I'm in such a good mood tonight. R2D2 came to my office and I received a lot of packages that I had been waiting weeks for. So, I thought I'd post another chapter tonight to spread the happiness. Not as cheerful as the previous chapter, but hopefully it makes you guys' day. :) Please review!

Jem was laid up for nearly a month. Will visited him every day, and even helped him to fetch and deliver assignments to and from his school, so he would not fall behind in his lessons. Will personally did not see the point of this – he would have loved to have an excuse not to study for a month – but he was fond enough of Jem to do anything he asked, even if it was to pick up homework.

Jem usually made Will study with him. Will would sprawl out on the floor, with his textbooks all around him, while Jem would sit at the window seat, wearing his physiotherapy vibrating vest, and poring over his own books.

The two boys sat their term exams at around the same time. Jem forbade Will to come during this time, saying his friend needed to conserve his energy for studying and not be distracted running around the city every day. He went to the extent of texting Cecily to make sure Will was home.

The two weeks of exams was pure torture for Will. When the last day of school finally rolled round, he thought it was going to be sweet relief. Unfortunately, the school reports were issued that day, and Will was in a foul mood after receiving his. He went home, slammed his room door and texted Jem: "Come over. Bring snacks."

He marinated in his irritability for half an hour before proceeding to climb out of the window to go to his secret place – a modified plastic picnic table balanced on the ridge of the roof. The table was pushed up against the chimney, where he had pulled out a couple of bricks to form a little cubby hole to store contraband.

He went there now and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He did not smoke often but he felt that today warranted a smoke. He and Ella used to come up here and smoke at night, and rant about their parents and friends.

Will slowly made it through three cigarettes before his phone buzzed. It was Jem, asking him where he was. He was still in a queer mood so he texted back: "Chim chim cher ree."

One more slow cigarette later, he heard the sound of someone scrambling up the eave. Into view came Jem, cautiously teetering across the roof tiles and carrying his usual backpack. "What the hell, Will!" he exclaimed.

Will put out his hand to steady his friend and lead him over to the table to sit next to him. Jem continued his tirade: "Why did you ask me over if you weren't going to tell me where you were?"

"You solved it in the end, didn't you?" Will pointed out.

"I had to ask Cecily. By the way, she says to make sure you get rid of the cigarette smell before you come back," Jem conveyed. "Are you smoking, Will?"

"Just a little," he replied.

"Are you done?"

"Don't be a dick, Jem," Will said, rolling his eyes. "A fag now and then doesn't hurt anyone."

Jem stared hard at him. "It hurts me. Even second-hand smoke."

Will remembered his friend's illness and obligingly tossed his nearly finished cigarette off the roof. "Sorry," he said. "Did you bring food?"

Jem took his backpack off and pulled out a paper sack from McDonalds. Inside was a box of two dozen chicken nuggets and two large packets of chips. He also pulled out a packet of chocolate cookies from Marks and Spencer. Will attacked the food eagerly.

"Why did you want me to come over?" Jem asked after his friend had finished two nuggets and a handful of chips.

Will pointed at a black and yellow folio resting on the table. There was some cigarette ash on it, but Will had eventually persuaded himself not to give in to the temptation to burn it up. Jem picked it up and opened it. "It's your school report book," he noted.

"Keep reading."

Jem turned to the last page where Will's latest report was filed. It was a sea of red. Will's maximum grade was a D – for mathematics, which Jem had helped him with – and the rest of his subjects were Fs. French was put down as "ungraded". His teachers had commented under his conduct that he "gets along badly with schoolmates and is determined to be hopeless at everything he does".

"Oh Will…" Jem began.

Will cut him off. "Don't," he said. "I don't want sympathy. Or preaching. Or scolding. Mam and Dad are going to give me that once I go down."

"Will…" Jem sighed again.

Will just shook his head and concentrated on the food again. There was a fierce glare in his eye, as though he was trying to drown his sorrows in McDonalds.

"You know, I had hoped that maybe we could go on to university together," Jem said. "I thought that would be nice. We could room together and hang out more."

"You don't even want to come stay with me over the holidays," Will retorted. The Herondale family usually spent holidays at their country house in Wales. This year, Will had asked Jem to come along for the Christmas holidays but Jem had refused.

"You know I can't be away from home too long," Jem explained.

"Excuses."

"Don't make this about me."

"You made this about you, when you started talking about your big dream of university."

"I was sharing something that I wished. I had hoped you shared this dream. But I see that you don't," Jem said.

"What? You know nothing about what I dream about," Will shouted.

"So you do share my dream?" Jem inquired.

"I…" Will hesitated. "I don't think so far ahead as university. I barely even think as far ahead as next month. In fact, it's not too late for me to throw myself off this roof right now and avoid having to think about tonight." His tone was more affectionate than annoyed as he finished.

"I think you're high on chips," Jem decided, and pulled the packet away from Will. In a more serious tone, he added: "Will, you may not think much about the future, but I do. It's what keeps me going. I think about what I want down the road and it helps me to carry on when I feel like I'm dying in the night and it would be easier just to let go. I realise now that it may seem that I'm imposing my dream onto you. I apologise."

"Don't," Will interrupted. "You've got nothing to apologise for. Cos you're right, as usual. I should be making goals and doing something with my life. Everything seemed so pointless since Ella died. It's like… why bother thinking ahead when you could die at any second? I've never been the best student either. You can see my past reports. I suck at school. This term, I didn't give a shit about anything. Hell, I answered my French paper in Welsh – that's why it's ungraded."

"You did what?"

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't tell anyone that," Will admitted. Jem pressed his hands up to his eyes in exasperation. "Getting bad grades can be excused as me being distracted after Ella. But deliberately messing up… Ok, I fucked up. A lot. I hate that you make me realise this, Jem. I want to be a teen with a rebellious streak but you're turning me into a responsible adult. Stop it."

Jem laughed. "I did nothing," he said, holding his hands up in mock protest.

"Yes, you did," Will insisted. "You told me about your dream. Now you made me dream that too. It would be awesome to go to university with you. But I won't be able to if I flunk my GCSEs. And then I'll probably get tossed out of the house in disgrace and end up begging on street corners because I'm too useless to get a real job. To the work house and the whip and lash!"

"I'll let you sleep under my bed if you promise to clean the house for me," Jem offered drily.

"Knowing me, I'll probably muck that up too," Will informed him.

Jem put his hand on Will's shoulder. "Will, I can dream for the both of us. But that's all I can do. You have to do your part. I want you in my life in the years to come. But it's out of my power to do that. You have to want to as well."

"I want to," Will said quickly. "You're my brother; I want to go with you. Don't worry. I'll make sure I make that happen."