Mark was awoken from his deep sleep by a persistant ringing. Without opening his eyes, he began searching for his phone, which at the moment was burried under his comforter. Feeling it near his calf he grabs it and brings it to his ear answering it without looking to see who the caller is. He already had an inkling of who it might be.

"Hello" he mummbles

"Mark, are you still sleeping? It is after 12"

Skylar

"Hey Sky, I'm not sleeping, just laying down...resting my eyes" he lies

"Right...Well, I hope they got enough rest because I want to see you. I talked to the gang earlier and we were all thinking of maybe going over Jakes and using his pool, maybe even have a little BBQ" she says

" I don't know..I am not really in the mood to be around everyone today" he groans

" Babe, I know. But we only have a little over a month before we have to head back to school. And once we do, we aren't going to have much time to hangout. Senior year and all"

She had a point. Mark really had to concentrate this up coming year if he wanted to keep his grades up in order to get into NYU. It had always been his dream to live in New York. It was Skys dream too. They were both determined to go to the same college and stay together. They had been together since freshmen year. 

"Alright, alright. You have a point. Okay, give me about 20 minutes and I will come and pick you up" he says

"You're the best. I love you"

"Love you too" he says before hanging up. 

Mark pulls his tired body from the his comfortable bed reluctantly and heads over to his bathroom. After brushing his teeth; he heads over to his dresser to get his trunks and a tank top. If anyone else had asked him to go out, he would have said no and that would have been the end of it. Mark likes to be alone. It's not so much that he is a loner...well maybe he was a bit, but he just wasn't comfortable around a lot of people. It has always been hard for him to make friends. But when it comes to Skylar he could never say no. He may complain and whine a bit, but in the end he always gives in. They met on the first day of high school. He was sitting in his first class of the day. The teacher told them to take some time and get to know there neighbors. Mark took this as an opportunity to pull up his hoodie and listen to some music. He had no intention of speaking to anyone. That was until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking to his right he locked eyes with Sky. She was a cute little thing. Pale skin, short black spikey hair and the bluest eyes he has ever seen. 

"Hi" she said with a huge smile

"Hi" he mumbled

" You don't look like the type to approach people, so I thought I would do it for you" she said laughing

Mark couldn't help but smile at her. In a way he envied her for being so outgoing and having the ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger

" I think you and I are gonna be really good friends" she says with the most dazzling smile he had ever seen

" And what makes you think that" he asks

"Hmm, just a feeling.. What's your name?"

" Mark, yours?" he asks genuinely curious. There was something about this girl that made him want to get to know her.

"Skylar, but you can call me Sky..everyone does" She said smiling. 

And that was the start to it all. They became fast friends. Skylar understood him like no other friend had. She undertsood that he liked his alone time, and she made sure she gave it to him when he needed it. She understood that he wasn't much of a talker and more of a listener. After a few months he realized that he was really starting to like her. She had made her feelings clear from the beginning. She was always telling him that she was attracted to him and that she knew he was attracted to her, but would let him figure it out on his own. It took him a little while, but he finally was able to admit that there was something there and he wanted to be more than friends. Now here they were two and half years later and he couldn't be happier. 

After he finished getting dressed Mark headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat. When he got to the kitchen his mother was at the stove making what looked like grilled cheese.

" Hey, your're finally up. Would you like one sweetie?" she asked

" Nah, I am just gonna have an apple. I am about to pick up Sky and we are going to head to Jakes to hangout"

"Oh..okay.. Well, don't be back to late. Your father and I have something to discuss with you and your brother."

Something about the way she said it made Mark stop himself from taking a bite of his apple.

"Is everything okay? Is it serious?" he asked a little nervous

" It's nothing bad, but it is important. Don't worry about it for now, go have fun with Skylar and your friends. Just please make sure not to come back to late" She said smiling

For some reason Mark still felt a little anxious, but decided to just let it go.

" Alright well.. I will see you later than"

"Ok, bye honey. Have fun"

Grabing his key Mark headed for the door. As he got in his car, he found that he was still a bit anxious about what his mother wanted to talk about. Maybe someone died? Are Grace and Tammy okay? He quickly shook off those thoughts. He figured if it was something like that his mother would have said it right away. He shook his head as he started to drive away from his house, heading for Skys. Whatever it was his parents wanted to discuss couldn't be worse than a death in the family, so he decided not worry about it and just have a good time with his friends. Not knowing that in a few hours a huge bomb was going to be dropped on him, changing his life forever. 

*****Author Note****

Okay, so that is my first chapter done. It is a bit on the short side, but it is getting late and I am a bit tired. lol I promise they will get longer as the story goes on. No Markson unfortunately. I don't think there will be any Markson for the first few Chapters. I would like to build up the story a bit and don't want to rush it. I hope that is okay. Let me know what you think. I am not the best when it comes to writing conversations, but I hope I did alright.