"Hey, man," Zac says over the phone, "you should come to the Pier with us. Girls, booze…did I mention girls? What more could you want? "
Nick sighs. "Can't. My mom found out that I was skipping school and said that if it happens again, I'm done."
Zac laughs. "Sucks to be you!" He hangs up the phone.
Nick resists the urge to throw his cell phone against the wall. Instead, he stuffs it angrily into his pants pockets and walks downstairs. He scowls at his mom as he passes her.

"Nick," she begins, starting to get up from the table, "can we-?"

"No," Nick says, quickly cutting her off. "I have to go to SCHOOL, remember?"

"But Nicholas—" she tries again.

Nick rolls his eyes and doesn't even dignify her with a response. He simply grabs his coat, flips her the finger, and walks out of the house and to school. He keeps his head down as he walks the halls. He really hates human interaction. He really hates people.

"Watch it, loser," he growls as he bumps into someone.
"You watch it," Joe says. Then he realizes who it is and his eyes soften. "Nick," he continues quietly.

Nick looks up at his brother, nothing but hatred in his eyes. Joe takes a step back.

"Are you still mad at me about Mom and Dad's divorce?" he wonders.

"No," Nick says, his hands forming fists. "I'm mad that Dad picked YOU to live with him."He turns his back on Joe.

"Hey," Joe speaks up, "it's not my fault you're so messed up that Dad didn't want you."
Nick spins around and glares hard at Joe, punching him square on the jaw. He smiles as Joe falls back with a thud.
"Nick Johnson," a voice speaks up, "Principal's office. Now."
Nick rolls his eyes and makes his way to the principal's office. "Yo," he says as he flops down onto a seat in front of the principal's desk.
The principal sighs and rubs his temples. "This is the third fight this week, Nick, and it's only Tuesday! I just don't know what to do with you. Punishment doesn't work—I've already given you a months' worth of detention. Telling your mother doesn't work—"
"Yeah, what am I, five?"
He continues, ignoring Nick's sarcastic remark. "I've already suspended you for a week. Help me figure out what I'm going to do with you."
Nick shrugs. "Let me off with a warning?"
"Nick, this is your fifteenth warning! How many more warnings do you need?" He rubs his temples again, feeling a migraine start. "This is serious, Nick."
"Yeah, uh-huh, sure. Can I go now?"
The principal sighs. "If you get into one more fight, Nick, I'll have no choice."
"What're you gonna do?" Nick wonders as he stood up.
"I'll have to expel you."
Nick shrugs. "More time to sleep with the other half of the sophomore class."

He smirks and walks out of the principal's office. He takes his cell phone out of his pocket and looks at the time.
English, he thinks with a roll of the eyes. Awesome.
"Nick, you're late," his English teacher speaks up when he walks into the room.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Nick rolls his eyes again as he slumps down into his seat.
"We were picking partners for a project," the teacher explains, her eyes narrowing at Nick. "You missed that."
Nick shrugs. "Oh, well. Guess I'm shit outta luck then."
"I already picked a partner for you," she says with a smug smile.
His eyes widen. Please not the nerd, please not the nerd, please not the—
"Your partner is Demi." She nods towards a girl in the back, who has her head down, her eyes closed.
Nick groans, not trying to hide his displeasure or his disgust. The other kids in the room start snickering.
And this day just keeps getting better and better.
"You have to work with Demi for this English project?" Zac asks at lunch. He laughs.
"It's not funny," Nick protests.
"Just look at it this way. She's a nerd. She'll probably do all the work and just make you stand there. You won't even have to lift a finger!"
Nick smiles at that. "I like that part." He looks at Zac. "What are you even doing here? I thought you were skipping school for the day."
"I was. But after Vanessa and I had a little fun under the Pier, there wasn't much to do so I decided to just come here."
"I thought you would've been with Vanessa all day."
Zac rolls his eyes. "That bitch was worried that her daddy would find out that she wasn't actually at home sick so she took off."
"If you don't like this girl, why are you with her?"

Zac looks at Nick. "You didn't just ask that question."
Nick nods. "I did."
"She's a good fuck." Zac rolls his eyes again before looking at Nick once more. "You know what I mean. I mean, why were you with Chloe all last year? She was a good fuck, too."
Nick rolls his eyes that time. "Whatever." He gets up to throw his trash away.
"Um, hi."
Nick looks behind him and groans. "What?"
"Um, I'm glad we're partners for Mrs. Lawson's English project. I'm really looking forward to working with you."
"Listen, all right? I don't work on projects. Especially not with some nerdy bookwork who can't even get a date to the school dance. So, as long as you do all the work, and give me credit of course, we'll be just fine." He shoots a dirty glance at Demi and then started to walk to his locker.

He grabs his book bag out of his locker and walks out of the school. He walks home, knowing that his mom has a double shift at the hospital tonight. She was rarely ever home anymore, not that Nick minded. He could drink and fuck girls and do whatever he wanted and no one could tell him not to. It was perfect.

He grabs a can of beer out of the refrigerator and walks up to his room. He throws his book bag on the floor and lays back on his bed. He smiles to himself before taking a big sip of his beer and closing his eyes.
"Um, can we talk?" Demi wonders the next day at school.
Nick glances around. Already people were beginning to stare. "No." He begins to walk away from her.
"Um, if you don't do this project," Demi says, falling into step beside him, "if you don't work on it with me, then I will tell the teacher that you didn't. And I know you're failing."
"What are you, five? Are you seriously going to tattletale on me?"
"I'm not doing this whole project by myself. And if you don't help me, there's only going to be one name on it. Care to guess who's?"
Nick sighs. "All right, I'll work on it with you. But after school. At your house—"

"No!" Demi said a little too quickly. Nick gave her a strange look. Demi cleared her throat. "I mean, um…why don't we do it at your house?"

Nick stares at her like she was mentally handicapped. "Because I don't want anyone to see me with you," he replies, thinking that was obvious. "If I'm seen with you, people will laugh at me until I graduate—college! People are looking already. Now…go away." He glances at Demi like she is a piece of trash.

Demi's lower lip quivers but she won't give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "So, tonight?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He pushes Demi—hard—as he walks by her.
"Why were you talking to that nerd?" Zac wonders as he walks up to Nick.
Nick shrugs, glancing back at Demi for a split second before looking at Zac. "No reason."
"You're not going to be seen with her again, are you? You'll get laughed at until graduation day!" he says, repeating Nick's earlier words.
He laughs. "Yeah, right. Me, with her? Ew, dude. Never."
Zac laughs too and claps Nick on the back. "Good. So Vanessa has a friend that you might be interested in. A real tiger in bed. Or so I hear. We're gonna meet them under the Pier tonight. You in?"
Nick doesn't even hesitate. "Of course."