“You’re lying!” Macy yelled at him.

“No. I’m serious.” He looked at her with a soft and innocent face.

“Gah! This is horrible! You can’t possibly like someone so much to hurt them? That doesn’t make any sense at all. So do you really like me or are you just playing around?”

“It’s like I told you, I’m better than you think. I used to be this great kid, you know, one that followed all the rules, never did anything wrong. But then, when my mom was caught with drugs by my dad, she blamed it on me and I’ve been different every since.”

“So you’re getting your anger out on me?!”

“No, no. That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying-”

“You’re just explaining your excuse! Thinking it will make up for everything that you’ve done to me for the past years, but it won’t!” Tears were streaming down her face now and suddenly she froze.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders and Macon glared.

“Macy…” Derrick whispered. “Macy…” He moved to face her. “Macy, I didn’t know…” but his voice trailed off.