They'd be hard to teach because they fought all the time, they'd be hard to control because they were crazy teenagers in the first place, and they'd be hard to like because they were hateful. But somehow, that blond country boy and that Roman transfer would come to love each other.

If Octavius wanted to walk somewhere, it was military style, straight lines and sharp turns. If Jed wanted to walk somewhere, he was loose, dodging in and out as he so chose. And the two ran into each other in the halls at school, so Octavius automatically shoved Jed like a saloon door. And those baby-blue eyes narrowed as Jed turned and tripped the taller student, putting a dirt scuff on Octavius' perfect jeans. Jed received a push and gave a punch. It ended in a hall fight that was only ended when a clenched jaw Jed and a tight fisted Octavius were pulled away from each other's throats.

"Jed, you know better!" reprimanded his teacher, Larry Daley.

"I don't care, he started it!" growled Jed, glaring at Octavius.

Brown eyes narrowed from next to another teacher, whom everyone knew by Ahk. "I can't help it if you run into me, country boy," he said in his oddly British accent.

"I could say th' same to you, you pompous freak."

"Jed," Larry warned.

"I ain't doin' nothin' big man," replied Jed, raising his hands.

Larry just gave him the innocence-isn't-your-thing look before steering him into his first class. Octavius checked his schedule as Akh was leaving and groaned. Same place as Jed.

It was in English when they fought again. They had been split into groups and given props, Jed getting two old pistols that no longer worked and Octavius a blunted sword. They had been arguing over something when Jed pointed one of the pistols at him.

"Oh, please, those guns don't work!"

"You wanna bet?"

"Sure!" Jed pulled the gun back as Octavius leaned closer. When his face was close enough, Jed let go and sent the pistol smashing into the Roman's face. "OW!"

"Oh, that didn't hurt!"

"Yes it did! See?" Octavius grabbed the other pistol and did the same thing to Jed.

"OW! That was MUCH harder!"

"Jed, Octavius," said the teacher, giving them the cut-it-out look. "Back to work."

"Sorry Mr. Roosevelt!" said Jed with an apologetic smile.

Octavius slammed his right fist to his left shoulder and brought it back down with military style.

"Roman weirdo…" Jed muttered with a role of his eyes before turning to his notebook.

It had taken half of the year, but finally the two were tolerating each other, or rather, they were best friends. Jed still wore those cowboy outfits and Octavius was still prone to wear red shirts and act all Octavius-ish, and yet, something changed. I guess they figured out that they weren't that different, and Larry helped. But Larry didn't know that he'd start something other than friendship.

The two were in the library, studying for a test. In frustration, Jed slammed his book closed.

"This sucks!" he groaned as he brought his forehead to the table for the thousandth time.

"It's easy, Jed…"

"It's easy for you 'cause you're from Rome! That's what this test is about!"

Octavius couldn't argue with that. "Does your head hurt?"

"Yes…ish…NO!"

Octavius chuckled and shook his head before slipping his hand under Jed's head to force it off of the table. When he saw Jed's face he was greeted with a pout.

"I don't wanna study!" whined Jed. "I wanna smash stuff with hammers!"

"Study, Jed."

"Hammers, Ockie! Besides, I ain't gonna remember any of this tomorrow, so why bother?"

"Cause I won't let you near a hammer until you're done reading this."

Jed let out his patented Mummy-Groan as he reopened his book. While he was distracted, Octavius snatched up the cowboy hat sitting on the table and stuck it on top of his short curls. Then Jed looked back up.

"Hey! Gimme my hat!" he said, sticking out a hand.

"Nope, not until you're done," said Octavius, placing a hand on top of the hat.

Jed stood and tried to pry his hand away so he could get his hat back. "C'mon, just give it, Ockie!"

Octavius stood as well and shook his head. Jed started to reach up to Octavius' head when his friend took the hat off and held it as high as he could. Jed scrunched his nose before bringing the sharp-ish heel of his cowboy boot down on Octavius' foot, making the taller teen drop the hat and reach for his foot. Jed picked his hat off of the floor and shoveled his stuff into his backpack as Octavius sat down.

"Thanks, Ockie!" he said before kissing him on the cheek. "Come by my house if ya wanna smash somethin' with a hammer, ok?"

Octavius was left in silence as Jed walked out the door, a bounce in his step.