Author's Note: Sudden inspiration. I was so upset because I'm so into Get Out that I thought this would make my updates less frequent, but my loves, I had to do it. This was just eating away at my mind! It is alternate universe, which is odd because lately, many of my stories have been. I never believed in it before lol. It takes place in Marco's eleventh grade, but things are different, as you will see. Please enjoy and review. Also, this is Darco, even if it may not seem so at first.

Marco stared at himself in his full-length mirror, scrutinizing every feature with utter dislike. He moved one annoying strand of hair from one side to the other, his finger shaking slightly as he did so. He was beginning to hate his appearance, especially since it reminded him of his weaknesses. He sighed, biting his lip.

Marco walked down the hallway, careful to avoid his parents while he stepped past their bedroom. The bathroom was the door right next to it. He opened the cabinet under the sink, pulling out his mother's make-up bag. He took out the small case that held the cover-up. Feeling ashamed that he had to make himself feel even more feminine, he slowly applied the cover-up to every ugly bruise on his face. Everything else on his body was covered, so he didn't worry about those.

After he was satisfied with the job he'd done, he met his mother outside of the bathroom door. He smiled convincingly at her, and she was fooled, smiling back at him, and sliding past him into the bathroom while he walked out.

"Good morning," she said gently after closing the door.

"Morning," he replied, walking into the kitchen where his father was seated at the table, a piece of toast in hand.

"Hey, dad," said Marco pleasantly, taking a seat across from him.

"Morning, Marco," said his father in the same pleasant tone. "Ready for first day of eleventh grade?" he asked, smiling.

Marco shrugged. "Guess I really have no choice," he laughed.

"Good attitude, I suppose," he chuckled. "So, you sixteen, Marco. I see girlfriend in your future, hmm?" he raised an eyebrow.

Marco rolled his eyes good-naturedly, hiding the fact that it hurt him to have to lie to his own father constantly. "Sure, Pa," he said, smiling. "Maybe one day soon."

"This year's your year," his father told him confidently.

Marco nodded, humoring him. His cell phone vibrated in his jeans' pocket, so he quickly excused himself to the front yard to answer it. His father didn't seem to mind.

"Hello," he said happily. He knew who it was.

"Hey, baby," said the other boy. "Am I driving you this morning?"

Marco thought it over. It was possible that he could get a ride with his father on his way to work, but he figured Corey would be more disappointed if he refused, so he went with his gut.

"Of course," said Marco, not letting him know he had been debating it. "When can you be here?"

"I'm on my way over," he said immediately, leading Marco to believe that he was going to come whether or not Marco told him he needed him. Marco told himself that he made the better choice.

"Dad," he called out, walking back into the house, seeing that his mother was back in the kitchen sitting with his father. "I'm going to go outside to wait for Corey, all right?"

His parents nodded, waving their good-byes. Marco smiled at the easy getaway. Sometimes, it would take much more convincing because his mother didn't like Corey. She thought his car was a mess, and more importantly, so was Corey. It wasn't that Marco particularly agreed with her, but…well…she was right about one thing. He needed to clean the car.

Marco's mother knew that he was dating Corey. She had gotten over the fact that he was gay after a short while, but she'd never accept Corey as his boyfriend. When his father wasn't around, she'd explain how much better she thought he could do than Corey Stenchever. Still, she realized that it wasn't going to change his mind about the boy he loved so much, so she, for the most part, let him be. Of course, if she saw why Marco was using her cover-up, she might reconsider ever letting him be around Corey.

Marco walked back outside, not so surprised to see Corey's car already in the driveway, waiting for him. He opened the door, sitting down in the passenger seat next to his boyfriend. He made sure that his father was nowhere to be seen in the window before leaning over to kiss him. Corey smiled into the kiss, pulling away to drive.

"Excited?" asked Corey, turning the corner.

"I don't know," Marco shrugged. "You?" he asked, leaning against the window.

"Are you kidding?" his boyfriend asked, turning to him with a look of disbelief. "I don't get to see you all day long! Why would I be excited?" he asked.

Marco smiled. Corey was amazing. There would always be people like his mother and Ellie to tell him Corey was no good for him, but they didn't know anything. They saw some crazy things about him, but they didn't know the true Corey he was on the inside.

Corey and Marco pulled into the school parking lot. They both got out of the car, and Corey immediately put his arm around Marco's waist, glaring at anyone who dared to look at them. Marco considered telling him that they were probably just curious, but didn't. Corey might not have approved very much of that statement, so he didn't want to risk it.

"Marco! I've barely seen you all summer," exclaimed Ellie, seeing him walk up to the door of their homeroom with Corey by his side. She kept her face neutral, looking away from Corey back to Marco again. She put her arms around his neck, and he hugged her close. "Come on, we have to go in," she said, pulling at his arm because he didn't budge.

"Be there in a second," said Marco, shooing her in, sensing that Corey didn't want him to simply go in with her, especially without giving a proper farewell.

Ellie nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and went into the classroom alone. Marco turned back to Corey. "I have to go," he said, pointing into the classroom, reminding him.

Corey nodded, leaning over to kiss him. "I love you, Marco," he said slowly.

"I love you too," replied Marco, turning to walk into the classroom, but Corey pulled him back.

"I don't like her, Marco," said Corey. Marco hated when he started to say his name at the end of every sentence. It usually meant he was angry. Marco said nothing; he didn't know what to say. Corey waited, and then carried on. "I don't want you to hang out with her out of school, okay?"

The bell rang, and Marco didn't have time to argue. He didn't think it was the proper place to do so, anyway, so he nodded, pretending that he actually meant it without giving him a solid answer, and then turning back to walk into the classroom.

"Wait," said Corey, pulling on his arm. "I said 'okay'?" His face had gone quickly from a half-smile to a look of pure anger. He waited for Marco's response.

Marco nodded, closing his eyes and biting his lip, preventing himself from talking back. The problem was Corey wanted a verbal answer. "Okay," he said, taking quite a bit of strength to simply get the word out.

Immediately, Corey's face broke into a wide smile. He leaned down, kissed his younger boyfriend, and ran down the hallway to his own class.

Marco opened the door, embarrassed when he saw Ms. Kwan give him a look of disapproval. Since he wasn't a frequent late boy, she waved it off, but told him to not make a habit of it. He nodded, taking his usual seat next to Ellie in the back corner of the room.

"Late, hmm?" said Ellie, not looking up from her notebook.

"Yeah," said Marco, fidgeting with his hands. He hated the feeling of missing Corey. He really hated it because he sat there, waiting to see him again, and was never too pleased with the outcome of their meetings. That wasn't actually true. Many times, they did enjoy themselves together, but no matter what, he would spend all of his free time thinking about him, knowing there was a good chance they would simply argue.

"Marco, I wanted—"

"Welcome to grade eleven. This year…"

While Ms. Kwan droned on, Ellie tried to have a conversation with Marco. "As I was saying in the hallway," she said, "I barely got to see my best friend this summer, Marco. I missed you."

Marco shrugged. "We saw each other," he whispered back, half listening to the teacher, and half of his attention was focused on Ellie.

"But barely," she said, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"Ms. Nash!" said Ms. Kwan, her arms crossed.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Kwan," she apologized. "Continue, please."

After Ms. Kwan began her lecture again, Ellie decided to make her discussion quieter. "Look, can we hang out tonight?" she asked. "You know, like we used to?"

Marco stared at Ms. Kwan, as if her speech might give him the perfect answer to her question. "I can't," he said, turning to her, doing his best to look apologetic about it. "I promised my dad I'd help him with something at work," he lied.

"Oh," she whispered, turning her head to one side. "Maybe tomorrow…?" she suggested.

"Maybe tomorrow," he repeated, pointing at Ms. Kwan, telling her that they had to start paying attention. After all, late or not, he was still a responsible student.

Marco spent his lunch period with Corey, much to the dismay of his friends. Ellie sat down, as she had become accustomed to at the end of the previous year, with Paige, Jimmy, Spinner, Craig, Ashley, and Hazel.

"Okay," said Paige, clapping her hands together, "who says Marco spends too much time with Corey?"

"Oh, definitely me," said Ellie, surprised that she was agreeing with Paige.

Ashley rolled her eyes, popping a French fry in her mouth. "Well, I think we're being extremely immature about this. I mean, we can spend endless amounts of time with our boyfriends, but when it's Marco…this happens?"

Jimmy nodded. "Girl's got a point," he said.

Hazel looked thoughtful. "Well, I think it's because Corey is so against sitting with us, you know? Maybe that's why we think it's weird because all they do is spend time alone together. He pulls Marco away from us," she said after a moment.

"Yeah," said Spinner. "It's like he hates us or something," he said with his mouth full.

Paige chastised him for speaking with his mouth full, and then spoke to the group again. "I don't know," she said, shrugging. "It's not like it's a big deal. It's not like I hate Corey or anything. I just wish I could spend more time with Marco again, you know?"

Ellie agreed. "I think Corey hates me," she said, "so I have no problem saying that he's not my favorite person either."

"Look," said Ashley, "there's only a few more minutes in the period, so Marco is probably going to come back soon. Let's stop talking about him, all right?"

They all nodded, deciding that the best way to get their friend to start spending more time with them was not him finding them talking badly about him behind his back. That would make matters worse.

"Hey," said Marco, sitting in the empty chair next to Spinner.

"Did you eat?" asked Paige, looking past Spinner to see him.

"No food in the library, remember?" said Marco. "The bell's going to ring in a minute, anyway. I'll eat when I get home," he said, showing that it was no big deal at all to him.

"Marco, what does Corey have this period?" asked Hazel curiously, trying to act as if it was just an innocent question.

"He's free this period. Why?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Hazel didn't answer his question. "So, you give up eating to sit in the library with him the whole period?" she asked.

"Hazel," Ashley warned, her eyes showing that she didn't want Hazel to start anything she'd later regret.

"Whatever," said Hazel, getting up to throw out her trash.

"Okay," said Marco, laughing slightly. He looked at everyone, confused. "What?" he asked.

"Marco, spend lunch with us tomorrow," said Paige. "It's not a request; it's an order."

Author's Note: It will get better. It will make more sense, and the next chapter will be up soon (if you review). :) I hope you enjoyed chapter one. There's way more to come. The drama has yet to truly begin.