A/N: Longer chapter than usual, but I'm sure no one will mind xD Again I haven't read over it, so apologises for any typos lol.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Breaking Up

Two days had passed since the Jock fight on the boardwalk, and things certainly hadn't been any easier since then. Although Reese had lucky enough to gain a peak into the psyche of a Bully. They certainly lived with a 'fight now, worry later' attitude, and for Tommy at least, 'later' was approximately two days later.

Tommy and Blaine especially had been literally bouncing off the walls after the Jock fight, mainly because the two of them saw it as a victory. And a victory against the Jocks wasn't something to be taken lightly. Joshua and Kingsly didn't seem that bothered either way; it was just another fight to them. And Reese figured they didn't want to think about it because the pair of them did get their asses kicked pretty badly from Chuck Wiles. Nigel, once again showing that he was the only one that was moderately sane, pointed out that if the police hadn't turned up they probably would be fish food by now. But Tommy ignored him out of pride, and Blaine ignored him out of stupidity.

But that had been a mistake on Tommy's part. His refusal to accept that it had been a fluke that the fight had ended in their favour meant he hadn't been thinking about a revenge attack, and it was Blaine who suffered for it. Whilst pursuing a particularly wily Nerd, Blaine was led into Jock territory. Mike Hartley spotted him. There was no need to go into gory details, but Blaine was still laid up in the nurse's office a day later. So after that Tommy had accepted that perhaps he and his guys were in pretty deep and much to his despair, the Bullies were on stand down. Many Nerds rejoiced.

Before he had even gotten out of the boy's dorm that morning, Reese knew it wasn't going to be a great day. Mainly because as soon as he stepped out of his room he was greeted with the mangled remains of his best bike lying in the corridor. Beyond repair, definitely; he could see that with a quick glance. A gift from the Jocks judging by the illegible scrawl on a piece of paper taped to the handlebars. Great way to start a day.

Although he had one thing to thank those dumb Jocks for. In the scrap Chuck had managed to rip Reese's shirt and his sweater vest, and without a replacement he had to wear one of the yellow gym t-shirts and a hooded sweater until he got a new uniform. Of course he had more sweaters and shirts in his wardrobe, but he wasn't going to tell Miss Danvers that. It would be a relief to get out of those stupid sweater vests for a week or something. It made him feel relatively normal.

So after he had changed, Reese stood in the corridor and stared at his trashed pride and joy. He didn't want to be annoyed or upset - he didn't want to give the Jocks any satisfaction that this bothered him - but the fact was that it did bother him. This bike meant a lot to him. It was full of memories, most of them with Jimmy, Johnny and Peanut in the garage. Working on it had helped him overcome a lot of things; mainly it had helped him control the mild ADD he had suffered from as a kid. Thankfully he had never needed medication, but he still believed it was the bike that was to thank for that.

'So that mangled contraption is yours?' A snorty, slightly phlegmy voice enquired from behind him. 'Because I don't mean to be rude, but it's a blatant fire hazard. Imagine if the fire alarm were to go off right now. Everyone would simply burn.'

Reese turned with one cocked eyebrow, unsurprised to see the speaker was wearing a green Astronomy Club sweater vest that was tucked into his tan coloured school slacks. His skinny thumbs were hooked in his belt loops, making him look like some really faggotty cowboy in Reese's opinion. His red hair was slicked flat with some unidentifiable substance that had to be organic and he somehow managed to have a cowlick curl right in the middle of his forehead. Reese turned fully onto the Nerd, eyeing his spotty face and thick wet lips that tried (and failed) to hide the metal braces beneath.

'You think I laid that there in the hope that the dorm would spontaneously combust and everyone would be too dumb to run around it to escape?' Reese asked, then paused and considered this. 'I was just about to move it, but your plan sounds much better.'

The Nerd looked confused. His muddy brown eyes searched Reese's face for any sign of reason and then glanced down to the mangled bike. 'Well I suggest you clear it away,' he said self-importantly. 'As Dorm Manager it's my duty to make sure the place stays tidy and free of obstacles.'

Reese glanced around the corridor without moving his head. He saw graffiti, trash, rat droppings… 'Yeah, looks like you're doing a swell job. Who are you anyway?'

The Nerd squared his shoulders, but he still looked as tough as a wet feather. 'If you must know, I'm Carlton Nedry.'

Reese smirked. 'Nedry?'

Carlton narrowed his eyes. 'I don't need you to point out that it's an anagram of Nerdy. I can work that out for myself, after all I do have the highest grade point average in this state.'

Reese searched his memory, knowing he had seen this Nerd before. Then he remembered his first day when Tommy had shown him around. He had seen the rest of the Bullies tormenting Carlton, and also remembered seeing Dante Romano giving him a hefty kick up the backside. He also remembered Tommy saying that Carlton had the second highest grade point average.

'Is that so?' Reese teased, crossing his arms. 'It's just I heard that Taylor was the smartest kid in this school.'

Carlton nearly choked. 'That… harpy?' He snorted and laughed mockingly, glancing from side to side as if there were a crowd of people around him also laughing at the ludicrous statement. 'Taylor Ruxton is clinically insane.' He told Reese with a sneer. 'Her ability to pass examinations is not due to a natural intellect like my own, but because she has something seriously wrong with her brain. I can assure you that in a one on one display of our intelligence, I would prevail.'

Reese nodded, growing bored of the scrawny Nerd. 'Whatever helps you jack off at night.' he mumbled, turning around to the mangled bike and attempting to lift it onto its wheels. Immediately, the back tire dropped off. He muttered a curse and leant down to pick it up.

'I hope you're not going to fall in with those throwbacks, Reese,' Carlton said, circling around so he was standing on the other side of the bike. 'I can tell you're intelligent. I read up on your father, he was quite the character. Intelligent, albeit totally insane…'

Reese straightened up and frowned at him. 'Look, I don't want to stand and chat with you - especially not about my family history. So beat it, bucky, before I remove your reason to have braces.'

Carlton blinked at the sudden hostility. 'There's no need to be so sharp, friend…' he mumbled, a little nervously.

'I'm gonna get rid of your stupid fire obstacle or whatever,' Reese shot at him. 'So there's no need for you to hover around anymore. Last thing I need is to be associated with you.'

Carlton blinked again, then tried to square his shoulders for the second time. 'I must say that I don't see any need for this brutal-'

Reese stamped a foot at him like one would do at a flock of irritating pigeons, and Carlton took off, arms flailing briefly. He raced out of the dorm doors without a second glance, the door flapping behind him. Reese frowned and shook his head. The kids of this school were certainly screwed up. Unfortunately for him that wasn't going to be his only reminder of that today.

Reese winced as he threw his mangled bike down onto a pile of scrap behind the old school bus. He couldn't help but think about his other bike; the one Tommy had been riding. Surely that one would have been trashed to hell too. Maybe they thought it was Tommy's and left it somewhere for him. Knowing Tommy he would still be pissed even if it wasn't his bike. He didn't like threats in any form.

Deciding that there was no point being miserable over something that couldn't be changed, Reese decided to go find Tommy. He hadn't seen him since yesterday lunchtime; before Blaine had gotten a similar fate to his bike, so no doubt he was off somewhere raging. Probably beating the crap out of some poor Nerd to try and make himself feel better.

So Reese turned from the trash pile with his hands in his pockets and his head down. And walked right into someone behind him.

'Hey hey there,' a gruff, annoyed voice barked as two rough hands grabbed Reese by his shoulders. 'What's with these dumb kids not watchin' where the heck they're goin, huh?'

Reese blinked and looked up. He couldn't ignore the heavy feeling of dread that balled in his stomach at the sight of Dante Romano looming over him, the smell of oil and stale cigarette smoke strong on his breath and skin. Reese was practically backed into a corner here, so if these Greasers decided they wanted to beat down on him he wouldn't have much of a chance for escape. He was certainly not having a good day today.

'Sorry man,' Reese told him. He wasn't scared, just exasperated. All he wanted was five minute's peace. 'I just turned round too quick, that's all. I didn't mean to…'

'You lookin', at my sister you little punk?' Dante accused suddenly, taking Reese off guard. 'Because if you are I'm gonna get ready to pop out those little baby blues of yours.'

Reese lowered one eyebrow. His sister? He automatically glanced around at the surrounding Greasers. He saw Joey Rizzo, looking bored and uninterested with a cigarette perched on his bottom lip; the larger, grinning face of Jackie Esposito over Dante's shoulder; probably anticipating a fight. Then Reese spotted Lara standing a little behind TJ, as always looking at her finger nails.

Dante slapped Reese's cheek, bringing his attention back to the Greaser. 'Did you hear what I just said? Keep them to yourself you little perve.'

'Dude, I didn't even see her until you said-' Reese naively started. Immediately he regretted it. If he was so keen to avoid trouble, why did he keep tempting it?

An alarming look of anger flashed in Dante's eyes. 'You answering me back, punk? You want me to show you what-'

'Hey, hey,' Joey Rizzo interrupted, stepping forward and laying one hand on Dante's shoulder. Dante blinked and looked at him as if he was snapping out of a daze. 'Just chill out there, pal,' Joey said to his leader with a shrug. 'The kid's just a waste of time. If we want to hit the bike park without the Prefects catchin' us we better head off now.'

Dante eyed him for a moment, then straightened up. He smoothed down Reese's shoulders and straightened out the toggles that hung from his hood, then slapped him again on the cheek. He pointed at his eyes with V fingers. 'I'm watchin' you, kiddo.' he said, and then turned and headed away.

Blinking, Reese glanced to Joey. Joey eyed him, then gave him a subtle wink before following his leader. Looking disappointed, Jackie and TJ followed suit without complaint. Knowing it was stupid but unable to stop himself, Reese glanced to Lara.

Surprisingly, she wasn't looking at her nails. In fact she was looking right at Reese. He had always expected her to have eyes like her brother, but he was surprised to see blue eyes looking back at him. Her lips curled up into a slight half smile before she followed after her guys. Within seconds her attention was back on her fingernails.

Reese rubbed his forehead, realising that he had been holding his breath. Jesus, he was going to have to start keeping on his toes. If he wasn't more careful he really was going to end up with an ass kicking; and he would rather get one from the Jocks who had a reason to beat on him, than from a random psychopath. Maybe he should find Tommy. At least with him he had less chance of getting a major beating.

He found Tommy pretty easily. He initially headed around to the library, but the place was deserted. Although there had been recent Nerd activity. The abandoned pile of text books and game of Grottos and Gremlins suggested that they had moved pretty sharpish. Probably a Bully or Jock prowling by. So Reese had carried on walking and eventually his ears picked up the faint sound of someone begging for mercy.

He found Tommy around the side of the boy's dorm, the head of Earl Hardwicke tucked tightly underneath his left armpit. Reese knew about Tommy's ability to go for about four days without showering and figured that Earl probably wasn't having the best time of his life down there.

'P-please man!' Earl begged. 'I gave you my money! I don't have anything else!'

'Just shut the hell up and let me noogie the crap out of you,' Tommy snarled, rubbing his knuckles on the boy's head. 'I want to see some brains!'

Earl howled like a tortured puppy, legs and arms flailing uselessly behind him. From Reese's angle it looked like the were practicing to be a pantomime horse.

'Hey Tommy,' Reese called as he made his way over. 'I've been looking for you.'

Tommy's head snapped around, eyebrows drawn together so much they almost met in the middle. At the sight of Reese he released Earl, shoving him away far too hard. Earl slammed into the wall of the dorm and slumped on the floor, groaning quietly. 'You!' he barked. 'You dumb shit! This is all your fault!'

Reese stopped and looked at Tommy in bewilderment. 'What's my fault?'

'All this shit!' Tommy bellowed, throwing his arms up. 'My guys are in ruins! You should see the state of Blaine! The kid's messed up! Nigel is even more miserable than usual! Joshua and Kingsly…' He paused. 'Well… they've just been hanging out in the dorm but… But the point is that this is your fault!' He jabbed Reese in his chest. 'You think we ever had any shit like this before you turned up? Hell no we didn't! We knew our place; we didn't screw with those monsters, now they're out there looking for us! We can't keep up with our schedules and beat on those nerdy kids! You think they're going to give us any respect if we can't beat on them consistently? Where the hell am I supposed to get my money from now Reese, huh? Tell me that!'

Reese chuckled and held his hands up to Tommy. 'Whoa there, dude. You're freaking out. Just calm down-'

'Damn right I'm freaking out!' Tommy yelled. 'I woke up with a mangled bike in my dorm room! My door was locked! That means those bastards can come in and kill me in my sleep! I don't want to die in my sleep, Reese! I want to die in a euphoric haze of drug cocktails surrounded by hookers! You think they're going to let me go out like that?'

Reese rolled his eyes. He was seriously contemplating going back to bed to avoid all of this crap. 'You're getting all wound up over nothing, Tommy. Those Jocks have brains like buckets with holes in the bottom. Give it a couple of days and they'll have forgotten everything. There's a game coming up, right? As soon as they start thinking about that they'll forget all about this, you'll see.'

'That's not the point,' Tommy growled. 'The point is that in a couple of days you've managed to screw up my whole group. I've got that twisted bitch Taylor on my back twenty four seven, I got Jocks threatening me, I got Nerds answering back…' He looked like he was going to continue the list but he stopped himself. He shook his head sharply and took a step back, waving his arms in front of him. 'That's it, Reese. We're over.'

Reese cocked an eyebrow. 'You're breaking up with me?' he smirked.

'Take me seriously, you asshole!' Tommy snapped. 'You're a goddamn liability. You just… attract bad shit, and I'm not having that shit storm raining down on me and mine. So from now on that's it. I'm not sticking up for you anymore, okay? I'm not gonna come running when you've got some dumb scheme. Got that? That's it. You're just another kid to me from now on. Just like…' He paused, then noticed Earl writhing on the floor. 'Just like that loser.'

Reese looked at Earl for a moment, then back to Tommy. 'C'mon man, stop being such a drama queen.'

Tommy just waved his hands and stalked away. 'I'm serious, Reese,' he called over his shoulder. 'We're over.'

Reese sighed and half laughed. 'Tommy, come on! Tommy!'

But Tommy was heading away, muttering irritably to himself. Herbert Douglas was unlucky enough to get in his way and was abruptly pushed down to the ground. Reese watched Tommy until he vanished, clicking his tongue irritable. Well that was just great.

'Uh… a little help…?' Earl groaned from the floor.

Reese glanced at him, frowning deeply. That was it. He had had enough of this crap. Without a word to the suffering boy on the ground, he turned and stalked away himself, hands pushed in his pockets.

Maybe he could get himself expelled. Do something crazy like burn down the gym. He knew it had already survived one burning, so maybe this time he could get the whole thing to come down. That would put those dumb Jocks in their place. Or maybe he could do something a lot simpler like give Crabblesnitch a good right hook. Nah, the guy was old. He wanted to get expelled, not go down for murder. Either way he had to get out of this hellhole. To start with he had enjoyed the hostility, but now it was boring him.

Reese had gone to the library in search of some peace and quiet, and had found it on the top floor. He sat backwards on a study chair, arms rested on the back and looked down over the balcony at the study area below. It was pretty empty considering most of the Nerds would be in class, but there were a few Preppies sauntering around. Pierce Vendome was perched on a desk, chattering away to two other Preps that Reese hadn't been introduced to yet, although he was sure one of them was a Spencer; as in Spencer Shipping. Earl Hardwicke had also arrived, probably in search of sanctuary. A few other kids wandered around, most of them Reese had never met. And had no intention of meeting in all honesty.

At least here he wouldn't be bothered by psychotic kids. Later he would go find Tommy and try and get him to calm down a see sense. He didn't really want his only friends deserting him when he had so many people after his blood. The Bullies had proven to be good company so far. Reese wasn't dumb; he knew he couldn't get anything done in this place without the support of them, even if he hated to admit that.

A little peace and quiet; was that too much to ask for?

'Hey. Hey you there. Turn around.'

Reese frowned at the female voice and glanced over his shoulder. He hadn't heard anyone approach, so he was surprised to discover someone directly behind him. Or rather, a large camera pointing in his face. He frowned and pushed it away with his hand.

'Hey!' he frowned. 'What the hell?'

The girl behind the camera frowned also. She blinked, one eye taking a little longer to respond than the other, and then cocked her head. She was small and thin, with skin that was almost grey it was so pale and dark rings under her eyes. Her short brown hair was ruffled and sticking out at the sides, giving her a pretty unstable look. And that was without her slightly glassy green eyes with pupils like pinpricks.

'Whoa, where did you come from?' A creepy grin broke out over her face and she lifted the camera once again to get him in the shot. 'Look at your face! You could be the next Bruce Campbell!'

Reese frowned at her, eyeing this strange girl that had literally materialised from nowhere. She was only slight, dressed in a standard school shirt and a worn blue sweater vest, a dark green skirt, knee high white socks and black pumps on her feet. Normal enough, if you ignored the mass of scrapes and bruises on her legs and knees and the huge pink cast on her right arm. Hanging around her neck on a pink neon string was what looked like a Kermit the Frog Pez dispenser, a thing that Reese hadn't seen for years. By the looks of her she was probably keeping something illegal in that thing.

'Look, I have no idea what the hell it is you're doing, but I'm kinda busy here,' Reese told her, turning away from the camera. 'So go take your little psycho documentary elsewhere.'

The girl straightened up. 'How did you know what I was filming? Did you read my scripts?'

Reese looked at her in exasperation. 'What? No. Just beat it, will you?'

The girl didn't take the hint. Instead she got down on her knees and scooted around so she was beside him, pointing the camera up at his face. 'Oh hell yeah. My camera loves you. Hey, do me a favour,' She peered at him over the camera, eyes gleaming. 'Scream for me.'

Reese eyed her impassively. 'Scream for you.' He repeated, flatly.

The girl nodded and got ready with the camera, obviously expecting him to do so. Reese looked into the camera for a moment, and then simply turned away.

'Oh come on!' the girl whined. 'You're perfect leading man material! I can see you now hurling around a chainsaw or… or a meat hook or something. Brilliant. And the scar…' She moved the camera closer to his face.

'Oh for God's sake…' Reese moaned, pushing the camera away. 'Why won't you people leave me alone? Huh? For five minutes! Did someone spray Eau de Crazy on me or something? Your lot are like moths to a flame!'

The girl ignored him. 'I'm Sammy. Sammy Tarantino.' She thrust out one hand, then noticed it was the one with the cast and lowered it again. 'Okay, Tarrant really, but I'd love to be a Tarantino. That guy is a genius. Genius.' She screwed up her face a shuddered as she repeated the last word, making Reese recoil slightly.

'Good for him,' Reese said warily. He stood up and got ready to walk away, only to have Sammy thrust the camera in his face again.

'Come on. Just one scream. A little one.' She pleaded. 'I need this man, you have no idea how much I need it. If I don't get something put together soon they're going to have me filming really bad stuff. I'll be a laughing stock! One of those losers in the phone book who video people's weddings and all that crap. They already want me to film this dumb reunion on Saturday and I can't have that on my resume, I'll be a laughing stock! You think Cannes approves of that crap? Huh?'

Reese frowned at her. 'Wait, reunion? What reunion?'

'The one on Saturday,' Sammy replied with a twitch and a sniff. 'A bunch of old students are coming… I don't know. Class of 2006 or something. I dunno. I wasn't listening. I have no idea.' She pushed the camera in his face again. 'One scream. Come on. The camera loves you.'

Reese frowned thoughtfully. His mom and dad had been class of 2006. Why hadn't she mentioned it when he had seen her the other day? Either she wasn't going or she didn't want him to know she was going. The latter sounded more likely. He began to move past the strange girl with the camera, now not concerned with her.

'Hey, where you going?' Sammy called after him. 'You don't mind if I get some moving shots of you, do you? I need to work out your pace. Maybe you can move a bit edgier, huh? Maybe like there's something behind you…' She shuddered and giggled. 'Oh this is awesome! I'm going to make you a star my friend!'

Ignoring her, Reese headed down the stairs. Sammy scampered after him, fumbling to hold the camera and pop a pep pill from the Pez dispenser into her mouth.