Chapter 13.

Mal let Evie cry huddled up in her arms until the bluenette was so exhausted that she fell asleep in her friend's embrace. Even though she was sleeping, Mal stayed by her side, unwilling to leave her, and the two girls lay side by side on Evie's bed, with Mal lazily threading her fingers through her friend's hair as she stared up at the floral pattern on the canopy above their heads.

She was seriously anxious to know what had occured between Jay and Evie to leave her in such a state and she was also quite worried. Jay and Evie never fought and I mean never. What could have happened? It must've been pretty damn serious.

A light knock on the door was heard before it swung open noiselessly (thank God the doors in the school didn't creek) and Ben popped his head inside the room. When his eyes landed on Mal, he smiled and opened his mouth to speak but the girl shook her head frantically motioning with her eyes to Evie, who was sleeping beside her. Once Ben noticed this, he nodded in understanding, although a confused look crossed his face, and waited while Mal carefully untangled herself from her friend and stood up, cautious not to wake her. Then she tiptoed to the door and placed a hand on Ben's chest, gently pushing him out of the room before following him and pulling the door closed behind her. She let out a sigh and leaned forward, resting her forehead against Ben's and letting her eyes slide shut.

„Are you okay?" He asked quetly, love and concern lacing his voice, as he reached out to take her hands in his larger ones and intertwined their fingers.

„I am. But Evie…" Mal trailed off, opening her jade eyes to gaze into her king's light green irises. „I don't know what's going on, I'm really worried. Her and Jay had a fight or something earlier, can you believe it?" She questioned, pulling her forehead away from his, her eyebrows shooting upwards, while Ben furrowed his and tilted his head to the side.

„That's not like them." He remarked in confusion, thinking about how close Jay and Evie were and how protective and careful they were with each other. Mal threw him a look in agreement which showed just how exasperated she was with the whole situation. Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

„I know!" She exclaimed and then sighed defeatedly as Ben tugged her closer. „I'll just ask Evie about it when she wakes up."

„Don't pressure her, Mal." Ben told her tenderly, also concerned for the bluenette, partly because she was so important to Mal but also because she really was his friend too and he cared about her as well. „If they really had a quarrel, she's gonna be pretty torn up about it." He reasoned and Mal knew he was right.

„I know but I'm her friend, Ben." Mal told him sadly. „I can't watch her suffer. I don't want to. I need to know what happened, so I can help her." Her soft look suddenly became fierce and rather angry. „And then I'm gonna go and chase Jay with a hot poker." She muttered, making Ben laugh wholeheartedly (although he didn't doubt her ability to fulfil her threat, not in the least) and plant a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

„Alright." He consented, aware of the fact that he couldn't possibly talk Mal out of something she had set her mind to. „If there's any way I can help, let me know." Ben added seriously and Mal smiled, standing on her tiptoes to capture his lips.

„I will." She murmured against his mouth before biting his lower lip and then pulling away. „I'm gonna go back now, I don't want to leave her alone. See you tomorrow morning?" Mal asked, smiling at Ben, who nodded his head with a grin and leaned down to place one more peck on her lips before heading down the hall.

Mal re-entered the room and as she was carefully shutting the door behind her, she saw Evie stir before opening her eyes and lifting herself up slightly. She still had tear-streaks on her cheeks and she looked very, very exhausted but Mal knew it had nothing to do with a lack of sleep. Their eyes met and Mal approached the bed, sitting on the edge right next to Evie.

„Hey." The purple-haired girl muttered gently, as if speaking to a wounded animal to reassure it it was not her intention to hurt it.

„Hey." Evie replied quietly with a small smile tugging on her lips, before sighing softly and placing her head on her friend's shoulder, while Mal backed up so that her back was pressed against the headboard of the bed.

„Do you wanna talk about it?" Mal asked, heeding Ben's advice. She wasn't going to pressure Evie, well, not too much anyway, but she was going to respect her decision whether or not she wanted to share her troubles with her. The two girls sat quietly for a moment before Evie opened her mouth to speak.

Mal had always been her closest confidant, sometimes even more so than Jay, because, I mean, come on, there were things she just couldn't or wouldn't want to talk to him about, like boys, beauty tips and other girly stuff he would just not be interested in, as was in his boyish nature. For those female talks, as well as the deepest conversations involving feelings and heartaches, she had Mal to turn to and that's exactly what she did (as did Mal whenever she had the need).

So Evie told her everything: about her encounter with Chad, how he had cornered her, their entire conversation, as well as how she had knocked him out in the end. Then she spilled about her argument with Jay and how confusing and frustrating his actions had been, getting angry and yelling at her for no apparent reason (at least Evie couldn't see it) over the incident with Chad. She still couldn't grasp Jay's reaction but to be honest she didn't even want to bother at the moment. Now that the inicial wave of hurt and tears was out of the way, all she felt was mad at Jay for the stupid way he had acted. Stupid… He had called her stupid, of all things, it was the ultimate blow. Evie felt an enormous rush of sadness again and her eyes welled up slightly but not enough to spill over.

Mal on the other hand was completely outraged.

„He did what?" She fumed, jumping in her spot and whipping her head to look at Evie with a look of pure wrath on her face. Evie wasn't sure whether she was referring to Jay or Chad. „I'm gonna kill him." Mal seethed, making Evie crack a smile at her friend's protectiveness. „Screw that, I'm gonna kill them both!" Mal yelled as her hand twitched towards the spell book on her nightstand while Evie couldn't help it and finally burst out laughing.

At the sound, Mal's anger diminished and a small smile crossed her features, as she shook her head slightly. She was totally pissed at Chad and confused and angry with Jay but that could wait. Man, she was gonna make Chad pay for this. Not that Evie needed much help in that department, obviously, Mal thought with a proud smirk. She was definitely talking to Jay, though, she had to clear things up with him. Something wasn't right about Evie's story, why would Jay snap at her like that? I mean, sure, he had obvously been furious about what had happened with Chad, just like she was at the moment, but what didn't make sense was why he would lash out at Evie. No matter how angry he had been, he would've never directed that at her, Mal reckoned, she knew him well enough to be sure of it.

„Okay, I think we're in need of a large bucket of ice-cream, lots of chocolate and one of those stupid comedies Lonnie praises all the time." Mal told Evie with a grin as she hopped off the bed. Before she dealt with the guys, she'd make Evie feel better, she decided. Besides, it was already late for serious conversations today anyway.

Evie smiled, jumping off the bed and running a hand through her tangled curls.

„You get the food, I'll pick the movie." She called out before Mal saluted with her hand and ran off to the kitchen to nick some of the sweets that were always available there in large quantities, also stealing a bowl of strawberries along the way.

A/N: You can go to YouTube and check out the Jay/Evie video I made (if you're interested, of course). Here's the link (you just have to put it right after the com): /watch?v=WXT-6FKbNWs (It's called jay & evie || hazy)

And a huge thank you to everyone who wished me good luck with my move, I really appreciate it :))