A/N So I wrote this last night and it took me about two hours. I kinda rushed the ending a bit because it was getting late and I wanted to finish before I went to bed. It may not be the best, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Please review and tell me what you think.


Marley was having a downright horrendous day. Nothing seemed to be going right for the girl. She had overslept and missed the bus, causing her to be late to first period. This, of course, resulted in her receiving a detention. And of course, she had to listen to the usual teasing from the football team about her mother all throughout lunch. To top it all off, she had been slushied twice in just one day alone. Fortunately, she had extra clothes to change into, but that didn't make her day any more enjoyable.

As the final bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Marley walked down the hallway and sighed in relief. After having such a horrible day, she couldn't wait to get home and be free of torment for at least a little while, before having to endure a whole new round of slushies and insults the next day. She collected her things from her locker quickly before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and closing her locker.

As she turned to exit the building, a few football players came into her vision, one of them carrying yet another slushy. Marley tried to dodge them and make a hasty exit, but they got to her before she could make it out of the building.

"Hey, what's your rush, freak? In a hurry to get home and see your whale of a mother?" the tallest jock questioned with a cocky grin on his face. Marley recognized him as Riley, a boy in her History class who was one of her main tormentors.

"Just leave me alone," Marley muttered, not in the mood to be bothered by any more football players. She tried once again to get past Riley, only to be pulled back by one of the other players.

"Not so fast," the boy said. "We can't let this slushy go to waste, now can we?"

Marley sighed and closed her eyes. Realizing there was no way of getting out of the situation, she stood with her eyes closed and waited for the impact. The jocks grinned before dumping the cherry slushy directly onto Marley's head. Marley shivered as the icy beverage came in contact with her face, already starting to burn her eyes.

The football players all laughed and high-fived each other. "Enjoy the rest of your day, loser," Riley grinned, as he and the rest of the jocks walked off, leaving a soaked Marley standing alone.

Marley shivered as she stood in the hallway completely drenched. Nothing seemed to ever go right in her world. To make matters worse, she didn't even have a set of clothes to change into, as she had already changed into her last spare pair earlier and now they were drenched and stained. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

The halls had cleared by now, which left Marley alone in the school. Or so she thought. What she didn't notice at first was that there was another person watching her from across the hall. That person was none other than the new head cheerleader, Kitty.

Kitty had watched the whole scene unfold as she was just about to leave the school. Although Kitty had spent a decent amount of time tormenting Marley, she couldn't help but feel bad for the girl. She would never admit it to anyone, but she secretly had a soft spot of Marley. Kitty stood for a few minutes contemplating on whether or not she should help Marley. In the end, she decided to just go for it, since there was nobody left in school but the two of them anyway.

As she approached Marley, Kitty heard soft sniffles coming from her, and she frowned slightly, realizing that the girl was more upset than she had thought. When Kitty got to Marley, she lightly put her hand on the taller girl's shoulder, which caused Marley to jump ever so slightly, startled by the touch.

Marley's eyes widened when she turned around to see that Kitty behind her, immediately thinking the worst.

"Look, if you're here to laugh at me and torment me some more, can you make it quick? I just want to go home," Marley said in a small voice that broke Kitty's heart. But of course, she didn't want Marley to know this.

"Actually I'm here to help you," Kitty replied with a slight bitchy tone as she didn't want to show Marley how much she really cared.

Marley's eyes widened even more at this statement. "But...why would you ever want to help me?"

Kitty sighed and replied with an honest, "I don't know" before taking Marley's wrist and pulling her into the nearest bathroom. Kitty released Marley's wrist when they entered the bathroom and grabbed some paper towels, handing them to Marley who murmured a small "thanks" before wiping the cold slush from her face.

When she was done cleaning her face, Kitty gestured her over to the sinks and Marley slowly complied, walking over to the nearest sink.

"Lean back," Kitty demanded, in a tone that was still slightly bitchy, yet softer than usual.

"Oh um, okay," Marley replied, tilting back slightly so that her head was in the sink. Kitty turned the water on and began running her fingers through Marley's hair, watching as the red corn syrup washed down the drain.

"Do you have a change of clothes?" Kitty questioned as she continued to wash the sticky syrup out of Marley's hair.

"No, I don't," Marley replied, looking up at Kitty. "I already used the first pair earlier, then had to change into this pair later, and now...well they're obviously ruined."

Kitty frowned harder at the fact that Marley had been slushied two other times that day. "Oh. Well I have a shirt you can borrow in my cheerios bag."

"Thanks..." Marley replied, not having anything else to say. She couldn't figure out why Kitty wanted to help her. Marley had secretly developed a crush on Kitty, despite all the teasing she endured from her, but she had thought Kitty hated her.

A few minutes of silence went by and all that could be heard was the water in the sink running as Kitty continued to rake her fingers through Marley's hair. Finally, Marley decided to break the silence.

"Uh...Why exactly are you helping me?" she questioned. "I mean, it's not like I'm not grateful for it...it's just that I always thought you hated me."

Kitty finished washing Marley's hair before turning the water off. "I don't hate you...I never have...I'm sorry if I made you feel that way..." she replied. It was very unlike Kitty to apologize. Very rarely did she ever do such a thing. However, Marley made her feel...different. Kitty couldn't explain it, but she just felt the need to apologize to her in that moment.

"It's fine...," Marley responded, lifting her head from the sink and standing up straight. Kitty walked over to where she had set her bag down, and retrieved a towel and a shirt that simply read, 'WMHS.' She handed both of the items to Marley, receiving a slight smile in return.

Marley used the towel to dry her hair as best as she could, before setting it down and removing her stained shirt. Kitty blushed slightly at the sight, before looking away. Wait, why am I getting all flustered? Kitty thought. I see girls change all the time in the locker rooms and I've never felt like this before..

Kitty snapped out of her thoughts and turned back around once Marley had slipped the new shirt on. The two were met with an awkward silence.

"Um, thanks for the help," Marley finally said, breaking the silence. Kitty gave her the slightest smile.

"Yeah no problem. Um I'm sorry you had to go through that today...it must have sucked," Kitty replied, not knowing what else to say. All of a sudden, tears welled up in Marley's eyes again.

"Yeah...it really does," Marley replied, her voice cracking as she recalled how terrible her day had been. Kitty panicked and moved a little closer to Marley.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she questioned in a voice much softer than her usual one. It was as if Kitty was a totally different person when she was alone with Marley. Marley sighed and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall.

"I-I don't know," she murmured in response as the first few tears fell, breaking Kitty's heart even more. "I just had the worst day with all the slushies, and the jokes about my mom a-and," Marley hiccuped not being able to finish her sentence right away. "And the teasing...And I just...I'm so sick of it." She put her head in her hands and started full on crying.

The very sight of Marley crying made Kitty want to castrate the entire football team for what they did to Marley. It also made her feel guilty since she had also participated in teasing Marley on numerous occasions. Kitty awkwardly stood there for a few moments, listening to Marley's quiet sobs before deciding to at least try to comfort the girl.

Kitty made her way over to Marley and quietly sat down next to her. She glanced at the crying girl before slowly wrapping an arm around Marley's shoulders. Marley responded to the touch immediately, moving closer to Kitty and resting her head on the cheerio's shoulder as she started crying harder.

At first, Kitty stiffened at the contact, but she slowly relaxed and wrapped her other arm around Marley, as well, now completely holding the girl. "Shhh, I've got you," Kitty soothed, rubbing Marley's back slightly as she tried to calm her down. The two of them sat like that for a good ten minutes, until Marley started to calm down. Kitty waited until the other girl's tears had reduced to just sniffles before pulling away from her.

"Um, I'm sorry you had to see me like that," Marley sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"It's fine," Kitty replied with a small smile. The two sat there in a comfortable silence for a few more moments, until Marley spoke up.

"Well I should really get going...my mom is gonna start to wonder where I am," she stated, standing up. "Thanks again for...um everything." Kitty nodded, standing up as well.

"Yeah, don't mention it...so I'll uh see you around?" she responded. Marley smiled.

"Yeah...I'll see you,.Goodbye," she replied before waving at Kitty and walking out, slightly happier than she had been before. She found herself falling for Kitty even more after seeing the sweeter side of her. She knew that under normal circumstances, Kitty would most likely continue to bully her in order to keep up her image. Oddly enough, however, she had a feeling that this might not be the case anymore... Marley shrugged as she walked over to where her mother's car was parked. I guess I'll have to find out tomorrow, she thought as she got into the passenger's seat.

Kitty grinned as soon as Marley left the room. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the bathroom as well. She shook her head as she walked down the hallway and out of the building. Wow, I really have a crush on Marley, she thought. And oddly enough...I think I'm okay with that. She smiled as she started walking in the direction of her house, with thoughts of Marley consuming her. She could see that this could potentially be the start of something great...