Oh God, I am really sorry you guys. A month delay... shit. I am so, so, so sorry for not updating sooner. I also apologize for the crapiness of this chapter. It is setting up things to come and can easily be dismissed as filler. There should be at least one more chapter that's sort of filler and happens in the fall, and then we're skipping right to December/January/February. I promise things will get more intersting then!

Chapter 11: Bonding

Nina's POV

Nina had not spoken to Junior for eighty-two hours. A part of her thought that it was a bit obsessive to be keeping a tally. Another part of her felt like it was a necessary task as this had been the longest that either of them had gone without talking to each other. Though Nina would never admit it to anyone, she hated the silence. Junior was her best friend, and not talking to him was making her heart hurt. She was determined to see this grudge through, though. He had lied to her, and the thought of that hurt her even more than the thought of not talking to him.

With that in mind, Nina slid from her bed. She hadn't been getting much sleep because of May. Her roommate was always awake at night, and it surprised Nina that she could stay awake all night running only on coffee. After a second night of dance parties, Nina had checked May's bed to see if she was taking anything else. To her surprise, she had found nothing else.

Nina shook those thoughts out of her head and walked into the cafeteria for breakfast. She saw Nick waiting for her. After her fight with Junior, Nick had started eating with her during meals while Anthony sat with Junior. The only exception had been yesterday when Nick had chosen to sit with his guy friends and May had decided to sit with Nina because she "looked lonely".

Hopefully that's not going to happen again, Nina thought bitterly. She had been trying to limit contact with May outside of their room.

"Has Junior said anything?" Nina asked as she poured herself a cup of orange juice.

"Nope." Nick turned over a half-eaten roll. There was a long pause. "Were you two close friends?"

Nina nodded. "We still are, I hope. It's kind of odd fighting this early in the year." Nina paused and contemplated continuing. "This is the longest we've gone without talking."

Nick bites his bottom lip. "I'm sorry if it feels like I'm intruding," he mumbled. "We've haven't known each other for a week; these aren't thoughts you should be sharing with a stranger"

Nina shook her head. "No, don't apologize. I need someone to talk about this stuff."

Nick flushed slightly. "Why not your roommate?"

"May?" Nina laughed; the idea of expressing her feelings to May was so preposterous. "She wouldn't understand at all, and her advice would be awful."

"And what makes you think that I'm any different?" Nick asked; his tone is more inquisitive than accusative.

"Well, you're not addicted to coffee," Nina reminded him.

Nick laughed this time. "Touché." He glanced over his shoulder at where May was sitting happily and rambling about something to another girl. "I wasn't aware that a person could become that addicted to caffeine or that it could have such drastic energy boosts."

"Neither was I," Nina replied.

Nick grabbed the pitcher of water and poured some for himself. "I enjoy talking to you," Nick admitted. "It's such a shame that our first opportunity to bond was over this fight."

Nina nodded in agreement, though she really didn't want to talk about the fight now. "You knew Junior in Pre-K?"

"Yeah." Nick traded his half-eaten roll for a piece of toast. As he spread butter across the piece of toast, he elaborated. "We were best friends; I was so upset when his father transferred him." Nick paused and stopped mid-spread. "He hasn't changed at all."

That surprised Nina a bit, but before she had time to reply, Nick's knife slipped from his hand and clanged on the floor. They both reached down for it at the same time, and their hands brushed against each other's. Nick's hand was surprisingly warm, Nina noted, and his face was completely red. Nina wrapped her hands around the handle of the knife and quickly pulled it up before anything could get anymore awkward. She handed Nick the knife, but he just stared back, his face as red as a tomato.

Someone cleared their throat loudly from behind. Nina turned and saw Junior standing over them. His face was as white as a sheet and he was shaking slightly. He was carrying a card out in front of him, but as he stared at them, he slowly crumpled the card in his fist. Then, he turned away and walked back towards the entrance of the cafeteria. He paused just before leaving and threw the card into the trash can.

Nina watched him go and contemplated following him. He was obviously distressed; she couldn't fathom why. Before she could stand up, though, Nick was on his feet.

"I'll talk to him," he said.

Junior's POV

Junior wasn't sure why he was angry; it was perfectly within his friends' rights to have feelings for each other, right? It shouldn't bother him that Nina and Nick were becoming close; it shouldn't matter that Nina had been spending much more time with Nick than him. For some reason, though, he was anyway. Maybe it was the fact that he had finally given in and had decided to apologize and tell them what had happened in the locker room and they were adjusting to life without him so easily. He wasn't jealous; Nick liked Nina even though they hadn't known each other for a week and he was fine with it.

"Junior!"

Junior stopped just before turning around the corner. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with Nick. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

Junior sighed. "I don't know," he admitted at last.

"Let me ask a simpler question," Nick suggested. "Why did you walk out of the cafeteria?"

"Because…" Junior wasn't sure how to answer that question. "It's sort of awkward to walk on your best friend that you haven't seen in years flirting with your best friend that's a girl, I guess."

Nick flushed bright red. "I wasn't flirting with her."

"Whatever," Junior muttered dismissively. "I was going to apologize to you guys and tell you the truth, but…" Junior sighed again; all of this was so childish. "I overreacted, I guess."

"So what's the truth?" Nick pressed.

Junior grimaced; he was reluctant to tell the truth, but he supposed it had to be done if he wanted to expect any forgiveness from Nina or Nick. "Some bullies attacked me because they believed I was using the fact that my dad is important to get out of doing activities."

"Oh." Nick is quiet for a long time after that. "Are you going to tell Nina?"

Junior nodded. "Of course. I just hope she'll forgive me."

"She will," Nick assured him.

"How do you know?" Junior shot back, suddenly angry. "You haven't known her for a week!"

Nick looked slightly taken aback by Junior's outburst. "I know her type."

Her type. For some reason, hearing that only made Junior angrier. He had no idea why, either. "You like her," Junior stated simply, waiting for Nick to reply.

Nick ignored Junior. "She cares about you a lot; she will forgive you." Nick turned away and faced the direction of the cafeteria. "Shall we go back now?"

Junior nodded. His sudden rage subsided; he was going to forgive Nina, and everything would be okay again. The thought was almost a comforting one. They walked in silence back towards the cafeteria, but when they arrived, they discovered that Nina had left already. The first bell rang loudly; its noise echoed across the room and sent students running out of the cafeteria.

Nick frowned. "That's too bad. Do you have first period with her?"

Junior shook his head. Damn it.