A/N: Thank you, littlemissmaster, RocMySox, LittleMissSparkles and SilverStella. Your reviews make me smile

Later that afternoon I got home and quickly changed out of my school uniform, pulling on a pair of jeans and a jumper instead. I checked my homework planner, found out that all I was meant to be doing was revision, and resolved to do it later. Running downstairs, I grabbed a sheet of paper off of the pad by the telephone and hunted for a pen. When, five minutes later, I had finally found one that hadn't run out, I jotted down a quick note for my father.

Dad,

Gone out with friends. Be back before late. Don't worry about tea.

See you later!

Marian

xxx

I grabbed the bare essentials before I left the house; phone, keys, purse (Vaseline, mirror, hairbrush…) and slammed the front door behind me. As I walked down the front path I sighed, looking up to where the moon was just becoming visible in the sky. A few weeks ago it had been far darker than this when I got home from school; evidently the days were already getting longer. The garden smelled of recently mown grass, and I breathed in deeply, immersed in sudden contentment.

"Marian," my voice was spoken coolly in greeting and I started, coming back to reality with a jolt.

"Oh. Hello, Guy," I answered reluctantly, coming face to face with the tall, dark haired boy. He was standing on the pavement on the other side of my front gate, apparently paused in the motion of walking past my house, though I wouldn't put it past him to have been waiting out there in the shadows for me. His expression was unfathomable, and it made me nervous. For a long moment there was silence; he seemed unwilling to say anything else and just stood, regarding me wordlessly.

"You've heard all the stories, then," I continued stiffly, and he nodded, just the once.

"Yeah." His voice was cold.

I sighed, my expression pained. "God, what's Sheriff going to come up with next?"

Guy looked up sharply, and there was something akin to hope in his eyes.

"So it's not true?"

"Does it make any difference? It's what everyone believes, and everyone's already judged me accordingly. Where does truth come into it?" I asked dryly, leaning against the gatepost.

Guy frowned. "But if it's not true then things could still be alright. You could still get your reputation back-"

I laughed humourlessly. "Do you really think I care that much about my reputation?"

Guy just stared at me, uncomprehending. "But I care about it-"

"Yes, and that's all you care about, apparently!" I snapped in reply, watching with a sense of detached satisfaction as he flinched slightly at my words. "Tell me, Guy, when was the last time you thought for yourself?"

"What do you mean?" he asked heatedly.

"Sheriff tells you what to think, what to feel, what's acceptable, and you just go along with it!" I cried, "The truth is, if you really liked me you wouldn't care who I'd been seeing."

"Oh, so you have been seeing Robin then?" Guy asked, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"It doesn't matter - it shouldn't matter!" I insisted, but Guy just shook his head.

"But it does."

"Why?" I asked, and then, because I'd been so annoyed all day and I was finally, finally getting to speak my mind, I sneered, "Are you jealous? Scared that I like Robin more than you?"

Quick as a flash, Guy's hand came out and caught hold of my wrist. I felt the closed gate pressing into me as he pulled me towards him, too surprised to resist.

"I have liked you," he hissed, "Since the moment we met. Don't you dare talk about Locksley to me. Don't. You. Dare." His knuckles were white around my arm, and I could feel his fingernails digging into my skin. He seemed unaware of how tightly he was holding me, but for the first time I was physically afraid of him.

"Guy, let go-"

"Your reputation matters to me because I hate hearing the things people have been saying-"

"Guy, you're hurting me-!"

"Saying about you and him!"

I looked around wildly, wondering whether there was anything I could use to get him off of me, and at that moment there was a loud shout from further down the road. I looked up and, illuminated by the orange glow of a streetlight, there stood Robin, followed closely by his little gang.

"Oi! Gisborne!" he called again, striding purposefully towards us. I looked up at Guy's face and saw as he seemed to come back to himself, dropping my arm as though it were a snake and quickly retreating backwards away from my front gate. I stepped back too, cradling my aching wrist.

"What's going on here?" Robin demanded, reaching us at last. Guy's looked back at me for a moment, wide eyed.

"Guy was just leaving," I said firmly, because it looked as though Robin might punch Guy if he was faced with him for just a moment longer, and I didn't want a fight breaking out in my front garden.

"I didn't- I didn't mean-" Guy stammered, as I looked reproachfully up at him. He looked around, noticing that he was utterly outnumbered by Robin's mates further down the road. He still seemed shocked by the force of his own anger, but faced with Robin's disdainful look he seemed to gather his poise.

"Exactly," he agreed, "I'd rather not associate with chav's slags."

Robin's expression hardened, and Guy turned around to leave.

"You liked who I thought I was," I said quietly, so that only he could hear. "You've never liked me." Guy shot me a look - part anger, hurt and disappointment - and disappeared down the road into the growing dark. I watched him go, shaken and not sure what I should be feeling. There was none of the satisfaction of defying Sheriff. Instead I felt a sweeping sense of pity, of regret for the path that he had chosen, the person he had become. He could have been so much better. In another life, I thought, if there was no Sheriff and he was a stronger man, less easily swayed by power, I might have felt for him.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked quietly, bringing me back to the present - back to this world, this reality, and I nodded as I turned to face him.

"Yeah," I tried to say, but it came out as a squeak and I had to clear my throat and start again, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"He didn't hurt you?" Robin sounded both suspicious and protective. I was simultaneously filled with the urge to fall into his waiting arms, and snap at him for thinking I needed him to protect me. I resisted them both, of course, and just smiled reassuringly at him.

"No. Just grabbed me. I was just surprised, that's all."

"Good," he smiled. And then, slinging an arm around my shoulders, we walked back to where the others were standing a little further down the road, watching us with interest.

"Run away, did he?" Allan snorted as we reached them.

"Tail between his legs," I added, and he laughed.

"Come on," said Much, "Lets go get some chips."

Laughing and talking, arguing and gently teasing each other, we walked across the estate to the chip shop to indulge in the deep fried, the delicious and the deeply unhealthy. Allan had cans of paint in his bag, as usual, and I could tell that Robin was still pissed off about what he'd interrupted. Personally, I was all for forgetting about Guy and Sheriff for the evening, and I chose not to think about what might have happened if Robin had not turned up when he had.

Needless to say, the next morning Guy would wake up to some very interesting graffiti written across the estate.

--------------------------------------------

"Where have you been all evening?" were the words that greeted me as I opened my front door that night. I glanced down of my watch and frowned, puzzled. I wasn't later than usual. In fact, I'd often stayed round Georgia's house far later than this on a school night without any complaints, so why was my dad scowling?

"I left you a note," I answered, confused. I stepped inside and sat down on the stairs to take off my shoes, looking up at Dad as I did so. He was frowning, slightly worried and slightly angry. I wondered what on earth could merit this.

"I had a rather interesting conversation with Maria today," he told me. Suddenly, everything fitted into place. Maria was Guy's mother, and best friends with Amelia Sheriff.

Oh dear.

"Really?" I tried to sound casual, but even I could hear that my voice was higher than usual. Shit.

"Yes." That was my father's dangerously calm voice. At least when he was shouting I knew that I could shout back even louder. When he was calm, that was when things got difficult. There was a pregnant pause. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"And?" I raised my eyebrows and looked up at him, both defiant and quite sure that I was about to get into trouble.

"She told me that you've had a bit of a falling out with your friends."

I snorted. "A bit?"

"You want to be careful about the sort of friends you keep." The words were spoken seriously, a warning. "From what I've heard, you've been falling in with the wrong crowd."

"They're not the wrong crowd! They're nice people! Sheriff's being stupid!" I insisted, outraged.

"That's not what I've heard. And if I hear any more, don't think I won't stop you from seeing them."

"I'd like to see you try," I snapped, and ran upstairs. I heard him calling after me but ignored it, slamming my bedroom door shut behind me with quite necessary force. Why was the world filled with such idiots?