Title: There for you

Summary: When Scarlett sees her boyfriend cheating on her she won't let anyone see her hurt. Yet, an old acquaintance is persistent to know how she truly feels. A Scax friendship one-shot.

Characters: Scarlett & Max

Genre: friendship & hurt/comfort

Rated: T

This is a dedication for my closest Internet friend ever, Steph, or my Monster gurl ;) cause it's her OTP, and I like randomly writing for my friends. :)

So in this story Total Drama Pahkitew Island never happened, I think you get it.

I own nothing.

Scarlett wasn't stupid. She knew something was up from the moment Topher, the captain of the football team and, according to every girl from Scarlett's class, the hottest guy in the whole school asked her out. So she said 'no'. She still remembered his shocked expression when she nonchalantly turned him down without a second glance at him. As predictable, he persisted. So Scarlett had to deal with Topher constantly asking her out, and all the girls telling her to go out with him. It was really getting on her nerves so one day she agreed, just to shut him up. She regretted it right afterwards, since he had to hug her, and yell that "she will never regret this decision" and this kind of things. And even though at first she was uncomfortable with the idea of dating Topher, she had to admit; he turned out to be quite the gentleman. He stopped his continuous flirting with every girl he saw, he spent time with her, and seemed genuinely interested in her. But still, a small part of Scarlett was on guard. She didn't trust Topher completely. All of this felt too good to be true.

She was walking down the almost empty corridor, avoiding everyone else, thinking about her plans for the weekend. She was heading towards her English classroom. English had always been a class she liked, since she could just read a book while the rest of the class worked. Her English teacher, Mr Coconut adored her and let her do anything as long as she didn't cause any trouble. She smiled discretely thinking about the new book she bought herself this morning. A moan stopped her marvelling in her head. She rolled her eyes, and was about to walk away faster, when she heard another voice coming out of the classroom she was next to.

"I love you Amy." The sentence was interrupted by the sound of people kissing, but Scarlett recognized the voice. She felt a small part of her tremble with fear as she opened the classroom door. As she predicted, two people were making out, the girl sitting on the teacher's desk, the boy standing and facing her. The girl, Amy, leader of the cheerleaders, opened her eyes, and grinned mischievously when she saw Scarlett. The boy must've realized Amy wasn't kissing back. He opened his eyes, and turned around to face Scarlett. If Topher expect her to look sad, broken hearted or at least angry, he was in for a big surprise. She was looking at them, with one eyebrow raised.

"Scarlett, listen, it's not what you think it is..." He trailed off looking genuinely sorry.

"Oh but I know exactly what it is. It's not like I wasn't expecting this. Now go on, make your secret relationship official. It's not like we were a real couple anyway." She said, before leaving the duo in the classroom. If anyone looked at her, they wouldn't notice a change. However, for once her mind was overwhelmed. She was mad at Amy for existing, she was mad at Topher for using her and making her feel something she had never felt before. Though, she was mostly mad at herself for letting her guard down, for letting Topher in her heart, for falling for his lies. She sat down as per usual in the back of the class, and immediately took her book out. Normally, the shuffling of the feet, voices of other students and the ringing of the bell didn't annoy her, since she was engrossed in the book. Now, everything was different. She gave up on reading the same sentence over and over, and looked up when she heard an awkward cough. She saw Sammy, Amy's twin sister and her best friend, Jasmine. The only physical difference between Sammy and Amy would be a mole on Amy's right cheek. Their personalities were totally different though. While Amy was the older twin, who got all the glory and love, Sammy was the poor victim. Scarlett didn't know which annoyed her more.

"Erm... Scarlett... There is something you should know about Topher. He's... Cheating on you with my sister Amy. I'm sorry." Sammy looked, and felt, truly ashamed for her sister's actions, Scarlett could tell it just by looking at the poor girl.
"I know. In fact, I just ended the so called 'relationship' between Topher and myself." She replied, hoping no one else would talk to her about this. The two girls looked awkwardly at each other, and then left Scarlett alone. She sighed in pleasure, and was about to go back to reading, when someone sat down next to her. To say the girl was surprised would be an understatement. She looked up and saw her acquaintance from kindergarten, Max. He nonchalantly sat down next to her, ignoring her glare.
"What are you doing?" She seethed.
"Hey Scarlett. How are you?" He asked, ignoring her question. She looked at him incredulously.
"Since when do you care how I feel?" Scarlett asked him. He was about to reply when Mr Coconut interrupted them.
"No more chit chatting everyone." His eyes stopped directly at Scarlett and Max, the two nodded, looking ashamed.

The class went on without any other interruptions, but once the bell rang, the redhead couldn't escape the boy. They were neighbours.
"So? Since when is my well being relevant to conquering the world?" Every word Scarlett said was dripping with sarcasm and venom. Max was looking at the ground.
"You should answer first, Scarlett." He said, but Scarlett only rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah right. What's up with you Max? You never care about me, and now suddenly you heard that my 'ex-boyfriend' cheated on me, you feel the need to check up on me? I don't need any help, especially not yours." She spat out, and was about to walk away faster, when he grabbed her hand.

"You seriously believe all you just said?" Scarlett turned around to face him, only to see his face twisted in anger.
"Yeah sure, when we were five I was calling you minion and sidekick, but it was eleven years ago. Eleven years. People change during eleven years! You tell me that I don't care about you, but who was always standing up to the other kids who bullied you? It was me. Then, who was calming you down when you had your breakdown? Once again it was me. The notes you found in your locker when you were twelve, where someone was begging you to stop cutting yourself? Well guess what. It was me. Since when do I care how you feel? Since I can remember. At first you were just a girl who was the only one who seemed to enjoy my company and who liked to help me with my evil plans. But after, when you showed me your true nature, you became so intriguing. Before I knew it, I liked you as a friend. Sure you always were sarcastic, and sometimes you say things no one really understands. But that's a part of your charm. And you know I have an older sister. I have seen her heartbroken. I don't care what game you're playing, I don't believe you when you say you don't care. I know you better than anyone else, there is a certain form of sadness in your eyes." As he was ranting, a part of Scarlett felt ashamed. Here Max was admitting how he felt and pointing out things Scarlett forgot about or wanted to forget about.
"I….." She trailed off looking at the ground. She didn't know Max was capable of making her admitting how she truly felt. Heck, she didn't know Max was capable of anything.

"Well I have to admit I'm not surprised he cheated on me. I was expecting this from the day he started asking me out. Cause there's no way a popular guy like him would notice a quiet bookworm like myself unless it was for a bet of some sort. But after all those months, I was kind of hoping he'd forget about this bet. You could say I got…. Emotionally attached to him. Maybe I never fell in love, but I'll miss him coming around just because he felt like visiting me." I finally admitted. Max just raised one eyebrow expectantly at me.

"And?"

"And what?"
"Scarlett I've known you since we were five. You don't expect me to believe you're not at least a bit angry at him."

"A bit? Oh I was expected him to cheat on me. But Amy? I respected him, but now, he fell too low. To replace me, with that brainless, stupid, cheerleader who only passes because she pleases the teachers? Oh I might've planned revenge, but he served it to himself by getting together with her." Scarlett yelled angrily at Max, feeling the walls closing around her again. It was the same feeling she always had before revealing her true self. Max must've noticed it, because he bit his lip in fear.

"Scarlett, er…. Calm down…. For me… please?" He pleaded as he backed away slowly. Scarlett blinked a few times, and shook her head to get rid of the feeling of suffocating.

"It's all right. I'm calm." She finally said out loud, and felt him approach her.

"Well Scarlett, I might not be the expert when it comes to love and stuff…. But if ever need a friend or anything… I'm here, you know?" He asked and she looked at him, unimpressed, before smirking slightly.

"You were right. You did change. Before you'd call people minion or sidekick. Now you call people by their names." He scoffed and crossed his arms.

"First of all, I do call other people minions. I just call you by your true name because… I still have the bruise from the last time I called you minion. Plus, " he looked at the ground, a disappointed expression on his face, "I've only had one sidekick. It was you. No one else is worthy of such honour." He muttered. Scarlett blushed a little. In Max's mouth, it sounded like the biggest compliment ever.

"And now, if you wouldn't mind Scarlett… Do you want to be my partner?" His eyes were still on the ground; there was a blush on his cheeks, visible thanks to his pale skin. His voice was getting softer and less comprehensible with each word he said.

"You mean that you'll treat me like your equal, you'll stop taking the credits for the things I do and you will listen to my evil plans? I'm in." She said, taking out her hand. He looked at her, surprise, confusion and disbelief written all over his face, and once his brain proceeded everything she just said, he grinned evilly and shook her hand.
"I'm glad you still want to work with me… partner." He said evilly. The two spent the rest of their walk to their homes discussing some spiteful plans they could pull off on Topher and Amy. Once Scarlett was in her house, Max stayed a bit in front of her wicket, before sighing, taking his hands into his pockets and slumping.

"Maybe one day she'll understand what partner means to me." He muttered before regaining his house, and entering there.

Could it be? A story about a one-sided crush with my two favourite eeveel people? Yuppers :)
And before you all ask me why didn't they kiss, well let me give my reasons:

1) Scar just broke up with a guy. So kissing another guy about an hour later isn't the thing she'd do.

2) I like to imagine Max as the kind of guy who waits for the girl to be ready before kissing with her

3) I like torturing Steph. And writing a scax (her OTP) fanfic without them kissing pisses them off :P (No need to thank me Steph xD )

So, was it OOC? Please tell me.