Author's Note: I know it's not too long, but that's for my own reasons :)

The weekend had passed with no calls to or from Marco…other than with Corey, and he was hoping it would stay that way. He'd feared that as soon as he arrived home, he'd get thousands from his concerned friends. It made him happy that he didn't have to lie to their questions, but also unhappy to think that they didn't seem to care enough to worry. He was in two minds about the whole situation.

Corey's calls, however, were extremely apologetic. "I'm sorry, baby. Did I hurt you?" he'd ask nervously.

"No, Corey," I would say, angry with myself for ignoring the obvious, "I'm fine, and I love you so much."

The rest of the conversation would be about pleasant things. All in all, Marco thought he could really deal with all of the pain if he wasn't so desperate to see his friends again. Corey, of course, prevented him from having such a privilege.

"Hey, I have something I want to give you…pre-birthday gift kind of thing," said Corey. It was Sunday night, and Marco was laying out everything he needed for school the next morning when his boyfriend came in for a surprise visit.

"Really?" asked Marco. "What?"

He sat down on the end of Marco's bed, motioning for Marco to do the same. "It's really not a big thing, but I bought it for you because I want you to know how much you mean to me," said Corey, looking sincere, "and how sorry I am because of what happened the other night."

Marco swallowed the pain that came back to him when he was forced to think about it, and nodded, waiting for whatever Corey had for him.

"I know I tease you a lot about how…uh feminine you can be, but I hope you like this. It just seemed kind of…you," said Corey, handing him the jewelry box.

Marco looked at it suspiciously, afraid the piece of (expensive) jewelry inside might jump out to bite him, and finally opened it.

"Oh my go…Corey," said Marco. He smiled brightly, picking the bracelet up in his hand. "You definitely understand what I like," he laughed. "It is 'me'."

Marco took the silver bracelet out of the box, and ran his fingers along the diamond heart that hung from it. "I am a girl," he laughed to himself, "but thank you so much."

"I'm glad you like it," said Corey, looking happier than Marco had ever seen him. How could he ever stay angry with him when he looked so damn ecstatic just because of Marco's enjoyment of the gift?

"Can you put it on me?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Corey, immediately reaching out for the bracelet, but Marco pulled it away.

"How…did this cost you a lot, Core? Because, if it did, I mean—I don't really need to have it. I mean, I love it and all, but—"

"Marco," said Corey calmly, "it doesn't matter, okay? You're worth every penny."

Marco smiled. He lived for the good moments they had. They pretty much made his life worth living. "Put it on, please," he said. After all, a precious gift couldn't go to waste if Corey really wanted him to take it.

"I have to go," said Corey, rolling his eyes. "School in the morning, unfortunately," he kissed Marco quickly. "Love you."

"I love you too," Marco answered, closing the door behind him. He couldn't take the smile off his face while he twisted the bracelet around his wrist. He didn't care what anyone else might have said because he was very lucky.

"So, Corey didn't drive you this morning?" asked Ellie the next morning, walking into first period with Marco.

"No, he slept a bit late this morning," said Marco with a laugh. "So, how come you didn't come to Paige's Friday?" he asked, remembering Ellie hadn't been there.

"Oh, you noticed?" asked Ellie, taking her seat in the back row. "You weren't too engrossed with your boyfriend?"

"Oh, would you stop being so bitter about this?" said Marco, feeling his frustration level begin to rise.

"I'm not bitter, Marco, okay? He's, like, controlling you or something," said Ellie, crossing her arms angrily, and turning away from him. "Marco, I can't deal with this anymore."

"Deal with what?" he asked, annoyed.

"Marco, Ellie…don't make me say this everyday, please. Be quiet," said Ms. Kwan, giving them a dirty look. They both nodded unenthusiastically.

"Deal with what?" he repeated in a whisper.

"Your boyfriend forbids you to talk to me, Marco," said Ellie. "That's a problem."

"Well, maybe he's right, El. He always tells me how you're going to judge, and—"

"I can't believe you are agreeing with that monster," said Ellie, attempting to pay attention to whatever their teacher was talking about. They were only a few days in, and she was already lost.

"Don't call him that," said Marco. "You know what, he was right about you, and—and you can't say things like that about him. He's amazing."

"Marco, you're better than him," she said. Marco didn't answer. He cared about his studies too much to deal with such crap, so he turned to listen to Ms. Kwan again.

Though Ellie was leaving him be, that far from solved his troubles, he realized when he walked into the cafeteria for lunch.

"Hey, Marco," said Paige sweetly, but Marco knew her well enough to see through her smile.

"Hi," he sat down at the table, automatically looking for Ellie. Paige seemed to read his mind.

"She decided she'd rather spend her lunch period in the library today," se said, picking at her lunch, not being able to concentrate on anything except Marco from the moment he'd sat down.

Marco felt a sense of guilt rise in him, knowing it was his fault she skipped out on her lunch. Marco wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but everyone seemed somewhat different, mainly avoiding his eyes when they usually tried to make conversation with him. They barely even looked at him, let alone one another.

"Is something wrong?" Marco asked.

Paige shook her head slowly, but didn't look at him. "Paige," he said, losing his patience quickly.

She finally picked her head up, looking him in the eyes for the first time since he came in, and then glancing down to his wrist.

"What's that for?" she asked. "Proof that he's yours?"

"Paige…" said Spinner warningly, putting his hand on her arm to calm her from saying something she'd regret.

"What?" asked Marco. "My bracelet? Your boyfriend can buy you jewelry and mine can't? Is that what you're trying to say?" They both got up to stand, and hadn't even realized it.

The others didn't say another word, but merely watched in unhappiness, interest, and a slight fear as Paige and Marco argued about pointless things until finally coming to the point of the fight.

"What's he doing to you?!" she screamed. No one at the table had expected her to get that loud, so they hadn't done a thing to prevent it. Everyone in the cafeteria turned to stare at them.

"He's not doing anything," said Marco, gritting his teeth, and looking expectantly at the heads turned to him, expecting them to turn away. Some of them did, but others weren't so courteous.

"I'm not an idiot—"

"Paige, your volume," said Ashley, pointing to the audience.

"Good, let them hear," said Paige, smirking. "Maybe then Marco will confess if he knows the whole world is about to know."

Marco stared at her, having the slight urge to hit her, but kicking the thought away as soon as it had come. He wasn't like that. He wouldn't do that.

"I'm not really so hungry anymore," he said, shoving his money back into his pocket.

"Paige, you're taking a bad approach," said Jimmy, rolling his eyes. They all wanted to help Marco as much as Paige did, but her worry was taking over, and she wasn't thinking clearly. She wanted so much for him to give her proof that she would do anything to get him to tell her.

Paige simply ignored Jimmy. "I saw the bruises, Marco. You know I did," she said, and even more people had started to look. "I'm not stupid. I know what's going on, and I need to stop this."

"Why do you want to hurt me?" asked Marco weakly.

"I want to help you," she said.

"You don't get it," he whispered, and people were so interested in Marco and Paige's conversation that they were trying desperately to hear his voice. They could clearly hear hers.

"No, I don't. Why are you covering for—"

"Stop," he pleaded, and Paige could see there were tears in his eyes. "Please stop," he continued his begging, waiting for Paige to back down.

"If he loved you, he wouldn't do this to you, Marco," she said, lowering her voice just a tad after seeing his eyes fill with tears, but it was no use. The students were still listening fixedly.

"Yeah?" said Marco. "Well, if you loved me, you wouldn't do this." He turned around, already in a standing position, and walked out of the cafeteria.

"Paige," said Ashley sternly, "you just made it worse."

"Well, nobody else was saying anything," she said, covering up for the fact that she knew she'd screwed up.

"It's not our place," said Ashley. "We want to help him, but that's not exactly the best way. Besides, Marco doesn't do well with threats and ultimatums. You tell him, 'admit it or the entire cafeteria will here it,' he will just leave."

"As we have seen," Jimmy threw in, propping his head up in his hands. "What are we going to do? He obviously went to get Corey. That's who he usually is with this period, anyway."

"Oh, crap," said Paige. "You mean he was actually spending lunch with us for the first time in a hundred years, and here I go forcing him to spend it with the guy I was trying to help him avoid?"

"Yes," they all said at once, not showing mercy.

"Exactly my point," said Jimmy.

Paige leaned her head down onto Spinner's shoulder. "I'm so worried about him," she whispered.

"I know," he said.

"Hey, what happened?" asked Corey, his arm around Marco while they walked from his study hall room to the library together. Marco had let his tears spill as soon as he'd caught up with Corey.

"Can we…go somewhere else?" asked Marco, drying his tears the best he could. "El's in the library."

"Oh," he said, confused. "You mean you're finally taking my advice?"

"Yeah," said Marco, smiling up at him. "I don't need them. All they want to do is hurt me, right? You're…you're the only one who really loves me, Core. I don't know what I'd do without you," he said, leaning his head onto the older boy's shoulder.

Corey kissed the top of his head. "All we need is each other."

And that was all it took. Brainwashing phase: Complete.

Author's Note: What did you think? Please review :)