I'M ALIVE! and on break till march [hopefully/most likely] please don't forget this story! I love hearing from you all.

Tomorrow came far too quickly for Eridan's taste, His eyes snapped open as his heartbeat shook at his ears. He had been sweating and a fowl taste lingered in his mouth, his breath was shaky and his hands gripped to his bed sheets.

A nightmare, in which he had been drowning, he knew that was highly unlikely due to his years of swimming experience but still the feeling of lack of breath made his head spin. A few more shaky breaths and a lick of his dry lips Eridan let his eyes slide shut once more, taking in a deep breath as he rolled over onto his side, blurring his head into the warmth of his bed. He was not ready to leave his bed yet, though he knew he wouldn't be able to drift off again.

In a matter of minutes his door was opened and the light of the other room shone brightly onto Eridan causing him to open his eyes at the figure in his doorway.

"Get up kid, you have school right?" It was Cronus which was a surprise considering he was up so early.

"Yes okay…" Eridan cleared his throat as he sat up and grabbed his glasses in a rush, though as he looked at the door Cronus had already walked away. He swallowed the little lump in his throat and tossed the overheating covers off himself.

He slowly got out of bed and stood, rubbing his hair as he glanced around his room his eyes locking on the desk and his father's discarded drawing journal caught his eye. His stomach dropping for a moment at the sight of the book, knowing the filth he had tainted it with.

But he had no time to linger on those thoughts he had another day to get through, he hoped that today would go a little smoother than yesterday. With that being said he made his way into the bathroom, noting that Cronus had gone out onto the balcony to smoke this morning.

A quick shower revealed to him a large black and blue mark across his stomach that only hurt when excessive amounts of pressure was applied to it. However he shrugged it off and slipped on his hideous uniform and glasses before getting to work on the mop in which his hair currently looked like.

Fifteen minutes later and his hair was getting there, a few stray hairs falling onto his forehead in which would simply not suffice.

He was interrupted when Cronus entered the bathroom causing him to slow in his hair work. Cronus was a wreck he had heavy bags under his eyes, not to mention how red they were and how his stubble was growing into a very unattractive dark shade. His hair was crazy and was super long when not styled back, he looked like an old school drummer it was almost funny.

However it was not a joke to Cronus as those sore red eyes locked on Eridans reflection with a harsh glare, Eridan did not speak instead looked down at his products hoping Cronus would leave or at least look away.

"What's this stuff?" Cronus questioned, forcing Eridan to look over at where the older male was pointing, while picking up his hair wax.

"I-it's my hair w-wax, I notice w-we use different brands…" Eridan did his best to sound strong but his stutter got the best of him. Cronus raised an eyebrow at the new product as he read the label before looking at eridan's styled hair.

"Ya don't mind if I give it a go?" Cronus asked him, Eridan was pretty uptight about his toiletries however he couldn't say no to the guy who bought them for him.

"Sure…" He watched as Cronus dug into the product, disregarding the fact that he had clearly been trying to keep the wax in the bottle neat and began to lazily push back his hair. Eridan was almost envious of the way cronus' hair took to the product, obeying his every stroke without the need of a brush.

He continued with his own, deciding hairspray would work best against the stray hairs, however watching Cronus in the corner of his eye. Cronus applied small amounts of make-up to his cheeks to cover how dangerously pale he was, removing his bags and giving him a fake healthy glow.

Eridan knew why he looked so bad but wondered why he tried to hide it? Who was he hiding it from?

"Alright come on kid five minutes before we go, you're already late." Cronus said whilst he walked out of the bathroom. Eridan froze and stared at his reflection like a deer would look at an oncoming car. He forgot to check the time when he woke up! Eridan almost threw down the hairspray and hurried out of the bathroom, making a dash for his phone.

"Oh gog!" He wasn't late, yet but he had about five minutes to get to school. With that being said he quickly grabbed his bag and began to shove what he thought might be needed today into it. Tossing it onto his back he hurried towards the door however stopping for a minute to look at his father's scarf hanging on his bed frame.

Should he wear it?

Another deadly motor-bike ride and he was at school, Cronus handing him a $20 note for some food before he took off. Eridan could hear the first bell chiming throughout the school making him hurry into those prison like gates.

Only to realise as he got out his map that Sollux had failed to mark out their homeroom making him sigh and glance around. B4, he had yet to go to a classroom in the "B" sector of the school and found himself glancing around. Eridan looked up his next subject, sport in the gym, well at least he knew where that was.

Glancing over in the direction the mini map provided, a large building stood tall and rectangular with a sign that Eridan guessed read "Gym". Sighing he shoved the map back into his backpack and began to walk towards the gym, there was no point looking for a single room in this mess of buildings.

He secretly wished that Sollux would pop up out of nowhere like he did yesterday, but knowing him he was in homeroom typing away on that cruddy computer.

So Eridan waited by the gym playing on his phone as he waited for the loud chiming of the next bell which went off in a matter of minutes. It wasn't long before what he guessed was his class arrived at the gym, each in their own little friendship groups. He only recognized three people, Gamzee, Aradia and Feferi.

Though he decided it was best that he didn't approach any of them as the teacher arrived, he didn't want to bother them. Their teacher whipped out a set of keys and proceeded to open up the massive gym, it looked to be even bigger than the library, which was the opposite of his other school.

The teacher proceeded to open up the store room and disappear, Eridan waited against the wall in the gym listening to the other students mumble about what game or lesson the teacher would decide to pick today.

WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH

The teacher violently blew the whistle around his neck and smirked as all the kids attention snapped to the coach.

"Welcome back kids, and for those new faces I'm Coach Morrish. Because it's your first gym class of the year we are going to start simple." He reached behind him and pulled out a basketball and held it up, Eridan couldn't help but compare it to the beer-belly that poked out from under his tight red shirt.

Groans filled the gym as his smirk grew wider as if this satisfied some inner need to make kids suffer through the abuse of his power. He bounced the ball towards a student who caught the ball, before pacing around the room pointing at people and giving them a number.

"One, two, one, one, two ,two." Eridan received a number two, though he could clearly see the coach breaking up the friendship groups that had formed, friends against friends.

"Hey bro didn't see you there!" Gamzee had approached him whilst he had been analysing the groups startling him slightly as he fixed his glasses position.

"Hello Gamzee." He greeted as Gamzee glanced about,

"Looks like we be team two bro, this is going to be sweet." The shaggy haired tall boy smiled out as himself and Eridan moved to the team two side of the gym.

"W-we are probably gonna lose…" Eridan examined the other side of the gym, the taller kids paired with the pretty girls in comparison to their lanky mis-shaped team, they barely stood a chance.

"I don't know bro it ain't about winning, and we got Aradia on our team this should be fun." Eridan glanced around until he spotted the dark haired girl eyeing off Feferi who was on the other side of the court, practically bouncing with a large smile.

It seemed that Aradia had some tension towards Feferi but what sort of tension? He had no idea, but he did see her carrying her bags all the time like some kind of pack mule. He smiled at his analysis until the sound of the whistle broke him out of his trance as Gamzee jogged towards where the ball was being carried.

It looked extremely violent, the taller boys trying their best not to get physical as the coach simply leant against the wall and watched these teens fight over a ball. Eridan just watched though from a safe distance as the ball inched back and forth down the court Gamzee was right in the game, fitting in with the tall kids and even managing to lead the ball to the hoop and make a shot.

The kids cheered for a moment before the game reset, it was really quite boring to watch, however a certain pink-wearing girl caught his surprised eyes. Feferi managed to sneak between the boys and snatch up the ball, giggling as she did and dribbled it towards where Eridan was standing. He simply watched in astonishment as she looked to be completely into the game as she made a shot for the hoop.

A shot that Eridan was meant to be defending but instead stared as she glanced at him before tossing the ball in the hoop with ease. He was completely shocked, the way she looked so graceful as she bounced in enjoyment and the boys and girls approached her with cheers as she grabbed the ball again smiling.

Her big eyes looked up and locked on to his for a moment, she smiled and gave him a happy wink before tossing the ball to him. Luckily he caught it and she spun on her feet shouting words of encouragement to her team. Eridan stared at the ball in his hands for a moment his heart skipped a beat as he cleared his dry mouth.

Feferi looked a lot different when she wasn't pacing around the school like she owned the place, but then again Karkat had told him she used to bike with them before Sollux. That's right this girl hurt Sollux he wasn't supposed to pay any attention to her.

He began to bounce the ball, putting it into play as he inched forward towards the dangerous crowd in which he spotted Feferi and Gamzee ready. He wasn't going to pay much attention to her but he was going to be playing a game of basketball so he had to interact with her, but not because he wanted to or anything.

The game proceeded smoothly, he was going head to head with Feferi all the time, because he was about the same height as her and made slipping past the taller guys easier. Eridan couldn't shoot a hoop to save his life so in the end he told Gamzee to stay near the hoop so he could pass it to him to shoot making an awesome stagey.

However due to the lack of players that cared about winning his team lost in the end, However guys from the other team seemed to notice him and gave him a nod and a grin as they packed up. Eridan smiled to himself as he proceeded to grab his water bottle and grabbed his scarf, re-wrapping it around his neck and taking a sip of water.

"Nice game, Eridan!" A certain female voice called toward him as he froze, he wasn't supposed to interact with her, but to not talk with her would be rude. He turned on his heel and gave her a nod, taking a moment to watch her smile grow over those plush lips.

"I mean when I first spotted you on court I thought you were going to just sit back and watch but wow you can really move!" He ducked into his scarf a bit deeper to hide his grin and gave another nod. He wouldn't tell her but he had been the head swimmer in his old schools swim team, meaning he could actually play other sports as well.

"You are a really good runner, haha and not to mention your adorable!" Eridan felt his eyes widened as his face heated, he was not adorable he was a man.

"Anyway there's this court near my house we should play sometime!" Eridan couldn't get a response in as she spotted Aradia out of the corner of her eye as she turned back to Eridan once more.

"So whatever!" She span on her heels towards the other female who was carrying her backpack, her tone was suddenly harsh and uncaring as if her personality had done a 180 spin. The way she strutted away from him, conveying her dominance though moments ago had been smiling at him. His staring was cut short as a tall boy blocked his view of the female and replaced it with a dopey smile.

"Good game bro, your wicked fast in game." Gamzee had a dopey grin over his features again and looked to be day dreaming though Eridan nodded at him.

"Thank you Gam, also by any chance are you going past the canteen at snack?" Eridan grabbed his bag as he spoke gamzee watched him before replying.

"Heck yeah that's our chill zone, me Tavbro and Karkat."

"ah okay w-well do you mind if I tag along? I don't know-w how-w to get there from here." Gamzee thought for a moment before heading towards the gym door.

"Yeah sure brother, this school has some wicked turns you can get wrapped up in, wouldn't want that happening." Eridan began to follow him not quiet understanding the full extent of the conversation but knowing he was allowed to tag along.

The two made it to the crowded canteen, Eridan glanced around again, taking note of the tables and how despite the lack of people on some tables no one sat on some of the seats. He guessed there were table groupings and that the centre was reserved for the cooler kids?

"Eridan why don't you pull up a butt cup at the wicked table?" Gamzee offered as he gestured to a table behind him.

"a butt cu—oh a chair…" Eridan glanced to the table, Karkat was sitting with his phone in hand frantically typing, Tavros was sitting at the end splitting a deck of cards and placing what looked to be little figurines on the table whilst the glasses wearing kid from the other day sat next to Karkat and must have been trying to talk to him about something. They looked like a bunch of misfits, and there was a lot of room on the table.

"I'm sorry gam, but I'm just here to get some food." Eridan politely declined as Gamzee gave him a pat on the back before heading towards the table, Eridan watched for a few more seconds as Gamzee was greeted and slid over to his seat near Tavros. It was sweet, he thought about taking a seat for a moment but shook his head and headed over to the glass windows where the food was displayed, lazily scanning the food.

He wasn't really hungry, despite missing breakfast, there was too much on his mind at the moment so he settled for a salad sandwich before giving the table one last glance. Gamzee was watching Tavros blabber on about the cards and the rules of the game, Karkat was now talking to the dorky black haired boy, though did look like he was enjoying himself.

Eridan tore his eyes away from them as he began down the hallway with his sandwich in hand. He never really had friends at his old school, because he never really needed them. He used to eat lunch in the library and read, or listen to music in the theatre and sing. Other than that he was in so many school clubs he had no time to make friends, or to sit down and enjoy the others company.

He opened the emergency door to reveal the corner from yesterday, still the same the sun was still blocked out from the buildings however it would make a comeback later in the day. The seat was still there and a figure was spread out over it, a hodie covering the exact identity of the person but Eridan knew who it was.

"You've got what it taketh to bind me." Eridan closed over the door only to freeze and turn back to the figure that had a certain lisp to his singing that made Eridan raise an eyebrow.

"To thethe thingth that you hold dear" the figure continued tapping his foot on the bench as Eridan approached, Sollux had a nice voice however the lisp really ruined his chances at becoming a professional.

"Tying your knotth inthide me" Eridan approached the bench now being able to hear the pumping beat from the headphones, gosh it was loud.

"Ith the only thing I fear" It sounded like a nice smooth song but Eridan decided that he should give Sollux a nudge as to not embarrass him. So he did, he lent out and gave the others leg a soft touch however this startled him causing him to violently sit up and stare at Eridan.

"Hey Sollux" Eridan watched as Sollux removed his headphones and pushed up his shades. "What are you doing here?" Eridan could hear the embarrassment in the other voice as he simply grinned back at sollux.

"I do attend this school as well." Eridan knew that he meant about his lack of attendance at home room this morning but felt like teasing him a bit.

"No I mean like, you weren't in homeroom, or really around thith morning tho I thought you were having the day off…" Sollux mumbled as he shuffled over on the stool to make room for Eridan.

"Me hav-ving the day off? No I just couldn't find homeroom this morning because I w-woke up late." He took a seat next to Sollux and opened up his sandwich.

"You thould have texted me and I would have come and got you." Sollux fiddled with his phone, Eridan could see it had an unread text message however Sollux seemed reluctant to open it.

"Oh yeah, ha w-well I didn't think of that at the time, I just kinda w-went to the gym." Sollux pocketed his phone and sighed before leaning back against the brick wall behind him. Sollux didn't look to happy something must be up? Should he ask why? Probably not. Eridan took a bit of his average sandwich and sat in silence for a moment as Sollux only seemed to sink into his jacket and the wall behind him, what was up with him? He couldn't be that embarrassed about Eridan catching him sing could he.

"So, ETML didn't think you'd listen to that kind of music." Eridan smirked out, the song he had caught Sollux singing was one of his old favourites from an underground company. Sollux sat up a little and peered over at Eridan.

"I don't you jutht caught me in an off mood." Eridan stared at the opening on the corner with a small grin as he ate away at his sandwich.

"So moody today are w-we?" Eridan congratulated himself on his smooth comment as he ate and refused to look at sollux, risking the fact he may actually get an answer out of him.

"A little…" Sollux sighed again as he stood, catching Eridan off guard as he finished one half of his sandwich.

"W-where are you going?" Sollux grabbed his bag as he span on his feet heading towards the corner in which leads to their next class.

"You know where thcience clathth ith thee you there…" Sollux continued and nearly turned the corner before a few words slipped from Sollux's mouth.

"Nice thcarf."