"El, breakfast is ready." Marco sung as he opened my door. I lifted my head and looked around, realizing I was in my own bed. Sweat drenched my entire body and the sheets around me had been kicked in every imaginable direction and were hardly covering me anymore.

"Huh?" I whispered, hardly coherent enough to understand what he had said the first time. He laughed and pulled the covers away from me. I immediately tensed up and grabbed for the covers back. My mind flashed for a second to last night's events.

"God, El." Marco dropped the covers, letting me pull them back over my now shaking body. I stared blankly at him as he stood there, watching me with concern. I swallowed hard, wondering what he was thinking.

"What?" I asked, pulling the blankets closer around my already sweaty body. He moved closer to me and sat on the edge of my bed. His hand gently touched my face and I felt a sharp pain. I pulled away from him and got out of bed. Standing in front of my mirror, I finally saw what had concerned him.

"How the hell did that happen?" He asked. I shrugged, feeling my heart speed up. Stay calm, El. Just stay calm.

"Uh, this guy at the party last night, we were dancing and I guess he had too many because he elbowed me in the face." Lie. I ran a hand through my hair, hoping that he would believe me. After a few moments of awkward silence, Marco finally burst out laughing, a sign that he believed me.

"Ellie Nash? Dancing? Well, somebody was just bound to get hurt then." He smirked, shaking his head. I smiled and pushed him towards the door. "Hey, what about breakfast? I slaved over a hot stove for you and Dylan and then he tells me he's too hung over to eat and you are kicking me out?" He whined with mock hurt.

"Marco, I would like to change if that's alright." I laughed, giving him one last shove towards the door. He sighed and put his hands up in the air as if defeated.

As soon as I was sure he was gone, I took my sweatshirt and pants off and gazed in the mirror at the few scratch marks and bruises that covered my body and the especially dark ones around each of my wrists. I leaned back against the wall and slid down until I was sitting. I covered my face with my hands, tears slowly running down my face. I lay there for awhile, in nothing more than my bra and underwear as I silently broke down.

"El, you better not have fallen back asleep in there." Marco said, awakening me from my thoughts. I cleared my throat and pushed myself to my feet.

"I'll be right out, Marco." I called, dressing as quickly as I could. I pulled on a t-shit and was just about to walk out when I realized that my wrists were fully visible. I couldn't walk out in a sweatshirt in the summertime so I began rummaging through my closet and grabbed my old arm warmers. I hadn't worn them in forever. I shrugged and hurried out to the kitchen where I saw Marco trying to get Dylan to try a bite of his egg.

"What's up with the high school wardrobe?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow at me. He shot Dylan a worried look. I knew what they were thinking. They thought I had cut myself. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"I know what it looks like, but I didn't. I swear." I said, looking them both in the eyes. "Just because he didn't call, you think I would automatically do that again? I'm not stupid, I've worked too hard to get this far." They both looked at me and nodded.

"You're right. I just wanted to be sure..." His voice trailed off. "You know, why don't we go shopping? A little belated birthday shopping for you?" He asked, smiling. I shrugged and nodded, sitting across from them. Marco was right, maybe getting out of the house wouldn't be such a terrible idea.