Title: Not Only Hills, But Friends Of Mine
Author: Lady B.V Rose
Summary: Greg Marshall and Marie Stevens have been best friends for…well, ever. However, as they get older, things change. Secrets are revealed and trouble is ever-present…but can their friendship make it through?
Rating: M
Genre: Drama/Romance.

Disclaimer: I actually own all parts of this story! Feel happy for me! :D Side note, this is slightly inspired by a dream I had a few nights ago, but that dream read like a bad AU crossover fanfiction. Oh, and cookies go to the person who can tell me which WWI poem I nicked the title from. :)

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"Hey, Greg!" Marie Stevens called, running up to the bus stop where her best friend, Greg Marshall, stood. He grinned at her as her heels rapidly clicked along the pavement, her trademark miniskirt flapping around her; waiting for the second when it would happen, when his clumsy best friend would fall over. She only just managed to get over the road when she tripped over the curb. He rolled his eyes and walked over to her.

"I don't get why you always run in heels." He sighed as he pulled her up. She grimaced at the graze on her left knee and pulled out a plaster from her schoolbag.

"Because I'm always late." She retorted, pointing at the bus that had just pulled up. Greg just managed to get there to hold the bus so that Marie could sort herself out. She got on behind him and they managed to find seats.

"If you walked to the bus stop, you probably wouldn't cause this scene every morning." He told her as they sat down, getting into the flow of their usual banter, which started with Marie tripping on her way to the bus stop.

"Oh, shut up, you know you love making people wait." Marie teased, hitting him lightly on the arm. He rolled his eyes and looked out the window. She propped her head on his shoulder and stared out of the window too. "What'cha looking at?" She asked curiously, feigning a voice that was deliberately syrupy sweet.

"I have no idea." Greg replied, shrugging her head off his shoulder. Marie grimaced as the back of her head hit the back of the seat. She pulled her compact mirror out of her bag and examined a spot on her chin that had appeared this morning.

"I swear this thing should have been given its own postcode!" She grumbled, looking at the offending blemish critically. Greg looked at her face and nodded in agreement.

"It always happens to you on the worst days as well." He mentioned casually. She looked at him in confusion; it wasn't a photo day, they hadn't had one for years. She thought through her lesson timetable.

"Oh…shit." She muttered, realising why. It was Thursday, and that meant that she'd have to take her make-up off for last lesson because of her ridiculously strict Biology teacher's rules about practical lessons. "I can't let people see this; under all this concealer it looks even worse!" She screeched. Greg's eyes widened at the idea of it looking any worse.

"Take the lesson off then." He replied lazily, employing his usual tactic of get free time whenever you can. "Hell, with something like that you should have taken the whole day off!" Marie glared at him and he cowered.

"It's a coursework preparation lesson; do you think I'm going to take it off you lazy little twerp?!" She growled, pretending to throttle him for his insane idea.

"Depends what you mean by 'it.'" He added suggestively. She groaned at his usual method of taking everything down the gutter when she said anything that was slightly vague.

"Maybe I could get away with wearing make-up today…" Marie mused idly. Greg looked at her, his expression clearly saying 'are you kidding?!'

"You know what she'd say: THIS COURSEWORK IS GROWING GERMS, YOU CANNOT WEAR MAKE-UP; IT WILL INEVITABLY TRANSFER ONTO YOUR SPECIMEN AND COMPROMISE THE EXPERIMENT!" He yelled; imitating their Biology teacher's voice and copying her predictable lecture, it occurred every time they had a practical lesson because there was always one girl who refused to take off her make-up. Marie scowled at this, knowing it was the truth. Greg pushed her slightly, letting her know it was their stop. She stood up, just grabbing onto a bar before she fell into the lap of the old man opposite her. Greg held his hand to his mouth as he snickered at her then placed his hands on her hips, guiding her to the bus doors. She turned her head to glare at him, but just ended up laughing at the entire situation.

They got off the bus with no trouble and waved at a few people they were acquainted with from their school. Marie started to cross the road, managing to escape Greg's hand as he tried to restrain her. He shook his head, smiling at his friend's impatience and luck as she managed to avoid all the cars and stay standing. He waited for the road to clear and strolled along, catching up with Marie, who was currently power-walking to their school's Sixth Form centre.

"Y'know, I'll always wonder how come you can't run in heels on the way to the bus stop, when the road is clear, but if you run across that road in heels when it's full of traffic, you can do it with no bother." He commented as he caught up. She looked at him and smiled mysteriously. Milliseconds later her mysterious smile disappeared and was interrupted by a snort of laughter.

"I haven't a clue." She replied, shrugging it off as they entered the building. Marie dug through her bag and found her school diary.

"Double English Language, History, English Lit and Biology." He told her from memory. She sheepishly put away her diary and headed for the Computer Room upstairs.

"I have homework to print out, you coming?" She asked. He nodded his head towards the toilets and she understood. "I'll catch you in the Common Room then."

"Sure." He replied, heading towards the men's toilets. Marie raced up the stairs to the Computer Room, just avoiding a crash with her form tutor. She skidded into the computer room and found a spare computer, not surprised at the busy atmosphere of the place as she was used to coming up here in the morning to print off homework and always found a plethora of people trying desperately to finish theirs. She logged on and took out her History and Literature files from her bag as she opened an internet window to access her email. She downloaded the two files she'd sent to her own email and opened them, checking them over for typos and other mistakes. When she was happy she clicked for them to be added to the print queue and waited at her computer, playing on the "educational" games the school had put on the network. The queue quickly cleared and she picked up her printouts, slipping them into her folders as she left to go to the Common Room. She smiled when she saw Greg, entertaining some of the Year 12s who frequently worshipped him, though she couldn't figure out why. He held out his arm and pulled her over to the crowd, watching the younger faces light up at her presence. She briefly wondered how much homework she was going to be asked to do this time.

"So, kids, it's time we left, have places to go, people to see." He told them smoothly. They all pouted. One particular girl, who Marie recognised from the year 12 Literature class, stepped out of the group.

"Marie…could you help me with this part of the book?" She asked sweetly. Marie sighed and took out a copy of the AS text she used that was still set for the students. She was glad she learned early in the year that some of the current year 12s would constantly badger her for her help in the subject and started to always bring them with her. She looked at the copy the younger girl was holding and found the corresponding page in her book, handing it to the girl.

"Make sure I get that back." She told the girl sternly, however the smile on her features stopped the threat of her statement. The girl nodded as Greg and Marie left to pursue a quiet corner in the buzzing Common Room. They continued their usual banter until the bell for registration rang and left after the crowds.

"Shall I turn up for your first two lessons? Y'know, nothing to do and you know how much Yoshi misses me!" Greg asked, cheekily grinning. Marie smiled devilishly at the suggestion.

"Sure, just make sure you do my work." Greg paled in horror, "Or…just sit there and be a good boy." Greg perked up and smiled brightly as they walked off to their form rooms.