Okayz guyzzzz moving on to Monday!! Special thanks to Palindrome for the help, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It took little to no effort on my part, so you better enjoy it. :D

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As with most Mondays, school was back in session. Kyler and Cody's school was rundown, like most, but had a brilliant Entry Hall to wow guests before they entered the asbestos-strewn walls that the rest of the school had to offer. The Entry Hall had tall, cathedral ceilings painted in brilliant, but faded, red and purple, the school's colors. The wall in front of the string of double doors was over 40 feet tall, and had a giant mural of a Thundercloud, the school's mascot. The Art Club touched it up every 4 weeks because the school was overly anal-retentive about first impressions. Banners from Scholastic dictated messages what teachers all thought parents and executives would find charismatic like "Learning is fun!" and "There's no 'I' in 'Dropout Student!'" Beyond this laid the Main Office where not a single speck of dust was allowed to mingle, and beyond that the rest of the school looked the same as any old public school: dirty, filthy, and like it was covered in some unknown substance that students and faculty alike hoped wouldn't start a school-wide pandemic.

Inside room 206 sat Kyler and Cody. Fourth period AP Biology was the worst because it was right before lunch. They were the only two Juniors in the entire class, the rest being Seniors hoping to pursue the field. Of course Cody was in it for the fun. Kyler was nearly asleep, his head fixed at the clock. A smiley face he had drawn with his drool was slowly drying. This act of nature was more interesting than the teacher's lecture, at least according to Kyler, for he clearly preferred the silent evaporation of his saliva compared to his teacher's ramble. He decided to crumple a piece of paper and throw it at Cody. He missed entirely, and ended up hitting the far from attractive Lenore King who sat in the third row. "Schtop it!" She clamored, retainer in mouth. "I'm gonna tell Mischter Schmish about disch!" Her idle threat didn't faze him at all. He closed his eyes and thought about the weekend that had just ended.

He couldn't get the idea of Colton and Kelsey out of his mind. It was unfathomable to him that they would hit it off like that. He thought Kelsey was interested in Zach, anyways. I mean, they were twins, so that could have explained it. He wondered what his half-brother saw in her, not that she was ugly or anything.

The bell rang with a loud clang, waking Kyler from his daydream with a jolt. He and Cody got their lunches at their lockers and sat down in their usual corner to eat with Zack and Kelsey. Kyler didn't say a word to the latter.

"Hey…Zack what did you do to my lunch??" Cody yelled to his brother.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He nonchalantly replied.

"My tuna sandwich is CANNED tuna! NOT the kind mom bought at the store! You know what I think of canned Tuna!!"

"That it comes from the same fish in the first place??" Cody ended the conversation there, keeping it to glares between him and Zack. Kyler, on the other hand, kept thinking about Kelsey. It was unexpected, and between his best friend and his half-brother he definitely couldn't help but feel, in some way, betrayed.

"I'm going to…go guys." He whispered, and slowly dragged his body to a nearby corner, where he continued to eat out of the view of his other friends. Within seconds Cody was there next to him listening to him explaining the situation.

"I just feel like…I should have known from one of them." He explained.

"Maybe neither of them saw it coming." Cody reasoned. "Maybe they were just as surprised.

"In a closet? That's not spontaneous."

"It's….uncanny?"

"You're not helping." Kyler shot.

"Sorry…." He slowly put his arm around Kyler, who continued to stare idly into his empty lap. Cody took his other hand and slowly slipped it in to Kyler's. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"No…I don't…."

"You'll always have me." Cody said, smiling at his friend. "Nothing I do to you will be unexpected. I'll never surprise you like that." Kyler looked at his friend and smiled meekly, though Cody could tell in Kyler's eyes what he had said meant a lot to him. Without saying a word, he put his head back down and squeezed Cody's hand.

"Thanks…." He whispered.

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I felt it was important to have this chapter be a lot more….outside looking in than the other chapters. Since it's a lot more about alienation and feelings of deception, I wanted to mimic that in the rest of the story. The Entry Hall's deception to outsiders, his brother's deception and Kelsey's deception are all enlarged in a single room and situation. I wanted the whole chapter to have a much more hands-off feel because I wanted it to feel fuzzy and obscure. I hope I did a good job =] Review or I send my evil army of Robot Ligers to eat your flesh!!