Disclaimer: I own nothing but my laptop.

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Vert didn't exactly know what time he had gotten back to Will's shit of an apartment. All he knew was that he was dead tired, 10 seconds in the 'house' if you would call it, he stubbed his toe on the table, had an all out battle with the couch that was 'supposed' to pull out into a bed, and discovered that these 'blankets and pillows' in the closet turned out to be a sandbag and a bed sheet with holes in it. Exactly what his Uncle needed a sand bag was a question Vert didn't even dare ask himself.

All he knew was that his shirt smelled of beer, hair of cigarette and pot smoke and on his arm was a girl's number. A very insane and drunk girl who wanted him to call tomorrow, a glance at the clock on the VCR that he was surprised even worked told him it was already tomorrow. Alright, so he would call her...today.

Flopping onto the couch, the blonde teen let out a small groan as a spring dug into his back. And the covering on the couch arm was so worn down; he might as well have used wood as a pillow. Hell knows it would be more comfortable than this.

Oh yeah...this was the life... He couldn't POSSIBLY think of a better way to end the night...

Of course, Vert was COMPLETELY wrong by this information...

Just as he closed his eyes did a flash of light blast through the window just behind the broken TV. He thought it would go away, but he was wrong. It was a strobe light, and it was on full blast. All of a sudden hard rock music pounded through the wall, shaking everything that wasn't bolted down, and in this house, that was the bag of chips on the floor and an aged cigarette butt. Cursing loudly, Vert clambered onto his feet, heading over to the window while shielding his eyes from the light to see exactly what the hell was going on. Looking out, he saw that in the apartment across from him looked to be what seemed like a mosh pit going on.

He was about to walk away, maybe sleep in the bathtub, when a sudden voice shouted, "BEER BOMB!" and a beer bottle came smashing out of their window, and crashing into the one Vert stood in front of, thus shattering it, and spraying the teen in glass. Luckily he had covered his eyes just in time and turned his back, only getting his jacket ripped up. Stumbling away from the window, Vert had half the mind to get the bottle and chuck it back over, yet left it as he headed for the bathroom. Right now, the tub looked damn well tempting to him.

Kicking the grungy looking bathroom door open, Vert groaned loudly. The whole floor was covered in mouse traps. Mouse traps in a bathroom. Somehow those two things just didn't mix. Stepping around them carefully, he pulled back the shower curtain to reveal a very dirty looking bathtub, with rat poison in it. The 17 year old didn't even bother containing his curses. Yanking the shower curtain closed, he headed out of the bathroom, slammed the door shut and headed for the front door.

Opening it, and pulling the doorknob off, he stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him, dropping the doorknob to the ground. Sighing with relief at the amount of volume the door blocked out of the rock music, Vert sank to his knees and leaned up against the wall. Right now, in this position, this was heaven. He almost didn't hear the sound of a couple fighting down the hall, or that dog barking, the sound of more glass being broken. Oh no, at that moment, he fell into a very deep, yet dreamless sleep. And it all went well until about two hours later, when he got a rude awakening.

The smell was disgusting. It smelled like something had DIED, then rolled around in crap and deep fried. Yes, that's EXACTLY what it smelled like. And there was something wet on his face, heavy breathing in his ear. In his state of being more asleep then awake, his mind immediately jumped to the idea that mutant rat's were going to take him hostage and make him their immortal slave.

Groaning, Vert slowly opened his eyes, coming face to face with warm brown ones. Jumping a bit, the back of his head slammed against the wall behind him, a sharp pain shooting up to his head. It was a dog in his lap, licking him all over the face.

"Get off me!" Vert growled, shoving the dog away, feeling like he could gag from the smell and feel of dog slobber on his face. Using the sleeve of his jacket, he wiped his face as Will opened the door with some difficulty since there was no doorknob anymore, and looked down to the blonde boy.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" he asked, a cold, stern look in his eyes.

Baffled, Vert starred up to him, "Well uh..."

"I wake up; find a broken window, beer bottle on the ground, and the doorknob off the front door. Now I know this isn't 'Living in La Vida Loca'..."

"You got that right." Vert muttered under his breath silently.

"But it's still my apartment, and you gotta treat it with respect."

"Hold on," he got up to his feet, nearly stepping on the dog's paw, sending it cowering away, "You think I did all of that?"

"Well who else could cause such damage like that! If you're going to be an angst kid, I want to know up front, right now." Will demanded, poking the palm of his own hand with his other hand's index finger, before pointing it at Vert, "Because I won't put up with it. I know your folks are gone, and I'm pretty much all you got, which means you're under my care now. And I don't want some angst teen in my house, in my city, screwing it up!"

"Look, I didn't do it!" Vert stated, clenching his fists at the mention of his parents, wanting to do nothing but just punch 'dear Uncle Will's' lights out. "I came home, and there was a party next door, with a strobe light, and they threw a beer bottle through the window. And the doorknob came off when I came out here to sleep because no one in HELL can sleep in that house!"

"You expect me to believe that! There was no party last night!"

"Are you kidding me? It was so damn loud, I'm surprised anybody slept!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Will snarled, taking a threatening step closer, causing Vert to blink out of his rage to take a step back just in case.

"No! I'm just saying..."

"Just get in there and get ready. Need to get you registered at the school today." He ordered gruffly, standing back to let him get in.

Memories of last night's attempt to sleep in the tub came back to Vert as he headed inside, and the stench of rat poison reached his senses as Will handed him his duffel bag and closed the door on his way out. The rat traps were gone, and there was in fact...and clean towel waiting for him on the counter. Sighing, he just went his way and got ready.

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The drive towards his new school was a silent one. Apparently he was an 'angst teen' and didn't deserve getting talked to. Fine by him, all he was thinking about was if he was going to sleep out in the hall again tonight. Or maybe he can just sleep in the park. As they passed one by, he looked at the benches and how welcoming they seemed to him.

The school was pretty good looking. Tall, clean looking, and it was called Henry Melkrin Secondary School, with the American flag flying proud and high in the air right in the front. Students of what looked like every grade pulled up in fancy car's and trunks, making Vert feel completely embarrassed to be arriving in this junk of a heap that was sadly called a car.

Somehow finding the visitor parking, the two made their way towards the front of the school, Vert busy looking around and taking in his surroundings. Today he was dressed in a white t-shirt and his sky blue racing jacket, he wore dark blue pants and his white shoes once again, this time sporting white fingerless gloves.

The school walls were covered in previous tales of victory and celebration, the sound of the students cheerful and also typical of any school. Almost getting distracted by watching everyone go about their ways, Will had to grasp his shoulder and steer him into the office.

The office, much like the hallways, was buzzing with chatter and the phone ringing. People moved back and forth, almost in a dancing sort of way, winding around each other and avoiding any possible crashes. A fairly stout woman bustled foreword after seeing them, brushing back a strand of gray hair and gave them a flustered smile, "Hi, I'm Mrs. Karen, can I help you?"

"Uh yeah, we need to register him." Will answered, nodding his head in Vert's direction. Mrs. Karen rested her warm gaze on Vert and nodded, "Oh, okay, well, if you'll just follow me...what grade are you in Vert?" she asked, making her way towards the back of the office, the two following carefully.

"Uh, grade 12." The 17 year old answered.

"Oh, okay." A clipboard suddenly appeared out of nowhere it seemed, and was placed in William's hands. "If I can just get your dad-"

"He's not my dad." Vert answered rather quickly, the uncle and nephew looking embarrassed by the statement.

"Oh, I'm sorry...if I can just get your...guardian to fill this out, we can sort out your class schedule."

Nodding, the two entered an office where she closed the door, blocking out the sound. Letting out a small sigh of relief, Mrs. Karen took a seat behind her desk and turned on her computer, reaching into one of her drawers and producing a list, handing it to Vert.

"Okay...all of our class's are listed there with just a short bio of what would be going on in the class, you'll have to take English, obviously, and if I can just ask what your average was last year in English?"

"B." Vert answered shortly.

"Okay, great." And with that she turned to her computer, typing in something at a fast pace. Vert almost felt a bit of pity for the woman, she seemed so rushed and busy and was taking time out of her schedule just to deal with them. Of course, this was probably part of her job anyways...

Looking down to the list, the first thing Vert looked for was a Mechanic's program. Which is found and had a secret sort of grin to himself. Keeping that page on tab, he then looked at all the other classes there was.

"Did you take a language last year Vert?" Mrs. Karen asked suddenly, causing him to look up.

"Uh, yeah, I took Spanish."

"Okay, and do you plan on taking it again?"

Vert thought about this, and then finally agreed to it. Really he had no idea what he wanted to for all his classes, Spanish wasn't so bad last year, in fact he was pretty good at it. Returning to the list, he continued to search.

Metal work sounded fairly interesting. The 17 year old boy liked working with his hands. Alright, so far he had four classes to fill up a semester, seeing how on the list it noted that all the classes are an hour and a half long. So, he had English, Spanish, Metal Work and of course, Mechanic's, now just four more to figure out.

He wasn't too bad at math, and P.E was always good.

Two more to go... He felt a bit rushed, seeing how the counselor or whatever she was; was so rushed as well.

Blue eyes roamed the list once again, yet nothing seemed to pop out at him. Pop culture? Sounds good to him. And one more...

Now looking, almost frantically, he also remembered something. The spare block! Nearly sighing with relief, he looked up to see Will finally hand over the clipboard with all the information needed on it, and finally all the attention was turned on him.

"So! Did you choose your courses?"

He decided to stick with a simple nod, and listed them off to her as she typed them into the computer. "Alright, the Mechanic's course might be a bit full...but I'm sure we can squeeze you in there."

And a few minutes later, Vert got a freshly printed schedule handed to him, and thankfully, Mechanic's was in his first semester, along with Spanish, P.E and the spare. Thanking Mrs. Karen, the two left the school and got in the car.

"Alright, I'm giving you money so you can buy whatever supplies you need. And then at 4, I want you to head over to the garage so I can get you working."

"But, I don't know where it is." Vert pointed out.

Reaching across him, Will opened the glove compartment, and drew out a map, shoving it into the teen's hands, "It's on Johnson and King's way, called Arty's Garage. Figure it out." He said, coming to a stop in front of a mall. Turning off the engine, he dug out some crumpled bills and handed them to the blonde.

"Remember, 4 o'clock." Will repeated as Vert got out, then drove off as soon as he closed the car door behind him. Looking up to the mall, Vert sighed, and tugged back the sleeve of his jacket, Chantelle's number looking up at him.

Gazing around, he found a pay phone and headed over to it. He had a phone call to make.

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Does it feel a bit rushed to you? I think it's just me. And I think it's longer, it says 6 pages on my Microsoft Word program. Anyways, sorry it took me so long to update this, I'm having one hell of a time with school...stressed beyond BELIEF. But! I write for you! Enjoy!

M.Parker.