"I need to apologize... I need… to tell him I'm sorry." Warren stood from the floor, grabbing the handle of the door and pulling it open slightly. He peered from the small crack in his door across the hall at Nathan's room. A dim light from inside the room shone underneath the door; he was in there. Warren let out a deep breath, opening the door all the way and stepping out into the dark hallway. Lights go out at 9pm. Warren pressed a button on his super cool watch he got for Christmas and the small screen lit up. 9:23pm.

He took quiet steps toward the door diagonal from his own. He could hear soft music playing from the other side of the door and he suddenly felt like he was in enemy territory. He immediately regretted even getting this close. "No. No backing out now." He whispered to himself, willing his arm to lift his shaky fist.

*knock knock*

Nathan didn't move from his seat on the floor when he heard the knocks at his door. He only hugged his knees tighter, burying his bruised face into his knees. "Go away…" it barely came out as a whisper, the music drowning his attempt to speak anyways.

It hurt, everything hurt. His chest, his face, his ribs, it felt like he was falling apart and he didn't like how out of control things seemed to be. He used to be the one that ruled the school like a king, but now, now everyone was going to look at him like he was some joke. It didn't help when Zach found him on the floor in the hallway. The fucker didn't even help; he just laughed and left him there. Nathan thought he was his friend… clearly he was wrong…

The poor beaten boy could feel the warm tears falling from his eyes but he tried his best to make them stop. He needs to prove to himself that he wasn't the bitch everyone thought he was.

Warren tried again, knocking a bit harder this time….

Still no answer.

He was starting to get kind of nervous. He tapped his foot, his hand resting on the door knob. He really shouldn't just barge into Nathan's room, but the nagging voice at the back of his head was starting to convince him that the worst was happening behind the closed door. The last thing Warren could handle was Nathan doing something to himself because someone like him had been the one to make him look like a complete fool.

Nathan heard the door open to his left and he immediately sprung to his feet, trying his best not to double over in pain at his body's protests. "W-W-What do you want? Get the fuck out!" He yelled, backing away from the approaching Warren.

"Hey, no… Please just listen to me…" Warren closed the door softly behind him, the sparse lighting supplied by the sizable projection on the wall giving the room a depressing vibe. "I-I wanted to apologize—

"I don't fucking care! Just… g-get out!" Nathan pointed at the door. He gave Warren his best death glare, but it started to fail once he noticed it wasn't working. Warren stood his ground.

Warren could tell Nathan was pissed off. He's never seen the boy look so upset but if he was going to make up for earlier he needed to stay. Even if it was more for himself than for Nathan. He grabbed the remote to the Nathan's speaker and turned it off, the music no longer obstructing their conversation.

"Do your ears not work, Graham!? I s-said get the fuck out…" Nathan was starting to panic, his eyes started watering once he realized that Warren saw straight through him. He started shaking, his breathing becoming irregular.

"Are you okay?" Warren asked, his worry taking over him as he risking taking a step toward the shaking boy.

Nathan immediately took a few staggering steps back, clutching his desk chair and putting it in front of him like some kind of shield.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Nathan. I know that I took it a bit too far…" Warren took a few more cautious steps toward the cowering boy in the corner.

"A... bit?" Nathan scoffed, an angry smirk taking over his features. "Does this…" Nathan carefully lifted his white cardigan and under shirt, showing the vast expanse of cream skin littered in bruises. "look like... a bit?"

Warren couldn't see much, but he knew that wherever Nathan's pale skin became barely visible there was a bruise. "Okay… So I took it way too far. But I wanted to tell you how sorry I was doing what I did… You don't have to accept my apology! I just… I can't handle my guilt anymore…"

"Y-You feel guilty…?" Nathan asked, raising his eyebrows.

Warren nodded his head slowly, jumping at the sudden bark of dry laughter that came from the corner of the room. Nathan automatically regretted his decision to laugh, his ribs aching something fierce. He gripped at his sides moaning and falling to his knees in pain.

Warren started to rush around the bed towards the boy but Nathan held up his hand to stop him. "Don't fucking... touch me." Nathan struggled a bit, but he slowly made his way back up to a standing position.

Warren nodded his head, eyebrows knitted together. It was hard to tell, but now that he got a somewhat closer look at the boy he had beat, he realized just how bad he had fucked up. Both of his eyes had dark bruises by them, his lip was busted and there was a clear gash across his nose and on his cheek bone.

Warren risked taking a step towards Nathan but he, very obviously, took a larger one back.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just… Can I see how bad it is?" Warren asked as he squinted his eyes. Warren caught Nathan by surprise when he suddenly turned around and headed towards the door. Nathan's nervous eyes watched the other as he prayed the boy would just leave and never come back. Sadly that wasn't the case. Warren was after the light switch. After he flicked it on the lamp by Nathan's bed turned on, a very visible break in the lamp's shade causing more light to pour into the room than it originally would.

Warren began to walk back towards the other, not once taking his eyes off of Nathan's face. Nathan averted his eyes when the stare became too much to bare. "Did you clean them correctly? I mean with peroxide or something?" Warren stopped a distance away, making sure to give the other room to feel comfortable.

Why the fuck does he care? Nathan thought as he looked back at the other with skeptical eyes. He could tell Warren wasn't one to fight, so maybe he really did feel bad… No, who would feel bad for him? He was a loser… A nobody… "No… I didn't." Nathan answered sharply, arms finding their way around his body.

"Did you clean them at all?" Warren questioned further, leaning in a bit to look at the cuts closer. Nathan looked away from Warren's intruding eyes once again, "No… I didn't." he repeated, a bit quieter.

"Then how…?" Warren looked harder and noticed the faint traces of caked blood in some areas. They were slightly smeared, but it didn't look like Nathan even bothered to wipe them away.

Warren's eyes widened, his eyebrows rising. "You didn't clean them?! They're going to get infected! I'll be right back; I have a first aid kit in my room!" With that Warren was running to his room, leaving Nathan's door wide open.

I should close the door and lock it while I have the chance. Nathan thought, moving across the room as quickly as he could, only to catch sight of Warren. He was rummaging through his closet like a mad man, throwing clothes left and right. Nathan suddenly couldn't bring himself to close the door. He just stood there and watched as the worried boy practically trashed his room.

What a loser…