Hello people! Agh, so so so sorry this has taken so long...home problems (ahem grounded) and haven't been able to update. Hope you like this chapter, though it isn't my best, I worked quite a few consistent hours on it as soon as I was able. Deepest apologizes...I'm serious. Lol...thanks for reading, please review...hope you enjoy this!

I slammed my locker door tight, enjoying the echo it set through the now empty hallway. This was my favorite time of day…the end. I usually waited a little longer in class until the people had cleared. Somehow, it just gave me a sort of good feeling to be walking the huge hallways of my High School alone. It sort of took away from the intimidation, or something like that. Dragging one foot behind the other, I turned towards the door, and headed towards the bus.

I didn't care about being the last one in the bus. No one wanted my crappy seat in the front anyway. Staring out the window, I noticed our lack of good nature. There really wasn't much nature around here. Lots of pollution…when was the last time I had been to a camp? Surely not that seventh grade math camp…

"Heya Codester," a familiar voice grinned, interrupting my thoughts. The cheap rubber seat rose up on my side, responding to the feeling of another's weight next to me.

"Aren't you going to sit with your friends?" I asked Zack; half surprised at his presence, half relieved it was he, and not another bully.

"Naw, not today," he drummed his fingers on the back of the seat in front of us, keeping some unknown beat. I shrugged, and returned to staring out the window. The bus began moving, and Zack remained in his spot. Obviously he was going to sit here the rest of the ride.

"So, how's Griffin been?"

Well that was strange. Suddenly this looser mattered to him?

"He's fine. Doing better. I'm going to see him tomorrow." I kept my voice short, but couldn't help the slightest interest. So why was he asking about Griffin anyway?

"Oh" He shut up after that, stuck his head in his hands, and sighed deeply. I leaned closer towards him, still curious. He raised his head, stared at me for a moment, and finally broke the awkward silence. "Is he coming back?"

"What?"

"Like, to school. Is he coming back?" Zack stared at me, conversing worry through his eyes.

"I don't know." I whispered, at the moment confronting myself with the idea. There was something I hadn't thought about. Would he come back? I had no earthly idea. Would he drop out? Or his parents could home school him. Or was it even possible for him to think about school? Something told me though, that this was something that his family wouldn't bother him with for a while. With everything going on, learning was the last things on their minds. Be good thing or bad, that's just how it was.

"I don't know, but if he does, it wont be any time soon." I finally replied.

"Cuz like, I wanted to talk to him and all, just like…"

"Like what?"

"Dude, I just wanted to say sorry. That's it." He shook his head and rose from the seat next to me, and strode away to sit with another one of his nasty friends, hanging his head the entire time. My gaze followed him, in clear shock. Apologize? Zack?

"Wait!" I called, not wanting to loose him. "How about you come with me?"

Zack looked down instantly, scrunching his eyes, then humbly raised his gaze. "Ok, I guess."

XxXx

"Right here, stop right here!" The cab pulled over, slinging Zack and I roughly against the backseat wall.

"Man, we really need a car," Zack laughed. I smiled, but wasn't exactly in the laughing mood. We walked side by side, avoiding the stepping-stones, though I'm not quite sure why. "Kind of small." He said under his breath. That probably wasn't meant for me to hear, but I smiled and replied anyway.

"Wait til you see the inside." I extended a hand to lightly touch the small button next to the door, sending a musical chime through the interior of the house. We stood still for a few seconds, listening to the scurrying from the inside.

"Hey-" the voice cut short, staring at the person beside me.

"Hey, Carly, you know my brother Zack?" I pointed to Zack, even though I knew very well that she knew exactly who he was. What she didn't know though, as I was just now realizing, was how he was involved in the accident. See, we never really spoke about why I was at the hospital during the accident. It just sort of worked out in her mind I guess, and she wasn't going to be extremely pleased at the truth. In fact, knowing Carly, she would be slower to forgive then Griffin himself.

"Yeah…I know Zack." She frowned, staring at me, confused. I nodded, confirming his being here a good thing, and in no way out of the ordinary. She nodded back, and extended a dainty pale hand. Zack remained oblivious to her gesture though, preoccupied with staring at her. Whether he was studying her attire of faded green and white striped pants paired with a long black shirt, and a checkered belt tightened over it all, or just staring at her was beyond me.

"Zack" I breathed, punching him in the arm in attempt to awaken him to reality.

"Oh, hey" he grabbed her hand, and shook it hard. She raised an eyebrow, half grinning, but still with a suspicious look.

"Yeah, ok, you can come in and all." She shook her head, and walked back into the house, expecting us to follow.

I went in first, and walked ahead of him. I smiled, listening to his awed breaths as he entered the house behind me.

"Cody? Why is he here?" Carly grabbed my arm, whispering harshly in my ear.

"It's ok Carly, he just wants to talk with Griffin." I put a hand on her arm. "You know, I never did tell you why I was at the hospital that night-"

"Wow," Zack interrupted me. "This house is so awesome."

"Thanks…" she said slowly, still staring at him, confused about his change of attitude since their last conversation.

"Where's Griffin at?" I finally asked.

"Oh, right. He's in the living room. We were looking at pictures- well; me and Ben, Ben and I was-were looking at pictures, and telling him about them. Kind of just, talking you know" She jabbered away, then turned quickly towards the living room-obviously rushing to get back to something.

I followed her quickly, Zack tagging behind me. Inside the beautifully furnished living room, I spotted Griffin sitting beside Ben. He was wearing a pair of darkened glasses. They looked a bit like sun glasses, but I guessed they were prescription so the lights wouldn't bother his eyes or something. In front of them was a small glass coffee table stacked with albums. Loose pictures were scattered, sitting on the couches, and a few on the floor. Let it Be (a/n you should know that's the Beatles…but just in case…) droned quietly in the background, and a lively fire crackled in the wood fireplace, though it was barely cold outside yet. I liked it…the whole room had such a homey feel about it. So comfortable, and warm, it put me at ease right away.

"Hey Griffin," I began waving, but dropped my hand. Its so confusing…being around a blind person. "And Ben."

"Hey," they said in unison. Ben stood from his chair, spotting Zack.

"What is he doing here?" eyeing my brother as if he were some type of bug, or rotten piece of food that needed to be discarded immediately.

"It's ok, he's here to talk to Griffin and stuff," I stammered. Now in front of Ben, and even Carly, I felt ashamed of my brother. I guess it wasn't a strange thing…here I was, taking with me my brother…who was a part of the hated specimens among our kind. I turned towards Griffin instinctively to find his impression, but of course he made no expression. Maybe because he didn't know exactly who was here to talk to him yet, and he didn't seem very interested in finding out. Instead, he sat thumbing through a stack of pictures, stroking their glossy lamination.

"Carly, which one is this?" he finally spoke, holding up a picture.

"That one is of the lake, at the cabin." She walked over and took the picture from him, sitting down as she studied it. "Remember the cabin? How long has it been since we last went? That place was so incredible"

"Uh, I don't know." He said. "Yeah, it was awesome. They had the best mountains there. I painted some of the best-" he broke off, turning his head away from the direction of her voice. Paintings he had wanted to say.

"My aunt owns this awesome cabin in the woods…Mom and Dad took us there a long time ago. We were like 12 I think." Carly turned in my direction.

"Oh…cool" I wasn't quite sure what to say. Personally, I didn't want to go on with this subject. There was no way Griffin was enjoying memories of sight. If it were me…I would want to forget it all…agh, I don't know. It wasn't me…there was no telling what he was thinking. I can't even begin to imagine what blindness would be like.

"I never went." Ben settled next to Carly, leaning over to see the picture. "But I remember you guys loved it. You always wanted to go back and stuff." I turned to Griffin, and was shocked to see him smiling.

"Yeah, it was pretty awesome. We need to go back some time. Like, all of us." I was even more surprised at Griffin's words. He wanted to go back? If it were me that bad been blinded, I would have completely given up on everything.

But it wasn't me

"That would be great!" Ben smiled. But I could tell he was paying more attention to Carly then the idea of going to this cabin. I remained silent, watching them all in a sort of happiness blur. This was so perfect…he was happy, they were happy, and I had forgotten about Zack.

"That would be fun." Carly said softly, also sort of out of it.

"Hey…sorry to like interrupt and all…but like-" a voice rattled behind me, jerking me back into reality.

"Oh wow, yeah." I grabbed Zack's wrist and dragged him to the center of the living room. "Griffin, Zack is here. He needs to…talk to you." Ben and Carly looked up at us, and all eyes moved towards Zack.

"Hey, could I like…talk to him alone?"

I turned to Ben and Carly. Ben nodded, blessed with that understanding kind nature. Even towards my brother. He rose from his seat, and walked out, Carly following him, turning every so often, until she had disappeared with Ben into some other room outside the door.

"You want me to leave too?" I asked Zack, who was shuffling his feet at the ground.

"Naw, its ok," Zack muttered. "I don't really know him and all you know, yeah."

Ok. So this was awkward.

"Zack, you're Cody's brother right?" Griffin broke the silence we had created, surprisingly enough.

"Uh, yeah. And like, I needed to like, I dunno. Cody, tell him-never mind. I can do it. Uh, well like, you know I have like a lot of stupid friends and stuff?"

"Griffin nodded slowly, his body language conversing the word duh to us. I'm not sure if Zack noticed, but whether or not he did wasn't my problem.

"Yeah, well, we were at this party, and some of the guys got drunk. It was getting real late, and we had to go home."

Griffin sunk deeper in the chair and pulled a knee up to his chest. I noticed him mouthing the words of the song in the background, and I'm sure wondering what the hell this had to do with him. Zack's words were not very clear in explaining, but at least he was saying something.

"Yeah, well I didn't have a ride and stuff, so I rode with some of the guys, sober might I add,"

Stop trying to make yourself seem good I thought. I shot a look at him about that comment, but he ignored me.

"And we kinda got out of control, and hit another car." Zack's voice grew smaller as he neared the end of the sentence, staring at Griffin the entire time, waiting for reaction. He stopped after that, yet Griffin remained still. We both waited, for some sort of response. Finally Zack finished his sentence, in order to make better sense I guess. "Your car."

Griffin's head shot up, and he dropped his knee to the ground. Though his gaze didn't shift (haha, shocker), his face drooped down as he realized what my brother was saying. I'm not sure I've felt so ashamed in a while. Maybe it was a mistake to bring him here. Maybe it was best I had left it all alone-

"And I'm sorry man. I shouldn't have like let them. Its kinda my fault in some ways. And even if it isn't, I'm sorry." Zack finally finished, giving me an are you happy now look. I replied with a big smile, and a warm brotherly love. An apology was way out of character for him, and was a step towards change in the right direction. Maybe my brother wasn't so screwed up after all.

"Its fine man." Griffin answered, surprising us both. Seeing him like that again brought anger to my soul, but at least his eyes were hidden underneath those glasses. I wasn't sure if I would have been able to stand a moment here without them.