"Hey, Chazz! How did you do on your test?" Came the Southern, drawling voice of his friend. He was sitting on Chazz's bed, kicking his legs idly as he watched his friend looking through his closet. "Did you hear me?" He asked, once he didn't get an answer. Chazz merely made an odd sort of noise – something between a snort and a yes.

"I did well. Perfect score."

"As usual…" His friend agreed.

Chazz smirked, and tossed some old clothes into a box to give away. Or to burn. Depending on his mood, depending on whether he wanted to give things to poor people or not.

"So…are you taking anyone to the dance?" Chazz asked, peering over at his friend as he folded a pair of slacks that he had found crumpled at the bottom of his closet, then putting them on a hanger, to get sent to the dry-cleaning facility that was in the Obelisk Blue dorm.

"As of yet, no." The other boy shrugged a bit, "But I'm thinking that I may ask Jasmine. I'm not sure. What about you, Chazz? Are you taking anyone?"

"I don't think I'm going to go. It's such a waste of time, just a bunch of little kids trying to dance together."

"Oh…?"

"Yeah. But I think I'm going to ask Mindy." Chazz said with a bit of a shrug, tossing some more clothing into the box, shirts tumbling back.

There was the clatter of a pill bottle rumbling across the floor. His friend blinked at it, and picked it up slowly, from where he had kicked it from under the bed. Chazz was frozen in place, his breath uncharacteristically short.

"You should put this in your medicine cabinet. No wonder you can't find your aspirin." The friend said, putting the pill bottle onto the side-table next to the king-sized bed.

"Right." Chazz said shortly, letting out a relieved breath. No one suspected anything…and they never would if he played his cards right. No pun intended.

-

Three days passed rather quickly. It was Thursday now, the day before the dance. Chazz paced his bedroom nervously, wondering if he actually could pluck up the courage to ask Mindy to the dance. Just like any other teenager, Chazz feared rejection. Even if he didn't particularly like the girl, if he was going to go to the dance he couldn't go alone. This school dance, including the whole school, was only once a year…and he wasn't going to miss out.

He went to Mindy's dorm, his knuckles white from how hard he was clutching the bouquet of roses that he was holding. He knocked on the door quickly, before he could stop himself, and stopping biting his lips, putting back on his self-assured mask, eyes cool and hooded, just like his older brothers'.

"Chazz! What're you doing here?" Asked Jasmine, opening the door. Chazz fought the urge to scream. He hadn't come here for Jasmine, and he just wanted to get this over with before he chickened out. Jasmine's eyes were trained on the beautiful red roses in Chazz's hand, wrapped his white paper.

"I want to talk to Mindy."

"Alright…come in." She said, opening the door enough to let him in. Mindy was throwing clothes around, dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, with her hair up in a towel. Her uniform was on the bed, and she was tossing brightly colored, low-cut outfits around, trying to find the perfect one for the dance.

"Um…Mindy…" Jasmine said. Mindy let out an ungodly wail. "How am I supposed to get a date to the dance if I don't have an outfit for the dance? How am I supposed to even go? And I'll NEVER get my Chazzy's attention this way…!"

"MINDY!" Yelled Jasmine.

Chazz was merely staring, torn between blushing at her lack of normal clothing, her robe rather open, and laughing. Wait. Chazzy? Since when did ANYONE have the right to call him CHAZZY? He held the roses tighter, feeling one or two of them snap.

"Oh…um…Chazz…" Mindy said, her whole face going red. Her dark hair was peeking out from under the towel that hid it, her dark eyes looking bright. Chazz merely shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Uh…right." She mumbled, closing her robe more tightly, watching him.

"I was wondering if you would like to go to the dance with me." Chazz asked, presenting the roses, unable to hold back a faint smile, barely restraining his laughter. It looked as though he was smiling for her, trying to look nice, but the truth was he was just trying not to laugh at her.

Stupid girl, really…

"Oh, yes!" She cried, hugging him tightly. He awkwardly patted her back, looking a little alarmed at her reaction. "Right, then…" He muttered. "I should be going…" He said, walking backwards, becoming increasingly more alarmed as she held onto him. He fought the urge to grab something heavy and pry her off of his chest.

"Bye, Chazzy!" Mindy called, giggling wildly, and whispering things in Jasmine's ear. Chazz shook his head, and ran back to his room to grab his bag, cursing when he saw what time it was.

"Hey, Chazz! You're late!" Jaden Yuki yelled as he sprinted towards the same classroom that Chazz was heading towards. Chazz narrowed his eyes, and sped up, wanting to get there before that stupid Slifer Slacker…

Syrus and Chumley were sprinting after Jaden, Syrus stumbling, Chumley panting, both of them looking supremely pathetic.

Chazz burst into the classroom, swinging the door open until it bounced back on it's hinges. Jaden skidded, and Chumley crashed into Syrus. Syrus and Chumley crashed into Jaden, and Chazz turned back just in time for all three of them to slam into him, sending Chazz skidding back into the center of the classroom, covered in a pile of Slifers.

Jaden laughed, that aggrevating, nails-on-a-chalkboard laugh. At least, that was how Chazz heard it. "Get OFF!" He yelled.

"Sorry 'bout that!" Jaden said, still laughing, getting up, holding out a hand to Chazz.

Chazz merely sneered, and walked up the stairs to his seat, high in the room near Zane, rolling his eyes as he sat down. Zane had a faint smile, and Alexis, who sat in front of him, turned around, grinning at him. "Nice entrance." She said. Chazz merely shrugged, smiling a little bit, though it was strained.

As Dr. Crowler talked, Chazz pressed his face into his hands. His eyes were rather unfocused, and he was tapping his foot swiftly against the floor. His whole body itched, almost from the inside. He felt chilly, almost…shivery. He wanted to go back to his room and pop open one of the bottles in there, but he knew that he didn't have the time to get there and back in time.

He never noticed Zane's eyes narrowing, seeing how thin Chazz had suddenly become, how jittery he was. Chazz had never been jittery, and upon close inspection, there were dark circles under his eyes. His hair looked a little bit more dull than it usually did, and his wrists were alarmingly thin, jacket less form-fitting than it had been.

"You should eat more." He scrawled on a sheet of paper, pressing it towards Chazz.

Chazz looked at the sheet of paper, and stopped tapping his foot, smirking. "You're not my mother." He wrote on the sheet of paper, passing it back, but there was the mutual understanding that whatever Chazz was doing, he would do it more subtly. It wasn't unusual for Obelisk's to do drugs – at least, soft drugs like pot. Occasionally Ritalin, like Chazz took sometimes, to focus. It was hard to maintain great grades, and the pressure was often too much to take for many students.

Zane didn't want to assume anything, though. He didn't want to get too mixed up in it – he prided himself on being removed from everyone else's problems, that he didn't have to deal with everyone else's mishaps. It was too much to get into, and he didn't want to be driven crazy by shouldering everyone else's problems.

Class seemed to drag on for hours. Jaden Yuki had taken a Sharpie, and drawn eyes over his eyelids, so when he closed his eyes it looked like they were open. He slept soundly through class.

"Slifer Slacker…" Chazz mumbled, fighting the urge to sleep. Zane's hair kept distracting him from paying attention, though. It looked so soft, and it was such an interesting color…he shook his head. He must have taken too many pills the night before.