It wasn't a surprise to find that I was the main topic at school the next morning.

As I weaved my way in and out of large groups loitering around in the hallways, eyes following my every step, I was able to hear bits and pieces of conversations, all pertaining to me in one way or another.

Some questioned how Zane got a hold of Mark's computer, some questioned if Zane was my boyfriend, but most were set and trying to figure out why the hell I was so important. I'd be the first person that would like to hear the answer to that once they found it.

I wouldn't say I was one of those people that drifted through high school unnoticed. Sure, I wasn't as popular as Marcus or Molly, but I wasn't an invisible nobody either. My name circled around the school, more times than not over a rumor, but I thought fairly highly of myself. There was a part of me that did have the same questions as everyone else; why was I so important to Marcus and Zane? I wasn't worth destroying the little of a bond and friendship they had left.

"What the hell was that?" McKenna's shrill voice sent a sharp pain through my head. I rubbed my temples as I leaned my head against my locker.

"What are you talking about?"

She huffed out a sigh. "Don't play stupid with me, Paige. What the hell was up with your little boyfriend last night?"

"Zane?" I frowned. "He didn't do anything wrong. Everything he said-"

"Made both of you look like idiots, Paige." she shook her head in disgust. "He humiliated you in front of the entire school."

"How did he humiliate me?" I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"He's a nobody, Paige. A weird, slightly freaky nobody. You could do so much better. Cody even-"

I shook my head. "We're not doing this, Kenna. I'm not losing you over popularity. If you think I'm going to ditch Zane just because he isn't Cody fucking Wilson, maybe I've already lost you."

She stared me down. "He embarrassed you, Paige."

"He stood up for me."

"That's why everyone in this school is talking shit about him and saying how much better you could do. He's a joke that lives in Marcus' shadow. When you get over your pity and sympathy for the freak, come find me." I watched my best friend stalk away in silence, not making an attempt to chase her.

I felt as if I were the main character in a coming-of-age movie that just lost her best friend to the popular kids. The worse part? Some warped and sick part of me thought it would have ended up being the other way around.

*

"Do you have a Mommy fetish?" a voice sniped behind me. I thought about responding, but knew it would be in my best interest not to. After hearing the snide comments circle the last four periods, I was close to my breaking point.

"He's like, what, twelve?" another voice added. "It's so sweet he's got a little crush on you."

I stood so quickly my leg rammed into the table, shaking the contents on it. I spun around so I was facing Marcus' table across the cafeteria, finding that every pair of eyes there was already on me.

"You guys want something to talk about?" I asked, glancing around the room. My heart sunk into my stomach when I saw Zane shielded by his hoodie in the far back corner of the big room.

"How many of you here actually enjoyed the video Marcus posted of me last night?" I wasn't surprised to see most of the males in the room raise their hands, a few girls even joined in with obnoxious giggles and whispers.

"Okay. How many of you actually believed I was the girl in the video?" Less hands this time.

I nodded in Marcus' direction. "You're all here making comments about Matthew sticking up for me, but how about you start thinking about the ass that posted the video in the first place. If he lied about the girl being me in that one, which one of you is next?" I glanced around the room, watching as some of the girls squirmed in their seats.

"How would Mommy and Daddy feel if they saw their precious daughter having sex with Marcus Dryer? Worse, what if it wasn't even you in the video and Mark made everyone believe it was? But most of you are thinking it won't happen to you, that Mark has a personal problem with me." I laughed quietly, finally meeting Marcus' eyes. "So do you, Marcus? Do you have a problem with me or is every girl in this cafeteria, in this school, a subject to your disgusting sense of humor?"

Mark's jaw clenched, his lips thinning in anger as he shot daggers at me from where he sat with Molly on his lap.

"Come on, Mark." I cocked my head to the side. "Did the cat get your tongue?"

"You're a bitch, Banner." Mark finally said through his teeth. I shoved my untouched food into the trash and threw my backpack over my shoulder with a shrug.

"I'd much rather be a bitch then a lying prick." without another word, I threw my hood over my head and walked out of the cafeteria.

*

McKenna wasn't waiting by my locker after last period to drop me off at home. Shutting the locker door, I could feel the cold emptiness that had been building in my chest all day finally spread through the rest of my body once I stepped outside.

The chilly late November air nipped at my tear stained cheeks the second I started down the sidewalk. I knew if I were brave enough, I could call Zane and he'd be willing to drop me off, but I wasn't in any mood to spend an entire twenty minutes listening to him rant.

I kept a steady pace until I reached my neighborhood. Even from where I stood at the corner, I could see a familiar Mustang parked along the curb in front of my house. The last thing I wanted to do was face Zane right now, but I knew there'd be no escaping him now that he'd seen me.

"Listen to me for one-" he started once I was within hearing range.

"I just want to be left alone, Zane." I sighed. "It's not you, it's everyone and everything."

I felt his desperate blue eyes roam the side of my head as he struggled for words. "Paige, please just hear me out for a second."

"Zane, just go home."

"I really think-"

I whirled around to face him. "Matthew, go fucking home. I don't want to talk right now."

Shock and hurt radiated off the younger Dryer as he stepped back, his hands falling limp at his sides.

I thought for sure my use of his real name would get the point across and he'd take the hint, but he didn't budge. He stood a few feet away, slowly crumbling before my eyes.

"I narrowed down the candidates for Liam's mother." he whispered.

"Why are we even doing this? The adoption papers are almost completed, then he's mine. Let's just stop trying to find her, she obviously had no desire to keep her child." I responded, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.

"Please don't do this, Paige." Zane caught my wrist seconds before I turned my back to him. "Paige, baby, please."

I bit my lip. "Don't call me that. I'm not your girlfriend, Zai. Just go home."

"You're all I have." he continued. "My parents couldn't give less of a shit about me. My brother would probably kill me if he had the chance. I don't have friends, not like Marcus or-"

"Do you expect me to feel sorry for you?" I snapped through my teeth. I spun around to face him, my throat slowly closing when I saw just how vulnerable he was. "You're brilliant, Matthew. Who gives a crap about how others view you? You could be the next Albert Einstien, the next Da Vinci. Ten years from now you'll be the one with something to show, not them, not me. You'll be fine, people suck anyway."

"You don't." he grasped both of my hands in his own. "Paige, I know I'm not Mark. I'm not a football player, I'm not hot, I don't have my parents blessing for everything. But I do love you, I have always loved you, and you know that. I'm not asking for a relationship, I'm asking for a friendship." he brushed a stray tear that had escaped my eye off my cheek, eyes searching mine.

For the first time in my life, I allowed my impulses to take over. I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips against his. Within seconds, he deepened the kiss, arms snaking around my waist and hugging me against him as he pulled away.

"We're really screwed up." he stated the obvious.

"Very much so." I breathed into his chest, clutching the back of his shirt in my fist to fight the tears that were surfacing.

He buried his face in the crook of my neck. "Maybe we'll make it out of all this shit okay. Maybe the worst of it is over."

I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed. "Or it's just begun."

*

My parents left me reeling in shock the moment they agreed to let Zane spend the night in my room. For years my father had threatened to arrest any guy that tried to sleep in the same bed as me. I suppose he figured Zai was harmless, or maybe that I thought of him as a younger brother. Of course, there was also the fact that there was an infant across the room that would keep any sort of intimacy out of the equation.

By the time I sat at the end of the bed with Liam, I was relieved to find he wasn't in a fussy mood and fell asleep with ease.

"You need some sleep too, Mama Bear." Zane's quiet voice stirred me out of my daze. I looked up from the sleeping boy in my arms and shifted him a fraction. Zai ducked into my line of sight and crouched down until he was eye level with Liam, a smile playing on his full lips.

"I'm good, I-"

"You are about to pass out. Don't worry, I won't hurt him." he smiled encouragingly. Deciding it wouldn't be any use in denying the fact or fighting him on it, I gently laid Liam in his expecting arms. I fell back on the bed and buried myself in blankets before rolling around to stare at the boys.

Zane taken a liking to the rocking chair my mom had set in the room late last night, his eyes on the baby boy. He must have thought I had already dozed off, because he brushed his thumb along Liam's rosy cheek and whispered something so quiet I had to strain to hear it.

"I'm so sorry." he breathed. "I could have stopped it, all of this. I'm sorry." 

***AN***

Hope you guys enjoyed! 

What do you guys think of Paige acting on her impulses? Is it going to cause her more trouble? Do you think she really likes Zane in that way? And what about what Zane said, what do you guys think he meant?

Let me know what you thought/think! 

~ChasingMadness24