Ashley looked up toward her, startled. Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want? I have no reason whatsoever to talk to you," she said. "What's up with that? You dump your boyfriend, sneak out with MY boyfriend, who happens to be your ex-boyfriends brother, and now come crying back to me? Fuck you!!! And tell Taylor you can have him, cause I'm not talking to him either!!" She got up, walked toward the door, pushed her sister out, and slammed the door in her face.

Dawn felt tears come to her eyes. What do I do now? I really screwed things up...no shit sherlock! Who am I kidding? Suddenly she went out the door, grabbed her bike, and began pedaling in the direction of the Hanson's house.

"Dawn? Hey," Isaac said, answering the door and seeing Dawn panting heavily. "Are you Okay?"

Dawn shook her head. "I have a MAJOR problem, and I desperately have to talk to Taylor about it. Can you go get him?"

Isaac shook his head sadly. "Sorry. He went out with Blake and his friends. He should be home around 7. At least that's what he said...And its 5:30 now."

Dawn sighed, frustrated. I need to talk to Taylor, NOW. "Well, can I stay till he comes back? I REALLY need to straighten something out with him."

Isaac looked puzzled. "I don't see why not...but are you gonna be okay here?" Then dropping his voice into a whisper, "Zac's here. In the living room."

Dawn groaned. Oh fuck. What a day this has been. Dawn sighed, then nodded. "Yeah. I have to talk to him too."

Isaac nodded. "Then come in!" He opened the door and ushered her in. Then left to go back to his room where his Hockey game was on pause.

Zac was sitting on the couch, glumly watching TV. He glanced up at her and turned away, ignoring her.

Dawn looked at him carefully, deciding if she should approach him. He looked so depressed. Oh poor thing. She didn't realize how much she had hurt Zac till then. Why did I have to fuck everything up?? I could still be with Zac, Ash with Tay, and nothing would ever happen between me and Taylor. Oh boy. She tentatively walked over to the couch and sat next to Zac on the couch. Zac continued to ignore her. "Zac?" she whispered. "I need to talk to you."

Zac glanced at her, his eyes filling with tears. "Oh really? Maybe about this OTHER guy you wanted to be with?" He adjusted himself so that he was facing her. "I thought you liked me.... I really did. Oh yeah......." His eyes narrowed."....Your sister called. So you've been sneaking around with TAYLOR? Taylor's the guy you wanted more then me??? That makes me feel REAL good. My BROTHER?? You could have went behind my back with any other guy except HIM!! He takes everything away from me, and now he's decided to take you!"

Dawn stared at him, tears welling up in her eyes. " Zac...Let me explain. Please..."

Zac threw his arms in the air. "And what are you going to tell me? All about Taylor? Sorry, they already have a book of him named that!!"

Dawn looked away, trying to avoid Zac's hurting stare, and noticed Mackie sitting there, staring at them curiously. She looked back at Zac, his hurt brown eyes searching her, as if he was trying to figure out if he could stand listen to her. "Can we go to the treehouse? I...I want to straighten this out," she whispered, then stood up, reaching out a hand and pulling a tentative Zac off the couch and led him to the backyard.

"Why didn't you just tell your sister you saw Taylor at the party? And why didn't you tell me you liked him that day when I first kissed you in here? I could have helped you with him! But NO!! Were you just using ME to get to HIM??" Zac was shouting now. Dawn had confessed everything to Zac when they reached the treehouse. She couldn't even look at Zac until she had finished. When she was, she glanced up at him, and that just made her cry even worse. Zac had tears in rivers coming down his face, and had gotten up and walked to the window and looked out while she talked. Then he had turned around and started yelling at her, asking everything that came to his mind.

"NO!! Zac, I would never use you! I don't even know why I liked Taylor at first...Maybe because I was jealous of Ashley..I don't know.....Zac.....please..I never meant to hurt anyone. I just wanted.... Oh I don't know." She slumped down in the corner and buried her head in her knees. " I don't know why I did that. I'm stupid. I should just go to hell. Kill myself and get this whole thing over with." She jumped as she realized Zac had sat beside her and began stroking her hair.

Zac carefully lifted her head, looking into her eyes. "Look at me...I didn't mean to yell," he said softly. "I just couldn't believe you did that to me, to my brother, and your best friend in the world, Ashley. And do NOT kill yourself. That'll only drive me to kill myself as well. That'll really screw me up."

Dawn looked at him, puzzled. "Huh? You should be kicking me out of here by now... You should hate me." She whispered, tentatively letting Zac put his arm around her.

Zac managed a small smile. "No. I couldn't do that. You're not going to believe this, but I still care for you. A lot. Or else I wouldn't be sitting here touching you like I am. When you told me we were moving too fast, that was the building began to crumble. And when your sister called, hysterical, wanting to talk to Taylor, telling me what she thought, the building just fell. And I don't care if I'm 12. And that your my first girlfriend and I'm probably doing everything wrong. I know I'm probably talking shit right now, but I don't care. I just want things to go back to normal. I care for you too much. I can't lose you. Just let me heal first."

Dawn stared at him. "Oh boy. I know you, and you won't be able to ignore this. All the time that we were together it was always Taylor ruining this ruining that. And now that I did this...I know you're going to be scarred. Its my fault."

Zac shook his head as he continued to stroke hers. "Not really. Things just got mixed up. I should have known better when you told me you wanted to slow down."

Dawn closed her eyes. "And when I told you I wanted to slow down...it wasn't because I was interested in someone else. I just didn't want us to crash." She sniffed, a tear falling onto her cheek.

Zac put his hand on her cheek, wiping the tear away. "I know. I didn't realize that till later, after you left, then I started calling you. But you wouldn't answer. And then today...ho boy. I should have known why 'Ashley' was acting weird."

Dawn shook her head. "Quit blaming yourself. You're acting like all this happened because of you. It had nothing to do with you, Zac."

Zac looked thoughtful. "I'm not gonna argue. I've had enough of that for a while. Believe what you want."

Dawn smiled, then gasped. She stood up. "I have to talk to Ash! Zac, do me a favor and call her and tell her I have to talk to her? She'll talk to you... I still have to straighten this out with her."

Zac nodded, then stood up and guided her out of the treehouse. "Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye..Dawn."

Dawn smiled sadly. "Bye Zac." She hopped on her bike and began pedaling her way back home.