Disclaimer: I own nothing, kids.

A/N: Well, here it is, chapter two. Wheeeeee. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, and my other fic "What To Do" - you guys made me feel OMGSOSPECIAL. :D Just a little note before we begin ... I hope no one is offended by BAD LANGUAGE or INSULTS ... because there are a lot. I got a little carried away with Sprace ... but damn! Is it fun writing bitchy!Spot! So, yeah. Don't say I didn't warn you. Heh.

Ian felt as though he must have gotten lost at least four times before arriving at Creative Writing, his next class, though the room was still nearly empty when he got there. He had actually been looking forward to this period all morning, as it was the least sucky subject on his entire schedule. He walked in and showed his schedule to the teacher, who was listed on his paper simply as "STATELY."

Mr. Stately was young, somewhere near thirty years old, but exuded a strange sense of wisdom and maturity that Ian didn't quite know what to make of. Without even knowing how, Ian realized that he would prove to be one of those teachers only seen in goofy family movies, and yet, despite his laid-back attitude, you didn't ever screw him over. He certainly looked cooler than any of Ian's teachers back home - instead of a dress shirt and tie or dress shoes like the rest of the school's staff, he was wearing a huge hockey jersey and a pair of crimson Converse sneakers. He had dark, spiky hair, at least five ear piercings, and a genuinely kind smile, which he flashed as he handed back the paper.

"Good to have you in class, Ian," he said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Take a seat. Back corner, second seat from the windows and last one in the row, if you don't mind. Sean and Tony need someone new to talk to besides each other." Smiling still, he gestured to the seat and then busied himself with a stack of papers at his podium.

Ian couldn't help but grin to himself as he made his way to his desk. Mr. Stately was definitely cool, and his relaxed attitude and appearance made the whole new student thing much less awkward. That and the fact that he hadn't forced him into an embarassing class introduction, anyway. Ian collapsed into the chair and once again took out his notebook and a pen in case Mr. Stately began dictating notes when the period began. His inner geek didn't permit him to be unprepared for a lesson, but in the meantime he contented himself by mindlessly writing the lyrics to Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" on a blank page near the back of his folder.

He got a few lines in before he realized how creepy that was and closed his notebook.

The bell rang in what sounded like an irritated tone and the class began to fill up. A familiar voice drew Ian's attention to the door - it was Jack's friend with the thick accent, enthusiastically singing the end of Disney's "When I See An Elephant Fly." Another student followed him in, gripping the boy's shoulder for support as he hiccupped with laughter. Mr. Stately watched them, amused.

"That was lovely, Tony,"

Tony grinned, giving a small bow. "Hiya, States! Did you see Dutchy's new hat? Makes his ears stick out a mile, I thought he was gonna' take off!"

The scrawny boy behind him clutched his stomach and let out a whooping laugh. He was pale, a bit freckled (but really, you could hardly tell - they were nearly as pale as he was) with dark hair and big blue eyes. Something about him told Ian that he was just the kind of kid to be running with Jack's crew. He wasn't sure if he should take that as a comforting thought.

Though still chuckling as he made his way down the aisle, the boy's mirth disappeared as he spotted Ian sitting at his desk. "Who are you?"

Tony noticed him as well as he sat in his own seat. "Ian! How ya' doing? You drive your tractor over here?"

Oh, good. More farm jokes.

The malnourished boy tore his eyes from Ian to now glare at Tony. "This your new boyfriend or something?"

"Down, boy," replied Tony, still grinning. He was significantly more personable and cheery now than he had been in English class. Last period seemed more about being callous and giving him a hard time ... or maybe that was just Jack. Actually, it was just Jack being an asshole. The other guys were probably just being, well, guys.

Somehow all of this made Ian hate the fact that he was from a small town - he was an awful judge of character since he'd only really known a handful of people outside his community. He couldn't get over how much being the new kid in this situation sucked.

"He's the new kid I told you about, stupid. Pop a squat," Tony said, motioning for the other (Ian assumed he must be the Sean Mr. Stately mentioned) to sit. Sean, however, remained standing and turned back to Ian with a malicious glint in his eye.

"What makes the new kid think he can sit back here with us? Does he think he's special or something?

Ian was getting very nervous under his gaze. Obviously, he was looking for a fight of some kind and (though he was probably a good seven or eight inches taller) Ian wasn't very keen on giving it to him. He shifted uneasily in his seat.

"I told him to sit there, Sean. Don't have a coronary, please," came Mr. Stately's distracted response from the front of the room. Ian could see that he was leafing through his papers carefully.

Sean's eyes narrowed as he finally sat down. "Why'd you tell the noob he could sit here?"

Mr. Stately wasn't really paying attention. "Sean, I never got your paper from last week. Did you ever hand it in?"

He blinked, then turned to Tony. "I thought you printed out my essay and handed it in for me?"

"Yeah, uh ... about that, Spot," he began, scratching the back of his neck and turning a bit pink. He looked even more ridiculous in his intimidating leather jacket when he was embarrassed, Ian noted. "I, uh, kind of dropped my stogie on it and it got a bit ... singed. So I tossed it."

Sean stared for a moment before reaching over and smacking him in the back of the head. "That was worth fifty points, you bum!"

Ian did his best to pretend he was invisible. For whatever reason, he felt increasingly torn - part of him wanted these strange kids to leave him the hell alone, while the rest of him desperately wanted to fit in with them and end the awkwardness of being the new kid. The camaraderie they seemed to have as a group was something Ian hadn't experienced at home, and, though he really, really hated to admit it, he very much wanted to be a part of it. His experience with the Underground back in Iowa had been limited - the only members he knew were kids in Des Moines, and he only knew them over the internet. They had never met in person, and though common sense told him there must be more, they were the only others he actually knew existed in his state.

Now he was presented with at least for or five members he didn't particularly want to associate with.

Damn it.

A little nagging voice of reason in the back of his head said that he just had to get to know them and really needed to break free of his small-town state of mind. That little nagging voice also told him to be careful ... and that he could really use a sandwich right about now. His stomach growled in agreement, and Ian supposed that if that voice of reason was right about one thing, well ...

He glanced over at Sean and Tony, who were now immersed in a game of Knuckle Buster. Sean managed to crack Tony pretty hard, causing him to hiss sharply and clutch his fist to his chest as he exclaimed, "Bitch!"

Sean grinned smugly. "Bitch, my ass. Not my fault you're such a pussy, Race."

"Fuck you," grumbled Tony, nursing his sore hand.

"Maybe later," Sean snorted. He turned around and caught Ian watching the display. "You got a problem, noob?"

Damn it!

Ian was spared the embarrassment of stuttering a response by Mr. Stately calling to Sean again.

"Mr. Conlon? Your paper?" He wiggled a sheet of loose-leaf in the air for reference.

"I'll bring another copy in tomorrow, since this idiot can't do me a simple favor and ended up destroying mine."

Mr. Stately raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

Sean grinned. "Well, you see, States, Tony here was just so in love with my paper that he started jacking off to it. But all that friction created one hell of a spark and poof! Torched my beautiful essay."

"Spot, I was too busy nailing your hot ass aunt to rub one out to that piece of shit you call an essay,"

"Boys," Mr. Stately warned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Race, did you say something? I was just reliving the way your mom was crying out my name last night,"

"Boys," he warned again.

"If she was crying it was only because you've got such a small dick, Spot,"

"Higgins! Conlon!" shouted Mr. Stately. "Your twisted sex lives need to stay private, thank you very much. And I hardly think you're helping Ian feel comfortable on his first day."

He must have noticed the wide-eyed way Ian was gaping at the two boys. But Jesus, how could he not have been gaping? When you've grown up in a town with 200 people, you just aren't used to this kind of banter. With 200 people, you were always cordial and laid back.

... Well, most of the time, anyway.

"Ah, don't worry about the noob, States," said Sean, turning around and clapping Ian on the bicep (though not exactly genially), "We'll make sure to include him on all our shenanigans!"

"I can't believe you just said the word 'shenanigans,' you Irish bastard," laughed Tony.

"Fuck you, guido," snapped Sean.

"Maybe later,"

"All right, all right," sighed the teacher, clearly finished dealing with the two of them. "Contrary to popular belief, we actually have work we need to get through this period. So, if you don't mind, everyone sit the hell down and shut the hell up." A few students on the other side of the room who had been sitting on top of their desks slid into their seats as the rest of the class quieted down. "Now, how far did we get yesterday?"

A student in the front answered, "We played cards and watched your old students' projects,"

Mr. Stately smiled. "Oh yeah. It was definitely too hot to work yesterday. However today, even though I know it's still a freaking oven in here, we've got things to go over. You've written your essay on why you took this class, so that's one assignment down. The next thing you'll have to do for me is a project about yourself. I have a few entertaining ones here for you to look at ..."

As Mr. Stately began going over the assignment, Ian felt himself relax. This class definitely wasn't going to suck, at least as far as the work went. He had always been comfortable with writing, particularly the creative kind, and as soon as this paper was out of the way, it was sure to be smooth sailing. As long as he could fudge the project and Sean and Tony didn't rock the boat, anyway.

The two had quieted down (or at least stopped their abrasive, half-joking argument) and were now whispering feverishly to each other, presumably about Ian, as their eyes kept darting in his direction. Ian tried to concentrate on the logistics of Stately's project, honest he did, but he caught the phrase "carrying the Banner" and all his hopes of absorbing anything Stately said vanished. This frantic, hissed conversation - out of which Ian could only pick out a few scattered words and phrases (damn their Jersey accents!) - went on for about ten solid minutes until Mr. Stately finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Higgins! Conlon! If you two could kindly save whatever suggestive conversation you're having for after class, I would be more than happy to not write you up!"

They shut up immediately. However as soon as the teacher began speaking again, Sean mumbled something to Tony that Ian couldn't quite catch. Tony, however, who seemed to hear it loud and clear, turned a very deep red and was suddenly extremely interested in the lesson at hand.

The rest of the period passed without incident. Mr. Stately called it quits about two minutes before the bell rang, and only briefly mentioned that the class had a new student. He gave Ian that genuine grin and asked, "Would you like to come up and say a few things about yourself?"

Ian blanched and shook his head quickly. "No, no. I can just wait until I present my project, thanks."

The teacher shrugged and moved to his desk, dropping into his creaky chair and asking the class not to get too loud.

Mr. Stately was awesome.

He noticed that the two boys were watching him. Tony was playing with his lighter again, looking cool and unaffected. Sean just looked pissed, but then again, Ian hadn't really seen any other emotion on him outside of smug satisfaction.

"So, Ian. You got lunch next period?" asked Tony. Ian nodded. Tony let his lighter close with a loud, metallic click. "You know where the football bleachers are?"

He thought for a minute and nodded. Their ever-so-wonderful game of handball during gym class had been near there, and the massive bleachers were pretty hard to miss. If this school ended up being one of those that lived, ate, and breathed football, the thought he may have to kill himself.

Tony stuck his lighter back in his pocket. "Meet us out there next period. Don't get lost."

The bell rang loudly and the class rose to leave. Sean, who was now standing next to the still-sitting Ian, glared down at him. "Yeah. Don't be late, noob." He started a few more seconds for good measure before following Tony up the aisle and giving his rear a rather loud slap as they exited.

Ian didn't quite know what to think of the day's events so far. Jack was maybe a jerk ... Tony was possibly not that bad ... Sean was a douche ... Tony and Sean together were really freaking bizarre. He had no idea what to expect next period. But hey, at least now he didn't have to worry about sitting alone at lunch.

HOORAY! Now a few words for my reviewers because you guys made me HAPPYYY :)

Braids21: LAURA! is glomped glomps back Yes it's here. And look! Chapter 2! I heart youuuu and I miss History class already :( TJORH anyone?

littlewitch1899: :D Yay! Here you go!

Charlie Bird: Ooo thanks so much! There are introductions next chapter, along with reasons for the nicknames, all according to Underground regulations, haha. (But yes, Joseph is Snitch ... I went back and realized I made everyone really obvious except him lol.) Thank you again! XD

antiIRONY: :) :) Thanks a bunch!

Iambic Pentameter: I'm glad you like it! And I LOVE LABYRINTH OMG. Bowie-as-Jareth is yummy. Heh, "You remind me of the babe ..." Now that's stuck in my head. Thanks again!

ellaeternity: Hullo LJ friend, heh. Don't worry, I'm really impressionable, too. Obsessed-with-music!Skittery is always the best kind, heh. I think I subconsciously modeled him after a friend of mine. Whups? LOL.

Kid Blink's Dreamer: Hehe ... and here's an update!

Next chapter - Lunchtime introductions with the boys!