Logan retreated into himself. Curled against the wall, he went deeper and deeper, until the painful kicks to his stomach and sides were just a dull throb barely being processed in the back of his brain. He let the hurtful words thrown at him to flit through one air and out the other. Logan knew it was useless. He could ignore everything now, but all the pain and hurt they inflicted would come crashing down on him later.

Logan knew he shouldn't cry, it only made his mocking worse, but, somehow, every time this happened he unwillingly allowed his accursed tears to rule over him and find their way down his face.

Logan hated bullies.

He worked so hard to make them like him. He did his best to look, talk right, be friendly, but it didn't matter. There were always people out there who wanted to knock him down until he begged to be let up. In fact, it seemed to Logan like he had a line of those people behind him, just waiting for their turn. Today's partaker: Nolan Hendricks.

Of all the people Logan struggled to impress, Nolan was the hardest to please, with the hardest kick.

Logan bit his lip to fight the urge to cry out as an especially hard blow connected with his ribs. His eyes widened in fear and pain, and he struggled for breath. That's when he made his first mistake. Just for a second, he listened to what Nolan had to say.

"You're just so weak," the tall blonde laughed incredulously, unable to believe a person could be so pathetic. "How can you even consider yourself a human being? You're just so worthless!" Logan big the inside of his cheek so hard it bled because that's when he made his second mistake. He believed him.

Logan's brain was chaos. He fought to find a way back inside himself, but he was out now, hopelessly lost. He was in Nolan's world now.

The blonde's fist slammed into his nose, and the coppery scent of blood filled the air. His stomach churned ass it rushed down his throat, making him nauseous. Nolan's fingers gripped his hair. He yanked Logan from his spot on the ground, thrusting him upwards and into the wall. Logan tried to pull away as punch after punch mutilated the left side of his face. He knew there was no way he was walking out of there without a black eye.

He winced as Nolan grabbed his ear. The blonde leaned in so close, that Logan could feel his hot breath on his cheek. "You have some good friends, don't you, Logie?" he asked, and Logan nodded reluctantly, not sure of the answer Nolan wanted. His tormentor let out a gut wrenching laugh, pulling at Logan's heart. "You think Kendall, James, and Carlos like you? That they," he snorted, "want to hang out with such a loser?" Suddenly, his wicked, happy face turned angry, and he slammed Logan's head against the edge of the water fountain.

Logan's vision blackened around the edges.

"And you're supposed to be the smartest kid in school." Nolan's words pulsed through Logan's head. "Tell me this, genius. If they're your friends, where are they now?"

Logan couldn't remember when insults stopped. He didn't know when beating ended. He couldn't think of how he managed to stumbled into the bathroom Nolan had so lovingly pumbled him by to clean up his bleeding face. All there was, was that stupid question replaying through his head.

Where are they now?

Logan kicked at the white tile of his school's floor, knowing he'd missed his bus a while ago. He had a long walk to the movie marathon at James's house, and a bunch of time to think. 'He's wrong' Logan told himself. They didn't know Logan needed them, and it's not like he expected their 'Spidey-senses' to go tingling when he was in trouble. Carlos, James, and Kendall were is best friends. He was sure they liked him.

Or was he?

Logan's brain ached as he tried to process everything he was feeling and thinking. He limped down the road to the Diamond's house, feeling very much alone.

Logan's breath caught at the top of the stairs. Down in the basement, all his friends were waiting for him, popcorn prepped, 'Miracle' primed, and James impatient to get started. However, here he was, all bruised and ugly. He fumbled down the stairs. 'I fell, I fell, I fell-" he repeated his story in his mind, not wanting to forget it.

"Hey Log-" Kendall started, but he fell off his greeting at the sight of his face. Logan could feel the atmosphere shift in the room, it suddenly very heavy. "What happened?" Kendall asked, sounding very, very¸angry.

"I just fell," Logan said almost automatically. James got up and came close to him, examining his black eye and purpling his ear. He didn't even see the old yellowing bruises covering the rest of Logan's body, yet he still gasped in shock. He shared a look with Kendall and Carlos.

"You know, Logie," Carlos started, "You seem to be clumsier than I am lately." The Latino's big, brown eyes shone with concern. "Is there something you want to tell us?" Logan poorly faked a laugh.

"Guys, I only fell down some stairs! You're acting like I'm getting beat up or something!" He strived for a smile as he quaked in front of his friends. He was met with hard stares.

"Just like you fell down some stairs yesterday?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. He fingered the red mark pressed into Logan's pale skin, made from the edge of the water fountain. Logan shied away from his touch, despite it being feathery on his aching face. It still hurt all the same. James frowned. "Who did this?" he asked.

"Why are you guys suddenly worried about this now?" Logan asked. "I don't even get what you're all worked up about! You never had problems with me being clumsy before!" Again, all three of his friends shared a look.

"Except," Kendall pointed out, "you're not clumsy. So what are you hiding?" Logan backed away from their hawk-like eyes.

"Nothing!" he protested.

"Is it Nolan?" Carlos asked, and Logan's eyes shot to the floor. He kept moving away, but they moved in closer.

"It's no one!"

"Is it Jimmy?" James questioned.

"Of course not!"

"Is it Mark?" Kendall wondered.

"No?"

"Then who is it?" James asked, flustered.

"No one!"

"Who?"

"Who?"

"Who?"

Logan shut his eyes in a weak defense against their pelting questions. He flinched with every word, and had backed himself into a corner. He was surrounded, and he broke. "EVERYONE!" he yelped, then stared at his toes ashamed. "There isn't one person in that school who likes me. Not even…" he choked back a sob. "Not even you guys." He let the tears flow and his nose run, to upset to really do anything about it.

"Logie…" Kendall spoke softly, and Logan felt his hands lightly grip his shoulders. "Why would you think we don't like you?" he asked, admittedly unnerved. When Logan didn't answer, Kendall held him a little tighter and shook him. "Logan, why?" he practically begged. Logan's eyes flitted up to meet Kendall's.

"He told me you didn't-"

"Who?" James interrupted, dying to pound someone for hurting their Logie. He immediately felt guilty when he saw Logan's eyes glisten.

"They all do. It's like... with out you guys, I can't walk down a hall without people laughing at me, or tripping me, or stealing from me, or saying you don't like me," he said the last part very quietly.

"Logan, you know we like you though, right?" Carlos asked, and Logan's eyes fell right back to the floor.

"I'm just... I'm just not sure anymore." The boys sat in a sort of stunned silence for a little, when James grabbed Logan's wrist and pulled him up the stairs behind him, not bothering to see if the others were coming with them. He dragged him along, taking him to his bedroom. He flung the door open and threw open his desk drawer. He shuffled through the mess inside until he found what he was looking for, and shoved it in Logan's face. The shorter boy stared at it in confusion, while Kendall and Carlos, who had followed them, grinned behind him. "What's this?" Logan asked, taking the picture. James smirked.

"That," James answered, "Is a picture of your first science fair." Logan looked at him crooked.

"But... I didn't tell you about that. You didn't go," he was hopelessly lost. He didn't invite them, but here was a very blurry picture of his first tri-fold.

"Yeah, you didn't tell us! I can't believe you didn't! We had to find out from your blog-"

"You guys read my blog?" Logan asked, interrupting Carlos. The Latino flashed him a big grin as if to say, 'Well, duh!' Logan's heart swelled. "And you guys took a picture?" The smiles on his friends' faces were almost too much to bare. "And you kept it for this long?" James flashed him an exceptionally dazzling "James Diamond" smile.

"We figured you might want it eventually," he looked at it and frowned. "Of course, it's not that great of a picture." Logan's eyes stung with tears, and he finally understood girls' way of "happy crying".

"No... it's perfect!" he sniffled, throwing his arms around James in relief.

"You loser!" Logan braced himself against Mark Gold's fist, but it never came. He looked up, shocked, to see James and Kendall holding the chubby senior back. His nerves tingled, and he turned to see Carlos wrapping an arm around him and leading him away from the scene. Logan smiled. He was sure.

Just so you know, I have never heard of "water fountains" before. I've always called them bubblers until a couple months ago, when I realized I'm pretty much the only person who does. So I hope I didn't slip up and write 'bubbler' in there by mistake. DON'T BE MAD IF I DID!"