Chapter 3

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Wufei took a second to make sure that all his books stood straight, sorted by subject and then by size. His locker was always in perfect order. It was nice to be able to have total control over something in his life and this metal box was more or less all he had. '

Aaron who had the adjacent locker didn't acknowledge him as he started loading books in, not that Wufei was surprised. The other boy hadn't spared him a glance, never mind talked to him in the two years that they had had lockers next to each other.

Now Aaron wasn't the most popular guy around but he had enough survivor instincts not to approach him. Wufei tried not to feel resentful.

There were always outcasts. The dorky ones, the too smart ones, the ones who didn't care about their appearance, the overweight ones, the strange ones, the shy ones and the just plain ugly ones. Wufei wasn't sure just what category he fitted into but he had a feeling that he was somewhere far below them all. He seemed to be in a whole new bottom level that were so low that it made sure that not even the most un-popular students would ever even think about being seen with him since it obviously would mean social suicide. Not to mention painful if Wufei's own personal group of bullies decided to divide their attention.

He didn't think they knew he was gay. They called him a faggot, sure, but it was more in the way of intending for it to be an insult than to call him on it. Thank god for small favors.

He took his psychology book and a note book out. His classes didn't' start for another ten minutes but he would be safer inside that classroom than he would be here in the middle of the corridor. If he was lucky, the teacher would be early and he could take shelter in the classroom.

His luck just ran out.

In the corner of his eye he saw Tommy coming towards him. Wufei knew what was going to happen and he even saw the other boy lifting his fist but did nothing to stop it. That would only make things worse.

The other boy's fist hit his side, making him gasp, clinging to the locker door to hold himself up, his eyelids tightly shut as he fought to keep the tears back. Pain rolled over him, proving that it didn't matter how many times this happened, you never got used to it. In resignation he waited for another hit, fingers tips turning white from his grip around the metal.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" An angry voice shouted behind them as Duo's fist meet Tommy's face with a sickening smash.

The leather clad boy didn't give Wufei's attacker a single chance to defend himself as he leveled him to the ground, delivering punch after punch until Tommy stopped trying to fight back, choosing instead to curl up to protect himself.

Wufei watched it all with wide eyes.

"You okay?" Duo asked as he stumbled back onto his feet, panting slightly as he walked over to him.

Wufei simply nodded in shock, not quite sure what had just happened.

Duo gave the crumbled body a glare over his shoulder. "Let me know if anyone gives you any problems, okay? I'll take care of it."

Wufei lowered his eyes from the intense look he was given. "Okay." He whispered.

Duo nodded tightly, backed up a few steps to kick Tommy in the stomach before walking away.

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Later that day, Wufei's eyes followed Duo as he strolled into the classroom with something close to hero worship. He still could not believe that Duo had not only helped him but actually beaten someone up for him. The thought was beyond words.

The math teacher walked in and Wufei forced his eyes away from Duo and down into his book.

Silence soon settled over the room.

Wufei easily finished his equation before letting his attention stray. He was so far ahead of the others that it wouldn't matter if he so decided to skip every single lesson for a month. In the corner of his eye he saw Duo's leg start to bounce uncontrollably and he just knew that it wouldn't be long before the boy started doing something stupid that would get him thrown out.

Ten minutes later the door closed behind the braided boy.

Wufei waited a moment before he excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Duo stood leaning against the wall further down the corridor and Wufei hesitated momentarily before walking over to him.

What's wrong?" He asked softly, wanting to reach out to touch him but choosing instead to cross his arms over his chest.

Duo glanced over at him as his played with the zipper on his jacket. "They wanted me to draw a parallelogram and I couldn't remember how they looked." He confessed quietly.

If it wasn't so sad, Wufei would have laughed - especially since they had spent an hour yesterday working on it. "Listen to the word, parallelo-gram, how should it look?"

Duo kicked the back of his boot into the wall in frustration, giving him an annoyed look. "I'm not smart like you, I don't know."

"Yes you do." Wufei insisted. "Para-llelo-gram."

Duo sighed, dragging a hand through his bangs. "Was it the boxes?"

Wufei smiled proudly. "Yes, exactly. What made them so special?"

"Um, the top and the bottom were just as long and so were the short sides?"

"Yes, and how did you figure out the area?" He asked carefully. He knew that Duo knew this, he had been sitting next to him when he had solved several geometrical problems without any problems what so ever.

Then, lo and behold, Duo opened his mouth and all the answers came tumbling out. Wufei asked question after question and Duo, after claiming over and over again that he didn't know and that he wasn't smart enough to figure it out, had soon answered every one of them.

"Are you ready to go back inside? I'm sure the teacher won't give you any problems."

Duo grimaced. "I don't know, I kind of have an image to uphold. It would look kind of stupid if I came back, tail between my legs, you know."

Wufei tilted his head, giving Duo's torn jeans, his studded leather jacket and his long hair a look. "Isn't not giving a fuck more your thing anyway? Why care what they think?"

Duo chuckled lightly and the sound warmed Wufei from the inside. He had said something that made Duo laugh! He couldn't remember ever being so proud of himself.

A shrug. "I guess, fine. You go in and I'll follow you in a couple of minutes."

Wufei nodded with a smile and returned into the classroom.

He sat down, ignoring the paper ball that hit him in the back of the head as he did so. Nothing was going to bring him down from this high. A few minutes later, Duo strolled back into the room and sat down again. As Wufei had thought, the teacher just looked up from where he was helping another student and didn't say anything as Duo opened his book and stayed quiet.

Wufei held back a proud smile as he watched Duo's pen fly over the page.

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"Thanks for that." Duo said, walking up behind him as they were exiting the classroom.

Wufei jumped slightly, not prepared to have Duo talk to him where others could see. "No problem." He mumbled shyly. He was very aware that people were watching them and that they were listening to every word they said.

"You wouldn't believe the kind of block my brain puts on itself when I tried to figure it out on my own." Duo smiled one of those smiles that didn't reach his eyes. "Thank god it's lunchtime. I'm fucking starving, let me just put these away and I'll meet up with ya." He thumped his books against his hip before he started walking in the opposite direction.

Wufei's heart had somehow defined all laws of gravity and crawled up in his throat, making it impossible to get a word out. Instead he used all his energy to make his unsteady feet take him where he needed them to go.

Duo was going to eat lunch with him! Like they were friends, like Duo wanted to hang out with him for another reason than because he was helping him!

Wufei almost could not believe it and he walked blindly towards his locker, head firmly stuck in the clouds. He imagined what he was going to say, how Duo would respond and how those sad eyes would smile just for him. He grinned stupidly and didn't step out of the way when Tyler and Nick came towards him.

Bad idea.

"Look where you are going loser." Was all Wufei had time to hear before he was shoved face first into the row of lockers. His head was ringing and he had no way to escape the kick to the back of his knees. He fell to the floor and another kick hit him in the side. For some reason all he could think about was that he hoped that his glasses wouldn't break, he didn't want to meet up with Duo with broken glasses. Please just don't let them break.

"Get off him you fuckers!"

Duo's pissed off yell was like a voice from above and despite the pain he slowly sat up, leaning back against a metal locker. Something was getting in his eye and Wufei lifted his hand and felt blood under his fingers.

He glimpsed Duo's eyes around Tyler's bulky shape and saw the rage.

Seconds later Tyler was in a lot of pain as Duo rammed a knee into his stomach. Nick tried to help his friend but the blond was soon whimpering on the ground after receiving a hit to the balls. People were gathering to trying to get a look on what was going on, almost totally blocking Wufei's view.

Duo didn't stop hitting until a teacher showed up, shouting angrily for them to stop fighting. Not that it was much of a fight with Tyler and Nick being beaten up ruthlessly on the dirty floor.

As Wufei watched, the teacher led the unresisting Duo away towards the principal's office. The braided boy gave him a sad smile over his shoulder before he disappeared around the corner.

"Are you alright Wufei?" His English teacher asked kindly as he hunched down next to him.

'Now you worry' Wufei thought bitterly. 'Where were you before?'

The man gave him a concerned look, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What did Maxwell do?"

Wufei stared stupidly for a moment before he managed to connect all the dots to figure out that the new name was Duo's. With a sigh he shook his head. It just figures, when someone finally saw something they misinterpreted it.

Wufei then did something that he had never done before, he told a teacher the truth. "Duo didn't do it, Nick and Tyler did." It felt good to finally say the truth, he had never had the guts to do so before. Not when it only led to even more pain in the end. But this time was different, this time someone had stepped in to help him and staying quiet would hurt Duo more than it would hurt him to tattle.

The man frown, scratching the large bold spot on his head in thought. "So… Maxwell tried to help?"

Wufei nodded shortly. "Yeah, he's... a friend."

The man made a noise of understanding before reaching out to help him up. "Let's get you to the nurse and I'll have a word with the principal."

"Thank you." Wufei whispered as he followed, head hanging low to avoid making eye contact with the people surrounding them.

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Wufei got himself patched up and turned down the offer to call someone to come get him. Even if it was tempting, a petty part of him wanted to call his father so that the man would get to hear all about how his new "son" had beaten him up. But he had more important things to worry about.

Instead of going back to class like he had said he would, Wufei went in the other direction and took a seat in the waiting room outside the principal's office, making sure that he was sitting behind a big plastic bush so no one could see him.

The first to leave the office was his English teacher and Wufei was happy to see that the man really had gone to get all the facts straight. Next came Nick and Tyler, they were both looking very grim and angry, hopefully because of the punishment they had gotten. One could always hope anyway and he tried not to think about what they would do to him when he saw them again. He sat very still as they passed the plastic plant, holding his breath until the door closed behind them.

He just hoped that Duo would be okay. The other boy had gotten himself quite the reputation since he had gotten there and what was to say that this wasn't what pushed Duo over the edge?

Wufei didn't know how long he had been sitting there but the class that he should have gone to must have ended long ago when the door finally opened and Duo stepped out. He looked tired and the right side of his face was swollen and bruised.

"Hey." Wufei said softly, getting up from his hiding place.

"Hey, you alright?" Duo asked walking over and leaned down to inspect the cut on his forehead.

"I'm fine." He said self-consciously, taking a step back as he ducked his head.

"I'm starting to think that you need a fucking body guard." Duo shrugged on his leather jacket and pulled his long braid free. "They might try to take this out on you, so just stick close to me, okay?"

Wufei nodded, a warm feeling growing in his chest. And who could blame him? Who wouldn't want their very own knight in shining armor? Or leather jacket as it were.

"Are you in trouble?" He asked softly, glancing over at the principals closed door.

Duo shrugged. "Not more than usual. There will be a bunch of meetings where people who don't know shit will try to talk me ears off, it's nothing new."

"Aren't you afraid you'll get kicked out?" Wufei asked carefully as they stepped out into the corridor. It was mostly empty and the few people there paid them no mind as they passed.

Duo shrugged. "Not really, the principal… well he kind of has a soft spot for screw ups so I should be fine until the end of the year." He scratched his cheek and Wufei found himself watching the bruised knuckles. They were bruised because they had defended him. It was an almost overwhelming thought. "I just need to graduate and then I'll be fine." Duo smiled a twisted smile. "And with you on my side I just might even make it."

Wufei swore then and there that he would do anything, anything at all to make sure that Duo graduated.

"Want to work a bit more on the chapter?" Wufei asked before he lost his nerve

Duo shrugged. "Sure. Forest again?"

Wufei thought of the little meadow, sitting next to Duo on the leather jacket. He couldn't think of anything better. "Yeah."

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That was it for now. Please tell me what you thought about it :)

I'll be out of the country for a week and a half now. Any ideas on what to do it Slovene?

I won't have any Internet during that time (Oh, god. The horror) so there won't be a update next week. Sorry :(