Sorry for not updating in so long. I've been going through many mental health issues.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the movie Friday Night Lights. But I do own Cassie Wilson and other characters you don't recognize.

Why was he doing this to himself?

Maria held him tight as Don roughly parted her thighs, then lifted her hips and sank deep inside her warmth.

Why was he doing this to her?

He closed his eyes in sweet surrender and let out a loud thoroughly arrogant groan. She was making him burn and all he could concentrate on was finding release from the sweet agony. He pulled back, then thrust deep once again, then again, and again and again. When he was deep within her, he lowered his head for a heated kiss. He let out a low groan of raw pleasure as his thrust became more powerful and more determined. She whimpered at the same moment.

"God damn, you feel so good." He whispered when he was about to spill his seed inside her. With one final thrust and one hell of a shout, he climaxed while she held him close when she found her release seconds later.

She arched against Don, squeezing him tight "Don!" She cried out.

They collapsed. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck. They were both covered with a sheen of perspiration. He was too exhausted, too content to move. Maria held him close and she could feel his heart pounding against her own. They both wanted this. They both need to find some sort of release. But, Maria sensed Don had dropped a barricade between them. Her chest tightened and grief pushed down on her, and she felt her insides shrivel under the sick weight. She had managed to achieve what many would die for. She had given herself to him and allowed herself to be vulnerable. But apart of her knew that his heart belonged to another and that this gesture wasn't enough to convince him. She shut her eyes so tight that they ached.

He likes Cassie. Maybe even more…

Was this thought true? Did he picture Cassie while he fucked her? Was she just another one of those girls he slept with?

"Maria?" He asked quietly, pain and old feeling of futility and guilt sweeping through him.

"Y-yeah, Don?" She whispered, trembling in his grasp, her entreating eyes lifting to his.

"I'm sorry and I really meant it."

She knew what he meant, feeling the awful humiliation of being another one of those girls and a coward. Tears made wet paths down her face and plunged to the bedspread, her body quivering with her silent cry. She tugged the white sheets to her chin and turned away from him, "It's okay. I'm fine." Maria let her lashes flutter shut, silently wishing she could disappear.

Brian yanked open the door. He let three-hundred and fifty degrees of heat smash him in the face as he gazed at the chocolate cake. It took on a solid, circular form, perfectly dark-browned and the scent was heavenly. Donning a pair of pink, frilly oven-mitts, he took out the cake and settled the pan onto one of the stove's burners.

Cassie was fidgeting with her ponytail, trying to tame the loose strands when she peered over Brian's shoulder to look at their assignment. "Wow, who knew football players could bake." A smart-aleck smile tilted one corner of her lips.

Plucking the oven-mitts off his hands and tossed them onto the counter-top, he turned and scanned her face with cool interest. "Believe it, Wilson." A hint of a smile touched his mouth and he slung an arm around her shoulders as the Home Economics teacher approached them.

"Mr. Chavez, Ms. Wilson," Mr. Munroe paused, opening the green folder that contained the student's grades while glancing at their assignment before jotting something down, "Excellent work." He gave the pair a sharp nod before he proceeded to another station.

Brian propped his hip against the counter top and folded his arms over his chest, "So little Miss. Smartass, anything else to say now?" He elevated a dark brow but he was smiling.

Cassie childishly stuck her tongue out at him and bumped his shoulder with hers, "Okay, Chavez. You can bake."

"Do you like Don?" The question was so abrupt that she was ripped from her dazed inspection of him and brought back to the subject at hand. Her body stiffened and she shifted her gaze to the ground, kicking an orphaned eraser with the toe of her tennis shoe. She was half-embarrassed and half saddened that someone had found out. Yet she often fought against herself, trying to convince her conscience that it wasn't true.

But she lied anyway. "No, I don't and even in some twisted reality I did, he's not my type anyway."

Brian moved close to her, watching those almond-shaped eyes widen and color creeping across her face. "You're going to Hell for lying," He began, wrapping aluminum foil over the chocolate dessert before he continued, "You and I both know, that's not a place for you…"

A gentle flush rose up Cassie's neck, "Well...well maybe I like the heat."

Brian rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Maybe. But I hope you know that you just admitted the fact that you like him."

Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she realized what she had just said and his eyes were shining with laughter. A nerve seemed to jerk in her jaw, but she made no comment in response to his because there was no sense in continuing to lie to him.


She rose and watched as Karen ambled their way, her ponytail bouncing on her shoulder, while balancing a dish with a…something, entirely made out of rice crispy in both hands. "Look, isn't it great?"

Brian and Cassie both tilted their heads with a quizzical look, trying to comprehend what exactly it was. Words escaped them, so instead they smiled and hoped she would take it as a sign of encouragement.

Karen's smile faded, "Aren't you going to ask what it is?" Several seconds past and neither of them answered. Frowning now, she let out a frustrated sigh, "Its Don, you guys!"

Cassie faked realization for her friend's sake, "O-oh yeah! Its looks…just like him! Right, Brian?" She glanced over at Brian who was suppressing the urge to laugh. She swatted his bicep. He cleared his throat in order to compose himself and nodded as best as he could.

Karen beamed at them happily and gazed lovingly at her sculptor, "Thanks. It would have been bigger but someone couldn't stop eating the rice crispy treats." Her voice went low as she glanced over her shoulder, hoping they would get it.

She saw them look past her, beyond her shoulder and their mouths quirked with amusement when they caught sight of Chris Comer, licking the rice crispy residue off his fingertips.

"But besides that, I did a great job!"


Maria sat on the edge of the pool deck on the deep side end. Before her classmates had intruded into its waters, the metallic surface had been smooth as glass. Now ripples broke the surface and moved away from swimming bodies in all sorts of directions. The scent of chlorine teased her nostrils as she dipped her feet into the water.

"I want to disappear…"

"Well, I'll be damned."

That voice.

Her voice.

Maria grasped the cool metal edge of the deck. She clenched her teeth to prevent the strong of curses that twisted in her throat. "What do you want, Melissa?" Her voice didn't sound like her own. The words were forced out of a throat swallowing convulsively. She turned to see that Melissa was looking down at her, smiling slightly.

"Heard, Billingsley got lucky last night."

Irritation roared through Maria's veins at the blatant reminder that she'd given herself to Don and in return, he went and told the whole school. "Just leave me alone, Anderson." She said tightly.

"He must have been amazing. Too bad he wasted his talent on you instead of me." She said slyly. A playful elbow-in-the-stomach jab was implied by her smirking tone.

When Maria said nothing, Melissa's smile widened and she threw back her bottle-blonde head in pure enjoyment "Now you're just another girl he can cross off his list. Welcome to my world, Maria." She executed a horizontal dive into the pool. Maria turned away to avoid the water droplets to meet her eyes. When next she saw Melissa, her arms were arching over the surface as she swam away from her.

She relaxed her white-knuckled grip on the pool's metal edge and slid her body into the water silently. She closed her eyes as she waded into the water and savored the coolness. Everyone was laughing at her she could feel it. She knew it. She felt like a fool. A complete, utter fool. Agonizing impotence welled in her heart, searing a gaping hole of its own in the acrid surge of frustration and despair. She couldn't do this anymore; she couldn't face the student body after something like this. She didn't want to be here, not now at least.

She acted quickly.

Maria drew in a long harsh breath then submerged herself beneath the cool, shimmering surface. The water slowed her movements as she dragged herself further and further into the depths of the pool until she lost sight of the torment above the waters and until her feet touched the tiled bottom. Absolute quiet surrounded her, except for the occasional water-muted shouts of her classmates.

Her thoughts echoed through her mind, the words magnified by the utter silence. She opened her mouth slowly, the water swamping into her lungs and nose. She gagged a silent scream. She knew, the moment her feet touched the bottom, exactly what she was going to do. She didn't struggle because she knew there was no turning back. There was no way to refill her dying lungs. They burned with the need for oxygen. Inside, she felt extremely cold and it hurt. But she fought against it. Mental darkness threatened and she embraced it.

"Screw all of you..."

Her vision began to fade and that thought disappeared as quickly as it came. Her body suddenly relaxed, her hair softly swirling in the water like golden ink.

Don staggered into the crowded hallway where numerous other red-faced students laughed, jostled and shouted things like "Here comes Odessa royalty!" and "We're rooting for ya!" He ignored them, tuning them out as he passed them by. He clenched the sheet of lined paper with a note attached to it, in his hand. How long ago it seemed that he had written this final song for Ophelia. It was almost like reading a poem written by a stranger.

"What did you get?" Mike surveyed his face with leisurely, intimidating thoroughness.

He shoved his graded assignment into his gym bag and readjusted his black 'MOJO' baseball cap before he finally answered him, "I got a C+."

"Oh." A long awkward moment passed between them. Don shrugged and made a face, slipping his hands into the pockets of his denim vest. Cassie had been absent from English second period. Today he felt ashamed and sickened. The memory of Maria's passionate body under his held such power, resurfaced in his mind. Images, and a sensation of almost painful pleasure and in that same breath realized that he'd go to his grave never having feelings for another woman the way he'd felt about Cassie. He had used poor Maria as a release of the sexual desire he felt for Cassie.

"No matter what anyone says, you're a good football player…" Her words echoed in his mind and it pained him even more.

"If she knew, if she had any idea what sort of person I really am," He thought miserably, "She wouldn't want anything to do with me…"

"Hi, Don."

He gaze snared on the bowl that Karen held between her hands. His last name and football number was neatly aligned and created out of rice crispy pieces as well as some were colored green with food-coloring.

"Hey, Karen." His eyes going up and down between the thing in her hands and her face.

She beamed at him happily, "Its you," She inched closer, "Do you like it? Do you like it?" Excited and giddy with expectation, Karen soaked in the sight of him.

Wearing an uneasy smile, he nodded, "I think so, what is it?" Mike just stood there, glancing over at Don to see if he made any sense of what was going up. He didn't seem to get it.

"Its rice crispy," She handed it to him. Eyes wide and her heart hammering madly, "You like it, right?"

"Yeah, I love it, thanks…" He allowed a smile to grace his lips before turning to Mike with knowing eyes. Apparently, he didn't get it either.

"Your welcome." A blush of happiness warmed her from the inside out.

Dark. So dark.

Maria struggled to open her eyes, sobbing with relief and squinting against the bright overhead lights. Where was she? She couldn't summon up enough energy to move. The air smelled like rubbing alcohol and clean cotton. Her chest burned. It squeezed compressed, lungs viselike. She was still here. It didn't work. As her blurred vision became clearer, her blue eyes widened with shock and horror as she stared into the eyes of Cassie.

Reaching across her body, Cassie took her trembling hand, holding her firm, "What happened?"

Maria made no reply at that moment, her breath catching in a small sob. Cassie encircled her arms around her slender frame, "Where am I?" She asked quietly, her voice wavering.

She stroked the back of the tangled mass of Maria's blonde hair, "You're in the nurse's office. What happened, Maria?"

She whimpered, uttering a small cry before speaking, "I slept with Don."

Cassie went rigid, every muscle of her slender frame going taut with dead. She loosened her hold enough that she could look into those blue eyes, "What did you just say?"

Bracing her hands behind her to maintain her upright position. Maria leveled her gaze on hers then spoke again, "Last night…me and Don…you know…did it. But…he felt nothing after it happened. It was just physical, nothing emotional…" Tears rolled down the sides of her cheeks, "I didn't want to be the laughing stock of the school so…I tried to drown myself in gym class. To get away from everything. I know! It was a stupid thing to do and I promise I won't try something like that again." She was breathing much too quickly and she was intensely aware of her own pulse.

Horror burned in Cassie's tear-filled eyes. This was too much to bear. She wanted to turn, to run as fast and far as she could. Yet such desires were but empty, self-serving acts at a time like this. But Maria had shared something so intimate with the person she cared deeply about and in that same instant, that same person had betrayed her. Maria had tried to commit suicide today and nausea roiled and swelled in the pit of her stomach, "How could you be so stupid?" She hauled herself to her feet. Everything was badly blurred and she felt choked.

Bowing her head, Maria plowed her fingers through her hair, "I know, I know! I'm sorry…"

"How could you be so fucking stupid?" Cassie's voice sounded harsh to her own ears. Reacting on emotion was not something she allowed, but she hadn't been able to help herself today. "Suicide, Maria? Screwing Don? What the hell!"

Maria's head shot up, "Don't even go there! You kept telling us you didn't like him! And you never made a move on him, so I did! If anything, you should be mad at the fact that you were to busy denying your stupid feelings for him! Get the hell over yourself!"

Those words stabbed at her, opening old and painful wounds. Wide gray eyes registered only a single flash of fury, "Your right," A watery smile softened her delicate face, "You were one of my best friends, Maria. You're supposed to know me better than anyone. You were supposed to know…" She squeezed her eyes shut; stopping the tears by sheer force of will, "You were my best friend."

"Were? Cassie, wait!" Maria reached out for her but Cassie was already running out the room.

The long corridor beyond his locker was empty and hushed. Don wanted to yell out his frustration toward the ceiling but manage to contain himself. Maria had almost drowned in the pool during third period if Boobie hadn't saved her. Until recently, Don never really had a conversation with him until that very moment. After Science, Boobie had come up to him and told him what had happened.

He heaved a sigh as he continued down the hallway, He had left his history class to use the restroom but instead used these precious minutes to clear his head. He heard a strange sound that sounded like a mixture between a gargle and a moan. His head jerked toward the sound as though to confirm he hadn't been imagining things. The sound grew louder and he identified it as a strangled sob. He froze in his spot and realized that the sound was coming from behind him.

As he turned around, something flew towards him and into his arms.


Hands rested on her shoulders, Cassie looked up into his face. Her dense brown lashes damp, matted with tears. Don tensed, and then frowned at her before sliding his arms around her back and pulling her against his secure body, "Why are you crying?" His voice was unbelievably soft despite his rough nature. His words were soothing and Cassie hated it.

Her eyes widened as she tipped her head back to look at his face, "You…" She backed away from his embrace. "You and Maria…and then she tried to…" Her lips were rubbery, but she forced the words out, "You…you bastard!" She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the cheek.

All was quiet. The pair was so still, a casual onlooker might have thought they were statues. It was only when you looked more closely that you could make out the faint rise and fall of their chests.

He turned around slowly to face Cassie and what surprised him the most was the hatred burning in her marble-gray eyes "I don't want anything to do with you again!" It pained her deeply to say those words because it wasn't what she truly wanted.

Don's jaw firmed as his face-hardened. "Good!" He shouted, vibrant life in that single word. A fist was clenching around his heart, squeezing the life out of him, "I'm glad we can finally agree on something." He brushed past her, heading back to his History class.

Cassie looked down at her right hand, the tingling sensation had abated somewhat but she could still feel it. She didn't understand. She didn't know what else was there to do.

So she just stood there.

Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm hoping to update all my stories this week. Thank you again and be kind and review! =)