Surprisingly, Jim didn't know a lot about Sebastian Moran. He knew the simple facts like everyone else; that he had moved to Dublin two years ago, leaving his father who was some kind of fancy diplomat behind in London. He knew that Sebastian didn't talk much yet had the mutual respect and liking from a lot of the other students in their year. That was as far as Jim's interest in Sebastian Moran had fled; he seemed pretty normal and was yet to get his way so in Jim's view Sebastian wasn't worth his time.

Sitting at one of the thick wooden tables near the front of the chemistry lab Jim tapped his pen impatiently against the scorched worktop, watching as his class mates filed in around him. They fussed over their lab partners, each eager to sit with one of their friends and not be the one left sitting in the empty seat next to Jim. Jim wasn't foolish, he knew he wasn't popular in any way possible and frankly he liked it that way, people were idiots, tools, dispensable wads of flesh that bumbled around in a meaningless existence. They were nothing like Jim, Jim was so much more than each and every one of his class mates put together and he was glad that they made an effort not to be associated with him.

Mr Hopkins, probably the oldest teacher in the school, finally backed into the classroom with arms piled high with text books and paper work, demanding silence as he wadded to his desk. Mr Hopkins was one of those elderly men who had realised a little too late that they had achieved nothing from their life and suddenly felt extremely bitter about the fact that there was nothing which could be done to change that. He reminded Jim of the Hunchback of Notre Dame with his chin constantly sunk upon his chest so that his shoulder rose in an abstract way around his neck. Surely the position wasn't comfortable whilst teaching thirty uninterested teenagers about chemistry but he doubted that Mr Hopkins cared.

"I suppose I should welcome you all back from the summer holidays and say what a joy it is to see you all again, but I am not going to lie. I know that you don't want to be here and neither do I, but the difference here is that I get paid for doing this and you don't." A murmur rippled through the class as My Hopkins pushed the paperwork from his arms and stalked down between the rows, slapping thick textbooks down onto each table.

"This year's syllabus textbooks draw on them all you like as long as you get the work done on time to a satisfying standard I don't care." Yes, the no nonsense approach without the added details was something Jim liked about Mr Hopkins. Well, it was the only thing Jim liked about Mr Hopkins. Once the class were equipped with their new textbooks and Hopkins had turned to write the first title of the year upon the blackboard, the classroom door creaked upon slowly. Glancing up from his book Jim saw the tall figure of Sebastian Moran standing in the doorway. He had one strap of his bag slung over his shoulder and his fiddled with the edges of a slip which was curled between his fingers. Odd, he didn't remember have Sebastian in his class last year.

"Yes what do you want Mr Moran?"

"I have a transfer note sir." Sebastian said, walking into the room and passing the note in his hand into Hopkins' snatching claws. Hopkins' eyes studied it with disinterest.

"Yes, well hurry up and take a seat pick up a textbook whilst you're at it." Sebastian nodded and silently did as he was told, grabbing the left over textbook from the desk and briefly scanning the room for an available seat. Some of the girls in the class squirmed their seats, flicking their hair or biting the top of their pens suggestively as Sebastian wandered passed them. Jim new that the only available seat was the one next to him and he ground his teeth in irritations, making no attempt to wipe that look of scorn off his face as Seb dumped his back and slid into onto the stool next to his. Jim didn't bother looking at Seb, he wasn't worth his time or effort. In the forefront of his mind, Jim couldn't help but feel like his school year would be going downhill from here onwards.

Sebastian was bad company really. Jim had sat next to people who were much worse in his time, so compared to them Seb was bearable. He made no effort to engage Jim in conversation; he just sat down, got his stuff out and worked quietly from his textbook. He made sure he didn't bother Jim by asking stupid questions or by crossing the invisible boarder down the centre of the table which marked Jim's desk space. He just sat there and left without a fuss when the bell went. Jim also observed that his lab partner wasn't a total idiot which was always a bonus; he scored well on quizzes and understood what was being piped into his brain without confusion. Jim liked that, being sat next to someone who wasn't completely hopeless and was silent throughout it all was almost as good as sitting by himself. But Seb couldn't remain silent forever and Jim knew that.

Jim had been particularly sour that day. He had been corned near the bus stop on his way home by Carl Powers and his cronies who stolen his bag and ran off with it before Jim even had the chance to protest. He had managed to salvage a couple of his text books which had fallen out of his bag in the commotion but it was hardly anything. All his school work was gone and he would have to waste valuable hours trying to get it all back. The great bloody idiots, one day he would make them pay for this.

Trudging up the driveway of his house with an armful of books Jim pushed the door with his shoulder only to find that it wouldn't budge. Placing his books on the doorstep, he wiggled the handle and pushed again to no avail.

"Shit!" Jim exclaimed, kicking the door so that it rattled in its frame. His parents were still at work and his keys had been in his stolen bag and it wasn't as if his older brother was going to suddenly come back from university to let him in. He was stuck outside until his parents returned, and that time would vary day to day.

"Fucking idiots!" Jim screamed, pulling at his hair before sinking onto the doorstep. There were reasons why Jim disliked everyone, this being one of them. The coldness of the grey paving slabs seeped through Jim's uniform making him shiver slightly. The late September chill was hanging in the air and being locked outside ones house was no a sensible way to avoid it. For a moment Jim wondered how he was going to explain this to his parents, they would cause a fuss if they knew of the torment he received on the daily basis and Jim didn't want that. No he didn't want the teachers involved in bringing down his enemies, he wanted the satisfaction of doing it all by himself.

"Jim." The visions of Carl Powers twisting in agony faded as Jim was dragged out of his angered daydream. Raising his head from his hands he looked up to see Sebastian Moran stood halfway down his driveway. He stood there without his jumper, tie half undone with Jim's bag in his arms. It ws sodden and dripping water over Seb's hands. For a moment Jim just sat there. What the hell was Seb doing with his bag? How had he managed to get it from those idiots? And why the fuck was it soaking wet?

"I found it on the river bank, I don't know what it was doing there but- " Jim stood suddenly, striding across the driveway to snatch his belongings from Sebastian's arms, ignoring the muddy smears it had left on his shirt. He scowled at Seb before turning sharply on his heels and finally opening the front door of his house without a word of thanks. Jim dropped his things on the wooden flooring and rushed to the living room window. He watched Sebastian's tall figure standing for a moment in his driveway, calculating what had just happened but he turned and strolled back onto the street to continue his journey home. For a moment Jim stood there before turning his attention back to his bag. As he emptied the continence and hung it out to dry, he couldn't help but feel bad for not saying thank you.

He made an unusual effort to amend that the next day. Chemistry wasn't on the timetable so Jim would have to do this the hard way; it felt oddly human to be wandering around campus at lunchtime in search of someone. He found Sebastian sat on the tarmac leaning against the wall behind him. As he got closer Jim could see that he was scribbling in a textbook which was resting against his knees. Briefly Jim wondered why Seb was one his own, until he figured that Seb's friends had gone to get lunch from the canteen or something boring like that.

"Hey." Sebastian looked up with surprise when he heard Jim's voice.

"Hey." Jim folded his arms across his chest and kicked the toe of his shoe against the tarmac. This was harder than he thought it was going to be.

"Look, thanks for getting my bag but you didn't have to, I could have handled it by myself." Seb was looking at him with an expression which looked like he wanted to laugh but knew otherwise. Flipping the back of his notepad, Seb scribbled something onto the page. Jim attempted to peer over Seb to see what he was writing but his view was blocked.

"Seeing as you are so content in handling things yourself how about you let me help you with your notes. Those books were soaked through so if you want you can come round some time and copy mine up, we may not be in the same class but we are learning the same stuff right." Jim eyed the slip of paper which was being held out to him with suspicion. Why was Seb being so helpful?

"What do you want from me?" Jim said defensively, his eyes narrowing. Seb dared to crack a tiny smile, rising to full height before picking his bag up off the floor.

"Just take it or leave it, it's not like anyone else is going to help you out." Seb said, placing the slip of paper into Jim's hand before walking away. Jim looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. on it an address had been scrawled as well as a time. Jim was half tempted to throw the lined piece of paper in the bin and forget about it all, but for some reason he found himself folding it neatly and slipping it inside his trouser pocket instead.