A/N: Oh bugger it, I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this chapter but it's just sitting there in my saved folders and staring at me o_O. So here you go :P I've never written Jimmy before, so if he sucks then I apologise xD


Chapter Twenty Seven:

Old Friends

Pete felt like he was going to pass out as he entered the boy's dorm. He had been nervous enough without Gary's threats, and the sight of that switchblade had sent him into fully-fledged terror mode. This was getting way out of hand. Where the hell had Gary gotten that knife from? And why the hell did he have it? No doubt he would be coming into Jimmy's room as soon as all the other kids had cleared out, so what then? Did he intend to use that knife on Jimmy?

Not for the first time Pete had the bleak thought that Gary was just using him to get back at Jimmy. The only reason he didn't completely believe that was because he couldn't understand why Gary would need to use him. Surely if Gary had wanted to escape Happy Volts to get at Jimmy he would have done it before Pete had turned up. He hadn't done anything to help. If anything he had probably just gotten in the way. But at the same time it certainly wasn't like Gary to go out of his way to help someone like this, even if it was to get back at Monroe.

Pete's head began to hurt, but he welcomed it because it took his mind off his throbbing ankle.

Anyway, this wasn't the time to be worrying about Gary's intentions. Pete was more worried about Jimmy's reaction to him. If he believed that he had killed Zoe then Pete knew that Jimmy would beat him up, maybe even kill him. Despite the fact Pete respected and liked Jimmy a whole lot more than Gary, he was still more afraid of him right now. He almost headed back outside to tell Gary he couldn't go through with it. He would rather face Gary in all honesty. Well, he probably would have if Gary didn't have that knife.

Pete crept along the hallway, eyes and ears alert for any movement. Ivan would probably be hanging around, taking that that guy hardly ever slept, and when he was sleeping he was wandering around. But fortunately the dorm seemed to be deserted. But still, Pete stopped and listened. No voices, no TVs or radios... just light snoring coming from various rooms. Pete found himself wishing that there had been someone around, just so they could put an end to this madness.

He quickly moved to the fire alarm, noticing with apprehension that Jimmy's door was shut. It had never been shut before. Jimmy did everything with his door open, even some things that most of the guys didn't want to see. If the door was locked then it would ruin everything. Pete would have no escape when he turned on the fire alarm. The sensible thing would be to check it if it was unlocked first, but then if Jimmy saw him before he pulled the alarm...

Calm down, Pete told himself. Don't panic. You'll blow everything if you panic.

He took a deep breath and stood by the fire alarm, staring at it. Grubby fingerprints smudged the white handle from where dozens of other kids had pulled it as a prank. Pranks seemed like a whole world away now; Pete could never imagine ever pulling a prank on anyone after all of this – not that he had been one for prank pulling before. He let out a shaky breath, reached out, and pulled the alarm.

The bell rang deafeningly; stunning Pete and making his legs go stiff. Then he heard the distinct angry yell of Johnny Vincent from his dorm room and quickly limped to Jimmy's room. He grabbed the door handle and twisted it. The door wouldn't budge.

It's locked! Pete's brain screamed. This is it! Gary's going to cut you open because you've just blown it! You should have checked if it was unlocked, moron!

But then Pete realised that in his haste he had pulled on the door instead of pushing. He pushed, spurred on by the sounds of rising, grumpy students and the shrill alarm, and blundered into Jimmy's bedroom. He quickly slammed the door shut without looking around, heart thudding in his chest. He rested his head against the wood, listening to the sounds of the students trooping by in the corridor. His heart began to slow and the departing adrenaline made his limbs go weak.

Then he was suddenly aware that someone was staring at him.

Pete whirled around, eyes wide, to see Jimmy standing on the other side of the bed in his jammies, staring in bewilderment at him. Pete stared back, unable to react. He froze up. Jimmy didn't look good; his face was pale and he looked sick. But he was still hard and muscular, and Pete soon found himself wanting to open the door and flee again when Jimmy's face screwed up into a dark scowl and his fists balled by his sides.

'You!' he growled, top lip curling up. He began to stalk around the bed towards him.

Pete spun around, back pressed against the door. He held his hands up in front of him, feeling like he was either going to pee himself or faint. 'Jimmy! Wait, look, I came to talk to you! Just wait, Jimmy – please!'

His voice hit a high note as Jimmy grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the door. 'What the hell are you doing here?' Jimmy snarled, eyes blazing. 'You must be stupid to turn up here like this!'

'Wait, please, Jimmy!' Pete whimpered. His head was spinning with the sound of the fire alarm and the furious look in Jimmy's narrow eyes. 'Let me explain! I didn't do it, I swear! I didn't kill Zoe!'

'You little bastard!' Jimmy cried, slamming him against the door again. 'I always thought you were my friend, Petey! I thought I could trust you! I should have known you were just another crazy little psycho! I should have seen it coming!' He grabbed Pete's shirt tighter with both hands and hauled him up. Pete's toes scraped pathetically on the floor. 'You fucking killed her!'

'I didn't!' Pete cried, feeling hot, terrified tears spilling down his cheeks. 'I swear, Jimmy, I didn't do it! I didn't even hit anyone! I was framed, I swear! Someone left me to take the fall! Please believe me, Jimmy!' He laughed nervously, but it came out as more of a broken squeak. 'C'mon, man! Can you really picture me doing something like that? I can't even get the lid off the pickle jar in the cafeteria let alone do something like that! Please believe me, Jimmy, I didn't do it! I swear.'

Jimmy glared at him for a moment longer, lip still curled back. His jaw flexed, and then he released him. Pete dropped and stumbled, having to catch the beside table to stop himself hitting the floor. He rested there for a moment, trying to calm his pounding heart, and then looked back up at Jimmy. The muscular boy stood over him, fists still balled by his sides.

'So you know who did do it?' he asked.

Pete shook his head. 'N...no. But I do have a theory...'

Jimmy exhaled in disgust and stepped away. 'Oh I bet you do. Bet you have a whole stream of theories. They sent you to the frigging nuthouse, Petey! They don't just send anyone there! If you didn't do it then you better be ready to tell me who the hell did because if you don't-' He grabbed Pete again and raised a fist.

'The Preps!' Pete squealed, holding his hands up in an attempt to block Jimmy's rock hard fist.

Jimmy stopped, fist drawn back, and frowned. Slowly he lowered his arm and tilted his head. 'The Preps?' he repeated. 'What about them?'

'It was them!' Pete cried. 'It must have been! They're the only people who could bribe Doctor Monroe into keeping me at Happy Volts!' He cowered by the bedside table, watching Jimmy's reaction. At some point his black cap had fallen from his head and now lay on the floor behind the door. 'I know it sounds crazy, I've already tried to explain it to my mom but she wouldn't listen! She thinks I'm insane, Jimmy! I swear I'm not! I didn't do it!' He swallowed but the huge lump in his throat just made him choke. 'You've got to believe me, Jimmy. I can't handle it if you don't. I can't go back there.'

Jimmy turned away, rubbing his hands over his head. The fire alarm stopped, leaving a low buzzing in Pete's ears. He waited for the sounds of the students returning, but he couldn't hear them. After a little bit of pacing, Jimmy stopped and looked at Pete thoughtfully.

'The Preps?' he repeated.

Pete nodded keenly, tentatively straightening up. 'Yeah. I... the way I see it is that one of them got Zoe by accident and Derby is helping to cover it up. And because I was the only one caught by the cops that night they just used me. Derby has enough money to pay off Doctor Monroe to mess around with my observation reports and make it out that I'm some psycho. I know it sounds farfetched but it's the only thing that it could be! I didn't kill her, Jimmy.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Jimmy muttered, frowning in thought. 'I heard you, Pete, calm down.' He was quiet for a moment. 'How did you get out anyway?'

Pete stopped. This was going to be the tricky part. As soon as the name 'Gary' slipped out of Pete's lips, Jimmy was going to fly off the handle. There was no way he was going to believe him now. But Gary must have known the subject would come up, and Pete didn't think it would help matters by lying. Jimmy would find out eventually. Pete cleared his throat and opened his mouth. 'Well...'

Before he could continue though, the door flew open, narrowly missing hitting him in the face. He looked around, alarmed but not surprised to see Gary there, grinning broadly. Jimmy's arms dropped by his sides and he stared in shock.

'Well would you look at this!' Gary laughed, grin impossibly wide. He moved to Pete and pulled him into a headlock while he looked right at Jimmy. 'The old gang back together.' A dark cast flashed over his eyes and his grin froze. 'Miss me, Jimmy-boy?'