School. Sometimes I just really hate school, especially school when it's on a Monday. The weekend just happened and you're still tired because you didn't get a lot of sleep, as much as you should have. Ahhh.

Especially this Monday. This weekend was filled with lots of drama and Chilton won't let the drama stop till about Tuesday and if it's incredibly juicy, not till Thursday. By Friday, everyone is anticipating the next weekend and all its possible outcomes.

I arrive at the "off with their heads" institution and try my hardest not to look at faces. Eyes tend to make me incredibly weak. Walking down the halls, I stare at the floor, not looking at anyone.

"Mary!" Someone yells at me. It's Hannah.

I look up and turn around. "Hannah."

She catches up at me. "Hey, I haven't seen you since Friday, what's up?" she asks me.

"Not too much. How about you? The last time I saw you, you were a little more than slightly inebriated," I smile and laugh a little.

"Ha ha, very funny. Nothing happened, that I wasn't aware of."

"Are you sure?" I question, sarcastically.

She puts on her hands on her hips, "I completely and totally resent that! What about you? You broke up with Joe."

"Yes I did," I stated.

"And?"

"And what?"

She smiles wryly, "What about that guy you told me about? The one that you very well know you should have no relationship with, but you happen to have the most intimate relationship you can possible have?"

I whisper, "People can hear you Hannah!"

"Fine, but I want details later. I've got to go to class. See you later!" She almost skips off to her next class. Sometimes I seriously wonder if she is the same girl I see on Friday and Saturday nights. The one with her shirt off, playing strip poker with people she hardly knows and the one that can read through me like a book. I don't really understand. She always has been a mystery to me.

I go through the first four periods of the day fine. I can hear people whispering but I just ignore it. Lunch comes and I sit at the table, that I normally sit at. Joe's there, but he sits on the other end of the table engaged in conversation with his friends. Right now I suppose it's the silent treatment that we are in.

Looking around, everyone is in their normal positions at the right table. The hierarchy of high school.

Alex is at his senior table with all his friends. We're on opposite side of the huge lunch room, but we still find each other's eyes. He looks at me and winks and I smile back. We both continue our school day without any contact until after seventh period, the end of the school day.

My cell phone rings and I check the caller ID and it's perhaps the one person that I want to talk to the most.

"Hey," I try not to sound too eager.

"How was your school day, beautiful?"

I laugh a little and smile into the phone, "It was okay and yours?"

"Same old Chilton. It's better now that I'm talking to you."

"You are such a charmer."

"Yes, but you seem to fall for it so I see no objections."

I laugh. "What are you doing right now?"

"Going home and meeting you there in fifteen minutes," he replies assumingly.

"A little presumptuous today are we?"

"With you I always am."

"You're right about that. I'll see you soon, bye."

"Bye."

I close the top of my flip phone and I hear a familiar voice in my ear. I haven't been expecting to hear it for quite a while. "Who was that?"

"What do you care Joe? You're not my boyfriend anymore," I respond forcefully.

"Was it your new boy toy or should I say Alex Ryderstan?"

My eyes widen in fear. I'm too shocked to say anything. "You honestly think I didn't know? You were fucking him behind my back and you didn't think I would notice? At all?"

"You're a jerk," I start walking away.

"Now let's not cause a scene Mary. I know your little secret and that's put you in a very interesting position."

"This has nothing to do with you."

He smirks in a completely conniving way, "And I wonder what your father would say if he knew about your little affair with his nemesis's son."

"What do you want?"

"I want what you gave to Alex and you never gave to me," he said seductively.

"No."

He grabs my wrist. "Do you want me to tell Mr. Dugrey about Ryderstan or do you want to do what I ask of you?"

"You'll never get that out of me."

"Fine. Have it your way." He turned around.

"Wait. I'll be at your house at 8. Don't do anything–," I gave in, pleaded almost.

"I get it. I won't tell your father anything. I'll see you tonight, my little Mary."

I feel myself almost crying. I have to find a way out of this. If I don't something, I'm going to have to sleep with him. I can't do that. I never thought of myself as someone who would hate anyone. Of course, I would say that I hate someone, but it's not like I hate them. I mean truly hate them, but Joe just gives me this feeling of dread that I can't stand.

Ten minutes later, I get to Alex's house. I don't even bother to knock. I just enter in a complete state of panic.

"Alex!" I burst into his room.

"Mary, don't you normally knock?" he asks in his usual sarcastic tone of voice.

I disregard his useless question. "Something happened after I talked to you and it's really, really bad. Joe found out about us and he is threatening to tell my dad about us," I say quickly.

He understood what I was freaking out about. "How did he find out?"

"I guess he knew while we were dating. Oh my god, what am I going to do?"

"What does he want?"

I can't say it. "He wants me...He wants me to," I try to say it, but I'm all out of breath. The first man I had sex with is sitting right across from me and how am I suppose to tell him that my ex-boyfriend wants me to do the one thing that brought my current boyfriend and I together.

Alex wraps his arms around me and I fit into him perfectly. "Oh Mary, we'll find a way out of this. There's no way that I'll let him do anything to hurt you."

"What are we going to do? How are we going to stop Joe from saying something?" I ask incessantly. "I told Joe that I will meet him at his house at 8 and we can come up some kind of bargain or something. Alex, I can't do what he wants me to do. I just can't."

He stops me, "I know. There is no way that I'll let him touch you."

Lightly, I kiss him. Somehow he has this way with me of making me calm and more comfortable and that together we could take on the world or something. It's sounds way too romantic and too idealistic and makes me sound way too dependent, but he makes me feel confident.

"Maybe I can just talk to my mom and she can talk to my dad. They are rational people, most of the time and I think they might understand. What else am I suppose to do? If I don't talk to them and Joe says something they are going to freak."

"Why don't we just deny it? I mean how are they suppose to know?"

"My mom knows and after everything I don't think she'll be up for the idea of lying to Dad," i reason.

"Fine. What if we do go to them and they tell us that we can't be together? I can't be without you." Why does he have to be so damn charming and sincere? It kills me.

My only response is, "I can't be without you either, but if Joe tells my parents don't you think that it will be worse than if I tell them about us?"

"I understand where you are coming from–"

Suddenly a thought cam to me and I cut him off, "Wait. What if we tell your dad?"

"I'm sorry, but did you just say tell my dad?"

"Yes. Yesterday he wanted me to have dinner with both of you and he seemed like he likes me. I mean of course it's a little sketchy, but it seemed truthful enough. It seems like he wants to be a part of your life and why don't we use us as an advantage?"

He shakes his head and lets go of me. "You're insane. I can't believe what I'm hearing. You're not making an sense. My father doesn't care about me Mary! He cares about the idea of me. The possibility that I'll be the one to take over the family business, which is inevitable, but nevertheless, he doesn't care about me."

"Why don't you just try talking to him?"

Alex runs his hands through his hair. I don't understand why this is so upsurd. "It's not going to work Mary," he insists.

"Why not?"

"You don't know my father like I do."

"Fine, l don't do it." I fold my arms across my chest. Maybe reverse physchology will work.

"Don't give me that look."

I'm not giving a look. "I don't know what you're talking about. Alex you are very adamant about not doing this, so go with what you want to do. I'm not going to force you to do anything."

He comes closer to me. "Do you really want me to talk to him?"

"It would make things easier, but you don't have to."

"I'll only do it if you are there. If my father likes you the way you say he does, then it should go well right?"

"Yes."

"Okay." He kisses my forehead and hugs me tightly.

"I'll talk to my parents tonight, is that okay?"

"Do you want me to be there?"

"No, I think I can handle my parents for one night. Dad's been in an extremely good mood and if Mom's there it will be fine, I think."

He nods. "Mary, I love you."

"I love you too." He said it before, but had never said it before. And it was the first time I returned the words and hadn't been pressured to. They kind of just flowed out of me.

I left to go to talk to my parents. Dad didn't go back to D.C. last night. I think I kind of made him feel guilty about never being around.

"Mom, Dad?" Voices are coming from the kitchen and it sounds like they're laughing. Maybe it's them. I walk through the door and see large cups of coffee on the kitchen counter in between my parents sitting on stools.

"Mary, you're home," Dad says.

"Yeah."

"How was school today?"

Better go through the small talk. "It was good I guess. You know how Chilton is."

"Yeah, I'm afraid we all do."

"Like you would know. You made Chilton hell for me!" Mom exclaims.

"Really? I always thought you liked the attention I gave you," he says playfully.

She shakes her head, "I hated it. You always made me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed."

"But you liked it."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You had to like it a little bit," Dad insists.

She gives in, "Okay maybe a little bit." She expresses the amount with a tiny space between her index finger and thumb.

"I knew you had it in you." Tristan bends his head down and kisses Rory. It's sweet and playful, but they are my parents and it can be a little more than I want to see.

"Okay, okay your daughter is in the room." Innocently I put shield myself from their activities.

"Don't you want to know how you got to be here today?" Dad jokes.
I laugh, "No. I prefer the stork dropped me on your doorstop story thank you very much."

"Fine, fine."

No one says anything for a moment. I figure there isn't a better time than the present right? "Mom and Dad. There is something I have to tell you and I'm not sure you're going to like it."

"You're scarring us a little Mary. I hope it's not anything absolutely horrible," Dad states concerned.

"Oh no. It's not anything horrible, but I just don't think you're going to like it," I repeat.

"I think we can handle it."

"I'm dating this new guy–"

I knew he was going to interrupt me, "What happened to Joe?"

"We broke up." He doesn't say anything so I just continue, "Anyway...this guy is really great. He treats me right and he loves me. I mean I'm probably too young to exactly understand that, but I know he does. You know what I'm talking about? That feeling of just pure content and happiness, but there's still that excitement."

They both nod. "We know what's that like. Your mother and I have had that since we first met."

"Good, so you understand that being with this person that makes you feel this way is one of the most important things in the world?" They nodded. "What if I told you the guy that makes me feel this way is a Ryderstan?"

By the look on my dad's face kind, I think he needs a little more clarity. "What do you mean he's a Ryderstan?'

"My new boyfriend is Alex Ryderstan."

"You mean the son of Kenneth Ryderstan?"

"Yes."

He takes a deep breath. "Are you serious?"

"Yes!"

He stands up. "Mary you can't be with a Ryderstan!"

"Why not?"

"Because he's a Ryderstan!"

"It doesn't make any sense. Just because you and his dad have some sort of feud doesn't mean that I can't be with Alex."

"Of course it does. You know what the whole rivalry is about and you should understand."

"Well I've never actually heard the rivalry from the horse's mouth. So why don't you tell me why I should despise him?"

"It's complicated."

"It's always complicated. I got time to kill and you don't have any pressing appointments so why don't you tell me the whole deal? The whole reason why Dugreys and Ryderstans don't get along." It's the least he can do for me. If I can't be with Alex he has to give a good enough reason. I don't know if that will stop us, but Dad can try.

He sits down and I think he's a little more calm. "It goes back over a hundred years. What happened was that my great-great grandmother, Mary Anne, was engaged to a Ryderstan. Now there was friendly competition going on between the two families. It was nothing like the scale it's at today. The feud is actually why I never wanted to be a part of the family business, but I'm doing my duty. Anyway, Mary Anne discovered that the man she was in love with was cheating on her. Now this was only the beginning. Not only was her fiancé cheating on her, but the Ryderstan family was planning on taking over the Dugrey corporation. The marriage was supposed to be a segue into the take over. Much to the dismay of the Ryderstans, Mary Anne told her father what she had learned and not taking this lying down in typical Dugrey fashion we fought back. We pulled all of our assets out of the Ryderstan corporation. They had quite a time recovering. Only about fifty years ago did the Ryderstans get back on their feet again.

"Mary, you have to understand that it's not just a business feud. It's personal. They completely humiliated our family in front of not only Hartford, but of the world. Granted we made them pay for it, but everyone thought that we were completely blind not to notice that there would be a merger of sorts that would result from the marriage. While they lost our assets in their company, we had to find new business ventures to place them and we had a hard time too. After that whole fiasco the Dugreys went into a dark period. We were suspicious of anyone that wanted to be a part of the family or the business. People that we didn't deem worthy enough, allied themselves with the Ryderstans. That's why there is a huge division in Hartford's social scene," Dad finishes.

It's kind of a lot to take in. I never really knew the exact pinpoint of all the rivalry and now I know. It makes a little more sense, but I can't help but feel that happened over a hundred years ago. "Dad don't you think it should be over by now? I mean this whole thing happened like a hundred years ago and shouldn't we rise above it?"

He grunts in frustration. "It's not so easy Mary. I wish it was. I wish that you could be happy with Alex, but you can't be with him. It's not in the cards and it never will be."

I stand up in indignation. "Well I'm afraid that I can't accept that. I'm going to be with Alex whether you want me to be with you or not." I start to walk away from them.

"Tristan, she loves him. You can't tell her she can't be with him."

"Did you know about this relationship?"

Mom is a terrible liar, "No...not really. I only heard her mention it once or twice."

"Rory I thought we said that we weren't going to hide anything from each other anymore? Secrets almost destroyed our marriage." He's angry.

"I knew this is the way you would react if I told you!"

"That doesn't justify it!"

They are fighting again. God I hate it when they do that. I thought things were going to be different. In despair, I continue my way up to my room. Immediately, I put music on in order to drown out their screaming. Occasionally, a shout slips through so I just raise the volume.

It gets to be 7:45 and I assume the fire has ceased at least for this round. Now I have to see Joe. Ugh, I don't want to do it. Although now he has nothing over me so he can't get me to do anything I don't want to do. I just have to be confident and tell him that it's over.

Walking up to the door, a feeling of dread comes over me and I can't help but shake this feeling of something bad is going to happen.

"Mary right on time," Joe greets. He's just so slimy and conniving. It's this look that he has.

"I am on time. How are you?"

"In a few minutes I will be. Come on in."

God why am I so nice? It always comes to bite me in the ass. "No I'm not going inside."

"And why not?"

"Because my parents know everything and you telling them would do nothing," I reply.

He grins almost evilly and like he doesn't believe me. His tall and imposing body leans against the door frame. "So Mary decides to tell the truth for once."

"I did and it's not a rare occasion like some people." Damn I knew I should not have said that.

"You lied to me almost every single day of our relationship, Mary. I don't think that constitutes you as an honest person."

"Okay maybe I did lie to you, but that didn't mean you didn't deserve it. You cheated on me since the beginning and the whole thing with Alex didn't happen until three months later and if I remember correctly during the first weekend of school you were with some freshman."

"I had my reasons. You weren't satisfying me," he states confidently.

"Really?"

He scoffs, "You gave it up to Alex so quickly and I never really understood why you weren't so accommodating with me."

"Because..."

"Because why?"

I take a deep breath, "Because I never loved you."

"Isn't that classic?"

"Joe you have to believe me. I never wanted to hurt you."

"I never wanted to hurt you either."

It almost seems like he is sorry, but there is a certain gleam in his eye and I know that it's not because he feels bad about our relationship.

Completely unaware of what was happening, he kisses me hard. Incredibly hard. He forces himself on me. I manage to pull away and muster, "Joe stop!"

"I'm not going to stop." He continues kissing me and I can't stop him. This is so different from Alex. I don't know what to do. He won't listen to me. I can't help but think that he is intoxicated.

His hands travel down my body incredibly roughly and before I know what's happening he pulls me inside his house. His lips move to my neck and I try and push him off me. "Joe stop!" I scream.

"Don't you get it Mary? I'm not going to stop."