Chapter 4

Jeff sat down at lunch with a tray. He'd picked up some food like he always did and moved it around to make it look like he ate some. He knew he shouldn't eat anything. He'd eaten that whole muffin this morning. He sighed, when suddenly the air around him rustled and he felt warmth like an embrace around him. It was such a weird and thrilling sensation. "Eat something for me beautiful." a voice whispered. He blushed as the feeling left and nibbled a little on some garlic bread. He wanted to please whoever this person was. He didn't know who it was and he hoped it wasn't a joke, but he still wanted to please them. Something in there tone made Jeff's legs turn to jelly. Nick suddenly appeared across from him. "Hey!"

Jeff blushed, and jumped a little in his seat. "Hi." he said shyly. He bit his lip. He wasn't sure how to talk to him.

"You ran away from me yesterday." Nick said, pouting. "I didn't know I was that scary."

Jeff blushed, and giggled a little. "You aren't."

Nick smiled "Glad to hear it." Sebastian and Hunter appeared and sat down next to Nick. Jeff paled. "These are my friends Sebastian and Hunter." Nick said.

"Hey!" Sebastian said.

"Hello." Hunter said, with a wave.

"Hi." Jeff said, shyly.

"They won't hurt you either Jeff. I promise." Nick said.

Jeff nodded. He didn't know why, but he trusted Nick. Just something about him seemed familiar. So familiar, and...loving.

"So, Jeff what brings you here?" Sebastian asked.

Jeff tensed up and Nick gave Sebastian a death glare. "You don't have to tell us if you don' want to."

Jeff took a deep breath. "Just some stuff happened." he whispered. "Stuff with my family. So they sent me here."

Nick smiled. It was something. Jeff was opening up a little. He wished he could know everything about the beautiful blonde angel across from him, but he wanted to learn everything at the speed Jeff wanted him too. He knew it would take time and effort, but Nick was firmly committed to Jeff. The blonde human was his mate and Nick was sure of it.

"So what class do you have next?" Hunter asked, curiously.

"Chemistry." Jeff said, making a face. "I hate science."

"Ugh me too." Sebastian said, always wanting to be part of the conversation. "Nick and Hunter are really good though so usually I can get some help. After all Hunter's my one true love and Nicky's my cousin so they kind of have to."

Jeff giggled. He liked the bubbly vampire. He made Jeff smile. Which was normally a rare thing. He didn't really have a reason to smile a lot. "Technically they don't have to."

"True I could just read their minds." Sebastian said with a shrug. He was always very non-chalant about his powers and all vampire powers in general.

Jeff tensed a little at the reminder that they were actually vampires. If he tried he could pretend they were just normal guys. Like him. He took one more bite of his food and hastily stood up. He needed to get away before they changed their minds and killed him. "Well I should get going."

"We'll see you in class right?" Nick said, with a smile, his fangs barely peeking out. He could tell the human was getting a bit uncomfortable, but he wanted to easy his mind. At least a little.

"Y...yeah sure." Jeff stuttered. He ran off. His heart was racing as he left the other three behind.

"It's a start." Sebastian said, smiling. He was proud of the progress they made. He knew with Jeff that any progress was progress to be celebrated. The sweet boy rarely trusted anyone. And his trust was hard to gain and easy to break. You had to be careful with him. But Sebastian knew Nick could do amazing things for him.

Nick nodded in agreement. He could tell they were fighting an uphill battle. "It's a start."

Jeff took his seat in the Chemistry class room and waited for the lunch bell to ring. He sat in the very back of the classroom so people paid the least amount of attention to him. There was a few minutes still until lunch was over. So he took the time to look around the class room. There were rows of lab tables. Each had two stools at them so you had one lab partner that you worked with on your assignments. On the walls were a handful of motivational posters including the ever popular cat hanging from the tree. He chuckled under his breath at that one. It was literally in every class room in America. Well any K-12 school that is. They probably didn't have motivational posters in college. As the bell rang the others started to pile into the class room. Jeff didn't recognize most of them, but he had class with a few other boys. And then of course there was Nick, Sebastian, and Hunter.

"You look wonderful." a voice whispered on the wind. Jeff blushed, what the voice said was far from true. He didn't look wonderful. He was too fat and pale and if anyone knew he needed glasses and just wore contacts he'd die of embarrassment. He blinked again just to be sure his contacts were in place and he'd remembered to put them in.

"Well imagine seeing you again." Nick said, appearing next to Jeff. He smiled at the boy, trying to make him feel even slightly more at ease around him.

Jeff shifted and blushed, looking down."Hi."

"So...I was wondering if you wanted to be my partner?" Nick asked. He hoped Jeff would say yes, but he'd accept it if he didn't.

"Don't...don't you already have one?" Jeff asked, tapping his fingers nervously on the desk. It was a habit he'd had since he was little. One that had gotten him in trouble a lot. He flinched at the memories and stopped tapping his fingers, looking at Nick fearfully for his reaction.

Nick frowned. "Hey, don't be scared. I won't hurt you." he soothed. He touched Jeff's hand gently and felt Jeff tense for a moment, but relax slightly as he realized Nick wouldn't hurt him. At least for the moment. "And there's an odd number of students in the class. Or their was before you came. So I was working by myself before." He didn't tell Jeff that it was because no one wanted to work with the prince, because they were afraid of his father. That would only scare the boy.

"Oh." Jeff said softly. He smiled, and Nick felt his heart race at the speed of light. (Well his metaphorical one anyway.) Jeff brushed his hair out of his face lightly. He hated when it fell in his face. He couldn't see when it was.

"Well?" Nick said, raising an eyebrow as he realized Jeff hadn't answered his question. He was trying not to bounce up and down in excitement.

"Yes." Jeff said, softly. He knew he'd probably regret it later, but he said it anyway. "You can be my partner."

Nick smiled. He couldn't believe how well things were going. He'd actually expected Jeff to say no. "Great. We have a test on Friday so I'll help you catch up. Can we meet in your room today after school?"

Jeff blinked shocked, "Um...I don't know...I mean..." his heart started to race at the thought of being alone in the room with a vampire. It was an unsettling thought. Even though he didn't think Nick would hurt him...he was still a vampire.

"Angel, calm down." Nick soothed the pet name slipping un-noticed passed his lips. He wanted Jeff to calm down. The last thing they needed was him fainting in the middle of class.

Jeff blushed. "I'm nowhere near an angel." he whispered. He didn't know why Nick had called him that.

"Your my angel." Nick whispered back, realizing what he said. He wasn't even going to try and take it back. He meant it too much.

"You don't know me." Jeff whispered even softer.

"I don't have to." Nick whispered.

Jeff shook his head and looked down at his book as the teacher started talking. He tried to ignore the dark thoughts in his mind. The voices saying 'worthless' 'fuck-up' 'fat' 'ugly'. He tried to contain the tears and resist the urge to excuse himself to the bathroom so he could relieve the feeling of needing to cut and loose the food he'd actually eaten. Finally everything just reached a climax and he broke down right there in Chemistry class. He fell to his knees, sobbing and hugging himself. He couldn't deal with this. He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted it to be over.

Nick saw him break and instantly wrapped his arms protectively around the sobbing boy. He didn't need any of the other vampires getting the wrong idea. Hunter and Sebastian rushed to his side.

"What happened?" he whispered to Sebastian. He knew Jeff was upset, but he wanted to be completely sure what happened before he chose their next move.

"Something triggered his anxiety and depression. He was hearing voices of people...I won't tell you who because you don't want to know, but he needs you Nick." Sebastian said seriously.

"Mr. Duval what's going on?" Mr. Wong, the Chemistry teacher asked, coming over. He was a stern older man. He took no nonsense from his students, and no excuses either.

"He's having a break down Mr. Wong. Please have the staff notified that I and Mr. Sterling will be out for the rest of the afternoon." Nick said. Even though Mr. Wong didn't accept excuses he couldn't really argue with Nick since Nick could get him fired. Mr. Wong nodded and left to do as he was asked. As Nick was carrying Jeff out he heard a bunch of the kids mumbling about the 'stupid high prince always getting special treatment.' He ignored it like normal but when someone mumbled. 'Stupid little blood whore go back where you came from.' He turned with fire in his eyes and motioned for Sebastian and Hunter to follow him into the hall. He wouldn't stand for that kind of language around here. Especially not about Jeff. He turned and let Seb see into his mind to see what he heard. "Find out who said it and bring them to me." he said darkly. They would pay the ultimate price for what they said. Nick would make sure of it.

"Nick..." Hunter said warningly. He knew Nick wasn't thinking straight. He couldn't think straight when it came to Jeff. Just like Hunter couldn't think straight when it came to Sebastian. It just came with the territory of being mates. Nick just growled at Hunter and sped off to his room, with Jeff in his arms.