Howdy, this is Jack-be-Nimble, and I'm finally getting back to writing my bad boy AU story. Sorry for the excessively long wait, mates, but I'm back and going to be working on my stories a bit more. Enjoy the next installment.

Marco sat on his bed, a can of soda in his hand and a hardened look crossing his face as the light from the pall full moon peered through the window. Hearing the door slowly creak open, he looked up with narrowed eyes to see Star, in a light blue nightgown, and a worried expression crossing her face, slowly stepping in the room. Sighing and shaking his head, he groaned, "Look girly, I thought you were supposed to be polite. Haven't you heard of knocking?"

"I did knock, Marco," Star stepped closer to Marco as the half Latino teen arched a brow, "I heard a loud hissing sound and I wanted to see if you were okay." Star sat down next to him and frowned, "When you didn't answer me, I thought something had happened and I slowly opened the door…I'm sorry. I know that is not appropriate, and you could've been indecent, but I was worried and-"

"It's fine, girly, you're getting yourself worked over nothing," Star frowned and Marco took a deep breath, "Not that I don't want the company or anything, but why are you in my room? Shouldn't you be sleeping? We've got school tomorrow and no offense, but you seem like the person who wouldn't want to cut school, or anything for that matter." Star hummed and looked down.

Marco looked at her and narrowed his eyes, "What happened? Did my parents say something to you? If they did, tell me and I'll straighten them out right-"

"No," Marco arched a brow and Star frowned, "I'm sorry Marco, I know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're speaking. No, your parents haven't done anything to me, but…I am settled in, and you did promise me you'd tell me." Marco growled and looked away, "You weren't lying to me, were you Marco? It's impolite to lie to someone like that and-"

"No, it's just…a really, really stupid story and it might take a while to explain. So unless you have the time and the patience, you're just wasting your time here."

"Marco…I do have the time. I came to see if you were all right," Marco sighed and slowly nodded, "Now…please tell me what happened? Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm not acting like this, I really am like this," Marco chuckled and a faint frown crossed Star's lips, "Sorry blondie, I thought I'd lighten the mood a bit here. Anyway…it was a normal day, I got up, got ready for school and headed out the door.

Making it to school and stepping thought the door, I saw a group of jackasses messing with Janna, and since Janna and I grew up together, I wasn't going to sit back and watch people harass her like that, even though she's probably the toughest girl in school. I ran up next to her and offered some help."

"And is that how you adopted this attitude?"

Marco shook his head, "No. I'm probably telling you a lot of boring details, but trust me, it's important for later." Star slowly nodded as Marco took a deep breath and laid back, "Anyway, we took care of the idiots without problem, Janna made some wise crack, saying she could've handled those clowns herself, and I jokingly said of course. Before we parted ways to our lockers, I asked who she scammed this time and she just told me that she was walking down the hall when they cornered her. Not wanting to push it any further, I hugged her and she punched my chest…just a small gesture game we've had since we were about five.

I walked down the hall to my locker when I came to a crossway and heard whispering coming from my left. I pressed myself against the lockers and peered down the hall to see the guys me and Janna had just fought talking with someone, and holy hell did they look pissed."

Star looked at him as he took a deep breath and shook his head, "I couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but what I did hear was them asking for more money. I thought they were bullying another student, and I had thought I was right when I heard some of my former friends tell them I was supposed to be in, or even bother helping them."

"Former? Did you have a disagreement with them or something?"

"Heh…something like that. I approached them, calling them out. The damn yellowbellies ran for their lives…fucking cowards. And then I spotted Alfonzo Dolittle, Ferguson O'durguson and Jackie Thomas trying to hide behind the lockers.

Jackie gave me a smug little smirk, thinking she was safe, that I wouldn't hit a girl, and under normal circumstances, she'd be right to assume that, but she was planning to hurt one of my friends, my friend since we were basically in diapers and I did what my instincts told me to and grabbed the little nerd and fat ass by their shirts, threw them against the lockers and started beating the living hell out of them."

Star let out a light gasp as Marco sat up and slammed his fist into his hand, "I kept punching them and punching them, ignoring their pleas. I soon let them fall to the ground, not because I was getting tired, no, but because my hands were actually starting to bleed." He showed Star the back of his hands and her eyes widened at the number of scars, "That was a little over a year ago and they still haven't healed right."

Star looked up as Marco chuckled and shook his head, "I then looked at Jackie, who looked about ready to piss herself. I swear, I could smell the fear coming from her. I didn't swing, I simply pressed on her throat with my forearm, pinning her to the wall, allowing her to gasp for air. She looked down at me with water in her eyes as she tried to scratch my arm, only making me press tighter.

I dropped her to the floor and she gasped for air, panting as she held her chest. She looked up at me and called me a fucking idiot and why would I be bothered to save a Filipino whore. I saw red, stomped on her leg and she cried out in pain. I got detention that day and spend the afternoon messing with Janna, and he introduced me to Hope and Oskar and we became good friends.

Detention was let out and I invited Janna, Hope and Oskar over for a while, to play some games and whatever. As soon as we walked through the door, my parents were glaring at us, or rather me, with a look of anger crossing their faces. They said that my friends have stopped by earlier and said I stuffed Alfonzo and Ferguson in lockers. I jokingly said it'll be impossible to fit Ferguson into a locker because his fat ass will warp it."

"Marco-"

"And then they said that I cornered and raped Jackie, which was another lie. Yeah, I attacked her, but I wouldn't even dream about doing that to someone. Nothing justifies rape. Yeah, nothing really justifies what I did, but…I value my friends and family above everything else.

I called them out on their bullshit, knowing I wouldn't even think about doing something like that. Janna even tried to defend me, to no avail, of course and my parents started saying how she was a bad influence, and then they looked at Hope and Oskar and started with them, saying they're just as bad and I yelled at them, saying Janna isn't a bad person, and that they don't even know Hope and Oskar. Soon, all of us were yelling…me, my parents, Janna, Hope and Oskar.

At the end of it, my parents kicked me out for the rest of the day, and I ended up crashing at Oskar's place and-"

"Were you not allowed at Janna's?" Star questioned and Marco looked at her, "I…I'm sorry for interrupting you again, but was Janna not your friend first? I know it's inappropriate for a boy and a girl to stay in the same house at night unless they are related, but it will make more sense if you went with Janna. She was your friend first."

"Heh, while that is true, Janna and Hope were spending the day together and I didn't want to impose." Marco chuckled and shook his head, "And that was my last kind act. After hanging out with Oskar for the entire night, I learned the SOB has a crush on Janna, is estranged from his mother for…reasons, and he plays the keytar. We actually tried to form a band, although not many people were book us for gigs because of our attitudes towards people."

"So…you act this way because someone wanted to attack you friend? But Marco, that doesn't make any sense. Surely you could've gone to the principal and-"

"Unless you can bribe the bastard with any amount of money, he won't listen. And usually parents are supposed to reason with their children…now, I don't know if that was the whole damn story they told my parents, I don't want to know, because after that day, I came to realize that the world is cold, and people are fucking idiots."

Star frowned and Marco groaned and shook his head, "You can only trust yourself. No friends, no family, nothing,"

"But…but you trust Janna, Hope and Oskar…do you not?"

"With my life, but that's because they know what happened and we've been looking out for each other since that day. Hope has a lot of anxiety due to her parents constantly arguing, and whenever we see her going into one of her episodes, we take out for the day. Janna's home life isn't great in the slightest. Her mother is a heavy drinker and it only got worse after her dad died."

Star frowned and Marco stood up and shook his head, "And so that's why we're the school's troublemakers. We know no one is going to be there for us except us." He held his hand out and Star looked at him in confusion, "I'll walk you back to your room," Star slowly nodded before taking his hand and Marco helped her up, "And…you don't have to worry…we won't harass you and you don't pity us. We're used to being alone," Star ignored him as the two of them walked out of the room and across the house.

Star opened the door and stepped into the room before looking back to see Marco turning and got ready to walk away, "Marco?" Marco stopped and looked back in confusion, only to have his eyes widen with surprise when he felt Star lightly kiss his cheek, "Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry that happened to you and your friends,"

Marco chuckled and shook his head before he rubbed the top of Star's head, "Yeah, no problem Goldilocks, just don't tell my friends I told you everything. They're not comfortable sharing their stories, and to be honest, neither am I?" Star slightly nodded as Marco turned and began walking back to his room as he waved back, "Get some sleep girly, Don't forget we have school tomorrow," Star nodded again as she watched Marco walk in his room and closed the door behind him.

She frowned and looked away as she closed the door and turned and walked over to her bed. Crawling under the covers, she turned on her side, inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Alright mates, I was going to go with something else with his story, but I'll be honest, I couldn't think of anything. Enjoy the third chapter, mates/