Lenne: Somewhat short, but I had to add something to develop this. We'll be getting to the juicy parts of this story real soon. And with that, RWTOBT may start around those times as well. Just stay tuned!

Warnings: Some cursing.


Chapter 8: Suspicions

Ness and I arrived back at the university for our next school days. We met up with Claus and Ninten and made our way to our English class, the first class of our weekdays.

However, there was a twist.

Just as the four of us sat down in our seats, a very familiar face walked into the classroom. Ness gasped, and I couldn't tell if it was out of excitement or not. I knew for sure that my mouth opened out of shock, fear, and dissatisfaction.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Claus pointed to the silver-haired male talking to Mr. Farrell. Everyone was staring at them already. The students in the front seat could hear what the two of them were talking about. From their reactions, I could tell that I was not going to be amazed.

Mr. Farrell walked to the podium and cleared his throat. "Class, we have yet another new student joining us. This is Nick, please welcome him." Everyone lightly clapped and greeted him. Nick grinned at them, but then his focus changed to our direction.

"Nick, you can sit anywhere you'd like," said Mr. Farrell.

Without a word, Nick climbed up the steps and sat in the row of seats directly behind Ness and myself. We turned our heads to meet his face.

"I expected to see ya' here," Ness commented.

"Did you, now?" Nick responded. They both chuckled.

"So, got any other classes today?"

"Oh, I have pharmacology and then history today," Nick told.

"Pharmacology?" Ness questioned.

"Yeah. You know, giving people medicine and stuff."

"Oh, like a pharmacist?"

"Yep."

"So you're planning to be one? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, it's nice feeling like I can help people with difficult medical problems." Nick subtly grinned.

"Hey, don't they make a lot of money—" Ness was cut off by the professor clearing his throat. "Oh, sorry!"

He squinted at the two of them and returned to the book at his podium. "We'll be reading a famous poem today, and then analyzing the poet's tone. I hope none of you fall asleep, because we will have a quiz over it on Thursday." He paused for some of the students to groan. "Now then, open your books and turn to page 258…"


After class ended, Claus, Ninten and I exited the classroom first. Following behind us were Nick and Ness chatting.

"Remember the time I threw that baseball so high at Evan that he knocked over the picnic table trying to catch it?"

Nick laughed, "Oh yeah! We had no food for the whole day. That was horrible. Oh, hey, did you hear about Elizabeth?"

"No, what?"

I turned away from them and sighed. Ninten noticed my current feelings and patted my back.

"Having a hard time?" he whispered to me.

"Yeah, I guess," I told him.

"It'll be okay bro," Claus reassured me. "There's no way Ness would leave you for that guy. I know it."

"Really?" I questioned. "How can you tell?"

"Let's just say it's boyfriend instinct," he told, winking at me. "We gotta go. You take care, okay?"

I nodded, "Okay." Claus left first. Ninten turned to me and put a hand at the side of his mouth. "Don't give up! You can do it!" He quickly turned around and caught up with Claus.

I lightly smiled, trying to cheer up. I looked back at Ness and Nick. When they were close to me, Ness reached for my hand, grabbing it.

"So, you're off to…pharmacology, right?" Ness asked Nick. "Where is it at?"

"Oh, near the athletic department. For some reason it's not at the science building, but oh well."

"Hey, nice!" Ness exclaimed. "We can go there together. Luke has art at the art building and I have baseball."

"Cool, let's go then."

As much as I disliked it, we all walked together making our way to our designated classes. Nick continued to chat with Ness about memories of their past middle school life. I was the third wheel, silent and growing more unsteady with each smile they made to each other.

At one point, Ness reached into his pocket to grab out something. "Oh crap," he muttered. He began checking all of his pockets. "I think I left my cellphone somewhere. Damn."

"Maybe you dropped it?" Nick suggested.

"Maybe. Hopefully someone turns it into the lost and found or something. Let me go check back in Mr. Farrell's room. Will you two be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Nick answered. I only nodded at Ness when he looked at me.

"Okay, be right back A-S-A-P!" Ness ran off into the other direction, turning a corner into another hallway.

I looked back at Nick, and he was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

He's such a liar, I know it. He can't just be staring at me and smiling for no reason. There was something he wanted from me, I could tell. I had to be careful.

"So Lucas," he began. "Did ya miss me?"

I wasn't sure how to answer. I didn't want to disappoint him, but I didn't want to lie about it. "I-I guess."

"Oh, good, 'cause I missed ya too." Nick stepped closer to me, examining all over me from bottom to top.

I panicked a little. He knows I'm with Ness. Why is he hitting on me? And why me, not Ness?

Could it be…that he likes me?

"J-Just remember," I reacted, "I'm with Ness."

"Oh, I know." Nick grinned. He leaned closer, his face almost close to mine. He was staring at me. I could clearly see his enticing red eyes trying to put pressure onto me. I wanted to move away from him, but suddenly I found myself against the hallway wall. I was glued to the floor, trapped in this boy's clasp.

"Hey, lookie here!" A voice called out to us. Two delinquent-looking males were at the far end of the hall beginning to approach us with criminal smirks. "Yo Tray, we got two faggots over here."

"They look pretty nice too," said the other boy. He approached me and pulled me closer to him. "This one looks real nice."

"L-Let me go!" I pleaded. I tried to struggle off but he had me locked tight in his arm.

"He's pretty weak," said the delinquent holding me. "He won't fight back much. You can have the other guy."

The other delinquent smiled and approached Nick. "Hey, wanna come play with us? We'll give you a good time."

"No thanks," Nick told.

"Oh, so you don't care what happens to your little friend?" The male locked me tighter.

He glared at the two boys, "Just let him go and get the hell out of here before I kick your sorry asses."

"Oh, we got a badass over here!" laughed the other delinquent. He approached closer to Nick, and quickly tugged on Nick's collar. "Listen here, punk—"

Nick gripped the boy's wrist, pulled him off and punched his stomach, followed by an uppercut and a hard push down to the floor.

The second delinquent observed the situation in frustration, letting go of me. "Why you—" He charged at Nick with a furious yell, but Nick stepped to the side and pulled on the delinquent's collar, pulling him down to the floor and then stomped on his face.

"You both are such losers," Nick told. He kicked his foot off of the delinquent. "Get the fuck out of here." The two trouble makers stood up and ran away. They looked back at us, eyes ridden with fear. They turned the corner, and we didn't see them again.

I looked at Nick, who was cleaning his hands by slapping them together and brushing delinquent germs off of him. Then, he turned to me. "What, I don't deserve a 'thanks'?"

I blushed, looking away. "Thanks."

"No problem. Don't get in trouble again now, okay?" He smiled at me and then walked away. I watched him until he turned into the next hallway, but I continued to stand in my spot, unable to comprehend the situation.

He really does have feelings for me, huh? But what am I going to do? I love Ness, and only him. I definitely didn't like Nick no matter what, even though he did save me. And what would Ness do if he found out about this…?

Speaking of Ness, he called to me as soon as he saw me. He had his cellphone in hand and ran towards me.

"Hey, I thought you went ahead?" he asked.

"I was waiting for you," I told him.

"Aww, well thanks." He wrapped his arm around me and we began walking towards the exit doors." Did Nick leave already?"

"Yeah, he had to go."

"Oh, okay. I guess we'll see him some other time."

"Yeah."

I hope we didn't. I needed time to figure things out. I definitely know Nick is up to something, and it involved Ness and myself.

Whatever it was, I knew both of us were going to be in trouble for sure.