A/N: In THIS chapter: Maggie gets mad, has a heart-to-heart talk with her mom, and starts to see things a little differently.

Disclaimer: I do not own Drillbit Taylor.

Chapter 10: Blind~

He passed? Filkins passed? And he didn't even bother to tell her?!

That...that...that asshole! And after all they'd been through!

After Doppler had told her this interesting bit of information, Maggie left. It would have seemed silly to be mad over something like this to an outside observer, but it was perfectly appropriate to Maggie.

So he was just going to avoid her now? Was that it? Rough up her friend and then leave? Never talk to her again? She at least wanted an apology!

As far as she was concerned, Terry was the one acting like the child, not her.

The more she thought about it the angrier she got.

Man, people like that really burned her insides! Maggie wasn't one to just give away friendship willy-nilly, and for him to come along and just leave her high and dry, leave her hanging, kick her to the curb, drop her like a hot tamale, cut her loose, forget about her-

Wait.

Deep breaths. Calm down. Breathe...

Maggie huffed in annoyance.

She should be happy, really. After all, he did beat up Danny. She shouldn't want to see him ever again. Not after that. Like, ever. At all. For the rest of her life.

But, as much as she hated to admit it, she did want to see him again. Or at least be able to talk to him. Sure, she was angry, but most of all she was disappointed. Things were going so well - SO well! - and he had to go and screw it all up.

It wasn't like she hadn't seen this coming, she supposed. She knew she and Terry weren't exactly 'friends' (when did she start calling him by his first name?) but she liked to think that they were getting along.

...Well...okay. More than just getting along. By now she would have liked to consider him a friend. Would being the key word. Now, after all that crap he pulled yesterday at the library - beating up her friend, being a total ass in general - she pretty much threw that fantasy out the window.

She almost felt sorry for him when she thought more deeply about it. Maybe it wasn't really his fault. Maybe it was just a part of who he was, and there was nothing she or anyone else could do to help it.

Like, maybe he wanted to be good, to make friends, but there was just something in his DNA that made it impossible for him to do so. Kind of like a natural born killer. Or someone who tried to do good, but no matter what they did, things would never work out for them. Or something.

Then again, those people didn't usually enjoy the torment they put others through.

Toss that idea.

No, Maggie decided, he was just an asshole. A jerk. A player. A tool. He was just one of those types of people that loved to hurt and annoy and torture people. He would never have friends, and he would never want them.

And there was simply nothing that could be done about that.

Maggie sighed.

How could she let this happen?

I mean seriously?

On the car ride home, it only took about 3 minutes for her mom to shut off the radio, pull off to the side of the road, and ask her what her deal was.

Being the antisocial girl that she was, Maggie resisted in spilling any more beans than she already had, but this was her mom. Not some I-wanna-be-your-friend-so-I-can-stab-you-in-the-back Terry.

So she spilled.

Might as well. She only had a few beans left, anyway.

"Sigh, okay. You know that guy at my school? The one who messes with me all the time?" Maggie asked.

Her mother thought for a second. "...The asshole?"

"Yeah, him." Maggie confirmed. "Well, I helped him pass his math test and-"

"Wait, wait, wait...you mean to tell me you helped this weasel? Why?!"

"The principal told me to help him," she explained. "Anyway, it seemed like we were getting along-"

"Wait." Her mother interrupted once more. "You mean to tell me that you actually started to consider him a friend? You didn't crush him?"

Maggie blinked. "Well no, but-"

"No! See, I told you never to do that!" Claire whined.

"GAH, you're no help at all!" Maggie threw her hands up.

They had been silent a few minutes when her mother said,

"Do you like him?"

The question caused Maggie's jaw to drop to the floor.

The very notion made her lurch in her seat. The idea! The audacity of some people!

"Wha- what? NO!"

Claire sighed. "I had a feeling this would happen," she chuckled.

Maggie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you crazy?! That's insane!"

"Aw, don't give me that crap," her mother waved her off. "I can see it in your eyes."

She started the engine back up.

She began to sing. "Maggie's got a boyfriend..."

"Shut up," Maggie demanded.

"Denial is the first step to love."

"Denial's the first step to everything," she muttered.

Her mother just laughed as she got back on the road.

Maggie loved her mother, but sometimes, she had it all wrong...

The only time Maggie saw Filkins after the 'library incident' was in class. It was the only place he couldn't avoid her.

Not that it mattered, though. It wasn't like she could talk to him or give him a piece of her mind unless they both showed up early, which Maggie was never able to do.

And man, it was so annoying hearing everyone talk about how much 'chemistry' there was between them! First Rachel, and then her mom...even principal Doppler made a comment about it! Even Danny! Her last hope!

After the library fiasco, rumors started to circulate around school. Before she could really even comprehend what was going on, Maggie became the victim of gossip. The few people that had witnessed what had happened that day were probably to blame; sure, they had seen the fight, but they didn't know the whole story.

And so, in a matter of not weeks, not days, but hours after Terry had punched Danny, the entire school had assumed it was over a girl. In this case, Maggie.

Maggie had nothing against these people for thinking the way they did (after all, everyone has an opinion) but it truly amazed her how so many people could see something that just wasn't there.

...But then again, maybe she was the blind one...

Nah.

A/N: I know this is kind of a short chapter, but don't worry. They'll get longer in the next couple of chapters.

Now that I've thought about it I think I will do a batch post. It'll take a while to type everything up, but once I do I can just post it all at once, and then you won't have to go back and re-read everything in order to understand what's going on XD

I think that once I have all of the chapters finished I'm gonna post a chapter a day. Or maybe not, I'm still deciding.

Gah, I don't know what I want! (╯°A°）╯︵ ┻━┻

'Till next time. 😃