Alan

I turned up at school with a spring in my step. Maybe Diana will finally be mine. I just had to get her to trust me. I held a Lipton Iced Tea - peach flavour - in my hand, and I idly sipped it as I walked to mine and Hayley's meeting place. We snuck out here for private moments, before we had met Stella, before she had incorporated us into the group and we had been pressured into dating. Yes, we had told Stella of our attraction to each other - at separate times - and she had forced us into becoming an 'item'. While her intention had been tainted with an ulterior motive, she was genuinely happy that we soon grew to love each other. At least, as much love teenagers could show without their hormone levels exploding.

I walked down past the buildings, changing to the smaller footpath leading away from the school. The area was small and very secluded, we had never met anyone else here. There was a single bench underneath a tree, showing us a road. It was very glamorous.

I heard Hayley speaking before her fiery hair entered my vision. A taller girl stood next to her, brown hair falling in front of her face.

'Hi Hayley...' I said, pausing at the end. 'Who's this?'

'This is Maddie.' Hayley said happily.

Maddie had long eyelashes and perfectly sculpted eyebrows. She was only a little bit shorter than me. Her lips were covered in a bright red lipstick and she had on a revealing top. I sighed internally.

This is not the sort of girl I want.

Instead, images of band hoodies and spider bites came to my mind, worn by a girl with not as exaggerated makeup and not as much confidence with her looks - Maddie obviously knew she looked good, and she flaunted it.

'Hey Alan. Hayley's been telling me all about you.' She fluttered her eyelashes at me.

'Hi Maddie, nice to meet you.' I said. 'So, babe, are we still on for tonight?' We had "date nights" planned every week and tonight was it.

'Oh, Alan!' Hayley said, feigning innocence. 'I'm sorry, but I have to break up with you.'
I raised an eyebrow. 'Why?'

'It's just... I don't feel like this relationship is going anywhere.'

'Okay.' I turned to walk away.

'Wait, Alan!' Hayley called me back again. I faced Hayley again, only to find her glaring back at me.

'Yes?'

'This is Maddie.' She raised both eyebrows.

'Yeah, you told me that before. Hi Maddie,' I mocked Hayley, waving at Maddie half heartedly. Maddie "waved" back - it was more of a small twitch of her fingertips, with a stuck out hip and a pout on her lips.

'I was thinking you could get to know her properly tonight! Make it a double date?' Hayley winked at me.

'Of course!' Maddie said, 'we'll meet you and?'

'Austin.' Hayley supplied.

'Austin there.' Maddie turned to me, walking over quickly and pecking my cheek.

'See you later, boo!' Maddie walked off, swaying her hips. I turned back to Hayley.

'Hey, sorry. Stella.' She said as an explanation. I sighed, turning away from her. I walked back past the buildings. I should have known Stella was behind this; Hayley would never intentionally hurt my feelings like that. Except for bringing Maddie to our spot - it was ours; sacred to our friendship. Yes, other people probably went there, but it had been our secret from the rest of the group. Somewhere we could think and just be ourselves. I couldn't count how many times Hayley had sung her own songs there, how many times I had jammed on my guitar, trying to bring back the crazy rock and roll sound, unlike the tamer, poppier sound I played around Stella, and the lyrics to all the popular songs on the radio that Hayley sang - even though she didn't feel passionate about singing those.

I was walking to my first class of the day when said band hoodie, spider bites wearing girl appeared in my vision. She looked worried and I looked over her shoulder - straight into the eyes of Stella. She was standing at the classroom door and watching me intently. I opened my locker - conveniently right next to me - and scribbled a note for Diana.

I grabbed my books so Stella didn't think it was suspicious, and pushed past Diana as she made her way closer to me, placing the note in her hand. It was very stealthy, and I suddenly felt like the ninja in a badly put together spy movie.

Diana

Alan pushed roughly past me, placing a note in my hand at the same time.

'Freak,' he said loudly, earning a high pitched laugh - one I knew all too well. Stella. I walked away, clutching the note in my hand. I opened it up around the corner.

I'm sorry - I didn't mean anything I said or pushing you. Stella was there, I'll talk to you after school, okay? - Alan.

Notes

Title cred: Bruised and Scarred - Mayday Parade