Author's Note: Hey guys (: Sorry this chapter is kind of short. I have exams to study for all week, and I need to take them next week so I haven't been able to get much done. The next chapter will be longer though, I promise! I'll try to get it up a bit early too. Thanks for reading!

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Zack speared a piece of macaroni and cheese with his fork, admiring it for a moment before devouring it. He hadn't eaten a full meal in a while, and although cafeteria food wasn't his first priority, it was better than nothing.

This morning had gone by fairly quickly, but only because he slept through it. He had a vague memory of what he learned in, erm, whatever class he was in, but not much memory.

The feeling of being surrounded made Zack realize he wasn't alone anymore.

"Hey Martin," came a voice from behind him.

Zack looked up and immediately recognized the figure behind him. He was tall, and had the tendency for beating people up. Preferably Cody.

"Mind if I join you?" He placed his lunch tray next to where Zack was seated.

"Uh, sure." He awkwardly shifted his chair to the side, making room for the tall kid.

"I'm Jayden, but I'm pretty sure you already know that." Jayden flashed Zack a crooked grin that needed braces.

"Yeah, I knew that." Zack said almost sarcastically. To be honest he wasn't positively sure of his name until right now. Jared? Joseph? Jayden? They were all the same to him.

"So your brother seems to be absent today? That's quite a surprise."

"Yeah, he caught a cold from the weather…" Zack hesitated for a moment. "…but he looked completely fine this morning." Lies.

"Ha, I probably just scared him off. Maybe he would have fought back if he didn't wimp away from school today."

"Yeah, I gotta admit, he's a pretty big loser." Zack shoved another forkful of mac-and-cheese down his throat in attempt to shut himself up.

"Maybe you should beat some sense into him every once in a while, yanno? Show him a taste of reality?" He ran a hand through his untamed, unnaturally black hair.

"Yeah, like he would ever fight back. He couldn't defend himself from a four year old."

"Ha! That's a good one."

"Yeah. He's kind of living proof that getting A+'s on tests doesn't get you around much."

"Defiantly not. Well, actually, it could get you head first in a dumpster."

"And Cody's defiantly been there before."

"Damn, and I missed that?"

Zack finished his meal and put his fork down on the tray. "Yeah. And, he's afraid of like, everything." He got up to throw his tray away, and Jayden followed. He was on a roll now. "He flips out whenever he sees a spider." Zack paused, and Jayden laughed. "He also still sleeps with a blankie."

"Seriously? Dude, that's great. Your brother is such a tool."f

"Yeah, I know. It's embarrassing."

"I can't wait 'till he finds the guts to come back to school so I can use all that against him." He followed Zack out of the cafeteria.

Zack gave him a confused glance. "Uh, what exactly are you-"

"Well, I'm gonna go skip history class and graffiti the school's basement with some friends." Jayden announced to Zack, then looking around himself to make sure no one else heard.

Zack continued to stare at the himf blankly. "Dude. You're gonna go graffiti the school's basement… which nobody ever sees… in the middle of the day, during school hours?"

He looked to Zack like he was speaking crazy. "Uh, duh. It beats learning about the Big Depression."

'How stupid can you get…?' Zack thought. "Um, actually, it's the Great Depression…" He corrected, "…And I think I'm gonna skip out on that, maybe some other time though."

"Alright, suit yourself." Jayden spun around on his heel and made his way down the opposite side of the hallway.

As Zack watched him walk away, he wondered if he should have spilled all those facts about Cody. Then he wondered what exactly was going to be graffiti'd on the basement walls. He idled in the hallway for a minute, wondering.

But then he realized he didn't care, and headed off to Spanish class. Then he remembered how much he loathed Spanish, and how he would do anything to get out of that class. He still was not willing to follow Jayden, though.

'To be honest, I really don't want to get in trouble right now...' Spanish class probably looked better on a permanent record than suspension would. Considering he'd already been suspended once this term.

The bell rang, and Zack realized he was late for class.

-x-

As noon rolled around, Cody was feeling a bit better. Although his fever went down considerably, he was still feeling slightly dizzy. Not to mention he cleared the room completely of every tissue box available. The cold medication hadn't fully kicked in yet. He finished his bowl of chicken noodle soup just as his mom was preparing to leave for rehearsal.

"Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave, Cody?" Carey placed a hand on his forehead. "You don't feel as warm as you did earlier."

"Yeah, I think I'm doing a bit better. Thanks mom." Cody sniffled and handed her his empty bowl of soup.

"No problem, sweetie. If you need me, you know where to find me."

"Yup." Cody watched her leave the room. He sat up on the couch and turned off the television; TV was not that fascinating when you were supposed to be at school.

It was hard to keep a slight smile on his face when his mom was around, so Cody was honestly kind of glad that she had left. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not get the sounds of sirens blaring out of his head.

Cody was not one to hold on to dreams, nightmares have never bothered him in the past. But there was just something so eerie about this one. It had felt so real, like he was actually there. It made him a bit afraid. He couldn't let that hold him back though.

The grandfather clock in the corner struck twelve thirty, and began to sing its annual reoccurring tune. The ticking made Cody more distressed. Each passing minute represented a minute of important school work and information missed. He wondered if Zack would actually bother bringing him his school work like he had asked. He would have to stay after to get it, but it was not raining today, so maybe he wouldn't mind walking home. It did look cold outside though. The weather man this morning had spoken of cold weather for a long, long time to come.

He stood up and strode over to the kitchen. It felt good to get up and walk around, especially after doing absolutely nothing all morning. "Zack wouldn't do something nice for me though…" Cody thought aloud as he picked up his mug of tea, which has grown cold over time.

"If only Zack hadn't grown cold over time…" Cody mused, as he placed the mug in the dishwasher. Then a slight smile spread across his chapped lips. "Grown cold overtime, ha, wow that's emo…"