"Look, babe.." Devon Sanders looked into Mae's bright blue eyes as he held her skinny hands. "She wanted to die."

"How could you say that?!" Mae exclaimed, tears gushing down her face. Her long black dress blew in the wind. She was due to move the next day and it was a cold October in Virginia. She couldn't even imagine how it would be in Ohio.

"Mae, I know this is hard." Devon said, running a hand through his short blonde hair. "But once your gone.."

"What?" She said, biting her lip as her face fell slack. Tears were gushing down her face now.

"I can't be the boyfriend-"

"The boyfriend what?" Mae exclaimed. "You've never been a boyfriend to me! And now your making fun of Eran.."

"I'm not making fun of her!" Devon shook his head, wiping a few of her tears away. "Mae, we've never liked each other."

"I can't believe your breaking up with me at my best friends funeral." She sobbed, turning from him.

"Your leaving tomorrow. I had to do it some time." He whispered.

"Go." Mae said.

"I-"

"FUCKING GO!" She screamed at him. Minutes later she turned back around to see no one. She stood up and walked over to where Eran was buried no more than fifteen minutes ago.
She sunk down next to her grave. The hole was freshly filled and so many flowers were around the headstone.

Mae sniffled and laid her hand on top of the stone. "Hey girl." She said, letting out a gasp. "I miss you. I miss you so much. Devon and I broke up. I'm sure you probably saw that but.." She shook her head. "I don't know. Anyways, I wanted to leave something here." She took a picture out of her sweater pocket. "Its from when we went to the beach. I promise you, that I will always remember that you. That beautiful, happy girl running around in the sand. Even after seeing you in...that closet...this is the you I know. The one I love." She bent down to kiss her name on the grave and stood up.

As she walked away, she thought she was alright but the sadness took over. Her breath became labored, and she fell to her knees. She looked up to the sky and screamed her best friends name. It was..the end to her happiness.

She wanted it to be the end of her life.

---

Mae woke up with a loud sob as tears gushed down her flushed cheeks. Andy's head snapped up.

"Mae! Mae, what's wrong?" He exclaimed, pulling her into his chest. She just cried and cried
into his shirt as he rubbed her back. "Shh..tell me why your crying. Let me help you."

"I-I had a dream about Eran." She whispered, feeling pathetic. She glanced at the clock to see it was already five thirty.

"Oh." Andy mumbled against her hair. "I'm so sorry, baby." He soothed her as well as he could. He felt her take one of his hands in her's, and she tangled her other in his hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed. If she told him the dream, she'd have to talk about Devon and she wasn't so sure he was ready to hear what he did to her.

She wasn't ready to say his name out loud.

"No." She whispered. "Just hold me." He nodded and laid them both down. His arms wrapped tightly around her tiny body making her feel safe and warm. He wasn't going to let anyone touch her right now, not that anyone would show up at five in the morning.

She had started to silently cry so he began to stroke her hair and let his lips rest on her forehead. He decided he wanted to sing for and the first song that came to mind was one he'd written the night before.

Through sadness you have taught us to be one with the crowd
Unveil the sacred order, hymns of falling down

You told the greatest stories, of love and bleeding crowns
But to the sick and hungry, you cannot be found

We are young and we are strong
Through strength in self we become
Something more than they can be
I raise my heart and sing!

That I won't believe this lie
I know there's something more inside
When darkness is all you'll see
This is our Sweet Blasphemy


Mae sniffled and looked up at him. "Did you write that?" He nodded and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"About you." He said, "At two in the morning."

"It's beautiful." She smiled, running her tiny thumb under his eye. He leaned forward to kiss her and she happily obliged. His tongue explored her mouth, making her forget about all the dream, Devon, everything. She felt happy and that was precious to her.

"You know.." He trailed off, "I was thinking you could come to band practice today." He chuckled, "And the next day and the next day and the next.." She smiled at him and pressed her finger against his lips.

"I'd like that." She said. "You have a beautiful voice."

"I bet you do too. You just won't sing for me.." He pouted. She shook her head and looked away.

"The only person I ever sang for was Eran." She said, her voice sounding hoarse.

"Hmm." Andy mused, "Well maybe you should change that. You know, then you'll be able to sing without feeling so sad."

"I guess your right." She said, pulling back and brushing his shaggy hair away. "I should probably get home."

"Okay." He said, "I'll pick you up for school. I guess I probably should take Kaya too and I have to pick up Chris, and Mark. So I'll come get you guys around 7:15?"

"Sounds good." She smiled at him as she sat up. She grabbed Frida, and her clothes off the floor. "See you soon." She blew him a kiss and walked out of his room. No one was awake so she quickly padded out without making a sound.

When she got home she walked upstairs quickly. Her bed looked so comfortable and all she wanted was to climb in it. Unfortunately, school called and she was actually dreading having to hang out with all of Andy's friends.

They were going to hate her. She just knew it.

She heard a knock on her door and she turned to see Kaya. "Hey sis." She winked, and sat on her bed. Mae quirked her eyebrow.

"Is this how early you get up?" She asked.

"It takes me a while to put on my face." Kaya giggled.

"Ah." Mae said, sitting next to her.

"Have fun?" Kaya smirked.

"Yeah." Mae smiled, "Lots of fun."

"Great." Kaya said. Mae nodded and looked down at her lap. "Everything okay?"

Mae shrugged, "I feel like you and Andy's friends won't accept me."

"I see." Kaya sighed, "Look Mae, they might not. Especially his friends downtown. They're assholes."

"Is it because of how I dress? Why won't they like me?" Mae asked, looking up at her.

"Honestly?" Kaya said, fluffing her hair up. Mae nodded. "Probably."

She huffed and fell on her back. "What do I do?"

"Well.." Kaya sighed. "You could change your whole appearance. Raid my closet.." She shook her head. "But that wouldn't make you happy, which is what matters. Andy doesn't care and he's the only person that you need to give a shit about-"

She quirked her brow.

"-And me."

Mae laughed, "Your right."

"I know I am." Kaya laughed. "Get ready." She said, smacking Mae's butt.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, giggling. "Love you!"

"Love you too!" Kaya flicked her off and walked out.

Mae stood up and padded over to her closet. She leafed through her clothes and sighed. Maybe a little black would do her good? It would make her look skinny-

Oh was she kidding, she only weighed a hundred and ten pounds!

She leaned down and picked up her army green Toms. She could wear her black ones, and a black sweater but then what would she wear the next day!?

She couldn't bring herself to do it so she grabbed a pair of high waisted jeans and a breezy white shirt. She pinned her hair up in a Victorian like fashion and slipped on her green Toms.
It took her about an hour to finish getting ready, so she ran downstairs and smiled seeing her parents. "So how was it?" Her mother winked.

"Ew guys." Mae shook her head. "We watched the Bengals game, played with our cats. Nothing special."

"You should invite his parents over sometime." Her father said.

"They want you guys to come over soon too." Mae smiled, grabbing juice out of the fridge.

Allison looked over at her husband and smirked. "We'd love that." She said.

"Good, so would they." Mae chuckled, popping a piece of a Poptart into her mouth.
She sat around for a little while, checking her laptop until she finally heard Kaya come downstairs just as Andy pulled up front. "Ready?" Mae asked her.

"Mhm." Kaya said, her mouth full.

"Bye guys!" Mae smiled, grabbing her bag. The sisters walked down to Andy's old car.

"Hey baby." Andy said as she slid in the front seat.

"Hi." Mae smiled.

"Give me a kiss." Andy chuckled. She leaned over and pecked his lips.

"Hey guys!" Kaya grinned, "I'm here too!"

Andy laughed, "Hey Kaya." He pulled Mae across the old bench seat and into his side. "We need room. Sandra's riding with us too, Bobby is sick."

"Okay." Mae nodded, laying her head on his shoulder. Andy and her had five out of the seven classes together- probably because the school was so small. Only about 500 even went to it.
Mae was silent for the ride to Chris' house. Kaya and Andy were talking about a gig the guys had this weekend.

"Am I going to this?" Mae said, interrupting Andy's thought.

"You have to go to all of my shows now." He laughed as he parked in front of Chris' house.

"Why? Because I'm your girlfriend?" Mae smirked.

"Duh." He chuckled as Chris scooted in the back seat.

"Sup Andy, Andy's new girlfriend." He said, making Kaya laugh.

"Her name's Mae. I told you that, Chris. And you guys have met." Andy glared at him in the mirror.

"Well, I was probably high. So for the sake of Andy not killing me, I'm Chris." He said, making Mae giggle.

"I'm Mae." She said, sitting up a bit but still feeling Andy take her hand.

"Cool, you going to our gig?" He asked sincerely, but something in his voice gave Mae a bad feeling.

"Yeah." She mumbled.

"And practice tonight." Andy said. He sounded serious and like he dared Chris to say anything.

He pulled into another driveway and Mark ran out to meet them all. He sat in the front, next to Mae. "Hey guys. Andy's girlfriend." He nodded.

"A name!" Andy yelled, exasperated. "She has a fucking name guys. Mae."

"Dude, chill. Just having some fun." Mark winked.

"Whatever." Andy sighed. Mae looked up at him and squeezed his hand, before laying her
head on his shoulder. The action felt so normal and Andy was at ease.

It took ten minutes to get to Sandra's house and Mae found herself staring at Chris and Kaya in the mirror. She was hanging on him and Mae didn't like it. The only reason she was okay with Kaya liking the dude was because of her and Andy, but Chris was an asshole.

"Hey San." Andy smiled at her as she got in the car.

"Woah, full load today Biersack! Hey Mae, how are you doing?" Sandra smiled.

"Thank you, Sandra!" Andy said, exasperated.

Mae chuckled at him, "I'm good, thanks."

"That's good. I see you and Biersack are kicking it off well." Sandra laughed.

"Guess so." Mae winked up at him. The ride to the school became rowdy fast but Mae was nervous to see Jacob.

Andy pulled into a parking space and opened his door. Mae slid it out after him and she chuckled as she saw how many people piled into his tiny car.

"How are you doing today?" Andy asked her, leaning on the hood of his car and taking her waist. She sighed and brushed his long hair back.

"Okay." She mumbled. He leaned down to kiss the corner of her eye.

"M-Mae?" They heard from behind them. Andy set his jaw as he looked into the eyes of Jacob. Mae turned around and smiled at him but his glare was stoney.

"Hey Jacob." She said, feeling Andy's arm around her waist once again.

"Are you guys..dating!?" He asked like the thought was absolutely blasphemous.

"Yes we are." Andy answered for her. "While you were talking to all your friends you were too dumb to notice Mae with me-"

"Stop, Andy." Mae said, staring in his eyes. He rolled those perfect blues and wrapped his arm around her neck.

"I'm sorry, I just really thought you liked me.." Jacob shook his head.

"Uh.." All of Andy's friends had stopped talking to listen to the transaction. "It just worked out this way, Jacob. I'm really sorry."

"He's not like you at all though, Mae! I don't understand!" Jacob sighed.

"This doesn't mean we can't be friends. I don't see why your reacting so much to this. We were never..a thing.." Mae shook her head.

"Whatever. When he hurts you, don't come crawling back to me." With that he walked away, leaving Mae with tears in her eyes.

"Oh I'm going to beat the shit out of him!" Andy exclaimed, walking towards him but Chris and Mark held him back.

"Andy, let it go!" Sandra yelled.

"No! He made my girl fucking cry!" Andy pointed to Mae, who was holding back tears but not succeeding. She sniffled and looked up at everyone. Kaya wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her boney shoulder.

"She's okay, Andy. Mae has always been able to handle herself." Kaya said, "Right?"

Mae's bottom lip trembled and she lifted her bag up higher. She had finally found a new friend. Someone she could hang out with that reminded her of Eran and now he hated her. All because she had to be with Andy.

"I.." She shook her head, "Excuse me."

She ran away from everyone and inside the school. She knew Andy would follow her so she went to the girls bathroom.

"Mae, you think I won't come in here too?" Andy said as she turned to look at him. She shook her head and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her tears off. "Hey, come here." His voice was softer now as she looked into his eyes. His arms wrapped around her waist and he took the towel from her and picked up where she left off.

"I lost another friend." Was all she said. He began stroking her hair lightly.

"But you didn't lose me." He whispered.

"I know." She said, leaning back on his shoulder. His chin rested in the crook of her neck and she closed her eyes. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked.

"For sticking up for me. Not many people do that.." She trailed off.

He sighed, "Always."

Notes

So cute <3