Disclaimer: I, regrettably, own nothing. Nor do I know how to spell regrettably.


He curled up on the couch, not bothering to return to his dorm-he doubted they`d let him in, anyway. Hopefully the sound of footsteps would wake him up the next morning at breakfast, and until then...

He drifted off into a satisfied sleep.


The corridor was alive with activity from the moment the sun rose over the cliffs. No one noticed the student asleep on the couch by the window, each boy too lost in his own egotistical world to care. Hamish was a heavy sleeper, but in the hard bed with the cold breeze of the morning over him, he woke up at the sound of the first few doors creaking open. He sat up, stretching out his sore arms and legs, and began the long walk to the lunch room.

The hall didn`t seem as long during the day, with no teachers to chase him, and he was to his dorm fairly quickly. He could hear snoring, but he could also hear movement, so Leroy was up-Alex obviously wouldn`t leave his master sleeping through breakfast. No, he would be a good little minion, gently shaking him awake, maybe bringing a cool glass of water so he could wash his face before getting out of the warm blankets. What a p****.

As Hamish passed his door, he heard it squeak on its hinges. Sure enough, Leroy raced over to him. "Hey, Watson, where`s my jumper?" Leroy said, shoving Hamish to get his attention. Hamish felt a surge of relief at hearing that the jumper was Leroy`s. He had begun to have doubts-it could have been just some boy`s he had stolen from or a borrowed jumper, and Hamish didn`t need anymore enemies.

"Oh, that? It`s at the bottom of the lake," Hamish answered. He shrugged, trying to hold back a smile as Leroy`s face began to grow red. "I was just casually holding it out the window over there and I guess it just... slipped. Oh well."
He turned, no longer hiding his smile, to the lunch room where he could already see the line growing. "Hey, get back here! I`m going to get you, creep!"

"No you won`t!" Hamish called back in a sing song voice. Leroy`s weakness had made him a bit bold, but it wasn`t like he`d pay for it later. Leroy was as scrawny as he was, and Hamish knew he could hold his own against him anyway.
Today he had come with money, and he kept his hands in his pockets to protect it. Surely Anderson wasn`t the only jerk at Wilhiem, and Hamish wasn`t so sure that the lunch woman would fall for his trick a second time. "Learned your lesson? How`d a good starving teach you?" the lunch lady said in her head ache-inducing, nasaly voice.

Hamish nodded earnestly. "It has shown me the error in my ways," he said, handing her the money. This answer satisfied her and Hamish was able to go back to his lunch table with Soni without any more problems.

"Hey," she said in the quiet way she always spoke. The way she kept her head lowered, Hamish could tell that she still didn`t trust him. "Decided to stay with the Nutter, huh?"

"Yep, and you know what else? I got my own nick name, too!" he announced proudly to Soni and anyone close enough to hear.

She giggled, a pretty sound, but Hamish didn`t doubt that it could be creepy, too, if she wanted it to be. "What`s yours?" she asked.

"Creep."

"Oh, good one!" she congratulated him. Her voice was brighter, she was warming up to him. Progress, he decided.

"Have you got your schedule yet?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, they gave it to me when I got here," Hamish said, taking it from his pocket and unfolding it hastily. "I have Social Studies, then Maths, then Music-"

"You do music?" she asked excitedly. "What instrument do you play?"

Hamish looked down at his feet and muttered a short word that Soni couldn`t make out. "What?"

He coughed. "The pipe..."

"The pipe?"

"Yeah... Problem?"

"Nothing wrong for me, but don`t tell Leroy and his friends or it`ll be worse for you than ever. Apparently they think the pipe`s 'gay' or something."

"How`d you know that I knew them?" Hamish said suddenly, ignoring her small attempt at a joke. How much did she know?

"It`s all over the school, Hamish. The teachers ran screaming after a boy who took the Challenge, never caught him, only new boys who spend time with Leroy take the Challenge-you fit the bill. I assume you two share a dorm?"

"Uh... yeah, actually. Is the Challenge that well known? Does everyone know I took it?" Does everyone know I failed? he questioned silently.

"Yep. I never really took you for someone who`d want to join up with Leroy..." she said a little softer.

"Oh, no, I didn`t do it willingly. They kind of just dragged me into the hallway. I only did it because..." Oh, yeah. He`d failed, so that meant... Maybe they were just saying they`d hurt Soni so I`d take the Challenge, he thought, although he doubted it. He decided to leave that little detail out. "Because they threatened to tell about the rat that I brought."

"That`s the most-"

Soni never got to finish her sentence as the school bell rang overhead. "See ya'," Hamish said curtly, and raced off to his dorm.


Hamish entered just as Alex finished pulling on his shirt. What Hamish saw before closing his eyes in terror was mortifying, but he pulled through so that he could feed Min. She was getting old, he noticed with a frown. She still has at least two years left, he consoled himself somewhat.

"Hey, Watson," Dimmock called him. Hamish looked over cautiously, making sure he was fully clothed before giving him his full attention.

"What?" Hamish said when he was sure it safe.

"That thing you did with Leroy`s jumper... did you really throw it in the lake?"

"Do you see a jumper on me? There`s not many places to hide a bright yellow shirt in the corridors." Alex stared silently. God, this kid was thick. "Yes, I threw it in the lake."

"Oh." He nodded. "Cool move."

"Right, thanks," Hamish said, turning back to search through his drawers for something to wear. He settled on a T-shirt from his old school and some plain blue shorts.

"Hey, Hamish, I`m going to let you in on a little..." Alex`s eyes flickered dangerously around the room. "Secret," he whispered.

"Oh boy, a secret? Maybe later we can set up a slumber party!" Hamish squealed sarcastically.

"Maybe... If you`re lucky. Now, the secret: I can`t say much, but if you take the West Hall between second and third period... you`ll be rewarded." Alex nodded. "Don`t speak of this to Leroy."

"Um... Okay, sure, mate."

Alex proceeded to tip toe sneakily out of the room as though he were sneaking up on someone, leaving Hamish staring in disbelief at the door. He couldn`t help but wonder what could possibly go through Dimmock`s head all the time. Static? That was his best guess. An annoyed squeak from the rat cage on his nightstand broke into his thoughts, and he turned quickly to feed the rodent that was staring at him through the bars. "Yeah, Min, I get it. You can shut up now," he said, even though he had found out long ago that animals couldn`t actually understand humans.

After feeding Min, Hamish stooped down to grab the books he`d need for the first part of the day, then raced off to the East Corridor where his History class was. I can`t say much, but if you take the West Hall between second and third period... you`ll be rewarded. Alex`s reminder swam up in his mind again. In any other voice the words would have been eerie, but it was impossible to take anything seriously that came from Dimmock`s mouth. Still, Hamish made a note to at least stop by the West Corridor before Music to see what he had been talking about.

As usual, his curiosity got the better of him.


The first thing Hamish heard when he reached the West Corridor was shouting. The hallway was congested with other students and it was a war in itself to push through all of them. His blood was heated with addrenaline and anger. He knew what was happening, deep down. He didn`t want to believe it, but he knew who would be at the center of the throng of students. "Soni!" he shouted.

Hamish was answered with a shriek, and he almost crushed the other students trying to reach the middle. Anderson was small enough to fight, sure, but Anderson wasn`t there. Instead there were two of his minions-Donovan and Hamlin, if he remembered correctly-surrounding Soni. They had started small but were slowly allowing their actions to get bigger, more violent. Soni was now backed against the wall with a boy on each side of her. She shrieked again as she dodged a sloppily aimed punch from Hamlin, slipping from between them as the tall boy nursed the hand that had slammed into the locker. Soni darted for crowd of students, hoping to push past them to safety, but was shoved backward.

Hamish had been watching all of this with his mouth open in horror. Anderson hadn`t been lying, d*** it, he had meant it! Hamish forced his way through the last of the kids in front of him and burst into the circle. Hamlin and Donovan`s eyes widened slightly when they saw him, clearly unprepared to fight fairly, but they quickly hardened with determination. "Hamish?" Soni said. She smiled slightly before she was forced to duck out of the path of Donovan`s fist.

"Hey, Soni, how`s it going?" Hamish said casually, inviting himself into the fight. He landed a kick to Hamlin`s shin while shielding his chest from a punch. Those that could hear him laughed, but the sound was washed away in the loud shouts.

"Not so good," she whimpered. Hamish felt a surge of anger at her hurt tone and took it out in a well aimed hook to Hamlin`s jaw. He staggered back and Hamish smiled smugly before a fist plowed into his stomach. He fell to the ground and looked up to see Donovan looming over him, lifting his foot in preparation to crush Hamish`s hand.

Suddenly he froze in pain and fell to the ground. Soni stood over him, her fingers still pressed into two pressure points on the dark skin of his neck. "Sheep," she hissed, glaring at the unconcious body at her feet. She ducked down and tripped Hamlin as he charged at her, then kicked him hard in the side. She didn`t stop until he was unconcious, too, and even then Hamish had to drag her off of him. The crowd had thinned when the late bell rang, and now all stragglers fled in fear.

"Soni," Hamish said, grabbing her wrists. She was crying and she struggled in his grip. As much as he hated human contact, she was his friend, and he pulled her into a tight embrace. It didn`t start out as an actual hug, just a way of getting Soni to calm down, but it ended as one.

Hamish stared at the wall. This was his fault. It was all his fault. "Soni, what did they do to you? Are you hurt?" he questioned her. Soni shook her head.

"They didn`t hurt me," she whimpered. "They just said-they said-"

She bit her lip as more tears streamed down her face. Hamish looked around himself at this pause, remembering exactly where he was. Two unconcious bodies lay around him. This probably wasn`t the best place to talk. "Soni, come on, we`re going to my dorm."

She looked around drearily, then giggled. "I don`t know, I kind of like the scenary."

"Half-dead students lying in the hallway?"

"You say half dead students, I say ambiance."

"Morbid."

"Potato potato."

Hamish burst out laughing, but grabbed Soni`s hand anyway. "Seriously, though, we should go."

"Yeah, probably."

They raced off to the North East Corridor, carefully avoiding the Hall Monitors. It had been two days and he had already done two things that could easily get him expelled. Both, he realized, looking over at the girl next to him, because of Soni. Too quick to trust. That was what Sherlock had once called him, but John had said that that was a good thing. Yeah, he decided. That`ll be my excuse when I finally get caught.

The door was locked, but since his adventure last night, he had started carrying a key around with him. They slipped in, careful not to let the door squeak behind them. "We`re going to get in trouble," Soni said softly, quickly deducing which bed was Hamish`s and lying down on it.

"I don`t care, Soni, now what did they do to you?" Hamish said sternly, sitting down on the bed.

She shook her head. "Okay," she breathed. "Hamish, they didn`t hurt me. They just... said some things."

"Like what?"

"They... um... They knew about my dad, I guess, and... and they told me that... They said that he killed himself because he wanted to get rid of me... That I was just a burden to him so he... you know..."

"Your dad killed himself?"

"Yeah. I never got to meet him, but I can sort of remember my mum. They told me she abandoned me because I was just a n-n-nut." Soni shoved her face into Hamish`s pillow as she began to cry again. That poor pillow hadn`t had a full twenty-four hours to be dry in so long... Poor Soni, too, of course. But he really needed to wash that pillow case...

"Soni, you`re not a nut," Hamish said, finally focusing on the more important matter at hand. "If your parents are gone, it wasn`t because of you."

"How would you know?" she sniffled.

"I know because my mom left me, too. She didn`t leave because she didn`t want me, she left because she had to. You don`t know the whole story, Sonia."

"Oh, shut up. Just because you`re being cheezy doesn`t mean you need to use my full name. Seriously, it`s a stupid name."

"I like it."

"So - nee. Not Sonia." She frowned. "So, your mom ditched you? You never told me that..."

"Well, I have only known you for two days."

"Oh, yeah, right. So, your dad takes care of you? What relation do you have to the other guy that came to drop you off?"

"He`s my dad`s friend." Soni gave him a questioning look. "Seriously. Just a friend," he said earnestly.

"Oh."

"Yep..." They had slipped into an awkward silence. Hamish coughed. "So, if you, you know, don`t have parents, who takes care of you?"

"My dad`s got friends, too. Sebastian Moran. He`s pretty much all I have, now, since my uncle said he didn`t want me. But Gabe`s kind of a jerk anyway, so I`m glad I stay with Moran." She smiled. "He acts like he doesn`t care, but I know he does. He`s kind of like a teddy bear with a gun obsession."

Hamish laughed. "That`s... odd."

"Yeah. I know. So how are we going to explain missing Music?"

Hamish shrugged. "And what about Hamlin and Donovan?"

"We could just tell half the truth. We cut class but we only fought in self defense," Hamish suggested.

"We did only fight in self defense," Soni corrected him.

"Actually, I was kind of enjoying it."

Soni smiled. "Sounds good. See you at lunch?"

"Yeah." The bell rang from the Great Hall. "See ya'."

Soni stood and slipped out of the dorm, looking around first to make sure it was safe. Hamish stared at the door long after it had closed. Friend, his brain reminded him.

Suddenly his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Hamish. -SH

yeah?

I`ve been looking through your school records. -SH

what about them?

Do you know a Sonia Moriarty? -SH

maybe.

Avoid any contact with this student. -SH

what? why?

Promise me that you`ll avoid her. -SH

Hamish stared at his phone. Avoid Soni? Was he crazy? His phone buzzed again.

She and all her family are dangerous. Promise me you`ll avoid her, Hamish. -SH

Yeah, right. Sherlock was smart, but he could be a little paranoid at times. When Hamish didn`t respond, his phone continued to buzz. More texts from Sherlock, of course, begging him to stay away from Soni.

Promise me.

Hamish rolled his eyes and switched off his phone.


A/N: Okay, it took forever, but I actually did two chapters in a week. I love this story, but I want it done. Two chapters per week until it`s over, starting Halloween. See ya Wednesday. :)