"Where have you been? You're thirty minutes late. Is this about what we talked about earlier?" Marco asked, pulling his jacket tighter around himself. He was barefoot. He must be freezing out here.

"I'm just here because of the project. Forget we ever talked about any of that," I hissed. Marco slowly nodded, then turned to walk back inside. I followed behind. 

When we got to his room, he showed me his laptop. "I started formatting the slides for our presentation so they would be ready for if you showed up tonight. I've added a picture of a few of the most important monsters to the slides. All we have to do now is add information about why this is important to the real world and make a connection," Marco explained, flipping through the slides. 

"Then let's add the information," I responded, taking his computer to email the presentation to myself. I pulled out my own laptop and started to work on the presentation. We both added information to the slides in silence before Marco shut his laptop. We were only about halfway done. "What are you doing?"

"Are you mad at me?" Marco asked, throwing his arms up. He seemed frustrated. "You're acting like you hate me all of a sudden."

"You're acting like I ever liked you in the first place. I'm just here because I need to pass this class," I hissed. I didn't hate him. In fact, I loved playing video games with him. Marco looked as if I had slapped him. 

"Look, you can be confused about your sexuality all you want, but you can't take that out on me. You're acting like a jerk right now," Marco responded. 

"I'm straight," I replied, though I didn't even know if that was the truth anymore. Marco got closer to me, and I started to get nervous. 

"Keep telling yourself that," Marco whispered, before taking a step back. I slammed my laptop shut, shoving it into my bag. 

"I'm leaving now," I responded, zipping up my bag. I was about to stand up from Marco's desk chair when a knock sounded on the door. I flinched and set my bag back on the ground. 

Marco's mom walked in, smiling happily. "Hey, boys. Are ya'll hungry? I made chili," She asked. I was starving. I needed to leave. 

"Jackson and I will be down in a second," Marco responded. She left the room, closing the door behind her. "Stay for dinner, then you can leave and do whatever you want." 

We both walked downstairs, and I sat on the same side of the table as Marco, across from Marco's mom. She poured everyone bowls of Chili. Carly handed us all spoons. 

Marco's mom was preparing extra containers of chili. "Marco, I'm putting chili in the fridge for you and Lara to eat for lunch tomorrow. Lara likes chili, doesn't she? Jackson, would you like some chili for lunch tomorrow?" I started to politely decline her offer. 

"I'll bring him some tomorrow, and yeah, Lara isn't a picky eater," Marco responded. I glared at him. Carly knocked on the table, and Marco and I turned to face her. Marco's mom was turned away from us. 

Carly pointed at both of us, made a heart, then made the heart break. "No, we are fine," Marco responded. I nodded and smiled. I didn't want Carly to be upset. Carly flipped us both off. "Carly! Don't do that," Marco yelled. 

"What? What did she do?" Marco's mom asked. Carly looked at Marco with wide eyes, suddenly realizing her mistake. 

"Nothing, mom," Marco responded. As soon as his mother was turned away, he shot Carly a glance and mouthed, 'Don't do that.' Carly nodded. Carly signed something that I didn't recognize to Marco. I assumed she was using sign language. 

"Yes, he'll be back tomorrow," Marco responded, signing as he said it. He turned to face me. "You will be back tomorrow, right?" We still have to finish our project.

"Yeah, I'll be back," I responded. The rest of dinner was uneventful. After dinner was over, I grabbed my bag to leave. Marco walked me to my car. 

"You're not going to kidnap me to explain the stars to you again?" Marco joked. I glared at him. "What?" He asked. 

"We're not going to talk about that anymore. I want to focus on our project and only our project," I responded, climbing into my truck. Marco turned to go back inside. I watched him leave.