A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews guys, it means a lot knowing you's are enjoying and hopefully following the story. Well this is chapter 4, basically how Jeff deals with what Trent had told him, a little bit more emotional-hurt in this chapter. Enjoy!

Over the last few hours, the rain had gradually started to become heavier, leaving the outside of the school buildings with a rather dreary and démodé look; the stagnant puddles had slowly began to rise until eventually the water had began to flood on to the ornate stone steps that housed the main entrance to the school.

Apart from a few teachers hastily making their way across the dank courtyard, the grounds of Dalton were deserted; the only form of hominal movement coming from the tall blonde who was apprehensively making his way along the main path, tears brimming in his eyes as he hurriedly strode out of the front gates and into the car park.

Jeff had known it was a bad idea to just get up and leave like that, now Trent is definitely going to know something is up, but he just needed to get out of there, away from the commotion in the school, away from the (probably already suspicious) warblers, away from that slut, and; away from Nick.

He quickly made his way to the far end of the car park, getting out his keys from his pocket, he began unlocking his car, at the same time trying to ignore the fact that his blazer was now pretty damp and he was beginning to feel a slight shiver come on. Jeff quickly jumped inside the car, locking the doors after him and began carefully removing his blazer, throwing it on the back seat, hopefully giving it a chance to dry off slightly.

Running a hand through his wet hair, Jeff sat in silence, listening carefully to the rain pounding against the frame of the classic Mercedes-Benz. He let his head rest on the steering wheel before allowing all of his hurt and confusion to come spilling out, letting the stream of tears run quickly down his face and the harsh sobs become heard as he began to break down.

It's not fair, it's just not fair. Jeff thought between hiccuping sobs, he knew he wasn't good enough for Nick, but he couldn't like Sebastian, he just couldn't. That meerkat faced slut would hurt him and he just couldn't let that happen. Not to Nick, not again. Jeff wanted nothing more than for Nick to like him back, to be able to hold his hand walking down the corridor, to be able to place a kiss on those soft sweet lips and to be able to class himself as Nick Duval's boyfriend; but Jeff knew these hopes were unrealistic, for Nick obviously liked someone else and as much as Jeff hated to admit it, Nick just did not love him.

It had taken approximately over twenty minutes for Jeff to calm down and somewhat recover from the recent breakdown. He could feel the puffiness in his eyes and the mild headache beginning to form from the strain of crying, but he simple ignored it and began wiping his face with his shirt sleeve. Jeff knew he couldn't stay here forever, the rain was slowly beginning to subside which would mean people would soon start to make their way out of the buildings and around the grounds, someone was bound to notice him sitting isolated in his car; but he wasn't ready to face Nick yet, not after finding out what he had from Trent.

Jeff just needed to get away from Dalton, at least for just a few hours or so. He went to check his watch only then realising he had left it in his dorm, he was guessing the time was around 5pm, which meant Nick would definitely be back by now and would mostly likely be sat in their dorm studying or hanging with David and Thad.

He needed to talk to someone, someone who he could trust. In any given situation the warblers would be the first people he would turn to, however this situation was slightly different and Jeff wasn't ready to open up about his feelings to them yet. No, he knew the one person who he needed to see, the one person who would give him heartfelt advice, the one person who wouldn't be bias; and the one person who had experienced a similar situation himself.

Jeff quickly glanced at his reflection in the car mirror, flattening down his bangs so the thick pieces of blonde hair covered most of his eyes, hiding the redness that surrounded them. He then grabbed his, now slightly drier blazer from the back seat and slipped it on, fastening the gold button before starting the engine and reversing out of his space in the parking lot. He then began to drive out of the large gates that housed the school and along the elongated road that led out into the nearby areas that surrounded Dalton Academy. After turning right off of a junction, he prepared himself for the roughly one hour long journey to where he needed to be, turning on the radio to help distract his mind from the previous thoughts that had been encircling it this evening.

Nick had been exactly where Jeff had predicted, the brunette had been sitting in David and Thad's room (which previously had been David and Wes' room until the senior had graduated) for the past hour. He had came back from his math class slightly later than usual as Sebastian had asked if he could have a little chat with the brunette about something before he turned in for the evening.

Nick initially thought the conversation would probably be regarding their set list for sectionals, so had been surprised when the taller boy had simply asked him what he knew about the former Warbler Blaine Anderson. He must admit, Nick had been pretty hesitant about telling the boy all of his knowledge regarding his friend, especially after seeing the way Sebastian had aimlessly tried to flirt with Blaine the first time they met, however he felt he could trust Sebastian more now that he knew him, so had simply told him what he should know about the curly haired boy.

When he had eventually returned to his dorm he had been slightly surprised to have not seen the blonde warbler sitting there waiting for him. However after checking the time, he realised that Jeff had probably gone down to serve his detention and would be back soon ready to complain to Nick about the tedious tasks he was made to do for Mr. Porter.

In the meantime, Nick had went to join the two seniors in their room as he waited for his best friend to return. He had thought about just spending the time studying, but had then realised he had had a long enough day of doing work and decided his brain needed a rest, an hour or so spent hanging out with David and Thad wasn't really going to affect his education.

It wasn't until Trent had came knocking on the former council members' door in search of the brunette, that Nick had realised the time, Jeff should be on his way back now.

The round faced warbler just stood at the door shifting slightly, averting his gaze from the two seniors to the smaller boy who had now just began to make his way off of the bed and over to where he stood.

"What's up Trent?" Nick said, pulling the sassy warbler into the room.

"Erm, can I talk to you for a sec Nick?" Trent said looking up from the smaller boy to the two other warblers in the room "in private?"

Nick nodded, turning back to the other two before pushing Trent outside into the corridor, closing the door behind him. From inside the room, David and Thad shot a knowing look at each other, before the two jumped up from their spaces on the beds and began placing an ear against the wooden door.

"Are you okay? What's up dude?" Nick asked with a look of slight concern etched on his face

"Have you seen, er, Jeff around this evening?" Trent asked looking down at the brunette hoping he would have some kinda of clue as to where the blonde had disappeared to.

"Jeff? No, he wasn't in our room when I got back from math class, but I just thought he would have gone straight to his detention"

"Oh" Trent said shuffling slightly on the spot.

"Why?" Nick asked looking up at the fellow warbler with slight confusion.

"Okay, well, er, I saw him after class, he had gotten back to the dorm early, something about Mr. Manning's class having a free period, anyway he was asleep and had left the door open so I thought Id venture in and see what he was up to." Trent began to explain

"Right? And?" Nick asked, confusion still present in his eyes, he was starting to wonder where this was going.

Trent was trying to refrain himself from spilling everything to Nick, he desperately wanted to tell him what he thought, what Jeff had been muttering in his sleep; but he knew that it wasn't his place. So he went on to tell Nick about the rest of the events of the evening.

"Basically we talked a bit about math class, just the usual stuff. And...then I may have mentioned a bit about you and Seb, you know, flirting" Trent said the last part shyly, looking down at his feet.

"WHAT?" Nick exclaimed, causing the other boy to snap his head up, he then began looking up at the round faced warbler with a look of uneasiness.

"We weren't flirting! Well, not exactly. Seb was just carrying on, and, I found it kinda funny. But God Trent, no! We weren't flirting!"

Nick was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable under the other boys gaze.

"Well I kinda think maybe Jeff took it the wrong way, coz he looked a little upset when I told him" Trent explained, carefully looking at the brunette for some kinda of physical response.

Nick just stood there, thoughts beginning to swim around in his mind. Jeff had been upset? Why would Jeff be upset, we weren't doing anything, it was harmless. Unless; Jeff had been jealous. No come on Nick, why would Jeff be jealous? I know Jeff and Seb aren't really best of friends but surely he can't think I would just leave him to hang out with Seb. He doesn't have a problem with me hanging out with the other guys. Then it hit him. OMG what if Jeff likes me? No, don't be stupid Nick of course he doesn't, it's Jeff, the tall, gorgeous, handsome boy who you have been in love with for the past 3 years. No way, last time I checked, Jeff liked that Quinn girl; but what if had begun to have a crush on me? He did say I was cute at one time. No Nick, he doesn't like you, get it into your head! You're his best friend for gods sake, and that is all you will be!

"Nick?"

Nick's attention immediately directed away from his thoughts when he saw a concerned looking Trent waving a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry" Nick said, focusing his attention back to the other boy. "so what else happened?"

"After that, he basically just got up and left, said to tell you not to wait up for him, I thought he was just going for a walk around school but then I'm sure I saw him walking out into the car park, no ones seen him since then"

Nick responded quickly by pulling Trent around the corner and along to the end of the corridor, stopping at the window that stood directly opposite the guidance counsellor's bedroom. From there, the boys had a clear view of the car park, they began scanning the spaces for the familiar Mercedes-Benz that belonged to the blonde warbler.

"It's not there" Trent said after realising the car was nowhere to be found within the parking lot "That means he's gone off campus"

Nick was beginning to feel slightly worried now, Jeff never left the school grounds alone for anything; the times they had left to get out of Westerville on weekends, it had always been the two of them, sometimes joined by the rest of the warblers too. Or the, very rare, times they had bunked off for the afternoon, it had just been the both of them, the 36 duo. 6 couldn't go anywhere alone, especially not without 3.

The last time Jeff had decided to go on a lone stroll had been the time he had failed his English exam, he hadn't been on speaking terms with Nick at the time, the two had had a pretty heated argument the night before about Nick affecting Jeff's studying because he had been holding, what could be described as, a little warbler tea party in their dorm. Jeff had been so upset and annoyed at both himself and Nick he had decided to flee Dalton in his car.

Trent once again spoke up, bringing the brunette's thoughts back to reality.

"Well at least we know he's not hiding now. He'll be back soon, I mean, he'll have to come back before curfew"

Nick nodded, he knew Jeff would return. He was just worried about what he was going to say to the boy when he confronted him about tonight.

"Oh crap!" Trent exclaimed causing Nick to snap his head back up to the round faced warbler "he had detention tonight, Porter's going to absolutely murder him"

Nick had completely forgotten about this. It was true, if a boy didn't turn up to Mr. Porter's detention and didn't have a valid excuse, they would literally be skimmed alive. Nick knew what he had to do to save Jeff's back, as much as he disliked the grumpy history teacher, he loved Jeff and didn't want to see this go down on his personal record., he knew it would crush the boy.

"I'll sort something out, when Jeff gets back tell him not to worry about it" Nick said before patting the other boy on the shoulder and making his way back along the corridor to his room.

Nick quickly slipped inside and grabbed his bag, he then exited the room locking the door behind him and began making his way down the stairs, out of the dorm building and across to the history department. He had a decent enough excuse planned out in his head of what he was going to say to the man, hoping it would be believable enough to get him off Jeff's back.

He stood outside of the junior years' history classroom, immediately catching sight of the grey haired teacher who was still busy grading papers. Fixing his lapels and straightening out his blazer, Nick cleared his throat before knocking on the oak wood door, awaiting for permission to enter.

After he heard a faint "Enter" come from inside the room, he pushed open the door to face a slightly annoyed looking Mr. Porter.

"And what may I do for you? I'm sorry I didn't catch your name, you mustn't be a history student I presume" Mr Porter snarled at Nick giving him a disapproving look.

"No, I'm sorry to bother you sir, I'm Nick-sorry Nicholas, Nicholas Duval, I'm a friend of Jeffrey's, I believe he had detention with you this evening"

Nick hated speaking to teachers that weren't the dean or his subject teachers, he felt he always had to address them in the appropriate Dalton manner, which involved introducing himself using his full name and putting on the 'polite gentleman' act. One of the things you were taught when you attended a state's top all-boys private school, it annoyed Nick sometimes.

"Yes,a detention in which Mr. Sterling decided to not attend. Do you happen to know where he is Mr. Duval?" Mr. Porter turned back towards the brunette.

"Yes sir, you see Jeff wasn't feeling well after last period today. I suggested he get some rest to make sure he was feeling better for class tomorrow, he was very pale and felt ill when I saw him this evening."

Mr. Porter showed a look of understanding, although Nick couldn't help but think the man was secretly just going along with the lie so he would have the chance to confront Jeff tomorrow in front of the whole class. Something else that would probably set Jeff off.

"But I understand punishment must be served here at Dalton, so therefore I have offered to come and take Jeff's place, whatever you require me to do sir, I will do it" Nick stated, immediately beginning to regret opening his mouth to that last bit.

"Very well" Mr. Porter said in his usual monotonous tone as he began to search through his drawers, eventually pulling out a yellow rag and bottle of polish.

"Since you are so keen on helping Mr. Sterling, you can start by polishing the collection of rare Venetian masks located on the top shelf" Mr. Porter motioned towards the cupboard "And you are not to stop until I can see my reflection in each one, understand?"

"Yes sir" Nick said trying to prevent the groan from escaping his mouth as he thought about how he was going to survive the next few hours. He was sure Venetian masks are matt, how was he going to polish them enough to cause them to become reflective? Oh well, better get it done sooner rather than later he thought as he made his way into the cupboard. Starting his, well Jeff's punishment, by oiling the first delicate mask with foul smelling polish.

Jeff owed him big time for this. He just hoped that wherever Jeff was he was alright, and that when he got back he knew that Nick had been completely innocent, if that had been the reason as to why he had took off. If not, he just needed to know that Nick was there for him, and would always will be, that's what best friends are for. Best. Friends. He thought feeling a slight wave of sadness rush over him.

It had now just started to hit Nick how much Jeff meant to him, for he could feel the tears starting to brim his eyes as he thought of his blonde room-mate out somewhere, alone, possibly hurt from Nick's actions. He just sincerely hoped Jeff wouldn't do anything stupid.

Please hurry back Jeffy, Nick thought before returning his focus to the task he has been set.

Aw I think I wrote Nick a bit too sweetly in this chapter, saving Jeff's back, I wish I had a friend who would do that for me :P

I think you's can probably guess who Jeff goes to visit :D More coming soon!