Part 3: Craig and Marco get in a fight!

A/N: Okay, in this one, Marco has been seeking therapy for his homosexuality, and now he's bisexual (for those who know not what that means: likes guys and girls). Okay? So… yeah.

1 ½ months later

Marco walked out of the therapist's office. He'd been going for six months, and now, his parents weren't going to pay for more therapy. Not that he needed anymore. He couldn't wait to tell Ellie, his best female friend. He wasn't 'gay' anymore. He was now a bisexual. So he could like Ellie again. He wasn't sure how, but since he'd started seeing Dr. Listavoch, he'd started liking girls more. He still liked guys, like Dylan, but now he found Ellie attractive in a different way. He was going to challenge himself at school the next day.

the next day

Marco strolled down the halls of Degrassi. He'd felt better since yesterday, his last day of therapy. He walked up to Ellie. "Guess what, Ellie?" he said excitedly. Ellie flipped her red hair over her shoulder.

"What, Marco?" Ellie asked, pulling a book out from her locker and holding it with her binder. Marco smiled.

"I'm not gay anymore," Marco said. Ellie looked up at Marco and sighed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Marco, you told me this years ago. You've been gay since grade nine. You can't just stop being gay."

"Well, you know that doctor I've been seeing twice a week for six months?" Marco said cutely.

"Um… yeah," Ellie said, shutting her locker and walking down the hall with Marco.

"He helped me… like girls, too. I still like guys, though."

"Okay," Ellie said. "Enough joking around. What's the big surprise?"

"That was the big surprise. I'm bisexual now, Ellie."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that again," Ellie said coolly, stopping in the hall. Marco turned and looked into her eyes.

"I'm bisexual now," he said slowly. Ellie smiled softly and put a hand on Marco's shoulder.

"That's great, Marco. I'm really happy for you," she said.

"So, Ellie, I was thinking maybe we could go see a movie sometime," Marco said quickly.

"Marco, are you asking me out?" Ellie asked, her smile fading.

"Um… yeah, I think so," Marco said, pondering the thought of asking a girl out.

"I can't. After Sean left… I don't think I'm ready for another relationship just yet. But I'd love to go see a movie… as friends."

Marco smiled. "Sure, Ellie. Just as friends," he said. Ellie hugged Marco and then they went to class. Marco sat in front of a computer. Spinner leaned over and whispered to Marco, "Hey, I heard you're not gay anymore."

Marco nodded. "Yeah," said Marco. "Wherever you heard that from, they're right."

"Well, I also heard that Ellie turned you down," Spinner continued.

"You also heard right. But we're going to the movies as friends." Marco was trying to listen to Mr. Simpson.

"Okay," Spinner said. "I have a challenge for you, then."

"What kind of challenge?" Marco muttered.

"If you want to go out with a girl, ask out… Ashley Kerwin," Spinner said quietly, grinning.

"I can't, she's with---" Marco began. Spinner cut him off.

"I know she's with Craig, but Craig's at the doctor's getting his casts off today. If you hit on her today, then she'll forget all about it by tomorrow," Spinner assured Marco.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Spinner said.

"So----"

"That's all very nice, you guys, but frankly, I don't care. I hope you caught the assignment because I'm not going to repeat it for you," Mr. Simpson said loudly.

Marco and Spinner sighed in irritation. Marco glared at Spinner, wishing he'd never brought it up.

Fifty minutes later, the bell rang, releasing the students from class.

Spinner walked alongside Marco through the halls. Spinner pointed straight ahead. "There she is," Spinner said, pointing to Ashley standing at her locker. "Now go to her, Marco."

"I don't know about this, Spin," Marco said quietly.

"Go ahead. I'll give you… twenty bucks, that's all I have."

Marco held his hand out and got the money from Spinner before sighing and walking towards Ashley.

"Hey, Ash," Marco said coolly.

"Hey, Marco," Ashley said, preoccupied with organizing the inside of her locker.

"What are you doing after school today?" Marco asked hopefully.

"I'm probably going over to Craig's to check out his guitar," Ashley said simply.

Marco sighed. "Oh," he said. "Because I was kind of hoping you could come over to my place…" Marco's voice trailed off as his arm went slowly around Ashley's waist.

"Marco, what are you doing?" Ashley said blankly. She stared down at Marco's arm, which went up around her shoulders and down to her chest.

"Marco! Stop it!" Ashley screamed. She pushed him away, almost making him fall. Marco ran down the hall to class, leaving the people in the halls to stare at Ashley. She slammed her locker shut and stormed to class. As she walked slowly in to science class, she wished Craig had been there so she wouldn't have nearly been molested by Marco. 'I thought he was gay…?' she thought to herself. Class went slowly, and she almost wished that the school burnt down so that she could leave.

After Third Period

Ashley walked alone down the hall on her way to her next class. She walked past the school's entrance, and the doors opened. She couldn't help but look up, and she was overexcited at who walked in. She ran over. "Craig, you're here! And you're walking again!" she squealed.

"Yeah," Craig said. "But it's kind of hard." They laughed, and Ashley sighed.

"This day's going to go so much faster with you here," she said. "Science was SO boring!"

The two went to English together, and sat next to each other.

"Craig," Ashley whispered while they were writing. "Marco was hitting on me and touched me."

Craig looked up. "Touched you? Like, how touched you?" he said.

"Like, waist and chest touched me," she muttered.

"Oh, really? Marco's face isn't going to look so 'adorable' to anyone anymore," Craig said, silencing after that and continuing to write. Ashley worried about what Craig was going to do to Marco, somewhat already guessing.

When the bell rang, Craig picked up all of his stuff and jogged out of class. "Craig, what are you going to do?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"I'm going to kick Marco's ass," Craig answered casually.

"Craig, come on, it's okay, you don't have to," Ashley said.

"Yes, Ashley," Craig said. "I do have to. If Marco's so cool, then he can go hit on Paige or something. Just not you."

Finally, Craig found Marco. "Hey, Marco," Craig said coolly.

"Hey, Craig, I thought you were at the doctor's getting your casts off today," Marco said.
"Yeah, and I thought you were gay. So why are you hitting on my girlfriend?" he demanded.

"Look, Craig, I just----Spinner was---" Marco stammered.

"Yeah, you know what, Marco, I don't care what Spinner was doing. I care what you were doing. What are you thinking when you touch a girl that's dating someone? Seriously, Marco? What?" Craig said, almost shouting.

"Craig, we can talk about this later, I have to----" Marco began. He was silenced when Craig punched him in the face. Marco's nose began bleeding.

What Craig hadn't been expecting was Marco to hit back. Twice. Craig didn't know what it was, but both times he got punched, his face had started bleeding heavily. So, he hit Marco back twice as many times. Marco used his knuckle to hit Craig directly in the eye, half-blinding him. Craig hit Marco in the jaw several more times, and then kicked him in the knee. Hitting like this went on for about thirty more seconds, until Ashley got between the two, almost getting hit herself. She gently pushed Craig back, separating him from Marco. Craig sighed, stepping back willingly.

She made him lean against the wall, and examined his face. His face was bleeding badly, his left eye was swollen shut, and his lip was swollen. "Did you take the medication today?" Ashley asked quietly.

"Yeah," Craig muttered. He wasn't going to try lying to Ashley.

"Okay," Ashley said, trying to be calm. "I believe you." She hugged Craig supportively, however, not wanting to stain her jacket, pulled back. Mr. Simpson suddenly ran up to them. "Craig! What were you and Marco just doing?" he shouted. It wasn't really a question. Craig sighed.

Two minutes later, he was in the office, with Mr. Simpson standing in front of him. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse?" he asked.

Craig nodded. "I wanna go home," he whispered. He used the sleeve of his old black sweatshirt to stop the bleeding on one side of his face. "I called Joey, he's on his way," Mr. Simpson said about thirty seconds later.

"Craig, I need to impress on you the seriousness of violence in school. You remember what happened last year. We don't need something like that started up again." Craig looked up, glaring.

"Yeah, I do remember what happened last year. But I'm not like Rick. I'm not going to come to school with a gun and shoot people, especially not myself," he said angrily.

"I thought we talked about this. We're not going to talk about Rick anymore."

"Good!" Craig said loudly. "Nobody wants to talk about Rick! He was insane and he should be the one taking medications!" The two were quiet for the next ten minutes, until Joey walked in. Craig put his hood up and hid his face from Joey.

"Snake, what's wrong with Craig?" Joey asked quickly.

"Craig and Marco were fighting. In the hallway. Marco doesn't look too bad, but Craig…" his voice trailed off and he whispered something to Joey that Craig couldn't hear, then said, "Craig's suspended from school for three days."

"Come on, Craig," Joey said, irritated. Craig sighed loudly and followed Joey out to his red car. Climbing into the passenger seat, Craig slammed the door and neglected putting his seatbelt on. He leaned over in the seat, still not letting Joey see his face. Craig heard Joey yelling at him, but ignored it all, not caring if he was going to get in any more trouble than he was already in.

Pulling into the driveway, Craig got out of the car first and ran inside the house, up to his room. He almost tripped because he wasn't used to walking. Joey got inside and closed the door. "Craig!" he shouted. "Get down here!" Craig slammed his bedroom door shut and laid on his bed. He faced away from the door. Joey stormed upstairs and opened the door to Craig's small room. He stopped when he saw Craig simply lying on the bed. He walked quietly over to the bed and sat behind Craig.

"Craig," he began. "I don't know what happened today. Just don't let it happen again." Craig was still silent, and wanted to keep it that way. Too bad Joey didn't agree with that. Would you sit up?" he asked calmly. Craig didn't move. "Craig, I'm being serious. Get up." Still, he didn't move.

"You're not in trouble. I need to see your face," he said quietly. Craig finally turned and sat up. He uncovered his face. What Joey saw shocked him. "Caitlin!" he shouted suddenly, startling Craig. Craig wondered why Caitlin was never at work or something. She just lounged around the house doing absolutely nothing while poor Joey was at the car lot trying to make a living for the four of them.

Caitlin appeared in the doorway. "Yeah, Joey?" she said.

"Would you get a washcloth and some Band-Aids?" Joey asked. Caitlin didn't ask any questions.

"Yeah," Caitlin said, running out of the room to the bathroom downstairs. She returned a minute later with said items. She handed them to Joey and sat on the bed. Craig was quiet as several scars were cleaned. "Hmmm," Joey said. "I don't think Band-Aids are going to help us this time." He cleaned the blood around the wounds and said, "Craig, I think you're going to need stitches."

Craig sighed. "That means I have to go to the hospital," he muttered. "I hate the hospital." Joey smiled softly. "I know you do, Craig," he said. "But it's our only other option." Craig scoffed.

"The hospital's always the other option." Craig looked up at Joey and said, "I like it here." Joey looked at Craig, trying to find a meaning for what he was talking about. "I like it here, too, Craig," he said.

"I mean that I really like living here. I don't want to have to leave," Craig mumbled quietly.

"I'd never make you leave here, Craig. Never. You're important to all of us and I'd be crushed if you left."

"I…it…Joey, you're the best dad I ever had. I mean, really, ever. When I met you when you were with my mom, I knew I liked you better than my real father. You're the greatest person I've ever met. You let me live in your house and eat your food and no matter how much I get in trouble at school or get sick or mess up and do something stupid, you don't make me leave. You are the greatest person ever, Joey. And I keep thinking that sometime I'm going to screw up so bad that I'm going to have to move out or live on the streets or something. But then you tell me you'd never do that and I believe you. You're the only person I feel like I can trust."

Joey nodded slowly. "I think we need to get you to the hospital," he whispered.

"Okay," Craig said quietly, standing up with the help of Joey.

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A/N: Okay! That's the end of part 3. Part 4: Craig goes to the streets. Not AS pathetic as it sounds. He's not actually on the streets the whole time. He finds help with his friends and stuff. Um…answer to HelloGoodBye123: Craig overheard it from a convo between Joey and Snake. In this story, anyway. It just doesn't say that. Mmmkay? So… yeah. Part 4 probably isn't going to be AS long, but there's going to be like, five parts of Part 4 because there's a lot of stuff that happens in that part. Suggestions? TELL ME! (CrAsh ONLY)