Thank you again for the reviews/follows/favourites etc. they mean so much, the story is starting to take shape now, so I hope you's are still reading and enjoying it =]

I now present Chapter 6...

Nick awoke the next morning to the sun gleaming in to the shaded room, its rays shining down brightly on to the brunette, catching his eyes and making it impossible to continue his slumber. He tried turning over to block out the annoying light but eventually gave up and declared the sun victory as he sat himself upright and rubbed his eyes.

He began to take in his surroundings, realising he was back in the comfort of his dorm room.

That's strange he thought, pinching himself to make sure this was indeed reality, I don''t remember coming back to the room last night.

The brunette furrowed his eyebrows as he began to recall the events from the previous night, still trying to figure out how he had managed to get back up to the dorm without even remembering.

Okay so I cleaned the masks for Porter, gave him a whole stack of them, then was dismissed. Erm..oh then I came back up here, talked to Trent, went to look for Jeff...JEFF!

Nick immediately snapped his head up and began searching the room for his blonde room-mate. The bed opposite him was neatly made and it looked as if Jeff's uniform and belongings were missing, that could only mean two things; either the boy had came back last night and had gotten dressed and left for breakfast before Nick had woken up; or, he hadn't came back at all and was still out roaming Westerville somewhere.

Nick quickly jumped out of bed and began frantically searching for his cell phone, quickly unlocking it and checking for any updated messages upon retrieving it. Apart from the text from Sebastian reminding him they had an after school study session today and the one from his mother telling him that her and his father were heading to Chicago for the weekend, there were none from Jeff.

Nick was starting to feel a sense of worry building up inside of him again, where was Jeff? He needed to know, he needed to know his best friend was safe, he needed him back here, inside the safe gates of Dalton, with Nick.

The brunette startled slightly and focused his mind back to reality when he heard a loud knock on the door.

"Ni-cho-las" a sing-song voice said that could be recognised as the sassy warbler Trent's.

Nick put down his iPhone on the desk and began making his way over to the door, opening it and immediately pulling the warbler inside.

"Have you seen Jeff? He's not here. What if he didn't come back last night? What if he's still out there? Maybe he ran out of gas and is stuck? He isn't answering my calls, what if his phones dead? He could be stranded.." Nick began, his sense of worry slowly building into a panic as he continued his apprehensive rambling.

"Good morning to you too" Trent said, gripping Nick on the shoulders in an attempt to restore the brunette's concentration

"Look Nick, Jeff's fine, I've just been talking to him. He came back late last night, just before curfew...he went to visit Blaine"

Nick let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that Jeff was safe and was back at the school. Although he pretty much had a good idea of why the blonde had decided to unexpectedly pay a visit to the ex-warbler's house. Jeff and Blaine had always been pretty close; well all the warblers were really, so whenever there was a problem, after consulting about it with Nick first, Jeff would often call up the curly-haired boy and discuss with him whatever was on his mind. This time though, Nick suspected that whatever Jeff was feeling couldn't really be expressed through a simple phone call.

"He got back before curfew? But I waited for him, how come I didn't see him come back?" Nick said as he shot a look of confusion up at the round-faced warbler.

"Maybe that was because you were too busy asleep to notice" Trent replied chuckling slightly at the brunette in front of him

"Jeff said you were sleeping like a baby, he had to carry you back up to the room, then get you changed and tuck you in. I wouldn't be surprised if he had read you a bedtime story too"

Nick blushed slightly at the boy's explanation, He had fallen asleep, and Jeff had carried him all the way up here? Now that explained why he couldn't remember, he thought whilst expressing a sheepish smile to the round-faced warbler in front of him. He must have been a ton weight, how on earth Jeff had managed he did not know.

"Well...that's embarrassing" Nick said, hoping the pink would fade from his cheeks soon as he could see the other boy was grinning like a chesire cat at his embarrassment.

"How was he when you saw him? Still upset?"

"No actually, he seemed okay" Trent replied, thinking back to not 15 minutes ago when he had last spoken to the blonde

"I think the visit to Blaine had done him good"

That's a relief, Nick thought whilst flashing the sassy warbler a genuine smile, at least Jeff would be easier to talk to now.

"I really should go a talk to him" Nick said, trying to think of ways in which he could approach the subject to his best friend

"I dunno where to start though...should I apologise for what I think I did to upset him last night, or what?"

Trent gave the smaller boy a look, expressing a hint of awkwardness before agreeing to his plan for words.

"Just tell him what you told me, I mean it was all innocent right?" he raised an eyebrow at the brunette who in return gave him his best bitch glare.

"Of course it was!" Nick replied, swatting the round-faced warbler in order to stiffle the giggles that were coming from his mouth.

"Well then, you've got nothing to be worried about" Trent said as he shrugged at the brunette "and if he doesn't forgive you then offer to buy him a family size bag of red vines for himself"

Nick smirked at the boy's suggestion, for this had indeed been the solution in the past for the times when Jeff had found it difficult to forgive Nick and vice versa.

"Okay, I'll talk to him" Nick said as he took a seat on end of his room-mate's bed.

"Do you know what time it is man?"

The sassy warbler took a glance at his watch before widening his eyes in horror and gasping at the brunette.

"SHIT! Nick it's 8:55! Class starts in 5 minutes!" he exclaimed as he watched the smaller boy jump up from the bed in panic.

"What! Trent, you've made me late, I was supposed to be dressed by now!" Nick cried as he began frantically roaming his drawer for a fresh pair of underwear and socks.

"No you've made me late! I wasn't the one who slept in!" Trent pointed out, opening the wardrobe and hesitantly throwing a pile of Nick's uniform across the room at the brunette "HERE CATCH!"

"Thanks" Nick said sarcastically as picked up his tie from where it had landed near the bin.

"I gotta go man, double french with Mademoiselle Scollen" Trent said as be began making his way towards the door

"Hurry Nicholas, you're going to be late!" he sang as he exited the room, sprinting along the corridor as he did so in an attempt to make it to first period on time.

"I am!" Nick cried as he ran out into the corridor shouting after the round-faced boy

"And stop calling me that! It's Nick!"

The brunette quickly made his way back into the room and began putting on his uniform, trying to smoothen down his bed hair whilst he did so. He quickly slipped on his shoes and pulled on his blazer, fastening the first golden button before he swung his bag over his shoulder and made his way out of the dorm, bolting down the corridor as fast as he could, hoping his Chemistry teacher wouldn't punish him too much for showing up late to her lesson.

Class had started 15 minutes ago and there was still no sign of Nick. Jeff was beginning to wonder if his roomate had simply just slept in or if he had actually been abducted on his way to the lab; either way Jeff knew that Dr. Norbury would soon raise the question of the brunette's whereabouts and he would have to make some excuse up for the boy.

Usually Jeff would be the first to wake every morning, which meant he had the responsibility of waking up his languid roommate and making sure he actually got up and got dressed.

The morning however, Jeff had woken up just before 6am, an hour earlier than usual; thoughts had been circling his mind all night of how he was going to come out today and how he was going to tell his best friend the truth. To be honest, he was nervous, he was very nervous; it wasn't that he knew the others wouldn't find it hard to accept him , it was just the fact that he was finally putting it out in the open, finally expressing his true self, that he, Jeffrey Silas Sterling, was gay.

He had spent a while contemplating whether or not he was actually gay or whether it was just a phase; for not long ago he had come to the decision that he was bisexual, but now he seemed to have the indication that his feelings for boys were more than merely just crushes, for instance, what he felt for Nick was more that what he had ever felt for any girl.

His chat with the two ex-warblers last night had done him good, for his head was now a lot clearer and he now knew what he had to do, he had to come clean, he had to tell Nick the truth.

That however, was the hard part. Jeff had decided to take a long stroll around the grounds this morning in order to think of ways of how he was going to approach the subject. Since he was already awake, he thought that a bit of time spent outside in the open, next to nature, wouldn't do him any harm and would actually give him time to sort out his head first.

And it had done the trick, for Jeff felt a lot more certain of his decision, he was still scared, scared of how his best friend would react, but at least he now knew that he had to do it, I mean, he promised both himself and his friends that he would.

"Mr. Sterling?"

Jeff quickly returned his mind back to the classroom upon hearing his name being called.

"Yes miss?" he said looking up to face the stout ginger haired woman in front of him

"Were you paying attention?"

Jeff looked around to see all eyes in the room on him. Great, he thought, why is it always me who gets picked on in class? Jeff had to admit, he did have a bit of a habit of daydreaming, but only during the most boring lessons. However, chemistry, for him was usually quite an interesting lesson; he had never once before fallen into the trap of allowing his mind to take over when he was in the lab, but this might have been down to the fact that he shared a desk with Nick and that the brunette was good at keeping him entertained for the two hours.

"Mr. Sterling!" Dr. Norbury shouted causing the blonde to startle slightly

Jeff realised he had been doing it again, and was now faced with a slightly agitated looking chemistry teacher. He just needed his mind to shut up for two seconds.

"Sorry miss, I um..no I wasn't, could you say it again please?" Jeff spoke up, flashing a sheepish smile to the woman in front of him.

Dr. Norbury scowled before repeating her explanation on redox reactions to the blonde. Jeff quickly began making notes on the subject this time, the last thing he needed this semester was to be failing chemistry and have his parents on his back for it.

"Is that clear now Mr. Sterling?" the woman began again, eyeing Jeff cautiously "this will most likely be on the finals at the end of the year, so it is important that everyone has a good understanding of this. Speaking of everyone..."

she looked down at the empty seat next to the blonde

"Where is Mr. Duval?"

At that moment, as if he had been magically summoned, Nick burst through the door looking slightly breathless and dishevelled.

"Ah, speaking of the devil, it is nice of you to show up Mr. Duval" Dr. Norbury said giving the brunette an unamused look

"Sorry...miss" Nick began, panting heavily "I...can explain...I...slept in...I'm really...sorry"

The woman's features softened slightly when she realised how flushed the brunette was, he looked as if he was about to pass out any second from the exercise; sprinting across to the other side of the school in less than 30 seconds wasn't something Nick's body was conditioned to do.

"I'll let you off this one time" the woman began motioning for Nick to take his seat "but if it just so happens that you are 20 minutes late to my lesson again Mr. Duval, don't think that there won't be a punishment"

"Yes miss" Nick said as he took his seat next to Jeff.

"You look a little hot" Jeff whispered to his roommate, chuckling slightly

"Shut up, if you'd have just woken me up" Nick replied, nudging Jeff in the ribs whilst flashing a grin at the blonde "what have I missed?"

"Not much; redox reactions, oxidation numbers...all that crap" Jeff replied sighing at the brunette "did you sleep okay?"

Nick blushed slightly at the mention of the subject. "Erm...yeah. Hey, thanks man, for you know, taking me back to the room...I feel a bit silly now, for falling asleep"

Jeff just smiled at the boy, Nick looked so cute right now all flustered "It's no big deal, I couldn't just leave you out there, you would have probably have been eaten...by tumblrbeasts"

Nick chuckled at the his roommate's comment; tumblrbeasts were living creatures in Jeff's mind, it just showed how childish and adorable the blonde was sometimes.

He didn't know if he should bring up the subject now or later on, for Nick thought it might set off the taller boy; that was the last thing he wanted, especially in the middle of their chemistry lesson. He knew he would have to bring it up soon though, they needed to talk about what happened last night; Nick needed Jeff to know that he could trust him and that whatever Nick had done to cause him to run off like that, that he was sorry.

"You actually look like you've been attacked by a tumblrbeast" Jeff whispered again, pointing towards the brunette's slightly dishevelled appearance.

Nick had been in such a rush this morning, he hadn't found the time to really take a look in the mirror and sort out his bed hair, meaning he had probably showed up to class looking like a hobo in uniform. He desperately needed some hair gel at this present moment.

"Come here" Jeff said as he took hold of Nick's tie and began retying it into a neat knot

Nick was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable at Jeff's actions, it was just a bit unusual to have your best friend place his hands so close to your neck, Nick couldn't decide whether or not he liked having the feeling of Jeff finger's accidentally brushing over his skin.

"there" Jeff said as he admired his handy work "just one more thing"

Jeff licked his thumb and began smoothing down the pieces of Nick's hair that were sticking up at odd angles, tucking one long strand behind his ear before moving on to fix his lapels on his blazer.

"thanks" Nick said, feeling grateful for Jeff's assistance and flashing the boy a sheepish smile, to in which he returned.

"any time" Jeff said before returning to his work and starting to write down the newly given equations that were written on the board.

Nick did the same after getting out his books from his bag, he glanced over at the blonde's work, trying to quickly scribble down some of the notes he had missed before he turned the page.

The rest of the double lesson went by pretty swiftly, considering Nick had missed nearly half of it anyway, which was a good thing because this morning he really didn't feel like listening to Dr. Norbury droan on about oxidation and reduction equations.

The two had been the first to leave the lab after the bell had went, rushing to make their way back down to the main building in an attempt to get to front desk first, in order to pick up the forms for the trip. Jeff had received a text from Trent saying that they had came out and had kindly, if kindly could be a word used to describe the sassy warbler, asked them to pick one up for him and the others.

The duo had been on their way to the common room for break when they had bumped into their tall meerkat-faced captain.

"Hey Nick" he said, flashing a smile at the brunette before looking up to the other boy "Hello Jeff"

"Hi Seb, um..have you got one?" Nick said as he waved the sheet of paper at the taller boy

"For the trip? Nah I'll not be going" Sebastian replied brushing the form away

"..but, you kinda have to go. I'm going, Jeff's going, the rest of the warblers will be too. Come on man"

"Skiing just isn't my thing" Sebastian said as he folded his arms neatly across his chest, sighing at the smaller boy in front of him

"It isn't mine either but I have to go...go on, don't be a wimp!" Nick said as he playfully bumped the taller boy on the arm causing him to smile slightly

"Did you just call me a wimp? Well then..." Sebastian said before he jumped forward and grasped Nick's sides causing the brunette to squeam about in an attempt to escape from the boy's ticklish hands

Jeff just stood watching the two carry on, unimpressed. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit. He knew it was just a bit of harmless fun, even though Trent has reassured him that nothing was going on between Sebastian and Nick; he still couldn't brush away the jealously that was burning inside of him when he saw how relaxed and happy his best friend looked whenever Sebastian leaned in to touch him.

After several minutes of watching the two play tickle fight in the corridor, Sebastian eventually released Nick from his grasp before standing up straight again and fixing his blazer.

Nick did the same before returning to his spot beside the blonde, the smile still etched on his face.

"Honestly, you're so childish" Nick said, earning himself a 'bitch please' look from the meerkat-faced boy

"And you're not?"

"um...not as much as you, seriously dude no wonder Blaine thought you were a freshman"

Jeff snorted slightly at this comment, it was true, the curly-haired boy had asked if Sebastian was a freshman during their first meeting, something which obviously the lead warbler had taken slight offence to.

"Oh that does it..." Sebastian said as he went to start another tickle war with the brunette before the bell rang and stopped him in his tracks

"Damn it..i'll get you later. Don't forget tonight, come by my room about 5"

"Will do, see ya then" Nick said before tugging Jeff's arm as he began to make his way down the corridor to his psychology lesson.

"What's happening tonight?" Jeff asked, looking down at his roommate curiously

"Ah just studying with Seb, he needs some help with this thing we're doing in math" Nick replied before shaking his head as a smile played on his lips

"He's funny Sebastian, isn't he?"

Jeff couldn't help but roll his eyes at the brunette's comment; if there was one thing Sebastian Smythe was, it certainty wasn't funny. Jeff just simply nodded, agreeing with his best friend before a wave of anxiousness washed over him as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing at lunchtime. He needed to get his focus back, he had something important he needed to announce to the others in just over an hour and it had only hit him again now.

I have to do this he thought before saying goodbye to Nick and making his way to Art for third period.

More coming soon =] Feelin' so fly like a 36!