So far this school year, Spinelli's taken the passive approach, enjoying the social status that came with being a cheerleader. It came in exchange for her putting away that aggressiveness she was known for. It was hard, but it didn't take a genius to know that carrying that tough, ready to fight attitude into middle school was a one way ticket to social isolation. Besides, she got everything she wanted through this new method, her mother was happy, everything was fine.

Right now, though, it wasn't going to get her any answers. She waited at the bottom of one of the staircases, waiting for one of those guys that she saw TJ sitting with at lunch. One of them had to take this route to class, it was one of the most crowded staircases, and they were going to tell her what she needed to know.

She waited, until she spotted one of them, Randall of all people, coming down. Out of all the people to be friends with, why the hell did TJ pick Randall? Did he forget all the times that weasel snitched on them? Or was he so messed up in the head that he thought being friends with him was okay?

…

As soon as he was in reach, Spinelli grabbed his arm and pulled him under the staircase.

"Ow! What—"

"Listen here you little weasel. You're going to tell me everything you know about what's going on with TJ!"

After recovering from the shock of nearly getting whiplash, Randall got his bearing. It was kind of funny. Less than a year ago, he would be shaking in his shoes and look for a way to escape. But with everything going on and everything he knew, he felt nothing but indignant towards her. Besides, it's hard to be afraid of her when she's all dolled up and wearing a cheerleading uniform.

"Why do you care?" Randall scoffed. "You're not his friend anymore."

"Don't worry about why I care! Just answer the question!"

"I don't have to answer anything, Ashley S.," He said. He moved to continue getting to class, only for her to shove him back into the wall.

"It's been a while since I brought out madame fist. Maybe I should now, since you don't want to cooperate!"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not scared of you, and I'm not telling you anything. You and the other four don't deserve to know anything," he said. "Not after you guys helped Austin with that garbage stunt at the dance, and especially not after making fun of him in sixth grade."

"What-"

"Oh I heard you guys making fun of him when he wasn't here. I told him over the summer because he deserved to know what you all really thought about him." He adjusted his bookbag. "That was really scummy of all of you to talk behind his back like that. About the things he did that was mostly for all of you, too? Some friends."

"Oh, yeah? What the hell do you know about friends?!"

"Enough to know that what you guys did was messed up," he said. "I don't really care why you want to know what happened to him. You can beat me up or whatever, but I'm still not telling you anything. None of us are. You might as well tell the others that because none of us are telling anyone anything."

He moved to get to class, and this time, she didn't shove him into the wall again.

ZZZ

The five of them just wanted to blend in. Sticking out doing what they did wasn't 'brave' or 'heroic' anymore. And everyone in their grade were saying things. Like how what they were doing was such a childish thing to do. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but it it didn't take much for them to believe what they heard. They were sixth graders, at the top of the school's social hierarchy. They couldn't keep doing the same stuff they did in the fourth, or even fifth grade.

The whole thing brought up memories of the summer before fifth grade. Sure, the five of them were in a rush to grow up, but that was then, and this was now. They didn't have the excuse of their age anymore. They had to grow up with middle school on the horizon. Was it their fault that TJ didn't seem to want to, still coming up with those plans of his even as they kept saying they really didn't want to do them anymore? It was laughable.

So they laughed.

Not while he was there, of course. What was the harm in having a laugh? He didn't know, and what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. They were only jokes.

Besides, it was time to grow up, and it wasn't their fault that he didn't want to. They wanted to. They had to, and anyone who fought against that was stupid and immature.

ZZZ

There were a lot of thing JROTC taught it's members. Or rather, drilled into their head.

Hardwork.

Commitment.

Teamwork.

Leave no man behind.

Gus had those and more drilled into his head the moment he showed up the first day in his uniform. Those above up made sure he learned it, studied it, and lived it. And through the exercises they put him and the other members through on a daily basis, he wasn't going to forget any of it.

Leave no man behind.

Whether it was him in the beginning, or someone else that slipped in the mud or got caught in the net, the whole team went back to help them out before continuing forward. That might've ruined their time, but leaving one behind was absolutely not an option.

. . .

His father did his best to teach him not to judge his past behavior and actions based on knowledge he only gained afterwards, at least when it was appropriate, but right now, as Gus held a picture frame in his hands after straightening out one of his drawers, it was hard to remember how to do that.

The frame in his hands held an old picture of him and the old gang, not long after he arrived at Third Street, matter of fact.

They didn't leave him behind. TJ didn't leave him behind, and it would've been easy if he wanted to. The whole school was more than eager to brand him as the new kid and leave him out of everything, and no one would have blamed him. But he didn't.

But Gus left him behind, when it got too hard, too socially unacceptable, to hard just be around him. It was easy to make fun of him, so he did, along with the others. It was easy to do things without him, so he did. Gus didn't give much thought about it.

And now, it might be too late to go back and get him.

Gus felt his dinner stir in his stomach, threatening to come back up over his bedroom floor.

ZZZ

TJ was just. . .such a drain to be around. They could be talking about anything they were excited for, but him just being there sucked so much of the mood away, with his unusually slouched posture or lack of shared enthusiasm. Was it that bad they wanted to do things without him there? They wanted to have fun, not be bogged down with whatever was bothering him.

They told him that they weren't going to do anything for their birthdays; they said they were too old for birthday parties. They just did something without him. Hanging out was supposed to be fun, no one would invite someone who would take that away.

No one wanted to go to the movies, or rollerskating, or to parties with someone like that. Was that their fault? It's not like they were rude about it. They didn't yell at him or tell him to his face he was being weird. They just didn't tell him when and where they were hanging out. Having fun. It's not their fault it was easier to make fun of him when they knew he wasn't there and they didn't have to look over their shoulders as they did it.

And it's not like they didn't ask him what was wrong. TJ just kept telling them that he was fine, so what were they supposed to do? They figured that he'd snap out of it and go back to normal and stop being so fucking weird. God, why couldn't he see that no one wanted those 'plans' of his, no one wanted to do pranks anymore, or go trick-or-treating, they were too old to be crawling through vents, or any of that stuff? That wasn't their fault, it was his!

ZZ

Vince took his position on the football team very seriously. Seriously enough that he never missed a practice, always arriving a bit early in the morning for a head start. Today, however, he couldn't bring himself to go. Hopefully coach would forgive him for it, seeing how he never did it before, but his mind just wasn't in it today. How could he be?

Denial was a crazy thing, wasn't it? It made it so you could ignore what was right in front of you. He saw TJ buy all that stuff at the pharmacy, he heard TJ say that it wasn't joke, but with all that right in front of him, Vince still managed to convince himself that it was bluffing to get Austin off his back. Maybe the idea of someone he knew trying to kill themselves sounded too out there, too ridiculous, so denying it was easy.

He walked down the sidewalk in a vain attempt to clear his mind.

His feet lead him down the familiar route to the lake, where he and the others often spent time skipping rocks and relaxing, just a few years ago. He found that the lake wasn't empty. Instead, Spinelli, Gretchen, Mikey, and Gus sat and stood around, though not talking to each other. Vince kicked a small rock into the lake, and watched at the water rippled from where it sank.

"Guys." Vince finally spoke up after a very long ten minutes. The other four looked over at him. "We really messed up, didn't we?"