A/N: Welcome, new readers, as you randomly receive email updates out of order.

Fingers crossed Lorena and Sly resolve this icky below. Enjoy! Review! Or don't! See if I care! (I kinda do)

Ch 9: Take It Higher

It's been written and it's been said

Something's always messing with your head

No one knows you, hey, like you know yourself

Don't need to listen to anybody else

Setting: Interior, high school, lockers, the next morning

Two figures, a boy and a girl, occupied the space in front of the lockers, seemingly mid-conversation, and the tension felt thick.

One hand in a pocket and the other arm holding books, Sly remained silent as he implied to be listening, staring at a small crack in a floor tile. For all he knew, he created that break. He had so many pratfalls in this hallway, Sly was surprised he survived high school so far with only bruises. But he was a physical and passionate human, two aspects he just could not help. They were in his blood, and maybe part of his brain chemistry – his parents stopped the tests when he was 10 – but you wouldn't be able to tell that this day.

A beautiful female blocked him as she fidgeted with her fingers, unease resting on her shoulders. Her chestnut locks kept falling into her eyes, which she would tuck back behind her ear again. She looked a little more disheveled than usual, but she still tried to hide it.

Lorena had cornered Sly and hoped he would just listen, but as she bowed her head for her eyes to match his own, he only darted his focus away from her.

"Lorena, I told you," he finally said, almost void of any emotion she could read, "I'm done." He stared directly at her this time, and it gutted her. Lorena thought she was making progress; he stopped to listen, didn't he? But Sly's sudden melancholy gaze stung, and she couldn't move.

So, Sly moved instead. Walking past her, Lorena collapsed her shoulders, crossed her arms, and watched him walk away.

The gang filed into the hallway just in time to see Sly enter the classroom nearby alone and Lorena collapse on the bench.

"He hates me," she accepted, picking at her nails. Her nail tech was going to hate her, too.

"Oh no," Tiffani soothed, placing a caring hand on Lorena's shoulder. "I don't think he hates you."

"Yeah," Sam added in, "he's just angry." The singer walked to her locker to exchange textbooks so as to not crowd the depressed friend. She slammed her locker closed and leaned against it, a slight of guilt creeping in that she was thankful she and Tony were so strong right now.

"And you know that Winkle temper," Mark piggybacked. He had one foot on the corner bench to create a tabletop for his book as he casually surfed through the text, not looking up. So, he didn't immediately realize the gang was staring skeptically at him from that comment. After all, Mark Winkle was the meekest, most mild-mannered guy they ever met. He peered up, confused with the silence, and shook his head. "It's like you've forgotten the Carnegie Hall incident!"

"Yeah, I bet they had to hold you down," Tony laughed, "you out of control monster."

"I think the real problem," Jake noted, "is that Sly was being truthful for probably the first time in… ever…with the one person he thought he could trust."

"I know," Lorena sighed, defeated, "and I broke his heart… again."

"Well, maybe Mark, Jake, and I could talk to him," Tony offered, gesturing to the others. "Men to man." Lorena sighed again.

"If you want," she conceded. "I'll take anything right now."

The men walked ahead into the classroom where other students were also hanging around, waiting for the bell to ring. They spotted Sly, who was sitting alone at a desk near the front. Tony nodded to Mark to lead the way, Mark echoing back the gesture, before Jake pushed both forward. They carefully sat at desks around the brooding male, Jake sitting on top of his desk's table instead.

"Hey, cuz," Mark greeted cautiously.

"What do you want?" Sly asked coldly, staring down at his table, playing with a pencil.

"How are you doing buddy?" Tony questioned.

"I could be better." Sly remained stoic. He knew what they were doing. It's what the gang always did, butting into things that weren't their business.

The three men looked at each other, mentally trying to figure out what their next moves would be.

"So," Tony continued, letting out an uneasy breath, "we know about you and Lorena."

Sly furrowed his brow, she did it? But he kept his composure, not wanting to give too much of what he was feeling away.

"Lorena told you?" Sly inquired. He gulped and bit his bottom lip. There was a sense of relief that washed over him.

"Well, no," Tony replied, "not right away. We kind of figured it out ourselves." Sly slumped more into his chair. He should have known better.

"Oh," he only whispered.

"But she did tell us after what happened yesterday!" Mark chimed in. "That's got to count for something, right?"

"If you say so," Sly whispered.

"Is that really all we are gonna get from you?" Tony snapped. His patience was running thin from this self-pity act his best friend was playing. "Just this moody, down-in-the-dumps puddle of a mess?"

Sly squinted his eyes, suddenly irritated at the attitude Tony threw at him.

"What do you want to hear, Antione?" Sly hissed, sitting up and facing him. "That I confessed my feelings about Lorena not once, not twice, but three times? That I begged her, pleaded with her to tell everyone about us but she couldn't give me a good reason why she wouldn't? That I humiliated myself and was slapped by other women for her over and over and over again, and then ridiculed by all of you for being a creep? Is that it? Is that what you wanted to hear?" It was word projectile, emotions that were stewing in Sly since yesterday. But unlike Lorena, Sly didn't have anyone to talk to about it.

"Well, when you put it that way," Tony cowered.

"Look, I get what you guys are trying to do, but there is really no point now," Sly faced back front and slumped back down.

"But cuz," Mark started, "we've all been friends for so long, and we care when someone is hurting–."

But Sly was done, again.

"Let me cut you off there, cuz," Sly snapped. "It's none of your business, okay?"

Tony scrunched his face, annoyed. Standing up he slapped the shoulder of Mark.

"Let's go, guys," Tony hissed back. "If Sly wants to have a pity party and be alone for the rest of his life, who are we to stop him?" The two boys walked to the back of the classroom to meet up with the ladies. However, Jake remained and watched his friend suddenly grab his things from the table and storm off to another desk farther removed from the gang.

Jake decided to not say anything at first, mostly because he wanted to assess the situation. Lorena had told her side of the story, and Sly deserved the same. Following slowly behind, Jake spoke calmly and respectfully.

"Listen, Sly," the guitarist started. "I know you're hurting, and I can't imagine the feeling." He exhaled sharply. "But I also know you. I know you like to shut down when you've been really hurt. You did it with Allison, you did it with your dad, and now you're doing it with Lorena, but this isn't something you can run away from. Not this time. I can see how much you love Lorena, and I think that's why you are taking it so hard. But she really is sorry. I just hope you can see that one day." Jake paused, waiting to catch any reaction from Sly. "You can't deny that she's the best thing that's ever happened to you." Jake walked away.

That was it. That was all that Jake could do for his friends. The rest was up to them.

Sly bit the inside of his cheek and rested his head on his hand. He knew Jake was right. Before it all came to a head, outside of money, Sly felt the happiest he ever had in a while. Sure, when he and Allison were together, he was over the moon, and that kind of first love was intoxicating. He wouldn't have traded that for anything. But the wholeness he found when Lorena kissed him that first night, everything felt complete.

He felt so broken now. Not because he wasn't with Lorena but because he felt almost betrayed. Betrayed by her, by his own feelings, by everything.

Walking back over to the gang, Jake shoved his hands into his leather jacket. Lorena wanted to be hopeful, but Jake's expression told her otherwise.

"So?" she asked, holding her hands together in prayer.

"I think you might need to do something more than just apologize," Jake admitted.

"Yeah," Lorena sighed and wrinkled her nose. "I think I know what that might be." Looking up with a determined expression, she searched the gang's eyes. "You guys wouldn't mind if I kind of hijack your gig tonight, would you?"

Take it higher, make it positive

Take it higher, what you got to give

Take it higher, live and let live, yeah

Rise above, go with love, how high can you fly?

A/N: I wonder what Lorena could be up to... hmm, interesting.