Chapter 3

"Jeez, would you look at this place?" Jason grumbled as he took a deep drag off his cigarette. "Lydia's sunk to a completely new level of bitch."

Manny twirled a blade of grass between his fingers. "She's not that bad."

"Manny, look around, it's another fucking prep school. I don't know why she keeps sticking us in these places."

"So we'll be safe?" The blond ventured.

His remark struck a cord in the dark haired boy, causing Jason to take a longer pull from his cigarette.

"And exactly how are these high society pricks gonna help us?"

Manny shrugged and mumbled softly. "I don't know, Jase."

The older boy snorted once more, but said nothing. Manny shrugged it off; he'd grown used to Jason's ranting and tantrums over the years. If Jason was upset over something it was usually best to just let him grumble about it until he lost interest. It was the only healthy and non-destructive way the teen could vent his anger.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me."

Manny glanced up from the grass and followed Jason's gaze, soon discovering the cause of his outburst. A small group of girls were strolling across the green lawn, several yards away from the large oak the two of them were resting against. The majority of the girls were blond, slender and friendly looking, but Manny didn't bother looking for more details. He was more concerned with what they were wearing.

"Uniforms? That's just fantastic." Jason barked, stubbing out his cigarette. "Next time I see Lydia's car, I'm turning it into scrap metal."

"You've been saying that for the past year."

"I mean it this time."

Manny resisted the urge to roll his eyes and turned his head towards the other boy. Jason was eyeing the front of the school with distain, his almond colored eyes narrowing. The blond sighed mentally, was it too much to ask for Jason to actually smile and be happy once again? A year ago the older boy could find humor in the darkest places but now it was rare when Jason wasn't cursing everything.

The air around the two of them grew thicker with electricity as Jason, obviously annoyed and livid, pushed himself to his feet.

"Come on, let's get this over with."

Manny rolled his eyes and got to his feet, grabbing the small box that contained their few possessions. Once he stood, Jason turned and leaned close.

"Just stay as close as you can and only focus on me, alright? Just like we practiced."

Manny nodded, dreading the assault he was about to face.

"I'm right here, okay?" Jason placed one gloved hand on his shoulder.

Manny felt himself melt under the touch, as always, and there was a light flutter inside of his stomach. Focusing on Jason was easy; all he had to do was loose himself inside of the heavy warmth Jason's presence provided and follow the static in the air if he got lost.

"You always are." Manny mumbled softly, lowering his head in order to conceal the warm settling inside of his cheeks.

"That's right, kiddo, ain't nothing gonna happen to you while I'm around."

The blond nodded once more, knowing the words were true. It was only when they were apart that the bad things happened. Jason patted his shoulder once more before removing his hand.

"Good, now let's go reserve our spots in hell." The dark haired boy said as he turned towards Spencer's main building.

With a sigh and downcast eyes, Manny followed.

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"Hey, baby boy!" Reid slammed his hands loudly on the table, causing the younger boy to nearly fall out of his chair.

"Jesus Christ, Reid!"

The blond ignored his outburst and flopped down in the open chair next to him. "You're such a girl."

"What do you want?"

The blond faked a hurt expression. "Ouch, that was harsh. What makes you think I want something?"

The youngest covenant member closed his text book with a loud thump and turned his head. "You're sitting in the middle of the school library, willingly, Reid. What do you want?"

"Fine, fine." Reid threw his hands up in defeat. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over this weekend."

"We share a dorm, Reid."

"I mean, would you like to come over to my house?"

At this, Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well my parents are going out of town for starters and I wouldn't mind a little company."

Tyler tensed. "Why are you asking me?"

Reid wore a blank expression. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are you asking me and not some girl?"

"Well, because." Reid mumbled, pretending to fidget with something on his blazer.

"Because?"

"Because I wanted someone to hang out with."

"That still doesn't explain why you're asking me."

Reid's foot kicked him lightly in the shin. "Come on, Ty, we're friends."

"Friend's don't sell each other out to a pissed off Caleb."

"Oh, come on, you're still mad about that?"

"Yeah, Caleb still thinks I'm the one who let the air out of his tires."

"And the sacrifices you made for me won't be forgotten." The blond chirped happily.

Tyler reopened his text book, intending to ignore the blond. However, Reid Garwin never took being ignored lightly.

"Come on, Ty."

"Are the other guys going?"

"Yeah, I just haven't invited them yet. Caleb will probably say yes and you know Pogue, once he hears the words 'food' and 'beer' he'll come running."

The youngest covenant member turned a page in his book.

"I guess."

Reid was out of his seat in an instant. "I knew you'd say yes. Just watch, we're gotta make a man out of you before you turn eighteen, baby boy."

Tyler tensed. "On second thought, I have homework."

"Oh, no, you don't." Reid's arms wound around his shoulders. "You're coming with me even if I have to drag your skinny ass there."

"Reid, let go."

"Not until you say yes."

"Let go."

"Say yes."

Tyler sighed. "Fine, I'll go."

"That's my boy." Reid removed his arms a moment later.

Tyler pulled away and smoothed out the wrinkles in his uniform. He frowned when he realized Reid was still standing behind him with a goofy look on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing." Reid smiled. "So… how mad was Caleb about his tires?"

"Pretty damn mad."

"He chew you out?"

"Yes." Tyler growled and turned away from the blond.

"Was it bad?"

"I'm still mad at you."

"I said I was sorry." Reid sighed and leaned over the desk once more. "How about I make it up to you?"

"No."

"What, why not?"

"Because I'm in enough trouble already without you doing anything stupid."

"Ty."

The younger boy ignored him, pretended to read the book in front of him. Reid shifted on the desk and leaned over his shoulder, making sure he was breathing loud enough to annoy the other teen. After a moment, Tyler sighed and lowered his head.

"Alright, fine."

Reid beamed. "Great. Let's go to Nicky's later. I wanna win some money off Aaron."

Tyler groaned mentally but forced himself to nod. "Fine, I'll see you later."

"Sweet." Reid replied. "So, what are you reading?"

Tyler decided to show him by tossing his book at Reid's head. Unfortunately, Reid Garwin was blessed with the ability to duck and the book collided with a shelf loudly.

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"Where the holy fuck is room 485?" Jason growled for what had to be the fiftieth time in the past ten minutes.

"On the fourth floor, I guess."

Jason glanced over his shoulder and gave Manny a tired look. "Thanks, Manny, I never would've figured that one out."

"You don't have to be an ass about it."

Jason waved the remark off and glanced at the map the two of them had grabbed from the front office. "Wow, Manny, you're even more a genius. It is on the fifth floor."

The blond shoved him roughly and emitted a small yelp afterwards. Hearing the sound, Jason immediately turned his head and raised his shoulders. Manny had his index finger between his lips and was sucking it gently.

"You shocked me."

Even though he was relieved it wasn't anything serious, Jason couldn't help the guilt building inside of his chest.

Naturally, he felt himself get defensive. "It's not easy to control, you know."

"I didn't say anything." Manny mumbled.

Feeling even guiltier from the hurt look on the blond's face, Jason turned and spied the large staircase on the far side of the floor.

"There's the stairs, come on."

The two of them silently moved to the stairs, maneuvering through the ongoing sea of students. They got the occasional looks sent their way and one girl with dark hair even winked at Jason as they climbed the stairs to their floor. Once on the fourth level, Jason glanced at the map once more.

"Ok, now that we're finally on the goddamn floor, where the hell's the room?"

The older boy ignored Manny's sigh and moved through the hell, eyeing the numbers listed above the dorms.

"Found it."

Their dorm was located near the end of the hall and Manny felt his shoulders fall in relief. At least they were at the end of the floor; it would be easier to avoid the other students that way. Plus, if Jason's temper got away from him again it would easier to hide the damaged if fewer people were around to hear it.

With a soft click, Jason unlocked the door to their assigned room and entered.

"What the hell—this is it?"

Manny hurried into the room and glanced over Jason's shoulder. The dorm was small and contained two twin beds, one desk and one large wardrobe for both of them to share. The bathroom was located across the room and from what he could see, it was small.

"I guess so." The blond murmured under his breath and walked to bed on the right side of the room, setting the box upon it.

"Fucking cheapskates. For all the bitching Lydia did about the price, I expected something nicer."

Jason kicked the door closed with his foot, enjoying the sound of it slamming shut, and threw himself onto the second bed. Manny watched him for a moment before opening the box. Their possessions were few, most of it was clothing, freshly washed, and Manny spent a few minutes stacking them inside of the wardrobe, not even bothering to sort out what belong to whom. He tossed Jason's second set of gloves onto the brooding teen's bed before removing his sketch book and two framed photos from the box. He valued them over anything else. The first photo was of his parents, taken less then a month before the horrid car crash and the second was of his fifteenth birthday, taken last year when everything had been happy, back when Alex was still alive and Jason was happy and before David had…

Feeling his throat tighten, Manny looked away form the photo and placed both frames on the headboard of his chosen bed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jason turn his head and glare at his birthday photo.

"Why the hell did you bring that?"

Manny turned. "It's my favorite photo."

Jason's dark eyes were glaring heatedly at the birthday photo. "I don't want that up there."

"Jase."

"Take it down."

"What?"

"I said take it down Manny, I don't wanna see it."

"No." The blond snapped.

Jason sat up with a growl and pulled one of his gloves off. Before Manny could intervene, a spark of blue light circled around Jason's knuckles and with a wave of the teen's hand, the bolt was sent across the room and collided with the photo's frame. The photo fell onto Manny's bed with a soft thud.

"Jase, what the hell!" Manny swore as he bent down to pick the frame up.

The top corner of its silver frame was scorched and small wisps of smoke wafted into the air from the melted edges. The image inside of the frame, fortunately, was untouched. Manny felt thankful for that small bit of luck. With a glare, he stood up and placed the frame back on the headboard, face down.

"You're a dick, you know that?"

Jason said nothing as he pulled the glove back over his hand, his eyes staring down at the floor of their new dorm. After a moment, the older boy rose from his bed and opened the dresser.

"Still have Lydia's card?"

Manny forced himself to keep his anger in check. "Yeah, why?"

"I'm not sitting in this damn room all fucking day." Jason growled as he retrieved his faded, black hoodie from the wardrobe. "There's a town five minutes away from here."

"You know Lydia's gonna check the card."

"I know." Jason grinned wolfishly as he pulled the sweater over his head. "I just figured we could find something in town that would make our stay here a little more enjoyable."

Manny blinked, feeling slightly dizzy from Jason's mood swing, and shook his head after a moment.

"No."

"Manny." Jason heaved. "Come on."

"She's gonna yell at you for an hour."

"So?"

"You're not the one that feels how angry she is."

"What the hell is she gonna do, drive all the way back down here just to gripe at me?" Jason snorted as he moved closer. "Come on, kiddo, I'll get ya something nice."

"I don't want anything."

In the back of his mind, Manny felt Jason's annoyance and it caused him to fidget uncomfortably. Jason's feelings always had a strong effect on him; he guessed it was due to the closeness they had shared over the past four years and his own feelings for the older boy.

He found himself reluctantly agreeing a moment later. "Okay."

Jason's face broke into a huge grin that made the inside of Manny's stomach flutter.

"Good, now let's go see if that card has a credit limit."