This is for RainTastesGood, who wanted to see the examples I gave of James being unwell and grumpy in my other story, You Always Know. I only did three examples, so after this I might take requests for some hurt/comfort non-slash James angst oneshots! Read and enjoy! Oh, and in this first one the guys are in 9th grade, around 14 or 15 years old.

James Diamond trudged through the hallways of his high school, feeling stuffy and achy and just plain tired. He wanted to nothing more than to be at home, snuggled under the warmth of his comforter, watching The Price is Right as his mother fussed over him with the aid of thermometers and soup and pillows.

Just one little hole in his little Monday morning fantasy: if he stayed home, there wouldn't be anyone to take care of him. His mother worked full time and was never home. His father divorced his mom two years ago. James couldn't remember the last time someone took care of him when he was sick. So instead of being alone and bored all day, he opted to just push through the day.

How he regretted the decision already! It wasn't even homeroom yet and he was feeling like crap, his body begging for a nap a little more which each step. He had to walk to school that morning, like any other day. Only this time, the freezing air caused his nose to run like a fountain and burned his already sore from coughing lungs. He had overslept, not having time to do his hair or plan his outfit for the day. He dragged himself through the hallway, exhausted from lack of sleep the night before.

There was no doubt in James' mind that he was suffering from a bad cold. He wasn't about to let his friends know that though. He hated being sick. He hated when his friends treated him like an invalid. He hated when anyone but his parents fussed over him. Actually, James almost felt embarrassed to be feeling sick around them, despite the fact that they were best friends.

He let out a sneeze into the crook of his elbow as he ignored the girls that were trying to flirt with him. Hard as it was for even him to believe, he didn't want girls today. He wanted a nap and a fuzzy blanket. He wanted cough drops and chicken soup. He wanted to go home. Instead of going home, he trudged to his locker, dialing the combination to open it.

He noticed Carlos and Logan trotting down the hallway, smiles plastered on their faces as they joked and talked.

"Hey, James!" Carlos greeted rather loudly, sending a shot of pain through James' skull.

James fought off the groan that he wanted to let out. "Hey, Carlos." He muttered as he grabbed a notebook from his locker.

"Hey James, where have you been? We haven't seen you since Saturday at the game!" Kendall half asked, half complained.

"I was busy yesterday. Sorry." James spoke quietly with little eye contact.

Stupid hockey game. That's what had gotten him so sick! On Saturday they played an away game at Webster High. It was freezing cold and snowing, but the game was held outside anyway because Webster didn't have an indoor rink and refused to forfeit the game because of bad weather. The weather didn't let up at all, and by the time the game was over, James was soaked with snow and sweat, having not had enough time to go inside and warm up during intermission because the coach needed help with something.

James had spent all of Sunday trying to warm up and get some sleep. He wasn't showing any symptoms of a cold at the time, he was just cold and very sleepy. He laid in bed the whole day with three blankets wrapped tightly to his body, ignoring any phone calls or text.

"You okay, man?" James heard Logan's voice ask him. When did Logan get here?

"Yeah, come on, we're gonna be late for homeroom." James said quietly, sniffling.

His friends noticed the strange behavior he was exhibiting. He was quiet and sluggish and something about him just didn't seem right today. His friends simply shrugged it off as James being tired and followed him to homeroom.

"Good morning everyone!" Mrs. Cain, their overly happy homeroom teacher exclaimed. "How was everyone's weekend? Come on, kids, happy Monday! Who wants to share what they did over the weekend?"

James groaned, wishing she would shut up. He laid his achy head on the desk, hands over his ears.

"Hey, is James okay?" Kendall whispered to Logan, careful not to interrupt the corndog story Carlos was telling Mrs. Cain.

"He said he was, but he seems kind of off today. I'll keep an eye on him." Logan said, nodding his head to show his sincerity.

"And then the ketchup was everywhere!" Carlos shouted, grabbing back Logan's and Kendall's attention.

"Well, Carlos, that was…quite a story!" Mrs. Cain seemed to be at a loss for words at the Latino's crazy story. Nodding, she walked over to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers, putting them on the corner of her desk that was closest to the door.

"Everyone be sure to grab a permission slip on the way out! This year, the ninth grade class is going to the Museum of Aquatic Paleontology! It's going to be very exciting! So 'water' you waiting for?" Mrs. Cain giggled at her own lame joke.

Thankfully, the bell rang and all the students ran to the door, snatching the slips off the desk on their way.

"Well, I have to go this way," Logan said, gesturing toward the staircase, "Trigonometry." Logan was in all the advanced classes, leaving him to only have lunch, gym, and choir.

"See you at lunch, Logie!" Carlos yelled cheerfully as he bounced along Kendall and James, heading toward their biology class.

"We're dissected frogs today! Isn't that cool? Aren't you excited, guys?" Carlos asked.

"Ha, sure, Carlitos. It'll be fun. Maybe Miss Lavorne will let us all work in a group. But you have to not break anything this time, Carlos. Remember the last time?" Kendall shot an accusing look.

"Hey, I never mean to break anything!" He said in his defense.

"Carlos, you knocked over every single beaker in the classroom!"

"It was an accident." Carlos said quietly.

James stayed out of the conversation. Normally, he was tell Carlos what a klutz he is, but he really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone today. He dragged his feet across the floor of the hallway and into his class. He was too sleepy to pick up his feet. His muscles were relaxing, due to his exhaustion and his eyes formed into little slits as he let them close.

The permission slip he was clutching fell from his hand when he let his muscles relax a bit too much. He bent down to pick it up, and that's when he was it.

Two. Different. Shoes.

There, covering his left foot was a black and white Nike sneaker, a Timberland boot encasing his right.

James felt panic rise in him. He had been in such a hurry that he didn't even realize that he had grabbed two different shoes. He knew he should have stayed home! It's bound to be a bad day when you don't feel well. Now he was stuck at school for the entire day, looking like a complete idiot.

He sighed and bit his lip. He knew there was nothing he could do now. He would just have to hope no one would notice. Pulling the leg of his jeans to cover his shoe malfunction the best he could, he followed his two friends to class.

Of course it didn't take long for someone to notice. James was sitting at his desk, doing the pre-lab questions when he was hit in the head with a giant wad of paper. Instantly he whipped his head around and locked eyes with Nick Wilkins, the jerk of the class.

"Hey, Diamond, nice shoes! Pretty boy get dressed in the dark this morning?" Nick jeered.

James tried his best to ignore him, but Nick kept going. He was starting to gain attention from the other students and soon James felt at least 10 pairs of eyes on him.

"I thought pretty boys knew fashion, or at least how to match!" Nick laughed, along with a few other snickers.

James head was pounding. The teasing, the laughing, the loud voices. He couldn't take it much longer. He wished Kendall and Carlos sat in the back of the room with him so they would have heard it. They would have put a stop to it by now.

"What's the matter, James? Mommy forget to dress you this morning?" Nick shouted and all the kids within earshot laughed.

James sighed. He could feel his head throb in rhythm to his pulse. He was hot and tired and the last thing he needed was some jerk giving him crap.

Slowly, James crawled out from the seat of his desk, marched up to a now hysterical Nick, hauled off, and decked him in the face as hard as he possibly could.

A sickening crunch was heard as his fist collided with Nick's face and blood started to pour from the rude boy's nose. His arm was pretty strong, despite how tired he felt.

"What the hell!" Nick screamed out in pain, cupping his nose in his hands.

At that moment, Miss Lavorne chose to enter the classroom in her knee high silver boots, carrying a stack of books in one hand and a latte in the other.

"What is going on in here?" She demanded.

"James just punched me for no reason!" Nick screamed. "See?" He uncovered his hands to show her the blood.

"Uh, gross!" She squealed, throwing a box of tissues and hitting him in the head with it. "Cover it up and go to the nurse or something!"

"Ouch!" Nick whined and shook his head. He wasted no time leaving the room.

"James, principals office!" She said sternly.

"But-"

"I don't wanna deal with it! Go!" Miss Lavorne yelled.

James sighed, getting up and heading for the door. Kendall and Carlos, who didn't know what happened except for Nick getting punched by James, got up to follow him.

"Where do you guys think your going?" Miss Lavorne asked them, blinking her blue eyes at them.

"We, uh, have to help James to the principals office." Carlos stated.

"Why?" Miss Lavorne rolled her eyes.

"Because. Um, you see, James…Has…Dementia! He has dementia and forgot where it was!" Kendall quickly explained.

"Whatever, just don't get into trouble." Miss Lavorne said, making her way over to her desk.

Kendall and Carlos breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed James into the hall.

James was slumped down against the wall, head in buried in his knees. Carefully, Kendall leaned down in front of him and Carlos plopped down next to him, hand slung over his shoulder.

"James? What happened?" Kendall asked softly, not wanting to thing his friend was scolding him.

"It's stupid…" James mumbled through his knees.

"James, if it made you so upset then it's not stupid." Carlos encouraged.

"It is." James insisted.

"Just tell us. We're your best friends." Kendall said. He quickly grabbed his phone and sent a text to Logan, telling him what happened and to get there now.

Logan came flying down the stares in a matter of seconds, looking worried.

"Come on, James. Talk to us." Logan said in between gasps for air.

"Nick Wilkins, um. He-He made fun of my shoes." James said, gesturing toward his fashion mishap.

"So…why did you hit him?" Carlos asked, clearly confused.

James groaned. "He was giving me such a headache. I'm tired and I just want to sleep. He kept picking on me and everyone was laughing and he was yelling. I just wanted him to shut up…" James explained, shame evident in his voice.

Logan put his hand up to James forehead. "Buddy, are you feeling good today or no?"

James sighed. He knew that was Logan caught him, the jig was up. He shook his head.

"James, you should have stayed home. You feel warm." Logan commented.

"But if I stayed home than I'd be alone. No one's there during the week." James told him.

"You should have called us! Don't you think we'd rather keep you company when your sick than be at school?" Kendall said.

"Yeah, we could have played video games all day!" Carlos commented.

A small smile crept onto James face. "Thanks guys. Sorry for overreacting, I guess."

"Hey, we'll deal with this on a later date. Right now I'm gonna take you home, sit you on the couch with a warm quilt, and make you some soup and tea." Logan said, grabbing his arm and helping him stand back up.

"And we'll come to make sure Logie doesn't bore you or doctor you to death!" Carlos exclaimed.

"What about school?" James asked curiously.

"What about it? It'll be here tomorrow." Kendall said with a smirk.

"You guys are the best." James smiled as he and his friends left for his house, where it'd be sleep, videogames, soup and blankets until he was better.

Okay, what did you think of it? Long, I know. Isn't it great? Do you guys think I should continue or that this was a dumb idea? Let me know! I'm always unsure about the first chapter…