Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer rights apply.

Warning:Updates will most definitely be slow. Sorry, guys.
This contains SLASH, in other words: same sex couples. It also contains drug use, violence, sexual situations, and MAY contain a(n OC) death. This story is marked for mature readers only, please treat it as such.

Pairings: Will be sporadic, and a surprise. I'm not ruining the story by telling you end pairings.

No more beta's, because I've been lost for a million years and I'm very out of touch now.

Summary of Chapter 20 (Though after several years it MIGHT be time to do some rereading):
-David, Sarah, Bumlets, and Itey all come over to babysit Les (Bumlets was invited, Itey was not)
-Itey is found in Sarah's room by her parents (though nothing had happened)
-The Bronx has banned anyone from Brooklyn going into their territory
-Spot has an (in his mind) unsettling dream about Racetrack
-Spot kicks Jack to the basement of the Brooklyn gang, which is where Skittery is staying
-Skittery meets Stealth, Hunter, and Bam
-Dutchy convinces Specs to help make Bumlets jealous
-Mush and Blink go to Racetrack's house to try to hang out. His father catches him trying to sneak out of a window.
-Mush and Blink tell Racetrack about how they're making friends with Skittery and Itey

Here you go, Darlings: Chapter 21!

Getting Back Together Again
XXI: Are We Done Yet?

Skittery scrunched his face and leaned against a gold car in his new gang's parking lot. "Why the hell do I have to go to school? I'm in a gang now. Gangsters don't go to school," he said. He crossed his arms as he stared at the ground. "All I have to learn is how to shoot a gun and how to be a badass."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You're a god damn idiot. You've probably never held a gun in your entire life. And you're definitely no fucking gangster. People probably wouldn't think you were so stupid if you didn't talk."

Skittery clenched his jaw. "And people probably wouldn't realize you were so fucking ugly if you would just wear a paper bag. I bet you'd have a lot less people throwing up around you, too."

"You'd probably have friends if you weren't such a dick."

"Ooh, good one," Skittery replied sarcastically. "Your mom tell you that one? Oh … wait …"

Jack immediately clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. His eyes narrowed. "Keep it up. I dare you," he replied in a low voice.

A guy walked up to them, swinging a set of keys from a finger. "Alright, children, let's calm it down." He unlocked the gold car with his keys. "Spot said I gotta drive you two boys to school, but that doesn't mean I can't run you both over when we get there. Which is something I fully intend to do if either of you gets blood on my upholstery."

"And who the fuck are you?" Jack asked, quirking his eyebrow and crossing his arms.

"Speed," Skittery answered before Speed could. "I met him last night while you were playing 'Lonely Boy' in the basement.

"Shut the fuck up, you faggot," Jack answered.

"Jesus," Speed spoke up before Skittery could deliver his offensive reply, "Can't you two ever calm down? You're supposed to be on the same team now, you know."

"Fuck that," Jack said. "I was here first."

"Fuck you," Skittery replied. "Everyone likes me better."

Speed rolled his eyes as he opened the driver's side door to the car. "Well, you two better learn to shut the fuck up or find something else to talk about, because I'm not putting up with this shit all the way to Manhattan."

"Jack can just shut up. That's the best solution," Skittery said, leaping for the side passenger door.

Jack snatched the back of Skittery's collar and pulled, ripping Skitts from his halfway position in the car and onto the ground. "Shot gun!" he called out, taking the seat.

"What the fuck, you douche bag!" Skittery asked from the ground as he rubbed his ass. "That was completely fucked up of you." He looked at Speed while he sat on the ground. "You see the shit I have to put up with from this guy?"

Jack hadn't shut his car door yet. "You didn't call shot gun," he protested from the front seat. "I had every right too."

Skittery slowly got up and walked gingerly to the back seat, hand on his ass the whole way. "I'd kill all your friends and family, but you don't have any friends, and you don't have any family."

"Alright, that's enough now," Speed finally interrupted. "I have to deal with enough shit already." He got into the driver's side of the car and turned the ignition. "There's no fucking way I'm letting this shit go on all the way to your school. Especially not with the god awful night I had last night."

Jack rolled his eyes while Skittery frowned, but both opted not to say anything.

"You have no idea how awful it is sharing a room with Hunter," Speed complained as he backed out of the parking lot. "If you think that bastard's annoying when he's awake … Well, let's just say you do not want to be in the same room with him when he's dreaming."

"Hard to believe that," Jack replied. "I don't think that bastard can get more annoying than he was last night. I'm surprised he's not walking around with a permanent black eye."

"You mean he's not? 'Cause he was yesterday," Skittery said. "It looked like he was run over by a god damn truck."

Jack smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment. If you hadn't gotten that lucky shot on me yesterday you two could've matched."

"Bullshit that was you!" Skittery exclaimed.

"It was," Speed interrupted from the front seat, speeding onto the main street. "It was probably one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of anyone doing. Usually punching a superior officer like that means the river."

Jack's smirk widened. "And I wasn't even trying." He looked behind him at Skittery. "Now are you starting to understand why you shouldn't fuck with me?"

"No," Skittery answered immediately, crossing his arms. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it just makes me want to fuck with you more. You get one lucky shot and you're bragging for days."

Jack clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "You're the stupidest person on earth, you fucking idiot. You really think that was luck? I pulverized him. And I'll do the same to you."

Skittery rolled his eyes. "You don't even know how to spell 'pulverized'. How do you not think you're the dumb one?"

Jack jerked towards Skittery, but his seatbelt kept him where he was.

"Alright! That's fucking enough!" Speed finally interrupted as the car built up to an even higher speed. "From now on it's fucking quiet time, unless you want me to really show you 'pulverized'."

Skittery and Jack both shut up.

"Ah, Dutch, this is so gay," Specs mumbled. How had he managed to get talked into this shit? It was such an awful idea. Why the hell did he ever agree to it? "What if people see me?"

Dutchy rolled his eyes. "That's the whole point! When Bumlets sees us he'll be so jealous. He might even try to punch you. It's going to be perfect! Now, hold my hand. God damn it." He made a grab for Specs' hand, but the other boy ripped it away.

"But Dutchy! What if the whole school starts thinking I'm gay!"

Dutchy tried hard not to roll his eyes. Damn homophobia ruined everything. "They already do, though! Remember the whole David thing? Everyone already thinks you two have been knocking boots since forever."

Specs clutched at his head. "I thought everyone forgot about that! What will they think now, huh? … Probably that I'm a cheating whore of a fag. Gah! That'd be so much worse! I don't wanna do this anymore, Dutch! I'm sorry! I can't!"

Dutchy clenched his teeth and sighed. He was trying very hard to hold back his temper. This was such a beautiful plan! Why did Specs have to try and ruin it for him? "What? You have to though! I don't have anyone else! You promised! We were going to take down Bumlets together."

"But my reputation!"

"Fuck your reputation!" Dutchy screamed, his face turning red. "Your reputation is the reason you don't have any friends in the first place! You don't want to do this? Fine! That's fine. But if I can't depend on you in a tough situation like this then I don't need you! Or want you! And I think it's god damn awful of you to try so hard to make me trust you again, only to end up pulling this shit. No wonder everyone hates you."

"Okay! Okay!" Specs replied, his eyes widening. "I'll do it, okay? I'm sorry. I'll do it," he said in a quiet voice. "I just never realized how much this meant to you." He laughed. "Honestly, at first, I thought you wanted to pretend to be my boyfriend just so you could try to get into my pants."

Dutchy's mouth dropped open. "Of course not! That's almost kind of insulting, Specs! I mean, really, do you think I would stoop that low? This is for revenge!" Damn! Almost found out already! How transparent was he?

"I know. I know. I don't know what I was thinking." Specs sighed, giving in. "I hope you realize how much of a favor this is. This is going to completely ruin me, I hope you know. You won't be able to ever say I'm not your friend after this one."

Dutchy put his arm around Specs and started steering him towards the school. "Of course. You know how much this means to me. I won't ever forget it. Of course I won't. We're going to be the best of friends after this is all over."

"Well, maybe not right after this," Specs corrected. "I think I'm going to want some space after we make Bumlets good and jealous. I'm going to need to … uh … reaffirm my manhood and shit. You understand."

Dutchy had to hide his sigh. It was such a shame that such a pretty boy would be so homophobic. Oh, well, he was sure by the time this was over Specs would be talked out of it. He had plenty of time, after all. "Sure, Specs, whatever you need. Now hold my hand. How's Bumlets going to get jealous if he has nothing to get jealous of?"

"Fair enough, I guess," Specs replied, finally grabbing a hold of Dutchy's hand. "Just no skipping, okay?"

Dutchy rolled his eyes. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I skip. Jesus fucking Christ."

"Well, don't get your panties in a bunch."

"Would it kill you to be a little less homophobic?" Dutchy asked. "I mean, when in your entire life have you ever seen me fucking skip?"

"What the hell?" Itey interrupted, walking up to the two and looking down at their intertwined hands. Then he looked at Dutchy. "You're worse than a Catholic school girl who just lost her virginity. You sure are getting around, huh?"

"Whoa," Specs replied, pulling away from Dutchy's hand once more. "Don't get the wrong idea here. We're not doing anything like that; that would be disgusting. We're making Bumlets jealous."

Dutchy turned to Specs and frowned. "Well, don't go telling everyone. If he finds out then this will all be for nothing."

Itey looked at Dutchy, than at Specs, then back at Dutchy. Then he looked at their hands that had been re-intertwined together. "Huh. Well, okay. You guys go have fun with that. I'm going to go find someplace I can be sane," he said before walking off.

Specs scrunched his eyebrows together and looked at Dutchy. "What the hell did he mean by that?"

Dutchy shrugged and started walking towards the school, pulling Specs by the hand. "I have no idea. Don't worry about it. Itey's a weird guy. I don't think he even understands himself. Now, come on. We've gotta find Bumlets before first period."

Racetrack stood with his back to the school, keeping an eye on the parking lot. He had already gone to the wall where Sean could always be found smoking, but he wasn't there. And, so far, there was no motorcycle. He would have to pull up eventually, though, and Racetrack would be ready for him.

He had promised that fuck whatever he wanted, and so far Racetrack had seen nothing but a headache from Sean's "help". He wasn't going to stand for this anymore. He knew Sean had the answer. He could see it in his smirk each and every time Racetrack complained about his predicament.

And he was done being toyed with.

Still, the longer he waited the more the anger was melting into anxiety. It was becoming dangerously close to first period and Sean had yet to pull up. Where was he? Had he gotten into trouble? Was he stuck in Brooklyn?

Race knew that the gang leader didn't have an issue with skipping class, but something wasn't sitting right this time around.

He looked behind him at the large analog clock that hung on the school wall. He knew if he didn't move soon he would be late to class. If he was late to class his mom would surely hear about it.

His feet didn't move.

Maybe if he was five minutes late his first period teacher would let it slide.

Dutchy dragged Specs into first period by the hand. Luckily, for Specs, they were too early for anyone to be there to see them.

Specs tugged back at his hand. "C'mon, Dutchy, let go now. It's not like Bumlets is going to be coming in here."

Dutchy bounced on the balls of his feet. "But just think about how much more credible and awesome it'd be if someone told Bumlets before we did. There's no way he's going to believe it until he hears people talking about it."

Specs' eyes widened. "Huh? What now? You mean other people have to know too?" He bit his lip. "I don't know about this, Dutch. I'm not at all comfortable with this whole thing."

"You said you would!" Dutchy exclaimed, his eyebrows rising. "You said you would! Not once, not twice, but multiple times you said this! You said you would yesterday and last night and this morning. You can't just keep backing out like this. I thought you were being serious. I thought I could trust you. I thought you were my friend."

"Dutchy!" Specs whined. "I am your friend. But you have to understand how uncomfortable I am with all of this. I don't wanna be gay. We're ruining my reputation here. Now I'm never going to be cool. I'll be stuck with David for the rest of my life. This isn't fair to me!"

"What the hell, Specs? You think this is fair to me? The boy I'm in love with is talking behind my back. Then he dumps me, with absolutely no remorse. Now, my so-called best friend won't even help me make him regret it. I thought you were the only person I had to count on," Dutchy whined. "But it looks like I don't even have that."

Specs furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "Oh, Dutchy, come on," he mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that. You know you can count on me." He reached out his hand to touch Dutchy's shoulder. "It's just that this whole thing makes me really uncomfortable."

"Oh, why do bad things always have to happen to me?!" Dutchy screamed out. He fell down on his knees as his eyes started tearing up. "Why does the world hate me so much? Why does this have to happen? I just want to be loved, god damn it!"

Spec's eyes bulged. "It's okay. It's okay," he replied quickly and quietly. He dropped down to his knees in front of Dutchy. "Just calm down, okay? Everything is going to be fine." His eyes darted around to the students drizzling in. Everyone was staring at him, open-mouthed, and half of them didn't even belong in the class. "I just …" His heart started pounding as he looked around some more. "I'm really going to need you to stop, okay?" he squeaked out to Dutchy.

"I can't stop!" Dutchy cried out, even louder than before. "My life is ending and it's like you don't even care! How could you do this to me? I thought we'd be together forever this time! I thought David was going to be gone from your life forever!"

Specs' eyes widened as he struggled for breath. All these people were just staring at him. He tried to swallow, but the spit got stuck in his throat. His heart was speeding up so fast he couldn't distinguish the beats, and he knew that everyone could hear it. "Please, Dutch," he mumbled as quietly as he could. He leaned into his friend in an attempt to keep their conversation private. "Can we please talk about this later?" His eyes darted around to everyone who was staring at him. "You're causing a scene."

"Who the hell cares if I'm causing a damn scene?" Dutchy screamed back, his face starting to turn red. "My life is ending! You're the final nail in the coffin! How am I supposed to go on without you? What will I do now? I need you! Please!"

Tears were now streaming down Dutchy's face. This was only getting worse and Specs didn't know what the hell to do. He was having enough trouble remembering how to breathe. He could feel himself shaking now. He had to throw up. "Dutchy," he whined under his breath. 'Please, for the love of god, stop this' he wanted to say, but his brain couldn't find the words.

"Just leave me alone!" Dutchy replied loudly, letting the tears pour from his eyes. "First Bumlets and then you! I can't believe this! My heart is being walked on and trampled! I can't take this anymore! When will someone love me?!"

"I do love you!" Specs declared. His eyes widened has his face heated up. Oh, Jesus fucking god. What had he just said? Could he take it back? He could take it back, right? Oh god. Oh fuck. Oh shit. Oh shit fucking god.

Dutchy immediately perked up, a smile suddenly plastered on his face. He leaped towards Specs and caught him in a hug. "Oh, Darling!" he exclaimed. "I knew you did! I just knew it. Of course I completely forgive you for everything!" he gushed, still tightly hugging Specs.

Specs couldn't remember the last time he breathed. This had to be a nightmare, right? There was no way this could actually be happening, right? "I need to puke," he managed to croak out. He pushed Dutchy away and walked as fast as he could towards the door. He firmly kept his head down as he pushed his way past all the onlookers.

"Wait for me, Sweetie Pie!" Dutchy called out. "I'll hold your hair back!" It was all he could do not to skip. His plan was coming together perfectly.

The bell signaling first period had already gone off, but Bumlets wasn't too concerned. He really didn't want to be in school today. He was starting his new job in the afternoon and was eager to get started. School seemed useless when he could be making money instead. It was too bad things were still rough with Dutchy; it'd be nice to have a friend he could work with.

Bumlets snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming his way. If it was a faculty member he was in some deep shit. He'd already got caught skipping too much this quarter. And he was liable to skip a whole lot more if this job went well. It wouldn't do to be caught before he had even officially started the job. So he was fully prepared to run when he saw someone turn into his hall.

But it wasn't a teacher; it was Dutchy.

And he was positively beaming.

"You having a good day, then?" Bumlets asked him tentatively. He still wasn't sure on where they stood.

Dutchy skipped over and embraced his friend, still grinning ear to ear. "Everything is going absolutely, fantastically perfect! I'm a god damn genius, and it's time that the world finally knew!"

Bumlets rolled his eyes, feeling more comfortable. He was relieved to be dealing with a happy Dutchy. But he also knew that a Dutchy this happy never stayed happy for long. "Don't tell me you've come up with another plan already."

Dutchy jerked his head up and down, smile still plastered on his face. "An awesome, super, fantastic one! I'm a god damn evil fucking genius!"

Bumlets crossed his arms and leaned against some nearby lockers. "So what is it this time then?"

"Don't be like that," Dutchy replied. "This one's going to work perfectly. The last one was flawed, I'll admit it. I wasn't thinking it through all the way. But I've got my head on straight now. This one will absolutely, positively not fail." His smile grew impossibly wider. "I'm going to use Specs to make you jealous!" he declared.

Bumlets furrowed his eyebrows, still crossing his arms. "I'm not jealous though."

"You're missing the whole point!" Dutchy said, his smile finally dropping. "You don't have to be jealous. You just have to act like it. And then, in trying to make you jealous, Specs will realize everything he's missing and fall for me. It's awesomely, fabulously, quadropably perfect!"

Bumlets pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dutchy," he started. "I don't think this is going to turn out the way you want it to. Specs is a homophobic son of a –"

Dutchy put a finger to his lips. "Sh-sh-sh." He patted Bumlets' shoulder. "You let me worry about all that." He wrapped his arm around Bumlets and pulled him closer. "The fact of the matter is," he muttered quietly, "you owe me a favor. And a big favor at that. Do this one little thing for me and all will be forgiven. Don't and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to talk to you again, what with all the hurt I'll feel."

Bumlets scrunched his face up as he looked at Dutchy. "Are you seriously blackmailing me with friendship?"

Dutchy tightened his grip around Bumlets' shoulders. "I don't think it's too much to ask for. The fact of the matter is that this plan is going to work. It needs to. It will. All you have to do is what I tell you. I'll handle all the annoying little details."

Bumlets sighed. "Can I go on record as saying that I think this is a really bad idea?"

"It is recorded," Dutchy replied. "Now stop criticizing me and my genius, and agree to it already! It's not like I'm asking for anything hard."

Bumlets pulled away. "It's not like that. I'm concerned. I don't think this is going to go the way you want it to. I don't want to see you get hurt."

Dutchy pouted and crossed his arms. "Too late. You already did."

"Dutchy …"

Dutchy put his forefinger up. "Sh-sh-sh. My turn now. You already did hurt me. I am giving you a chance to make it up to me. Take it or leave it."

Bumlets sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "You know I'll do it," he muttered.

"Yay! Bestest friends!" Dutchy shouted as he leaped on Bumlets. "This is going to be fan-fucking-tastic!"

David started to get anxious when the second period bell had rung and Specs still wasn't in class. Something in his gut was telling him to worry. He was sure he had seen him this morning with Dutchy. He felt like he needed to find him. Now, normally, he would have stayed in class. School was too important to be skipping. But he was starting to like going with his impulses. Not to mention that this was the third day in class going over the same war. So it was decided then.

David raised his hand. "May I please be excused?"

The teacher nodded, not skipping a beat on the lecture.

David left quietly, happy he was a good student. He didn't even need to fake an excuse to leave. However, violating that trust did turn his stomach slightly.

He shook his head. This was about finding a friend, not skipping a class. Now, if he were a homophobic bigot where would he go?

He shook his head again, harder this time. That was way too inappropriate, even for something to think in his head. What the hell was going on with him lately? Was Bumlets a bad influence?

He sighed as he continued walking down the hall. He loved all his old friends – well, okay, maybe not Jack, but that was beside the point. He wanted to see them, hang out with them, help them. But was he taking his life in the wrong direction by doing so?

He was getting into fights, failing classes – well, a class, but, again, that was beside the point. He was cussing, skipping class, getting grounded. Worse, he couldn't see it stopping. He just couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He walked into the boy's bathroom. He was supposed to be looking for Specs, after all. There would be time for self-reflection later.

He heard retching coming from one of the stalls.

"You want me to go get the nurse for you? You don't sound too good," David said to the stall door.

"The school nurse can't help me now," Specs' hoarse voice replied. "My life is so fucking over. I don't know what I did to deserve this. Oh, God, why can't you just kill me already?"

David's eyes widened. "Specs, what happened? Just come out here and talk to me for one second."

"My life is completely ruined; that's what happened." Specs flung open the stall door. He had wet streaks going down his cheeks and his eyes were red.

David's eyes widened some more. "Jesus Christ, Specs, what happened? Are you okay?" He stepped closer to his friend and extended his arms, but never finished the move. He wasn't exactly sure how much Specs would actually appreciate a hug.

Specs fell into his chest and started sobbing. "I messed up so fucking bad, Davy. I don't know what to do. I completely fucked everything up and now my life is ruined beyond repair. I'll never live this down. I know I won't."

David wrapped his arms around Specs. "Live what down?" he asked quietly. "Tell me what happened, Specs. We can figure out what to do together, okay? Everything will turn out fine; you'll see."

Specs quickly shook his head. "Nothing's ever going to be okay again, Davy. I have to change schools. I probably have to change states. This will never go away."

"What?" David asked again, pulling his friend away from him and looking into his eyes. "You have to tell me what happened. You never know: I might be able to help you fix it."

Specs jerked his head down and shook it quickly. He tugged at his hair. "I can't tell you. It's too embarrassing. This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

David pulled them both to the dirty tiled floor of the boy's bathroom. He didn't have the foresight to worry about germs just now. "Just tell me what's wrong, and I can help. It's me, Specs; I'm not going to judge you."

Specs took in a shaky breath. "Everyone thinks I'm a … a … Everyone thinks I'm going out with Dutchy. Everyone thinks I'm a … a …"

"… Fag," David finished for him. He tried to force the frown off his face, but it was hard.

Specs nodded and then started sobbing some more. "This is awful, Davy. I hate myself for doing this to me. What the hell was I thinking? Nobody wants people to think that they're … that they're one of those people."

David shoved Specs onto the tile as he stood up. It took all of his self-control not to punch him. "Go to hell, Specs," he said, his hands clenched at his sides as he marched out the door.

Spot just made it into the school building when the bell rang. When no one appeared in the hallway he assumed it was the beginning of class. And judging by the time it meant third period was starting.

He smacked himself in the forehead. Shit! That meant he had French with that annoying kid. Damn it! And he had told Slingshot that he would be nice. Fuck. Why couldn't he have just slept for another forty-five minutes? Besides first period third period was the worst place to be. Well, and besides gym. He hated second period, too. And sixth was a bitch. Fourth was a pain in the ass, too. Hell, he didn't even like lunch all that much.

Why the hell did he even come to school? He was the leader of a gang, for Christ's sake. Gangsters didn't need to go to school. All this education crap was useless to him. It's not like he needed to know French in order to shoot a person.

"Utter crap," he told himself as his feet automatically took him to class.

He walked through his closed third period door, ignoring the teacher that was clearly yelling at him for being late. He rolled his eyes and plopped down in the seat next to Swifty. He leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankles. Then he crossed his arms and started glaring at her.

It worked like a charm; her incessant rambling stopped as she started babbling about something else. As long as she was ignoring him Spot was happy.

"Bitch should be glad I even came to school," Spot muttered to himself. "What a fucking waste of my time."

"You're telling me," Swifty answered back with a smile. "They act like we've got nothing better to do than this crap all day."

Spot uncrossed his ankles and gritted his teeth. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his knees, leaning towards Swifty and glaring into his eyes. "You act as if I was talking to you," he growled in a low voice. "Your dumbass doesn't have anything better to do than this shit. I, on the other hand, do. You think I like being compared to someone so beneath me?"

Swifty immediately shut up. He bit his lip and shrugged, hanging his head.

The reaction made Spot roll his eyes as he leaned back in his chair again. He sighed to himself. God damn it, he said he was going to be nice, hadn't he? Fuck, he hated being nice. And he was awful at it besides. He resisted the urge to growl. Today was not a good one.

Fucking fine. He would be nice to the little bastard. But he was not fucking apologizing to the retard.

"What you are? A girl?" Spot asked. "Stop biting your lip like a little bitch."

That just made Swifty droop farther.

Spot sighed, trying to keep calm. Unfortunately, his morning edginess refused to go away, and trying to put up with an overly emotional pussy was certainly not helping matters. He should have skipped this period. He needed another cigarette, god damn it.

He gritted his teeth. "I'm just saying you should be a man and fight back," he muttered. "If you can't insult someone after they insult you you'll be walked all over for the rest of your life."

Swifty shrugged. "It's not like I can't; I'm just not in the mood for it today. I don't have the energy for a pointless argument; life fucking sucks too damn much."

Spot laughed quietly. "Hey, you don't have to tell me. But if you don't fight, you lose, and then what would be the point of anything?"

Swifty laughed this time, raising his head a bit. "Not a bad point, I guess. But don't you learn more from losses than winnings?"

"Only if you're too stupid to pay attention to your wins," Spot retorted with a snort. "A win will teach you exactly what to do, but a loss only teaches you what not to do."

"You're not that dumb for a gang leader," Swifty said.

"Fuck you," Spot replied with a smirk, the morning's edginess slowly going away. "I'm smart as shit and don't you forget it."

Blink slumped into his seat in fourth period as the teacher lectured. Mush looked his friend's way, but opted not to say anything.

Blink sighed and looked towards his friend. "So what do you think we should do about Skittery and Itey? This whole thing is getting a bit out of hand for me. And Lord knows they both miss each so bad it's almost sickening."

Mush shrugged and sighed as well. "Is there anything we can do? I think it's something they need to get figured out together."

Blink snorted. "Bullshit on that. At the very least we need to get Skitts out of this stupid funk he's in. He won't even fucking talk to me now. I tried apologizing and he just runs away. And I'm getting tired of him being all butt hurt just because I was kidding like he always does."

"He's just going through a lot right now," Mush defended for their friend. "Just give him time, and he'll come around."

Blink rolled his eye. "That's the thing. I'm sick of waiting around for him to get over himself. First, he had an awesome relationship that he decided to walk away from. I had absolutely nothing to do with it; I'm sick of him thinking it's okay to get all pissy at me. Second, he did this to himself. If anyone deserves to be pissy it's Itey, but he has yet to snap at me once since their break up. I'm tired of coddling him; it doesn't seem to be doing any good." He stretched on his seat as he thought about what to do.

Mush nodded. "I know, Blink, but it's not really our business to get involved in. Skittery and Itey need to work it out by themselves. They need to talk to each other and figure out what they want to do."

Blink snorted. "Right, because they would do the same thing for us," he replied sarcastically, thinking about all the times Skittery had tried to push him into going out with his best friend.

"Good point," Mush said, thinking about all the times Itey would try to push him into turning gay for his best friend.

Blink leaned forward on his desk and put a finger to his chin. "So, the question now is, exactly how do we go about doing this?"

"I have a question," Mush said, raising his hand slightly. "What exactly is it that we're trying to do? Because I don't want to force them to be together again if that's not actually what they want."

"Of course," Blink agreed. "What I really want is for Skittery to be normal again." He rubbed his head. "But exactly how do we accomplish that? Seems like it'd be easier to just make them fuck again."

Mush's eyes widened, surprised at his friend's vulgarity.

"Sorry. Sorry," Blink said immediately, raising up his hands. "Sorry. I guess I'm just stressed out." He bit his thumb nail. "We need Skitts to get normal again. We need to put him on an even playing field again."

"So how do we do that?"

Blink stared at the floor. "We need to think like Skittery." He closed his eye. "I'm Skitts. The guy I love, but won't admit to loving, just told me he loves me. That made me really pissed, because all I wanted to do was fuck him, even though I'm in love with him." His eye snapped open and he scrunched his face up. "I'm already confused," he admitted.

"I think you're on a good track though. I thought you had it for a minute there," Mush said with a smile.

Blink sighed and leaned back in his chair. "The only thing I have is a headache, Mush. Who the hell knows how that kid thinks? It's too damn confusing."

"Just try again," Mush encouraged, nodding his head with wide eyes. "I think you were getting it."

Blink sighed again before leaning forward and closing his eye. "Okay, I'm Skitts. I wanna get fucked up and have lots of sex. I hate structure and order. The world is in chaos and I love it."

Mush nodded quickly even though Blink couldn't see him. "You're in love with your best friend," he edged on.

"I wanna fuck my best friend," Blink corrected. "We're perfect for each other. What we have is perfect. Because it's completely unstructured and doesn't make any god damn sense, and that's why I love it. Then he told me he loves me, and that can't happen.

'That can't happen because … because I don't understand love. I only work in hate." His eye snapped open.

"You almost had it!" Mush yelled as loud as he dared while in class.

Blink raised his eyebrows. "I think I do have it, Mush." He leaned closer to his friend and started talking fast. "Okay, check this out: Skittery's acting wacky as fuck because someone loves him. He doesn't understand. He doesn't get it."

"So we need to make him understand!" Mush finished excitedly.

"No!" Blink replied, just as excited. "We need to do the opposite. We need to make him fight somebody!"

Mush's smile dropped and he cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"He's feeling vulnerable," Blink explained, still talking fast. "He's trying to figure out what love is, but he has no idea, because he only really deals with people by being an ass. So he's trying to relate to people in another way, and gets pissy when people react like they used to. In order to counterbalance Itey's love we need to find someone for Skittery to hate. That should snap him out of this mood he's in."

"Maybe we should go back to trying to think like Skittery," Mush suggested slowly.

"No, I got this shit," Blink replied, wide smile on his face. "Something's telling me that this is going to be just the thing he needs."

David slouched down in his fourth period French class dreading when the bell would ring. He was still shaken by what had happened in the bathroom this morning between Specs and him. He couldn't decide if he felt good for standing up for himself, pissed Specs was so homophobic, upset that he hadn't tried to calm him down, or regret that he hadn't punched him again. … Maybe he was feeling all four at the same time.

At any rate, he did not feel like dealing with Jack at all today. He was already up in arms over Specs; he didn't need Jack adding to the mix as well.

Alas, that was what looked like was going to happen.

David didn't bother to hide his eye roll as Jack sat down next to him. "I don't understand why you insist on sitting by me if you refuse to do any of the project," he said, "I would much prefer not having to see you."

Jack smirked as he leaned back in his seat. "Maybe that's exactly why I'm doing it, Davey-Boy."

David clenched his teeth, both at the nickname and the implication. "What? You decided that because you couldn't annoy me enough by not doing the project you could annoy me enough to do the paper by making me put up with your presence?"

Jack clicked his tongue. "Please, as if I think for a second you aren't going to end up freaking out and doing the entire project on the last night. You can't stand failing."

David leaned towards Jack, making sure to keep his voice low. "And while that's true, I hate you even more."

Jack matched his lean and snarled. "If you think I'm afraid of a little punkass like you you're deeply delusional. Why the fuck would I ever be afraid of someone who came running to his fucking sister for help?"

"You act as if I'm afraid of you," David snapped back. "Why the fuck would I ever be afraid of a lazy, ignorant person like you?"

Jack grit his teeth as he felt himself shaking. "Maybe you should be afraid of me, you piece of god damn shit. Maybe you don't know everything you think you do."

"Oh?" David asked, his lip pushed up in anger, but otherwise holding himself together. "And, what, pray tell, is it I don't know? Because I already know I know a lot more than you, Jack."

Jack jerked his head up, his shaking stopped as he looked down at his childhood friend. "You do, do you? Maybe you shouldn't be mouthing off to a member of the Brooklyn gang then. You know what we do to peasants like you?"

David narrowed his eyes, leaning even farther forward. "You? Why the fuck would Sean ever recruit you? Doesn't he hate you? Didn't you two just get into a fight?"

Jack's mouth dropped open as his eyes widened. "How the fuck do you know about Sean?"

David's expression immediately fell to match with Jack's. In the heat of the moment he had completely forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret. "Oh … fuck."

Racetrack did not like this one bit.

He had been late to every one of his classes as he took every opportunity he could to look for Sean. So far he had yet to spot him, and he was growing more and more frantic.

He may have been overreacting a bit, but Sean was a gang leader, after all. It wouldn't be particularly outlandish for him to have gotten beaten and dragged down an alley somewhere. Or maybe he had gotten kidnapped. Or maybe even killed.

Race's gut twisted as he darted for the doors that led out to the parking lot. It was lunch; no one would miss him. And if he had to miss the last of school that would pale in comparison to knowing that Sean was alive and well.

He could explain it away to his mom later; she had always been more lenient with him where Sean was concerned. She'd probably call him brave or loyal or some shit.

Plus, he was already practically grounded until college anyway.

He stopped his speed-walking after he got to the parking and noticed that Sean's motorcycle was there. He whirled around when he heard the door behind him open.

"Sean!" He shouted, immediately bursting into a smile as the weight on his shoulders lifted.

Sean froze in place, his eyes wide before he whirled back around and quickly walked back into the school.

Racetrack blinked at the strange reaction before he remembered why he had needed Sean in the first place. "Hey! Wait, come back here!" he shouted as he ran after the other boy.

Sean changed his walking to running as soon as he reentered the school and realized Racetrack was right behind him. He dodged around students with Race following close behind.

"What the hell are you doing?" Race asked as he picked up his pace. Every time Sean would jump between students Race would fall behind, but he had him on the straightaways. And he would catch him, of that he was sure, if only because Racetrack had great stamina and Sean was a smoker.

Once he was close enough Racetrack took two giant leaps forward and grabbed onto Sean's wrist, pulling the other boy into his chest and holding him there. "What is this? Tag?" he asked as he forced himself to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth.

Sean had immediately stiffened as Race continued to hold him to his chest. "Get off of me," he ground out as he tried to shove himself out of Racetrack's embrace.

"What the hell's with you?" Racetrack asked, just hanging on tighter. "Why the hell are you running?"

"You were chasing me," Sean snapped as he tried to untangle himself from the other boy's arms. "And now you're fucking touching me."

Race rolled his eyes. "I only started to chase you after you started running." He finally drew back from Sean, still making sure to hold his wrist just in case there was another fleeing incident. "I need to talk to you."

"Well, I have no desire to talk to you," Sean growled, snatching his hand back and looking around for a place to get away.

Race snatched him by the back of the neck and forced him to look back at him. "You're keeping something from me," he accused through clenched teeth. "What the fuck is it? After I promised you that you could use me for whatever the hell you wanted, I don't think I deserve to be fucked around like this."

Sean's eyes widened before his arm swung out and clipped Race on the chin.

Racetrack was hit hard enough to have him stumbling back a step or two, and he was way too surprised not to let go of Sean's neck.

"I don't fucking want anything from you," Sean yelled as he spun away from Race and continued up the hallway, still seeming to be overly rushed. "I just want you to leave me the hell alone."

"Dutchy, please!" Specs whined as Dutchy dragged him by the wrist towards the lunch table. "Don't make me do this! I don't wanna!"

Dutchy gritted his teeth. This was really starting to annoy him. How many times did he need to talk Specs into this for god's sake? He knew the kid was homophobic, but this was just getting fucking ridiculous. He tried not to slap the other boy. "This is what we agreed to, Specs! Are you really my friend, or aren't you?" He took a seat at the lunch table, not letting go of Specs's wrist. He looked up at him and pouted his lip. He tried his best to look pleading, but it was tremendously hard with how irritated he was.

Specs shifted on his feet and bit his lip. He looked down at the ground. He wished there was a way to get out of this, but he couldn't think of any. His breathing quickened as he realized how stuck he was. He had already agreed; Dutchy would never forgive him if he backed out now.

Dutchy continued to silently look up at Specs as he kept fidgeting. God, but he was so fucking cute. He felt his irritation draining away, and tried not to burst into a full blown smile. Damn, he could not wait until his plan came through completely. He couldn't wait for Specs to officially be his. "Well?" he asked as his friend kept fidgeting.

Specs pulled at his hair before nodding. He couldn't figure out how to work his mouth; he was too busy trying not to hyperventilate.

Dutchy finally released his smile, pulling Specs onto his lap. "Good, because Bumlets is coming this way. Follow my lead," he demanded quickly before leaning into Specs and forcing his tongue into his mouth.

Specs' eyes widened as he stiffened. He tried to pull away, but Dutchy just held onto him tighter. He tried to get the foreign tongue out of his mouth, but Dutchy wasn't allowing it. He jerked his head in an attempt to stop the insanity, but Dutchy had a hold on the back of his head, and he couldn't go anywhere. Realizing he was stuck he just tried his best not to puke. Dutchy had started rubbing small circles on his back with his other hand, and Specs tried his best to focus on that. He was still unbelievably tense, but it did help.

Bumlets watched Dutchy molesting the other boy from behind Specs. He was content to watch for a while. Admittedly, he was probably enjoying the torment on Specs's face a little too much; he had told David he'd be nice, after all. But it was such a hard opportunity to pass up. He finally forced himself to break in when he saw Specs' shoulders relax ever so slightly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, trying to sound as mad as he could while he held in his laughter. The wide eyes and red cheeks of Specs' face were almost too comical.

Dutchy glared at him. "It's none of your damn business what we're doing," he snapped. He pulled Specs to his chest, while making sure he stayed in his lap. "Do I really have to remind you that you're the one who broke up with me? I can do whatever the hell I want to now, and it's none of your concern."

Bumlets blinked. He was surprised how good an actor Dutchy was. He was having trouble keeping in mind that this whole argument was fake. "It's Specs, Dutchy. It's like you're trying to piss me off. What the hell are you even thinking? This guy's all wrong for you!"

"Oh, and I suppose you would be so much better?" Dutchy barked back, not letting go of his hold on Specs.

"Well, duh," Bumlets replied. There was no way he wasn't going to bypass the opportunity to insult Specs, even if he had promised David that he would be nice. "Shit, anyone would be. It's like you decided to go for the stupidest choice just to prove how low your standards are."

"Hey!" Specs finally released the tension in his shoulders as he concentrated on defending himself. "I'll have you know I'm a god damn catch, mother fucker!'

Bumlets rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, of course you are," he replied sarcastically. "You're a rebound, you dimwit. Can't you see it? You guys aren't even going to last a week together before Dutchy comes crawling back to me."

"We're in love, god damn it!" Specs burst out before Dutchy could even reply. He gritted his teeth as his eyes flared with anger. He would not let Bumlets beat him. Not even at this. "We're meant to be. We're going to be together forever because I'm not going to treat him like absolute trash like you did. I'm actually going to respect him! I'm going to take care of him! I'm going to make him regret ever being with you!"

Bumlets snorted at Specs. It seemed his work was done, at least for now, anyway. Hopefully Dutchy wouldn't ask him to do anything else. "We'll see about that one," he said, wanting to make sure he could be kept out of this insanity for at least a couple of days. "I stand by what I said: you guys aren't going to last for a week." He turned away, making his exit while he could. He needed a god damn cigarette from all this drama and bullshit. Being overdramatic really stressed him out.

Skittery wandered to his sixth period class, dragging his feet, secretly hoping to be late. It was so unfair that even as a gang member he had to go to school. Weren't gang members delinquents? And didn't delinquents not have to attend school? Wasn't there a rule somewhere about that?

He stopped when he realized he was outside his sixth period and the bell hadn't rung yet. So it seemed as if he wouldn't even be late for sixth period. Fantastic. Fuck. He hated this god damn class. He hated this god damn school. He hated this god damn town. He hated this god damn state. He wished he could just fucking leave already.

"Hey!" he heard from across the hall.

Skitts looked up to see Blink and quickly ducked into his sixth period class. He did not want to talk to anyone. He was most certainly not in the mood.

He took a seat in the back, hoping no one would notice him, most especially Blink.

"Speak of the devil," he muttered to himself as soon as he looked up.

Blink stood right at the front of his desk. He clenched his hands at his sides, and he glared down at Skittery. "I take this class, you fucking dumbass," he seethed. He didn't change his stance. "How the hell dumb do you have to be to try to avoid me by ducking into a class I attend?"

Skittery quirked an eyebrow and ran a hand through his hair. "Oooh, scary," he mocked. "You going to blow smoke out of your ears now?" He smirked and cocked his head to the side. He put on a mock pout. "And who was it that put all that sand in your vagina?"

"You're being a fucking brat," Blink snapped. "You wanna take your head out of your ass for a minute so I can talk to you?"

Skittery shrugged dispassionately. His eyebrows rose up and he looked off to the side. "Sorry, it's too warm in here."

Blink scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. When he finally made sense of what Skittery was talking about Blink scrunched his whole face up. "You're such a perverted bastard." He crossed his arms. "You're being a god damn selfish prick, and it's time someone finally told you," he declared.

Skittery finally leaned over his desk and gave Blink his full attention. His eyes narrowed. "I don't remember anyone asking for your dumbass opinion, you fucking one-eyed freak," he hissed.

Blink couldn't fight the frown that took over his face, but he didn't move. "I'd much rather have one eye than be blind as hell like some of the shitfucks around here," Blink replied.

Much to his dismay, Skittery caught himself trying to hold back a laugh. Shitfucks? That was a new one. He would have to use that one sometime. He slightly shook his head, trying to force himself back on track. "At least a blind man's face doesn't look grotesquely disfigured," he retorted. He kept his voice as neutral as he could get it. "It's just a warped fucking hole underneath that eye patch, right?" he continued quietly. "I bet you could make this whole classroom cringe just by taking that stupid fucking eye patch off. Shall we see?"

Blink stiffened, but still didn't leave. He leaned his face closer to Skittery's. "Fine," he agreed. "Do it." He locked his eye on Skittery as they both remained motionless. He straightened up after a few moments and smirked. "You know why I know you wouldn't ever do it? Because you don't have the balls to. You may have a loud bark, but all you have in your pants is a fucking vagina."

Skitts quickly stood, causing his chair to loudly topple over. Everyone waiting for class to begin snapped their heads in his direction. Skittery cocked his head and smirked back at Blink. "You really wanna play this game, Captain? You wanna see my balls?" he asked slowly "Because I'll put 'em right on this desk if you want me to."

Everyone in the class collectively turned their heads away from him. Everyone with the exception of Blink, who had yet to drop his gaze.

Blink met his glare head on, his body tense. "Yea, Hot Stuff, let's see 'em. If you can find them anyway."

Skittery smirked. "You know if I take that dumb shit off I'm keeping it, right?" He roared out a laugh. "You'll cause so many car accidents walking home! Everyone will be too busy wondering when the freak escaped from the circus to focus on driving."

Blink had to try very hard not to let this turn into a fist fight. Skittery was out for some fucking blood, and Blink was running out of insults.

"I spent the night at Itey's yesterday," Blink said. He forced his shoulders to relax, but he continued to hold his gaze. If Skittery was going to play dirty then he could too. "It doesn't seem like he misses you all that much. The little slut was all over me all night. He kept telling me he loved me and shit. I had no idea how easy he was."

Skittery took a wild swing towards Blink's head, but Blink had been expecting it. He quickly leaned back, managing to avoid Skittery's punch. It seemed as if Blink had found a sore spot to poke then. He should have figured that one out sooner.

He kept on talking, pretending he wasn't even fazed that Skittery had almost just broken his nose. "He was begging for it all night. I had him moaning like a little bitch. I had no idea how much he loved licking assholes. Or was it just mine?"

Skittery kept swinging and missing as they danced around the classroom. His face was growing redder by the insult. "You're just going after Itey because you're too much of a chickenshit to get the guy you really want," he managed to grunt out.

Blink forced a laugh, trying to keep an even head with all the adrenaline pumping through him. Maybe this was a bad idea. Those punches were coming harder and faster by the second. If one of those so much as clipped him he'd probably go down. "I went for Itey because he was so easy." He really shouldn't've done this, but it'd be impossible to back out now.

"I'm going to cut off your balls and feed them to you, you fucking piece of fucking god damn shit!" Skittery yelled, jumping into Blink and sending them both crashing to the floor.

Blink immediately wrapped his legs around Skittery's torso, hoping to stop him from getting any leverage on him. He wasn't a fighter by any means, but he did know at least that move. That was about all he could do, however, has he used his arms to block his face from the fists that were raining down on him.

… So probably a bad idea then.

"Hey," Itey greeted before taking a seat in his sixth period Physics class. "It going to ruin your social status too much if I sit here, m'lady?"

Sarah turned and rolled her eyes at him. "Please. I'm better than that. I don't care about that crap nearly as much as people seem to think I do." She smiled. "Plus, I'm pretty sure the jocks are still focused on Swift going crazy anyway. And they can really only focus on one thing at once."

Itey laughed. "Well, that, and I'm pretty sure you could get away with anything if you just bat those pretty eyes of yours at a boy."

Sarah grinned at him. "I assume you want something. If so, you should really keep those compliments coming." She turned to face the front of the class when the teacher walked in. Her grinned widened. "Go on: tell me how amazing I am."

"You are amazing," Itey agreed, talking quieter, but still focusing his attention on Sarah. "You are brilliant, and beautiful, and terrifically wonderful. You are nice, and funny, and everything that is positive and good. But before I start asking any favors I'd like to make some small talk first."

Sarah's laugh turned into a snort as she tried to hold it back. "I'm failing this class, do you realize that? I assume it'd probably help a lot if I pay attention to the lectures. Can't you chat me up after class?"

"Well, I guess I could, yeah, but I don't really want to. Class's gotta be good for something, you know what I mean? It's not like I'm here to actually learn anything, after all," Itey replied. "Between you and me, I really don't wanna learn anything from this fat fuck." He nodded his head toward the teacher. "Call it my way of protesting his teaching methods."

"Viva la resistance," Sarah muttered with a grin.

Itey burst into a grin. "Exactly! Come! Join us, m'lady. Tis a noble cause, this one."

Sarah struggled not to laugh. "I don't think so, Itey. I'm pretty sure my GPA can't afford it. There's no way I'm getting grounded for something stupid like grades again. I do have an active social life, you know."

Itey rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. Everyone knows how popular the wonderful and amazing Sarah Jacobs is. But you realize Davey took the honors equivalent of this course last year, correct? Wouldn't it be easy to listen to me instead of this fat fuck, and have David tutor you about all this shit later? Everyone's problems could be solved."

Sarah sighed, still looking towards the front of the room and trying to concentrate on the teacher. "I don't need any of your help becoming a bad kid, Itey. You know that, right? I can do all that all of my own. Go teach David instead."

Itey sighed back. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. I'm not trying to turn you into a bad kid; I just want to talk to you. I had a lot of fun last night, and I miss you. I wanna talk and catch up and what not. I feel like I haven't talked to you in years."

Sarah rolled her eyes as she tried to write down whatever it was that was being lectured. "As of last night you hadn't talked to me in years."

Itey made sure to pout as Sarah shifted a glance over his way.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead before dropping her pen. "Fine, Itey, you win. For today, and I mean only today, I will indulge your stupid desire for small talk." She grunted before muttering to herself, "It's not like a really understand any of this crap, anyway."

Itey burst into a grin. "Ah, Sarah, you have truly made me the happiest boy alive. To have the attention of the great Sarah Jacobs: what more could anyone ask for? I feel honored. I truly do."

Sarah smiled while rolling her eyes. "Cut your crap, Itey. What do you wanna talk about? It better be at least something interesting."

"Small talk first before we get into anything juicy."

"Fine, fine," Sarah snapped, growing impatient. "Let's just get to it then."

Itey frowned. "I feel like you're rushing me."

"Itey!" Sarah bit out, loud enough for the people around them to hear.

"Okay, okay!" Itey replied, dropping down the volume of his already quiet voice. "Jesus, you don't have to go all PMS on me."

Sarah glared at him. "This is a way to get your ass kicked. Not a way to be asking for a favor."

"Well, someone certainly doesn't know how to take a joke."

Sarah continued to glare.

Itey frowned; as of now this conversation was not going well. "How much trouble did you get in for yesterday?"

Sarah shrugged, her glare easing. "You know, they kind of flipped out on me. David too. Could have been a lot worse though, I guess. I made a big deal about them not trusting me, and I didn't even get grounded for it. I think that had a lot to do with wherever the hell they went, though. It's not something I could get away with again, I'm sure. I'm not about to do something stupid like that again, at any rate. Why?"

"I liked it. Talking to you and shit, I mean," Itey replied. "You're a cool chick, Sarah. I wouldn't mind going out with you if you want."

Sarah just stared.

Skittery slouched on a plastic chair while holding a bag of ice on his the back of his hand. "I never realized you could take a punch, Blink."

Blink shrugged, holding his own bag of ice, but his was on his right cheek. "Believe me, I didn't have any idea either. Hadn't planned on ever finding out if I'm going to be honest."

Skittery leaned his head against the wall behind him. "Coulda fooled me with that one. Normally you shouldn't be insulting someone if you don't want them to try and bash your face in. You should remember that so you don't get into anymore stupid, fucked up fights. Exactly what was your plan if it wasn't to fight me, huh?"

Blink dropped his bag of ice on the floor and rubbed the back of his head instead. "I was hoping it'd make you stop being a dick, and you could go back to liking me," he admitted truthfully.

"You're kidding, right?" Skittery asked as he slowly turned his head to stare, open mouthed, at Blink. "Why the fuck did you think that would work? I'm going to be honest: I've never thought of you as stupid until right now."

Blink shrugged again. "You think? Seems to me that it's working pretty well. You are talking to me now, after all. Though, I must admit, when I planned this out in my head I was not planning on physically fighting you. And I definitely had no plans to end up at the principal's office. Do you think your mom will get mad if she has to come down here?"

"HA!" Skittery snapped out. "That's a joke, right? My mom doesn't even give half a shit; ain't no way she's coming down here." He rolled his shoulders back. "I really hope they don't call that bitch; I don't even live at home anymore."

Blink scrunched up his eyebrows. "Wait, where are you living now then? Are you okay?"

Skittery shrugged. "I'm living with Sean now," he explained with a wave of his hand.

Blink's eyes bulged. "Sean? Like, the Sean?" He forced his voice down. "After knowing who he is and what he does you moved in with him? Why? Did he force you?"

"No, of course not," Skittery scoffed. "He let me join up."

"He let you-!"

"Matt? Ryan?" the principal interrupted from his office. He gestured inside with his head, not at all looking pleased. "Let's go."

"Mush," Itey greeted as he sat down for his seventh period class. He hadn't been overly concerned at not seeing Skittery leaving the classroom. He had been avoiding him, after all, not to mention skipping a lot of class. Mush's guilty look sent his concern into overdrive, however. He turned to look at him properly. "What'd you do?" he asked slowly.

Mush immediately glanced down and bit his bottom lip. "I think Race and I made a mistake."

Itey smacked his forehead. "Oh, Mush, no. You interfered with the Skittery thing, didn't you? Oh, god, he's going to be so pissed off. You guys should know he hates sympathy … and feelings … and … and everything else."

Mush nodded still looking at the ground. "Right, right. Yeah, I mean, we figured that. That's why we thought doing the exact opposite would be helpful. You know, because it was Skittery. And it made a lot of sense when Blink thought of it. And I guess I got overconfident because I was just so excited it was going to work. Except I don't think it worked and now they're in big trouble, and I don't know how much more trouble Skittery can get into. And what if he talks back and makes things worse for himself? What if he gets suspended? Or expelled? And it'll be all my fault because I stood behind the idea, and I really shouldn't have done that."

Itey slid into the seat next to Mush, sighed deeply, and rubbed his forehead. "You're confusing the hell out of me, Mush, and giving me a headache besides." He took in Mush's slumped posture and sighed again. He put a hand on his friend's back. "I'm sure none of it was your fault, Mush. Skittery has a habit of running into whatever trouble he can possibly find. I just want to know what happened, okay?"

Mush nodded, but still didn't speak, seeming to go even lower in his chair.

Itey slid down until his back hit the bottom of his seat, so he was practically lying down instead of sitting. He wasn't panicking, far from it. He just had to keep telling himself that so he wouldn't start hyperventilating. He met his friend's eyes, remaining outwardly calm. "Hey, Mush? You wanna tell me what happened? Sooner the better and all that, you know. I just need to know the basics."

Mush looked up, trying his best to avoid Itey's eyes. "Yeah," he muttered, as if talking to himself. He took a deep breath, trying his best to force the story out of him. "Blink tried to fight Skittery and now they're both in the principal's office," he breathed out before slumping impossibly lower into his chair.

Itey, on the other hand, rose up, going back into a sitting position so that he could look down at the other boy. He paused for a bit, gathering his thoughts and wondering if Mush was trying to play some sort of trick on him. "Okay, I might need a tad more information than that," he admitted, frowning. "Blink tried to pick a fight with Skittery …" he shook his head at the absurdity of it. "That doesn't make any sense, Mush. Why did Blink try to start a fight with Skitts? Are we talking about the same Blink?"

Mush nodded yet again. "We thought it would help him," he defended in a quiet voice. "We thought that since …" Mush peaked up at Itey before he quickly fastened his eyes back to the ground. "We thought that since Skittery hates sympathy and love and stuff that if we went about it the opposite way then we'd make him feel better."

Itey pressed his lips together, trying to keep his laughter in. The loud snort that came out of his mouth immediately after that spoke of his failure. "You decided to fight Skitts to make him feel better? Who the hell would think that would work? That's the logic of a maniac."

Mush's eyes didn't leave the floor as his face colored red. "Yeah, well, we were trying to get into his head."

Itey shook his head, a smile still on his face. It was odd how quickly he had become so distant from his feelings regarding Skittery. Yes, he still loved him, clearly too much, but, luckily, he hadn't had trouble sliding that to the side and ignoring it for now. "I realize Skitts' thinking is nice and fucked up, but that doesn't mean he's a lunatic. All he needs is someone to listen to him rant for awhile."

Mush's head shot up, eyes wide as he finally looked at Itey. "Do you really think that'll cheer him up?"

Itey rolled his eyes, but his smile didn't fade. "Instead of trying to navigate the intricacies of Skitts' mind, next time just ask me, alright? That way no one has to go to the principal's office."

TBC

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