I hated my school. I know what you're thinking, all kids hate school. But no, it wasn't the fact that i was stuck in a room and actually had to learn things, in truth i rather enjoyed that part. No, it was my classmates which caused me to dread waking up on a weekday. See, i'd grown up on a tiny island with a grand total of 20 inhabitants. My only three friends were the other kids on the island, all guys, and all absolutely mental. The four of us got into a private, hoity toity posh school on a scholarship, and to say we weren't welcome there would be the understatement of the century. I was targetted most, probably because i was the unnamed leader of our ragtag little group. Every day in the corridors i was shoved, called names, laughed at. I mean, I was 15, I never knew snotty rich kids could be so immature. Fortunately, my father always taught me to stick up for myself. So if people bitched at me, I bitched back. They hit me, i hit back. The idiots soon learned to leave us well alone. Today was a friday, and i was more than looking forward to the weekend. I was sat in Biology drawing absently on the corner of my notebook, having already preread the notes for that lesson by accident the night before. Next to me, Hiram Stolowitski was trying and failing to stay awake and actually pay attention. Of the three guys, I'd known Hi the longest. We lived with his family for the first few years of our lives, after Hi's parents took my 15 year old dad in just after i was born. So, as you can probably guess, Hi and I are pretty close. I elbowed him gently and he snorted awake, looking around blearily before blinking at me. "Shit, what day is it?" He mumbled, rubbing furiously at his eyes. I hid a snort in my blazer sleeve. "Friday, douche. What's up with you?" "Mum had us at Temple until half ten last night. Then there was an hour and a half drive back. I think that woman is actually trying to kill me." My friend groaned, lying face down on the table and grabbing fist fulls of his hair. "What's on the agenda for after school, miss Howard? Or will you let me sleep for once?" I rolled my eyes at him, absently chewing on the end of my pen. "No idea, we could go to Loggerhead or something? I want to stay out of the house as long as possible," "Whitney on the prowl again?" Hi winked at me and i groaned, shoving his shoulder. My step mother, Whitney Howard (formerly Whitney Dubois) was like my polar opposite. She was the sheer embodiment of all things girly, i was a gothic tomboy. During my younger years, I'd always been terrified to express my individuality due to fear of upsetting my step mother. Then, as i watched my father morph into someone who should've been the opposite of her type i got more confident with myself. We disagreed quite a lot, but I loved her to death. I'd always been closer to my dad though. "She's trying to drag me prom dress shopping." i groaned. "I lost count of how many times i've tried telling her that prom is next year." Hi snorted, peering over my shoulder at the song lyrics i'd scribbled down then shrugging when he couldn't guess the song. "Let's just swap families, warning though: my mum makes you do chores." "My dad snores. Like a car engine." we both burst into simultaneous hysterics, causing the people around us to shoot death glares and hand-shush us. i rolled my eyes, purposely turning away from them and pretending to focus on the board. The bell rang ten minutes later, and Hiram and I immediately bolted for the door. "Are we meeting the rest of the dork patrol at the bench?" Hi asked, struggling to keep up with my fast pace. "Yeah, and don't let Ben hear you call him that. He will kick your ass." I chided lightly, Hi shrugged and smirked at me. "You'll protect my from your rabid boyfriend though, right? Shit, it's still so weird thinking of you two as an item!" He clapped my shoulder and i rolled my eyes, clipping him round the ear. "Dude, we've been dating for over a year! Get used to it already!" Ben Blue, the third member of our group and the oldest by a year (i was second oldest, then Shelton then Hi), had been my boyfriend since last New Years, when we'd gathered on Morris for a fireworks display and he'd just turned around and kissed me. After that, we'd established that we'd both liked eachother for a stupid amount of time and decided to do something about it. Et Voila. We made our way through the crowds of people to the bench where we always gathered, and found our two missing components already sat down. "Shelton my man! We have much to discuss!" Hi shouted in a mock deep voice, plodding over to the little guy and immediately plunging into a conversation about god knows what. Ben looked up, caught my eyes and smirked, patting the spot of table next to him. I grinned widely and skipped over, sitting down next to my boyfriend and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "How was biology?" He asked quietly, ear-tucking thick, shoulder length black hair. Ben did everything quietly, he just wasn't a talkative person. But don't get him wrong, he's wicked smart and amazingly strong, and could shoot grown men down with a snide remark. that was part of the reason why i loved him. "Same old, same old. Me and Hiram discussed swapping families, what about english?" Ben shrugged, deep brown eyes fluttering closed. "I wasn't really paying attention, i was thinking about stuff..." he trailed off, and my dark green gaze slipped towards him. I sat silently, waiting for him to carry on. "I'm tired, Cole... I'm tired of everything..." I closed my eyes, glancing behind me to make sure Hi and Shelton were still preoccupied before wrapping an arm around my boyfriends shoulders. Two years ago Ben was diagnosed with depression, i was the only one who knew about it apart from his parents. It tore me apart when he got like this, he'd contemplated and attempted suicide numerous times. It was like permanently walking on a tight rope when i was around him, but there was no safety net at the bottom. If i screwed up, we'd both fall. "You're fine," i promised, kissing his hair. "Come on, i'm here, you're ok," he leaned against me and nodded, taking a deep breath before sitting up. We exchanged smiles and i squeezed his hand before the two of us turned around to join the conversation Hi and Shelton were having. About half way through lunch, as i was in the middle of a one-sided arm wrestling game against Hi, a dark shadow fell across me, and i looked up to be greeted with sneering, dark eyes. "Chance," I spoke calmly, regarding the 17 year old with mild distaste. I didn't really have anything against Chance, he just hung around with all the wrong people. His betrothed, Hannah Wythe, was one of those people. So was Jason Taylor, the blonde bastard who stood about a foot behind him right now. Said asshole threw me a sarcastic wave. I raised an eyebrow. "Cole, how good to see you again, i heard you were ill?" Chance smiled, though i noted dully that it didn't fully reach his eyes. Wrong people. "I'm good now, thanks for the concern." I answered coolly, Chance's dark gaze flickered around the rest of my friends. Settled on Ben. I felt him stiffen behind me. "Ah, mr Blue," his tone turned mocking, i tensed myself for an argument to break out. Ben's temper was explosive, and snot nosed jocks never failed to set him off. "How's the boat?" "Piss off." Ben hissed, i reached backwards and found his leg. squeezed gently. Chance's eyebrow climbed towards his hairline. "Temper, temper." Jason sneered, my eyes narrowed and i stood up on the bench, glaring directly at the blue eyed twat. "Chance, may i suggest taking your little puppy dog and fucking the hell off?" I asked, my tone polite, gaze never leaving Jason's. The little coward nearly shit himself. Chance sighed, knowing that he was apparently backed into a corner, and ruffled my shoulder length dark auburn hair as he passed. "See you around, Cole. Boys," and they both left. "Fucking ass hats!" Ben growled, punching the table. Hi and Shelton both applauded me. "Girl, you are on fire!" Hi giggled. "Jason totally just messed his pants," Shelton snickered. "I need to take pointers from you." I shrugged, smirking despite myself, and checked the time on my phone. "We better scram, the bells about to go and we have PE next," i said, shouldering my bag and allowing Ben to help me off the bench. "Ah, PE, my favourite lesson." Hi muttered sarcastically, launching himself from the bench onto the concrete. The chubby kid bristled at the incredulous look Shelton gave him. "I'm thinking of becoming an olympic sprinter, FYI. 100M, easy peasy." Ben snorted, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and drawing me to his side. "Please, you can't run a hundred yards without passing out." He quipped, Hi scowled but stayed quiet, knowing that arguing with Ben would likely end up with him face down on the asphalt, not that he had anything to argue against anyway. It was the truth. We walked down the hallways joking and pushing each other, then parted ways to go to our seperate changing rooms. I paused outside the door, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath. Only two more hours to go.