Nick sticks his head into the living room, thankful to see his mom passed out on the sofa. He grabs his keys off the counter and stuffs them into his pocket. He walks to the Pier.

"Yo, dude." Zac stands up, forcing Vanessa off his lap. "You know Vanessa, but this..." He takes the hand of the girl sitting next to him. He looks her up and down, clearly approving. "This is Miley." He leans close to Nick and whispered, "You're welcome."

Nick smiles seductively at Miley and crashes is lips into hers, snaking an arm around her waist to hold her close to him.

Zac pulls on Vanessa's hand. "Let's go to the boat house."

Vanessa readily agrees and walks off with Zac.

Nick pushes Miley up against the side of the Pier, kissing her harder, trying to get her to kiss back. Miley pulls away from him, pushing on his chest.

"Stop!" she cries, tears falling from her eyes.

Nick frowns at her. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted this."

Miley shakes her head and slides down to the ground. "Vanessa is my sister," she explains. "She and Zac set up this whole thing because they think I need to get...laid." She starts to cry harder at that word.

Nick frowns again. "How old are you?" he asks.

"Fifteen," Miley replies, wiping at her eyes.

Nick's eyes widen. "Fuck," he murmurs. Then he slides down next to her. "I've never had sex either, and I'm eighteen."

Miley looks over at him. "Really?" she wonders. "Never?"

Nick shakes his head. "Nope," he answers. "Never."

"B-but," she says, "Zac and Vanessa said you've had sex with every girl in your high school."

Nick sighs softly and then looks at her. "They think I have," he explains. "Girls say I'm hot, and apparently every girl wants to be with me." He pauses for a second. "I go on one date with them and they want to have sex. But I don't. I'm not ready. I know my reputation, and I know people think I'm a player and an asshole, but I'm not. But sometimes it's just easier for them to believe I am."

"But how do they think you've had sex if you really haven't?"

Nick sighs once more. "The girls that I went out with started that. One girl said that she had sex with me, so now whenever I go out with one, they all say it. I don't know why, it makes no sense to me, but they do."

"Don't you ever want everyone to know that you're not nearly as bad as they think you are?"

Nick shrugs and looks down at his hands. "Sometimes," he finally answers. "But if I did that, Zac wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

Miley frowns that time. "But wouldn't that be a good thing? I mean, Zac's not the greatest guy in the world to be friend's with, in my opinion. He's the asshole."

"I know," Nick replies. "You're right. But he's the only friend I have. If I lost him, I'd have no one."

Miley cocks her head to the side. "You don't have anyone else?" she wonders. "No one at all?"

"No," Nick starts, but then he stops hen he sees Vanessa and Zac tumble their way over to them. He stands quickly. "I advise you tell your sister that we fucked," he whispers down to Miley.

"That we fucked?" Miley repeats, her eyes wide. "That's such an ugly word! And we didn't! We didn't fuck, or have sex, or make love. We didn't do any of that stuff. Why would I lie about that?"

Nick rolls his eyes. "Whatever. If you wanna be a prude for the rest of your life, fine."

"Hey, man," Zac says, his words slurring heavily. "Was she a good fuck, or what?"

Nick rolls his eyes again. "Wouldn't know. She started to cry as soon as I shoved my tongue down her throat." He narrows his eyes at Zac. "Dude, she's a fifteen, man. Did you know that? And a virgin! What the fuck."

Zac holds his hands up in front of his face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't know!" He turns to Vanessa. "She's only fifteen?"

Vanessa shrugs. "She's so uptight, she needed a good banging."

"I could've gone to jail!" Nick protests. "That's statutory rape!"

"Well, sorry!" Vanessa says, drawling out the word. "Who's gonna know anyway?"

Miley stands up shakily and looks at Nick. "I was wrong about you. You are an asshole!" She turns her face away from him so he can't see that she's crying and then walks away from them.

"What was that about?" Zac wonders, watching her leave.

"I don't know," Nick replies with a shrug. "Chick's psycho." He looks at his watch and pretends to sigh. "I should probably get going. I'll see you tomorrow?"

But Zac was busy sticking his tongue down Vanessa's throat again so he takes off for home, getting their a little while later.

Miley glances at her watch. The numbers flash 9:19. She sighs as she looks outside.
"Dad isn't coming home tonight," she says to her puppy, Bella. She picks her up and holds her close. "It looks like Nick isn't either. I should've seen that one coming. She kisses Bella's head. Let's go to sleep, huh? I have to get up early." She puts Bella down and he walks next to her as she walks to the bedroom. She lays down and Bella jumps onto the bed and puts her head on Demi's stomach. She began to pet her absentmindedly as she drifts off to sleep. "Goodnight, Bella." Bella licked Demi's hand.

"So, tonight."

Nick looks at Zac. "Tonight...?" he wonders.

"Vanessa has another friend that you might like. She's of age this time, and she's definitely not a virgin-"

Nick holds up his hands, cutting Zac off. "No. No more girls, okay? I can get my own, thank you very much."

"No you can't!" Zac protests. "The last girl you fucked was Chloe last year! You need my help."

Nick shakes his head. "No. No offense, Zac, but you have a horrible taste in girls."

Zac opens is mouth to say something but then shuts it and shrugs. "Eh, you're probably right."

Nick chuckles softly and then looks up slightly. "Oh, no," he groans.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Um, I'll catch you at lunch?"

But Zac shakes his head. "Vanessa's dad is out for a few days so I'm going over there after third period." He picks his backpack off the floor and walks away.

"I thought you were coming over last night," Demi says as she stops in front of Nick.

Nick shrugs and begins walking away. "Had stuff to do. Couldn't make it."

"How about tonight?"

Nick shakes his head. "Busy."

"Tomorrow?"

"Nope."

Demi sighs in frustration. "If you don't make time for this project, I will tell Mrs. Lawson that you're not pulling your weight."

Nick groans. "Fine!" he snaps. "I have a date at nine," he lies, "so I'll be at your house at five."

"How about we just walk home together? Work until five? Then you can get ready for your date."

"How about we don't? I'm already getting laughed at for standing here talking to you. Do you know how much people would make fun of me if we actually walked home together? I'll be there at five."

Demi closes her eyes and forces the tears away. When she opens them back up, Nick is gone. She walks into the school.

Nick spots Joe at his locker and can't help but laugh.

Joe glares at Nick and points to the bandaid on his nose. "You think this is funny?"

Nick laughs louder. "I do, yeah. I mean, aren't you supposed to be tough? I punched you once and broke your nose? That's hilarious!"

Joe takes a step forward but his girlfriend, the captain of the cheerleading squad, stops him. "He's not worth it, babe."

"Yeah, listen to the slut. She knows what she's talking about. Besides, I might break your nose again."

"AJ isn't a slut-"

"Please!" Nick rolls his eyes. "Everyone knows that she sleeps around and that she's pregnant with some random dude's baby."

Joe looks at AJ, and then at Nick. "You know what, Nick? I don't know what happened to you, but I don't like it." He holds up his middle finger. "Screw you." He grabs AJ's hand and they both walk away.

Nick stays in school for the rest of the day. His mother is working another double shift tonight and won't be home until the next morning. He's dreading Demi. The day can't end fast enough.

When the bell rings, signaling the end of the school day, Nick doesn't even bother to stop by his locker. He takes off for home, trying to relax for a little before he has to be over Demi's. Before he knows it, five o'clock rolls around. He walks slowly to Demi's house—he had gotten her address from Mrs. Lawson. He stares at the house in shock.

He thought Demi was rich. Well, maybe not rich, but he always thought she came from money. But this house tells him the exact opposite. She lives in a poor part of town. The outside of her house is falling apart. Shingles are coming off the roof. Her porch is sagging. A shutter is hanging off one of the windows. Nick shakes his head and walks up the steps, knocking on Demi's door.

Demi opens it and tries to smile. "Hi," she says.

Nick opens his mouth to speak but stops when he sees a red mark on Demi's cheek. "What happened?" he asks, though he really doesn't care.

Demi shrugs and looks away from his face. "Softball," she answers in a whisper.

Nick looks at her skeptically. "Softball?" he repeats.

Demi nods, still not looking at him. "I got hit in the face with a softball."

"Oh," Nick replies, not believing her for a second.

"Why do you even care?"

Nick shrugs that time. "I don't," he replies nastily as he follows Demi into the kitchen/dining room. He sits down in one of the chairs.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"No," he snaps. "What I want is to get this over with."