Nothing Can Break Us, No One Can Make Us

In the past month, Gerard has been over their house for about twenty hours a day, since he became good friends with Tori. He tries talking to Maddie, but she's normally out the whole day with Pete. Brendon hasn’t called either, not on the house phone, nor on Maddie’s cell phone. Ryan, on other hand, has been calling Tori about every two hours. They even were able to meet up with each other a couple of times. As happy as things were right, the secret was finally out.

Maddie was just sitting on the couch, watching T.V. when Tori came back home from being out. "MADISON!!!"

"Oh fuck, this has to be bad," she whispered to herself. Tori stormed in and put her purse down. She stood in front of Maddie’s view of the T.V., holding a rolled up magazine in her hand.

"Explain to me what the fuck I have in my hand," she spat in an angry tone.

"A rolled up magazine," she answered with a light laug and a mini smile.

"Yes, but not the answer I'm looking for," Tori said. She slammed it down on the table in front of Maddie with the cover upward. "Read!"

Maddie picked it up and leaned back in the couch. "It's just a cover of a maga...'IS PETE WENTZ A BACKSTABBER'?!?" She looked up at Tori who was giving her that, "Keep on going," look and Maddie flipped open to the page and read out loud.

"'Is Pete A Backstabber?
We all know how Pete and Brendon are great friends and that Brendon is dating Maddie Rich, but was Pete feeling left out? We've spotted Pete hanging out with Maddie all around town holding hands and being really close. Since Brendon doesn't live in state, he can't watch Maddie all the time, but it looks like Pete is doing a great job of that in these pictures.'"

She looked over at the pictures and saw the both of them together, just like the magazine said, then went back to reading.

"'We've talked to our love expert and she examined the pictures and gave us the 4-1-1. "They are definitely in love and definitely together. You can see how they're stepping on the same foot and how Maddie's head is close to Pete's as the walk.""

Maddie skimmed it one more time and looked up at Tori. "On the bright side, I made it in a magazine and I looked good in the pictures," she smiled, not taking her eyes off of the pictures. Tori slapped Maddie on top of her head. "OWW! What was that for," she screeched, rubbing the top of her head and looking up angrily at Tori.

"YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT! I want to know what's going on and what you're hiding from me right now," Tori demanded.

Maddie bit her bottom lip, trying to think of what to say. "I...I...I gotta call Brendon." She got up and left the room to call him, leaving Tori somewhat confused. She just sat down and thought until she heard the front door open.

"Tooooooooooori," the voice rang through the first floor. Gerard came in marching the living room like he was in the army.

"Why the hell are you marching," she sighed.

"I bring news," he said with a somewhat eager smile

"What?"

He stopped marching. "I know why Maddie went straight up to her room that one day," he sang.

"Why," she sang back. He pulled something out of his pocket and opened it up to the same article that Maddie just read.

"It's not positive, but Maddie was having some good hair days in there. And she and Pete look good together," he smiled.

"You're missing the point too," Tori said, making Gerard tilt his head. "I just showed it to her. You're too late."

"Shit. I wanted to be the barer of bad news," he pouted, crossing his arms and falling back onto the couch.

"Well this gives us something to do now instead of doing nothing like always."

"Which is..."

"Trying to figure out what she's hiding."

"She's hiding something," he tilted his head the other way. Tori nodded. "How do you know?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not really," he said.

"Oh, well it was to me. Now we just gotta figure it out,” she said, starting to ponder the posibilities. Gerard crossed his legs and began to rub his chin.

Maddie locked her door and called up Brendon, hoping he didn't see it yet.

Ring

Don't see the article.

Ring

Don't see the article.

"Hello?"

"Brendon," she asked, hoping it was him.

"No, Ryan," the voice said bluntly.

"Oh, hey Ryan, it's Maddie. Can I-"

"Why did you do that to Brendon," Ryan cut her off.

Shit, they saw it. Ok, play cool and pretend that you don't know what he's talking about, she thought for a second, taking a pause in their conversation.

“Hello,” Ryan said into the phone during the pause.

"What do you mean," she asked.

"We saw that article, what's up with that?"

Damn it, she mentally slapped herself.

"Don't worry about it. Let me talk to Brendon," she demanded.

"You'd be lucky to talk to him."

"Why, what do you mean," she asked.

"He won't even talk to us. He locked himself up in his room after reading it," Ryan stated.

"Well try please," Maddie begged into the phone. He sighed heavily. She heard footsteps and a knock coming from his end of the conversation.

"Brendon, open up, Maddie's on the phone and wants to talk to you."

There was silence. Then, Ryan started to talk again.

"He won't op-"

The sound of a door opening was heard, cutting off Ryan. "Give me the phone," a different voice that seemd to be a bit farther away commanded. The phone was handed off and the door was closed.

"Brendon, please don't be mad," Maddie pleaded.

"You're asking me not to be mad? Give me one good reason why," he started off calmly.

"Let me explain myself and that can be your reason," she tried reasoning with him. He didn’t say anything for a little while. Maddie just waited for him to say something before she did explain herself.

"Start talking," he finally said. She sighed.

"Pete and I are only friends. Sometimes when I'm with my guy friends I tend to hold their hand because I get pretty protective of things I think are mine, and I think of all my friends in my circle and I don't want to lose them."

Lie, her conscious spoke to her.

"What about the close heads?"

"Wouldn't you want your conversations kept secret from everyone else around you too," she tried to convince him.

Stop lying so badly, it said again.

"So, you're not with him," Brendon asked.

"No, I'm not with him," she said, knowing that she had won.

Oh, you are so horrible/u], was the last thing it said before leaving a trobbing pain in her stomach.

"That's a sigh of relief. You want to come over for a week," he asked, smiling into the phone now.

"Sure."

"Cool. I'll come pick you up. See you in a few hours."

"Bye."

"Maybe she's a ninja in disguise," Gerard suggested, making it the twentieth dumb suggestion so far. It may have been more, but Tori lost count.

"No."

"Maybe she's an alien who's bent on dating celebrities and then she sucks the marrow off their bones and I'm gonna be next," he started to freak out.

"No."

"Maybe she's from the future."

"No."

"Maybe she has a fungus on her left toe and named it something."

"Eww no! Besides, she hates feet too much, so she would have that gone before you could blink. And I hate dirty feet, so it would never happen."

"Maybe she still watches Blue's Clues."

"She does, but that's not it so no."

"Ohh! Maybe she has a secret second life like..." Gerard jumped up on the couch, "Hannah Montana!" He started singing the theme song. Tori pulled him down.

"I think you're getting somewhere with the whole secret life thing. But the secret life has to do with Pete."

"Yes," a voice from behind her asked. Tori turned around and screamed to find Pete right behind her. She fell off the couch and onto the floor while Gerard and Pete laughed at her.

"Why the fuck are you laughing?!?"

"Because that was funny," Pete replied inbetween laughs.

"How did you get in here anyway," she changed the subject.

"Someone left your front door wide open, so I just left myself in," he shrugged. Tori slowly turned her head to Gerard, death glare plastered on her face.

"What," Gerard asked, a bit scaried about what might happen next.

"You left the front door wide open," Tori yelled at him, her tone rising by every word.

"I guess so," he shrugged.

"Why?!?"

"I guess I forgot to close it, is that a bad thing?"

"YES! NOW THERE WILL BE BUGS IN THE HOUSE," she exclaimed, letting her arms fly up in the air. Just then, a fly flew by Tori's face. "See! Now we have to kill it," she said with an annoyed tone.

"Where's Maddie? I need to talk to her," Pete butted in.

"Upstairs in her room,” she answered him quickly. “Quick Gerard, let's go suit up in the kitchen!" Tori ran into the kitchen.

"Yay suit up," Gerard exclaimed, following Tori into the kitchen, leaving Pete alone with one eyebrow raised.

"Ok...”

As Pete walked up the stairs, pots were clanging.

"Quick! Kill it! Kill it!"

"Damn it! I missed!"

"Follow it!"

There was a knock on the door while Maddie was packing her bag.

"Maddie, it's Pete, can I come in," he asked from the outside of her room.

Shit, she thought, pushing more stuff into her bag.

"Hold on," she called out quickly. She stuffed her bag in the closet, then went over and opened the door.

"Hi," she greeted him.

"Hey," he kissed her forehead and sat down on her bed while she closed her door. "Did you see the art-," he started, but then was easily cut off.

"There it is," Gerard’s voice was heard from the other side of her door followed by a loud bang. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"They're trying to kill a fly aren't they," she guessed.

"Yeah," Pete said. She sighed and opened her door. Tori and Gerard had pots on their heads and oven mitts on their hands while holding on to spatulas and wooden spoons.

"Are you trying to break my door," she asked completely annoyed.

"The fly landed on it," Gerard said.

"Where did it go," Tori asked quickly, her eyes shooting back and forth. They all began to look around.

"THERE," Gerard called out and the two ran down the stairs. Maddie closed her door again and sat next to Pete.

"Does that happen a lot," he asked her. She nodded.

"I just hide in my room while Tori "suits up" and tries killing it," Maddie said, rolling her eyes. He let out a small chuckle. "So what were you saying?"

"Oh yeah. Did you see the article," he asked, getting back on track.

"I think the whole world saw it."

"What gives you that thought," Pete asked, tilting his head to the side.

"The fact that Brendon saw it," she said, lowering her head.

"Oh. Did you talk to him,” he asked her. She nodded, not looking up at him. “What did you say?”

"I just lied and he believed me. To make sure though, I'm going to his house for a week. I hope you don't mind," she said, looking back up at him.

"No, I don't."

"Ok, because I thought you would," she laughed lightly

"So you didn't tell him yet," Pete asked her another question, causing confusion to take control of her.

"Tell him what," Maddie asked.

"You know, weren't you going to break up with him?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Maddie said slowly, looking around the room.

"So you want two boyfriends," Pete clarified what he was saying to her.

"Right now I don't know what I want. I hope that this week with him well help me out," she said.

He nodded. "Call me when you get back."

"Will do," she smiled. When Pete left, the smile immediately left her face and Maddie buried her face into her pillow and screamed.

"Ok I give up." Tori took off her pot hat and put it on the coffee table in front of her while she fell onto the couch.

"No Tori! Don't give up! We almost had it," he urged her, croutching down to her level and he began to shake her arm.

"I'm too tired Gerard, it's all up to you," she said, flicking her arm so that he would get off her.

"Fine then, I shall go at it alone," he said in a deep voice. Pete walked down the stairs. "Pete! You wanna help kill the fly with me," his voice changed to high pitched.

"No thanks." He walked out and Gerard ran around the house for a few more hours while Tori fell asleep. Tori shot up when she heard the sound of glass hitting the floor. She ran into the room. Gerard had finally killed the fly, but broke a glass.

"Sorry but the glass was in the way and I wanted to kill it and-," he began to say, hoping that she wouldn’t get mad.

"It's ok Gerard. Just help me clean it up," she said, trying to stay as calm as possible. In the process of cleaning up the glass, the front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Maddie called out and ran down the stairs seeing them cleaning up the glass. "What ha-"

"Just get the door," Tori commanded. Maddie shrugged it off and went over to answer the door. The fgure on the other side was none other than Brendon.

"Hey," she said with a big smile on her face.

"Hey." He kissed her as Tori and Gerard were watching in the background.

"I'll go get my bag," she said, beginning to run upstairs to her room. Brendon spotted Tori and Gerard.

"What's going on," Tori asked.

"Maddie's staying with me for a week."

Maddie ran back downstairs, bag in hand.

"See you guys in a week,” she waved. They left with the front door closing behind them. Gerard waved a little bit and looked over at Tori whose mouth was open agape.

"Is it me, or are they still together," he said confused, Tori slowly shaking her head.

"I really don't know."