As usual, thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed thus far.

I've gone from loving this chapter to hating it...I've rewritten it a thousand times, and although I jump around a bit, I think this was the best way to do what I wanted to do with it. Also, Gary might be a little ooc in this one, but hey, to make it up to you, there's a little bit of fluff.

Next chapter should be out within a week or so, I hope.

Enjoy. :)

As Evelyn dreamed of heaven, Gary dreamed of nothing. Usually, when he dreamed, he dreamed of his childhood. He would dream of going back in time, erasing the scars both on his body and in his mind. He would remake his life completely, new parents, no Bullworth, no Happy Volts. No stupid fucking electronic baby that cried every hour. No Evelyn Chase.

He liked it best when he didn't dream at all, when it was simple and black and he was alone.

The sound of Princess Buttface fussing woke him up. He pried an eye open and looked to the bed, where he could see the shape of Evelyn sleeping soundly. Sighing, Gary got up and stretched. He picked up the crying baby from her carrier and rocked her gently until she stopped crying.

Evelyn opened her eyes, for a moment forgetting where she was. She looked around the room, suddenly remembering the night before. Gary was gone and Princess Buttface was in the carrier right next to the bed.

She saw the doorknob turn out of the corner of her eye and quickly lied back down, covering her face with the covers. She wasn't sure what it was that made her pretend to sleep, but she instantly regretted it when she saw Gary walk in wearing nothing but a towel.

Evelyn's regret only got worse when he dropped the towel, exposing his bare ass to her unknowingly. She tried so hard to shut her eyes, but found herself unable to.

When he bent over to put on his underwear, she bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Oh dear God, she thought, Look away! Why won't you look away?

Evelyn watched Gary get into his uniform, trying to stop herself from checking him out. He was lean with only a little bit of muscle, and he even had a small amount of chub in his stomach. For a moment, Evelyn admitted to herself that he still had a nice body.

Her mind started to drift, and she imagined herself cuddled up with him, her head on his chest and their arms and legs entangled.

Yuck, she thought, and immediately got rid of such thoughts.

Once he got all his clothes on, Evelyn popped up from the covers, forcing a yawn and stretching. She rubbed her eyes, pretending to have just woken up.

Gary spun around and looked at her. He smirked. "Oh, Evelyn, bad timing. If you would've been awake just a few minutes ago, you would've seen me naked."

"Gross," she replied, forcing a grimace.

"Whatever," Gary said with that same smirk. "You know you want it."

Evelyn shook her head. "I'm going to head back to the dorm to shower."

Gary nodded, sitting on his bed and watching as she awkwardly stood at the door.

"So…see you later."

He chuckled. "Sure thing."

She prayed he didn't notice her bright pink cheeks as she snuck out.

Gary watched as Evelyn frantically rocked Princess Buttface, counting to ten several times under her breath. He was starting to get used to her dumb rituals, no matter how annoying they were.

"Do you think anyone knew I was in here last night?" Evelyn asked, flashing Gary a look of worry.

He shrugged. "So what if anyone knows?"

"Well, I don't want them to think…you know…"

"That we fucked?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

Gary chuckled, leaning back on his bed. "Don't worry, Evey. I'll tell them you were a great lay."

Evelyn turned red. "But I don't want anyone to think we slept together."

"Why? What's wrong with sex with me?"

"I don't even want to think of sex with you, Gary."

"I bet you'd like it," he replied with his signature smirk.

"Gross," Evelyn said before putting down Princess Buttface. "And did you just give me a nickname?"

"Huh?"

"You called me Evey…"

Gary thought about this. "I guess I did. Huh."

"I've never had a nickname before," Evelyn said with a shy smile.

Gary rolled his eyes. "Well...Congratulations."

She rolled her eyes back at him. "Asshole."

"I sure am."

Evelyn stood up and stretched, ignoring him. "Ready for class?"

"Nah. Wanna skip?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I don't feel like going."

Evelyn scoffed, sitting back at the end of the bed. "And what would we do all day?"

Gary shrugged in response. "I dunno...whatever you want."

"Hmm. You're actually being sort of nice today."

He nodded toward the pills on his nightstand. "Not nice, just drugged up."

"Guess they're starting to really work, huh?"

He scoffed. "Whatever. You wanna skip or what?"

"Okay. Fine. But we can't make it a habit."

"Yes, ma'am," Gary said sarcastically, causing Evelyn to roll her eyes once again.

Evelyn glared at Gary. "Why do I have to hold the damn baby?"

He smiled. "Cause you're the mommy."

"And you're creepy."

"That seems to be the general consensus."

"Where are we going anyway?"

"The carnival," Gary replied, "nothing else to do."

"So I have to ride rides with a heavy electronic baby hanging off me?"

"You don't have to ride any rides."

Evelyn stopped, putting her hands on her hips. "So you get to have all the fun and ride all the rides, and I get to stand there and watch you as I take care of the baby?"

"Typical housewife," Gary replied back sardonically. He grabbed her arm, pulling her alongside him. "Come on, before we get busted."

They got to the carnival soon after. Evelyn followed Gary around as he excitedly walked through, looking at everything. He looked genuinely happy for the first time since they were forced into this arrangement. Evelyn would never admit it, but she loved these moments with Gary, where he seemed, well, normal.

Though she honestly was starting to also love the moments when he was being himself. She loved the playful, sort of mean banter between them. It made her feel like she had an actual friend again, something she hadn't experienced in a while.

"What do you want to do?" Gary asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

Evelyn shrugged. "Wanna go through the fun house?"

Gary nodded, again grabbing her arm and leading her.

Evelyn looked to his hand, gently wrapped around her wrist, to his face. She studied his profile, from his brown hair, to the menacing scar, to his lips and chin, then back up again. She felt a strange pang in her gut, another feeling she missed having.

He glanced back to her, feeling her stares, but she quickly looked away.

The two teenagers made their way into the fun house, trying their best at the maze. His hand was still nearly holding hers before they ran into some greasers and Evelyn quickly shot away from him.

Gary's eyes narrowed at her. She smiled apologetically in return.

The Greasers stepped in front of them, shifting Gary's attention away from Evelyn.

"Get the fuck out of my way, greaseballs," Gary muttered.

"Look, guys," Johnny Vincent piped up, "The two psychos of Bullworth…and they were holding hands. Isn't that cute?"

Gary rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, unfazed. Evelyn, however, did her best to hide behind Gary and avoided eye contact with any of the Greasers.

Ricky looked to Johnny. "Leave her alone, Johnny, come on."

He turned to Evelyn and smiled. "Hi, Evelyn. I haven't seen you in a while."

Evelyn returned his smile with a smaller one and looked to the ground. "Hey, Ricky," she mumbled.

Gary turned to look at her, but she didn't dare look up.

Johnny scoffed. "Whatever. Come on, guys, before Ricky gets too excited.

They sauntered off, with Ricky shortly behind. He gave Evelyn a quick hug before running to catch up with the group.

Gary stared at Evelyn. "What the fuck was that?"

"What the fuck was what?" She asked, playing dumb.

"Why was that greaseball all over you like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"He gave you a hug, and you guys were all weird and smiley. I've never even seen you talk to anyone else besides me…"

"What do you care?"

Gary snarled. "I don't. It was just…weird."

Evelyn sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Let's just never talk about Ricky or any greaser, okay?"

She took Princess Buttface out of the sling and pushed her into Gary's arms before running off ahead of him.

"Hey! You're gonna get lost!" Gary yelled. "…we're in a maze…"

Gary found Evelyn at the end of the fun house, sitting on the ground. He sat next to her.

"Hey, Evey," he said.

"Hi, Gary."

"You hungry?"

She looked up at him and smiled slightly. "Yeah."

She was surprised when he returned her smile. He got up and held out his hand for her, another surprise. Evelyn grabbed onto him, letting him help her up.

Gary bought them both hamburgers, fries, and sodas, which they ate, sitting on a bench together.

"Seriously, Evey," Gary spoke up, breaking the silence. "What's up with you and the greasers?"

Evelyn sighed. "I used to hang out with them. I was really close friends with them all…we all lived in the same shitty apartment complex."

"So what happened?"

"Lola happened. She came around, decided she wanted to be the only girl in the group. Of course, Johnny then also decided it was best to kick me out, and soon everyone else followed. They all suddenly stopped talking to me. Then the rituals started up and even Ricky couldn't stand being near me."

Gary snickered. "Isn't Lola your roommate?"

"Yep."

"Awkward."

Evelyn chuckled, playfully smacking his arm. "Shut up."

He smiled. "So you and Ricky were…a thing?"

She nodded.

"Damn."

"Yeah, but you know, it's been a while, so whatever."

Gary looked to her. "You're lying."

She shrugged. "It sucks… A lot. But what can I do?"

"Eh, fuck 'em. They don't deserve to be friends with you anyway. I mean, if they treat you like that."

Evelyn chuckled. "Wow, those meds really are working…You're going all therapist on me."

"Whatever," he said with a shrug. "That's why I never had friends. Everyone is an asshole. And friends are for the weak."

"Weren't you friends with Jimmy once?"

"No."

"What about Petey?"

Gary thought about this. "Femme-boy? Yeah, I guess. But only cause he was so fun to pick on. Oh, well, I guess there's you."

"Me?" Evelyn asked, perking up. "You consider us friends?"

"Well, what else would we be?"

Evelyn smiled shyly, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"And if not, hey, you're only stuck with me for another couple weeks."

Evelyn did something brave then. She reached over to him, pulling him into a hug.

At first, Gary tensed up, but then to her surprise, wrapped an arm lazily around her waist, returning her affection.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this."

Gary paced back and forward, unable to sleep. Evelyn was fast asleep in his bed, curled up under the covers.

He wanted to wake her up. Kick her out of his fucking bed and make her leave. His mind was racing, and it was all her damn fault. That stupid hug was all he could think of now. The feel of her head on his shoulder, the smell of her hair, the way her body felt against his…it was all still with him, and it was too much.

Friends are for the weak, but was she really just his friend?

He grabbed his bottle of pills of the table and took one. He wasn't supposed to take more than one a day, but this was an emergency. They calmed him down, and he'd much rather be a zombie than a stupid boy with stupid thoughts.

He lied in his makeshift bed on the floor. Maybe then he could sleep, once the meds kicked in.

But until then, he'd have to suffer through his thoughts.

Why did I give her that nickname?

Why did I hug her back…why didn't I push her away?

Why the fuck am I sleeping on the floor and letting her sleep on my bed?

What the hell is wrong with me?

"But don't forget to forget you forgot me,

When I show up your door.

I'm gonna remember that you are my friend,

and fall asleep on your floor."

-The Lawrence Arms