"I think I'm going to make up with her. It's not her fault Brooke cheated on Dean, and it's not her fault that everyone wants to be friends with her again."

Jay turned his head away from the beautiful blonde. "Why? She doesn't deserve you, Rori. She only tries to bring you down to lift herself higher. They all do that."

Aurora shook her head. Madison was self indulgent sometimes, and a little bit obsessed with her social status, but she'd never try and bring Aurora down. They had always balanced each other out, and Aurora had owed a lot to Madison over the years.

"Aurora, she hurts people."

"She's not like that. You don't even know her."

"I know enough."

When Aurora didn't reply, Jay simply kissed her on the lips and wrapped his arms around her. Aurora stared at her boyfriend, but her gaze was torn away when Madison Bass stormed down the steps with a flurry of girls behind her, and for the first time, Aurora properly missed being by Madison's side.

*.*

"Remember me?" It was the Gala held four months after Madison had slept with Dean, and she had drank enough to speak to him. She felt beautiful in her black dress that curved against her body in a way that drove every single boy in the room crazy, and Madison loved that.

Dean Archibald turned around. "When did I forget you?"

"The past four months, maybe?"

"You haven't tried with me either, Mads. And we aren't having this conversation here."

"You mean we aren't having this conversation, period?"

"You're drunk."

"Well that didn't stop you last time." Madison shot back, and Dean recoiled like he'd been slapped. She knew she'd pushed him too far, and even though she hadn't been drunk that night, she wanted to hurt him the way he was hurting her.

Because he told her he loved her. She'd given herself up to him, and he'd taken her like she belonged to him. And the nothing. Four months of silence. Awkward encounters and occasional hello's, but nothing that implied they'd exchanged more than that. Because she was so in love with him and he was breaking her heart.

He didn't even reply, he simply turned and walked away.

*.*

Strolling the hallways felt different when you knew that every student was watching. It felt better. Madison had spent the past few weeks trying to avoid being noticed that she lapped up the attention that was coming her way. But her only time being alone was her walk to Advanced Calculus, because none of her friend's were in that class.

Aurora's boyfriend, Jay, was standing with his back to Madison. The boys weren't really supposed to come over to Constance during class, so Madison stopped in surprise. It was only then she noticed the girl. Jay's head covered her, but they were standing pretty close. After only a minute, Jay threw his hands up in frustration and stormed away, not looking back. Madison reverted her eye's back to the girl he left behind, the one who had tears in her eyes.

Brooke.

She didn't flinch away from Madison's stare, and that annoyed her. "Why are you talking to my best friend's boyfriend?"

Brooke let out a cold laugh. "I didn't think you had a best friend."

"Just because Rori and I fight all the time doesn't mean that I'll stop caring about her. You'd get that if you had any proper friends."

Brooke crossed her arms over her chest. "What Jay and I do has nothing to do with you. If he wanted to stay away from me, he would."

Madison considered that for a second. "You can try and bring me down all you want, but if you even so much as think about hurting Aurora, I will make you leave New York, do you understand?"

Madison held her breath for a moment. She'd taken that line from her mother's diary; she used the same one on Jenny Humphrey. It seemed to Madison that the Humphrey's had really caused her mother some problems.

"Like mother, like daughter." Brooke lowered her voice at Madison. "But that works both ways, Madison. Don't threaten me."

Madison watched Brooke walk away and her mind whirled at what she meant. Brooke and turned Madison's threat back around on her, and that annoyed her. But more importantly, she wanted to talk to Aurora. She didn't care how bitchy Aurora had been to her yesterday, she needed to warn her best friend that her boyfriend was getting up close and personal with another girl.

*.*

Madison was sitting at the Archibald's glass table, her school books spread across half of it, Dylan's occupying the other half. "I don't understand this stupid Calculus question. Can you help me?" Madison asked.

Dylan pulled the book towards him, and after thirty seconds pushed it back. "No idea, Maddie. You're supposed to be the smart one." Madison smiled in return, but was growing more frustrated at her lack of concentration.

"Is Rori at Jay's?"

Dylan shook his head. "Nah, she never goes to his place. They hang out here or go shopping or something."

Madison screwed her nose up. "Oh, okay."

"Can I have a kiss?" Dylan asked, smirking.

Madison smiled and stood up, but as she bent over to kiss her boyfriend Dean and Tyler walked in the front door.

"Get off my sister, Archibald." Tyler warned, only slightly laughing. Dean smiled too.

"Dean could help you with that question, Maddie. He's good at Calculus."

Tyler groaned. "Dean is going to get changed to head out with me. He doesn't have time, kid. Do it yourself. Work ethic and all that, as Dad would say."

All three of them laughed. "It'll only take a second." Dean replied, and looked at Madison's books. He sat on the table beside her, and Tyler asked Dylan to play some Xbox game while they waited. They moved to the couch as Dean and Maddie concentrated.

"You only have to flip the fraction and divide it by the sum." Dean told her, pointing out each step. Madison tried to listen, but she was distracted by how close he was to her lips. His smell floated invaded her brain and she couldn't help but gravitate closer to him. When their lips where only centimetres apart, he stared down at her and she never broke his glance. Seconds, minutes, hours, day, years passed with their eyes locked, until Tyler turned around.

"This must be some difficult question.." He trailed off curiously as Maddie and Dean pulled apart. They both looked guilty even though they hadn't been doing anything wrong. Madison had literally felt the electricity move between them.

"We're done." Dean said, and Tyler followed him to his room, leaving Madison and Dylan alone. When they came back down, they both walked out of the Archibald's without saying goodbye. Dylan turned to Madison and grinned,

"Let's go upstairs."

She followed him into his room, where he immediately pressed her against the door. He kissed her neck, her collarbone, her cheek, her ear, and then finally her lips. She pressed against him and could feel him getting excited. Dylan lifted Madison and moved her to the bed, where he slowly slipped off her top. She returned the favour, and soon his hands moved to the button on her jeans. She let him undress her, only thinking of the way he made her feel safe and the way she needed that, and how he loved her and had been something solid for her.

"Dean and Tyler are gone. We're alone." Dylan whispered into her ear, but he'd broken the spell. He'd mentioned the one name she had been pushing out of her mind. She nodded anyway, and allowed Dylan to continue caressing her body, but she wasn't feeling any magic.

"Are you ready?" Dylan asked her, pausing at her entrance. Madison stared into the eye's of the boy she so desperately wanted to be in love with. She wished she could feel the same as she did that night of Truth or Dare, or the night he took her to her first ever Prom where they'd danced and held each other all night. She wished she could rewind to the the weekend they went to the Hampton's with Aurora and her then boyfriend, because they'd spent that weekend sunbathing and swimming and watching movies and cuddling. She wished she could remember how she used to feel when he would kiss her and how she got the slight tingle that Dylan Archibald was hers, and that every girl in school was jealous of her. She wished she could be one half of the perfect couple that everyone expected of her.

Instead she started crying. "I can't." Madison sat up in bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to cover herself.

"What's wrong?" Dylan asked, confusion taking over his features.

"I can't do this."

"Okay.." Dylan nodded. "We don't have to do it right now..I thought you said you were ready?"

Madison allowed her tears to fall heavier. "I don't mean that.. I mean this. Us. I can't."

Dylan understood this time. His face paled a little and she closed her eye's so she didn't have to see the pain she was causing him. "Is there someone else?"

Madison didn't open her eyes. "Yes."

There was the longest silence Madison ever encountered before he spoke. "Please get out."

And she didn't answer, because nothing she could say would fix this. She could apologize all night and it wouldn't be enough. Madison wanted to say she was joking and that she loved him, because she needed Dylan Archibald to be happy, but she couldn't do it any more. She was sick of pretending.

By the time she got home, her tears had stopped but her eyes were red. She tried to sneak past her mother, but she'd not been quick enough.

"Madison? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I want to go to bed."

"You're not going until you tell me."

Madison tried to pull her arm away from her mother. "Why?"

Blair looked into her daughter's eyes. "Because I spent a lot of nights crying alone in bed, and I promised myself I would never let my child do that."

Madison bent her head into her mother's shoulder and started crying harder. Blair led her to her bedroom and Madison curled up in her mother's bed. Blair kissed her head. Madison may have been seventeen years old, but Blair was treating he like she was four again, and Madison actually didn't mind.

"I'm going to make hot chocolate with the little marshmallows you like, and then I'll come straight back up. And then you can tell me everything, okay?"

Madison sniffed. "Okay. I love you, Mommy."

Blair wiped a tear that had formed on her left eye. "I love you too, Maddie."