“Jesus Christ, what happened to you?!” Rian yelled as Alex limped down the garden path to following morning.

“Jason Tate, that’s what.” Alex said grimly as he climbed into the back seat next to Zack.

Overnight, the side of his face had scabbed over and bruised horrendously, giving him an impressive black eye and making it twinge every time he blinked. As he settled and did up his seatbelt, Rian and Zack both turned to stare at him.

“What?” he asked, annoyed at the attention.

“Just... Oh my god, Alex, have you seen your face?” Zack said, barely above a whisper.

“Funnily enough,” Alex said sarcastically, “I have, because it’s my fucking face! Can we just get to school please?”

“Okay, sorry...”

Rian turned back around and pulled away from the curb. The entire journey was spent in silence, but Alex still felt irritable as he could feel Zack's eyes burning a hole in his head. They pulled into the parking lot and Alex jumped out even before the hand break was on. He ignored Rian and Zack's shouts to wait for them, stalked into the school, down the corridor and past his locker to room 15.
He rapped on the door and entered without waiting for a reply, slamming the door behind him. Mr Barakat was behind his desk, moving some files from his messenger bag to the cabinet, and was quite surprised by the intrusion.

“What can- Alex? What’re you-“

Alex walked behind the desk and attached himself to Mr Barakat, arms around the man’s middle and head pressed to his chest, and he cried softly. Mr Barakat panicked for a moment before gently patting Alex in an awkward manner and pulling him away from him.

“Whoa, Alex, what’s wrong?” he said quietly, stooping a little to look Alex straight in the eyes.

“I... I’m sorry. I’m just...” Alex wiped his eyes and looked at Mr Barakat, “Will you come with me to report Jason? I just... need someone there with me.”

“Erm... Okay, but remember, I wasn’t there, okay? Just say... You reported it to me first, yeah? I wasn’t there... You got home on your own... Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah... Don’t worry Jay, I won’t get you in trouble.”

“It’s okay Lex... Come on, let’s go...”

They walked down the corridor together, Mr Barakat gently resting his hand on Alex's shoulder in nothing more than a friendly jesture. A few people stared and whispered behind their hands, but Alex just kept his head down as they walked towards Mr Gambon’s office. Mr Barakat knocked twice on the door, and waited for the stern “Enter” from within.

---

After nearly an hour of explaining, deliberating, and Alex begging not to involve the police, Mr Gambon decided on permanent expulsion for all those involved (some of whom Alex would have to identify from the class photos).
Alex was relieved. He wanted them punished, but he didn’t want them arrested. Sure, he did want to beat their faces in with a baseball bat, but violence was never the answer and he didn’t want their lives ruined permanently. Yes, they’d beaten him and practically left him for dead, but he would heal and carry on. Just as they left the Principal’s office, the bell for second period rang.

Mr Barakat turned to Alex and lay a hand on his shoulder. “You okay Alex?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Alex replied with a small smile. “I’m sorry about all this, but thank you.”

“Oh, Alex, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. And remember,” he squeezed Alex's shoulder, “you know where I am if you need anything.”

They smiled briefly at each other, then parted in silence as the halls began to fill with students moving to their next lessons. With one last glance at Mr Barakat's elegant silhouette strolling down the corridor, Alex made his way to algebra.

As he walked into Mr Murphy’s classroom, he saw the small group of Jocks at the back huddled around one desk, which all turned and sneered at him. The speckled scabs and black eye were quite obvious, and he could feel the eye’s of half the class on him. He heard some people whispering, but ignored them and carried on walking to his seat next to the window. He sat down and stared outside at the trees, watching some of the frail amber leaves fluttering down in the breeze. His attention was brought back to inside the classroom by a small cough next to him. He looked sideways and saw a skinny girl with messy bleach blonde hair and shiny blue-grey eyes looking down at him.

“Yes?” Alex asked, slightly irritated at this girls nosiness.

“Erm... I hope you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your eye?” she said, sounding genuinely concerned.

“I do mind actually.” Alex replied, annoyed at the girl who he didn’t even know. He returned to staring out of the window at the slow-turning fall trees.

“Oh... I’m sorry, it’s just, we were worried...”

“What? I don’t even know you!”

“I.. I know... I just...”

“Look, if you must know, I got the shit kicked out of me. Happy?”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m sorry.” She threw him an apologetic smile and scurried off to the other side of the room and sat down next to a short blonde boy who sat twiddling his hands in his lap.

Alex realised who it was and jumped up from his seat and walked over. “Hey Patrick!”

“Oh, hi Alex.” The blonde boy smiled warmly at Alex, who tried to smile back but the action made his face twinge.

“Oh, so you’re being friendly now, are you?” The skinny girl remarked, sitting back in her seat and folding her arms.

“Jenna, be nice...” Patrick said quietly to the girl, who simply huffed and looked away.

“You tell him that, Patrick.”

“I’m sorry I was rude. “ Alex apologised, and really meaning it, “I’m not in the best mood and I didn’t know who you were, or who you meant when you said ‘we’.”

“Yeah, well just because you don’t know me doesn’t mean you can be rude, okay?”

“I said I’m sorry! Anyway, I didn’t know you were in this class, Patrick?”

Patrick just half smiled and shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say, I’m easily ignored.”

“Aw, I’m sorry dude. I said you should come hang with us some time.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’ve been spending lunch with Jenna, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be!” Alex said with a wave of his hand, “It’s great that you’re making friends.”

Patrick went to say something, but was cut off by Mr Murphy’s ancient, croaking voice. “Mr Gaskarth, could you please take your seat?”

Alex sighed a reply of “Yes, sir” and slumped back to his seat.

The lesson dragged by, but before he knew it, the bell was ringing for morning break. He backed his stuff up slowly, so as not to make his shoulder ache even more, and when he looked up Patrick and Jenna were stood by his desk. Before Alex could even open his mouth, Jenna spoke.

“I’m sorry for being rude, Alex. Patrick told me you were a nice guy, honest, but I guess I was just offended by the way you spoke to me...” she trailed off, shoulders hunched and a small apologetic smile playing on her lips.

“Hey, it’s alright. I should be the one apologising anyway. I shouldn’t have snapped. Friends?” He held out a hand to the girl, who timidly shook it with her own electric purple nailed one.

“So Alex,” Patrick spoke up, seeming a lot bolder than he had when Alex first met him in PhysEd, “Do you want to hang with us for break?”

Alex thought for a moment. Rian and Zack wouldn’t miss him for one break time, so he nodded and let Patrick and Jenna lead the way. They walked across the school to the cafeteria and Alex was lead to the far corner. Normally this would be where all the Jocks hung out, and Alex wondered how geeky-looking Patrick and skinny Jenna got away with being over here. Then he saw him. The boy from the other week who had helped Patrick to the nurse.

“Hey, you’re... er... Wentz, right?” Alex said as they sat down.

The dark haired boy just smiled. He had a lot of teeth, and they way the corners of his mouth curled reminded Alex of a cat. “I’m Pete, only the teachers call me Wentz.” He laughed, holding out a hand that Alex shook warmly.

“Well, hiya Pete, I’m Alex.”

“Good to meet you. How’s the leg? I saw you limping around the other week. And, actually, what happened to your face?”

“Oh... My leg’s fine, thanks. And my face... well, let’s just say I won’t be welcome on the football team any time soon.”

“Oh, those assholes. That Jason Tate is the reason I quit the sports teams. He’s just, like, the biggest fucking ass I’ve ever known.”

They all dumped their bags under the table where they wouldn’t be trodden on or kicked and settled in their seats. Jenna sat at one end of the small rectangular table, Alex on one side, and Pete and Patrick on the other, very close to each other. Upon closer inspection, Alex saw that their feet were crossed together under the table, and Pete had one arm around Patrick’s shoulder. Alex managed to catch Pete’s gaze and raised an eyebrow. Pete looked confused, so Alex nodded his head at Pete’s arm, which almost immediately disappeared and reappeared, folded with Pete’s other arm on the table.

“You got a problem?” Pete said aggressively.

Alex had obviously given the wrong impression with his gestures, and held his hands up in a submissive and apologetic motion. “No! I’m sorry, I was just... Are you two together?” he lowered his voice slightly, not sure if they were or not, and if they wanted people to know.

“Yes, what of it?” Pete said lowly, leaning across the table slightly.

“Nothing! I was just asking! I’m gay too. I wasn’t... I didn’t...” he trailed off, hoping he’d given a good enough explanation.

Pete leaned back in his seat and placed his arm around Patrick’s shoulder again.

“Well,” Patrick piped up, “He’s bisexual, and I don’t know what I am. I just know that I like Pete.” He smiled up at the dark haired boy, who grinned back and placed a small kiss on the tip of Patrick’s nose, then another on his lips.

They just smiled at each other for a moment, but the cuteness was shattered by a loud retching sound. The three boys turned to look at Jenna, who was flicking through some magazine. She glanced up and spat out a “What?” before hunching lower in her seat and carried on flicking through the pages of what appeared to be last month’s issue of ‘AP’.

Patrick leaned across to Alex and said “Jenna doesn’t do relationships.”

The girl looked up, her scruffy layered hair shadowing her face, and said to Alex “I’m a hetero-romantic asexual. Basically, I think guys look good, but I don’t want to fuck ‘em.”

“Just because you don’t do relationships,” Pete said loudly, “doesn’t mean you can be rude about other peoples, Jen."

Her head flew up at this comment, eyes almost visibly darkening. “Don’t fucking call me Jen! It’s Jenna, or nothing at all. Got it, Wentz?”

Pete just laughed, whereas Alex and Patrick really tried not to.

“Oh, get her!” Pete laughed, “Don’t anger the witch-bitch, Alex, she’ll eat your soul!” Pete carried on laughing, but Jenna looked like she was about to tear into his throat with her bare hands. That was, until, Alex noticed a small smile creeping across her face. Soon, all four of them had dissolved into hysterical giggles around the table. Alex had his head thrown back, Jenna had her head on the table, Patrick had his face buried in Pete’s shoulder, and Pete hand a hand over his face, trying to stop his laughter. A few minutes later, once they had all recovered, Patrick was the first to speak.

“But seriously, Jenna is flippin’ golden, aren’t you?”

“You said it, Stumpy!” she giggled.

Alex realised that Jenna really wasn’t as bad as she had seemed. He guessed her attitude was just something you had to get used to.

They spent the rest of break time chatting about how Pete and Patrick got together (Pete ‘comforted’ Patrick after taking him to the nurse) and the fact that Jenna was aspiring to be a singer. Soon, the bell rang, and they all went their separate ways, Alex towards music. It was at that moment he realised that he’d forgotten his guitar, though it probably made no difference as they would be dong proper work this week. Maybe.

As he reached the classroom and made his way to his seat, not only were people staring, but someone shouted at him.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

Alex was about to shout something equally rude back, until he realised the question had come from a rather hurt looking Zack in the back row. Alex scurried over and hugged the boy, seeing that he was close to tears.

“Oh Zee, I’m sorry!”

Zack gripped onto the back of Alex's t-shirt as if he would never let go. This hurt Alex's bruises, but Zack felt more important in that moment.

“Where were you?”

“I was in the cafeteria, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was so rude this morning; I just had a bad day yesterday. I’m sorry.” Alex held Zack as tightly as he could.

They just stood there for a few moments, Alex wanting Zack to know that he really as sorry. Zack was seeming really vulnerable again, just like he had in the first week back, and Alex was worried. His train of thought was derailed though, when he heard a single word rise from the silence of the class.

“Fags.”

Alex immediately let go of Zack and turned to look around the class, hoping that the person who spoke would show themselves. A few people were watching, a few weren’t. But Alex was feeling brave, and after what happened yesterday, he wasn’t going to take anyone’s shit.

“Someone got something to say?” He said, loud enough for the whole class to hear.

A few of those who weren’t watching turned in their seats to look at where the voice had come from.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it to my fucking face!” he yelled, getting everyone’s attention. Alex leant on the table, making eye contact with an many people as possible.

“Er, Mr Gaskarth?” Mrs Reeves interjected from behind her desk, “As much as I despise homophobia, I don’t condone that language in my class. Thankfully, I did happen to notice that it was Gabriel who made that insensitive remark, and he will therefore be removed from my class. Mr Saporta, if you would like to leave immediately.”

A tall, thin boy with dark hair stood up with his bag and sauntered out of the room, throwing Alex and Zack a ‘look’ over his shoulder, before he turned and went off down the corridor to who knows where.

“Don’t worry, I’ll send the Senior Management Team after him. He’s not getting off that lightly.” Mrs Reeves smiled at Alex, who relaxed and took his seat. “Mr Merrick? Zack, are you alright, sweetheart?” Her voice softened and she smiled at Zack, who wiped away the few tears that had escaped his eyes and nodded, smiling back.

Alex tugged Zack down into his seat by his hoodie sleeve and hugged him around the shoulders. “I’m sorry Zee. I just... I had a shitty day yesterday and I didn’t know what to do.”

“What happened? And don’t just say ‘Jason Tate’ again. What did he do?” Zack kept his voice hushed, so as not to get the attention of the teacher of the rest of the class.

“Him and his friends beat me up on my way home ye-“

“What! I’ll fucking kill them!” Zack whisper yelled, his eye’s blazing with fury.

“No, Zee don’t! It’s being sorted.” Alex whispered back, gently resting his hand on Zack's arm. He could feel Zack shaking with anger under his touch.

“What did they do? Alex, what did they do?” Zack asked as calmly as he could, his eyes imploring Alex to answer.

“They... They kicked...” Alex sighed.

He didn’t - couldn’t - explain. Instead he sighed, lifted up the front of his shirt and exposed the collection of bruises, including the perfectly fist shaped one in the middle of his stomach. Zack's face fell, eyes widened, as he reached across and carefully ran his fingers over the largest bruise. Alex shivered as Zack's cool, feather-light touch brushed over his skin. Zack quickly retracted his hand and clenched his fists in his lap

“I’ll fucking kick their faces in...” he muttered in a low, shaking voice.

Alex had no idea what was up with Zack recently. Whether it was because of camp over the summer or what, but he was a lot more emotional that he had been 4 months ago. Alex pulled his t-shirt back down and rubbed his hand up and down Zack's arm, trying to calm him down.

“Zee, it’s being sorted, okay?”

“I hope you got the fucking cops on their asses.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Zack just stared at him in disbelief. “Why the fuck not? Look at what...” the words caught in Zack's throat, “what they did to you, Alex.”

“I know Zee, but I don’t want their lives ruined forever. I’ll recover from this and carry on, I don’t want them doing time and never being able to have a serious career. I won’t let them ruin my life, so I won’t ruin theirs.”

Alex was partly truthful there. That was part of the reason, but he also didn’t want the authorities involved in case they found out about him and Mr Barakat. Zack just looked at him, his face unreadable. But a second later, a small smile crept onto his face.

“Alex, you know your problem? You’re too kind. You’re, like, the nicest guy I know.”

Alex smiled back, “Same to you, Merrick.”

They turned their attention back to the actual lesson, and as Alex had suspected, did some real work. All they had to do was make a mind map of their favourite artists, then group up according to genre. Zack and Alex we together, obviously, but were with two other people: A short guy called Gerard, and a boy called Andy who seemed rather unimpressed with everything. Gerard was really fidgety, and only had one or two bands similar to any of them, but he didn’t fit with anyone else so he was welcomed with open arms.
50 minutes later the bell rang and the class trudged out to their 4th lesson. Zack and Alex made their way down to the end of the school to room 15, where once again everyone was standing around and chatting, the tables pushed to the sides.
Alex really had no idea what was going on. He hadn’t been there all last week, and last lesson he’d been doing separate work. His thoughts were interrupted by Mr Barakat's loud happy voice. Everyone turned to look at the teacher, who was stood on top of his desk.

“Good afternoon, everyone! I trust your day has been good so far?”

A few people muttered replies and the man paused. Alex was worried though. He had seen Mr Barakat stood on top of a desk before, and that had not ended well.

Mr Barakat continued speaking. “As you can see, I’ve cleared the room so you can all practice your pieces, or whatever you have written so far. So, I’ll let you get on with it! Mr Gaskarth,” Alex's eye’s refocused as he’d been gazing starry-eyed at Mr Barakat, “can you come to the front please?”

Alex walked through the class and made it to the desk just as Mr Barakat jumped down. This time, thankfully, he was unhurt as he sat down.

“Now, Alex, while you were off last week, people started working in their own scripts. The theme is ‘Diversity’, so, looking at prejudice and alternative lifestyles, that kind of thing. But, seeing as everyone else already has some kind of script going, you’ll probably have to work on your own.” Mr Barakat shrugged his shoulders apologetically, but Alex just smiled.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. At least I won’t have any arguments with the other people in my group!” They both laughed quietly, but Alex spoke again. “I can just do a monologue, it’s easy enough.”

“Well okay, if you’re sure Lex.”

Alex giggled behind his hand and Mr Barakat looked confused. He moved his hand away from his face and whispered “You called me Lex.”

Mr Barakat blushed slightly and smiled. He lowered his voice to the smallest whisper he thought Alex could hear and replied, “Well, you’re just so damn cute.”

Alex blushed this time, but quickly recovered himself. He nodded an ordinary thank you at Mr Barakat, picked up his book and walked away. He walked to the back of the room and settled himself and started thinking.
He ‘brainstormed’ for the full lesson, watching the other groups, chatting to Zack and Tay for a bit, but mostly watching Mr Barakat out of the corner of his eye as he meandered around the room, helping the various groups. Mr Barakat would occasionally read out student’s lines and act them out himself. He always managed to look rather elegant, no matter what the role. Perhaps it was his feathery hair, his pale skin, his sparkling brown doe eyes, the tight waist jacket he was wearing, the way his hips swayed ever so slightly, his smile, his laugh. Then Alex realised: it was all of him. Every little detail that Alex knew, he loved.
Alex stopped. There was that word again. Love.
Again, now was not the time to think about that, although the word continued to persistently drift around his mind. That was when he decided to write his monologue about. A few minutes later he had a rough plan down, and knew exactly what he was going to do next lesson.

He went and joined Zack and Tay as they left the classroom, and threw a smile and a wave over his shoulder at Mr Barakat, who winked back at him, making Alex's breath catch in his throat.

“You alright there, Alex?”

“Er, yeah, I’m fine.” Alex turned back to look at Zack and smiled.

“Oh, Alex didn’t get to say: Ri's spending lunch with Cass today, so I was thinking Tay could come to the Den with us?”

Tay smiled in a ‘you-don’t-have-to’ kind of way

“Yeah sure! Oh, Tay, you don’t mind smoke, do you?” Alex remembered that he had no idea if Tay was okay with people smoking.

However, she answered his question by producing her own packet of cigarettes from her jacket pocket and smiling. They walked round the back of the equipment shed, through the hole in the fence and down to the den. As they walked in, Tay whistled, clearly impressed.

“Nice guys! Very nice!”

“Thanks, we built it a few years ago.”

“We as in...?” Tay questioned, sitting down and waving he cigarette in a ‘please elaborate’ action.

“Me, Zack, Rian and our old friend Vic.”

“Vic? As in Fuentes? The one who ran off with that pregnant girl?”

“The very same. He was a cool guy.” Zack said sounding kind of proud.

“He always seemed alright. Such a shame, horrible way to go.” She said casually, taking a drag from her cigarette.

Alex sat down next to her on the hard ground feeling confused. “What do you mean ‘horrible way to go’?” Alex honestly had no idea what she was on about.

She looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. “Well, last I heard was he’d crashed a stolen car and they’d both died. Baby too.” Tay said in a tone that was more suited to a corny horror story than the supposed death of someone’s old friend.

“Shit, Tay!” Zack exclaimed, as he sat next to Alex, “I don’t know where you heard that from, but we knew his mom and dad, and I think we’d know if Vic was dead!” he sounded both amused and shocked.

“Oh, I’m sorry guys... I didn’t realise he was such a good friend.”

“Yeah, well, either way he’s gone now. Can we change the subject please?”

“Yeah sure, sorry Alex.”

“Also, the ground is really hard and my butt hurts. Can I sit on you Zee?”

“Er... Sure.”

Alex clambered into Zack's lap and let the bigger boy wrap his arms around Alex's middle. Tay gave Alex a look, and he couldn’t help but respond.

“Geez Tay! Me and Zack are just friends!”

“I didn’t say anything!” She said, in the same way Alex's mom used when she had been insinuating the exact same thing.

“Ugh, you sound like my mother...”

---

Two hours of English later, and Alex was walking down the corridor towards his locker. He’d been texting Zack during English and they had arranged to go into town after school. They met at the lockers and headed down into town, deciding to go to the music shop first.
They pushed through the door and walked straight over to the CD racks. Although most of the music they listened to was more of the 'Pop Punk’ genre, they always kept their eyes peeled for newer stuff. They were chatting and flicking through some of the Up and Coming EP’s when Alex's ears picked up something that grabbed his attention.

“Jaime? Yo, Jaime!” someone shouted from the back of the shop, in the store room.

Another voice responded not too far from Alex and Zack. “What?” The guy’s deep buzzing voice resonated slightly in the spacious shop. Alex was listening hard now, curious. “Jaime?”

“Fucking what?”

“Get your ass back here now! You said you’d move these damn boxes yesterday!”

“Okay, I’m on it!”

Alex turned his head slightly to watch the man called Jaime make his way to the store room. He just about caught the man’s profile: average build with medium brown hair spiked in every direction, his arms filled with tattoos.
Alex watched him for a few minutes, half-heartedly chatting with Zack, while Jaime carried a few boxes out of the store room and stacked them up near the instrument section of the shop. Alex was almost positive that this was the same Jaime who had dated then completely abandoned Jay, but he needed to be sure.

Alex walked casually over to the instrument section, close to where Jaime was stacking the boxes, and started to look at the guitars. He had to get his timing just right, though, else everything would end badly. Just as Jaime was bringing another box over, Alex reached out and started taking a better look at one of the guitars. As soon as Alex saw Jaime put the box down, he made his move and knocked the Guitar sideways off the stand. Making out it was an accident, Alex lunged for the falling instrument, and just as he’d hoped, Jaime caught it first. Step one complete.

“Whoa there kid! Careful, yeah?” Jaime chuckled at Alex, placing the guitar upright again.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“It’s okay, I’m sure you didn’t.”

“I just... I’ve been looking for a new guitar for ages. Maybe you could help me?” Alex hoped Jaime had a very good natured side, else he could never be sure.

“Yeah, sure. What kind of guitar are you after?”

A few minutes and three guitars later, Alex was acting as though he’d fallen in love with a white Epiphone Les Paul, which didn’t really need much acting. It was a beautiful guitar.

“You know,” Jaime cut in as Alex strummed a few chords on the instrument, “you could always drop by some time, I could give you a few lessons maybe?” he leaned down a little, getting closer to Alex's face.

Although, this was making him uncomfortable, Alex had to go along with it. He looked up at Jaime and chewed on his lower lip a bit. “Yeah, sure... I’d like that.”

Jaime looked him up and down for a moment, making Alex want to squirm, but he kept his cool. Jaime stood up straight again and walked over to the cash desk. Alex followed and leaned on the checkout, resting his chin on his hand.

“I don’t have any money with me today, but is there any way of reserving it?” He tried using his best flirty voice and batting his eyelids a little, and it seemed to work.

Jaime smirked down at him and pulled out a small notebook. “We don’t usually make reservations on instruments like a Les Paul Epiphone, but I think for you, I can make an exception. What’s your name?”

“Alex. Alex Gaskarth.”

“How do you spell that?”

“G. A. S. K. A. R. T. H."

He wrote something down, torn out the page and handed it to Alex. Alex took it and thanked him in his best flirtatious voice paired with his best smile. Jaime winked at him and it nearly made Alex shiver in disgust. That guy was not attractive in the slightest in his opinion and gave Alex the creeps. Alex walked over to Zack, who was admiring a pretty nice looking bass, and they left.

Alex looked down at the little slip of paper in his hand and read what was written in the scrawly handwriting: Les Paul Epiphone Elite – White Reserved for Alex Gaskarth Jaime (973) 695-2649

It took a moment to register in Alex's head, but then he realised that the creep had given Alex his phone number. Alex just shook his head in disgust, folded the piece of paper and put it in his pocket. He did still want the guitar, though how he’d find the money for it, he had no idea.

The two boys made their way down the street towards Matt's comic shop. They were only a door down from it when the door to The Dungeon swung open and a boy came storming out. Alex couldn’t see who it was straight away because the boys hood was up, but a moment later Alex stopped him.

“Hey, Pete, you alright?”

“Oh, hey Alex. Yeah, I’m fine.” Pete pulled his hood further up around his face and carried on down the street.

He hadn’t been polite, and Alex knew something was up. But seeing as Pete obviously didn’t want to talk about it right now, they carried on into the shop.

“Who was that guy?” Zack asked

“Oh, one of the kids I was with a break.” Alex replied simply, knowing that Zack could get jealous easily.

As the sound of the door’s bell rang out, Alex heard another sound. The shop was empty. No one browsing the comics. No one behind the counter. But there was still a noise. Zack was the first to identify it.

“Is... Is that someone crying?” He whispered to Alex.

“I think so...”

The boys carried on walking through the shop. The crying, it seemed was coming from behind the counter. They tentatively peered over the side, but no one was there. They noticed then that the door to the back room was open. Zack and Alex looked at each other and made their way around the counter.
Alex knocked gently on the store room door, looking at Zack with a ‘what-the-fuck-do-we-do’ look. Zack shrugged his shoulders and the silence was broken with a small, tearful, sobbed out “Go away.”

Alex looked at Zack and said “That’s Matt” and entered the back room.

He looked around for a moment, trying to spot Matt. Then he saw him. Matt was sat on the floor, half hidden by boxes. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his sleeved were pulled down around his hands. His hair was a mess, as though he’d been pulling at it in great fistfuls. His face was red and blotchy, his eye’s wet and swollen and his nose was running. Alex made his way through the boxes and crouched down next to him.

“Matt, what’s wrong?” Alex had only ever seen one other person in such a state, and that was Zack, who was now kneeling in front of Matt looking very concerned.

Matt sobbed and hiccupped before answering “H-he ch...ch-cheated on m-m-me-eee!” and he dissolved back into hysterical sobbing.

Alex had had no idea Matt even liked boys, let alone was dating someone. He gave Zack the look again, but Zack was watching Matt, his face a mix of pity and sympathy.

“Who cheated on you?” Alex said softly, rubbing Matt's shoulder.

“P-Pete!”

Alex and Zack looked at each other in shock. Zack mouthed the word ‘Pete’ at Alex, and tilted his head towards the front of the shop as if to say “As in Pete the guy we just saw?” Alex nodded, equally surprised.

Matt was crying again, so the best that they could do was wait for him to calm down, they helped him off the floor and into a chair. Zack went back into the main shop and bolted the door, turning the sign to ‘Closed’.
For about an hour, the boys sat in the back of the shop, consoling Matt and drinking coffee. Matt spoke about how sweet Pete had been, how mature he was for a Senior. They’d been together since last summer and they’d been each other’s firsts. Matt had honestly loved him, and was completely heartbroken, but Alex hadn’t said anything about Pete and Patrick. Matt didn’t need to know any more about that. Instead he came up with an idea.

“Hey, Matt?”

Matt looked up from where he was curled against Zack's side. “Yeah?”

“How about, this Friday, you come round to mine, yeah? My mom will be out for the night working the night shift, Zack can come too, maybe even Rian and Cass?”

“Rian and Cass?” Matt said puzzled.

“Oh, right, you don’t know them. They’re good people, trust me. I think you’ll like them.”

“Well, it sounds cool but-“

“Oh come on. We can get some drinks, good music, films. Help you forget all about Pete.”

“Don’t even say his name.” Matt said quietly, curling more into Zack's side.

Zack coughed and spoke up. “How about we have it at mine? I already have plenty of drink in, plus my mom’s away for the whole weekend, some wedding party. It’ll be great, trust me.” Zack smiled down at Matt, who smiled back.

“Okay.” Matt sniffled a little, sitting up a bit. “Thanks you guys.”

Just then, Alex's phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text from his mom.

From; Momma Gaskarth
- ‘Where are you? Be home soon please x’

“Sorry guy’s I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, I’m gonna stay a little longer.” Zack said, still sitting slightly awkwardly with Matt clinging to his side.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow Zee, and Matt,” the tearful boy looked up, “Stay safe, yeah?”

“Okay. See you, Alex.”

Alex smiled and walked back through the shop. Just as he’d unbolted the door, he heard footsteps behind him. “Hey, Alex, wait.”

“Yeah?” he turned to Zack, who looked quite serious.

“Did,” Zack checked over his shoulder, “did you see his arms?”

Alex shook his head. “No I didn’t. Why?”

Zack checked over his shoulder again, before saying, “They’re like mine.” Zack went back into the back room, and threw a small “See you” over his shoulder.

As Alex walked home, any and all thoughts of Jay were pushed from his head completely. He knew exactly what Zack meant when he’d said that Matt's arms were like his. How could Pete do something like that? Did Patrick know? Who did know?

Hopefully, Friday night would bring some positivity to all of them.

Notes

Any Cobra Starship or Midtown fans? No? Okay :c
Jenna and Peterick have emerged...yay:3
And oh look, Jaime's back...and Matt's a mess :c