It was Tuesday and in my opinion, they were even worse than Mondays were. I sighed as Pierce had pulled up to Mercury's house, only to reveal her come out the front door. She walked down the porch steps before throwing her bag into the car and taking her seat in the passenger seat. I was now banned to the back seat because Pierce now became Mercury's driver.

Mercury didn't say anything to Pierce, and I just knew she was mad about last night. Her great plan backfired on her and everybody saw that it did. She had no one to blame but herself and I couldn't help but laugh at her stupidity. I mean what girl really thinks that letting another girl give your boyfriend a lap dance, was going to go over well?

Pierce backed out of her drive before taking off down the road to head to school. I watched Pierce's eyes glance back at me through the rearview mirror, but I ignored it the best I could. I was still mad at him for what he said to me yesterday, he crossed the line big time. Mercury let out a deep sigh as she stared out the window, a sigh that said Look-At-Me-I'm-An-Attention-Whore. I rolled my eyes knowing that she was only trying to get Pierce to ask what was wrong.

"What?" Pierce asked just annoyed as I was. Mercury's head snapped over to Pierce with her mouth gaping open "Are you serious? 'What'?" She scoffed, mad at Pierce's tone "How about you ask what's wrong instead for christ's sake!"

 "What's wrong Mercury?" Pierce asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he continued to stare ahead at the road. There was nothing worse than being in a car with toxic #1 and toxic #2 but especially when they were together. "What's wrong?!" She exclaimed "How about last night when you-"

"Woah, stop." I interrupted her "You did it to yourself. You can't blame him for your decision. You're so caught up in competing with me that you didn't even think how badly it would end for you. I mean what girl tells another girl to give her boyfriend a lap dance?"

She looked back at me with a glare "Competing with you? You don't even come close to me."

"Oh right, tell that to your boyfriend's dick," I said sarcastically, inching closer to her from my seat "And maybe you shouldn't be such a bitch, might get you somewhere other than hell."

Mercury looked over at Pierce and slapped his arm when he didn't respond "Aren't you going to say anything to her?!" Pierce's eyes glanced back to me before over to Mercury "What do you want me to say?" 

"You're a piece of a shit boyfriend! You never do anything fucking right!" Mercury shouted at him as we pulled up to the school. Pierce ignored her yells before they got more aggressive as he put the car in park. I watched between the both of them as Mercury continued to shout. 

"Maybe I'll call your dad and tell him to beat you so you get some fucking common sense!" She shouted and Pierce stared ahead at the windshield, completely silent. I saw the rest of the gang standing outside of their cars while waiting for the first bell to ring. Mercury pushed the door open before slamming it shut behind her. I looked over at Pierce who was so silent, it scared me. 

I climbed to the front and pushed the passenger seat, standing up straight once I was out of the car. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I yelled, Mercury whirling around to face me. Pierce had said awful things to me but I wasn't going to sit there and watch him take emotional abuse from his so-called girlfriend. 

The rest of the gang became silent, stopping their conversations once they realized the tension that had filled the air. Mercury's lips tugged up into a smirk, anger radiating off of her "What? You don't agree? Maybe it'd do him some good use to get beat a little more."

I couldn't just listen to her, someone needed to put her in her place so it would all end. Her ego was out there, there was no humbling her at this point. After a short car ride I could see Mercury was the instigator in their relationship, she loved to create problems. 

I clutched my hand into a fist at my side and breathed in heavily as I stared ahead at her, wanting to wipe that smirk off her face. I took my fist and sent it flying into her, making her stumble back as she grabbed a hold of her nose. Everyone was frozen in place, not processing what had just happened. I let out a deep breath as I sent her a glare that she shared back to me. 

"What is going on-" Juniper started but Pierce exited the car, not paying attention to what just happened. His face was cold and stern as he walked around the car and headed towards the school. I grabbed my backpack before chasing after him and running up the steps to try and catch up.

"Pierce!" I made my way through the people as he ignored my calls. I bumped into many other students and repeatedly apologized as I pushed my way through the crowds. I finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm, making him stop in place. 

I pulled him to the side of the hallway, letting everyone else go around us. Pierce clenched his jaw as he looked down at me "What do you want?"

"Why don't you realize you deserve so much better than her?" I sighed, looking up to Pierce's crystal grey eyes. I didn't understand why Pierce still had himself caught up with Mercury, it only caused problems every time they did. Pierce did deserve better than her and I didn't know why he didn't see that. 

"Oh really then what do I deserve Ambrosia?" Pierce rolled his eyes at me, annoyance filling his tone. "Why are you even with her?" I pushed, trying to get some type of answer on why Pierce always went back to her, knowing how bad she treats him.

"Because I love her." 

"No, you don't Pierce." I refused to believe that Pierce loved Mercury "You looked miserable last night when she was on top of you. Not to mention it says a lot when you're perfectly okay with your girlfriend having sex with other guys for money. You freaked the fuck out on that guy when it was me in that room. So how about you tell me the truth?" 

Pierce's eyes snapped away from mine as he scanned over the crowd before looking back at me. I knew he was about to say something that he didn't want to admit. I watched as his expressions changed, making me realize there was something more than what was brought to the surface. He had stayed silent, his averted from mine and I raised an eyebrow as I waited for him to answer.  

The bell had rung, signaling for us to all go to class. Students that filled the halls hurried to their classes in fear of being yelled at by the teachers. Pierce didn't say anything else but instead turned around and headed down the corridor. I closed my eyes and sighed as he walked off, not getting the answer I wanted. 

I headed to Brit Lit where Mrs. Morgans had been out today, giving us a substitute to take over the class. I entered the class where everyone was seated while a bunch of the guys high five each other over having a substitute that they would use to their advantage. I took the seat at my desk and turned around to face Juniper and Triston.

"What was that all about? I mean don't get me wrong, I loved to see you punch Mercury-" Triston chuckled as she leaned closer onto her desk. "Mercury said she hoped his dad would beat him more so he'd get some sense beaten into him." I scoffed at even repeating her words, and Juniper's eyes fell instantly. 

"No, she didn't.." Juniper was stunned "I can't stand her. She has my brother wrapped around her little pinky, I mean she slapped him yesterday at the club. I just want someone to teach her lesson and for Pierce to get out of that relationship."

"Ok everybody, Mrs. Morgans is out today so you will all be working on the worksheet outline that she handed out yesterday. You can use friends to help you but please do not get super loud." The sub instructed before she took a seat at the teacher's desk. 

"Yeah but it was weird, when I asked Pierce why he was with her-I don't know it looked like he was about to admit to something." I couldn't stop thinking about what Pierce was about to say, I knew it was going to be something important. 

"Like what?" Triston cocked an eyebrow at me, making me shrug in response. 

"He's in Calc right now." Juniper added "Just go find him and try to talk to him. If Pierce is going to admit to anybody it's going to be you." I bit my lip and turned back around into my seat, staring at the whiteboard ahead. Should I really go after him?

"May I go to the nurse?" I raised my hand and the sub nodded before writing out a slip for me, which I took before walking out into the empty hallway. I pulled out my phone and twiddled my thumbs over my screen before sending Pierce a text. 

Me: Come outside 

I soon reached his class and looked through the small glass part of the door, Pierce's eyes snapped up to mine after reading the text. He got up without saying anything and walked out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him. 

"What Aspen?!" He gritted, aggravated as ever "What could you possibly fucking want."

"I want an answer. Why are you with her? I know there's more to the story than what you're showing and I'm not going to stop till you tell me." I said sternly, trying to make my point that I was not going away till he told me. 

"I can't tell you."

"Why? You make me tell you everything, so I think you can let me in on this one little thing." 

Pierce sighed, closing his eyes while he tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. He paused for a moment before looking back at me, shaking his head in response. "If I tell you do you swear to not tell anyone?" Pierce sighed and I nodded in agreement. 

"Mercury's pregnant." 

"WHAT?!" My eyes widened in response and Pierce placed a hand over my mouth to muffle my yells. Pierce looked around, seeing no one was around before taking his hand away slowly. I was in shock, this couldn't be real. Mercury wasn't seriously pregnant-she couldn't be. I internally started to freak out in response knowing this couldn't be good at any cost. 

"Are you the dad.." I trailed off, swallowing a lump in my throat. I didn't know if I wanted to know the answer to this, I mean was it an obvious answer? Pierce's eyes looked at me and I waited for him to do something or say something, as the anticipation built up. 

"I don't know yet." Pierce ran a hand through his hair "But if I am, I'm fucked. Xander will fucking kill me." 

"Haven't you ever heard of this thing called a condom?"

"Doesn't feel as good," Pierce admitted, leaning his back up against the wall. I rolled my eyes in response, he wasn't being serious..or was he. Sometimes I swear teenage boys don't think and say whatever comes to their minds. 

"Well, when are you going to find out? Does anybody know?" I could blabber on with questions but decided against it. I soon came to the realization that I punched a pregnant girl.. which was going to stay on my guilty conscience. My heart sunk to think about Mercury being pregnant with Pierce's baby. He was only going to get stuck with her by the baby being his. 

"We're supposed to go after school today to get DNA testing. Nobody else knows, and nobody can know so you better keep your mouth shut Aspen or I swear to god-" Pierce warned "I don't know what the hell I'm going to do if it's mine. I'll be stuck with that bitch forever, I mean the sex is good but besides that."

"Oh really because that's not what it seemed like last night." I leaned up against the wall next to him. I couldn't believe the sex was that great if Pierce didn't even get hard after Mercury practically threw her naked body at him.

"Yeah well better than most of the girls around here. All the virgins are gone now, so many of them so worn out." Pierce went on "I have my eye on one girl though." 

"Oh, and who is that ever so lucky girl?" I asked sarcastically, turning my head over to look at Pierce. He scoffed a laugh, looking down at the ground before shaking his head in response. I couldn't be bothered to pester Pierce into telling me after what I just found out. I couldn't believe Mercury was pregnant and the chaos that was about to break loose. 

Pierce was going to be stuck with her and be kicked from the gang. Not to mention Pierce was nowhere near ready to be a dad, he could barely take care of himself half the time let alone a child. "Well keep me updated and you seriously need to break up with her, it's not going to do you any good by staying with her. You don't love her, she's forcing you to be with her because she may or may not be having your baby." 

Pierce nodded slightly, not saying anything in response. I walked down the hall and decided to stop at the bathroom that was at the end of the corridor. This bathroom was particularly small, with only two stalls because it was an addition to the school. I pushed open the door and froze when I heard a voice speaking. 

I shut the door slowly behind me in order to make noise when I heard Mercury's voice followed by a few cries. She was on the phone with someone and I decided to stay quiet in order for her to not notice me in the bathroom.

"No Greyson, I don't know what I'm going to do." Mercury said frustrated into the phone "How am I going to convince him to not get tested after school?" 

There were a few moments of silence only for me to assume Greyson was responding to Mercury. I pulled my phone out and started to record a video to catch whatever she said on the record. I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion at Mercury's words. Why would she not want him to get tested? i

"Well, he can't get fucking tested because I'm not pregnant!" She shouted at the phone. My jaw dropped in response, Mercury was lying about being pregnant? A feeling of relief washed over me, but I became even more pissed knowing that she had been lying. She was out of her mind for lying about something this big, and it had to come out to Xander. 

"I had to do something! I was losing him, to fucking Aspen! I mean have you seen how he looks at her- He's supposed to look at me like that! Telling him I was pregnant was the only way I'd get him to get back together with me!" Mercury shouted back at her "She came and ruined everything. I want to kick her all the way back to Seattle."

Me? Mercury was worried about losing Pierce to me? I didn't understand why everybody was so certain Pierce was after me, we couldn't stand each other half the time. We kissed twice and he made it very clear that neither of them meant anything. If you asked Pierce, he wouldn't even qualify us as friends. I felt like I was going in a circle with everything that was being said to me. It couldn't be true that Pierce was after me...could it?

Mercury bid her goodbyes to Greyson over the phone, me taking that as my time to go. I rushed out of the bathroom and headed back to class. How was I going to tell Pierce? 'Hey guess what you're not a daddy! Your girlfriend was just lying.' For some reason that didn't seem like it would go over great. 

I took my seat back in Brit Lit where June and Triston were working on the worksheet. I quickly texted Pierce, explaining that we needed to talk after this block. "You ok?" Juniper asked with concern "You seem a little off..What happened with Pierce?"

"Oh, um nothing happened. Just argued with me, figures." I lied, pulling out my worksheet. I shrugged it off, hoping they would as well but I could tell June knew something was up. I started on the worksheet but couldn't stop thinking about what Mercury said. Pierce looks at me differently? I always thought he looked at me like he wanted to kill me. 

"Just a random question." I spoke up out of the silence "What happened between Greyson and Pierce again?" 

"Uh, well Greyson and Pierce were friends with benefits while he was dating Mercury. They did it on the regular and then she found out she was pregnant. Mercury flipped out, obviously, and then later found out Greyson miscarried. The whole situation was messed up and because Greyson was older I'm pretty sure it was something to use to deal with his mommy issues." Juniper explained, cocking an eyebrow at me "Are you sure everything is ok?" 

I nodded slightly, forcing a smile to not seem so suspicious. I continued on the worksheet and tried to take my mind off it. Pierce had gotten a girl pregnant before and now Mercury was lying about being pregnant with Pierce's baby. 

The block soon came to an end and I grabbed all my stuff and quickly ran out of the classroom in order to catch up to Pierce. I approached him as he was waiting outside of his previous class after receiving my text. 

"What now?" Pierce asked and I grabbed his wrist, pulling him into the nearest empty classroom. I placed all my books down as Pierce watched me hurry around. "Just listen to this, I went to the bathroom after I left and Mercury was in there on the phone with Greyson," I explained, pulling out my phone and pressing play on the video. 

Pierce listened to the video, his eyes fixated on my screen. I didn't know how he'd react, it was going to be a mixture. Happy he wasn't now stuck with her because she was actually pregnant and angry because of how big of a lie this had been. Silence filled the room between Pierce and me as the video went on, listening to Mercury's muffled words to Greyson. 

The video came to an end and I looked up to Pierce who was in a mixture of shock and anger. His eyes were dark as he stared ahead and ran a hand through his hair. "I figured you should know.." I trailed off, not knowing what really to say in this type of situation "What are you going to do?"

"What a fucking bitch." Pierce gritted, his eyes meeting mine "I'm going to take it to Xander, this is bullshit." 

"Pierce you seriously need to drop her, this is so toxic." I stated the obvious "She's not worth it and does nothing but emotionally and even physically hurt you."

Pierce didn't say anything, instead of looking away from me. I knew he was realizing Mercury is a train wreck herself but being with her was going to bring him into that train wreck. I couldn't believe she was willing to lie about something this big but also am I really that surprised. She had Pierce wrapped around her pinky that was filled with manipulation lies and I felt bad for any guy that had encountered her as well.

"I'll figure it out at the meeting," Pierce stated before walking out of the empty classroom. I watched the door slam shut, leaving me alone as I watched him walk off. I knew this wasn't going to be good, I didn't know what was going to go down but it wasn't going to be good. 

Welcome to the shit show...

* * * * *

A://N Merry Christmas Eve! This chapter is a little shorter but I still wanted to get on out for you guys!

What did you think of this chapter? A bit of a rollercoaster. 

What do you think of Mercury now that we are further in the book? Still, dislike her?

What do you think about Aspen punching Mercury for what she said to Pierce? Think it's going to get her into trouble?

What do you think about Mercury lying about being pregnant to stay with Pierce?

How do you think Pierce is going to react when he sees Mercury?

What do you think is going to happen at the meeting when he tells everybody about Mercury's little secret?

What do you think will happen with Aspen next?

~Ash