Author's Note:

Not much to say...

The phone buzzed beneath her ear, waking Alex up from sleep with a jerk. Still groggy, she reached a hand under the pillowcase and groped for her cell which was on vibrate so she didn't have to wake Darren up at the ungodly hour that she got up at every morning. He might not be on her favorite persons list, but she still had enough manners to be quiet when she had to force herself out of bed in the morning.

By the time that she found her cell, she was fully awake. Turning the alarm setting on it off, she kicked her legs free of her blanket and quickly stood up, heading silently towards the bathroom. She paused when she passed by her dresser to rummage through the drawers, hunting down her clothes while trying to be as quiet as physically possible. With a pair of shorts and a grey tee in her hands, she stepped into the bathroom and made sure to close the door before turning on the light. God, it was bright and nearly blinded her.

It took only a few moments for her to complete the usual morning routine of toilet, teeth brushing and hair combing. Alex yawned, pulling the tee shirt she had slept in over her head then she sucked in a deep breath and slid a finger under the edge of the cloth that bound her chest flat. As she pulled it off, she gave a deep sigh, glad to be able to breathe properly. For a moment, she glanced longingly at the shower, wishing that she could just let herself get in now.

Shirtless, she checked again to make sure that the door was locked – it wouldn't be good for Darren to get up to pee or something and see that Alex was missing the required Y chromosome to be in this school – before carefully lifting a hand to remove the bobby pins that held the beanie she was wearing to her hair, making it impossible for it to accidently fall off or be pulled off. Well, if someone actually did put enough force to tear it off her head, they'd be taking a whole bunch of hair with it, considering that she used about a dozen pins. Swiftly, she removed the pins and removed the beanie, shaking her head as she did so.

The air on her scalp felt wonderful and cool, not to mention that her ears were no longer folded up under the scratchy wool of the thing. Itching absentmindedly at her left ear, she leaned towards the mirror, regarding the dark circles under her deep blue eyes. She looked exhausted, but that's what she should expect, waking up at four thirty every day for the last three mornings. "I look like a zombie," she mused aloud. Thankfully, once her body got used to getting up, she wouldn't look so horrible in the morning. Not that she cared, there wasn't anyone to impress or anything.

Sighing again, she put her beanie back on; quickly replacing the pins like it was second nature. After that, she sucked in a deep breath and wrapped the wide band around her chest again, crushing her small breasts to her chest. It was difficult to breathe with it there but she was determined to get used to it. Slipping into her clean shirt, she ran a hand over her face. Ready for her morning, she turned the light off, opening the door.

Seeing perfectly in the blackness of the room with the small amount of light, she walked back to her bed, leaning over to reach under the mattress to grab her tennis shoes. She sat down on the floor, head tilted to the side, listening to the sounds Darren made in his sleep while she tied the laces. Once she was ready to go, she jumped up and hurried out of the room, careful to grab her key and iPod off the dresser. The door silently shut behind her.

She jogged down the length of the hallway, putting the ear buds for the bright green iPod in her ears under the beanie, turning the music up so she wouldn't be able to hear anything around her.

A particularly loud thunk echoed throughout the silence in homeroom. Tobias Fletcher glanced up from his book to glance at the head sitting one seat in front of him. Going through his memory, he thought that the student's name was Alex. Shrugging, Tobias turned back to his book. He sighed when he heard Alex start quietly talking under his sleep.

Apparently Alex wasn't used to waking up, he thought dryly, turning a page.

Alex twitched in his sleep, mumbling barely loud enough for Tobias to hear him. It surprised Tobias to hear that Alex was speaking in Spanish. Perfect Spanish actually, no accent or anything. For a moment, Tobias glanced up, staring at the other boy. A little louder, Alex continued to talk, making some of the boys around them turn to stare.

Touch my ears again, Derek, and I'll make you eat your spleen. Tobias blinked when he translated what Alex had said. He didn't know what to make of that.

"Did he just start speaking in French?" a student beside Tobias asked.

"Spanish actually," Tobias replied coolly, deciding that Alex was probably just having a strange dream or something. Not that it was any of his business anyway. Thinking about it, he shook his head. Nope, it wasn't any of his business so he looked back down at his book, ignoring the sound of their teacher, a Miss Onslow, jabber away about something that didn't matter.

He didn't notice that the room had gone quiet until Miss Onslow's voice was directly in front of him. "Excuse me, young man," she said calmly. Thinking that it was him she was talking to, he glanced up. Since she was talking to Alex, he paused. There wasn't an answer, only shuffling as Alex repositioned himself on the desk so that he might be a little more comfortable.

Miss Onslow sighed, looking around like one of them was going to help her. Tobias just pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose while he waited. Finally, she placed a hand on Alex's back, probably about to shake him away.

In his seat, Alex jerked roughly and jumped up, whirling around at the same time so that he was facing the rest of them with a wide eyed look on his face, eyes darting madly like he was waiting for someone to attack him. Tobias blinked. That was certainly not the reaction that he was expecting. Whispers started up while Alex froze, realizing what he had done. He stuffed his hands into his pockets while he stared down at his shoes.

"Oh!" Miss Onslow's hands flew upward to cover her mouth as she stared. Still watching, Tobias closed his book, keeping his finger to mark his spot. This was the most interesting Thursday that he'd had in a long time. "I'm so sorry," the teacher continued.

The bell rang before Alex answered, signaling the end of advisory. People started to get up and trickle out of the room. Leaving, Tobias opened his book again as he walked, avoiding bumping into people by simply keeping track of the hallway over the edge of the novel.

"Hey! Hey, you! Blondie!"

As every other blond in the area immediately looked up, he didn't even know that the voice was calling out to him until he heard the footsteps behind him and there was suddenly a hand on his shoulder. Turning slightly, his eyebrow raised when he saw that it was Alex behind him. Without a word, the other boy simply held up a composition notebook. Glancing at it, Tobias realized that it was his and must have fallen out of his bag earlier. "Thanks," he muttered as he grabbed, more than willing to just turn around and leave.

Alex grinned, and the dark circles under his eyes disappeared a little. "No prob Blondie."

"My name's not Blondie," Tobias muttered, his spine stiffening. He walked off, thinking that Alex would take it as the dismissal it was. However, Alex just stepped up and walked beside him.

"I know, but you can't very well say you aren't blond." He paused for a moment. "Right, I'm Alex."

"I know," Tobias said dryly, wondering when he would be just left alone.

Alex laughed and then his hand shot out into the masses and grabbed the back of someone's shirt. Dragging his prisoner with him, he turned the redhead around so that the guy was walking forward instead of stumbling backwards. "Hey, Roddy. How's that book going for you?"

The redhead gasped and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Awesome. I got yelled at in class 'cos I read instead of listening, but they all just say the exact same thing class after class after class, so there's really no point in listening to them talk at all, but I don't think that they understand that. Seriously, I think they all think that they are the only teacher in the entire school. And someone really needs to tell them that they aren't." During the time that it took for him to inhale since he had said all that in one breath, he noticed Tobias. "Who's that?"

"That's Blondie, and, Blondie, this is Roderick Harris. Just ignore him most of the time, he's...theatrical. To say the least."

"Hey! You say that it's a bad thing."

"Dude, when you start talking so fast that I can barely understand you, it's a very bad thing."

Tobias listened to the exchange, slightly interested in their argument-like discussion. It was different than what he was used to. At his house, the children weren't permitted to do anything that would disrupt the adults at all. That meant that they were usually in their separate rooms, doing their own quiet thing as silently as possible. Sure, when he was at school, he could have been a little louder than he was at home, but the habit was hard to break. Briefly, he imagined what would happen if these two were to ever meet his father. It would not be pretty, he decided.

Roderick lightly elbowed Alex. "That's your problem if you can't understand me."

"It's your problem when I can't get it that you want to borrow another book," Alex said, fixing his backpack on his shoulder.

Gasping, Roderick actually stopped in his tracks and turned slowly. For some reason, Tobias stopped too, actually starting to enjoy their company. He couldn't help but fight back a smile at Roderick's expression. It was like he was just told that the Easter Bunny died. "You…you wouldn't dare," the redhead managed to slowly say, sounding like he was having difficulty forcing the words out. "I just started….There's no way that you'd actually do it."

Once again, Alex shrugged. "You never know, Roddy. Anyway, this is me and Blondie," he gestured towards the room on their left and Tobias was slightly surprised to see that it was actually his chemistry class. How did Alex know that?

Roderick nodded and gave Tobias a long look. "I got to run to calculus," he said, making a face. "See you in theatre." He turned around, hurrying down the hallway with his head down. For a heartbeat, Tobias wondered why then shrugged as he stepped into the class, sitting at his spot near the front.

Alex immediately moved to the table at the back row, dropped his stuff and sat down to put his head down on the table. It took Tobias a moment to realize that Alex had just fallen asleep again. Slowly shaking his head, he sat down at his own table and pulled out his chemistry folder from his backpack.

Darren didn't look up as he heard Thomas drop into the seat next to him in English. Instead, he kept his head down on his desk, wishing that he could somehow go back in time and tell himself that it was a stupid idea. Why had he thought that it was good idea?

"So," his friend said slowly, and Darren didn't even have to see to know that Thomas was smiling. "How's the roomie?"

He knew that the question was only being asked to annoy him. He still answered. "He cleaned the bathroom yesterday," he mumbled. There had to be some way that he could manage to get out of this or something. Deep down, he knew that he'd end up killing Alex by the end of the year.

Thomas paused. "He what?" he asked, sounding confused. "What do you mean, he cleaned the bathroom?"

"Exactly that," he said, sighing. "He went all Nazi on the place. I have no idea where he pulled the sponge and the Comet and the Windex from, but suddenly they were all over the place. I had to go to Ethan and Roderick's room to use their toilet because I wasn't allowed to use mine."

There was a strange sound coming from his friend. It made Darren pause for a moment before he jerked his head up so fast he could practically hear his neck cracking. Thomas was laughing. Laughing. When it wasn't funny!

"I'm serious," he said, eyes narrowed. Maybe he'd kill Thomas too before the end of the year. It would certainly make things quieter and easier. A lot easier. It probably wasn't a good sign that he was thinking seriously about it.

Thomas nodded, his blue hair falling into his eyes. "I know you are….That's what so funny," he managed to answer when he calmed down a bit. "He said he'd do it. Remember?"

Thinking back on it, Darren realized that Alex had said that he'd clean the bathroom. "Still," he muttered, determined to be right. There wasn't anything that he could really add on to that so he went quiet, scribbling randomly on the paper in front of him. Thomas didn't say anything either, just gave Darren a look before slowly shaking his head.

"You need a girlfriend," Thomas finally grumbled.

That made Darren jerk his head up, eyes narrowing in a glare. "I'll be sure to pick one up the next time I go to the gas station," he replied sharply. Seriously, first his sister, then his friend. What was next? Was Roderick going to start hounding him to get a girlfriend too? A second after he thought it, he wished he didn't. All it was going to do was make sure that the redhead was going to do it.

Thomas laughed. "That's the way to do it," he said, grinning. "I'll be sure to try that."

"It's not like you've been out with a girl recently," Darren pointed out as he pointed the eraser on his pencil. "So shut up."

For a heartbeat, it looked like Thomas was going to say something, but finally he just sighed and looked over at the clock. "Why is this class the longest class of the day?"

"It's not." For a second he wondered if Thomas realized that he had almost desperately changed the subject. After thinking about it, Darren decided that he was just going to leave it alone.

"Yes it is. I just know that the bell should be ringing about now."

Sighing, Darren ran a hand through his dark hair. "It'll ring." The bell rang and he started to pack up his things while he glanced at his friend. "See?"

"No need to sound so freakin' smug about it." Thomas made a face, and he didn't even bother to use his backpack, just carried his books. They started out the door, heading towards the elevators, where there already was a small line. It surprised Darren when Thomas stopped walking, stuffing his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He flipped it open. "Hey," he said, glancing at Darren.

There was a long pause and then Thomas's eyes widened. "What's this about Alex? How do you even know about Alex?" He went silent while he listened.

Curious to know who it was and why they were talking about his roommate, Darren just waited, knowing that he'd probably be told later. A few minutes passed and then Thomas nodded. "Sure," he said and held the phone out towards Darren. "It's your sister," he explained.

Sighing, Darren grabbed it. "What do you want, Terra?" he asked as he wondered why his twin sister had called Thomas instead of him. That didn't make any sense, she knew his number and he had his phone with him.

"Why is your phone off?" she demanded, sounding irritated.

"It's not," he retorted, pulling it out to look down at it. He blinked. "Never mind, it is off."

"And that's why you don't argue with me, twinnie," she said smugly, using the nickname that he hated. Which was the only reason that she kept using it so much. "You usually find your foot in your mouth." Somewhere on her end, he heard someone snicker and then ask something. Terra sighed. "Hey, did you know that apparently your roommate is actually close friends with my best friend?"

It made Darren pause. "Alex knows Catherine?" he asked, startled.

"Yes, and he's been avoiding talking to her because he didn't have the courtesy to tell her that he was going to go to school there so that they could apparently catch up. Catherine is not happy about this." She went quiet. "Actually, Catherine just said that he'll be lucky if she doesn't rip him into pieces."

That mental image made him smile. "Really?" he asked.

"I think she means it, too, and that worries me," Terra mumbled, barely loud enough for him to hear it.

"Is there a reason that you needed to call me?" he asked, hoping that they could get to the point. Otherwise they'd probably keep getting off topic. When he gave Thomas a questioning look, he shrugged.

She sighed. "I need you to somehow convince him to call Catherine."

It didn't make any sense so he did the only thing he could; he laughed. "No really, why'd you call me?"

"I need you to talk to Alex to tell him that he needs to call Catherine otherwise she'll do something that she'll regret later." Another pause and this time he could hear mumbles from the Terra's side. "She just said that she won't regret it. So, yeah, it might be a good idea for you to tell him that he really needs to call her and soon."

Darren didn't say anything, just stared down the hall blankly. Then he frowned. "I'll bring it up, that's it," he grumbled before he shut the phone, handing it back to Thomas, who gaped at him for a moment.

"Did you just hang up on her?" he asked, sounding a little worried. "She's just going to –" he broke off when the phone started buzzing in his hand. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Ignore her," Darren answered as he went on to walking. While they had just been standing there talking, the hall had emptied and they didn't' have to wait in line for the elevator. He hit the button. "She'll go away eventually."

Thomas just sighed. "One of these days," he mumbled, shaking his head sadly, "she's going to kill you."

"That'll be the day," he replied dryly as the silver doors opened with a dinging sound. They stepped inside, and he paused. "Which floor?"

Giving him a long look, Thomas shrugged, shifting the backpack on his shoulders. "Yours," he said, smiling slightly. He waited until they were heading up before he leaned against the back wall of the little area. "Why did Terra want to talk to you?" he asked, sounding bored.

Darren made a face. "She's trying to prevent Catherine from killing Alex."

"And you don't agree with trying to keep the kid alive," Thomas added on when Darren veered off. It was so sudden that Darren laughed for a second. "Does she think that you'll be able to help or something?"

Running his hand through his hair, Darren shook his head as he wondered why it was always him. "She wants me to tell Alex that he needs to talk to Catherine, otherwise he will die."

The doors opened again and they started to walk towards Darren's room, where the door was already open. Alex was already in the room, lying on his bed with his head dangling off the end and his eyes closed. Tossing his things onto his desk, Darren turned slightly to glare at his roommate for a moment before he made a gesture. "Call Catherine," he said simply, wondering for a moment if Alex really knew who he was talking about.

Apparently Alex did, because his eyes flew open, the blue bright. "What?" he said, sounding startled. Rolling over so he was on his stomach, he swung his legs under him so that he was standing on the floor. Darren blinked; he barely saw the other boy move. "How'd she call you?" he asked, his face losing some of its color.

"She's friends with his sister." Dropping his things, Thomas laughed. "She's planning on killing you," he said conversationally while he sat down in Alex's lime green computer chair. "How do you two know each other?"

Alex lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Went to school with her for a few years," he answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and hunching his shoulders. He sucked in a breath, holding it. When he sighed, he reached towards the dresser, where his phone sat. Dialing as he went, he started for the door.

Right as he had his other hand on the knob, he paused for a heartbeat. "Hey, Cat," he said. Darren didn't know if he was the only one who thought it, but it seemed like Alex didn't sound too happy.

Then again, Catherine didn't sound too happy either as Darren heard the screeches from the phone. Alex winced and left, shutting the door behind him.

"You know," Thomas said, head tilted back so it looked like he was talking to the ceiling. "She just might kill him anyway."

Darren had to laugh.