Chapter Two: Just Stay Awhile

Andrew

"Where are my long sleeved shirts?" I asked, throwing clothes around the room.

"Why would you need those?" Rory asked, looking at me and frowning.

"No reason," I said, shrugging. Of course there was a reason. But I wasn't about to tell him.

"You're such a liar," Rory spat, coming at me full speed. I tried to back away, only to feel my back up against the bathroom door. He pulled my sleeve up, frowned again, then slapped me.

"That hurt!" I whined, putting my hand up to my cheek.

"Not as much as those did," he said, pointing to my cuts. "Why'd you start that again Andrew?" he asked, tears in his eyes.

"I didn't."

"Oh well then who did?" he asked, hands on his hips.

"The cat."

"You don't have a cat!" he said, glaring at me.

"Oh yes I do!" I answered. He watched, amazed, as I pulled a kitten out from under my blankets.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked, instantly cradling the kitten in his arms. Of course it wasn't the cat, but he doesn't have to know that.

"I snuck her in. Isn't she so cute?" I asked, grabbing her back and holding her up to my face. I kissed her on the nose before placing her back on the bed. "Her name's Lola," I said. "It mean's 'sorrowful.'"

"Oh," yet again, he frowned. "She is cute though. But where is she supposed to shit?"

'Under your bed," I said, smirking. I found a long sleeved shirt and went into the bathroom, leaving him speechless.

Rory

I looked under my bed, and sure enough, there was the litter box. Lola's food and water were under his bed. That's disgusting.

I'm not so sure that cat really made those cuts on him. They looked deeper than that. My poor Andrew. What am I going to do?

I was drawn out of my thoughts by the fast knocking on the door. I opened it, only to be knocked over by Jesse as he rushed in.

"I need to talk to Andrew," he puffed, out of breath.

"Um…whatever. He's in the bathroom."

I had no idea why Jesse would want to talk to Andrew.

I rolled my eyes and left, eager to find something else to do.

Marco

I woke up in the morning to find myself alone. Jesse was long gone, and I was lying in an empty bed. This scenario is perfect because it's exactly how I feel. I feel completely alone. I know I have Jesse, and he's great. But…

I don't know. I just don't think this is right for me.

Then I heard the crying. So I'm not really alone. Not technically. I walked over to the crib that was near the end of Jesse's bed, replacing his desk. The headmaster had no choice but to let Gracie live with us. He wasn't going to deprive Jesse of his education, and besides, if he was kicked out of school, he has no parents to live with.

So she stays. Before Jesse goes to class, he has to ride the bus down to the nearest daycare where Gracie stays during the week.

Since she wouldn't stop crying, I picked her up and held her to me. I definitely wasn't used to it yet.

"Shhh. Come on Gracie," I complained. "Stop crying!" I was nearly yelling. I don't mix well with babies.

There was a knock on my door.

"Uh, come in!" I yelled above the crying baby.

"Hey, need some help?" Rory asked, stepping into the room. I instantly brightened when I saw him.

"Please," I said. He walked over and lifted her out of my arms; his hands lingering on mine for a second longer than necessary. My hands tingled at his touch, but I quickly pulled away and turned around, pretending to look for something.

I heard Gracie stop crying as soon as he held her. I spun around; amazed that he was able to quiet her.

"You okay?" he asked me as soon as the noise was gone.

"Um yeah," I replied, scratching my head. I looked up at him, lightly bouncing Gracie up and down. "She doesn't like me," I said, sighing.

"She's just not used to you yet," Rory assured me.

"But she barely knows you," I pointed out.

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you." He shrugged. "It'll get better." He placed her on the towel at the end of my old bed—since Jesse and I slept in his every night—and took off her pajama pants.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"She needs her diaper changed Marco. I assumed that this is where you change her…"

"Oh yeah it is. I just wasn't sure if you knew how to do that."

"Do you?" he asked, sneaking a look at me while he took her diaper off.

"Not really. I tried once and it ended up on backwards," I confessed, laughing.

"Don't worry, you'll learn," he said, just finishing up.

"That was quick. How'd you learn to change diapers anyway? You have a kid we don't know about or something?" I joked.

"Thankfully no. One of the foster homes I was in had twin babies. And I had to take care of them. So I learned," he shrugged.

I just wanted to go over to him and kiss him or something. Rory was just so…perfect. But I can't still love him. I've already gone through a boyfriend, and now I have another one. Rory's in my past.

"You wanna hang out for a little while?" I asked him.

Thomas

Last night was a blur. After Theresa told me the baby wasn't mine, I left. She called me back, and tried to follow me, but I jumped in a cab and told the driver to take me to the nearest bar. I got pretty drunk, and woke up in a hotel room. The girl I was with held out a bottle of water and two aspirin.

"And you are…" I asked, annoyed with myself more than with her presence.

"Ellie," she replied. "Do you remember anything that happened last night?" My eyes widened at her name.

"Wait…Marco's Ellie?" I asked. God, I really screwed up this time.

"Yeah, I guess. If that's what you want to call me," she said, smiling. I recognized the red hair and soft smile from her visit to Marco when he was in the hospital.

"Sorry, I just…" I held my pounding head and sighed. "I thought you had a boyfriend? Jeremy or something…"

"Jay. And had would be the key word in that sentence," she said, looking at the floor.

"Please tell me that we at least used a condom. I can't take having another kid on the way," I said, looking over at her. She sat down on the bed next to me and took my hand.

"Trust me, I'm not that kind of girl," she said, laughing a little. "I recognized you from the hospital, and found you wandering the street outside this hotel. You were drunk off your ass and I offered you a place to stay," she explained.

"Well, thanks."

"You really need to talk to Theresa though," she said finally. I pulled my hand away from hers and scowled.

"How do you know her?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, you talked about her the all night. You complained that she's a slut and pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby who also happens to be your enemy. Then you cried about how you're still in love with her, even though she did it."

I felt my cheeks turn red.

"I didn't actually cry did I?" I asked her.

"Yeah. You cried so much that I had to change my shirt. But don't worry about it. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks, but did I mention anything else last night?"

"Like what?"

"Never mind." I really hoped that I hadn't said a word about my father. "So, why are you even here? Don't you have school back in Canada, and family?"

"Not anymore," she said, turning away from me.

"Come on, I shared my problems. Why can't you share yours?"

"You were drunk," she pointed out.

"That doesn't matter. You obviously need someone to listen to you. So I'm ready to listen."

I was really becoming a softie. And I hated it.

Theresa

"I messed up," I confessed, close to tears. I wasn't even sure why I still did this.

"And I would care why?" Remy asked, glaring at me. "I really don't like you in my room."

"You used to," I pouted, sitting down on his bed.

"Yeah, I did," he agreed. "Before we broke up. But we're over now, so, I'd like it if you left right now." He was working on some sort of art project.

"Remy, please. I have to tell you something." It was now or never.

"Fine. But make it quick. I want to finish this tonight," he groaned.

"I'm pregnant," I said quickly.

"Okay. Thomas has got to be shitting himself right now. He's already having a baby with some other girl that he won't talk about," Remy stated. "But why did you feel the need to tell me?"

"Because it's your baby."

Lindsey

"Can't you stay a little longer?" I asked Sarah, nuzzling my face into her neck. I kissed it before looking into her eyes and sticking out my bottom lip. "Please?"

"I can't, I'm sorry," she said, definitely holding back tears.

"Don't cry, just stay," I begged.

"Lindsey, I love you. These past few months have been great. And I'll never forget them," she cried, letting the tears spill down her cheeks.

"We can just leave. We'll be together forever," I said. It sounded lame, but I was being sincere.

"No, we can't. I'm fourteen years old Linds! I'm not old enough to be running away with some guy. I'm sorry," she said.

"You're right. But at the trial, we have to pretend we don't even know each other. And after that, I'll never see you again."

"I know." She continued crying for a minute, and we sat there in silence.

"Just…one last time?" I asked.

"Okay," she whispered, drying her face off.

Ellie

"Well, I don't know if I even want to talk to you about this kind of stuff," I told Thomas. "I barely even know you. This is the kind of thing I would talk to Marco about," I said.

"Well, pretend I'm Marco then," he said, smiling.

"That's pretty impossible, sorry. But I guess I'll talk to you since you cried your heart out to me last night."

"Hey, don't make fun of me. I was being sincere. I just didn't know it at the time," he said, laughing.

"You don't make any sense." I laughed along with him for a minute.

"Really though, what happened?" he asked, getting serious.

"My parents…well, my dad was on a peacekeeping mission for awhile. And my mom started drinking again…" I trailed off, unsure of whether or not I wanted to tell him about this.

"You can tell me. It's okay. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"My dad never came back," I said, hanging my head.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know that it was going to be like that. I…" he started blabbering on and on.

"He didn't die," I told him. "He fell in love with some army nurse and ran away with her or something. He just left us. And then my mom started drinking even more. I had to force her into rehab when she woke up one morning and called me because she didn't know where she was. So that left me with nowhere to live. I really didn't want to go back to an empty house. And Jay…"

"You couldn't live with him?" Thomas asked. I laughed at the thought.

"He went back to his ex. He said that I had too much drama going on and if I needed pity sex, then he'd be the one to help me out. He's not really one to deal with actual problems," I stated coldly.

"Oh." He frowned a little. "So you're just going to live in a hotel? How do you even pay for this place?"

"My dad never took his credit cards with him. So I have those for now. And I was going to find the right time to talk to Marco about it."

"You have to graduate school," he said. "You're so close. Maybe you could go to Theresa's school. It's nearby," he suggested.

"I don't really mix well with private school," I said, scrunching my nose up.

"There's nothing else near Marco," he pointed out. "I could go with you and talk to the headmistress. She's a friend of my mom's."

"Thanks, that'd be nice."

"Why don't we go now?" he asked.

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

A/N: I know Ellie's POV ended at a random point, but I had nothing else to put there. It feels good to actually be writing this again.