The sweet girl goes running out of the library doors. The girl who would never hurt anyone. The girl who gets happiness from other people's happiness. The selfless, stubborn, overthinking, broken girl runs from the boy she put her trust in.

"Marnie! Please stop!" Mason runs after her, a short brunette girl appearing behind him.

No.

I find myself rushing after him, watching him as he tries to catch up with Marnie.

If he touches her I will fucking-

He grabs her shoulder, spinning her around.

No.

I grab the dickhead, slamming him against the wall, my hand around his neck.

"What the fuck did you do!" I yell, my voice louder and more vicious than i've ever heard it before.

Mason struggles for air under my grip as he pulls my hand, trying to loosen it. "Ze... Ke... I... Ca... Nt," he can't even speak. The dick could try harder.

"Zeke, stop it!" Marnie shouts, making me immediately let go of Mason and look at her.

Fuck, it's like i'm a dog and she's my fucking master.

Her eyes are glistening, and I can see how hard she's trying to hold back her tears. Let it out, baby. You don't need to be so strong.

"Marnie," Mason holds his throat, his voice is rough, "Please let me talk to you."

"I don't want to talk," she says with her shaky voice.

"Please-" I kick Mason in the balls before he can finish.

"Zeke, no, please don't hurt him," Marnie gushes, breathing heavily.

"Tell me what he did."

"Not until we go away from him."

"No, you will tell me what he did and I'll decide if I want to kill him or not."

"No, please don't."

"Why? He's hurt you and you still defend him?"

"It's not that. I don't want you to get in trouble again."

I let out a breath. She cares about me? She'd rather let this dickhead get away with what he's done just so I don't get in trouble?

Stupid, she is.

Mason stands up straight after recovering from his injury, but I knock him straight back down again with another kick in the balls. He groans in pain, falling onto his knees. Dickhead.

Marnie quickly grabs my arm, leading me down the corridor. "What did he do? Tell me what he did," I say when we walk far enough.

"It's nothing," she sniffles. I stop her from walking any further, making her look at me.

"Do not say that. Stop acting like the bad things that happen to you aren't a big deal."

"It's not! Other people have bigger problems in their life."

"Goddamnit, Marnie!" I run my hands through my hair, "What did he fucking do?"

"He was making out with that other girl!" She pauses, taking a deep breath, "Zeke, he..."

"He what?"

"Yesterday... I wouldn't let him..." Tears spill from her eyes and my pulse quickens.

No.

"That's probably why he did it. Because I wouldn't give him what he wanted."

No.

I spin around, ready to go back there and rip Masons head off, but Marnie stops me with the sound of her crying. When I turn back to her, she's frantically trying to wipe her eyes with her sleeve, trying so hard to stop the tears.

"Please don't do that. Don't hold it in. You don't need to."

"I'm pathetic," she cries.

"No. You're not," I pull her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her.

I've never been good with tears. I hate seeing people cry. I remember when Maggie came home crying one day, it killed me. I couldn't stay there, I had to leave. And I found myself at the assholes house who had hurt her, beating the shit out of him right in front of his family.

Marnie cries into my shoulder. I'm not sure what to say to her. I want to make the tears stop, but I don't know how.

I want to kill Mason for this. How dare he hurt my Marnie. I shouldn't have even let him near her. Marnie has already been through shit like this, and that's why she has trust issues. But as soon as she trusts someone, he does this. He breaks her.

And the fact that she wouldn't fuck him so he got with someone else...

No. I want him dead. I will kill him.

"I'm getting your shirt wet," she mumbles against me.

"It's okay."

Minutes pass of us standing there, me holding on to Marnie with my life, scared she'll slip out of my arms and fall into Mason's. At one point her crying stops, but I still don't let her go.

"Zeke, the bell," she looks up at me.

"What?"

"The bell rang. I need to go to class."

It did? I didn't even hear it.

"No way, I am taking you home."

"No, I can't miss classes." She pulls herself out of my arms and wipes her eyes, "I'll be fine. Zoey's in my next class anyway."

"No."

"Zeke, I'm staying."

My stubborn Marnie.

"Can you tell i've been crying?" She asks, wiping her eyes again.

Her cheeks are red and her eyes are puffy and her hair is a mess from trying to get out of my arms.

"No."

+++

I'm pathetic. I'm so pathetic. I can't believe I cried like that in front of Zeke. He probably thinks I was overreacting.

I was surprised he even reacted the way he did after he'd been ignoring me all week. He even cared enough to hurt Mason for me, but I don't want him to get into trouble with his dad again. Especially not for me.

I walk to the front door of my house, waving bye to Zoey. She was so mad when I told her about Mason, she said she's gonna chop his dick off and feed it to him. Oh I love my best friend.

When I get inside, I go straight to my desk to study. I need a distraction and I need to study for the test tomorrow, but I can't keep my mind off of what happened. If I had slept with Mason last night, this wouldn't have happened.

But I wouldn't change it if I could. I can't lose my virginity to a guy like him.

While i'm working, Zeke calls me, which is surprising because he never answers my calls. I decide to ignore him like he does to me. I'm busy anyway and I don't want to talk about what happened.

He calls again, and I ignore again, then again, and I ignore.

"Marnie! Could you come down here," my mom calls when she gets home from work. I want to talk to her about what happened; she always has good advice.

"I have some great news," she beams when I get downstairs. Charlie is there, holding her hand, a big smile on his face. "We're engaged!"

I wear a fake smile and congratulate them, hugging them both. I can't tell her about what happened right now, so I keep smiling until I go back upstairs, then I break down in tears.

As i'm studying, my door bursts open, revealing Zeke.

"You, why weren't you answering my calls?"

"Did you break into my house?"

"No, Charlie let me in," he sits on my bed. "Why wouldn't you answer me? I was worried."

"Sorry."

"You should be," he runs a hand through his hair. "Why the fuck are you studying?"

"I have a history test tomorrow."

"You saw your boyfriend making out with some other chick today and the first thing you do is study?" He laughs, "You're crazy."

I turn back to my books, "Did you want something?"

"No."

"So why'd you come over?"

"I told you, I was worried."

"Well, now you see i'm fine, you can go."

"No."

I sigh and look at him again, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to go."

"Fine. You can sit there and watch me study."

He does that. He waits there quietly, looking at things around my room and going through my closet like a creep.

When it gets late he pulls me from my desk and makes me change into my pajamas and go to bed.

"Are you gonna stay up all night watching me sleep now?"

"I might," he lies down beside me. "Now sleep."

"Okay, dad," I close my eyes.

"Daddy," he whispers, and that's the last thing I hear before I fall asleep.

+++

"I think I failed that test," I sigh and sit at the lunch table with Zoey and Isaac.

"You say that after every test you do, and you always pass them," Zoey reassures me.

"Yeah, but this time I was... Distracted," my eyes avert to Masons's table, then quickly look back when I see he's looking at me.

I want to get out of here.

"I was looking for you," Zeke says as he sits down beside me.

Isaac stares at him from the other side of the table, surprised he's here.

"So are you talking to me now?" I ask. I thought his mood will have changed again today and he'd be back to ignoring me. When I woke up this morning he was gone, so I assume he went home after I fell asleep. I still don't understand why he stayed to watch me.

He looks a little hurt, "Of course I am."

"Zeke, can we talk?" Isaac says.

"No," Zeke doesn't look at him.

"Why not? What do you want me to do that'll make you stop being pissed?"

"Stop dating Maggie."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I really like her, dude. If you were dating the person you wish you were dating, would you stop if I didn't like it?"

Zeke looks at him, "That's fucking different. She's my sister. And she's younger than you."

"She's like nine months younger, you're acting like she's fucking five."

"She is five."

"You're five."

"You guys are so immature," Zoey rolls her eyes.

"Why is he fucking staring at you?" Zeke asks. I follow his gaze to Mason.

"He's been calling me all night trying to talk to me."

"Block his fucking number."

"I did."

"If he doesn't stop fucking staring i'll go over there and pull his eyeballs out."

"Please do that," Zoey says.

"You know what? I will," Zeke stands up but I grab his arm, pulling him back down.

"Please don't."

He sighs, "Fine. But at one point you won't be around to stop me from killing that dude."

+++

this chapter doesn't have the part where they get invited to dinner in it bc i started writing and it just got really long but i'm gonna finish writing the dinner scene tomorrow bc it's 5am rn

but i'm rlly liking writing the dinner chapter bc it's got some hotttt shit in it ... #zarnie

so i know i put that as the teaser in the last chapter but just pretend it's on this instead

ly guys ♥

- emily

(exposed my full name ah)