It seemed only a swift second that Logan's eyes had shut before they were bloodshot and forced wide open at the screeching sound of his alarm clock waking him for his first class of the day. He slapped the alarm clocks button to turn it off before he allowed his eyes to pull themselves closed again. It was far too early and far too soon for him to be awake, he thought.

With a soft groan, he turned over onto his other side, intent on ditching his classes and catching up on the precious sleep so rudely stolen from him the previous night. As he did so, the scarf he had been almost desperately clutching in his sleep fell loose from his grasp and tickled his arm. His eyes darted wide open and he slowly blinked down at the velveteen material snaking its way around his forearm. He growled low in his throat and flung it off of him in one swift motion, watching as it caught the corner of a nearby chair and fell limp onto the floor. It was only then he remembered why he had lost so much sleep to begin with.

"Julian."

He snarled the vile word. The name tasted like filth on his lips and Logan spat as he sat up, running his fingers roughly through his unkempt hair that still had traces of hardened hair gel which he had neglected to wash out from the previous night. There was no way he could just go back to sleep now. Not a chance. His first class was with that fucker and he knew if he didn't show up, Julian would give him hell for the rest of eternity; he'd be called weak, childish – unable to handle his own emotions and relationships.

'You can't just sleep your way through life, Logan." He could almost hear Julian's smooth and condescending tone now.

With a louder groan than before, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and rubbed his eyes. It was that time again; the morning. It was time to let someone decide if he was to medicate today. He reached into his nightstand, blindly fishing around for the bottle of pills. His fingers wrapped around the familiar plastic after a moment and he began to think about the day ahead – what would he have to face?

The only compromising event he could think of was facing Julian. He knew all of the snarky comments he'd be hearing; all of the disgusted looks he'd certainly be receiving. He definitely did not want to deal with that. Not today. He didn't even care if Julian noticed the glare in his eyes from the medication and gave him shit. So long as he didn't have to deal with the mounting emotions brought forth from such words and stares. He simply didn't care. With a roll of his reddened eyes he popped open the bottle, tilting it and allowing two yellow pills to fall into his palm, which he immediately brought to his mouth. He swallowed hard, letting the bitterness roll down his throat. He put the top back on and shoved the slender bottle carelessly back into the drawer of his nightstand.

Julian had made Logan's decision.

The blonde stood reluctantly, shuffling into his private bathroom to take a shower in hopes of waking up a bit more as he waited for his medication to take effect. He turned on the water and began to undress while allowing the water to heat up. As he peeled off what he hadn't discarded of his crumpled uniform the previous night, his eyes caught his reflection in the mirror. What he saw enraged him: he could see the emotions from the past night all over his face – even in his body. His posture was slumped, his eyes sunken in and brilliant red. The color in his face had seemingly taken refuge in his eyes as his pale complexion was even more bleak than usual. He couldn't stand the sight.

He grumbled an almost inaudible string of curses before peeling his eyes away and stepping into the scalding stream of water, hissing a bit as it hit his cooled skin, turning it a slight red from the heat. As the water rushed over him, trickling through his hair, down his neck and rigid body, he breathed in a sigh of relief. The filth from yesterday's happenings was washing away with the rushing water and it felt good; every trace of Julian's presence disappearing with every burst of water from the shower.

He doused his palms with shampoo and raised his arms to begin washing his hair. With an invigorating breath, he began running his fingers through his stiff blonde locks, only to be met with the overpowering scent of Julian's cologne clinging to his forearm where the scarf had so faithfully clung during his slumber. His heart dropped into his stomach and he felt ill. Very ill. Immediately, he reached for his body wash and began diligently scrubbing his arm where the smell arose from, frowning deeply. It wasn't coming off. He scrubbed and scraped until his skin was red and raw from ferocious cleaning; he even broke the skin slightly. As blood rose to the surface, he gave up with a loud curse on Julian's name and hurriedly cleaned the rest of himself before stepping from the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist.

He gave himself another look in the mirror post-shower: his posture was straight now and the coloring had returned to his face. He looked clean and refreshed and overwhelmingly calm. And his eyes; his eyes were still red, yes, but they weren't so emotionally powered. They weren't anything, in fact. They were glazed over. They were calm. They were still. They were medicated.

With a loud sigh, he made his way back into his bedroom to begin dressing himself. He moved to his weekday wardrobe and pulled out one of his school uniforms, laying it out flat against his couch. He could hear the early-risers of Stuart bustling about in the hallways, making their way to their coffee supply. He glanced at his door with a frown before moving to his vanity and slicking his wet, blonde hair down against his head, boredly gazing into his own eyes as he did so. He stood once more, moving to pull on his slacks, followed by his white button-up shirt. He tucked the shirt tightly into his pants before buttoning them up and tightening his belt around his waist. He scooped up the blazer, pulling it on loosely and stepping into his shoes simultaneously. With a final glance into his mirror, he sighed and turned toward his door, resting his hand on the handle.

Here we go.

He twisted the handle and pushed the door open into the hallway, striding out with his head held high. His eyes flickered over to Julian's door, where a light was streaming brightly from underneath it. Julian was still in there. Normally, now is the time Logan would open his door, rush him along so they could walk to class together as the fearless duo they were. That thought made him sick this morning, however. He simply rolled his eyes and continued on past the door and down the stairs.

"What's hap'nin', L?"

Logan's head snapped around, slightly startled by the voice addressing him. He let out a sigh of relief recognizing Derek's face catching up behind him. He turned back around.

"Morning, Derek," he responded in a hushed tone.

"Dude, you look like shit," Derek observed, making a slight face at him, which was met with Logan's best death glare. Derek turned his gaze straight again. "I'm just sayin'…"

"I didn't sleep at all last night," Logan explained simply. "I don't doubt that I look as awful as I feel."

"No wonder. I went outside to call April… or, uh, Stephanie? No, no it was Amber. Or was it Amelia? Yeah. It was her. No, wait, it was Sara—"

"Get to the point."

Derek clears his throat. "Right. Anyway. I was going outside to call… my girlfriend and I saw you nearly passed out in the common room," he shifted his backpack over his shoulder, looking over to Logan. "Does whatever you were doing down there have to do with you not sleeping?"

Logan was silent for a moment. "No."

"Oh," Derek breathed out. "Well, you're obviously not going to tell me, so…" They walk in silence for a few steps before a light seems to go off in his head. "Oh! Julian got back last night. You seen 'im yet?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

Derek frowned. Logan was being awfully short with him. He subtly leaned over a bit to catch a glimpse of his facial expression, noticing his eyes. It all made sense.

"Right," Derek nodded as they approached their classroom. "Well, I guess we'll be seeing him again in a bit! As soon as his slow ass decides to come to Chemistry," he chuckled.

Logan's face remained rigid as he gave a slight nod. His medication had taken full effect now and he could care less for Derek's ramblings. He was exhausted and he was drained. All he wanted was for his classes to be over so he could go back to sleep and dream away this awful, bleary Friday.

They took their usual seats beside each other near the back of the classroom. Derek immediately pulled out his cell phone, holding it in his lap and texting one of the women that had his attentions at the moment. Logan simply stared into nothingness – well, more precisely he was staring at the door to the classroom; or, staring through it, really, as they waited for their professor to make his entrance.

His listless stare was broken by the sight of the movie star strutting into the classroom looking as charming as ever. His brown hair was slicked down onto his head and his uniform was without a single crease or wrinkle. He looked simply immaculate, and as if he had slept for a full 8 hours, which Logan knew wasn't true. Logan's green eyes followed Julian as he moved about the room, flashing his glowing smile to his adoring classmates as he moved gracefully through the crowd, acknowledging their gawks. He wasn't always received this way when he returned to Dalton, and he soaked in every moment that he was.

With his smile ever plastered over his features, Julian took his seat beside Derek. Logan stiffened on the opposite side of Derek, casting his gaze forward onto his notebook in front of him on the table.

"Morning, Derek!" Julian greeted cheerily.

Derek looked up from his phone, offering up a grin. "What's up, Jules, my man?" He gave him a slight clap on his arm before dropping his gaze back to his phone. Julian smiled down at Derek almost endearingly before his gaze fell to the boy on the other side of his friend, his expression dropping.

"Logan," he greeted sternly. Logan didn't look up. Julian rolled his eyes and turned forward again, gazing about the room and tapping the end of his pencil against the table. "Mm, it's good to be back. Fame is so exhausting. It's nice to be back here with you guys sometimes. Living a normal life, you know? Just sitting in a classroom… finer things in life, really," Julian mused softly, mainly to himself.

Derek put his phone away, looking back up to his friend. "Seriously. We miss you around here when you're gone, man. It's so boring without my two dudes around me," he supplies, putting his arms around both Julian and Logan's shoulders, sighing contentedly. "The boys are back in business!"

Logan grunted and pulled out of Derek's grasp, rolling his shoulders a bit. Derek frowned and leaned closer to Julian. "What crawled up his ass and died?" He whispered, jerking his thumb in Logan's direction.

Julian shrugged one shoulder lightly. "You know how Logan is," he answered, just loud enough for Logan to hear.

"Will the both of you shut up? I'm sitting right beside you, you know," Logan grumbled, glowering at Derek in particular, avoiding Julian's eyes.

Julian chuckled. "He asked. I'm just answering."

"Yeah, well, your input is certainly unwanted," Logan remarks bitterly, turning forward again.

"If you don't want to hear, don't listen," Julian retorts, leaning forward to gaze around Derek and look at Logan.

"It's kind of hard to do that when you're sitting a foot away, talking shit to my best friend about me."

"Why so touchy this morning?" Julian inquired with a hint of knowing amusement in his tone. "You look like you didn't sleep a wink."

Logan merely sneered and remained silent. Julian was doing was he did best; be an asshole. An intentional one. And Logan could tell his friend believed he had the upper hand. Logan didn't care. Not with the heavy amounts of medicine coursing through him that he took for this very reason.

"Did you forget your medicine today?" Julian asked in a taunting tone. He was intentionally trying to push Logan. The Prefect's fists balled up on the table, but he said nothing. Derek gawked at Julian. Normally they never brought up Logan's medication. Not in public, anyhow. Derek was beginning to pick up something was going on – if the obvious tension between the two wasn't apparent enough. He sat back awkwardly, pretending to click at his phone as he listened.

Julian frowned when Logan didn't respond to his provocation. He did notice the way his hands curled into fists, however, and his eyes rested on those. He opened his mouth to make a comment before noticing the red marks up and down his forearm from his vigorous scrubbing in the shower in an attempt to free himself of Julian's scent. The celebrity reached quickly across Derek and grabbed Logan's arm.

"The hell is that?" He asked accusingly, eyeing the marks.

Logan jerked his arm back, placing it back onto the table where it was. "Nothing. And don't touch me."

Julian sat back a bit, eyes still locked on him. "That's not 'nothing', Logan. Don't tell me you cut yourself or some shit."

"Would you leave it, Julian?" Logan snapped back, only now gazing up to meet Julian's eyes. "I slept weird last night and the blanket rubbed me wrong. I don't cut myself, Jule. I'm not that stupid," he grumbled truthfully.

Julian noticed the glare in Logan's eyes and scoffed. "Oh. You didn't forget your medicine. I see that now."

Derek looked up from his phone without lifting his head to look into Logan's eyes at this comment. He was right.

Logan rolled his eyes. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"I wasn't in the mood for your ambush last night, but hey – you can't always get what you want."

Logan's face was beginning to turn red with rage. He had taken his medication to prevent this from happening, but Julian was just finding a way to do it to him anyway, almost as if he knew exactly what he was doing to him – as if this were some kind of game to him, which only made Logan even more enraged. He took a deep, shuddering breath to calm and distract himself. It was at this time their professor strode into the room, much to Logan's thanks. Julian would shut up now. Hopefully.

"Damn, dude, what the hell happened with you and Logan? That class was almost painful having to sit between that much tension," Derek murmured as they exited the classroom alone. Logan had stood as soon as the bell rang and bolted from the room without a word, and without them.

Julian smiled almost wickedly. "Nothing happened. He missed me. And he doesn't want to admit it."

Derek quirked an eyebrow. "Missed you?"

"Yep. He was up all night waiting on me last night. I got back late and he got all clingy-girlfriend on me or something. Kinda like, uh, whatsername? Stephanie? Sarah?"

"That's a terribly analogy. And, nah. April is the clingy one."

"Right. Well he was acting like her. And I called him out on it," Julian shrugged. "He got all defensive. I was just like, 'dude, chill the fuck out.' And he didn't like that too much apparently."

"Apparently…" Derek echoed. "So is that why he didn't sleep last night then? He was too peeved with you?"

Julian tilted his head. "He didn't sleep?"

"Doesn't look like he did. You saw him. He never looks that awful."

"Mm," Julian responded, pondering the thought. "Well, it could be because he didn't leave my room until, like, 5 in the morning."

"So you didn't sleep either, then?"

Julian looked over to him once before shrugging one shoulder. "I slept like a baby."

"But he was in your room unti—"

"…Like a baby," Julian repeated. Derek dropped it.

"See you after class?" Derek prompted as he ducked out of the hallway and into his next class.

"Right. See ya."

Julian continued down the hall a few steps, only to be stopped by a cool tone coming from behind him. A tone that he was all too familiar with

"Why'd you do that?"

Julian turned around to be met with a rather calm Logan.

"Why did I do what?"

Logan groaned and grabbed Julian by the arm of his blazer, tugging him into a private crevice of the corridor. He looked over his shoulder, making sure no one had followed before turning back to him, crossing his arms and leaning his shoulder against the wall.

"Mention my medication. In the middle of class."

"Class hadn't even start—"

Logan waved him off. "Doesn't matter. There were people in there."

Julian frowned, crossing his arms as well and mirroring Logan's stance.

"I didn't think it would bother you tha—"

"It did."

Julian's frown deepened. "If you weren't being such a tool maybe I—"

"I wasn't."

"Yes, you were. You wouldn't even look at me."

"Cause you know better than to run your mouth like that."

"Don't talk to me as if I am a child, you—"

"You are."

"Will you stop interrupting me? This is why we always fight. You never let me talk. And when we do talk, you never tell me the truth. Like this—" He grabbed Logan's arm again. "—What the hell is that? Seriously."

Logan jerked his arm back again, resting it back where it was across his chest. "I already told—"

"No, you didn't tell me anything. You lied about it. You have yet to tell me the truth."

"I did tell you the truth—"

"Logan."

Logan's blank eyes looked into Julian's earnest ones. "What?" He hissed.

"Tell me."

"There's nothing to tell, Julian. Jesus, you are thick headed."

"Will you just tell me the truth for once? Seriously! Would it fucking kill you to—"

They both looked upward as the bell rang for their next class. Logan sighed and broke his gaze with Julian's.

"Look, I'm gonna get going." Logan pushed himself off of the wall and turned to exit the hallway.

"Will I see you after class?"

The Prefect froze in his tracks at Julian's question. His eyes shut momentarily before he takes another step.

"No."

The brunette watched as Logan disappeared around the bend of the empty hallway, sighing defeatedly as he slumped back against the wall. This would be harder than he once thought. Though Logan said 'no', Julian knew this wasn't over. It would never be over.