A/N: Here's the next chapter, it's still Connor's episode ;)

Thanks for all the lovely reviews! It helps a lot when people tell me what they think about the story, and even though the plan was for this chapter to be longer I just had to cut it off like this because I'm leaving for 10 days time and I desperately wanted to get it out before I leave. Connor will have one last part before I start focusing on someone else, so if anyone feels like giving me a suggestion about what character I should do next, feel free to do so! I might just listen to you.

R&R!

We Are Young

Connor – Part 2

So dance dance
Like it's the last last night
of your life life
won't get you right

DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again – Usher feat. Pitbull

%&%&%&

Connor was entranced by Claire's dancing.

They had all entered the dance floor together after sharing Connor's last bag of coke.

Connor couldn't move his eyes from Claire. There was something about the way she moved and how she looked so carefree as she basically grinded between Viv and Lou. Not to mention all the naked skin she showed in the dress she wore, it was impossible for Connor to look away.

"It won't happen," Markus told him shortly.

They were dancing too, but Connor almost stopped as Markus said this to him. He turned to fully face Markus, but made an effort to not really stop dancing.

"What?"

"She's not going to get with you," Markus told him simply.

Harry looked questioning at the two other boys, but didn't bother for long and rather turned around and left them alone.

"You her boyfriend or something then? Deciding for her like that?" Connor questioned over the loud music.

"No, I'm her friend and I know her," Markus simply told him. Then he turned around and focused on dancing instead.

Connor glared at the other boy for a minute. Who was he to tell him Claire wouldn't get with him? He was sure Claire could speak for herself, who she got with couldn't be Markus' decision.

%&%&%&

Claire stopped as she was about to exit the old house.

It was getting late, or rather early and she and Markus would soon be leaving, but she needed some air.

But as she was about to exit, the new boy, Connor, came up the few steps outside the house.

"Hey."

"Er... hi," he answered her.

"C'mon," she told him shortly and dragged him inside again.

Only when they were in the middle of the dancing crowd again did she stop, but she didn't let go of him. She placed his hands on her hips and she started dancing, moving to the rhythm and letting one hand glide around his neck as she stood with her back to his front. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the music as Connor made a clumsy attempt to move along with her.

"You're a good dancer," he told her, his mouth close to her right ear.

She only smiled in return.

"Do you go to Roundview?" he asked.

Again, Claire didn't answer him, she only continued to dance.

"Are you dating Markus?" he asked.

This time Claire stopped dancing. Slowly, she turned around to face him and her small lips turned into a smirk.

"Do you think so?" she asked him quietly, but for some reason her voice drowned out the music.

"I don't know," Connor answered her as he stopped dancing too. "Do you?"

Slowly she moved closer to him, lining her face up with his so that he could feel her breath on his own face. Then she closed in the last few inches and her lips met his.

It only lasted for a few seconds, but her lips were soft and moist, not sticky like if she had used lip-gloss.

"Would I do this if I were?" she asked him, still calm and quiet.

Before Connor had managed to pull himself out of the shocked state he had entered when she had kissed him she was too far gone for him to be able to reach her.

"Claire!" he shouted after her, but the music drowned out his voice, or she simply didn't want to listen to him.

He hit himself in the face with a flat hand. He had just ruined his chance.

"Fuck!" he swore out loud.

A few of the other teens close to him gave him weird looks, but he ignored them and started making his way towards the place he had left Harry and Leilah before he had gone outside to take a piss. He hoped for himself that Marcus left them, he wasn't ready for the "I told you so" yet. He was too mad and pissed off at himself and would probably punch the other boy or something if he tried to be smug.

%&%&%&

Connor groaned as he woke up to sun shining straight into his face. He cursed himself for forgetting to draw the curtains the night before, but he had been so tired and too busy talking to Toby, his mate from Dublin, on Skype the night before.

He ran his hands over his face, ready to turn around and sleep some more before he went out.

Then the annoying sound of his iPhone calling woke him up a bit more.

Who would call him this early in the morning?

Groaning, he reached for the phone on his bedside and pushed the answer button.

"Hello?" he said with a groggy voice.

"Good morning darling," the light voice of his mother spoke back to him.

"Mum? What's going on?"

"I just wanted to ask how you are," she said in a light voice. "How is college? Are you making any new friends?"

"Yeah, they're pretty cool I guess," he told her, a bit more awake now.

"That's good dear, and how is the new house? Is your father treating you right?" she sounded more worried now.

"He has until now at least," he told her as he sat up in his bed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, you shouldn't worry about me," she told him.

"That's good."

"Well, I should leave you to whatever you were doing. Goodbye honey, take care."

"Bye mum!" he exclaimed before the line was cut. "I love you mum," he said quietly to himself.

Sighing, Connor got up from his bed. It was no point in trying to go back to sleep now, and it was already half past ten. He had made plans to meet up with the others at a place called Carla's and have a late breakfast there with them around noon.

He stretched out his entire body as he placed both feet on the floor before he headed over to his dressed and pulled out a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a plaid shirt before he headed out of his room and across the hallway to the bathroom to take a shower and get changed for the day.

%&%&%&

As he headed inside the little café Connor couldn't spot anyone he knew so he made his way across the room and chose a table with several chairs and sat down.

The place was cosy and small with walls painted a light yellow, it held several tables and a few of them were occupied by other people.

A few minutes later a tall boy with brown hair and brown eyes came over to him. He was lanky, and it was showing probably more than it would normally with the white apron tied around his waist.

"What can I get you?" he asked, a notebook and pen in hand.

"Oh, I'm kind waiting for someone... but maybe a cup of coffee?" Connor had never been a fan of tea and couldn't understand why everyone seemed to love it.

"Black?"

Connor answered with a nod as he looked outside the window, trying to spot Harry or some of the others.

"Sure, one black coffee coming up," the boy said before he left Connor to himself.

After a few minutes the boy came back with a cup of coffee and as he placed it on the table the door to the café opened and Vivienne came inside with the other's following her.

Connor smiled and waved at them.

"Marshall!" Vivienne exclaimed and ran over to Connor's table, but engulfed the waiter boy in a large hug.

"Hey!" the boy, apparently named Marshall, answered and embraced Vivienne back.

After a minute he let go of her and turned to exchange a friendly clap on the back with Lou and Harry.

"It's good to see ya mate," Harry said before he took a seat next to Connor.

Leilah had already sat down, and Connor looked at her wondering why she hadn't greeted Marshall as the other's had. He was about to ask her as the boy turned to them, all of them seated now.

"So, what are you all having today?" he asked as he brought the notebook and the pen up from the pocket in his apron.

"English breakfast," Harry answered him.

"I'll just have a cup of tea, I ate before I came here," Vivienne told.

"The same for me," Lou replied. He had been out running early in the morning and had to have breakfast when he came back.

"I'll take the same as Harry," Leilah told the boy.

"Some toast for me please," Connor said.

"Okay, it'll be out in a jiffy," Marshall said and went back to the kitchen with the orders.

Lou started telling about a movie he had seen the night before and a few minutes later Marshall was back at their table with tea for the others.

"I have a few minutes," he told before he took off his apron and brought an extra chair over to their table.

"Marsh, this is Connor," Vivienne motioned towards Connor and Marshall gave him a short nod. "And this is Leilah," she told and motioned towards the other girls.

"Nice to meet you both," Marshall told them.

"Marshall goes to college with us," Harry told them.

Leilah looked puzzled. "Then how come we haven't seen him around?"

Marshall gave a small laugh. "I've been out of town, I was on vacation in Germany actually. For some reason my mum decided that the last week of vacation and the first week of college worked best for us," he explained.

"Wait, why don't you know him?" Connor asked, directed at Leilah.

Harry laughed. "She's new in town too," he told Connor. "Moved here just a few weeks ago, we haven't known her too long and we haven't really hung out with Marshall in a while so they've never met."

"Oh..."

"Right," Marshall told him with a smile.

"Marshall!" one of the other waitresses called for him.

"Well, duty calls," he told them as he got up and put this apron on again. Then he walked back to the counter before he disappeared into what Connor presumed had to be the kitchen.

%&%&%&

As Connor walked home he was enjoying the sunny day and the quiet.

He walked with a bounce in his step and hummed the tune of a song to himself.

Not long after he reached the flat he shared with his father and locked himself in.

"Connor!" the hard voice of his father met him as soon as he had stepped inside the flat.

Connor walked reluctantly towards the living room space where he found his father with an angry expression on his face and a half empty bottle of vodka in his hand.

"Yes dad?" he asked in a small voice. No use challenging his dad when he was drunk, not to mention probably high too.

"You didn't do the laundry!" his father accused him.

"No, you didn't ask me to," Connor answered calmly.

"Like hell I did!"

"I can do it now," he suggested, trying to avoid his father getting even angrier.

"You should have done it earlier!" Now his father was trying to get back up from the chair he had been sitting in and after looking like he'd lose his balance for some seconds he finally made it. Unsteady, he took a step towards Connor.

Connor stood like glued to the ground.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE IT EARLIER! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" his father bellowed at him before he took another few steps closer and suddenly he threw a punch at Connor. He was hit hard in the shoulder, but he refused to cry.

Connor bit his lip hard and just stood there while he waited for his father to finish yelling.

He didn't throw any more punches, only yelled for a while before he finished and slumped into the couch, searching for the vodka with his eyes.

Silently Connor made his way up the stairs and went into the bathroom. As he started putting the laundry inside the washing machine a few silent tears ran down his cheeks.

%&%&%&

Standing outside in the pouring rain, Connor watched the house on the other side of the street. It was mostly dark, but a window in the first floor was lit and he guessed that was her bedroom.

He bit his lower lip and reached a decision.

With purposeful strides he walked across the road, stopped outside the house and pressed the doorbell before he could chicken out.

After a minute without anyone answering he lost his nerve and turned around to walk away, but then the door was opened.

"Hello? Connor?"

He turned around, cheeks red in embarrassment.

"Yeah, hey Claire," he greeted her sheepishly.

"Hi."

"Oh, well... I was just wondering?"

"Yeah?" she asked, waiting for him to continue.

"If you know, maybe you wanted to... Go out with me sometime."

Claire just stood there, watching him for a moment. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Connor answered her with a slight smile.

"It sounds lovely..."

"Great!"

"But I can't. I'm so sorry," she told him and looked nervously behind her and into the flat before back at him again. "I just have a lot of stuff going on and..."

"You don't have to make up excuses," Connor told her.

"But really I..."

"Bye Claire," he cut her off before he walked with long strides away from her.

%&%&%&

As soon as his father was out of the door Connor sat himself in motion.

He packed the bag, throwing a few shirts and a pair of jeans inside. Then he went to his father's bedroom. He lay down on his stomach and pulled out the two small trunks that were placed underneath the bed.

Knowing exactly what was inside them he took them downstairs with him and opened them both with a crowbar.

One was filled with money while the other held lot's of coke.

Grinning to himself he hid the broken trunks and got the car key from the bowl in the hallway before he pulled on a jacket and made his way outside.

Connor was doing the thing he had dreamed about for so long. Breaking free.

With his mother safe away from his father in Dublin he had no one to worry about, Claire was a bitch, she could look out for herself.

He had thought about asking Harry to come with him, but Harry would probably have to tell someone, either his parents or someone else in the gang and he couldn't risk getting caught.

He was alone now, all alone.