(I hadn't initially intended for this chapter to be so gosh darn long, but, well…here ya go. Thank gods that Matty plays all those high-adrenaline action games. XD )

Ch. 4: A Lesson We Can't Learn From

"Alright. When I call your name, please come up and retrieve your reports."

It was nearing the end of their psychology class when Matt leant in close to Mello, being careful not to let anyone overhear.

"He's been staring at you this whole time."

"Who?"

"Light."

The blonde only shrugged, still listening for his name. "Just ignore him. That's what I do."

"Jeevas, Mail." The teacher, Mr. Tanaka called. Matt got up to get his report, taking only a moment before he was seated next to Mello again.

The gamer nudged his friend gently in the ribs to regain his attention. "Don't you see that as creepy? I mean, it's stalker-ish."

Mello rolled his eyes, tapping his pen on his desk, making the point click in and out rhythmically. "Matt. I don't think 'stalker-ish' is even a word. The best thing to do is ignore him. He's not my problem anymore."

"Keehl, Mihael."

"That's me." The blonde smirked at Matt as he got up and ventured up to Mr. Tanaka's desk at the front of the class. When he arrived, the teacher stopped him before he could pick up his report.

"All in all, I have to say you did exceptionally well." He began, looking up at Mello from behind oval reading glasses. "But all the same, I would like to see you after class."

This made Mello cross his arms defensively. "I didn't cheat if that's what you mean."

Mr. Tanaka merely chuckled. "No. That's not even close. I just wanted to discuss where you stand grade wise as opposed to say….Nate River."

"Near? What's he got to do with my GPA?" Just hearing that name, Nate, made the blonde's blood hit boiling point. "How far below him am I?"

"Err…I'll explain everything to you after class in my office." Mr. Tanaka replied, taking care to place his words so as not to get another rise out of his blonde student.

A bit perturbed by this sudden turn of events, Mello grabbed his paper off the desk and huffed back to his seat. There was no way in Hell he was going to allow Near, the little man-sheep himself, to beat him again. Especially after all the hours of hard work the blonde had put into this report. Psychology was where he shined (he had gone out with a guy with a fierce God complex for crying out loud) and if anything was going put him ahead of his rival, it was going to be this report.

Sensing the dark aura now engulfing his friend, Matt put his life on the line and poked Mello's shoulder.

"What did teach say to piss you off?"

A low growl escaped the blonde's feral lips. "I'm not losing to Near. That's final."

The gamer blinked before smiling and shaking his head at the blonde in disbelief.

Figured.

"Okay. Remember that next week we'll be moving on to the criminal mind so I want you to get a head's start by reading chapters five through eight. There will be a quiz to start it off. Have a good rest of the week."

Mello stayed seated as the rest of the students exited the classroom. Matt couldn't help but imagine the blonde as a rock, sitting on the beach as waves crashed around him and still never moving.

"Hm." The gamer thought, "I wonder if Mello would like the beach." What was he thinking all of a sudden? Here he was, staring at his best friend as psychology class let out, wondering if the blonde liked the beach. He didn't know whether he was just really bored or completely insane. Maybe he needed to get out of psychology if it meant he was going to lose his mind in the process. "Meh. I've never been too interested in psychology anyway."

"What'd you say Matt?" The blonde was looking up at him, his head cocked to one side. Another image, this time of a blonde cat, popped into Matt's head.

"Ah--nothing." Matt waved his hands frantically in front of him as he replied. "I was just thinking aloud is all." He didn't really know why, but he wished Mello would stop looking at him like that.

"Okay." Mello said, not at all convinced with the answer he received, but not in the mood to prod his friend any further. He looked around the room, hoping that the rest of the students had finally found their way out. His eyes fell on Light, taking his time to close the latches on his bag, all the while shooting looks at the blonde out of the corner of his eye. A shiver ran down Mello's spine as the older male walked past him on his way to the door. One last glance as cold as ice and he was gone.

Shrugging it off, Mello stuffed his pen and report into his mail bag and stood.

"Want me to wait for you?" Matt asked, pulling his goggles down over his eyes as he stood beside the blonde.

Mello shook his head. "Nah. No need. Besides, Yuna's gonna be wondering where we are."

The red-head nodded despite the weird feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach. Something just didn't fit. Why would the teacher want to talk to Mello about his grade point average? And according to Mello's blunt answer earlier, it sounded like it had something to do with Near. What business of that was their psychology teacher's?

"Alright." Matt nodded as he threw his backpack over his right shoulder. "I'll let Yuna know. See ya' in the regular spot."

"Yeah."

As Matt exited the room, Mello picked up his own bag and strode up to Mr. Tanaka's desk. The teacher typed up a few last notes onto his laptop before he turned it off and folded it up so that his entire attention was on the blonde in front of him.

"Well, what's this about?" Mello asked a tad annoyed.

Mr. Tanaka took off his glasses and laid them on his desk, unfazed my Mello's posture and tone. "It's not much really." He began to explain. "But I couldn't help but notice how competitive you are with Mr. River."

The blonde crossed his arms and grunted. "Everyone can't help but notice, teach. Tell me something I don't know."

A small chuckle escaped from the teacher. "Yes, well. Let's get to the point. I can offer you the option of extra credit if you'd like. I can't guarantee it'll help you get a higher GPA than Mr. River, but it'll boost up that 94 on your report a good deal depending."

This was too good to be true. Finally, the blonde was being presented with the chance of his entire lifetime. It was a chance to finally get ahead of Near; to finally be the top dog. Mello was more that ecstatic to accept the choice provided to him.

"I'll do it!" Mello exclaimed, slamming his hands onto Mr. Tanaka's desk in his excitement. "I'll do whatever it takes to get ahead of Near!"

Mr. Tanaka nodded. It was no surprise to him that his blonde student was so gung-ho about the situation.

"Then let's get started." He told the blonde as he stood and began leading him into the office room near his desk. "It shouldn't take long."

As they entered the dark office, Mello heard the soft click of a lock behind him.

"What?"

"What's wrong?" Mr. Tanaka asked. Although Mello had a hard time seeing him in the dark, he sensed that his teacher was slowly advancing on him. "Didn't you say you'd do anything, just so long as it puts you ahead of your rival?"

Mello began backing away in the opposite direction of the door, now fully aware of the situation he had gotten himself into. Had this been any other time or place, the blonde wouldn't have minded getting felt up by another man in order to get what he wanted, but he had promised Yuna. He had promised his sister that he'd be more careful. That he wouldn't go back to the way he was. Not to mention the disturbing fact that he was now being cornered in a dark room by his psychology teacher. Talk about your sick, twisted irony.

"Yeah, I did!" Mello admitted threateningly, finding himself between his teacher and a desk. "But that's when I thought you were gonna give me real extra credit!"

Mello cringed as a chuckle echoed softly in the room mere centimeters in front of his face. "This is real extra credit." He spoke seductively in the blonde's ear, placing one hand on Mello's cheek and the other at the blonde's hip. "And you said so yourself, you'd do whatever it takes to get ahead. I had never specified what it was you had to do."

"Bastard." Mello hissed as he was roughly flipped onto his stomach and forced to bend over the cold flat surface of the desk.

"Now, that's not nice." Mr. Tanaka smirked, placing his free hand on the front of the blonde's pants, applying pressure and achieving a muffled moan from his captive. "It won't take long. And if you obey like a good little boy, I'll make sure you get top marks for the remainder of the semester. That's what you want, right."

Mello couldn't argue. He had said he'd do whatever it took to be better than Near. And it wasn't like he didn't have…experience. What would twenty minutes hurt? It wasn't like he had to tell anyone.

"No!" Mello squirmed as he felt the tight leather around his hips being tugged down around his legs. "This is sexual harassment! I could have you arrested, you son of a bitch!"

"And where would that get you?" Mr. Tanaka challenged. "It's not sexual harassment if you agree to it."

--

"Man. What's taking him so long?" Matt couldn't eat. Mello had been talking to their teacher for close to ten minutes now and it was deeply bugging him.

Yuna put down her sandwich and sighed. "I don't know, I mean, it's only been ten minutes, but something sounds fishy, if you ask me."

Matt nodded in agreement. No matter how hard he tried, the red head couldn't shake that foreboding feeling that resided in his gut. Even Yuna had admitted to feeling the same way.

Without warning, the gamer shot up nearly knocking over his soda in the process.

"Matt?"

"I'm gonna go look for him." He said, taking off at a run towards the direction of the psychology classroom.

"I'll come too." She replied, standing up quickly.

"No. You stay there." Matt exclaimed, almost out of sight. "I'll be right back with him."

--

Mello collided with an office chair as he stumbled to evade his teacher. He was trapped. He hated that feeling probably more than coming in second to Near.

"I don't understand. I thought you'd jump at the chance to be better than Mr. River." Mr. Tanaka had once again caught hold of the blonde and pulled him up.

Mello glared at him defiantly. "I guess there are lines even I refuse to cross."

Just as Mr. Tanaka pushed Mello beneath him in a final attempt to dominate the blonde, there was a loud rapping on the door.

"Who is it?" The teacher asked, suppressing an irritated growl.

"Uhm…janitor. I'm making rounds. I need to get in so I can collect you're the trash."

"There isn't any. Come back later."

Mello's azure eyes widened as he realized who's voice it was. "Matt?" He asked. "Matt!!"

Not planning on being found out, Mr. Tanaka slid a hand over Mello's mouth to stifle him. "Hush!"

Matt had no doubt in his mind. That frantic voice just then, it was Mello. Now the red-head was more than determined to get inside that room.

"Mello!" Without thinking about what he was doing, Matt allowed his instincts to take over, causing him to kick at the door. He could hear shuffling inside as he kept up his assault on the wooden board separating him from his goal. "Get back!" The red head exclaimed, backing away from the door. He was going to bring that door down if it was the last thing he did.

Inside, Mello struggled to get out from under his teacher, gaining strength from the knowledge of Matt trying to get to him.

Then, without warning, the wooden door keeping Matt out of the blonde's dark prison, burst off its hinges.

"Matt!" Mello yelped, but he didn't need to say a word. By the time the blonde had even thought to say anything, the gamer was on his attacker and yanking him up off the blonde.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Matt raged as he threw his gloved fist into the older man's face. Mr. Tanaka stumbled backward, toppling over his office chair at the sheer impact. "You hear me?!"

Having been knocked unconscious after hitting his head on the opposite wall, their psychology teacher didn't reply. But Matt didn't care. He turned to his friend, who was sprawled on the floor looking up at him with a look of complete confusion.

"I'm not explaining here." Matt answered, catching his breath as he found the blonde's discarded leather pants and handing them to him. "Let's just get out of here, alright."

Mello nodded gratefully and took the hand that his best friend offered to him. "Yeah."