Sticks and Stones

Okay, so I took creative liberties with this story. Imagine that Paige and Alex went to the mall or something after school and weren't there to see the fight and that Dylan found out about Marco's troubles. What would happen? I'm probably going to continue this, and reviews would be much appreciated.

Paige laughed at her older brother as he made faces at her. He was home for the weekend from McGill, claiming that he missed his own room, home cooked meals and of course, his little sister. They'd had dinner early so their parents could head out to the theatre. Dylan was regaling her with tales of dorm life with his hockey buddies.

Someone knocked on the door and Dylan jumped up to get it. A moment later he came back in with Spinner.

"Spin, what are you doing here?" Still riding on her giddy good mood, she hopped up to hug him, but backed off when she felt how tense he was.

"Hun, what's wrong?"

"Paige, I really screwed up this time."

"Sit." She motioned to the couch and sat down beside him. Dylan was still standing by the doorway, but she barely paid him any mind.

"So, what happened? I thought things were going okay. You went to the movies with Marco last night right? You and he are talking again?" Dylan's head snapped up when she mentioned the other boy's name, but Paige and Spinner were too intent on each other to notice.

"Yeah we did, and everything was going fine. But his safe sex seminar was today." He had a pained look on his face and Paige shook her head.

"So, you've known about that ever since the carnival. What does that have to do with anything?"

"One word. Linus."

"That uber-religious freak? What did he do?"

"He called this emergency Friendship club meeting this morning because he wanted to stop the seminar. He said that giving out condoms encouraged students to have sex."

Spinner looked her in the eyes and shook his head. "I don't know what I was thinking Paige, I went along with everything!"

"Okay Hun. Tell me what happened."

"I tried to talk to Marco first, but I just pissed him off. Then we went to Mrs. H to ask her to stop the seminar, but she wouldn't. So we decided to protest after school with posters and everything." She stood up and paced a few steps toward the opposite wall.

"Wait a sec. You're trying to get back in Marco's good graces and you deliberately try to stop something that he has worked so hard on, that's so important to him?"

"I know!" He threw up his hands and hung his head between his knees. He mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?" Paige quickly replied.

"Linus started saying these things, these, really bad things and Marco tried to walk away but Lioness just wouldn't stop."

"And then…" Paige sat down again, tucking a leg under her and facing him.

"And then Marco punched him and suddenly they were rolling around on the floor and I don't know how all this happened!"

"Marco punched him?!" Dylan exclaimed, walking over to the couch and looking down at Spinner.

"Yeah. Tim and I pulled them apart and then Marco left and wouldn't even look at me." He hung his head again, rubbing his fists in his eyes.

"Well, was he alright? Was he hurt?" Dylan gestured wildly, but Spinner wouldn't look him in the eye.

"I don't know. Tim took him home so I'm assuming he'll take care of him."

Dylan looked at Paige. "Tim?" He mouthed, looking like he didn't really want an answer.

"Marco's boyfriend." She started patting her pockets as Dylan stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm surprised he hasn't called me about this." Suddenly she dashed into another room, coming back a few seconds later with her phone open in her hand. "I forgot I put my phone in my bag during last period. There's probably a message… there!"

She scrolled through the variety of missed calls and text messages, all of them understated 'please call me when you get a chance.'

She didn't notice Dylan suddenly turn and leave the room as she sent Marco a text back.

As she looked over at Spin sitting dejectedly on the couch and waited for a reply from Marco, she thought about the major damage control that she needed to do. It was going to be a long night.