Disclaimer: nope.

"Marley?" he called through the door as he knocked for the umpteenth time. She had been dodging and avoiding those knocks for a while now, ever since the photo-shoot incident. He couldn't really understand why she had been avoiding him. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Really, he should be avoiding her for fear of getting murdered – if she could slap that girl, who knows what she'd be even capable of doing to him. But instead, here he was, getting questioning looks from her elegant mother who was cooking a meal downstairs. He sighed once again and adjusted his glasses. "Marley, sooner or later you're gonna have to open this door. Your mom's making dinner and we have school tomorrow."

"I've skipped school before, and there's a mini fridge in here." was Marley's exhausted and careless reply, accompanied by sniffs.

'A mini fridge?' Ryder mused, 'next she'll tell me there's a farm in there.' "You can't live off fridge food forever, Marls." Ryder chuckled.

"I was kind of hoping you could top up my supply of said fridge food," the brunette joked with the sadness still laced in her voice as it passed through the door to Ryder's ears.

"Is there a plotted time where I can come and talk to you, maybe after I buy you the fridge food?" Ryder asked as he smiled.

"Let me see… no." Marley pronounced the words clearly, but soon enough she caved; she let out a large sigh before her monotone reply rung through the cold air of her bedroom, "the door's open."

Ryder crept into the large room as if a tiger was sleeping on her pink rug and soon found Marley lying on her bed, cradling her knees, her face away from the door; she was also still in her Cheerios uniform. She sniffed, and Ryder wondered if she was crying, but he didn't question it – she had the power to take away his granted permission to her room any second. He cleared his throat and then whispered, "Hey."

"Hi." She replied bluntly, sniffing once more. She looked at the boy hovering behind her in the mirror, only seeing his face by that method. "I see you managed to get that blonde off your chest."

"Yeah, about that… Marley, I don't like her or anything. At all-"

"I don't care about that." Marely snapped, sniffing again. "I care about the fact that you were right, and so was she."

"If this is about her saying I enjoyed it, I-"

"Not that."

"Well… what then, Marls?" Ryder questioned, confused. Marley exhaled deeply before breathing her reply.

"You said this thing… whatever it is… would be really hard. And you were right. That whole time, I couldn't stand the amount of times I just wanted to kiss you when you came out of those curtains." Marley chuckled slightly. "And then Tina Cohen-Something picked her and she just…ugh." She finalised her statement by pushing her head into her pillow.

"I know," Ryder said to depict some kind of understanding.

"And the girl was all over you the minute you took off your glasses, which I hate. It just irritates me more than I know how to describe." Marley sniffed.

"So… what was she right about?"

Marley took a deep breath and a pause before letting her reply out of her mouth, "She was right about me being a slut." She announced as her lip quivered.

"Marley, you're not-"

"Yes, yes I am. Before you, I had slept with pretty much every guy in the school. Even some of the younger… teachers…"

Ryder frowned. "Like who?"

"Uhm… how do you think I got that A in Spanish class?" Marley buried her head now on her cradled knees in shame of what she had just confessed.

"Marley…-" Ryder began to comfort the girl, but once again, Marley cut him off.

"There have been several other guys in this bedroom before you had even stepped foot in this place, Ryder. So many other guys. I guess I knew that people talked about it behind my back, but that girl had the guts to say it out loud. And in this day and age, I never get confronted about anything, so I'm not used to it. No one ever really questions my actions, they just assume I'm doing everything right and they gossip about the things I'm doing wrong. Being the most popular girl in school… it's actually pretty lonely and it sucks. There's no time or room for any mistakes." Marley sniffed, letting a single tear slip out of her eye.

"I did it all because it made me feel something. I got my kicks off with a guy, I felt pleasure; I felt loved, even though I knew it wasn't really love and they all just wanted to get into my pants, or something. I've never truly felt love before, I've felt everything else – jealousy, admiration, sadness, but I've never felt it before. It kind of seems… alien to me."

And my trademark is to dump the guy hard on his face in public – I'm sure you've witnessed one or two of one of them before. It makes me feel powerful when honestly all I ever feel is powerless. I have a pretty face and a slim and curvy body, but I have nothing else to offer, and I despise myself sometimes because of it. I'll never let anyone see that side of me – I'd never hear the end of it if someone did." Marley squeezed her eyes shut to let more tears astray, before she began to truly quiver and give into her crying.

She felt something soft press itself against her cheek, taking tears off, and she smiled slightly when she identified them as Ryder's lips. She finally sat up and wiped her eyes. "Jeez, I'm sorry. I've probably smudged and ruined all of my makeup too." Marley tried to smile and chuckle, causing Ryder to grin at the effort and wrap his arms around her from behind, now that she was sitting in the space between his legs on the bed. Marley sniffed and wiped her nose before proceeding.

"I didn't want to treat you like I have the other guys. You're different. I don't want to break your heart like I have with theirs. That's why we haven't… done it… yet." Marley explained in more of a whisper than a speaking tone. Ryder smiled and kissed her cheek as he reassured her:

"I think you're pretty special, too. You have so much more than your looks, Mar. You're kind and selfless once I got to know you, and I'm somewhat glad that you save this soft side for me only," he chuckled - kissing down her face again, he continued. "I'm not going to judge you on your past experiences, Marley. I'd never do that. And, for the record," he moved to her ear and whispered, "I think you look beautiful in smudged makeup."

This caused Marley to giggle slightly, cheering her up yet more. She turned her body and head to face him as he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and murmured against her skin. "Don't let them define you. They don't know you like I do." Marley pondered around these words before smiling and nodding, letting a simple "ok" travel through the air.

"So, can we talk about these amazing abs that I now know you have?" Marley asked, smirking.

"Ask away, love," he chuckled in reply.

Woahhh, Marley actually has insecurities? Who could have thought that? ;) Anyway, I updated! And here's a little fluffy chapter for you all. Now I'll just be really evil and drop a hint: this chapter is the calm before the storm…

Thanks to all of my followers/favouriters (not a word, but still)/ reviewers! You guys are awesome. Sorry if cheese isn't your cup of tea – I kind of find myself uncontrollably writing it.

I am already so excited to see your reactions to the next chapter! Comment what you think it might be in a review, maybe? ;)

Until the next chapter,

-Beth :P