"You're alright, Hadley-"

"Hey, you two, this room's not open."

"Sorry..."

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Adam and I were relaxing in the living room, and I kept thinking of Mack. Eventually I opened up to my best friend about him. "I care about him a lot...he's so sweet. And he doesn't even care that I'm..."

"What?"

I shrugged. "Never mind. Are you working on new music?"

He stared at me, knowing that I would give in sometime. Sighing I mumbled, "I'm just...so odd. And he doesn't seem to care. I mean, he could have had this other girl...the one I don't particularly get along with...but he chose me instead...and it makes me so happy."

I knew that he had once been in love too, but he didn't like talking about what happened to Annmarie. It made me said to know that he had once been in so much pain...and I wished I could take it all away from him.

Trying to get rid of my awkward confession, I asked, "Bridget's having a Thanksgiving party. Will you come?"

He leaned back on the couch. "My parents are having one, so I'll have to see what time it starts."

"You could ask Bridget about the time." I smirked. He shook his head. "I'd rather you found out for me."

"OK, fine."

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I sat with Mack at lunch that day, but before I could dump my tray with him, Lexie came up and grabbed my arm. It took all of my strength not to immediately shove her backwards so she would let go. "Hey..." she said in a quiet voice. "Daniel wants to talk with you again."

"What?" I hadn't spoken to Daniel since the play.

She smirked. "Remember the party last weekend? He wants to talk to you about what you did." Lexie intentionally spoke louder so Mack could hear. He turned to me and said shortly, "I'll be back," before leaving me at the table. Lexie was satisfied at getting him angry. "Screw you," I growled, no longer wanting to be polite. Several people heard that and turned in our direction, but I was gone.

When I finally caught up to Mack, he didn't look at me. "Mack? Look, nothing happened between me and Daniel."

"Sure."

But I didn't get a chance to talk to him until the end of school. I had missed the bus, so I hoped that Adam or Bridget could pick me up. "Please, Mack, I haven't seen him since the musical. I didn't do anything with him. She's lying."

There was a brief silence before he said, "I believe you...I just get so frustrated because..."

I waited a moment but he didn't speak. "What is it?"

"Never mind. I mean, it's silly. Well...sort of..." He looked down at the ground. He was nervously shuffling his feet. I could not figure out whether he was trying to avoid telling me what he was thinking, or if he was trying but could not find the right words.

Mack finally spit out all of the words at once, and I had to think it over to understand what he said. "I really like you, and I know that I've said it before, and I get too damn jealous sometimes, but it's because I care. I don't want anything to happen to you, and...I'm sorry..." he tried to smile. "I just wish that I was more articulate, but I can barely speak around you, if you haven't noticed already."

"It's OK."

"I'd kiss you, but there's a teacher already staring at us like we're about to burn down the school."

After school that day he did kiss me, and it was right as Adam pulled up to pick me up. I waved goodbye, and hurried into his car. "So...you and Mack." Adam said.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. I was just wondering about your relationship, though it's not really my business...I just want you to know that you should be careful. If you need help, Bridget and I will do what we need. But...if you're not comfortable with what he wants to do, tell him. I just want to make sure you feel safe." I smiled at him. I really was grateful for his advice; it meant so much to me. As I stared out the window, I smirked to myself when I realized he had give me an abridged version of "the talk." Considering I no longer had my father, I was appreciative.

But when I got home, I was shocked. Someone wrote something awful on our driveway in what looked like paint. I knew it was directed at me. It was a single word, but it said so much. I felt tears sting my eyes and Adam didn't know what to say. Until he turned to me several moments later, and said firmly, "I'm going to report this. We're going to tell Bridget, and I'm going to help clean this up."

I wiped my eyes. "This is so embarrassing..."

"It'll be alright, Hadley. I promise."

"They're never going to leave me alone...why won't they just leave me alone..."

He hurried me inside, and made several phone calls. I sat on the couch feeling sick to my stomach. Adam parked himself next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "It'll be OK. The police are going to figure out who it was. I'll cancel my meeting tomorrow if it means I can remove the paint." He didn't seem to know what to do, and wished that he, like Mack, was more articulate, so he sang quietly:

This fight of my life is so hard, so hard, so hard,

But I'm gonna survive,

Oh, oh, these are beautiful times...

If I was going to get through my freshman year of high school, I was going to need a lot of help from him.

I took his hand, and repeated what I said what felt like ages ago when he was taking me away from Blue Lake, and it had just the same meaning.

"You're the sky that I fell through."

"And if my heart were a house, you'd be home."

Hello! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long time, but I've been quite busy.

I was wondering about something. I've been thinking of writing a Sherlock fanfiction, and I was wondering what your opinions would be on it. I'd love to hear what you'd think, as I'm writing it now and will post the story all at once.

Thank you!

Love,

Luna <3