Trapped behind a stifling desk, in a room poor air conditioning and way too much body heat, Decius noticed that the clock was broken. Sure the hands moved, a small thin line clicking away second from an already long day, but it broken and while no one else may have noticed he did and it was infuriating. He need only check his watch, a birthday present from his late grandmother which was kept in near mint condition, to see the difference between the two. While the wall clock read 2:59:50, his own watch was 2:59:55, a full five seconds ahead, or rather the other clock was a full five seconds behind.

'Come on, come on, almost there.'

Like everyone else he'd already packed his books away, and cleaned off his desk hoping to get a jump on the crowd before the hallways became the biggest traffic jam in L.A. Another ten seconds, five of which he grumbled about being wasted, and the bell rang signalling all the teens in the building to explode from the doors both in speed and sound. Decius had become a pro at this, a mess of brown hair moving around people with all sorts of twists and shimmies. Finally he was off the main hall, branching into the English wing were the flow was less severe and a couple of feet later the boy had arrived at his locker.

'Friday! Finally, months of scrounging, saving, and extra shifts I can finally by my Treks!'

He was talking about Air trek, or for all those cool people in the know, A-T. They had sprang up seemingly out of nowhere, sweeping the nation as yet another foreign product dominated the American market until finally everyone who was anyone had a pair. Unless of course you were one of those kids whose parents forced you to work for the things you wanted. A-T weren't cheap and they demanded allot of money to get into, but once he had a pair maintaining them would be a breeze or so he convinced himself.

Slamming his locker, relishing how light he was without all those books holding him down, Decius ran through the halls at his own leisure, avoiding the hot spots that both students and teachers wandered after class. He was almost out, turning another corner and making it half way down before two boys, both wearing Purple and White letterman jackets cut him off. Decius stopped cold in his tracks at the sight, earning two very disheartening grins from the bigger boys, 'Luke and Jim, which means-'

Before he could finish that train of thought, a low voice filled with unseen humor called out from behind him.

"Well well well, what do we have here boys?"

"Allen..."

Allen Peterson. There are a slew of titles for people like Allen. Cool, Popular, Attractive, Buff, Clever, and the list goes on. He was the kid most people wanted to be, and sadly most adults envisioned all their kids to be. Course some of the titles no one seem to acknowledge about the teen went something like, Arrogant, Bully, Pompous, and his favorite Overly aggressive. That last one was demonstrated when Decius found himself being shoved viciously towards the ground, but such a thing was not unexpected. Using the momentum, he rolled off the ground and back onto his feet, only now he was staring into the mischievous green eyes of one very disturbed boy.

"Looks like he's got some moves boys! Guess the little space-waster can learn some tricks, how well can you beg?"

Behind him Luke and Jim laughed like the pack animals they were, a steady stream of high and lows that when combined sounded like a baby crying.

"Hey Allen he knows how to shake!"

"Yea remember last time?! Maybe if we play our cards right we'll see if little D still wears diapers!"

Decius could only grit his teeth and endure as the petty taunts and jibs continued. 'I was too careless, didn't even notice the mark this time.' The mark was usually some poor underclassman that was picked from the bunch by one of the three goons to do their bidding. This meant getting their lunch, carrying their girlfriends books, doing whatever stupid task they wanted you to, and of course it meant marking their targets. Because of this, Decius had taken to using different routes randomly, hoping to keep them off his trail and avoid an encounter, but apparently his follower had been one step ahead of him.

'Figures the one time I want to get to work The Triple P find me.' They had begun to circle him, still calling out all sorts of insults while they closed in on him. They knew he wouldn't bite, instead he held his calm and balled his fingers into fists. Decius was no push over, he showed that whenever they dared to strike out at him, but the odds were in their favor, and any chance of walking away unscratched was quickly fading with each step.

"What are you Idiots doing starting trouble? Picking a fight with Decius, and on school grounds no less I suppose you block heads want to spend the weekend in detention?"

His savor had arrived in the form of one very annoyed Russian brunet, Elvira. Even from the other end of the hall Decius could see the steel in her eyes, carrying over into her walk as she strode towards them. She moved her bangs from in front of her eyes, long brown hair draping down to the shoulder blades which shook with each step. Luke and Jim were speechless, smiling like a pair of loons as they eyed the lone female like she was the last steak on Earth, but Allen was different. Instead he gave her his award winning smile, a perfect flash of ivory teeth that would have made most of the female population swoon and sigh. Lucky for Decius, she was not like the other girls.

"Don't give me that smile you fool." Her Russian accent was potent. A rich chocolate that draped over her words despite all of her time spent here in L.A, sweeting them up before they crashed into your ears. A perfect display of beauty and power without even trying.

"Ah come on Elvira, we were just messing around with our buddy here. He's been ducking us lately, and even though we really do get along so well, he keeps trying to cut ties with us and face the world alone. I mean you know how hard it is to make friends when all you do is work right, and you can't hang out after school. We were just wanted to let him know he's welcome anytime in our circle, and we were about to cement that with a group hug before you came along."

Decius had to admit, that boy had a silver tongue reinforced with good acting. It was so good that he'd managed to make Decius doubt his own intentions, and he was the one being bullied. With a very firm pat on the back from Allen, and a chorus of goodbyes, Elvira and Decius were left alone in the halls.

"I don't want to hear it."

"You know i saved your but."

"No way, i could have taken them."

"Right, like just like you took them when they chased you up that tree."

"B-but they had on A-T! No way i was about to contend with that!"

"Hahahaha, I didn't even think you could climb trees! You never used to as a kid!"

"I wasn't running for my life as a kid."

"You know that picture is still floating around the net right?"

"ahgguhhh Please don't remind me."

The two continued to chat as they exited the school, catching up on current events