Nick groaned as he heard an alarm go off from across the room.
"Can you shut that thing off!?"
The noise stopped and he curled up in his bed, drawing the blanket up to his chin.
Jeff lay on his back, wide awake, one hand on his stomach and eyes shut. His stomach pains from last night hadn't subsided. He needed to eat.
Crawling out of bed he wobbled toward the bathroom and shut the door. Making sure it was locked he pulled his pyjama shirt over his head, revealing the numerous bruises and marks on his skin that he had acquired at McKinley. He hated it. He hated looking at himself, but once he began, he was unable to stop. His fingers traced the marks on his ribcage tentatively, scared of pressing down too hard. They traced their way up to the front of his shoulders and then down the length of his left arm. They stopped abruptly at the crook of his elbow. He didn't look down, he knew what he would find there.
He tried to distract himself by directing his attention to his still-green hair and face. Stripping out of the rest of his clothes he stepped into the shower and closed the curtain.
He hadn't realised how much time had passed, but was quickly woken from his musings when Nick began to bang on the bathroom door.
"Christ Jeffrey, how long is it going to take you, I thought you had enough time in there yesterday!"
Upon hearing the other boy, Jeff turned off the taps quickly and hopped out of the bath tub, urging himself to get out of the bathroom as fast as possible.
He walked to the door, almost slipping in the process and stepped outside. Nick immediately barged passed, in nothing but his boxers and a towel pressed against his thighs, leaving a shivering and dripping wet Jeff standing outside.
Half an hour later and dressed for a day of classes, Jeff left the room as Nick continued his ongoing medley of horrible 90's rap music in the shower. The blonde boy headed toward the cafeteria, promising himself that he would eat something this time.
With, what he could only assume was pure luck, he spotted an empty table in the corner of the room. He eyed the rows of tables laden with food, nothing like deep fried and often inedible meals served up at McKinley. His plate piled with fruit and toast he went to sit down at his table, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.
"Oh my god...is that Jeff"
"Who?"
"The new kid you moron."
"Oh."
Ben and Thad sat in the middle of the cafeteria, both craning their necks to get a better look at Nick's roommate.
"He's...very blonde", Ben commented.
"Thanks for the insight", Thad replied sarcastically.
"What are you guys looking at?"
Josh sat down beside his two friends, a perplexed look on his face.
"New kid"
"Where...Who?"
"The blonde one", Thad said, rolling his eyes and returning to his cereal.
He was interrupted mid-swallow by an ungracious yelp erupting from Ben.
Nick had clipped him over the ear as he jumped over the table to sit beside Josh.
"That's for punching me last night you wanker!"
"He punched you?!" Josh cried in indignation.
"Shut up, it was nothing! You deserved it", Ben retorted angrily.
"I blacked out for a full half an hour!"
"You did not!"
"Yeah, well it still hurt."
Nick proceeded to hurl pieces of toast at Ben, before Josh took his plate away from him.
"You're like children!"
Nick and Ben sat across from each other, arms folded and glaring moodily.
Thad decided to break the tension.
"So...Jeff..."
The four boys redirected their attention to Jeff, sitting in the corner alone, brushing crumbs away from his lips.
"So...what?", Nick inquired.
Thad sniggered.
"What?" Nick glared.
"Nothing!"
"Tell me."
Thad sighed."He's awfully cute Nick"
Ben groaned and Josh suddenly became very interested in his bowl of fruit.
"You can't even see him properly from here!" Nick said.
"Yes I can!" Thad replied, craning his neck around a little further, openly eyeing him from across the room.
Before Nick could open his mouth to reply, Ben interrupted.
"NO...NO, I'm not having this conversation with you two again!" he said half joking, half serious.
Josh and Ben managed to awkwardly slink away from the table as Nick and Thad burst out laughing at their embarrassed faces.
Nick turned back to his cereal.
"So have you tried?"
"What?"
"You know what."
"Jesus Thad, he's been here one night, give it a rest."
"Whatever", Thad replied, turning back to face Nick, "but you should try not moaning his name in your sleep."
Nick chocked and spluttered bits of cereal down his shirt.
"Yeah, went back to your room after you got the blankets, couldn't sleep. I heard Dave and Wes coming round for early morning inspections. Thought I'd warn you. You need sound proof sheets or something. Seriously. It was utterly pornographic! I wonder if they heard..."
Thad began to imitate Nick, gaining a few unusual stares and giggles from the other tables.
Nick stared at Thad in horror, before standing up abruptly and storming out of the cafeteria.
Jeff watched Nick dart through the maze of blue and red students, momentarily distracted. He then refocused his attention on trying to eat. The crusts of his toast lay on his plate and he convinced himself to begin the apple.
The food hadn't made him feel better. Well, it had a bit, but there was a still a huge pit in his stomach that he could feel. It was always there. He bit into the apple again, forcing himself to swallow, before the bell rang and the day of classes begun.
