So Far Away

This takes place on Tuesday, May 18. Keep in mind that Prom is on the

It was first hour and Mr. Cameron was teaching the lesson on El Greco and Francisco de Goya entirely in Spanish.

But Sonny didn't hear that El Greco specialized in religious paintings in which all the subjects were lean and elongated; that fumes from the paint drove Goya slowly insane until he began painting macabre works at the end of his long life.

The Cuban's eyes strayed toward the clock. Elizabeth had already been taking her Psychology AP exam for an hour. He himself was supposed to take it, but then it turned out that even a perfect score wouldn't get him out of a core Psychology requirement at NYU, so there was really no point.

"Preguntas?" Mr. Cameron looked around the room to see if the children had any questions, and Sonny made an attempt to look like he had been paying attention. The teacher turned back to his slideshow and Sonny went back to mulling over his latest problem.

Elizabeth and the girls were convinced that Jason was ignoring her. Avoiding her. And what Sonny didn't understand was why his best friend would do that. It had to be a misunderstanding. After all, maybe Jason had just been in a bad mood and wanted to be alone for a while.

Sonny knew both Elizabeth and Jason very well, and he knew that while Jason was pretty reserved when it came to his feelings, Elizabeth was very open. Maybe Jason had just wanted to deal with whatever was bugging him on his own without having Elizabeth drag it into some huge ordeal fit for Montel Williams. Maybe they were all just making a mountain out of a molehill. After all, wasn't that what they, as high schoolers and especially as seniors, specialized in?

Yes, Sonny nodded to himself. That had to be it. And he'd be willing to bet that come Calculus – which was the only class that all three of them had together all day – Jason Morgan would be back to his normal, carefree self.


"What the hell is the Young-Hermholtz theory?" Emily Bowen demanded as the small group walked up the stairs from the basement to the main floor. The AP Psychology exam had just ended in time for period six-seven, which meant they all had to attend their next class before breaking for lunch.

Many students had just decided to ditch the next period and take an extra-long lunch, returning only for periods nine and ten. Others had just left entirely.

Still, she, Elizabeth, Jenny, Petey, Carol, and a couple of their other friends had decided to stay and were now trudging wearily on to their next class.

"I didn't get that either," Lisa Kelling announced, flipping her black hair over her shoulders. "I don't remember going over it, do you?"

Carol shook her head. "But then again, that's not saying much. With Purdy as a teacher, we didn't 'go over' most of the book."

"True," Jenny sighed. "That woman has no business being a teacher if she can't even teach us what the Young-Hermholtz thing was. From the way the question was phrased, it sounded like an important theory."

Lauren dragged a hand through her long, tangled brown locks. "Does it have something to do with the ear?" she asked. "Like, was it one of those early theories explaining how we perceived sound or something?"

"I don't think so," Emily replied slowly. "But I still can't figure out what it was supposed to be."

"It was the theory explaining the trichotomy of colors in regards to visual perception," Elizabeth mumbled for the first time.

There was a brief silence. "Oh," Carol got out. "OK."

The group shuffled down the hallway, not too eager to return to class, and Elizabeth remained silent. She never really minded school before – never minded the million and one different things demanding her attention at any given point in time, the hustle and bustle in the hallways, the ridiculous amount of work her teachers assigned. But today, she was just tired of it all. All she wanted to do was go home and collapse on her bed and not get up for a week.

Damn Jason.


"Hey, guys." Mr. Alcazar's greeting lacked its usual warmth and the accompanying smile everyone was used to as Lisa Kelling and Elizabeth trudged in.

They nodded at the Czar and slumped into their seats, and the teacher continued explaining the problem he had started five minutes earlier at the beginning of class.

"They're going to hit you with a lot of these on the day after tomorrow," he informed his weary students. "I can tell you that right now. The trick is not to freak out and to try to figure out how you can rearrange the problem to look easier."

He added a few parentheses and used a few substitutions, and in a few seconds the problem was easily recognizable to the students that were furiously trying to absorb as much knowledge as they possibly could before the exam in two days.

"That's the summation formula," Luke spoke up, quickly jotting down the problem in his notebook.

"And that goes back to the slope thing," Marcus quipped, staring hard at his teacher's writing. "Can't you just take the limit and be done with it?"

"It looks that way," Mr. Alcazar nodded. "And you're close, but not quite."

"Substitution!" Ryan burst out from the back of the room. "Substitute log base two of x for the square root of y-"

"And then take the limit," Charlie instructed confidently. "There you go – that was easy!"

"Exactly!" Mr. Alcazar beamed. "Did everyone see how we did that? Taggert?"

The boy squinted at the board for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"Good." Mr. Alcazar looked out at the rest of the class. "Any more questions you guys need to get a handle on?"

"Can we do some more Riemann sums?" Sonny asked. "Pick a really hard one."

"OK, OK," their teacher nodded, picking up his teachers' workbook and scribbling out an elaborate diagram on the board.

Elizabeth sighed and began copying the problem down half-heartedly in her almost full notebook. She was so not in the mood to study Calculus, especially after just getting out of that Psychology exam. It had been stupid to show up – she should have just ditched.

Sonny slid her a sidelong glance and then glanced at Jason, who sat next to him with a permanent scowl on his face as his pencil scratched furiously on his notebook. With a sigh, Sonny shifted in his chair, hoping to attract Elizabeth's attention.

She looked up when his chair creaked, and he quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Hey."

A corner of her mouth curved up, but her half-smile was tired and coldly pleasant. "Hey."

"How was Psych?"

"Not too bad. I'm expecting a four."

"Huh. Not bad at all."

"Yeah." She dropped her gaze to her notebook again, already drawing the rectangles that would be used in the summation formula to determine slope.

Sonny shifted uncomfortably. "Hey, you okay?"

She looked up at him in surprise and he saw her dart a quick glance at Jason to see if he had heard or not. Seeing that Jason remained staring stoically ahead at the board, Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Beth…"

"Seriously, Sonny." Her blue eyes sparked dangerously. "Let it go, okay?"

"I can't," he hissed back.

"Alright, Michael, you got more important things on your hands than doing Riemanns?" Mr. Alcazar demanded, placing both hands on his hips. The fact that he used the boy's actual name instead of his class nickname, Clyde, was a dead-giveaway to the fact that he was in no mood for games. "You asked for this example, you know."

"Sorry, Mr. Alcazar," Sonny apologized, also forgoing the usual title of Czar. "I'm paying attention."

Jason glanced at his friend but Sonny had his head bent studiously over his own notebook. With a roll of his eyes, Jason leaned back in his seat and resumed scowling at the ceiling.

"All right." Mr. Alcazar surveyed his problem, satisfied. "So we've got the data values, but there's a problem: there's no way to get n. Elizabeth, what do we do?"

The brunette looked up from her notebook and propped her cheek in her small hand. "I don't know," she shrugged.

Mr. Alcazar, along with everyone else in the class, stared at her in surprise.

"Sure you do," her teacher assured her, his smile laced with confusion. "What do we do?"

She shrugged again, her eyes bored and disinterested. "Mm."

Lorenzo pursed his lips, his hands finding their way to his hips once more. There was a long pause, and no one moved until he spoke again. "Guys, this exam is in two days." Their teacher's voice was stern and drawn. "Two days. You've worked hard all year long – don't throw it away when we're right in the homestretch."

He spun around and lifted the chalk to the board. "OK, now, someone tell me, what do we do?"

"Rewrite the formula," Ryan spoke up, trying to save face on Elizabeth's behalf. He glanced curiously at his friend as Mr. Alcazar began scribbling, but Elizabeth's dark blue eyes were trained on her notebook once again.

Sonny glanced at her and frowned.

It seemed as if the whole situation wasn't a misunderstanding after all.

The class dragged on as Mr. Alcazar answered all the questions his students hurled at him. He filled up all four long boards with work, and erased all of it only to fill it up again.

For the first time in the year, Marcus didn't leave early. He even stayed a few minutes late, finishing copying down the last problem.

Luke didn't even have any quick quip as he sauntered toward the door, his graphing calculator tucked in the pocket of his cargo pants. He lifted a hand at his teacher and slipped out the door, tired and ready to eat.

The rest of the students remained in their seats, either copying down the work or musing over it. Ryan and Charlie were working on a problem together, and Lisa was listening to them intently. Elizabeth and Sonny were still copying down something in their notebooks, and Mr. Alcazar noticed Sonny's lips moving discreetly, saying something softly to the brunette.

Jason, on the other hand, slapped his notebook shut and rose abruptly from his seat, managing his crutches expertly and practically fleeing the room. Lorenzo's eyebrows furrowed – that was strange. Normally, Jason wouldn't leave until Elizabeth had finished whatever it was she was doing, even if it meant that they were late for lunch – a senior's worst nightmare.

A sour expression had claimed Elizabeth's mouth as she got up from her own seat and tucked her pencil into the spirals of her notebook. She glanced around at all the boards, making sure that she had copied down everything, before striding for the door. She was out and already on the stairs before Lorenzo even had time to call out goodbye.

The Spaniard frowned again. Something was definitely going on. Elizabeth always stopped to talk to him after class, and he had been expecting her to fill him in on her trials and tribulations while facing the dreaded Psychology exam. She always took the time to fill him in. But today she had fled as if the seat of her pants were on fire.

His black eyes fell on an exceptionally weary-looking Sonny Corinthos as the boy stood and adjusted his backpack over his shoulders. The boy nodded to his teacher once in goodbye and shuffled to the door.

"Hey." Sonny turned around at his teacher's voice and saw Mr. Alcazar tip his head toward the door. "What's up with those two?"

The boy chuckled, but the sound lacked all humor. "That's the million-dollar question, Czar," was all he said as he stepped into the hall. "And I wish I knew the answer."


Elizabeth's downtrodden mood must have been contagious, because even Petey couldn't bring herself to sing as they both pulled out their books and lunches. The tiny brunette was crouched on the floor by Lauren's feet, engaged in her daily battle with an overstuffed locker.

"I swear, I think there's something living in here," Elizabeth muttered, trying with all her might to pull out a notebook. "It nearly took my finger off."

Lauren smirked and bent to help her friend. With a good tug, they both managed to pull the notebook free.

"Petey, Beth." Sonny shuffled down the hall toward them. "Hey."

"Yo, Corinthos." Lauren straightened her Peter Frampton cutout and pulled out her copy of Pride and Prejudice for study hall. "What's shaking?"

The boy shrugged. "Nothing much. How'd you think you did on Psych?"

Lauren zipped up her backpack and pulled it on. "Not bad. Multiple choice was okay, but I bombed one essay."

"That's usually not so bad," Elizabeth spoke up from her seat on the floor. The brunette didn't look up from her locker as she continued. "On Bio last year, I was sure I messed up on the multiple choice – I didn't even finish it – and one of my essays was completely wrong while another was about half-wrong. I still got a four." She nodded once and picked up her Lone Ranger lunchbox. "Watch – you may surprise yourself. Often, if you do even marginally well on multiple choice, bombing an essay question won't hurt you."

"Huh." Lauren perked up noticeably at the news. "Well, okay, then. That makes me feel a bit better." She patted her friend on the shoulder and awarded Sonny with a punch on his. "I'll see you cats later – I have to run to Guidance."

"Later, Petey," both Sonny and Elizabeth replied in unison.

Sonny waited until Elizabeth zipped up her bag and then offered his hand, helping her to her feet. "Look, we have to talk."

"About?" Elizabeth purred smoothly, brushing her hair from her face and crossing her arms over her chest as they walked.

Sonny knew she was just trying to play down the situation, and she didn't fool him for a minute with her act of indifference. "I'm sorry that Jason's being an ass."

The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Sonny, you don't have to apologize. This has nothing to do with you."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know – he's my best friend. And you're a really good friend of mine, too, Beth." His eyes were sincere as they sought hers. "I just hate the thought of him hurting you."

She didn't say anything and looked away, and Sonny took the opportunity to continue. "Remember back when you first started…hanging out? Right before we all went to Clover together?"

Elizabeth pursed her lips at the memory of that all-too-perfect trip.

"I remember telling Brenda the same thing," Sonny confessed. "Beth, I've known Jason my whole life – we live a few houses apart and have been best friends since preschool. I know…I know what he's like. He's a great guy, don't get me wrong, but he has his flaws. Do you know that you were the first girl he was ever serious about?"

"Why are you telling me this, Sonny?" she demanded, whirling around to face him. They were stopped by the stairs, partially hidden from view by the walls of the stairwell, but they still attracted a few glances from nearby students at their lockers.

"Because…I don't know," the boy got out, running a hand through his dark curls. "He's always just done what he's wanted as far as girls were concerned, you know? He never dated any girls from PC High – they were always from Llanview or Pinebrook or Cedar Grove. Lots of them were in college."

Elizabeth stared at him, giving him the clear message that she didn't need to know any more about Jason's past trysts.

But Sonny wouldn't be deterred. He had a point, he was certain of it. He just had to find it.

"He always called the shots, you know? I know it sounds kind of…misogynistic or whatever, but he always played by his own rules. If he wanted to go out with a certain girl, he went for it right then and there. He didn't take no for an answer, and he got what he wanted. If he got tired of a girl, he'd break things off without a second thought. If-"

"Sonny." Elizabeth's voice was tired as she shook her head and turned away, ready to step back into the hallway. "It doesn't matter – I don't need to hear this."

Sonny was faster, and he leapt forward and grabbed her elbow. "But don't you see, Beth?" he pressed. "You were different."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Not different enough."

Sonny sighed and pulled her forcefully back into the stairwell. "Look, just hear me out, okay?"

"Sonny, we're late for lunch-" she tried, attempting to stave off this conversation.

"The hell with lunch!" he hissed, attracting the confused glares of Brendan and Jenny as they walked down the hallway together. "Just listen to me."

"You have one minute," she informed him, checking her watch. "Go."

"You were different," he repeated. "You were different in every way."

"How so?"

Sonny licked his lips. "Jason never knew what to do when he was around you. He never knew what to try in order to get you to notice him – the smart routine, the jock routine; he just didn't know. You made him nervous at first – for the first time, he wasn't as sure of himself. It took him forever to work up the courage to start something, you know."

Elizabeth sniffed delicately and glanced pointedly at her watch.

"It was really weird watching him, and I'm saying that as his best friend. I have never seen him as hung up over a girl before. Usually, no one girl had ever taken his attention away from everything else he was doing. But again, you were different. He'd zone out while we were running, he'd be too caught up with thinking about you to pay attention all the time in class. Do you know that he even started taking the long way to his classes just so he'd see you in the hall along the way?"

He could see that he had made some ground, so he continued quickly. "It took him forever to work up the nerve to kiss you. Call me a pig, but I told him to go for it," Sonny admitted with a smirk.

"Pig," Elizabeth mumbled, rolling her eyes with a ghost of smile on her face.

"But he didn't because he was so afraid of scaring you away. You weren't like any of the other girls he was used to, Beth. You always had a quick quip on hand when he was full of #$, and at the same time you weren't afraid or reluctant to offer him support when he needed it. Do you know how much it meant to him when you told him before the state conferences that you thought he was good enough?"

Elizabeth lowered her gaze and nibbled on her bottom lip.

"Do you know how weird it is that he hasn't…you know…slept with you?"

The brunette's dark blue eyes snapped up to meet his, blazing with disbelief. "What did you just say?" she demanded, dropping her books on the floor and pushing Sonny back against the railing by the stairs.

The Cuban squirmed, trying to avoid her punches. Finally, he just grabbed her small hands in his and held them away from himself. "Look-"

"I can't believe you just said that!" she seethed, her nostrils flaring and a pink blush already blooming in her cheeks. "I'm going to-"

"Look, that's how Jason is!" he tried to explain, struggling to contain her fists. "I'm sorry to be so blunt, but that's how he is. What did you think I meant when I said that when he wants something, he gets it?"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes lethally at him and wrenched her hands free, crossing them over her chest as she continued to glare at him.

"But that's my point. He hasn't put any pressure on you at all for that. And why do you think that is?"

He waited, but instead of answering, Elizabeth just averted her gaze.

"It's because you mean more to him than that, Beth. You know it's true."

"What's the point of this whole tribute, Sonny?" she interrupted testily. "What are you trying to say here?"

He cleared his throat and straightened the shirt she had wrinkled during their brief bout. "I'm just saying that there's got to be more to this than we know. You say he's avoiding you, fine," he shrugged, "but I don't think that means that he's lost interest or whatever Carol was saying."

"Sonny-"

"There's more to this than meets the eye," he reminded her gently. "There's a difference between what we think is going on and what is real."

She was looking down at her fingers now and Sonny waited, but she didn't say anything.

"Beth? What did I just say?" he tested, trying to see if she had really been paying attention or had just been humoring him.

"Something about Israel?"

Her smirk had him laughing instantly, and he was glad that she was at least in the mood to crack a joke, however lame.

"Seriously," he began, his voice softer now. "Let's find out what's going on first, okay? Can we do that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "Because to tell you the truth, Sonny, I just want this whole thing to go away. I want everything to go back to the way it was, or I want it to fast forward to what it will be when this is ironed out. I just don't want to deal with it."

"Beth-"

"No, Sonny," she cut him off, and he could see the anger beginning to flare up in her dark topaz eyes. "I'm sick of this already. I didn't even do anything. If I had pissed him off in some way, I could understand, but I didn't do anything."

"I know, I know-"

"And all of a sudden he's pissed off about some nondescript thing and he takes it out on me?" she demanded, jabbing a finger to her chest. "Forget it – no. He can just be an ass for as long as he wants because – because…" She had to pause as her voice wobbled, and Sonny thought he saw tears in her eyes. "Because I hate being jerked around like this. I hate being made to feel that I don't matter. So until he's ready to start acting like a normal person again – I-I don't know. Whatever."

With that, she turned around and walked away, leaving Sonny standing alone in the stairwell.


The warm breeze ruffled through Brenda's dark hair as she nibbled on a graham cracker. It was a gorgeous day and the sun was out in full force, bathing the courtyard in front of the theatre in radiant golden light.

Her boyfriend's disposition, however, was far from sunny.

Sonny sat next to her, angrily chomping on his turkey sandwich and glowering at the blades of grass that dared wave in the breeze. Brenda's hand absently stroked his forearm, but even that familiar gesture did little to calm him down.

"Shitpot," he muttered around a mouthful of turkey. "I oughta kick his ass. I would, too, if he wasn't a cripple."

And that, Brenda knew, was one of the big differences between her and Sonny. They both handled their anger in extremely different ways. When she was angry, she had to force herself to admit that she got sneaky. She'd think carefully about her problem and then conjure up some course of action that seemed appropriate.

Sonny, on the other hand, was like a hurricane when he got angry – things went flying all over the place as he blazed through, and he was done as quickly as he had begun.

"I know you're angry, Sonny, but going up to him and picking a fight won't solve anything."

Sonny stopped chewing and looked directly at her. "She was crying, Bren."

His girlfriend nodded. "But picking a fight won't make her feel better."

"It'd make me feel better," he mumbled, getting back to his sandwich. "Do you remember what I told you about them when we were in Clover?"

"That even though you liked that your best friend was dating your almost-best-friend, you were afraid he'd hurt her," Brenda replied quietly, her hand rubbing long, soothing strokes up and down his arm as she leaned her chin on his shoulder.

"And, " he added pointedly, "that I wouldn't be above hurting him if he made her cry."


Elizabeth was leaning against Sydney's locker and listening to the brunette chatter on about her idea for her end-of-the-year English project. She knew that the girl was just trying to alleviate some of the tension that hung thick around their circle of friends, and she was glad for the efforts.

"So, I just took this class on how to make claymation movies, right?" she said excitedly. "So it occurred to me – why not take a canto from the Divine Comedy and turn it into a claymation movie?"

"Sounds like a good idea, Syd," Elizabeth agreed wearily. "That'd be pretty cool."

Sydney continued to prattle on about what canto she wanted to use and how she'd make Virgil and Dante when Carol and Emily sauntered up to them.

"Hey, girlies," Emily smiled. "Man, I'm ready to go home and get some sleep. I haven't done anything but study Psych for the last two days – I'm beat."

"Me, too," Carol agreed. "I'm glad I don't have any more to take."

"Lucky ducks," Sydney growled, zipping up her backpack. "Beth and I have English tomorrow."

"And Beth and I have Calc on Thursday," Lisa Kelling pointed out as she joined the group. Lexi, Jenny and Brenda soon joined the group and the girls chattered for a few minutes. Jenny waited until all the girls were otherwise engaged in conversation before sidling closer to Elizabeth.

"Beth," she whispered, her eyes grave when her friend turned to face her. "I've…I talked to Brendan about Jason."

At the sound of Elizabeth's boyfriend, all girls immediately stopped talking and turned toward Jenny.

"Geez!" the redhead exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "You guys can't hear what the homework is but you can hear me say Jason?"

"Yeah, yeah, Evrard," Carol said, waving her hand in the air. "Jokes later – news now."

"Yeah," Lexi nodded. "Did Brendan tell you what crawled up Jason's ass and died?"

The girls are whirled around to face the younger brunette, surprised to hear the studious junior swear.

"What?" she shrugged. "I think he's a dog."

"Well," Jenny started once all eyes were back on her. "I asked him if he knew what was up with Jason, and he said he had no clue."

Elizabeth nodded, urging her to continue.

"He just said that he knew that he was pissed off about something, but as far as he could tell, no one knew what the something was except Jason." The redhead averted her gaze and twiddled her thumbs before the next part. "But he did tell me…"

Brenda couldn't take it anymore. "What, Jenny? Spit it out!"

"Jason was drinking with Luke and Taggert on Friday and maybe over the weekend, too," Jenny blurted, finally daring a to dart a glance at Elizabeth. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know how else to say it."

Elizabeth's jaw was agape. "Drinking? " she repeated in shock. "That – that can't be right. Jason would never drink."

Brenda, too, was having an equally hard time absorbing the information. "She's right – both Jason and Sonny feel the same way about drinking; and we should know."

Jenny shrugged. "That's what the word is," she explained. "Jason apparently went over to Luke's on Friday and the three of them hung out in his basement and got drunk."

Elizabeth leaned back against the lockers, her hand over her mouth as she thought. "But why – that's the real question." Her confused eyes met Brenda's, and her best friend looked away in embarrassment. "Why would he – what would propel him to go out and get wasted? He's totally against that."

"Wish I knew," Carol muttered. "Damn it. This whole thing makes no sense!"

They stood in silence before Lexi shyly admitted that she was late for Orchestra and had to run. Elizabeth shooed her on and the other girls soon followed, each of them offering the brunette a comforting squeeze on the shoulder and directing a curse on her Golden Boy.

Only Brenda and Elizabeth remained, and Sonny quirked an eyebrow at them as he walked up the stairs to his locker nearby.

"Ladies," he smiled pleasantly, but Brenda could see that he was still angry about what had happened earlier. "How goes it?"

"Fine," Elizabeth smiled back, still thinking about what Jenny had told her. "Ready for English tomorrow?"

"Oh, yeah," the dark-haired boy nodded. "English isn't going to be a problem. I'm going to go home and hit the Calc hard instead."

"Me, too."

"I have to go to the bathroom," Brenda announced, setting her bag on the floor and punching her boyfriend on the shoulder. "You wanna give me a ride home today?"

He nodded immediately. "Sure. Can we leave now – as soon as you get back? I really want to get home and study."

"Sure," she smiled at the both of them as she walked backward to the girls room. "Give me a minute."

No sooner had she disappeared than Jason loped into view. He seemed at ease on his crutches now, and his movement suggested that his strength was returning. Sonny frowned when he saw that his best friend's eyes were trained on the ground.

His frown only grew darker when Jason passed the two of them without a glance and continued to the stairwell.

Next to him, Elizabeth huffed in disbelief and grabbed her backpack from the floor, slipping it on in one fluid motion. She had told herself that once he showed face she'd confront him, but that idea had vanished. She was so sure that she could face him and let him know that she knew he was acting different and that he'd better tell her the truth. But suddenly, she just didn't feel up to it.

"Later, Sonny." Even though she only spoke two words to him, Sonny could hear her voice wobble, and his eyes narrowed as he watched her slender form half-trot down the hall to the stairs on the opposite end.

With a low growl, Sonny slung his own backpack on the floor and pushed past Johnny, Ryan, and Charlie who were standing by the drinking fountain. Jason was nearing the end of the lockers when Sonny caught up to him.

"Morgan."

He stopped but didn't turn around, and Sonny angrily stalked forward to stand in front of him. Jason stared at him, his mouth set, and was surprised when Sonny abruptly shoved him back.

"You want to tell me what the hell your problem is?" Sonny demanded, shoving him again.

That was all it took for Jason to remove his hands from the crutches and hold his best friend off. "Now, I know you didn't just push me, Corinthos."

"Oh?" the boy challenged. He claimed another step and shoved Jason harder, and this time all the students in the hall heard Jason's back clang against the lockers. "What do you call that, then?"

The blonde had had enough at that point, and let the crutches fall completely. As far as he was concerned, they were a formality now anyway – he had experimented and found that he could walk fine without them for at least a short distance.

Nostrils flaring and cerulean eyes blazing, Jason pushed himself away from the lockers and landed a punch square in Sonny's gut. The boy grunted and then fought back, and pretty soon the sounds of their brawl had attracted the attention of everyone in the hallway.

"#$," Brendan muttered to himself, switching his Chemistry book to the other hand. Without waiting to see who bled first, the slim editor turned on the heel of his black tennis shoes and raced off down the hall.

"Pansy," Sonny got out through gritted teeth as Jason wrestled him to the ground. "I'll kick your motherfucking ass, you son of a-"

"Tough words," Jason growled back as he pinned Sonny down. "Too bad you don't have a prayer." The dark-hair boy executed a swift jab of the knee to Jason's side and the tables turned, this time with Sonny winning.

Brendan came bursting back just then with Mr. Lewis and Mr. Alcazar in tow. The two men lost no time in jumping into the middle of the melee and fairly wrenching the two boys apart.

"Woah there!" Mr. Lewis cried, wrapping an arm around Sonny's chest and pulling him back forcefully.

Brenda chose that moment to step out of the girls room, and her wide brown eyes took in the confusion. "What the heck happened?" she demanded, turning on poor Johnny who happened to be standing the closest. He shrugged helplessly, unable to explain because he himself didn't understand.

"Hey!" Mr. Alcazar latched onto an irate Jason and struggled to hold him in place as Mr. Lewis did the same. "Corinthos! Morgan!" The boys stared angrily back at him, and for a moment, confusion took over and prevented the math teacher from forming a coherent thought. "You boys know you were fighting each other?"

Charlie couldn't help smirk, but swallowed it as soon as Brenda turned a murderous glare on him. With a sigh, she stepped forward and up to Sonny's side, managing to convince the Spanish teacher that he wouldn't attack anyone if he let him go.

"What's going on?" Mr. Alcazar demanded. "I'm asking all of you," he added, looking at all the students in the hall in turn. "Does someone want to tell me what the hell just happened? What about you two?"

"Nothing," both Sonny and Jason responded in unison. Sonny scowled at Jason as the boy bent to retrieve his backpack. Mr. Alcazar offered him his crutches and Jason accepted them, but didn't use them.

"Lorenzo." Mr. Lewis' expression was grave. "Should we take them down to the dean? It's your call."

Brenda grabbed Sonny's hand, tucking her hair nervously behind her ear. "Please don't, Mr. Alcazar – it won't happen again."

"Is that true?" the teacher asked his too students. The boys didn't reply and didn't even look at each other. "Look, I know you kids get into fights and want to let off some steam, but for God's sake, don't do it on campus. Too many people are liable here. Try to find a better way to solve your arguments."

He glanced at both of his Calculus students and sighed. "Mr. Lewis, I say we let these boys get on home."

The Spanish teacher clapped his student on the back, but his gaze was still stern. Sonny had been in his charge for a while and he knew the boy well. Jason, on the other hand, had never been in his class but from what he knew the two boys were very good friends so that had to be some reflection of the other boy's personality. From what he could judge, both boys had just snapped over something, and he hoped that Brenda was right when she said that it wouldn't happen again.

"All right."

Brenda sighed in relief and tugged on Sonny's hand, wanting to get him as far away from Jason at the moment as she could. Sonny resisted, his face still set and hard, but another good tug from his girlfriend had him following her to the stairwell.

Mr. Alcazar reached out to help Jason but the boy shrugged off his help and shuffled back around the corner, not using his crutches. The rest of the students cleared the hallway rapidly, and pretty soon only Lorenzo and Cameron were left.

Cameron rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Goodness."

Lorenzo chuckled dryly. "You can say that again." He shook his head, leaning a shoulder against the lockers. "I don't know what got into those boys," he admitted. "And no one seems to want to say anything. I've seen it growing over the period of a few days but-"

"You've noticed, too?" Cameron inquired, stroking his beard with interest. "Well, then."

"What do you mean? What have you seen?"

"Nothing significant, to be quite honest," the Spanish teacher responded. "But I've noticed that Elizabeth's been rather crestfallen lately, and Michael always seems to be doing his best to cheer her up. Why? What have you seen?"

"I have all three of them in my six-seventh hour Calculus class." Lorenzo leaned back fully against the beige lockers and crossed his legs at the ankle. "The three of them haven't spoken a word to each other since Friday, and Jason always leaves as soon as class is over. He used to wait for Elizabeth. And today, she didn't stay after class to tell me about her Psychology exam – she just left. And when I asked Sonny about it, he didn't offer much in the way of an answer."

"I don't like what's going on with these kids," Cameron sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "From what I know of Jason and Sonny, they've been friends since they were very young. It would be a shame for their friendship to dissolve right before they leave for different schools. And Elizabeth…I have never seen her upset in the three years that she's been here. It's so strange to see her this way."

Lorenzo nodded. "I hope this blows over. After all, they're just kids. I guess that's just what happens senior year – every child gets caught up in this whirlwind of drama and emotion. I hope they don't do anything they end up regretting."

Cameron grunted in agreement and shuffled his feet. "Do you think we did right – sending them home, that is?"

Lorenzo thought about it for a moment. "I sure hope so. They're good kids – I hope they make an effort to steer clear of each other if they persist with this argument."

The Spanish teacher nodded. "Yes, well. If you'll excuse me, Enzo, I should be returning to my classroom. I have some AP students waiting for extra help-"

"Oh, please," Lorenzo waved him on. "Go. Don't let me keep you from them. Thanks for your help."

Cameron offered him a tight-lipped smile and disappeared slowly around the corner. Lorenzo sighed and leaned his head back against the locker, his hands deep in his pockets. He had just closed his eyes when he heard quiet rustling nearby.

Opening his eyes, Lorenzo was surprised to see Elizabeth standing a few paces before him, her eyes tired and defeated.

"E-Elizabeth," he stammered. "What- How long have you been here? What are you doing back?"

She licked her lips and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear, and one look in her eyes told Mr. Alcazar that she had seen the whole altercation. "I left my lunchbox."

Mr. Alcazar looked around and sure enough, there was her lunchbox on the floor near his feet. He picked it up by the hot pink handle and held it out to her. She accepted it solemnly and took a small step back.

"Elizabeth-"

"Thanks, Czar," was all she said in reply. "See you in class tomorrow."