~IV~

They hang out around New Coventry for hours, cracking jokes, breaking into cars and fighting whatever townie was stupid enough to show their face. Johnny keeps close to Peanut, occasionally asking if he's okay or has seen anything whenever the rest of the group becomes occupied with something. Every answer is the same. "I'm fine. Don't worry, boss." But he does worry. And though Peanut just wants to stay the same old greaser everyone's known, he knows Johnny's just looking out for him.

When it's close to curfew, the clique goes their separate ways. Hal's first to leave, saying something about wanting to get some dinner before his family left him none. Norton was next, not wanting to face the wrath of his father for being out later than he was allowed. Ricky and Lucky left shortly after, both going to Ricky's house to hang out a bit more. Vance went back to the dorm with Lefty when they finally started to get tired. And just like that, Johnny and his right-hand man are alone again. They go back to campus and stay outside the dorm, smoking and talking in lower voices so no prefects come their way and start trouble.

"You still okay?" Johnny asks, earning a small nod. "You still tired?"

"A little," he sighs, rubbing his face. "I dunno. I've just been having these stupid dreams. Even when I took that nap in gym."

"What was it about?" He shrugs, taking the cigarette Johnny passes.

"Something weird," he grumbles as he takes a drag, exhaling the smoke through his nose. "Like… I was in this car but someone was trying to push me out. Had the door open and half my body out. Face got close to the ground, too. Thought I was gonna die."

Johnny stares at him as he takes his cigarette back, almost surprised. Peanut had told him some of his dreams, but oddly enough, they never really involved him being the one in harms way. Sure, he told him he had dreams of fighting someone, but never to the point where anyone had died.

"That's when you woke me up," he continues, looking over at his friend with a smile. "Just before I was fully pushed out, you woke me up."

"Heh. Glad I did, then," They sit in silence for a bit longer, smoking and enjoying the cool night. And when they're done smoking, Johnny stands up, stretching and looking down at Peanut with a smile, hand extended. He takes it, being helped up as well.

"You gonna go home?" he asks, watching him nod.

"Remember, Peanut," he starts as he makes his way away from the dorm. "You see anything or can't sleep, just text me. I'll come get you."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," he chuckles, "But thanks, Johnny."

"Of course! Night, kid," And with that, the boss walks off, hands shoved in his pockets as he looks around for any prefects. Peanut watches him make a right before he disappears behind the wall. He then makes his way inside the dorm, the soft snoring of his fellow students sounding a lot better than the yelling he had grown accustom to.

Walking into his room, he sees there's a guest. Vance is asleep on his bed, cuddled up with one of his pillows. Groaning, he walks over, almost tempted to kick him off. But, the sophomore does look comfy and he would be lying if he said he never did this to one of his friends before. So instead of being mean like he should've been, he reaches out and pulls the blanket up and over Vance's body, gently patting his shoulder. He then takes a seat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face and sighing. Kicking off his shoes, he lays down, having more than enough room since his friend was practically falling off the edge of the little twin bed they had. Oh well. If he fell it was his problem. Might remind him not to sleep on his bed without his permission.

His eyes finally shut and he lays there, the soft breathing of his two friends actually relaxing. He's close to falling asleep before he hears Lefty go into a small coughing fit, making him jump. Asshole. He sits up, glaring at the younger teen, who's still asleep as he finally calms down, rolling over to be on his side. He sighs, going to slowly start to lower himself back down, until he catches something in the corner of his eye. A dark figure is in the corner of the room, just standing there. He feels his body tense up. It's not moving, but just the glimpse of it makes him uncomfortable. Slowly, he forces himself to turn his head, looking at the figure fully. It's almost as though someone's standing and he's seeing their shadow, but no one else is in the room, especially standing upright. He bites his lip and he can feel his body slowly start to go numb. Finally, the figure moves and he holds his breath. It just moves towards Lefty, sticking to the wall before finally stopping when it reaches the end. He's still stunned, but slowly reaches out, grabbing his phone. His hands tremble as he unlocks it, opening his messages and taking glances around the room to make sure it hasn't moved.

Peanut: Johnny? U awake?

He hits send and feels like it's forever before there's a response from his boss.

Johnny: yea. U ok?

Peanut: mind if I take u up on that offer?

Johnny: of staying w/ me?

Peanut: yea. Saw it again.

Johnny: omw

He lets out a sigh of relief. Slowly sitting up, he puts his shoes back on and goes to grab his backpack. He shoves a shirt and some sweats in by his notebooks and textbook. Though he hasn't seen the shadow move after it had stopped in the other corner, he didn't want to stay. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but at this point he didn't care. He just wanted to leave. He was sure Lefty and Vance would be fine. If it wanted to cause harm, he was sure it would have already. He just can't bring himself to stay in his room with this thing, though. He was stressed out enough and he didn't need to see this.

Leaving quietly, Peanut goes outside and makes his way towards the gates, his backpack slung over his shoulder as he looks around, waiting anxiously for his friend. No prefects are out right now, but he still worried about one of them finding him and either dragging him back to the dorm, or chasing him away. He takes out his phone. 12:02. It's late and he's surprised Johnny was still up. Probably trying to be a good senior and finish that English homework they had. Wait. Dammit, he didn't work on it either. Oh well. He would get around to it.

Johnny's riding up a few minutes later, a worried expression plastered on his face. Great. He felt guilty when he looked at him, giving him a sheepish smile.

"Hey, boss," he greets softly as he walks over.

"You okay?" he asks. Nodding, Peanut gets on the back of Johnny's bike, holding onto his shoulders. Johnny takes off at a decent pace, the wind making him shiver slightly. "So what happened to you being fine?"

"Whatever, Johnny," The two share a chuckle and Peanut watches the road ahead of him. Of course, there are some adults out, saying how they should be inside and how it was past curfew. Yeah, like they didn't know that.

They get to Johnny's house in no time and enter quietly, Johnny leading Peanut down the hall and to his room. He flips on the light and closes the door, going to sit on his bed as he gives the junior a concerned look.

"You gonna be okay?" he asks, earning a nod.

"I should be. Thanks," Peanut gives him a smile as he kicks off his shoes. They change with their backs facing one another, and it's something he finds almost nostalgic. Staring at Johnny's door as he changed into night clothes, getting ready to spend the night. Those memories made him smile.

When they're finished, both are laying on Johnny's bed, the TV on and playing a random movie at a low volume. Neither of them are paying attention to what's going on, though. The glow of the screen is just nice to have in the now dark room. Peanut feels a lot calmer as well, his hands folded atop his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. Johnny was beside him, laying on his side with his phone in hand texting Lord knows who. Probably Lola. Though, this theory is crushed when Johnny speaks in a hushed voice.

"Maybe you have anxiety," His friend's suggestion catches him off guard and he stares at him, waiting for a more in-depth explanation. "Says here some people see shadows when they have an anxiety attack, they're lacking sleep, or it's a PTSD related thing. So, maybe you're just having anxiety or you're just really tired."

"Wouldn't be surprised," He lets out a sigh, going back to staring at the ceiling. Johnny continues to look at his phone through half-lidded eyes. Though, a soft grunt catches Peanut's attention.

"Someone was put in the asylum for seeing shadows, too," he tells him, turning his phone so he can see the article. Vyvyan Amber, age 17, committed to Happy Volts Asylum for- wait Happy Volts was in Bullworth. Peanut shoots up, snatching the phone from his friend and reading it over. He ignores the small and offended "hey" from Johnny, who's also sitting up and looking over his shoulder, reading the article.

"Vyvyan Amber – F – W – Entered July 10th, 2006 – 17 yrs old – Kind of Insanity when she entered – Schizophrenia. Today, same. Disposition: quiet and isolated. Aggressive at times, at the sight of doctors, but even then very quiet. Hallucinates shadow figures on walls. Doesn't sleep much. Doesn't interact with others and stays alone – no social skills. Her health is declining. Refuses to take medicine."

"Hey, that was over the summer," Johnny points out. Both are surprised at the description of the patient. Neither of them had heard anything about a Bullworth citizen being admitted to the asylum, aside from a couple of the townies. This was fairly new as well, considering they were in the ending of August. "Heh. Maybe you're a schizophrenic like Vyv."

"That's not funny, Johnny," Peanut grumbles, frowning at him. He looks back at the document and sighs, wondering if the shadows she saw were similar to his. If they ran at her or if they just walked back and forth on her walls. He hands Johnny back his phone, going to lay down again in the same position. It made him feel a little better knowing there was someone who was seeing the same things, but he didn't like how this person had schizophrenia. Johnny turns off his phone and lays beside his friend, reaching out to gently pat him on the shoulder.

"Just relax, man," he tells him softly as he turns over, his back facing him. "You'll be okay. If anything happens, wake me up."

"Yeah, I will. Night, Johnny," He turns onto his side as well, hearing a soft "night, kid" come from the senior beside him. He stares out at the window at the night sky. Maybe, just maybe, he would see if he could pay this Vyvyan girl a visit. Just to see what she went through and if she could help him.