-Many thanks to my wonderful and evil beta, Sohalia Talitha, for being splendid.

-Nick/Sam. Turn back if you will.

-"Maybe Memories" completely gaffed from the song by The Used.

"As we trudged along through the mud,

we tried to call it home.

But we weren't alright, not at all;

not for one second."

-The Used

Nicholas Sayre sat on the edge of his bed, biting his lower lip in a futile attempt to keep himself still. He had been up for hours already, and as such was long since finished with his shower. He had dressed casually today, in his favorite green shirt, since classes weren't in session. Somersby was in the midst of exams, and most of his year was busy taking them this morning. Not Nicholas, however. Not Sameth, either. Somehow, Sam had convinced Nick to take the exams early, claiming that they would have more fun before graduation if they got their exams out of the way. Nick agreed, grudgingly, but did think it was for the best. Not that he would ever admit that Sam was right, however.

At the moment, Nick couldn't admit anything to Sam, as he snored loudly in his four-poster bed. Having quite enough of the chainsaw sound his best friend was producing, he got up and crossed to Sam's bed, flopping on the side in hopes of waking him up.

Sam didn't budge.

"Sam," he said quietly, poking him in the shoulder. At the lack of response he tried again, a little louder this time. "Sam. Sam. Sam! Wake up!" Sam opened one eye blearily and grumbled, grabbing his blanket and covering his face and dark hair.

"Oh, come on, Sam! You can't lie around here all day. I'm bored. Get - your - arse - out - of - bed!" Nicholas punctuated his sentence with swift whippings of his pillow, if only to accentuate the severity of his seriousness. Sam fought him off bravely, shielding himself from the worst of the blows before tackling the blonde boy.

"Nick," Sam said with a wicked glint in his eye, "you are going to pay for that." Nick, being pinned under both brunette and pillow, could only 'oomph' in reply. Sam pushed off him and stood, crossing over to the bathroom that adjoined to the dormitory. Nick sat up and glared at the retreating form, mumbling about things that perhaps even he knew not about.

Sam came out of the bathroom looking more awake, at the least. His pyjama pants were well worn; Nick knew they were his favorite pair. He chose to sleep without a shirt normally, as most of the boys did since temperatures in the dormitory were often high. He crossed back over to his bed and fell backwards upon it, comfortably enough to relax but not to fall asleep. Nick sat down near his head, leaning against the backboard.

"We don't have practice today," Nick moaned woefully, "almost everyone else has exams and everyone who doesn't isn't worth hanging around with." Sam looked up pitifully, but Nicholas knew the feeling wasn't shared. Nick continued despite this. "If you hadn't forced me to take those bloody exams early then we wouldn't be in this mess, you know," Nick said, eyes flashing accusingly. "If we had just taken them with everyone else then we would be busy all day today and be able to relax and celebrate their end with everyone tonight. It's all your fault." He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Sam that might have been alarming to anyone who did not know the difference.

"Trust me, it was worth it," said Sameth confidently. After a silent moment he flipped over, propped up on his elbows. "Besides," he said with a smirk, "now you have all the time in the world to admire all that is Prince Sameth." He raised his chin up regally and got up from the bed, still laughing at his own mock-arrogance.

Had he turned around on his way, he would have noticed the icy blue eyes that followed his form, and the flushed color that painted Nick's face.