Schoolnight

warnings: fluff, a bit of violence, and lots of swearing!

"Oh, man. I totally forgot that I have this, uh, essay due tomorrow. I should really get going-"

"No way, Max!" Rachel threw her arm on my shoulder. "We literally just got here."

"You'd leave me here with these Vortex cultists? Fuck, I feel loved." Chloe rolled her eyes.

Rachel nudged her but didn't say anything even though she was one of said 'cultists'. She was probably too happy about getting us to come to a Vortex party to care.

I didn't understand what was so great about it. Since it really was just a bunch of drunk kids dancing to somewhat repetitive music in our swimming hall. I almost wondered why the Vortex Club was even allowed to host such a party on schoolgrounds. But everybody knew the reason.

And that reason was Nathan Prescott, residential asshole and heir to the throne of Arcadia Bay. Well, that is if this town was a monarchy. Which it to be fair might as well could have been.

"You want something to drink?" Rachel asked, already handing me a cup.

"I'd rather not. It's a school night after all."

Why did the Vortex Club had to throw a party on a thursday? Because they were just that pretentious.

"I've only seen her drink alcohol once. And that was when we were kids!" Chloe laughed, gladly accepting the cup, she was handed.

Rachel gave me a smile.

And I was so happy to have her as a friend. I loved Chloe. However occasionally she said things that stung. But Rachel always made sure everybody was okay. And I was so endlessly glad for the day she had come up to me in school because she had recognized me from one of Chloe's pictures. I have no idea how I would've womaned up enough to go talk to my best friend, whom I hadn't seen or talked to in years. With Rachel by my side, Chloe couldn't stand mad at me for long and we became the three musketeers.

"Well, Rach? Aren't you going to show us the VIP room? I really feel like annoying some rich bitches with my presence."

The long haired girl let out a laugh. "Yeah, and it totally isn't because they keep the hard stuff in there."

"Please tell me you're not planning on getting hella wasted."

Chloe looked back at me with a grin.

"Rachel! Great you made it! It just isn't a party without you!" Taylor, in charge of the VIP entrance, exclaimed.

"What a Kiss-ass." Chloe muttered under her breath and I hold back a laugh.

"Hey, Tay! That's nice of you. We'll talk later, okay?" And with that Rachel hold up the curtain for us to go through.

"Sure." The blonde girl's face wrinkled in distaste, obviously not really wanting to let two outsiders in. But she didn't say anything.

The VIP section of the party was pretty much the same thing, just a bit more crammed and without accsess to the swimming pool. Not that I wanted to swim - it just seemed like a dissadvantage.

"Yo, Rach! Over here! Join us!" Hayden shouted and told some people to move so we could fit on the couch next to him.

Rachel was about to ask us, if we wanted to join them, when Chloe already started heading towards them.

That's when I saw the bong, Hayden was holding, and Rachel and I exchanged an amused look.

I hadn't wanted to smoke or drink (seriously, it WAS a schoolnight and I was at Blackwell on a scholarship). Before I had felt too bored though Rachel and Chloe had pulled me up and on the dancefloor.
At first I had been kind of reluncant and only swayed a bit but my best friends danced so wild (half because they were drunk and somewhat high but also that's just how they were) that they made me loss some of the embarrassement I had felt. I hadn't been sure how long we had danced, we I started to feel tired.

I laughed as Chloe spun Rachel and then did the same to me.
"Should we call it? We've been here for hours now." I shouted to them over the way-too-loud music.

Chloe either didn't hear me or she choose to ignore me while dancing, now swinging her arms in the air.

"How about you go already and I let her crash in my room later?" Rachel, who didn't seem as drunk/high as my other best friend, asked, leaned towards my ear.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Noo, don't go, Max." Chloe whined, hugging me.

The blonde girl took her from me. "She's on a scholarship-"

"Schoolnight!" Chloe shouted as if it was a battlecry and danced.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of her." Rachel laughed.

"Okay, call me if something comes up." With that I left the VIP area and made my way through the sweating students of Blackwell.

When I arrived outside, I took a deep breath of the fresh air. The full moon was shining bright and I decided to take a picture. Just as I focused my camera, I was pushed to the ground.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, reaching out to my camera or rather what was left of it.

"Are you fucking blind, Caulfield?!"

I knew who it was even before I looked up at him.

Just my luck. Out of all people in this school I just had to run into Nathan Prescott.

"Do you even fucking know how much that cost me?" He said gesturing to some shattered (and probably overpriced) vodka bottles.

"At least you can buy new ones! That was William's camera!" Normally I would not talk back to Nathan but, man, Chloe had given me this as a present.

Frustrated I picked up the camera and some pieces that had fallen off of it.

Suddenly I was violently pulled up by my shirt.

"You aren't even going to apologize?" Nathan looked furious.

Pain shot through my ellbow. "Ouch!" I instinctively touched it with my hand and it (of course) hurt even more.

"What is it?" His tone wasn't worried but he loosend his grip a bit.

I looked my hand. Blood. Ugh, I must've hurt myself when I fell.

"You're bleeding?" This time he had a tint of worry in his voice. He hold up my arm so he could see the wound. "Are you made out of fucking porcelain or something?"

In a matter of seconds Nathan flew to the ground and suddenly Warren was beating the crap out of him.

"Don't touch her!" He slurred the words.

I started pulling Warren off of him with my free hand. "It's okay, Warren. Stop!"

He didn't.

Nathan was actually crying, pleading for him to stop.

I let my camera fall on the floor (again) and basically tackled Warren, finally getting his attention away from the boy, who could só easily make his life terrible.

I had never seen my friend this wasted. He couldn't stand still and kept swaying from left to right.

"You okay?" He asked, clearly not grasping the situation.

"Yeah, I'm.." I glanced at the boy on the floor, wincing. "Warren, why don't you go lay down? You seem..tired."

"I'll have to make sure..you," he pointed at me,"get to your dorm safe-ly."

"I'm fine. Really. I'd be even better if I know that you are getting sleep."

"Okey-dokey." And with that he walked staggered away.

Quickly I kneeled besides Nathan. He looked bad. Really, really bad.

"Are you.. Are you okay?"

"Do I fucking look okay?" He growled.

I put the camera (and its pieces) into my bag and helped him up as he clung to my shoulder, putting most of his weight on me.

Oh god, this was all my fault.

If I didn't do something about this, Warren would get suspended for sure.

"Uh, do you have keys to the school?"

It was worth a shot at least.

"What? Why the fuck are you asking me that?"

"The infirmary. Now, your keys?" I held out my hand, that wasn't steading him.

He groaned and tried sticking his hand into his back pocket. It seemed to hurt too much since Warren had hit his shoulder pretty hard.

"Hold on. I'll just.."

Touch his butt in order to get the keys? Wow, yeah, nope.

"Let's just, uh, get to the door first. And then we'll..figure out how to get the keys."

"Whatever."

We started walking towards the entrance and the silence began to make me extremely uncomfortable. I tried thinking about something we could talk about. But then again, what do you talk about with the school's biggest douchebag?

"So, uh, how come you aren't wasted?"

I just had to blurt that out, didn't I?

God, that sounded as if I was implying that he was never sober (which sure might be sorta true but he also was currently hanging wounded on my shoulder and that was my fault).

"Is this your lousy attempt at small talk?" He crooked his head to me and I could feel his breath. I realized he did smell a bit like beer.

I turned my head and looked up at the sky, choosing to ignore him.

"Damn. Look at that full moon."

"Why are you helping me?"

Surprised I turned my head back to him. He wasn't looking at me anymore but instead at the ground. And maybe I imagined it but it also seemed like he was walking faster.

"I..It was my fault that Warren hit you."

"You hate me." He said as if to remind me.

"I mean, uh, kind of. But he shouldn't have beaten you up. And I'm sorry that he did." I paused. "He's sorry, too. Really, he was intoxicated and didn't know what he was doing."

Nathan snorted.

"You don't want me to tell on him. And that's why you're helping me." He stated and something in his tone made me want to change my motive.

We arrived at the main entrance and both of us fell silent.

I really didn't want to shove my hand into his back pocket. Seriously.

Nervously I tapped with my fingers on my thigh.

It wasn't as if he wasn't attractive - he was. But this was also the last guy, I should be getting close to. Though he didn't seem like a complete asshole so far.

"Don't piss your pants, virgin. I'll get them."

Wowzer. Just when I mentally complimented him.

He fumbled for his keys in the pocket of his way-too-tight jeans and I saw that he was in pain - even if he wasn't going to admit it.

Nathan finally pulled out the keys and handed me them. He was putting even more weight on me than before, probably due to exhaustion.

"This one." He said, pointing to a key before I unlocked the door.

"I'll just put them in my bag for now." I said, refering to the keys.

Nathan gave me a somewhat relieved nod.

I took out my cellphone to use it as a flashlight and we went into the school building.

There is something weird about seeing your school completely empty. Not to mention, it's hella scary.

I opened the door to hallway and it made a freaky sound, which made me jump a bit.

"Scared?"

I didn't have to see Nathan's face to know he was enjoying this.

"I just watched enough horror movies to know that schools at night aren't the safest places."

"Yeah, right. Name one."

"You don't believe me? Warren makes sure I only watch the weirdest shit out there. I don't think you would know any of them."

"There isn't one horror movie, I haven't at least heard of."

"Well, there's 'Trapped'." I gave him a side glance. He was biting his lip, thinking. And I had never seen him so thoughtful.

His head turned to me and I was taken back by his expression for a moment. He looked proud like a little kid, that had just figured out the answer to a riddle.

"The 80s one? About a Redneck hunting students, right?"

I turned my head to the floor, not wanting to look at his face any longer.

"Y-yeah."

I felt like he wanted to say something when I opened the door to the infirmary. But he didn't.

"I'll get the first aid kit." I said, helping him sit down on the daybed.

Without having to search for long, I found it and went back to Nathan.

"Here." I gave him the disinfectant and some absorbent cotton.

He clumsily started wiping blood from his face until I stopped him by taking the cotten piece from his hand.

He had mostly missed all the bigger wounds. And It'd be faster this way.

I was working on the wound on his chin and must've pressed too hard because Nathan let out a cry.

"I'm so sorry!" I apologized. "I'll be more gentle."

The boy burst out laughing and too late I realized what I had said.

I felt my face getting warm and tried my best to ignore him as I finished dabbing his chin.

When I looked up at him, he was already staring back but before I could could say something, he asked:

"What about yours?"

"Huh?" I replied, rather intelligently.

Instead of telling me what he meant, he took my arm and turned it slightly. Then he took a fresh piece of cotton and gently dabbed my elbow. His grip was much softer than it had been before.

"Uh, t-thanks." I said and was already about to withdraw my hand when he put a bandaid on me.

"Thanks." I repeated. "How's your shoulder? Should we bind it?"

He visibly stiffened.

"I'm fine."

His tone had done a complete 180. However I didn't comment on it.

Slowly Nathan stood up, still seeming more weak than strong, and went to a cupboard to take out some pills.

I shoot up.

"What are you doing?"

He dry-shallowed the pills.

"Painkillers."

"Oh." I relaxed.

And he gave me an amused look.

"Then, let's get the fuck out of here."

As we were walking, silence fell upon us again. This time it wasn't uncomfortable though. And even if it was strange to admit it - I enjoyed walking through the empty school with him.

"Uh," He hesitated as he locked the door of the main entrance. "About your camera."

"It's..okay. I mean, it's completely broken. But as long as you don't tell on Warren, it's fine." I smiled the best reassuring smile, I could smile.

"No.. Urgh.." He paused and looked to the ground. "I'm sorry."

I had never seen him apologize - to anyone. Ever.

Was this really the Nathan Prescott, I knew?

"Fuck! Just give me the shitty camera! I'll find someone who can fix it."

Yep. Same Nathan.

Dumbfounded I pulled the camera out of my bag and handed it to him.

Then he quickly turned away and started walking.

But before that, I could've sworn, I saw him blushing.