A/N: Hello, readers. Here's a story I've been working on for a few years that I've been working to edit for the last couple weeks. This and yet another new story have captured my attention apart from work and my miniscule life away from my computer. Please keep in mind that all mistakes are mine. Updates will be sporadic which will be dictated by my work. Hope you all enjoy and no flames!


Fermat sighed, dropping his pencil down on his workbooks before he stood to go ask Alan to turn down his music. Normally he could ignore his roommate's music, but since they'd returned from summer break to find that the dorms were remodeled to provide each boy with a central room as well as private quarters to sleep in; Alan had become insufferable with his music choices. Not that Fermat minded, much. He liked most of the same stuff that Alan liked. He just found it hard to focus on his studies when he could feel the pounding bass from Alan's music.

It took Fermat three tries to get Alan's attention before the older boy opened his room door to look at the younger boy. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"D-Do you think you c-can turn down your m-music a little?" Fermat asked kindly.

"I would, but it's just that I'm trying to study." Alan replied, forehead wrinkling as he informed Fermat of his issue and why his music was so loud. "I always study with music on. I can't focus otherwise."

"I c-can understand that, but d-do you think you could t-turn it down a little bit? It's making it h-hard for me to f-focus." Fermat said, trying to see things from Alan's point of view. He knew people had their own ways of studying, but Fermat himself couldn't study unless he had total silence. "Y-You know I n-need silence for s-studying."

"Sure, sorry." Alan said, stepping away from his bedroom door to turn down his music on his stereo. "There, problem solved."

"T-Thank you." Fermat said before turning to go back to his room. Once he'd closed his bedroom door, he sat at his desk and heaved a sigh. He allowed his thoughts to stray and constantly questioned why his dad of all people decided a school such as Wharton's would be a good school for Fermat to attend. They weren't an academically challenging school, they were a school that catered to the rich and famous. Fermat often wondered if his dad had gotten a few screws knocked loose when one of his experiments failed and exploded.

Thinking back on it, Fermat figured his dad decided to send Fermat away to a private boarding school shortly after they'd moved in with the Tracy family three years ago. Fermat himself was currently twelve and Alan is fourteen. He'll be fifteen in a few weeks. Fermat however wasn't old enough previously to attend a boarding school at least by his dad's standards. He figured that getting a boarding school pamphlet as part of his birthday present from Mr. Tracy that his dad would say a big fat no, but his dad thanked Mr. Tracy and thanked him some more for extending the offer of paying for his education.

'Fermat eagerly tore into his birthday present that was given to him by his father's employer. It wasn't a terribly big gift, just a little box that when opened hadn't made immediate sense to Fermat. He pulled out a tie, a blazer complete with a white poplin shirt and black pants. When he dug into the bottom of the box, he pulled out a pair of black shoes and tucked inside one of the shoes was a pamphlet for Wharton's private boarding school for boys.

The look on his face must have gave away his confusion behind the revelation of his gift because Mr. Tracy went on to explain.

"Your father and I were talking and with the contract of his agreement to work with me, I've agreed to pay for your education. Unfortunately, with the launching of our secret organization I am unable to provide you with a home education." Jeff clarified. "I do hope you understand."

"I-" Fermat began before he was interrupted by his father.

"I t-think that is a fabulous gift! Fermat, w-what do you say?" Hiram 'Brains' Hackenbacker said as he rounded the seat Fermat sat in before he gave Fermat a side hug.

"T-Thank you Mr. Tracy. T-This is a g-great gift." Fermat said, though he felt like crawling under a rock on the furthest corner of the island. He didn't want to go to a boarding school. He didn't like the idea of being away from his father, let alone being at boarding school several hundred miles away from what he knows and feels comfortable around.

"And you won't be alone, Alan will be attending there as well." Mr. Tracy continued, not noticing Fermat's face paling at the prospect of attending the same school as Mr. Tracy's youngest son. They weren't friends, they didn't know each other well at all. Fermat didn't exactly have anything against Alan, but he assumed that Alan being as loud and as boisterous as he was with his dad, brothers and the Belegant's teenage daughter – and maybe it was a stereotypical assumption…but Fermat figured Alan would be like the rest. Alan looked and seemed to act like all the others that ostracized Fermat, made fun of him for his stutter and used him for his book smarts. They'd met briefly over the years, but Alan lived full time with his grandmother in Kansas when he was not attending boarding school, not there on the island.

"G-Great." Fermat said, feeling suddenly like he had a mouth full of cotton. He didn't let on that he was not happy in the least little bit over having to attend a private boarding school, but to attend a private boarding school with another student that was surely to be like the others? No thank you.

Fermat reflected on the last few months attending said private boarding school with Alan. They still weren't friends per se. They socialized in completely different crowds. Fermat associated with other students on his level and they had lunch together every day and attended most of the same clubs. Alan on the other hand was constantly in trouble for pretty much everything under the sun. Fermat could hear his roommate having weekly arguments with his father over telecom and he was glad that he didn't have such a tumultuous relationship with his father like Alan did.

Probably the only thing either boy had in common was that their fathers were widowers. Fermat wasn't exactly sure how Alan's mom died, he figured it was rude to ask and he also didn't want to face the wrath behind Alan's temper. Fermat's mom died when he was two, what he didn't know was how she died. He'd never asked his father because he hated to see his dad on the verge of tears, but he figured he'd learn with time. He wasn't eager to find out. It'd been ten years since his mom died and nothing he did would ever bring her back.

Breaking himself out of his reverie, Fermat proceeded to refocus his attention on his homework. He needed to finish before dinner in the next hour, so he could attend his study group with his group of classmates.

… … … … … … … … … … …

Later that evening, following the conclusion of his study group Fermat was walking back to his dorm. He kept his head down as he walked back, it wasn't for anything but self-preservation. Not that his life was in danger, he just didn't want to be noticed by the cliques that normally had it out for the intelligent students. Those clique-y types of students were the worst to deal with in any school in Fermat's humble opinion. They didn't care about how the things they said, or their actions made people feel especially if they were taunts or verbal barbs. Some of them also felt like throwing their weight around by physically bullying the smaller man on the totem pole. Fermat was the unfortunate recipient of all the above.

"There he is…how's it going Matt?" One of the aforementioned clique-y students asked as he slithered up beside Fermat and threw one of his arms over Fermat's shoulder. "Do you have time to help me with an assignment?"

"It's F-Fermat and no I d-don't have t-time to help y-you with an a-as-assignment." Fermat said as he tried to pull away from the no-name student. Fermat's gaze narrowed in irritation at being accosted by this student. He had a name, Fermat knew that for sure…he just didn't bother to take the time to learn his name. The student zeroed in on Fermat within his first week there and made it his goal in life to make Fermat uncomfortable. Normally he took pride in his intelligence, but with this student's vendetta against him – he wished more than once that he was born with an average intelligence, so he could lead an unassuming lifestyle.

"Well F-F-Fer-matt, I need you to finish my assignment for me and I expect it to be good. I need to pick my grade up in English or my dad said he'll pull me from the rugby team. Good to know you won't let me down. I'll be by your room to pick up my assignment in the morning before breakfast. Thanks." The student said as he not so lightly shoved his assignment at Fermat and walked away with his friends, laughing. Fermat stared after the student expecting him to do his assignment and he wanted so badly to crumple up the assignment and throw it in the trash bin, but he knew that'd just make his life more miserable than it already was. He wished more than once that his dad had declined Mr. Tracy's gift to pay his tuition.

… … … … … … … … … … …

Later in his dorm room, Fermat was typing up Darren's assignment. He'd had a hard time reading his chicken scratch, but he'd figured out what the sloppy writing said eventually. He glanced at the clock and yawned. It was past midnight and he still had three more pages of Darren's assignment to type and edit. At the rate things were going, he'd be lucky if he was finished before two and classes started at seven, so he had to be awake at five-thirty in the morning, so he could beat the other students to the communal showers. He'd take a shower later if it wasn't out of fear of having his clothes stolen or having other half-naked teenaged boys winding their towels to snap each other, him included. As it were, he had to wake up before the chickens, so he could take a shower in peace and quiet and regroup before he had to take part in the day with other students.

A knock at his door tore Fermat's attention from writing Darren's assignment and he stood to answer. He was surprised to see Alan when he opened the door, the older boy was holding his calculator and assignment with his pencil tucked behind his ear. Fermat was surprised to see the older boy. They weren't friends, roommates maybe but friends was a big no.

"Can I h-help you?" Fermat asked tiredly, taking a moment to rub at his eyes behind his glasses.

"Yeah, look I know it's late…but I'm stuck on a trig question and I was hoping you might be able to help me with it." Alan said, hopeful that Fermat would be able to shed some light on Alan's quandary, so Alan could get ready for bed. Normally he wouldn't be up this late, but he had to finish his assignment because he wouldn't have time in the morning to do it before his trigonometry class.

"It's a-alright. I wasn't a-asleep." Fermat said as he held his door open for Alan to enter. He extended the offer for Alan to sit in his computer chair, so Fermat could stand off to the side and look over his shoulder at the question that was puzzling Alan. Once he saw the problem that had Alan so befuddled, Fermat began to explain it in layman's terms, so Alan could understand. He saw Alan's head bobbing as Alan seemed to gain an understanding of how the problem would be completed before they finished the question together. Fermat quickly glanced over the rest of Alan's trig homework and was surprised to find that Alan did in fact seem to understand what he was doing.

Fermat however hadn't expected Alan to look up and to see his computer screen with Darren's homework assignment up, so he was more than a little surprised when Alan leaned closer to the screen before turning back to look at him with a look of bewilderment.

"Why do you have Darren's English assignment on your computer?" Alan asked, eyes wide in disbelief. "You do know that you writing his assignment is cheating right?"

"Yes, I k-know it's c-cheating, b-but I d-don't have any c-choice!" Fermat said as he leaned over Alan's shoulder and minimized the screen, taking Fermat's computer back to the desktop where a picture of Fermat was seated between his mom and dad for a family portrait. It was the last portrait ever taken with Fermat's mom and Fermat cherished it. "Look, I k-know what I'm d-doing and t-this is t-the only w-way I c-can get b-by at t-this school. K-Keep your n-nose out of w-where it d-doesn't belong."

"Okay, but if you get expelled, just know that you could have avoided this if you'd just told Darren off." Alan said before gathering his homework, calculator and pencil. "Thanks for the help. Good night."

Fermat felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach, before seeing Alan off. Once he closed the door, he turned around to look at his laptop and took to weighing his options. He could just see Darren's fist flying at his face when Fermat didn't hand over his completed assignment and he'd probably try to re-type Fermat's own assignment to pass it off as his own. That mental image was enough to guide Fermat back to his laptop to finish Darren's assignment.

… … … … … … … … … … …

The following morning found Fermat scrambling to get to class on time. He wound up sleeping in later than he normally would after completing Darren's assignment. He flitted about his room hurriedly gathering his homework as well as Darren's homework and shoving it into his backpack. He didn't bother combing his hair or brushing his teeth. He had five minutes to get to class and he would have to sprint across the quad the bad thing was he was not a runner. He made sure he had his inhaler, pulled on his blazer and darted out the door. He encountered Alan in his dead sprint across the quad, the older boy was walking towards the stables. Unsurprisingly for a school of Wharton's magnitude, there was an equine club that usually met in the morning during free period. The clubs met at contrasting times in the day to accommodate the students that wanted to take part in more than one club.

Fermat was too busy to take part in clubs though. He took the maximum number of classes allowed by the education department and he still found himself longing for more. He was already ahead of his peers by two years and was in the same class as Alan. And despite the changes to his curriculum, Fermat still wasn't being challenged enough for his liking. But currently Fermat didn't have time to figure out anything, a quick glance at his watch told Fermat that he was cutting it too close for comfort. He had two minutes left before the tardy bell and he did not want a late mark on his record. He didn't want to have to explain to his father why he slept through his alarm because then he'd have to tell his dad about Darren picking on him.

Speeding up his run to almost a full-on sprint, Fermat made it to his class with quite literally three seconds before the tardy bell rang.

"Cutting it a little close aren't we Mr. Hackenbacker?" Fermat's teacher asked as he met Fermat at the door.

"Yes s-sir, it won't h-happen again s-sir." Fermat said as he hustled to his desk and began removing his materials for the lessons. Taking a puff off his inhaler, the class period went on as normal and it didn't even occur to Fermat that Darren hadn't actually stopped by his room to pick up his assignment. But he didn't allow that to bother him much. He focused on his assignments and just went about his day as if it were a normal occurrence.

What did alert him to the day beginning to spiral downhill was when his teacher received a phone call and turned to call Fermat out. It was just after lunch and Fermat was in one of his least favorite classes. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy learning this particular subject matter, it was actually that he already knew a lot of what they were covering and was boring to Fermat. The younger gathered his backpack and other supplies before he left the classroom. He wondered why he was being called to the Dean's office, but he tried not to think too much on that.

Imagine his surprise and dismay when the Dean's secretary led him into the Dean's office where he saw Darren, Alan and the English teacher that Alan, Darren and Fermat shared. The teacher was standing beside the Dean's desk with his arms crossed across his chest as he gazed disapprovingly at three of his students.

"Please sit Fermat." The Dean said as he directed the youngest student to sit beside Alan and thankfully not Darren who was glaring hard at the younger boy. If looks could kill, Fermat would be pushing up daisies the moment he entered the room. "Now, it's been brought to my attention that you've been implicated in plagiarizing Mr. Tracy's paper for Mr. Powell's English class and trying to pass it off for Mr. Howard's work. Is that true?"

The look on Fermat's face must have said it all to the Dean and the English teacher because they provided Alan's assignment as well as the assignment being passed off for Darren's and Fermat blurted. "I d-d-didn't write t-that!"

"Then can you explain how Mr. Powell came up with the idea that you had written his assignment?" The Dean inquired skeptically. The burden was almost too much for Fermat and he nearly broke under pressure, if not for Alan speaking up in place of Fermat.

"You really believe Darren?" Alan asked to which both the Dean and English teacher looked in disbelief at the older student. "This isn't the first time Darren's done this."

The English teacher and the Dean shared a look before they asked each of the boys to leave the office for a moment and that they'd call them back individually to get their side of the story before deciding if a call to the boy's parents was necessary. Once Alan, Fermat and Darren were outside the Dean's office, they each sat by in silence. The Dean's secretary was sitting at her desk and making it impossible for the boys to talk, every time they made a sound, she'd shush them. So, when each of the boys was called into the Dean's office for a private meeting with their teacher and the Dean of Education, they each went without delay.

By the time they were finished meeting with their teacher and dean, Alan and Fermat both received a slap on the wrist with Saturday school for the rest of the month. Fermat just about had a melt-down when his teacher admitted his disappointment in Fermat for allowing Darren to push him around and he said that Saturday school was the least intense punishment he could reasonably make Fermat endure, that and being suspended from class for the rest of the day. He regrettably did inform Fermat he'd have to contact his father to let him know of his punishment. Alan on the other hand didn't really react to receiving Saturday school as punishment. It did puzzle Fermat, but he made a mental note to ask Alan why he got in trouble too.

With the delivery of their punishment, both Alan and Fermat were dismissed with a reminder of their Saturday school punishment the upcoming weekend. Darren on the other hand was kept by the dean and the teacher. Alan lackadaisically began walking from the office, putting his hands in his pockets as he strolled along, matching Fermat's pace.

"W-Why did you get in t-trouble?" Fermat inquired, looking at Alan with a look of puzzlement.

"Well, that's for me to know and you to never find out." Alan replied as he tapped the side of his nose. He increased his pace, forcing Fermat to jog to keep up.

"T-Tell me! You s-shouldn't h-have gotten i-in trouble s-since it was my f-fault!" Fermat said jogging alongside Alan. Alan shrugged his shoulders but didn't offer an explanation. "You're g-going to g-get grounded b-by your d-dad!"

"I'm always getting grounded, it's nothing new." Alan replied as he took a left from the main path leading back to the dorms. Fermat didn't immediately recognize the direction they were going, but the closer they got the easier it was for Fermat to identify their location.

"Why a-are we h-headed to t-the horse s-stall?" Fermat inquired as he stopped long enough for Alan to open the barn door.

"Well, I'm going to the horse stall because I have a free period and I was going to better my riding, you're following me." Alan said as he opened the door to the tack room. There he selected the bridle, saddle, and saddle pad. Fermat followed him from the room, watching the way he laid out his equipment. Alan went to another room, selecting his riding pants, boots and helmet before entering a separate room and pulling a curtain. Fermat stood outside the curtain, leaned against the wall as he waited for Alan to change his clothes. When the older boy resurfaced, Fermat was surprised by his clothes. He'd never seen riding clothes before except in pictures or when he watched TV in the living room and his dad was watching the Kentucky Derby. "Feel free to stick around unless you think the hay and straw will aggravate your asthma."

Fermat watched Alan as he grabbed his tack and went to prepare his selected horse to be ridden.

"Hey girl, how're you? Been good since I saw you this morning?" Alan asked with a smile as he slid the door open before entering the horse stall. "Hey, I've got you something."

Fermat watched interestedly as Alan pulled a small sugar cube from his pocket and held his hand out flat for the horse to eat. Fermat's eyes were as big as saucers as he watched the horse close her lips down over the single sugar cube and chew away at the sweet treat. Fermat noticed after the horse finished her sugar cube, she proceeded to lick Alan's palm until he ran his hand up her snout and winding his fingers up into her mane.

"Want to come say hi to Freckles? She's really sweet." Alan offered as he ran his hand down her withers over her back before stopping to pat her on the haunch. "Aren't you girl?"

As if to agree with Alan, she nickered sweetly before craning her neck to butt her head against Alan's chest making the older boy chuckle.

"I swear she'll be nice. She's one of the gentler horses in these paddocks." Alan spoke, smiling at Freckles and gently petting her throat latch. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but know you can pet her if you'd like."

When Fermat didn't immediately take advantage of the offer, Alan shrugged his shoulders before he went about bridling Freckles and putting the saddle pad and saddle on her. When he'd finished putting the finishing touches on Freckles, Alan reached into his riding jacket pocket to retrieve his gloves. Once those were on, Alan led Freckles and by proxy Fermat from the paddock to the corral. There he watched Alan climb easily onto Freckle's back before he gently snapped the reigns and clicked his tongue. Freckles began to walk and after some time Alan clicked his tongue differently than he had before and she started to step up her pace. Fermat found it intriguing how Freckles responded to Alan's audible commands without saying anything to command her.

Fermat watched Alan and Freckles with interest for the next half hour when Alan seemed to sense that it was time to let Freckles retire for now. Alan gently pulled on the reigns, signaling to Freckles that it was time to turn in from practice. She slowed her pace before coming to a complete stop in front of Fermat who had taken to leaning back against the wall. Alan dismounted Freckles and he took her by her reigns, leading her back into the paddocks to cool her out before leaving to go shower at the dorms. Fermat continued following Alan, still at a loss for how to continue the rest of the day now that he'd also been dismissed by the dean for the rest of the day as part of his punishment.

Alan didn't pay Fermat much mind, almost like he knew Fermat would follow the older boy around like a lost puppy. He'd have to figure out how to handle this later, for now though he'd have to figure out how to handle his dad's reaction first and foremost.

When they made it back to the dorm, Fermat followed Alan into their room before they separated to go into their respective quarters. Fermat sat down heavily on his bed, hanging his head low and remaining silent. When his video phone that was attached to his wall started beeping, Fermat figured it was time to face the music. He stood up and walked to his desk before he sat down and answered his phone. The first thing he saw when the call connected was his father's frowning face. Fermat never knew his dad to frown very much and when he did it was usually enough to make Fermat feel purely lousy. This time was no different.

Hiram 'Brains' Hackenbacker was not easily upset but receiving a phone call from the Dean of his son's school was not something he looked forward to. Whilst talking to the Dean, Brains was informed of his son's involvement in a plagiarizing scandal and that purportedly Jeff Tracy's son Alan was who fell victim. According to the Dean, Alan and Fermat's professor Mr. Powell noticed disturbingly close similarities in Alan and Darren's papers before realizing that Darren would never write a paper the way Alan's was written. There were certain phrases that Alan often said in class that were like Alan's paper. When it was brought to the Dean's attention, Darren immediately said that he'd given his paper to Fermat to proofread so it must have been Fermat's error that led to there being a suspicion of plagiarizing. It was then that Fermat was called in because of being implicated.

"Care t-to explain why you were s-stealing Alan's work and trying t-to pass it off for another's student's work?" Brains inquired, trying not to judge but wanting to know what was going through his son's head that he felt it was necessary to plagiarize and his employer's son to boot.

"I didn't. I s-swear! Alan and I h-have separate rooms, w-what reason would I h-have to enter his room t-to steal his work?" Fermat said, feeling ten times worse than he had previously as his dad leveled him with his most disappointed look.

"I'm not saying I d-don't believe you s-son but having t-the dean of the s-school call me w-while we're in the m-middle of operations is a poor w-way of trying to g-get my attention. I'm p-probably going t-to be hearing f-from Alan's father a-and that looks bad on me." Brains said. "I k-know I r-raised you b-better than t-this."

The look of Fermat's face was response enough to how he was taking his scolding and Brains felt bad having to reprimand his son, but he knew Fermat knew better than this. And this was not what Brains had in mind when he accepted Jeff's offer to put Fermat through school. When Brains had done his research of the school that Alan was in attendance to and thereby Fermat would as well, Brains discovered that the school of high prestige offered a pedestal that no other schools could reach. Wharton's was a school of power and paired with his smarts, Brains knew Fermat held the very world in the palm of his hand.

"Please, d-don't throw this a-away. I accepted M-Mr. Tracy's offer of p-providing you a g-good school education b-because I wanted you t-to have what your m-mother and I never had. We b-both came from s-schools that didn't offer m-much and so we've both h-had to fight to keep our g-grades up and we didn't w-want that kind of schooling for you. We b-both knew your potential a-and were willing to d-do anything necessary to p-provide you with a decent e-education and you d-doing something this stupid is a p-poor way of showing y-your appreciation."

"I'm sorry." Fermat said as he hung his head down. "I…I…"

"Don't a-apologize to me. I want y-you to apologize t-to Mr. Tracy a-and his son." Brains said before he softened his look. "If y-you want me t-to trust you a-again, might I s-suggest not doing t-this again?"

"Yes, dad." Fermat replied before Brains had to disconnect the call. Once the call had ended, Fermat sat in his room and thought to himself. He knew he hadn't plagiarized Alan's paper, but he had been cheating by typing Darren's paper and editing it all. And it was because of his fear of Darren that he let him push him around. Deciding enough was enough, Fermat promised himself that he'd begin standing up for himself.

Fermat didn't know how well this would work out but he wasn't going to get in trouble again. He'd be damned if he ever got in trouble for cheating again.