A/N: Oh my, it's been a while since I've updated this story. In my defense, I was busy with Survive. Speaking of which, I hope you all enjoyed it. So, is it true? Have Alex and The Miz been torn apart by the Draft? If so, then that is truly sad. I love those two together; obvious bromancing going on there. Anyway, onto the second chapter! R&R. Enjoy!

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Friendship needs no words; it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness

Dag Hammarskjold

The rest of the morning pretty much sucked and by the time lunch had arrived, Alex was ready to go home. He had never been stupid, but he couldn't follow anything that the teacher was saying in his Algebra Two class. And Chemistry was almost worst. However, things got better when he arrived at Nonwestern Civ.; he had always enjoyed history classes. They were fascinating and other worldly in a sense. However, things went back to shitty when he entered the Music Theory classroom, which was located right next to the band's practice rooms. The teacher honestly expected him to be able to sing, and well at that. Boy, she found out real fast that Alex didn't sing. Period.

To top it all off, what Mr. Evans had said was true: Mike was in every single one of his classes. He got the feeling that he'd never escape him. It wouldn't have been so bad if Mike had ignored him, but oh no, he wasn't going to have any of that. Every chance he got, Mike would call out to him or talk about him – loudly, of course – and he was sure to always refer to Alex as 'Bitch'. Now, Alex always thought of himself as having a high level of patience, but his patience was wearing thin now. If Mike had so much beef against him, then he wished that the older teen would just come out and say.

So when the bell rang signaling the start of lunch Alex left out a sigh of relief, coupled with dread. After all, the school day wasn't over yet. Picking up his back pack, he followed the other students to the cafeteria. Since he took his time getting there, he was the last in line, which, to him, was a good thing. It gave him the opportunity to scope out which tables were vacant and, luckily, he spotted one right by the door to the courtyard.

Grabbing his lunch and paying for it, he made his way towards the table. He felt a few people stare at him as he made his way, but he paid no heed. All Alex wanted was to get the hell out of school. Fast. Sitting down, he finally looked at what he had: greasy ass pizza, tatter tots, and apple sauce. Frowning slightly, he dabbed at his pizza trying to clear as much grease away. Nothing he did worked however, and after a few minutes he gave up, shaking his head.

"This is…just sad…"

"Yeah, I know. The pizza's never good here. Best to go for the taco or pasta bar; at least its semi healthy."

Alex nearly jumped out of his seat. Startled eyes looked up from the tray before him and landed on an older teenager, most likely a senior, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The stranger smiled, causing his dimples to surface. For some reason, the boy looked familiar…

"Sorry 'bout that man. I may be a big guy, but I'm quiet; one of my bad habits. I'm John, by the way. John Cena."

"It's…it's okay. I'm Alex. Alex Riley. Nice to, uh, meet you."

With a nod, John picked up the apple he had brought with him and took a bite.

"Likewise. So, where'd you move from kid?" John asked through his mouthful of apple. It amazed Alex how the blonde could do that.

"You're so nosy, Cena. Why do you always creep up on people? It's not natural."

Another boy sat down beside John. He was taller, tanner, and had numerous tattoos on his arms. His steely blue eyes glared at John, but the blonde merely smiled and shrugged.

"I know, but you love me regardless, right?"

"That's a mystery in and of itself."

"Hey!" John punched his friend lightly, laughing as he did so. Alex couldn't help but laugh at them, with them. John's laugh was infectious and, although the other didn't laugh, his smile spoke volumes.

"I'm Randy, by the way. And don't let John bug you too much; he's always been like this. He's a hard boyfriend to keep in line."

"Oh shut up, Randal. You've never complained before, so why start now?"

"So…you two are together?" At the question, Randy's eyes narrow at Alex and John cleared his throat, laughing nervously.

"Yeah… Does that bother, Alex?"

"No. I'm gay too, so trust me, I'm not bothered by it."

"Good, because even if you were, well…tough crap. I'm not going to leave you alone. We're friends now, right?"

John was obviously a very light hearted, open kind of guy, and Alex liked that. Maybe he could make friends here after all. With a nod, Alex ate his apple sauce and observed as Randy and John bickered like an old married couple. They must have been together for a long time.

"So, do you like it here so far?" Randy's question brought him back from his thoughts, and Alex looked up at them.

"It's… Well, it's been interesting…"

"Who's been giving you hell?" The bluntness of Randy's question confused Alex for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"We've all been the new kid at some point or other. And the new kid always gets crap from someone, so you might as well tell us." With a sigh, Alex nodded and answered the question.

"Just this guy… Mike, The Miz or whatever-"

"Oh, him. He's always been an ass. I used to roll with him until I started dating Randy back in freshman year, then he got pissed because I picked Randy instead of him. He's such a diva; always wants to be the special one or whatever." John rolled his eyes as he explained and Randy merely shook his head, frowning.

"He's just an asshole. Obviously got issues. Wants to be the center of attention. He's an attention whore. Just ignore him and he'll go away. Trust me, he used to give me hell." Alex nodded at Randy and pondered this.

"He stopped bothering you because you beat the shit out of him after school a few weeks after we started dating."

"Had to. He kept trying to take away what was mine. And no one tries to pull that shit while I'm still standing."

John smiled at his boyfriend and was about to kiss him when the lunch bell rang. It was over, and now they had to move onto class. Standing up, Alex went to take his tray up when John called out to him.

"I'll see you in Music Theory tomorrow!"

So that's where he recognized him. Laughing, Alex shook his head and dropped his tray off with the others. As he walked back to his table to retrieve his bag, he caught Mike glaring at him, his gaze one of jealously and rage. But why was he jealous? Did he still want John? But John was probably a senior, so that was four years ago, water under the bridge. So what was it?

Shrugging it off, Alex grabbed his bag and made his way towards Art One.

/

Finally, after a long, agonizing day, school was over. Alex had persevered through one of the worst first days he's ever had. Ever. Once the bell had finally rung, he practically jumped up out of his seat and bolted for the door. The fast he got out of there, the faster he'd be home. Although he probably should have at least roamed around the town for a little while, to get the lay of things, he really wanted to get home, away from this place, and from the people. And it wasn't as though he'd be completely bored at home; he still had a lot of unpacking left to do, after all.

Walking down the stone steps that led to the school, Alex walked briskly towards the direction that would lead him home. His home was situation near the woods and a part from the other homes. It took him about twenty to thirty minutes to walk to school from there, but he didn't mind. Especially at the moment, when all he wanted was to get the hell out of there.

Passing his classmates, Alex kept his gaze focused dead ahead. Luckily for him, the woods that surrounded his house also surrounded the school, so he could walk right through them to get to either place. Were he younger, he would have been terrified of walking in the woods by himself, especially now that summer was over and autumn was creeping in; the sun would be setting sooner and sooner, causing the darkness to fall that much faster. But now, he didn't mind it, at least, not too much.

Alex stepped off of the sidewalk and onto the grass, about to walk on the trail that he followed that same morning to school from home. It wouldn't be much longer now…

"Hey! Get off of the grass retard!" The shout made Alex stop. With a sigh, he turned around and, sure enough, there was Mike, smirking at him as he sauntered across the parking lot towards him.

"What's the problem?" Alex was tired and just wanted to go home. Why did Mike have to bug him now, of all times?

"You can't walk through those woods. They're haunted, ya know. Little kiddies like you would wet themselves if they wander in alone."

"I think I'll take my chances." Alex turned away from the shorter boy and started walking again, desperate to escape.

"Seriously though, you can't go in there. It's private property. Owned by however lives in that old ass house on the other side." He suppressed rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I know that. My parents own it."

And with that, he walked faster, leaving Mike staring wide eyed after him, not knowing what to say. As soon as he was sure he was out of sight, Alex bolted, running as fast as he could to get home. It didn't take him very long to get there, but he was panting once he did. He wasn't out of shape exactly, he just wanted used to running so much, so fast, and for so long. Taking out his house key, Alex unlocked the back door, and stepped inside.

Finally, he was home. He was safe. At least, until tomorrow, when he'd have to go back to school.