses me more on my cheek, and just as his kisses move to my lips, there is a loud noise behind us. It sounds like a table moving forwards.

Everyone looks behind. Of course, it would be Zeke who disrupts the class. His hands are in fists, one of them holding onto the table, and his eyes are on Mason.

"Zeke, try not to break the table," Mr. Kennedy looks back at the work on his desk.

I turn back around to the front, and Mason moves closer to me, resting his arm on the back of my chair.

There is a loud scraping noise of a chair being pulled out and Zeke walks up to the front of the class.

"I am going to the bathroom," he tells Mr. Kennedy without stopping on the way to the door.

What the heck is wrong with him?

+++

"Where's all your boyfriends? Did Zeke finally realise you're a manipulative bitch?"

Aubrey is standing behind me in the lunch queue and she decided she had to annoy me, but i've been taking a tip from Zeke's book and ignoring her and it's making her really annoyed.

"I heard Mason's been texting other girls."

Oh big deal, my boyfriend is talking to people of the opposite sex.

"Fuck off, Aubrey or I'll pull out the shit you stuff in your bra right here in front of everyone," Zeke appears standing in front of Aubrey.

"You promised you wouldn't say anything about that!" Aubrey yells.

"I promised nothing."

She glares at him before walking over to her table.

"Thanks," I say.

He looks at me for a moment and nods, and takes Aubrey's place behind me in the line.

And then the rest of the time is spent in silence before Zeke takes his food and leaves the cafeteria.

+++

"It's nice seeing this place not covered trash and drunk teenagers," I say as I walk into Mason's large house.

I'd only been here once when he had a party, and today he invited me over since none of his family would be here.

"Come on, you haven't seen my room yet," he takes my hand and leads me up the spiral staircase. We go up two floors before reaching his bedroom door.

Walking in, I see it's nothing like the rest of the house. His room has white walls with posters covering them and blue and black decorations. The rest of the house has burgundy walls and carpets.

Mason's turns on his huge flatscreen TV and sits on his bed with the remote. "What do you wanna watch?"

"Oh god, not this question."

Mason and I always spend hours deciding on what movie to watch since we don't like the same stuff and he pretty much hates everything.

"How about I close my eyes and scroll to a random movie?" He says, then closes his eyes. It lands on something he doesn't like, so he does it again, and again, and again.

"Okay, how about we just not watch anything?" I laugh.

"Okay," he puts the TV remote down, laughing. "What do you wanna do instead?"

I shrug. "Anything."

He moves closer to me on his bed, "I have an idea," then he pulls me down and hovers over me.

"Are we playing a wrestling game?" I joke.

He laughs as he kisses my neck. In movies when this happens the girl are always moaning under the guys kisses, but right now all i'm feeling is Mason kissing me. And that's it. No other feelings.

His kisses move to my chest, and then he suddenly pulls away. "What's this?" He touches my Yin necklace.

"It's half of the Yin and Yang sign."

"Oh," he doesn't ask who has the other half and just starts kissing my lips. His hands move down the sides of my body, until they reach the bottom of my t-shirt, and he begins to pull it up.

"Wait," I stop him, pulling my t-shirt down.

"What?"

"I, um, I'm not ready for that."

He gets off of me, "Seriously? We've been dating for months."

I didn't know there was a expiration date on virginity when you're in a relationship.

"I know, but i'm not ready."

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, not looking at me. Is he mad that I wouldn't have sex with him?

"I should go," I get up and walk to the door. He still doesn't speak. "See you at school," he nods and I walk out.

+++

"Remember you all have a test tomorrow," my history teacher yells after the bell rings. I love tests, but not from history. History is probably my least favourite subject.

I'm gonna need to study a lot tonight, and today. I should go to the library.

When I walk into the cafeteria, I get my lunch and go to our table where Zoey and Isaac are sat. Cole and Zeke still disappear at lunch.

"I'm going to the library to study," I tell them.

Zoey looks up, "Okay, have fun."

"See you after school. Bye Isaac," he says bye back and I walk out, making my way to the library. No one really goes to the library which is great because I like to study when I'm alone with no distractions, but when I walk in, I see the person I was least expecting to be here.

Zeke. Sitting at one of the tables with us feet up, staring at his phone.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, curious to why he's here all alone.

I looks up at me, surprised to see me. "No one comes here, and I like being alone," he shrugs.

"Is this where you're always hiding at school?"

"I am not hiding, I just hate everyone and don't want to be around them."

I'm guessing he hates me too then since he doesn't sit with us at lunch anymore.

"Where's Cole? Does he hang out here too?"

"No. He is usually hanging with Jordan's group round the back of the school."

Jordan is a senior here, and he's probably the most dangerous guy in school. If people think Zeke, Cole and Isaac are bad, then who knows what they'd think of this guy.

"Seems like your friendship group is falling apart."

He looks back at his phone, not saying anything. I'm surprised he's talking to me. By now he would have made an excuse to leave.

"Why won't you talk to Isaac?" I ask.

He sighs, "I don't want to."

"But-"

"Look, nerd, I will talk to him when I feel like giving a shit."

He called me nerd. He must not be mad at me, or maybe he was but he's not anymore. God, this boy is confusing.

"Can I ask you something?" I sit down across from him at the table.

I take his silence as a yes.

"Why do you talk so properly?"

A smile tugs at his lips, but he looks down to cover it up. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because you're talking to me so I might as well take advantage of your good mood and ask you stuff i've been wondering for a long time."

He watches me for a couple of seconds before answering, "My Dad brought Maggie and I up to speak like that. You know, pronouncing all of our words properly because apparently if we were to say I'm instead of I am, then we were just being lazy."

"Seems like a lot of effort."

He chuckles, making me smile. Gosh, I've missed his laugh. "Yeah, I just got used to it."

"Well, I should probably go get some books now," I say after a couple of minutes of silence.

He nods, a happier expression on his face than what there's been all week, and I walk away.

I have to check each row of shelves twice as I look for history books because I'm too busy thinking about Zeke. It's like once i'm thinking about him, I can't stop. Damn Zeke, get out of my head.

I'm just so happy he's talking to me, but I hope it lasts. I can't predict what he'll do next.

As I'm going around another shelf of books, about to look at the next, I notice two people standing in the middle of the row. A girl and boy. They're kissing. The girl who I don't recognise is pushed up against the book shelf, the guy grabbing her butt. It's only when my mind snaps back into action that I realise who it is.

Mason.

+++

another update ahhhhh why am i updating so fast this is weird

what do you think zeke's reaction will be when he finds out about what mason's done?

teaser: marnie and her mom have dinner with zeke's family

ly

-e