Author's Notes: I really need your reviews guys! I don't know whether people are interested in reading this anymore! Anyway I thought I'd give Chantelle a break and be central around another character instead. Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 25 – Peter Kowalski

The library again – nothing ever really changed.

Whilst his best friend was off fighting his own battles and dealing with the pushy cliques of Bullworth he was here, sat in the library with the smell of decaying books and the slight tinge of body odour from the nerds that plagued this place day in and day out, a little like himself perhaps (except for the unhygienic odour, he was always very clean). A small stack of books and a place well hidden between the bookshelves in the corner made it almost impossible to know who he was without further investigations but he knew that nobody would and that was perfectly fine with him. To everyone in this school he was an outsider, someone who didn't belong to a clique – nor could he ever seem to fit into one. He had attempted to join the nerds but they had declined his offer with a sneer and a bray of laughter that he still could hear occasionally in his ears whenever he lapsed into a trance-like state of deep thought…A bit like now.

What with Algernon 'Algie' Papadopoulos running around school with his zipper undone (and probably broken) on his shorts and his weak bladder problems, he certainly had no right to call him 'weird'. And then there was Bucky Pasteur and Melvin O'Conner, both of whom had stood there and laughed at the resentful, disappointed look on his face once Algie had told him no. Bucky had laughed in that high-pitched nasally shriek whilst waving his arms about, one which carried three out-dated and scratched watches whilst Melvin clutched at his overly large protruding stomach, the pencil falling from behind his ear and snapping on the floor, his slicked back hair sticking out on end...And they had the right to call him weird!

Grimacing slightly, Peter forced himself back out of those somewhat painful memories and hauled back to the present. He didn't need those ridiculous idiots anymore because now he had Jimmy Hopkins, and even though he wasn't around a lot it was still good to be able to call him a friend. Of course he never did in public, he knew that Jimmy would make some harsh and terrible come-back that would cut him back down to size and make him feel as insignificant as the nerds made him feel that fateful day last year. But it was good to have someone stick up for him when things were getting a little rough, like that time when the Preps saw him up on the pier and hung back awhile to get some more people together. He had seen them grouping up and knew that something bad was going to happen, and he also knew that even if he did try and make a run for it, they would probably catch up to him and beat him to a pulp. So what else was there to do but to ring Jimmy?

And what did Jimmy do?

Well he came straight over. Jimmy had made it definitely clear that he was busy, and Peter had an idea who he might have been spending his time with, but this in itself was very important too. Plus dates can be rescheduled, but a severe beating could not…This was a one-time thing and they were advancing pretty quickly now. His voice was shaking, he was nervous and his heart had begun to pick up speed. His instincts were telling him to run as he pressed the end button on the cell-phone, shoving it roughly in his pocket without taking his eyes off the oncoming Preps but he didn't. He stood his ground, whatever ground that was.

It was Tad Spencer who climbed up the wooden steps on to the pier first, his eyes flashing in all directions to make sure the area was devoid of any form of authority, and to his sheer luck it was. A sneer crossed his lips as he began to move forward, his feet moving faster and faster. Bryce Montrose had fallen in to step behind him, the steel Aquaberry watch glinting off his right wrist in the dull sunlight. Finally, Justin Vandervelde scrambled forward almost tripping perhaps due to his excitement. There was a leer sprawled across his face as he tugged on the yellow and blue scarf he had wrapped firmly around his neck.

The last two were firm boxers, Peter knew that much. There was some relief knowing that Bif wasn't here but not much. Bif maybe the strongest and the burliest of the Preps but these two were certainly no pushovers, especially considering the fact that Peter hadn't hit a single thing in his life – nor did he want to start right now.

"Well look who we have here boys, it's Hopkins's boyfriend!" Tad said gleefully whilst the other two broke out in gales of fake laughter, their eyes never leaving Peter, not even for a mere second. He knew he wouldn't be able to get out of this without a punch or two, or maybe Jimmy had been held back by another gang of Preps and he would be completely out cold by the time he did make it to the pier. This thought sent a shiver down his spine that was seen by Tad who made another joke about it causing the others to crack up with laughter again.

The laughter tapered away once more but before Tad could say a word there was a loud splat that seemed magnified a hundred times by the silence now surrounding the pier. Bryce's head snapped forward and fell naturally back again, but there was an addition to what he was wearing on his head. Egg.

The yolk slopped on to his Aquaberry coat and he let out a yell of disgust as he attempted to wipe it off his shoulder with his gloved hand, but all that did was make it ten times worse.

Whilst Bryce was preoccupied with the slop now covering his clothes, Tad and Justin spun quickly on their heels in time to see Jimmy Hopkins pull his arm back, ready to launch another egg into their little group.

"Don't you losers ever give it a break! I already beat your sorry asses once! I guess you want it kicking a bit more!"

Tad let out an indistinguishable string of curses as he and Justin ran towards Jimmy and was cut off as the egg cracked straight in his face, the yolk spilling out into his mouth, down his neck and running quickly into his hair. He attempted to stop too quickly and tripped over his own foot landing with a heavy thud on the wooden surface.

Justin was the only one who managed to put in a few punches, and what with Jimmy beating them at boxing before, was only too accustomed to ducking and dodging. He got hit once, and that was on the right ear which seemed to swell and grow hot but he ignored that and instead planted on of his own right-hooks straight into Justin's pointed face. There was a moment of pure shock with Justin holding his face, blood slowly pouring through his fingers before he sat down hard on his ass and let out a yell of pain.

Knowing that this would be his only chance of getting out of here without even a bruise, Peter side-stepped Tad who was furiously wiping the egg off his face and ran past Bryce who was still yelling in anger about the state of his coat and finally passed Justin whose eyes were streaming from the pain in his nose.

Peter blinked stupidly again and saw the small stack of books in front of him realising he had one again drifted off into one of those little memories. He shook his head to get a stronger grip on the present and glanced down to see what he had been reading, but that's when he was disturbed.

A soft voice spoke out from above those books, and he had been naïve not to see that the stack had indeed been decreased because the person in front of him right now had shifted them aside.

"Excuse me? Pete? Sorry if I disturbed you but…You don't mind if I sit with you do you?"

It took a long time for this simple sentence to actually penetrate Peter's mind, he was still thinking he was having some sort of hallucination or dream when she spoke again, a little quicker this time.

"Sorry, I knew I'd disrupted whatever you were doing. It's alright I'll sit over there,"

"No wait," Peter said, standing up for no apparent reason and knocking the book he was reading off the table in his haste. "It's okay, you can sit here…I guess I just wasn't expecting someone to come over. It's rarely anyone ever does,"

Chantelle Matthews gave him a warm smile before leaning over and picking up the book that Peter had been reading and placing it back on the table.

"Sorry if I lost your page," Chantelle started quietly but Peter just shook his head, it didn't really matter, after all he was barely even paying attention himself. He waited until she was seated and had opened her own book before he joined her. It wasn't really cramped, it just appeared that way because of the little shelter of books he had surrounded himself with, however Chantelle easily took the initiative and started to shift them around, giving them maximum space with maximum cover. Peter smiled nervously to himself but it was quickly removed from his face, he didn't want her to think he was some weird stalker kid.

Shifting in his seat until he found a position that was somewhat comfortable (he suddenly felt a little flustered in the company of someone else, especially since it was female) he glanced across at Chantelle who was now flicking through a particularly tatty biology book.

"So what brings you to the library then? You're usually hanging around with Christy or Jimmy, I rarely see you in here…If you don't mind me asking?" Peter said his voice temporarily strong before dwindling down to being very quiet again.

Chantelle didn't look up from her book as she continued skimming across the pages, her eyes darting from left to right, "Jimmy is doing his own errands as usual and Christy is probably with Davis or Angie. It's been an awkward week; I think we're just giving each other some time to adjust." She replied quietly, the pages still turning however Peter noticed that her eyes were no longer moving and were fixed instead somewhere near the centre of the book.

"I didn't want to stay in my room," Chantelle continued even though Peter had not even thought about asking another question, "And I didn't want to leave the campus on my own so I came here, it's usually a safe place to go, don't you think?"

This time Chantelle did look up at him, her hand lying on an open page of the human anatomy, her eyes full of angst and perhaps even slight fear. It made Peter feel a little down and he moved his eyes from her gaze, settling on that slightly torn page, but he nodded his head all the same.

He knew what had happened to her, and Jimmy had assured him that nobody else except the people who had gotten her out of Harrington House knew about the kidnapping, and nobody else would. He had given Jimmy his word, plus who was he going to tell anyway? Gary had gone completely AWOL and Peter no longer considered him a friend, even though Gary had been in touch several times in this past month alone.

"You know?" Chantelle said suddenly, looking up from the book whilst her finger still remained pressed on the page from the line she had just been reading. "You know don't you?"

Peter opened his mouth but no words would come out. He was suddenly forced to remember his and Chantelle's very first meeting in which she had demanded answers to questions about Gary Smith and had continued to make him feel like absolute shit. He really didn't want to have to defend himself, and he didn't want to bring up Jimmy's name. Instead of lying however, he proceeded to just nod his head. Chantelle observed him for a few seconds and looked back down at her book.

"I thought Jimmy might have told you. I don't mind, if he can trust you I guess…I guess I can too." She said solemnly whilst Peter heaved a mental sigh of relief.

"It must have been really bad," Peter started, before also mentally slapping himself. Why did he even start this conversation? He could have simply remained in silence, pretending to read his book on Roman history and just enjoyed the peaceful company that her presence had brought. But instead of just quitting at that sentence, he continued, "I mean…I couldn't even imagine what it must've been like. To just be taken like that, it's not right."

Abandoning her book completely this time, Chantelle leant back in her seat with her head slightly turned so she could see him fully. There was a small, sad smile pressed on her lips which made Peter slightly unnerved but he did not break the stare this time. He held his ground…

"It's okay. I'm okay. But you are right, it was bad. But it's something you live to forget and it'll be alright in the end," She added slowly, picking her words delicately. There was no need for him to know about the dreams or the fear of walking the school campus alone. It would be over soon, she would get her courage back she knew that. She could feel it.

Feeling the sudden urge to change the subject, Peter nodded his head quickly and then shifted in his seat once again. This time though, it was to get an even better view of her book. "What is it you're stuck on? Maybe I can help? I'll say I'm pretty good at Biology if you wanted me to be a little egotistical."

He didn't just feel the relief of the sudden change of topic; he could also see it on her face. The change of expression was almost as quick as the subject change and she moved forward again tapping the anatomy with her finger.

"It's not so much the anatomy I think it's the genetics that confuses me, and I should be really good at that stuff. Well I was in my old school," Chantelle said with a smile and a shrug. "Maybe it's just Bullworth – maybe it just makes me stupid."

They both let out a little gale of laughter at this comment before Peter launched into a brief explanation of Mendel and genetics.

And so it went on for about a week, Peter offering Chantelle support, advice and general academic help, Chantelle giving Peter company and friendship. He felt that it was save enough to call them friends now and he doubted that she would put him down so harshly if he had said that in public.

But here he was again, sat in the library.

There was no longer a huge cluster of books surrounding him, Chantelle had given him the confidence to sit there with just the ones he wanted to read she had given him the confidence to make himself visible to the other students who wandered around the shelves without fearing what they may say or do and they never really said or did anything, much to his pleasant surprise.

However, as he sat in in his seat attempting to read his book, his eyes were constantly drawn to the darkened archway. He was expecting to Chantelle to come through there, her skirt twitching from either side as she walked, her scarf wrapped loosely around her neck and her book tucked firmly against her chest underneath her crossed arms. But there was no sign of her, nor had there been any yesterday.

He knew that Jimmy had finally beaten the Preps, he had boasted about that as soon as he had reached the dormitory. But now the Greasers had started to become a problem. It was only small for now, some misjudgement on either part he reckoned, but it was sure to become stagnant and repulsive and pretty soon Jimmy would probably be dealing with the big boss, Johnny Vincent…The ever elusive Johnny Vincent.

But now that the Preps were under control, Peter had come to the conclusion that Chantelle had finally done what she had said she would do and had gotten over the whole kidnapping feat. If that was so then he was happy for her, of course he was, but there was also a small part of him that was disgruntled by this news. He feared that Chantelle would forget all about him and that they would just drift apart like so many others before her…That this week would just be some brief thing for her and nothing more. It's not like he was anything special…Right?

Tugging at the sleeves of his pink shirt, he finally lowered his eyes and slammed the book shut. The library suddenly didn't feel that inviting, not like it used to be. That old magic feeling had probably faded with his and Chantelle's friendship and he wanted out.

Leaving the books out on the desk he made a sharp exit, being as quick as possible so as to avoid being called back by the librarian. He didn't want to spend any longer in that place, not when he felt so…Awkward.

Once he had left the tightening confines of the library and felt the cool January air on his skin he felt much better, but the feeling of being abandoned, the feeling of being lonely remained firm on his shoulders. He remained stood in the same place for a few more minutes, aware that the cold was beginning to dig through his thin shirt and his school jumper down into his skin, and biting damn hard. His teeth clattered together as he began to shiver and he started to move. His destination was the boys dormitory…There was nothing exactly to do in there (the tv would most likely be in use, and so would the arcade games) but at least it was warm. Perhaps he could just sit down on his bed and…

"Psssst…Petey!"

Peter stopped abruptly and nearly skidded on some black ice. He waved his arms a little for balance before glancing around. He had just walked underneath the stone archway on his journey to the dormitory before he had stopped, and eerily enough there wasn't anybody around at the time.

"Stop dancing around, I'm over here,"

He was a little bit more prepared for the voice to speak again and his head snapped to the right when he heard it drifting over to him. There was a face peering at him behind the chain-link fence and he felt a heavy dread fill his stomach.

No not now…Not when I don't have any other option…

Still remained fixed in his place, the other boy began to move along the fence getting closer to the part of the wall that the chain-link had been torn open by the bullies in the previous year. He climbed easily over it, his gloved hand supporting his weight as he sailed over the wall, landing on the frosted grass. He grinned over at Peter who was still rooted to the spot, but there was no emotion in his eyes and that just added to the leaden weight of dread.

"What'cha been doing my old friend? Enjoying the sights? Sticking your nose in to other people's businesses? Being the useless sack that Jimmy off-loads his problems on to? Or trying to get stuck into Chantelle?" Gary Smith said, nudging Peter painfully with elbow, the result being Peter nearly slipping clumsily on the ice again. Gary didn't bother to wait for a response; instead he grabbed Peter by the shoulder and pushed him against the stone archway.

"Listen to me Petey my friend, she's poison you know that? She gets people into all sorts of trouble, just look at Jimmy and how much shit he's been through…And now the Preps and that dumb Parker kid, she led him on too. Did you know that?"

Peter stared at Gary in complete disbelief, and also with a twinge of fear. This had been the first time he had seen him up close and he looked absolutely terrible…Terrible and crazy. His left eye was twitching uncontrollably and the grip that he had on Peter's shoulder get tightening painfully and loosening again almost like he had barely any control on what his body was actually doing.

"It won't be long 'til that bitch is using you Petey…Unless she already is? Oh she is I can tell just by the look in your stupid little eyes. What did she get out of you huh? Nothing about me this time, no no no…This is other knowledge right?" Gary let out a laugh that sounded more like a grimace to Peter even though Gary was now smirking at him, "She's got you into shit already you know, she's doing her job pretty well…I thought we were friends Petey but I guess you don't want that. I guess you want that scheming bitch and her punk-ass boyfriend. Do they call you a friend femme-boy? Do they get all gooey and preach their puppy dog eyes on you hm?"

Peter glared at Gary and during that period of his loosened grip he shrugged his shoulder away and slipped sideways so he was no longer pressed up against the arch.

There is always an option

"Leave me alone Gary!" Peter said with a voice that was as powerful as he could muster, it wavered slightly but his resolve was true. He had had enough, Gary wasn't going to push him around anymore and what he was doing wasn't going to work.

"They are my friends!" He said loudly, that slight shake beginning to dissipate as he stared at the sociopath in front of him, aware that he was beginning to close the distance between them. "They talk to me like they care! And I know they do! I know they both do!"

Gary let out another one of those harsh laughs and shook his head before tilting it to one side, "Is that why you've been sat in the library waiting for your dearest Chantelle only for her not to turn up? Dear old Jimmy beats up the trust-fund babies and suddenly Chantelle couldn't give a shit about you anymore? Is that why you ran out of the library almost in tears…You're a fool Petey, you're naïve."

"NO!" Peter yelled back, his feet moving of their own accord as they attempted to get away from Gary who was gaining distance even quicker now. "It's not true! She's got stuff to do just like I have! She's busy that's all!" Peter continued as his voice started to crack once again as his own beliefs began to crumble right before his eyes.

Gary stopped and sneered back at Peter, his scar becoming more pronounced as it changed to a leer. "I told you femme-boy, they will just use you. She will just use you, she's done it to everyone she's met so far and you're not an exception. I've warned you so how about you put it to some good use and do something about it…"

With another withering look, Gary turned easily on his heel and passed through the archway almost seeming to disappear in the fog that had been thickening around them since the initial meeting. Peter remained quite still until he was sure Gary had completely gone, shivering in the biting cold. He wrapped his arms around himself before continuing that same journey to the boy's dormitory, the corners of his mouth drawn down, his mind settled on that same cold loneliness he had felt before.