Chapter 14

Connor slept soundly, hoping to capitalize on his weeklong suspension. Unfortunately, his mother had different ideas.

"Connor Temple!" she shouted, waking him up from his sleep.

"Wha- what?" Connor said groggily, looking around in alarm. He saw his clock next to his bed.

"Mum, it's only eight o'clock." He whined, trying to go back to sleep.

"Why should you get to sleep in because you got in a fight?" She asked sternly. "Get up; I want you out of bed now and out of the house by nine."

"I won't bother you." Connor argued, still angling for more sleep.

"I know you won't," she responded, "because you're going out for the day. You don't get to fight in school and then relax for a week. And besides, I've been talking with the other mums; they're all sending their sons out as well. That's final."

Connor sighed; he knew a lost battle when he saw one. As his mum left his room, Connor swung himself out of his bed, grumbling the entire time. He grabbed his phone off his desk and checked for messages. He grinned in spite of himself when he saw a message from Abby.

See you after school. Enjoy your grueling punishment of staying home. We're all jealous of you.

Connor's smile grew wider. Leave it to Abby to be able to cheer him up with only a text. He sent her a response.

Don't be jealous, mum's making me leave for the day. I'll come see you after school. Have fun "learning"

Connor set about getting ready to spend the day wandering around, making sure to grab his jacket and fedora. He grabbed a bagel and opened his front door where he was greeted by the sight of Danny lounging on the front steps while Becker slept sprawled across the front lawn. Connor looked at Danny in surprise as the latter got up from his seat.

"You're lucky," Danny began, "you got to stay inside until nine. My mum kicked me out at seven thirty. Becker had to be outside by six."

"Ok," Connor said slowly as he closed the door behind him. "But why are you on my steps and Becker is sleeping on the lawn?"

Danny laughed, "We decided to wait on you, we met up with Cutter earlier and he said the others were going to meet up in the park, we've all been kicked out of our house for the day."

"And probably the week." Becker added from the ground. Connor looked down at him.

"The lawn comfortable, mate?" Connor asked as Danny pulled Becker to his feet.

"Can't complain." Becker responded, "I was up at four thirty this morning, I'm tired."

Danny grinned, "C'mon, let's get going. And Becker had a good reason to lose sleep last night. I understand he had an exciting afternoon yesterday."

"Getting in a fight wasn't enough for you, Action Man?" Connor taunted, "Needed a little more excitement in your life?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Becker responded, turning red.

"Well, I do." Danny said with a cheeky grin, "But I'll wait until we meet up with the others to get into it. I figure they'll want to hear if yesterday's fight was worth it."

"Ohh" Connor said in a singsong voice, "So your excitement involved the lovely Jess Parker. Must have been a good afternoon."

"I don't want to talk about it." Becker repeated firmly, glaring at the other two boys. Connor and Danny let it go and the trio continued to walk to the park, trading jokes and sarcasm as they went.

XXXXX

Matt sat relaxed on the picnic bench, watching the two best friends, Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart jovially argue about Stephen's football abilities. As he listened to Stephen defend his skills, Matt thought about how different his life had become since the start of the school year.

He'd had the same group of friends for years growing up until his senior year, but he hadn't realized until recently that they'd never really connected. Sure, they'd hung out, but he never really knew any of them. And they never really knew him. Everyone had been so focused on acting like the toughest guy in school, that none of them ever tried to get to know one another on any personal level.

And he'd been fine with the way that worked out until he met Emily. She completely ignored the tough guy act and got to know who he really was. She knew he owned the entire Harry Potter collection and cried when Fred Weasley died. And she knew he secretly wanted to own a TARDIS and try and make the future a better place, but she still didn't care. So Matt stopped trying to act like a tough guy so much and started spending less time with his "friends".

Unfortunately, that left him without a whole lot a people to spend time with. Yet here he was, somehow part of a group of guys who all seemed to like him. Matt just smiled as he leaned farther back in his seat, watching the exchange between Stephen and Cutter.

"You're just jealous," Stephen was saying, "because the only time you've ever kicked a football, you took out your mum's flowerpot. How you managed to hit it while it was on the second story windowsill I'll never know."

Cutter feigned offense. "I'm very good at football." He stated, "I just choose not to display my skills around you so you don't feel bad. It's because I'm a good friend."

As Stephen opened his mouth to respond, Connor, Becker, and Danny walked up to the group of picnic tables they were sitting at.

"Were we talking about Stephen's nonexistent football skills?" Danny asked immediately as they sat down.

Stephen looked shocked, "You've never even seen me play. How would you know?"

"I don't," Danny admitted shamelessly, "I'm just assuming based on Cutter's statements. Besides, that's not what's important now, what's important is Becker's exciting afternoon yesterday."

Becker immediately turned a deep red and glared at Danny, who took on a look of innocence. Matt leaned forward, interested. He didn't know Becker that well, but he was wondering what would have gotten him this embarrassed. Matt remembered hearing Connor mention someone named Jess being Becker's reason for starting the fight, but he couldn't be sure. Becker cleared his throat.

"Well, umm, to be honest, I started yesterday's fight over a girl, Jess Parker." Becker looked almost embarrassed by the admission, as if he felt guilty that they all got suspended over his feelings for Jess. Matt just grinned.

"Don't worry about it mate," He said reassuringly, "I've gotten in fights for much stupider things. I think I speak for everyone here when I say, just tell us if it was worth it."

"I asked her out yesterday." Becker said in a rush. Danny led the rest of them in a round of applause, which made Becker look incredibly uncomfortable.

"You all haven't known Becker for as long as I have," Danny explained, "him even asking a girl out is a major achievement, I'm very proud of him."

Becker's face turned even redder at Danny's remark. "If you want to be proud of someone," he said, obviously trying to take the heat off of himself, "be proud of Connor for finally admitting his love for Abby."

Now it was Connor's turn to blush, and Matt felt more than a little relieved. He and Emily both had felt embarrassed at mistaking them for a couple the day before, but it seemed like it worked out in the end.

"It seems like everyone here has finally got a girlfriend." Danny said, grinning. "Which is good, I was tired of telling Connor and Becker to get a move on every day."

"I'm still single," Stephen cut in suddenly, "and Cutter is, well, Cutter's situation is..."

"It's complicated." Cutter finished quickly, and Matt noticed how uncomfortable he looked about it. But Matt was still confused.

"I thought you were dating Helen Carpenter." He said to Stephen, "I always see you two together after school."

As soon as he said it, Matt realized he'd said something wrong. The entire group froze and went deathly silent and watched as Cutter looked at Stephen in shock.

"How much time do you spend with Helen?" He asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"We're working on the senior project together, that's all." Stephen insisted, "Nothing else."

"So you work on it every day after school?" Cutter asked menacingly, "Because that's when you've told me you had to baby sit your little sister. So which one is it? Or do you have quality time together, just you, her, and Annie?"

Stephen now looked more uncomfortable than Becker or Connor had the entire time. Then his expression changed to anger.

"What does it matter if I am spending time with Helen. Just because you two broke up the way you did shouldn't mean I can't even see her. I don't see the problem or why it's any of your business." Stephen was standing up now, his face red with anger.

Cutter stood up too. "You, more than anyone, know what's she's like. She's just using you, I don't know for what yet, but she's using you. That's all she cares about, what other people can do for her. I thought you knew that."

"You know what I think?" Stephen asked angrily, his voice steadily rising. "I think after all of this, you're still in love with her, so you don't want anyone else to even talk to her." But only part of what Stephen said seemed to register in Cutter's mind.

"What do you mean talk to her?" He replied, "Has she got you convinced you're in love with her now?"

"So what if I am?" Stephen yelled suddenly, "What if I am in love with Helen. It shouldn't matter to you; you ended it with her, not the other way around. Yes, I love Helen and if you can't get over that, then there's no point in us talking any more."

Stephen stood his ground, panting slightly. Cutter looked at him with more anger than Matt had ever seen anyone give. After a moment of silence, Cutter punched Stephen as hard as he could in the face, knocking him to the ground. Cutter then turned around sharply and left the cluster of picnic tables they had been seated at. Stephen picked himself up off the ground and yelled after his former friend.

"Nice mature response, Nick. I'm glad to see our lifetime of friendship means this much to you." Stephen then turned in the opposite direction and left as well.

After a long moment of awkward silence between the four remaining guys, Danny looked at the others and said,

"Well, that was unexpected."

Matt looked at the remaining guys sitting with him.

"What was that all about?" He asked, feeling guilty over starting the fight.

"Cutter and Helen have a... let's just say 'complicated' history." Becker explained.

"They've been on again off again for years." Danny elaborated. "And finally at the end of last year, Cutter broke them off for good."

"Then he started dating Claudia Brown-Lewis." Connor added, "Until, well, you know."

Matt nodded solemnly, he well remembered hearing the news that one of their fellow classmates had died in a car crash.

"I've seen Helen hanging around Cutter and Stephen, but they always seem to brush her off." Connor said, still looking in the direction Cutter had stormed off in. "I wouldn't have thought Stephen would have feelings for Helen at all, him being Cutter's best friend and all."

Danny shook his head, "We just need to stay out of it and let them work it out. They've been friends for too long to let Helen get in between them."

Matt nodded in agreement with the others; silently hoping the friends would be able to work it out.

After a moment of silence, Danny spoke again.

"Just out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about doing something stupid, dangerous, and slightly illegal?" Matt looked at him with surprise as Danny flashed one of his mischievous grins.

AN: Just to clear a few things up. Yes, Matt wanting to own his own TARDIS was a reference to my own work, because I have no shame. And for the record, I did cry when Fred died. That's all I've got, please review.