Guess what?! MTT just took the silver award for the TEEN FIC awards - romance!!!

Song of the chapter - Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden

Tuesday showed up way too soon. The long weekend without my dad had been pretty relaxing. Having Pete back was also a good thing, although I didn't hang out with him over the weekend. After he left on Friday, we did our own thing.

I felt okay after my talk with Amber. It had gone about the way I expected, so my ego was still in tacked. But of course I wished things had been different. Whatever, it was done, I didn't have any more ideas about trying to be with her. I needed to just fucking get over it.

The weekend without the crew, or my dad, gave me the chance to hang out with my brother. Mark was still a decent kid, he hadn't been messed up by high school shit yet. Plus he hated my dad too, so we had that in common. That was about it, though. Mark was more like mom, both in looks and personality. He seemed to let more roll off his back than I did. He had the darker hair and brown eyes like mom. It was actually nice not to have to look at another clone of my dad.

"Hey, Mark, wanna play?" I asked him as I leaned my head into his room. His eyes got all wide like it was a big deal.

Actually I'm not sure when the last time I invited him to play was, so maybe it was a pretty big deal.

"Yeah, sure!" He said while jumping off of his bed. He left whatever he had been working on strewn all across the covers and followed me into my room. I even let him use my gaming chair.

"So what do you want to play?" I gave him the options.

He just shrugged, "whatever's already in there."

It was still the game Pete and I had played, spending most of Friday morning hunting down zombies. "You got it, kid."

After a while of gaming, I asked him something I'd been wondering. "Mark..."

"Huh?"

"What do you think of dad?" I had started to worry more about Mark, ever since I saw what an ass I had become. He was still young enough to avoid that shit.

"I don't know. Angry a lot I guess." He shrugged.

"What does he say to you?" I wasn't around as much anymore, so I wondered how bad it had been for him.

"Not that much. But he likes to tell me when I mess something up." He said as he continued to play.

Mostly what I had experienced, and expected. "You know, you shouldn't listen to him when he's like that. He can be a huge asshole, but don't let that mess with your head."

He glanced over at me and shrugged. "Maybe."

"No, not maybe. Trust me, don't let what he says get to you. Everyone messes up, even me." I laughed at the end. Who knew I'd be sitting in my room telling my little brother that I fucked up sometimes. Not me, that's for sure. I had spent pretty much my whole life trying to seem perfect. And you just can't do it.

"Yeah you do!" Mark laughed back.

"What?! How could you say that to me?" I joked. "I'm supposed to be your perfect big bro, the one you look up to and try to be like!"

Mark swallowed hard, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. "Yeah, I guess. I mean I did. Or, um..."

"Hey," I started, putting my hand on his shoulder, "relax, I was joking. I don't really want you to be like me."

He looked up at me, smiling again, "well, not before, but you've been nicer lately so maybe now I could."

I ruffed up his hair, as he tried to escape my assault, "yeah, yeah. Enough with that, let's blow stuff up."

"Cool!" He said, turning back to the game. I knew I was all working on my self lately, but I'd had enough bonding crap for the day. Shit, for the month, more like.

But now that the holiday was over, I had to go back into hell and deal with life. School was not my favorite place lately, and it had nothing to do with teachers or homework. I had always loved the social shit, hanging with the boys, hitting on the girls, just being worshiped by everyone.

That had all gone to hell, so now I just wanted to get the hell out of there. The only good thing was working out my shit with Pete. At least I didn't feel like avoiding him anymore. Apparently he felt the same, because his face was practically the first thing I saw when I got out of my car.

"Hey." Pete said as he nodded in my direction, acknowledging my presence.

I just nodded back, but said nothing. Jeff walked up about ten seconds later, and the three of us stood together in the main lot, going over our weekends.

"Sounds like you had fun." I said to Jeff. His family had spent the four days at a mountain cabin.

"The skiing was totally worth the drama." He laughed.

"Drama?" Pete said.

"My cousins went too." Jeff explained. "Three girls will bring the drama. And they brought it!"

"Shit. Now that's how you ruin a perfectly good vacay." Pete shook his head.

"Nah, it wasn't ruined, just...really interesting." He responded while glancing at me.

"What?" I finally asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jeff shrugged, "No reason."

Just then, Pete whispered, "What the actual fuck?" Jeff and I both looked over at him, but it was Jeff who spoke up.

"What's wrong?"

"Look." He replied as he nodded his head towards something in the lot. Jeff and I both turned our attention in the direction Pete had nodded. Scar's car was parked three rows over, which wasn't anything to flip out over. He always parked in the main lot. But what made Jeff and I both say "shit!" at the same time was who was walking with him.

Amber.

Not only was she walking with him, she was holding his hand. Both of them were smiling, too. The kind of smile that used to make me sick, but now I wish I could have. I almost had to look away, the scene was really fucking with my emotions. Damn, she could still do that and it sucked.

But even more mind melting than the two of them walking hand in hand for the whole school to see, was Scar's hoodie. He wasn't wearing it. I don't think I'd ever seen the dude's hair.

"Can you fucking believe that? Scar?" Pete said, basically what all three of us were thinking. "Is that even safe?"

Pete said what I would have said not too long ago. Scar's rep is what made people stay away. I caught a glimpse of the real guy that day behind the cafeteria, though. And although I couldn't admit it that day, I was pretty sure he was a better guy than me. He had put me in my place when I was treating Amber like shit. That had to be a clue about how he would end up treating her. And if I was truly honest with myself, the scene in front of me was no surprise. I knew the second I woke up from his punch that something had changed with Amber. That really had been the beginning of the end for us.

"She's fine." I answered him. "I'm pretty sure Amber can take care of herself."

Pete looked over at me, then laughed. "Yeah, we've seen what she's capable of now. If he steps out of line she'll bust his balls, too."

"Truer than you know, brah." I said as I pushed Pete's shoulder. "Let's go. The girls will wait for us, but the teachers won't."

"Shit. School. Damn, isn't it summer yet?" Jeff wondered out loud.

"Brah, you just went skiing!" Pete reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah." Jeff waived off the reminder. It was still months until summer. Thinking about it would only make it worse.

"So what kind of drama did your cousins bring?" I couldn't help wondering if one of the cousins was Hannah, but I wasn't going to ask him. That would give Jeff too much ammunition to use against me later.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough." He laughed back.

Shit, what was that supposed to mean? I wanted to press him for more details after that comment, but the bell had rung and I needed to get to first period. My feet took the familiar hallway without much thought from me. I had walked those halls more times than I could count. But the scene I came upon was nothing I had ever encountered before.

Amber kissing Scar.

Damn, guess I should call him Garrett now. She had her arms around his neck, pressing her lips against his in a pretty tame little kiss. It was only a second or two, but it still counted. He had one arm around her waist and the other in his pocket, looking like a casual fucker just standing there getting kissed by one of the hottest girls at school. It's what he did next that made me realize that guy was a boss.

After the kiss, Amber pulled back and looked up at him. She had a glow in her eyes that told the whole story: happiness. Garrett reached up and took her face in his hands, just fucking looking at her. He didn't kiss the hell out of her like I would have. Then he whispered something which I barely caught. It sounded like he said, that's the look I want to see every day

He fucking worshiped her.

That could have been me, if I wasn't such a jerk. Shit, that was putting it mildly. Jerk wasn't harsh enough to describe the kind of boyfriend I had been. If I ever got a chance with a girl like that again, I'd have to be a much better guy to her. I just wasn't sure I could be that guy. Was it even in me?

I walked passed them, keeping my head down, and went to my back row seat. Amber entered the room soon after, heading to her seat in the front. The tension I had felt for weeks was gone. It was a relief, I think our talk had put it all behind me. At least I hoped so. It was a real fucking drag to be the whipped shit I had been.

The rest of the day was normal, well as normal as it could be considering the rumors that were flying about the school's newest couple. I think I had mentally checked out of the gossip for so long that hearing it again made me physically sick.

I heard he blackmailed her into dating him.

She must be suicidal.

I knew she was crazy when she told Matt off last week. This clinches it.

How can she stand that scar?

Had I been that stupid? I was pretty sure I had, but it seemed like a different guy that would have said those things. So I decided to put a stop to it. People still listened to me, and I had already burned Amber enough. I thought this might be a way to make up for it.

"Shut up, guys." I spoke up at the lunch table. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at me. Yeah, I still had it.

"Why? We're just saying what everyone's thinking." Courtney shot back.

"Doesn't matter. You all know none of it's true. Leave them alone." I said, trying to sound indifferent.

"Look who's talking." Courtney sneered. What the hell had I ever seen in her? "You are the master of insults, Matt. You hate that guy as much as anyone here."

I leveled a gaze at her. She was right, but it was time for that to change. I couldn't keep up the act anymore. "Yeah, he wasn't my favorite. I'm never gonna be friends with him. But shit, Court, spend your time doing something better then tearing people down. It's really ugly as fuck."

Her eyes were wide, and her mouth spread into a thin line. Before anyone said another word, Courtney stood up and grabbed her things, walking away in a huff. Everyone watched her leave in silence, except me. I had glanced away and caught Jeff's eye. He had a look on his face, like he was proud of me. I'm not sure anyone had ever looked at me like that. Ever.

He pulled his phone out and started typing something. A second later my phone buzzed with a text. I looked down and pulled it out of my back pocket. Seeing the message on my lock screen brought my eyes back to Jeff.

"Your welcome." He said. "Don't wait too long to use it. She hasn't admitted it, but after this weekend it was pretty clear she's wondering how you're doing. I couldn't get her to fucking shut up about you." He laughed.

Hannah's number sat on my screen, and I had to say it was tempting. Maybe we could just talk or something. The way she put me in my place that morning had stayed with me. I think I kind of liked it.

"Cool. Thanks." I said to him. He just nodded and went back to his lunch. I couldn't wait to see what Hannah would have to say.

^^^^^

Hannah, am I right? And since I posted her picture and cast Lily Collins in her role, you can pretty much guess that she'll show up in an epilogue, in some way or another.

Remember Matt in the first chapter? And now he's a new guy. But don't be fooled, change isn't easy and it isn't overnight. He needs time and the right people in his path. Usually a major change like this takes a major event to spur it on. And then who knows how things will unfold.

Garrett is next, the last official part of the story in this timeline. I can't believe it's almost over!! I remember thinking about this plot and figuring out G's character, that seems like so long ago, and here we are. Thank you so much for coming along on this journey with me!

Fell on Black Days is a retrospective song. Matt had been in black days, and he's just coming out of them.

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