Like always, Bill waited outside Ralph's last class for him. He'd taken to leaving early; his teacher didn't particularly care, anyway. If Jack had done what he said he would do, they'd go home to a clean house and possibly some food.

At least Jack had one use.

Bill still wasn't quite sure why Jack was staying with them, sleeping on the couch and slipping into the pantry when police came over to investigate the murder of Madison, Percival Wymes. He'd made them dinner last night, even though they'd yelled at him to leave them alone. He wasn't the best cook, but maybe if they kept him around he'd get better with time. He was sure as hell better than Bill at that sort of thing.

The door opened and students came pouring out of the classroom. Bill took a step back as to not get run over, checking the crowd for Ralph, jumping when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He turned around to see the girl that had helped get him to the hospital. She was younger than she'd seemed when he was lying on the ground, in pain, a knife sticking into him. Of course, your perception had to be skewed in that situation. "Yeah," he said. "Stitches are getting taken out in a few days."

"That's good," she said. "Are you waiting for your friend?"

Bill nodded, glancing back. The rush of students had slowed down to a trickle. Ralph was always one of the last ones out of the room, preferring not to rush for the door… and there he was. Ralph looked around, eventually seeing Bill and hurrying over. "Who's this?" he asked.

"I… don't actually know. Who are you?" Bill asked, and the girl grinned a little.

"Theresa," she said, and Bill turned back to Ralph.

"Theresa."

Ralph rolled his eyes. "We should probably head home," he said. "Jack's going to be freaking out."

"He should get over it. It's not even his house," Bill said. Theresa looked between them, an interested expression on her face. "I think we should stop and get a quick snack. I still have to thank you for helping me out there."

"It's what any normal human would do," Theresa said, shrugging. "I just happened to be going for a walk, that's all. It's a little weird, though; I could've sworn I saw Maurice Machintire. My best friend used to date him. He went to a different school, but she said that six months ago he started getting really… weird… and was the guy that stabbed you Roger Dressler? The guy that escaped from the insane asylum?"

"Um," Bill said. "Yeah."

"I thought so!" Theresa said, her eyes lighting up like she'd just learned she'd won a thousand dollars. "I know everything there is to know about that story. Like, a few days ago, someone snuck into a house and murdered a little kid. The police don't know who it was, but they suspect Dressler and Machintire and they haven't disclosed the address of the house but-"

"That's our house," Bill said, wishing that she'd stop talking about this. Ralph was looking increasingly more uncomfortable with every word. "But it's kind of a tender subject; Ralph was kind of in the room when they were doing-"

"What? Really? Why are they after you guys so much?" Theresa asked. She looked at Ralph. "Sorry. I mean, you don't have to keep talking about this stuff. I can leave-"

"No, I'll go home. Bill, you can tell her about it if you want," Ralph said.

"Want me to drive you?" Bill offered. Ralph shook his head.

"No, it's nice out. I'll walk. You drive Theresa wherever and then take her home," he said. Bill nodded slowly, wondering what exactly was up with Ralph. "See you later."

With that, Ralph headed down the hallway, disappearing into a crowd of students. Bill turned back to Theresa.

"Well," he said. "Want to hear about this?"

…

"So that thing that happened with the kids getting stranded on the island has stuff to do with it?" Theresa asked, eyes wide. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! Of course! Dressler was on the island; that's why he was in the asylum in the first place. And so was Machintire… you and Ralph were too, weren't you? That's why he's come after you?"

"Yeah," Bill said, nodding. "So was the kid that got killed. I think he's trying to get rid of all the guys that were on the island."

"Then the Jack you were talking about wouldn't be Jack Merridew, would it?" she asked. "The one that's gone missing? His parents have offered a huge reward for him. They say he's 'not ready' for the outside world yet."

"That's bullshit," Bill said, rolling his eyes. "Sure, he's a little screwed up in the head, but not only is he eighteen, he's been staying with me and Ralph for a couple of days and hasn't tried to kill us once. Well, unless you count his cooking. Nearly burned the house down."

Theresa nodded slowly. Bill could tell she was thinking up a plan that would probably screw up the nice little life that was starting up. "Could you take me home now?" she asked.

"Sure," Bill said and, after getting lost a few times, took her home. "'Bye."

"Good-bye! I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, practically skipping into her house. Bill rolled his eyes and drove home.

As expected, it was extremely awkward in the house. Jack was cooking. Ralph was sitting in the living room, half-heartedly working on homework. Bill sat down next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"What're you working on?" he asked. Ralph looked at him.

"Something stupid," he said.

"Wanna go do something more fun?"

"Yes."

Bill pulled Ralph away from his homework and yelled at Jack to stay downstairs. This was met with a loud crash and cursing. Bill decided to ignore it.

He barely had time to lock the door before Ralph grabbed onto his shirt and kissed him. Bill kissed him back, sinking into the pleasant feeling that kissing Ralph always brought him. They broke for air. Bill sat down on the bed, debating undoing his school tie. Ralph had changed out of his school clothes and looked far more comfortable. Bill hated the dress code their school insisted on keeping.

Ralph sat down next to him, watching him, and Bill leaned over and kissed him, tipping him back onto the bed. Ralph made a small, surprised sound at the back of his throat but responded nicely, scooting himself over so that he wasn't in danger of falling and tugging at Bill's tie.

He knew he should've taken it off.

He moved down from Ralph's mouth, kissing his neck and pulling down his shirt to kiss his collarbone. Ralph helped out with this, slipping out of his shirt one arm at a time – it really was a good thing that this shirt was too big for him; otherwise they would've had to stop so that he could get it off.

Ralph used Bill's tie to guide him back up to Ralph's mouth and they kissed again, Ralph nipping at Bill's lower lip and Bill trying very hard not to freak out.

"Hey! Police are here!"

Jack really had the worst timing.

i'm sorry for ending it like that