NOTE: I just wanted to thank degrassicutie1 for all her support. You've really kept me going. I know we have two things in common: We like to write and we love DEGRASSI! I'm really happy that someone thinks that my writing is excellent!!! ;-)

The sentence labeled with *stars* only die-hard Degrassi fans would get.

"Who the hell is that?" Marco said with a frightened voice.

"It's just me, queer." It was Spinner. "So, I don't know how to tell you this, but, I like you and, um, do you want to go out with me?"

"I'm going out with Dylan, stupid." Marco knew he was lying, but he didn't know if Spin was.

"No you're not."

"You mean you followed me all the way from Church Street?" Spinner nodded. "Oh my God."

"So. Do you want to go out with me?" Marco knew he was being a smart ass for sure.

"Okay, when making a joke, don't crack up while you are saying it, genius."

"But I didn't."

"True, but you were grinning from ear to ear. Just get out of my face would you." Spinner wouldn't move though. Marco stepped to the left. Spinner cut him off. Marco took a giant step to the right, but Spinner just cut him off again.

"Alright, what do you want?" Marco asked in an irritated voice. He knew he wanted something, but Spinner wouldn't answer. "What the hell is? Money? My watch? *My shoes?" Marco just couldn't give up the opportunity.* "A kiss?" Marco said in a girly voice, batting his eyelashes. He knew he shouldn't have done that to upset Spinner even more, but Spinner was ticking him off. "What's your deal?"

"Sure, we'll have all of those, except the kiss." Spinner made a face.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Just then, three other guys appeared on the opposite side of the street from behind a bench. "Oh my God." Marco started running for the direction away from Spinner. He ran as fast as he could, but they were quickly gaining on him. Dancing shoes are not good for running, kids.

When there was very little distance between Marco and Spinner's gang, Marco got so tired, he just gave up. He didn't want to, but he had to do it. His lungs hurt terribly, along with his head, legs, and feet since it was rather chilly outside and he had no jacket at the moment. All he wanted right now was to be home alone in his bed.

"Don't lay a finger on me!" Marco yelled at them, but they didn't listen. The one stranger grabbed him and held his arms back as another punched him and another checked his pockets…

~~~~~~~~

"Marco. Marco. Mar-coooo." It was Ellie. She was crowded by Paige, Craig, Jimmy, and Ashley.

Marco opened his eyes. "Hey El. What? Where am I?" He leaned up from his hospital bed and looked around the room. The clock on the wall read 3:26 a.m.

"Thank God I'm Spinner's girlfriend and thank God he's stupid. I got a call at 12:55 from that jerk I called a boyfriend." She emphasized the past tense part of "called". "Yeah, that's right. Spinner woke me up in the middle of the night to brag about your, um, bashing." She didn't want to say the word, but she couldn't find another one. "How stupid is that? Anyway, Dylan had told me you guys broke up and I was worried for you then, especially when he said he left you in the dark on the streets. I called up all the guys here and we went looking for you after you weren't at your house. Jimmy and Craig found you lying unconscious on the ground. It turns out they broke one of your ribs and damaged one of your organs. I forget which one, but that's besides the point. Are you in pain Marco?"

"Yeah, I am." He paused for a second. "But up here." He pointed his head. The greatest friends in the world all gave Marco a group hug.

"Thanks guys. I needed that."

"It's a shame your parents aren't home. We honestly don't know what to do with you," Ashley said in a concerned voice. "They won't release you to us, unless your parents give us permission." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys, it's practically the weekend. We'll skip school today. We can take shifts watching Marco and his house," Jimmy said. Marco began rummaging through his pockets for his house key.

"Oh, damn. Miss school?" Craig said. The six friends laughed together. Marco was happy to laugh.

"Uh, guys. They took my house key. And my cell phone. And my wallet with my money. Did you happen to report this to the police yet?"

"Oh my God! I totally forgot!" Ellie screamed.

"Here, Craig and I will. They'll probably come here to ask you stuff and crap like that," Jimmy said.

"Yeah, man. We'll be back as soon as we can," Craig said. He left the room with Jimmy in a hurry.

"Ash and I will go check out your house. You know, see if they're there," Paige said.

"Well, I kinda left in a hurry, so the front door's unlocked."

"Alright, thanks." Paige and Ashley left the hospital room together.

"I'll stay with you Marco," Ellie said in a sweet voice.

"Thanks, girl." He rubbed her hand that was holding the rail of the bed. Ellie gave her best friend another needed hug. He sat farther up in his bed. "You know what El? Why does being gay have to be a punishment or something like that?"

"Well, to some people it is. But overall, it's just the way you live your life. So you live differently than nine-tenths of the world. Big deal. But it's just their problem, not yours. Got that? You know, you've probably heard that speech before."

"Actually, I haven't heard any speeches on being gay, except from…" He paused, not wanting to think about Dylan. "Never mind."

"Hey you know, today at school, these two new kids were there. I assume they were new. The girl had a pink handkerchief hanging out of her left back pocket while the guy had a blue one hanging out of his right back pocket. What was up with that?"

"Are you serious?" Marco looked at her like she just told him he won a million dollars. "Come here. Let me tell you."

He whispered into her ear what it meant. His explanation on the girl's handkerchief totally grossed her out. After he finished the secret, she yelled, "Oh my God! Are you freakin' serious?"

"Yeah! I am!" Marco was very excited about this new student at Degrassi Community School.

NOTE: Just to let you know, I stopped the first part of this chapter early because a bashing is the worst thing that can ever happen to me. I hate thinking about stuff like that just because a person is different. That one episode made me cry!