AN: Hey guys! New chapter! I only got four reviews, but I decided to update again anyway. I would really appreciate your feedback though. Tell how you think the story is going, what you would like to see, stuff like that. By the way, LPOV means London's POV. One more thing; if you forget what happened last chapter, please go back and review it so you know what's going on. Thanks!

Bad Decisions

MM POV:

Flashback

Zack fiddles with the room key card for a moment before turning around and shooting me a nervous grin. When I return his gesture, he turns back around and inserts the card. After he opens the door and enters, I walk in after him. The room is a typical one bedroom suite, with a cozy living room and a tiny kitchen.

The fact that Zack has a room key to an unused suite might seem suspicious to the average girl about to lose her virginity to the biggest "player" of the school, but not to me. I know Zack doesn't keep this room around to bring in girl after girl in; he just likes to steal room keys. Call it a hobby if you will. And I also know that Zack isn't the major player everyone makes him out to be. It's a reputation that for some reason, he wants to uphold. Being his best friend, I know for sure that he actually hasn't even spent a night with a girl, which means that this is all new for him too. He can't tell his buddies about his inexperience though; they would just tease him, which leaves me to be the one he confides in. I'm not saying that Zack strikes out with girls though. Trust me, he doesn't. He usually has a date every night; they just never lead to the bedroom. When I asked Zack why,(I mean really, that would be the thing most sixteen year old boys wanted and he had had many ample opportunities to do so), he finally admitted to wanting to his first time to be special. Which leads me to the conclusion that Zack is secretly a romantic…and he thinks I'm special. I smile at the thought and grab his hand.

We enter the dimly lit bedroom, and my heart immediately begins to quicken as soon as I spy the large, king-sized bed. Doubts and fears rapidly fill my head, making me feel lightheaded as the reality of what we were about to do hits me like a ton of bricks. I shouldn't be doing this. Zack and I have only dated for a week. That's hardly enough time to make a step as huge as this one. Two weeks ago, Zack and I were just best buddies, playing basketball together and now we were about to become lovers. It's surreal. It's stupid. I'm ready to call this whole thing off right now.

I sit down on the side of the bed to ensure that I won't pass out from my nerves, and Zack quickly joins me. And just like that, my fears leave my head like they were never there. The electricity I feel coming from him takes away all reason from my mind, and for once in my life I act solely on impulse. And damn, it feels good.

I grab Zack's face with my hands and pull his face to mine. The electricity I felt from him before is nothing to what I feel now. My heart rate speeds up to new heights and my breath quickens. Whenever I kiss him, my worries and problems in my life seem to float away and disappear. That's one reason I find Zack so addicting. It's a great feeling to be carefree and not have to worry about my screwed up home life.

Zack slowly moves so that I'm lying on my back and he's on top of me, holding his weight up on his hands. I run my hand through his unruly hair and grow pleased when I hear a quiet moan escape his lips. When I lay my hand down on the bed, I feel my purse and dread immediately consumes me. I can't bring myself to be enthusiastic anymore, which Zack quickly notices.

When he separates his lips from mine, he brushes my cheek with his hand and whispers, "I know. I'm nervous too." A thought seems to form in his head suddenly, and he says, "Be right back. Don't move."

As soon as he leaves the room, I force myself to sit up and take action, not knowing how much time I have to do my task. I reach into my purse, and take out my digital camera. Bile reaches my throat as I slide the dial to the movie mode and set it on the nightstand, facing towards the bed, but slightly hidden by a box a tissues. As I hit the start button, I want nothing more than to pick up the camera and throw it out the window, so I could enjoy this precious night with Zack. I know I have to do this though; if I ever want to make it out there in the world after I graduate high school I needed moneyl.

As soon as I make the resolution to go through with this crazy, twisted plan, Zack enters the room.

LPOV

I whimper when I feel the blonde man next to me deepen our kiss and start to battle with my tongue. I fist the collar of his shirt in my hands and shudder, but it's from the fact that he's wearing polyester. He removes his mouth from mine and starts trailing kisses from my ear to my neck over and over again.

"Cody," I whimper again, trying not to draw attention to us, although that would be hard to do considering we were in a club. He licks the sensitive spot on my neck and then blows on it, making me gasp.

I grab his face and kiss him hard and passionately before saying seductively, "Let's take this home."

"Agreed." My boyfriend says in an obviously strained voice.

As we begin sliding out of the booth we were in, my phone begins to ring. I groan dramatically, and answer with a brisk, "Hello?"

"London," I immediately recognize Maddie's wary voice. "I need a girl's night."

My stomach drops all the way to my feet. I look up to see Cody pleading at me to hurry up with desperate eyes, and my selfishness rises. "I would love to Maddie, really, it's just that…I'm stuck at home with the flu."

"London." Maddie says in a patronizing voice. "I hear the club music in the background."

"That's from my radio. I'm listening to it to help with my headache." I retort, proud with my quick excuse.

"Even you could have thought of a better cop out then that London. Anyway, look, I'm super bummed, and I really need a friend. Zack bailed on our date because of…I just want to forget about it. Please? Pretty please? I promise to make it up to you and Cody." She says in one breath.

Shocked, I say, "How did you know I was with Cody?"

"Please," she snorts. "I can practically feel the sexual tension over the phone. What club are you at?"

"The Scene. I'll give you two hours, but then I'm going to go home and-"

"I'll be there in ten." She replies, and hangs up.

I let out an annoyed huff. I love Maddie. I really do. It's just that she has a knack of picking the worst moments to need me. It's probably karma coming back to get me for all the times Cody and I have interrupted Zack and her.

I look up to Cody to see the confusion on his face. "I'll be home in two hours sweetheart." He lets out a frustrated groan, and I hold back a chuckle at his disappointment. I kiss his lips lightly and whisper in his ear, "It'll be worth the wait."

MFPOV

As soon as I enter the club, the noisy music fills up my ears and the sound of the bass seems to boom in my chest. I make a quick beeline to the bar, spotting my heiress friend in her pumps and shiny outfit.

"A gin martini please." I order in a gruff voice to the bartender, sitting on a stool next to London.

"Hello to you too." London says in an annoyed voice. I bury my face in my heads and fist my hair. As soon as my drink is placed in front of me, I grab it like it contains the meaning of life, and chug it like there's no tomorrow. London eyes me warily and hands the bartender her credit card. "Slow down sweetheart."

"Keep them coming." I say to the bartender, and go right back to burying my face in my hands.

"What happened Maddie?" London asks, seemingly genuinely concerned for the first time all night.

With a frustrated sigh, I reply, "What happened is that my fiancée decided to cancel our date tonight to apparently comfort Maxine Montgomery. He left me sitting alone in the restaurant all dolled up for him! It was humiliating walking out of that place by myself! And where was my devoted man? With Max, who apparently takes priority over his future wife!"

London shoots me an empathetic look before saying, "Do you think that maybe, just maybe, you could possibly be overreacting?"

I shoot her a cold glare and ask, "Whose side are you on anyways?" The bartender sets down another drink in front of me, which I gratefully gulp down. I look to London again to see her giving me a worried look. "Can we stop talking about it? I just want to forget that tonight happened. I need to just…unwind…and let loose." The bartender chooses then to nicely place another drink in front of me.

London snatches it away before I have the chance to grab it. "No way Maddie. Not tonight. I really don't wanna have to deal with a drunken person. And I know how much of a lightweight you are."

"Oh come on London! Have fun!" I say a little too loudly, already beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol hit me. I grab the drink from her and take it all in one swig before clumsily standing up. "Let's dance!" I yell, tugging London to the dance floor.

We make our way to the middle of the room, and begin dancing to the high beat music playing loudly. The club is crowded, making many bodies knock into us, causing my dancing to be more awkward than it usually is.

Many songs later, London says something about going to the bathroom to make a call, but her voice barely registers in my mind. Soon after London leaves my sight, I feel a warm body pressed against me from behind. I turn around sharply to see a tall man with spiky black hair grinning creepily at me. I'm about to tell him I'm not interested when memories of Brad telling me to let loose fill my head. And then I picture Zack and Max together at this very moment, and feel an insurmountable rage pulse through my veins. For once in my life, I decide to be reckless and start moving against the body of the stranger behind me. Deep in my mind, I know that the alcohol is probably the cause of my dramatic emotions and actions, but at the moment, I can't find it in myself to care.

As we continue to dance, my insecurity over my hold on Zack increases. I begin to get worried that he's been secretly seeing many women behind me back, while I've been obliviously sitting at home. Again, I know it is the alcohol talking, but again, I don't care. I start to feel angry at Zack. Not just because he canceled our date, or chose Max over me, but because he's made me so dependent on him. He pursued me and made me love him, and now there was nothing I could do to erase that love. Nothing he could ever do or say could change how much I loved him, and it made me feel vulnerable knowing this.

I begin to wish away my feelings for Zack, wish that he wasn't the only one who could make me feel like I was on fire with one touch. I did the only thing that seemed to make sense at the time, which was to turn around to face this stranger, and kiss him full on.

We make-out in the middle of the dance floor and I will myself to feel something. To prove to myself that Zack wasn't the only one who could make me feel.

But that doesn't happen.

I feel absolutely nothing. No attraction, no passion, but most importantly…no love. It is then that my brain decides to finally gain enough common sense to realize that I'm making out with a stranger, and that I'm cheating on the love of my life over some petty insecurities and bitterness. Kissing this man feels so wrong. And it's not because I don't know him, or because I'm drunk…it's because he isn't Zack.

If I could try to describe it in words…it's like I'm branded. Branded like fire brands skin to Zack, and there's nothing I can do to change that. And I don't want to change that.

"Whoa!" I hear London exclaim from behind me. She grabs me roughly, pulling me out of my embrace with the stranger. "We're not going to have any of that! Come on. We're going home."

And that's when it really hits me. Shit, what have I done? That's a stupid question Maddie, I think bitterly to myself. My real question should be…How in the hell am I going to explain this to Zack?

AN: Hey! Okay guys; please don't be mad at me for leaving it there! I promise to update as soon as I get five reviews. Even if that's tomorrow, I will drag my butt to the computer and force myself to write the next chapter for you guys. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, and I can't wait to publish the next one. It's going to be so much better than this one.

To Bails:

Thanks for the review! Zaddie really is the best couple ever! As soon as I got your review I literally started writing this chapter. It's 2:30 a.m. here, but I wanted to get this chapter out, because if I didn't soon, I probably never would. Thanks for pushing me to hurry up and update. Thanks again for the review.